i89i 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Business. 
ROLLING AND PACKING FOR MOISTURE. 
I should lihe to ask T. B. Terry, if cultivation stops 
evaporation, why does he pack every hill ? To be sure, he 
goes over with the Breed’s weeder, but doesn’t he lose 
some moisture? And if packing the soil does encourage 
evaporation, then I should think that the land roller would 
be injurious to ground just seeded. A farmer boy. 
Hartwick, N. Y. 
That is right, boys, ask questions when you do not fully 
understand any point. Now, after you have been cultivat¬ 
ing haven’t you noticed the next morning that every foot¬ 
print you made was moist? Sometimes you might notice 
this even in the middle of the day. The packed ground 
wbere you stepped looks moist, and the loose soil where 
you did not step looks dry. Now the packing of the 
ground by stepping on it helps it to bring up moisture 
from below. If left In that shape you are right in think¬ 
ing there would be loss. But suppose you take a rake and 
loosen even one inch of the surface over these foot-prints, 
practically evaporation will be stopped, or greatly lessened. 
The little pieces of potatoes I was planting were split 
eyes. They were cut so very small because the seed was 
costly. The weather was dry, in fact getting quite seri¬ 
ously so. The soil must be so managed that it would not 
dry out, for if it did those little bits of pieces of potatoes 
stood no possible chance. Now to get this moist condi¬ 
tion we made the land very fine and firm by repeated 
harrowing and rolling. And then to be sure that the 
seed would not dry up I stepped on the soil after covering 
every little piece. If I had stopped at that there would 
have been some waste of moisture of course; but we 
stirred the surface by using the weeder, about an inch 
deep, as though I had raked it over with a garden rake. I 
then packed the soil, or firmed it, to assist In bringing 
up moisture by capillary attraction; but I stirred the sur¬ 
face lightly, thus making the best practical mulch known 
to prevent the unnecessary waste of the precious water. 
Now what is the result? Practically a perfect stand. 
The plants are nearly a foot high and growing splendidly. 
The drought did me no harm at all. A little systematic care 
gave them a full supply of moisture from below. Until 
the rains came it was always moist an inch down. Rest 
assured we kept the soil stirred between the rows with 
cultivator and around the plants with potato hooks or 
pronged hoes. In our main potato field, where the plants 
were stronger, the weeder did the hand work from 14 to 28 
times as fast. 
A friend of mine in this town set out about 2,000 straw¬ 
berry plants during the drought. He told me last night 
that he watered them three times, but the frost and 
drought together finished them up, and he had just 
plowed the ground. It was too bad, but there was no need 
of this loss, if the plants were good. Had they been 
treated as carefully as my fine cut potatoes were, they 
would be flourishing to-day. My man set out about 500 
plants about the first of May, just a bed for our own use 
and with not more than two or three exceptions they are 
growing nicely. We made the ground as fine and firm as 
possible, and then, after setting, my man packed the 
earth around the plants with his foot, and then loosened 
the surface a little. We never put a drop of water on 
them, but used the cultivator and potato hook often and 
kept the surface mellow. The fine, packed soil brought up 
abundant moisture. Tillage prevented unnecessary waste. 
In a wet season of course, that packing with the foot 
would not be needed or answer, except on very light soil. 
About the use of the land roller: I hardly know what 
“Farmer Boy” means by “ground just seeded.” If he 
means ground where grain has been drilled In, I would 
not like to use the roller myself. I use it just before drill¬ 
ing to make the ground firm, and then the drill stirs the 
surface. The ground being firm below, moisture will be 
brought up to sprout the grain, and the mellow surface 
will be an advantage in several ways. When seeding to 
grass alone, in the fall, I have rolled it in with good re¬ 
sults. Loss of moisture is usually of little account at 
that time and under those circumstances. When planting 
potatoes we always roll before planting; but when an ex¬ 
ceptional season comes along, like this,we roll after plant¬ 
ing too, but the harrow follows the roller. We pack the 
ground only to insure moisture enough to make the one- 
eye pieces grow certainly, and then harrow the surface to 
prevent unnecessary loss. When the land was a little 
coarse we rolled after planting more than once, alternat¬ 
ing with the harrow. My neighbors on each side are just 
as careful. They used the roller and harrow with the 
same end in view, and one could hardly ask for a finer 
show of potatoes than we have on this street. We all cut 
to one eye, and expect to cover the ground with vines. It 
is just possible that my split eye3 may do this too, al¬ 
though planted 32 inches apart each way. 
My friend Benj. Sharpless, of Pennsylvania, after read¬ 
ing my article in The Rural, sent me this slip from the 
Farm Journal, which he evidently indorses and perhaps 
wrote. “ I am thoroughly convinced that Tim is right 
when he declares that cultivation takes the place of rain, 
and that no matter how dry the season is, thorough work¬ 
ing of the soil, at least such soil as we have, is bound to 
bring a crop of anything that is planted.” 
This is about right, my young friend. It may not bring 
a full crop in bushels, but it will nearly always bring big 
pay, provided, of course, that the thorough working is 
intelligently done. I have seen a crop half ruined by 
thorough working, or what some might call that. With 
all the other points, remember to use your common 
sense, and have the tillage after the very first shallow, so 
as to give the roots all the feeding ground possible. Here 
it all is in one sentence: By firming you draw the water 
up from a lower level to the feeding ground of your plants; 
and prevent unnecessary loss by stirring the surface 
lightly, so as not to injure the roots. T. B. terry. 
Summit Co., O._ 
TOOLS FOR CUTTING AND CURING HAY. 
I am getting ready for haying, and looking over the tools 
to see that everything will be in readiness when the time 
comes to commence operations. I am well supplied with 
all necessary implements. I have a new Deering mower, 
a Hocking Valley hay tedder, Coates sulky rake, Porter 
carrier, and a six-tine grapple fork. I have no hay loader, 
and hardly think it would pay us to buy one. Some of 
our farmers use the Keystone and Deere loaders, but the 
only trouble is, that it is necessary to drive very slowly— 
in fact, more slowly than many teams will walk—for the 
ordinary “hired man.” He, poor mortal, usually con¬ 
siders it a foul operation to place him at the upper end of 
a hay loader, for he is forced to “scratch around ” pretty 
lively. 
The hay sling Is taking the place of the fork in some 
places, and the Wood sling is quite popular. I am still 
satisfied with my fork, however. I prefer the grapple to 
the harpoon style for all purposes, and it is much safer in 
case of an accident. We cut our hay as soon as it will do, 
and when it is quite green. We start the mower early in the 
morning, cut until nine or ten o’clock, then hitch the same 
team to the tedder and kick the hay into the air; This will 
let the air through it all, and if it is a good “hay day,” 
we commence raking about one or two o’clock. If the hay 
is ready to draw, we bunch it up with the horse rake and 
draw it in immediately. If not thoroughly cured, we 
cock It up in good shape and leave it until the next morn¬ 
ing, then open it again to let the sun absorb the moisture 
gathered during the night. About 10 o’clock it will be 
in fine condition to go Into the barn. In the meantime, 
the mower has been cutting down another wide strip, and 
now we use two teams. In this way, with favorable 
weather, haying is rushed along in good shape. 
Should it be rainy or showery, we set the mower hum¬ 
ming, as soon as it clears up, and usually get another 
strip cut, cured and hauled into the barn, before the next 
shower. But we could not do this every time, did we 
not have the hay tedder. It is one of the most essential 
tools for every farmer who cuts much hay. It was first 
used in heavy grass, during rainy weather. Now we use 
it in all kinds of grass, even in the pleasantest weather. 
Air-dried hay is better than hay that is blistered by the 
sun, and yet damp underneath. Sun-dried hay, if left 
long enough to be cured underneath, is, in a majority of 
cates, “burnt to death.” The tedder throws the hay 
loosely into the air, and leaves it in the best possible con¬ 
dition to be evenly and thoroughly air-cured. The sun 
also strikes through all parts of the hay and absorbs all 
moisture. 
My tedder has combined pole and shafts, so we can 
quickly change the team from the mower, and commence 
tedding hay directly; or the shafts can be adjusted in a 
moment, and one horse be attached. One important point, 
in my opinion. Is that a tedder should have forks outside 
the wheels. Then the loose, tedded hay is never trampled 
over—whether we use one or two horses—until we com¬ 
mence raking up. 
Another fact to be considered is, that it does not pay to 
stack hay. Waldo F. Brown, in a recent article, speaks 
of this, and describes a barn lately built by him for hay 
alone. It is true that, whether hay is to be sold or used 
for home consumption, If it is stacked out-of-doors, there 
will be enough wasted in three or four years to pay for a 
substantial hay barn. J. H. brown. 
Kalamazoo Co., Mich. 
IMPLEMENT NOTES. 
We want to know if the Keystone hay loader cannot be 
used to load hay where slings are used, and if the ensilage 
carrier cannot be so rigged as to aid in unloading hay. 
Is there a really practical “ power converter” for utiliz¬ 
ing the power of a common pumping windmill for such 
work as churning, sawing, etc ? If there is such a machine 
we would like to know who makes it. 
The Sherwood steel harness is a fine aid in haying. A 
big forkful or “ sling ” of hay is too heavy for one horse 
to haul on the ordinary pulleys or steel tracks. With the 
Sherwood harness both horses can be used in unloading, 
and a child can drive them, because there are no heavy 
whiffletrees to be dragged and lifted about. 
Garden Tools.— I use the Deere garden drill and the 
McGee hand wheel hoe in my garden, and I find it much 
easier to raise “ garden truck” than it used to be. I have 
used the Planet Jr. tools also, but prefer the Deere imple¬ 
ments. The McGee cultivator is very easy to handle, and 
one can work very close In the row. Springs between the 
beams or handles and arch enable the operator to control 
easily, accurately, and instantaneously the side movement 
of the knives or cultivators, and enable the operator to 
keep any kind of “ garden sass” well cultivated, and thor¬ 
oughly clean, with very little hand weeding. 
J. H. BROWN. 
Potato Diggers. —“ What digger shall I get ? ” A good 
many farmers are asking themselves this question as they 
look at their big potato patches. Hand digging on a big 
field is bad business—too large and too hard. There are 
potato plows and potato diggers—don’t confound the two. 
The plow simply throws the potatoes out of the soil. Some 
are covered with earth and some never get out. A harrow 
or Breed’s weeder generally uncovers most of those that 
are plowed out. The potato digger takes up earth, pota¬ 
toes, vines, stones and all, shakes out the dirt, and leaves 
the tubers on the top of the ground. Of course this re¬ 
quires a good deal of force; it will keep four horses well 
exercised to do the work well. The Pruyn digger, made 
by the Pruyn Manufacturing Company, Hoosick Falls, N. 
5oi 
Y., will take out all the potatoes. That is more than 
most men can do. 
Ensilage Cutters.— Only a small portion of the corn 
fodder of the country is saved. The day is coming when 
this “small proportion” will represent the fodder that is 
wasted, not what is saved. Within a few years the prac¬ 
tice of feeding whole or long corn fodder will be voted a 
“ back number;” it will be cut or shredded either for the 
silo or for moistening or steaming before feeding. The 
advantages of chopped corn fodder are very evident. More 
of the fodder is eaten, it makes a better bedding and ab¬ 
sorbent and work is saved in handling the manure. Just 
as soon as the American farmer is forced to economize by 
saving wastes he will begin with his corn fodder. The 
“ Ohio” ensilage cutter, made by the Silver Manufactur¬ 
ing Company, Salem, O., Is an excellent one. Send for 
their circular. 
Cheap Ice Machines. —Wonderful advances have been 
made of late in the manufacture of devices for cooling 
water or air. A company has been formed in Brooklyn 
which proposes to supply cold air for family use as water, 
gas or electricity is now supplied. This cold air la to be 
piped about the city, underground, like steam or gas so 
that patrons may cool their food or even their entire 
houses by “ turning on the cold.” Several of the theaters 
and public halls are cooled by admitting cold air to the 
top of the hall. Being heavier than the warm air, it set¬ 
tles to the floor and greatly reduces the temperature. 
Many ice machines are in use. The trouble is that all 
these devices are calculated for doing work on a large 
scale. While they do a great deal of cooling, at a low rate 
per unit, they are very expensive and out of the reach 
of small capitalists. There has long been a demand for a 
small and cheap family Ice machine. The only response 
to this demand that we have seen comes in the circular of 
an English manufacturing company, which offers the 
“Champion Hand Ice-making Machine.” The smallest 
size is said to weigh 112 pounds, being about two feet 
high by 2x>^ base measure. The list English price is 
about 140. There are larger sizes running in value up to 
$300 or $500. The size generally recommended costs $(50. 
It is said to make pure ice in three minutes. The machine 
is described as a powerful vacuum pump, connected with 
a glass vessel to contain the substance to be frozen and a 
vessel containing sulphuric acid, Why do not some of 
our dealers Import these machines, or why don’t some of 
our manufacturers make something like them/ 
A Test of Harrows. —Prof. Sanborn of the Utah Ex¬ 
periment Station, recently tested four types of tillage 
tools—the disc, Cutaway, spring-tooth and smoothing har¬ 
rows. They were tried in the same field, under such con¬ 
ditions that the draft, the depth of working, the amount 
of soil moved and the degree of fineness of the worked sur¬ 
face of the soil were all measured. As a result of these 
experiments, Prof. Sanborn concludes that the Cutaway 
“had the lightest draft per pound of earth moved, cut the 
deepest, fined the soil about the same as the others, gave 
the loosest soil save the disc harrow, and the evenest bot¬ 
tom cultivation save the square-toothed harrow.” If but 
one harrow could be had on a farm, Prof. S. would recom¬ 
mend the Cutaway, and yet every farm outfit to have two 
harrows—one working on the principle of the Cutaway, 
with its penetrating and lifting motion, and the other a 
smoother or leveler like the Thomas or Acme. This decis¬ 
ion is the same as that arrived at two years ago by The R. 
N.-Y. With us the Cutaway stirred the soil more com¬ 
pletely than any other harrow, but it left the surface in 
ridges—not suited for sowing grain. The smoothing har¬ 
row or Acme left the surface just right for seeding. On 
hard and stony or very hilly ground, however, the Cuta¬ 
way is broken more readily than the disc or spring-tooth. 
Prof. Sanborn also undertook to compare the work of 
the plow with that of the Cutaway. He concludes that 
the plow cannot do the work specially designed for the 
harrow. Every plowed field must be harrowed before it Is 
in the best shape for planting. On the other hand, the 
harrows do not work deep enough except on light, sandy 
soils. Prof. S. concludes that an implement having the 
functions of the digging harrows may be made that will, 
on many soils, replace the plow. It must evidently be fol¬ 
lowed by a smoother of some sort. Several of our manufac¬ 
turers have much the same view of the matter and are 
studying to perfect digging or spading machines that can 
be handled by two or three horses. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
A Northern New York Berry Business.— I get my 
pickers from the city. I pay one cent per quart for picking 
strawberries until the bulk of the crop is gathered; then 
two and three cents per quart. Picking from 50 to 100 
quarts is a good day’s work. I do not ship any, selling all 
in town at retail. I use 32 and 48 quart crates and clean 
baskets, and sort and sell the small fruits at a lower price, 
when I have any. I have never evaporated any, as I don’t 
think it would pay unless a person was familiar with the 
business and had a large quantity. The frost and dry 
weather this spring have injured the strawberry crop very 
much and the White Grub entirely ruined a good many 
fields last fall. The raspberry crop I think will be good, 
though but few are raised in this county, w. b. green. 
St. Lawrence County, N. Y. 
Peter Henderson & Co , 35 and 37 Coitlandt St., N. Y. 
A catalogue of cauliflowers, cabbages, celery, strawberry 
plants, seeds adapted to summer sowing, insecticides, etc. 
Among the newer strawberries, the place of honor is given 
to the Parker Earle which has jumped into popularity 
without the usual advertising parade. The shape of the 
berry is not well shown in the catalogue. It usually has a 
prominent neck and is often larger in the middle of the 
berry than at the stem end. 
Among winter wheats, the firm offers Jones’s Winter 
Fife, American Bronze, Early Red Clawson, Rochester Red. 
