544 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
each 100 pounds of skim milk. Feed the skim-milk sweet 
and warm, as warm as new milk when drawn. Never 
feed milk cold or coldish, and never when sonr. Then, as 
soon as the calf gets on its feed, give it a raw 
each two or three days, as a corrective, and oftener, if it 
should have the scours or a symptom. As soon as yon 
can, «et the calf to eat some dry meal. Oat meal, sifted 
free from " shucks ” is best. The oat hulls will irritate 
the stomach, as the calf has only as yet its milk stomach, 
and “roughage” should not be given until after it begins 
to chew the cud ; then it can take care of a little of this 
kind of food. Keep the calf in the stable in hot, dry 
weather and when flies are thick. It costs too much to feed 
flies on growing veal. When the calf will eat it, begin to 
feed a little fresh-cut clover, and do not forget the water. 
Be your own judge as to the size of the calf’s rations. You 
can judge best about how much the calf can eat, digest 
and assimilate. For the first few weeks it is best to feed 
a calf three times per day, rather than to distend its stom¬ 
ach with an amount that will “last” it 12 hours. Keep 
it dry and clean. Throw some land plaster upon the 
stable floor before the bedding is spread on, and absorb 
the odors that otherwise will betray themselves. Start with 
a good calf. Do not put $20 worth of milk and grain into 
a 50-cent ealf. JOHN GOULD. 
Beef Care Spoils a Dairy Calf. 
It all depends on what the calf is wanted for. A calf 
that would be good for a butter animal would not be good 
for a beef animal. I do not think a calf that is to make 
a bu tter cow should be allowed to suck more than a few 
days. If by “good calves” your correspondent means fat 
calves I cannot give aDy experience, because I raise calves 
for butter cows exclusively. If by “ good calves” he means 
strong, healthy, good-sized, well developed animals, I 
would advise him to have them dropped in the fall—Sep¬ 
tember or October—and as soon as they begin to eat hay, 
let him keep before them all the good hay they want to 
pick over. Some of tne best calves I ever raised weie win 
tered on hay and ekim-milk. but It is well to add a email 
ration of linseed meal or bolhd flax seed or ground oats 
or fine feed. 1 have been tax ght that calves do not need 
the butter fats, and that skim-milk and linseed meal were 
better for them than new milk. In my experience, the 
time the calf is dropped has far more to do with its thrift 
than any special food combination which I have ever tried. 
.7. W. NEWTON. 
Linseed, Good Hay, A Good Start. 
We feed our milk directly from the cow until the calf is 
from four to six weeks old, and then change to sweet 
skimmed milk, directly from the separator at the normal 
temperature. We also begin to place before the calf a 
small quantity of grain food—wheat bran, ground oats 
and linseed meal,—which it will soon eat. By this method 
we usually have our calves in as good flesh as we desire in 
order to secure the best results in the dairy. We do not 
want our calves too fleshy; we merely want them to be 
just in good growing, healthy condition. 
Onondaga Co., N. Y. smiths & powell. 
Leave the calves with the mother from three days to one 
week. Then take them in a pasture with young things 
only. Give wheat bran and oats in equal parts in a trough 
under shelter from rain; add a small quantity of corn meal. 
Supply this In abundance for their convenience, for they 
will not gorge themselves if there is always a supply. 
Morris Co., N. J. s. Francisco. 
I have for many years found that the best calves we raise 
are fed on warm skim-milk, with a handful of linseed 
meal, and after drinking, a little bran and good hay ; and 
nothing does any animal more good than a little “elbow 
grease,” which is much better than all of Fairlee’s “sweat 
blanketing.” T. s. cooper. 
Lehigh Co., Pa. 
Linseed Better than Jersey Fat. 
To raise good calves with skim-milk, we always make it 
a rule to feed the milk about blood heat We boil linseed 
meal, and add a small quantity of that to the skim-milk. 
This seems to supply fat, and, in fact, unless the calves are 
being raised for beef, we think it preferable to feeding un¬ 
skimmed milk Certainly the milk of a highly fed, good 
Jersey cow is too rich for her calf. The linseed meal should 
be cooked fresh every time, and never fed stale or sour. 
Venango Co., Pa. miller & sibley. 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS. 
Wheat Not Always Self-fertlllztng. 
May wheats cross naturally ? It has generally been as 
sumed that they do not—c in not. For several seasons past, 
as ample opportunity has been given for observation, we 
have more and more, with each ensuing period of bloom, 
inclined to the opinion that the question may be answered 
affirmatively, though not until now have we been able to 
offer any positive proof. The first evidence was given by 
The R. N.-Y. wheat rye hybrids; those that were sterile, 
or nearly so. It was observed that the envelopes (palets 
and glumes) about the pistils, stamens and ovaries gaped 
apart, and remained so for hours, if not for several dayp, 
as if asking for something that nature did not supply. We 
were thus led to watch the flowers of pure wheats. It was 
seen that the palets do open not only far enough to allow 
of the egress of the anthers, but occasionally so far as to 
enable one to see the feathery stigma without fuither 
pressing the glumes apart. It would seem,that this opening 
in pure wheats is of very short duration, peculiar conditions 
of moisture or heat, or both, perhaps, being the cause. 
Whether it occurs in all seasons, or in some seasons, or j ust 
at what time it is most likely to occur, the writer does 
not pretend to know. Were the stigmas of these gaping 
flowers already pollinated ? Were their own anthers pol¬ 
lenless or impotent, and was that the reason they gapsd 
open as in the case of the sterile rye-wheat heads ? Suppose 
the anthers of ordinary wheat heads were removed while 
green and immature (as in crossing) would any of the 
emasculated flowers bear kernels ? To answer the ques 
tlon five heads were so treated, care being taken to ascer¬ 
tain that the anthers were immature. These heads were 
examined one day during the past week. It was found 
that nearly one half of them bore grain (a much larger 
per cent than has ever been obtained by hand crossing, 
when it is necessary to again open the glumes and paleae for 
the introduction of foreign pollen) and the grains were 
better developed. 
Specimens of the Botan Plum have been sent to us by 
H. W. Reed & Co., of Waycro3S, Ga., and by others. The 
above also send specimens of the Chabot, which resembles 
the Botan in every way except it is not quite so sweet. It 
is thought that the oriental plums are going to revolu¬ 
tionize plum culture in the South. The specimens sent 
are about the size shown in the catalogue portraits. The 
flesh is of a greenish-orange color, tender, very juicy, 
sweet and perfumed. The skin is tough and acid; but 
it parts readily from the flesh. The thickness of the skin 
undoubtedly gives the fruit some power to resist the cur- 
culio. The trees bear while young and are highly produc¬ 
tive, bearing every year. The Abundance of some cata¬ 
logues is, we are credibly informed, the Botan. 
Blackberries are a study indeed this year at the Rural 
Grounds. They have been raised there for nearly 20 years 
and never before has there been so large a crop. Kltta- 
tinny, Early Harvest, Early Cluster, Erie, Bangor, Bag- 
nard, Bonanza, Thornless, Wilson Jr., Topsey (Childs’s 
Great Everbearing Tree), Agawam, Gaynor, MInnewaski, 
Early King, Taylor, Snyder, Stone’s Hardy, Nevada, 
Breece’s No. 1 and Red Cluster, are all bearing to the limit 
(seemingly) of their several capacities. The white black¬ 
berries alone are not productive. 
By actual count it is found that some blackberry canes 
bear an average of 100 bei rles to the foot of cane, the fruit¬ 
ing canes being often three feet long. Bonanza gives 132 
berries to 14 inches of cane. We do not find that this 
variety is offered in the catalogues. It was received from 
J. T. Lovett in the spring of 1885. It is a late berry. 
Mjnne'WASki seems to be worthy of extended trial. 
The canes are stroDg, the foliage free of ru6t, the fruit 
large and of a quality certainly as good as the Lawton. 
Early Harvest we may again call attention to as being 
the earliest blackberry in cultivation in so far as our 
trials enable a judgment to be passed. It gives its entire 
crop early, so that it may be placed In market nearly a 
week earlier than any other kind. Further, it may be said, 
It is the prettiest berry in cultivation—black, glossy and 
as regular in shape as if made of wax to order. The 
drupes are small and all of the same size, and the seeds 
small. The quality is not high, being neither blackberry 
sweet nor blackberry sour—or, perhaps, a trifle insipid to 
eat out of the hand. But a moderate amount of sugar 
remedies that. The Early Harvest is not very hardy, giv¬ 
ing a crop only about once in three years as an average. 
Early Cluster is hardier, but not so early. The ber¬ 
ries, moreover, are not regular in shape, so that there is 
little to commend it over older sorts. 
MUCK AND FERTILIZERS; BIG CARROTS. 
I confidently affirm that I, at least, have solved the prob 
lem of raising roots cheaply, and as I have no thought of 
patenting the process, I have determined to share it with 
my fellow-farmers who read The Rural. The process is 
simply clean culture. I have just scuffls-hoed my patch 
of two-flfths of an acre ready for the boys who will thin 
and weed them. The boys do the work and do it well for 
two dollars, or at the rate of five dollars per acre. The 
average yield of carrots on such land is about 900 bushels 
par acre, reaching 1,200 under favorable conditions. 
Last year I had carrots where I have the crop now, and 
by absolutely clean culture I was enabled this year to let 
the cirrots grow untouched until they were large enough 
to thin rap.dly. The account would stand about like this : 
To plowing and floating one-half day. $1.33 
To drilling tnree quarter day . .75 
To scuffling one day.$1.03 
Thinning and weeding. $2.()0 
Total.$4.75 
To this must be aided two half days spout m pulling any 
weeds that may yet grow, which would make the total 
$5 75, and we have a crop of carrots ready to pull for less 
than two cents per bushel. This is the second crop, and of 
course it will be necessary to manure the ground another 
year to get a paying crop of anything. 1 will use per acre, 
say: 
One-half ton of a complete commercial manure.$20.00 
Plowing and floating one day. $2 00 
Drilling about three days. $3 00 
Scuflllng 2V6 days. $2.50 
Thinning. $5.00 
Two searches for over looked weeds two days . $2.00 
Total . $31.50 
From 900 to 1,2U0 bushels of carrots ready to harvest for 
such a sum is the cheapest horse, cow, sheep or hog food 
that can be used. 
Can this be done on a sandy loam ? Very nearly. Sum¬ 
mer fallow until the land is free from weed seeds as well 
as weeds; use a complete manure freely for sandy soils, 
securing the necessary humus by occasionally plowing 
under green crops, and remember, above all, that every 
seed which falls upon the ground means just so much 
unnecessary labor another season. E. A. F. 
Eaton Rapids, Mich. 
JULY 25 
Farm Politics. 
Here it is proposed to discuss with freedom and fairness, ques¬ 
tions of National or State policy that particularly concern farm¬ 
ers. The editors disclaim responsibility for the opinions of cor¬ 
respondents. The object is to develop a true and fair basis for 
organization among farmers. Let us think out just what we want 
and then strive for it. 
A MISSOURI FARMER HAS AN IDEA. 
Why is it that so many of our farmers of to-day are poor, 
always living from hand to mouth, with never any money 
ahead. In going through the country one sees various 
types of people : one man will seem to have plenty of every 
thing, while his closest neighbor will be very poor. Now 
why is this ? The “ average farmer” makes it a point to go 
to town not less than twice and oftener three times a week 
“plowing the street.” Then he tries to see on how many 
acres he can raise enough corn to supply his needs. Instead 
of raising 500 bushels from 10 acres, he wants to put in 
nearer 50 acres and then by skimming it over he finally 
gets only 500 bushels. How can a farmer ever expect to get 
ahead in this world unless he has something to sell ? In 
this country a large portion of the farmers never have any¬ 
thing to sell to speak of. These very men are always com¬ 
plaining of hard times, no money, etc., and one even hears 
them talking of the government sending some money into 
the country. Now, in regard to the past year’s record of 
the People’s party, the Wheel, the Farmers’ Alliance, etc., 
what can they show as having accomplished ? Take this 
county, for example: there are a certain class who are 
always howling about hard times, no money, etc. These 
very men were the leaders in these movements. They 
spent a greater portion of their time in attending meet¬ 
ings, conventions, etc , and allowed their crops to go, and 
what did they do ? They have simply thrown the power 
and the offices into the hands of one of the old parties. 
Six or eight months before the last election the Wheel 
movement was sprung. It was got up for the benefit of 
the much-oppressed farmer. Things ran along smoothly 
until near election, when this Wheel made a great stroke 
towards freedom by indorsing the whole ticket of the 
Democrat party in the county ; or, in other words, the 
Wheel nominated, and the Democrat party indorsed, and at 
the November elections they proceeded to elect said ticket, 
and in consequence a majority of the officers elected were 
not competent to fill the places and they are being run by 
the Democrats. But what benefit is all this to the farmer ? 
The farmer must begin at home to better his condition 
by manuring his ground, putting in a smaller acreage, and 
attending to it better. He must make one acre do the work 
of five. He had better sell off five acres out of every six and 
spend the purchase money in improving the remainder. 
Why is It that so many farmers are dissatisfied with the 
farm ? Simply for the reason that It is not made attrac¬ 
tive. Generally it’s the same old thing, “ break the ground 
In the spring, harrow, plant, plow corn, gather corn in the 
fall,” and so on year after year—no change, no new life, 
nothing to break the monotony. Why not break this 
monotony, invest in a nice horse, some blooded Holstein 
cattle, Poland China hogs or sheep and some full-blooded 
poultry—something to take the mind away for a time 
from these routine cares? Some people may turn up their 
noses and look queer when poultry is talked of, and say 
“small potatoes,” and such like; but nevertheless they 
should try it. They will be surprised at the result. It 
infuses new life into the veins of the boys (and girls too); 
it gives them something to care for during odd spells, 
something to take pride in, and by-and-by they will begin 
to breed them, then offer them for sale, then advertise 
them, and they will find a fascination about advertising 
that will please the majority. Now all of this helps to 
brighten the farmer’s life ; it brings him in contact with 
enlightened business men. If he wishes he can attend the 
shows, exhibit his stock and It all helps to make his life 
more pleasant. Will you try it, even if on a small scale ? 
Benton Co., Mo. F. H petts. 
CRITICISING THAT TAX REFORM PLATFORM. 
The “ Tax Reform Association” seems to me to be com¬ 
posed of a set of avaricious money lenders. Let us look 
over its platform of principles (see page 465 ) The first 
plank is all right as far as I can see. The second reads as 
follows : “ Mortgages and capital engaged in production 
or trade should be exempt from taxation, beciuse taxes on 
such capital tend to drive it away, to put a premium on 
dishonesty and to discourage industry;” it does put a 
premium on dishonesty under the present taxation laws in 
order to avoid a just share of taxation. A farmer’s prop¬ 
erty is nearly all real estate and quite often heavily mortgag¬ 
ed and the industry of the farmers Is one of the greatest in 
the world, and for them to have to pay an unjust tax so 
that the rich may grow richer is very discouraging. Plank 
three is very true with regard to the land tax being the most 
easily, cheaply and certainly collected; but its import 
is very unjust. The fourth plank is very true, but if 
this association could control the system of taxation it 
would be much worse. Plank five says no legislature 
will venture to enact a good system of local taxation 
until the people, especially the farmers, perceive the cor¬ 
rect principles of taxation and see the folly of taxing per¬ 
sonal property. 
The truth is that until the farmers throw off the yoke 
of oppression and elect to the legislatures as their repre¬ 
sentatives men of known honesty and sound judgment in¬ 
stead of helping to elect the professional politicians who 
care only for the honor of the offices and the pay they get 
from them, they can expect little relief. Every mortgage 
and all personal property should be taxed, and all encum¬ 
bered property should be exempt to the amount of the en¬ 
cumbrance.” C. H. EVERETT. 
Steuben Co., N. Y. 
