3i4 
May 6 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
of such birds is $1. We propose to sell to clubs and 
private families—where the Ellerslie butter is sold. 
Such private custom is worth 25 per cent more than 
the usual wholesale trade and can be developed the 
same as a market for eggs or butter.” 
To Secure Guaranteed Eggs. 
“ You propose to breed your own hatching eggs ? ” 
“ Yes and some to sell too.” 
“ What breeds shall you get ? ” 
“ White Plymouth Rocks for broilers. They grow 
rapidly and their color is best for the trade we are 
after. For eggs we propose to breed White Minorcas. ’ 
“ Shall you buy hens or eggs to start with? 
“Eggs. We have 1,100 Plymouth Rock eggs ordered 
to begin with and 100 Minorca eggs.” 
“ How many hens will you nee r ? 
“Between 500 and 600 will be enough to produce 
the eggs for the broilers. We shall keep them like 
breeding pens about 25 hens to one cock—well fed 
and cared for. We shall develop our egg trade and 
get together a flock of Minorcas large enough to sup¬ 
ply it. We shall also keep about 1,000 ducks. ’ 
“ Any special trouble with poultry diseases here? ” 
“ No. We have had no roup or cholera yet. We 
are careful to keep disease out. A good sharp axe 
is as good medicine as we know of. ’ 
“ What green food do you feed ?” 
“ Cabbage and hay. We have also fed ensilage ? ” 
Mr. Seeley’s plans for the future are excellent, and 
Ellerslie broilers and eggs are sure to make names 
for themselves in the trade. The broiler and incu¬ 
bator houses are models for convenience and comfort 
for the chicks. Nothing has been spared that would 
help start the business right. The Guernsey cow 
and the Plymouth Rock hen will make a strong com¬ 
bination that will leave no waste in the manufacture 
of hay, ensilage and grain into human food. H. w. C. 
A DITCHER FOR THE DITCHER. 
I.KT TIIR HOUSE HO THE SPADING : HIS BACK IS STOUTER 
THAN YOURS. 
A Drain Plugs Up the Pocketbook. 
Having heard that Mr. L. Coggshall, of West Groton, 
N. Y., had been doing a good deal of ditching, I called 
on him to see what kind of machine or method of 
digging he employed. 
“ This country was settled 70 to 100 years ago,’ said 
he. “ My father helped to clear the land you see here 
and he often remarked, ‘ We thought when we had the 
land cleared we had done all; but we had done only 
half.’ Most of the land here needed draining. For 
the past 50 years but little progress has been made, as 
the drier portions furnished land enough, but now 
these portions are worn out and the so called waste 
places are our most valuable lands. 1 rial has proved 
that muck swamps and strong, wet, clay land when 
thoroughly drained will give large crops.” 
“ There are half a dozen fine-looking farms and 
farm buildings in sight; are they drained ?” I asked. 
“ Every one of them. In all my experience I never 
have known of a man being sold out on a mortgage 
because he had spent money ditching, but I have seen 
that happen as a result of putting up expensive build- 
iugs.” ' ' 
Would you ad vise borrowing money to dig ditches? ’ 
“ I would borrow enough to drain one field, 'ihe 
extra gain the first year would furnish money enough 
to drain the second. In this way the whole farm 
would soon be drained. A ditch is a permanent divi¬ 
dend-paying investment.” 
“ You are rather enthusiastic 1 What kind of land 
does it pay best to drain ? ’ 
“Muck swamps because nothing but cat tails will 
grow on them till drained; but almost any land is 
benefited.” 
“ You cannot grow anything on clear muck, can 
you ?” 
“Oh yes! Corn will grow very large for fodder. 
Then such land makes a good celery bed. Where the 
clay subsoil can be worked up with the muck, almost 
anything will grow finely. I wish you would ask 
Rural readers if squashes, especially the winter 
varieties, will do well when planted on muck ? 
[Who will answer ? Eds.] 
“ What results have you obtained which will prove 
your strong assertions ?” 
“ Do you see that 18-acre field ? It furnished scanty 
pasture for 40 sheep before it was drained. Last year 
1L acre gave seven as big loads of dried fodder as my 
oxen could draw off. It was a wet season and the 500 
rods of ditch did not drain quite all of it, yet the re¬ 
mainder of the field gave 400 bushels of buckwheat.” 
“ How much did the ditch cost ?” 
“ Twenty-five cents a rod when all done.” 
“ Bless me ! The buckwheat would sell for $75 more 
than the cost of the ditch.” 
“ Yes; and half the cost was for picking stones to 
fill it, which cleared the land. The second crop will be 
better than the first. That field next to it gave for its 
first crop 40 bushels of buckwheat and 55 of oats the 
next season per acre.” 
“ Do you always sow buckwheat first ? ” 
“ Yes, it is such a rank grower that it smothers and 
kills all weeds and bogs.” 
“ Will clover grow and stay in such soils ?” 
“Alsike will do nicely, but Timothy pays best. Very 
heavy crops of it are cut, and it brings the highest 
price.” 
“ Do you grow corn ? ” 
“I had big stalks and big ears of corn this year 
where three years ago I could not drive a team. I 
am so well pleased with the crop that I shall try it 
again.” 
Have you tried phosphate ?” 
“ Yes, but in this section money put in ditches pays 
best.” 
The Digging of a Ditch. 
“ How deep would you dig them ? ” 
“Three feet, if there is fall enough. I would put 
them 2 X A and get more fall if necessary.” 
“ How far apart are they ? ” 
“ In clay 40 feet, and two to three rods apart in 
muck. ” 
“ What system do you use ? ” 
“ The lay of the land, outlet and kind of soil vary in 
different localities, and no general rule can be given. 
Fig. 119. 
I prefer to locate the main ditch atone side and extend 
laterals lengthways of the hill. Any water coming to 
the surface and starting down the hill is soon stopped, 
but if the drains are placed straight up the hill, some¬ 
times the water will keep between the drains clear to 
the bottom.” 
“ Why not put the main in the center and extend 
side ditches on each side ? ” 
“ I use a digger and want to make my ditches as 
long as possible to avoid turning.” 
“A digger has not any particular advantage over 
hired help, has it ? It only loosens the dirt. I was 
reading the other night that ‘ no practical machine is 
now being manufactured for the trade that will throw 
out the d>rt.’ ” 
“ Well! If I could find a man to hire, he would dig 
the ditch for 25 cents per rod, but I would have to 
board him. Those 200 rods cost me just that finished, 
including the cost of picking up the stones. The loosen¬ 
ing of the dirt is the hard part, and the digger saves 
about half the cost and a good deal of backache, and 
Crate for Apples or Potatoes. Fig. 120. 
this suits me pretty well when I am in the ditch my 
self.” 
“ How is the digger made ? ” 
“ Here is a picture of it. (Fig. 119.) That shows how 
simply it is made.” 
“ How do you work it ? ” 
“ In loam I put one horse on each side of the ditch. 
I have a long, round evener which does not drag the 
dirt back into the ditch like a square one. In hard 
clay I put a team on each side. Oxen are best in mud 
and very soft places.” 
“ How deep can you dig ? ” 
“ The handles are adjustable so that I can dig four 
feet if necessary.” 
“ Do you use any other tools ? ” 
“ We go through with a plow and turn the sod, and 
plow back in the trench, then shovel out; then put in 
the digger.” 
“ Do you break it ever ? ” 
“ No ! It is durable ; it will last a lifetime.” 
“ How much did you ever dig in a day, anyhow ? ” 
“ With two teams and two hired men, I dug 40 rods, 
2% feet deep in one day. It took one man another 
day to level the bottom ready for the tiles.” 
“ What was the soil ? ” 
“ About a foot of muck and the rest hard clay.” 
«• That is pretty fast work. How do you level the 
bottom ? ” 
“ I like to wait till the water starts and lay by that. 
There must be no sags to do good work. The fine dirt, 
silt, will settle in low places and stop up the throat.’ 
What Carries The Water ? 
“ Are tiles better than stones ? ” 
“ I like them better; but it is a good place to get rid 
of stones. The 200 rods spoken of used up a good 
many loads of them.” 
“ Do you fill the ditch nearly full ? ” 
“ No ! It will wash full of holes if too many stones 
are put in.” 
“ Do you cover the joints of the tile? When I was 
at Cornell they were putting a pieae of felt or tarred 
paper over each joint to keep fine dirt from dropping 
in.” 
“I do not. If there is fall enough all dirt will wash 
out A little clay is sufficient. In some places we get 
too much clay on and it holds the water.” 
“ How do you cover the ditch?” 
“ If plenty of stones are put in I take the plow and 
with one horse walking on the stones turn the dirt 
back. With tile, I cover with a little dirt carefully 
placed on each joint and attach the team to the plow 
with a chain. By driving as close as possible some 
dirt can be worked in until it is safe to let the horse 
walk in the trench. With a harrow, I level off the 
top when done.” 
“ I have covered a good many rods, myself, in that 
way. Some of them are 15 years old and seem to be 
as perfect as when first dug. Do you not think a 
good many people are too timid about ditching to get 
along cheaply ? ” 
“ Yes! Some people can not get their horses near a 
ditch, but it’s the fault of the owners. Any decent 
horse can be led alongside of a ditch a few times and 
if talked to a little, will be all right; but generally 
where there is trouble it is because the owner gets 
mad or afraid and the horse acts accordingly.” 
“ I see ! in the last analysis of success we always 
come to the man.” c. E. chapman. 
ANOTHER POTATO CRATE. 
At Fig. 120 is a drawing of a box or crate for han¬ 
dling potatoes or apples. I have used it for 10 or 12 
years, and should not like to do without it. It holds 
one bushel even full. Such boxes stand side by side 
three in a wagon box and one upon another as high as 
one wishes. The top slats are raised a quarter of an 
inch above the ends, so that the top box will keep its 
position. A farmer provided with 50 or 100 of these 
distributed in a potato field when digging can fill and 
leave them standing until he is ready to draw them, 
and will find them a great saving of labor in handling, 
besides being very handy for marketing or cellar 
storage. 0LARK ' 
St. Lawrence County, N. Y. 
THE COST OF SPRAYING POTATOES. 
The Rural asks: “ Who can give us, from actual 
experience, the real cost in time, labor and money of 
spraying an acre of potatoes with the Bordeaux Mix¬ 
ture by means of a Knapsack sprayer ?” I sprayed 
only eight acres last summer, going over part of the 
ground twice. The vines filled two-thirds of the 
middles between the rows when the first application 
was made. It required 2 % hours to spray an acre. 
That is to say, my man stirred the mixture well before 
each filling of the sprayer, spending probably five 
minutes at the barrel each time he refilled, and aver¬ 
aged four acres a day of 10 hours. 1 he copper and 
lime settle badly, and for the stirring in the barrel 
nothing is better than an old broom—unless it be a 
new one. 
I used 25 gallons of the solution per acre, and it was 
made according to the formula recommended by Prof. 
Green. That is: four pounds of sulphate of copper 
and four pounds of quicklime to 50 gallons of water. 
It is the “diluted Bordeaux Mixture.” The cost of the 
mixture depends upon the cost of the sulphate of 
copper, the price of which went up last summer in 
sympathy with the increased demand. I estimated 
the mixture I used at three-fifths of a cent per gallon, 
or 15 cents per acre. The work of applying cost 25 
cents an acre, making a total cost of 40 cents. No 
charge is made for mixing. This took about an hour s 
time for each barrel of 50 gallons. The sulphate of 
copper dissolves in hot water in a few minutes. The 
straining of the lime solution was done most easily 
and quickly when I used as little water as possible and 
kept the bottom stirred with a little rag mop. By 
straining only a quart at a time and then throwing 
out the sediment, all went right. 
I used six ounces of Paris-green to each 50 gallons 
of the mixture for killing the bugs. The Vermorel 
nozzle sends such a perfect spray that two or three 
ounces of the green per acre are probably equivalent 
to half a pound or more when used in the old way. 
Paris-green appears to be preferable to London-pur¬ 
ple, although I have not tried the purple. Experi- 
