1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
38i 
tatoes, and have sold this year of last years' crops $512 
worth, while in 1892 I sold of the 1891 crops only $320 
worth, so the statement in my article did not repre¬ 
sent my receipts for my 1892 crop by about $200. Some 
of The Rural readers not having seen the previous 
articles about my farm, might hence. construe from 
the last article concerning it that I had sold in 1892 
a considerable amount of 189l's crop to make up the 
amount stated. I should have given the sales of the 
farm produce for the past five years; that would have 
given a better idea how the crops averaged, and that 
1892 was not a particularly good season. I find my 
total sales for the past five years amounted to $16,351.- 
48, or an average of $3,270 per year, and that after de¬ 
ducting the expenses of picking and carting the 
strawberries, which I find on looking over my books, 
were a little over $1,500. In two years I paid $936 for 
doing the work. I think if this year turns out a good 
one, I shall make a good showing, as I have already 
up to date sold $960 worth of produce, a. Johnson. 
Go Gunning: For Potato Bugrs. 
H. A. B., Brice , Mich. —1. Would the Leggett Paris- 
green gun be a good tool to use in large fields to apply 
Paris-green to potato vines to kill the bugs? 2 Could 
the Paris-green be applied clear or would it have to 
be mixed with something else to prevent injury to the 
vines? 3. Would the powder have to be applied when 
the vines were damp or would enough stick to them to 
poison the bugs if applied when they were dry ? 
Ans. —1. We think so. The R. N.-Y. uses it in the 
field as well as in the garden. 2. No. It is not prac¬ 
ticable. If it were, there would be danger of inhal¬ 
ing enough to sicken the operator. It would have to 
be mixed with fine, dry plaster. 3. No. Of course 
it would be better to apply the powder to moist leaves, 
because more would adhere and it would adhere longer. 
But enough would adhere if applied to dry foliage to 
kill insects. It is an economical machine. Probably 
one-tenth of the quantity usually applied by the old 
shakers, would serve if applied through the gun and 
the distribution would be far more thorough. 
Mack and Lime Questions. 
W. B., Olympia, Washington. —1. Where should I 
send samples of soil for analysis? About how much 
is required for one? 2. I have a muck bed about like 
that mentioned on page 267 of The Rural. It is 
now used for a meadow where sufficiently drained. 
It is very strong and averages about 20 feet deep. It 
is usually too wet to be plowed before July 1. When 
it can be plowed oats are raised there. 3. The muck 
beds in this part of the county are mostly covered with 
Bunch grass which is very hard to get rid of; it is not 
a native, and is called Mesquite or Velvet grass. What 
is its proper name? 4. In the reply to query on page 
267, nitrogen alone is mentioned; is the phosphoric 
acid in the muck of as much value as the nitrogen? 5. 
How many loads would be necessary for an acre of 
sandy land? The land now produces, without manure 
from 10 to 15 bushels of wheat and 75 to 100 of pota¬ 
toes. I can get land plaster for $20 per ton, oyster 
shells for hauling 10 miles; are they valuable |for 
their lime? 
Ans. —1. Send to your State experiment station at 
Pullman, Wash, for instructions about sending soil for 
analysis. 2 and 3. It is Holcus lanatus—one of the 
meanest of grasses Its common name is Velvet 
grass. 4. You will not’ce that there was but little 
phosphoric acid in the muck and that is probably in¬ 
soluble and of little immediate value. 5. At least 
as many as of stable manure. Give the soil a thick 
coating. Oyster shells to be of value must be crushed 
fine or burned. It would not pay to haul the whole 
shells 10 miles for fertilizing. 
Some Qualities of Soil and Plaster.' 
F. H., Oiukama, Mich. —On my place there are some 
“ banks and braes,” an acre or two, too steep for cul¬ 
tivation or that would wash under tillage. The sandy 
loam is no w covered with either grass or brush but the 
soil and the locality are particularly adapted to tree 
fruits. 1. Would it be advisable to attempt to grow 
cherries or apples on such land? 2. If large holes 
were dug and broken bones and good s’oil were put 
in, could paying returns be expected without much 
after cultivation? 3. When a fertilizer smells strong 
does it follow that valuable gases are escaping into 
the atmosphere? 4. If so, in broadcasting such a fer¬ 
tilizer on the surface—on a matted strawberry row, as 
an instance, where it could not be stirred into the soil— 
would it be well to mix it with gypsum to check the 
escape of gas ? 5. Will gypsum arrest or “fix ” any 
gases other than ammonia? 6. Why do not manufac¬ 
turers use in their fertilizers a compound that will 
prevent such waste as I have mentioned and is it prac¬ 
ticable ? 
Ans. —1. If the soil is naturally good, yes; if poor, 
no. 2. Good soil to fill in the holes would kelp the 
trees for two or three years. After that it would be 
of little or no help. It would be of no use whatever 
to the tree when old enough to bear fruit. The same 
may be said of broken bones. 3. No, not necessarily. 
Such strong odors are often sulphuretted hydrogen or 
something akin. Ammonia is the only valuable gas 
that escapes, except it may be carbonic acid. 4. It 
would hardly be worth while, because the decompo¬ 
sition, if any, would cease as soon as thinly spread 
out. 5. Gypsum will arrest free ammonia by form¬ 
ing sulphate of ammonia. That is all. 6. It would 
make them too bulky. 
A Flock of 1,000 Lambs. 
H. C., McKeon , Pa .—Did Mr. Woodward who wrote 
in a recent Rural, ever know an instance where 
1,000 lambs were wintered in one building; if so, how 
were they fed? What gain did they make? How 
many attendants were needed? Was there any loss 
by death? 
Ans.— We have never fed as many as 1,000 lambs in 
a single barn, for the reason that most of our barns 
were built before we bought the farms on which they 
stand, and none of them is large enough to accommo¬ 
date so many. But we have had more than that num¬ 
ber of sheep in all our barns at one time, and they did 
splendidly. I have seen more than that number in a 
single structure and they did nicely. It is no more 
difficult to keep 1,000 in a single barn and have them 
do well, than to keep 100. The same conditions hold 
good in either case, only more room must be provided. 
They must have clean, dry quarters, with good ven¬ 
tilation, so as to insure fresh air in full measure. 
Then, ammonia must be kept down by the use of 
plaster or some other absorbent, and then it is only a 
question of room, water and feed. Twice as much 
room as will accommodate 100 will as suitably accom¬ 
modate 200, and so up to any number. Other things 
being equal, room, feed and ability to care for them 
fix the number that can be profitably kept under one 
cover. 
In answering these questions, let me give a history 
of one bunch of lambs fed by us the past winter. They 
were bought and put into the folds the last of Decem¬ 
ber at an average weight of 60 pounds per head, for 
which we paid 4 % cents per pound, or $2.70 each. We 
sheared from these an average of over six pounds of 
wool, for which we got 23 cents per pound, or an av¬ 
erage of $1.38. We have sold them for 5K cents per 
pound, home weight, and they averaged a trifle over 
90 pounds. It will be seen that we get for them $4.95, 
to which add wool $1.38, making $6.33, from which 
take first cost $2.70, leaving us, $3.63 for food and care. 
Now what did they eat? They had all the ensilage 
they would eat up clean, 300 pounds daily to each hun¬ 
dred lor 125 days, or 18M tons at $1.50 per ton, $28.25 
and 40 pounds clover hay daily or 234 tons at $8 per ton, 
$20. In addition they have had daily an average of 
125 pounds of corn, wheat bran and new-process lin¬ 
seed meal in these proportions, 100 pounds corn cost¬ 
ing 80 cents; 60 pounds of bran costing 35 cents, and 
50 pounds of linseed meal costing 60 cents or an aver¬ 
age cost of 871* cents per 100 pounds, or for the 125 
days for grain $136.72, making the whole cost of feed¬ 
ing per hundred for the 125 days, $187.85. To tins add 
the first cost of the lambs, $2.70, and interest on it 
and feed for four months at six per cent, $9.10, and 
the grand total is $463.95 for the 100. Now, as the 
100 sold for $638, we have left as profit per hundred 
$174.05. I have made no account of interest on the 
cost of the building, but, on the other hand, I have not 
mentioned the large value of the big pile of very rich 
manure made. The last was not a very favorable 
winter for sheep feeding. Many feeders have no more 
than come out even, and some have lost money, unless 
they figure in the value of the manure made. Prices 
of sheep and lambs were high last fall and did not ad¬ 
vance during the winter. This was especially the case 
on the best class of stock—on lambs weighing 80 to 
95 pounds last fall; but it will be seen that we put in 
a different class of stock—those weighing less and 
costing very much less per pound, 
As to the number of shepherds necessary to care for 
1,000 lambs, much will depend upon the accommoda¬ 
tions. In ordinary quarters three men would be ample, 
but I could so build a sheep barn that two good men 
would have an easy time in caring for 1,200 lambs. 
Would there be a loss by death ? In our case this 
winter we lost no fattening lambs, but in my answer 
to the Michigan man some time since, I allowed for a 
loss of three per cent, but this was excessive ; a loss 
of one per cent is all that should be allowed, and this 
is more than need be with good care. j. s. woodward. 
Poison This Peach Eater. 
C. L. 0., Rose, N. Y. —I set out a peach orchard this 
spring, and something is eating off the buds as fast as 
they start. The land is sandy and contains a good 
many small ants. I don’t know whether to lay the 
trouble to them or to the May beetles. I have thought 
of tying a narrow band of tarred paper to the base of 
each tree, and perhaps paint with coal tar. Will this 
injure the trees ? 
Ans. —Ants rarely, if ever, attack foliage. May 
beetles, however, feed largely upon tender foliage, 
and it is quite probable that they are the cause of the 
injury. An examination of the trees during the 
early part of the night with a lantern will doubtless 
discover the depredators. A coat of coal tar on, or a 
band of tarred paper about the bafees of the trees 
would probably be of no avail against the pest work¬ 
ing on the buds. I should hesitate to apply the tar to 
a .young tree. The paper, however, would be of value 
against the peach borer. The depredator, whatever 
it may be, could best be combatted by spraying the 
trees with Paris-green at the rate of one pound to 200 
gallons of water; always mix the Paris-green with 
twice its weight of freshly slaked lime, which takes 
up the soluble arsenic which would otherwise scorch 
the foliage. m. h. slingerland. 
Impotent Pollen; Small Grapes. 
J.L. P., Egg Harbor Ciiy, N. J.— I have 1% acre of 
Clevener grape vines. The first I had some years ago 
bore well and never rotted, and I kept planting more. 
About four years ago they started to bloom, set, and 
then the berries, when as large as No. 2 shot, would 
not grow any more, and only about half of them grew 
to the right size and got ripe ; the others stayed green. 
Can I do anything to prevent this, or are the Clevenei- 
grapes “ done for.” 
Ans. —The cause of the trouble named is evidently 
impotency of pollen. If the Clevener pollen is defi¬ 
cient in quantity or potency, the difficulty must be 
remedied in some way or outside pollen must be relied 
on. IIow to give the pollen more potency is as yet an 
unsolved problem. We sometimes see this difficulty 
in several other varieties, notably the Clinton, Cot- 
tage, etc., and at other times it is not at all apparent, 
showing plainly that seasons or conditions control 
this matter in some way. “ How ?” is the conundrum. 
E. WILLIAMS. 
Loss in Weight in Hay. 
J. T. C., New York. —I am about to contract for 
some hay, which I am to cart from the field and pay 
for at a certain figure per ton at the time of carting. 
What is likely to be the average loss in weight Pom 
the time of carting well-cured hay till six months 
afterwards. 
Ans.— We shall be glad to have some of our hay 
farmers answer this. We could give nothing but a 
guess, not knowing whether the hay is to be stacked 
or housed. 
Uncle Tom Blackberry. 
P. P. W., Milford, Del. —Last fall we bought a lot of 
Erie, or Uncle Tom blackberry plants, the agent 
claiming that this was a very different variety from 
the Erie, being earlier, larger and more hardy. Will 
some who know, tell me if they are the same or 
different kinds, and describe them ? 
Ans.— We have not before heard af the Uncle Tom. 
The Erie is much like the Lawton. 
Where Straw Will Not Decay. 
J. F. G., Mandan, Morton County, N. D.~ I send The 
Rural by this mail a sample of wheat stubble for the 
purpose of forcibly showing the different conditions 
under which farming must be carried on in different 
parts of the country. The stubble was plowed under 
in the latter part of April, 1892, and lay under ground 
till May 4, 1893 ; yet it is in a good state of preserva¬ 
tion. This is no uncommon occurrence here. An 
Eastern man would not believe it, but I have myself 
plowed out stubble that had lain in the ground two 
years, the field having not been plowed meanwhile, 
and it was in as well preserved a state as the sample 
sent. Now the point is this : how much good does it 
do. in a place as dry as this, to manure ? 
Ans. I he sample showed little evidence of decay. 
Still it would decay in time and become plant-food. 
Manure in so dry a climate may do little good this year 
or even next. But it will feed the plants sooner or 
later. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
'lobacco Fertilizer. —W. H., Nelson, Pa.—A good to¬ 
bacco fertilizer should analyze about 3 per cent of nitro¬ 
gen, 3 of phosphoric acid and 5 to 10 of potash. You 
cannot make a suitable tobacco manure out of hen 
manure, ashes and plaster. 
Grinding Hen Manure.— O. II., Basking Ridge, N. J. 
—You can grind hen manure by breaking it in small 
pieces and passing it through one 'of the mills made 
for grinding bone, or crush it with a heavy shovel and 
break it up with a heavy iron rake. This is best done 
on a firm, hard floor. The manure should, of course, 
be dried and mixed with plaster as taken from the 
roosts. 
Selling to Hotels.— H. Y , New York.—It is a diffi¬ 
cult matter for the ordinary farmer to sell produce 
such as poultry, eggs, fruits, etc., to the high-class 
restaurants and hotels in this city. The principal 
reason is that they must purchase where they can get 
a regular supply the year around, and this they can 
do only of the extensive dealers. Each hotel has its 
buyer whose business it is to maintain the needed 
supply of provisions. 
