1893 
443 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
of fodder and that of the best quality. Too many do 
not appreciate the value of corn when highly manured. 
It is about the last thing one can fool with a light 
dose of fertilizer and is the quickest to respond to a 
heavy one, provided the season is favorable. Potatoes 
will grow if given healthy land and plenty of ferti¬ 
lizer without any “ weather,” but corn will not. 
Several years ago Mr. Halloed tested many kinds of 
corn and selected the earliest variety to plant in his 
cabbage, and now every acre of ear’y cabbage is fol¬ 
lowed by one of corn. Some of us plant t iis kind of 
corn in potatoes and if the latter are dug early—say 
about July 10—they do quite well, but we would not 
do it if we were not short of land. 
Advantage of a Double Crop. 
Why not put on a double dose of manure and raise 
two crops instead of one each year? You get the 
crops of two acres and do the work on only one. Then 
the one acre you have, wh’le a second must be bought 
or hired, both of which are expensive. If you put as 
much manure and fertilizer on one acre for two crops 
as you would put on two acres for one crop, the land 
will grow richer and ought to make rich men, or if 
they spend more they will enjoy more of life, so they 
will be better off anyway. The expense for labor is 
not much more for two crops than for one, as the 
ground is kept cleaner, and consequently there is less 
toil in the future. The work is constant and not 
spasmodic. Mr. Hallock says that it takes just as 
much time to kill weeds as it does to dig potatoes and 
there is no money in killing the weeds. Better raise 
something to sell. 
Last summer an item appeared in one of our local 
papers to the effect that a certain farmer had raised 
Early Ohio potatoes that yielded only 45 bushels per 
acre, and the comment was that this variety was well 
adapted to some land and on some it could not be 
grown successfully. I called the the attention of the 
foreman, Mr. Jagger, to this item, and inquired 
whether the land was to blame for such a light crop. 
“ Well,” said he, “ you see that piece of potatoes 
where the cold-frames were last winter, a little less 
than an acre. We dug it yesterday and it yielded at 
the rate of 450 bushels—just 10 times as much. When 
I came here 15 years ago, Mr. Hallock had potatoes on 
that same piece, which is as gravelly now as it was 
then, and the potatoes were so small and wormy that 
they were not worth picking up.” 
“ What has made this change ?” I asked. 
“ Manure, plenty of manure,” said he. 
When Mr. Hallock bought that piece of land 20 years 
ago, it was poorer than any piece in Orient to-day. I 
estimati that the manure and fertilizer bills on the 
Hallock farm amount to $5,000 or $0,000 per annum, 
and that explains the large yields which they have. 
I asked Mr. Jagger the other day what was the best 
yield of potatoes they ever had, and he said their seed 
stock of Early Ohios turned out 550 bushels per acre 
last year. He said that he had read of getting 800 or 
900 bushels of potatoes and 1,500 to 2,000 bushels of 
onions by the new onion culture method, but he had 
not seen it done—not on a number of acres at least. I 
told him I wished they would try some Rural No. 2 
just to see what they could do in the way of a big 
yield, and he said they had one bushel planted with 
their seed stock to test the yield of that variety, but 
he seemed to express doubts as to whether there was 
anything that would outyield the Early Ohio I can 
remember when that variety was thought to le a very 
light yielder, and if we dug 100 bushels when the 
vines were green, we did well ; but the potatoes often 
then sold for $2 per bushel, but now we get 200 
bushels or upwards and sell them fer 50 cents Mr. 
Hallock commences to dig when they go 200 bushels ; 
but it is not long before they get up to 300. Mr. Hal¬ 
lock uses a Hedges digger as that was the first to 
walk through green vines successfully, but now there 
are other kinds so that no one digs green vines with a 
fork any more. The Planet Jr. digger is very good 
for the money and has never pulled out and given up 
a bad piece yet. 
Raise Your Own Seeds. 
Mr. Hallock says that every farmer ought to raise 
his own seeds, as one cannot buy as good as he can 
raise. Mr. Hallock raises his own onion and carrot 
seeds and Early Ohio potatoes and his cabbage seed is 
raised for him by a friend who has facilities and can 
be relied upon. When the carrots are dug in the fall 
the foreman selects what are considered of the proper 
shape and the ideal is so high that not more than 10 
barrels out of the whole crop of 12,000 bushels will 
pass muster. It is an easier matter to apply this rule 
to the selection of onions, as they are nearly all per¬ 
fectly shaped, but size governs somewhat. Mr. Hal¬ 
lock s plan with potatoes is the same as my own, and 
that is to select a number of bushels of perfectly 
shaped tubers as nearly as he can to what he thinks 
his ideal Early Ohios should be, and plant them for 
seed stock from which he gets his seed potatoes. This 
is done year after year with a steady increase of yield 
and generally with uniformly good shape, but coarse 
manure is apt to make them knobby. We have tried 
the same plan with the Early Rose, but failed, as the 
Maine-raised seed would beat our pedigree potatoes 
every time. We expect to have yet some day a regis¬ 
tered bushel of potatoes No. 1030 O. P. S E. O. P., 
that will make the co'llie pup blush all over and go lie 
down behind the barn. Pedigree seed will show itself 
more in carrots than in anything else. One of my 
neighbors had been digging 10 rows of carrots, home 
seed, for a 20-barrel load and when he got on to where 
he had sown seed bought of a prominent seedsman in 
New York, he dug 14 rows for 10 barrels, the manure 
and culture and lergth of row being just the same. 
Perhaps this item may be of benefit to some one 
although it has nothing to do with the Hallock farm 
Some time ago I noticed in The Rural that some 
one said that the Spangler fertilizer distributor would 
not put on a sufficient amount. My neighbors, the 
Brown Bros., bought a Spangler this spring and 
rigged it with tin guides to fertilize three potato rows 
at once, and they can put on a ton per acre with it if 
desired. They planted 23 acres of potatoes in a good 
season, using a Hudson Bicycle cultivator to furrow 
and cover with two rows at a time. Changing two 
bolts changes from furrowing to covering. Neighbor 
Brown says that he would mortgage the farm before 
he would be without the Bicycle cultivator. Farmers 
appear to have entered upon a tool buying era. 
About a dozen potato cutters have been used here¬ 
abouts this season. Hudson’s cart drill makes a fur¬ 
row, distributes the fertilizer and mixes in the soil— 
Geo. W. Hallock. Fig. 160. 
capacity, on* 5 bag. Nearly half a ton of Paris-green 
will be used in Orient this year and several of Leg¬ 
gett’s guns have been ordered, so it looks as though 
something would die before the summer is over. 
CHAS L. YOUNG 
R N.-Y.—Oui older readers will remember the excel¬ 
lent description of this farm printed last year. For 
the benefit of our new readers, we give the following 
statement of the crops sold from the place for the past 
few years. These figures show the proceeds of 58 
acres. The statement made above is for 68 acres—the 
extra 10 b ang largely given to late potatoes: 
1889. 1890. 1891. 
StrawberrlPs.quarts. 10,300 1 5.880 16,225 
Early potatoes.bushels. 3.000 3,300 2.858 
Late potatoes .bushels. 1,000 1,600 1,460 
Early cabbage.barrels. 5.500 4.800 4,000 
Onions for sets .bushels. 2.400 3.330 1.350 
Onions for seed.bushels 6,800 4,750 7,000 
Hay.tons. 3 3 4 
Corn In ears.bushels. 1,800 1,800 1,900 
White beans.bushels. 15 50 
Carrots.bushels. 8,000 9,200 5,000 
Brussels-sprouts .bushels. 370 400 225 
Onion seed.pounds. 125 100 125 
Carrot seed.pounds. 20 25 20 
Onion sets.bushels. 125 10 160 
Cabbage plants.300,000 250,000 275,000 
In addition, 32,000 ears of sweet corn were sold in 
1889 and 14,000 in 1890, and also 8,000 celery roots in 
1890, and 40,000 in 1891, with smaller quantities of 
squash, etc. 
Those who care to figure up the proceeds of this 
farm at ordinary prices for the products named, will 
see that the 68 acres yield a small fortune every year. 
How is it done ? The farm is run on straight business 
principles. Not only is it about the most prosperous 
farm, but the best experiment station in the country. 
Crops and varieties are tested and sorted out about as 
the robber cows are sorted out of a herd by Babcock 
& Scales. Sweet corn, for example, used to be 
grown, but careful figuring showed that it did not 
pay so well as other crops and it had to “go.” 
How they do manure on this farm ! Some farmers 
would go crazy to see the way the Hallocks pile on the 
manu- e. You can’t find a weed on the place. Almost 
every inch of ground produces a double crop. There 
is a big crop of corn growing up to take the place of 
the early cabbage crop, carrots and onions grow 
together, carrots and Hungarian grass after potatoes 
and so on During the season the writer hopes to 
describe his own visit to this farm—then he will try 
to retell the story so that our newer readers will 
understand it better. We are glad to show our 
readers a picture of Mr Hallock at Fig. 160. He is now 
over 69 years old, and has lived an honorable and suc¬ 
cessful life. 
A PUMP ON A SIPHON ? 
A few weeks ago an inquiry was made in The Rural 
as to the advisability of using a ram to convey water to 
a dwelling-house, etc., from a creek the water in which 
was at a higher level than the house. In such a case 
I think a siphon the cheapest device for carrying the 
water. The pipe can be laid either on the top of the 
groun 1 or in a ditch dug for it. All that will be needed 
is to get the pipe tight, and plenty of water at the 
strainer at the inlet, and use a cistern pump at the 
outlet to prime the siphon. The pipe needn’t be over 
an inch in diameter, though, of course, its size will de¬ 
pend on the quantity of water needed and supplied. 
An elbow or T piece can be used on which to sere w 
the pump till the priming has been done. See Fig. 159 
BASIC SLAG IN EUROPE. 
compared with other sources of phosphoric acid 
Its Place In French Agriculture. 
Basic slag is regarded in France as a cheap source 
of phosphoric acid, the good grades averaging 16 to 18 
per cent of it. It is especially valuable for meadows 
established in low, damp lands, owing to the 30 or 40 
per cent of lime contained in it. Finely ground, it is 
scattered over the meadows before winter at the rate 
of 600 pounds per acre, with an addition of 200 pounds 
of kainit, or, preferably, 100 pounds of muriate of 
potash. In case of deficiency of nitrogen in the soil, 
200 pounds of nitrate of soda or of sulphate of am¬ 
monia should be added in the spring. 
Basic slag is principally used on meadows. How¬ 
ever, some farmers employ it on grain crops such as 
wheat, barley, etc., and it is almost always used in 
combination with potash. On large farms we use very 
little bone as a source of phosphoric acic. Rock phos¬ 
phates or basic slag are preferred; but the latter, 
being of recent introduction, is not so well known as 
the rock phosphates, and for that reason is not sold on 
so large a scale. Besides that, basic slag is dearer than 
rock phosphates, and is sold for $10 per ton when the 
reck phosphates averaging the same percentage of 
phosphoric acid can be bought for on’y $7.50. This 
difference in the price will, for a long while, prevent 
people from buying basic slag, many farmers looking 
only for the cheapest article. On my own farm I use 
only the best grades of superphosphates as a source 
of phosphoric acid. Raphael barbe 
Le Vivier, Sur Me*, France. 
The Result of German Experiments. 
“ How is basic slag rated among German farmers ?” 
“We have a high opinion of its value which has 
been well established owing to the minute investiga¬ 
tion of its qualities and adaptability, by our various 
experiment stations and scientists. Our government 
takes an active part also to induce farmers—who as a 
class are conservative and slow to adopt improve¬ 
ments—to experiment with new fertilizers, such as 
the basic slag was in 1880, by furnishing a certain 
quantity of it—say 500 pounds each—to a dozen farm¬ 
ers in every district at reduced prices, giving the 
necessary advice as to its use and publishing the re¬ 
sults of these trials. The consumption to-day is about 
300,000 tons a year in Germany and the price on an 
average $10 per ton analyzing 15 per cent of phos¬ 
phoric acid, which means that we can buy two pounds 
of phosphoric acid in the slag for what will buy but 
one pound in superphosphates. What we value most 
in the slag outside of the low price at which it fur¬ 
nishes phosphoric acid, is its faculty not to be con¬ 
sumed too rapidly, not to be washed beyond the reach 
of the roots in one season, but on the contrary to yield 
a most perceptible source of plant food for two 
and three years running which makes its application 
invaluable in seeding down meadows, permanent 
pastures, clover and Luzern and for enriching the sub¬ 
soil in the planting of orchards.” 
“ On what crop do Germans generally use it ? ” 
“ This will depend in a measure on the soil. On all 
sandy, gravelly and clay soils poor in humus I generally 
prefer the superphosphates, because these soils lack 
the acid needed to dissolve the slag phosphate, but on 
all soils rich in vegetable mold—on such that are 
naturally so, or by the application of stable manure— 
the basic slag is the cheaper fertilizer. Particularly 
