748 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
November 11 
(Under this beading we propose to print questions that seem to call 
for a variety of answers. We ask all who have any experiences or 
suKdestlons to offer to talk Into The tt. N.-Y.'8 ear at once.) 
Seeder on Disc Harrow. —Who has had experience 
in using’ the seeding attachment to the disc harrow? 
How does it compare with the drill in results ? I am 
thinking of getting one, and would like to have the 
experience of some who have used them. w. s. 
Winchest°r, Ky. 
Ashes For Potatoes. —Will the farmers who have 
used Canada hard-wood ashes for potatoes, grass, etc , 
state their experience in The R. N.-Y. ? It would 
seem that the ashes on a good clover sod at the rate of 
a ton or more per acre plowed under, would make fine 
potato soil. c. i. w. 
Pennsylvania. 
R. N.-Y.—As we have often stated, our experience 
with wood ashes on potatoes is that they cause or in¬ 
duce scab. On fruits or grass the ashes are excellent. 
Wiiat About the Plum ?—I would like to know if 
any one has tried the Shippers’ Pride plum so as to 
know anything about it. I have one set four or five 
years ago, and this year it bore one small plum that 
rotted before ripening. I have quite a number set in 
rows for transplanting, but I shall put them on the 
brush heap rather than set them for fruiting unless I 
have a good report from others concerning them. The 
Lombard does well here and so does Abundance. 
Massachusetts. K. c. w. 
What About This ?—I am told that the castration 
of dogs renders them worthless for driving stock. 
Does it make any difference, and at what age should 
they be attended to ? m. w. t. 
W. Leyden, N. Y. 
R. N.-Y.—We invite discussion on this subject. 
SHALL THE HOG HANDLE THE CORN ? 
RAW MATERIAL OR MANUFACTURED PRODUCT ? 
Some weeks ago a reader In Indiana asked If, In the long run, a 
farmer living two to six miles from market would not find more profit 
In selling corn as grain than In feeding It to hogs. The following 
comments on that question are presented herewith: 
A Good Profit in Feeding. 
Our best farmers consider it, as a rule, more profit¬ 
able to feed their corn to hogs than to sell it, whether 
they live near to or remote from market. A conserva¬ 
tive estimate of the amount of corn fed to a 125-pound 
hog is 12 bushels. This will give an average weight 
of about 250 pounds to the hog, when fattened. At 
the present price of corn here, at 35 cents per bushel, 
it costs $3.12 per 100 pounds to feed hogs. They sell 
at $6 per 100 pounds, and realize 62K cents per bushel 
for the corn fed, or a net profit of 27 % cents per 
bushel, between feeding it and selling it in the mar¬ 
ket. It costs about as much to raise a hog to the age 
of feeding as it does to fatten him. So the first cost 
may be estimated on the same basis as the cost of 
feeding. On the basis given, the difference between 
selling the corn in the market, or feeding it to hogs, 
depends on the relative price of corn and hogs. It 
rarely occurs that corn is so high, and hogs so low, 
that it does not pay better to feed than to sell corn. 
It pays better to feed corn than to sell it at the 
same price. Our thriftiest and most successful 
farmers are those who feed most and sell the least of 
their corn. e. h. t. 
Tipton, Ind. 
Figuring the Matter Up. 
As a general thing, I believe that the corn will bring 
more money if sold than if fed to hogs. But if the 
feeder has the slops from the kitchen and dairy, the 
run of stubble fields and pasture of mast, they will be 
about equal. It is not because there is so much more 
in feeding to hogs, but because the money ail comes 
in a lump when the corn is sold. The farmer or feeder 
does not realize anything from the hog until after nine 
or twelve months and there is nearly as much shrink¬ 
age on the corn kept to feed, as if it were sold, and no 
interest; while, if the corn is sold soon after gather¬ 
ing, the money is available for use. 
Then again there is quite a difference in hogs. The 
old style hog with his nose cut long and back sharp, 
with a gore on the hip, and the ham scaUoped, small 
around the waist, with a Grecian bend walk and ears 
trained to the music of hickory nuts falling, had to 
be kept until two or three years old before being sold. 
With these the Indiana man would not need to ask 
which is the more profitable. But with the improved 
hog, and the corn fed to him, with other advantages 
given him, there is little difference, as my observation 
has been that if corn advances in price, fat hogs go 
lower in price and vice versa. The feeders and corn 
raisers try to watch this very question closely. Of 
course, if all raise corn and do not feed it, it would go 
low and hogs and meat high. The percentage of dif¬ 
ference of corn sold to corn fed, about equals the in¬ 
terest and insurance in favor of corn, levi hobbs. 
Illinois. 
Corn and Water Never Will Pay. 
As to whether there would be more profit in selling 
corn as grain or in the form of pork, depends on sev¬ 
eral conditions. Probably the relative price of corn 
and pork is different in Indiana and Iowa. It is being 
demonstrated here every year that it does not pay to 
depend on corn alone to make pork. If the inquirer 
had a good clover pasture for his hogs six or eight 
months of the year, and some mill feed or skim-milk 
the rest of the time, I would say that the greater profit 
would be in feeding the corn. But if it is to be corn 
and water I would say, sell the corn to some man who 
doesn’t wait until the corn is ready to feed or sell be¬ 
fore deciding what to do with it. The question 
resolves itself into this: the difference in value 
would be in proportion to the amount of brains that 
was mixed with the corn in producing the pork. 
Iowa. j. s. 
Shall the Hog Basket the Corn ? 
I believe that corn is often fed at a loss. Every man 
can figure out the question for himself from these 
data : A bushel, 5G pounds, of corn will make between 
8 and 17 pounds of pork. The corn is worth to sell 
between 20 and 50 cents per bushel. Pork varies from 
three to eight cents per pound, live weight. Suppose 
corn is worth 40 cents and the man has in August 
some good, thrifty shotes, either early spring pigs or 
fall pigs wintered well and pastured on clover. Sup¬ 
pose these pigs have good frames, good, vigorous health 
and digestion, good range, water and shade. Then if 
they have a feeder who will soak the old hard corn 
and give them all they will eat up clean, with plenty 
of salt and ashes, plenty of charcoal and rotten wood, 
and not get the cholera—we have never had it—they 
may average 12 pounds’ gain to the bushel of feed 
for eight weeks, when they will weigh, say, 240 
pounds and should go to market at a time when hogs 
are generally high. Let us say that they sell for five 
cents per pound. That is a good average price for last 
of September or early October in this part of the 
country. The account stands thus : 
HOGS. 
Or. by 15.000 pounds tjaln at five cents . $300.00 
Increase of value on hogs. 100.00 
$400.00 
Dr. to 600 bushels corn at 40 cents . 200.00 
Balance—profit.$210.00 
Suppose that another man has a lot of late spring 
pigs and no old corn left over. He takes them from a 
dry pasture about October 1, lean and a trifle stunted 
and begins to feed on new corn. This I grant is better 
for hogs or any 6tock than dry corn, but it takes time 
to build up flesh and bone, and cold storms come 
before the hogs are near ready for the shipper. The 
hogs consume much more corn, and a good part is 
wasted by being trampled in the mud. The hogs 
suffer from the cold and perhaps a few are killed by 
smothering each other as they pile up to keep warm. 
In January they go to market. The account then 
stands about as below : 
HOGS. 
Cr. bv 4,600 pounds gain at 3>* cents per pound. $157.50 
Dr. to corn—600 bnsnels at 35 cents. 175.00 
When this farmer has figured so far he scratches his 
head, thinks of his labor and pains feeding in the mud 
and says: “ Well, anyhow I have had the company of 
the hogs.” 
So I say, after all it depends on the man, well—and 
on the hog. “Well born is half grown” with the hog, 
but these general rules I have observed. When one 
has warm quarters, fall pigs pay well pushed all win¬ 
ter on unlimited wheat middlings with a little corn. 
Sell for June market or put on good clover pasture 
and market in September. Spring pigs should be 
boomed from Genesis to Revelation, fed all the grow¬ 
ing food they can use, and finished by six to eight 
weeks of corn for the last of September or first of 
October market. 
Corn will pay to hold to feed next summer rather 
than to be thrown down in the mud or cold snow for 
hogs ; but, if you have the hogs, make them as com¬ 
fortable as possible and plan better next time. 
Woodside Farms, Ohio. j. e. wing. 
People are praising the New York State potato ex¬ 
hibit at the World’s Fair. The beauty of this exhibit 
was that it gave visitors from the West and South an 
idea that potatoes grown on New York State farms 
are excellent for seed purposes. It was an advertise¬ 
ment of what may be called the breeding or “ blood ” 
value of the New York crop. There are tons of pota¬ 
toes now sent to market to be eaten that should be 
sold at an advance of 50 per cent in price for seed pur¬ 
poses. It is one of the most curious features of Ameri¬ 
can farming that more potato growers do not take 
steps to develop a trade in good seed. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address of the 
writer to Insure attention. Before asking a question please see If It Is 
not answered In our advertising columns. Ask only a few questions at 
one time. Put questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
BURYING STRAWBERRIES IN STRAW. 
A Tennessee Reader .—Have any of the readers of The 
Rural tried spring mulching of strawbeiries with 
wheat straw to protect the blossoms from late spring 
frosts ? About what quantity per acre is necessary 
and what is the cost of applying the same ? 
Arguments Against Spring Mulching. 
I would not advise the spring mulching of straw¬ 
berries. A man who will mulch at all will do it in the 
winter when he has leisure, nis work then protects 
the plant from alternate freezing and thawing, from 
thawing in direct exposure to light; it promotes fer¬ 
tility of the soil, prevents erosion by winter rains, and 
has all the advantage of spring mulching for the con¬ 
servation of moisture during the ripening of the crop 
and keeping it clear of earth and silt. 
If spring mulching is desirable at all let more be ap¬ 
plied in the fall, covering the entire ground. It can 
be worked between the rows when the plants push in 
the spring, and if frost threatens can be quickly ap¬ 
plied. The straw of two acres of good wheat will 
mulch one acre of strawberries, and the cost here in 
Kentucky for straw is about $1 per acre in the rick. 
The length of the haul will largely determine the cost 
of mulching, and the length of the rows will be a 
further consideration if applied in the spring, as at 
that time a wagon would not be permissible on the 
plants, and the mulch will have to be carried from the 
head-lands by hand. 
I have never mulched in the spring, but have often 
used the winter mulch on the plants when frost 
threatened. In 1875, on April 14 and 15, we had 
sweeping frosts and I covered about one acre as indi¬ 
cated, the rest of the block being left to take its 
chances. The plants were not much advanced, peach 
trees being just in full bloom. The crop was about 
equally good, the covered portion yielding a few more 
berries early in the season. In 1881 we had similar 
frosts, but the plants were very much more advanced. 
We had covered and uncovered plants that year, and 
a total failure in both. 
The covering of strawberry plants in the spring is 
just about as likely to save the crop as smudge fires 
in the orchards. It looks well in theory, and 40 
reasons can be assigned why such practice should be 
profitable, but I have had little more fruit in the or¬ 
chard or berries in the field for my efforts in this di¬ 
rection. H. F. HILLENMEYER. 
Kentucky. 
Mulching with Pine Needles. 
It is a general practice with the strawberry growers 
in eastern North Carolina to cover their fields with 
pine straw from the forest (leaves of the pine tree). 
In the spring, when the plants are blooming and frost 
threatens, the fields can be seen full of men and 
women raking the leaves over the rows, making an 
effectual protection against the frost. As to the 
quantity necessary per acre, it is hard to give an 
estimate, but it is usually just what will make a 
good mulch when spread down between the rows. 
The cost of applying is simply the cost of hauling 
the leaves. If straw is used it would depend upon 
the value of the straw. In a large waeat-grow- 
ing section, straw should not cost much. Pine straw 
is used in our strawberry section, because nothing 
could be better for the purpose, and nothing is there 
so available and plentiful. w. f. massey. 
North Carolina. _ 
Treatment for Wisconsin Grapes. 
J. T. E., Lyndon Station, 1 Vis .—What shall I do with 
my grape vines ? I set out 600 five years ago. The 
first two years I cut them six inches from the ground; 
since then 1 have cut them about five feet. The 
canes are now over one inch in diameter. Would it 
be safe to cut them back again ? 
Ans. —It is difficult to prescribe a treatment with¬ 
out seeing the vines. Scarcely any two vines are ex¬ 
actly alike in every particular. His treatment the 
first two years was well enough. The pruning in 
after years would depend very much upon the system 
of training practiced. A very common practice in 
this climate, where winter protection is imperative, 
is to grow the vine with two arms, four to six feet 
long, starting them but a few inches above the base 
of the plant. But some of our best growers set the 
vines slanting in the direction of the row, and grow 
but one arm about eight feet long, having near the 
base one spur from which each year is grown one or 
