766 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
November 18 
FARMERS’ CLU J3 
* DISCUSSIONS 
w A f# 
Shade for the Soli. 
W., Blair County, Pa —The advice 
(page 008) to sha' e the surface in orange 
groves with mulch, using all waste for 
the purpose, instead of following the 
wasteful and sinful course of burning it, 
is as applicable to all perennial garden 
growths North aB well as South, and 
will show as pleasing and profitable re¬ 
sults. It is a sin against the soil given 
us t j till and care for and live from, as 
well as an offense against the Giver, to 
burn up that which is the natural sup¬ 
port of luxuriant vegetation everywhere 
in woods. 
The Cost of a Crop. 
W. T. S., Chester County, Pa.—The 
R. N.-Y. very sensibly advises farmers to 
find the cost of their produce before 
offering it for sale. To begin, here is 
about what it costs to produce wheat in 
this county in an exceptionally good year 
for that crop : 
Kent of land... 
Manure. 
Seed. 
Preparing land 
Sowing. 
Harvesting. 
Thrashing. 
Marketing. 
Cost per acre 
... $3.00 
... 7.60 
... 1.26 
... 2.00 
... .35 
... 2.26 
... 1.50 
... 1.10 
Total.$18.95 
Amount sown, two bushels. Yield per acre, 22 
bushels at 02 cents per bushel (on farm), $13.04. 
The above I am permitted to copy 
from the report of the agent (who is a 
f oft-hearted fellow) to the Agricultural 
Bureau for 1893, and here is his estimate 
of our corn crop for the same period : 
Itent of land.. 
Fertilizers. 
Preparing land. 
Seed. ... 
Planting. 
Cultivating. 
Cutting, husking, etc, 
Marketing. 
Cost per acre. 
.... $3.00 
2.50 
.20 
.50 
2.60 
6.00 
1.25 
Total... .$21.95 
Yield per acre 25 bushels. Price per bushel on 
farm 60 cents, $12.50. 
The foregoing I consider a very correct 
estimate, so that any one can see where 
we farmers who raise corn and wheat 
for a living are likely to drift in the near 
future either if prices do not improve, or 
we do not change our programme. I 
would like to hear from other parts of 
the country. 
There is much wheat being fed to stock 
—horses, hogs and cows—and some large 
feeders of fattening cattle intend mixing 
corn and wheat in equal portions for 
their steers. No doubt, where one has 
the stock on hand of good quality the best 
return will come from hogs fed on chopped 
wheat. It is hard to conceive of a better 
ration for light pigs than this kind of 
“chop” mixed with milk. If farmers in 
other parts of the country are using as 
much wheat to make meat and milk, it 
will punch a large hole in the crop of 
1893. In the <>0odd years that I have spent 
on a farm, I never knew anything like it. 
Some damaged or smutty wheat was now 
and then fed to the horses, but to feed 
the good, bright grain to farm animals 
would have seemed to our ancestors like 
sacrilege. 
No Bedbugs on These Bats. 
S. G. W., Virginia. —In The R. N.-Y. 
of September 23, T. B. P. says that he 
saw bedbugs on bats. Perhaps he did 
not have on his “ specs ” at the time. 
Bats certainly destroy a lot of flies, mil¬ 
lers, etc., at night, and are of great use 
to me in many ways. As for their hav¬ 
ing bedbugs, I have examined hundreds 
of them and never saw a bug on one. The 
flying squirrel has a bug on it differing 
slightly from the bedbug. Now let’s get 
a little closer to the matter : I stayed in 
eastern Virginia for two years, and bats 
flew back and forth through the house. 
The windows upstairs were open the 
whole summer, and, though the house 
had stood for 13 years, yet not a bedbug 
was to be found in it. If bats carry bed¬ 
bugs, then this house would have been 
full. We used to see who could knock 
down the most bats, just like playing 
ball, and often we looked for bugs and 
found none. Let us hope that T. B. P. 
will never find a bug on a bat. 
Bats and Bedbugs. 
H. C. B., Blairsville, Pa.—T here 
seems to be a general belief that bats are 
infested with bedbugs, and their pres¬ 
ence in or about a home has put many a 
good housekeeper in a state of worry 
over anticipated trouble with the little 
pests. I have shared in this general be¬ 
lief until jecent’y, when a little experi¬ 
ence has convinced me that, whatever 
bats may do or not do, they do not peddle 
bedbugs. In the spring of 1892, I carte 
into possession of a farm that had been 
rented for a number of years. The 
shingle roof of the otherwise good house 
was in very bad condition. There were 
openings under curled shingles and at 
the eaves and gables large enough to 
admit bats. As the weather began to 
get warm the latter came out of the gar¬ 
ret in the evenings in perfect swarms. 
A new roof was promptly put on, the 
bats driven out and all their holes closed 
up. They returned in astonishing num¬ 
bers, and in a most excited and appar¬ 
ently angry manner sought admission to 
their old home ; but, finding the entrance 
closed they disappeared. In examining 
the garret, several nooks were found 
that had been used as roosting places, 
and the amount of droppings found in 
these actually filled three 200-pound 
fertilizer sacks. On inquiry, it was 
found that for at least six years this 
place had been the home of bats and the 
quantity of droppings may give some 
idea of the numbers. Now, notwith¬ 
standing all this, not a bedbug has been 
found in the house. In view of these 
facts, if some naturalist or any one else, 
should report that he had found bedbugs 
on a bat, I shall be inclined to think that 
he has made a mistake, and that he has 
found some other kind of bug. 
Justice for the Bee. 
C. C. M., Marengo, Ire. —I have been 
so accustomed to look upon The R. N.-Y. 
as a model of infallibility that I had to 
rub my eyes and read several times that 
dog and bee item at the south-east cor¬ 
ner of page 720. You ask whether a bee 
should have greater protection than a 
dog. That depends on what the bee and 
the dog are doing. If my dog comes on 
your place to kill your sheep, the law 
ought not to protect him; but if he’s 
that kind of a dog that comes on your 
place only when he sees a burglar there 
to drive away, you would probably want 
him protected. Now look here, you’re 
not of that class who believe that bees 
eat up young ducks and drive sheep out 
of pastures, are you ? Because if you 
are, then you surely will not want bees 
to have protection. But bless your heart, 
when a bee comes on your place it comes 
mainly for your benefit. Didn’t you 
know that ? Didn’t you know that the 
honey gathering office of the bee is a 
secondary matter, and that her principal 
office is to serve as marriage priest to 
the flowers? 
That question, “Why not compel the 
bee owner to keep his bees at home by 
providing bee pastures there?” beats me. 
I’ve looked at it with one eye and then 
with the other, and then with both eyes, 
and for the life of me I can’t tell whether 
you’re in fun or earnest. No, you can’t 
be in earnest. But then for fear some 
one else should ask such a question in 
earnest, I’ll say that if the bee owner 
could keep his bees home and if he should 
keep them home, the owner of the fruit 
trees would be the first to beg for their 
liberation. If no bees came to his trees, 
he wouldn't need to spray them, for so 
little fruit would set that the worm 
breeders would be starved out. 
While mentioning the efforts made to 
secure laws prohibiting spraying at cer¬ 
tain times, you might also mention that 
those efforts have been successful in 
some States, and that well informed fruit 
growers have favored them. You see 
the prohibition applies only to the time 
when the trees are in bloom, and at that 
time spraying can do no possible good to 
the fruit grower, and indirectly may do 
him harm, so that the law is a good thing 
to protect him from his own ignorance. 
Now, Mr. R. N.-Y., you’re a nice man, 
bright as a dollar, and doing a lot of 
good; but you’re away off on the bee 
question. As a fruit grower, when you 
train your guns on the poor little honey 
bee you’re making war on one of your 
best friends. I wouldn’t mind it so 
much, only when you fire you always do 
so much execution. Please point your 
guns some other way. 
Wheat Yielded More Than 60 -Fold. 
G. N. D., Shelbyville, Mich. —In re¬ 
cent issues of The R. N.-Y. I have no¬ 
ticed inquiries as to new wheats and 
fruits I feel that all who belong to The 
R. N.-Y. school of education should assist 
each other by their experience. In the 
fall of 1892 I purchased for $2 three 
pounds of the new White Leader, fitted 
my ground in good shape, and on Sep¬ 
tember 18 sowed the wheat with a garden 
drill. It had no cultivation after being 
sown, and this season I harvested 3)^ 
bushels. Can any one beat that ? It was 
sown on ground that had previously 
grown a crop of oats and was stubbled 
into wheat. The remainder of the field 
was sown to Pool wheat and yielded 24 
bushels per acre. 
In the spring of 1892 I planted two 
trees of the Abundance plum. This year 
one of them produced a few plums, and 
it is all that the introducer claims for it. 
I shall plant more of them in the spring. 
Never plant a hollow or black-hearted 
potato. 
J. J. Thomas mentions having meas¬ 
ured a specimen of the old Agriculturist 
strawberry many years ago, which was 
within a fraction of three inches in diam¬ 
eter. 
Mr Thomas is now quite an old gentle¬ 
man. Few men living have had a wider 
experience in pomology or have been 
more observant of horticultural matters 
in general. Speaking of “ Successful 
Market Gardening,” he says that among 
the many who have been successful in 
raising and selling the products of the 
garden, and made the business during a 
long life both pleasant and profitable, 
those have done best who have pursued 
a course like the following : They have 
secured the best land, and kept it so ; 
they have learned how to cultivate it 
and obtain fine results; they have learned 
which sorts are productive and excellent 
in quality ; they have never taken any 
products to market except of good qual¬ 
ity. Customers have learned to trust 
them, and they buy of them year after 
year. When they deliver a load to buy¬ 
ers they receive an order for the next. 
This applies to all vegetables, and to 
strawberries and other small fruit, be¬ 
sides a general miscellany. 
The veteran Robert Douglas of Wauke¬ 
gan, Ill., gives the readers of Garden and 
(Continued on next page.) 
In writing to advertisers, please always mention 
The Rural New-Yokker. 
I Vote for HoocPsi 
For I am satisfied it Is 
aa excellent remedy. I 
havo been a minister of 
the M. E. church 40 
years, and have suffered 
of late years with rlieu- 
mntiani and dyspep¬ 
sia. Since taking foirr 
bottles of Hood’s the 
rheumatism i3 entirely 
cured, my appetite is 
good, food digests well, 
and I have gained several pounds.” Rev. 
R. Puffer, Richford, Vt» Hood’s C ures 
Hood’s Pills mu 10 biliousness. 25c. a box. 
A Natural Food. 
Conditions o f 
the system arise 
when ordinary 
foods cease to 
build flesh— 
there is urgent 
need of arrest¬ 
ing waste—assistance must 
come quickly, from natural 
food source. 
Scott's Emulsion 
is a condensation of the life 
of all foods —it is cod-liver 
oil reinforced, made easy of 
digestion, and almost as 
palatable as milk. 
Prepared by Scott & Bowne, N. Y. All druggists. 
H EEBNER’S 
With SPEED REGULATOR 
For 1,2 and 3 Horses. 
Patent LEVEL-TREAD 
Horse-Power. 
LITTLE GIANT Threshing Machine^ __ 
threshes Grain, Rice, Flax, Millet and Grass Seed. Fully 
Warranted. Feed and Ensilage Gutters,Feed Grinders,<to 
11 EH UN Kit & SONS, Eansdale, i'a., U. U. A. 
-FEED- 
GRINDER. 
Greatly Improved. 
SOLD ON TRIAL. 
12 to 25 Bushels 
per hour 
of Ear Corn, dryoi 
damp, and all gninll 
crain, line or coarse 
.STAlt MEG. CO., 
New Lexington,Ohio. 
World’s Fair Seed Potato Notes. 
My exhibit sold potatoes In foreign countries and 
many States. Feed your tamlly on Freeman (28), 
give them a chance on Chicago Market (25), and et 
up early to heat Early Sunrise (22). You must have 
rich soil for Freeman; poorer will do for the Sunrise, 
while “ Chicago ” will take care of Itself. You run 
no risk on Rural (30) for later. Dutton Seedling (37) 
Is a great potato for wholesale market, and demands 
poor dtrt, or will grow too large. Heaviest one tuber 
in the exhibit. Figures mean weight in pounds of 
four hills. A green hill found in October, 1889, gave 
11 large, long, smooth, white tubers. Have kept 
planting, and it retains original vigor. Foliage green 
until frost Largest yielder I know of and a good 
baking potato Tnoroughly tested. First time offered. 
Seven bushels of seed gave 401) bushels yield, without ma¬ 
nure or fertilizer, as a field test; dry year, too. I 
named It “ Chapman’s Orphan ” (40). 
Price of all, $4 per barrel, f. o. b. Smooth, selected 
stock. Limited amount. Send cash lor fall orders, 
and 25 per cent of money for spring shipment. This 
will not appea -again. s-ave It. 
C. E. CHAPMAN, Pernvlile, Tompkins Co., N. Y. 
P. 8.—Hens, Hogs and Bull for sale. 
SWEET ENSILAGE WITHOUT A SILO! 
Patent Press-Cheap, Portable. 
Degree of pressure and temperature under perfect 
control. A weight of 10 tons can be put on or taken 
oil In lu minutes. An active agent wanted In every 
State. Send 2-ce it stamp for particulars to 
T. W. LAWFORD, Lawford P. O., Va. 
No postal cards. 
CHOPPERS 
ATTENTION! 
ASK FOR THIS AXE. 
USE NO OTHER. 
Wood-choppers, try the 
Kelly Perfect Hxe 
It will cut more wood 
than any other axe. 
The scoop in the blade 
keeps it from sticking in 
the wood, and makes it 
cut deeper than any other 
axe. Ask your dealer for 
it. Send us his name if 
he don’t keep it. It is the 
Anti-Trust Axe. 
Kelly Axe Mfg.Co. 
LOUISVILLE, KY. 
THE 
COILSPRING SHAFT SUPPORTS 
AND ANTI-RATTLER. c 
ienco in hitching up. Agents wanted. Circulars free. 
Order sample. Prioe, fl.5C. State rights for tale, -j- 
THE DECATUR SHAFT SUPPORT C0.~ 
Decatur, 111. 
Nonpareil Grinding Mills. 
THE BEST 
FEED M ILL MADE. 
For Circular address 
L. J. MILLER, CINCINNATI, OHIO. 
