1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
797 
able soil, has had good cultivation, and is in a healthy 
hearing condition, $10 per tree would not be far out 
of the way from a Connecticut standpoint, the land 
being considered extra. If the orchard has not been 
cared for, and is on too wet land, the trees are an en¬ 
cumbrance. 2. An acre of Cuthbert raspberries four 
years old, healthy, and in a high state of cultivation, 
should be worth $300, providing the market is handy, 
and prices rule about as they do here. 3 An acre of 
strawberries the second year after planting, if the 
plants winter well and are on strong, well-fertilized 
soil, would be worth here in our market about $150. 
After the crop is picked the plants would not be 
worth much for another year, so that the acre of 
plants would be worth only what the profit would be 
from the crop of fruit, and the above is a large 
estimate. edwin hoyt. 
New Canaan, Conn. 
The answers depend so much on proximity to mar¬ 
ket, facilities for transportation, opportunities for 
obtaining cheap labor, etc., that I cannot see how any 
intelligent answer can be given. The apple orchard 
should be a very large one, to contain so many varie¬ 
ties. It is generally assumed here that only a few 
varieties of apples can be grown profitably as market 
sorts. Apple orchards of the age named made up of 
profitable sorts should be worth $200 to $300 per acre. 
Geneva, N. Y. s. d. willard. 
A Minnesota View of It. 
But few of the varieties of apples named would be 
of any value planted in our climate. I should estimate 
the value of a thrifty full-bearing orchard, 20 to 25 
years planted of such varieties as would endure our 
climate, at $250, the land being worth, aside from the 
trees, $30. The value of an acre of Cuthbert and 
Marlboro raspberr : es here, four years after planting, 
would be from $75 to $100 besides the value of the 
land they occupy. Here, a raspberry plantation is not 
profitable after about eight years from setting. As 
there is no profit whatever in a strawberry bed after 
it has fruited twice, I should prefer to take $100 for 
the most promising bed and the value of the land, 
than take the risks of making more out of it, thinking 
that $75 would give a good margin for planting and 
cultivating a bed up to the second year. j. s. Harris. 
The Value of Fruits in Missouri. 
For family use, the orchard might be worth much 
more than the value it could be sold for. As a com¬ 
mercial orchard, I do not think the varieties are the 
best paying varieties by any means. Three or four 
standard winter varieties would be worth 10 times as 
much as the list of varieties given. I could hardly 
place a value on such an orchard 25 years old. It might 
be worth from $100 to $500 per acre. 
Market, means of reaching it, co3t of handling, near¬ 
ness to he city, and a number of things would enter 
into a value of an acre of such fruits, so that it would 
not be fair to say what they are worth unless we can 
know the surroundings in other points. An acre of 
raspberries could only be estimated in the same gen¬ 
eral way, say $50 to $200. An acre of strawberries the 
second year is worth what could be made out of it in 
clear money after paying all expenses, because, after 
the second year, it might not pay to keep the bed 
longer. It costs one-half of small fruits to market 
them, as a general thing, and so an acre would be 
worth anywhere from $100 to $300, depending upon 
location, markets, cost of help, etc. l. a. Goodman. 
Secretary Missouri State Horticultural Society. 
Too Much Even for a Yankee. 
I have been answering “ questions from correspond¬ 
ents” for more than 30 years ; but I never was more 
“ stumped” than I am by those of J. J. He has 18 
varieties of apples on an acre of ground ; but does not 
state the number of trees of each kind, or in all. It is 
a home orchard for a large family, with a good deal of 
fruit to spare in a fruitful year. The three summer 
apples are good kinds, but unless Early Harvest is 
freer than common from fungous attacks or is well 
sprayed with fungicides, it is of less than no value, as 
it is likely to spread the fungus to other trees. Red 
Astraehan is a salable kind, and so is Sweet Bough. 
The fall kinds are all marketable ; and the winter 
kinds well chosen, I think, for the locality. But how 
are we to estimate the value of the land for other pur¬ 
poses than an orchard ? The enquirer ought to be far 
more able to set a just price upon the acre of land than 
a stranger could be. The difference would be very 
great, both for the land and the fruit, according as 
the surroundings are good or bad. As a rule, city 
orchards are badly plundered, and the trees not only 
robbed, but often greatly injured by thieves. If J. J.’s 
conditions are such as not to suffer much in that way, 
and his trees not crowded, as they are too apt to be in 
suburban orchards, he might expect to average 114 to 
2 barrels of No. 1 apples per tree, taking good and bad 
years together. The seconds and culls might be made 
to bring 20 to 30 per cent additional. 
As to the raspberries, with the canes properly thin¬ 
ned, the acre as described, ought to yield 5,000 quarts, 
and might yield considerably more. There are too 
many kinds of strawberries for the best results, as 
some are apt to be poor bearers, differing in this and 
other respects according to soil, season, exposure and 
slope. But one might expect at least as good results 
as from raspberries, under the same circumstances. I 
shall be interested in seeing the replies of others in 
this “ guessing match.” It is a tough problem, even 
for a Yankee. t. h. hoskins. 
To Make Butter In New Mexico. 
IF. IF., Albuquerijue, N. M .—I am about to begin 
butter making with 12 cows, and will use a hand sep¬ 
arator. Would it paj me to use the extractor ? Does 
this extractor make a quality of butter that will sell 
in place of the best dairy butter made with the sep¬ 
arator ? If one wishes to churn but twice a week, 
will it not be more trouble to store the milk before 
running it through the extractor than to keep cream 
from the separator until ready to churn ? Is the Disc 
churn, mentioned in The R. N.-Y. of September 16, a 
success, arid where can it be had ? What book do you 
sell that will give the best instructions for selection, 
breeding and feeding of cows, butter making and 
tests, and the more scientific part of dairying ? 
Ans —We should use a hand separator. The extrac¬ 
tor is still in use, but makes only a sweet-cream but¬ 
ter, for which there is but a limited market. We con¬ 
sider the separator far bettter for your use. The 
“ Disc ” churn is an English invention, and has been 
highly praised in that country. We believe it is to be 
soon put on the market in this country. You should 
have Feeding Animals and The Dairyman’s Manual. 
We can supply the two books for $3.50. 
More About the “ Certified Milk ” Business. 
M. E., Lexington, Ky. —As Mr. Francisco makes no 
deliveries of milk on Sunday, does he deliver Saturday 
night’s and Sunday morning’s milk on Monday ? Does 
he sell cream ? If so, at what price ? Is it necessary 
to take any precautions to keep the milk bottles from 
freezing in transportation during the winter months ? 
Ans. —Saturday night’s milk is delivered late for 
Sunday use, and Sunday night’s milk is delivered 
Monday. The late delivery on Saturday fills every 
want. He sells some cream at 40 cents a quart. A 
small cream trade is desirable, as it makes a good 
way to dispose of any surplus milk that might be left 
over. It would be better to prevent the milk from 
freezing, but on some cold days it is almost impossible 
to do this, and Mr. F. says he has often delivered 
frozen milk in the bottles. No complaint, however, 
has been made. The ideal plan, he says, would be to 
have each patron’s milk put up in a separate box or 
wooden basket, and not disturbed from packing to 
delivery. 
Why Should a Hay Farmer Grow Clover ? 
A. L. S., Baldwinsville, JV. Y .—We have been taught 
from our youth up that clover was more beneficial to 
the soil than Timothy ; yet in a late number of The 
R. N.-Y. it is shown that the Timothy plant has more 
roots than the clover, which, if plowed under, would 
seem to give more plant food than clover. Again, 
when we undertake to seed a field we quite often fail 
to get a catch of clover, and very seldom fail with 
Timothy. Even though we do get a good stand of 
clover, in this climate it will winterkill in two years, 
while the Timothy will last for a number of years. 
Then when we harvest the hay, a shower on the clover 
will almost ruin it, while it will do the Timothy very 
little harm. Again, when we sell, the Timothy will 
bring about a third more per ton than the clover, and 
as hay is as paying a crop as we raise, will it not be 
best to seed to Timothy and let the clover go ? 
Ans.— This brings up a very interesting question 
that starts enough thought to fill a whole volume. 
It is a fact that the roots of Timothy are about as long 
and heavy as those of clover. When Timothy is cut 
for hay and permitted to grow up again—the second 
growth to be plowed under—it will probably weigh 
quite a little more, in rowen and roots, than a clover 
crop treated in the same way—very nearly twice as 
much, according to experiments at the Storrs Agricul¬ 
tural school. It is also true that clover dies out at 
the end of two years, for the same reason that oats, 
wheat and rye die at the end of one year, because 
they have lived to the end of their lives and will not 
continue to put up new blades and stems from their 
roots year after year as Timothy does. As to selling, 
prime Timothy ranks far above clover in the markets. 
This is not because it is more nutritious, or because it 
contains more actual food to the ton, but because it 
is better suited to feed to horses. You never hear of 
people preferring Timothy to clover for feeding cows, 
sheep or any other stock that provide anything but 
work in return for their food. Timothy is peculiarly 
the hay for horses because it is the best rough forage 
to feed with the big rations of grain these animals re¬ 
ceive. It is also surer to seed, cheaper to cut and 
cure and easier to handle, and, as we have said, will 
sell for a greater price per pound. 
Why, then, should a hay farmer raise clover at all ? 
The chief reason is that it does a work that Timothy 
never can do. Floating all about us in the air are 
vast stores of nitrogen which have escaped from 
former combinations that held it in a solid form. 
Nitrogen can take the form of a solid or a gas—like 
ice and steam. Nitrate of soda, for example, is a solid 
that looks much like salt. Heat this with a fi rce 
heat, and the nitrogen in this nitrate would go away 
in the form of a gas and remain in the air. And so 
from our fires and from the decay of plants and ani¬ 
mals, nitrogen escapes into the air, where it is lost so 
far as most of our plants can make use of it, unless it 
be washed out of the air by rains and snow. This 
nitrogen is the most valuable of our fertilizing sub¬ 
stances. VVnen we buy it in fertilizers, it costs 17 
cents a pound. The chief reason why clover is more 
valuable than Timothy is that the former can in some 
way make use of this “ free nitrogen ” in the air, 
while Timothy can use only the nitrogen that is in the 
soil. The Timothy simply gives you back what you 
feed it, while the clover not only does that, but also 
brings back to the soil in a solid form a part of the 
nitrogen that had previously gone away as a gas. 
Your Timothy makes you buy nitrogen for it, (paying 
cash or labor) while the clover makes you a present of 
it. By using crops of clover and cheap phosphoric 
acid and potash, you can keep up the fertility of your 
farm and continue to sell good crops. By raking 
nothing but Timothy, you will have to buy n'trogen 
in addition to the other substances. 
Just look at the difference between a ton of clover 
and a ton of Timothy : 
POUNDS IN ONE TON. 
NitroKen. Phos. acid. Potash. Manurlal value. 
Timothy. 40 11 8* 0.07 
Clover. 10 14 14 40 $5.00 
That shows you that Timothy is made to sell, while 
clover is made to feed, and this difference in value 
also shows about the difference the two plants have 
in collecting nitrogen. As to feeding value, for all ani¬ 
mals but horses, the clover is of very much more value 
than the Timothy, and will make more meat or milk, 
pound for pound. To sum up, the reason why a hay 
farmer should grow clover is that this plant will 
gather nitrogen for him, while, with Timothy alone, 
sooner or later he must buy nitrogen or feed his high- 
priced Timothy at a loss to make manure. 
Some Fertilizer Questions. 
J. O. K ., Buckners, Ky —Which is the cheaper form 
of phosphoric acid: raw bone at $30 per ton, or dis¬ 
solved South Carolina rock at $14? Which is the 
cheapest form of potash, tobacco stems at $16, wood 
ashes at $10, or muriate at $44? What is the value of 
the ammonia and other elements besides phosphoric 
acid in a ton of bones? 
Ans. —For phosphoric acid alone, the dissolved rock 
would be cheaper if it contain 12 per cent soluble 
phosphoric acid, as it should. If nitrogen be con¬ 
sidered, too, the bone may be cheaper if it is of good 
quality and very finely ground. You do not give the 
analysis, so we do not know how much nitrogen it 
contains. If 3}£ per cent, and the bone is very fine, 
the nitrogen is worth 15 cents a pound. Ordinary 
wood ashes contain say five per cent of potash, tobacco 
stems about 7 per cent, and muriate of potash 50. On 
this basis the muriate is the cheapest form of potash, 
but the tobacco stems contain two or more per cent 
of nitrogen also. For potash alone, use the muriate. 
On plants that need a mulch and some nitrogen also, 
the stems might be cheaper. 
Coffee Grounds as Manure. 
F. S. L., Bolivar, Jenn. —Do coffee grounds make 
good fertilizer, and is it injurious to mix them in 
quantities with stable manure ? 
Ans —There will probably be no harm in mixing the 
coffee grounds with manure—an~, probably, little 
benefit either. Most of the nitrogen has been boiled 
out of them. They may give one per cent of potash— 
depending upon the amount of water they contain. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
Waste for Mulching.—J. B. W., Massachusetts —The 
“ mill flecks ” or waste from a satinet mill will make 
an excellent mulch for currants and blackberries. 
Farmers' Reading Courses. —II. G. N., Orwall, Pa.— 
We advise you to write Prof. H. J. Waters, State Col¬ 
lege, Center Co., Pa., for a synopsis of the reading 
course designed for Pennsylvania farmers, and for 
rules for organizing reading classes, etc. 
A Utah Apple.— J. S., Ashley, Dtah.—The apple 
sent for name resembles the Alexander in all respects 
except size. It is considerably smaller than that 
variety as we know it in the East. Difference in loca¬ 
tion often makes such a variation in the appearance 
of fruits, that they would not be recognized as the 
same varieties. It would be better to send specimens 
to some nearby^pomologist. 
