834 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December lc 
T. S. S , Coop> bstown, Pa. —Tbe fig¬ 
ures given on page 700 of T he R. N.-Y. on 
“The Cost of a Crop,” are not complete. 
The following are my own figures as 
returned to the United States Agricul¬ 
tural Department on October 10 last. 
You now have the two extremes, an east¬ 
ern and a western county of Pennsyl¬ 
vania : 
WHEAT. 
Kent of land. 12.40 
Manure. 10.00 
Reed. 1.25 
Plowing and harrowing. 8.00 
Sowing.25 
Heaping. 1.50 
Thrashing.... 2.00 
Housing betore ihiasnlng. 1.(0 
Marketing. 1.50 
Total.12?. SO 
Yield per acie, 28 bushels at 00c. per bushel. 16.80 
Value oi straw. 5.00 
To balance, ••Wealth of Nations”.... . 1.10 
Total.$22.90 
Amount sown per acre, 1H Dushel. 
CORN. 
Kent of laDd. $2.40 
Manure. 10.00 
Seed.25 
Plowing and harrowing. 3.50 
Planting.50 
Cultivating. 6.00 
Cutting and husking (too low an estimate). 2.00 
Housing. 1.00 
Marketing. 1.50 
Total.$26.15 
Yield per acre, 40 bushels at 50c. per bushel_ 20.00 
Value of louder. 5.00 
Total.$25.10 
What struck me as remarkably singu¬ 
lar was that the blank calling for this 
information was the first one sent out 
from the Department of Agriculture since 
I have been one of its statistical corres¬ 
pondents (now over 17 years) stating 
that the information given “ would be 
held strictly confidential.” I replied that 
there was nothing “confidential” about 
it, that it was all last summer’s actual 
experience and measurements. 
You seem to intimate that $7.50 in the 
Chester County correspondent’s figures 
for manure are high. What do you think 
of my $10. If you know of any one who 
will take a contract to top-dress my farm 
with stable manure as I am in the habit 
of applyirg it, for anything less than 
that figure I wish you would let me 
know. You will observe that if the 
Chester County man had allowed $5 for 
the straw and added $1 to his expense 
column for housing his grain, there 
would have been only 19 cents difference 
between his results and mine on wheat, 
and $4 80 on corn ; yet my crops averaged 
one-third heavier than his. 
Corn and Wheat Pay Here. 
S. M., Uablan, Ind —On page 766 of 
The R. N.-Y., W. T. S., of Chester County, 
Penn., gives us some very discouraging 
estimates of the cost of producing a crop 
of wheat or corn. His figures make a 
wheat crop cost $18.95, and its value 
only $13 64 ; therefore, there will be a 
less of $5 31 per acre. On an acre of 
corn his figures make us lose $9.45. Is 
it possible that we are all losing at that 
rate ? Let us see. I raise on my farm 
over 60 acres of corn and about the same 
of wheat. According to his estimates, I 
am losing $885.60 per year. Is it possible 
that I lose that much yearly, and yet 
keep on raising wheat and corn year 
after year ? I will make an estimate on 
wheat as I see it: 
Kent of land. $4.00 
Harrowing once . 30 
Drilling. 30 
Seed. 90 
Cutting. 1.00 
Shocking. 20 
IlAtillng to bum. 1.0D 
Thrashing. 2.00 
Total expense.$9.70 
Amount sown 1M> bushel. 
Yield per acre 25 bushels at 62 cents per bushel 
(On farm). 15.£0 
Straw Is worth per acre. 1.00 
Total Income.$16.50 
Protit per acre. $6.80 
This estimate looks better than that 
of W. T. S., and it is just about what I 
am doing on my farm. I sow wheat on 
corn and potato ground, and therefore 
do not plow for it. When I use fertilizer 
I use only from $2.25 to $3 worth per 
acre and then often raise more than 25 
bushels. I had this year on a small 
piece of 1% acre, at the rate of 37 bushels 
per acre where it was fertilized, but we 
do not fertilize our best land. What 
kind of land must they have where they 
use $7 worth rf fertilizers and get only 
25 bushels of corn per acre ? This year 
I had one field of five acres where I 
plowed under clover without any other 
fertilizer or manure, that yielded 70 
bushels of corn per acre as dry as the sea¬ 
son was. Here is my estimate for corn : 
Plowing and preparingtbe ground. $2.E0 
Planting and plowing tlie corn four times. 2.00 
Kent of land. 4.00 
Hauling corn to crib. 50 
$9.00 
You will notice that there is no charge 
for cutting and husking, for the fodder 
will, at the market price, just pay for 
that work. Our yield on good land should 
be 60 bushels per acre, $30; profit per 
acre, $21. 
An Indiana Man Figures It. 
II L , Corydon, Ind —In The R. N.-Y. 
for November 18 W. T. S. gives the cost 
of raising an acre of wheat as $18 95 I 
think that’s too high. I send you a fair 
estimate fer this part of Indiana : 
P'owlng.$2.C0 
Harrowing. 1.20 
Reed.75 
Fertilizer, 2J0 pounds.2.80 
Rowing.50 
Harvesting. 1.25 
Stacking.SO 
Thrashing. 1.15 
Total.$10.15 
Yield per acre 20 bushels, at 50c. per bushel.... $10.00 
A Change in Potato Shape. 
O. D. V., Caribou, Me. —In a lat” R. 
N.-Y. a subscriber asks if the Rural 
New-Yorker No. 2 potato will change its 
shape. The answer was “no!” Ido 
not know about that potato, but I will 
give my experience with another—the 
White Elephant. It was in the year 
1890—during the prize contest of the 
American Agriculturist—that this came 
to my notice. I planted an acre of pota¬ 
toes in that contest, and having heard it 
said when I was a boy that seed cut 
from the butt ends of potatoes and 
planted would yield more than that from 
the seed ends, I concluded to try it. 
When cutting my potatoes I cut off the 
seed ends and threw them into another 
barrel. Where I planted seed from the 
butts the potatoes were round where 
they should have been long and slightly 
tapered. Where I planted the seed ends 
the potatoes were of the same shape as 
the original seed. So I ask this ques¬ 
tion : Could not the shape of those R. 
N.-Y. potatoes have been changed by 
throwing one part or the other away of 
a considerable portion of the seed 
planted ? I think I can get evidence of 
the truth of this statement if need be. 
A New York Commissioner of Agriculture. 
J. S. Woodward, Niagara County, 
N. Y.—I am glad to see The R N.-Y. 
stirring up this question. While Secre¬ 
tary of the State Agricultural Society, I 
knew very much of the workings of the 
Dairy Department in this State. I will 
bear testimony to the integrity and fair¬ 
ness of ex-Commissioner J. K. Brown; 
a fairer man never lived, and I don’t be¬ 
lieve that politics ever counted with him. 
But I know of some of his deputies who 
were a disgrace to the State—mere “po¬ 
litical bums.” I know that the Commis¬ 
sioner was ashamed of some of these, 
and kept them only because of the 
pressure of the wire pullers. 
I was pleased with the speech of the 
present Commissioner, made at the Mer¬ 
cantile Exchange. It sounded well, but 
I happen to know some of his deputies 
who think and say that all they are ex¬ 
pected to do is to run the caucuses and 
see that the right kind of delegates is 
sent to the conventions. In this county 
the deputy is nothing but a ward poli¬ 
tician, and I doubt if he would know a 
milk tester if he were to see it, let alone 
knowing how to use it. It is simply a 
shame that so much money is used in 
the name of agriculture and so much 
wasted. I do not claim that it would he 
any better if the Commissioner were a 
Republican. A politician is a politician, 
do matter whether a Democrat or Repub¬ 
lican. I fear it would not be any better 
were the Commissioner nominated and 
elected on the party tickets. As is well 
known, politicians run both parties, and 
so good a place as this would almost 
surely be gobbled by one of this greedy 
horde. I notice great complaints in Wis¬ 
consin, Ohio and several other States 
where dairy commissioners are elected, 
of their lack of efficiency in enforcing 
the laws against fraudulent dairy goods. 
It is openly charged in some of these 
States that these officers are only pup¬ 
pets of the wire pullers and that they 
dare not enforce the laws, because it 
would seriously hurt some one who, while 
contributing liberally to the election 
funds, is engaged in the manufacture 
and sale of the bogus products. 
Why should not New York go a step 
further in advance and secure a depart¬ 
ment which could hardly, by any possi¬ 
bility, be partisan? Why not authorize 
the flection by each county agricultural 
society of a delegate, to be voted for 
only by its members, these delegates to 
meet annually and constitute a Stale 
board of agriculture ? Let this board, at 
its annual meeting, elect an executive 
board of a given number, with the 
proper officers, which should be the 
working body and have charge of the 
agricultural matters of the State, in 
(Continued on next page.) 
IN writing to advertisers please always mentlo, 
Thi Bubal. 
A Weak Digestion 
strange as it may seem, is caused 
from a lack of that which is 
never exactly digested— fat. The 
greatest fact in connection with 
Scott's Emulsion 
appears at this point—it is partly 
digested fat —and tire most 
weakened digestion is quickly 
strengthened by it. 
The only possible help 
in Consumption is the 
arrest of waste and re¬ 
newal of new, healthy 
tissue. Scott's Emulsion 
has done wonders in Con¬ 
sumption just this way. 
I Prepared by Scott A Bowne, N. Y. All druggists. 
ATTENTION' 
ASK FOR THIS AXE. 
USE NO OTHER. 
Wood-choppers, try the 
Kelly Perfect Bxe 
It will cat 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, KV. 
I Vote for Hood’s 
For I am satisfied It is 
an excellent remedy. I 
have been a minister of 
tlie M. E. church 40 
years, and have suffered 
of late years with rhen- 
mntism and dyapep- 
aia. Since taking four 
bottles of Hood’s the 
rheumatism Is entirely 
cured, my appetite Is 
good, food digests well, 
and I have gained several pounds.” Rev. W. 
R. Puffer, Rlchford, Vt Hood’s Cures 
Hood’s Pills cure biliousness. 25c. a box. 
Stahl’s 
Double Acting 
Excelsior Spray- N®) 
I ing Outfits prevent \ 
1 Leaf Blight & Wormy 
Fruit. Insures a heavy- 
yield of all Fruit and! 
Vegetable crops. Thous¬ 
ands in use. Send6cts. for 
Q catalogue and full treatise 
on spraying. Circulars free. 
WM.STAHL,Quincy,III.{ 
saw 
CNulllEOi MILLS 
Threshing Machines. 
Best Machinkby at Lowest Pbioes. 
,PUMPS 
I Our Cartleld KnapMuck, 
_ * Double Kninlre, IVrfec- 
tlon, and Little Gem,lend all 
^ other*. The best is always cheapest, 
"an# thcR* OCOT Brasa working parti, 
ABE THE DLO I c Automatic itirreri, 
VermoreJ noiilts and heavy boie. Remember the Garfield la 
the only knapsack that la concaved to fit the back Wrlto for ape- 
cial price-list and book of instructions. We can save you money. 
FIKLD FORCE PUMP CO., 113 Bristol A ?e., LOCK PORT, N.T. 
A. B. FARQUHAR CO., York. Pi 
Accidents Will Happen. 
But ■'an ounce of prevention Is worth a pound of 
cure.” We load ten miles or sixteen tons of “pre¬ 
vention” In a box car. We have County Agents 
who sell two or three such carloads In one season 
Figure up tbe saving on accidents and cutes, and 
write for tvlaence. 
PAGE WOVEN WIRE FENCE CO., 
Adrian, Mich. 
The Page Wire Fence Company of Ontario, Ltd. 
Walkervllle, Ont. 
Feed and Grain Dealers and Farmers 
Will And It to thetr Interest 
to call on or write 
CUTTER & BAILEY, 
No. 143 Washington Street, Buffalo, N. Y., 
Who have on hand 400 toris of Wheat Screenings, 
which makes the Cheapest and Best feed iu the mar¬ 
ket for sheep, and when ground makes the best of 
feed for much cows and cattle. Also all graces of 
mill teed in car lots or less. Samples and prices 
sent by mall. 
D. LANDRITH & SONS 
the errn ho ^ se 
OLDEST AMERICA 
have Issued their handsomely Illustrated SEED 
Catalogue for 1894. Merchants. Market Garden¬ 
ers, and Private Families desiring Hood Seeds, 
should send postal for a copy. EKEE to ail appli¬ 
cants. Address D. EAnDKETH S 89.MS, 
Seed Farmers and Merchants. .Philadelphia, Pa, 
Winter Courses in Agriculture 
AND DAIRY HUSBANDRY. 
Practical Short Courses are offered by CORNELL 
UNIVERSITY in AGRICULTURE and DAIRY 
HUSBANDRY, which are within the reach of all. 
Terms begin January 3, 1894. For particulars address 
I. P. ROBERTS, Director of the College of Agri¬ 
culture, ITHACA, N. Y. 
FARM FOR SALE. 
Situated In Niagara County, 1% mile from Middle- 
port, on N. Y. C. and U. 11. HR. and Erie Canal. 126 
acres all under cultivation, three apple orchards, 
POO pear trees set this year, two acres berries, two 
large barns and horse Darn, four sheds, four wel s, 
roomy housp, buildings and fences newly repaired. 
Price. $75 per acre; $5,100 can remain on mortgage at 
five per cent. See It oefore snow files. W. D. HUD- 
NUT, on the farm, J. M. HUDNUT, 346 Broadway, 
New York City. 
STOCK FARM 
Containing 485 Acres—Healthy Section 
Handsome Dwelling. Shady Yards. Near Depot. 
Orchard select fruit; well watered; hardwood ttmber; 
mild climate. Free catalogue conta'ntng many car- 
gains. R. B. CHAFFIN & CO , Richmond, Va. 
T7D/^AT> C< A T T7^—Wilson Bone and Shell 
! Dll lOjrTJjPj Mill. No. 7. Capacity, 
one ton a day; in perfect order. Price, $75. 
HENRY J. GARHETSON, Bound Brook, N. J. 
IT'VA'O Q A ¥ TW South Georgia Farm. 
F V /.IV ioxjLJLiJCj Good for Truck, Fruit 
and Grapes 82 acres, 1)4 mile from Blackshear K.R 
Depot. Address W. R Andrews, EUFAULA, Ai.a. 
WE WANT 
YOUNG FARMERS 
to work for us during the Winter months; certain 
i thing. Send two two-cent stamps for particulars. 
W. S. POWELL & CO. 
Fertilizer Manufacturers, Baltimore, Did. 
