1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
847 
“It’s only six dollars,” she whispeied, “and aint it 
lovely ? There’s some cheaper ones back there, but I 
told Miss Q that I’m no five center. I want this !’’ 
lie winced, and groaned inwardly as he handed her 
the amount, because he had need of every cent he 
could raise. It cured him ail right. He never ob¬ 
jected to taking butter, eggs or chickens to town after 
that. 
But I know farmers who are making $500 at a cost 
of $490 who would not for any consideration be seen 
fooling away their valuable time selling such small 
truck as butter, eggs, chickens, vegetables or small 
fruits. They affect to sneer at the man who thinks 
10 cents’ worth of profit received for eggs, batter or 
chickens is as good as 10 cents’ worth received for 
wheat, ccrn, cattle or hogs. They boast that they 
deal in dollars, not cents. They are great big pop-guns. 
Generally good fellows, but slightly top light. 
Christian Co., Ill. feed grundy. 
FARM SQUARELY FED FROM CIRCULAR SILO. 
The first circular silo built in this State is on the 
farm of Mr. E. H. Bancroft, near Camden, Del. I 
was at bis place on the afternoon of September 27, 
when he began filling the new silo with corn and cow 
peas. Two smaller silos in his barn had 
already been filled with about 225 tons 
of corn ensilage. The circular silo, shown 
at Fig. 273, is 24 feet inside diameter 
and 26 feet from the eaves to the bot¬ 
tom of the pit, which is four feet below 
the surface of the ground. The portion 
below ground is made of bi ick and cement 
with a cement floor. The distance from 
the floor to the peak of the roof is 34 
feet. The frame of the building is made 
of 2x4-ineh pine studding. Upon the 
inside, bent to conform to the circle, are 
nailed one-half-inch oak boards, eight 
inches wide, which are covered with 
tarred paper; this is covered with half¬ 
inch oak hoards in the same manner, 
care being taken to break joints wilh 
the first layer of boards. The outside 
is covered with half-inch pine siding; 
the inside is coated with hot gas tar. 
Several half-inch iron bolts secure the 
studs on each side of the doorway from 
spreading, and the sills are bolted to 
the foundation by bolts 18 inches long. 
This silo is estimated to hold about 265 t^ns of en¬ 
silage. The ensilage in the silos is trodden down by 
one man while filling, and is finally covered with 
about one foot of chaff, no o*Uer covering or weights 
being used. The corn is brought, from the field to 
the cutter upon a low wagon without tying into bun¬ 
dles. The wagon is shown at Fig 274. It consists of 
a platform 16 feet in length, hung from the axles of 
an ordinary farm wagon, the construct’on of which is 
readily seen in the cut An original feature of the 
platform is the hinging of the sloping portion to the 
lower part, to that when stored the platform can be 
turned over towards the front end and thus be piled 
one above the other and occupy but little space. 
Mr. Bancroft’s farm consists of 140 acres of excel¬ 
lent land. Besides being a reeder of a choice strain 
of thorough-bred Jersey cattle, he is also an extensive 
fruit and vegetable grower. His herd comprises 40 
milch cows, two bulls and 20 head of young stock. 
There are also seven horses and mules and a number 
of brood sows kept on the place. The milk is made 
into butter under the direct supervision of Mr. Ban¬ 
croft. It is put up in pound and half pound prints 
and meets with ready sale at g lod prices on account 
of superior quality. 
A very noticeable feature of the farm is the absence 
of all fences except sufficient to inclose a yard in 
which the cattle are allowed to run on pleasant days. 
At other times they are confined in the stables. The 
buildings and lawn, flower garden and stock yards 
occupy about three acres. There are 20 acres of apple 
orchards, most of which are young trees. Toe peach 
orchard, originally 35 acres, has been reduced to 10 
and many of these trees have been dug out on account 
of yellows. The peach orchard is being replaced by 
apple trees and 20 acres are now being planted to ap¬ 
ples. Ten acres are devoted to strawberries, six acres 
to blackcaps, five acres to Lucretia dewberries, and 
three acres to Early Harvest blackberries. There are 
also eight acres of pears in fruiting, which are sprayed 
from two to three times each season for the leaf 
blight. Asparagus occupies 10 acres from which a 
paying crop is cut and shipped each year. The present 
season 10 acres of tomatoes and three of sweet pota¬ 
toes were grown for market. 
In addition to the above, 30 acres of ensilage corn 
were grown to fill the three silos wMch are now 
filled with 75, 125 and 250 tons respectively of corn 
ensilage of the finest quality. Five acres are devoted 
to Alfalfa, from which three to four heavy crops are 
cut annually. Eight acres of cow peas were also 
grown this year. Mr. Bancroft is not content to 
secure a single crop from the land each year; but 
secures two and sometimes as many as three or four 
crops annually as in the case of the Alfalfa. Some of 
his best ensilage corn was planted on July 1, on land 
from which a full crop of strawberries had been picked. 
Scarlet clover is gro wn, always as a catch crop, for 
fertilizer, ensilage and seed. It is sown on all the 
land except that devoted to sweet potatoes, truck, 
strawberries and some other small fruits. 
In May a part of the siloes will be filled with Scarlet 
clover which makes much better ensilage than corn. 
Mr. Bancroft thinks that “ the system will be right 
when the land grows a crop of cow peas for fall filling 
of the silos and one of Scarlet clover for spring.” He 
proposes to test that system, in that manner getting 
the best possible dairy feed with less protein to buy, 
and at the same time filling the soil with nitrogen, 
thus obviating the necessity of purchasing any ferti¬ 
lizing elements except phosphoric acid and potash. 
It is nis intention to feed ensilage to his stock tne year 
round ; but heretofore it has been used uo and has 
had to be supplemented with Alfalfa and other green 
foods. Ensi lage is not fed to the horses for the reason 
that the supply has never been sufficient for the cattle. 
Large quantities of bran, corn meal and cotton-seed 
meal are fed in connection with the ensilage, which 
is of itself a rich feed as the ears are cut with the 
stalks into half-inch lengths. Mr. Bancroft believes 
in liberal feeding, but prefers not to use too largo a 
po- tion of the cotton seed meal, as it tends to make 
the butter too hard. m. h beckwith. 
NO FORTUNE IN BUYING AT WHOLESALE. 
It is easy to write generalities as does Fred Grundy, 
in reference to this matter on page 794, but why does 
not Mr. G. give some experience and tell us just what 
can be done where he lives? I have given consider¬ 
able attention to the matter in my locality in North¬ 
ern Ohio, and find that in staple groceries there is not 
enough to warrant much trouble in buying at whole- 
A Cart for Hauling Ensilage. Fig. 274. 
sale when the necessity of providing storage and in¬ 
surance is taken into account. Most of this fall there 
has been but 50 or 60 cents’ difference per 100 pounds 
between the cost of sugars by the barrel and by the 
dollar’s worth. This means a saving of $1.50 or $1.80 
on 300 pounds, out of which must come cost of writing 
two letters, one of inquiry and one for purchase, and 
freight, besides postal order. This leaves a margin 
worth saving, of course, if one has a tight vermin-proof 
store room that is dry in the dampest weather, and if 
the insurance covers provisions. Coffees in pound 
papers, browned, co3t by the hundred package case 
$24.60, and retail at 26 cents, the grocery man grind¬ 
ing them and making a profit of one cent and four 
mills. It is out of the question for a family to buy 
100 pounds, as that amount would last two years, or 
more, and lose greatly in quality. The only way is to 
buy unbrowned coffee and brown and grind it at 
home. In this there is something saved, but it entails 
the keeping of a coffee mill a’nd much extra work for 
the women, and there is a chance that enough will 
be spoiled in browning in a year to nearly offset the 
small gain in price. It is impracticable to buy enough 
tea at a time to save anything worth while, as it loses 
strength, and on the smaller items of sp’ces, yeast, 
flavoring extracts, etc., there is the trouble that one 
family does not use enough to make a wholesale 
order. 
Oil can be bought in my section for seven cents per 
gallon in five gallon lots, and the same grade in 
barrels for about 5% cents. Oat of this comes corres¬ 
pondence and freight, besides one must pay for the 
barrel extra, getting it refunded when the barrel is 
emptied and returned. If the oil be used from the 
barrel the staves shrink at the top and enough 
oil evaporates to make about the difference be¬ 
tween wholesale and retail. To save this waste 
one must have a tin tank holding 50 or 60 gallons, 
and costing $8 or more. A leaky oil barrel in a 
cellar is not the safest thing one can have around, 
and some insurance companies make a pol’cy void 
if it is kept in a building. Gasoline is still worse, 
and a few years ago a friend in Akron came pretty 
near losing his wife and house, from having a cask of 
gasoline in the cellar. The barrel shrunk and leaked, 
and one day when his wife went down cellar with a 
candle, there was an explosion that lifted the house 
several inches, blew the woman against 
the wall, burned her hair and fired her 
clothing, and nothing but the fact that 
the accident happened in a city saved the 
house and woman. 50 cents per barrel 
can be saved by buying flour by the 
barrel instead of by the sack, and 55 
cents per hundred pounds by buying 
buckwheat flour in 100 pound lots. There 
is quite a saving in buying coal by the 
car, but if it comes when the farmer is 
busy it sometimes costs all the saving to 
attend to the drawing. A farmer of my 
acquaintance ordered some coal to come 
in August. It came three weeks later, 
in wheat sowing, and he told me he 
thought be lost $30 by stopping his seed¬ 
ing to attend to it. This, of course, was 
an accidental matter, and is only given 
to show that there are many things to 
think of and allow for, in figuring on 
the difference made by the middleman’s 
profits. In localities where one is com¬ 
pelled to purchase from little country 
grocers, without corrpetition, circum¬ 
stances are different, and if there is within a reason¬ 
able distance, a large town, it will pay to buy in 
larger quantities. l b. pierce. 
CURSE AND BLESSING FROM THE SAME BAG. 
THE FERTILIZER IS STILL IN THE SOIL. 
A week ago the following note came to hand : “I 
think you do very wrong to urge poor people to run 
in debt for commercial fertilizers, and discard dairy¬ 
ing in connection with agriculture. I would be more 
than $100 better off this year if I had never heard of 
the paper.” Not knowing when and where we have 
urged poor people to run in debt for fertilizers, we 
wrote for further particulars and received the follow¬ 
ing: 
“ My loss of $100 is in running in debt to that 
amount for commercial fertilizers under the advice of 
The Rural, and finding myself at the close of the 
season without improved crops and without money to 
pay the bill for fertilizers now long past due, and 
with no means of»getting it. Of course I don’t wish 
to shift responsibility for my own acts upon any one 
else, but I would not, in all probability, have invested 
but for The Rural's talk in that direction. After 
using according to directions, and finding no benefit, 
with some crops away below the average and others 
total failures, it is discouraging to say the least. My 
land is a good loam and responds readily to msnure, 
a good dressing of barnyard manure lasting for years. 
If the commercial fertilizers are good in ‘ stopping 
holes in a sieve,’ I think that the promiscuous recom¬ 
mendation of their use by all farmers is wrong, and 
in that way responsible for losses. I am a young man 
and am willing to be progressive. I have used the 
Planet Jr. horse-hoe combination and the harrow 
cultivator and pulverizer this season and think them 
wonderful implements. But from my experience 
with fertilizers I shall increase my cows ; and by soil¬ 
ing and liberal bedding with forest leaves, and turn¬ 
ing under rye and other soiling crops I shall keep up 
the fertility of my little farm.” 
The past season has been a very trying one. The 
drought has ruined many a crop which, with a little 
water at the right time, would have turned out a suc¬ 
cess. Mr. Lewis, of New Jersey, who has used fertil¬ 
izers heavily for 15 years, reports the lightest crop in 
his experience. Mr. Cottrell, of ELerslie Farm, used 
stable manure and fertilizers side by Bide, and both 
failed by reason of the drought. We could give at 
Filling a Round Silo in Delaware. Fig. 273. 
