862 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
December 30 
resorts to his only known mode of opposition, either 
kicking or running away. If he drives about toler¬ 
ably well he is considered thoroughly broken. This 
is one reason of so many runaways and such a num¬ 
ber of people being afraid of horses. 
“ With me the colt has a bridle put in his mouth ; 
he is thoroughly bitted and allowed to smell every¬ 
thing used about him, for that is the colt’s means of 
finding out what things are. He is gradually taught 
that while man is master, he is a considerate master, 
and will not do anything to hurt him unless the colt 
needs punishment, when it is given him in such a 
shape that he is not likely to forget it. Establish a 
confidence between the colt and yourself, and then it 
is the easiest thing in the world to do anything with 
him. 
Farmers may say that it is too much trouble to bit a 
colt, to teach him not to be afraid of paper, baby 
carriages, railroad trains, or other things at which 
horses shy or run away. Could they raise anything 
or any crop that is so profitable as a pound of good 
horse flesh ? I have just sold two half-breds by 
Matchless, out of an ordinary trotting mare like those 
owned by hundreds, yes, thousands of farmers in this 
country, for SI,000 a piece. These fillies weighed 
about 900 pounds a piece, so I sold them for over $1 
a pound. They did not cost me a cent more than a fat 
ox or a fat sheep per pound and yet see the returns I 
get for them. Any farmer can easily tell which it pays 
better to raise. 
“There has been a great deal of talk,” continued 
Mr. Fairfax, “about the use of electricity replacing 
horses, but I do not think that any farmer need worry 
for many years to come, no matter to what develop¬ 
ment electricity may be brought; as applied to car¬ 
riages there is nothing in the world that can equal the 
pleasure of a well-mannered, well-bitted, stylish pair 
of horses before a handsome trap. The exhilaration in 
driving is not equaled by any other pleasure in point 
of healthfulness or enjoyment that man can devise.” 
The premier stallion now owned by Henry Fairfax 
is Uanesfort 77 (3535), foaled in 1890, 
a chestnut by Danegelt 174, out of 4580 
Frimula, by Lord Derby, 2nd 417. This 
is the very cream of Hackney blood 
and he has a great future before him. 
lie has also Northern Light 21 (2016), 
by Star of the East 798, out of a dam 
by Confidence 158. 
Any farmer who could see Mr. Fair¬ 
fax’s weanlings, one-year-olds and two- 
year-olds would be easily persuaded to 
experiment with the Hackney cross. 
If a farmer has two mares let him 
breed one to an American trotter, and 
the other to the English trotter or 
Hackney, and see for which colt he 
receives the most money. The people nowadays in 
the city markets where the highest prices are received 
demand a high stepping, well-formed horse of im¬ 
mense endurance that will road 10 or 12 miles an hour 
and keep it up all day. Such an animal in these times 
will bring from $500 to $1,000, but he must be “ well 
made” so that he is ready to go in harness the moment 
he comes to the city. No farmer who raises this 
kind of horse need complain of hard times. 
Editor The Hackney. e. t. riddick. 
HOW TO GET LIQUID MANURE ON THE GROUND 
An important source of fertility on the Hicks farm 
is the liquid-manure cistern in connection with the 
cow stables. The stables are all cemented, and a 
cement drain leads from the gutters to this cistern, so 
that every drop of this liquid manure is saved. It is 
one of the best of fertilizers, especially for grass land. 
The effects of an application to the meadows, are 
quickly apparent, in a rank growth of grass. They 
are more plainly apparent if a strip be left upon 
which no liquid is sprinkled. This whole apparatus, 
cistern, sprinkler and all, is inexpensive, and may be 
made by almost any farmer. 
Fig. 276 shows the sprinkler. It consists of a large 
cask holding, perhaps, 150 to 200 gallons, mounted as 
shown. One of the supporting side pieces is cut away 
in the cut to show the connection. The cask contains 
an opening at the top into which the liquid is pumped. 
In the bottom at the front end is inserted a pipe lead¬ 
ing to the sprinkler. This passes through the box-like 
affair shown, which contains a valve opened and 
closed by means of a wrench used on the nut shown 
on top. This regulates the flow of liquid or cuts it off 
entirely. The sprinkler itself consists of a large-sized 
iron pipe, perforated with a row of holes on the front 
and back sides, but not on the bottom. The ends are 
plugged. Some boards are nailed across the support¬ 
ing timbers, and on those a seat was fastened for the 
driver. These were removed to show the manner of 
construction. 
This sprinkler and frame may be made separable from 
the wagon, so that no additional wagon is needed. With 
the valve closed, the tank is filled by means of a pump, 
the wagon driven to the field to which the liquid is to 
be applied, the valve opened, the team driven back 
and forth until the tank is empty, and the work is 
done. The odor may not be particularly agreeable, 
but is no worse than‘that from either barnyard manure 
or commercial fertilizers, while the former is much 
more unpleasant to handle. 
FERTILIZERS AND FRUIT. 
AMONG THE HUDSON RIVER FRUIT GROWERS. 
Part VII. 
The Feeding of Nursery Stock. 
At Cornwall, N. Y., Mr. T. J. Dwyer conducts a 
nursery business with much skill and success. Mr. D. 
is a very careful student of the problems of plant feed¬ 
ing, and his aim has been to produce thrifty and well- 
grown plants, vines and trees. Bear in mind that his 
chief desire is to grow wood—the crop of fruit is of less 
consequence to him. On the other farms described in 
these articles the problem was to secure a large yield 
of firm, well flavored and highly colored fruit. It 
was generally agreed by these farmers that, while 
manure gives an excellent growth of wood to the 
young vine or tree, for the crop itself fertilizer gave 
by far the best results. From this we may reasonably 
expect that Mr. Dwyer uses large quantities of manure, 
as he is after wood growth—the most of his stock being 
sold long before it bears a crop. 
That surmise is correct. On his 25 acres Mr. Dwyer 
uses about 170 tons of manure and 10 tons of fertilizer. 
The manure is obtained from near-by brick yards and 
is of fine quality as the horses or mules are fed heavily 
on grain. Of course, in a nursery business like this a 
great deal of mulching material is needed on the very 
young plants and vines. This is another reason why 
so much manure is used, for Mr. Dwyer, like the rest 
of these farmers, says that manure is cheaper than 
pure straw or other mulching material. Stable 
manure is the material for plant babies. It is blanket 
and food in one—keeping them warm and feeding 
them at one time. With the fruit grower its office is to 
make wood —that point seems settled beyond dispute. 
“ And yet,” said Mr. Dwyer “ I always use more or 
less fertilizer with the manure. For example, on 
strawberries, I use 600 pounds to the acre on the 
rows and after the plants are set out a handful around 
each plant—well worked into the soil. Then if there 
are any lagging plants noticed I put on more fertil¬ 
izer just before hoeing. This is one great advantage 
that I find in the use of fertilizers. They are quickly 
available. If one plant is behind the rest and 
evidently needing more food it is a very easy matter 
to drop a handful of fertilizer around it and work it 
well into the soil. The handful of fertilizer contains 
more plant-food than a big forkful of manure and 
think what a job it would be to go over a big field and 
put manure around lagging plants.” 
“ Have you ever grown young plants without man¬ 
ure ? ” 
“ Oh, yes. For instance, I have put out thousands 
of currant cuttings on land that had been so heavily 
manured in former years that we could hardly cul¬ 
tivate it. That land was rich from former manuring 
and with fertilizers alone it will grow a fine crop. 
That is another illustration of the peculiar value of 
fertilizers. On land already rich in humus, from pre¬ 
vious manuring, the fertilizers provide all the needed 
elements of the manure at much less cost. Noif, 
while with my nursery business I would not like to 
try to get along without any manure, I recognize the 
great value of fertilizers and would feel lost without 
them.” 
“ Do you grow double crops ? ” 
“ Yes, and treble. For example, I set a young ap¬ 
ple orchard last spring. Later in the season, I set in 
cabbage, and later still, sowed turnips all over the 
field. So there sre ctees, cabbage and turnips all 
growing in the field and doing well. Of course we 
used fertilizers on the cabbage and turnips as it would 
have been impossible to work manure into the ground. 
I could cut out the cabbage, plow in the turnips and 
add fertilizer and have a perfect substitute for stable 
manure—there is no doubt of that.” 
“ Then you think a green crop plowed under and 
fertilizers added to it would give you a manure sub¬ 
stitute ? ” 
“ There is no doubt of it. If I had more land so that 
I could seed to clover and thus let the soil * rest ’ 
long enough to make a good sod and fill up with good, 
strong roots, I could use much less manure, because 
the sod would provide much of the vegetable matter 
that my soil needs and which the manure supplies 
But my area is limited, and I need it all for crops, so 
it pays me better to buy the manure and not lose the 
use of my land by growing green crops or sod to plow 
under. My experience goes to show that with the 
proper use of fertilizers and green crops, I could ob¬ 
tain the needed wood growth on young plants. In 
other words, while we use manure largely to produce 
this young growth, it is not because manure alone will 
do it, but because manure, counting in its fertilizing 
value, gives us our cheapest material for mulch and 
humus.” 
“ Is the use of fertilizers increasing ? ” 
“No doubt of it, and not only that, but farmers 
realize more and more the folly of using cheap, low- 
grade goods. When a dairyman buys grain, he doesn’t 
see any advantage in buying 500 pounds of sawdust 
with every 1,500 pounds of corn meal or bran, even 
though he only pay for the actual grain. It is about 
that way with cheap fertilizers, and it is a hopeful 
sign that farmers recognize the fact more and more. 
Any farmer who knows his business will pay more for 
horse manure from car stables where plenty of grain 
is fed than from stables where idle ‘ boarders ’ are fed 
mostly on hay. That is the same principle as paying 
more for a high grade fertilizer with a high analysis 
and making money by doing so.” 
Change of Food For An Apple Orchard. 
One of the most noted apple orchards along the 
Hudson is that owned by Mr. W. H. Hart of Pough¬ 
keepsie. The problem of feeding this orchard properly 
has developed one of the most interesting phases of 
the fertilizer question that we have 
seen. 
Mr. Hart’s orchard comprises 90 acres 
—none of which was cropped or past¬ 
ured. On the same farm were 70 acres 
of rather light soil. The proposition 
was to make the 70 acres provide the 
great amount of manure needed on the 
orchard and at the same time grow 
more fertile. That is to say, let 70 acres 
feed 90, at a profit. Mr. Hart decided 
to keep dairy cows—enough to consume 
all the forage produced on the 70 acres 
—buying all grain. Then the point 
was to raise all possible fodder on the 
70 acres. To do this, ensilage and 
soiling crops were introduced, and so well pushed 
that 35 head of stock were kept on the farm, with 
every promise that double that number, or one ani¬ 
mal to each acre, could be fed. Two plants were 
chiefly responsible for this work—Indian corn and 
prickly comfrey—the ensilage and soiling systems. 
From the last of July till the last of May—10 months 
—the corn provided food for the cows as fodder or in 
the silo. All through June the prickly comfrey kept 
the cows in forage. The hay was cut as early as 
possible and the hay fields then pastured—thus keep¬ 
ing the cows until corn fodder was ready. The cows 
were fed on strong grain foods and the manure care¬ 
fully saved for use on the orchards. Thus the 70 acres 
were made to feed the 90. Did the feeding pay and is 
it continued ? We shall talk about that next week. 
(To be continued.) 
TWO FARM FAILURES.—IV. AND V. 
A Silo Failure. —Describing failures is not always 
a pleasant task, but if our failures in the different 
lines of farming were more often discussed, I think 
they would decrease in consequence. When asked to 
write on this subject, I hardly knew where to start, 
for in all of the different branches of my own farm¬ 
ing, I have failed to attain even approximately what 
some other man has accomplished, so I will describe 
my latest mistake. 
When filling my silo of 125 tons’ capacity, with corn 
that was glazed and well eared, I was tempted to put 
in some fodder corn—which had only small nubbins on 
it, and was just forming kernels—to finish out the top 
instead of filling entirely with good ripe corn. When 
we commenced to feed it, 30 cows coald not eat the 
ensilage from the top of the silo (15 x 15 feet) fast 
enough to keep it from spoiling. It would get moldy 
in a very short time, and, although the cows ate this 
fodder-corn ensilage, all of the grain it lacked had to 
be made up in some other way. We are now commenc¬ 
ing on the ensilage made from corn that was ripe 
enough to husk when it was put in the silo. I have 
used ensilage six years, and never had a failure with 
ripe corn. Corn should be ripe enough to enable one 
r 
Homemade Liquid Manure Sprinkler. Fig. 276. 
