1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
863 
to get his seed for the next year before it is cut for 
ensilage. I am confident that there are thousands of 
farms in the East that could profitably keep double, 
or perhaps treble, the number of stock they now 
keep, and improve the fertility of the farm, and fill 
the owner's pocketbook at the same time, by the use 
Of the Silo. JOHN Q WELLS. 
Losing a Wheat Chop. —Among the many failures I 
have made, the loss of a crop of wheat some years ago 
was one of the worst. The fall had been very dry, 
and I made up my mind that I would not start the 
plows until it rained. I said that I would not kill 
the horses, wear out the plows, etc., and that the rain 
was bound to come in time; and if the wheat was sowed 
late, the winter would be late in coming, and the 
wheat would get a good growth before severe weather 
set in. So I waited for the rain. It came, but much 
later than I expected, and the ground was plowed, 
harrowed—not very much—the wheat drilled in and 
the grass seed sowed. Both came up all right—this 
was the last of October—and the winter began on the 
first day of November. It continued winter weather 
until the following March. I harvested 135 bushels 
of rather poor wheat on this 30-acre field ! The grass 
was like unto the wheat—a failure. Four and one- 
half bushels of wheat per acre on a field that, under 
ordinary conditions, would produce anywhere from 30 
to 30 bushels ! 
My mistake was in “ making up my mind” that I 
would not plow until it rained. It is a very good thing 
for one to make up his mind, but he should be pre¬ 
pared to “unmake” it if necessary. Since losing that 
crop of wheat I have always made up my mind, so far 
as farm operations are concerned, with an “if.” In 
the case of the wheat field, if I had put an extra horse 
to the plows, and worked the teams carefully, I could 
have plowed the ground in time because, after a cer¬ 
tain time the soil gets “rotten” under the effect of the 
drought, and while it will not plow so nicely as if it 
had rain on it, yet very fair work can be done. Having 
got the furrows turned, even though rather roughly, 
when the rain did come I would have had plenty of 
time to harrow and roll the ground into good tilth, 
and the wheat would have had a fair start before 
winter came. Or, if I had not made up my mind that 
winter would be late in putting in its appearance, I 
might have worked the ground thoroughly and de¬ 
ferred the sowing till too late for the grain to germi¬ 
nate in the fall, and have reaped a good crop. 
_ A. L CROSBY. 
ANOTHER STORY OF CORN GROWING. 
PROFIT IN SEED CORN. 
The figures given by your correspondents on the 
cost, and profit or loss, of growing wheat and corn in 
the Central and Western States, make queer reading 
to the corn growers of southern Connecticut. The 
item of fertilization marks a great difference between 
the two sections. Here we apply from 10 to 15 cords 
of stable manure per acre, which, if purchased, costs 
about $5 per cord spread on the field. If taken from 
the farmyard, the cost of applying it is at least $2 per 
cord, depending somewhat on the distance it must be 
hauled, and whether it is dry or water-soaked. In ad¬ 
dition to the manure, some kind of commercial fer¬ 
tilizer is generally used, in quantity of from 400 to 800 
pounds per acre. So we can fairly estimate the cost 
of fertilizer for an acre of corn as from $30 to $60 per 
acre, and the weight of evidence goes to prove that 
the highest cost yields most profit. I append figures 
taken from my corn crop of this year. As the field 
was heavily fertilized for two seasons previous, the 
cost of fertilizer this year was unusually light. The 
value of land here is about $100 per acre. The assessed 
valuation is about $30 per acre, with taxes at one per 
cent: 
Interest and taxes on five acres land at $100 per acre. $31.50 
One-half ton fertilizer at 130 per ton.j 15 00 
Flowing, man and team, 2)4 days at $4. 10.00 
Crushing and harrowing, man and team, one day at $4. 4 00 
Marking, man and horse. Dye hours at 30 cents. LsO 
tseedcorn, 1 M bushel at $1.35 per bushel.j L70 
Fianting, one man, l l /i day at $2. 
Applying fertilizer, one man, five hours at 15 cents.1 ’75 
Harrowing young corn, man and team, six hours at 40 cents...!. 2 I 40 
Cultivating three times, man and horse, four days. 12 00 
Cutting and shocking, two men five uavs each at $1.50. 15 00 
Husking and spreading 540 Dushels at five cents per bushel.. . . .’. 27A0 
Straw used in binding. 20 nundles, at 10 cents each. ~2 00 
Snelling and delivering 540 bushels at three cents per bushel....' 16(20 
Total cost of crop.. (5 
Cost per acre. . 28.41 
CREDIT. 
shelled; shrinkage in drying, 10 per cent,31 Dushels; 303 bushels 
seed corn at $1.35.$400.00 
Fodder sold, 1,800 bundles at three cents each.. . . 55.80 
Total for five acres.$404.80 
Value of crop per acre. $02 08 
Cost of crop per acre. 28^41 
Profit per acre. $ 64.55 
One thing more: not one cent in money was ex¬ 
pended on this crop. The fertilizer was furnished by 
the dealer for whom the corn was grown, and paid for 
in corn, and the labor was all done by myself and son, 
so that, in addition to the actual profit on the crop, 
the most of the expense was not an outlay to hired 
help, but came back into our own pockets in full pay¬ 
ment for time expended, and most of the labor was 
nothing but fun. This is not an exceptional crop, as 
100 bushels of shelled corn per acre is not unusual 
here, and with this there are usually from five to ten 
bushels'not suitable for seed. One hundred bushels of 
shelled seed corn means more than the same bulk of 
feeding corn as measured on the farm. The seed corn 
must be absolutely dry, and, when measured, the feed¬ 
ing corn seldom is. The value of the fodder equals 
the cost of cultivation on any well grown crop, leav¬ 
ing only interest, taxes, fertilizers and preparing for 
market to count against the crop. 
Woodbridge, Conn. Charles pierson augur. 
A FARM MACHINE MAKER. 
Why would it not pay to sort out the “ drone ” hens 
as well as “ defaulting cows.” The machine has been 
in use the whole season and works perfectly. 
A Root Cutter and Short Cut for Hay Track. 
In the barn was a root cutter which works well and 
may be easily made. Two pieces of 2 x 4 ash scantling 
are nailed together in the form of an X. Two of these 
X’s are used for the frame. Cleats nailed across the 
bottom hold the frame and serve for the support of 
the box a (see Fig. 277), which is under the cylinder 
to catch the cut roots The end pieces are V-shaped, 
and made of two-inch plank, with a hole for the 
cylinder to turn in. Inch boards c c are used to side 
up the hopper. The shaft is made of a turned hard 
wood stick, and is six inches in diameter. The cutters 
are made of heavy band iron which is ground to an 
edge on one side. They are shaped like a staple, and 
after the ends are driven in to the shaft, are l^inch 
wide and Hi inch high. There are 12 cutters placed 
in diagonal rows, lli inch apart, and the same dis¬ 
tance from the ends or sides. The distance between 
the sides of the hopper and cutters is about one-half 
inch. There is no bottom to the hopper, the cylinder 
occupies its place. The hopper holds about one-half 
bushel, and the roots can all be placed in at once. A 
balance wheel would help in turning. The cut, Fig. 
277, will explain it. 
Coming from the barn I noticed a bar of iron with a 
13-inch roller on it. 
“ What have you there ?” 
“ That’s a device for saving time iD unloading hay. 
The bar is placed about one half the distance the team 
has to travel from the barn. I drive the team out to 
and around the bar, and back to the barn. When the 
car has reached its destination the team is at the barn. 
The rope is unhooked from the team and the car runs 
back quickly without waiting for the team.” 
Fig. 278 shows the method of fixing rope, car, fork 
and “ time saver a, car ; b, rope ; c c, pulleys; k, 
bar and roller ; F, distance traveled by team; g, track. 
WHAT A HANDY BOY CAN DO WITH TOOLS. 
The McGowan Nozzle. 
The Training of an Inventor. 
I want to tell The R. N.-Y. readers about a visit I 
recently made to the home of John McGowan, who 
has invented many useful things—among others the 
best spraying nozzle I ever used. 
“ Where did you learn to work brass, weld iron, 
make models, calculate strength of metals, that you 
QL 
Cj 
Fork 
\ hay } 
Putky 
13c 
1315 -.;;; 
. 
A Short Cut for the Hay Fork. Fig. 278. 
must understand to make the things you have shown 
me ? ” I asked after a trip to the workshoD where I 
saw working models of many things. 
“ I don’t know when I did learn it,” was the reply. 
“ I could do those things the first time I tried.” 
An Egg Counting Machine. 
“ Some of The Rural readers do not believe that 
Mr. Bassler’s Leghorns laid 240 eggs in a year,” I 
remarked as we were loooking at some fine fowls. 
“ I have made a machine so that one may knowhow 
many eggs each hen lays,” was the reply. 
“ A machine ! ” 
“ Yes ! This box is placed in the partition between 
two rooms. The hens are all on one side. When a 
hen wishes to lay she enters the box which resembles 
a nest. If she lay, the egg passes down a tube, and 
Spraying Nozzle. Fig. 279. 
fastens the door behind her, opening the one in front 
of her, so she may pass on into the second room. As 
soon as she steps off from the nest bottom which is 
set on springs the door is fastened behind her and the 
first door is again opened for the second hen. If the 
hen do not lay she can return as the door does not 
lock until the egg is laid. Numbered bands are put 
on the hens’ legs, and at night a record is taken of all 
hens found on the ‘ right side.’ The hens are returned 
each night.” 
In future, when hens with a record will be worth 
their weight in silver, this machine will be valuable. 
In the workshop I saw the nozzle which bears Mr. 
McGowan’s name. See Fig. 279. The beauty of this 
nozzle is that it will not clog with any ordinary piece 
of sediment. The spring is automatic, and the pres¬ 
sure against any obstruction forces open the mouth in 
spite of the spring, so that the obstacle will fly out, 
when the spring will close it again exactly as it was. 
The opening is regulated by a set screw, and the fine¬ 
ness of spray can be regulated. I used it this season 
without the least trouble. c k. chapman. 
What They Say. 
Making Sweet Cream Butter. —Your correspon¬ 
dent, A. R., page 780, is making sweet cream butter. 
As he says nothing about ripening, no other conclu¬ 
sion can be arrived at. Oar experience with sweet 
cream butter teaches us that it takes somewhat longer 
to bring the butter than with ripened cream. The 
difficulty do3s not lie here, however. From his state¬ 
ment, I would say that either the temperature of the 
cream was too low, or that there was entirely too 
much cream in the churn—possibly and probably both. 
The cream (sweet or ripened) at time of churning, must 
be tempered not higher than 64 degrees or lower than 
60. This is imperative, as, if the cream be lower, it 
is very difficult to bring the butter, and if higher than 
64 degrees the result is liable to be a mess of grease. 
Don’t use a dasher churn. Don’t use any churn with 
“works” on the inside. Don’t fill the churn—a little 
less than half full is much better. 
We have made both sweet cream and ripened cream 
butter for a long time, and we have learned that in 
each, cream must be either thoroughly sweet or thor¬ 
oughly ripened. I would suggest to A. B that if he 
desire to make ripened cream butter, he should start 
the ripening by giving his cream a warm bath immed¬ 
iately after the “ last drawing”—taking the tempera¬ 
ture up to 85 or 90 degrees. Keep it after that in a 
warm room where there are no oiors that would 
affect the cream. The next morning after warming, 
the cream should be slightly sour. All this next day 
the sour cream should be stirred or mixed thoroughly 
about every three hours and the next morning it 
should be churned. These are our methods, and we 
never have the failures spoken of by another corres¬ 
pondent in a late issue, as we know that the majority 
of failures are caused either by carelessness, or ignor¬ 
ance of the use of the thermometer, or incomplete 
ripening of cream. j. t. s. west, supt. 
Maintop Stock Farm, Bergen County, N. J. 
That Cream Trouble.— It occurs to me that none 
of the answers I have seen, to the query of A. R., on 
page 780, suggests the reason for the failure to get 
butter with the revolving churn. When I first 
used a revolving churn, I sometimes filled it too 
full. If filled more than half full it is nearly im- 
