438 
FHE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
July 14 
ties. This was our report before it had been tried 
except in the originator’s grounds. 
Timbrkli., as we were the first to report, as to size, 
firmness, productiveness and quality, all considered, 
has no equal as a late berry. 
June 20.— Parker Earle, Timbrell and Brandywine 
now ripe and ripening. The Timbrell is so loaded 
. with berries that the peduncles lie on the bare soil 
(the vines were not mulched), and the berries during 
the prevailing wet weather rotted badly. The season 
of Parker Earle and Timbrell is about the same. 
Junk 26 — The strawberry season is now about closed. 
N. B — The R. N.-Y. has been trying new varieties 
of strawberries during the past 15 years—an average 
of not less than 75 kinds per year. Summing up the 
results of these 15 years, we have not found more 
than one new variety that could fairly be pronounced 
superior to then-existing varieties oftener than every 
three years. That would call for five superior varie¬ 
ties during the 15 years of trial. These five varieties 
we would mention as Crescent, Sharpless, Parker 
Earle, Timbrell and (perhaps) Brandywine. Among 
these 1,100 tried kinds, we are not considering ama¬ 
teur berries, like Parry, Henderson (Crimson Cluster), 
Great American (and other of Durand’s productions), 
Iowa Beauty, Prince and many others. 
In the light of such experience, we would advise our 
readers to try only a few plants of the new produc¬ 
tions every year announced by nurserymen and seeds¬ 
men as “unequaled in size, quality and yield.” They 
would better leave the work of proving or disproving 
such claimed excellence to those whose business it is 
to prove it—the Stations. And yet we are not aware 
that the Stations have during their existence helped 
materially to introduce or popularize varieties of 
strawberries. And pretty much the same may 
be said of raspberries, blackberries, currants, goose¬ 
berries and grapes. 
The Rural’s Little Choice. 
For home use, the old Charles Downing would still 
be our first choice, where it thrives, and it thrives 
over a wide extent of country. Then we would name 
Parker Earle, Sharpless, Timbrell, Iowa Beauty; and 
for earliest, Rio and Beder Wood. They ripen in the 
following order: Beder Wood, Rio, Sharpless, Charles 
Downing, Iowa Beauty, Parker Earle and Timbrell. 
For trial we would select Marshall, Williams, Green¬ 
ville, Beebe and Brandywine. 
The Rejected List. 
Many of our friends may say that we in this report 
do injustice to many new or comparatively new kinds 
of strawberries. They may mention as instances of 
real improvement Enhance, Bubach, Haverland, Prin¬ 
cess, Jessie, Lovett, Van Deman, Michel’s Early, 
Beverly and others. We have merely to reply that 
many of the discarded list have merits. Some, if 
not all, thrive here and there, and are valuable locally. 
Our contention is that not one of the condemned list, 
as tried at the Rural Grounds, is better than older 
kinds for a wide extent of country. Some of Durand’s 
creations are incomparable here and there, though not 
one is a Concord among strawberries. 
A THREE-HORSE JERSEY FARM. 
A YOUNG TEAM HELPS THE OLD MAKE. 
[KDITOBIAL COBRK8PONDKNCE.] 
Strawberries and Hens Still at Work. 
It is now over four years since The R. N.-Y. began 
to talk about the 18-acre farm of Mr. A Johnson, at 
Lincoln Park, N. J. A good many details have been 
given about the hens and the berries that have made 
the place profitable. It is hardly necessary to repeat 
how Mr. Johnson came to the place some years ago, 
broken down in health, and how by good manage¬ 
ment and skillful farming he has paid for the farm 
and made money, and can now enjoy the fruits of his 
labor. 
Every visit I had previously made to the farm had 
been in cold weather. The object of this was to see 
how the hens behaved under the most trying circum¬ 
stances. Our readers have been told how the hens 
lay and thrive while the ground is covered with ice 
and snow. This year I wanted to go and see what 
the hot-weather partners—strawberry plants—can do 
at their best. So on June 26 1 walked into the straw¬ 
berry patch and looked about. The best of the pick¬ 
ing was over, though there were still some berries to 
be ripened. The crop has been good on the whole, 
though prices have been low. But first let us look at 
the financial account of this farm for 1893. Here it is 
in black and white, for Mr. Johnson keeps an exact 
account of every cent that comes in or goes out. 
Total sales for 1893 . $3,36.5 70 
Total cash expended. 2,H8 00 
Profit. $1,317 70 
And in the “ cash expended,” mind you, are all the 
•it®ms of household expense, so that this sum means 
“8100 per month and board.” The more important 
items of sales are as follows : 
Strawberries. $1,564 59 Hay. $220 77 
Eegs and chickens. 790 28 CabbSKe. t9 86 
Potatoes. 412 28 Emits. .. 76 22 
Butter and milk. Ill 01 
The amount given for strawberries is net and means 
what was left after deducting cost of picking, packing 
and selling. Those who have read the former articles 
about this place will see that the total sales for 1893 
rank well with those of former years. Thus far in 1894 
the following sales have been made before the straw¬ 
berries were heard from at all: 
Ekks .$465 46 Chickens.$14 60 
Potatoes. 241 85 Hay. 145 67 
Cabbage. 269 06 Strawberry plants. 44 40 
Butter and milk. (0 86 
Of course a good deal of this was grown last year, but 
it is not counted on the books until actually sold. 
Remember that all this is grown on an 18-acre farm. 
How the Strawberries do their Share. 
It will be seen that strawberries and hens are chief 
workers on this place. Mr. Johnson told us in a recent 
R N.-Y. something about his manner of caring for 
the plants. The soil of this farm is naturally low and 
wet. It is plowed in narrow “ lands,” so that the 
dead furrows act as open ditches and thus assist drain¬ 
age. The soil is naturally rich, and is very heavily 
manured and fertilized. 
The greater part of Mr. Johnson’s berries are of the 
Great American variety. The originator of this berry 
lived not far from Mr. J., and had much the same low, 
damp soil. On sMl of this character the Great Amsri- 
can thrives wonderfully well, while on drier soils it is 
often a failure. Mr. Johnson grows it because, by 
reason of its superior fiavor and appearance, it sells 
for two to four cents a quart more than other varie¬ 
ties in the markets of Orange, Montclair, and other 
aristocratic places. 
For many years, Mr. J. did not do much with the 
newer varieties, but this year he is testing 24—using 
the Great American as the standard. He thinks favor¬ 
ably of Lovett, Parker Earle, Crawford, Bubach, 
Gandy and Shuster’s Gem, and will use more or less 
of these varieties in the future. Four acres of berries 
were picked this year. As explained three weeks 
ago, Mr. J. pi?ks the beds for three years. I saw one 
scant acre of Great Americans, third year of picking, 
from which up to June 26, 68 crates had been picked, 
with 15 more on the vines. Last year a half-acre patch 
of Crescents yielded 126 crates—the third season’s 
picking. The Great American on this low, moist 
soil, seems to mature late, and will stand the third 
year’s picking better than some other varieties. The 
beds were clean of weeds, with coarse hay between 
the rows. 
“ Now tell me just what you will do with that bed 
after you are done picking,” I said. 
“ Well, take this two-year-old bed. After the last 
picking, we will run the mowing machine over it and 
clip off the plants—not too close to the ground. Then 
we will rake out the hay from between the rows, and 
then run a sharp-edged plow up and down the rows, 
turning a furrow away from the plants and cutting 
them down to a narrow strip—as narrow as possible. 
Then we go with our homemade fertilizer and scatter 
it in the furrows, and work up and down with the 
harrow, which smooths everything off and kills thou¬ 
sands of weeds. The weeds left in the rows must be 
pulled out by hand. With careful work in this way 
when the weeds are small, it is not such a terrible job 
to keep the beds clean. My experience last year 
taught me that a very narrow strip left by the plow 
is better than a wide one. Hereafter I shall set the 
rows closer and make the rows themselves narrower.” 
“ But how about the three-year-old beds ? ” 
“ I am satisfied that I could pick some of them an¬ 
other year, but the treatment usually is to plow them 
up after picking and set out late cabbage, using some 
of my homemade fertilizer.” 
Mr. J. is very careful about picking and packing. 
His pickers are m Dstly women who understand what 
is wanted and do not put trash into the boxes. Mr. J. 
looks after things in the field, while his wife takes 
charge of the packing. The result of this care is that 
dealers call for “ Johnson’s berries,” because they feel 
sure they will be as represented. The berries are 
sold to commission men who have handled them for 
years. 
The Horses and the Hens. 
We used to call this place “ The One-Horse Jersey 
Farm.” but that name must now be amended as Mr, J. 
has bought a team of young horses to aid the faithful 
old mare that did the work alone for so many years. 
These young horses will haul a load of berries to 
Newark or trot off with the new carriage just as 
desired. The old mare is not a pensioner by any 
means, for she still does all the chores and home work. 
There is not much that can be said about the hens at 
this hot season. They earned a vacation last winter. 
There are about 400 of them running in one large yard 
made around the houses and barn by means of wire 
netting. Mr. J. still thinks the Brown Leghorns 
about the best for his purposes. Oae singular thing 
is that no chickens have been raised this year. Mr. J. 
proposes to run his hens as he does his strawberries— 
that is, make them lay for three seasons. As the 
flock contained a good many pullets and two-year- 
olds and he did not care to build any new houses, he 
decided to keep the flock as it is and add no chickens. 
Another year he will add as many pullets as there are 
three-year-olds to be killed off, and so on. 
As will be seen from the financial report, these 
hens brought in 8790.28 in 1893. Their feed cost 
8407.43. They laid in all 32 052 eggs, of which 30,725 
were sold. Thus far this year, as we have seen, they 
have brought in 8480.06. At this hot season these 
hens get about a bushel of wheat and one-half bushel 
of oats mixed per day. The day before my visit they 
laid 120 eggs. The manure, as Mr. Johnson uses it, 
will more than pay for labor, as he makes it the basis 
for a homemade fertilizer. It is mixed with plaster 
as it accumulates and is stored in a dry shed. In the 
spring it is ground and crushed and sifted and mixed 
as follows: 400 pounds manure, 200 dissolved bone- 
black, 100 muriate of potash an4 150 of plaster. This 
makes an excellent strawberry fertilizer for this low, 
rich land, and has also proved good for potatoes. 
There is a field near the barn that has be“n an “ eye¬ 
sore” to Mr. J. for many years It was low and full 
of weeds and trash. The hens ran in it, but other¬ 
wise it was of little value. Last year the hens were 
fenced out aud the field plowed and leveled off. 
Then it was heavily manured and planted to corn. 
This year it is in potatoes with some manure, and a 
good deal of the homemade fertilizer. Next spring 
it will be in just the right condition for a setting of 
Great American strawberries. This was the last 
piece of land on the place to be brought into success¬ 
ful cultivation. 
Irrigation ; the Best Lesson of All. 
In a former article our readers were told of a wind¬ 
mill and tank designed for irrigating the strawber¬ 
ries. The tank, holding 160 barrels, is placed on a 
tower, and the plan was to lay small iron pipes on 
top of the ground so that the berries could be sprin¬ 
kled. All preparations were made to use it this year, 
but the rain came in time to save the crop. The out¬ 
fit has been put in operation only once—last fall in 
watering cabbage. Mr. J. believes that this watering 
made the crop worth an extra 8100, but as a whole 
this irrigating plant cannot be depended upon. The 
pipes are too small to give any force or head to the 
water—they should be two inches in diameter at least. 
The tank is also too small to supply water to an area 
of any size, and the wind is too fitful to keep it 
filled. The only way to be sure of a supply of water 
for irrigating would be to have some constant power 
like horse or steam working a pump of large capacity. 
Mr, J, will try an interesting experiment with the 
Parker Earle strawberry next year. He will keep it 
well moistened. This variety sets such a tremendous 
lot of berries that he wants to see if plenty of plant 
food and abundant water will not mature all or most 
of them. 
A visitor can find many lessons of interest on this 
little “Three-horse Farm,” but we think the best of 
all is purpose and plan on which the farm is now con¬ 
ducted. For many years, they worked hard to get the 
soil in good condition, to make the house comfortab’e 
and build good barns and sheds. Now that work is 
done. The soil is rich and in perfect rotation, while 
everything about the place is in perfect order. All 
this represents the slow and tiresome work of many 
years—work that at the time seemed to be yielding 
little profit. But it was all a part of a well defined 
purpose to make that farm run like a well oiled ma¬ 
chine. That is now done, so that Mr. J. can spend 
his time in directing work and keep a general over¬ 
sight. In this way with hens, strawberries and the 
incidental crops that occupy the land to make space 
for the berry crops, there is a sure and certain in¬ 
come year after year. Not only that, but there is 
ample time and opportunity to ride about, read and 
enjoy life as a thoughtful farmer well may do. It 
pays to farm with a purpose. Too many farmers 
simply work from year to year—with a single crop in 
view. Mr. Johnson looked ahead to the time when 
his soil would be so rich and productive that with 
ordinary care there could never be a failure of more 
than one crop. This meant investments of labor and 
money that did not seem to yield immediate returns 
as he went along. Now, however, the returns come in 
when they are needed. h. w. c. 
Pneumatic Pump. —Has any one had any experi¬ 
ence with a pneumatic pump on a windmill ? How 
great a distance will they work, and to what height 
will they lift water ? e. 
Umpqua, Oreg. 
