5o4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
August 11 
into the silo, he commenced to feed the cut corn out 
of the silo, as it was more convenient, and continued 
to feed right along not covering the silo or waiting to 
let it ripen. Before severe frost sets in he covers the 
silo with loose boards, with straw or chaff on top, and 
tacks an old cloth over the opening where the ensilage 
is taken out, so as to keep out frost and keep the ensi¬ 
lage a little warm. While feeding, the top of the 
ensilage is kept level, and each day’s feed taken from 
all over the top. We are not so favorably situated as 
Mr. Gould in being able to hire an engine and cutter 
for 63 per day; the engine and engineer would cost 
nearer twice that amount; neither can we cut corn 
(in the field) so fast. Having to grow an earlier 
variety, we have to plant thicker to get a heavy crop, 
which makes slower work in cutting. One acre a day 
we think very good work for a man, while Mr. Gould’s 
King must have cut about three acres. I quite agree 
with Mr. Gould that hand cutting of corn is the most 
profitable. I have no knowledge of any of these new 
boat cutters, where the men ride at the expense of the 
horse, but have used an old reaper till convinced that 
it was a waste of time, in gathering the scattered 
stalks, and also of the corn, in not being able to cut so 
close to the ground. B. dundas. 
Ontario, Canada. 
A Connecticut Yankee’s Plan. 
I cut my corn and throw it into small piles of per¬ 
haps seven or eight hills, being careful to lay the butts 
all one way as far as possible, in rows across the field. 
The teams follow alongside of the rows, and only one 
man to the team and that one the driver, can place 
a large load on the wagon in a very short space of 
time. I use the common stake rigging which is used 
for drawing wood, with the stakes removed, except 
the two in the front end, which consists of a piece of 
2x8 stuff bolted firmly at the extreme end of the 
side pieces one on each side, boarded up at the end 
and supporting a spring seat. I then put on a side¬ 
board of about eight inches with stakes fastened to 
that and sawed off smooth with the top or upper edge, 
leaving the back stakes free to take out and put in 
at pleasure. The latter are generally three or four 
feet high. I then lay a three-fourths inch rope in the 
bottom of the wagon fastened at the back end about 
10 inches from the side, and then brought up to the 
front end and back on the other side, being careful 
to hook the rope up on the seat or stake in front, as it 
is doubled for the other side. With a plank to walk 
upon at the back end of the wagon, and fastened by a 
pin supported by a chain, the loader picks up an arm¬ 
ful of corn and walks up the plank into the wagon, 
laying the corn crosswise the sideboard on the rope 
with the butts all one way. When he completes the 
load, he places the back stakes in place, unhooks the 
plank, and drives off. When it comes to unloading, 
all he has to do is to drive alongside the cutter, re¬ 
move the back stakes, fasten a chain to the front end 
of the rope or loop, which is fastened to a building or 
suitable fastening, drive on his team, and the stalks 
roll over and off the wagon, making a straight, handy 
pile to cut. I usually have two men at the cutter, 
one to place the stalks on the platform, and the other 
to run them through the cutter. The engineer, who 
runs a kerosene oil engine, generally sees to trampling 
the ensilage. Thus I use one man to cut the corn, 
two to cart it with two teams, and three at the silo, 
making six men in all, and I can put in about acre 
of corn in a day, estimated to cut from 12 to 16 tons to 
the acre. I use sawdust for covering the ensilage, 
placing a little old hay on top of the corn, and then 
about two feet of sawdust. It is very effectual in 
making an air-tight covering. h. d. 
Middlesex County, Conn. 
APPOINTMENT OF A SALOONKEEPER OVER 
FRUIT GROWERS’ INTERESTS. 
THE NEW YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. 
The R. N.-Y.’s account of the appointment of a sa¬ 
loonkeeper in Oswego County to the very responsible 
duties of a fruit-tree inspector, is no surprise, for it is 
only some of the first fruits of the viciousness that 
exists in the agricultural bill which Governor Flower 
whipped through the Legislature in 1893. No such 
power was ever before conferred on any official in the 
State as is given to the Commissioner of Agriculture 
under this bill. He has the power to appoint an agent 
in every town in the State, “trho shall hold office during 
his pleasure,” and such agent has power to employ all 
assistance necessary to destroy fruit trees, or, to get 
right down to the real object of this bill, the office of 
a Commissioner of Agriculture is created for the pur¬ 
pose of extending the power of a great political ma¬ 
chine, to be worked in the interests of a political 
party in the rich fields of agriculture, and the Com¬ 
missioner has been given the power to appoint agents 
in every town. These agents have power to appoint 
other agents, and all to serve on salary at the pleasure 
of the Commissioner, or until such time as the politi¬ 
cal harvests of said towns are safely garnered. 
To determine the disease known as peach yellows, 
requires an agent or man who has a large and ex¬ 
tended knowledge of horticultural work, yet, in 
one of the most important fruit centers of the State, 
where there are a large number of exceedingly intel¬ 
ligent, capable, practical fruit growers who are mak¬ 
ing a constant study of fruit-tree diseases and their 
remedies, none of these is appointed to this very re¬ 
sponsible work ; but instead, an irresponsible saloon¬ 
keeper, without doubt the most ignorant man in the 
town, but well up in the qualities of “ Jersey light¬ 
ning,” and also without doubt a most useful political 
heeler, to draw 62 per day salary for working up and 
pulling voters on election day. The fruit growers of 
Oswego ought to fling back in the face of the Com¬ 
missioner of Agriculture, an appointment like this, as 
an insult to them, as it most flagrantly is. 
There were members of the Legislature of the same 
political faith as the Governor, who were opposed to 
some of the provisions of this agricultural bill (which 
Governor Flower was determined to push through), 
whom he summoned personally before him, and, to 
use their own language, “ were damned up hill and 
down by him, and some of our bills threatened, if we did 
not get in line and push his favorite bill through.” To a 
committee of prominent gentlemen who were ap¬ 
pointed to confer with the Governor on this bill, and 
who asked if there was not danger of our agricultural 
interests coming under political control and influences 
too much by some of the provisions of this bill, he re¬ 
plied : “ What can you do without politics, anyway f I 
expect to make some good Democratic votes out of this bill.” 
This Agricultural Department, however efficient 
and helpful it might be to the upbuilding of our great 
and varied interests in agriculture and horticulture 
by keeping those interests on a non-political basis (as 
they always have been heretofore) as it is created, is 
the entering wedge for casting this great, leading and 
most important work of our State on the restless and 
uncertain waves of politics. While the rank and file 
of men in political parties are honest, the tendency of 
political managers, who too frequently are political 
schemers, is to prostitute appropriations and men to 
the interests of their own and party plans. This is 
the danger that threatens the agriculture of New York 
to-day. The country needs to be saved from the great 
burdens that have been saddled upon city business 
and prosperity by corrupt political machine methods. 
The Oswego instance is but the beginning of experi¬ 
ences that will occur on an extensive scale in rural 
districts, unless the Agricultural Bill is revised and 
the Department of Agriculture as it is launched upon 
our State at present with the possibilities of a huge 
political machine, quickly and surely re-organized on 
a safer basis. geo. t. powell. 
THE USE OF GRAIN HAY. 
Good authorities condemn the practice of cutting im¬ 
mature wheat or rye as a substitute for hay. They 
affirm that grain hay is of little value as fodder, and 
that the matured crop, thrashed, is a valuable crop as 
the straw will sell at remunerative prices and the 
grain may be fed on the farm. The ground they take 
is solid, but perhaps not the only solid ground. There 
are other positions where some of us find ourselves. 
If I had a beautiful Blue grass or White clover pas¬ 
ture, three or four acres per head, which never went 
dry, and plenty of natural grass meadow, a farm 
where the chores consisted in letting down and put¬ 
ting up the bars, I would have no silo and no forage 
crops; I would consider myself fortunate. 
Adaptation to Environment. —But we cannot be 
among the fittest and survive, unless we adapt our¬ 
selves to our environment. If one is forced to environ 
each animal with only an acre and a half or an acre, 
he must borrow methods from the intensive system of 
the truck farmer. It is generally understood that if a 
dairyman must buy feed at all, it is better for him to 
buy grain and concentrated feed rather than coarse 
fodder. This proposition helps to answer the objec¬ 
tions to grain hay. The advocates of maturing and 
thrashing, when they are done, have a bin of grain 
out of which the miller’s toll has not been taken, and 
cash for straw in pocket with which to buy coarse 
fodder. When the various expenses incident to thrash¬ 
ing and marketing, are taken out, and when the hay 
for a substitute has been found, bought and carted 
home, and all the time and trouble counted, the straw 
money is probably exhausted. Bat they still have the 
bin of grain. 
Keep the “Lay of the Land” in Mind. —Here the 
“ lay of the land” must be considered again. On our 
farm, we are carrying 25 head of stock upon less than 
30 acres of land, supplemented by an equal amount of 
worn-out pasture. If we mature a crop of rye, we lose 
the ground for the corn crop. So we should be obliged 
to sacrifice the rye altogether, for the corn has the 
right of way. The grain hay, therefore, is an incident 
a clear gain, performing sentry duty over the fertility 
of the soil between one corn crop and another crop 
which may be corn or something else. When we are 
able to increase our land faster than our cupidity 
increases the live stock of the farm, we shall probably 
resume the production of grain and straw. 
Catch Crops. —Any crop which can be grown in the 
off months from September to the last of May, has a 
peculiar value. That season has been much neglected 
on the dairy farm. In adopting new methods of culti¬ 
vation, we are sometimes hampered by the necessity 
of also dealing with unfamiliar plants, and the double 
inexperience may be the cause of failure. These win¬ 
ter grain crops, on account of their reliability and of 
our familiarity with them, help us to turn all of our 
attention to the system of rotation until we have it in 
working shape. Such are some of the benefits derived 
from grain hay. But grain hay is not an ideal crop 
after all. It possesses certain ideal qualities, but lacks 
others of importance. The winter grains are reliable 
and will keep themselves out of the way of other crops 
if cut for hay, but they are not gatherers of nitrogen. 
Can We Substitute Crimson Clover ?—Crimson 
clover is endeavoring to ingratiate itself with the 
public. If it can be adjusted to the conditions de¬ 
scribed above, it would seem to have made a Provi¬ 
dential appearance. It is a nitrogen gatherer; but 
can it make its growth within the necessary limits, 
and can it be depended upon to do its duty with regu¬ 
larity ? If it can do this south of New York, can it 
doit north of New York? We don’t know yet. I 
intend to sow an acre the last week of August after 
potatoes and sweet corn, where it would have been 
impossible to sow it earlier to test this question. It 
is, of course, sometimes possible to sow the Crimson 
clover in the corn at the last hoeing, from July 15 to 
August 1. This would give the clover a better coance, 
but to equal the winter grains in availability, it must 
grow from a September sowing. 
Summer Ensilage. —We are feeding at present oat 
and pea ensilage, put in the silo July 7. It was put 
in without cutting, and there is considerable waste, 
as the silo was not filled, and the pressure was not 
enough to exclude all the air. Cutting would be an 
improvement. The waste is about the outside, but it 
is more than offset by the convenience of always hav¬ 
ing the feed at hand. This fodder was sown, one 
bushel of peas and 2}^ bushels of oats per acre. A 
larger preponderance of peas would make better en¬ 
silage, and 1)^ bushel of each per acre, would be an 
improvement in seeding. 
The Last Fall Forage. —This oat and pea ensilage 
will be out of the silo before the corn glazes. Com 
will be fed until it is all cut in October. About 
August 10 we shall sow one bushel peas and 100 
pounds of barley per acre for the final fall forage, 
which will run from the middle of October to the 
middle of November. Barley and peas stand frost 
well. I mowed this forage one morning last fall 
when the ground was frozen enough to bear my 
weight, and the forage was not injured. Of course, a 
steady spell of cold weather would hurt it, but it will 
withstand the usual weather conditions of the season 
named. e. c. birge. 
Southport, Conn. 
What They Say. 
Drought in Iowa. —We are now nearing the end of 
a four months’ drought ; the worst ever known in 
central Iowa. We came out of the winter with very 
little moisture in the ground, and have had no rain 
for nearly four months, except a few light local 
showers; the best of which last ad only a few hours. 
Crops of all kinds are the shortest ever known here. 
Hay is nearly an entire failure. Oats thrash from 10 
to 20 bushels per acre. All grass and clover sown in 
the spring are a complete failure. The corn crop is 
now past all hope, and hundreds of acres will be cut 
with harvesters; the tassels and silks are cooked 
brown. Early potatoes are about a fourth of a crop. 
Late potatoes will soon be past recovery. The fruit 
crop is short and apples are all dropping off. Vegeta¬ 
tion of all kinds is about burnt out. The gardens are 
the poorest ever known in this locality. Nearly all 
trees and small fruits set in the spring are deader will 
be dead soon. Water for man and beast is hard to 
get. Stock have to be watered and fed as in winter. 
Many of our farmers are trying to dispose of their 
stock, and there will be few hogs or cattle fed for 
market in this locality. It is almost impossible to 
describe the distressing condition. Our gardens fur¬ 
nish us very little that is fit to eat, and but little fruit. 
Many of us have been hauling water for weeks from 
the river for our stock. f. s. white. 
Spontaneous Combustion—The R. N.-Y. of July 31 
questions concerning “ Spontaneous Combustion.” I 
do not believe that barns are often burned by spon- 
