5i8 
IHE RURAL NEW-YORKER. August 18 
“ What one do you use ?” 
“ I used the Aspinwall mostly, but I tried the Rob¬ 
bins on a few rows, and like it very much. This is a 
new machine and embodies several features which 
are different from any of the others. The plow which 
opens the furrow is so arranged that it leaves the 
bottom of the furrow completely mellowed up, and 
the potatoes are also covered with mellow soil. It is 
not an automatic dropper, but a man rides on the rear 
of the machine, and drops the potatoes into the tube 
by hand. It is so arranged that an active man, who 
attends to his business, will drop the potatoes regu¬ 
larly without a skip, one piece in a place. This is 
more than the automatic droppers will do. The de¬ 
vice for applying the fertilizer is also an advance 
over the other machines. It’s a little harder on the 
team, but they handled it without any trouble. I 
didn’t have a good man for dropping, and therefore 
didn’t use this very long.” 
Varieties; M3thods and Manure. 
“ What varieties of potatoes do you grow mostly ? ” 
“ Early Rose and Burbank.” 
“Is the Burbank a good market potato ? ” 
“ It is for me. The most of our potatoes are sold to 
regular customers, and I have many who prefer this 
variety, I get just as good prices for these as for the 
Rose, and hence they are fully as profitable, if not 
more so.” 
“ Do you hill potatoes ? ” 
“ Very little. On our soil, they are better planted 
moderately deep and not hilled much.” 
‘ ‘ Do you use a potato digger ? ” 
“ Yes, the Success, and it does excellent work for a 
cheap digger. It is easy on the horses and leaves the 
potatoes in pretty good shape for picking up. I don’t 
believe that the other potato diggers are nearly as 
perfect as they will be made, so that I am not ready to 
buy one yet.” 
“ Dd you spray the potatoes for the bugs ?” 
“ No ; we went over them once this year with Paris- 
green and plaster, but there were so few that I don’t 
think it would have made any difference 
if we had not gone over them at all. I 
never saw so few bugs as there were 
this year.” 
“ What do you follow your potato crop 
with ? ” 
“ The main object is to get the land 
seeded again. Sometimes I put on grass 
seed—Timothy and clover—without aoy 
other crop. Sometimes I sow it with 
oats in the spring, and have sown it 
with rye. Last fall I sowed a patch of 
wheat to help on the seeding. It gen¬ 
erally makes a better catch if some other crop is sown 
with it.” 
“ How long can you mow a meadow after it is once 
seeded ? ” 
“ Until it begins to run out, generally six or eight 
years,” 
“ Do you fertilize the grass land any ? ” 
“Yes. We put on stable manure with the manure 
spreader, generally some time after mowing.” 
“ Do you use a hay loader ? ” 
“ No ; they will not take the hay from the cock, and 
I can make better hay by putting it in cocks, and let¬ 
ting it sweat before it is drawn. I use a horse fork, 
and it is one of the greatest labor-savers ever in¬ 
vented.” 
“ Do you bale your hay ?” 
“ No. We have customers in the surrounding towns 
to whom we sell direct.” 
“ What prices do you usually get ? ” 
“ Different prices according to the quality, some¬ 
times for mixed hay as high as 315 per ton, usually for 
Timotiy, 318 to 320 or more.” 
“ Do you buy much manure ? ” 
“ Yes; considerable.” 
“ What do you have to pay ? ” 
“ Usually a dollar a load ; a load meaning all we can 
draw with a team ; generally from two to four tons. ” 
“ Do you think commercial fertilizers are cheaper?” 
“ Perhaps so; but I want plenty of barnyard ma¬ 
nure, and I would like to have a team drawing every 
day in the year, except Sundays. There is much of the 
time in the winter when the teams are comparatively 
idle, and they may just as well be drawing manure as 
not. I have noticed that the farmers who buy ma¬ 
nure get along a great deal better than those who do 
not.” 
A strip of sweet corn, tomatoes, carrots, etc., was 
planted in the midst of a meadow where the grass had 
run out. This is one of the advantages of a farm 
without fences, any particular spot may be plowed up 
and planted without disturbing the rest. 
“ You say that there isn’t much money in producing 
milk; why do you continue it ? ” 
“ Well, it brings in some money and I like to make 
all the manure possible, and the cows eat up the 
coarse fodder, mixed hay, etc. Farmers who keep 
cows for milk, seem to get along better than the 
others; but any one keeping cows for milk ought to 
run his own milk route to do the best. I get three 
cents a quart and sell the milk to a wholesaler who 
comes to the house and gets it once a day. The 
trouble is, we never know when such a dealer will go 
back on us and leave the milk on our hands. One to 
whom I formerly sold the milk, failed not long ago, 
and left the milk on my hands without any notice. 
We had to make butter for several weeks before we 
could make other arrangements for disposing of the 
milk. Down below the barn there is a spring house 
where we set the milk cans to cool,” 
“ Do you raise any soiling crops for your cattle ?” 
“ I generally grow corn for that purpose to help out 
when the pasture gets dry.” 
“ Do you stable your cattle during the day ?” 
“ No, I keep them up at night. The mosquitoes are 
so bad that I think they are worse than the fiies.” 
The stable is in the basement of the barn, and from 
its manner of construction is very cool in summer and 
warm in winter. Plaster was scattered freely in the 
gutters behind the cows, and horse manure and litter 
were also thrown in to absorb the liquids.” 
“ This saves lots of ammonia,” said Mr. W. 
The horses are fed cut feed once a day the year 
round. Mr. W. is now feeding oat feed, the product 
of the oat mills. 
“I began feeding this last winter,” said he, “as 
oats were very high and the horses not doing very 
much work. They did well on it, and, as it is consid¬ 
erably cheaper than oats, I have continued it through 
the summer.” 
One part of the live stock on the farm that should 
not be overlooked is the poultry. There are from 150 
to 200 hens kept, mostly White Leghorns. They fur¬ 
nish quite a revenue. 
“ What do you feed mostly ?” I asked. 
“ Largely wheat; that is the best for eggs, and the 
cheapest feed I can get now.” 
“ Do you have regular customers for your eggs ?” 
“ Yes ; a groceryman in Elizabeth takes them all, 
and has for years.” 
“ Do you get a uniform price for them ?” 
“ No ; but I get considerably more than the regular 
market price. The lowest price I have received, I 
think, is about 18 cents and they go from that up to 
35. I take them in once a week.” 
The farm is remarkably free from weeds. As we 
were riding around, we passed a pile of weeds which 
had been pulled and piled up to rot. “That’s the way 
we keep our meadows clean,” said Mr. W. “We weed 
the meadows every year.” 
“ I see a little wild carrot occasionally ; how does 
that get in ?” 
“ I think the seed blows in from neighboring farms 
which are overrun with it. My grandfather was very 
particular to keep down all weeds, and as we have 
always tried to do the same, the farm is tolerably 
clean.” 
The family residence is commodious and well fur¬ 
nished, abounding in books, magazines and papers. 
The mother remembers well a man who had visited 
their family and gave many personal reminiscences of 
events occurring at the time of the Revolution. The 
old homestead is still standing, and a part of it was 
considered an old house at the latter period. A curious 
well curb cut out of solid rock is equally venerable. 
This farm shows that refinement, culture and all the 
higher and better qualities of life can exist and 
flourish on the farm, and is a good object lesson of the 
possibilities within the reach of progressive American 
farmers. f. h. v. 
To Beat Wild Onions. —We are greatly troubled 
here with the wild onion, even on the best cultivated 
farms. They last till the middle or last of May, so 
that we cannot turn milch cows to grass, or use clover 
for soiling. Is there any crop we can grow, that will 
come as easily as Crimson clover, but which grows so 
that it can be cut like corn fodder, without getting 
the onions ? Is Prickly comfrey an early crop ? We 
want something to cut from the middle of April to 
the last of May for one or two cows. Such a plant 
would be a great boon to dairymen in this country. 
Claremont, Va. a. f. a. 
HOW TO BUILD A GREENHOUSE. 
GETTING READY FOR GLASS GARDENING. 
Best Situation for a Greenhouse 
For all general purposes, a southern exposure is the 
most desirable ; that means to have the greenhouse 
face the south and the ends east and west. If this 
cannot be had exactly, then it should be done as 
nearly as possible, as in this manner the most direct 
rays of the sun are obtained, which is very important, 
especially in the winter time. The next important 
thing is to have as level a piece of land as possible, 
and to guard against any obstructions that might 
interfere with the sun shining upon the house. If 
such obstructions are on the north side, it does not 
matter so much, although they should not then be too 
close so as to take away any light or throw a shadow 
upon the house. The freer and more open a green¬ 
house is situated, the better and purer the air, and the 
more beneficial for the house. Many a farmer has a 
sidehill which faces the south, or nearly south, and 
quite often one finds a ridge on the north or northwest 
and in front, or at the foot of it, a nice piece of land 
sloping to the south or southeast; this is an ideal 
place for a greenhouse. Never build a greenhouse in 
a swamp or on low ground. Fig. 135 represents part 
of a full or even-span house which is not only the 
simplest to build, but also the most durable and the 
cheapest. 
How to Construct Such a House. 
Stake out the ground the length and breadth de¬ 
sired. If it is to be 10 feet wide in the clear inside, set 
the stakes 11 feet wide by the desired length. Be 
sure, too, to locate where, if desired to extend to 
double the size, it may be done. After staking out the 
ground, span a line all around it, and put in small 
stakes on the outside four feet apart from center to 
center; set the corner posts, and one or two in between 
on each side in the center between the small stakes. 
These posts should be 6x6, or 4x6 inches, and faced at 
least on two sides. The best posts to use are locust. 
Red cedar or chestnut, the former being the most 
durable. Be sure to remove the bark, 
and, if possible, have them well seasoned. 
After setting the corner posts, raise 
the line to the top of these corner posts 
at the proper height, then set the other 
posts to this line. All posts should be 
set below frost line, say from 23^ to 3 
feet below the outside surface. If the 
house is to be 50 feet long, set the posts 
so as to get from four to six inches fall 
to one end, so that the gutter plate on 
top of the posts will have that much 
pitch to run off the rain water. The 
lower end should be where the water can most 
easily be drained off, either into a drain or into a 
cistern which may be built inside the greenhouse. If 
more than 50 feet long, the gutter may pitch from 
both ends to the center. One-sixteenth of an inch to 
the running foot will carry off the rain water. 
It is very important in a greenhouse to have the best 
and softest water, and unless one has an abundant 
supply and with a good pressure, it is advisable to 
save and store every gallon of rain water, for it is the 
best for all plants. Good water is money, and a 
cistern may be built in the house and covered over. 
With a force pump, this may be used at all times, 
being nearly always of an even temperature, which is 
also important to plants. 
Getting Ready for the Roof. 
Now the posts are ready to put on the gutter plates, 
which should be of the best Yellow or White pine, 
good, clear stock, free from sap, from two to four 
inches thick, and from eight to ten inches wide, planed 
all around. These pieces should be as long as possi¬ 
ble, so as to avoid making too many splices ; the latter 
should be made at least a foot long and put together 
with white lead and hard-wood pins. Get two gutter 
strips two inches thick by 23^ inches wide, planed all 
around ; have the strip next to the house beveled the 
proper angle for the pitch of the roof, which depends 
upon the height of the house in the center. Fasten 
these pieces on the top of the gutter plate flush with 
the edge ; put on with white lead and screws. Now 
put on the siding and sheathing. Use good, sound, 
cheap hemlock boards for the sheathing; nail these 
well. Put over this on the outside a cover of good 
quality building paper or felt; then tack on laths or 
strips of equal thickness at equal distances apart. Put 
on the siding, either the old-fashioned house siding or 
the novelty siding. The former makes the tightest 
and warmest job. 
After the walls are up, get the ridgepole in position. 
This may be of any good, clear lumber, and from 13^ 
to 2 inches thick by from six to eight inches wide, set 
up edgeways. This is held in position with the end 
frames and end rafters, at the proper extreme height 
of the house in center. The end frames should also 
include the door posts. These may be of pine, set on 
How TO Build a Greenhouse. Fig. 135. 
