THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 22 
6oi 
C. C. W., Qka-nd Bay, Ala. —I have 
been reading a great deal about Crimson 
clover and have got the fever. I have 
sent for a barrel of seed to one of The 
Rural advertisers for myself and to get 
some of our members to try it also. I 
have never noticed any reports on the 
Crimson clover as a honey plant. What 
have the bee keepers to say for or against 
it ? It wearies me to read of crops, and 
hopes of even living, destroyed by 
drought every little while in the West, 
while thousands of acres in our sunny 
Southland are lying idle that may be had 
for a song, and whistle the tune your¬ 
self. “ Three crops on the same land in 
one year,” said a Dakota man to me the 
other day; “and no $175 machine re¬ 
quired either, or feeding stock 12 months 
to get the use of them for about three, 
etc.” 
That ” Ideal Baslness Fowl.” 
11. M. F., South Bloomfield, N. Y.— 
While I indorse much that I. P. T. says, 
page 552, regarding the “ Ideal Business 
Fowl,” I can but feel that such a fowl 
must ever remain, as does the “ideal 
general purpose cow,” a thing sought. 
It seems to me that modern scientific re¬ 
search and experience in every branch 
of human endeavor have proved no one 
thing more clearly than that Nature and 
human skill, in blending the desirable 
qualities of plants or animals, utterly 
fail to produce a successful combination 
of qualities which Nature seems to have 
decreed should be separate. Human en¬ 
terprise in every way speaks in no un¬ 
certain words to those who listen, that 
specialism pays best. That man in the 
workshop, factory, laboratory or scien¬ 
tific research, reaches the highest per¬ 
fection and profit when he follows the 
line indicated by his mental and physical 
make up. No cross can improve the keen 
vision or high speed of the greyhound, 
intended by Nature for this particular 
purpose. The Jerseys and the Holsteins 
represent two markedly separate classes 
of cattle, and breeders have repeatedly 
failed in the attempt to blend the desir¬ 
able qualities of these breeds. If more 
milk IS desirable in the Jersey, look for 
it in that breed, and by judicious breed¬ 
ing from Jerseys that show the best de¬ 
velopment in this line combined with a 
large content of butter fat. But never 
hope to make over a Jersey into a first- 
class heavy milking Holstein. There is 
no fun or profit in attempting the im¬ 
possible. 
The object sought must govern the 
breed of fowls or animals kept. If eggs 
are relied on for profit, then most as¬ 
suredly must the owner keep those breeds 
that have been bred on that line from 
time out of mind ; that have developed 
in a marked manner a characteristic 
tendency to egg production, that puts 
the results of its vitalized energy in the 
egg basket instead of on its bones. At 
first thought, it seems that large combs 
and wattles are extremely undesirable 
in fowls kept for eggs. But fowls hav¬ 
ing these are among the best layers, and 
any improvement must come from indi¬ 
vidual members of each breed, if the pre¬ 
disposition to early and continued egg 
production be not lost or impaired. Sum¬ 
mer conditions are the best for winter 
production of eggs, and those farmers 
who keep their birds in these conditions, 
have no fault to find with combs or wat¬ 
tles being frosted, for exposure sufficient 
to injure these is detrimental to egg pro¬ 
duction in any breed. These so-called 
undesirable appendages are to thq watch¬ 
ful owner. Nature’s thermometer, which 
indicate with no uncertainty the condi¬ 
tion of the wearer. The man who buys 
a registered Jersey or Holstein, houses it 
on the lee side of a snow bank, feeds it on 
straw and weather-beaten com stover, is 
likely loudly to denounce the breed kept, 
and call for a general-purpose animal 
with a self-milking attachment to save 
all labor to the owner, as he gives them 
no other care. 
Nature makes no mistakes in her de¬ 
crees. Improvement in anything is along 
one line ; other lines confiict to a greater 
or less extent. Let no one who cares for 
profit in either eggs or meat take the 
American standard for his guide, but 
study his bird and his needs, and breed 
from those only which best fill his re¬ 
quirements, giving all necessary care, 
and he will have no use for a cross-bred, 
general-purpose fowl. 
Division of Labor and Expense. 
M. W., Bristol, R. I.—It certainly is a 
difficult question to answer, as nothing 
is said about the crop to be raised ; but 
the simple statement is made, page 505, 
that “A furnishes the land, and B is to 
do all the labor.” After this agreement 
between A and B, when the time comes 
for B to plant, he finds that he must have 
fertilizer to raise a crop. B did not agree 
to do anything but the labor, therefore 
if fertilizer is used, A must pay for it, and 
B must do all the labor in getting it upon 
and into the soil ready for the seed ; A 
must furnish B with the team for that 
purpose. B did not agree to furnish 
seed, but the labor only, and if seed is 
planted, A must pay for it. B must do 
all the labor required in getting it upon 
and into the soil, A to pa 7 for or furnish 
the team. I base my opinion upon the 
questions asked, making no allowance 
for the crops to be raised, as nothing is 
stated about that, and different circum¬ 
stances would certainly alter the case. 
IText Year’s Cow Food. 
E. C. B., Southport, Conn. —If J. V. C., 
who has leased a Middlesex County, 
Mass., farm for three years from next 
April, and wishes to keep 20 cows, can 
make an arrangement with the present 
holders, let him sow two acres of rye, 
two bushels per acre, and one acre of 
wheat, if wheat will not winterkill there, 
with the same amount of seed per acre. 
This will give him green fodder to start 
with next spring about May 10 or 15, 
probably, in that latitude. The rye is 
earlier, and the wheat will follow the 
rye. In the spring he can sow one acre 
of oats and peas, 1 >^ bushel each per 
acre, as early as oats can be sown on his 
land. Two or three weeks later, let him 
sow another acre of oats or peas to fol¬ 
low the first in feeding. Clover and 
green grass will fill in between the 
winter gram feeds and the oats and peas, 
while the latter will be followed by corn. 
About August 1 , one or two acres of bar¬ 
ley or peas, two bushels barley and one 
bushel peas, may be sown to feed after 
corn. Barley and peas will withstand 
severe frosts even until the ground 
freezes, and are the last green crop 
available. The yields per acre of oats 
and peas, and of barley and peas, are 
nearly equal, being a little more than 
one-half in green tons of the yield of 
corn. If his 20 cows have so much pastur¬ 
age that not all of these forage crops are 
needed green, any portions remaining 
may be cured for winter use except the 
last, which comes after the “ curing” 
season is over. 
How Should Easllafe Be Left on Top ? 
M. H. C., Bedford, N. Y.—From lim¬ 
ited experience and observation, it seems 
to me that the practice of leaving ensilage 
two or three feet higher around the 
edges of the silo than in the middle, is 
just the opposite of what should be done 
—in other words, the ensilage should be 
left rounded-up two or three feet higher 
in the center than at the sides. This is 
doubly true when the ensilage has been 
tramped around the edges, and the rest 
of the silo not at all, as the loose center 
will settle more than the firm ensilage 
around the sides, and there will be & 
tendency for that around the edges to 
draw toward the center and away from 
the walls, making a place for the air to 
enter. On the other hand, if the silo is 
well rounded up in the center, there is j ust 
the opposite tendency, for as the heavier 
center settles, it will crowd the ensilage 
more firmly against the sides. 
Absnt Grundy’s Grubs. 
F. W. S., Franklin County, Vt. —I 
supposed that it was quite generally 
understood that the white grub that is 
such a pest to the strawberry grower, is 
the larva of the May beetle, and that the 
beetle preferred a sod in which to de¬ 
posit her eggs, seldom laying them in 
cultivated ground. For this reason, 
growers are cautious about setting plants 
in soil that has not been under cultiva¬ 
tion two or more years, that the grubs in 
the ground at the time of breaking the 
sod, might have opportunity to attain 
their growth and escape. But now Fred 
Grundy would have us believe, page 551, 
that the presence of white grubs in the 
soil ‘ is the invariable result of manuring 
with stable manure,” and this in face of 
the fact that thousands of tons of stable 
manure are used annually in growing 
strawberries, with no loss whatever from 
grubs, unless plants are set in soil al¬ 
ready infested. Speaking from my own 
experience, 1 use stable manure at the 
rate of not less than 40 loads per acre on 
strawberries, and have never been trou¬ 
bled with grubs until last year, and then 
only on a low spot near the center of the 
field. Here the ground was so filled with 
grubs that it was impossible to get a 
stand of plants, though the whole field 
received precisely the same treatment. I 
think if Brother Grundy will investigate 
more closely the same grubs with which 
stable manure is frequently alive, he will 
find that they are only cousins of the 
large, white grubs, and entirely innocent 
of the charge he brings against them. 
During the past season 44 different 
kinds of wheat were grown at the Penn¬ 
sylvania Station (Stats College, Centre 
County). 26 of these varieties have been 
grown for the past five years. “ Reliable” 
stands first, not only in the 1894 yield, but 
in the five-year yield, viz , 37 bushels psr 
acre. In this five-year test the follow¬ 
ing are the heaviest yielders after Re¬ 
liable: Valley, 31 bushels; Fulcaster, 31; 
Ontario Wonder, 31; D.etz Long berry 
Red, 31; Wyandotte Rjd, 31; Currsll’s 
Prolific, 31; Mediterranean, 29. Tne 
smallest yields were given by Velvet 
Chaff, Improved Rice, Finley, McGhee’s 
Red, Tuscan Island and Nigger, which 
yielded about 26 bushels to the acre. 
Mr. j. H. Hale says in the Courant 
that it is now a settled fact that a num¬ 
ber of the Japan plums are perfectly 
hardy all over southern New England, 
if not in the more northerly sections. 
This fact, taken in connec’ion with th.'ir 
almost entire freedom from black kmt, 
and the tough skin which in a measure 
checks the ravages of the curculio, th; 
vigorous growth of the trees, and iheir 
habit of early and profuse bearing, 
makes them the most valuable clai s of 
fruit introduced for many years. 
IN writing to sdyertlsen please always mentloc 
Thb Rural. 
Fall Medicine 
Is fully as important and as beneficial as 
Spring Medicine, for at this season there 
is great danger to health in the varying 
temperature, cold storms, malarial germs. 
Hood’ 
g Sarsa¬ 
parilla 
C ures 
and the prevalence 
of fevers and other 
serious diseases. All 
these may be avoided 
if the blood is kept pure, the digestion 
good, and the bodily health vigorous by 
taking Hood’s Sarsaparilla. 
Hood’s Pills sre prompt and efficient. 25o. 
Mr. Hale confirms the reports which 
have appeared in our columns from time 
to time thatSitiuma, which is one of the 
largest and best, is also the latest, ripen¬ 
ing about September 15. He mentions 
Ogon, Abundance, Burbank, Maru as in¬ 
termediates, and Willard as one of the 
earliest. They are not so fine in quality 
as the best of the European plums, but 
are far better than such varieties as the 
Lombard and others so generally planted. 
F. B. Hayes, Colerain, Empire State, 
Esther, Moore’s Diamond, and Geneva. 
Here we have six comparatively new 
white grapes ripening at about the same 
time. It is now time to think of plant¬ 
ing grape vines. Which is the best of the 
above ? Our readers would like to know. 
Which is the next best ? Wherein does 
one excel over the other in quality, size 
of bunch, size of berry, productiveness, 
hardiness? If you could have but one 
vine, which one would you choose ? If 
two, which would you choose ? Which 
would you reject as one you would not 
care to have at all ? 
The Green Mountain (Winchell) is 
probably as early as any other white 
grape. And for a first early, it is prob¬ 
ably in many places, the best in quality 
of the first earliesv 
Our readers will remember that we 
planted “ second-crop ” potatoes July 27. 
The seed was “wilted” by exposing them 
to the sun under glass for two days. 
Not one has as yet (September 4) 
sprouted, and it is probable the seed 
pieces have rotted in the ground. 
99^Z 
« PU RE* 
FOK THE BAFT. 
THE PROCTER & GAMBLE CO., CIN'TI. 
CIDER 
MACHINERY 
Hydraulic, Knuckle Joint and Screw 
Presses, Graters. Elevators, Pumps, 
etc. Send for Catalogue. 
BOOMER & BOSCHERT 
PRESS CO., 
IIS W.WaterSt.. SYIlACUSi: 
PA II Ml IIP !HACHl]S£;KYand8UPPLI]<:S. 
IlHIlllinU D. G. Trench Co., Chicago, Ill., and 
1< arnnaai, N. 2. Mention this paper. 
Great Slaughter in Prices 
In order to make room for our Cutter trade, we 
have to close out our Immense stock of Carriages 
Baggies and Road Wagons at KUINOUS PKICISS. 
Send for our Special Cut Price List and get 
a bargain. 
KALAMAZOO BTJCKBOARD CO., 
Kalamazoo, Mich. 
