68o 
IPIE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
October 27 
What They Say! 
COBROSIVB Suni^IMATE AND APPLE PICKERS. —After 
two years trial, I am convinced that the treatment 
of seed potatoes in a solution of corrosive subli¬ 
mate, is of (freat value in producing a crop of smooth 
tubers. The knowledge of this method came through 
The Rural New-Yorker, and is worth enough to pay 
for the paper the rest of my natural life. Yet some of 
my neighbors sneer at agricultural papers and their 
readers, and the same ones say that they wish they 
knew some way to grow potatoes free from scab. 
Sometimes I try to tell them how I do it, but as I read 
a paper they look on me as impractical. 
The apple gathering device described recently, is no 
new thing. I saw it used nine years ago. I am sure 
no careful fruit grower would use such a device, and 
equally sure no buyer would knowingly handle apples 
gathered in that way. Apples in falling, are bruised 
against limbs and against each other, more than in 
hitting the ground. Though some would come down 
all right, yet a large percentage would not be fit to 
pack; some unfit would find their way in, and suspicion 
would rest on the whole lot. w. A. l. 
Ridgeland, N. Y. 
More Sawdust Manure. —I purchased last fall about 
20 cords of horse manure, from a sawmill stable 
employing 12 or more horses, where spruce sawdust is 
the only bedding used. Hogs had worked it over, yet it 
had been burned until it was as dry as ashes. 1 spread 
it upon about three acres of land, a top dressing in 
September, where the grass was badly “run out,” with 
little Timothy and no clover visible. After one or two 
rains, the grass where it was spread, showed consider¬ 
able growth, and a bright green color, and the line be¬ 
tween the manured and unmanured ground was visible 
a long way off. The hay crop this season was very 
light on the rest of the field, and very heavy where the 
manure was spread ; mostly a dense growth of fine 
grass, but with large patches of Timothy and some 
clover. This is not the first time I have thus used a 
cheap manure of sawdust or shavings, and it has 
usually paid well, so that I would amend the old 
proverb that “The race is not always to the swift,” 
or the crop to the strong—manure. This fall I am to 
have the same material, but it will be spread this 
month on ground just plowed, and next year planted 
with beans or corn. G. s. p. 
Maine. 
Traveling a Bull. —We live in a strictly dairy 
country, mostly cheese dairying. The custom of most 
of our dairymen is to raise a bull calf, or to buy a 
yearling in the spring to serve their cows the coming 
season. Most dairymen raise a few heifer calves each 
year to take the place of old, worn-out cows, which are 
turned off. I asked my neighbor what he is using to 
sire his heifer calves. 
“ Oh, I don’t know! I had my choice in Mr. B’s 
yard ; he had 12 or 15 aud I guess I got a good one.” 
“ What do you know about him ?” 
“ Oh, he is large enough and is in good order. His 
horns are plenty large.” 
That’s all he knows, or has a chance to know. He 
doesn’t know whether the mother to that bull gave 
2,000 or 3,000 pounds of milk, or whether the milk 
contained two or three per cent butter fat, or whether 
she went dry one month or three months. No know¬ 
ing whether the dam of the bull was a milker, or a 
beefer, or a go-between—neither a milker nor beefer. 
The result is that a larger proportion of the cows im 
our dairy country might be truthfully called mongrels. 
How may we better such breeding ? I have an ex¬ 
cellent Ayrshire bull coming five years old. The 
dam gives a large fiow of milk, and for the last 
year each month her milk has tested 4 2 10 to 4 6-10 
butter fat; she is from a long line of first-class milkers. 
I shall put this bull on a certain road in May and June, 
where in traveling four miles he will pass 25 dairies. 
He will go from home in the morning and back at 
night, and thus give those dairymen a chance to mate 
their best cows for calves for future use. I am sure 
an improvement can be made in our dairies, and this 
plan can be made profitable to myself. There are 
more or less three, four and five-year-old bulls kept 
by breeders, that they cannot longer use on account 
of inbreeding, which are being slaughtered, which 
could be used in this way, and make a vast improve¬ 
ment in the dairies of the country. o. H. smith. 
Cattaraugus County, N. Y. 
Past and Present Farming. —As to those questions 
about farming to-day, as compared with 10 years ago, 
I do not hesitate to say that average incomes from the 
farms about here are less now than then. Oats, wheat 
and barley were the principal grain crops grown for 
market 10 years ago. The prices of these have dropped 
off about one-half, and the yield the other half. Con¬ 
tinuous cropping with no fertilizers or manures, has 
reduced the yield in most‘cases. The long, cold, wet 
spells, followed by severe droughts, have also done 
great damage for two or three years past. Conse¬ 
quently, the cost of producing a bushel is greater. A 
few years ago, butter dropped down to 12 cents in the 
summer, and from that time the sale of baled hay 
crowded the dairy business. It is so much easier to 
grow hay to sell than to milk, feed, and care for a 
herd of cows I It also lessens the housework. Some 
of the best farmers are holding on to their dairies yet, 
and have made factory cheese for a few years past. 
The selling of veal calves for market, live weight, in 
early spring, has lately become an encouraging 
feature. The time has fully come when brains rather 
than muscle, are in demand. 
It is surprising to see the changes in farm opera¬ 
tions, that have taken place among the small circle of 
Rural readers in my neighborhood. One subscriber 
tells me that he has the finest piece of Cory corn that 
ever grew around here. I heard him tell a friend of 
his that 20,000 barrels of flour were not enough to 
supply New York City for one day. “It was in last 
week’s Rural,” said he, and when his friend still 
doubted, they proceeded to figure right there at the 
post-office how much flour per head it would be. 
Another young farmer who has been a Rural reader 
about six months, is changing his herd of 14 natives to 
Jerseys as fast as possible. The separator, in a neat 
room under the same roof with the barn, is success¬ 
fully operated by a medium-sized farm dog. The 
butter is pressed in one-pound bricks bearing the 
initials of the maker, and is expressed to private cus¬ 
tomers in Clearfield County, Pa. The future for the 
industrious, wide-awake farmer isn’t to be dreaded so 
very much. subscriber. 
Troupsburg, N. Y. 
THE CANALS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 
In view of the anticipated action of the electors at 
the approaching election, on the canal question, it 
seems an appropriate time to discuss the question, 
that the voters may act considerately and intelligently. 
For whose benefit chiefly, are the canals made free 
and kept in repair ? Why should the people of 
this State deem it for their interest to provide at such 
very great expense, means of free transportation for 
the productions of the Western States ? 
It is conceded that there are certain interests in the 
large cities that are promoted by the shipments that 
are made through this channel; chiefly New York, 
Albany, Troy and Buffalo, aud some intermediate 
ones to a less extent. If these cities or the people of 
the State, are interested to furnish free transporta¬ 
tion for the productions of the West, why not furnish 
it by railroad as well as by canal ? While these cities 
may be benefited to some extent, it is not easy to per¬ 
ceive how the agricultural interests of the State derive 
any benefit; or at least a benefit commensurate to the 
taxes they are required to pay therefor. 
Governor Flower, in an address at an agricultural 
fair, stated that while in Congress, he voted against a 
project for improving lands in the Western States by 
irrigation, at the expense of the General Government, 
because such improvement there would make those 
lands productive, and their increased products would 
come in competition with similar products of our own 
State. On a similar occasion soon after, he made a 
strong plea in favor of liberal appropriations for 
greatly improving our canals, thus furnishing in¬ 
creased facilities for the free transportation of the 
products which compete so largely with our own. It 
is difficult to see why a man should oppose the one, 
and BO vigorously favor the other, at a thousand times 
the expense to this State of the former project. 
The Erie Canal has been of immense benefit to the 
State of New York in former years. At the time of 
its construction, the western part of this State was 
known as the “Far West,” and it provided the best 
possible means of transportation then available to the 
traveling public, and for the productions of the soil. 
Subsequently, when railroads were constructed, fur¬ 
nishing better facilities for travel, and later on for 
the transportation of freight, the canals became of 
less importance to the people of this State, and of 
much greater importance to the Western States, be¬ 
cause of the increased productions of the latter. At 
the present time, only a small per cent of its business 
is furnished by this State, and a very large and an¬ 
nually increasing portion comes from the West. The 
latter is furnished free transportation by us, to com¬ 
pete with the products of our farms in our Eastern 
markets. This may be a noble act of charity to our 
Western brethren, but as a financial enterprise, can¬ 
not be commended. A thoughtful consideration of 
the subject should satisfy us that the Erie Canal, so 
far as this State is concerned, has outlived its useful¬ 
ness to such an extent that no very great expense 
shou’d be incurred to increase its capacity. If the 
General Government would enlarge and manage it, 
probably no one would object. t. g. yeomans. 
IMPROVEMENT OF THE GLADIOLUS. 
I read, with some surprise, Ruralisms’ indorsement 
of the opinion expressed by C. L Allen in American 
Gardening, that the gladiolus had reached its limit of 
perfection, presumably as a florist’s plant. In gladioli, 
as in all other plants that have been greatly changed 
by culture, we recognize relative perfections of form, 
of color, of habit and of constitution. It is quite true 
that, according to the standard of taste now accepted 
by most growers of gladioli, the 10 varieties mentioned 
on page 618 of The R. N.-Y., are finely representative, 
and in every way desirable. They have stood the test 
of time and of general cultivation. They are satis¬ 
factory alike to the florist and amateur. But I shall 
feel very loath to believe that a better scarlet than 
Meyerbeer, a better white than Snow White and a 
much better yellow than Martha Washington, are not 
already in existence, if not in general commerce. 
Probably no other plant has ever been subject to 
such rapid and profound improvement under the care 
of the hybridist as the gladiolus, during the past quar¬ 
ter of a century. A multitude of specialists are at 
work at various points throughout the horticultural 
world. Thousands of meritorious varieties are pro¬ 
duced and thrown aside yearly, such as would have 
been retained and named a short time ago. I feel cer¬ 
tain that the public is ready to appreciate something 
more brilliant in color, more varied in markings, and 
more graceful in form than the old-time Gandavensis 
section, to which the varieties referred to above be¬ 
long. It may be said in justice to the newer strains of 
gladioli, such as Childsii and Lemoineii, that the best 
varieties of each, being of slow propagation, have not 
yet left the growers’ hands. In the greed for rapid 
dissemination, inferior mixtures have been sent out 
and the strains judged accordingly by a victimized 
public. 
The gladiolus is a grand plant. Its value as a cut 
flower for summer decoration, is not half known and 
appreciated. Those among the newer varieties which 
are too weak in the stem or too lacking in substance 
of petal to withstand the hot sun, make magnificent 
specimens for room and table decoration, as their 
immense size and glowing colors are shown to great 
effect in the soft light of a shaded room. The newer 
strains seem to need a heavier and richer soil and more 
moisture than those of purer Gandavensis blood. 
When well grown, many of them are splendid, indeed, 
though as yet none of the varieties shows as perfect 
finish in the fully developed spike of bloom, as do the 
best of the old varieties. w. van fleet. 
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one time. Put questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
Some Chemicals for Missouri Potatoes. 
N. W. K., Old Franklin, Mo —I have about 50 acres 
of land that I wish to plant to potatoes next spring. 
It is half and half black and white sand ; if anything, 
the former predominates. It has been in clover for 
two years, and in wheat three years previously. Last 
spring it was planted to potatoes, and it has averaged 
about 75 bushels per acre—a complete failure. I have 
bought a large quantity of sulphate of potash and fine 
ground bone and nitrate of soda. Just how would 
The R. N.-Y. treat this land ? The soil has never, to 
my knowledge, been broken over six inches deep, and 
I am thinking of subsoiling. What per cent of actual 
potash, phosphoric acid and soda should I use ? I 
would like to use about 1,000 pounds per acre. 
Ans.—I f we owned this land and wanted to grow 50 
acres of potatoes with the chemicals you have, we 
would proceed as follows: Plow it as soon as possible, 
turning the furrows up so that the air and frost may 
easily act on them. In the spring, plow again across 
the fall furrows, and work the surface fine and smooth 
with a tool like the Acme harrow, working in about 
half the fertilizer broadcast. Plant in drills about 
three feet apart with an Aspinwall planter, soaking 
the seed in the corrosive sublimate solution if scabby. 
The second half of the fertilizer should be dropped in 
the furrow by the planter. The chemicals named 
may be combined in this proportion: Sulphate of 
potash, 300 pouads; fine ground bone, 800 pounds, and 
nitrate of soda, 300 pounds. The chemicals should be 
.thoroughly mixed and, if possible, well crushed and 
fined with a heavy shovel or roller after mixing. This 
mixture of 1,400 pounds will contain about as much 
potash, nitrogen and phosphoric acid as a ton of good 
potato fertilizer. You may use this strong mixture, 
or add enough plaster or flue dry earth to make a full 
ton in weight. As to subsoiling, we cannot say. If 
the surface soil covers a dense hardpan, we would 
break t he latter up with a sqbeoil plow in the spring. 
