82 
THK RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
February 9 
The strawberries in size and yield, were a wonder to 
all who saw them. This year we extended the irriga¬ 
tion further, with results most astonishing and satis¬ 
factory. We had 20 acres of upland corn on good 
land, planted with the Aspinwall planter, for corn 
and fodder for the silo, and about the same number 
of acres on ground we could irrigate. The dry time 
almost ruined that on the upland. We got more corn 
on three acres of that irrigated than on the 20 acres 
of upland. On the irrigated land, the corn never lost 
its dark green color, and was literally a swamp. The 
corn was of the Medium dent variety. From the irri¬ 
gated part we cut and put in the silo about 250 tons, 
counting 50 pounds to the cubic foot of well-settled 
and well-pressed ensilage. The corn was put in whole, 
and packed solid. No ears were taken off. The corn 
being planted rather late, the ears did not quite get 
glazed. Two years before, the corn was planted 
earlier, and we picked off before cutting for the silo, 
over 700 bushels of big ears with husks on. 
We opened the silo about two weeks ago, and found 
the ensilage all right and sweet; but I think that 
from the more mature corn is better in nutrition than 
that from immature corn. Besides the corn for the 
silo, we had a fine yield of sweet corn and fodder for 
soiling. On the new strawberry patch, the ground is 
literally covered with plants, and we expect a fine 
harvest of berries. Raspberry and other plants all 
did equally well. 
On a portion of the land irrigated, we put out 40,000 
cabbage plants. The seed was not sown for the 
plants till most of those raising cabbage for market 
had set their plants and market gardeners said, too 
late to get plants for setting ; but by the use of the 
Avater, the seed germinated quickly, and the plants 
Avere ready for setting much sooner than we expected. 
The yield of cabbage was beyond expectations. Mar¬ 
ket gardeners Avho came to view them, said that they 
never saw a finer lot. The heads were very large and 
solid—too large to suit the grocery men to sell at re¬ 
tail. Many of the heads cracked open before we 
could market them. Several thousand have been 
buried for spring trade. 
Double Cropping of the Ground. 
When cultivating the corn the last time, wv soAved 
rye between the rows, cultivating it in with the 
spring-tooth cultivator. We sowed also about 10 
acres more, part had been in rye and part reclaimed 
land. When the corn was cut, the rye was over eight 
inches high, and literally covered the ground. As 
soon as the cabbage Avere off, we turned on (50 head of 
cattle and 100 sheep. The cows increased in milk 20 
gallons a day. After a week or 10 days, we found 
that too much rye gave the milk an unnatural taste, 
so Ave allowed them on the rye only about two hours 
each day. The open winter up to the last of Decem¬ 
ber, enabled us to use the rye for pasture, except for 
the cows g’iving milk, until Christmas, and the sheep 
were* not removed till January 10. The sheep are 
fat, and go into winter quarters in the finest condi¬ 
tion of any Ave ever had. 
That little spi'ing brook has been Avorth to us this 
year, many hundred dollars, and the end is not yet. The 
plant is there to stay for our benefit, and for the benefit 
of our successors. As now controlled and utilized for 
irrigation, at a Ioav estimate, Ave consider it Avorth 
more to us than an investment of $5,000 at six per 
cent annual interest. In traveling over the country, 
we find thousands of just such little streams, and a 
great many small creeks that might be utilized for 
man’s benefit. In many cases, they run through sev¬ 
eral farms before reaching their outlets. In order 
that such streams could be used for irrigation to the 
full extent Avhei’e they pass through farms belong-mg 
to different owners, it will be necessary for the sev¬ 
eral States to pass some general laAV under which 
farmers can organize and utilize the streams for the 
benefit of all, and for the protection of each in such 
rights as may be acquired, such rights to become a 
part of the realty and pass Avith the land Avhen sold 
or otherwise disposed of. 
Garden Irrigation ; Another Side of the Matter. 
I have another irrigating plant on my home farm, 
though not on so extensive a scale, as it is used mostty 
for a fexv acres of garden. Selecting a suitable place 
in a small ravine just beloAV Avhere the springs came 
out of a bank, I' built a dam, making a pond covering 
a space of about one-fourth of an acre. From this 
pond, Avater is conveyed through three-inch continu¬ 
ous pipe, made of waterlime and sand, about 100 rods. 
The outlet is into another pond from Avhich Ave get ice 
in winter, and from Avhich the Avater is taken for 
irrigating the garden. Water is also taken from sev¬ 
eral places along the line of the pipe, for Avatering the 
plants. If the asparagus or beets or onions or cabbage 
or any other vegetables or plants or towers need 
water, they get it. No one Avho has not made the ex¬ 
periment, can conceive the pleasure it creates to give 
the cup of cold Avater (not too cold) to these thirsty 
plants. It is an added pleasure to farm life that turns 
the prose of it for the time being into genuine poetry. 
While in that poetic frame of mind, if one listens he 
seems to hear, and does almost hear, the approval of 
Him Avho created the plants, and floxvers, and fruit, 
for man's benefit and enjoyment. 
We call it cruel and criminal to place an animal in 
a dry time where he can get no Avater to quench thirst 
and relieve suffering; and Ave are held responsible 
unless it is beyond our power to give relief. Is it not 
just as cruel and criminal for us to set out plants and 
let them suffer for want of water, Avhen the means 
are Avithin our reach to quench the thirst by irriga¬ 
tion ? If not by irrigation, then by that kind of culti¬ 
vation that conserves the moisture already in the soil 
and brings it up within the reach of plants where 
they can drink at pleasure. If animals have souls, 
however small the same may be, may not the vege¬ 
table kingdom claim equal recognition ? The day 
may come as we see more clearly our relation to the 
Creator and his creation, when cruelty to plants of our 
own setting will bring upon us the same censure that 
noAV follows cruelty to animals. s. s. bailey. 
East Paris, Mich. 
A USEFUL DEVICE IN SLAUGHTERING. 
While assisting in killing and dressing a beef Avith- 
out the convenience of slaughter-pen, pulleys and 
windlass, I was impressed Avith the merits of a cheap 
and efficient substitute for these conveniences, which 
is shoAvn at Fig. 27. The tripod is formed of three 
DEVICE FOR LIFTING A CARCASS. Fig. 27. 
poles, as nearly straight as possible, 14 feet long. Avith 
a diameter of about five inches at the larger end. 
These are joined near the upper end by a five-eighths- 
incli bolt in a tliree-fourths-inch hole, thus allowing 
the outer poles to be separated to a distance of six 
feet or more at the bottom. As a matter of clean¬ 
liness, the bark should be removed from the poles, or 
saAved timber used instead. Thirty feet of five- 
eighths-inch rope are used. This is given one turn 
vertically about the joining of the poles above, as 
shoAvn at Fig. 27, to prevent slipping when the two 
ends of the rope bear unequal Aveights, as in cutting 
down the carcass. Slip-knots formed at the lower 
end of the ropes, receive the two pins of the roller 
FOR USE IN DRESSING A BEEF. Fig. 28. 
(see Fig. 28), care being taken that the roller shall lie 
horizontal and remain so during the ascent. 
The roller is made of hard wood, about five inches 
in diameter and 34 inches long, from shoulder to 
shoulder. Six inches additional at each end are cut 
down to a diameter of 2% inches next the beveled 
shoulder, while the outer end is nearly three inches in 
diameter. The pins for the ropes are eight inches 
apart, and between these pins, two holes are bored 
through the roller at right angles to each other and a 
few inches apart, in which handspikes are used. 
When the animal has been killed and partially skin¬ 
ned, the tripod is set up over it, the center pole to the 
rear, and the pair of other poles forward. This dis¬ 
position of the poles places them least in the Avay of 
the operators. The pointed ends of the roller are in¬ 
serted under the large tendon just above the hock 
joint, and these being sloped inward, the carcass can¬ 
not slip off even Avhen sawed asunder. The ropes are 
hung on the forward side of the roller, that the hand¬ 
spikes may be used in that direction. The animal is 
raised a feAV feet, and held in this position by a stick 
laid across the ropes (see Fig. 27), and the dressing 
proceeds. The disadvantage is that the roller soon 
passes out of reach from the ground, but this is met 
from below by the use of a box or barrel, on Avhich 
the operator stands Avhile using the spikes. When 
fully dressed, the fore quarters may be cut away 
singly. The hind quarters are loAvered within easy 
reach and both taken off at once. s. P. SHULL. 
HOW GARDENERS USE MANURE. 
Use on Corn, if Possible. 
In answer to D. D. C. in The R. N.-Y. of January 
12 : Unless the land is liable to wash, the best plan 
to save all possible fertility, would be to spread the 
manure as fast as hauled, plow in the spring and plant 
to corn. But if wanted for any other crop, such as 
potatoes or vegetables of any kind, it would be better 
to pile in loose, flat heaps, and use as a top-dressing 
after planting. Vegetables cannot be successfully 
grown upon fresh stable manure plowed in. It is a 
harbor for all kinds of insects which prey upon the 
roots of plants, causing, oftentimes, complete failure. 
It has also a tendency to dry out the soil, unless most 
thoroughly incorporated with it. But by making a 
rotation with corn, the soil will be in good condition 
for other crops. D. H. 
Rochelle. Ill. 
Spread It On the Grass. 
The answer to D. C. C., depends on several condi¬ 
tions not given in the inquiry. If his land is reason¬ 
ably level, and there is time to spread the manure as 
it is drawn, I would do it at once, as it spreads much 
better from the wagon or sled, and is likely to be 
applied more uniformly. When left in heaps, it is 
difficult to gauge the size of the pile to the area to be 
covered. I judge that the manure is to be drawn as 
made, or possibly every day, and so the matter of good 
or bad roads would not enter into the problem. I 
Avould not on any account put it in a large pile to be 
reloaded, as it makes that much more Avork Avithout 
any resulting good. 
The matter of spreading manure directly as it is 
made, or of keeping it until spring and spreading 
just before plowing, has been repeatedly tried in this 
county, and it has invariably p roved best to spread as 
made. In two instances that I have observed along 
the road, pa^t of the manure Avas spread as made, 
beginning in December and the rest was not put on 
until spring just before corn planting; there Avas a 
very marked difference all summer, and in husking, 
in favor of that manured the earliest. Both these fields 
were grass or clover sod. The same thing was appar¬ 
ent in my quarter-acre onion patch last summer. I 
manured part of it in early winter, and the rest just 
before ploAving in April. On that manured early, 
nearly all the bulbs made a salable size, and matured 
early, while on the other half, a good many were 
scallions and worthless. Those that were early 
brought from $1.20 down to 70 cents per bushel, Avhile 
those Avhich I could not pull until October brought 50 
cents and less. The ground that Avas manured early 
in Avinter seemed in better condition at plowing time, 
and the manure turned to a black humus satui*ating 
and blackening the soil to the depth of an inch. The 
ground had potatoes on it the year before. 
The best potato growers of this and the adjoining 
county of Portage, get out their accumulation of sum¬ 
mer manure in September or before, on to clover 
ground, and continue to draw all Avinter as made. It 
pushes the clover and grass growth along whenever 
the ground is not frozen, protecting it at the same 
time so that it does not freeze so hard and thaws 
quicker. In the case of bare ground, the advantage 
of groAvth is lost, and it is here that a good many 
farmers lose on the application of barnyard manure. 
They let it lie and leach for months, and apply it to 
fields just before plowing. If the season is dry, but 
little benefit is gained. Instead of keeping a pile of 
manure for autumn top-dressing, scatter it on the 
meadows in the spring. If the manure is good and the 
spring is dry, it will sometimes make as much as a 
ton difference in the yield of hay and bring returns a 
year sooner than if applied to wheat in the fall. More 
than this, it will largely increase the weight of roots 
in the soil, and give a heavy aftermath besides. It is 
much pleasanter to moAV 1)4 ton to the acre than half 
a ton ; it mows and rakes cleaner, is every way more 
satisfactory, and costs much less for labor than to 
gather three half-tons from three acres. More than 
all this, it can be run through the stock and again ap¬ 
plied to the land before the wheat is harvested. Let 
me emphasize this matter by putting it in other 
words: You have manure that you are making or 
buying this Avinter. You apply it at once to ground to 
be mowed next summer. Y'ou stimulate the groxvth 
of the grass Avhenever the ground and temperature 
permit; you get an increased crop of hay and a rank 
aftermath. You feed it to coxvs next Avinter, and have 
another body of manure to use as it is made. 
By the other method, you pile up the manure, 
adding thereby to its cost the amount of labor neces¬ 
sary to do it. In the fall, you do not have any more 
fertilizing value than when first made, and in all 
