218 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
March’30 
eggs, and put the earliest ducks on the market, this 
year may have the poorest hatches ; and the worst of 
it is that these variations are unexplainable. Even 
though the eggs are equally fertile to start with, dif¬ 
ference in location or atmospheric conditions, may 
make a big difference in results. Not only must the 
temperature of the incubators be correct, but the 
proper amount of moisture must be supplied, ventila¬ 
tion must be correct, turning and cooling must be 
rightly done, and the proper temperature must be 
maintained in the incubator room. The most critical 
time is during the last few days of the hatch, and 
proper conditions then make the difference between 
a strong, vigorous lot of ducklings, and those which 
are weak and deformed. Still these men have over¬ 
come the difficulties, have learned by experience, and 
apparently are making money at the business. F. h. V. 
(To he continued.) 
AN INDIANA HOG FARM. 
WAKING PORK FROM CORN AND CLOVER. 
The following facts are given by the manager of a 
farm in Franklin County, Ind. This method of farm¬ 
ing may be new to some of our readers, but it seems to 
pay when judged by the scale of profit. One beauty 
of this arrangement is that the cash bill for labor 
must be small. With this system, you can see that 
one man can look out for a large herd of hogs. Mr. 
P. C. Hog is rightfully the president of such an enter¬ 
prise. 
“ How large is the farm, and how divided ? ” 
“ The farm consists of 475 acres ; 300 are divided 
into fields of about 25 acres each ; the rest is in six 
different wood lots, mostly on the west side of the 
farm. The only object I see in keeping them in wood 
is that they act as windbreaks, and beautify the land¬ 
scape.” 
“You don’t cultivate the 300 acres yourself ? ” 
“ I rent the fields to good men who own small farms, 
not large enough to keep their boys at home, and so 
teach them to be good farmers. They deliver one- 
half the corn into our rat-and-mice-proof crib. I re¬ 
ceive our one-half of the wheat at the machine, also 
one-half of the clover seed at the huller.” 
“ What is your rotation ? ” 
‘ 1 1 began two years past cutting the clover and let¬ 
ting it lie on the ground. 1 cut it early that I may 
have a crop of seed. I have been growing Timothy 
on two or three fields, and wish to disnense with it 
in order to bring the fields into the rotation. Then I 
shall have 100 acres of clover to cut to be plowed 
under to make humus for corn. I then seed the corn 
to wheat. I must sow to wheat, because I get the best 
stand of clover on corn-stalk wheat ground. Clover 
is what I am after.” 
“ Do you prefer fall or spring plowing ? ” 
“I don’t know positively yet whether it pays to 
plow the clover sod for corn in the fall, or spring. 
One of the tenants plowed under the first crop that 
we cut and let lie on the ground ; it yielded GO bushels 
of sound corn per acre. One-third of the field is black 
soil, the rest clay. While looking at the field when 
growing, we remarked that the corn was looking 
about as well on the clay ground as the black, that 
heretofore has produced twice the corn. Another 
tenant plowed under a field of clover that we had just 
let fall down instead of cutting. This field was 
plowed in the spring, and corners with the fall-plowed 
field. The spring-plowed field is one-fourth better 
soil, but produced only 50 bushels per acre with the 
same cultivation. Two fields that had no clover on 
them and just as good soil, produced less than 30 
bushels per acre.” 
“ What about the hogs ?” 
“ Hogs are my money crop. I look upon a farmer 
that doesn't grow hogs, as not being ‘in it’ in this part 
of the country. I keep 10 brood sows, and a boar not 
less than two years old—Poland Chinas. I shall in¬ 
crease to 15 if the clover doubles the yield of corn. I 
have found that hogs receive no benefit from running 
on clover until one year old. I feed nothing but corn, 
except what little grass they eat in the wood lots. I 
ship to Cincinnati, O., about two car-loads—at about 
eight months old—and they weigh one pound for every 
day old. I have not lost any for several years. 1 feed 
three times per day, at stated times. They would not 
know what slop is. I have a dry hoghouse with a floor 
to sleep on, but use no bedding. I burn a brush heap 
once a w y eek, and throw one peck of salt in the ashes.” 
“ Why not pasture the hogs on clover ? As it is, 
they run in the wood lots.” 
“ Last spring, I had 50 pigs, five months old, and 
turned them on 30 acres of Medium clover when it 
commenced to bloom. I fed them four bushels of 
corn per day, sold them w r hen eight months old, and 
they weighed only 120 pounds on the average. They 
brought $330. 1 think if we had kept them off the 
clover and given them all the corn they would eat, 
they would have averaged 240 pounds, and have 
brought more than twice the money ; because I would 
have received more per pound. I mowed a clover field 
that gave no better prospect for seed than the 30-acre 
field, and realized 2% bushels of seed. You perceive 
that I lost $300 worth of seed by turning the pigs on 
the clover, and received $300 less for the pigs by not 
feeding them absolutely on corn. I shall keep the 
pigs in the wood lots and save the clover seed in the 
future. I breakdown the corn stalks and let them 
enrich the ground.” 
“ How about grain crops ?” 
“ I have 95 acres in wheat, that was drilled among 
the corn. I shall sow 15 bushels of Medium clover 
seed on the 95 acres, with a wheelbarrow seeder. I 
do not have to wait until the wind goes down, with 
this seeder. It sows eight spaces between the corn 
rows at a round, and no stakes are needed. I think 
that my half of the corn brings as much money, fed 
into thrifty pigs as the whole crop would—if I grew 
and hauled it to market. I don’t pasture any of the 
fields, only keep one cow, two horses to haul the wheat 
to market, and the manure on our three gardens, work 
the road tax, etc. We sometimes think it would pay 
better to feed the wheat to the hogs, as we think it 
would help make a larger frame.” 
“ What plans for the future ?” 
“ I expect to have 100 acres each in clover seed, wheat 
and corn every year. By this means, the farm will 
continue to improve, and I can keep more hogs to eat 
the corn. The more clover—the more of everything. 
To make up for the fertility taken off the farm in seed, 
grain and hogs, I am experimenting with fertilizers. 
Last fall I had 1,000 pounds drilled in on the poorest 
half of a 20-acre wheat field, and shall thrash it sepa¬ 
rate, and report the result. I shall have one of the 
corn fields fertilized in the spring, and then fertilize 
the wheat that is sowed in the same corn. 1 think that 
if it helps neither crop, I shall get the money back in a 
biggercrop of clover that will be sowed the following 
spring.” 
SEPARATOR AND ENGINE IN THE DAIRY. 
1 am asked how I like my United States separator, 
and Ithaca two-horse-power engine. To say that I 
am pleased, is putting it rather mildly. The United 
States is good enough for me, but like any other 
machine, mast be carefully run to give the best re¬ 
sults ; no haphazard work will do, but just give it 
steady motion, put in the milk, and it will do the 
rest. Butter fats can be wasted with a separator as 
well as with any other system; but there is no need 
of wasting anything if proper care is taken. So far as 
the care of the machine is concerned, I would much 
rather care for it than for the pans for 10 cows. 
By the use of steam in the dairy, one can care for a 
separator with little trouble. I have not given the 
separator the test I had intended, for I have been well 
satisfied with the work done this winter, as I have 
made moi-e butter per week in midwinter from 12 
cows, than I did last June from 14. If I can make a 
saving of keeping two cows as a profit over the old 
system, that alone is worth taking into consideration ; 
but I prefer to wait until next June before I decide 
how profitable a thing a separator is on that line. If 
no better work were done than with the pans or deep 
setting, I would much prefer the separator. I run 
mine by hand until I found that 1 could not do with¬ 
out it. The first time I used it, I warmed up one milk¬ 
ing after setting 24 hours, run it through the separ¬ 
ator, and obtained six ounces of butter. That would 
be three-fourths of a pound per day or 275 pounds of 
butter per year—a small item. It was not always 
that we skimmed so close as we did at that time, for 
I wished to see whether we could get anything with 
the separator. 
Another thing, any one that has ever seen a separator 
cleaned, no matter how clean he may be with his cows, 
will never wish to go back to the old methods. I can¬ 
not say enough for the little black pony that runs our 
separator ; all it wants is fire and water, and it is tire¬ 
less, no more care than a dog, and much easier to start 
than bull or horse power. My wife or daughter can 
easily run the engine, but if it were run with bull 
power, they would not come near it. I know that it 
is good for the bull to work, but I don't want his ser¬ 
vices in that way. The engine furnishes the power, 
as well as keeps the room warm, furnishes steam for 
heating water and for sterilizing milk utensils. Where 
one’s dairy work is carried on outside of the family 
kitchen as with us, there are no more cream pails 
around the stove to ripen—a tank and some hot water 
do the work. With the steam, it takes but a few 
minutes to have hot water. Steam is quite essential 
with me, and it helps me get along with my work, 
does my churning, and works my butter while it sepa¬ 
rates my milk. I am all through with my dairy work 
before noon, and ready for something else in the after¬ 
noon. For a lazy man, the two machines work together 
to help him out. a. d. baker. 
Cayuga County, N. Y. 
BORDEAUX MIXTURE FOR THE FLEA-BEETLE 
The R. N.-Y. has a special grudge against the flea- 
beetle—that little black insect that eats holes in 
potato leaves. We were beaten in our efforts to raise 
potatoes at the rate of 700 bushels per acre by these 
little black pests. They so punctured the leaves early 
in the growing season, that the plants could not grow 
and thrive, and the result was a small crop of half- 
formed tubers. These little insects love to work in 
dry weather. Their mischief is done so quickly, and 
they are so lively and small that we were forced to 
give up and admit that they mastered us in that con¬ 
test. Many insecticides and washes were used to fight 
them, but with poor results until it was observed that 
whenever the Bordeaux Mixture was used to combat 
the potato blight, the leaves were remarkably free 
from holes. 
Having observed this fact, Prof. L. R. Jones, of the 
Vermont Experiment Station (Burlington), made some 
careful experiments to see if the Mixture really did 
keep the insects from eating the leaf. In 1893, 50 
average leaves of potato vines, sprayed with varying 
strengths of the Bordeaux and other copper solutions, 
were gathered and the holes in them carefully 
counted. This is the result: 
In 50 leaflets sprayed with very weak Bordeaux Mixture.... 1,794 
In 50 leaflets sprayed with ammoniacal copper carbonate. ..1,587 
In 50 leaflets sprayed with modified Eau Celeste.1,376 
In 50 leaflets sprayed with weak Bordeaux Mixture.1,295 
In 50 leaflets sprayed with strong Bordeaux Mixture.1,194 
In 50 leaflets sprayed with strong Bord. Mixt. and soap. 945 
These plants had been sprayed but once, on August 1. 
In 1894, other experiments were made which convinced 
Prof. Jones that these holes in the leaves were mostly 
made before theplants were sprayed. In 1894, the spray¬ 
ing was done earlier, and after the Bordeaux was put on, 
the plants remained practically free from flea-beetle 
holes. Our pictures—Figs. 64 and 65—show the dif¬ 
ference in appearance between plants thoroughly 
sprayed and plants unsprayed. They were taken from 
adjoining rows. In The R. N.-Y.’s potato contest, many 
of the plants were even worse off than the one here 
shown. Naturally it would be impossible for such a 
plant ever to mature a good crop of potatoes. Other 
experimenters have found that the Bordeaux Mixture 
repels these beetles on beets, tomatoes and other 
crops. Mr. Garrahan, you remember, says that he 
uses the Bordeaux Mixture on potatoes as a matter of 
course—on the same principle that he would water 
his horse, or use manure or fertilizer on a crop. We 
believe that is the right spirit. Whether the crop is 
threatened with blight or not, if this Bordeaux Mix¬ 
ture will spoil the appetite of the flea beetle, it will 
return 500 per cent profit on its cost. The only point 
is to use it early —before it would be needed to cure 
any fungous disease. 
HO W / DOUBLED MY POT A TO CROP 
WITHOUT MATERIALLY INCREASING THE COST. 
I have 16 acres of land on which I grow potatoes, 
fruit, raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, cur¬ 
rants, onions, cabbage, tomatoes, grapes, apples, 
pears, plums and cherries. First, I planted four acres 
of Early Rose potatoes by the new method as taught 
by The R. N.-Y. This is almost the exact opposite of 
our way of doing it heretofore ; in fact, so different 
that the method seemed doubtful. I examined all its 
details ; the reasons were common sense and so con¬ 
vincing that I thought it worthy of trial. The Rural 
Trench System is the method I now use. My seed 
potatoes are always the best I can find or raise from 
my own crop. I store them in a cool, dry cellar. A 
few days before planting, I bring them into my office 
and feed-room and keep them warm enough to start 
the warty shoots. The room has four windows with 
plenty of light. All dormant or feeble seed are re¬ 
jected. I cut according to the number of strong eyes 
—not more than three to a piece. 
I always plow in the fall, so that the soil is friable 
and light in the spring. My soil is a mellow, sandy 
loam, and is not in the highest state of fertility. For 
a number of years, it has been cropped by rotation 
crops of corn, oats, wheat and grass, with no fertilizer 
but my own stable manure. I cross plow again in the 
spring, and get the gi’ound into the best of condition 
with a two-horse spring harrow. I make the trenches 
six inches deep with a 14-inch plow, the rows three 
feet apart, and never work in the soil when wet. 
After the trench plow, 1 follow with a trench harrow 
of my own make, 10 inches wide with straight teeth, 
to mix the fertilizer with the soil in the bottom of the 
trench, and at the same time mellow and loosen tfie 
soil to the depth of three inches. This method fills 
the trenches to some extent, and leaves them about 
four inches deep, upon which I plant the seeds one 
foot apart in the row, and cover with about three 
inches of fine mellow soil. In the bottom of the 
trench, before I use the trench harrow, I spread by 
hand, 600 pounds to the acre, of Mapes potato manure. 
I never compact the soil any more than can be helped. 
As soon as the plants appear above ground, I start 
