1895 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
567 
grown for grain. In favorable years, he will not get 
so much feed from an acre, but he has found that the 
large variety had to be supplemented with some grain 
meal, and the extra expense of preparing this, he 
thinks, more than counterbalances the gain. He this 
year used one-half the common field variety in filling 
his silo, and thinks that with bran added he has a 
very satisfactory lation. He deems it wise to sell 
wheat or feed it to hogs, and use bran, even at present 
prices as a supplement to the ensilage for the cows. 
His cows are put into the barn about November 1 
to remain, save when let out to drink, for six months, 
or until grass has made a considerable start in the 
spring. They are kept in the common rigid stanchion 
on a cement floor with a gutter behind them. They 
stand in two rows facing each other and eat from a 
common manger which is, in reality, just the floor 
they stand upon. The silo stands at one end of the 
barn, and the ensilage is delivered directly into one 
end of this manger. His method of feeding is to have 
a man put down ensilage the first thing in the morning. 
He uses a large basket, such as will hold (58 pounds of 
ear corn, and this full is divided among three cows. 
When the ensilage is distributed, four or five quarts 
of bran are poured over each cow’s pile of ensilage. 
This constitutes the morning feed. After breakfast, 
they are milked, then turned out to drink ; while out, 
their stables are cleaned and re-bedded. The cows are 
then put back for the day. When asked if he thought 
once a day often enough to water, he replied that after 
they acquired that habit, it seemed that they did not 
want it oftener. At noon, they are given as much hay 
from the mow above as they will eat up clean. At 
night, the same ration is given as in the morning, 
with the addition of a teaspoonful of salt to each 
cow. The amount of ensilage fed has been found by 
trials to be about the limit of what they will eat. 
The Herd and Its Improvement. 
His cows are high-grade, and thoroughbred Jerseys. 
His cows now average for the entire milking period, 
about three-fourths of a pound of butter a day. On 
his home farm, Mr. Condit aims to keep 35 cows, and 
to raise most of the heifer calves to maturity. He 
keeps a registered Jersey bull which, with his service 
in the herd and work on the tread-power, is the most 
profitable animal he has. While Mr. Condit considers 
his present herd a profitable one, he hopes to improve 
it greatly. He designs to keep three or four brood 
sows whose pigs are raised largely on the skim-milk, 
lie pushes the pigs as rapidly as possible to 125 pounds 
or a little more, and sells to make room for the 
younger ones. 
Mr. Condit is enthusiastic in his recommendation of 
the silo ; he thinks it by far the most economical 
method of handling a corn crop. His silo is 17 feet 
square, inside measurement, and 24 feet deep. This 
he finds will hold barely enough to feed his 35 cows 
during the six winter months. He winters his work 
teams and young heifers upon dry feed. He cuts his 
dry corn fodder, and thinks that it pays in the in¬ 
creased available food value, also in the convenience 
with which it is scored and fed. Mr. Condit keeps 
two work teams, and employs two men by the year. 
The dairy business conducted on this plan, is now 
the most profitable farming industry in this county ; 
but it is made such by a devotion equaled only by 
that of the marriage relation. There can be no sum¬ 
mer or winter vacations, or even holidays. Even Sun¬ 
days have a large work of necessity, h. p. miller. 
Delaware County, O. 
CULTIVATING OVER CHESTNUT STUMPS. 
The chestnut flourishes in rich, sandy loam, on roll¬ 
ing land, and growing tall and broad and leafy, de¬ 
velops a network of roots that are interlaced every 
few inches, and make an anchorage that clings to¬ 
gether in spite of any cheap way of removing the 
stumps. Heavy charges of Hercules powder blow big 
holes in the sandy subsoil, exposing and tearing some 
of the roots, but not accomplishing much save to make 
tedious grubbing possible. Applied in a hole bored 
in the stump, the explosive tears away the top but 
does little injury to the network of roots below. My 
farm is a chestnut ridge, and I still have 10 acres of 
forest that it is desirable to clear and turn to berry 
growing, so it has been a vital question what to do. 
Every other variety of stump can be eradicated at a 
reasonable cost, or by waiting for natural causes half 
a dozen years ; so I have only to tolerate the chest¬ 
nut, and to make this nuisance tolerable o the grow¬ 
ing of orchards, and raspberry plantations. 
I have found but one best way. This is shown at 
Eig. 179. I take one of the modern, narrow-bladed, 
quick-cutting, cross-cut saws and saw off the stump 
just above ground. In clearing, I saw the trees low 
down and make no stumps, but I have 30 or 40 stumps 
cut from five to ten years ago, which I am treating to 
decapitation, as fast as 1 bring the land under culti¬ 
vation. They are cut low, none being more than 26 
inches high, so we cut off a length of stove wood 17 
inches long. In many cases, this leaves no stump of 
any account, and in the tallest the stumps are only 
eight or nine inches high, and a reaper or mower 
could be worked over them if I were growing grain. 
As it is, I can plant raspberries or blackberries or 
trees without reference to the stumps, as a horse pays 
no more attention to them than to a stone, and the 
cultivator is easily swung over them. The advantage 
in plowing is plainly seen, and in using the disc har¬ 
row, Cutaway, and roller, all stumps sawed within 
five inches of the ground offer no serious obstruction. 
My man runs over those that are eight, with the disc. 
I believe that it takes less time to saw off a stu up, 
than is lost in hindrance, in plowing, fitting and cul¬ 
tivating around it in one season in growing a berry 
plantation. Then I get the wood, and three 30-inch 
stumps which may be sawed off by two men in an 
hour, will split up into about a cord, stove length. 
East fall I happened to be on a farm owned by one 
of the noted educators of Ohio, a man who for many 
years has been employed to teach at the teachers’ in¬ 
stitutes. He has a pear orchard, about 10 years old, 
of 500 trees, planted where a heavy growth of burr 
oak timber was cut off. Many large stumps were left, 
and in some cases the trees were planted several feet 
out of the row to dodge stumps, and the stumps are 
very much in the way. It is clearly impossible to use 
dynamite, or to pull, for this would destroy many 
trees just ready to bear. The only course left is to 
mitigate the evil by sawing close to the ground and 
let the stumps slowly rot away. In plowing next to 
stumps sawed close to the ground, it is possible after 
the ground has been plowed a couple of times, to 
plow right up to the stump and set in directly beyond, 
and three or four minutes’ work with the mattock 
will dig up all that remains, and all the rich soil 
around the stump may be utilized for crops instead of 
weeds. l. b. pierce. 
Summit County, Ohio. 
SOME THOUGHTS ON HIRED MEN. 
First of all, I do not want a man who is foul- 
mouthed and profane, who will corrupt my son and 
other young boys who may be working for me. I 
always tell my men when I hire them, that I want to 
do all the swearing that is done on the farm. If at 
any time they feel that swearing is really necessary 
to do any piece of work, I prefer them to call me. 
Next in importance, I consider a man’s ability to 
care for and handle a team. Some men can do much 
RUNNING OVER A STUMP ! Fig. 179. 
more work with a team in a season, and keep them in 
good condition, on a given amount of feed, than 
others. The man who makes but little noise with his 
mouth when working a team, and drives slowly on the 
road with a load, is the teamster for me. I want a 
man of reasonably even temper, and who is willing to 
be told ; a man of some judgment and discretion, 
who, if I am away and circumstances change, will 
plan the work accordingly. A friend of mine who is 
one of the best farmers in an adjoining county, and, 
perhaps, in the State, said that he wanted his men to 
do just exactly as they were told, if they knew it was 
wrong. I don’t ; I want a man that 1 can trust to 
leave some things to his judgment. 
If I board a man, I want one with some degree of 
neatness of person and clothing, who is willing to lay 
aside his heavy, dirty boots, put on a pair of slippers, 
and a clean, light-weight coat when with the family 
at meal-time and evenings. I have never yet found a 
man who was not willing to do this, but once or twice 
I have had to furnish the coat and slippers. Of course 
I do not ask this of day help, only of those who are in 
the family for months or by the year. Some may say 
that I have pictured an ideal hired man, that there 
are but few such. I have only described such as I 
have always hired with but one exception. The only 
trouble with him was that he was inclined to shirk 
when alone, and was sweet on the hired girl. 
If I want to retain a man a second year, I hire him 
early in the season. If I want some other man, I 
inquire about him of parties where he has worked, 
also of the neighbors of the man for whom he has 
worked. Sometimes the neighbors know more about 
a hired man than the employer does. In this way, I 
am always able to get good help, and I don’t pay the 
highest wages, either. I always have plenty of appli¬ 
cants as soon as it is known that I have a vacant 
place. 
I think it best always to have a written contract, 
duly signed by both parties, and each have a copy. 
Then each one knows just what is expected of him, 
and no chance can arise for a misunderstanding, 
quarrel or suit at law. Almost every year there is a 
suit in our county or Supreme Court, between employer 
and employee, not to mention numerous petty suits 
in justices’ courts which, probably, could have been 
avoided by a good, strong, clear contract. 
Some points which are important in a contract are 
specifications of the kind of labor to be performed, 
hours per day, holidays and lost time. I insert the 
work “ on the farm or elsewhere, as the party of the 
first part may desire or direct.” I once had a man re¬ 
fuse to help a neighbor in exchanging work. He 
said that “ he was hired to work for me on m\i farm." 
Suffice it to say that he went and helped the neighbor, 
but I have since been told that the man was right. 
Specify the amount to be paid and when, so much 
per week or month. It is best to keep back a few 
dollars per month. A workman generally feels better 
if he has “ something coming,” and he is more likely 
to save a little if there is a lump coming at the end of 
the year. I would also put in a clause ir> which a man 
promises not to use tobacco about the house or barn. 
I will not allow a man to smoke or chew in the house, 
and if the Governor or President should come into my 
barn smoking tobacco, I would politely request him 
to throw it away ; and certainly, I would not be less 
polite to a hired man. k. c. gillett. 
BARNYARD MANURE VS. BAG FERTILIZER. 
SOME RESULTS ON AN OHIO FARM. 
My soil is mostly of a stiff clay formation, the origi¬ 
nal timber being principally white oak, with some 
hard maple, burr oak, and walnut. It is uncertain 
for crops without tile drainage, in its natural condi¬ 
tion, and clover is the most uncertain of all crops. 
To overcome all disadvantages, I commenced at the 
bottom to work up, underdraining being the first 
work. The next point was to add fertility, and as the 
general verdict of the community was that barnyard 
manure always brought a return, and that commer¬ 
cial fertilizers were uncertain, I laid plans to secure 
all the barnyard and stable manure possible. There 
is a good gravel road to the neighboring villages, mak¬ 
ing it possible at most seasons of the year to haul 
large loads of manure. I have made it a point for 10 
years to haul all I could get at times when I could 
spare the time to haul. When I commenced to haul, 
I had no competition except from a market gardener 
who could not possibly use all that was made and 
given away for the hauling. Now competition is be¬ 
coming a strong factor, and this year without straw 
to furnish as bedding in exchange for the manure, I 
shall get but little for the hauling. During nine months 
past, I have hauled 160 heavy two-liorse loads ; part 
was obtained in exchange for straw, a large share of 
it was given to be taken out of the way. 
Still, in the face of these advantages, the question 
often comes up, Is there not a cheaper way ? The re¬ 
sults of the past year make the question more em¬ 
phatic in many bearings. In hauling manure, I draw 
from four to eight loads per day, and usually haul 
when other farm work is not pressing. Last fall, I 
seeded to wheat a 12%-acre field. In six years past, 
it has been top-dressed twice with stable and barn¬ 
yard manure. I aim always to put on 20 loads per 
acre. The wheat was sown after corn, the corn fol¬ 
lowed clover, the clover sod was manured from the 
barn lots, stables and compost heap. During the 
previous summer, I had piled in one corner of the 
field, 90 loads of manure hauled from the villages. I 
could not scatter this as hauled, because I wished to 
use it on this field, and could not use it till the hay 
and seed crops were out of the way. This manure 
was scattered on a plot extending east and west across 
the field, covering about three acres. The remainder 
of the field was covered with manure fresh from the 
stables and lots, and clover haulm. 
In seeding the field to wheat, it was worked north 
and south. On 12 acres, I used 1,600 pounds of com- 
