6oo 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 7 
was located in the middlings which appeared all right, 
but upon the closest examination were found to be 
slightly musty. 
A new hoghouse built a couple of years ago, gives 
excellent satisfaction. It is 22x67 feet, and extends 
north and south. It has a central alley four feet wide, 
with pens on each side. The whole is floored with 
concrete. Each pen is nine feet long, in two com¬ 
partments for eating and sleeping, the latter six and 
the former seven feet wide. The partitions are about 
breast high. There are abundant windows to admit 
the sunlight. Drop doors open from each pen into the 
yard outside, and these are opened and closed from 
the alley by means of ropes passing over pulleys. The 
windows are pivoted and open for ventilation. Other 
doors open into the alley so that animals may be 
transferred from pen to pen, or loaded into a 
wagon when desired, without trouble. In the pens 
designed for farrowing sows a guard a few inches 
above the floor, around the sides, gives the small pigs 
an opportunity to roll out of the way of the sows to 
avoid being crushed. This and the other pens and 
stables are kept liberally sprinkled with plaster, 
which absorbs odors and prevents the escape of am¬ 
monia. Everything is kept clean and sweet. 
Portable Fence and Manure Shed. 
Almost a necessity on any well-regulated hog farm, 
is a portable -fence. This need is supplied on Wills- 
wood Farm by homemade hurdles. Small chestnut 
poles 12 feet long are peeled and split. Two uprights 
are used, one at each end, of sufficient length to make 
the fence the required height, which may vary accord¬ 
ing to circumstances, and sharpened at the lower 
ends to drive into the ground to a depth of 12 to 18 
inches. These uprights are bored for the insertion of 
the rounded ends of the rails, and braces from each 
end at the bottom meet in the middle at the top and 
are securely nailed. These hurdles are light, strong, 
easily transported from place to place, and quickly 
erected in any desired location. Four of them make 
a very convenient temporary pen in which an animal 
may be penned out in the field, and by moving three 
of them, the pen may be changed easily on to fresh 
ground. An illustration of one of these hurdles will 
be given later. 
Another improvement is a long manure shed ex¬ 
tending from the cow stables to the horse stables, 
the north or back side of stone, the front open, 
and the roof of tarred paper. This is divided 
into pens, and here many hogs are kept in winter. A 
narrow platform from the stables extends over the 
top of the partitions, and over this the manure is 
wheeled and dumped into the different pens, to be 
worked over by the hogs. The results are highly 
satisfactory. The bottom was not cemented, but 
should have been. 
The foreman of the firm, Henry Appleby, is an 
Englishman who has been with Wills wood Farm ever 
since he came to this country, and the success of the 
work here is largely due to his careful and intelligent 
handling of the stock. In fact, he first induced Mr. 
Seward to engage in the importation of Berkshires. 
With good foundation stock, carefully and intelligently 
mated, pride in the work, and a determination to 
breed only the best, constant improvement must 
result. F. H. Y. 
A COUPLE OF BACK SAVERS. 
There are two things in our kitchen that we like : 
The window screens are the size of the lower sash, 
and fastened with hinges to the upper sash, so that 
when flies get on the screen, a push and a brush send 
the flies outdoors. The other is a large-sized cistern 
pump by the stove, to fill the reservoir. 
Our three-horse evener was on the farm when we 
came here, had been used many yeai-s, and is good yet. 
It is always together, is light to handle, and is the 
best; I have used four kinds. Each horse does his share, 
whether ahead or lagging, and the tugs are never 
slack as with other eveners. Fig. 189 shows how it 
works. One whiffletree is fastened on top, and the 
other below. The chains are one foot long. The 
cresccnt-sliaped iron is three inches wide and one-half 
inch in thickness, with a hole in the center for the 
clevis, and a three-quarter inch iron stud with a key 
in each end of the crescent, one in the upper, and one 
in the lower side, and long enoug-h to go through 
whiffletrees that are four feet eight inches long and 
4x1% inches at the big end, and taper to the size of 
common whiffletrees at the small end. At the large 
end, put a three-inch heavy strap iron around, and 
bolt to the wood with the ends in front, far enough 
to hold a three-inch iron wheel, around which have a 
small trace chain four feet long with a hook in each 
end. Have the hook large enough so that it will not 
go around the pulley. On the small end of the whiffle¬ 
tree, have a common whiffletree iron with a chain and 
hook one foot long. Do not have sharp corners on 
wood or iron. Clark allis. 
Orleans County, N. Y. 
GRINDING MILLS ON THE FARM. 
Experience with a Burr Mill. 
My experience is that, for grinding feed, nothing is 
better than a Burr mill, even though the grinding 
surface is not so large. A Burr of from 10 to 20 inches, 
under a high motion of, say, from 800 to 1,200 revolu¬ 
tions a mimite, makes good corn meal, buckwheat 
flour or feed. The saving is about one-fourth in feed¬ 
ing the grain ground. When the chop is placed in 
the trough, the hogs cannot carry it all over the pen; 
k saves time in going to the mill, and wear and tear 
on the wagon, and there is no toll for grinding. A 
small Burr mill will pay any ordinary farmer. A 12- 
inch Burr mill will grind from 8 to 15 bushels per 
hour, accoi’ding to fineness and power. I like chop 
for horses ground as fine as rye flour. I would use 
steam power. I can grind corn and cob ; this kind 
of feed is all right for cattle and hogs, but for horses, 
one should have oats, rye, and corn without the cob. 
There is economy in owning a farm mill, and I would 
advise the average farmer to get one. i). b. w. 
Williamsport, Pa. 
Mill Run By Tread-Power. 
I have a Bowsher grinder which will grind corn-and- 
cob, and grain as well as any miller. The capacity of 
this mill, which is the smallest size of combination 
mills made, is from 12 to 18 bushels of shelled grain, 
according to the fineness and power used, and from 
8 to 15 bushels of ear corn (cob included) per hour, 
much depending on the dryness of the cob, as well as 
fineness, etc. My power is a two-horse tread, which 
I like very much, as it is always ready for business, 
requires no time for steaming up, is seldom, if ever, 
out of repair, and requires no one to run it ; though I 
believe, if I were to buy again, my choice would be a 
four-horse gasoline engine, as I have hardly enough 
power to run the crusher to its fullest capacity. Corn 
and cob grouud make very nice feed during the win¬ 
ter and early spring months, but after the cob be¬ 
comes thoroughly dry, it is of little benefit. Last 
winter I fed my cows crushed feed and wheat shorts 
mixed equally, but as wheat is cheaper than shorts at 
present prices, I am feeding one-half crushed feed 
ANOTHER THREE-HORSE EVENER. Fig. 189. 
ground with one-quarter wheat and one-quarter oats. 
For my hogs, I feed one-half wheat and oats, and one- 
half shelled corn ground together and soaked in skim- 
milk, which makes the best feed ever fed, especially 
for shoats and little pigs. 1 believe that it would pay 
any farmer to have a feed mill, who has 10 or more 
cows, and 20 or more hogs, as he can save from one- 
quarter to one-third of his grain, and obtain better 
results than when fed whole ; because where whole 
grain is fed, it is not properly masticated, consequently 
is not properly digested, and little benefit is derived, 
compared with ground feed. He also runs no risk of 
getting the toll back, and leaving his grist as pay for 
grinding, as when taken to a mill. When the farmers 
have learned the benefits derived from feeding their 
stock ground feed, and have placed themselves in a 
position to do their own grinding, they have taken a 
long stride towards making farming a success. 
Yorkville, Ill. F. E. Y. 
You Know Your Feed is Pure. 
We can grind feed as well, but not quite so fine, but 
plenty fine enough for any kind of stock. I save haul¬ 
ing to the mill or station, the charge for grinding and 
also the trouble in carrying the grain from the barn 
to the wagon, and the freight on it by railroad to the 
mill, as there is no mill within 12 miles of my farm. 
I grind my feed in stormy weather when I can’t do 
anything else. It pays any farmer to grind his own 
feed, because he knows his feed is good, and a sick 
horse is often caused by bad feed bought from the 
stores. The mill I have is small, as I bought it when 
I had a horse power ; but now I have a 5-H. P. engine 
and boiler, and that is all the power that any farmer 
needs. I run my thrashing machine, corn sheller., 
stalk and straw cutter, and grind my feed. When the 
harvest is in the barn, there is no more lugging it 
about. I can’t grind cob and all, as it takes a 
different machine to crush the cob before it will feed 
into the mill. I do all this kind of work myself, tend¬ 
ing the engine and grinding, so there is no expense. 
I grind about eight or ten bushels per hour ; I could 
grind a great deal more with the power I have, but 
the mill is small, and I don’t feel like having so many 
things around that I don't use. I try to do all I can 
to save hired help. r. m. 
Luzerne County, Pa. 
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Facts about the Marianna Plum. 
./. A. It.. Ilustonville, Ky. —1. What about the Marianna plum as 
to regular bearing, quality of fruit, and probable sale, as com¬ 
pared with Wild Goose ? We have a rather large stock of nice, 
thrifty trees on which the buds failed to take, and wish to push 
them if they are likely to give good satisfaction. 2. What is the 
pronunciation of Pearmain as used in apple nomenclature ? 
Ans. —1. The Marianna is an early bloomer—that 
is, it blooms in early spring. It is not reliably self- 
fertile. The fruit is third rate in quality—not nearly 
so good as the Wild Goose in this respect—neither 
does it compare well with the latter in size. It suffers 
a great deal more injury from rot and specking as the 
fruit approaches maturity. As a market variety, it 
is much less valuable than the Wild Goose, and if 
the trees are not too large, it would be much better 
to graft them with some better varieties, such as 
Whittaker, Milton, American Eagle, Prairie Flower, 
etc. 2. It is usually pronounced just as it is spelled. 
J. W. KERR. 
Rye in a Peach Orchard. 
F. II., Onekama, Mich .—I wish to harrow in rye among young 
peach trees, but fear that stirring the soil will induce a late 
growth that may winterkill. Would it be a good plan to strip the 
leaves from the branches to ripen up the wood ? 
Ans. —It will do no harm to harrow in rye, the rye 
to remain over winter, I suppose, as a winter protec¬ 
tion to the soil. Early in spring, it should be plowed 
in and not allowed to mature. Do not strip off any 
leaves. They are all wanted to mature both the wood 
and roots. 
The Pomeroy Apple. 
C. J. L., New Baltimore, N. Y. —Where and when did the Pomeroy 
apple originate ? What is a description of it ? Is it a profitable 
apple to grow ? 
Ans. —There are two Pomeroy apples which origi¬ 
nated in England, neither of which is of much value in 
this country, and one that originated in Massachusetts, 
which is said to be a very good apple, ripening in 
October or November. The last is of medium size, 
roundish oblate, yellow, shaded, splashed, and marbled 
in the sun with light and dark red. Stalk short. 
Calyx closed. Flesh white, tender, moderately juicy, 
pleasant subacid. We know nothing as to its profit¬ 
ableness ; do any of our readers V 
Strawberry Questions From the South. 
B.J. 6 ., Norfolk County, Va. — 1. Which is the earliest firm 
strawberry ? 2. Which is the latest firm strawberry ? 3. Can we, 
through using nitrate of soda or other fertilizers, promote the 
earliness of strawberries ? If so, when should they be applied, 
and how much ? 4. Can we. through using potash salts or other 
fertilizers, affect the firmness of strawberries ? If so, what kind 
should we use, and how much ? 
Ans. —1. Meek’s Early. The new berry, Oriole, 
which is just being introduced, is also very firm. 2. 
Parker Earle. 3. It is a moot question whether the 
earliness of strawberries can be hastened by the use 
of fertilizers. Some growers consider that it can be 
by the use of acid phosphate applied broadcast in the 
spring at the rate of 400 pounds or more per acre. A 
liberal use of acid phosphate tends to hasten the 
maturity of nearly all crops ; but the use of nitrate of 
soda tends to retard maturity. 4. This is a difficult 
point to determine. The use of nitrate of soda iu the 
spring before fruiting, is very liable to cause the 
berries to be less firm than those grown without it. 
There is much difference of opinion in regard to the 
effect of fertilizers upon the firmness of the fruit, and 
a series of careful experiments is necessary to decide 
the question positively. M. h. beckwith. 
Delaware Experiment Station. 
Lime for a Sour Swamp. 
E. S. P., Boston, Mass .—I have a large tract of land, originally 
a swamp. It is of a peat formation, and when dry, will burn for 
days, the fire working its way downward many feet until it reaches 
water or a solid foundation. This land has been drained and 
cleared; when first turned over, it is of a yellow color, and rich in 
humus. It requires sun, air, and cold to reduce it to a soil. When 
newly turned over, and grass seed is sown, the seed rarely catches. 
I presume that it is full of acid from the decay of vegetable mat¬ 
ter and its consequent fermentation. The first step was, of 
course, to get the water out, and expose it to the air. The second 
was to plow, and then cover with a thick layer of sand and har¬ 
row it in, thus rotting the peat, mixing it with sand and forming 
soil. It is clear to me that this land, being rich in humus, con¬ 
tains nitrogen, but is lacking in phosphoric acid and potash. Am 
I correct ? I shall plow about 10 acres this fall, and sand it this 
winter, thus giving it a chance to freeze. How would you advise 
treating it in the spring ? Stable manure has little effect on it. 
Ans. —If the land is well drained, so that water will 
not stand on it, we would advise a dressing cf air- 
slaked lime next spring. Let it be broadcasted at the 
rate of at least two tons per acre after plowing, and 
