1895 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
759 
The losses to our corn crop come more from trampling tons of 
the valuable fodder into the earth by wasteful methods of feed¬ 
ing than by the mere effect of frost or rain. The stalk in itself 
contains much valuable food. Stalks in pastured corn fields are 
not eaten at all, as they should be, to conserve farm-feeding 
stuffs. If the leaves were'to remain on the plant after frost the 
loss would be slight, compared with their being beaten olf by 
wind and rain, and thus exposed to more or less destruction 
before being eaten. 
An old, well-to-do farmer near here had men cut¬ 
ting' and shocking fodder long after every one else 
had quit, and, when asked whether it was worth cut¬ 
ting, said, “ Oh ! it will be lots better than snowballs 
when the wind whistles.” Last winter we had had 
but little rain, and my steers were wading in snow 
through a 25-acre field of stalks. It was cold, they 
slept about straw stacks, and had no other feed. We 
gave them nice clover hay, but they would scarcely 
touch it. They kept in good condition, and seemed 
to crave the highly carbonaceous corn stalks in pref¬ 
erence to the albuminoids of clover. The fact of their 
doing well proves that fodder may be cut during a 
long enough season to make it practical to save the 
entire crop. It is reported that certain Illinois farm¬ 
ers are baling shredded fodder and selling it at $8 a 
ton. There is yet no established market for it at In¬ 
dianapolis. 
Experiments show (Pennsylvania Station) that in 
allowing the crop to mature, there is a gain of 40 per 
cent of valuable feeding material (dry matter) over 
what would have been secured had the «rop been cut 
for ensilage when the kernels began to glaze. In an 
experiment comparing the feeding value of ensilage 
and fodder, the report says that, on the whole, the 
experiment failed to show any material advantage on 
the side of either the ensilage or the fodder ration. 
Indiana. e. h. collins. 
WHAT THEY SAY? 
Another Fruit Barn. —At Fig. 238 is a plan of a 
barn that might answer the purpose of the inquirer 
on page 695. The outside ground measurement is 
50 by 32 feet. I have made it a special object to have 
the cold room as much as possible inside, and to avoid 
both extremes of temperature and dampness. If 
there is insufficient space allowed for the packing¬ 
house and implements, a lean-to addition, as shown 
by the dotted lines, would supply the need. Room for 
hay and such products would be over the stables. 
Ask F. T. L., of Grimsby, Ont., not to build the barn 
where bill-stickers and advertising fiends can reach it. 
Onekama, Mich. F. h. 
A Big Potato Yield. —About a year ago, my brother 
and myself each received from The R. N.-Y. a small 
tuber of the Carman No. 1 potato, the two weighing 
five ounces. I planted them in my garden May 11, 
cutting to single eyes, except a few of the stronger 
eyes which I divided, making in all 23 pieces. 1 put 
one piece in a hill. The garden was fertilized at the 
rate of 500 pounds to the acre, with a medium-grade 
fertilizer analyzing, ammonia, \)4 to 2 per cent ; pot¬ 
ash K 2 - 0 , three to four per cent, and available phos¬ 
phoric acid, 6to 8 per cent. One hill failed to come 
up. When dug September 28, the 22 hills yielded 70 
pound of beautiful potatoes, or at the rate of 500 
bushels to the acre, which I consider a very remark¬ 
able yield, as they received no extra fertilizer and no 
more tillage than was given the rest of the garden. I 
inclose a photograph of myself and the potatoes. 
See Fig. 239. j. o. wadswokth. 
Wayne County, N. Y. 
What Potato Tests Show. —I have just completed 
tests of different manures on the Early Kansas 
potato. The results are as follows : 
Bushels per acre. 
Common unmanured soil. 150 
Subsoiled soil unmanured. 210 
Subsoiled and horse manured. 280 
Subsoiled and cow manured. 300 
Subsoiled and blood and bone. 252 
Subsoiled and ground bone. 255 
Subsoiled and hog manure. 320 
Subsoiled and sheep manure. 347 
On an acre where the manures were all applied, the 
result was a bin heaping full of potatoes, and the bin 
is 14x8x6 feet, and probably holds400 to 437 bushels. 
The fertilizer was applied after the potatoes were up. 
In another place where applied in the trench, the re¬ 
sult is equal to any other manure. C. J. N. 
Morantown, Kan. 
R. N.-Y.—These results indicate two things. 1. 
Subsoiling is a good thing on that land. 2. The 
element most needed is potash. The blood and bone 
contain no potash. The manure from sheep and swine 
contains more potash than that from cows or horses. 
Sheep manure, where the urine is absorbed, is par¬ 
ticularly rich in potash. We would say that these 
results indicate the importance of using varying 
quantities of potash in some form with all these 
manures next year. Use it with the bone anyway. 
The “Cost of a Crop.”—The R. N.-Y. has several 
times urged that farmers should “ know the cost” of 
their products, presumably so that they may know 
what price to put thereon. And it seems advisable that 
they should know, if they can, though scarcely on that 
account. The farmer, of all men engaged in produc¬ 
tion, is the only one who has not a syllable to say as 
to the price of his goods. The price is 6xed for him 
without his assistance, and he can take it or refuse it. 
In most cases, uuder latter-day conditions, he has 
not the privilege of refusing. He must take what is 
offered. What benefit would it be to farmers in South 
Dakota, some parts of Iowa, or Nebraska, where the 
drought for two years was so severe that even seed 
for sowing was sent to them gratis (except, of course, 
railroad charges), to figure out the cost of their 
abundant crops when they must sell oats at 10 to 12 
cents, wheat 35 to 45 cents, and minor crops like pota¬ 
toes and onions at anything or nothing—five cents for 
either in some cases ? With our modern methods of 
“moving the crops,” a full production everywhere, 
ANOTHER PLAN OF A FRUIT BARN. Fio. 238. 
which every one is bidden to strive for, would seem 
to be, instead of a blessing, by some hocus pocus 
turned into a calamity, and any considerable surplus, 
real and tangible, no better than a curse to the pro¬ 
ducer, and of trilling or no benefit to multitudes of 
would-be consumers. Were the methods of the old 
Dutch autocrats of the Spice Islands, in burning any 
supposed surplus of costly spices, sound finance ? Is 
it true that “ over production ” of food is a calamity ? 
That an extra bushel which no one wants this year 
must of necessity lower the price of the thousands of 
bushels which they must have, below the cost of pro¬ 
duction ? And while I write, it is reported that many 
thousands of bushels of potatoes were recently frozen 
in the ground, in the “ potato section ” cf this State. 
Will that enhance the price ? Probably not a fraction. 
Monroe, Wis. w. 
Creamery and Other Humbugs. —I had occasion in 
a former article to mention the doings of a certain 
pretty well-known creamery corcern in this part of 
the country. It might interest some to know some- 
A FARMER AND HIS CARMAN POTATOES. Fio. 239. 
thing of the results of a corporation of farmers who 
invested $ 4,000 i n a $2,000 creamery plant which was 
located without regard to the possibility of a constant 
supply of milk, and remote from any good shipping 
point ; furthermore, no one in the concern had had 
any experience in dairying. 
After running the first summer at considerable loss, 
patrons began dropping off, one by one, until the 
managers were compelled to shut down. The follow¬ 
ing spring, an effort was made to start up again ; but 
after running a month or so, it was again closed for 
the very good reason that they had not milk enough 
to keep it running, even on half time. Assessments 
began to be so heavy on the stockholders, that many 
of them sold out f :>r what they could get, and the 
creamery is now in the hands of a few men who do 
not know what to do with it. I have heard that they 
contemplate turning it into a steam laundry. This 
same creamery was humbugged out of a lot of butter 
by a bogus commission firm in Pittsburgh, such as 
The R. N.-Y. has frequently described. This cream¬ 
ery has its counterpart not over eight miles away. 
Into the same territory, about the same time, came 
an agent of a stock farm and sold to a company of 
farmers an imported (?) Percheron stallion for $2,500. 
The horse proved to be only ordinary stock, and of 
little value for service. The same agent went into an 
adjoining county and made a similar sale ; but when 
he delivered the goods, he was promptly arrested for 
obtaining money under false pretenses, and he is now 
doing time in the penitentiary. To sum up ; here in 
a farming community within a radius of a few miles, 
we have a loss to farmers in hard cash of $10,500, to 
say nothing of attendant expenses. Why do farmers 
permit these things to be ? No other business men do. 
Pansy, Pa. w. p. K. 
R ECUPER A T/VE FORCES IN THE SOIL III. 
We have all heard much for many years of the high 
farming of England; but few of us, perhaps, are 
fully awafe that high farming was forced upon Great 
Britain by the Napoleonic wars. It was made possible 
and necessary at the same time and from the same 
cause—possible by a great advance in the prices of all 
farm products, and necessary from the imperative de¬ 
mands for both men and supplies to army and navy. 
The producing force was weakened while the demand 
was greatly augmented. It followed, of course, that 
farming had, in that country, what we in America 
would now call “ a great boom”; and money for im¬ 
provements in all the departments of agriculture was 
abundant. In fact, the conditions were much like 
those of our own Civil War, but extended over a 
much greater length of time—some 15 years. These 
conditions were well calculated to turn poor farming 
into good farming, because they made farming, prob¬ 
ably, the most profitable trade of the time. What 
was learned then has not been forgotten. On the 
contrary, the studies of men like Sir J. B. Lawes, 
have elevated the art of agriculture nearer and nearer 
to the status of science ; while, as an art, it has con 
tiuued in a state of continuous progression. 
This has not been limited to Britain. It has ex¬ 
tended to France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, and, 
indeed, in some degree, to nearly all the European 
nations As yet America has but slowly recognized 
and followed this movement, except among our mar¬ 
ket gardeners and truck farmers near the large vil¬ 
lages and great cities. But the same principles are 
applicable to every branch of soil culture, each in its 
degree; and it is a happy thing that such large and 
rapidly increasing numbers are recognizing the facts 
and conditions of their situation. The same princi¬ 
ples and analogous practices extend to the breeding 
and care of farm animals ; so that our stock breeders 
are everywhere coming to the front as skilled farmers 
who do not fail to recognize the uses of science and 
of scientific methods in all the operations of the farm. 
All that is written above and what has preceded in 
these brief papers merely leads up to my main thesis, 
that there is no such thing as an “exhausted” or 
“ruined” farm, which has once proved productive 
and profitable. The failures upon such farms, like 
innumerable failures in other lines, simply indicate 
insufficient knowledge, experience and energy on the 
part of the operators. I cannot, perhaps, go on with 
this subject without exposing myself to a charge of 
egotism, since it is my own experience and observa¬ 
tion for an entire lifetime which have led up to my 
convictions as here expressed. 
Thirty years ago, I bought a little farm of 12 acres, 
which I was kindly informed (after the trade was 
consummated) was “entirely worn out and worthless.” 
I made a comfortable living on it for more than 20 
years. Then I bought another farm of 130 acres, also 
entirely worn out, having had a new tenant or owner 
about every other year “ since the war.” On this 1 
am utilizing my experience upon my first venture, 
with quite satisfactory results; a young orchard of 
upwards of 1,000 fruit trees, none of them over five 
years planted, yet already producing a crop of fruit 
the past season exceeding 20 barrels, and making an 
annual growth of not less than 20 inches ; with a good 
crop of beans between the rows. A large crop of 
potatoes—in great part Rural New-Yorker No. 2’s— 
has just lately been harvested from two acres, which 
were immediately set with more apple trees ; and 
eight acres more of sod land have been turned over 
which, in two years more, it is intended also to plant 
to orchard. All these trees are from root grafts 
grown on the place, and include not only apples, but 
pears, plums, cherries also grapes, all growing in the 
most thrifty manner. In addition to these products, 
fine crops of both winter and spring rye and oats have 
been grown and harvested. This has been done with 
comparatively little manure or fertilizer, the main 
dependence having been careful tillage and clean cul¬ 
ture. Future articles are intended to demonstrate 
still further the principle of “ Recuperative Forces in 
the Soil.” T. H. HOSKINS 
