1389 
She  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
clo  not  believe  that  buckwheat  poisons  the  land,  and 
that  that  is  the  reason  why  good  crops  of  corn  can¬ 
not  he  grown  next  after  the  buckwheat  crop.  Buck¬ 
wheat  is  quickly  grown.  No  other  grain  occupies 
the  land  for  so  short  a  time.  Consequently  the 
roots  of  the  plants  must  he  busier  than  bees  to  get 
the  crop  ripe  by  the  alloted  time.  They  send  out  a 
multitude  of  small  roots  which  do  not  go  deeply 
into  the  ground,  but  search  the  soil  in  every  di¬ 
rection  for  food.  They  seize  upon,  and  appropriate 
to  their  own  use,  all  the  handiest,  and  most,  avail¬ 
able  nutriment.  Should  corn  follow  the  buckwheat 
without  fertilizing,  the  young  corn  plants  would  not 
find  the  food  they  needed  within  their  reach  to  give 
them  a  good  start,  without  which  they  languish. 
Corn  does  not  succeed  after  buckwheat  either  be- 
than  $60  apiece,  and  we  are  still  wondering  where  the 
profit  lies  in  keeping  steers  at  $17  u  year.  Last  year 
we  sold  a  two-year-old  heifer,  nice  and  fat,  for  $38. 
Since  it  is  conceded  that  it.  costs  at  least  $75  to  raise 
such  a  heifer  we  have  written  our  profit  down  algebra¬ 
ically  as  minus  $37.  We  now  have  a  few  steers  that 
are  approaching  the  market  condition  and  it  looks  as 
though  wc  would  be  fortunate  to  save  ourselves  as  well 
on  them  as  on  former  ventures,  it  is  true  that  this 
has  all  been  dairy  beef,  but  it  is  the  same  stuff  that  our 
local  butchers  sell  over  the.  block  at  a  king’s  ransom. 
None  of  the  king's  ransom  appears  to  be  included  in 
the  dealer’s  check  to  the  producer.  We  would  be  quite 
willing  to  change  to  the  beef  breeds  if  you  will  show  us 
how  “it  pays  to  raise  beef  cattle.” 
The  Buffalo  Express  comes  back  with  the  follow¬ 
ing  frank  and  honest  statement: 
The  Express  does  not  know  the  details  of  the  cattle¬ 
raising  business.  It  knows  that  meat  prices  are  excep¬ 
tionally  high  and  it.  has  seen  a  good  many  reports  from 
one  source  and  another  urging  farmers  to  raise  beef 
cattle.  Why  not.  see  if  experts  of  the 
Department  of  Agriculture  can  furn¬ 
ish  workable  information  on  this  sub¬ 
ject? 
That  is  honest  at  least,  for  it  is 
a  confession  that  the  writer  knows 
nothing  about  the  plan  lie  advises. 
Of  course  meat  prices  are  high,  and 
the  consumers  all  jump  to  the  con¬ 
clusion  that  the  farmers  are  respon- 
sible  for  it.  As  Mr.  Peavy  says: 
r  • 
When  any  farm  produet  is  high  it 
seems  to  be  natural  l“or  the  consumer 
ro  assume  that  the  farmer  is  making 
loads  of  money.  The  It.  N.-Y.  cer¬ 
tainly  has  the  bull  by  the  horns  in 
laying  great  stress  on  the  improve¬ 
ment  of  market  conditions.  Here’s 
strength  to  your  right  arm. 
What  the  Milk  Strike  Means 
A  Bond  of  Union  Among  Farmers 
WHETHER  the  present  termination  of  the  milk 
strike  is  a  victory  for  the  farmers,  or  only 
the  beginning  of  a  long  struggle,  it  lias  had  one  re¬ 
sult:  it  lias  united  the  farmers  as  nothing  else  ever 
lias.  It  has  given  them  a  glimpse  of  what  can  be 
done  by  working  together.  Other  classes  of  men 
learned  long  ago  that  by  uniting  and  fighting  as  one 
man  they  could  get  what  they  should  have  for  their 
labor.  But  the  farmer  has  always  looked  askance 
at  labor  unions  and  strikers.  He  has  struggled 
along  as  an  individual,  and  for  years  been  patiently 
and  self-sacrificingly  educated  by  leaders  in  bis  pro¬ 
fession  until  he  lias  suddenly  found  himself,  today, 
where  he  is  ready  to  join  hands 
with  his  fellow  farmers  and  stand  _ 
or  fall  together.  The  farmer  can 
never  go  back  agaiu  to  his  old  point 
of  view.  lie  can  see  a  situation 
from  the  viewpoint  of  an  organiza¬ 
tion  now  and  other  developments 
are  bound  to  follow  in  a  short  time 
in  marketing  produce. 
There  was  a  lesson  for  the  farm¬ 
er  in  the  strike  of  the  railroad  tele¬ 
graph  operators  this  Spring.  Their 
chief  demand  was  recognition  of 
stei i 
How  to  Handle  Dry  Corn 
Stalks 
Will  you  advise  the  best  way  to  put 
corn  in  barn  for  feeding  cows  mostly? 
1  have  about  seven  loads  or  more, 
very  tall  Western  corn.  I  planted  it 
as  an  experiment,  as  I  have  no  silo. 
The  ears  have  not  formed  any  to 
speak  of.  My  barn  room  is  limited 
this  year  and  would  like  to  pack  it 
tight  together.  It  is  dried  fairly  well 
now,  being  cut  about  three  weeks  ago. 
Vermont.  w.  T.  H. 
THE  following  gives  our  experi¬ 
ence  in  Northern  New  Jersey. 
If  others  have  found  better  ways  of 
handling  the  stalks  we  would  like 
their  opinion.  We  plan  to  feed  the 
stalks  early  in  the  season.  Most 
farmers  make  the  mistake  of  keep¬ 
ing  them  until  late  Winter.  We 
think  they  lose  in  quality  the  longer 
they  are  kept,  and  we  would  begin 
feeding  in  November  rather  than  to 
wait  until  later.  With  us  the  stalks 
keep  better  outdoors,  if  they  are 
fairly  well  protected,  than  they  do 
inside  the  barn.  One  year  when  the 
hay  was  short  we  put  the  stalks  in 
the  barn  at  the  top  of  the  haymow. 
They  were  put  in  bundles,  not  laid 
on  the  imy,  but  packed  in  upright, 
the  butts  on  the  hay.  They  were 
stood  up  in  this  way  and  pushed 
close  together,  beginning  at  one  side 
of  the  barn.  They  kept  better  in 
this  way  than  they  ever  did  when 
laid  flat,  and  it  was  easier  to  take 
them  out  by 
A  Community  Ice-house  in  Illinois.  Fig.  562  See  page  1390, 
Corn  After  Buckwheat 
iTf| 
Ilns  the  "legend”  that  “corn  will 
not  succeed  after  buckwheat”  been 
proven  true  by  experience?  r.  M. 
Michigan. 
IT  probably  has  not  been  “proyen,”  — 
though  there  is  a  popular  belief 
that  corn  and  oats  do  not  do  well 
after  buckwheat.  To  demonstrate 
it  experimentally  would  require  a 
series  of  experiments  in  which 
other,  and  accidental,  factors  af¬ 
fecting  the  crop  could  he  elimin¬ 
ated.  Buckwheat  is  ordinarily 
grown  upon  ground  not  well  suited 
to  corn,  it  being  a  crop  much  less 
exacting  in  its  requirements,  and  it 
is  not  improbable  that  the  char¬ 
acter  and  fertility  of  the  land  used 
. 
for  buckwheat  have  been  more  di-  L  •  * — _ 
rectly  responsible  for  the  condition 
of  corn  following  it  than  the  buck¬ 
wheat  itself.  Still,  well  established 
“popular  opinion”  usually  has  a  basis  in  fact  be 
hind  it  and  it  is  not  at  all  impossible  that  buck 
v  heat  is  detrimental  to  some  succeeding  crops. 
starting  at  one  end. 
I  We  could  not,  of  course,  pack  as 
many  in  when  handled  in  this  way, 
as  when  they  were  piled  flat.  Usu¬ 
ally  when  we  put  the  stalks  in  the 
barn  there  is  considerable  loss  from 
molding.  Of  late  years,  therefore, 
we  have  left  the  stalks  outdoors. 
They  can  be  ptrt  into  large  shocks 
by  packing  the  bundles  closely  to¬ 
gether  and  tying  the  top  closely  to¬ 
gether.  A  little  straw  or  hay  tied 
- k — -J  over  the  top  will  help  keep  the 
water  out  of  the  shock.  Then  they 
can  he  left  in  the  field  until  they 
are  wanted.  If  there  is  a  shed  near 
the  barn,  bundles  can  be  stood  up  straight 
under  shelter.  A  good  way  to  store  them  is  to  drive 
stakes  into  the  ground  with  poles  along  the  top. 
Then  set  the  bundles  up  against  the  pole  from  either 
side.  This  leaves  an  opening  at  the  bottom  for  ven¬ 
tilation,  and  if  some  temporary  roof  can  be  put  over 
it  the  stalks  wilt  keep  better  than  they  will  in  the 
barn.  If  handled  in  this  way  we  should  take  two  or 
three  days’  feeding  into  the  barn  at  one  time.  With 
large  stalks  there  will  always  be  considerable  loss 
when  the  stalks  are  fed  whole.  At  first  the  cattle 
will  eat  them  freely,  but  after  a  while  they  will 
nibble  off  the  top  and  the  leaves  and  leave  most  of 
tilt  stalk.  Where  it  is  possible  to  do  so,  the  stalks 
Dropping  Apples  on  the  Packing  Table.  Fig.  563.  See  page  1390 
cause  the  land  is  sterile,  or  because  its  fertility  has 
been  stolen  by  the  buckwheat.  J.  w.  ingham. 
Pennsylvania. 
I  have  lived  in  a  buckwheat  region  all  my  life, 
as  my  father  did  before  me.  All  my  neighbors  and 
myself  sow  our  buckwheat  on  the  poorest  field  on 
the  farm,  because  a  field  that  is  too  poor  to  raise 
r.  paying  crop  of  corn  or  wheat  will  raise  a  good 
crop  of  buckwheat.  No  experienced  raiser  of  buck¬ 
wheat  would  think  of  raising  a  crop  of  corn  to  be 
planted  in  the  Spring  ou  the  buckwheat  stubble  of 
the  previous  Fall;  because  corn  is  a  hearty  feeder 
and  must  have  a  rich  soil  or  be  grown  at  a  loss.  I 
