1467 
Sfte  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
The  Woman  in  the  Tenant  House 
A  Typical  Case  from  the  Big  City 
ANY  farmer  who  lias  had  to  hire  help  for  many 
years  evolves  a  system  of  classification  for  his 
laborers  and  their  families.  1  include  the  families, 
because  the  wife  plays  such  an  important  part  in 
the  hired  man's  status  that  they  have  to  be  consid¬ 
ered  as  a  unit.  Every  farmer  can  tell  you  in  a 
minute  whether  his  men  are  in  the  good-help  class, 
I  lie  stupid-Iui t-f ait bf ul,  the  quit  tmg-and-moviug,  or 
one  of  half  a  dozen  others.  Among  them  are  the 
class  of  people  drifting  to  the  country  to  work  who 
have  lived  formerly  in  a  city  and  have  been  the 
recipients  of  the  charity  of  a  big  city,  and  have  no 
honest  self-respect  left.  The  family  I  have  in  mind 
is  probably  a  typical  one. 
work,  but  before  the  Summer  was  gone  they  moved 
to  a  small  village  where  there  was  a  church.  But 
alas  for  their  expectations!  The  little  country 
church  was  not  run  on  a  philanthropic  plan.  It 
welcomed  them  to  the  services  and  gave  spiritual 
aid.  but  absolutely  no  financial  assistance.  Mr, 
St  rubor  began  drinking  also,  and  before  Winter 
they  sold  all  their  goods  and  returned  to  New  York. 
The  fault  was  very  definitely  the  woman's,  it 
would  seem,  and  yet  she  was  but  the  victim  of  t«*< . 
much  well-meant  charity.  It  was  not  an  unusual 
case,  but  typical  of  many  that  farmers  have  an  op¬ 
portunity  to  observe.  The  charity  'of  a  big  city  robs 
people  of  their  self-respect  and  ambition,  and  it  is 
only  in  unusual  cases  that  the  country  spirit  helps. 
New  York.  elva  c.  varneix. 
other  work.  In  the  present  case  an  acre  of  sun¬ 
flowers  was  to  be  gathered  ,-md  shelled.  There  was 
a  small  hand  shelter  on  the  place,  and  this  was 
taken  with  the  guard  removed,  and  fitted  with  a 
discarded  plow-wheel  in  place  of  a  crank.  They 
took  some  odds  and  ends  of  boards  and  a  small 
amount  of  belting,  making  up  the  outfit  shown  in 
the  picture.  With  this  device  the  seeds  were  taken 
out  of  the  sunflower  heads  as  fast  as  they  came 
from  tin*  field.  These  sunflowers  were  gathered 
when  the  heads  began  to  turn  yellow  and  the  edges 
showed  brown,  four  or  five  inches  of  the  stem  were 
It  ft  with  the  head,  and  they  were  brought  up  to 
this  sheller,  where  one  man  held  them  up  against 
the  machine,  thus  shelling  out  the  seed  about  as 
fast  as  another  man  could  gather  them. 
No  suitable  hired  man  had  been  found  one  Spring, 
so  an  application  was  filed  with  a  New  York  City 
employment  agency,  carried  on  by  a  charitable  or¬ 
ganization.  In  due  time  we  received  a  telegram 
saying  a  “farmer”  would  arrive  on  a  certain  train 
for  a  conference.  The  “fanner" 
Two  Farm  Fixtures 
IIE  accompanying  pictures  of  sheller  and  pick¬ 
er  are  sent  in  by  E.  C.  Oswood  of  Maryland. 
While  it  is  late  in  the  season  to  talk  about  if.  the 
Will  Turnips  and  Rape  Injure  Potatoes? 
Your  persistent  hammering  away  about  cover  crops 
has  gotten  me  iu  the  habit  of  growing  them.  I  have  a 
five-acre  field  which  was  seeded  to  (low-horn  turnips 
and  rape  after  removing  a  crop  of  string  beaus.  This 
field  is  now  covered  with  a  dense 
growth.  1  bad  planned  to  sow  oats 
proved  to  be  a  plumber  who  had 
once  spent  a  few  months  on  a  Jer¬ 
sey  farm,  but  as  ho  seemed  intelli¬ 
gent  ami  interested  it  was  decided 
to  hire  him.  although  he  was  a 
poor  milker  and  no  horseman,  and 
asked  high  wages,  lie  had  to  re¬ 
turn  to  New  York  for  his  family 
and  household  goods,  the  family 
consisting  of  a  wife  and  four  chil¬ 
dren,  and  it  was  from  them  that 
we  country  folk  got  our  first  idea 
of  the  extent  of  charity  in  a  big 
city.  The  Struber  family  had  nev¬ 
er  done  anything  for  themselves. 
The  employment  agency  in  this  in¬ 
stance  secured  the  place  for  Mr. 
Struber  and  paid  his  expenses  to 
look  it  over.  The  round  trip  car¬ 
fare  was  about  ten  dollars.  Then, 
as  it  was  satisfactory  lie  and  the 
family  were  moved.  They  had  re¬ 
ceived  aid  from  many  sources. 
ivw  y' 
Shelling  Sunflower  Seed.  fig.  575 
A  Homemade  Apple  Picker.  Fig.  574 
ou  this  field,  but  poor  showing  made 
by  my  potatoes  on  new  land  which 
had  not  been  fertilized  in  previous 
years  with  fertilizer  containing  much 
potash  leads  me  to  believe  that  it: 
would  be  best  to  plant  the  old  field 
again  to  potatoes.  .Some  one  tells  me 
that  potatoes  will  not  do  well  after 
turnips  and  rape.  Does  your  exper¬ 
ience  bear  this  out?  E.  S.  B. 
St.  Albans,  Vt. 
NO.  While  we  have  not  liad 
much  experience  in  following 
rape  and  turnips  with  potatoes  that 
little  is  favorable.  We  cannot  think 
of  any  reason  why  the  potatoes 
should  not  do  well,  unless  the 
turnip  crop  is  removed.  The  Dela¬ 
ware  Experiment  Station  figured 
that  an  acre  crop  of  Cow-horn 
turnips  contained  (54  pounds  of  ni¬ 
trogen,  80  of  potash  and  14  of  phos¬ 
phoric  acid.  An  acre  of  rape  is 
credited  with  1 1  (»  pounds  of  nitro¬ 
gen,  148  of  potash  and  41  of  plios- 
Wlien  Mr.  Struber  lost  a  job  an- 
phoric  acid — fractions  of  pounds 
other  was  always  found  for  him. 
Mrs.  Struber  bad  been  cared  for, 
free,  In  a  hospital  when  each  of 
her  children  was  born.  The  big 
boy  had  been  placed  in  a  reform 
school,  for  some  misdemeanor,  and 
taught  a  trade,  and  Was  at  this 
time  out  on  parole.  The  next  child, 
a  girl  of  twelve,  bad  spent  months 
in  a  hospital  having  her  bowed  legs 
straightened,  at  public  expense. 
One  of  the  others  had  had  an  opor 
ation  on  his  eyes  by  a  surgeon  of 
wide  reputation,  free.  While  they 
were  in  the  country  they  had  to 
employ  for  the  first  time  a  “pay 
doctor.’’  And  so  it  was  in  every 
other  department  of  life.  Even  now 
clothes  for  the  whole  family  had 
been  forthcoming  when  they  start¬ 
ed  for  the  country,  and  no  doubt 
often  before. 
being  omitted.  It  appears  from  tliis 
that  both  turnips  and  rape  are 
heavy  potash  feeders.  We  have 
thought  that  they  have  the  power 
of  utilizing  forms  of  potash  in  the 
soil  which  other  crops  do  not  use. 
Thus  it  would  seem  that  turnips 
and  rape  would  be  good  crops  to 
precede  the  potatoes,  since  that  crop 
is  likewise  a  potash  feeder.  If, 
however,  tbe  turnips  were  pro¬ 
duced  and  taken  off  the  ground  of 
course  there  would  be  a  loss  of  pot¬ 
ash  which  would  be  felt.  We  do 
not  see  that  any  disease  of  turnips 
or  rape  would  affect  the  potatoes, 
yet  there  may  be  some  reason  for 
the  opinion  that  the  potatoes  will 
suffer.  We  have  heard  good  fann¬ 
ers  insist  that  hog  manure  will 
give  the  cabbage  club-foot.  These 
farmers  say  you  may  feed  corn  ami 
It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  the 
country  was  a  revelation  to  them, 
and  after  the  first,  they  had  to  stand 
mi  their  own  merits.  For  the  first  few  days,  until 
ilieir  goods  came,  they  were  gladly  welcomed  to 
their  employer’s  family  table.  I  shall  never  forget 
1  lie  woman’s  exclamation  as  she  finished  her  des¬ 
sert  the  first  noon.  “Oh  you  homemade  pie!”  Tt 
Mules  on  a  Fruit  Farm.  Fig.  576.  See  page  1466 
homemade  apple-picker  at  Fig.  574  is  said  by  the 
farmer  who  fixed  if  up,  to  be  superior  to  any  of 
the  patent  contrivances  he  lias  tried  thus  far.  In 
making  it  a  stout  piece  of  fence  wire  was  bent  as 
shown  in  the  picture.  There  is  a  narrow  loop  in 
Alfalfa  to  cows  and  safely  use  the 
manure  from  it  on  cabbage.  If  you 
feed  corn  out  of  tlie  same  bag  and 
hay  from  the  same  mow  to  hogs  I  he  manure  will 
cause  disease.  Who  knows  about  turnips  and  po¬ 
tatoes? 
Potatoes  on  Shares ;  Rye  as  Cover  Crop 
came  out  that  she  had  never  baked  anything,  neith¬ 
er  pie,  cake,  cookies  nor  bread.  Just-  before  each 
meal  (hey  bad  sent  a  chilli  to  the  nearest  bakery  or 
delicatessen  store  for  food.  The  wife  could  cook 
potatoes  and  fry  chops  and  eggs,  and  make  tea  and 
coffee.  And  she  never  did  learn,  although  help  was 
freely  offered,  and  fuel  and  materials  were  cheap. 
Fortunately  a  baker’s  cart  came  once  a  week,  a 
grocery  cart  twice  and  a  meat  man  once,  but  even 
at  that  she  never  learned  to  buy  a  day  ahead.  Many 
a  noon  the  man  presented  himself  back  at  the  farm¬ 
house  for  dinner,  saying  simply  there  was  nothing 
cooked  at  home  and  he  must  eat  if  he  worked.  The 
family  bad  been  furnished  a  cook  stove,  and  were 
given  wood  to  burn  for  tbe  cutting,  free  milk,  land 
on  which  to  raise  potatoes  on  shares,  a  large  gar¬ 
den  plot  and  quantities  of  fruit.  The  money  given 
them  by  the  “church  visitor"  in  New  York  they 
were  persuaded  to  invest  in  some  chickens,  so  eggs 
were  always  at  hand.  And  yet  they  nearly  starved. 
Mr.  Struber  was  a  good  worker  and  liked  the  farm. 
I  V  learned  easily,  and  the  big  boy  had  plenty  of 
this  wire  at  the  Upper  eml  of  the  bag.  The  bag  is 
made  of  drilling  or  similar  cloth,  and  sewed  on 
firmly.  An  extra  thickness  of  this  cloth  should  be 
sewed  around  the  loops  in  order  to  take  up  the  wire. 
This  picker  was  made  about  as  follows:  Size  Tt.j 
inches  and  length  to  the  top  of  the  loop  10  inches. 
The  loop  itself  is  l1^  inch  long  and  one  inch  wide, 
and  is  bent  down  on  an  angle  of  about  45  degrees. 
The  bag  itself  is  eight  inches  deep  and  the  corners 
are  round.  The  ends  of  the  wire  extend  back  aboul 
four  inches  from  the  lower  part  of  the  bag  in  order 
for  attachment  to  the  pole.  With  a  device  of  this 
sort,  on  a  long  pole  you  can  pick  four  or  five  apples 
at  one  reach,  it  does  not  catch  on  branches,  does 
not  bruise  the  fruit  and  will  usually  leave  the  stems 
on.  Of  course  the  manner  of  picking  is  to  leave  this 
bag  under  the  fruit,  lit  the  stem  of  the  fruit  into 
the  loop,  and  then  gently  pull  it.  off. 
The  picture  at  Fig.  575  shows  the  gasoline  hired 
man  at  work  shelling  off  the  sunflower  seed.  This 
little  engine  belongs  regularly  to  a  spraying  out¬ 
fit.  Tt  can  be  taken  off  tbe  wagon  and  used  for 
I  have  two  acres  seeded  to  rye  this  Fall.  A  neigh¬ 
bor  wishes  to  plant  potatoes  ou  them  in  the  Spring. 
If  l  will  let  him  cut  the  rye  for  hay  for  his  own  use 
he  will  furnish  all  potato  seed  and  labor,  giving  me  a 
third  of  all  potatoes  raised.  Is  this  n  fair  division? 
I  planted  the  rye  for  a  cover  crop,  intending  to  turn 
it  under  in  the  Spring.  The  neighbor  says  it  will  not 
make  any  difference  to  cut  the  rye  for  lmy.  as  the 
roots  are  what  improves  the  soil.  Is  lie  right? 
Indiana.  0.  H.  z. 
IIE  Delaware  Experiment  Station  figured  that 
an  acre  of  rye,  the  tops  alone,  removed  about 
25  pounds  of  nitrogen,  50  of  potash  and  about  12  of 
phosphoric  acid.  No  exact  estimate  was  made  of 
the  roots,  but  their  comparative  figures  would  show 
that  there  was  considerably  less  plant  food  value 
in  the  roots  of  tbe  rye  than  in  the  part  above 
ground.  Your  neighbor  therefore,  in  cutting  this 
rye  for  hay  and  taking  it  away  from  the  field,  is 
taking  the  best  part  of  it.  for  manorial  purposes. 
Tbe  crop  of  potatoes  would  certainly  be  larger  if 
this  rye  were  plowed  under  and  not  taken  off  as 
hay.  In  a  fair  division  among  labor,  capital,  and, 
real  estate,  you  should  have  one-third  of  the  crop] 
