too soon. To save seed, pasture till the mid¬ 
dle of June, after which it will fill well and 
yield more than the common Clover. I 
made four tons of hay last year from a field 
that had been pastured all summer, and it 
was as good hay as 1 ever saw, but, it was so 
dry that it cured very quickly. 
gland, referred to in the Rural New-York¬ 
er of March 6th, according to which a light 
annual dressing of 300 pounds of superphos¬ 
phate and 275 pounds of nitrate of soda pro¬ 
duced as good results as fourteen tons of 
farmyard manure, viz., 49 bushels of barley 
per acre for 23 years in succession show that 
the farmer has, In the use of a well-mace 
ammoniated superphosphate, a sure means 
of maintaining the fertility of his fields $ and 
I am convinced by this visit, as well as by 
EXTRA EARLY VERMONT AGAIN 
HOW FARMING PAYS. 
OCR friend, Gko. A. Moore, Buffalo, N. 
Y., sends the Rural New-Yorker the fol¬ 
lowing answer to the question “ Does farm¬ 
ing pay t — -1 have received the following 
btdaucc sheet from a farm of 100 acres in 
Aurora, Eric Co., N. Y., which is entirely 
authentic, and Illustrates a point which has 
been much under discussion of late years : 
“ Duos farming pay *" 
TbtB farm is occupied as follows Nine¬ 
teen hundred apple trees on about thirty 
acres; 1,628 of apple trees were set in 1861, 
and cover twenty-five acres ; the remainder 
were set forty to sixty year* ago. Two and 
a half acres of pears—400 dwarf trees and 
100 standards ; these have been set fourteen 
or fifteen years. Thirty acreB of oats yield 
9;6 bushels. Seven and a half acres of pota¬ 
toes, 1.148 bushels. Twenty acre* of meadow 
laud, 31 tons of buy ; twelve acres seeded in 
spring without a crop, and gl ass allowed to 
rot on ground for manure; eight acres of 
pasture ; two acres in corn, badly injured 
with cut-worm, 125 bushels of ears selected ; 
two acres of buckwheat, 48 bushels. The 
rest was in orchard, and no crop raised ex¬ 
cept fruit, but it was plowed and summer- 
fallowed for the benefit of the fruit. The 
of the sales, expenses, etc., is as 
In the Rural New-Yorker of March 20 
Jonathan Talcott reviews my article on 
the Extra Early Vermont in a very candid 
manner. My principal object was to call 
out others, and I am very glad Mr. Talcott 
INSURANCE NOTES AND NEWS 
ft e-Insurance and the Law .—The pream¬ 
ble of a resolution of inquiry into the affairs 
of two New York Life Companies charges 
that:—"It Is currently reported that, by 
reason of investments in inadequate securi¬ 
ties and other losses, the assets of these com¬ 
panies have become so much reduced as to 
impair their solvency ; that they are now 
re-insuring their policy-holders in other com¬ 
panies of small capital and small reliability, 
with which companies their officers are said 
to be connected ; thereby jeopardizing the 
interests of thousands of citizens and threat¬ 
ening to deprive widows and orphans of their 
only support," etc., etc. 
Why did not the preamble recite how that 
the better risks were being re-insured with 
other companies in contravention of the 
spirit of the law I What a ridiculous farce 
insurance supervision is becoming. 
Profits of Fire Insurance .—The Fire In¬ 
surance Companies, almost without an ex¬ 
ception, prospered in 1874. The New York 
Companies received in premiums $23,658,657, 
paid for losses $9,615,268. increased their ac¬ 
cumulations by $14,69S,443,of surplus, which 
includes profits, scrip, etc., and paid a divi¬ 
dend of 83,256,197 on capital stock of 120,307,- 
020. Thfe Fire Companies of other States re¬ 
ceived premiums to the amount of 846,228,- 
000, paid losses 316,030,894, dividend* 83,833,- 
741, and 824.306,420 of stock capital, and 
accumulated a surplus of 816.378.633. The 
foreign companies received 810,446,000, and 
paid losses, $4,2S0,000. 
The Returns of the Lift Insurance Com¬ 
panies, as far as received, do not differ wide¬ 
ly from those of 1873. There Is a decrease of 
insurance in force and an increase of assets. 
There was in force in 1872, 82,114,742,600 ; in 
1873, 82,086,037,200, and in 1874, 82,013,875,600. 
The gross accumulations of the three years 
being 8335,168,500, $360,140,700, and $392,858,- 
900 respectively. There are several compan¬ 
ies omitted that figured in the former reports, 
notably the Guardian and the Republic, 
which are being used us lumber piles for the 
convenience of re insuring companies. A 
great deal of interest attaches to the disclos¬ 
ures which wiii be laid bare when these com¬ 
panies and some others in the same category 
report their remaining assets. 
Insurance Leylslatton .—There is said to be 
a bill before the New York Assembly, most 
probabiy tacked on to the caudal extremity 
of some omnibus bill, to authorize the stock¬ 
holders of all corporatiims to elect the direct¬ 
ors, or words to that effect. As there is, so 
far as appears, but one company in which 
the directors are not selected by the stock¬ 
holders, and as that company is engaged just 
now in a proceeding which threatens to do 
more damage to the cause it claims to repre¬ 
sent than it ever did good to anybody out¬ 
side the stockholders aforesaid, our SoJons at 
Albany are advised to examine this matter 
thoroughly before sustaining it. 
The Life Association of Missouri, through 
its officers, is out with a card denying that 
there is any foundation in fact for imputa¬ 
tions that the company’s financial affairs are 
in an alarming condition, and allegiug that 
two of the three persons petitioning for an 
examination of the Company, are at the pres¬ 
ent time policy-holders. The hope that they 
have, as they claim, a large surplus, would 
be better founded if they had had something 
respectable in that line for the last thi ee 
years. 
Pailing the Policies of Suicides.— It has 
been the usage of the life companies to con¬ 
test the claims of policy-holders where the 
life of the insured terminates by hi* own 
haud, whether the act was that of a sane or 
insane person. The Chamber of Lite Lqsui- 
unce proposes, it is said, to modify this ob¬ 
viously unjust practice bv recommending 
the payment of the full t>olue of the policy. 
This is the custom of French companies, and 
it is to be hoped is a step toward wholly ab¬ 
rogating the present offensive clause. 
The Travelers of Hartford is said, by those 
I who claim to be in possession of the informa¬ 
tion to be doiog a larger ami better business 
at this time, and since the incoming of the 
year, than at any previous period But the 
Travelers is an exception to the usual rule. 
It prospers at all times, and is one of thoss 
irrepressible institutions that have no can t 
in their bright lexicon, or cant in their busi¬ 
ness. 
THRESHER. 
has given us his experience. For reasons 
that to me appear sufficient, I shall not state 
where my seed were procured. Suffice it to 
say that Mr. Talcott would be satisfied if 
the seedsman’s name was gi ven. 
I suppose it is pretty generally understood 
that a change of seed potatoes might be the 
cause of all the difference Mr. Talcott finds 
between the Vermont and Early Rose. Per¬ 
haps potato growers are not sufficiently 
aware of the advantages to be gained by oc¬ 
casionally procuring their seed from a dis¬ 
tance. If so, then putting the Extra Early 
Vermont into the market may prove of 
great advantage by calling attention to this 
fact, for fact it is, even if the Vermont 
proves to be only the Early Rose. A corre¬ 
spondent of the Country Gentleman (see 
page 9?) writes as follows Extra Early 
Vermont is another potato which beam a 
striking resemblance to the Early Rose. I 
think it is better, simply because it is newer. 
It is no Improvement on the Rose as that 
variety was five years ago.” 
I have conversed with a number of persons 
in this vicinity who have grown these two 
varieties, and, with only one exception, all 
pronounce them identical. I notice R. S. 
Brown, in Rural of the 20th, oornes to the 
same conclusion. But majorities do not set¬ 
tle principles, and I shall give the Vermont 
another trial the coming season, and hope 
others will do the same. We may "receive 
more light." 
I have raised the Early Rose from its first 
introduction, and find it very much inclined 
co sport—more so, in fact, than any other 
that has come under my observation. It is 
also inclined to deteriorate: consequently 
one can easily see that by procuring 
seed raised on different soil, with perhaps 
a change of climate, might be of more 
advantage with this variety than with 
This, in my opinion, is all that 
THE SHAKER 
several experiments which I made with the 
Buffalo superphosphate on my own place 
last year, that readers of the Rural New- 
Yorker who have direct railroad connec¬ 
tions with Buffalo, need not fail of good 
crops for lack of fertilizers at once cheap 
and reliable. C. H. Dann. 
Warsaw, N. Y. 
The Shaker Thresher, represented in 
our engraving and manufactured by the 
Blymyer Manufacturing Company of Cin¬ 
cinnati, Ohio, I* a machine worthy the special 
attention of farmers, neighborhoods and 
threBhermen. Ic is claimed that lu the 
Shaker a long and expensively-sought de¬ 
sideratum has been attained—viz., a small 
Separator capable of doing first-class work. 
The chief difficulty heretofore has been the 
inability to secure a thorough separation of 
grain in a machine of small compass,—but 
its manufacturers claim that the Shaker 
"separates the grain thoroughly, and with¬ 
out waste, deans it ready for market, and 
delivers the straw In good condition uDd 
also that in every particular "it does its 
work equal to the best large Separators.” 
The device for separating the grain is a 
simple one, yet entirely new, and different 
from those In use lu other machines. The 
Shaker Is easily moved and operated by the 
ordinary farm force. Its price places it 
within the reach of any well-to-do farmer. 
It is fully warranted. The special features 
of the Shaker are oovered by Letters Patent 
of April 8, 1874, July 28. 1874, aud March 9. 
1876. Circulars giving run particulars aud 
prices may be had on application to the 
manufacturers. 
Net profit. * 4 ' 367 07 
The owner of this farm expects such in¬ 
crease of production of fruit and other crops 
that five years hence the gross sales will 
amount to 810,000. What country can show 
a better result in faming 100 acres ? 
A SUPERPHOSPATE FACTORY. 
There are two reasons why the factories 
in which agriculturists are most interested, 
viz., those lu which fertilizers are made, are 
seldom visited by newspaper correspondents. 
Generally they are not open for Inspection, 
and if they were most persons would shun 
them as they would a Mephitis Americana. 
Believing that nothing more vitally concerns 
the vast agricultural population of the coun¬ 
try Jian the question, How can the elements 
of fertility, which we are constantly remov¬ 
ing from* our fields with every bushel of 
grain or fruit aud every pound of butter, 
cheese or meat we sell, be restored ? disre¬ 
garding all olfactory considerations, I ob- 
cained permlssien to visit the factory of the 
Buffalo Fertilizer Company. 1 wished to de¬ 
termine whether such materials were used 
and such treatment given them as would 
make a product so rich in available phos¬ 
phoric acid and nitrogen as to be a profitable 
Article fur the farmer to use. Mr. Alexan- 
most others, 
makes the Vermont superior (where it is 
superior) to the Early Rose. 
Syracuse, N. Y. Nelson Ritter. 
ANSWER ABOUT MOWING MACHINES 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker.— Your corres¬ 
pondent Paul of Chenango Co., N. Y., asks 
for information about the best kind of a 
mowing machine, and speaks favorably of 
one which he has been using, that has the 
cutter bar " away behind.” This isthe style 
that manufacturers call a "rear-cut.” Out 
here, in Western Ohio, we have a good many 
of that style ; but unless the laud is very 
smooth and the team is very gentle, I would 
as soon run the gauntlet of a double row of 
Modoc Indian knives aa to trust myself to 
ride one of these machines. During the last 
three years which I have lived in this county 
there have been a great many accidents wi' In¬ 
in my knowledge from the rear-cut mowers. 
I will name a lew of them. In the County 
of Shelby, in 1873, Mr. E. Ludlum was reap¬ 
ing with a Dorsey machine and was thrown 
in front of the sickle, where he was drugged 
some distance, and it was strange that he 
was not killed. 
The year before, up In Lucas Couuty, Dan¬ 
iel Stager was thrown under a Champion 
machine and very badly cut up. Also in 1373, 
over east of he e, in Mauison Co., John Jack- 
' SON was pitched off from a Champion and 
PEA-VINE CLOVER 
Ohio Farmer means by “ Pea-vine Clover ” 
we confess we cannot say ; but here is what 
he says about it :—I would say, sow Pea-vine 
Clover for pasture. My plan is to seed with 
Timothy, in the fall, with Wheat; then sow 
one bushel of Pea-vine Clover to eight acres. 
This will produce about as much pasture as 
the Common Clover, and if you have good 
soil, and it seeds well, you will have a heavy 
layer of clover tramped down to rot on the 
ground. In this way you can enrich your 
soil and k-ep more 6toek than by sowing 
common Clover. I have, been cultivating 
this clover tor the last six years, and would 
pay twice the price of common seed rather 
than to do without it. I usually pasture two 
years aud then follow with Corn, but the 
