TT'’— 
1 362 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JUNE 5 
found issuing from the stem borers are likely 
to be present. 
DISEASES OF FRUIT TREES. 
The greater part of what are usually con¬ 
sidered as diseases of trees are the result of 
insect depredations, liut there are a few 
maladies affecting our cultivated fruits the 
cause or origin of which have not as yet been 
traced to such a source, hence may for the 
present be considered as true diseases. The 
“ black knot ” on plums and morello cherries 
are familial’ examples, the cause of which is 
unknown, but the result is apparent in n 
fungoid growth becoming black with age. 
The removal of the affected branches as soon 
as the disease appears,stimulating the growth 
of tho tree with light dressings of salt to the 
soil, adding duribg the season some Ume utjd 
ashes, will usually check the advance of the 
disease, if it does not entirely eradicate It. 
As neglected old trees are more liable to this 
disease than the young and thrifty, we may 
conclude that culture has something to do 
with its appearance in orchards. 
Dry rot in apples, yellows In peaches, and 
pear and apple blights may all be classed in 
the same list, as diseases produced by un¬ 
congenial soils, slightly aggravated in a few 
instances, perhaps, by climate. “ Yellows ” 
seldom do any damage in well-drained, rich 
soils, and pear blight is almost unknown in 
light, dry soils. This exemption from dis¬ 
ease of certain kinds of trees, in certain 
kinds of soils and climates, docs in u meas¬ 
ure give us a clue to the causes and in part 
aid us in their prevention. 
cdfieUl 0[l[O|!!i. 
WHEAT IN WESTERN NEW YORK. 
In this home of the wheat plant, as West¬ 
ern New York used to be called, wheat 
growing is yearly and visibly decreasing. 
Not only tho price but the yield also is so 
uncertain that some of the best farmers say 
they cannot grow it profitably, while some¬ 
times, as now, poor crops and low prices 
come together. Much less wheat, than usual 
will bo sown in Western New York next fall, 
and many who do sow will do It, only to re¬ 
seed their fields with timothy and clover. 
California wheat is preferred in the world’s 
' markets to the best Genesee, and Spring 
wheat can be grown so cheaply in the North¬ 
west, that farmers here cannot compete with 
it,. Yet old farmers used to say thirty, years 
ago, that they could grow a bushel of wheat 
as cheaply as ti bushel of corn. The yield 
per acre was not much less, and the wheat re¬ 
quired so much less labor that it made the 
grain cost nearly the same. This is by no 
means true now. Farmers have learned 
much in growing coin ; but wheat growing 
has comparatively retrograded. The wheat 
failure is partly due to climatic changes 
from clearing away originui forests—■ partly 
also to increasing sterility of the soil. But 
the same farmers who fail with wheat grow 
larger crops of corn than ever, and, with im¬ 
proved methods of culture, often at less ex¬ 
pense* than formerly. All hoed crops do as 
well as ever ; potatoes yield better than they 
did years ago ; but wheat has steadily de¬ 
creased from an average of twonty-livc or 
thirty bushels per acre to ten or twelve 
bushels. 
The early sot tiers of auy country are liable 
to underrate the cost of their crops. Land, 
labor and (.axes, the three chief elements of 
cost, are lower than in older communities, 
and after enumerating these three items on 
the debit side of liis crop the farmer is very 
apt to forget the most important fact that 
all crops exhaust the soil of some fertility, 
and unless these losses arc repaid, while the I 
land owner may seem to be making money, ’ 
his laud, which is his productive capital, is 1 
steadily decreasing in productive capacity ? I 
Usually t he first crops on new lands are sold i 
so low that the decreased yield which fol- j 
lows after a few years is more than conipen- i 
sated by higher prices, and for a time i 
nothing is noticed. By-aud-by something i 
gives out ; phosphate of lime, if wheat is the J 
chief crop—possibly potash where land has j 
been run with potatoes, or nitrogenous ma- j 
nures where corn or oats have been grown, t 
When the farmer has to buy one or all these £ 
fertilizers for each crop, he can no longer c 
afford to sell grain at the low prices he glad- 1 
ly took when, the country was new and all 1 
the settlers were poor together. Something t 
like this has happened in Western New J 
York. Our early settlers sold wheat at three f 
to four shillings a bushel. They had to do t 
than they could be replaced. Western farm¬ 
ers in the wheat-growing regions are pursu¬ 
ing this course now—making supposed profits 
by selling their farms at retail from the half 
bushel. We cannot compete with them in 
this. Eastern farmers arc reminded by their 
bills for commercial fertilizers and barn¬ 
yard manures that they cannot afford to 
overlook the decrease in fertility caused by 
growing a crop. Unless this can be repaid 
they must stop growing wheat largely until 
Western wheat, growers learn the same les¬ 
son by like experience. 
Reckoning the cost of keeping up the fer¬ 
tility of the soil as part of the expense in 
growing wheat, this grain cannot be grown 
in Western New York for much if any less 
t han $1.50 per bushel. If California or Min¬ 
nesota farmers think they can do it. for less, 
they must, continue to supply the world’s 
market until they discover their mistake, 
which will be just about the time that t-heir 
soil is becoming exhausted. Were we not 
making constant discoveries adapted to the 
necessities of the time there would be dan¬ 
ger that when Western lands were exhaust¬ 
ed we should suffer a period of great scarcity 
if not famine. From tliis, however, we shall 
be saved. The discoveries of phosphntie 
rock in South Carolina indicate a possible 
supply for our exhausted cotton and wheat 
fields. Other deposits will probably be dis¬ 
covered as they are needed. Deposits of 
potash rock may and probably will be found 
in this country as they have been in Germany, 
In the meantime farmers of Western New 
York and of the Eastern Slates are learning 
better methods and systems of farming. 
They are. learning to buy fertilizers, to grow 
clover, to fatten stock in winter, and in other 
ways to improve rather than decrease the 
fertility of their farms. About the time that 
Western farmers become unable to grow 
wheat at low prices we shall be ready with 
improved, drained and well manured farms 
to begin wheat growing again—perhaps not 
on so large a scale, but growing as large or 
larger crops per acre than ever before. We 
shall have to buy our fertilizers ; but it really 
costs no more to pay for manuring a field 
than to exhaust its original fertility. In the 
one case we buy manures and make a pay¬ 
ment in cash, knowing the amount at the 
time. In the other, farmers draw a check 
against, their reserve capital and never know 
t.he amount, until long afterward, when they 
are least able to meet it. We cannot believe 
that Western New York, originally so well 
adapted to and so largely engaged in wheat 
growing, will ever abandon this blanch 
of fanning. Probably less wheat will be 
grown another year than ever again. Pos¬ 
sibly the number of acres under the old 
system will never again be sown, but im¬ 
proved methods of farming and increased 
manuring and clovering will more than 
make good the average production of the 
olden time. 
^ai[m <&{ffturmg. 
HIRED HELP ON TEE FARM. 
DRILLED vs. HILLED CORN. 
it; but it was none the less a hard and losing 
bargain. Selling wheat at such prices was 
really selling the fertility and productive 
capacity of the farm—often at lower prices 
As Indian Corn is the field crop now at¬ 
tracting most attention in many localities, 
the best modes of planting, culture, etc., are 
in order, and hence the following answer by 
the Tribune to an inquiring correspondent, Is 
timely as well as suggestive : 
Dialling Corn, i. e., raising it in continuous 
rows about 8*^ feet apart, and a stalk once 
111 about six inches in the row, undoubtedly 
gives more corn and more stalks to the acre 
than planting in liills three feet apart each 
way, for the very simple reason that it is 
practicable to raise more plants in drills than 
iD hills. If the plants are six inches apart, 
we will have as many on an acre as wc 
would if wo planted seven kernels in hills. 
Seven kernels are too many in one hill ; but 
when six inches apart in rows, the roots 
have a much better chance to find food, par¬ 
ticularly during the early growth of the crop, 
and this is important. Where the land is in 
good condition, and few w'eeds or foul plants 
are expected, drilling is the best method, and 
will give tiO bushels about as often as hills 
will give 50 bushels to the acre. There is a 
machine for planting in drills which will 
plant about eight acres in a day, used by one 
man. If the ground is filled or much infested 
with foul plants, such as quack grass, hills 
are more convenient,, ns being susceptible of 
cultivation both ways by horse power, the 
land can be much more perfectly tilled. 
High farming admits of drills, and two of 
the best farmers this country ever had—John 
Johnston, near Geneva, and A. B. Dickinson, 
formerly of Steuben Co., N. Y.—both jirac- 
ticed raising their corn crops in drills. But 
they were in the habit of planting corn on 
clean land, preferring to kill weeds while 
raising crops that required less manual labor 
and admitted of more horse work. 
} About a year ago I wrote an article on 
r hired help, pointing out various reasons why 
I many men did not seek employment as farm 
j hands, wliich was published in the Rural of 
April 25, 1874, above the signature of " A 
Subscriber.” The reason for writing the 
article was not to censure the farmers in gen¬ 
eral, but to show them that they had faults 
as well as men of other vocations That this 
is due to the class of help they often have to 
’ employ I do not deny, for such is the case ; 
but in the article referred to I want to con- 
t fine myself to mon th hands, which is the only 
help the farmer can rely upon, unless he has 
, a house to furnish for a man to live in and 
bind the man to work for him every day he 
has work, or lives near town where he can 
get help whenever he wants. 
There are several other reasons that make 
it difficult, to get good month hands in this 
locality,—such as the paying more propor- 
> tionately for day hands and not requiring 
, them to work as many hours in a day as 
, mouth hands—the giving more by the job, 
generally one third or half, than it could 
’ havo been done, If men were hired by the 
month, and accepting jobs improperly done, 
and the day land let ou shares. ThiB is not 
intentional of course, but the day hand sel¬ 
dom works over ten hours, and very fre¬ 
quently not that in a day. The month hand 
seldom takes any notice of it, even if he lives 
some distanco and has to come to work in 
the morning and go home at night, or for a 
neighbor that turns in for a few days as an 
accommodation. But there is a class of single 
men that make it their business to work by 
the day who will lay in bed until breakfast 
is ready, or set around and not do anything 
until after breakfast, while month hands are 
expected to get up the teams, feed them, 
milk two or three cows and turn them off to 
pasture, which may be from 80 to 100 rods, 
tie the case may be, and to do the same chores 
at night after the day hand has quit work. 
The article referred to has been severely 
criticised. One, I think, took the meaning 
of poor help or miserable help, to mean for¬ 
eigners ; in that there was a mistake. The 
German here makes one of the most reliable 
farm hands we have ; he saves bis wuges and 
soon becomes one of our best citizens. When 
I spoke of miserable help 1 men lit a sort of 
creature somewhere between an ape and 
man. 1 suppose this must be where Darwin 
got liis theory that man sprung from tho ape 
or monkey. There is a class of boyB who 
have been educated in the streets and are 
schooled in most of the vices that h urnnn flesh 
is heir to, many of whom have never been 
taught to work, and they only seek labor in 
preference to starvation. Take a look at one 
of them and you will see a very good looking 
animal with the exception of something lack 
ing about the head. 
Employ one of these boys or young men, 
and lor the first few days, or when you are 
with him, you would think you never had a 
better hand ; but have an occasion to be gone 
from home a night and leave him in charge 
of your stock, and when you come back you 
will find some of your cattle half starved, 
hay wasted under the cattle’s feet ; perhaps 
a horse gets loose, goes to the grain bin and 
becomes foundered, or the barn door is left 
open and a valuable steer is found dead. 
Making farther inquiries, you may find out 
that he was seen going to the corners an 
hour or two before reasonable quitting time. 
At first he will be in at bedtime, but after a 
month or so he will come blundering in at 
10, 11 or 12 o’clock at night, when your wife 
has just got to sleep, and no more sleep for 
her that night. And so on, night after night, 
until you are forced to have him sleep in the 
wood house chamber or barn, so that your 
wife can get the amount of sleep requisite 
to be able to do her work. If you or your 
neighbors have boj r s they are led off into 
some den of vice. It matters not how much 
of a hurry your business is in ; if a show of 
any kind should oome along he must attend 
it and be off from one to three days, accord- , 
ing to the amount of bad whisky he drinks. , 
The consequence is, you are liable to lose , 
from $5 to $25 in your crops, unless some day , 
hand can be employed to fill his place. In 
planning your work in the spring you have j 
arranged it so as to have constant employ- j 
ment for ymur month hand, and he has sold 
his labor to you for the specified time in the 
contract, whether verbal or written. Now i 
there are some persons who seem to prefer i 
this kiud of help because they bear crowding; l 
they don’t seem to care how much these men i 
or boys contaminate their boys or their 
neighbors’ boys, if they can only get the 
amount of labor out of them they have con- 
: tracted for. This class of men is seldom 
known to take a paper or book in their hands. 
A Subscriber. 
Athens, Calhoun Co., Mich., April, 1875. 
-- ♦ ♦ » — 
THE COST OF CROPS. 
t _ 
The Buffalo Live Stock Journal has a sen¬ 
sible article on this subject, as follows If a 
‘ merchant were to sell his goods for just what 
any one who came along saw fit to offer him, 
1 without any regard cither to their cost or 
1 value, every one who knew his habits of 
1 business would feel free to say that he was 
on the broad rood to financial ruin. His 
course would be considered the very hight of 
reckless folly, and would be universally con¬ 
demned. But it seems to me that a great 
many farmers do business on very much the 
same principle as that which was supposed 
in the case of the merchant. They often sell 
their crops for just what the first buyer who 
comes along will offer to pay. regardless of 
their value. In almost numberless cases the 
sellers do not keep posted regarding the 
markets, and consequently have little idea 
of the cash value of their crops. In regard 
to the e oat of their crops, they are still more 
in tho dark than they are on the question of 
value. They have kept no account with 
their crops, and consequently cannot know 
how much they cost or at what price they 
can afford to sell them. 
Every farmer ought to know* how much 
his wheat, or corn, or potatoes, cost him a 
bushel. Until ho does know this he must 
work very much in the dark. He cannot 
tell which crop pays him best, or whether 
some return large profits while others are a 
source of loss. But ho can very easily ascer¬ 
tain, and it is certainly his interest to do so. 
It will cost but little. Any one who has 
brains enough to manage a farm can do it 
without any great expenditure of time or 
labor. By simply keeping a debit and credit 
account with each field, he can determine 
the cost of his crops readily and accurately. 
The following specimen will illustrate : 
Crop, potatoes. Value of land, $150 per acre. 
Quantity, two acres. 
May 16, 1874. Dr. 
Interest on value of land.$21 00 
Plowing anti harrowing. 7 00 
Seed.. 14 00 
Planting. 8 80 
Cultivating and hoeing..18 00 
Digging and storing. 25 00 
♦Asnes. 12 00 
Cost.$105 00 
October 1, 1874. Cr. 
200 bushels large potatoes, at 75c.$150 00 
40 bushels small “ “ 25c. 10 00 
Value. $160 00 
Balance Cr. 55 00 
Co6t per bushel, 43-qc. 
♦ In ease barn-yard manures are applied, only about 
one-half thru value should be uharued to the crop, 
us their tertihzlng effects remain for several years. 
Such an account would not only be valu¬ 
able in showing the cost of each crop, but 
also in determining which were the most 
profitable ones to produce. If generally kept 
our fai’mers would have a much better idea 
of the profits and losses of t! eir business than 
they now have, and would be induced to 
adopt improved methods of culture, and 
thus improve not only their crops but also 
their financial condition. 
•-- 
RENOVATION OF SOILS. 
The Agricultural Department has been 
collecting information relative to the reno- 
vatiou or improvement of soils considered 
worn out, and says.*—Many exumples are 
given of the renovation of worn and ap¬ 
parently worthless soils, and the increase 
of fertility in fresh but unpromising lands. 
Fields that have been cultivated exhaustive¬ 
ly for twenty, and even forty years, have 
been restored to original productiveness, 
not by guanos and superphosphates, at $60 
to $80 per ton, but by inexpensive local re 
sources, the cheapest and most reliable of 
which is found in clovering. In one case in 
B.itler Co., Pa., a section of thin, gravelly 
land, on which it was thought no one could 
secure a decent living, came into the pos¬ 
session of German emigrants at nominal 
rates. They cleared off the brush, plowed, 
cultivated, turned uuder grecu crops, saved 
every fertilizing material available, never 
duplicated a crop in five or six years’ rotation, 
and that tract is now a garden, and from 
worthlessness has advanced to the value of 
$100 per acre, aud is yearly becoming more 
productive, 
-»» » 
Hen Manure for Corn, Amanda is in¬ 
formed, is approved by those who have used 
it, especially for dropping in the hill before 
planting, as a stimulant in generation and 
its early growth. 
