p- 
\\, 330 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Dansville is a pretty village at the head of 
the Genesee Valley, which leaves the river 
at Mount Morris and follows the course of 
the Canasersga Creek. A large portion of 
this valley, though of deep, rich, alluvial soil, 
is still uncultivated, being covered with scat¬ 
tering trees, stumps, weeds, and parts of 
fallen trees from which the best portions 
have been cut for ties. Said an intelligent 
laboring man whom 1 met on the train, “I 
do not know why the farmers expend all 
their labor on their upland fields, four acres 
of which will not yield us much as one on 
the flats, unless it is because it costs more to 
clean, ditch and prepare the flat land for the 
first crop.’* Here is one field of fine corn, 
containing 230 acres, somewhat western-like. 
Near Dansville are several good nurseries of 
standard varieties. Mr. E. 11. 1’ratt, suc¬ 
cessor of Maxwell & Co., showed rnc some 
very fine apple, standard ppar and cherry 
trees. Remarking upon the dishonesty of 
some tree agents, he said:—“A man from 
the WeBt gave me a large order, directing 
that the trees should be of flue form without 
regard to varieties, he would label them as 
he liked.” 
A few miles above Mount Morris is a 
Shaker settlement. Here may bo seen some 
as fine stock, farming and gardening, as the 
region affords. Their large (louring mill, the 
best in the valley, was lately burned. 
At Mount Morris I had a short interview 
with Mr. J. ITennkr of the Mount Morris 
nurseries. Last fall he procured a number 
of peach trees of new varieties. These he 
• trenched in on dry, sandy land, covering the 
roots and bodies with dirt and the branches 
with evergreen boughs. They passed through 
the winter unharmed, although nearly all his 
other peach trees were killed, showing that 
even tender treeB may be safely removed in 
the fall if properly protected. C. H. Dann. 
(djirid 
GROWING TOMATOES ON POOR LAND. 
The Cincinnati (Janette makes some inter 
esting and valuable suggestions as to the 
cultivation of Tomatoes on poor land. To¬ 
matoes are usually grown on very rich soil 
in gardens, but there is a general complaint 
that the crop is too much vines while the 
fruit, even when abundant, is delayed in 
ripening by too great vigor of the plant. 
On land moderutedy fertile a smaller growth 
of vine is obtained, and with manure in the 
hill a good crop is produced. It Is possible 
also that when tomato roots strike the poorer 
soil outside the hill the check to growth may 
promote fruit fulness and early maturity. 
But to the article which we give below : 
“ Many a farmer has a field of worn-out 
land, which fails to return him any profit 
year after year. What shall he do with it ? 
Some one will be ready to say, manure it 
and make the soil fertile again. But it is 
very often the case that there is not manure 
enough at the farmer’s command to do this. 
But there is one crop which in many locali¬ 
ties is a very profitable one <o raise, that is 
most admirably adapted to be grown on 
worn out land, euch as we have described. 
Wo refer to tomatoes. For field or garden 
crops, the plants should not be set nearer 
than six feet apart. Now a half bushel of 
well-rotted manure, thoroughly mixed with 
the poor soil in the spots where the tomato 
plants are to be set (the surface of these pre¬ 
pared spots being about two or two and one- 
half feet in diameter), will insure just that 
splendid and healthy growth which a culti¬ 
vator is always so glad to see. For a few 
weeks the roots of each tomato plant will 
luxuriate in this fertilized soil. But in pro¬ 
cess of lime the roots will have traveled to 
the outer limits of the rich earth, and begin 
to penetrate the thoroughly poor soil. This 
serves to check the luxuriant growth, and 
tends to induce fruitfulness on the part of 
the plant. Still the spreading growth of the 
and then, very early in spring, clover-seed 
can be scattered over it with an almost 
positive certainty that a good “set” of 
clover will be the result. As soon as the 
field has been brought into such a state that 
a good clover crop can be grown upon it, the 
coast is all clear for the farmer to improve 
the condition of the soil every year until it is 
entirely renovated. 
The manuring of a poor field in “spots,” 
six feet apart each way, is a much easier 
task than t he attempt would bo of thorough¬ 
ly manuring the entire surface of such a field. 
There is scarcely anything that detracts 
more from the pleasure of farming than the 
growing of an unremuuerative crop. It is 
sickening to look upon a farm-crop, whether 
it be cereals, the grasses, or vines, and 9ee 
nothing but a puny, yellow growth. But 
when one can look abroad upon his fields, 
and see everywhere luxuriant and paying 
crops, there is no avocation pursued which 
Is so delightful as farming. 
SAVING SEED CORN. 
The experience of the past has taught 
farmers a lesson they do not always heed, 
the importance of savmg the seed corn early 
in the fall, and protecting It from influences 
which destroy its germinating qualities. How 
few there are sufficiently particular in this 
respect; often they risk a crop of corn upon 
the neglect of the outlay of a single day’s 
labor in saving the seed. Poor seed may 
germinate and grow under favorable circum¬ 
stances, lint for steady and vigorous growth 
in all conditions, from the time it is planted, 
the seed must be of the best quality. 
It is a dangerous experiment, in a season 
like the present one, to leave seed corn to dry 
upon the Ftalk after the blades have been 
bitten by the frosts. It cau, in this cose, 
neither grow nor ripen, but must dry out. If 
the drying process is not steady and rapid the 
germinating qualities become impaired und 
eannot be relied upon for seed. The finest, 
largest and best-ripened ears should be se¬ 
lected, tied into pairs by a few husks left for 
the purpose and hung in the sun long enough 
to become dry, unless exposed to a sufficient 
degree of artificial heat. The latter plan would 
form a coaling for the kernels end make t hem 
less susceptible to climatic influences. If 
farmers will pursue this plan they will be a 
thousand times better paid for the Lime occu¬ 
pied than in almost any Other work upon the 
farm. When well seasoned it may be put in 
a dry place, with the full assurance of an im¬ 
portant beginning, the next spring, for aerop 
of corn. It is very difficult to put this val¬ 
uable article out of the way of the vermin, 
which find no trouble to walk beneath a hor¬ 
izontal surface, if they have the angles of 
two sides to cling bo. To prevent this, a 
frame, consisting of polos, may he suspended 
from the rafters by strong wires .or rods of 
Considerable time may be gained by husk¬ 
ing the corn and spreading it upon a sus¬ 
pended platform. If properly dried, it may 
be piled several ears in depth without danger 
of injury from dampness. In is not best to 
measure the importance of this matter by the 
length of time required to perform this work, 
but upon the difference between the proba¬ 
bilities of a full, or half crop, as the result of 
the action taken. Promptness and thorough¬ 
ness on the farm are the only qualities which 
pay the large profits .—Western Rural. 
POTATO EXPERIMENT. 
H. C. Pearson of St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., 
writes in the New York Tribune “I have 
for the past five years produced extraordi¬ 
narily large crops of potatoes. I have experi¬ 
mented with over 30 different varieties t.liis 
year, with results on four kinds as follows: 
c>$ti[m <£i|onomt|. 
HOW FIGURES ARE MADE TO LIE. 
There is a difference between the writings 
of practical formers and of men who are 
clods on some soils, even when not over dry 
and although the common roller has been 
superseded by Crosskill’s fluted roller, vet it 
does not supersede the pulverizing effects of 
the old clodding mall;; as a sbarp stroke 
from a man’s hand with the mall splinters 
the clod and sends il, abroad to the winds of 
wvvivuj imio vi uicu lr a jvj -* j . .. • • '/a 
without practical experience, in their discus- caven, and m proportion to its splinters 
1 7 HMPC if. roooirfn font I - • . -» i 
Eureka —.982 n>s from I n> planted...IK hills 
Snowflake.'.125 its from I ft. |.lautuU...1111 hills 
S('('k-no-tart.hcr.,Wi8 tr.s from I ft. j>lanipd...ll.i hille 
Superior.. .. .t73 th» from 1 n> planted. ..Ill hills 
The tubers were cut into single eyes, divid¬ 
ing the larger and stronger eyes into two or 
three parts, planting a single piece to the 
hill, 3>£ feet apart each way, in sandy loam 
land, made rich with ashes and manure. 
One hundred and sixteen of the Eurekas 
plants will be such that, they will just about hill, 3>£ feet apart each way, m sandy loam 
completely cover the soil. Now all observ- land, made rich with ashes and manure, 
ing farmers know that shade has a highly ° Q e hundred and sixteen of the Eurekas 
beneficial effect upon soil. Even the benefl., fiTAM 
derived from clovering land are due in no yielded It) pounds. The Seek-no-fartlier and 
small degree to the shade which the clover- Superior are new seedlings originated by E. 
8. Brownell of Vermont. 
plants have given to the soil. At all event s 
it will be found that a poor, wornout field, 
treated in the manner we have described, 
will not only furnish to the fanner a large 
and profitable crop of tomatoes, but the con¬ 
dition of the soil will have become very much 
ameliora* ed in consequence of these fertilized 
spots and the shade given to the ground by 
the luxuriant, straggling tomato plants; so 
much so that the field may he j (lowed shal¬ 
low in the fall and thoroughly harrowed, 
The Orifrin af Smut. —In the last Old Ru¬ 
ral of Oct . I'tli, p. 286, I was reading the 
“Cause of Smut in Wheat,” I think smut 
is caused by sowing mixed wheat, in this 
neighborhood at least. We have been rais 
ing Fife and Red Chaff, about equal parts. 
Red Chaff smuts badly, Fife not any. When 
clean seed of the Fife, Club, or Golden Drop is 
sown it does nob smut along side of millers’ 
wheat that smuts badly.— N. A. Kent, Si/I- 
van Springs, Wis. 
sions of agricultural topics. The difference 
. is indefinable, but may be readily recognized 
bjr practical farmers in the free and easy 
manipulation of figures and the magnifi 
cently profitable results achieved “ on pa- 
, per.” When the theorists attempt to be 
, exact and figure closely on small profits, 
. they rarely figure n loss. I’ractical farmers 
, are often compelled to do this—sometimes 
forced to sell at prices which pay little more 
than the cost of marketing, and are only 
’ tolerable because the crop R perishable and 
must be sold at whatever price it will bring. 
This is just now the unfortunate fact with 
regard to potatoes, and farmers who grow 
that crop are feeling rather sore in eonse 
quenee. But just hear what a cheerful view 
. can lie got of even so unpromising a subject 
by a man looking at it from the right stand¬ 
point, A writer in the Western Rural, hail¬ 
ing from Wisconsin, writes that potatoes are 
, only 15 cents a bushel,.which, with a crop of 
, 100 bushels and $20 per acre expenses, leaves 
a balance of $5 per acre on the wrong side. 
By using a better quality of seed costing $4 
more, the yield may be doubled, selling for 
30c.—a profit of $fi instead of a loss. With 
ashes on each plant, potatoes in rows instead 
of hill.-, and thorough cultivation, the cor¬ 
respondent expects at least 800 bushels, sell¬ 
ing for 45.*., at a cost of—sav 30c. If the 
man was only ordinarily avaricious, he would 
be satisfied with this showing ; but he isn’t. 
He hopes by manuring thoroughly to in¬ 
crease the crop to 350 bushels, and possibly 
400, while by some hocus-pocus the expenses 
are to lie reduced to $25 per acre. In all 
these cases, the arbitrary manner in which 
the expenses of these large crops are kept 
down must be gratifying to men who have 
never achieved that delightful result in 
practice. Let us see how it works. The in¬ 
crease from 100 bushels per acre to 200 bush¬ 
els was accomplished by using better seed, 
which cost $4. The expense of handling and 
marketing 100 extra bushels of potatoes was 
reckoned at nothing. Probably the farmer 
got some one to do it for the luu of the thing. 
From 200 to 300 bushels per acre is a 
magnificent jump—on paper—very rarely 
achieved in real farming. We are glad to 
know', however, that with extra manure, 
extra cultivation and a second dose of Paris 
green it only cost $30. Nothing seems to be 
allowed for digging and marketing 200 bush 
els of potatoes. By increasing the crop to 
350 or 400 bushels, the expenses are actually 
reduced to $25, only $5 more than for the 
small crop of 100 bushels, mid on that state¬ 
ment we have just this comment to make : 
If it were possible for one good farmer to 
gi'ow 400 bushels per acre, it would pay some 
other farmer fair living prices, and not much 
more, to take the crop when grown, dig, 
pick up, assort and market it—provided the 
market were not more than ten miles dis¬ 
tant from the field and he and team hadn’t 
anything else to do. It may lie possible to 
grow crops of potatoes at the rate of 400 
bushels per acre, but we have never known 
it to be done ; but it is not possible to grow 
400 bushels per acre within $5 of the cost of 
growing 100, nor yet within $20. The only 
way this Wisconsin correspondent can se¬ 
cure such results is by working nights and 
Sundays and counting that nothing, and 
finally running away w’hen his hired man’s 
pay became due. 
We believe in growing good crops as the 
best means of reducing the cost per bushel ; 
but if you get the price below the cost of 
harvesting and marketing, the advantage is 
not apparent. We believe also in growing 
potatoes and increasing the crop as much as 
possible ; but as Aunt Chloe says in “ Unde 
Tom’s Cabin, “There’s reason in all things, 
and a good deal more in some than in 
others.” We will also hint to Western far¬ 
mers that if they propose to grow potatoes 
for the bare cost of cultivating, digging and 
marketing, allowing nothing for manures, 
for loss of fertility and for profit, they are | 
welcome to a monopoly of the business until < 
decreasing fertility of soil brings them to 
their senses. 1 
LIGHT vs. HEAVY TOOLS. 
The New England Homestead makes a 
matter plain which every farmer or manual 
worker vrill readily understand ; 
“ The great end at which all improvements 
aim is the maximum of power combined 
with the minimum of material and weight 
A man shoveling dirt with a shovel one 
pound heavier Hum it should be will lift 0 1/00 
pounds more in a day of ten hours than lie 
would do with a suitable shove). All this 
strength is wasted. The same is truu of ma¬ 
chinery. bo simple a thing as an unluliri- 
eated pulley is felt in the furnace, and the 
Cost of the coal is augmented. Every uselcrs 
pound in a truck or carriage takes'vitality 
from the horse which draws it, and costs me 
owner many an extra dollar for ms keeping 
The man who pulls an oar in the great boat 
rimes at Saratoga puts himself in training 
and reduces every ounce of superfluous flesh. 
In© racing horse carries not one extra ounce 
of fat to burden him in the efforL to w in. 
Yet working men will carry through half 
their lives fifty pounds more flesh than is 
needed for the best working condition—a 
burden which tells against their efficiency 
and personal comfort through many v cars 
of their industrial life. These may seem lit¬ 
tle things; out whatever wastes power in¬ 
creases expenses, and whatever burdens the 
laborer is not u little thing.” 
MEASURING HAY IN BULK. 
CLOD CRUSHING IN ENGLAND. 
An English correspondent of the German¬ 
town Telegraph approves the old practice of 
“clodding,” and says that it is not rare to 
see regiments of men and children engaged 
in this work. 
The old roller would scarcely touch the 
A. B. Allen in Tribune says :—“So many 
thing's have to be taken into consideration in 
calculating the weight or hay in bulk it 
makes it difficult lo get at it precisely. For 
example : tiue, new-mown hay, like red-top 
or licrd’s-grass, would probably require SOQ 
cubic feet for the ton ; timothy, 550 ; clover 
050 ; coarse meadow hay, TOO or more. After 
being stacked 30 days the bulk would be de¬ 
creased from five to ten per cent, possibly 
more, according to the size of the stuck and 
the pressure upon it, Again, hay will vary 
somewhat in measurement according to the 
time it is cut. If this be done w lien it is just 
Coming into blossom, as it always should, it 
will pack closer and weigh more per cubic 
foot than if left till the seed begins to ripen, 
and the stalks and leaves have grown coarser 
and become drier. Good judgment and some 
experience in measuring and welglring are re¬ 
quired to get at tins correctly'. A neighbor 
of mine informs me that ho once had the 
curiosity to weigh his timothy hay as he put 
it into the barn in July. He sold it about 
nine months after, and on rew'eighing it as 
it came out of the barn he found, greatly to 
his surprise, that it had shrunk to within a 
fraction of 25 per cent. 
I! 
■AO 
does it receive fertilizing ingredients from 
the atmosphere. Not so with the roller or 
crusher, as these implements press the nir 
out of the surface—that is, supposing the 
roller to be the lest implement used over the 
newly-sown seed. 
IV hen a pair of light harrows are run after 
the roller, the. evil effects of too much 
pressure from the roller is remedied and the 
escape of heat anti moisture by excessive 
radiation is prevented, and the newly-sown 
seeds vegetate the sooner and stronger t han 
they could do under severe pressure in some 
soils. Though in light, “Huffy soils” great 
pressure is of paramount importance when 
that kind of soil is dry, yet a light bush har¬ 
row isoften necessary to ruffle the surface. 
In what follows the writer makes some 
suggestions which are worthy of considera¬ 
tion : 
“To know when to use the roller on fallow 
is patent to the most inexperienced of men : 
but to know when to roll a thin crop of 
wheat on a poor day soil in the spring does 
not appear to be so well understood by even 
experienced farmer's. If the watchful far¬ 
mer finds his wheat thin and the surface 
cloddy early in the month of March, it. is ten 
to one but he rolls- it to break the clods and 
press the soil to the coronal roots of the 
wheat. Here it is more than ten to one but 
an error has been committed, for if the 
weather continues cold and dry the land is 
colder by reason of the excessive radiation 
which has been set free by pressing the sur¬ 
face of the earth with the roller. Whereas, 
had the surface been harrowed, radiant heat 
would have been suppressed, the crop would 
have grown “ amazingly,” and a light, plain 
roller passed over it a fortnight after this 
«late would complete the culture on sufe 
principles.” 
We may add, also, that injury fs often 
done to spring grain on heavy land by roll¬ 
ing early in the season, packing the earth 
too firmly, and excluding air and moisture 
I lie crushing of clods by hand and mallet is 
too slow and expansive, for American far¬ 
mers. the better plan, if further pulveriza- 
tiou is needed, is to harrow lightly—even on 
spring grain—and afterward follow with the 
roller, if thought advisable. 
