0 
FEB. 26 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
134 
making or seed-leaf tobacco, is the place known 
commonly as the “Big Flats” district, but 
more appropriately called the Chemung; for it 
is in Chemung Co., aloug the valley of the 
Chemung River that the bulk of the tobacco 
called ‘ Big Flats” is grown. Twenty years 
have passed since tobacco was first grown to 
any extent as a farm crop in this county. Per¬ 
vious to 1856 tobacco growing here was but an 
experiment. Our farmers were ignorant of 
the correct modes of cultivating and bundling 
the plant and the product was sold at so low a 
figure as hardly to repay the cost. But these 
experiments were sufficient to demonstrate the 
fact that the soil was capable of producing a 
superior quality of leaf, of great value to the. 
tobacco trade. At the breaking out of the war, 
which so interfered with tobacco production 
in the south, farmers found greater profits in 
the crop, which increased until it was declared 
that tobacco growing was decidedly remunera¬ 
tive. 
But the majority of our farmers hesitated for 
a time to engage in a business, which required 
a considerable outlay of capital, in the shape 
of buildings, etc. Some argued that the war 
would soon dose aud tobacco would cease to 
bring profitable returns; while others Baid it 
would ruin the soil if the production was con¬ 
tinued. As time advanced, however, aud the 
war got uoder full headway, prices were of¬ 
fered for our tobacco that seemed fabulous. 
It was found that a single acre of tobacco 
properly managed, woifld yield an income, 
sufficient to purchase two or three acres of 
good farm land. This fact was sufficient 
to overcome the prejudices of the major¬ 
ity of fanners and the business of to¬ 
bacco growing became a rage. Up and down 
the rich valley of Chemuug and the narrow 
valleys of its abluent ptreams, tobacco sheds 
were erected and our valley was dotted with 
tobacco fields. The production continued un¬ 
til the Summer of ’64 which season was decid¬ 
edly unfavorable for tobacco growers. A se¬ 
vere drought occurred in the Spring, during 
“ setting ” season, which made it extremely 
difficult for growers to start their plants in the 
field. Those who succeeded with great perse- 
verence, in starting their plants, met with 
other disasters. Grasshoppers were very nu¬ 
merous during the summer, which damaged 
the crop very seriously. During the month of 
March of the following year, while the crop 
was yet in the sheds, our whole valley was in¬ 
undated with water from the overflowing river, 
caused by the melting of a vast quantity of 
snow in company with a heavy ralu storm. 
This flood did great damage to the tobacco 
lying in sheds which were mostly situated In 
the low lauds of the valley. 
These disasters, in company with a sudden 
falling off in the prices of the product, damp¬ 
ened the enthusiasm of tobacco growers, and 
as the result the acreage devoted to the crop 
decreased greatly. But in a few years prices 
again ruled high, and growers sometimes real¬ 
ized as high as thirty cents a pound * for their 
entire crops. The acreage again increased to 
its previous extent and tobacco growing again 
became a rage. Stable manure was eagerly 
sought after and farmers frequently paid $3 
cash per load for it. SincO 1876 prices have 
ruled lower, having ranged all the way from 
sevon to twenty cents per pound. Labor has 
also been more plentiful and cheap, and our 
growers have found profit in tobacco growing 
at 10 cents per pound. 
The crop grown the past season in this to¬ 
bacco growing district is undoubtedly the lar¬ 
gest ever produced here. It has been esti¬ 
mated at not less than It,000 eases or about 
4,400 000, pounds. It has already been en¬ 
tirely bought up by New York packers mainly. 
The prices paid have ranged from 10 to I t cents 
per pound according to quality. Our growers 
now look upon the tobacco glowing business 
as a permanent industry. They do not expect 
to grow rich from It, yet they find more profit 
in it than from ordinary grain growing, aud 
with our small farms of high priced land, it 
enables us to expend a vast amount of labor at 
a fair profit, in other woids, tobacco with onr 
farmers, is a crop well calculated for fertile, 
high priced land, f propose in the following 
articles to give in brief, what 1 have learned 
from experience aud observation, of tobacco 
culture iu Chemung County. The methods of 
culture and of handling the plant, differ some¬ 
what from tho6e followed by growers iu other 
tobacco growiug districts. The methods which 
I shall describe are those most popular here. 
THE CULTURE OF PKANUT8 AT THE 
NORTH. 
Almost every one i» aware that peanuts as 
a profitable farm crop can only be successfully 
grown iu the Southern or border States, and in 
a Bandy, light-colored soil, where the shells 
will be of a bright light color and free from 
dirt. But it does not Becm to be generally 
known that they may be grown on a small 
scale as a garden crop for family use in favor¬ 
able toils and situations in mary parts of the 
North or at least as far as latitude 42 °, aud at 
the West where there is much hot Summer 
sunshine probably still farther, and that 
almost as easily and surely as potatoes. [We 
have grown them and seen them grown on 
Long Island farms repeatedly. Eds.] The 
yield of riper nuts will here be light compared 
to that iu their favorite latitude and in our dark, 
adhesive soils the shells will present a dusky, 
dirty appearance; hut the flavor is the same, 
and the yield I think sufficient to warrant 
their culture by those who have the time aud 
taste to cultivate a variety of garden products. 
A rich sandy, or at least mellow, loam In a 
dry warm situation, should be selected. They 
endure heatand drougbtwcll. Tbesollshould 
be loose and mellow, and if not rich, should 
receive a dressing of fine, well rotted horse 
manure. Plant the latter part of May in drills 
three and a half feet apart and two Inches 
deep. Take the kernels out of the ehellB, but 
do not break the thin, red skin surrounding 
the meat. Plant the kernels a foot apart in 
the drills and cover with fine earth. [By ex¬ 
periment we found it was better to plaut the 
entire fruit, that is, shell and all. Eds.] Keep 
the ground mellow and absolutely free from 
weeds, and when the vines begin to blossom 
sprinkle a little fine earth over them to hasten 
the rooting process. As the nuts grow on the 
shall be obliged to ask those persons named in 
the following list to send us their full address. 
Here are the names, and opposite are given 
the weights of the three heaviest mangels: 
NAMES OF MANUEL CULTIVATORS. 
E. F&ruham.,. 
(1 li. Warner. 
Jidwtii Keeler. 
Jasper Iiarnes. 
T. J.tetc. 
It. 1'atrtoE. 
W. L. Day. 
W. Moore. 
.7. I,. Scott. 
I. . Singer .... 
II. It. fioberts. 
B. 1\ Moon . 
N. !.. Webb. 
W H. Harter. 
James Grace. 
Weights of 
best three. 
. IB * 1 i pounrls. 
46 ‘ i pounds. 
. m pounds. 
. 3MB pouuds. 
39 pounds. 
. 38 '/i pounds. 
. 34 1 IB pounds. 
33k pounds. 
:« pounds. 
33 pounds. 
. 33 7-1B pounds. 
.31 11-lti pounds. 
. 313-lrt pounds. 
31 iknmuH. 
. 30 8-1B pounds. 
$arm (gronomjt. 
THREE HORSES ABREAST. 
(See page 135 for query.) 
The great convenience of using three horses 
abreast in plowing heavy land makes it deeira- 
ble to find some way, if possible, to employ the 
three horses without at the same time losiDg 
some of the extra power or of meeting with 
roots which strike down under the blossoms, 
the earlier and more freely the vines take root, 
the greater the yield of ripe nuts maturing 
before frost. [Our friend is a little mistaken 
here, we think. They are not roots at all. If 
the blossoms (ovules) are fertilized, what 
seems to be a growth of the receptacle or head 
of the flower stalk, takes place, eariying the 
ovary downward which makes its way into 
the ground and at once begins !o enlarge, 
forming the peanuts.—E ds | After frosts have 
killed the vines pull them up aud pick off the 
nuts, those well developed, that have the rough, 
wrinkled shells which indicate ripeness, 
spread in a warm, dry place undercover and 
stir frequently till dry, when they may be 
roasted as wunted. The children will attend 
to the roasting, but may need some instruction 
as some experience is required to get them 
baked just right. They may be spread in a 
dripping-pan, and roasted in the oven like 
coffee, stirring often to prevent burning. 
THE PR0GRE8S OF VEGETABLE LIFE. 
A single potato plant is probably as good 
an exponent of most vegetable growth, as it is 
jvell known to observing agriculturists. The 
dormant seed (the eye from a healthy tuber) is 
planted, say, in April, and almost at once the 
combined influence of darkness, moisture and 
warmth causes the bud to grow. The effort to 
reach the light, aud to propagate its species, 
seems to be as strong in the vegetable world as 
in the animal, and the result is, the foliage, of 
full green, shoots above ground, while the 
young roots go below to forage for the gen¬ 
eral good of the whole plant aud to escape the 
impending heat of the advancing season. 
The ever spreading roots below feed the 
foliage above, and the “ top ” soon shields the 
roots from the sun’s direct rays—a measure of 
mutual benefit, as neither could go to maturity 
under reversed conditions. The season passes, 
and as the roots and tubers mature, the top 
assumes compactness, strength and that (oneof 
green whioh in the. coolest, thus again, by another 
moans, providing for the healthy progress of 
the newly-formed seed. 
At last, when the tubers are mature, (hey 
announce to the foliage that their office is 
completed, and the gradual change to yellow, 
brown and black withered stems and dried up 
leavoB is the acknowledgement of the fiual 
change, which overtakes all plants in the due 
course of nature. 
It requires but a slight study of the condition 
of these plants during a season’s growth to 
discover what the cultivator must do to assist 
iu making a remunerative crop. 
Dodge Co., Neb. 8. Rufus Mason. 
REPORT 
On the Golden Ovoid Mangel Heed Imported and 
Distributed by the Kurul New-Yorker In 
the Free OUtrlbuttou of 1879. 
Owing to the facl^tkat the mangel reports 
received from muuy of our subscribers to whom 
seed was Bent last year in our Free Seed and 
Plaut Distribution, have been mislaid, we are 
not uble to present as full a statement as we 
would be pleased to have done. Fortunately 
we can give the names of those whose best 
three mangels weighed over 30 pounds, but we 
some obstruction or inconvenience which may 
greatly reduce, or even destroy, the gain. 
There have been very many contrivances de¬ 
vised for employing three horses, and by some 
combinations of levers it has been thought that 
all the difficulties have been overcome. But, 
in fact, there are no combinations of mechan¬ 
ical devices which are able to get around the 
Bimple but inevitable laws which control the 
application of power to move weights or exert 
forces. When one understands these laws, it 
becomes clear why many ingenious devices for 
the use of power or force in peculiar methods 
have failed. One priiuury law of uiechamcsls 
that the force of draft or impulse is always 
dnected in a straight line when the force is 
simple or single. Another 'is that when two 
equal forces operate in different directions, uot 
directly opposite to each other, the direction 
of the motion produced is precisely between 
Ihe iines of the two forces ; when equal forces 
are acting in exactly opposite directions, one 
neutralizes the other, and there is no motion 
at all. 
To apply these principles to the draft of a 
plow we may consider that when one horse is 
hitched to a plow he will draw it iu a straight 
line; that if two horses are hitched by means 
of a double tree attached to the plow by Us 
center, the draft will also be in a straight line. 
If, however, the point of attachment is not In 
a direct line with the middle of the plow beam, 
the draft will not bo in a straight line with the 
beam. This Is shown in the following diagram, 
fig. 107. At A, the draft is from the center of the 
beam and the force is exerted m a straight 
line, as shown by the dots; at B, the draft 
is from the end of a rod fastened to the plow 
beam at b, aud the point of attachment is at a 
distance from the end of the plow beam aud on 
one side, at a. When the plow Is started, the 
point b is at once swung around to c, so as to 
bring the line of draft in the same direction as 
that of the moving power. This caunot be 
avoided. If a man holding the plow keeps it 
iu the furrow, he must exert a certain force or 
power, which then becomes directly opposite 
to that which moves the plow, and this exer¬ 
tion exactly neutralizes u corresponding 
amount of the horseB’ exertion and destroys it. 
This, too, cannot be avoided. Therefore, in 
drawing a plow by any combination of whiltle- 
trees or other levers, the point of draft must 
be in the line of the middle of the plow beam, 
otherwise the plow will be swung around or 
must be held in the furrow by the exercise of 
sufficient force to resist the side draft. 
When we come, then, to consider how three 
horses abreast may be used in plowing so as to 
have one horse walk in the furrow, or nearly on 
a line with the plow beam and the width of the 
furrow slice only out of that line, and thateach 
horse may do one-third of the work, we find 
that it Is Impossible, unless some of the force 
of the horses Is lost, beiug neutralized by the 
exertion of the plowman to resist the tendency 
to swing the plow around, and much extra and 
severe labor is thrown upon the man. 
In hitching three horses to a plow or a 
wagon the principle of the balance or scale is 
brought into action. In the diagram, at G, a 
doubletree 4^ feet long is represented, having 
a hole in the middle and one at each third of 
its length. If this were used for a balance and 
suspended by the hole a, two pounds at the end 
of the short arm would be balanced by one 
pound at the end of the long arm. This is well 
known, bnt its application to the use of whiffle- 
trees is not so well known, for a person not 
lODg ago applied fora patent on acomblnation 
of levers to do away with thirt natural law, which 
would be equivalent in its effect to making one 
equal to two, or twice one equal to one instead 
of two ; and, for a wonder, his patent was not 
granted, bnt it was on the grounds that the 
device was not novel. Unfortunately it is not 
novel, for many persons baye spent time and 
money iu trying to make out the same im¬ 
provement on the multiplication table. 
Therefore, as there is no getting over an im¬ 
possibility, one must either have the third 
horse walk a little outside the furrow on the 
plowed land, or he must plow a wide furrow, 
say 16or 18 inches, or he mast attach a hori¬ 
zontal draft plate to (he end of the plow, so as 
to throw the draft as little as possible on to the 
land aide, to enable the off horse to walk in the 
fnrrow, and exert the mnscles of his arms and 
shoulders to keep the plow straight. The com¬ 
mon three-horse evener is made 4^ feet long, 
and the hitching point la f J foot from one end 
(a, fig. D). The common doubletree is used 
at the Bhort end, a3 Bhown. This brings the 
line of draft exactly on the plow beam. By 
making the evener aud double and single¬ 
trees as short as possible, the outside horses 
are brought nearer to the middle horse. With 
small horseB an evener of three feet may be 
used, in which case the equalizing side draft 
plate may be used, and the few inches 
gained with this, with the plowing of a wide 
furrow, will enable one to use the three horses 
without much inconvenience in the way of 
overcoming the side draft by muscular exer¬ 
tion of the plowman or loss of horse power, 
and still have the off horse walk in the furrow. 
A very good arrangement for three horses is 
shown at fig. F. I he equalizing plates, or 
siugletreeB, are made quite short; very short 
wooden ones of the common kind will answer 
every purpose. The inside traces are crossed 
so that the middle horse pulls precisely the 
same as the onter ones. 
-» ♦ » ■ — - 
Doga. 
I agree with J. S. Woodward (Rural page 
35) that something should be done to abate the 
“dog nuisance." Cannot our Legislature 
give us a law that will afford some relief to 
farmers? In November last, two worth¬ 
less curs got into my hen-house and killed 
thirty Plymouth Rocks, in about as many 
minutes, besides frightening the balance of 
my hens so as entirely to stop their laying for 
weeks. I was fortunate enough to kill one of 
the dogs, the other escaped. Several of my 
neighbors have lately had their poultry killed 
by dogs. Now have we no means of redross ? 
In a trial held in this county this Winter, it 
was decided that a man had no right to shoot 
a dog caught killing sheep, but that be might 
recover damage of the owner. Now it is of¬ 
tentimes difficult to prove the ownership ; be¬ 
sides, about nine dogs out of every ten belong 
to persons who possess no property. What is 
the good of a judgment against a majority of 
the dog owners ? 
We have a law taxing dogs, but what does 
it amount to? It is, and I suppose can only 
be, partially enforced and therefore it is al¬ 
most useless. Several years ago the assessors 
found ouly three dogs in one ward In Syracuse, 
while there were actually sixteen within one 
block of my residence. We need a law that 
compels a person to procure a License to keep 
a dog, said dog to wear a collar plainly marked 
with its owners name, and with the number to 
correspond with the uuwber of tha license. 
All dogs not so licensed, aud provided with a 
proper collar, should be promptly killed. 
Any person should be allowed to destroy them, 
and if necessary a reward of fifty cents per 
head should be offered. Personally I feel in¬ 
terested in this subject, and for reasons 
Biated. Nelson Ritter. 
lukstrtal topics, 
SORGHUM SUGAR AND SIRUP MAKING, 
I. A. HEDGES. 
The frequent inquiries that reach me from 
subscribers to the Rural New-Yorker induce 
me to discuss the sugar and Birup business from 
sorghum canes, iu a practical aud business 
inauuer, not so much, however, iu the line of 
culture as that of manufacture, as the former 
is, or may be, summed up by saying, cultivate 
as for corn, either in hills or drills, and com¬ 
mence to cut and work as soon as the seed is 
fairly ripe. The experiences, as expressed at 
our late annual caue-growei-B meeting, favored 
allowing the cane to rest either in gavels or 
shocks about two days, to allow the leaves 
and husk of the stock to cure before hauling 
and heaping or even working it op. It is 
now geneiaffy considered better to work the 
cane with the leaves attached, as the labor of 
