fiOV. 24 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
337 
M 
II 
crop with comparative success. North of the 
river, io what may still be called South Western 
Wisconsin, the surface is broken by numerous 
streams that have worn in time deep channels, 
and deposited an alluvium on either side, equal 
in fertility to the best lands in the world. 
These valleys are backed by high lands and 
ridges covered with heavy timber, the land 
largely under-laid with iron, which is being 
made merchantable with charcoal and affords to 
the farmer an industry occupying his winter 
hours profitable where be has had the courage 
to break the lino of the wilderness—men usually 
seeking the prairie as offering a shorter way to 
competence. 
These lands are strong in all essentials, mak¬ 
ing good pasturage and meadows, a fact which 
has attracted dairymen from the East, who 
have changed the plan formerly followed of rais¬ 
ing wheat from year to year, to that of cheese 
and butter-making, and the raising of cattle for 
Eastern markets. Where, ten years ago, there 
were dozens only, now they are counted by hun¬ 
dreds, some individual farms milking one hun¬ 
dred, their milk manufactured in. factories of 
which, on a single Spring Brook within a few 
miles from where this is written, there arc four 
in flourishing condition, tho last, sales bringing 
£3,000 to the patron. The method of farming 
these last-named lands differs in no wise from 
that pursued in other dairy districts; hut their 
treatment of their herds deserves notice. The 
owners, generally, look Upon the cow as a ma¬ 
chine for making milk, subject to the vicissi¬ 
tudes of feeding, protection from storms, access 
to water summer and winter of a temperature 
found in the bottom of wells from which it is 
brought by wind mills and force pumps although 
a stream of pure water may bo within forty rods 
of the stable. 
Besides the sweetest of grasses made into the 
best of hay to feed them, there is no season of 
the year when a cow will eat grain t hat it is not 
placed beforo them by tho best dairyman be¬ 
lieving that to get milk in the pail it must first 
go in at the mouth. Bran at $3 per tou, oats at 
20o. bushel, Cora at30@35o., can bo better mark¬ 
eted in butter, cheese, pork, nud beef, tliau by 
railroad or river. This industry lias removed 
show barns, and othors painted and formed after 
recent models, 100x60, 70x40, and so on, have 
taken their places. Now homos are built; boys 
and girls go from milking-stool to piano-stool 
and back again, and from homo in the winter 
months to schools and institute*. In short, 
means aro found Tor average advantages. To 
those free from tho burden of debt, tho times 
aro complacent; to those in debt, hopeful, 
Tho one great drawback of this section of 
country last named, is the want of fruit trees in 
sufficient variety to supply the home demand; 
true, tho railroads bring us cheap fruits but to 
raise them, care for them, garner them, to walk 
under their shade in summer, to have all “old 
orchard associations ” as of “ Langsyne ” would 
add to the other charms of a farmer’s life, 
lone Rock, Wls. 
TEN TER CENT DRAWS HARD. 
ey rnoFsson wm. j. beal. 
Interest money is a heavy tax on many people 
of the United States. There is no other bur¬ 
den in the shape of money, which weighs down 
like interest, unless it be money spent for In¬ 
toxicating liquors. Men complain of high Slate 
taxes, of school-taxes, and taxes for bridges, 
sewers, grading and for building churches. Eor 
some of these they are able to soe an equiva¬ 
lent, but for money paid as interest—for the 
use of money, few realize or gain what it costs. 
It is an expensive luxury to puy for the mero 
privilege of handling what does not belong to 
you. People are likely to over-estimate your 
wealth, and you pay more taxes than you ought 
to. 
In most parts of our new country, ten per 
cent, per annum, or more, is paid for tho use of 
money. A shrewd business man may reasonably 
make it pay to live at this rate for a short time, 
hat even such men often fail to make It profita¬ 
ble. It is an uncommon thing for any business 
to pay a sure and safe return of ten percent, for 
any length of time. The profits of great enter- 
piizgs, like railroads, manufactories of iron, 
cloth, farm-implements, etc., etc., are so vari¬ 
able, so fluctuating that it is difficult to tell then- 
average profit or the average profit of any one 
of them. Wo know it is not uncommon for 
railroads to go into the hands of a Receiver, Le- 
'•ause they cannot pay the interest or their debts. 
Factories stop and ofteu go to decay, because 
they cannot pay running expenses. Often they 
cannot continue without losing money, to say 
nothing about the interest on the capital. Mer¬ 
chants seldom can pay ten per cent on large 
amounts for any lougth of time. Even six per 
cent, is a heavy tax on any kind of busiuess. 
But it was *iot of these classes that I intended 
to speak at this time. The writer has been most 
of his life among farmers, and has had unusual 
opportunities for studying their management of 
finances. It may be worse in a new country than 
in an old one, but so far as my knowledge ex¬ 
tends, a large majority of the farms of Michigan 
are covered by a mortgage. The farmer needs 
capital to bny sheep, cattle, tools to build 
houses and barns, and to clear and prepare land 
for crops. He is very likely to underestimate 
the coit of a farm, and what it takes to stock' il 
properly. He invests all his money, and perhaps 
runs in debt, for ids land alone, leaviug nothing 
tvith which to furnish it. Quite often he buys 
more laud before he has money to pay for it, or 
even beforo he has paid off the mortgage on his 
present farm. Times may be easy; crops may 
he good, and high in price for a few years. He 
overestimates liis ability to make money, and 
runs in debt. Fortune changes. He has “ bad 
luck,” and the debt grows larger instead#of 
smaller. 
Farming is a safe business, hut even this has 
its dark side. Good crops are, by no means, 
sure, even with good culture. Blight, drought, 
insects, tire, sickness and other calamities may 
come when least expected, and with a largo debt 
overwhelm the hopeful farmer. 
I have never soon a farm, that for several 
years together paid ten per cent, interest on the 
capital invested. In an old scrap book I find t he 
following “No blister draws sharper than does 
the interest. Of all industries, none is compar- 
ablu to that of interest. It works all day and 
night, in fair weather and in foul. It lias no 
sound in it h footsteps, hut travels fast. It 
gnaws at a man’s substance with Invisible teeth. 
It hinds industry with its film, as a fly is bound 
in the spider's web. Debts roll a man over and 
over, binding him hand and foot, and letting 
him hang upon tho fatal mesh until tho long- 
legged interest devours him. There is hut ono 
thing on a farm like it, and that is the Canada 
thistle, which swarm,i now plants every time you 
break its roots, whoso blossoms aro prolific, and 
every flower the father of a million seeds. 
Every leaf is an awl, every branch a spear, and 
every plant like a platoon of bayonets, and a 
field of them like an armed host. Tho whole 
plant is a torment and a vegetable curse. And 
yet, a farmer had better make his bed of Cana¬ 
da thistles than to ho at easo upon interest.’’ 
There aro some exceptions to the general rule, 
that no man should run in debt. Tt may ho bet¬ 
ter for ono to owo something on a house and lot 
than to move from house to liouso every year or 
so and pay a high rent. It may do for a farmer 
to incur a small debt on a now piece or land, or 
on some improvement, bat ho cautious, A 
small debt will sometimes stimulate to industry 
and economy, but a largo one will often weary, 
and finally come off victorious. 
A farmer wishes to save his extra lot for his 
son, and so pays ten per cent, llis sons and 
daughters cannot go to a good school or college 
bocauso of that mortgage. The son seos the 
privations of a farmer’s lifo under unfavorable 
circumstances. Tho father dies, and leaves the 
farm to his son with a heavy debt on it, which 
he in vain, attempts to remove, or ho Bells the 
farm and leaves that kind of drudgery. Very 
often a farmer is keeping more land than ho is 
able to woik or manage well. Ho does not know 
how to get value received and more ont of his 
hired help. Such a ono is unwise not to sell 
a part, clear the debt, and work the remainder 
better. I havo said nothing about the advan¬ 
tage which often occurs of having some extra 
money on hand to buy to best, advantage. Tho 
man out of debt,, and with a little ready money 
in his pocket, always has the advantage of tho 
man who pays ten per cent. 
<$tdii (Crops. 
CROP STATISTICS. 
BY ISAAC ESMAY. 
I send you a statement of a few crops raised 
this year (1877), in St. Joseph county, Indiana. 
C. II. Ward had 13 acres of wheat, which yielded 
38 bushels per aero. Ho also had 37 acres of 
wheat, which yielded 23 bushels per acre. 
George Eulzier, had 11 acres of wheat which 
yielded 62>£ bushels per acre. Samuel Cooney 
had 37 acres of wheat, yielding 27 bushels per 
acre ; O. Holler, had 63 acres of wheat, yielding 
28 bushels per aero; William Rockhill had 60 
acres of wheat, yielding 36 bmihels per acre; 
Joseph Jackson had 23 acres of wheat, yielding 
35 bushels per acre ; J. R. Miller had 36'bushels 
of wheat i>er acre ; Isaac .Marble, had 37 bushels 
of wheat per acre ; while most of these had coru 
which averaged from 40 to 00 bushels per acre; 
oats, from 30 to 40 bushels per acre; potatoes, 
from 150 to 230 bushels per acre. Hay, and tho 
different kinds of vegetables, yielded fair crops. 
But the lands in which I have takeu the most in¬ 
terest for the past few years, are the bottom 
lands along the Kankakee River in St. Joseph 
County, Indiana. These lands have produced 
fine large crops this last year, as follows:— 
Isaac Gorsuch raised 80 bushels of corn per acre, 
of as good quality as I ever saw ; 60 bushels of 
oats per acre, weighing 40 pounds per bushel ; 
2G0 bushels of very fine potatoes per aero. 
Clover and timothy hay from 2 to 3 tons per 
acre. Pumpkins, Squash. Beets and Cabbage, 
large and excellent, also many other vegetables 
iu great abundance. He has also a largo field of 
wheat put in this full which looks beautiful for 
tliis time of yenr. Judge Stanfield raised 70 
bushels of corn per acre : 220 bushels of choice 
potatoes per acre. Oats 40 bushels per aero, of 
heavy weight. Hay, from 2 to 3 tons per aero, 
of excellent quality ; also many differ cut kinds 
of vegetables, of fine quality and all yielding 
abundantly. C. Studetmker, raised 40 to CO 
bushels of corn per acre, 41) to 60 bushels of oats 
per acre. Buckwheat, potatoes, hay and many 
different kinds of vegetable, in great profusion. 
He also has a 25 acre field of wheat put in this 
fall, which bids fair for a heavy crop next har¬ 
vest. F. R. Tntt raised 70 bushels of corn p« 
acre ; 50 bushels of oats per acre, of heavy 
weight; potatoes a largo yield, not measured ; 
timothy and clover hay from 2 to 3 tons per acre 
ami many different kinds of vegetables, fine 
quality. C. Hollar raised 4 tons of millet per 
acre, (first plowing), three tons of timothy hay 
per acre ; from 40 to CO bushels of corn per aero, 
(on tho first plowing ) Also melons and other 
vegetables all yielded profusely. William Miller, 
P. Greene, E. Tntt, F.. Chapin, Andrew Ander¬ 
son* H. Borden, Thomas Slick and many others, 
all had fine, large crops on these Kankakee bot¬ 
tom lands, which averaged as follows, to wit: 
Corn, from 50 to 80 budiels per acre ; wheat, 
from 23 to 20 bushels per aero ; oats, from 35 to 
CO bushels per acre; potatoes, from 180 to 260 
bushels per acre; millet from two to four 
tons per acre; timothy, clover, Hungarian, 
and prairie hay, from 2 to 3 tons per ueiu, of ex¬ 
cellent quality. Bnoom-oOrn, turnips, rutabagas, 
grapes, celery, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, 
onions, beets, carrots, melons, peas, beans, and 
the different kinds of vegetables, of choice 
quality in groat abundance. Ai d although these 
lands am rich and productive, and easy to culti¬ 
vate ; yet many of them can bo purchased quite 
low with tho certainty that, in a few years, with 
proper cultivation, they will become the most 
valuable and productive lands in the county. 
The plowing can bo done with a sulky plow and 
three horses, so that the fanner can ride, vvliilo 
turning over tho soil deep and smooth,-at the 
rate of 2 acres per day, with each plow. And 
many of t he above-mentioned crops, were raised 
on tho first plowing. 
South Bend, lad., Nov. 1S77. 
-- 
A GOOD POTATO CROP. 
BY WM J. FOWLER. 
If avino finished digging aufl marketing the 
Potato crop, excepting about one hundred bush¬ 
els put in the collar, some remarks on its results 
aro in order. Three varieties were planted; 
Peerless, Early Vermont and Rate R ise, the erop 
of Ouch being more than usually largo. Tims, 
from a tritlo less than two acres, wo dug 110 
bushels of Peerless, by measure, ami in selling 
them wo find that, they more than hold their 
own. Wo havo sold ViV/, bushels, and havo at 
least 40 bushels more, too small to market. Tho 
Peerless is a heavy potato. There aro none with 
hollow centers, however large, and a fair bushel 
by measure, weighs fully 65 pounds, or 5 pounds 
overweight. In this respect thu Peerless is 
nearly equal to tho old Teach Blow, which is a 
heavy potato, but sometimes is hollow when too 
largo. 
Tho Late Rose was a comparative failure, 
yielding about 80 bushels on one half acre— 
which sold at 40 cents per bushel —or £64 pet- 
acre. This was the smallest money return from 
cither of the three varieties. Tim Early Vcr- 
montfl, on richer land than the Late Rose, yielded 
fully 200 bushels per aero, selling at 40 cents, or 
£80 per acre. Peerless about 225 bushels at 35 
cents per bnshal, or £78 85 per aero. It is only 
fair to say, however, that the Early Vermonts 
were on much the strongest part or the field, ami 
unless more difference in price is made than 
this year, the Peerless is much the most profita¬ 
ble potato. 
I find by trial that Peerless this year are of 
very good quality, and, as this fact becomes 
known, they wilt rise in popular estimation. 
The mistake made the first few years this variety 
was cultivated, was in planting too little seed. 
Two eyes on a piece, and one piece in a hill will 
produce an immense crop on rich soil; hut the 
potatoes will he coarse, rough, and not of tho 
best quality. Now we cut the seed to two or 
three eyes to a piece ; but on good land, plant 
two pieces in a hill. Tho slight crowding which 
the vines and roots give each other, produces a 
larger number of smooth, mode rate-size, Salable 
potatoes. No manure should ho used with 
Peerless as it tends to make the potatoes rough 
and scabby. In fact, we prefer to havo land 
for Peerless only moderately rich ; bat with a 
decaying clover sod to keep the soil moist about 
the roots. 
As will be seen by tho above figures, there is 
some profit in potatoes, even at present low 
prices ; provided the cost of production can be 
kept down. This year there has been but com¬ 
paratively little expense in fighting tho potato 
beetle, not more than £3 to £5 per acre either 
by hand-picking or Paris green. But everybody 
expects a harder fight, next season, and there 
will bo a much smaller acreage planted iu con¬ 
sequence. It will go hard, however, for Borne 
of our successful potato growers to give up 
their most profitable crop, ami some of them 
propose to plant ten, fifteen or twenty acres 
next spring. In every case, however, they talk 
of less than uuual, and the multitude of smaller 
potato growers will plant barely enough for 
home use,—some not even that. I think tbat 
tliis is a mistaken policy, as the cost of fighting 
tho potato be d ie, even when at its worst, is only 
a small item on tho expense of making the crop. 
The secret, of success is to plant on good land 
only, and give the crop prompt and thorough 
culture through the season. 
--- 
Editor Rural: —I send yon by express, ono 
basket of Potatoes, tint e of a kind. The Peach- 
blow seedlings I started myself from the ball, 
arid havo raised them successfully for the last 
seven yeai-H. They were raised ou a heavy clay 
’vit-li a limestone bottom. The soasou lias been 
Urn dry eat, ever known hero. Tho above pota¬ 
toes were raised by ordinary cultivation. 
James Osmond. 
Suspension Bridge, Nlagaca Co., N. Y. 
[There were fifteen potatoes, which well filled 
the peach basket. Peerless (tho largest.) nicas- 
mod 16 in oirouinference; Jersey Ptach-l>low, 
15; White Peach'blow, 13; Rod Peach-blow 
seedling, 13. All were smooth and clean, and 
as regards sizo, one of tho finest lots of potatoes, 
raised without extra cultivation, wo havo ever 
seen —Eds.] 
Ijodtcultural, 
WINTER PROTECTION. 
BY SAMUEL BAUSONS. 
Tins important and oft-explained precaution, 
that demands attention yearly, may seem to tho 
more experienced too trite to afford much inter¬ 
est even at this season of the year. But it 
should bo remembered that all arc not expo rts and 
that, with all duo respect to superior knowledge, 
even experts may catch a slight suggestion of 
value from the recorded experience and methods 
of others. Wo apprehend, however, that the 
principles, on which secure protection is based, 
remain much the same everywhere—the only 
variation consisting in certain changes of 
methods that adapt them to any peculiar cir¬ 
cumstances. The following remarks will suffice 
to indicate tho processes that havo with us 
proved most successful: 
THE PROPER SEASON EOR APPLYING WINTER PROTECTION. 
A strong temptation to cover up plants for 
winter, presents itself to the inexperienced during 
the first cold simps of November. Tho ground 
is firmly frozen, nud now it seems natural to 
suppose the time for winter covering has 
arrived. But there never whs a greater mistake. 
Such early apt I is of cold usually lust but a short 
time, and may be succeeded by much warm 
weather, thus exciting the sap of the plant 
undercover, and thereby exposing it to injury 
from a succeeding heavy frost. The hardening 
off process is as necessary to tho plant in the 
open ground, as under a proper system of green¬ 
house culture. .Several really cold periods iu 
early winter, brought to bear on the uncovered 
plant, sti ve to prepare and adapt it for the en¬ 
durance of subsequent hardships. Little injury, 
moreover, occurs from cold in December, to any 
tolerably hardy plant. It is the proper season 
of rest, and the diminished power of the sun 
works tho leas damage, becanso dawn and midday 
present no such violent contrasts of temperature 
as are wont to appear iu early spring. A large 
majority of all plants that die from tho effects 
of cold, die, therefore, in March and April, and 
hence tho danger of removing coveiiug too 
early in spring. Give, then, such plants as you 
wish to remain out all winter, a good freezing, 
and protect with judgment any time from the 
first to tho middle of December. 
INJURIOUS METHODS OF PROTECTION. 
It is not uncommon to hour people claiming 
credit for extra care given to their plants in 
winter because they havo covered them with a 
barrel, or some other close protection. Nothing 
is really more injurious. The air, being con¬ 
fined, becomes colder, and concentrates its 
effects on the plant until ono might term it a 
case of smothering with cold, if such an expres¬ 
sion were admissible. All hardy, or oven half- 
li 
