THE RURAL HEW- 
Biographical. 
A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THOMAS 
D. CARMAN. 
BY HIS SON. 
My father was born on a farm in Hemp¬ 
stead, Queens Co., Long Island, July 24, 1809, 
of American parents. He is therefore atxmt 
75 years of age. He engaged in business in 
Hempstead when about 17 years old, and, 
being successful, married Miss Ann Denton, 
Sept, lit, 1830, the daughter of a wealt y and 
respected farmer, Judge Oliver Denton, of 
Rockaway. live miles distant. 
Mr. Carman continued this business until late 
in 1840, when he moved to Brooklyn. In 1852 
he chartered a ship, loaded her with American 
cooking stoves and sailed for Australia, at a 
time when the news of the discovery of gold 
mines in that country was inducing thousands 
of people from all parts of the world to go 
there. 
The passage was made in 100 days. He re¬ 
mained there nine months, and, having estab¬ 
lished a lucrative business, returned home for 
a brief visit. His second passage to Australia 
was made ill 75 days, with another cargo of 
stoves. He remained there 15 months, and 
then closed his business and arrived home, via 
London, in July, 1855, having been engagad 
In his Australian enterprise about, three years, 
with great benefit to his health and with a 
gratifying addition to bis income. 
His return from Australia wus hastened by 
the dentil of Ids father, whose large estate he 
was called upon, as first executor, to settle up. 
There is little to bo said of Mr. Carman’s 
life since. The Long Island Farm, now the 
Rural Faim, was purchased in March of 1867. 
There, iu a quiet way, Mr. Carman and liis 
family have since spent the pleasanter mont hs 
of the year, passing the Winters at their city 
home in Brooklyn, which he built In 184(5. 
But Mr. Carman’s eventful connection with 
the Rural New-Yorker remains to be told. 
It was about eleven years ago that I became 
a contributor to what was then Moore’s Ru¬ 
ral New-Yorker. The paper was uot pros¬ 
pering, or rather, owing to injudicious man¬ 
agement, its expenditures exceeded its in¬ 
come. Later, the owner, Mr. 8 . W. Dibble, 
determined to sell it out. Mr. G. A. C. Bur¬ 
nett, the publisher, bought a half interest; Mr. 
A. H. Fuller, an associate tv liter, bought a 
quarter interest, and I purchased the remain¬ 
ing quarter. Mi 1 . Barnett, uuder the new 
ownership, was appointed publisher, Mr. Ful¬ 
ler Editor, and l Associate Editor. Los 6 than 
a year sufficed to show that Mr. Fuller and I 
could not get on together. We pulled hard iu 
opposite directions, and as he was the older 
and justly deemed the more valuable umu of 
the two, it was settled that I should retire 
from the paper. This I did, reconciling my¬ 
self as well as 1 could to the virtual loss of my 
quarter-interest and to the conviction that 1 
should never again take any part in its man¬ 
agement. 
In a few months after my retirement, how¬ 
ever, an unpleasantness arose between Mr. 
Fuller aud Mr. Barnett, which eventuated iu 
au offer from the latter to sell me his half- 
interest. which with my own would give me 
u three-quarters interest, and render Mr. 
Fuller’s ownership as impotent as my own had 
been. 
Inasmuch as it then appeared that the Com¬ 
pany must have lost upwards of $ 20,000 dur¬ 
ing the year, while there still remained six or 
eight thousand dollars of debts to be paid, and 
the paper still to bo carried on for the rest of 
the year—or more than six months—I was in 
nowise inclined to consider the proposition 
favorably. Besides, my health wax imperfect, 
aud 1 reasoned that it was absurd to hope for 
success when wiser, older, and more expe¬ 
rienced people had so sigually failed. The 
above facts aud my reasoning, however, avail¬ 
ed little. Against my most pressing remon¬ 
strance, my father bought out the entire 
establishment! “My dear sir,” I shouted, “if 
you want to lose 23,lKX) dollars, here is the best 
way in the world for you to do it!” His reply 
was this: "You have never had any real re¬ 
sponsibility upon your shoulders, and it is 
time > ou had. If there be any loss it shall be 
mine; if any gain, yours.” 
With a sad heart, kind readers, I saw my 
father pay off every cent the firm owed, and 
myself placed iu the, to me, frightful position 
of Editor and Publisher of the Rural New- 
Yorker. Mr Fuller left tho office with the 
reassuring words: “l give Carman just two 
years in which to siuk the paper.” 
The Rural New-Yorker has never owed 
a cent since, except, indeed, from day to day, 
or week to week, My father has been paid 
back both his principal and interest, aud now 
merely retains, at my request, a nominal 
ownership, while, it may be conceded on all 
bauds that the paper has to-day a circulation 
and influence second to that of no other farm 
journal published. 
Under such circumstances, my readers will 
surely pardon the pride I feel in presenting to 
them a very true portrait (in Fig. 191) of my 
dear, old father, if God made one mistake 
in fixing the laws of nature, it is that, sons and 
daughters must lie separated from their fa¬ 
thers and mothers at a time when they have 
grown to appreciate them most and to love 
them best 
t'kUl Crops. 
CLOVER HAY. 
WHEN TO CUT AND HOW TO CURE. 
The best forage crop of the farm, to be fed 
green, or as W inter feed, is clover. There are 
two reasons for this: First, it is more produc¬ 
tive aud more nutritious; especially is the 
latter true if fed to growing or woiking 
animals, to milch cows, or in connection with 
com ax a grain food, as it contains a surplus of 
those elements of nutrition which are deficient 
in the corn. Secondly, the manure resulting 
from its use is wort h nearly twice as much for 
actual use a* that from nuy other forage. 
It is sometimes objected that clover is not a 
suitable hay for horses; from long experience, 
I am convinced that, it is as superior for these 
as for any other stock; the only requisite is 
the use of a little brainx iu the feeder. Clover 
hay is very nutritious and very palatable to 
the horxc, and if at liberty to eat as much as 
he pleases, he will surely gorge himself, and if 
driven in this condition, with an overloaded 
stomach, he is sure to be injured, aud the clo¬ 
ver hay gets unjustly charged with the Injury; 
but if allowed ouly whnl he should eat, even 
if he stands part of the time with empty man¬ 
ger, he will never bo injured. 
But there is clover hay andclover hay, with 
all the difference in the world in their value. 
The one comes from the mow fragrant and 
fresh, with a smell that, allures the stock into 
the belief that they arc cropping amid the 
waving blossoms; the other is hard, woody, 
black, with leaves mostly gone, full of a disa¬ 
greeable dust, and but little better than so 
much good, bright straw. The whole dif¬ 
ference between tho two samples depends 
upon the time of cutting, and manner of 
curing. 1 cannot quite agree with Prof. Ban- 
born as to tlie time of cuttiug clover. 1 have 
experimented u good deal by asking the opin¬ 
ion ot “that honest steer,” and he has always 
told me it is much better cut too early than 
too late. 
1 have found this so, as to quality of the hay, 
aud for the fulure growth ou the field. And 
then, too, if a large haying is to be done, it 
cannot be all done in a day; and if allowed to 
pass a certain point, no crop so rapidly be¬ 
comes woody and harsh, or loses its lower 
leaves and feeding value so fast. For these 
reasons, my mowers are always started as 
soon as the fields are nice and red. I would 
prefer never to see a brown head iu my clover 
field, if to be cut for hay. If the growth is 
heavy and a storm should prostrate a large 
part, and if it is so far advanced as to show 
a blossom here and there, the sooner it is cut 
tho bettor. A field that is badly lodged scarce¬ 
ly improves afterwards, as the under part rots 
as fast as the top grows. As a rule, clover is 
cut much too late for the making of the best 
hay, if we wait, as some recommend, till half 
tho beads are brown; much of the seed Is al¬ 
ready ripened, aud much of the starch and 
sugar has turned to woody fiber. 
Glowing clover is gorged, stalk, leaf and 
branch, with juice or sap, 80 per cent, of 
which should be expelled in the process of 
curiug for hay, and that is the best method, 
which accomplishes this the most readily and 
effectually. If we cut two clover plants at 
the roots aud expose one to the sun's heat in 
such a way that the leaves are quickly 
scorched aud dried, and keep turning aud 
moving the other so that the leaves, though 
wilted, remain green, we shall find the stalk 
of the latter dried in half the ume of tho 
Other. This is because the leaves, so long as 
they remain unburned, are constantly sucking 
moisture from the stalk to supply the place of 
that evaporated from the stomates, or pores, 
which are mostly on the under sides. In fact, 
we find that after the leaves have become 
burned so as to lose this power, the stems dry 
very slowly. 
This should teach us a valuable lesson iu 
curing clover hay—that it should never be 
allowed to reniaiu in the swath as cut, so long 
that the upper leaves become dried or burned, 
for two reasons: first, tiecause the leaves so 
burned can take no more sap from the plant, 
and, second, because after they are so 
cured they are liable to crumble off, or the 
least amount of dampness turns them black 
aud ruins their quality. I prefer to commence 
cutting clover at about four o'clock p. m., and 
till night, and again 
ut ten o’clock. By this 
is wilted, the dew is 
is beginning to be hot; 
most favorable for hay 
lover should now be stirred 
quickly. This can be done 
^with forks, but this ix rather a 
f r 
,t is a hard one, and few will do 
the work well. I use a tedder for this pur¬ 
pose, and although I do not wish to boom the 
tedder business, I can’t see how a man having 
much clover meadow can dispense with the 
use of one ot those implements. A boy with 
a good, quick stopping horse and tedder can 
go over two or more acres an hour, aud it 
leaves the grass open and loose, so that the air 
can reach every *talk and leaf. As soon as he 
has gone over it once, he should begin at the 
beginning and go over it the second time, and 
by two o’clock it is in the best possible condi¬ 
tion for raking: not a leaf is burned, while 
stalks and leaves are nearly dry. It should 
at once be raked and put into large cocks, 
where the moisture remaining iu the stalk 
will mostly pass into the leaves, ready on the 
least exposure to pass off into the air. Put iuto 
the cock in the afternoon, the second day 
thereafter it will be in the finest condition for 
drawing, and can usually be pitched directly 
upon the wagons, the airing it gets being 
sufficient to insure its keeping well, or, if de¬ 
sired, it ean be doubly aired by having the 
cocksmerely turned over an hour in advance of 
the teams. The barns where it is stored should 
have tight floors, be shut tight and be kept 
tight. No greater mistake can be made than 
to try to air the hay mows. Such a course 
drives all the heat and moisture to the center, 
and accomplishes the very result it is intended 
to preveut. 
Cured, as 1 have indicated, nothing keeps 
more easily than clover hay, and it will come 
from the mows at feeding time so fragraDt 
that the butter, from cows fed on it, will have 
the flavor of the clover blossom. Rustic. 
CORN IN DAKOTA. 
Will corn ripen in South-eastern Dakota? 
is a question often asked, but not very satis¬ 
factorily answered. Thu truth must be told; 
the crop lias hitherto had but indifferent suc¬ 
cess. There are, however, reasons why it has 
been so. The greater number of those who 
have tried it have done »o on the sod, imme¬ 
diately after breaking. Now that is uot giv 
ing it a fair chance, as any crop on the sod is 
at best a poor one. Even wheat, the plant 
that grows best in Dakota, does but poorly 
when so treated. In the older settled parts 1 
have seen it grown on old ground, and I ques¬ 
tion very much whether it would not compare 
favorably with any grown iu Minnesota, 
Michigan or Wisconsin. Another reason why 
it has been unsuccessful is the fact that the 
right kind of seed has uot been used. Nearly 
every one who comes here brings with him 
some seed, which he is sure will ripeu iu Da¬ 
kota. All imagine they have got a good thing, 
aud keep the uame “a deep mystery” till well 
on in the season it turns out an ignominious 
failure, and then they exc l ai m , “Why, I was 
sure that would ripeu—that was Canada 
Smut,” or some other sort. If people would 
give up their own pet corn, and procure seed 
grown in the State, plant it ou old ground aud 
cultivate it, 1 would have no fear of tho result. 
This was my first season here, so my personal 
experience is rather limited. I did try some 
half-dozen kinds of corn on the sod. What 
did best with ine was a white dent, the seed of 
which 1 brought from Wisconslu. I was told 
here it was not worth the planting, as it would 
bo too late iu ripening; but I deter mined to 
plant it, and it turned out just the reverse of 
what they predicted. I also had Sibley’s Pride 
of the North, which was much puffed all over 
the North-west. With me it was u failure, as 
was also a yellow dent from Nebraska, and a 
white dent from Northern Iowa. Two varie¬ 
ties of flint the seed of which was raised hero 
did well, but the prairie squirrels were very- 
severe on them. As the result of my experi¬ 
ments, and from the experience of older set¬ 
tlers, I have no doubt an early eight-rowed 
yellow corn is the proper kind for this section, 
next to which I should take an early white 
dent. Either of these, put iu on old soil and 
properly cultivated, would produce a crop 
with as much certainty as in auy of the ad. 
joining States. 
Clark Co., Dak. .T. macalpine. 
costly, and at the best, very unsatisfactory. 
My method is a simple and conclusive one, 
and a direct guide to the fertilizer necessary 
to render the soil productive of any given 
crop. Beets require an abundance of nitro¬ 
genous material iu tho soil. Peas require 
principally potash. Turnips demaud phos¬ 
phoric acid. Lettuce must have humus upon 
which to feed for a luxurious growth. 
I use these plants to make the analysis of 
any given soil. 
Four patches, each three feet square, are 
planted with beets, dwarf peas, turnips and 
lettuce, respectively; they may be closely ad¬ 
joining. No manure is given, aud the result¬ 
ing crops show whether nitrogen, potash, 
phosphoric acid and humus are present in 
sufficient quantities to give good, medium, or 
poor crops of plants requiring these fertilizers. 
As a guide to the amount of fertilizers needed, 
1 plant a second series of patches as before, 
but placing them at least five feet apart, to 
prevent the rains from carrying the fertilizers 
from cne patch to another. 
Upon the beet patch I use one ounce of 
nitrate of soda. The peas receive one ounce 
of muriate of potash. The turnips are sup¬ 
plied with the same amount of pure, soluble 
superphosphate. The lettuce patch is dressed 
with one inch in depth of well rotted leaf- 
mold, with « suggestion of potash. 
The resulting crops will show the beuefit. 
which may be derived from 300 pounds per 
acre of the fertilizers named in the first three 
cases. In the lost case the dressing is equiva¬ 
lent to 20 cords of leaf-mold to the acre, and 
about 30 pounds of potash. 
Auy one disposed to extend these experi¬ 
ments mav combine the fertilizers upon trial 
patches, or increase or decrease the amount 
tested to suit himself. Experiments will show 
that superphosphate benefits all crops to a cer¬ 
tain extent, especially where the soil contains 
humus in liberal quantity, in which case also 
potash is valuable to dissolve the humus, aud 
nitrogenous manure in small quantities to aid 
the progress of decomposition of the dissolved 
humus. 
The crops requiring principally nitrogen 
are beets, cabbage, carrots and almost all 
garden vegetables, grasses and grains. Those 
requiring principally potash are beans, peas, 
potatoes and the clovers. 
Those requiring principally phosphoric acid 
are corn, sugar caue and turnips. Perhaps 
the best and surest plan to follow is to give 
all crops the complete list of lertilizers 
named, giving double as much of the kind 
principally needed as of the others, and 
keeping the soil alwayB well supplied with 
humus. Then one can depeudupou having a 
crop without waiting a year to know just 
what his land needs. richard ferris. 
form (Topics. 
ANALYSES OF SOILS BY MEANS OF 
PLANTS. 
In these days of special fertilizers it is very 
desirable to know which of the necessary com¬ 
ponents of plant-food are present or lacking 
iu the soil of the farm. Chemical analysis is 
farm Cconomij. 
CONSTRUCTION OF UNDERDliAlNS. 
PROF. R. C. CARPENTER. 
CONSTRUCTION OF A DITCn. 
The Excavation.— In almost every in¬ 
stance, this work will have to be begun at tho 
outlet of the drain, iu order that water may 
not interfere with the work If the soil will 
stand for a long time—that is, until the exca¬ 
vation for the whole ditch is finished—it is ad¬ 
visable to commence to lay tile at the upper 
end of the ditch and work towards the outlet. 
Tills method permits only clear water to enter 
the drain, i have, however, never seen a ease 
in which it was practicable, but I have no 
doubt there are localities in which the soil wilt 
stand until the whole ditch can be excavuted, 
Good working under-drains, even in very flat 
laud, could be constructed without leveling 
under such circumstances; for, after the ditch 
is excavated for ite whole length, irregulari¬ 
ties in the bottom conld be detected l»y pour¬ 
ing in or allowing water to ruu through it. 
In nearly every case, however, In order to 
prevent caving, tile must be laid as fast as 
the ditch is oxenvated, and in such a case even 
the test of running water is worthless. Sup¬ 
pose, for instance, you are to build a drain 40 
rods long, in which the maximum fall is only 
two feet. The profile of almost all these drains 
will show a rapid rise close to the outlet, and 
near the upper end, little or no rise; frequent 
ly the drain must cut through a bauk or dam. 
Now, in working by a water level, there are 
no means of ascertaining the amount of rise 
per rod, ami a ditcher is almost certain to rjpe 
too fast at first, aud, in order to maintain his 
depth at the upper end, must have his bottom 
incline the wrong way. Even in that case it 
would work somewhat, when the water rose 
above the highest point in the tile; but there 
would be no current above that part, and the 
tiles would rapidly silt up. 
In excavating, it is important to dig as nar 
row a ditch as possible. In the first place, it 
means less earth to heave out, and in the sec- 
