APRIL 28 
260 
THE RURAL HEW-YORKER. 
ftural topics. 
RURAL- PRIZE SERIES. 
—— 
PROFITABLE FARMING FOR 
A POOR MAN. 
WALDO F. BROWN. 
[The above Is tho title of a series of essays, for the 
best of which premiums were offered by tho Rt.ua i. 
New-Yorker last year, the object being to usslst 
those farmers who have limited means or those hnv- 
ng a small capital, about to engage In farming. They 
are for the most part written by those who htivo 
passed through tho trials of an Impoverished begin* 
nlng to real success.! 
The wonderful resources of France, by 
which she was able to pay the enormous sums 
levied upon her by the Germans after the war 
of a few years since, astonished the world 
This money did not come from the millionaires 
and capitalists exclusively, but from the com¬ 
mon people, and largely from the farmers. I 
have seen the statement on good authority 
that the larger part of France is divided into 
farms of from two or three to 10 acres each, 
and consequently is more thoroughly cultivated 
and produces more than any country on the 
globe. England and Ireland, on the other 
hand, are examples of the evils of great 
landed estates, of which we have ample proof 
in the agricultural distress and the troubles 
between landlords and tenants. One great 
good accomplished by a poor man in becoming 
owner of a few acres of land is that his 
chances for a manly independence are in¬ 
creased, he is much more likely to become a 
good citizen and to bring up his children well 
than when living from hand to mouth aud 
moving every year or oftener. Duriug ten 
years past I have thought much on this subject, 
and have had an opportunity' of contrasting 
the condition of the common laborer with that 
of his fellow who owned a few acres of land, 
and it was with great pleasure that 1 noted 
that the good old Rural had the interest of 
this class at heart. So much by way of 
preamble. 
The first question of impoi-tance is how 
SHALL A POOR MAN OET A LITTLE LAND. It 
would require years of economy and pinching 
for him to save, the few hundred dollars nec¬ 
essary' to buy even a small place, and by the 
time this was accomplished—if ever—the 
strength aud enthusiasm of youth would be 
gone and his chances of success aud enjoy- 
meut of it greatly lessened. My advice would be 
to buy the land as soon as two or three hundred 
dollars were saved to pay on it and go in debt 
for the remainder, but in doing this he should 
be careful not to run too great risk of losing 
his investment. Our building associations, 
now fortunately quite common, offer great 
advantages to the poor man struggling for a 
home. Iu many of them money' can be bor¬ 
rowed at eight ]>er cent, and both interest and 
principal are payable weekly. The principal 
is paid in installments of 25 cents per week 
on each share of stock of $200. This allows 
nearly sixteen y'ears in which to pay np the 
stock, but the association will receive the full 
amount at any time and cancel tho mortgage 
which it takes to secure itself. Or if the Ixir- 
rower wishes to pay both interest and dues a 
year in advance he can do so, and will Ik? al¬ 
lowed interest ou all money so paid in advance. 
He is also allowed his full share in the profit, 
and each year reduces his interest. 
For example, we will suppose a poor man 
has $200 saved and finds a home of eight or 
ten acres, with ft house in which he can live 
for a few y'ears, which can tie bought for $600. 
He pays his $21 Hi, and borrows $400 from the 
building association. All it costs him to be¬ 
come a member is *25 cents initiation fee on 
each share of stock, and a small fee for exam¬ 
ining title and drawing up the mortgage when 
he borrows the money. His payment, ou this 
the first year, would lie, dues, $26; interest, 
$32. The second year his interest will be re¬ 
duced $2.08, for be will have no interest, on the 
$26 that were paid off the first year. The sec¬ 
ond year will not only reduce his interest tho 
same ns the former, but he will also get his 
share of profits of the association on the 
amount paid in the previous year, which will 
be nearly the same per cent, as the average in¬ 
terest paid by r borrowers. If all the money 
loaned by the association should be borrowed 
out at eight per cent., the profits would pay 
the interest soon after half the sum was paid 
in; for the expense of running the association 
will be a small fraction of one per cent., the 
secretary being the only salaried officer. It 
will be seen that at the end of eight years half 
the stock would be paid in and that the profits 
on this would soon pay the interest on the oth¬ 
er half. - 
But are these associations safe. 4 Perfectly, 
or as nearly so as any organization can be. All 
the funds am loaned to stockholders as fast, as 
they accumulate, and on first mortgage on 
real estate. The association is controlled by a 
board of directors elected from the stockhold¬ 
ers, and they serve one year without pay. No 
large amount of money is kept on hand to 
tempt the treasurer to dishonesty, but it is 
loaned as fast as it accumulates. This may 
seem a digression, but the. building association 
offers so easy a method of getting a small 
place that I feel as though it ought to be ex¬ 
plained. 
But we will suppose the little farm in posses¬ 
sion, whether paid for or not, and now the 
question comes up, how shall it be managed so 
as to make the most out of it? First, it should 
be made, so far as possible, to furnish the 
family supplies. Three-fourths of the wages 
of the laboring man are spent at the grocery on 
Saturday night laying in supplies for the 
coming week, and now, when in possession of 
a home, the owner should take pride in seeing 
how nearly' he can come to feeding his family 
on home-grown products. Perhaps the most 
important tliiug, and the one worthy of being 
mentioned first, is a cow, for she will not only 
furnish a large part of the family food, but 
will, if rightly mauaged, furnish manure 
enough to dress an acre of wheat so as to in¬ 
sure a heavy yield. This cow should be kept 
in her stall Winter and Summer a great part 
of the 24 hours, and this stall should be so ar¬ 
ranged and supplied with absorbents that 
every particle of the manure, liquid and solid, 
will be saved. I should expect this cow to be 
found so profitable that in a year or two 
another would be bought, or perhaps two, if 
there were as much as ten acres of land. For 
the keeping of the eow or cows, every spot of 
land that can be spared should be kept at 
work growing a crop. Rye for early Spring, 
oats aud clover for later; beets sown thickly 
for green Summer food, and cultivated for 
Winter; sweet coni for market, as much as 
could he sold, the husks and stalks to be fed to 
the cows, and the same dialled in after the early 
crops to grow fodder for Fall and Winter. 
For other live stock there should be pigs, 
just as many as can be kept on the w aste of 
the garden and house, and probably it will be 
found profitable to buy some food for them, 
for with proper care they will be found great 
manure-makers. Keep them in a pen with a 
tight floor, and let them have a yard of equal 
size with a tight floor a foot or more below the 
level of the feeding-floor, and if this is sup¬ 
plied with straw, sods, weeds, potato vines, 
etc., yon will get manure euough from half-a- 
dozen pigs for another acre before the year is 
out, and with the arrangement I recommend 
the pen can be kept from ever becoming offen¬ 
sive. Next you will want to keep chickens, 
and they will pay in manure as well as eggs 
and fowls for the table, and can lie kept con¬ 
fined to a small lot if you give them such care 
as you should. They may be let out half an 
hour before sun-down for exercise and to find 
some animal food, and they will do little if any 
damage in the garden, and even if you forget 
to shut them up at night they can be readily 
called into their yard in the morning: 
Ranking iu importance with the cows, comes 
the family garden, and here everything the 
family needs should be grown in abundance. 
Look out not only for a Summer but a Winter 
supply, and grow largely of those things which 
can be kept over, or of such as you can sell the 
surplus. I have saved a bushel of dry Lima 
Beans for Winter from six square rods of land, 
besides what the family has eaten. I find that, 
my garden potatoes yield usually twice as much 
ns the same amount of land in the field, and 
then by planting Hubbard Squashes as soon 
as 1 dig the first hills of potatoes, I grow a 
large crop of them. Every foot of the garden 
should be kept at work during the entire sea¬ 
son; study its capabilities and what your mar¬ 
ket will use, aud plant, largely of that. If you 
can sell an acre of green corn it will bring, at 
10 cents per dozen, about $100, aud furnish 
food for a cow for several months. Next in 
importance to the garden will be the wheat 
jiatch, and I would recommend that not less 
than one-fourth of the land be devoted to this 
crop. I know a man with a lot of only four 
acres, who has excelled all his neighbors in the 
yield of wheat per acre for many years. With 
two or three acres of wheat put. in and manured, 
as the owner of a small place ought to be ahle 
to do it, he should have bread-stuff for his 
family and wheat to sell every year. The 
land under wheat should lie sown in clover 
every year to enrich tho soil for corn and pota¬ 
toes. w hich should follow it in rotation. A 
fourth of an acre planted in some one of the 
improved varieties of sugar-cane will give a 
barrel, more or less, of excellent sirup and 
furnish iu the seed and blades a large amount 
of food for cow and poultry. If desirable to 
w ork at home as much as possible, often an 
acre or two of broom-corn can be grown aud 
made into brooms during the Winter, giving 
employment for tho slack season and additional 
profit. 
It is difficult, however, to lay down rules, 
for every one must be guided by the circum¬ 
stances by which he is surrounded, his soi^ 
market, etc. One would find the greatest 
profit in making dairying the. main thing, and 
by soiling might keep half a dozen cows on the 
products of his ten acres. Another, differently 
situated, might grow some special crops, such 
as sweet coin, Lima Beans, or sweet potatoes, 
to the greatest profit. Another, with a differ¬ 
ent soil and surroundings, might grow broom- 
corn almost exclusively, and still another com 
and wheat. With all these owners of small 
farms the question should be “How can I do 
the most work and get paid for it Their 
farming should be intensive, and everything be 
done in the most thorough manner. Every 
acre, yes, every rod, of the land mast be made 
to pay. They must also be ever on the watch 
for material to keep the soil fertile, and, if 
they cannot afford to buy manure, they should 
produce it as suggested above. The average 
laborer does not earn $300 a year, and must 
pay a heavy per cent of this for hoase rent. 
With no call for the latter expense, if he owns 
his house and little farm and the family sup¬ 
plies are largely produced at home, he will be 
more independent and happy, and, with good 
management, will be able to feed and clothe 
his family much better and to lav by something 
for a rainy day. The same advice, somewhat 
modified, I would give to the owners of many 
poor farms who are growing poor crops and 
hardly making ends meet from year to year. 
Intensify your farming. Instead of plowing 
30 or 40 acres, plow only 10, or at least only as 
much as can by means of clover, manure, or 
both, be made rich enough to produce heavy 
crops. Over-cropped land and poorly tended 
crops are the bane of farming. Put only such 
an amount of land in grain as you can put in 
well ami teud well; if 20or 40 acres, well; but 
if not, try ten or five. Study your business in 
all its details; there is a way to farm and there 
are crops which will give a profit on your 
farm if you will find them out. An old Ger¬ 
man shop-keeper solemnly affirmed to a 
customer that he was selling his goods below 
cost, and when asked how he “made a living 
at. it,' 1 answered, “ By sure we sells so many of 
'em.” There is a very large class of farmers 
whose business management is much the same 
as our German friend,—their fanning does not 
pay, but then they do a vast amount of it. 
3iti)uslrial (Topics. 
THE ELMIRA FARMERS’ CLUB TRIAL. 
[Rural Special Report.] 
The second annual trial of farming imple¬ 
ments, under the auspices of the Elmira Farm¬ 
ers' Club, was a grand success. The day tvas 
all that could be desired—warm, bright and 
pleasant, with a cooling breeze from the south, 
while the attendance was beyond the most 
sanguine expectations, it being estimated that 
nearly 2,000 farmers were on the grounds dur¬ 
ing the day. Manufacturers from New York, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and several 
other States were in attendance with their 
wares. 
PLOWING TESTS. 
At 10 a. M. the plots of ground were rneas. 
ured off and the entries made. In this trial it 
was understood that all who had plows to ex¬ 
hibit were perfectly welcome. No entrance 
fee was exacted, no premiums given, and, as 
the General Superintendent said, " All are 
welcome, and every farmer shall be his own 
judge.” Among the numerous plows were the 
following: The Columbia from the Copake Iron 
"Works. This plow seemed to do good work 
and commanded a great deal of attention. 
The Oliver Chilled Plow Works had on 
exhibition a large variety of their plows, 
chief among them lieing the celebrated Oas- 
aday Sulky Plow. While conversing with 
Mr. Beeker, a practical farmer at Burdette, 
New York, he said: " l like the Casaday; 
1 have used one for two years; 1 plow from 60 
to 75 acres a year. During that time I have 
only worn out two points. It runs level and 
there is but little side-draft.” 
Hathaway & Bennett, represented the Wiard 
Sulky Plow. This plow is simplicity itself in 
construction, has a wooden beam and is ad¬ 
justable for two or three horses abreast. 
The Robinson Chilled Plow, represented 
by Lovell fir Hibbard, had its staunch 
friends aud w r as warmly recommended by 
well-knowu fanners. The Clipper Chilled 
Plow Company made a tine exhibit. The 
Clipper Reversible, although a new plow, 
won many friends. This plow has shifting 
handles which enable the plowman to walk di¬ 
rectly in tho furrow, also reveirible coulter 
aud pointer, and is adapted’for both side-hill 
and fiat-land plowing. 
The Castile Chilled Plow Co. exhibited a new 
plow sulky which attracted much attention. 
This sulky is adjustable and can be used with 
any plow. This sulky claims several improve¬ 
ments on all other sulkies, chief among which 
is a tilting lever by which the driver is enabled 
to vary the width of his furrow without stop¬ 
ping. While watching it in operation I heard 
several well-known farmers remark, “It seems 
to work well, but it has got too much rigging 
about it.” The Daniel’s Sulky Plow is an old 
favorite with many farmers in this section of 
the country, and gained many new friends 
among those who "witnessed it in operation. 
A practical young farmer, who, by the way, is 
a son of the President of the Club, expressed a 
decided preference for the Daniel’s. The New 
York Plow Co. had in operation a Sackett pul¬ 
verizer and plow combined. This plow worked 
at a great disadvantage, not being adapted to 
the soil, which consisted of a stiff sod and was 
quite stony. The universal opinion seemed to be 
that in a soil of a different character, for in¬ 
stance, on a river bottom or a sandy soil, this 
plow might do good work. In the line of draft 
it was impossible to form any true opinion, as 
no dynamometer tests were applied. 
TRIAL OF CULTIVATORS AND HARROWS. 
At the conclusion of the plowing trial the 
harrows were driven over the freshly-plowed 
plots exhibiting their different points of ex¬ 
cellence. There were so many of these that 
it would be impossible to enumerate them in 
order; but conspicuous among them was the 
Warner Sulky Spring-Tooth Cultivator and 
Harrow combined with a broadcast seeder. 
This new candidate for public favor embraces 
four complete implements—a broadcast seeder, 
a field cultivator or harrow, a double corn 
cultivator and a one-horse cultivator. 
Among the novelties in this class was the 
Nellis’s Electric Spring Agitator. The old 
and reliable firm of Johnson, Gere & Truman 
exhibited a Whipple Sulky Spring-tooth Har¬ 
row with broadcast grain-sower attachment, 
a Whipple floating spring-tooth harrow, two 
and three-horse, also a corn and hop cultivator. 
GRAIN DRILLS, 
Of these useful machines there was a fine 
display and nearly all of the old and long- 
tried favorites were on exhibition except the 
Empire. Among those on exhibition we 
noticed the Champion, the Superior, the Im¬ 
proved Keller, and the Missouri. 
MOWERS, REAPERS, HARVESTERS. 
D. M. Osborn & Co. had one of their self¬ 
binding harvesters constantly in motion show¬ 
ing its good points to hundreds of farmers. 
The Triumph Reaper and New Clipper 
Mower and the Bradley Harvesters and 
Changeable Speed Mowers had a host of 
admirers. 
MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES. 
Near the entrance to the grounds, side by Side, 
were a Stevens French Buhr feed and corn mill 
and an iron feed mill. These mills were in 
active operation throughout the day grinding 
feed, and elicited admiration and approval 
from the throng that constantly surrounded 
them. 
This trial coming in the Spring of the year 
brought out the hand coni and seed planters 
in full force. Among them we noticed the 
Hudson Hand Corn and Pumpkin Seed 
Planter; the Northwestern Corn Planter; 
Fisk's Automatic Seed Planter, Hoag's Hand 
Corn, Bean and Beet Planter. 
There was no need of anybody guessing 
at their weight, for Jones of Binghamton, and 
Howe's Standard Scales were both well repre¬ 
sented. The Chautauqua Corn Planter, Ro- 
tarv Corn Planter, and Champion Barbed 
Wire were thoughtfully examined by many 
farmers. An old rusted iron kettle lying on the 
ground near the main building was the sub¬ 
ject for many quizzical questions. This 
kettle was purchased some time ago by the 
Club and simply left on the ground for inspec¬ 
tion. It is to be used by one of the members 
for stock-watering purposes. Such can be 
purchased at the salt works in Syracuse, and 
are much cheaper than an ordinary water 
trough—the cost of this one on the grounds 
being only $5.50, freight and cartage in¬ 
cluded. Bach. 
Citmmi. 
SENATOR MARTIN’S WIFE. 
EMMA COSAND STOUT. 
iFor the Rural New-Yorker.] 
“No. Miss Champton, my family will expect 
me home for the holidays. I must leave uext 
week,” said an elegant, middle-aged gentleman 
in reply to an earnest request from the most 
beautiful lady in the spacious drawing-room. 
•'His family! on ignorant count rv wife aud a 
half-dozen rude youngsters." sneeringlv mused 
the winsome beauty; ''then I*m not gaining 
such a power over him as I thought.” 
By the way, it was rumored through Wash¬ 
ington circles that Hou. S. S. Martin was im¬ 
mensely rich, having amassed a large fortune 
as a land agent in his Missouri home. 
But no shadow of Miss Champton’s thoughts- 
