4S4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JULY 24 
“cute” in an engraving or chromo, is a breeder 
of aches ami death; the timber-encircled pond 
in which the cattle delight in Summer heat, 
often injures the health of the beasts and de¬ 
teriorates the value of their products, unless, 
like the one here depicted, it is formed by an 
excavation connected with a stream, so that its 
changing waters are always fresh, clean and 
wholesome. 
TILE DRAINAGE.—No. 10. 
SEC. W. 1. CHAMBERLAIN. 
Time and Manner of Executing the Work. 
Klip part on Drainage says, page 410, “No 
one should ever undertake to make drains in 
wet weather or in severe frost. When the 
land is unoccupied and the iceather is dry, 
draining may bo carried on with success. After 
the removal of a crop in the Fall is a very 
favorable time, but it must be finished before 
the Fall rains set in, or hard frosts come.” 
This advice is its bad as can be. I have itali¬ 
cised the worst parts. There is no evidence on 
any page of Mr. Klippart’s book so far as I 
have noticed, that he ever dug or laid a rod of 
tile drain. He was an omnivorous reader, but 
not practical, aud his book abounds in un¬ 
sound advice on points of detail, to some of 
which I must refer again. Waring in his 
Drainage for Health and Profit is almost as 
bad in another respect. His ideas are too 
expansive. Having been engineer of the Cen¬ 
tral Park drainage in N. Y. City, with a rich 
city to back the work, and having expended 
ten or twenty times as much per acre as the 
ordinary farmer can afford, almost all his 
ideas and directions are too expensive. Even 
French, whose book is by far the best, has too 
expensive ideas. His experience of drainage 
was apparently on a rocky New England 
farm, and he had little idea of the conditions 
that prevail in the great West. He was law¬ 
yer. judge, learned scholar, delightful writer, 
but drained the farm with money not made on 
the farm apparently, or he w r ould no doubt 
have been more economical in his views and 
recommendations. There is a great harm in 
making drainage so intricate and expensive 
that the average farmer dare not embark in 
it. To this thought I shall recur occasionally, 
but must now return to the quotation from 
Mr. Klippart’s book. “Not make drains in 
wet weather,” and “finish before Fall rains 
set in,” forsooth! 1 hat is by far the best time 
to drain. The digging of hard clay can be 
done at less than half the cost after the equi¬ 
noctial or later Fall rains have thoroughly wet 
the ground to a depth of three or four feet. 
Clay that after the drought of Summer,could 
only be dug with pick or mattock, can, when 
thoroughly soaked, be sliced with the Eng¬ 
lish spade like new cheese with a sharp knife. 
My plan, tested by long experience and 
much practice, is tiffs: W hen the field has 
anything approaching uniformity of slope, 
let the dead-furrows of a previous plowing 
come just where the la teral drains are to be. 
Then as soon as the Summer or Fall crop is 
off, with a light plow mark a perfectly 
straight furrow in the bottom of each dead 
furrow; also a light furrow, straight or 
curved, as the case may be, along the line 
of each main drain. A good plowman, witn 
stakes set to guide, will draw a furrow as 
straight as a line. Then with heavy plow 
and four horses (abreast with double “evener’ 
is best) plow a broad, deep furrow down into 
the shallow one, throwing the furrow the 
other way. The shallow furrow is simply a 
mark to secure straightness. If the earth is 
so damp as not to rattle (and it always 
should be when this deep furrow is cut), this 
will leave a clean furrow a foot wide and a 
foot deep or more (from the general level), 
that has been dug at about one-tenth the cost 
of cutting with spado and line. I cannot con¬ 
ceive how Judge French could think and say, 
as he does, on page 252 of bis (in the main) ex¬ 
cellent book: “A plow is sometimes used to 
turn out the sod and soil, but we have few 
plowmen who can go straight enough, and 
in plowing the soil is left too near the ditch 
for convenience, and the turf is torn to pieces, 
etc. We have opened our own trenches en¬ 
tirely by hand labor, finding laborers more 
convenient than oxen or horses, aud no more 
expensive (f)” Now, I cannot conceive why a 
fanner should dig the first foot deep with the 
spade when there are in the barn a team and 
plow that could do it ten times as fast and just 
as well. I should as soon think of spading up 
my fields for corn or wheat while team and 
plow wore lying idle ! The horse is stronger 
than man, and man should never do horse 
work. Unfortunately, no plow or simple ma¬ 
chine has been invented that will dig by horse 
power the second and third foot of depth in 
the trenches. This, so far as 1 now know, must 
bo done by hand by the average fanner. I 
have seen numerous machines for doing this 
w ork, and the inventors are still at work, and 
some of those devices already invented work 
well when all the conditions are exactly right. 
But they cost from #300 to $700 each, and re¬ 
quire great power, and will not work in stony 
ground, nor when the ground is wet. But the 
average Western farmer wants to put in his 
time from about Oct. 1st to May 1st along the 
latitude of 40 to 42 degrees. For at that time 
the ground is in the best condition for digging, 
and for leveling and establishing the grade by 
the soil water itself. 
For, if the soil is tolerably damp when these 
ditches are dug a foot deep with team aud 
plow, then the water will slowly gather, at 
least after the next heavy rain, in the low 
spots in the furrows all over the field, and es¬ 
tablish the true grade more unerringly than 
any engineer with theodolite aud target. The 
soil water is the poor man's theodolite aucl level. 
Now is the time to establish the grade in all 
the laterals and mains, simply by taking a 
single team and light plow and good 
driver, and a skillful plowman who has a 
mechanical eye, will run through all the 
furrows and plow off just enough of the 
ridge that dams each puddle in the furrow to 
let the water all escape-. A man with a shovel 
should follow and throw out the loose earth. 
A uniform grade is thus established far more 
easi ly than at a depth of three feet. And if 
two depths are now dug with the spade, sink¬ 
ing the spade each time to its full depth, and 
at a uniform angle, little leveling will need to 
be done in the bottom with the span-level al¬ 
ready described and the groove cutter. 
Further details of digging and laying, fitting 
and covering the tiles will be given hereafter. 
THE BASKET WILLOW. 
THE PROFITS OF ITS CULTURE. THE TRUTH 
ABOUT IT. 
Since the articles on this subject appeared 
in the columns of the Rural, we have had 
another year of study and observation of the 
subject. In the meantime certain papers have 
been discussing the question whether the Wil¬ 
low is a paying crop. Strange as it may appear, 
some editors have answered these inquiries by 
saying that in this country the raising of Wil¬ 
low does not pay. It is very evident that 
those who give such answers kuow uothing 
whatever of the subject, but being under 
obligation to answer such questions they do so 
wholly by guesswork. In contrast with this 
method the editor of the R,ural last season 
took piains to get information direct from the 
cultivators, aud the facts and figures were 
given with exactness so that readers could 
judge for themselves, From the facts thus 
presented it was plain thut this crop was much 
more profitable than ordinary farming. A 
single circumstance shows this very plainty- 
Lands in the neighborhood of a large city where 
market gardening is a profitable business, arc- 
bought at several hundred dollars per acre and 
planted to Willows. As the facts and figures 
were given in full in last year’s Rural, I shall 
not repeat them now excejit such as arc con¬ 
nected with some new developments of the 
business or such as are necessary to answer 
certain inquiries which have been made since 
that time. 
The main question is does this culture pay, 
A few- circumstances will throw much light on 
this question. Suppose we go to Central New 
York to investigate the subject; we leave the 
cars at Syracuse and travel northward; 
within two miles of the city we come to some 
land that it is safe to say could not be bought 
for $1,000 pier acre. This laud was planted to 
Willows last Spring. Probably the owners 
had not read the papers or they did not believe 
those editors who told them that Willow cul¬ 
ture did not pay in this couutry. In this 
vicinity market gardening, the culture of 
small fruits and hop growiug are all profitable 
and are all increasing, but Willow culture is 
increasing more rapidly than either ot the 
others. As we go northward to the village of 
Liverpool, about four miles from Syracuse, 
we find the culture of the willow to las the 
most important industry. Around rhe village 
are hundreds of acres of Willow, aud the culti. 
vatiou and manufacture of this article form 
the business of a large proportion of the 
people. Little or none of this is ever sold 
abroad except as manufactured goods. 
There are two different methods of working 
willow; one is the factory system, the other 
the family system. In the factory system it is 
common to employ many hands. In the 
family system the labor is all done by the 
family. These families arc all Germans, they 
are very industrious, intelligent and excellent 
people. They came here poor and are uow in 
good circumstances. This industry was 
started by the Germans, but the farmers 
about here, finding the culture profitable have 
made it a main item of their business, and uow 
from a ten-acre field they often get more clear 
profit than from a hundred acres of grain. 
Within the last year a new peeling machine 
has been invented that promises to be quite an 
improvement. When Willow is peeled In the 
sap it is white, but when it dries it is necessary 
to steam <»r boil it before peeling and then it 
turns dark. By n new process the Willow can 
be peeled throughout the year without steam¬ 
ing aud in such a manner as to remain white. 
The improved methods of peeling will benefit 
those who wish to send their stock to a distant 
market The stock dries very much after it is 
peeled and becomes very light. It is all sold 
by weight, and when peeled and dry, it brings 
enough more to pay well for peeling It is 
said that so much has been planted that Wil¬ 
low will be cheap. This season has been 
favorable for the crop, and it is possible the 
price may be lower than usual. Would there 
be auytbiug discouraging in the fact of lower 
prices for one year? Would it not rather 
tend to reduce the importations from Europe 
aud result in a permanent advantage to our 
cultivators? It should he remembered that 
this country has never raised enough for its 
own consumption, and a large amount is im¬ 
ported. And still it is the easiest thiug in the 
world to raise, as it grows on any soil aud re¬ 
quires planting but once. Nothing but 
ignorance prevents our raising enough for our 
wanks. And now I want to say, I have no 
object in presenting one set of ideas rather 
than another. I have none to buy, none to 
sell, and I am called upon for facts. The ob¬ 
ject of these facts is to benefit the subscribers 
of this paper, aud they are entitled to know 
the truth. One thing more requires an ex¬ 
planation. Last year there were many in¬ 
quiries where the best kind could be obtained. 
I answered I would try to have the growers 
advertise in the Rural at the proper time, 
Sickness prevented me from doing so. I will 
endeavor to see that stock shall be duly ad- 
vertisixl in the Rural, in season for the next 
plunting. The beat kind here is called Stone 
Willow, but no one knows why it is so called. 
There is a great difference in varieties, and it 
is important to plant only the best. I will 
answer any inquiries on this subject through 
the Rural only, as I have no interest in the 
matter I cannot afford the time for private 
correspondence. a. m. williams. 
Syracuse, N. Y. 
LOADING HAY. 
Mr. J. W. Darrow, in a late Rural, re¬ 
commends placing hay around the outside and 
binding the middle with small forkfuls to 
lighten the labor of pitching off. After for 
30 years tugging at hay which was bound fast 
on the load, I came to the conclusion that 
there might be some way of placing hay on a 
rack so that it would come off easily, and I 
hit upon the following method: begin at the 
forward end of the rack and pile the hay up 
until it is two feet high the whole width, then 
place each forkful so that it laps up on the 
pile with the edge next to you resting on the 
bottom of the rack. 
Continue the same way across the rack from 
side to side until you get to the rear end, then 
pile up as you did in front, loading again from 
side to side until j'ou come to the forward end 
again, when you pile up once more. Always 
keep the layers lapped upon each other, aud 
then your pitcher commences at the end where 
you finished, and stands in one position, lift¬ 
ing the hay up just as fast as he chooses, for it 
lies before him just like a row of bricks which 
have been set on end aud then knocked down 
by pushing over the first one. 
Try this plan, and you can put off two loads 
of hay where you did oue before, aud with less 
labor. A. L. Curtis. 
farm (Topics. 
RURAL- PRIZE SERIES, 
PROFITABLE FARMING FOR 
A P OOR M AN. 
How to Become a Successful Farmer. 
(.The above Is the title or ft series of essays, for the 
heat Of which premiums were offered by ihe Rural 
Nkw-Yorkek last year, the object bclna to assist 
those farmers who have limited means or those hav¬ 
ing a small capital, about to ettKftRe In farming. 
They are for the most part written by thotse who 
have passed through the trials of an impoverished 
beginning to real success.] 
W. H. CAVANAGH. 
The principles that govern and secure prof¬ 
itable fanning for a poor man are identical, 
or nearly so, with the principles that govern 
profitable farming for any other man. And, 
as I am convinced that nine men fail for lack 
of proper general management, where one 
man fails from poor farming proper, i shall 
commence by offering some hints on 
GENERAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT. 
When a farmer has no capital but his head 
and hands, it is necessary that ho should have 
something iu his head. The same is true of 
those engaged in any other calling. The first 
thing to commence then aud t he last thing to 
leave off is professional self-improvement. 
This is the key to the whole situation—the one 
thing needful for complete ultimate success. 
Aud it is uot enough to know the fact; we must 
seek the reason of its existence. Knowing 
that, we work like intelligent beings using 
means to an en<l. Just as a good lawyer al¬ 
ways seeks for the reason of his point of law, 
so a good farmer should know the reason he 
has a rotation of crops, and, in fact, the reason 
he does each thing as he does. 
Some tody says the. way to get rich is to 
spend less than we make; and doubtless this 
will succeed if we live long enough. One of 
the first things for a poor man to attend to is 
to spend os little as lie possibly can, in the 
early part of his career. If he ever inteuds 
to economize, he should do it at. the commence¬ 
ment. In after years it will he a habit. Let 
him remember that one dollar represents to 
him more wealth, comparatively, now, than 
five, ten, or even twenty dollars will a few 
yoars hence. Let him run his own business in 
his own way regardless of adverse criticism. 
The old saw has it that “ he laughs best who 
laughs last.” Be economical, uot niggardly. 
Live as well as you cau afford, no better. Be¬ 
ware of store bills. They are easily contracted 
but hard to abate. Better often borrow money 
at 10 per cent, and buy close for cash than run 
a store bill. Merchants delight most to trust 
him who asks no trust. When compelled to go 
into debt be prompt to pay aud thereby build 
up a credit, for no man needs a credit more 
than a poor man. Cultivate the acquaintance 
of successful meu aud successful farmers; you 
will thereby become acquainted with their 
methods to your own advantage. Dou’t spec¬ 
ulate till you have money to lose. Concentrate 
everything on your business till you get it iu 
good running order and of the desirable di¬ 
mensions. It is then time enough to sport 
with the proceeds. If you go iu debt let it be 
for something that will return you at least 
double the interest you pay, and tlmt is legiti¬ 
mately connected with your business, Aud 
still again, stick to a point. Persevere iu the 
line you have mapped out, until you are sure 
you are wrong. If difficulties arise (as they 
certainly will) overcome them. If you meet 
with au obstacle in your path, dou’t attempt 
to go around it lest you encounter other and 
greater difficulties, but move it aside and go 
on. The man who concentrates will win. 
Don’t be too fast to try new things on any 
thing of a large scale:, wait awhile till they 
become established and you will save many a 
dollai”. 
Another hint or two and I will pass on: If 
your laud is rich, keep it rich: if poor, make 
it rich. Your best profits will bo found in 
good crops, and your worst losses in poor ones. 
A good crop iu a poor year is a double profit, 
for first, there is the profit on the amount 
raised, uud, second, on the price received for 
it. Don’t buy costly commercial fertilizers 
until you have Unit exhausted the common 
methods of manuring, to wit: green manur¬ 
ing and barnyard manure. Then find out by 
experiment what your land wants, aud if it 
will pay, supply it. Never buy what you can 
raise for yourself as well. You lose one profit 
at least by the operation. 
Always keep accounts. It is unsafe to rely 
ou mere memory, aud more especially as 
one’s business becomes complicated and en¬ 
larged. The man who keeps accounts knows 
at a glance how the money comes aud where 
it goes to. The weak points in bis affairs are 
brought prominently out for his inspection 
and correction. 1 am convinced that the mun 
who keeps accounts docs not habitually run 
largo store bills, smoke many cigars, or spend 
much of his time or money in saloons. I say 
keep accounts and lie honest with yourself 
aud put everything down. -As the editor 
seems to desire it, T will briefly give 
MY EXPERIENCE. 
which is somewhat anomalous aud uot very 
instructive, as I believe. The first attempt 
I made at saving money to build up a home 
was in 1870, when 1 came, without money, to 
what is known as the Grand Traverse District 
in Northern Michigan. The country was 
quite new then, there being not more than 
two or throe settlers in the township, aud 
scarcely a dozen scattered here and there in 
the whole country. We were 50 miles from 
the nearest store or post-office, and more than 
100 miles from the nearest railroad station. 
As to law, we had none, nor did we seem to 
need it. Our supplies had to be hauled that 
distance over miserable bush roads, aud some of 
them carried part of the way on our backs. 
You can readily imagine we did uot live in 
the same style that our friend W. 11. Vanderbilt 
does, but 1 do believe we were just us happy. 
Well, T homesteaded 1(50 acres of land, and 
what I consider a strong point was, I stuck to 
it. Some gut disheartened anil left, but none, 
that 1 have heat'd from, to better themselves, 
1 arid a friend kept “ batch”—he was some¬ 
thing of a farmer uud I was something of a 
cook so we did very well together. Iu 1875, 
1 think it was, I disposed of my friend, took 
a wife and commenced for myself as a poor 
man farming for profit. 1 knew little of the 
