SEPTS 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
598 
tunes are but lessons, the meaning of which 
we should learn well. You may think I am 
indulging in a fanciful theory; but if you ob¬ 
serve the actions of those whose lives are both 
pleasant and successful, you cannot fail to 
notice that they are guided more or less by 
these points which I have stated above. 
There are many farmers, however, who 
have made a wrong choice of pursuits. This 
mistake is the rock upon which many ships 
have been wrecked, and as the French pro¬ 
verb puts it—it is the first step that costs. 
Many persons have gone to farming without 
any natural qualifications for the vocation, 
being led ou by descriptions of the noble in¬ 
dependence and the happiuess of the farmer. 
While all this is true, yet there are many 
rough places in the life of a farmer, and such 
enthusiasts find the fact out to their sorrow. 
My idea is that to be a farmer requires some 
love for nature, s >me taste for the beautiful 
and good, and, above all, a rniud willing to 
work and labor among nature’s objects, and 
capable of waiting upon the developments of 
time to crown labor with success. In choos¬ 
ing a pursuit I recommend that a person 
doubtful of his calling should follow the foot¬ 
steps of his father, especially if the latter has 
been even moderately successful; for some 
instinct of nature led him to that calling, 
whatever it maybe. Moreover, in following’ 
the footsteps of his father one has at least some 
knowledge of the business, aud a practical 
knowledge of one’s business is the lever end 
of success, for to conduct a business success¬ 
fully it must he conducted well, and how can 
one conduct it well unless he knows how? As 
the wealthy man said, when asked the secret 
of success, “Sir, I know my business and 
attend to it.” If a fanner does imperfectly 
his part of raising a crop, can he expect 
nature, his co-worker, to supply his deficit'll, 
cies in addition to doing her own part. If he 
does ho surely will he disappointed, for nature 
works the best when she feels her co-worker 
putting forth his best endeavors. Nature is a 
willing worker, but, like all others, she re¬ 
quires the most favorable circumstances to 
produce the best results. And when a man 
has doue his best to assist her, be may reason¬ 
ably expect a good result aud he will not be 
disappointed under ordinary conditions, and 
if he does his part ill, nature will follow his 
example. If a person puts his crops in poorly 
he will have poor crops; but if he does it 
well the chances are that he will have 
good crops. 
That a faiiner do his part well it is neces¬ 
sary that he do it methodically. He should 
have a plan for everything. He should lay 
out his day’s work. Nature has laid off the sea¬ 
son’s work; mau should follow her example in 
the smaller divisions of time; for one who goes 
at his work with a plan does more and better 
work than one who does it hap-hazard, flying 
from this to that juntas an idea comes to him, 
worrying himself dowu, but accomplishing 
little. Method comes under good manage¬ 
ment, aud this implies economy. It is not 
enbugh to earn but to save what is earned. 
As I said before, to save one must hold 
on to what he gets. The old proverb has 
it, “A fool can make money, hut it takes a 
wise man to save it,” that is, to save it decently 
and not injure either his busiuoss or himself. 
The saving of money, like the getting of it, 
should be doue with a purpose and not with 
miserly objects in view. Wastefulness and 
extravagance have been the causes of more 
bankruptcies than all other faults. Ameri¬ 
cans have too great a passion for show. We 
are spending more thuu we make. We live 
too fast. We worship the golden calf, aud if 
we cannot get the gold wo want to make with 
tinsel the same display that those do who have 
the real gold. We depart from our regular 
course of business and speculate in hope of re¬ 
trieving, and departure from regular business 
means failure. Then again, we are apt to go 
on the credit system, which, if not abused, 
may be very good; but how few huvo not 
abused their credit when they once began to 
borrow money. You may say that the farmer 
is an exception to this. While 1 admit that, 
as a rule, farmers are less extravagant than 
others, yet I have known at least two farmers 
to become bankrupts through extravagance. 
I think I hardly need to say anything of 
personal habits aud the common vices. All 
recognize the injurious effects of these, but 
the trouble is to get people to refrain from 
t hem. I have heard men of the most vicious 
habits declare that “wlmt will support one vice 
would educate two children,” yet they do not 
try to refrain from the wasteful vice. 
A farmer must have sufficient capital to do 
the required amount of work, to stock the 
farm and furnish implements and seeds and 
live till the uext harvest time, or till his stock 
is ready for market. If ho has not such cap¬ 
ital he is always at a disadvantage anil is fre¬ 
quently forced to sell at the most inopportune 
time, aud his buyings are hampered by his 
credit. He had better have a smaller farm 
than be subjected to such losses, and, besides, 
he has a great amount of worry. Any one 
who has tried doing business with little or no 
capital, even if he has succeeded (which is sel¬ 
dom the case) with borrowed capital to make 
his business a success, will advise others to be¬ 
ware, Paying interest is a leak in a man’s 
success, which may sink the strongest vessel. 
Interest grows ineessautly, day and night, 
Winter and Summer, never ending. Can the 
crops keep up? Let us see: crops grow night 
and day, but not in the Winter, aud, besides, 
look at the odds the crops and stock must 
battle with, and they are never safe as long as 
they are in one’s hand, and when, as is neces¬ 
sary, the borrower counts his chickens be¬ 
fore they are hatched, ho finds he has attempt¬ 
ed all he could do and the machine jumped a 
cog and he has attempted more than he can 
accomplish. As Burns well says:— 
“For care and trouble set your thoughts, 
Ev’u when your end’s attained; 
And all your plans may come to naught, 
When every nerve is strained.” 
Cash should be the general rule and credit 
the rare exception. This may seem very slow 
to a young and poor person ambitious to rise 
in this world; but both those who have failed 
and those who have succeeded ou the credit 
plan say, “Pay as you go." The chances of 
success are not worth the worry and the prob 
able loss caused by indebtedness. 
(To be Continued.) 
PLAN OF A SMALL DAIRY FARM. 
A subscriber in Missouri sends a diagram, 
(Fig. 624, p. 591,) and the following explanation 
and questions: “1. Meadow, 40 acres, in corn at 
present 2. Pasture, 10 acres, prairie sod just 
“broke.” 3. Corn, 12 acres. 4. Garden and 
small fruits. 5. Dwelling-house and yard. 6. 
Stable and feed lot. 7. Vineyard. 8. Calf 
pasture, 2y t acres. 9. Hog lot. 10. Sweet 
corn and root crop for hogs, three-fourths of 
an acre. 11. Orchard, 200 trees, 80 feet apart. 
12. Twelve acres 1 bought this Spring, with 
two gullies and spring and a creek with good 
rock bottom. On tins parcel there is considera 
ble heavy timber.marked with heavy cross aaa, 
and brush marked with light eross b b b, which 
I expect to grub out; and the vacant space is 
prairie which 1 intend to break this Spring. 
Garden and small fruits slope to the north. 
Dwelling-house and yard are on a knoll. 
Stable and feed lot slope to the north. Pro¬ 
posed vineyard is a prairie sod just ‘broke * 1 
this Summer. Calf pasture is in corn now. 
Hog lot contains two deep gullies with water 
from a spring near-by, aud some trees and 
brush. Orchard was planted three years ago. 
The character of the soil is a sandy loam, the 
land gently rolling, with subsoil inclined to 
clay. Native grass is on the cleared space of 
the twelve-acre parcel. It will amount to four 
acres; w hen the brush is cleared off it will be 
six acres, the balance being timber. I would 
not expect to keep many hogs. Would keep 
the calves about tw r o years. 
Questions.— What do you think of the idea 
and plan of farm? I want to get cows and 
sell cream to a creamery” now many cows 
could I reasonably expect to keep? How can 
I best get lot marked 2 iuto grass? Would it 
justify me to keep only one good horse to 
work ou this place? Advise me all al>out it. 
ANS.-With some exceptions the general plan 
is good. Garden and small fruits are near the 
house, as they should be, it is better to have 
the stable and feed lots farther from the house 
than you have indicated. It would have been 
better if you had the orchard where the 
stable and feed lot are. The vineyard and 
calf pasture are well situated. The stable 
should occupy the space you have designated 
for sweet corn and root crops, and these the 
orchard site. This would be the better arrange¬ 
ment if slopes did not prevent. A southern 
or eastern slope is better than a northern or 
western one for stable and feed lots. The 
garden and small fruits should slope to the 
north as you say they do. Orchard should be 
on high ground; a northern slope is best. The 
hog lot is well situated and well adapted to 
the purpose, as it is supplied with pure water, 
w allowing facilities and shelter for the Sum¬ 
mer, The orchard you should keep in cultiva¬ 
ted crops, potatoes, rout crops for cows aud 
hogs, etc , for 10 years yet , then you may seed 
to grass. Sow proposed ialf pasture in wheat 
this Fall and seed to Timothy, Blue Grass, 
or Orchard Grass (this Fall) and clover 
early next Spring. Grub out the brush ou 
the twelve-acre parcel but do not break up 
the clear ground; underbrush the timber aud 
get the entire parcel iu Blue Grass its soon as 
possible. The Blue Grass will do well on the 
soil you indicate aud furnish pasture iu the 
early Spring and late Fall. It will do well in 
the timber and make a shady, well watered 
pasture. Make a lane along the end of the 
garden leading from the ten-acre lot of tame 
grasses to the timber pasture, and the cows can 
go to the shade in midsummer. As you do 
not expect to keep many hogs you will not 
need so much corn as you indicate on the dia¬ 
gram, providing you have the 10 acres in 
meadow. The skimmed milk, vegetable scraps 
and slops from the house, sweet com and root 
crops will furnish the hogs about all the food 
they will require; and I suppose that your ob¬ 
ject in keeping them is to prevent the waste 
of this milk and slop. Corn is not a good food 
for milch cows, unless ground. It would be 
better to dispose of it and purchase bran, 
shorts, etc. If you have so much in com you 
will not need so much meadow, for you should 
cut the corn for fodder. In that case I would 
take about four acres from the meadow and 
put it into the pasture. On your cultivated 
land at least, you should practice a rotation 
of crops, and I would sow three acres of the 
corn ground iu oats to feed the calves upon 
till they are one year old and also that horse. 
The oats need not be thrashed, but if they 
are, the cows will like the straw. It is not a 
great milk-producing food, but will be relished 
as a change. The corn fodder I would haul 
out in the Fall, sow rye on the ground-(it will 
need no preparation) and cover with a sharp 
harrow. The rye will afford abundant pas¬ 
ture during the Fall, Winter and early Spring 
when grass fails, and will not interfere with 
the corn crop, as it can be plowed under in 
time for the next crop of corn. The com will 
be all the better for the ground having been 
in rye. With these changes you will have 
twelve acres in Blue Grass pasture, fourteen 
in tame pasture, six in meadow, nine in com 
nine in rye pasture, three in oats, besides calf 
pasture and root crops. The rye will do well 
on your laud. Yes, you will be justified in 
keeping one good horse: you will have plenty 
of work for him, and occasionally for another 
one, which you can borrow or hire. The pro¬ 
posed pasture should have been in com or oats 
this yeai\ But nevertheless I would sow it in 
wheat this Fall and seed to grass with the 
wheat. Your pasture should be mostly clover; 
but it is bette r to so w a si ight admixture of other 
grasses, as the clover is liable to winter-kill. 
By arranging your farm as I have suggested, 
you might be able to keep 40 cows. But at 
the number of cows you can keep I must guess 
altogether. There are too many unknown 
factors in the problem. Start with a small 
number and increase it if you can. Your 
neighbors can advise you better about this 
than I can. John M. Stahl. 
ijortintitural. 
AN HOUR ON A COLORADO FRUIT 
FARM. 
An hour was all the time allowed to see and 
talk about what would require half a day, at 
the Fossel Creek Fruit Farm. Mr, J. S. 
McClelland has commenced fruit growing both 
large and small, which promises successful aud 
profitable returns. Entering his ground on a 
hot day. the visitor at once feels the delight¬ 
ful shade f rein large trees of Cottonwood of 
three varieties, Negundo Occidentslis and. 
other kinds, standiug on a lawn covered thickly 
with Red aud White Clover A comfortable 
farm house with good barn, tool-house, stables, 
etc., equal to many iu the Eastern States. Mr. 
McClelland being known here as one of the 
best strawberry cultivators, inquiry was made 
on this subject first. He has thirty varieties, 
with some of which he is so far only experi¬ 
menting. He plants in rows four feet apart, 
the plauts one loot apart, and thus set 
they have growu so strong that the broad 
leaves touch each other. Duriug the fruiting 
season water is turned on betweeu the rows 
two or three times a week. The Crescent has 
proved the best bearer, but he thinks the Jer¬ 
sey will prove the best for this country, with 
the Manchester. Wilson has not been success 
ful Among his varieties are Red Jacket 
President Lincoln. Longfellow. Big Bob. 
Black Defiance, Windsor Chief, Glendale, 
James Vick, Minor’s Prolific, Bid well, Jucui 
da, Sharpless, Charles Dow ning—all showing 
most prolific growth. This season he sold 
8,000 quarts, which brought 35 cents very 
readily. The plants will stand three years 
without renewal, 1 nt Mr. M. says he thinks 
plantiug every year will prove the best. The 
first runuere of this year on the rows of Black 
Defiance were iu bloom, and he said he must 
turn the water on them. Two crops a year 
seem possible, aud where there is plenty of 
water all crops are under perfect control. Of 
raspben-ies, Bluek-caps show that a large crop 
has been gathered, leaving a great grow th of 
canes. He has also Reliance, Cuthbert, Turner 
and Belle de Fonteuay, a Fall-bearing variety- 
in beariug.for the first time. Blackberries— 
Wilson, Snyder, Taylor, Kittatinny—are all 
doing well. In this climate all these have to 
be protected in Winter. Gooseberries flourish 
and bear great crops. Besides his first plant¬ 
ing, he has 600 Houghton out, tw r o years which 
were very full of fruit, and the berries much 
Larger than the same kind at the East. The 
writer secured a quart jar for exhibition in 
other lands. 
A young plum orchard, mostly Miner’s, is 
making a great grow-th. He has a large trac 
planted with selected varieties of apples—per¬ 
haps 20 acres—Duchess of Oldenburg, Ben 
Davis, and Martha Crabs were in bearing. 
The Duchess proved tender last Winter, while 
Red Astracban endured the severe cold better 
than any other. With a selection of hardy 
kinds, this will prove a good region for apples. 
The next county produced .500 bushels last 
year. The blackberry season is at its hight 
<»nd piles of crates can be seen every day at 
Boulder Station for the Denver and Mountain 
markets. 
Mrs. McClelland has a brilliant garden 
of flowers which would delight our grand¬ 
mothers. The old-fashioned Marigolds, Pinks. 
Poppies, Pansies, very fine; Balsams, Petunias 
in great variety, with the modern Geraniums, 
Calladiumg,Verbenas, etc., are all blooming to 
perfection in consequence of a small stream of 
water trickling along the edge of the borders. 
At present the finest sight on the ground is 
the Green Mountain, Adamant and Arnold’s 
Gold Medal Wheats grown from two ounce 
samples sent out by the Rural New-Yorker. 
The writer has never seen any wheat which 
would compare with these. The growth o* 
stalk is from four to four-and-a-half feet, all 
headed heavily and well filled with fat kernels. 
The premiums offered are #50 for the best 
yield and #25 for the best 20 heads. For the 
latter, the successful man must, show heads 
over eight inches to beat Mr. M., and as to 
yield, the writer thinks this can’t be beat. A 
row of Black-bearded Centennial standing 
fully six feet high, with immense heads and 
heavy foliage of bright blue, is a beautiful 
show. 
The writer being engaged in collecting sam¬ 
ples for the Land Department of the Union 
Pacific Railway for Eastern exhibition, was 
allowed to cut samples of the Fultzo-Clawson 
heads which measured nearly eight inches, 
and a fine sample of Red Chaff Clawson, with 
White Australian Oats over six feet in hight- 
The reader will remember that the location of 
what promises to be a fine fruit farm is only 
three miles from the base of the mountains 
which rise up iu their grandeur—a beautiful 
light gre^n, with dark masses of pines, and 
above all, in plain view the everlasting snow. 
Fort Collins, Col. J. T. Allan. 
0ficri)iul)n\c. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORT. 
Illinois. 
Durand, Winnebago Co., Aug. 20.—My 
Shoe-peg corn looks due and well eared. It 
stands 11 feet high. I have 15 Niagara Grape 
vines that look fine—10 inches high. My wheat 
is a failure. My watermelons, ditto. My 
Blush Potatoes are looting fine. I have 12 hills. 
Some of the mixed seeds have grown and look 
splendid. All kinds of crops here are good. 
Wheat, x-ye, oats, corn, barley, potatoes and 
grass are average crops. Harvesting all 
through with and stacking and thrashing 
going on. p. b. w. 
Kansas. 
Humboldt, Allan Co., Aug. 20.—Wheat so 
far as has been thrashed is yielding fairly—10 
to 25 bushels per acre—quality superior. Oats, 
excellent, 40 to 60 bushels per acre. Rye good 
though not much is raised. Flax an increased 
acreage this season; yield haollv au average. 
Castor beans, one of the staple productions of 
this part of the country, will not reach an 
average yield owing to cold dews followed by 
hot suns causing them to blast. Early-planted 
corn will reach a full average though not so 
good as last year. Late corn injured to some 
exteut by recent drought. Early potatoes are 
excellent; tops of late potatoes look w ell but 
they need rain to insure a good crop. j. d. 
Irving, Marshall Co., Aug. 16.—This Spring 
I tinned over a new leaf and gave the boys 
the farm and horses and machinery and said, 
“Boys now go ahead; half of what you raise 
is yours.” I kept the cattle, sheep anil hogs 
and the boys worked so that I believe I will 
get more than when 1 used to get it all. Still 
they ask me about everything. Such exclama¬ 
tions as “Get up boys!” aud “Hurry up boys” 
are hoard no more. I atteud the cattle, sheep 
aud hogs, and my stock would bring 10 per 
cent, more than under the old way. Mary, 
my wife, gave each of the girls a cow, and we 
milk 13 besides. What each makes out of her 
cow is here, and they all sell the butter of 
their cows. She also gave them all the chick- 
