THE RURAL HIW-YORSCIB, 
manuring and will last many years under the 
conservative system described. A good 
arable soil has been found to consist of the 
following substances, which contribute food 
for the crops in one acre, and nine inches 
deep: 
Silica.2,307,700 pounds. 
a i_non “ 
Alumina. 
255,000 
U 
Oxide of iron. 
132,000 
u 
Lime. 
60,900 
u 
Maguesia. 
79.800 
iC 
Potash . 
34.200 
Soda . .... 
36,200 
u 
Phosphoric acid. 
19,000 
u 
Sulphuric acid. 
1,830 
Chlorine . 
1.800 
^•Organic matter- 
70 000 
u 
♦(Con’ing of nitrogen 
1,120) 
(c 
Total. 
3,000,000 pounds. 
Of these the crops of a usual rotation take 
from the soil the following amounts per acre. 
Pounds of 
Wheat. 
Clover 
Hay. 
Grass | 
Pasture.j 
z 
o 
o 
Oats. 
Total. 
Nitrogen.:. 
45 
102 
49 
56 
52 
304 
Sulphur. 
7.8 
0.4 
5 7 
14.7 
8.0 
45 0 
Potash . 
27.9 
87.4 
56.3 
58.0 
38.1 
267.7 
Soda . 
3.4 
4.1 
11.9 
2.0 
72 
28.6 
Lime. 
10.2 
36.1 
28 1 
15.7 
11.8 
151 9 
Magnesia. 
7.7 
30 0 
10.1 
13 3 
9.2 
70.2 
Phosphoric acid. 
22.7 
25.1 
12.7 
25.1 
1 89 
104 5 
Chlorine. 
1 9 
9.4 
16 2 
— 
5.5 
83.0 
Silica . 
itl.l 
6.8 
57.0 
54 5 
94.1 
324 0 
Total. 
287.7 
361.2 
247.5 
238.8 
244.8 
1329.5 
or, in all, 1,329.5 pounds outof the largequan- 
tity before mentioned. The nitrogen con¬ 
tained in the soil is seen to be sufficient for 
nearly 40 rotations, or for 200 years, without 
taking account of the atmospheric supply 
and that supplied by the manure spread upon 
the land, and so on all through the list. 
But the greater part—in fact nearly the 
whole of the most important elements of plant 
food are unavailable because they are insolu¬ 
ble and exist in more or less fixed and inert 
combinations and are gradually developed and 
made available by culture. The amount thus 
set free year by year is called the reserved 
fertility of the soil. 
Now while it is impossible to say particu¬ 
larly how much is returned to the soil in the 
manure made, because this depends upon sev¬ 
eral important conditions, it is enough to say 
that if all the vegetable products are fed and 
only the animal products are sold, and the 
manure is carefully saved, none of the liquid 
being lost and none wasted by exposure to 
the weather or by over-heating in the heap, 
the land should gradually gain in fertility 
by this careful and conservative method of 
culture and the longer it is cultivated the 
more productive it would become up to the 
maximum ability of each crop. At the end 
of 25 years, starting with fairly good soil 
and with favorable seasons, the land should 
produce 30 to 35 bushels of wheat; two to 
three tons of clover hay; pasturage for one 
cow for the summer; 60 to 80 bushels of corn 
and 50 bushels of oats, all per acre. 
FRUITS FOR PENNSYLVANIA. 
W. H. L., Coal Center, Pa. —1. Is the 
Beurrd Clairgeau pear a good bearer and of 
good qual ity ? 2. Is th ere any better peaehfor 
this section than Stevens’s Rareripe? I am 
planting apples, pears and peaches on a hill¬ 
side facing the northeast, and would like to 
know of a few good varieties of winter sorts. 
ANSWERED BY PRES. T. T. LYON. 
1. Clairgeau (BeuriA is superfluous; is a 
heavy bearer and a strong grower while 
young; but when in full bearing it must be 
thinned persistently if its vigor and the 
size of the fruit are to be maintained. It is 
abundantly hardy for Pennsylvania. The 
fruit is beautiful but only of third-rate qual¬ 
ity and soon loses its quality after maturity. 
It ranks from second to fourth in value as a 
market fruit. 2. Stevens’s Peach (Rareripe 
has long since ceased to mean anything) is a va¬ 
riety as yet only locally known. Actual trial 
only can determine its real value in the local¬ 
ity in question. The catalogue of the Amer¬ 
ican Pomological Society recommends for 
Pennsylvania: Bellegarde, Codlidge, Druid 
Hill, George the Fourth and Grosse Mignonne, 
which must be regarded especially as amateur 
varieties. Alexander, Beer’s Smock, Early 
York and Heath Cling are recommended 
doubtless as market peaches and Early and 
Late Crawfords are double-starred, indicating 
that they are especially valuable for the mar¬ 
ket. The exposure to the northeast is a desir¬ 
able one for the climate of Pennsylvania. The 
catalogue of the American Pomological Soci¬ 
ety recommends 48 varieties of winter apples 
for cultivation in Pennsylvania, of which 
Baldwin, Rambo, Smith’s Cider, Smokehouse, 
and York Imperial are double-starred to indi¬ 
cate that they are especially valuable. If to 
these are added Belmont, Cogswell, Falla- 
water, Grimes’s Golden, Peck’s Pleasant, Pitts¬ 
burgh Pippin, Rome Beaut}’-, Talman Sweet, 
Willow Twig and Yellow Belleflower, a good 
assortment will be provided for both family 
and market purposes. 
PRUNING GRAPE-VINES. 
.7. E. McB., Peterboro .—What is the best 
method of pruning grape-vines? I have about 
30 two and three-year-old vines, and have 
been told to cut away every year as much 
as possible of the old wood, leaving two 
new vines about six feet long. This year I 
have left the old wood, with an extra bud here 
and there for next year’s fruit. 
Ans.— The “best” methods of pruning grape¬ 
vines are as varied as the systems of training, 
and the best for one system and cultivation 
would not be the best for another system or 
cultivation. If shade is desired more than 
fruit the advice given to leave new vines or 
canes six feet long will be likely to give it. 
As a rule, the closer the pruning, the better 
the fruit: and the simpler the system adopted, 
the better for the majority of amateur grape 
growers, and yet such a system in the hands 
of some would soon degenerate into the “go- 
as-you-please system” simply from lack of 
courage and intelligence enough to follow it 
out. If our correspondent is satisfied with a 
simple vertical trellis, the horizontal arm and 
short-spur renewal system will give arood satis¬ 
faction if thoroughly attended to. The Knif- 
fin system is simpler still, and will give better 
results under greater neglect. If an over-head 
trellis is requisite on account of the shade, 
the young canes are spurred generally to two 
buds, and care should be taken not to get too 
many of them in a body. If summer pruning 
is not practiced, the first two buds of the 
young cane are not apt to be as fully devel¬ 
oped as those beyond, and the canes may be 
left three or four buds long in order to secure 
these better developed buds. The short-spur 
pruning in any system is attended with the 
best results by close and continual summer 
pruning, as the base buds on which the next 
year’s crop depends are better developed. It 
is difficult to give instructions that will prove 
intelligible in a brief space without illustra¬ 
tions. i'he best method for our friend is the 
one he can best adopt and practice. 
Miscellaneous. 
W. P. II., Franklinville, N. J .—I have kept 
a boar pig with the intention of coupling him 
with a sow to get spring pigs. Now I wish to 
kill him this winter; is it advisable to risk his 
life by castrating him so as to fatten him for 
slaughter ? 
Ans. —After a boar is five mouths old the 
meat will be tainted and unfit to eat unless 
the animal is castrated. It should be entirely 
healed before being killed. This will take at 
least two months. When boars are a year old 
or over and castrated, they should be kept 
fully six months or the meat will have a bad 
flavor when cooked. It is better to let them 
run through the summer and to kill them in 
cool weather. Stag hogs are never so good, as 
the skin is thicker and the meat tougher than 
when castrated young, and they always sell 
at less price. Barrows, castrated when a few 
weeks old, make the best of pork. There is no 
danger in castrating an old boar if the opera¬ 
tion is carefully done. The tusks should be 
sawed off close to the jaws when they are cas¬ 
trated, as they will eat better and not injure 
other hogs. 
J. C. A., Troy, N. Y .—Are sifted coal ashes 
a benefit or injury to a garden having a rather 
heavy clay soil? 
Ans.— Workers say that coal ashes have the 
remarkable effect of rendering a sandy soil 
heavier and a heavy soil lighter. It is not so 
in our experience. We should not look for 
any benefit from coal ashes on a heavy soil. 
Many Subscribers .— All information re¬ 
garding the Idaho Pear as to cions, when the 
tree s will be offered for sale, etc., will be given 
by John H. Evans, Lewiston, Idaho. 
DISCUSSION. 
L. M. S., Steubenville, Ohio.— In a late 
Rural attention was editorially called to the 
danger of keeping large sums of money even 
for a short time in a farmer’s house. I don’t 
think sufficient attention has been paid to this 
topic. Within my own knowledge no less 
than four fann houses have been attacked by 
robbers near here and at other places where I 
have lived, because the report got abroad 
that a good deal cf money was concealed in 
them. In one case the farmer and his wife, 
an old couple, were cruelly tortured to force 
them to confess where the money was hidden; 
they did finally tell, but neither ever fully re¬ 
covered from the effects of the outrage, and 
the wife died shortly afterward from the 
shock. In another case in Michigan the far¬ 
mer was killed while resisting the attack, and 
the robbers fled. In both the other cases they 
succeeded; in one case without disturbing the 
family, while in the other they bound all, but 
did not seriously injure any one. There are 
few neighborhoods free from at least one ras¬ 
cal, and frequently such robberies are com¬ 
mitted by experts from neighboring or even 
distant towns who are “put up to the job’ 1 
by the locaTrascal for a part of the “swag.” 
Often, also, of course, the outrage is commit 
ted by some of the roughs of the neighbor¬ 
hood who mask and otherwise disguise them¬ 
selves 'for the purpose. In view of the fre¬ 
quency of such robberies and of the outrages 
that usually accompany them, I certainly 
think too much attention cannot be given by 
forehanded farmers to the Rural’s “warn¬ 
ing.” The worst.of it is that the old-fogies 
who are guilty of such folly seldom read such 
a live, wide-awake paper as the Rural. 
H. L. D., Bath, N. Y.—In the Rural of 
December 24, under the head of “Discussion,” 
appears a somewhat anarchistic article on the 
“Worth of Labor,” in which the writer insists 
that labor is worth not “what it will fetch,” 
but a fair proportion of its results. In the 
first'place I object to the bitter tone of the 
article and especially of its close, where the 
writer dares to thank God that the people who 
gain great wealth by following the regular 
rules of trade may find difficulty in gaining 
an entrance into Heaven. Surely all econo¬ 
mic questions of to-day can be forcibly dis¬ 
cussed without acrimony or uncharitableness. 
Strong language is not necessarily made 
up of harsh words; but, rather, of strong 
sense. If we lived in a Eutopia where 
everything would be as it ought to be, 
there’s little doubt that H. W L.’s the¬ 
ory would be carried out; but, unfortunately, 
we have not reached that happy fool’s Para¬ 
dise yet. When W. H. L. buys his clothes, or 
anything else, is he willing to pay more than 
the regular market price for them ? Does not 
he want to get them as cheap as possible, con¬ 
sistently, of course, with quality ? Or, if he is 
an exception, do not the vast majority of the 
community go where they can get the goods 
they want at the lowest figures? The lowest 
price houses are those who pay least to their 
employes. If other firms do not follow their 
example, they had better quit business; then 
the original people who “grind the faces” of 
their “free” slaves will be rewarded by the 
destruction of all competition, and have a 
chauce to do better with their “help.” After 
all, it is the public—the great body of the 
people—who, nine times out of ten, force em¬ 
ployers to pay the lowest possible figure for 
the labor they use, and the very people who 
suffer most from this sad cutting down of 
wages, are the greatest seekers for goods at 
low figures, thus entailing upon themselves or 
others the evils denounced by H. W. L. 
Illinois. 
Cobden, Union Co., Jan. 2.— The past year 
has been a very prosperous one with the far¬ 
mers of this county, especially the fruit grow¬ 
ers. The strawberry crop was light but paid 
well. Rhubarb was a good crop; price good. 
Peaches a full crop except Crawfords; quality 
good. Apples 50 per cent of a crop; evapor¬ 
ated apples paid better than for several years 
past. Grain and vegetable crops light on 
account of drought and chinch bugs. Hay 
crop good. J• <>• 
Montana. 
Philbrook, Fergus Co., Dec. 23.—The 
crops this year have been good. The greatest 
drawback was that some portions of the 
country were visited by destructive hail 
storms, which shelled out considerable grain. 
Oats are the principal crop; yield very heavy. 
One man thrashed 945 bushels from 19 acres, 
which is about the average for the county. 
They weigh from 40 to 48 pounds per bushel. 
White Russian and Washington are the favor¬ 
ites. The wheat crop is good, but wheat is 
not extensively raised in this section, as we 
are 75 miles from a flour mill and can get 
good Dakota flour cheap. We can raise good 
hard wheat. I don’t know of any one trying 
rye, but I think it will be a success, as winter 
wheat does well. Buckwheat will thrive, but 
is not cultivated yet to any extent. But talk 
about potatoes! We take the cake in that 
line. They grow to enormous proportions, 
and being dry and mealy we never think a 
meal is complete without potatoes. Our hay 
is the native Blue-joint and Joint Rush prin¬ 
cipally, though Alfalfa, Red-top, Timothy 
clover and millet all thrive finely. I believe 
flax will grow, as the wild flax is very plenti¬ 
ful; but until we have some way of utilizing 
it, it doesn’t pay to bother with it. Fruits are 
not very abundant. Strawberries, goose¬ 
berries and currants'do finely, and I believe 
some early varieties of cherries, blackberries 
and raspberries will do well. We have an 
abundance of wild huckleberries and raspber¬ 
ries in the mountains. We have had a very 
open winter up to date. No suow in the val¬ 
ley and very little on the mountain range. 
Stock is looking fine. Any of the steers will 
make good beef. t. j. w. 
Nebraska. 
Sweetwater, Buffalo Co., December 28.— 
We have not had any hard winter weather 
yet; we had two cold blasts not lasting over 
two to three days, we have had two snows and 
the third is falling now. Our crops were very 
good. Cattle feeders are flocking to this part 
to feed, which has caused a rise on all feed. 
Corn runs from 18 to 30 cents; oats, from 15 
to 21 cents: wheat is worth 50 to 55 cents; po¬ 
tatoes, 50 cents; eggs in country villages are 
worth 20 cents; butter, 18 to 25 cents. One 
great fault is that nearly all farmers have 
placed mortgages upon their land. H. B. 
New York. 
Taylor, Cortland Co., Dec. 28.—It has 
snowed most of the day; the snow is now 
about 15 inches deep. We have had a very 
pleasant fall; good weather for fall work and 
the farmers have improved it well. Sonie 
have their planting ground broken. This is a 
dairy country. Very little grain sold. Hay 
is plenty. Cattle have gone into winter quar¬ 
ters in good condition. Butter has sold for 18 
to 23 cents; potatoes 50 to 60; pork six cents; 
beef five and six cents per pound; eggs are 
now 24 cents per dozen. Much more poultry 
kept now than a few years ago 
“SUBSCRIBER.” 
Butter Making. —During the late session 
of the Dairymen’s Association of New York, 
Mr. W. H. Gilbert read a paper on “Butter 
Making.” He said, as reported in the Orange 
County Farmer, that wheu he went into but¬ 
ter making he made up his mind that he 
wanted a butter cow. From information and 
reading, he further made up his mind that the 
Jersey was the best. He began by buying a 
registered Jersey bull, and bred from the best 
cows on his place. During the past season he 
made in June, one pound of butter from 19.67 
pounds of milk; in August, from 17.15 pounds, 
in September from 17.81 pounds, in October 
from 18 43 and in November from 19.48. He 
has about 100 cows in milk, from two to ten 
years of age, their average weight being 
about 750 pounds He likes his cows to come 
in in the fall and early winter. In summer 
they graze in the day and are in yard at 
night. About July he begins to feed green 
clover and cohtiuues until August; then feeds 
green corn fodder, two hills of corn night and 
morning. He uses 12 to 15 tons of plaster in 
winter, in the stable, and feeds silage and 
grain, morning and evening. In summer, he 
milks the cows at six A. M. and six p. M., in 
winter at six a. m. and 5:30 p. M. 
The milk is set in submerged cans as soon 
as possible after milking. After the criam 
is skimmed it is raised to a temperature of 
about 62 in summer, and 65 in winter to 
ripen, which generally takes about 24 hours. 
During this process it is frequently stirred, 
the aim being to keep it at a uniform tempera¬ 
ture. He churns it at a temperature of 62 to 
64 in summer, and in winter from 64 to 67. 
He uses a revolving box churn, and churns 
on an average about 40 minutes. As soon as 
the butter is well granulated, stop churning, 
draw off the buttermilk and then wash the 
butter with a weak brine. The butter is then 
taken out, salted one ounce salt to a pound, 
worked, put up in one-pound prints and sold. 
Major Alvord holds that the best breed 
for butter is the best for cheese, and tests 
show that the Jersey is best. Jersey milk will 
make 12pounds of cheese to 100 pounds of 
milk, and he did not believe a herd of Hol- 
steins could be found, which would average 
10 pounds of cheese to 100 of milk. He fur¬ 
ther claims that the Guernseys and Jerseys 
are the most profitable and that in the matter 
of solids, other breeds are far below them. 
They would make much more butter, more 
and better cheese, and the time was near at 
hand when their milk would sell for more. 
Mr. AV. P. Richardson says that farmers in 
his section, while recognizing the superior 
quality of Jersey milk, had to contend with 
the difficulty that owing to the rapid and 
complete separation of the cream of Jersey 
milk, which occurs during transportation to 
market, it was impossible to remix it. The 
man who gets milk from the bottom of the 
can gets a very blue article. 
Sanfoin for Forage.— Our excellent con¬ 
temporary, the Rural World, publishes a com¬ 
munication from some paper that telLs about 
“Asperset” as the most wonderful forage 
plant in existence. A certaiu German in 
