NEW-YORKER. 
575 
corn. We can depend upon Stowell’s Ever¬ 
green, sown about the 15th of July, to keep us 
m corn till frost comes; bat in later localities 
sow earlier. 
Onions are better cured indoors than out¬ 
side—a floor, shelf or table in a dry, airy 
loft or shed is a good place for them. Plant a 
lot of parsley roots in an old soap or cracker 
box so that they may get well started to grow 
before winter, when they may be kept in a 
cool cellar. 
I put in a large sowing of peas on the 11th 
inst., using McLean’s Advancer and Bliss’ 
Abundance mainly. But I have been so well 
pleased with Blue Beauty that I have given it 
and several other sorts, also, a fair trial, for I 
am convinced that we do not yet know which 
is the best variety for fall sowing. 
On the 10th inst. I put in a moderately 
large sowing of Viroflay spinach in rich 
ground. This should give us good spinach 
from September 20 till hard frost sets in. 1 
will sow again about the first of September 
also about the loth to keep over winter. The 
spinach-leaf maggot is very troublesome here 
in the fall, but not at all bothersome in spring 
or summer. I know of no cure for it; but as 
a preventive I endeavor to change my spinach 
laud every fall. 
Radishes sown now and till the second week 
in September in the open ground, get largo 
enough for use; but if sown later than that it 
is well to sow in frames, and if in a hot-bed so 
much the better, as radishes are always most 
tender when quickly grown. We may now 
make a large sowing of lettuces. After this 
time lettuces grow slowly and last long. Use 
Salamander for the fall, and Boston Market 
to winter over in cold-frames. I do not sow 
my winter stock of Boston Market before the 
middle of September. Many prefer Curled 
Simpson to Boston Market for winter use, 
because of its quick growth and large size, 
but the Boston has the advantage in point of 
earl mess. 
Queens County, N. Y. 
PftiiTj ljxtbb,arit)nj. 
WHEN SHALL WE SELL BUTTER? 
In all the discussion and writing on dairy 
topics, one fact gets very little attention—that 
the private dairyman and the smaller class of 
creameries, would do much better with their 
product if they would try and develop and 
establish butter markets in the smaller inland 
cities and towns of fail’ size. I can name a 
score of towns of from 10,000 to 25,000 inhabi 
tants, outside of what are known as the dairy 
districts, that rarely ever see first-class butter 
in any quantity. The mass of butter pro¬ 
duced in dairy sections is shipped to the 
great markets, and the local trade is wholly 
overlooked. It may be that it would require 
some time to educate people that have almost, 
so to speak, been brought up on poor, white 
and badly packed butter, and whose taste has 
actually been molded into liking the strong, 
salt butter, to like and prefer the fine grades 
of creamery and dairy butter; but when once 
a taste for such butter is established, and a sup¬ 
ply is guaranteed, there will be no lack of 
consumers. A home market once established 
would be far more profitable than the great 
city market, as the maker could more easily 
control prices, as the consumption would 
come from regular customers, and less com¬ 
petition would not be apt to clog the market. 
When the consumer once gets a taste for fine 
butter, he would not be apt to change, and a 
regular contract price for six months or a 
year could, in most cases, be made very 
easily. 
This plan also offers another outlook. A 
co-operative creamery onoe established, and a 
market secured in a not distant inland city, it 
would be very easy to have in connection 
therewith, a milk depot, where milk, cream 
and fresh butter-milk, could be vended, and 
even routes provided for delivery. This gives 
the factory a chance to enlarge its borders, and 
combine with it a retail business that would 
not only care for the produce of several farms, 
but furnish an opportunity for a few of the 
wide-awake boys to become“dairy merchants,” 
and bring the farmer and the consumer 
together by the agents of the farm, and 
secure a profit that now goes to middlemen. 
Ohio. J. GOULD. 
BUTTER. 
In order to insure a prime article of butter, 
the first thing to be considered is feed and 
water. The first must be fresh, sweet, and 
wholesome, containing a good percentage of 
oleaginous or fatty matter. The water 
should always be fresh and pure, and both 
teed aud water should be given at regular 
intervals, unless the cow is out at pasture. 
Care should always be taken to insure cleanli¬ 
ness in milking. All vessels into which the 
milk is put should be cleaned and thoroughly 
scalded. Skim cream as soon as the milk 
ceases to be sweet. At every skimming 
thoroughly mix all the cream. When ready 
for churning in summer, the temperature 
should not be below 58° or above 62°. Wash 
the butter in cold water until all the white 
particles disappear. Salt with 1% oz. of 
Ashton salt to the pound. Let it stand in a 
cool place 24 hours, then work and pack. 
Milk as well as butter is very sensitive to bad 
odors, therefore great caution should be used 
to prevent contamination. Butter is often 
overworked and in this way the grain as well 
as the flavor is injured. The rule for the best 
quality of butter is summed up in healthy 
cattle, wholesome feed and pure water with 
cleanly quarters at all times. Pastures with 
living water give the best of satisfaction. 
Chautauqua Co., N. Y. H. a. w. 
farm Copies. 
THE QUESTION OF FARM LABOR. 
ANNIE L. JACK. 
Dubing the busy season we have had the 
opportunity of learning how scarce competent 
farm labor ha6 become in this locality, and 
the same cry comes from distant friends v ho 
are engaged in fruit farming. Our own work 
is done largely by the family and we do not 
usually need to hire, but when a great rush of 
fruit comes and help is required, it is surpris¬ 
ing what a high value so many poor workers 
set upon their labor. A neighbor, starting in 
life and alone, has been left to battle with the 
work without help, though a kind and indulg¬ 
ent master. He has set out an asparagus bed, 
and all the “wise men of Goshen’’ prophesy a 
failure on account of the difficulty of obtain¬ 
ing skilled labor. I have always maintained 
that it does not pay to engage cheap help any 
more than to keep a poor horse. Tae cost of 
food for good or bad in either case is the same, 
and the care and attention are no less. Farm¬ 
ers often become discouraged with their work 
because they cannot get capable people to 
work for them, or to take an interest in their 
work. “I liked Joe because he would not go 
to bed when the colt was sick, and did all he 
could for it,” said a master to me lately; and 
I did not wonder at his appreciation. A boy 
who is shiftless and lazy about a farm is like 
the sickly sheep that infects the flock; his in¬ 
fluence can demoralize a whole field of work¬ 
ers, if they are only giving “eye service.’’ 
Show me a worker with some competitive 
quality, who is ambitious to do as well as the 
best; anxious to try his hand at the plowing 
match, and taking an interest in bis employ¬ 
er’s stock, and I would say “Pay him well and 
try to give him a feeling of home life among 
you, but do not expect perfection.” The hay 
fork, which we have adopted only this year, 
is likely to make the work easier, and should 
be in every farmer’s barn; and there is no 
doubt that labor-saving machinery and good 
management will help to make us indepen¬ 
dent, but at the same time I cannot help re¬ 
gretting the scarcity of good, reliable help 
that seems to be felt on all sides, both for out¬ 
door and in-door labor. The recruits that 
come across the ocean are, for the most part, 
untrained, and with strange ideas of the new 
country, and our own youth are too ambitious 
to serve; and so the problem becomes every 
year more difficult to solve. 
Province of Quebec, Canada. 
DITCHES AND DITCHING. 
CHAS A. GREEN 
If we knew, when w e made a ditch, that 
the job was ended, there would be more en¬ 
couragement to do this necessary work ; but 
the ditch is no more completed than is a 
telegraph line, or a canal or railroad. It 
must be kept in mind, looked after and re¬ 
paired. The man who builds ditches and 
makes no map or other record of their where¬ 
abouts or sets no permant stakes at their 
outlets, buries money where neither he nor 
any of his heirs, executors, or assignees 
will see it again. Every year our man 
goes the rounds of the outlets of all drains. 
I have just been called from my office to go 
and see the mare’s nest that he has discovered. 
It is this: he has foand certain drains clogged 
at the outlets. They are under cultivated 
soil, except that the 12 feet next the outlets 
are covered with swale grass. The ditches 
are clogged wherever 'they are covered with 
sods of swale grass. Here the tiles are filled 
with roots and mud. 
“ What shall I do ?” asks John. “ If I cover 
these tiles, the grass will clog them again. 
“Well, leave the ditch open so far as the 
grass grows, for the present.” 
Another ditch was found clogged where no 
grass was growing near. “What is the 
cause ?” “ It was not covered deep enough 
and the water froze in the tiles and broke 
them. Clear it out and cover more deeply.” 
“ See, here, John: we may as well leave the 
ditch by those willows and elms open. The 
roots of those trees are sure to clog the tiles. 
There is no cause for fear for tie tiles in the 
orchard, for the roots of fruit trees and vines 
abhor wet feet and will never steal into drain 
tiles out of curiosity. Do not forget that the 
three tiles next to the outlet should be glazed 
and hard-burned; for if they are not the 
frost of winter will cause them to crumble.” 
While I do not regret having spent money 
in ditching, I advise people about to buy 
farms to buy those that do not require such 
expensive improvements. 
Rochester, N. Y. 
fihtml (Topics. 
FARMERS’ HOMES. 
“ Be it ever so humble there is no place like 
home” is a sentiment that will hold good as 
long as the world stands. The squalid peasant 
in over-crowded countries where the lordly 
rich hold domineering sway over the lower 
classes, lives in his filthy hut contented, be¬ 
cause all attempts to aspire to better surround¬ 
ings and conditions are crushed, or nipped in 
the bud, or, more likely, no bud is ever allow¬ 
ed to form. So his days are spent in an un¬ 
ending round of wretchedness, yet this hum¬ 
ble cot is his home. All his pleasures, how¬ 
ever meager, center there with his family 
around him. 
But with the farmers of the United States, 
how different the conditions ! The former’s 
lot is dependence, and the latter’s is indepen¬ 
dence. So it would seem that the American 
farmer should have a comfortable, happy 
home. But what should a home be,—a model 
home ? My idea is that a home should be a 
place which a farmer can enjoy; where his 
children grow up around him to years of dis¬ 
cretion. The buildings should be kept in good 
repair. The yards should be nicely fenced 
and painted. Shade and fruit trees should be 
set out in abundance around the dwelling. 
There should also be a nice garden with vege¬ 
tables, fruit6 aud berries in their season, so 
that the pork barrel will only have to be vis¬ 
ited at intervals “ few and far between.” The 
children should have a good district school 
education, and a winter or two at the acade¬ 
my if it can be afforded. What stock is 
raised should be of good blood, so that 
the boys will be interested and en¬ 
couraged. Improved machinery ought to 
be used so that large results may be obtained 
with an expenditure of but little muscle. 
With Vhe^reaper, horse fork, sulky plow, and 
other riding machinery the farm and farming 
have no terrors to an ordinary energetic boy. 
There should be a work-shop where leisure 
hours aud rainy days may be spent. A few 
necessary tools should be there, the more the^ 
better ; then when a rainy day comes, the 
boys will be there, hard at work making or 
repairing something that will please the head 
of the family, and they will soon become ex¬ 
pert in the use of tools, thereby saving a good 
many bills. And as regards the house—the 
home—see that it is supplied with reading 
matter suitable to the ages of the children. 
Supply them with books not of the yellow- 
covered kind however; give them current 
newspapers, a good agricultural paper 
which of course would be B the Rural 
» 
magazines etc. If they have a desire for 
music get an organ or piano if it can be 
afforded. What a continual feast, and power 
for good is a musical instrument in a family 
where all can gather around and sing praises 
to the Great Giver. 
A boy that is brought up under such influ- 
lences can be trusted, and, at the proper age, 
it would be well to give him a nice carriage, 
harness and horse, which he has earned many 
times over, and when he drives out and circu¬ 
lates with companions, who, without doubt 
will be of the same stamp as himself, even 
then he will go home with pleasure because he 
was reared in a pleasant '.home, and when he 
leaves it to fight life’s battles, it willjbe a leave- 
taking of profound sorrow. m. h. c. g 
Johnson’s, N. Y. 
DEFINITIONS. 
A. L. CROSBY. 
[Revised to suit the times.] 
Lard, was formerly made from the lat of 
the hog only, but it is now composed of a 
little hog fat and a great deal of cotton seed 
oil, tallow and water. It is found that the 
fat of any animal dying from disease will 
make excellent lard. 
Butter was formerly made from the fat 
found in the cow’s milk, but science has 
shown that it can be made from tallow or any 
kind of grease, no matter how filthy. Re¬ 
cently passed laws have a tendency to cause 
the old-time meaning to apply to this product. 
A Trust is represented by a few big boys, 
who unite to handle a long pole and knock 
dowu the persimmons, at the same time 
punching the little fellows who are slowly and 
painfully trying to climb up the tree. 
Dehorner : a person who has suddenly 
discovered that the horns on his cattle are the 
chief cause of his lack of profit. He saws them 
off at a certain mysterious point, so that no 
pain is felt either during the operation or 
afterwards. 
Senate, in the U. S., means a body of rich 
men whose chief interest is to see that corpor¬ 
ations and monopolies are not interfered with 
by another body of men called the House. 
Farmer : a man who grows food for the rest 
of creation, and if he complains of his lot he is 
filled up with promises. 
Railroad consists of two lines of iron rails 
laid parallel which support a car which 
carries all the merchandise it will bear which 
is charged all the toll it will bear. 
A Strike. When an infant industry pro¬ 
tected by a high tariff finds other 25-year-old 
infants competing with it, in order to pay big 
dividends, it reduces the wages of its em¬ 
ployees, who not seeing the justice of this 
state of affairs, stop work. Hence when all 
refuse to strike another blow, it is called a 
“ strike.” 
««< 
Woman’s Work. —There has been a good 
amount written about cooking, washing, iron¬ 
ing, etc. during the hot weather. I wish to say 
to every farmer who has a wife that wants a 
stove to burn gasoline, that he ought to use 
every honest endeavor to get the article. It 
is a great help to the housekeeper. In less than 
one minute one can have the fire in full blast 
and the meal prepared while an ordinary wood 
or coal fire would be kindling. It is very con¬ 
venient to get a cup of tea or a full supper for 
a set of men, and when it is no longer wanted 
the fire can be put out at once. It is not 
particularly expensive for cooking on account 
of the close proximity of the blaze to the arti¬ 
cle to be cooked. I think coal the cheapest 
for cool weather. i. j. blackwell. 
DIGGING POTATOES BY MACHINERY. 
T. B. TERRY. 
An expert can dig half an acre, even of 
drilled potatoes, in a day of ten hours, if the 
crop is clean. But ordinary men would be 
about three days digging an acre. The cost 
of this amount of labor, including the 
board, would be about four dollars. There 
are more farmers who get their potatoes dug 
at a greater cost per acre than this, than there 
are who pay less. 
The writer for three years past has used the 
McCallum digger, which cost $100. Hand 
labor has been entirely dispensed with, except 
at the ends of the field, and when digging 
unripe potatoes for early market. About an 
hour’s work in the morning and as much more 
after dinner would dig as many potatoes as 
my help could pick up. With the conditions 
all just right, I haveMug an acre in two hours, 
but ordinarily it would take about three. I 
get all the tubers and leave them in better 
shape for picking up than by hand digging. 
Very few need be cut. It is snug work for 
two horses; but they will draw the digger for 
an hour or two at a time, which is all we want. 
I do not know whether this digger would 
work in weeds or not, as I don’t raise any. 
Well, instead of paying out about $50 a 
season for extra help to dig my crop, the 
machine now does it, and I hardly miss the 
time spent in riding on it, and of course I 
pocket the $50. This is literally true now, as 
the machine has more than saved its first cost. 
Again, I can rush business, putting all the 
help at picking up. I am quite independent 
also, for any one can pick up, but few can dig 
well and fast. The machine wears fast, but 
probably $10 would cover the wear to date. 
I feel as though it was quite grand to be a 
farmer, when riding on the digger and doing 
the work of about eight men with forks. 
The machine it not perfect, aud some have 
failed with it, but I couldn’t do without mine 
