706 
of the Large-leaved Hemlock are larger, 
though it is with us of faster growth. The 
two trees may be found in catalogues as Abies 
(Tsuga) microphvlla and macrophylla. 
form Ccott0tm$. 
TRENCHING BY HORSE POWER. 
PROFESSOR J. L. BUDD. 
1 have been much interested and instructed 
by the notes relative to the potato contest of 
the Rural New-Yorker, and the trench 
system of growing the potato. To-day in 
passing our instrument for trenching with 
horse power, the idea occurs that our experi¬ 
ence in the use of it may have some interest 
for Rural readers who have not the time or 
inclination to trench with the spade. The 
sub-soil trencher, shown at Fig. 391, was 
planned 15 years ago by the writer for mel¬ 
lowing up the line of row for planting with a 
spade root-grafts of the pear, cherry and 
plum. I was so well pleased with its work 
that I soon began to use it for planting all 
root grafts and cuttings, and for putting in 
nursery rows all stock left over at the pack¬ 
ing shed and in the cellars. About 10 years 
ago we began to use it for trenching the line 
of our potato rows, with the most satisfactory 
results. The first year we used it on the col¬ 
lege farm we grew 300 bushels per acre, while 
that year the potato crop on similar s >il, and 
with similar culture, did not average 70 bush¬ 
els per acre with common marking out with a 
plow or single shovel. Our plan has been to 
trench the ground one way—three feet apart 
—going three times in the row, making the 
soil as mellow as an ash heap to a depth of 
from 10 to 12 inches, with a single shovel fol 
lowing, as shown in the cut, for spreading the 
earth at the top. In this furrow two pieces are 
dropped in hills 20 inches apart. As dropped 
the pieces are stepped on, crowding them 
down in the mellow row to a depth of four or 
five inches. The planting is completed by 
a thorough harrowing both ways.. 
In this mellow trench the plants come up 
strong and healthy and with good culture 
shade the whole ground prior to the advent 
of the hot, dry air of the last of July and first 
of August. At the West I have never known 
a first-class crop of potatoes with common 
furrowing so far apart that the surface be¬ 
tween the hills was unsnaded during our 
heated term. The sub-soil lifter is five inches 
broad at the heel, and is attached to a strong 
bar that passes through iron slots bolted on 
the back end of the tongue. Tnis bar has three 
or four holes, so as to be raised or lowered by 
changing the bolt. The single shovel is not 
movable and its shank is bolted in a mortice 
through the tongus. The team is attached 
with a neck yoke and wbiffletrees in the usual 
way. With a little practice our men trench, 
with this tool, the rows about as straight as 
they can draw a line by having two guide 
stakes. 
After 15 years’trial in nursery and garden I 
am convinced that the implement would soon 
come into general use if its merits were adver¬ 
tised by an enterprising manufacturer. 
Agl. College, Ames, Iowa. 
WHAT ABOUT THE iNK STOPPER ? 
What tip. you do with the cork when you 
take it out of a full bottle of ink ? If you 
don’t know where to put it, just stick a pin 
in the lower end and bend it into a hook, then 
hang the cork on the bottle. (See Fig. 394.) 
Bend the hook so as not to interfere with 
using ink, and then you have it al ways handy. 
Farmington, Minn. a. c. c. 
A CART FOR GATHERING LEAVES. 
At Figs 392-393 we show a vehicle known 
to the Cornell students as the “University 
Chariot.” It was designed by Prof Roberts 
primarily for the purpose of gathering leaves 
for bedding, but it often comes in play in 
moving pigs and calves and other small loads 
that are difficult to get into a high wagon. 
W ith it all the leaves from the trees on the 
University grounds are saved and used as 
bedding for the stock. It was made fr m the 
frame-work of an old road machine. There 
are many old wagons and trucks to worn out 
thrashing machines, that might easily be con¬ 
verted into such vehicles as this and thus af¬ 
ford means of securing bedding for stock, that 
would otherwise go to waste. Fig. 393 shows 
so clearly how the frame-work is constructed 
that no explanation is necessary, j. m. drew. 
THE BUBAL WEW-70BKEB. 4 
1VIHIBDDT THANKFUL. 
They All See Something Bright. 
They Have AH Learned Something 
KNOWLEDGE IS WEALTH. 
FROM THE NEXT “NEW STATE.” 
Nobody will be able to appreciate the great 
cause I have for gratitude in the following if 
he has not been on thpse treeless prairies on a 
cloudless, hot, windy day. 
Last spring I planted five acres of trees, 
five different kinds, in rows seven feet apart. 
Between the rows I planted potatoes. The 
trees were so small that we could not see the 
rows to cultivate them; but the potatoes could 
be seen and in cultivating th->se, we cultivated 
the trees. It was the trees I wanted. Many 
of them are four feet high to day and I gather¬ 
ed 250 bushels of potatoes, which more than 
paid all the expenses, dome of my neighbors 
who have been planting 10 acres for six years 
to hold a “tree claim,” have not one-third as 
many trees on their 10 acres as I have on my 
five. “Cause why?” They plant trees in order 
to hold the land, I because I love and must 
have the trees. A good thoughtful tree has 
too much pride to grow for a man who uses it 
to minister to his greed. 
The other day I met a man in the street 
who was a total abstainer, but he was drunk. 
I’ll give you a page of his history. T wo years 
since he mortgaged all he had to buy another 
quarter of laud. Two years of saort harvests 
and low prices fol owed, and my friend began 
to fear he would lose every thing; but on 
the day I met him his fears were all gone. 
He was drunk, but not with wine He had 
just sold 500 bushels of wheat for $500; he had 
the check in his hand, and he walked the street, 
clapping his hands and saying, “It is God’s 
blessiug! It is God’s blessingl I have sold 500 
bushels of wheat and have $500, and I have 
1,000 more bushels of wheat in my granary. 
God’s blessing! It’s Go l’s blessing!” But for 
this blessing, this poor fellow would have had 
to begin again at the bottom, “It’s God’s 
blessing.” Every man who heard him said, 
“’That’s so.” 
Alexandria, Dakota. T. h. y. 
ALABAMIANS JOIN IN. 
A neighbor has a field in sweet potatoes, on 
new land, on which he has applied about 500 
pounds of meal per acre. Tne crop is a good 
one and the potatoes are all fine and large. 
Such potatoes are worth in our nearest mar¬ 
ket—Mobile—75 cents per bushel and corn is 70 
cents or about the same price, bushel for 
bushel. I don’t know the feeding value of sweet 
potatoes; but think a liberal allowance would 
be to say one bushel of corn to two of potatoes; 
yet this man is feeding these potatoes to fat¬ 
ten some hogs He is one of the smart farm¬ 
ers who don’t believe in book farming. I nave 
lent him copies of tue Rural and tried to get 
him to subscribe; but it is no use. I have been 
engaged in no special operation this past sea¬ 
son, but I have learned that another year I 
will not try to raise a crop of peanuts on old 
land that is well seeded with Spanish clover; 
for after keeping the land clean till the vines 
covered the ground the clover came up aDd 
about all i got was a good crop of hay; I am 
now plowing the land and my energetic Brown 
Leghorns are gathering the nuts. 
The past season I put in a small crop of Flour 
corn as a sort of trial trip. I also purchased 
a Wilson Bro. $5.00 bone mill, more for use in 
grinding bone, etc., for my poultry than any 
thing else, but one day I tried some Flour corn 
in it to see what sort of meal and grits it 
would make for table use, and the result was 
so satisfactory that I now prepare all the meal 
and grits we need for our own use, with this 
little mill, instead of buying the products at 
the village store at 50 cents per half bushel. 
We all like this much better than the meal 
and grits made from flint corn. My wife says 
it cooks more quickly and easily—one more 
dot in farm economy. c. c. w. 
Grand Bay, Ala. 
MICHIGAN IS ALL RIGHT. 
I have concluded to seed one of my experi¬ 
mental plots on the pine plains, to clovers 
and grasses early in the spring without any 
other crop, leaving the land perhaps two 
years, and then plow again for some crop. I 
think the grasses and clovers will help to sub¬ 
due the new land which is full of roots of 
shrubbery, and leave a sod to be plowed under 
to help to start a sowed or hoed crop. I shall 
not, next spring, put the land at once into 
wheat, corn or potatoes, as is the common 
plan. 
My neighbor farmers do not realize that 
they are much better off than many persons 
who are working on a fixed salary. Their in 
come includes a living for themselves and 
company, and a team and wagon to travel to 
town or elsewhere. Many a farmer is better 
off than a salaried man at one to two thousand 
or more a year, although he thinks he is 
scarcely making anything. He should be 
thankful that he has plenty of work to do, 
that is usually healthful and varied innature. 
He has an unsurpassed opportunity to employ 
all of his wits in learning better methods from 
his friends and by reading and study. His is 
no mean trade which tends to make a man 
narrow and a mere machine. There is posi¬ 
tively no limit to things that may be learned 
in the art of farming. There is less tempta¬ 
tion to vice for the farmer and his 
children in the country than for those living 
in a town. The farmer’s children, as a rule, 
make the best and most substantial men and 
women. In the cities a very large per cent- 
age of the young are lost in one way or an¬ 
other. 
Our local, State and National elections usu¬ 
ally indicate where virtue and intelligence are 
most marked, viz., in the country. Until a 
farmer has tried several other occupations, he 
does not often realize their disadvantages. 
You cannot always judge correctly of another 
man’s trials by merely looking over his fence, 
or taking a hasty glance in the best room 
when he has his best clothes on. w. J. beal. 
Ingham Co., Mich. 
MARYLAND IS WITH US. 
Sitting on my neighbor’s fence, next his 
apple orchard, I noticed he let his bull-dog 
loose wheD he saw me. I still sat there. I 
meditated on some of the things he had to be 
thankful for, though he could not seem to 
realize any reason for thanks. He earns 
his bread by the sweat of his own brow, not 
another’s. When his harvest is ripe, he calls 
together his sons and does not have to depend 
on the hired man. Wiih a small outlay in 
cash, a little manure, a little work in the 
right time, he may have a strawberry bed 
that will ward off doctors’ bills. 
Old Brindle’s horns are still on; the day of 
the scythe and cradle is gone and the horse 
now does the work. For two dollars he can 
make an investment in the Rural, which 
will pay him 52 honest dividends a year in the 
shape of the latest ideas in agriculture. 
What crop was I particularly successful with? 
Weeds. And next year, when I see a crop 
wants cultivation, I will not say, “When I 
have time, I will cultivate that crop;” but I’ll 
say, “Now is the accepted time,” and then do 
it. P. b.;c. 
Catonsville, Md. 
HOW they feel on long island. 
The chief source of profit has been poultry 
raising, small fruit grpwing and the raising 
of the older aud common sorts of vegetables. 
The Potter or Squautumcorn, the Early Rose 
potato (raised from Northern-grown seed) the 
Acme tomato, aud the other standard vari- 
ties of vegetaoles are quite good enough for 
me. Novelties as a source of profit have 
almost invariably proven a failure. I have 
found, however, that there is an immense 
amount of pleasure in experimenting with 
novelties. There is always more or less pleas¬ 
ure in the anticipation of something to come 
which may be better than what we now have. 
The exciting and pleasing anticipation with 
which we plant and care for a new vegetable 
or fruit the merits of which are not fully 
determined, is seldom offset by our disappoint¬ 
ment even if our anticipations are not real- 
izt d. 
My immediate neighbors have been, with¬ 
out an exception so far as I know, prosperous 
and happy. The aosence of calamity or suf¬ 
fering is certainly a cause tor thanksgiving, 
although it is not usually emphasized so much 
as a stroke of spec al good fortune. My neigh¬ 
bors, who are not the less neighbors because 
they are further away, have many causes for 
thanksgiving. The steady employment of the 
mechanics aad mill hands of New England 
has offered a uniform aud remunerative home 
market to the Eastern farmers; the killing of 
the Mills bill and the probable increase of the 
tariff on wool, and the high price of wheat 
have materially improved the outlook for our 
Northern aud Western neighbors, and the 
unexampled prosperity of the farmers of the 
South, due to the development of the home 
market and increased production of coiton, 
etc , is surely a cause for thanksgiving by our 
Southern neighbors. In fact the past year 
has been one of unexampled prosperity and 
happiness, and from the North, South, East 
and West should go up an anthem of praise 
such as has never before ascended from the 
earth. j. H. G. 
ARKANSAS FINDS SOMETHING. 
This is the close of our first year in North¬ 
western Arkansas, and we ask ourselves “For 
what have we to be thankful?” We could 
find much fault, but who could not? We are 
determined just now to look on the bright 
side, and live the meanness down. First, we 
have had a good season; the summer has been 
tempered by delightful showers and the fall 
has, with the exception of a few weeks of rain, 
been perfect weather. Second; we are glad 
we came to this part of Arkansas, glad we 
have our farm among these health-giving 
hills; but also glad that we did not plant all 
of our 80 acres to apple trees. In fact, we 
are glad that we took this year to study our 
surroundings ; we now know what we can do 
and how to do it. We intend to p'ant a good 
vineyard, and market grapes in St. Louis. 
We shall plant a good orchard with wiuter 
apples, k u ep them with cold storage until 
spring, and market them in Texas. Besides 
this, we intend to have all the comforts and 
luxuries of a good farm home. Yes, on the 
whole, it is a good land in which to build a 
home. So much for our prosperity. We are 
truly thankful that we were “raised” in a 
land of good public schools, and we mean to 
do all we can to make this part of the country 
like, well like your part of the country, 
friend. We are thankful for our mail service 
which brings us friendly letters and the 
wonderful papers of the outside world. We 
are thankful for health and strength and 
friends aud “mighty” thankful we did not 
live here 25 years ago. A. J. K. 
Washington Co., Ark. 
RETURNS FROM NEW YORK STATE. 
Some of the most valuable of Delaware 
County land was formally covered with heavy 
pine forests The timber was cut and shipped 
to the Philadelphia market, as logs, or sawed 
lumber during the high water in the Dela¬ 
ware River in spring, or during eaily sum¬ 
mer freshets. As the stumps and roots are 
slow to decay; owing to the amount of pitch 
they contain, unless removed by other means 
than the process of decav, they remain long 
after their trunks, often 100 feet high while 
standing, have been consumed or destroyed 
by na ural causes. Such was the case until 
within a short time ago on a farm near the 
county seat of this county. Now this farm 
has a most valuable meadow, producing three 
tons of hay to the acre. The soil was well 
filled with stoues. Springs of water flowing 
over it made the land sour and wet. The 
stumps were lifted from their beds by means 
of a pulley and wheel. The roots were trim¬ 
med off to be used as kindlings for the kitchen 
stove; while the bodies of the stumps were 
either hauled into heaps and burned, or used 
for partition or road fences. The land was 
thoroughly drained, the stones removed from 
the ground, and after the drains were laid, 
the ditches were filled to within plowing dis¬ 
tance of the surface Then the land was 
plowed, fitted for a crop, well harrowed and 
rolled smooth in good shape for the reaper 
and mower. The reaper and mower were used 
on the very same land where formerly the 
scythe could hardly cut what little grew so 
rough and uneven was the ground. 
Not only has this “special operation” for 
the present year proved a source of profit to 
the farmer, but it will continue to give large 
returns for the time, money, and labor ex¬ 
pended. Nor is the operation alone particu¬ 
larly satisfactory to the farmer who owns 
and lives on the farm, but it is a source of 
pleasure to his family, as the field was in full 
view of the front door. It was near the pub¬ 
lic highway and the great contrast between 
now and then is fully noted, and commented 
upon by those traveling the road. Such 
work is not only a source of profit aud satis¬ 
faction to the owner and tiller of the soil, but 
is au incentive to his immediate neighbors. 
Such is especially the case with regard to a 
near neighbor; for the best portion of his farm 
adjoining the farm in question, was also for¬ 
merly covered with heavy pine timber, and 
needs the same treatment. Passing by this 
farm, I noticed that operations had already 
commenced. Improvements, as if contagious, 
readily spread. On9 thrifty, industrious, 
reading and thinking farmer in a neighbor¬ 
hood infuses a spirit of progress into all with¬ 
in a radius of him. “CLEVELAND.” 
Delaware County. 
AN ILLINOIS MAN WANTS IRRIGATION. 
For market gardeners and small fruit raisers 
I think nothing would pay a better profit on 
the investment than a system of irrigation, 
either by means of wind-mills and storage 
tanks or by getting water from some stream. 
The trouble in irrigating directly from a 
stream in the East is due to having to start a 
ditch on some other person’s land, and this 
