MAY 18 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
FROM DIFFERENT STATES. 
FROM CONNECTICUT. 
This is not a hay country, and our farmers 
have not paid to their meadows the attention 
they should have bestowed. As a commun¬ 
ity we do not begin to produce enough hay 
for our own consumption, consequently tons 
and tons are brought here for sale. It is 
mostly Western hay, and much of it finds its 
way on farms that ought to furnish enough 
and to spare. Timothy and clover have formed 
the mixture generally used for seeding here, 
for years, and, as a rule, the farmers prefer to 
use it rather than try anything else. I pre¬ 
fer early-cut hay, because when the grass is 
cut before the seeds begin to form, I think the 
hay from it is most nutritious. At any rate 
the stock prefer it to that from grass which 
has been allowed to stand longer and become 
hard or “ woody.” I think that, as a general 
thing, hay is cut from two to four weeks 
earlier than it was a few years ago. 
Haying here has not been on a scale large 
enough to allow the farmers to use all the im¬ 
proved tools. We have mowing machines 
and horse-rakes of all desired styles. Only a 
few tedders are in use. The larger barns are 
mostly fitted up with horse forks and hay 
carriers. 
I don’t think that, on an average, our 
meadows are seeded down oftener than every 
eighth or tenth year, and many of them are 
left unseeded longer than that. Rye is the 
principal crop with which we seed; but I 
think it is not so good as wheat. Very little 
wheat, however, is raised here; but I have 
always noticed that where we do seed 
with wheat we are sure of a good “catch” 
We seed in the fall; we have tried seeding 
with oats in the spring; but the attempt is not 
often successful. Some have successfully 
seeded with buckwheat, and some are sowing 
grass seed alone, with very satisfactory re¬ 
sults. I think the latter plan, where the 
ground is in proper condition, is to be the 
plan of the future. 
Our average yield is not over one ton per 
acre. Of course, there are meadows that 
yield two to three or more tons; but we have 
so many more that don’t yield over half to 
three-quarters of a ton per acre, our average 
is very low. But little manure is used after a 
top-dressing at the time of seeding down. 
Most farmers try to give a fair top-dressing 
of barn-yard manure at seeding time, and 
this has generally to last till the sod is plowed 
for corn. Some of our more thrifty farmers 
and those who make the farm pay the best, 
often use leached wood ashes, ground bone, or 
some^superphosphate on their grass land to 
good effect. 
Few new grasses have been tried here, al¬ 
though Red-top is gaining in favor where it 
has been tried. Orchard grass has been tried 
with good results; but it is preferred for pas¬ 
ture rather than for hay, although, if cut 
very early, it is very good for the latter 
purpose. Hungarian and the millets have been 
tried only a little,but I think they have proved 
successful in most cases, both for hay and 
green feed. 
Oats cut while green make very good hay 
when properly cured. This method of using 
the oat crop is also gaining in favor. 
In my opinion the best way to increase the 
productiveness of our meadows, is to plow 
and re-seed them oftener, using manure 
liberally. Our meadows are allowed to run 
too long. No meadow should be permitted to 
exist that won’t yield L% to two tons of hay 
per acre. It we are not in a position to plow 
it, it should receive a top-dressing to help it 
along. If we would care for our meadows 
properly and plow as stated, or often enough 
to keep the soil sufficiently rich, in a few 
years they would be yielding three or four 
tons per acre. 
Darien. c. F. o. 
FROM EASTERN WISCONSIN. 
1. Red Clover and Timothy are tne prin¬ 
cipal grasses grown in this section, with some 
Red-top and Alsike clover. We prefer early 
cutting, experience having shown that better 
results are obtained from feeding early-cut 
hay, especially in the dairy line. Such hay is 
eaten up clean, no dry buts being left. I 
think I can get 25 per cent, more milk from 
early than late-cut hay. 
2. In this county very large quantities of 
hay are put up. Our tools are mowers, rakes, 
tedders and occasionally a hay loader to take 
the hay from the windrows and load it on 
the wagons. 
3. We generally seed down every two 
years; that is, we leave a stand of clover and 
Timothy for two years. We seed down with 
nearly every crop grown—wheat, oats and 
barley—in spring. During the last two or 
three years, owing to poor stands from the 
effects of dry seasons, our farmers have turned 
their attention to seeding with winter grain, 
sowing Timothy in the fall with some grain 
and clover as soon as the snow is off in the 
spring, or even before. We always harrow 
after sowing grass or clover. We use a Cahoon 
broadcast sower, with which I can sow 30 
acres a day. 
4.Two tons per acre are considered a fair aver¬ 
age yield at the first cutting, though ofttimes 
three are secured. During the past three 
years hay in Wisconsin has not averaged 
more than one ton per acre; but the yield in 
these dry seasons can not be considered an 
(Continued on Page 335.) 
Ctrfri}ir«!)erf. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
rant, gooseberry, £nd wild plum, perhaps 
half of which are in bloom; but the weather 
is so dry that we hope no harm has been done 
as yet. Early cherry and apple blooms al¬ 
most ready to open. We have the first 
promise of a cherry crop in three seasons. 
Apple trees promise a fine crop of bloom. 
This is the earliest spring I think in 10 years 
or more, and we have had the most lovely 
winter and spring so far. The sunny South 
can’t beat this long spell of fine weather. 
F. K. p. 
Illinois. 
Pleasant Valley, Jo Daviess County, 
April 29.—Grain is so cheap here this spring 
that it is about as cheap to buy it as to raise 
it on land worth from $40 to $75 per acre. 
Corn, delivered, is only 25 cents; oats, 20; po¬ 
tatoes 20, and there is almost enough hay in 
stack to carry us through another winter. 
But though we have had some fine rains this 
spring, we have also a great deal of North¬ 
west wind, which dries out the surface soil 
and the dry subsoil absorbs the moisture like 
a sponge, leaving the young grass insufficient¬ 
ly supplied, so we may need our old hay yet. 
Spring opened very early, some oats being 
sown in March; but it has progressed so slow¬ 
ly that now pastures are hardly any more ad¬ 
vanced than they are in average seasons. 
Cut-worms threaten to be very destructive to 
early-planted corn. There’s no organized re¬ 
sistance here to the twine trust; but I think 
there should be, and it’s time farmers con¬ 
trolled the law-making power to a greater ex¬ 
tent. w. s. 
Sterling, Macoupin County, April 24.— 
We are having a nice spring. Peach trees 
are just coming into bloom. They have not 
had any bloom for several years. Fruit pros¬ 
pects are good if there are no late frosts. 
J. H. w. 
Indiana. 
Brightwood, Marion County, April 28.— 
Markets are dull: corn, 30 cents; hay, $15 per 
ton. Wheat is looking well. This is a fine 
spring for work. Corn ground is mostly bro¬ 
ken and some corn has been planted. It’s a 
little too dry for oats. Potatoes are planted, 
but they are coming up slowly, the ground 
being too cold. c. h. h. 
Michigan. 
Big Rapids, Mecosta County, May 1.— 
There are several thousand bushels of potatoes 
in this vicinity and they are a drug in the 
market at 10 cents a bushel. Farmers are 
feeding all they can to their stock. t. l. 
New Jersey- 
Titusville, Mercer County, April 27.— 
The apple crop is very promising; blooms are 
full and the weather is fine. Fears will prob¬ 
ably not be so good, although the bloom was 
abundant. The weather has been so cold and 
damp most of the time that a crop is doubtful. 
Peaches are m full bloom; if the low temper¬ 
ature does not hurt them when in bloom or 
just after, we may look for a crop; very un¬ 
certain now. i. j. b. 
Oregon. 
Forest Grove, Washington County, April 
22. —The past winter was the mildest we have 
had for many years, if not the mildest ever 
experienced by the whites. There was no 
sdow and very little cold weather. The pros¬ 
pects for abundant crops were never better. 
Winter wheat has made a very heavy 
growth. April for the most part has been 
rainy. Up to first of the month the season 
had been unusually dry, some land being 
too dry to work. A very large immi¬ 
gration is pouring into the country and 
a good amount of “ booming ” is being 
done. Lands that a few years ago were 
worth from $15 to $35 an acre, are now 
selling for $100 to $200. Many are com¬ 
ing from Michigan and other States to buy 
timber lands. We have a grand country 
which can support a vast population. The 
Pacific Northwest will be heard from in a few 
years. Prices rule low:—oats,30 cents; wheat, 
G5 cents; potatoes, no market; eggs, 15 cents; 
hay, $8 to $10per ton; butter, 20cents. There 
is promise of an abundance of fruit. There 
never was a better prospect for strawberries 
and other small fruits. s. F. w. 
Wisconsin. 
Delavan, Walworth County, May 1.—I 
saw it stated that April was to be the wettest 
month—the rest of the season was to be dry. 
Is that prediction well-founded? Here March 
was very early and dry; April forward with 
seasonable showers. This morning the mer¬ 
cury is 28 degrees—rather frosty on the cur- 
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CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS FOR MEADOWS. 
J. A. H., Kent County , Michigan. —We 
have beard a good deal about the use of chem¬ 
ical fertilizers in maintaining the fertility 
of our meadows and it may be that Western 
farmers will be obliged to use these fertilizers 
iu connection with stable manure. Will the 
Rural ask some of its Eastern farmer read¬ 
ers to tell us how the chemicals are most eco¬ 
nomically used? 
Here are the answers sent by .'persons who 
“ make farming pay 
FROM D. C. LEWIS. 
Farmersiin our vicinity believe that when 
they have applied chemical fertilizers liber¬ 
ally, on the potato crop more particularly, 
they secure a better catch, and get larger 
crops of grass from such liberal applications. 
The question of top-dressing grass lands is of 
more recent adoption. I have been doing it 
for some years, after the second mowing. 
This spring, top-dressing has been done more 
than usual, and in my judgment will continue 
to increase. I have been astonished at the in¬ 
crease in the hay crop by an application of 
only 200 pounds per acre. I am sure that in 
many instances it has doubled my yield of 
hay. 
Middlesex County, N. J. 
FROM JOS. WOOLWORTH. 
Can newly seeded meadows be sustained 
for a series of years, or old grass lauds be re¬ 
stored and made to produce large crops by 
the use of chemical fertilizers? I answer 
emphatically, yes. In support of the above I 
will give my experience in that line. I have 
about three acres of land seeded to Timothy 
after tobacco in the fall with no other crop, 
and the two following years I cut two very 
heavy crops each year, without any dressing 
whatever. After the second year I usually 
look for a falling off in the crop unless in 
some way sustained, and by the fourth or 
fifth year at the farthest, the land is ready 
for the plow again; but I have succeeded in 
keeping up the reputation of the two previous 
years by the application of about 300 pounds 
per acre of the Mapes Spring Top-dressing 
annually for five years, with a slight;increase 
of fertilizers the last season. The grass the 
last season was not quite as tall apparently 
as it was the previous years, but it was thick 
and heavy and it is evident the time will come 
when it will be advisable to plow and re-seed, 
unless it can be done by sowing on grass seed, 
which I meant to do last fall or early this 
spring. I have again dressed the same field 
with about 400 pounds per acre this spring. 
This will be the eighth year since it was seeded 
without a spoonful of barnyard manure. 1 
think I am within bounds when I say one 
dollar in fertilizers is as good as three dollars 
in barnyard manure, besides the extra cost of 
hauling and handling the manure. 
I add a pailful of water to each sack of 200 
pounds, which prevents it flying and makes it 
as agreeable to sow as oats. 
Now a word about renewing old meadows: 
The same year in which I commenced the 
application of fertilizers to the above named 
meadow, I had another piece of meadow 
which had become badly run out and needed 
to be plowed or top-dressed. I plowed a part 
and left about one and one-half acre which 
was top-dressed with 300 pounds of top-dress¬ 
ing. The first year, the increase of crop was 
not particularly marked. The second year 
the crop was much better, and the third year it 
had about trebled in bight and was very thick 
and heavy with a strong mixture of Red and 
White clover. About the same dressing was 
applied for five years. The fifth year the crop 
was not quite as good and I inverted the sod 
last fall. 
I am confident the best results can be ob¬ 
tained on newly seeded meadows, the roots 
being young and much more vigorous. Both 
the above plots lay on a much traveled road 
and the successive big crops have attracted 
much attention, with the frequent re¬ 
mark that we “take the cake” on the big 
hay crops of Westfield, followed by the ques¬ 
tion; “How do you doit?” The answer is 
invariably, u by the use of 300 pounds of 
spring tojj-dressing annually.''' 1 The question 
maybe asked: “Why did you take up the Ig¬ 
nore plot when it was always doing so well ?” 
I answer it had been down to grass many 
years and had become “ turf-bcund,” as we 
call it, and though it was doing well it could 
be made to do much better by plowing and 
re-seeding, the same as all grass lands top. 
dressed with barn-yard manure for a series of 
years. 
Westfield, Mass. 
FROM WM. C. SMITH. 
I can certify from actual experiment dur¬ 
ing the last 10 years, that the following 
method pursued for three or four consecutive 
years resulted in the production of remunera¬ 
tive crops, and the restoration of the land to 
grass: 1 sowed wheat and oats on several worn- 
out fields, drilling with the grain 400 to 500 
pounds per acre of the Mapes Complete Manure 
l ‘A ” brand, at about the fourth or fifth crop, 
seeding with clover and Timothy after wheat. 
On other fields a top-dressing of 10 two-horse 
loads of yard or stable manure was plowed in 
and 350 pounds per acre of fertilizer used in 
the drill and planted with corn, in some in¬ 
stances for two years or more in succession. 
Where no top-dressing was applied, the same 
quantity of fertilizer per acre was sprinkled 
around the hills three or four inches from the 
stalks at the time of the last hoeing. On one 
or two fields 20 bushels of ashes were sown 
per acre previous to drilling iu the grain and 
seeding. Five or six crops of grass have been 
mown from the above mentioned fields, and I 
anticipate that several more crops of hay can 
be profitably harvested. Wherever an indi¬ 
cation of lessening growth appears, a light 
dressing of fine yard manure composted with 
fertilizer will restore it at once. The fields 
thus restored are a moist loam, very retentive 
of moisture. By the aid of chemical analysis, 
and the labor-saving implements of hus¬ 
bandry, agriculture can be classed among 
the exact sciences. The sagacious tiller of 
the soil is enabled to verify the assertion made 
loDg ago, that, “ the desert shall rejoice and 
blossom as the rose.” Our owndoved poet in 
the last verse of his “ Deserted Homestead ” 
solved the problem when he said, 
“With skill that spares your tolling hand*. 
And ehemio aid that soience brings, 
Reclaim the waste and out-worn lands, 
And reign thereon as Kings.” 
South Corinth, N. Y. 
HOW TO MAKE A HAY PRESS. 
F. M. R. f Hamlet, Oa. —How can a hay 
press be made? 
Ans.—A simple hay press can lie made as 
follows: Frame together a stout foundation 
of 4x4-inch oak timber three feet wide and 
five feet long, frame in posts six foot long so 
as to make a space clear in the center three 
feet long by two wide, and frame caps on to 
these posts to hold the whole firmly. Make a 
floor to fill in this space; fill up the ends of the 
space with plank and the front and back with 
2x4-inch timbers framed in the sills and caps 
upright, and cover with plank except in four 
places where openings are left from bottom to 
top for the wires or cords to tie the bales. A 
floor is made to fit the top loosely and the 
pressure may be made at the top if desired, 
either by a lever and cam, or post, and a 
ratchet and pawl at each end to hold the hay 
as the lever is shifted; or the top may be 
drawn down by means of a chain and a lever 
at each end and the ratchet and pawl; or the 
bottom may be loose and raised by a screw or 
lever. To press the hay, it is filled in and 
trampled firmly until the frame is filled to the 
top, the ties being laid across the floor and 
through the spaces left for them, as above 
mentioned. The upper ties are laid over the 
hay with the ends passed through the spaces, 
as with the lower ones. The cover is then 
fitted and the pressure h applied. When the 
hay is pressed to one-half of its bulk, making 
a bale 3x3x2 feet, the ties are fastened and 
the pressure is renewed. The bale is taken 
out of the press through a door consisting of 
one-half of the front part of the frame, which 
is made separately and hinged to the base. It 
is held in place by stout bolts at each side 
while the hay is being pressed. When this 
door is opened and let down, the bale is rolled 
out. With a press of this kind costing only 
*5 for the labor of making it, four bales an 
