460 
JULY 43 
R. N.-Y.—When shall you be satisfied with 
the condition of your farm? 
Farmer L.—When the soil is so uniformly 
strong that I can, whenever I wish, put it all 
into grain and grass with the certainty of 
averaging over two tons of hay per acre. 
Soil that will do that is good enough. 
R. N.-Y.—Have you ever tried low-grade 
fertilizers or special manures containing one or 
two fertilizing elements* 
Farmer L.—Yes, and my experience 
teaches me that it is economy to buy the high¬ 
est grade of a complete fertilizer that I can 
get. I do not see why potash, phosphoric 
acid and nitrogen may not have intrinsic 
values as fixed and permanent as the intrinsic 
value of flour, sugar or clothing. Staple arti¬ 
cles of food that go to sustain life have a 
fixed value, depending upon the cost of pro¬ 
duction, handling and transportation. Cheap 
sugar sells for less per pound than good sugar, 
but you have to use more of it. The ‘‘sweet¬ 
ness” costs as much in one grade as in the 
other, and the cost of hauling and handling 
the cheap grade is the same as that for the 
higher grade. The same elements that go to 
make first-class Timothy hay are used in form¬ 
ing trees, logs, lumber. Sawdust, then, should 
make as good a feed as the hay. But what 
will a horse say to this ? The proposition is 
ridiculous ; and yet, is it not as sensible as 
that made by a man who says that a $25 
fertilizer is just as good as one costing $40, 
because one contains, almost as much phos¬ 
phoric acid, potash, and nitrogen as the other ? 
A man can make a cheap fertilizer by using 
leather and South Carolina rock that might 
analyze well. Another man might use nitrate 
of soda and bone, that wouldn’t analyze much 
better, and charge twice as much for it, and 
yet his fertilizer would be far chf aper than 
the other. The cheap fertilizer would repre¬ 
sent to the plant what the sawdust would to 
the horse. No, sir; in my opinion it is econo¬ 
my to use a high-grade fertilizer every time, 
and on my farm I doubt if I can use too much 
of it. 
R. N.-Y.—Do you fear Western competi¬ 
tion ? 
Farmer L.—No. It has driven us out of 
the cattle business, but fertilizers have given 
us an advantage over the West. Within GO 
miles of us are some 4,000,000 people that 
must be fed. It is a pity if we can’t find 
some article of food that we can beat the 
West at producing. Hay and potatoes are 
our great money crops. Croakers tell us that 
electricity will, sooner or later, so supplant 
horse power in the city that the demand for 
hay will fall off. The thing to do in that 
case is to use every means to improve the 
quality of the product. The greater the sup¬ 
ply, the better the sale for the part of it that 
can be graded “No. 1.” We have a soil and 
climate here admirably adapted to the pro¬ 
duction of potatoes and hay, and we can put 
just as much brains and business into these 
crops as anybody in any other part of the 
country. 
R. N.-Y.—Is there any reason why farm¬ 
ers’ boys should leave such farming as this ? 
Farmer L.—It would seem not from the 
way our best boys stay. Farming with fer¬ 
tilizers is a science that calls for the best 
thought and study a man is cap able of. Any 
young man who studies such farming fits 
himself for a profession that will enable him 
to earn a good salary. Thousands of city men 
are buying large farms. They cannot run 
these farms themselves, but they are ready to 
supply ample capital and pay good salaries to 
the right men who will serve as managers. 
Here are good chances for capable farmers’ 
boys. The graduates of our agricultural col¬ 
leges ought to fill more of these positions. 
They might make by filling them more than 
two-thirds of the young doctors or lawyers 
ever will make. 
R. N.-Y.—What is the size of your farm? 
Farmer S.—I have 132 acres. 
R. N.-Y.—Wbat is your rotation and how 
do you use fertilizers? 
Farmer S.—Mine is a five years’ rotation 
as follows: 1. Potatoes, using 1,500 pounds 
of potato fertilizer per acre. 2. Wheat, with 
400 pounds of the same fertilizer per acre. 3 
and 4. Grass—no manure. 5. Corn with all 
the farm manure I have, with a little ferti¬ 
lizer in each hill to stimulate an early growth. 
If I have not enough farm manure I use com¬ 
plete corn fertilizer, which is applied with 
the grain drill. This acts also as a harrow, 
and dispenses with further harrowing. In 
fact, the harrow with us is a little-used imple¬ 
ment as compared with its use in some other 
sections. 
R. N.-Y.—So I have noticed. I have seen 
very few of the newer harrows about here. 
But how do your crops compare, under this 
system, with former ones? 
Farmer S.—I consider that all crops,grain, 
grass, wheat and potatoes have doubled. 
When I started the large use of fertilizers, my 
father, an eld man, did not think it would 
pay. He thought we were putting too much 
cash into the ground. The old plan of using 
fertilizers was to put on as little as possible— 
that is, to apply just as much as a single crop 
could use and no more. The idea was that 
fertilizers were much safer in the barn than 
in the soil, and that what was left by the crop 
was generally washed out «nd wasted. So 400 
or 500 pounds per acre were all they dared to 
use. My father could not see where the money 
spent for 1,500 pounds would come back. He 
lived long enough, however, to see enough of 
an increase in the crops to convince him that 
the heavy fertilizing pays. We believe that 
the only way to make fertilizers pay is to use 
lots of them. I do not know of a single farm¬ 
er who has worked up to 1.500 pounds that 
would go back to a smaller quantity. 
R. N.-Y.—How much stock do you keep ? 
Farmer S.—My working teams and three 
cows. Last winter 1 fed some steers, but such 
feeding does not pay. I want some way of 
using up my corn-stalks. 
R. N.-Y.—Some farmers at the East buy 
farrow cows in the fall, milk them through 
the winter, making butter, and sell them for 
beef in the spring. 
Farmer S.—I would like to try that. 1 
think it might answer here. 
R. N.-Y.—Are most of the farmers pros¬ 
perous about here? 
Farmer S.—Generally so. I presume we 
have as small a proportion of farm failures as 
country neighborhoods usually show. 1 want 
you to go and see Farmer D. He has wbat I 
call a model farm. He has 100 acres of land. 
He bought it 20 years ago and paid from $175 
to $200 per acre for it. It would not sell for 
much over half that now. He has never done 
anything but farm, yet he has paid for his 
land, bought another farm and has now 
money enough to buy another. He is a 
steady, industrious, careful man. He never 
left the farm to run about and try to be elect¬ 
ed to some little township or county office, 
but he has kept at home, worked hard, 
watched every point, and as a consequence, 
succeeded. 
R. N.-Y".—A man that will work that way 
will succeed in any kind of work won’t he? 
Farmer S.—It looks so. There is no other 
way to success that I know of. 
R. N.-Y.—How much stock do you keep, 
Farmer D ? 
Farmer D.—Three horses, two mules and 
10 head of cattle. I have 100 acres of land, 
which cost me from $175 to $200 per acre. 
R. N.-Y.—How long have you used high- 
grade commercial fertilizers ? 
Farmer D.—Only five years. This year I 
bought 10 tons. I use 1,500 pounds per acre 
on potatoes. My wife sometimes complains 
about the amount of cash I spend on fertiliz¬ 
ers ; but my experience is that the more I 
spend in this way, the more money propor¬ 
tionately I get back. Last year I sold $1,100 
worth of hay. If you want to see what fer¬ 
tilizers have done for my bay crop, notice the 
farms on either side of me as you drive past 
them. They are run on the old plan and will 
not average over one ton per acre. I have laid 
aside in one year, $1,900 from my farm. That 
was a year of extra good prices and crops. 
Still, in that year 1 paid for all my help ; now 
I have three sons large enough to help me. 
One of my sons, just married, has taken a 
farm just across the road. It is on poor soil, 
but he is bringing it up with our usual crops, 
only using rye in the place of wheat. 
R. N.-Y.—Does your rotation differ from 
that of other farmers about here * 
Farmer D.—No. We have about the same 
plans. We raise corn, potatoes, wheat and 
grass, put our farm manure on the corn crop 
and our fertilizer on the potatoes and thus 
manage to keep work going all through the 
season. When the land is plowed in the 
spring we plant potatoes; then comes corn 
planting; by the time the potatoes are culti¬ 
vated the corn is ready to work in; when the 
potatoes are sprinkled it is time for haying; 
then come harvest and thrasning; then we 
are ready to dig potatoes; then come corn 
cutting, and after that wheat seeding. 
R. N.-Y.—You makefarmiDg pay then? 
Farmer D.—Well, it seems so. The fact is 
that our farms are assessed for the same 
amount, whether we use 400 or 1,500 pounds 
of iertilizer. If by using 1,500 pounds we can 
double our crops, it is pretty good business 
policy to do so, we think. 
The R. N.-Y. talked with many other farm¬ 
ers and looked at the growing crops on several 
farms. The answers given above are typical; 
enough of them have been given to show the 
way the best farmers around CraDbury are 
conducting tbeir business. Let it be remem¬ 
bered that the R. N.-Y. merely acts as a re¬ 
porter. This is not a special plea in favor of 
large dressings of high-grade fertilizers. We 
merely state exactly what we saw and heard. 
Any farmer can go and see for himself what 
these farms around Cranbury are doing, how 
they are improving and how chemical fertiliz¬ 
ers are actually taking the place of stable 
manure. 
The Cranbury farmers are emphatic in say¬ 
ing that their prosperity is due to the use of 
commercial fertilizers in large quantities on 
potatoes. The R. N.-Y. saw no evidence to 
controvert this claim. The fact remains, 
however, that only a skilled farmer can af¬ 
ford to farm on a 1,500-pound scale. The 
man who is not willing and able to exercise 
the keenest powers of Ins mind in the hand¬ 
ling and selling of a first-class product should 
never try to run his farm to its fullest capac¬ 
ity. These fertilizer farmers at Cranbury 
are students. There was an agricultural re¬ 
port in every room that we entered and all 
the volumes had evidently been read and re¬ 
read. 
These farmers seem to be solid men in their 
community. They could well afford to use 
fertilizers. Most of them seemed to have 
some capital to work on so that the expendi¬ 
ture of large amounts of cash for the fertiliz¬ 
er would not cripple them. Farmer D's experi¬ 
ence is exceptional. He seems to have start¬ 
ed with less money than any of the others, 
yet now seems to be making as much profit 
as any. The R. N.-Y. knows of hundreds of 
discouraged, debt-burdened farmers who toil 
year after year on land that grows poorer and 
poorer. It is impossible for any intelligent man 
to fail to see, after a visit to these Cranbury 
farms, that these poor lands can be restored 
to fertility and the hard life made easier. 
But how are these discouraged farmers to be¬ 
gin? That is the question that suggests itself 
at once. 
There is little place for pastures in the 
Cranbury system of farming The design is 
to have every inch of land under some paying 
crop. Hence there is a constant inclination to 
decrease the amount of stock. But for this 
sheep would doubtless pay well, as consumers 
of corn-stalks. Most of the farmers keep so 
little stock that fences ought to come down 
and the long lanes that run through most 
farms be reduced to a space wide enough for 
a wagon road. 
To sum the matter up, the R. N.-Y. is led to 
conclude that some farms at the East are ac¬ 
tually increasing in fertility by the use of fer¬ 
tilizers, that it will be many years before 
these Cranbury farms become a part of the 
“desert” prophesied by our Western frienda,nd 
that few farms in the West growing the same 
products pay better profits or maintain their 
fertility so perfectly. This is all we can say. 
Are the plans pursued at Craubury suitable 
for general adoption in other Eastern neigh¬ 
borhoods ? That is something you must think 
out for yourself. 
Chmjanljcrc, 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Iowa. 
Des Moines, Polk County, June 24.—June 
has been wet and cold. There have been very 
few days of good growing weather for crops. 
Corn is small and many fields are green with 
grass and vines. Unless warm weather comes 
soon and lasts late, our prospect for a full or 
average corn crop will be slim. The weather 
has been favorable for a heavy growth of 
small grains and grass. Our grass is fine,and 
there is a good prospect for a good crop of 
hay. Oats are falling badly and will be 
greatly damaged. Our rains have been at¬ 
tended of late with hard driving winds, and 
lands are badly washed. We have the prom¬ 
ise of a large crop of potatoes. Cabbages, 
onions, beets and peas are doing well, and are 
in great supply. But it is impossible to get a 
vine of any kind to grow. The striped cu¬ 
cumber bug was never so bad, and defies all 
remedies. We have two new insects here: 
one is the strawberry worm, which makes its 
appearance early in the spring, and is a 
greedy feeder on the foliage, and unless the 
pests are, or can be, destroyed, it is useless to 
plant strawberries. The other is the squash 
grub. It seems that it is hatched from an egg 
laid on the stem of the vine, near the ground, 
and eats its way into the vine, and soon de¬ 
stroys it. The pests wore very bad here last 
season. F. s. w. 
North Carolina. 
S. Washington P. O., Pender Co., June 25. 
—Corn, peas, potatoes and stock are in 
good cultivation. Almost all farmers are 
through with laying by their crops, which are 
the best for past three years. We have had 
few rains and a season good for all crops. Our 
fruits are almost ripe. Large quantities of 
Orange cane have been planted and it is look ■ 
ing fine. Most.families have enough to make 
a year’s supply of sirup. No dairying is 
done here, although we have fine natural 
pasture. Our cattle are almost all scrub stock. 
I have Devon cattle, Berkshire swine and 
Cotswold sheep. d. j. m. 
New Hampshire. 
Dover, Stafford County, June 26.—We 
have had a hard season thus far. On the 
morning of May 27 the mercury stood at 32°. 
Ice made over an eighth of an inch thick, and 
frost did much damage. Since that time the 
mercury has been at 40° two or three times, and 
more or less rain has fallen nearly every day. 
We have bad heavy thunder showers, and the 
lightning has done a good deal of damage. 
Grass is looking well and there will be a pretty 
good hay crop, but haying is not coming on 
as early as was expected on account of having 
so much cold weather. A few have begun on 
pieces that were lodged, and if the weather is 
good the first of next week a good deal of 
grass will be cut. w. e. r. 
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PROTECTING PASTURING CATTLE FROM FLIES. 
D. A. C., Sandwich, Mass .—Are there any 
practical means by which cattle in the pasture 
can be protected from the attacks of flies, etc.? 
Ans. —Here are replies from a number of 
good dairymen. The R. N. Y. can add little 
to the list of remedies. Who can ? 
FROM C. M. WINSLOW. 
I never tried anything. It would be quite 
expensive to wash a large herd over every day 
or two with any wash. 
Brandon, Vt. 
FROM L. F. ALLEN. 
r 
I hav6 never succeeded in putting any wtrffu 
or substance on cattle to prevent flies filim 
disturbing them in pastures. Every part of 
the animal cannot well be washed or anointed 
by any preparation, and all exposed parts will 
be accessible to flies. At milking times dur¬ 
ing the fly season cows should be in dark 
stables, where flies will not trouble them. 
That has been my practice for many years, 
and it has always been effective. 
Buffalo, N. Y. 
FROM W. M. BENNINGER. 
The best plaD I find for keeping flies off 
cows is to pasture the cows at night, and keep 
them in a cool stable in the day time, and 
have good fly doors on the stable. I find 
some put fly covers on their cows. I pasture 
mine early in the morning and late in the 
evening, and keep them in a brushy swamp 
during the day, where they have plenty of 
fresh water and shade. 
Walnutport, Pa. 
FROM G. W. DREW. 
Little experience have I had in this matter. 
I have seen blankets made of cotton cloth 
used with fair results; also a liquid made by 
boiliDg walnut leaves, moistening the coats 
of the cows occasionally with it. 
New Haven County, Conn. 
FROM W. E. RINES. 
The only thing I have tried is burdock 
leaves steeped in water until the liquid is v ery 
strong. Three years ago next August one of 
my cows slit a teat open when she was giving 
15 quarts of milk per day. I sewed it up and 
kept her in the barn a mouth. Of course, 
there was more or less milk on the floor. 1 
used the burdock water and it kept the flies 
away. 
Stafford County, N. H. 
FROM SMITHS, POWELL & LAMB. 
We have never had occasion to protect our 
cattle from flies, having at several points on 
our farm growing timber in which the cattle 
rest at pleasure. In the Adirondack region 
where the “black flies” are troublesome we 
have known of parties putting on their cattle 
a preparation made of tar oil or tar and lard, 
which, if applied frequently to the ears, will, 
to some extent, keep the flies away, but it 
would never be practical for a large herd. 
Syracuse, N. Y. 
FROM J. W. INGRAM. 
I have never tried anything to prevent cows 
from being annoyed by flies when running in 
pasture. 1 have seen it stated that sponging 
