SOS 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
wheat; for the smaller breeds, about .9 ounce 
meal and 1.2 ounce wheat. After May 1, 
each pen was fed freshly-cut green grass 
daily. The feed in Nos. 1 and 3 was always 
the more readily eaten and the fowls always 
appeared lively and healthy. In pen No. 
2 one Wyandotte was sick in March, and one 
Brahma died in June. In pen No. 4, one 
Leghorn was sick in March, and one died in 
April. All comparisons between the pens 
were made on the average of one fowl. The 
two Wyandottes in pen No. 2 were allowed to 
sit for two months from May 18. The Leg¬ 
horns in pens 3, and 4, all wanted to sit for 
some time, though very indifferently. 
During the last month or more, most of the 
fowls were moulting, and very few eggs 
were obtained. A small number of egg3 
might reasouably be expected from fowxs fed 
continually on one food, but the great differ¬ 
ence in yield is noticeable. The average 
number of eggs per fowl for the whole period 
was, from pen 1, 12.5; pen 2, 33.75; pen 
3, 12 25; pen 4, 41.42. The Laced Wyan¬ 
dottes in pen 2, and the W. C. B. Polish 
in pen 4, besides laying more eggs, kept their 
weight better, although the Light Brahmas, 
in pen 1, and the S. C. W. Leghorns in pen 
3 were in better health. 
This experiment would seem to show that 
corn meal was more favorable to egg-produc¬ 
tion than linseed meal. Although single ex¬ 
periments are of little value as determining 
positive results, yet they are of considerable 
value in suggesting future experiments. 
The weight of eggs diminished by keeping, 
owing to the evaporation of water. The per 
cent, of fat was higher in the brown-shell 
eggs, while the shell of the white eggs was 
heavier. Further experiments in feeding 
both for eggs and meat are contemplated. 
{^Hudlancous, 
COST OF LIVINO AND BUYING GRO¬ 
CERIES FOR THE FARM. 
J. M. MUNCEY. 
Are you a farmer? If so have you ever 
kept a faithful and detailed account of your 
expenses so that you know what your food 
costs? Some of the principal items in the 
cost of living, as my “House Expense” account 
shows, for 1887 and 1888, are butter, meat, 
wood, flour, potatoes, coffee, coal, sugar, tea, 
eggs and milk. Let me give the figures 
roughly. The total expense for 18S8 was §500, 
and the above-named items figure §347. Re¬ 
member that I have taken careful inventories 
of the food on hand at the beginning and 
close of the year. The food produced by the 
farm Is estimated at its cash yalue. Now 1 
wish to urge the importance of protecting 
ourselves in the purchase of all groceries that 
will not be damaged by keeping. There is a 
multiplicity of organizations and “combines” 
in this country, and why can the retailer of 
groceries object if a dozen or half-dozen 
farmers combine and purchase important 
articles of diet at wholesale prices, and in §300 
or §500 lots, it may rob your townsman of a 
profit, but you certainly would be doing noth¬ 
ing but what he would do under the same 
conditions. 
I am on a 250-acre farm, keep 45 to 60 
cattle, four horses, a number of hogs, raise 20 
to 30 acres of corn, and put up 60 to 100 tons 
of hay. I employ one regular farm hand, and 
in haying time I hire three or four extra 
hands, and at other times of the year employ 
extra help occasionally. I presume my 
books will show an average of 4% persons to 
consume the provisions named. That includes 
the housekeeper. This will give the reader 
some idea of whether my living was extrav¬ 
agant or not. 
Sugar. —We used §26.74 worth of granulat¬ 
ed sugar in 1887, and §30.87 worth in 1888. 
Now, suppose at wholesale you could buy it 
for 5% cents per pound, as I did in 1887. On 
414 pounds, you would save probably §10.35, 
providing the retailer was selling 12 pounds 
for a dollar. 
Do not buy anything but granulated or 
strictly pure, refined, dry sugar. Every scien¬ 
tist and domestic economist of note will tell 
you that white, dry sugar Is the cheapest, and 
contains the highest per cent, of sweetness. 
The only reason why some farmers’ wives 
persist in saying and thinking that “brown 
sugar is the sweetest,” is because when placed 
on the tongue the sensation of sweetness is 
more quickly perceptible. This is due to the 
fact that the grains of that sort of sugar are 
much finer and are more quickly dissolved by 
the saliva in the mouth. Another reason for 
buying sugar by the barrel is that you will 
save what your careless on or employ^ loses 
when bringing the dollar or two dollars’ 
worth home. Perhaps it rains before he gets 
home and the paper gets wet. Perhaps you 
have the sugar put in a sugar box or pail, 
and that is upset. Such accidents do happen 
in very well regulated families. Andauother 
thing: you are not bothered with a whole 
bundle of groceries when you go to town 
after lumber or repairs to machinery or some 
miscellaneous load. 
Coal,. —If you use hard-coal for, say, one 
base-burner, you should figure on about 50 
pounds per day. In ’87 it cost me 20j^ cents 
per day for 107 days, to heat a room about 16 
x 14, with a bed-room adjoining. Coal was 
§S.50 per ton. I used 49 pounds per 24 hours. 
Buy it by the car-load and place the business 
with a representative, intelligent honest man. 
Wood.—I used 9% cords in ’87, that cost me 
§31.25, aside from hauling and sawing. 
Flour. —Miss Parloa says buy enough flour 
in the fall to last a year. Of course, it must 
be kept in a dry, dark place. Some good 
housekeepers think so. From November 12, 
1886 to January 1, ’87, we used 8 4-10 ounces 
per grown person per day. In 1887, in 5,013 
meals, we consumed 913 pounds of flour, or an 
average of 87-10 ouuces per person per day 
so that I think S)4 ounces per head will be a 
fair estimate for every farmer to make. Buy 
the best flour. Every good cook says it is the 
cheapest and less of it is required to make a 
given amount of good bread. Perhaps it 
would be advisable to buy a few sacks of 
second-grade flour to be used for pastry. 
Tea. —We used tea once a day and con¬ 
sumed 10 pounds 14 ounces in ’87. This is an 
average of one-tenth ounce per person and 
meal. A family of five would need nearly 12 
pounds for a year, if used once a day, and 24 
pounds, if used tw ice a day. It pays to buy 
tea at wholesale. 
Coffee. —I used 82 pounds in ’87, costing 
§14.88. It was bought green and burned at 
home. It was a question about the profit of 
this practice as the memory of some house¬ 
keepers proves that occasionally some of it is 
“ burned up.” 1 think it economy though if 
the entire attention is given to it while burn¬ 
ing. According to my figures, you need about 
two-fifths of an ounce per person, per meal. 
Some farmers use Arbuckle’s altogether. Of 
course, each man can decide for himself and 
the purchase being made accordingly. 
There are many other imperishable articles 
that may be purchased with advantage, and 
on which each woman may make a safe esti¬ 
mate to suit her conditions—hard soap, soda, 
dairy salt, ginger, extracts of lemon and va¬ 
nilla, starch, matches, pepper, vinegar, sirup, 
kerosene, rice, chimneys, baking powder in 
small cans, cinnamon, cloves, canned-corn, 
prunes, chocolate and raisins. It will not be 
to a farmer’s profit, I thin k, to buy a box of 
raisins. If consumed in, say, six months or 
less, it will probably pay. About §3 can be 
saved on a barrel of kerosene. The cash 
value of the barrel is 90 cents to a dollar. The 
kerosene of 150 test ought to be bought for §13 
or less At least one cent a bar can be saved 
on soap, and 10 to 12 cents per pound on bak¬ 
ing powder if bought in whole sale quantities. 
I say most emphatically that It will pay every 
farmer to borrow the money, if necessary, to 
purchase his groceries at wholesale prices. I 
insist honestly that more farmers must begin 
to figure the cost of production of farm pro¬ 
ducts, and the cost of living, or soon they will 
be left year after year with no profits, and 
perhaps a loss. Protect yourselves. It is not 
necessary to pay 600 middlemen their profits. 
They may need them; so do we. 
Frozen Fodder. —Professor F. H. Storer, 
in answer to inquiries about the feeding valuo 
of frozen corn-fodder, says, in the Rural 
New-Yorker, that the damage done by 
freezing is due, first of all, to the tearing asun_ 
der of the cell walls In the plant by the ex. 
pansionof the contained liquid when convert¬ 
ed into ice; that if the fodder is wilted there 
is less cause of such disruption; but if the 
plants are tense with liquid, and standing ex¬ 
posed, they are doubly liable to injury, as 
the transpiration from their surfaces carries 
away heat additionally to the radiation. 
The mere act of freezing does not of itself in¬ 
jure the nutritive value of the fodder. It is 
the fermentation of the sugar in the plant, 
owing to its being exposed to the air in the 
broken cells, that causes the real trouble. If 
it were practicable to keep the fodder at a 
low temperature, this could not occur; or if 
it could be packed in a silo at once it would 
be out of reach of the microscopic organisms 
which induce the decay. 
There is something not yet explained to us 
by investigators in regard to the destructive 
effects of frost on plants, fruits, roots, etc. 
As a remedy is sometimes found worse than 
the disease, so the thawing, if rapid and in 
open air and light, seems the crowning cause 
of the harm attributed to the freezing. For, 
as every one knows, if the thawing is effected 
very slowly, as in case of a frozen nose, by 
keeping it covered with snow, or roots of a 
hardy plant by being buried in the ground 
without any bending or breaking, or apples 
thawed slowly in a cool cave, or under earth 
or spring water, the objects escape destructive 
injury. Do the disrupted parts settle back 
rightly adjusted into their places, during this 
quiet, undisturbed condition, and so become 
fit again to carry on their functions? It is an 
important question. “ w.” 
Cmijiiiljcru 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
IlllnoU. 
Donnelson, Montgomery County, July 
10.—We have had a very wet season so far. 
Oats are good and ready to cut. Hay is a fine 
crop. Corn will not be more than half a crop. 
Blackberries are abundant. Grapes good. 
White Clover fine and honey in plenty. There 
are no chinch bugs to trouble us yet ; it has 
been too wet for them. R. C. p. 
Indiana. 
Rockville, Parke County, July 19.—Six 
inches of rain have fallen in the last seven 
days. Wheat is a little over one-half an 
average crop, and is in danger of sprouting in 
the shock. Our farmers, as a rule, thrash 
from the shock and sell at once. It does not 
pay to raise wheat in Indiana, but what other 
money crop can be substituted is now the 
question. Corn promises a fine yield and is 
almost secure from drought. Oats have a very 
large acreage and a fine yield is expected, but 
last night’s terrific wind and rain storm may 
reduce the average. Grass yielded a fine crop 
of hay, and pasturage is first-class. Potatoes 
surely promise the largest yield we ever had. 
All vegetables are good crops, but as we have 
no market here, few of them are well grown. 
Daniel Webster once replied to the query : 
“Will the practice of law pay?”—“There is 
room for paying work on the upper shelf.” 
But this does not apply to raising vegetables 
and fruits in our town, as our grocerymen 
buy wilted and any class of vegetables and 
fruits and set the market prices, and all go at 
their figures. Berries have been about half a 
crop. Apples, pears and peaches short. 
A. C. B. 
Michigan. 
Big Rapids, Mecosta County, July 12.--The 
winter and spring were unusually dry. The 
snowfall was unusually light and there was 
scarcely any rain after November until May 
10. Never in the history of this country were 
the lakes, streams and ponds so low in the 
spring. Only great autumn droughts have 
ever before reduced the amount of water on 
the surface of the ground so much. On May 
30, we had hail and snow, and ice formed near¬ 
ly pne-half inch thick. Corn and potatoes 
that were up were generally killed to the 
ground, and in some instances seeds rotted in 
the ground. Both clover and Timothy were 
injured, but seasonable rains and good weath¬ 
er have given us a good hay crop, and all 
others promise well, except corn, which is fully 
two weeks late. Potatoes are exceptionally 
fine. The wheat crop is better than for many 
years, but is somewhat injured by the aphis, 
some of the grains being shrunken. Many 
heads are now full of dead insects, which un¬ 
der the microscope show wounds, as if made 
by a parasite, though I have not been able to 
see the parasite itself. Apples, plums, cher¬ 
ries, etc., (peaches are not much grown here) 
were generally killed by the May 30th freeze. 
So were strawberries, but other small fruits 
are abundant. On the whole, the present out¬ 
look for the farmer is better than at any time 
in the last five years. H. c. P. 
Deer Lake, Lake County, July 19.—Hay, 
oats, potatoes and turnips are our money 
crops here. They are sold in the cities and to 
miners and other laborers. Hay is worth §15 
per ton; oats 50 cents; potatoes 75 cents; tur¬ 
nips 75 cents. I do not know of any farmers 
who get extra prices for their products. There 
has been no change within the last 10 years. 
Farming is not done very extensively in this 
country. People depend on iron and gold 
for a living. J. h. s. 
Huron County, July 9.—Crops are look¬ 
ing very well. Fall wheat bids fair to yield 
30 bushels to the acre, on an average. The 
hay crop iB very fair. Stock looks well. The 
farmers are all busy hay-making, and harvest 
will soon bo here. Owing to the cold, wet 
weather in May, the corn crop will be light. 
D. E. s. 
AUG 3 
Minnesota. 
Minnesota City, Winona County, July 
11.—Potato beetles have been so scarce that 
it has been unnecessary to use poison. A few 
mature beetles are to be seen, but there areal- 
most no slugs. Potatoes, barley, and oats 
never looked better. Corn had a slow time 
of it through May and a part of June, and 
some was slightly frost-bitten, but during the 
past three weeks of warm weather it has 
grown wonderfully. Some which was plant¬ 
ed early, (May 2nd and 3d) and which was 
quite badly frosted is far ahead of that plant¬ 
ed a week later, and which escaped the frost; 
it is beginning to tassel out. Winter wheat 
will be a fair crop. J. m. d. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS 
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and address of the writer to insure attention. Before 
asking a question, please see If it is not answered in 
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one time. Put questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
THE CULTURE OF BLUEBERRIES. 
Several Subscribers. —1. Can blueberries 
be successfully transplanted * 1 2. Are the ber¬ 
ries improved in size or flavor by cultivation? 
3. Is such improvement in yield or quality 
enough to justify one in making a business of 
blueberry culture? 4. How would the profit 
in such culture compare with that found with 
other small fruits? 
Ans. —This matter was discussed at the last 
meeting of the Minnesota Horticultural 
Society. This discussion was started by a 
suggestion made by Pomologist H. E. Van 
Deman, of the Agricultural Department at 
Washington, to the effect that blueberry cul¬ 
ture might be made a profitable industry for 
Minnesota people. The R. N.-Y. requested 
several members of the Minnesota Horticul¬ 
tural Society to answer the above questions. 
Their answers follow. We shall be glad to 
hear from others who have had experience 
with blueberries. 
FROM PRESIDENT WYMAN ELLIOT. 
So far as the discussion on the cultivation 
or domestication of the blueberry at our last 
horticultural meeting went, the testimony 
was that the bushes could be transplanted 
with success, but whether they will bear fruit 
enough to pay for the expense is a question 
yet to be solved. I think there is a good field 
for investigation for our experiment stations 
in this work, and trust the Rural may be 
able to give them points in that direction. It 
is one of the subjects that needs more elucida¬ 
tion for a large number of our people are in¬ 
terested in blueberry culture. I trust the ex¬ 
cellent Rural New-Yorker may be the 
means of spreading the knowledge so much 
needed. 
Minneapolis, Minn. 
FROM J. O. BARRETT. 
I have repeatedly tried to transplant blue¬ 
berries, putting them into different soils, but I 
have always signally failed. I also attempted 
to raise them from the seed, and failed again. 
Hence I cannot definitely answer any of the 
questions asked by the Rural. I shall renew 
my experiments during the coming fall, vary¬ 
ing the treatment, and hope to report favor¬ 
ably after a thorough test. I have no doubt of 
ultimate suceess; and then the cultivated blue¬ 
berry will be a decided improvement on the 
wild sort, so that it will take a place among 
the profitable small fruits. 
Brown’s Valley, Minn. 
FROM SECRETARY C. L. SMITH. 
1. Yes; the blueberry can be transplanted, 
the operation requiring about the same care 
as the transplantation of larches or young 
evergreens. The bushes should be dug in 
October and puddled and heeled in until the 
following April. If well set, mulched and 
shaded, 80 to 90 per cent, will grow. If the 
bushes are dug in April and planted immed¬ 
iately, 75 per cent, will live. 2. I have not 
tested the transplanted kinds long or thor¬ 
oughly enough to tell how much the fruit is 
improved. Indeed I know of no improvement 
in quality having been made. 8. The yield 
from regular systematic planting would be 
profitable on cheap lands with favorable con¬ 
ditions. 4. My experiments and observations 
would lead to the conclusion that under aver¬ 
age conditions the returns from other small 
