1889 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
693 
a very poor one. There are thousands of 
acres in .this county that will not be cut. 
The prospect for the clover crop this sea¬ 
son had been, as to the stand, the best that 
T can recollect, but the clover mite or the 
clover weevil has eaten it. The wheat 
crop is quite fair in yield and quality. The 
oat crop is fair. Corn and potatoes are 
about half crops. The latter are scabby 
and worm-eaten. I will have to feed two- 
thirds of my crop to the hogs on account of 
being so badly worm-eaten. Fruits of all 
kinds are very scarce and very inferior in 
quality. P. H. B. 
Fostoria, Seneca County, October 4.— 
Clover seed is very poor this year, for we 
had too much rain at the time of cutting. 
Other crops are first-class. Wheat is com¬ 
ing up nicely. Corn is not very heavy. 
Prices are low. Good Timothy hay $8. Clo¬ 
ver $5. A. A. 
Fayette, Fulton County, October 5.— 
Clover seed has not been all hulled yet, but it 
has been a big crop so far, big clover yield¬ 
ing eight or nine bushels to the acre. 
Wheat will be a slim crop next year, the 
soil being too dry for it to come up and too 
dry for many to plow. Potatoes are a big 
crop, yet in some places buyers are offering 
a big price for them to ship. Apples are as 
plentiful as usual and large quantities are 
being shipped. Corn won’t be an average 
crop owing to the cold, wet weather after 
planting. Cabbages will be almost a fail¬ 
ure: too dry for them to head. G. F. 
MARSHALLVILLE, Wayne County, Sep¬ 
tember 30.—In this section I think there 
will not be more than 10 per cent, of a full 
crop of clover seed. It has been destroyed 
by what is commonly called the clover- 
seed midge; three-fourths of it will not be 
cut. Wheat and hay were full crops; oats 
about 80 per cent, of a full crop; corn 60 per 
cent. It has been injured by the white 
grub in the worst way I ever saw. Pota¬ 
toes 60 per cent, of a full crop; they have 
rotted considerably; apples and peaches 20 
per cent. There was a large crop of berries. 
E. B. z. 
Lyons, Fulton County, September 28.— 
Clover seed is a good crop, worth $4 to §4.25 
per bushel. T. R. 
Ashland, Ashland County, Oct. 5.— 
Clover seed will be one-third of a crop in 
this county. “Big Clover” will be only a 
full half crop as compared with former 
years. The midge is the cause of the fail¬ 
ure. Wheat is a full crop and of good qual¬ 
ity. The Rural’s Diehl-Mediterranean with 
me was good, yield being 30 bushels per 
acre of first-class milling wheat. A large 
area has been sown to wheat again. Oats 
were a full crop and of good quality. Po¬ 
tatoes will average about one-third of a 
crop compared with last year’s yield; blight 
is the cause of the shortage. Apples scarce. 
Peaches were a fair crop of good quality. 
Garden truck abundant. D. s. 
Lodi. Medina County, September 80.—I 
do not think there is one-fourth of a crop of 
clover seed in this vicinity as compared 
with previous years. The only seed we 
have is from a few pieces that were cut and 
left as a mulch in the middle of May. On 
these the crop is good. Potatoes not more 
than half an average crop. Wheat was 
above the average and of very fine quality. 
Oats and corn are average crops. I. w. 
EMERY, Fulton County, September 30.— 
Clover, both Mammoth and common Red, 
never yielded better. Wheat never looked 
worse; many have not sown on account of 
the dry weather. Corn and potatoes are 
immense crops. w. p. 
Pennsylvania. 
Williamsport, Lycomiug County, Octo¬ 
ber 2.—Next to no clover seed is raised in 
this county; in fact, very little is produced 
in this section of our State. All our seed 
is shipped here by dealers. Our staple crops 
have suffered very much this season from 
too much rain. They looked very fine up 
to June 1st when we were visited by one of 
the most destructive floods ever known, 
which swept all our bottom farms and 
country. The writer owns a very fine bot¬ 
tom farm one mile from the city, but the 
crops were all destroyed by the flood. Out¬ 
side of the flooded district crops are only 
fair—not up to the average. Corn does 
pretty well. Oats are light. Potatoes a 
poor crop and there is considerable com¬ 
plaint of rot. Buckwheat is good. Wheat 
was a medium crop. The hay crop was 
good where the flood did not hurt it too 
much. Apples are not plentiful. Seeding 
this season is a little backward, owing to 
wet weather. We have had too much rain 
for farmers to get along well with their 
work, especially harvesting buckwheat and 
digging potatoes. What wheat was sown 
about the first to the 15th of September 
looks fine. Much more buckwheat was 
sown in this valley this year than usual 
owing to so many crops being destroyed in 
June, and all or nearly all report a good 
yield. D. M. K. 
Spring Mills, Centre County, October 1. 
—There is no clover seed whatever in this 
county. It was destroyed by the midge. 
Indeed there has been no clover-seed crop 
of any account for the last 10 years. All 
the seed sowed for the last five years has 
been shipped in from the West. Wheat 
was about one-third less than an average. 
We had too much wet weather, and a frost 
on the 29th of May did some damage. The 
corn crop is an average one in this section. 
Most of it is out of danger of frost. Most 
farmers will commence to husk and crib 
about the second week in October. The 
oat crop is large in quantity, but not good 
in quality for it is too light. It was killed 
by rust and smut; the season was too wet 
for it. The barley crop is good. Not very 
much was sown this season on account of 
failures during the last two years. The 
grass crop was heavier than it had been for 
many years; but we had a poor season for 
curing it. Hundreds of tons of hay were 
spoiled by rain in our county. If the crop 
had not been so heavy that farmers could 
make some after harvest, there would not 
be enough for feed next winter. The pota¬ 
to crop is not more than half an average. 
Rot is playing havoc with all that are 
raised. Some farmers have lost nearly all 
by rotting. A good many tubers are still 
in the ground as the owners think they 
will not rot in the ground, while some will 
not dig theirs as the crop wouldn’t pay for 
the trouble and expense. The grain that 
was sown early this fall looks promising. 
We commence to sow the last week in 
August and sow till the last of September. 
Some have not finished yet, but it is too 
cold now to get a good set for the winter. 
R. D. M. 
Elizabethtown, Lancaster County, Oc¬ 
tober 5.—An unusually wet season has 
caused an extra rank growth of stalks and 
weeds. Corn is one of the best crops ever 
raised here and is selliug at 40 cents per 
bushel out of the field. Seeding of grain is 
about finished. Wheat averages 20 bushels 
to the acre. It has fallen in price, in four 
weeks, from 82 to 7S cents per bushel. To¬ 
bacco, one of the main crops raised through¬ 
out this county, is an average crop. Cream¬ 
eries, first established 10 years ago here, 
have increased until one is to be found 
every few miles throughout the surround¬ 
ing country, and they have raised the price 
of butter, which sells here at present at 25 
cents per pound retail. Our farmers us¬ 
ually buy a large lot of cattle about this 
time, feeding them throughout the winter, 
thus making a large amount of manure, 
and bringing their farms up to a good stand¬ 
ard. Very little corn, hay or straw is 
sold and spring finds our farmers with fat 
cattle often weighing 2,000 pounds apiece, 
which command an extra price in the New 
York markets. Several thousand are sent 
away every spring. Real estate is selling 
very slowly, and land has fallen fully one- 
third from its price eight years ago. The 
grape crop throughout this section was a 
failure this year owing to the continued 
wet weather; but many varieties stood the 
test very well, showing that some of the 
newer varieties will resist the effects of a 
wet season better than some of the older 
sorts. Concord was almost a total failure, 
while Poeklington, Woodruff Red, Elvira, 
Delaware and Amber Queen were perfection. 
I have tried Duchess a number of times, 
but will discard it entirely; l have barely 
been able to have a single sound bunch of 
grapes of this kind. Eaton promises to be 
one of the main grapes of the future, while 
Concord cannot be produced as good as it 
was 10 years ago. H. v. c. 
MENNO, MifHin County, October 8.—The 
indication for clover seed is poor. Very 
lit t le will be cut; some have only one bushel 
to the acre. I don’t think there will bo 
more than enough for seed. Potatoes are 
rather a poor crop and are still rotting. 
Corn is good—a little over an average crop. 
Wheat will likely average 16 to 18 bushels 
per acre. Oats are an average crop. There 
are very few apples. The wheat that was 
sown first is doing as well as I have ever 
seen. People have finished seeding, with 
a few exceptions. The last sowing is not 
growing fast. D. A. H. 
Harrisburg, Dauphin County, October 
1.—Clover seed is not usually raised here, 
as it pays better to pasture for milk for the 
local markets. All farm crops have been 
good in spite of an unusually wet season. 
Corn extra fine. Potatoes rotted more or 
less as the ground was low or high. Oats 
not well filled and partly damaged by rain. 
Prices of produce are tending upward : Po¬ 
tatoes, 60 cents ;■ butter 22@25 cents; eggs, 
23@25 cents at the market. J. L. 
Waynesboro, Greene County, September 
30.—Clover seed will not be half of an av¬ 
erage crop in center and south Cumberland 
Valley. c. w. g. 
Middleburgh, Synder County, Septem¬ 
ber 30. —Taking 100 as a standard, clover 
seed will be about 10. The season was too 
wet, causing a rank growth of other grass¬ 
es. A great deal of seed is raised in this sec¬ 
tion when the season is favorable; but 
there will hardly be enough for home use 
this year. Wheat is very good: about 94 or 
96 per cent, of a full crop. It was harvested 
in good condition. Oats are about 60 per 
cent, of an average and are in bad shape; 
most of the crop was sprouted before shel¬ 
tered, and the grain is damaged for seed¬ 
ing. Potatoes were a good crop, 100 per 
cent., till the blight or rot struck them; 
about 40 per cent, were saved. g. s. S. 
Greensburgii, Greene County, Septem¬ 
ber 30.—The indications for clover seed this 
year are much better than for two or three 
years past. We expect a full crop in this 
vicinity. Potatoes are a very poor crop. 
Wheat and oats are very good. Apples are 
a very short crop. Grapes also a very poor 
crop. Corn is a medium crop. J. M. L. 
Jamestown, Mercer County, September 
30.—The Medium Clover seed crop is a com¬ 
plete failure in northwestern Pennsylvania 
this year, and was nearly so last owing to 
the midge. But very little Mammoth Clo¬ 
ver is raised in this county. Wheat is more 
than an average crop. Oats about 25 per 
cent, above an average. Potatoes less than 
half the usual yield. Apples and peaches 
nearly a failure. L. A. Me c. 
Chambersburg, Franklin County, Octo¬ 
ber 1.—Clover seed about an average. Po¬ 
tatoes about one-half an average on account 
of rotting badly. Corn 20 per cent, above 
the average crop. Wheat 10 per cent, 
above. Apples about one-quarter of an 
average crop. Oats about an average. 
Grass and hay 20 per cent, above the aver¬ 
age. Small fruits were about an average. 
Some hogs are dying from cholera. 
_ T. G. z. 
Louistowx, Mifflin County, October 1.— 
Clover seed will not be more than 40 per 
cent, of an average crop. Wheat looks 
good, an average acreage. Potatoes scarce, 
blight cut them short and rot destroyed 
whole crops. Corn good. Fruit scarce. 
_ V. D. s. 
Sandy Lake, Mercer County, October 
3.—In this section clover seed is nearly a 
failure. As compared with other years, 
oats are lighter, wheat heavier, hay rather 
heavier; corn about half crop, many pieces 
being nearly destroyed by worms; potatoes 
half crop and rotting somewhat. A large 
per cent, are too small for market. Buck¬ 
wheat lighter. A. M. c. 
IIummelstown, Dauphin County. Octo¬ 
ber 8. —The clover seed crop will be about half 
that of previous years. Wheat a full crop. 
Corn will be over an average. Oats two- 
thirds. Potatoes a full crop. f. c. c. 
Liverpool, Perry County, October 7.— 
Clover seed is a poor crop in this neighbor¬ 
hood on account of the extremely wet sea¬ 
son. Hay and oats were exceedingly good 
crops. Wheat and corn were good. Pota¬ 
toes were not an average crop; the mildew 
killed them before they matured. They are 
also rotting to a great extent. w. T. C. 
Wisconsin. 
Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, October 
3.—The Rural New-Yorker No. 2 Potato I 
cut to eight single eyes; yield, eight pounds 
eight ounces; the heaviest weighs one ounce 
less than a pound. One hill had four small 
potatoes not marketable; the other six hills 
had two good-sized ones each, and one hill 
had three. The potato is admired by every¬ 
body. The most remarkable features to me 
are the very small number of flat eyes and 
its shape. Of course I cannot speak of their 
cooking qualities. Barley is a good crop; 
oats and rye average ones; corn below an 
average, but ripe. Potatoes) are fair and of 
the best quality I ever had in the 39 years I 
am here. Empire State and White Elephant 
are one-third rotten. They are on low 
ground; the rest are free of rot. The Beauty 
of Hebron excels. R. B. 
Appleton, Outagamie County, October 
1.—The season here has been favorable for 
most kinds of crops. Winter wheat was 
sown quite freely last fall and it is a good 
crop, yielding, in some fields, as high as 30 
and 35 bushels to the acre. Spring wheat 
is a fair crop ; so also are barley and rye. 
Oats were never better. On my farm we 
thrashed 1,000 bushels from 20 acres, and 
they w r ill over-run 10 bushels in 100 by 
weight. As high as 80 bushels to the acre 
have been thrashed this year. It was 
thought that corn would be a poor crop, 
but the frost has held off and where the 
corn was well worked we shall have good, 
sound corn and a fair yield. Potatoes are 
good and there are no signs of rot. There 
is plenty of hay and other fodder for stock. 
We have had neither too much nor too lit¬ 
tle rain and sunshine. We have plenty 
of apples and grapes, and small fruits were 
plentiful in their season. A good many 
cows are kept here and cheese factories are 
numerous—four or five in every township. 
The factory in our neighborhood (Freedom) 
took first prize for Cheddar cheese at the 
Wisconsin State Fair this year. Some cattle 
are raised for the local butchers, and a few 
sheep are kept on almost every farm. I do 
not know how well farming pays with us, 
but I do know that our farmers live, and 
build good houses and large barns. Prices 
of farm produce are about as follows: 
wheat, 75 cents; oats, 20 cents; barley, 50 
cents; rye, 50 cents; potatoes, 25 cents; 
cheese, seven to nine cents; butter, 20 cents 
now. We have had no serious freezing 
weather yet. E. N. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
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tion. Before asking a question, please see if it 
is not answered in our advertising columns. 
Ask only a few questions at one time. Put 
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SUBSTITUTE FOR ROOTS FOR LAMBS, ETC. 
D. C. A , Cattarcwgu8, N. Y. —1. Can 
I raise winter lambs without roots? 2. What 
is the best and cheapest method for getting 
rid of ticks ? 
Ans.— 1. While roots are exceedingly use¬ 
ful for feeding sheep in the winter, they may 
be dispensed with by judiciouslv substitut¬ 
ing other food, that has similar nutritious 
and alimentary properties. Roots are chief¬ 
ly valuable for their succulence and laxa¬ 
tive effect, thus helping in the digestion of 
other food. Silage has these same elements 
of value, and if by preparing hay and select¬ 
ing grain wisely the quality of silage can be 
approached, its effects may be approximat¬ 
ed very closely. Sweet clover hay cut and 
wetted and mixed with ground oats and 
linseed-cake meal, in due proportion, will 
afford a fair substitute for roots. For a 
ewe with a lamb three pounds of hay cut 
and wett ed, and one pound of mixed ground 
oats and linseed meal in equal proportions, 
with a tea-spoonful of salt added, would 
make one day’s ration. If any dry grain 
is given, let it be oats, or oats and peas to¬ 
gether, and not corn. 2. To get rid of 
ticks use Thymo-cresol made by T. W. 
Lawford & Co., Baltimore, Md., and follow- 
directions given on the packages. 
FERTILIZER FOR APPLE TREES. 
W. B. G., Farmington, Mich .—What 
kind of commercial fertilizer would be ad¬ 
visable for an apple orchard, and how much 
should be applied to each tree 25 years old ? 
Ans.— We should use raw bone, at the 
rate of 500 or 600 pounds to the acre, and 
unleached ashes all the way from 10 bushels 
to 40 bushels, according to the supply and 
price. In the absence of ashes, use muriate 
Pi$ccUancou$ 3Uvmi$imi. 
“Herhrand” Fifth Wheel for Buggies. 
