694 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
OCTOBER i9 
of potash at the rate of from 200 to 400 
pounds to the acre. 
WASPS. 
C. R. W., Westfield, New Jersey.— Are 
hornets of any use to the farmer ? 
Airs.—AH wasps (hornets) are useful. 
They kill and eat such insects as house 
flies, carrot slugs, coddling larvae, etc. As 
wasps do no harm at all, not even stinging 
if not molested, there is no reason for 
killing them, unless their nests are so lo¬ 
cated that one cannot help disturbing the 
insects. 
Miscellaneous. 
J. P., Lima, Pa .—Is there any cheap 
and durable contrivance for protecting 
young plants from the sun ? 
Ans.—W e do not know of any. 
A. W. C., Basking Ridge, N. J .—Would 
the Rural recommend the use of stable 
manure on a six-year-old peach orchard on 
which some peach fertilizer was applied 
last spring? I am thinking of applying 
about three bushels to each tree, spread 
broadcast, before winter, as far as the limbs 
reach. If the Rural does not recommend 
stable manure, what fertilizer would it rec¬ 
ommend ? Wood ashes cannot be obtained 
in sufficient quantity. 
Ans.—W e should use muriate of potash 
and raw bone liberally instead of the man¬ 
ure. We speak not from experience, but 
according to the advice of those who have 
had experience. 
Discussion. 
SUGGESTED BY MR. TERRY’S TOOLS. 
S. B. H., Crawfordsville. Ind.— The 
RURAL gives a fine display of Mr. Terry’s 
farm tools, and no doubt this will have a 
stimulating effect on many farmers to pro¬ 
vide themselves with more implements. It 
will not have much of an effect on me, for 
I feel the need and importance of an ample 
supply of implements on the farm. There 
is not a week during which I do not feel the 
need of more tools than I have. Tools are 
of great value on the farm as they afford a 
great deal of help. Many of the Rural 
readers no doubt have had to shell, or help 
to shell the com at night to be taken to the 
mill the next day or the next time a grist 
had to be taken there. The hard cobs were 
used to mb off the grains, or the spade was 
laid on the edge of the tub, and the sheller 
sat on that and rasped the corn off on the 
spade. Now we have the hand-power com- 
sheller, and need not give ourselves any 
concern about preparing a grist of com. If 
it has been forgotten until one is about to 
drive out of the yard, only a few minutes 
are needed to get the grist ready. Forty 
years ago one of the greatest of the minor 
chores on the farm was sausage-making, or 
rather the chopping of the meat on a heavy 
wooden block set on legs, the choppers 
moving around it. The work of cutting the 
sausage-meat from five or six hogs extend¬ 
ed away into the night, and the floor was 
covered with a mass of grease around the 
block. Now with an American or Enter¬ 
prise Meat-chopper, a boy 12 years old will 
do the work better and in less time than 
three men could do it 40 years ago. 
Since the mowing machine has come into 
use a new terror awaits the boy who has 
to turn the grind-stone, and his work is so 
unsatisfactory that one wants a man to 
turn it; but it is hardly less tiresome to the 
man who holds the sickle than it is to the 
one who does the turning. When one gets 
towards the end, the weight of the sickle 
becomes very tiresome and the result is 
that the work is not as well done as it 
ought, and one does not do it as often as it 
should be done; then the sickle is continual¬ 
ly choking; or one sees that the horses are 
worked too hard, the grinding of the sickle 
is the least of the evils that beset him, and 
he reluctantly goes to grinding again; or 
perhaps for the lack of a hand to help him 
to grind he keeps on mowing, worrying 
himself and exhausting his team. Now 
with a “ New Dutton Grinder,” one needs 
no one to help him. The little implement 
can be carried to the field and the sickle can 
be kept sharp while the horses are resting. 
The machine makes the same bevel on all 
the sections ; while on the grind-stone that 
cannot be done, or if it can one is tempted 
to make a short bevel to get a sharp-cutting 
edge with as little grinding as he can get 
along with. The little machine doesa good 
job from beginning to end, and with so 
much less worry and work that when its 
worth becomes generally known, it will go 
with every .mower. These implements I have 
tested. There are a great many others just 
as useful in their way, which have been 
tested by others, who might help some of us 
by giving their experience with them 
through the Rural New-Yorker. 
DRESSED BEEF ROT FEARED HERE. 
G. D., Carysville, Ohio.—No Chicago 
dressed beef is handled in this section now. 
Some parties made an attempt to handle it 
here some time ago, but the concern proved 
short-lived, having lasted only about eight 
weeks; then it collapsed for the want of 
patronage: people here did not care to use 
the beef. While the concern lasted it af¬ 
fected the local butchers to a great extent 
by the reduction of the retail pricesof beef. 
It retailed its beef at about 1 y, cent less 
per pound, on an average, than the prices 
at which the local butchers had been sell¬ 
ing; but they followed suit and reduced 
their retail prices and sold their beef at 
figures for the Chicago dressed beef, and 
as people preferred home-slaughtered beef 
they purchased that—hence the concern col¬ 
lapsed. It certainly is a serious disadvan¬ 
tage to the farmers wherever the dressed 
beef is handled, and to the farmers through¬ 
out the country in general, for the local 
butchers in order to maintain their trade 
must meet the prices of the Chicago dress¬ 
ed beef, and therefore must either handle 
this beef or buy their stock at a much low¬ 
er figure from the farmer, who would 
thereby be the loser. 
I do not think, however, that the Chicago 
dressed beef trade is entirely responsible 
for the present depression in the prices of 
beef cattle. It is true that cattle can be 
slaughtered and dressed in large numbers 
in those large slaughter-houses where all 
the best appliances for such work are at 
hand, much cheaper than the work can be 
done by other parties with fewer and poorer 
conveniences and on a less extensive scale, 
and the cost of shipping the dressed beef to 
the place of consumption is certainly less 
than that of shipping the live animals and 
then slaughtering them and preparing 
them for market. It seems to me that the 
chief cause of the present depression in the 
prices of our cattle lies in the fact that cat¬ 
tle in vast numbers can be raised on our 
Western plains and grazing lands, with com¬ 
paratively little trouble and expense. Beef 
cattle can be raised there and sent here to 
market for less than the raising of them 
here would cost us if we count our labor 
in the cost of production. It would there¬ 
fore be folly for us to compete here with the 
stockmen of the Western plains in the pro¬ 
duction of beef cattle. It is from those 
Western sources chiefly that the members 
of the Chicago dressed beef syndicate procure 
their supply of cattle. They slaughter, 
dress, and ship the beef to the place of con¬ 
sumption at a minimum cost and sell it in 
our Eastern markets at a figure for which 
we could not possibly raise it ourselves and 
realize a fair profit. 
AGAINST PLANTING TREES EARLY IN 
THE FALL. 
C. K. M., Pekin, III.—I notice in the 
Rural New-Yorker of September 14th an 
article by Joseph Meehan on the early fall 
planting of deciduous trees. An article 
similar to this has been going the rounds 
of the agricultural papers for the last 
three or four years, which has no doubt 
caused an immense amount of loss both to 
nurserymen and planters. While Mr. 
Meehan’s advice may be good for some lo¬ 
calities, it is certainly very bad for this sec¬ 
tion where the conditions are different. If 
100 fruit trees of ordinary varieties were 
taken up and transplanted according to 
Mr. Meehan’s directions on September 14th 
in this locality, I am confident that not 
one would be found alive by spring. 
Actual tests made to-day (September 30) 
show the earth to be 30 degrees colder than 
the air—soil 54 degrees: air 84 degrees at 
noon—and this difference will continue, 
with some variations, all through October. 
This is not a matter of conjecture, but 
something I and others have tested to our 
sorrow. In the autumn of 1880 I bought 
eight apple trees from an agent to fill out 
vacancies in my orchard; a neighbor also 
bought eight for the same purpose and 
another neighbor bought 26. The trees 
came to hand early in October; the leaves 
had been stripped off by hand, but the trees 
were thrifty and well rooted. They were 
planted as soon as received and the weather 
following was as usual—clear and warm 
with drying winds during the day and cold 
frosty nights. The following spring my 
trees were all dead except two of the 
Wealthy variety : while my neighbors lost 
every one of theirs. The same agent sold 
over £1,000 worth of stock in this locality, 
all of which, so far as I have heard, went 
the same way. Apple trees of my own 
growing which were planted in the latter 
part of November after the leaves had 
fallen, all lived and did well. When those 
planted early were taken up in spring the 
roots were alive, but had formed no fibers 
nor had they even callused where they had 
been cut off. Only last spring one of my 
neighbors told me of the loss of $18 worth 
of stock planted in the fall of 1888, and this 
is but one out of hundreds of cases, all the 
losses arising from planting too early, be¬ 
fore the trees had matured their growth. 
ELECTRICITY SUPPLANTING HORSES. 
J. A. F., Terre Haute, Ind.—I f in the 
article in a late Rural in regard to electric 
railways and the throwing on the market 
of so many horses, and the prospective cut¬ 
ting off of the demand for them for street 
cars, the total number of horses in the 
United States had been stated, it would be 
at once seen that there were no grounds for 
alarm. The statement was that the horses 
used in 1880 on street railways in the larger 
cities numbered about 80,000 and that the 
smaller cities might increase the number 
20 per cent., making about 100,000 in all. 
Well, according to the census of 1S80, the 
total number of horses and mules then in 
the country was 12,270,296, so that if all the 
horses and mules in use on street railways 
were dispensed with, it would be a loss of 
less than one per cent. If we take into 
consideration that the change will be 
gradual it can be seen that the effect on 
the market will be exceedingly small. 
That the throwing out of use of these 
horses for street-car purposes will have no 
serious effect, can be clearly shown by the 
following calculation: Supposing that the 
mortality of horses, which doubtless varies 
a little, should increase by just one death 
yearly in each township in the United 
States, would the consequent loss be per¬ 
ceptible? Well, if every horse now employ¬ 
ed on street railways should be displaced 
in five years from this date, it would have 
less effect than the increased mortality 
mentioned. The horses employed being 
100,000, the displacement in each of the five 
years would be 20,000. There are 2,690 
counties in the United States, and suppos¬ 
ing the counties averaged 10 townships 
each, it will be seen that the increased 
mortality would be 26,090 or 6.090 above 
the loss from the street-cars. The yearly 
mortality among 12,000,000 horses cannot 
well be less than one million and the addi¬ 
tion of 20,000 to this could make no notice¬ 
able difference. The calculation shows 
what a great country we live in. Refer¬ 
ence was made to the number of men that 
would be thrown out of employment. 
A similar calculation in regard to them 
would show similar results. 
PLAN OF BUILDING. 
C. T. Sweet, Swanton, Md.—I n the Ru¬ 
ral of September 7, page591, I gave a short, 
account of a house which I thought would 
prove cheap and comfortable for farmers. 
The following letter from a man in Penn¬ 
sylvania is a sample of several I have re¬ 
ceived. 
“In the Rural New-Yorker of Septem¬ 
ber 7, is a plan of a farmhouse which T like 
very much. Can you furnish detailed work¬ 
ing plans and lumber bill for the same, 
and if so, at what price ? For my own use 
I should have a cellar under only half of 
the building (the kitchen side), as I propose 
having a small ice-house with a milk-room, 
etc., convenient to the'kitchen. I think I 
should have the house warmed with a hot- 
water heater ; but, of course. I would want 
the necessary chimneys. There should be 
tanks in the attic, of course, to furnish 
water for the range and heater. It should 
be plainly finished and there should be no 
‘gimcracks, ’ for I would want to keep the 
cost down as near to $1,000 as possible for 
building. ” 
I am not an architect, but a machinist. 
My plan was to secure several parties to co¬ 
operate with me in getting plans and speci¬ 
fications from some reliable architect for 
such a house as I indicated. Where several 
parties would share the cost of such plans 
the expense to each one would be very 
light. It would be a bit of practical co¬ 
operation that "might prove useful and 
economical to those who want such a 
house. 
Tt. N.-Y. Tf any of ou v readers want to 
secure plans on this basis they can com¬ 
municate with Mr. Sweet or with the R. 
N.-Y., as they prefer. 
EXHAUSTION FROM MOULTING. 
P. T-T. J., Hammonton, N. .T —In the Rr- 
RAL of September 28, T find the following 
item : 
“ Here is a note about hens with clipped 
wings: * White Leghorns with clipped 
wings are apt at moulting to droop and ap¬ 
pear sick. The quills in the clipped wings 
are not shed as quickly as those in the other 
wing, and require to be gently extracted. 
At least this is the observation of a Jersey- 
woman.’ 
Have any of our readers noticed this ? 
EDS.” 
The lady has evidently attributed the 
drooping to clipping the wings when it is 
really due to general debility from moult¬ 
ing. Whether the wing feathers are clip¬ 
ped or not, they will be dropped only when 
the proper stage of progress arrives. It is 
beneficial sometimes to pull out nearly all 
the feathers. Moulting is a trying ordeal 
with some hens ; but the majority of the 
losses occur from failure to feed food rich 
in nitrogen, as the rapid growth of new 
feathers demands nearly all the elements 
that enter into the composition of flesh and 
bone. Moulting is more trying with Leg¬ 
horns than with Asiatics. One of the foods 
for moulting hens is half a table-spoonful 
of linseed meal, three times a week, in the 
soft food. 
DRESSED BEEF. 
L. F. Allen, Buffalo, N. Y.— The 
Chicago dressed beef trade has not yet 
been sufficiently developed for me to give 
an opinon on its advantage or disadvantage 
to the people where the meat is sold. Our 
local butchers are opposed to the business 
on the ground that it is cutting off the sup¬ 
ply of beef cattle from the neighboring 
farmers who formerly supplied them. Tf 
continued by the Chicago men, it will be a 
damage to our farmers who breed good 
beef cattle. Besides that, the dressed beef 
may be more or less diseased without the 
consumers being able to discover it while 
purchasing. As a rule, I am opposed to it; 
but without further experience I cannot 
give a definite or conclusive opinion. 
THE TAYLOR BLACKBERRY. 
D. L. B., Nunda, N. Y.—In a late RTnT- 
Y., in speaking of different varieties of 
blackberries, I think the^TnylorTloes not 
get the credit it deserves. It is spoken of 
as rather small for market; while with me 
it is nearly as large as the Kittatinny and 
of much better quality, besides' being at 
least one-third more prolific. It is also 
hardy—much more so than the Kittatinny 
growing beside it, and is free'from rust.' I 
think so highly of it that I have set out a 
new patch this year and discarded the Kit¬ 
tatinny. I have tried the Early Harvest and 
Snyder and discarded them" as worthless 
here. 
E. C. B., Middletown, Pa.— The past 
season has brought me a bit of experience 
that T am not able to understand. Perhaps 
the Rural New-Yorker or some of its 
able correspondents may help me out. Tt 
is as follows: My Sharpless Strawberries 
produced berries of a different type. In 
form they were like the Charles Downing, 
but larger, and the seeds were more prom¬ 
inent. They were also a little earlier than 
the Downing, and four to six days earlier 
than the Sharpless. *" Their flavor dif¬ 
fered from that of any variety I know ; 
but resembled that of the Sharpless more 
nearly than any other. Tn some spots they 
were abundant; in others there were only a 
few: while in some places there were none. 
The beds of the first and second crops were 
the same in this respect. Nothing strange 
was noticed I believe or’" at 'least only "a 
trifle in the two-year-old bed a'year ago. 
Tn the same field alongside'of * these ber¬ 
ries were Manchester, Crascent, May King, 
Cumberland, Jessie, Bubach, etc. I am 
at a loss to know if they had become 
“ mixed,” or if hybridization in fruit could 
have taken place. I never discovered.any 
difference in the foliage. 
R- N.-A . TV e should say they are mixed 
kinds. 
A. M. LaGrange, Albany County, N. 
Y —The following is a copy of the label 
that I put on every bale of my hay. This 
is one of the ways in which I try to “ make 
farming Day.” 
“This hay was raised’on upland,cliast- 
nut timber soil; gravel, sand-loam and 
clay-loam land. The r chaff is taken out 
as much'as 'possible. Produced by A. M. 
LaGrange.” 
The Hickory, says Prof. Sargent in Gar- 
