79o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
NOV 3o 
Past experience warrants the belief that 
this can be done conveniently and with lit¬ 
tle or no damage to the fodder. 
POTATOES AND OTHER POINTS. 
W. C. S., Harmony, R. I.—On page 712 
of the R. N.-Y., A. L. Crosby speaks of the 
Rural Blush Potato as improving and be¬ 
ing more sociable. I have planted this va¬ 
riety ever since the little potato was first 
sent out by the R. N.-Y. and have found it 
to vary considerably as regards the spread¬ 
ing habit of the tubers in different years 
and in different soils the same year—espe¬ 
cially this year—and I believe its conduct in 
this respect is due to the preparation of the 
ground, and to a less extent to the charac¬ 
ter of the soil, rather than to the location 
of the fertilizer for the following reason: 
This year I attempted to imitate the R. N.- 
Y. Trench System to some extent. The 
ground was plowed in the fall and manure 
was spread on in March. The soil was har¬ 
rowed and plowed twice before planting in 
the spring. On May 7, the ground was fur¬ 
rowed out: I went twice in a row with a 2% 
conical plow and then went through the 
rows with a harrow made for the purpose, 
leaving a level seed-bed 10 inches wide and 
very fine, about six-inches below the level of 
the field. Three-eighths of an acre was pre¬ 
pared in this way ; three-eighths more was 
simply furrowed out once in a row. Part of 
the field was a light sandy loam gradually 
running to a rising gravelly soil. Both pieces 
were planted the same day mostly with the 
Rural Blush Potatoes. On the sandy loam 
and in the large furrows they spread as 
badly as ever. I measured some stems 
having a potato each on the end, that were 
16 inches long, and it was slow digging to 
get them clean, but as I got on to the grav¬ 
elly ground and single furrows the potatoes 
were more concentrated in the hills; the 
harder the ground, the closer the potatoes 
grew. 
On this same piece of ground fertilizers 
were applied in different ways. On one- 
quarter of an acre 200 pounds of the Mapes 
Potato Fertilizer were broadcasted and 200 
pounds were spread in the furrows after 
the potatoes had been dropped and covered 
with about one inch of fine earth; on one- 
quarter of an acre 400 pounds of Mapes Po¬ 
tato Fertilizer were broadcasted; on one- 
quarter of an acre two cart-loads of hen 
manure were broadcasted and all were 
well harrowed in before furrowing. There 
was but very little difference in the yield 
of the same variety. What little difference 
there was I attribute more to the difference 
in the nature of the soil than to anything 
else; but there was a large difference in the 
looks of the vines at the first and second 
hoeing ; but all gradually came nearer to¬ 
gether at the close of the season. A part of 
the first quarter of an acre was planted 
with different varieties which I expected 
to yield a very large crop ; but a man who 
plants potatoes is liable to be disappointed 
as the R. N.-Y. well knows. The varieties 
I planted were one-half a bushel of Thor- 
burn’s Early, in 577 hills ; one-half bushel 
of the Rural New-Yorker No. 2—lacking one 
pound which I had sold—in 454 hills; and 
three pounds of the Great Eastern in 64 
hills. All were planted as nearly one foot 
apart in the rows as possible without exact 
measurement. The rows were three feet 
apart. The Thorburn planted 123 hills 
more than the Rural New-Yorker No. 2; 
the tubers not being so large but having 
more eyes. On August 5, the Thorburn 
vines began to turn yellow at the ground 
as though they were getting ripe. The rest 
of the vines were green and very handsome, 
having been kept very free from bugs and 
weeds. On August 12, blight struck them 
and in three days the whole field was black 
and the vines were slippery. I commenced 
digging the Thorburns at once. I picked 
up 18 measured bushels, leaving about two 
bushels rotten on the ground. The three 
pounds of Great Eastern produced 2 y 2 bush¬ 
els all picked up. The Rural No. 2 yielded 
nine bushels all picked up. The last two 
varieties were very green as the skin slip¬ 
ped very badly. All three varieties rotted 
very badly after they were dug; so that I 
have saved only four bushels of the Thor- 
bum ; one bushel of the Great Eastern, and 
5}4 bushels of the Rural No. 2. The latter 
rotted somewhat since they were put in the 
cellar. The Rural Blush was left in the 
ground three weeks longer before it was 
dug, and to my surprise there were but a 
very few rotten, and the crop is keeping all 
right. I was very much disappointed in 
the Rural No. 2 Potato. When I planted 
them six large potatoes were dry-rotten so 
that I got only one and two sprouts from 
a potato; nine had large hollows or were 
false-hearted. The vines did not look thrif¬ 
ty, awl ttwrewmi very few to i> kill, juflby 
of the hills not having more than one or 
two vines. They were very large and close 
to the ground with a few small branches 
growing from them. The potatoes were of 
good size and had the blight not struck 
them, I think that without a doubt they 
would have been very large. The quality is 
good, but as they were not ripe I cannot 
say much about this point. 
A PLEA FOR INTELLIGENT FARMERS. 
E. F. D., Lima, N. Y.—The letter of H. 
S. W. on the first page of number 2076 pleads 
for more intelligence on the part of the 
farmer and I would heartily second his 
plea. With our present system of free 
schools, our newspapers published by the 
million and books at a nominal price, there 
is no reason under heaven wh 3 r the farmer 
of to-day should not be an intelligent man. 
This is an age of progress, of advance¬ 
ment. The merchant who stands at the head 
of his line in the city is the educated, read¬ 
ing man. He knows when and where to 
buy and when to sell. He is conversant 
with the prices of silk at Lyons and of cot¬ 
tons at Manchester and Lowell. The com¬ 
mercial bulletins, price currents and various 
trade papers find their way to his desk 
daily. He studies the law of supply and 
demand. He keeps posted as to the stock 
of his competitors. While others sleep, he 
is awake. While others cry “hard times ” 
and waste their time in waiting for cus¬ 
tomers, he acts. He is prepared for emer¬ 
gencies ; he advertises, marks down prices, 
throngs his store with customers and suc¬ 
cess crowns his efforts. The times demand 
farmers modeled after this merchant. 
They must be educated. They must 
read. They must keep abreast of the 
onward sweep of invention. They must 
study their soils. They must keep a finger 
on the pulse of trade. They must be fa¬ 
miliar with the contents of the store-houses 
of Europe and Asia. They, too, must watch 
the supply and demand and then prosperi¬ 
ty and independence are theirs. 
This discussion about Montana touches a 
subject that interests nearly every Eastern 
farmer, and that is : Why go West ? Is 
the soil more fertile ? Is the climate more 
salubrious ? Are the chances for a better 
society and for better education for your 
children to be found there better than in 
the East ? Oh, no. Despite the attractions 
held out by the railroads ; despite the des¬ 
criptions of the Western Paradise given by 
oily-tongued, unscrupulous land agents; 
despite the glowing accounts of the West’s 
prosperity published in its local papers; 
despite the wonderful crops of corn in Kan¬ 
sas, and of wheat in the Dakotas, the 
Western farmers are bearing heavy bur¬ 
dens that we know nothing of, and there 
are thousands of them this very day in 
every Western State and Territory, who 
wish themselves back on the old farms in the 
East. Some seem to think that it does not 
cost anything to get a farm in the West. 
To such I submit the following: The 
president of one of the largest mortgage 
investment companies doing business in 
the Dakotas, writes that it costs about 
§3,000 for the Eastern farmer to get 160 
acres of prairie land under good cultiva¬ 
tion. It takes two years at the least to do 
this, and the living expenses of an average 
family of five during this period are some¬ 
thing enormous. I know of a farm of 150 
acres, two miles from a New York Central 
Railroad Station, 350 miles from New York 
City, that will produce with ordinary culti¬ 
vation 3,000 bushels of potatoes, 600 bushels 
of wheat, 500 bushels of oats and 20 tons of 
hay annually, that can be bought for §4,500. 
The buildings are old but comfortable, and 
a wind-mill forces water into the house 
and then to the barns. That farm is cer¬ 
tainly cheaper than a quarter-section in the 
West, and I presume there are hundreds of 
farms throughout New York just as cheap. 
I would reverse Horace Greeley’s words, 
and say: “Young man, go East.” The 
East has many advantages over the West, 
so why not stay here ? Do your best; that 
is all that God asks of any one. 
WHO USE SILO WEIGHTS ? 
John Gould, Portage Co., Onio.—With 
the merits or demerits of Mr. Colcord’s 
patent system of making silage I am not 
personally familiar, and so far as I know, 
it may be exceedingly valuable, but Mr. 
Colcord should not attempt to make out a 
case of economy for it by bringing in a con¬ 
trast that has no existence, so far as I 
know, west of the Alleghany Mountains. 
People may yet be cutting half-grown sil¬ 
age fodder in the East and putting tons of 
stone on a double-planked silo cover; but 
I have no knowledge of any locality in the 
West where the remark that it will cost 
more in time and money to weight silage 
than to use jack-strews will»pp 1 y. Ift feet, 
I do not know of a man who weights his 
silage, and but few go beyond a cover made 
of tramped straw or marsh hay, a foot 
thick. This simple cover is put on three 
days or so after filling the silo, and we now 
hear very little of silage moulding on the 
surface, or being damaged in the corners. 
This straw cover, without boards or 
weights beyond a few old rails to assist in 
making the straw r mat down, allows the 
warm, moist air to escape, but prevents the 
upper air from coming in contact with the 
silage, and this is all that one needs in 
making “ sweet silage.” Some do not even 
cover the silage with anything, especialfe 
if feeding is to commence within three or 
four weeks from tliefilliug, which is now 
a very common practice in Ohio. Some 
commence to feed from the silo the next 
day after filling. When the silage is left 
uncovered for four weeks, after it has been 
put into the silo, there will not be over two 
inches of mould upon the surface, and 
young stock will eat about all of this if 
they are permitted to have access to it. 
Two pits of silage near here were left 
wholly exposed from May to August, and 
there was less than three inches of mould 
upon the surface. There must be a better 
presentation of Mr. Colcord’s case in the 
West than that set forth by the assertion 
that “ jack-screws are cheaper for pressure 
than covers and weights,” for silo men can¬ 
not see what either of the three has to do 
with making the finest of sweet silage. 
Moreover, a good many of our leading silo 
men will smile on reading that with some 
patent they would be enabled to take out 
more tons of perfect forage than of imperfect 
silage, when the loss from all causes by 
their plan of siloing thinly-planted, fully 
mature-fodder, will not exceed one ton to 
100. When farmers by their latest plans of 
siloing fodder and cheaper yet better silos, 
can put in silage for 18 to 30 cents per ton, 
and have it keep sweet and fresh fora year, 
it will be hard work to introduce an improve¬ 
ment that will cost them as much as their 
present plant has cost them ; but as they 
have hitherto readily adopted the best way 
that could be found for handling silage 
they will be likely to avail themselves of 
all new improvements; hence it is not im¬ 
possible that the “ governor ” may be an 
i mprovement that will be worthy of general 
adoption. 
THE ODOR OF FERTILIZERS. 
W. L. Snyder, Chemist, Michigan 
Carbon Works.— The question asked 
on page 578: “Is the manufacture of 
superphosphate for fertilizer, as at present 
conducted, offensive to the sense of smell ? ” 
may be answered by yes and no. To some 
people, yes; to others no; at some times 
yes; at others, no. At a first encounter 
with the odor of fertilizers the human nose 
is quite apt to hustle a message up to the 
brain that it has struck something disagree¬ 
able this time sure ; but after a time it is not 
so certain about it and finally recallsnearly 
the whole message. It is a clear case where 
“ familiarity ” does not “breed contempt.” 
Personally I like the odor of the commer¬ 
cial fertilizers with which I have had to 
deal. The R. N.-Y.’s answer is a good one, 
and I am especially interested in the last 
sentence which refers to the odor as a disa¬ 
greeable one that might be annoying to 
some people but is in no way injurious to 
health. 
The Utility of What Makes Life In¬ 
teresting.— Under this title, Garden & 
Forest prints in a late number some forci¬ 
ble thoughts and suggestions. 
The growing interest in out-of-door 
life, and in means of recreation that can be 
enjoyed in the open air, is one of the most 
encouraging tendencies of the time. Gar¬ 
dening and the care of flowers and trees are 
becoming more and more attractive to 
thoughtful and cultivated people every¬ 
where. These are sane and wholesome 
occupations, and they are coming to be de¬ 
pended upon for relief from weariness and 
“ nervous prostration,” as it is found that 
pleasant activity in the open air is often a 
more potent restorative than medicine. 
The primary benefit comes, of course, from 
our breathing purer air, and more of it, 
when out-of-doors ; but every one needs a 
more inspiring reason for going out than 
the bare and depressing thought of the need 
of improvement to health. It is much bet¬ 
ter to think about our flowers or shrubbery, 
or to be interested in plans for the care of a 
garden or door-yard, than to think of our¬ 
selves in any more direct way. In all such 
activities immediate utility is associated 
with the more ideal aims. 
The hest garden or farm is partly a work 
of art. Its order and beauty add to the in¬ 
terest of life for its possessor, especially if 
he cultivates it with his own hands and 
brain. A day laborer with a garden, or a 
few square yards of ground about his door, 
has an artist’s opportunities in the applica¬ 
tion of his taste to the capabilities of the 
area which he plants and shapes. He may 
have the delight of creating something 
beautiful and interesting which did not 
exist before. It is a serene happiness to 
think out plans for doing the best that can 
be done with even the smallest piece of 
ground on which anything can be made to 
grow. He who has room for trees has it in 
his power to make enduring changes in the 
landscape, and the care of even a few trees 
will supply much of interest from the time 
they are planted till their protector can 
walk or rest at will under their shade. 
One becomes attached to them as to child¬ 
ren and friends, and they respond in their 
way. The watch against their many foes 
often involves unpoetical activities; but 
struggle is the condition of all animate be¬ 
ing, and life without it, if it were possible, 
would not be interesting. 
The defense of trees against their insect 
enemies introduces us to one of the most 
interesting provinces of the out-of-door 
world, the life of birds and their services to 
man. In the order of animal existence on 
our planet they are the natural instruments 
for keeping insect life down to its normal 
level and proportion. But we have repressed 
the bird population in this country to such 
an extent that we have produced an enor¬ 
mous over-development of insect life, so 
that the dominion is given over to them, 
and they have become an all-pervading 
curse, like that of the frogs in Egypt when 
they covered the land, entered the houses 
and climbed into the very bread-bowls. 
Learned men write books and governments 
make large appropriations to help farmers, 
orchard-growers and vine-growers to defend 
their crops against injurious insects, but if 
we were civilized enough to protect our 
friends and allies instead of cherishing our 
enemies, the birds would soon dispose of 
most of these pests. 
It is often observed that birds are more 
particular about their food than formerly, 
and that many of the worst insects are not 
eaten by them. But that is because their 
supply of food is so abundant that thev can 
afford to be dainty and to eat only what 
they like best. It is much the same as if a 
banquet for a thousand men were served 
every day for half a dozen. They could 
taste here and there, and would make little 
impression on the whole supply. It is so 
with the birds because they are so few, but 
if they were protected till the bird popula¬ 
tion began to press upon their means of 
subsistence, they would not be so fastidi¬ 
ous, and would be glad to get any kind of 
bug or worm, and would snap up every one 
that showed his head. 
BY THE SHORT WAY. 
Editor Ciieever of the New England 
Farmer, says that he has no objections to 
seeing colonies of Swedes or other European 
workers settle in Vermont. He has a high 
regard for the people. He has twice met 
some of them in the New Sweden of Maine, 
but he does not wish again to see men as 
disappointed in this country as were some 
of those settlers before they had learned 
how to adapt themselves to the new sur¬ 
roundings. He is not sure that a farm that 
is not good enough for him is good enough 
for a Swede or an Irishman. If the States 
are to expend money for repopulating the 
deserted lands it will be better to expend it 
in making farm life attractive to people al¬ 
ready in the country rather than in schemes 
for bringing in new recruits. 
Mr. J. J. Thomas mentions Maiden’s 
Blush, Lawver, Beauty of Kent, Fameuse, 
Princess Louise, Jonathan, Rome Beauty 
and Shiawassee Beauty as among the hand¬ 
somest apples known. 
Dr. Lawes in his annual estimate of the 
wheat crop for Great Britain, as published 
in the London Agricultural Gazette, says 
that it is obvious that the question so often 
asked as to what manures produce wheat 
of high quality cannot be answered uncon¬ 
ditionally, when land which has received 
no manure whatever for half a century 
yields wheat of a heavier weight per bushel 
than land highly manured every year, 
'j'he truth is, theye js much greater differ- 
