THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
8o3 
1889 
good and we generally sell when a crop is 
ready. E. L. H. 
I grow mostly perishable crops in the 
way of small fruits for local markets when 
the Chicago market will not justify me in 
sending the goods there. The prices of the 
wheat and hogs that I sell are governed by 
the supply and demand at the Chicago and 
Buffalo markets, as quoted by three of the 
leading weekly papers .and also the Rural 
New-Yorker which is examined thor¬ 
oughly every week. G. A. F. 
Bristol. 
I SELL my products at harvest time and 
during the fall if prices are fair; if they 
are very low I hold on till spring and then 
sometimes lose money owing to shrinkage 
and the low prices then ruling. I have al¬ 
ready sold my wheat for 70 cents per bush¬ 
el, and last week I sold my apples for 30 
cents. Men from Indianapolis bought 
thousands of bushels of apples at that 
price. I sold my potatoes last fall for 50 
cents ; this spring potatoes sold for 20 to 30 
cents. I keep myself posted by read¬ 
ing the R. N.-Y., and the other agricultur¬ 
al papers and a Louisville and Indianapolis 
paper. Potatoes are worth 20 to 30 cents 
here now. I am holding mine. I will sell 
whenever I can make a living profit on my 
labor and investment. E. w. 
Salem. 
Our chief crops are hay and corn. I sell 
in the fall; the loss by shrinkage over-bal¬ 
ances the profit if held until spring. I keep 
posted by reading the market reports in 
the Chicago papers and the Rural New- 
Yorker. d. t. s. 
Hebron. 
IOWA. 
Nordness, Winneshiek County.—We 
practice mixed farming. Our money crops 
are hogs and cream, which is sold to the 
creameries by the inch—present price 17 
cents. We sell a good many horses which 
are exported both east and west. Our 
county is famous for good horses. We also 
sell beef cattle, barley and flax, which are 
sold as soon as thrashed. Very little wheat 
is raised. I sell my hogs when they weigh 
2(A) or 225 pounds except those that I keep 
for breeding purposes. I hardly ever hold 
for higher prices, as Boards of Trade make 
prices too uncertain. I sell when my stuff 
is ready for market. o. G. H. 
Marion, Linn County.—The best results 
will be obtained on the average of years by 
marketing all grain crops as soon as possi- 
bleafter harvesting. Fatcattleand hogsare 
kept thriving all the time and sold as soon 
as ready. Sometimes we hold for a rise, 
but maybe we don’t get it. C. E. M. 
KANSAS. 
Spivey, Kingman County.—Wheat, corn 
and hogs are our chief crops. Most of us sell 
after thrashing, but a few hold till later. 
We have not made anything by holding 
this year as yet. Last year those that held 
made over 50 per cent. Kansas City is our 
market, so we look to their reports and I 
gather information from other papers in¬ 
cluding the R. N.-Y. I think it is a good 
plan for us to give our opinions through 
the R. N.-Y. regarding the holding of crops 
every fall before marketing. Success to 
the Rural ! i. b. 
Princeton, Franklin County.—In this 
part of the State the chief crops are usual¬ 
ly sold as soon as harvested. The principal 
crops are corn and millet and we mostly 
feed both to cattle and hog3. We milk 
the cows and sell the butter to customers 
at a stated price. J. F. H. 
MASSACHUSETTS. 
Central Village, Westport County.— 
I keep from four to six cows and make all 
the butter I can which sells to family cus¬ 
tomers for 32 cents per pound in Fall River, 
with a constant demand for more the year 
round. I also keep two or three sows and 
raise pigs which are sold when eight weeks 
old, if there is any sale for them. This fall 
1 have two litters of pigs, but there is no 
demand for them, so they will be well fed 
until about six or seven months old and 
sold for pork at whatever price the market 
will give. Corn is quite low so I will not 
worry about the cost of feeding. I gener¬ 
ally raised some potatoes, but this year 
they rotted so badly that I shall have but 
few if any to sell. They are usually sold 
when I think I can get the most for them 
or when I want most to turn them into 
cash, as potatoes are always a cash com¬ 
modity in this locality. I look to the R. N.- 
Y, for information as to the crops in the 
country at large, and to the local news¬ 
papers for the state of the markets near by. 
A. D. M. 
MINNESOTA. 
Pine Bend, Dakota County.—My chief 
crops are butter, pork and potatoes. My 
butter is marketed every week, and the 
pork is mostly sold in January and Febru¬ 
ary, and the potatoes are marketed in the 
fall. I keep posted on the market through 
the papers, but don’t believe in holding 
any crop for better prices. F. M. 
The greatest rush to market our products 
is during September and October. By 
reading the market reports of our leading 
agricultural papers we keep posted on 
prices. Some sell because they have to ; 
others whenever they have the time to de¬ 
liver the goods. Many hold their wheat on 
account of the shortage in the crop. 
Madelia. H. L. J. 
We sell our main crops, which'are wheat 
and flax, just as soon as we get them 
thrashed or about the first of September, 
(in case of necessity). Most of the farmers 
in this part of the country sell most of their 
grain in the fall and in the spring buy seed 
at an advanced price. We try to keep 
posted on prices by noting the quotations 
in different cities. We have no crops this 
year. G. H. 1. 
Rosewell. 
We sell our products as soon after har¬ 
vest as the crops are ready and prices satis¬ 
factory, and try to keep posted by reading 
the reports in several farm papers and 
other reports. If the market is above the 
cost of production, we sell, but if below, 
then we hold and feed. Our main crops 
are hay, barley, oats, corn, and potatoes. 
We sell what pays and feed the rest. The 
returns from the latter come back with 
good interest in better-fed stock, a little 
more butter, more meat, and better crops 
for the futurp. J. A. t. 
Austin. 
My chief crops are barley and wheat. 
This season I raised 3,000 bushels of the 
former and 2,000 bushels of the latter. I 
make it a rule to sell barley in the fall and 
wheat the next season. I thus get an aver¬ 
age price. If wheat should advance owing 
to a failure of crops or speculation I would 
reap the benefit. Wheat, as a rule, will 
average lower in the fall; but occasionally 
it may be higher. In this State farmers 
sell in the fall making the receipts in the 
various markets heavy, and depressing 
prices. I take six agricultural papers and 
two dailies, and keep well posted on the 
outlook, but it is a hard matter to strike 
the highest market. C. w. m. 
St. Charles. 
PENNSYLVANIA. 
Library, Allegheny County.—We are 
within 10 miles of Pittsburgh and with the 
exception of wool, we do not sell any of our 
products in bulk. We endeavor to estimate 
the crops of the country at large, and in this 
the R. N.-\ r . is of great assistance, and if we 
consider any special crop or product short, 
we hold for a time, otherwise we sell when 
we have our crops fairly ready and when 
we can conveniently haul them to the mar¬ 
ket. As a general rule though we consid¬ 
er it best .to sell when our crops are fair 
ly ready for market and rarely hold a crop 
over from one season to another. J. c. B. 
SOUTH DAKOTA. 
Raymond, Clark County.—There will be 
great hardships in this valley this winter. 
The railroad company is to haul coal in 
free of freight ; but many have not money 
to get it at the mine price. There is no 
other help in sight and all of our people 
have a horror of county aid as taking it 
would class them as paupers. T. M. 
VIRGINIA. 
Newbern, Pulaski County.—I generally 
hold my wheat until spring and feed all my 
corn to my stock, as nearly all our farmers 
do. We have a home market for more than 
we can produce of corn and wheat. Corn 
is shipped here from the West and sold and 
controls our market. Ours is a grazing 
country, and beef is so low that there is 
nothing in it. Our neighborhood is now 
trying a creamery with some success. I 
believe it is the thing for us, as we can 
raise our calves and do not have to buy and 
drive from a distance. Our creamery but¬ 
ter sells very readily at 30 cents per pound. 
B. F. M. 
WISCONSIN. 
Caldwell, Racine County.—Our chief 
products are potatoes, barley, oats, pork, 
wool and garden truck. The latter must of 
course be sold when in proper condition, 
and as a rule it pays best to market pota¬ 
toes direct from the field, the exception be¬ 
ing when prices are low in the fall and the 
crop of the country is below the average, as 
the case seems to be this season. Hogs and 
any other live stock, should be sold as soon 
as they are fat: but we try to have such 
stock in a marketable condition at a season 
when the receipts are the lightest. The 
latter part of the wool season we have 
found the best as a rule, selling if we can 
when there is the most competition among 
buyers. In the marketing of grain crops 
we try to keep posted as to the probable 
demand ; then avoid selling at a time when 
the bulk of the crop is forced upon the 
market, as buyers take advantage of the 
necessities of the grain-grower more than 
they can in any other branch of farm¬ 
ing. We are very often able to take 
advantage of an early market in a year 
when the old stock of grain has been con¬ 
sumed and there is a demand for immedi¬ 
ate consumption. I keep myself posted on 
the general markets by taking a daily pa¬ 
per, and get all statistical information I 
can from government and commercial re¬ 
ports, and from crop reports in the several 
periodicals for which I subscribe, among 
which the Rural New-Yorker ranks as 
one of the best. A. u. 
ijorscman. 
GERMAN CROSS-BRED MARES. 
At Fig. 291 we reproduce a picture which 
recently appeared in the Mark Lane Ex¬ 
press, an English paper, familiar to many 
of our readers. The picture is of particular 
interest for two reasons: 1. It shows the 
prize winners in the draft trials at the re¬ 
cent great German agricultural show. The 
team here shown drew a_load of three tons 
12 cwt. for a distance of five-eighths of a 
mile in eight minutes and 30 seconds. This 
load was taken in a heavy four-wheeled 
farm cart. 2. The picture shows the shape 
and physical peculiarities that may be ex¬ 
pected as a result of cross-breeding with 
the English draft horse as a sire. The 
foremost mare is a cross between a Clydes¬ 
dale sire and a Hanoverian mare. She is 
four years old and weighs 1,243 pounds. 
The other mare is five years old and weighs 
1,508 pounds. She is a cross between a Shire 
stallion and Saxonian mare. There is a 
demand for good specimens of the English 
draft horses in Germany. The Shires and 
Clydesdales are much desired for crossing 
on the best mares of German raising. The 
imports of these horses to this country 
seem now to be dropping off since it is 
likely that our home-grown draft horses 
are about as good as the average of those 
in England. 
CLOVER PROBLEMS. 
Does a clover sod enrich the soil ? in 
other words, does it add plant food to the 
soil or does it simply change the elements 
already in the soil so that they can be more 
readily assimilated by the succeeding crop? 
My idea is that it adds a mere trifle, if any, 
of nitrogen from the air; but that by aid of 
its long roots it regains more or less of 
what has been lost through leaching. 
Now, if my idea is right, it seems to me 
that it is only a matter of time when Mr. 
Terry’s land will fail to produce the crops 
he now gets. His rotation is clover, pota¬ 
toes and wheat. The clover that he cuts he 
feeds and returns to the land. The pota¬ 
toes are taken away entire. The grain— 
wheat—is drawn off and the straw is re¬ 
turned. I understand he keeps no cows 
and that he buys no grain to feed, nor does 
he grow any for that purpose. Now if he 
buys no manure, I am at a loss to see how 
he returns the plant food which he takes 
off in his potatoes and wheat. Will Mr. 
Terry, please, enlighten me on this point ? 
The above was suggested by Mr. T.’s article 
on his crop rotation on page 676. P. G. 
Oswego Falls, N. Y. 
FROM T. B. TERRY. 
The R. N.-Y. writes me that it proposes 
to have a series of articles from scientists 
as well as practical farmers bearing on this 
point. I write entirely from a farmer’s 
stand-point, from 20 years’ experience, from 
the pay-debts-and-get-ahead side. I do 
not know whether clover-growing “adds 
any plant food to the soil” or not; or 
whether my soil and sub-soil would analyze 
as rich in nitrogen as they would have done 
10 years ago. I cannot help thinking that 
they would; but of course that doesn’t 
prove anything. This, however, I do know 
that my farm was never in a more produc 
tive and satisfactory condition than it is to¬ 
day, as far as crops this season and surface 
indications for next are concerned. I can 
show to-day as magnificent a growth of 
clover as any man could ask for. My wheat 
yielded 38 bushels per acre, on all the land 
sown, and was perfect in quality. My po¬ 
tatoes brought us over $100 an acre, on all 
the land planted, and were free from scab 
and of the finest quality. I think I never 
had a better show for wheat at this date 
than I looked at out of my window to-day. 
Let me tell just how these crops were 
raised. The field where the potatoes grew 
has been fertilized with clover only for 
some time. Neither stable manure nor 
fertilizer of any kind whatever has been 
put on it since it was in potatoes last. The 
first crop of clover last year was cut and 
taken off for hay. The second crop, which 
would have made about two good loads of 
hay per acre, was left to fall down and was 
plowed under this spring. The wheat was 
grown in two separate fields. In one the 
potatoes preceding it had been manured 
with clover sod and clover haulm, and in 
the other with clover sod and stable man¬ 
ure of the best quality, from our covered 
shed and cement floor. I expected the lat¬ 
ter piece to be the best. There was the 
largest growth of straw. If anything, this 
field was the best wheat land. But I de¬ 
termined to know at thrashing time and 
not to trust my eyes; so the grain from one 
field was put on one side of the thrashing 
floor and that from the other on the other, 
and the clover-manured lot gave us just 
40 bushels per acre, and the other about 36. 
This is but a single experiment; but clover 
haulm from which seed has been removed 
TWO CROSS-BRED GERMAN MARES. 
Re-engraved from the Mark Lane Express. Fig 291. 
