862 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
DEC 28 
NOTES ON 1 889. 
(Continued from. Page 852.) 
farms (from 200 to 1,000 acres each) with 
poor help. Besides, most of our people 
have not got over the effects of slavery. 
We want pushing Northern people, and 
until we get them among us, I see no 
chance for improvement. We have every 
natural advantage, such as a good, kind 
soil, good roads, good water and good rail¬ 
road facilities ; what we want is men. 
Perryman. S. H. E. 
ILLINOIS ILLUSTRATIONS. 
Corn has paid me better than any other 
crop I have raised this year or any year 
that I have farmed: but, of course, at the 
present market price it will not nay the ex¬ 
penses of raising, cultivating and gather¬ 
ing it, together with six per cent, on the in¬ 
vestment, or more than do this. But by 
putting it into hogs that have been raised 
on the farm and escaped the swine fever, 
and getting S3 to $3.50 per cwt. for them, 
the raising of corn becomes profitable, and 
one is paid something for his time. This 
is the pretty side of the matter. One can’t 
raise profitably more than two or three 
crops of corn and have it pay six per cent. 
—then come seeding down, meadowing 
and pasturing that don’t pay six per cent.; 
but we have to give our land a change or 
rest from corn or any one kind of grain. 
Walnut. L. K. T. 
My best paying crops are wheat and hay 
—clover and Timothy. I raise these crops 
because they are better adapted to the soil 
than any others. My farm was a worn-out 
piece of land and I raise mostly clover fol¬ 
lowed by wheat, then clover again for the 
improvement of the soil. Wheat I have 
sold at 70 cents per bushel this year and 
clover hay at $8 and Timothy at $10 per ton. 
I also raise cattle, buying most of them 
while young at the farm for $3 to $5 per 
head. I keep them through one summer 
and sell them to butchers for from $10 to 
$14. My object is to improve my land rath¬ 
er than make the most money at farming 
in one year. p. o. j. 
Metropolis. 
Since the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk 
Company has erected its enormous build¬ 
ings for the purpose of manufacturing con¬ 
densed milk, farming has been almost revo¬ 
lutionized in this immediate vicinity. As 
the prices paid for milk by the company 
have been very satisfactory to farmers, 
many have been induced to change from 
grain and stock to dairy farming. The 
present contracts call for 1,400 or 1,500 
cows, and the present price paid for milk is 
$1.30 per cwt. As this is a new industry for 
this vicinity, 1 am unable to give any cor¬ 
rect figures as to the net profit; but.like my 
neighbors, I know from my income from 
the business, as compared with that from 
other industries, that the former pays by 
far the best. The present high price, how¬ 
ever, may not be long maintained, as it may 
be only a “bait” which the manufacturers 
of condensed milk have thrown out to in¬ 
duce the farmers of this vicinity to invest 
heavily in the dairy business, and after 
things have been got into convenient shape 
for dairying, the company may knock the 
price down quite below the cost of produc¬ 
tion, as is often done by other monopolies 
of this class. r. av. g, 
Woosung. 
The crop that has paid me best this sea¬ 
son and in fact for several seasons past has 
been hay. The crop is very large this year ; 
still good prime tame hay Is worth $5 per 
ton in the city. Potatoes have also given a 
good yield, but the prices are low—25 cents 
per bushel. One reason why hay has paid 
well is that it does not cost as much to 
raise as many other crops and there is a 
steady and increasing demand for it, and I 
think that it will continue, still in view of 
the varying conditions of soil, climate and 
location as well as of the supply and de¬ 
mand and also for many other causes, what 
pays one man best may not pay another at 
all, even were they in the same immediate 
neighborhood. Success or failure will de¬ 
pend on the man himself. Were I asked 
what pays best as a general business among 
our Western farmers I would say, stock- 
raising and farming combined, raising all 
standard crops and feeding all on the farm 
and selling the stock and using the manure 
on the land. J. H. W 
Sterling. 
MISSOURI MEN MAKE MENTION. 
Grass and corn pay me best. Of 240 
acres only 30 acres are cultivated to corn. 
Everything that is grown on the farm, is 
fed to stock till they are in good condition 
for market. The cattle go off when about 
two years old ; the pigs when from fh r e to 
seven months, the wether lambs at wean¬ 
ing time ; and the ewes when four years old. 
I do not sow any wheat. J. T. F. 
Bates City. 
The corn crop has paid best this year. I 
got enough corn at 25 cents per bushel to 
pay for the land on which it grew, the first 
cost having been at the rate of $10 per 
acre. The crop will bring 25 cents in the 
market and is worth more than that for 
feeding to stock, especially swine. It will 
pay to increase the yield, though this was 
very good the past season—40 to 60 bushels 
per acre, and it Avas of good quality. 
Corneau. g. w. t. 
WISCONSIN WISDOM. 
CLOA r ER has paid best the past season. 
The first cut for hay amounted to three 
to four tons per acre, and the second cut 
for seed gave tAvo to six bushels. Hay 
brings $5 per ton ; seed $3.50 per bushel. I 
cut the clover two years for hay and seed, 
and the third year pasture it Avith hogs or 
sheep until the last of August, then plow 
it under for corn for the fourth year; the 
fifth year I sow clover with wheat. The 
corn I feed to hogs, so that it is clover, 
hogs, corn and sheep; it taxes five years to 
get around. My land keeps producing bet¬ 
ter crops and we live very well. j. m. s. 
Princeton. 
I AM engaged in dairying exclusively. I 
aim to feed all my cows well so that 
I cannot say that I can profitably increase 
the product. There is a limit to profitable 
feeding. As to the land, it gets so little feed 
I cannot raise oats or wheat with profit. I 
find it a slow process to get ahead at pres¬ 
ent prices for dairy goods with the 
high labor we have to use. A. s. B. 
Salem. 
VIRGINIA VIEWS. 
My principal product and, in fact, the only 
one of any consequence, is milk, which 
means large crops of hay, corn, corn-fodder 
and turnips, for all of Avhieh this portion of 
Virginia seems particularly adapted. I 
ship milk directly to Washington, distant 
only 17 miles, receiving 13}£ cents net per 
gallon in winter and 9)4 in summer. I 
have only been in this State a year and a 
half and so am hardly able to say whether 
there is much profit in the milk business or 
not. My principal object is to make a large 
quantity of manure, with which to enrich 
the proverbially poor Virginia soil. The 
land is really poor, but with one application 
of manure it will produce as large crops of 
corn and hay as I ever saw in New York 
State. I think it will pay me to increase 
the milk business to its largest capacity, 
as I have 100 acres,all clear land, and I.think 
that in a few years I can make it carry 50 
cows. There is a large quantity of poor 
land in this part of the State, but it is very 
easily made productive. All that is need¬ 
ed to make this a splendid farming coun¬ 
try is a little Northern energy, enterprise 
and capital. w. R. g. 
Oakton. 
OHIO OUTLOOK. 
No crop has left much margin of profit 
with me during the past year, as prices 
have been so low and I had a wet season 
to contend with. Corn on wet land was 
nearly a failure and all other crops were 
short except grass, which made a large 
growth, but the weather was so wet while 
it was being cured that there is more poor 
anduinsalable hay than I ever before saw 
in this section, a large part of it being 
almost worthless for anything but manure. 
There is one thing that has paid well, in 
fact, a large profit on the labor bestowed 
on it, and that is a maple orchard. The 
sirup is a cash article and brings readily 75 
cents per gallon in bulk,and on private con 
tract from $1.00 to $1.25 to consumers, and 
though it is hard work to make it, it lasts 
only a short time, and comes at a time of 
year when a farmer cannot do much else. 
It will certainly pay to increase this to 
the utmost limit; for the West cannot 
compete with us, and there is no “ trust” 
to control and dictate prices for a luxury 
that cannot be made extensively enough 
to glut the market, and it will therefore 
always command good prices and pay well 
for manufacturing. li. B. c. 
Garrettsville. 
Wool. This is a great wool-groAviug sec¬ 
tion. - We are too far from market to 
handle much that is perishable or that can¬ 
not be easily moved. Our land is rolling 
and too thin to produce crops of grain con¬ 
tinuously like some of the more favored 
sections of this State. It is much better 
adapted to grazing than to anything else. 
We raise most of the grain we use, but we 
do not use as much as in cattle and hog sec¬ 
tions. Wool-growing is not as profitable 
as it was before the reduction of the tariff: 
but it is still more profitable than any¬ 
thing we can engage in at present. We 
can only farm such fields as need resetting, 
being generally about 10 acres out of every 
100 of cleared land. The rest is kept in 
grass, and will, in addition to the necessa¬ 
ries, such as a cow for family use, team, etc., 
keep 100 sheep. The wool from these sheep 
at present prices should be worth $200, and 
there should also be a small increase in the 
flock. We can keep at least 12 sheep for 
every steer. (Some place the proportion as 
high as 25 sheep to one steer), and at pres¬ 
ent pi ices (2}4 cents per pound), it is easy to 
see which would make the best return. 
Our laud is mostly light clay. Along the 
streams we have some limestone soil, but it 
is generally very rough c. C. E. 
Bartlett. 
NORTH DAKOTA’S NOTICE. 
My crop of spring Avheat has proved more 
profitable than any or all of my other prod¬ 
ucts during the past season. There are two 
reasons for this : First, I thrashed a good 
crop, (an average of 22 bushels per acre) of 
the very best quality of bright, clean Avheat; 
second, myself and family did all, or nearly 
all the labor of plowing, seeding, cutting 
and stacking: so that the actual outlay for 
twine, thrashing, etc., did not exceed 10 
cents per bushel. I hope it will pay me to 
increase my crop of wheat next year : and 
with 90 per cent, of the farmers in this 
country I Avill continue to depend on the 
wheat crop next year and for several years 
from necessity. Cattle are worthless; corn 
is much more uncertain than wheat, and 
Avill not be largely grown for some years. A 
large number of hogs cannot be profitably 
raised until corn is more generally produced. 
The raising of horses is profitable and 
many of our better-to-do farmers haA’e 
turned their attention to that industry : 
but it requires too much capital and the 
returns are too sIoav for the average farmer 
in this new country. In my opinion, sheep 
and sheep only can—and would if tried— 
lift the farmers out of the “ rut;” pay off 
his chattel and other mortgages ; release 
him from the grasp of the machinery men, 
and relieve him largely from the extortion 
of railroads. But sheep have not been tried, 
and I do not wish to be too sanguine before 
I have tested the value of my opinion. 
Seymour. a. av. t. 
Sljfrp ijusbtuuvnj. 
FARMING !*00 ACRES AT A PROFIT 
IN WESTERN NEW YORK. 
NO. I. 
SHEEP FEEDING. 
PROBLEM that con¬ 
fronts every 
farmer each 
, an t um n i s 
how he can 
^ 'best use his 
' hay, corn, 
straw and 
corn-stalks. 
Some solve 
it by selling 
all of their 
surplus hav, 
straw, etc., 
saving just enough to carry over the horses 
and a cow or two. Others turn Avhat stuck 
they have into the barn-yard and let them 
shift for themselves; while others keep 
cows and do a profitable business in winter 
dairying. A few feed steers, and a great 
many shiftless farmers let their stalks rot 
down in the field rather than take the 
trouble to make them do service as a valu¬ 
able food, and also as a choice fertilizing 
agent. We feed for tAvo reasons: first for 
profit, and second for manure. 
Success in sheep-feeding depends upon 
several conditions. It is no use for any one 
to try to feed sheep if he does not like 
them. The man who kicks his dog or 
abuses his wife and swears at everybody 
and everything cannot hope to be a good 
shepherd. A cross-grained man that loses 
his temper at the_first provocation can 
scare more fat off of a sheep in a day than 
he can replace in a week. Then the first 
requisite is a quiet, low-voiced careful 
shepherd. The sheds should be so arranged 
that they can be made very Avarm when the 
mercury ranges in the neighborhood of ze¬ 
ro, still leaving plenty of ventilation. One 
great mistake that many farmers make is 
that of keeping the sheds too warm in mod¬ 
erate weather. The flocks ought to be 
given free access to Avater and salt at all 
times. I buy my sheep in Buffalo, begin¬ 
ning with a car-load or two in August, and 
I generally have our full number in the 
yard by December 15. I should advise buy¬ 
ing earlv in the autumn if possible, as the 
flock Avill gain 15 or 20 pounds apiece in two 
or three months on good pasture. It is not 
ahvays an immense gain which makes feed¬ 
ing profitable, as some Avill feed so high 
that the profits Avill be spent twice over in 
the amount of fodder used. A gain of 20 
pounds can be put on from grass twice as 
cheaply as it can be made by feeding grain 
and hay. 
In my boyhood days, father used to drive 
over two or three counties in search of 
stockers and be away from home days at a 
time, and then might not make satisfac¬ 
tory purchases. It was and is hard to buy 
from farmers on their farms, as usually they 
place fancy prices on the stock, owing to 
ignorance of the market or the fond be¬ 
lief that their sheep are better than those 
of any one else. Now all is changed and 
for the better. If Ave want a load, father 
takes the morning train for East Buffalo, 
goes at once to the stock-yards where he 
finds 5,000 or 6,000 head to select from, 
makes his purchases, gives an order to the 
shipping agent and comes home, the sheep 
followingonthe first freight train. 
Buffalo is the best point in the United 
States to buy sheep for Eastern feeding. 
There are thousands on sale every morning, 
including all breeds, ages and varieties, 
from the choicest Canada lambs to the 
wild, long-legged Colorados that jump six- 
rail fences just for exercise. Most of the 
sheep shipped into Buffalo have been on 
the road two or three days or sometimes 
more and naturally shrink about 10 pounds 
so that if one buys soon after their arrival, 
he gets shrunken weights, a saving at five 
cents per pound of 50 cents per head over 
what he would have to pay if he bought 
them from the field. This does not amount 
to much on one sheep : but on 100 it is $50, a 
sum not to be sneezed at. The freight is 
only a small item, $10 per car-load and each 
car will hold from 200 to 250 head. I con¬ 
sider sheep Avell bought, half sold. After 
Ave get them home, they are divided into 
flocks of about 100 each, and when they are 
put in the yards, the Aveaklings and small 
ones are all put into pens by themselves. My 
experience has been that sheep, like hens, 
pay best when kept in small flocks. The 
sheds are so arranged that there is plenty 
of ventilation in them and attached to each 
is a well littered yard Avhere the flock can 
go out to exercise and diink on pleasant 
days. There are racks inside the sheds giv¬ 
ing ample room to feed hay so that the en¬ 
tire flock can eat at once. We give each 
flock of 100 a grain ration of a bushel of 
corn per day in two feeds, gradually in 
creasing the quantity till, during the last 
month, they have all the corn they can eat 
and are fed three times per day. The hay 
is fed nights and mornings so plentifully 
that each sheep is sure to have enough. 
Sometimes we use a mixed ration of bran 
and com. Refuse beans as sheep feed haA’e 
never given satisfactory restilts with us. 
We sell to local buyers if Ave can in the 
month of March ; if not, Ave ship direct to 
New York, usually to one well known com¬ 
mission firm at the Union Stock-yards at 
the foot of West (Kith Street. 
Sheep feeding is a lottery. There is only 
one profit one can be sure of and that is the 
manure. Father has fed more or less sheep 
ever since he began farming, but during 
the last nine years we have fed from 600 to 
1,000 head every Avinter, not always with 
profit, but four years out of five there has 
been some money in it. The men that suc¬ 
ceed in any branch of business are those 
avIio stick to it year after year and who are 
£tti,orcUancouss gultfrtitfittfl. 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Custorla. 
AVlieu she was a Child, she cried for Custoria. 
When she became Miss, she clung to Castorls 
When she had Children, she gave them eastern 
