jam. « 
THE BUBAL NEW-YORKER. 
mers are too busy throughout the summer 
season to spend much time in experiment¬ 
ing, and gardeners have the most of their 
grounds otherwise occupied, so that they 
have little room to spare for that purpose. 
Some few, however, do make careful experi¬ 
ments, and through this means many valuable 
improvements in products have been estab¬ 
lished in different parts of the country. 
Among the many good features of the Rural 
New-Yorkkic is its specialty in publishing val¬ 
uable practical experiments that have been 
made on its own Experimental Farm and 
Grounds, and elsewhere also. General princi¬ 
ples are applicable alike to all things of the 
same nature, but in farming the diversity of 
soil, climate, exposure and surroundings, re¬ 
quires careful consideration and study, and 
what may be suitable for one place might not 
do well in another. The field for study and 
mprovement is therefore large and varied, and 
the exercise of one's best judgment is requisite 
to the successful tilling of the soil in the dif¬ 
ferent parts of the country. 
As statistical correspondent of the Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture for Ogle county, for the 
past seven years, I have had considerable ex¬ 
perience in experimental farming, aud know 
whereof T speak. Some of the seeds received 
from the Department have proven satisfactory, 
and have been propagated from year to year, 
while others have failed to do well, or some¬ 
times eveu to germinate. Among the most 
successful of those received within the past 
year, I will mention the 
SILVER CHAFF WINTER WHEAT. 
Last, summer. I received eight quarts of this 
wheat. It was accompanied with the follow¬ 
ing ■‘pedigree,” or history: “This wheat 
comes from York county, Province of Ontario, 
Canada, where it has been successfully grown 
for two years. It. is a distinct variety of winter 
wheat, withstands the severest frosts, and is 
not liable to disease or rust. Its average 
weight is sixty two pounds to the measured 
bushel.” 
I gave the eight quarts of seed to one of iny 
neighbors, who sowed it, .September 24, 1877, 
on twenty-six square rods, being at the rate of 
about a lmsbel and a half of seed to the acre. 
It was sown broadcast on rolling prairie soil 
a black, rich loam—nearly level, but. facing the 
south, well drained naturally, plowed a me¬ 
dium depth, not sub-soiled, and harrowed well 
after sowing. No fertilizers were applied, and 
the seed was not “ prepared ” in any way. but 
sown as received. It escaped winter-killing, 
but was injured somewhat by storms and hot 
weather a few days before harvesting, and was 
also slightly rusted. It sustained no injury 
from insects 5 was harvested July 9, 1878, when 
fully ripe, and yielded, when thrashed, 317 
pounds, being at the rate of about 821 bushels 
per aerd, mostly good quality, though some 
grafris were shrunken. The average weight 
was about sixty-three pounds to the measured 
bushel- The straw was strong and tall, some 
stalks measuring six feet with heads six inches 
iu length. The straw of the crop was not 
weighed. The wheat produced was all sown 
this fall and before snow covered it, it had a 
promising appearance. 1 think this is an im¬ 
proved variety of hardy, smooth winter wheat. 
BEAUTV OF HEBRON POTATOES. 
On April 27, 1878, we planted five quarts of 
these potat.os. cut to 250 pieces of one to two 
eye6 each, in a row in the garden, planting the 
pieces about six inches apart. The soil was 
rich but had never been fertilized with any¬ 
thing but stable manure. The foliage was lux¬ 
uriant and the blossoms profuse. They com¬ 
menced blooming June 18. About 85 or 90 
days elapsed from the time of planting till the 
decay of the foliage, hut on this point 1 cannot 
speak definitely- Oil August 29, wc dug nearly 
five bushels by measure from the five quarts of 
seed planted. After having been kept one 
week in a shed to dry. a few rotted, and Die re¬ 
mainder weighed four bushels, or 240 lbs. They 
are now stored in the cellar and are keeping 
well. Their intrinsic merits for table use are 
about, the same as those of the Early Rose as 
near as 1 can judge. W. B. Derrick. 
Ogle County, Illinois. 
[We have not claimed they were superior 
in qualU.i/ to Early Rose—but earlier by ten 
days and more prolific and even iu size.—E ds.] 
THE HISTORY OF A POOR FARM. 
No. 2. 
HOW TO DRAIN A SWAMP. 
“ The Doctor says ammonia is the most I 
necessary thing required iu the growth of 
crops,” said my old neighbor, who had called 
to see how the work on the swamp was pro¬ 
gressing. 
“ If he had said that ammonia is one of the 
most necessary elements of plant food, he 
would certainly have been correct, or at least 
nearly correct,” I replied. “It is not at all 
certain that ammonia is needed at all directly, 
and only Indirectly as a source of nitric a«id, 
which it is more than probable is the sltape in 
which nitrogen is taken up by plants. We say 
the bur rises ggd sets wheg, isj reality, tt i,e 
stationary, and it is we who are carried to and 
from it; so we think and talk of ammonia in 
connection with plants and manures, because 
we can recognize it easily by its strong and 
well-known odor and other properties, and so 
we never think of nitrogen except in that 
form, as nitrogen is inert in every way, aud, as 
well as nitric acid, is without smell and invis¬ 
ible. Nitrogen, in some shape, is necessary 
for plants, but. there are other things equally 
necessary.” 
“But I understood the Doctor to mean that 
ammonia is the most necessary thing that wc 
arc obliged to furnish to plants, and I read 
more about ammonia, in connection with man¬ 
ure, than of 'anything else in agricultural 
papers,” said he. 
“That is most likely, and there the Doctor 
is right. But we won’t discuss that question 
just now. I see you have a good piece of 
meadow, how did you get that drained and re¬ 
claimed ?” I asked. “ I wish iny swamp was 
iu as good order.” 
“ That meadow was as wet and rough as this 
swamp of yours twenty years ago, and it kept 
me busy for a dozen years or more to get it into 
the shape it is now," he answered. 
“ I can’t afford to wait so long as that to im¬ 
prove mine,” said I; “ that would not pay. 
Let us figure a little about that. Here are 
about ten acres of land that are worUi nothing 
as they arc ; the taxes are assessed at the rate 
of $50 per acre and the interest on the cost of 
the land is $70 a year. The taxes and interest 
are now a direct loss every year. II the land 
was in good grass, you think it would yield 30 
tons of hay every year. I think so, too. and 
it would yield $100 per acre in sweet corn, and 
more than that if planted in cabbages. Thirty 
tons of hay are worth more than $300; add 
the interest and taxes, aud there are nearly 
$400 a year actually lost ou the swamp as it 
now stands. Yon were twelve years or more 
getting your laud into meadow ; if I were as 
long I should be out of pocket at least $4,000, 
you seo. How did you manage yours ?” 
“ First, f cut off the brush and it grew up 
into weeds and coarse grass. I dug an open 
ditch at the head of it amt one across it to car¬ 
ry off the water, aud tliun mowed it every year 
until the course grass died out and good grass 
came in. Now I get a good sort of meadow 
hay from it, but not. more than a ton to the 
acre. Now, tell me what your plau would 
have been.” 
“ The chief difficulty in my plau is that it is 
expensive at first; but its merit is that it will 
pay for itself iu one or two years, aud then 
give 50 to LOO per cent, interest on the cost ever 
afterwards. I would make a thorough job of 
it by draining first and then grubbing, leveling 
aud turning over the surface or breaking it up 
completely and sowing down with timothy, 
red-top and Kentucky blue-grass in the spring. 
I should then expect to cut. a crop of hay the 
same year of a! least one ton per acre, and two 
crops the next year of three tous or more. 
That is my present intention. The cost will be 
as follows per 10 acres : 
ISO rode of ditch at 2i cents .».. 00 
orubbina at $10 per acre. 00 
Plowing, harrowing and settling. 100 00 
Total.. .$.'120 00 
“ This is a large estimate. I have found that I 
can get an acre of ground turned with the 
spade for $10, and there could be no better 
manner of preparing the surface than by spad¬ 
ing it. There will be no better time than the 
present for making improvements. The only 
difficulty is in finding the money; but that can 
be borrowed, and no goo<l fanner can tuake a 
mistake iu borrowing money to drain or other¬ 
wise improve land that will repay the cost in 
one or two years.” 
“ I don’t like going into debt,” quietly re¬ 
marked the old farmer. 
“ Debt has certainly ruiued many farmers,” 
said I, “ but a man may borrow and yet not 
get into debt, strictly speaking. Suppose you 
borrow, to buy ahorse; if the horse is worth 
the money and you have profitable use for the 
animal, 1 don’t think you are iu debt—certainly 
you are no worse off than before; so if a farm¬ 
er borrows money by which he can make his 
land produce the amount borrowed iu one year 
or before the debt becomes due, I don’t call that 
going Into debt. A man is in debt when he 
owes and lias no means to pay ; if he has the 
means to pay he simply lias a credit, which lie 
can extinguish when it becomes due. John 
Johnson, the old veteran among American 
farmers, borrowed money to buy laud, bor¬ 
rowed more to drain it, aud repaid both loans 
before they became due from tiie proceeds of 
the crops." 
“ That may be all very well, but I would not 
advise any man to go into debt. Blow and sure 
lias been iny plan for GO years, and it has kept 
a good roof over my head," said the old man. 
“ ‘ Slow and sure,’ is a very good motto,” said 
I, “ but ‘ fast and sure ’ is a bettor. In th*se 
days a farmer must go fast to keep up with the 
times, and it is not so much what a man may do 
us what lie must do to carry on his business 
profitably. There is no other expenditure of 
money so profitable as draining wet laud, aud 
jig good farmer seed fear to borrow mogey to 
make such improvements on his farm as that; 
that is. if he only secures time enough to real¬ 
ize the profits from the improved land. We 
see the cost of draining and reclaiming this 
swamp will be $320, how long will it take to 
get that money back again ?” 
“Thirty tous of hay would do it,” replied the 
old man. 
“ Well, yon thought this land ought to give 
me that every year, and if it does no better 
than half that, the improvements will be paid 
for in two years.” 
“ What kind of grass do you think of seed¬ 
ing the ground with ? 
“ I have been considering Dint," I replied. 
“On moist ground timothy succeeds very well, 
but cows do not like the bay; red-top is the 
best grass for low, moist ground; but the hay 
is light, and uot sufficiently nutritious. Mixed 
grasses always make the best, liay, and you can 
gel a heavier crop than of any one single kind. 
1 intend to try a mixture of timothy, red-top, 
Kentucky blue-grass and orchard-grass, using 
four quarts of timothy and twelve pounds of 
each of the others. This will make a thick, 
close growth and yield tine hay which cows 
like." 
“ I have found oreliard-grass to do very well 
on our bottom lands ; it. is an early and a late 
grass, being first to grow in the spring, the 
first ready for hay and the last green iu the 
fall,” said the old man. Then changing the sub- 
cct suddenly he inquired how it happened that 
the ditches in the swamp were dug so evenly 
and neatly. 
“ The men have patterns to work by,” I re¬ 
plied. “An evenly-cut ditch, with a regular 
slope to the wall, will remain a whole year 
without caving; aud in tough swamp muck 
will keep its shape longer than that. In swamps, 
the ditches should remain at least a year be 
fore tiles are laid in, so that they should be cut 
properly at the first, lest the sides fall iu. The 
T . . pattern is made of lath or narrow 
\ll strips nailed together (.see figure 
1) and the ditch is cut to match 
II it in width and depth. When the 
// work is measured tip, the ditch is 
// compared with tire pattern and if 
// it is not right, it has to lie made so 
. before the work is paid for. A 
a. X- new iy drained swamp will settle 
down considerably as the water drains off and 
the soil becomes solid. If tiles are laid before 
this occurs, there will be danger of disturbing 
them aud spoiling the drain. After the ground 
has settled, the ditches may be cleaued out, 
the tiles laid and covered. The work will then 
be permanent and the surface uninterrupted." 
-- 
JOTTINGS AT KIRBY HOMESTEAD. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
Mr. Slade came over the other day to get a 
buck for his sheep. Ours were all rented. He 
hud a llpek of pure-bred Merinos, but had 
made up hia mind to breed sheep for mutton, 
instead of for wool, so be wanted to make a 
suitable cross. We recommended to him to 
get a South-down sheep, hut be said lie did not 
know where to find one, and lie did know of 
several Cotswolds he would obtain. We ad¬ 
vised him to get one with the closest wool, the 
shortest legs, the broadest back, and the small¬ 
est head. In our cold and changeable climate, 
we want sheep with thick and close fleeces, 
heuce a long, open-wooled Cotswold would be 
a bad sire, but such an one as we recommended 
would be better. lie did not know that there 
was any difference in the wool of Cotswolds. 
There is, and some of them have very loose aud 
open fleeces—a very poor protection for a rain¬ 
storm in cold weather, or for any storm. Their 
wool is long, bright and handsome; but the 
farmer who wants hardy sheep, should give 
them a wide berth. The same is true of the 
Leicester. A short-legged sheep will mature 
more quickly, and is more hardy and quiet. 
This latter point is quite au item. A ram with 
a big, coarse head will bequeath the same 
coarseness to his posterity and make the yean¬ 
ing all the harder ; hence the size.of the skull 
is important. 
With a Cotswold ram possessing the above 
qualities, Mr. Slade can get good market lambs, 
provided lie feeds his Merino ewes bountifully. 
Unless he does, the big frames of his halt Cots- 
woIiIk will lie lank and guanl, and t he butchers 
will reject them until they are able to eat grass 
and fatten themselves. A South-down cross 
would be smaller and plumper, and will fatten 
younger. If Mr. Slade saves bis ewe lambs 
aud breeds them to a Cotswold ram, be will not 
have so much trouble about making milk for 
the young, as they will produce more milk than 
the Merino mothers. The third cross will lie 
seven-eighths Cotswold, and will be essentially 
equal to the full-bred. If the sire has all the 
time been a close-vvoolcd sheep with short legs 
and a small head, and the ewe lambs which 
were like him have been selected and bred from, 
Mr. Slade will have a large, strong and produc¬ 
tive flock of hardy sheep. We are making a 
flock the same way, only wc shall cross the 
Merinos with South-down aud Shropshire—the 
Jatter dgsl} to get inore size, Wjien the readers 
of the Rural hear of the Kirby Homestead 
Downs, they will know our secret, to which 
they must add clover hay and turnips. 
A little, knowledge will often make a partial 
success, when otherwise it would he a failure. 
The man complained that the calf did not. learn 
to drink. It did not take up the milk when he 
put his finger in its mouth. The man put his 
finger into the side of its mouth and the calf ' 
could not make a vacuum and draw the milk 
into its mouth. This is what a calf has to do 
to suck. As soon as the finger was put into the 
front of the month, the calf was all right and 
drew the milk in rapidly. Then the man re¬ 
membered that calves do not suck through the 
sides of their mouths. 
The older we grow the more weare impressed 
with the importance of one of our rules, “ that 
the only time to do a thing is when it is in the 
mind.” We put off opening the cider barrel at 
the time and forgot it. and it nearly ljursted 
before it was noticed. Cider should he opened 
at the bung as soon os it is placed iu position 
and the cask kept full, and allot the impuri¬ 
ties will work off. ft will then make vinegar 
more quickly, arid that of better quality, being 
free from taint. The cider is also more palat¬ 
able and healthy. Not being allowed to work 
itself clear is one of the reasons why many 
barrels of cider will not turn to vinegar. Pure 
eider will always make good vinegar, as this is 
the natural chemical change which time will 
produce. 
If a cow has all the corn stalks she will eat 
she will give as much milk as if fed on hay. 
She must not be compelled to eat the stems 
but lie allowed enough so that she can select 
the leaves and husks. Of course, we mean 
stalks cut and cured before frost, and before 
they arc over-ripe. More sowed corn would be 
grown if it was not so difficult to cure. Mr. 
Heaton had a crop this year in drills, which 
averaged ten feet in bight He cut it down and 
let it lie a week in the sun. and then bound it 
u]> in small bundles and set a dozen together iu 
one stook. lie draws it into the barn as it is 
required for feeding. Sudl bulky fodder could 
not be stored handily, and it would surely mold 
and spoil if it was. If fodder corn could be 
raised close by the barn, it might be fed in the 
field in the middle of the dry, pleasant days, 
and drawn to the barn in inclemeut weather. 
Esquire Davidson has a small village of corn¬ 
stalk stacks around his barn. He sets a tall 
pole firmly in the ground and places the bun¬ 
dles of stalks around it with the tips towards 
the pole. But one tier of bundles is placed 
around a pole. This is his plan, and it is Die 
best one for stacking, as the stalks do not mold. 
When animals arc lyiug down they are sup¬ 
posed to be gaining the fastest. This is no 
doubt true if they are in a comfortable COn 
dition. How much could our neighbor’s calf 
gain during a week of cold rain, while being 
compelled to lie on the wet ground without 
any shelter ? 
4fann Qrtonomij. 
IN-DOOR WORK. 
Now that the weather is too cold for out-door 
work, I will make a few suggestions about the 
manufacture of certain articles which can be 
made in-doors and are almost indispensable on 
a farm. 
Grain Troughs for Sheep. —There are 
many ways of making these, but they are best 
constructed so that they may be revolved. 
Double boxes may be made by simply uailiug 
three boards together, two of them seven and 
one four inches wide. Set the narrow board up¬ 
on oue edge, lay the surface of one of the wide 
ones upon it, and nail it firmly down through 
the center of the wide into the edge of the nar¬ 
row oue; then turn the uarrow board up-side- 
down and nail on the other wide board in the 
same way. and you have a good double trough. 
On the ends of this, nail pieces of board fifteen 
inches long and twelve inches wide, and you 
have an invertible grain trough. Be careful 
that the pieces are nailed so that the ends of 
the trough will be exactly in [the center of the 
cud boards. 
A Pio Trough. Take two boards as long 
and as wide as desirable, one inch or more 
thick; let one of the boards be just the thickness 
of the other narrower than it ; for instance, if 
inch boards, have one seven and the other 
eight inches wide. Nail the two boards to¬ 
gether in the shape of the letter V—the side of 
the wide on the edge of the narrow. Saw the 
ends off evenly, and to them nail, crosswise, 
boards of the same width extending down to 
the ground, so us to prevent the whole from 
being easily upset. 
WiltPFLKTREEs. — Farm whitlletrees should 
be made about thirty inches long. Hickory is 
the best timber for the purpose, although good 
ones may be made of tough oak and ash. If of 
gpoc] timber 1£ jjjch thick by igetyes broad 
