THE 
RAL NEW-YORKER. 
4 
testify to his literary activity. At the instiga¬ 
tion of Liebig, “ How Crops Grow” and “How 
CropB Feed,” were translated into German, 
and the Royal Academy of Sciences of Stock¬ 
holm had them rendered into the Swedish 
tongue. In addition to reproduction in Eng¬ 
land “ How Crops Grow,” can now be read in 
the Italian and Russian languages. 
Prof. Johnson has aided his students by edit¬ 
ing editions of “ Fresenius’s Qualitative Chem¬ 
ical Analysis,” and “Quantitative Aualysis, 
by the same writer- In original investigation 
he has, with his colleague Prof. Allen, doue 
noteworthy service, having been the first to 
obtain the salts of the alkali metal, caesium, 
(discovered by Bunsen in I860.) in a state of 
purity, and to determine the exact atomic 
weight of the new element. 
Prof. Johnson is enthusiastic in liis devotion 
to the interests of science a9 applied to agri¬ 
culture, and if his work shall be properly ap¬ 
preciated and abetted, the State, will possess 
an Experiment Station whose reputation and 
usefulness will not be confined within local 
bounds, especially if it be continued under the 
direction of the gentlemau who is conceded 
to be the foremost chemist in the country in his 
specialties. 
THE HISTORY OF A POOR FARM.— 
No. 5. 
Feeding for Manure. 
“ You say that the manure from a ton 
of bran is worth more than the bran itself!” 
said Martin, in a tone of astonishment. 
“ I don’t say it is," I replied, “ I say it is 
said to be, and I can readily believe it. Don’t 
let ns mistake this matter: what is said by 
good authorities is this: a ton of bran may 
cost #12; if the ton of bran is fed to a cow, she 
takes out of it a part of its substance, digests 
it. assimilates it and turns it into milk, flesh, 
or fat. The remainder is rejected in the shape 
of dung. Now the dung or manure, made by a 
cow while she is consuming a ton of bran, is 
known to contain certain quantities of nitro¬ 
gen, phosphoric acid, and potash, which have 
a market value. The market value of these 
substances contained in that quantity of dung 
or manure, is more than #12. Is that plain to 
you ?" 
“The statement is plain enough, but the 
fact, as you may call it, is not plain," said he. 
“ How is it possible that a ton of bran ean be 
consumed and the refuse of it be worth more 
than the original value ?" 
“That seems to be nonsense," quietly re¬ 
marked my old neighbor. 
“ Facts are stubborn things,” I replied, “ and 
I think I can sec the fact here plain enough. 
Let us look iuto it a little. 
“ One ton of bran contains the following : 
Nitrogen. Potash. Phos. acid. 
Frim wheat...., li.SIbs. 2S.fi lbs. fri.fi lbs. 
From rye. 46-4 ” 38.fi •* «8.fi “ 
“ Then rye bran is worth more than wheat 
bran,” remarked Martin. 
“I always knew that,” rejoined the old 
man. 
“ Now, a cow returns in the manure, liquid 
and solid, 68.8 per cent, of the nitrogen of her 
food, and 97 per cent, of the mineral matter. 
So that there would be in a ton of manure— 
Nitrogen. Potash. Phos. 
aold. 
From wheat bran.28.63 lbs. 2?.7 lbs. 63.0 lbs. 
From rye bran ..... 29.60 " 37.5 “ 60.6 " 
Each of these substance# has as fixed a 
market value as bran has; and this market 
value is fixed in accordance with the prices of 
staple articles which contain these substances 
In great part; as nitrate of soda, for example, 
which is salable at a certain price, and this 
price gives 25 cents a pound for the nitrogen 
contained in it. Potash is a regular commer¬ 
cial article, and is worth seven cents a pound. 
Phosphoric acid is rated in the same way, at 
ten cents a pound. In whatever shape we buy 
these materials, they cost 60 much. Now the 
manure from a ton of wheat bran, which con¬ 
tains a certain quantity of these materials, is 
worth at those prices #14.37 and that from a 
ton of rye bran is worth #16.68, while the brau is 
worth $12 a ton. Is that plain to you P" Both 
Martin and the old gentleman shook their 
heads in unison, but said nothing. 
“IcaDnot doubt it upon such evideuce as 
this,” I remarked, “ and experience confirms 
It. Which would you rather do—spread your 
hay and corn upon the fields and plow them 
in, or feed them and use the manure ?’’ 
“ I would rather feed them and use the 
manure ; it would do more good," replied my 
old neighbor. 
“Just so,” said William, who had been lis¬ 
tening. “Grandfather is right there, but he 
eannot see that if brau is put in place of the 
corn and hay, he would do the same, because 
the manure would do the most good.” 
"I see it, if you put it in that way,” said Mar¬ 
tin, “ but I have heard the same said of clover 
hay.* 
“It is the same with all sorts of fodder and 
grain,” I replied. “ Corn meal and wheat brau 
have been used directly ae fertilizers by the 
Connecticut tobacco growers and by the New 
Jersey truck farmers; but these people do not 
keep a sufficient number of cowh to make half 
the manure they require, and iu that way they 
miss making a good profit for their money and 
trouble in feeding cattle and making manure 
for themselves. 
“There is another consideration. Manure 
contains plant food in a much more available 
shape than raw grain or clover bay, or green 
clover in fact, so that a gain is made by feed¬ 
ing these instead of using them directly as 
manure, and when the manure is well rotted, 
if il lifts not been injured in the process, it is 
more available than when it was fresh.” 
•‘I don’t understand exactly what yon mean 
by plant food,” said the old gentleman, “but 
I know that manure made from cows fed on 
corn meal and bran, with their hay, will keep 
hot and won’t freeze up in cold weather, while 
that from cows fed on hay will freeze up solid.” 
“Let us go and see,” said I; “David is 
drawing manure from the cow yard to the big 
field. There he goes uow with a load which is 
steaming in the cold air and is even now fit to 
he put in the hill for corn.” The pile from 
which tlm load was taken was hot and black 
aud rich, with no signs of what meal and bran 
were left in the inauure, except the great heat. 
The heap was moist enough, having received 
all the liquids from above which came down 
into the collar through the gutter. 
“That is good manure,” said the old gentle¬ 
man. 
“ One load of that is worth three of our man¬ 
ure, grandfather,” said William. 
•' I think there is something in that state¬ 
ment about the value of the manure from a 
tou of bran," said Martin, “ aud I do believe 
you are gettiug your money back again.” 
“I am sure of it," said I; “only give time 
enough and I think it will show for itself.” 
•* How much is it safe to feed ?" asked the 
old gentleman. 
“That depends upon the appetite; when an 
animal cats heartily it is eating healthfully, 
and whatever quantity it consumes is no mat¬ 
ter." 
“I feed two quarts of meal a day," said Wil¬ 
liam, “aud the dry cows get none. I tell 
grandfather that that is not enough.” 
*• I aril feeding nine, quarts of corn meal aud 
bran, mixed, daily," said I; “ three quarts at a 
meal, three times a day ; aud it pays to do it. 
I am now giving two bushel baskets of cut 
corn fodder, with three quarts of oval and 
bran, in the morniug, directly after milking; 
three quarts of the mixed meal at noon with a 
peck of cut roots, and then a few pounds of 
dry hay; and two bushels of cut fodder, with 
three quarts of the meal, at night, after milk¬ 
ing. Nine quarts of this mixed meal and bran, 
which is in great part middlings, weigh 12 
pounds, and cost 12 cents ; the roots, hay and 
fodder cost about 10 cents more, making 22 
cents per day for each cow’s feed. My eows 
are averaging seven quarts of milk a day, only 
three being fresh, and two beiug dry, out of 18. 
The milk nets me five cents a quart, which is 
35 cents, against 22 cents for the feed. This 
leaves 13 ceuts per day and the manure. The 
manure is the great item in this case. Noth¬ 
ing is going off the farm but the milk, aud 
whatever is sent out in the shape of milk, is 
easily brought back in a few tons of brau aud 
oil-cake." 
“Nothing can beat cows for improving land," 
said the old gentleman. 
“ Except sheep," remarked Martin. 
“ Did you ever keep a flock of sheep?” asked 
the old gentleman. “You didn’t! I thought 
not; you are only saying, then, what nearly 
everybody says, who never kept any sheep. 
They are all very well iu their way. I have 
kept a flock for years aud years. It is only a 
few years siuce we had the last of our good 
old homespun, made front our own fleeces. 
Old Jacob, who lived by the church, used to 
weave the cloth for the folks, aDd we had a 
carding mill on the creek in the hollow. My 
girls and their mother spun the yarn aud I fed 
aud cared for the sheep, and so we divided the 
work. Those were good old times, and wc 
shall never see them again. Here is William’s 
girl; she plays on her piano which cost more 
than my whole floek of a hundred sheep in 
their best days, and she can't knit a pair of 
socks. 1 like the music well enough : the old 
songs axe pleasant; but I tell William they 
cost too much ,• and I am afraid when I am 
gone the farm won’t Btand it. No; I know all 
about sheep; they are pretty good and make 
rich manure whea well fed; bnt they are not 
equal to cows for profit, if you have only a 
good kind. There is no better way of getting 
light laud up than by keeping cows on it. 
Dairy farms are always iu good order, and it 
is just what this farm needs. That manure is 
the best I have seen, and can’t be beat for rais¬ 
ing corn. I shall begin to think it is really 
true about the bran; although I have been 
farming 60 years and never knew it. We live 
and learn, and a# old as I am, I l&ep finding 
that out every day. But I always knew that 
you will And the feed iu tiie manure every time.” 
CO-OPERATION IN THE PURCHASE OF 
FARM IMPLEMENTS. 
l’ROFESSOR W. .1. BEAU. 
I was glad to see a recent editorial in the 
Rural on this subject. It is one not sufficient¬ 
ly thought of by onr farmers. Good reapers, 
mowers, hay-tedders, grain drills, etc. are 
valuable implements. We could not get along 
without them. But they are quite expensive. 
They cost more than they ought to, when pur¬ 
chased at retail prices. In many places farmers 
are saving money by co-operating in the pur 
chase of farm implements. This is worth at 
tentiou. Every anteqirising manufacturer of 
farm machines sends out his agents into various 
parts of the country. They are good talkers, 
and often prevail on men to buy machines. 
Men with small farms cannot afford to bu\ 
costly machines for their own use alone. It 
would be much cheaper to hire the work don • 
In the old way; that is, to cut wheat with a 
cradle and thrash it with ft flail. A combined 
reaper and mower costs about $150 aud, on 
the average, lasts about eight years. The in¬ 
terest on the capital at eight per cent., is $12, 
and the wear and tear at least amount to $20 a 
year; making In all $32 a year for the use of a 
machine. Suppose the owner of a small farm can 
hire his wheat or hay cut at seventy-five cents 
per acre. The outlay for a machine as above 
estimated, will cut 42 acres per year. This is 
not all. Besides the cost of a machine, if pur¬ 
chased at $32 per year, the farmer employs a 
team and hand to do the work. This often 
makes the reaping and mowing very expensive. 
Similar figuring may bemadewith grain drills 
and some otbermachines. These are often used 
to sow not over 50 acres per year, and arc idle 
for the rest of the time. It may be said that if 
used but little they will last a long time. Some¬ 
times this is the case, hut not very often. 
Farmers leave their tools out iu the sun and 
rain. They get rusty and out of repair. Some¬ 
thing new or apparently better comes along, 
aud they buy it, throwing the old implement 
away. So far as 1 ean learn, the reapers, 
drills, cultivators, hay-tedders, etc., which are 
over ten years old and still in use, are hard to 
find and few in number. Co-oporation iu the 
use of expensive farm tools has been tried to 
some extent. There are some serious difficul¬ 
ties iu the Avay. Men are selfish, and many of 
them eannot get along together. Some of them 
are ignorant of the use of complicated ma¬ 
chines, and damage them more in one day than 
others will in a whole season. But this 
article la not written to find fault with the 
method proposed in the editorial; but rather, 
to suggest additional thoughts in the same 
direction. 
But few farmers are competent to manage 
reapers and mowers and other complicated 
tools. For this purpose it ueeds mechanical 
tact. In every neighborhood there are men 
who have no farms or only small farms, aud 
who are apt at driving teams and keeping im¬ 
plements in order. If they are pre-engaged, 
they can be employed to drill wheat, cut grass 
or grain at reasonable prices. This will need 
some foresight—some planning. The man can 
begin on the earliest grass aud quit on the 
latest, perhaps on bottom laud, He can do the 
Hame with wheat and other grain. At a good 
price he will try hard to accommodate. The 
writer knows of several neighborhoods where 
this plan is already in successful operation. 
The figures are giveu to set farmers to thinking, 
before the season arrives for mowing, reaping 
aud drilling. 
■ ♦»» ■ 
A HOG TROUGH. 
A coRRESPONOENTin sending us the above plan 
of a hog trough, says : “I like it better than the 
V-shaped one now iu general use. because the 
hogs cannot get their noses under the sides and 
tip it over, as they sometimes tip the ordinary 
trough. Moreover, the food in it is spread out, 
so that they cannot eat it as greedily as they 
can out of the V-shaped trough; and even for a 
hog, it Is well perhaps to take a reasonable 
time iu eating bis dinner. Last but not least, 
the animals cannot eat out of this trough while 
their feet are In it. 
In making mine, I use common pine, aud 
find the articles durable. The bottom, a, i9 of 
two-inch plank sixteen feet long and twelve 
inches wide. The Bides, b and c, are six inches 
wide, aud a quarter of an inch thick. Take 
three pieces of two-by-four, 14 j inches long; 
place them edgewise across the trough one in 
the center and one half-way betweeu the cen¬ 
ter and each end; bevel the ends and uail the 
sides to the trough. Lay one piece of two-by- 
four, sixteen feet long, edgewise along the 
middle of the trough; nail it to the cross- 
pieces and cut it off flush with the ends of the 
trough. Of two pieces of stuff , like the sides, 
fourteen Inches long, set one at each end, nail 
them to the trough and to the two-by-four 
piece along the center, and the trough is com¬ 
plete. 
.-4~*~*- 
A HOME-MADE SMOKE HOUSE. 
The sketch below represents a simple but 
very effective smoking arrangement for all 
kinds of meats, especially bams, shoulders and 
bacon. The smoking is effected in a very 
thorough manner and in a short time. The 
writer had for this inorniug’s breakfast some 
ham which was smoked in a contrivance pre- 
ciscly similar to this In six hours. 
The arrangement ean bo made by any one 
without the least trouble, and it is sure to 
“work” every time. The sketch almost ex¬ 
plains itself. The device consists of the barrel, 
A, of any suitable size. An ordinary flour or 
apple barrel will smoke four or five moderate¬ 
sized hams or shoulders. Both beads are re¬ 
moved and a movable cover provided for the 
top. This may bo of boards, or an old oil-cloth 
or tight blanket will answer. A short trench 
is dug in which is laid a length of old stove- 
pijte, B. A larger excavation, C, is then made 
in which a pan of burning cobs or chips can be 
placed. Tliis is covered by a tightly-fitting 
plank, D. One end of the stove-pipe commu¬ 
nicates with this excavation; over the other 
end the barrel is placed, the earth banked up 
around the bottom of the barrel and over the 
stove-pipe, to keep all tight, as plainly shown 
in the cut. The meat may be suspended from 
a stick laid across the top of the barrel and 
then all covered tight with an oil-cloth or 
blanket. Ou plueiug a pau of smoking cobs 
or chips iu the place provided, the smoke 
passes through the stove-pipe into the barrel, 
tilling it with a dense, cool smoke. Should the 
support of the hams, etc., break, the latter 
cannot be hurt by corning iu contact with the 
fire or ashes, as sometimes happens in the reg¬ 
ular smoke-house. 
Professor W. R. Brooks. 
Ontario Co., N. Y. 
horticultural. 
A QUESTION AS TO THE RELATIONS BE 
TWEEN PLANT AND SOIL. 
I have been for several years past, very 
much interested in the necessities that call for 
a rotation of crops. The usual reason given, 
that plants exhaust certain elements &c., &e., 
is a tale repeated by chemists, but it docs not 
seem to me to be a sufficient reason, and 1 think 
that it is an important question in fruit culture, 
particularly in orchard fruits, and vineyards. 
For instance, I find that in new soil (I mean 
new to this particular crop), if I plaut out 
young Grapes just started from cuttings, the 
first season will give a growth of three to five 
feet of vine. These are removed iu the fall, 
the ground manured aud turned over to be 
acted upon by frost, and planted again iu 
due season with another lot of young Grapes. 
This year they will grow from one and a half 
to throe feet. Tl T plant a third year under the 
same general conditions, the plants will not 
grow more than 18 iuches at the best. Now, 
if this takes place with plants lifted yearly and 
the ground iu the meantime be ivell manured 
aud turned over, what are wo to expect iu a 
elosely-planted vineyard after a few years! 
Nurserymen find it necessary, in order to 
secure a good stock, to procure new land, if 
possible, for each crop of young trees. Al¬ 
though the land is only occupied about three 
years with a crop of young Pears, yet it is not 
considered profitable to plant again on the 
same land, even if manured without stint. 
What then are we to expect ot a pear orchard 
that is never removed ? These tilings require 
looking into. The exact specific relations 
that exist between the plant and the soil iu 
which it grows, are uot known. 
Wm. Saunders. 
Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
--——» » » — — - 
A WESTERN LIVE FENCE. 
In the Rural for January 26th, there was an 
article by “ Frontlet',” on the great want of 
forest culture on the Plains. There ]h a greater 
waut, however, und that is for fences. Both 
these wants may be very easily supplied by 
putting out a kind of Maple knowu here by 
the name of Box Elder, Ou cultivated laud it 
Is a fast grower, while it is as hardy us the Oak. 
A belt of it forms a good wind-break, and, 
moreover, It is a fine shade and ornamental 
tree as well as a live fenco. The »eed can be 
