Lime 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
der and the plants set two feet apart each way 
and the runners cut off when they appeared. 
We have never seen a bed of strawberries that 
seemed to us of more value, whether size, 
quality or productiveness were considered. 
We have seen larger berries, but never before 
so mauy large ones, never before such uni¬ 
formity in size in any bed of' equal area. We 
walked over the plot to find the largest berry 
for an illustration. But there were no ‘"largest 
berries.’’ All that were ripe were nearly of the 
size of those represented—the two showing the 
slight variations in their form. It is a splendid 
variety, and while growing moderately well 
everywhere, attaius very nearly to perfection 
in a rich, light soil, which is the character of 
that of the plot of which we are writiug. An¬ 
other plot in the same garden has been iu bear¬ 
ing four years, and, except in a few plants, 
shows no signs of decadence. We have culti¬ 
vated the Downing here for the past five years, 
but our soil and climate are not such as to de¬ 
velop its best traits. 
Jfarra dnntomg. 
FARM WORK FOR JULY. 
Hat and Seed Wheat.— July is upon us 
with its long days and oppressive heat. In 
many portions of the country there is still much 
hay uncut. It is rapidly going to seed, ex¬ 
hausting the roots and becoming of poor qual¬ 
ity as the woody fiber increases in quantity. 
Cultivate corn frequently till the tassels ap¬ 
pear. During July the wheat harvest will be 
successively under way in the various parts 
of the country. Before cutting, select a piece 
of the best. Save it by itself, and from this 
pick some of the best heads by hand for rais¬ 
ing improved seed. This will help to prevent 
wheatfrotn “running out.” 
Insects. —With increased heat insects are 
numerous and lively. There are so many such 
foes that a farmer in these days cannot keep 
up with the times unless he makes it part of 
his business to wage a systematic warfare on 
insect enemies. Caterpillars must be hunted 
and destroyed ; white hellebore dusted on bush¬ 
es infested with the currant worm; Paris-green 
applied to trees to kill canker worms; trees 
rubbed over with thin soft-soap to kill bark 
lice; Paris-green or Loudon-purple in water 
sprinkled on potato tops; bauds put about 
trees to catch codling moths; the plum trees 
still jarred to catch the curculios. In the 
vegetable garden there must be a constant 
warfare. 
Vegetable Garden— Keep planting a suc¬ 
cession of some vegetables such a6 will be 
wanted late in the season, as corn, beets, cab¬ 
bages, lettuce. Keep cultivating every week 
at least once, to prevent the weeds from get¬ 
ting a start. There is no royal way to kill 
weeds; hut the nearest way to it is that of 
very frequent cultivation. Sweet potato vines 
at the North should be lifted occasionally 
to prevent them from rooting. Cultivate 
melons and squashes often as long as the vines 
will permit. Celery plants should be set out. 
Place them In soil which will not dry out. 
Celery Is a marsh plant. Break the (lowers 
off from rhubarb to prevent it from seeding, 
as that weakens the plants. Tomatoes should 
be trimmed and some low trellis placed near 
to keep them off the ground. 
Small Fruits.- Strawberries will be plowed 
up after fruiting, unless another crop is ex¬ 
pected. If they are to remain another year, 
give good cultivation, gome fine manure 
should be added, and the runners kept cut off. 
Thin out aud remove tile old caues of Rasp¬ 
berries and Blackberries as soon us the fruit 
is ripe. Cut the tips of the new canes when 
about two feet or two and a half feet high, 
and cut the branches alter they have grown 
a loot or more. Treat suckers as weeds, un¬ 
less they are desired for planting. 
This is the time to layer many plants. A 
liberal supply of small fruit is an essential part 
of a good living. It is now possible to have 
a supply the year round by canning. The 
house-wife will now he laying in a stock of 
currants, gooseberries, cherries, and rasp¬ 
berries. 
Grape vines will need cultivation for a mouth 
yet. Some of tliu new wood should be pinched 
oil. aud some of the smallest branches cut off 
while young. It is a serious damage to any 
young vine or tree to bear a heavy crop. 
Miscellaneous. —Keep every thing grow- 
iug in July; trees, shrubs, and young cattle. 
Attend to trees which were set In spring. Cul¬ 
tivate often if not mulched liberally. Flower 
beds willoften do beBt if the laud is well mulched 
with fine manure, or even manure a little 
coarse. Thin Apples, especially where they 
seem small or too full. It will pay. Attend 
to the grafts, aud cut away limbs which shade 
too thickly. Rub off young twigs which start 
where they are not wanted. A little pruning 
of fruit trees may he done at this time. Mow 
the lawn often, even a little piece of it just 
about the house will add much to the beauty 
of a farm. Take good care of the flowers and 
shrubs. A few well cared for are far prefera¬ 
ble to many poorly attended to. It is a good 
time to clip evergreens. They need not be 
formally sheared, but a limb may be cut back 
here and there to a crotch. The new growth, if 
cut in two at this time, will set liberally with 
buds for growth next year. Cut the tops off 
ai least of most sorts, aud the bottom will grow 
the thicker. 
Go A-FisiriNG— The days are long and the 
work is hard. Do not neglect to take a little 
recreation now and then. This is especially 
for the younger members of the family. Even 
thegirls generally like fishing. Perhaps somo 
other recreation may be more agreeable. 
Very well, anything for a rest once in a while. 
The mind and body will be all the betler for it, 
aud labor will be more cheerfully performed 
after a day or two of rest. 
FEEDING ROOTS TO CATTLE. 
There is a general want of knowledge in re¬ 
gard to the proper method of feeding roots to 
cattle. When the roots are grown 
and well saved, it is of great im¬ 
portance that they should be eco¬ 
nomically and healthfully fed. The 
great objections to the use of roots 
are that it is supposed to be neces¬ 
sary to cut them, and that they are 
,r- * so mixed with earth as to be mju- 
rfGJ, ,,| ous cattle, unless laboriously 
washed. Both of these objections 
are gratuitous. Mangels aud beets 
contain from 88 to 95 per cent, of 
tfater and are very soft iu texture, 
* more especially when well grown 
and large in size, and are easily 
bitten even by sheep. But it is 
f/’NUl better to cut them into slices, or 
^ ruu them through a machine which 
shreds or pulps them. There is then no dan¬ 
ger whatever that an accidentally large morsel 
may choke an animal. 
The work of cutting the roots is easy, and 
may be done quickly. For five to ten head, it 
is sufficient to use a spade or shovel with the 
edge ground sharp. The roots are thrown into 
a box and 10 bushels may be chopped with 
ease into slices iu as many minutes. A tool 
made as shown at fig. 1, having cross blades, 
or one with parallel blades as at C9 
fig. 2 may be used. Iu the lat¬ 
ter case the blades should he 
set so that the cutting edges 
are closer together than the 
upper edges ; this prevents the 
slices from becoming fast in 
the spaces. Heavy blades will FT&2i m 
make the cutting easier, and it 
is only necessary to have the 
edges of steel. To shred the 
roots a different method is nec¬ 
essary. For the use of those 
who have many cattle aud feed 
a large quantity of roots, there 
are machines made which re- 
duce the roots to a pulp, in P y 
which coudiliOU they nmy be Y V 
mixed with the cut hay, straw or corn-fod¬ 
der and meal, making a very convenient food. 
The mixture of the succulent roots with the 
dry fodder is hotter for both, and renders the 
former unobjectionable on account of their 
bulk or watery character. 
A very simple root-pulper may be made as 
follows: A disc, two feet in diameter, is made 
_., of hard-wood plank 
F/S.3. 
Roots should be grown upon the lightest soil, 
to be chosen when the farm is clayey; and 
when the soil is sandy loam there is no diffi¬ 
culty in regard to adhering soil, if dry weather 
is chosen for the gathering. Then the roots 
are turned out either by the plow, or pulled 
out by the hook or the hoe, with no soil ad¬ 
(fig. 3) and filled with 
tL ‘ ct ^ made of quarter- 
inch steel bar ground 
1° a slight bevel, as 
shown in the illustra- 
y* * " wrrjfc, tion. (a fig. 8). This 
disc is fitted into a 
_• box, as sbowu at fig. 
r/6.o.- 4 , ;uu i the roots, being 
thrown into this, are ground iuto pulp by the 
action of the sharp teeth, and the pulp is 
dropped in a box or basket placed under 
the machine, in which V.. 
it can be removed for | 
use. A different metli- lRjlR | 
od, more frequently \ 
used, consists In the WIS 
use of a cylinder armed IrCniw, [l j 
with similar teeth and H il 
fitted in a box, changed r Ami [j 
somewhat to suit the 1/ q Tl 
action of the cutter. Jff lr I 
The cylinder is shown K] \ 
at fig. 5, and should be SJ 
made of a piece of 
hard wood, 12 inches in a 
diameter. The teeth 
in both eases should be FieJ -k 
made to just clear the lower edge of the box, 
so that the roots eau be ground up to the last 
fragment. 
The second objection, will never bo urged by 
those who have experience in using roots, ex¬ 
cept under exceptional circumstances, such as 
unfavorable weather during harvesting, and 
when the roots are grown upon clay soil and 
are necessarily gathered while the soil la wet. 
hering to the fibers, unless these are unusually 
numerous and close. Mangels are remarkably 
free from these, and cau usually be harvested 
iu a perfectly clean condition. If adhering 
soil cannot be avoided in the gathering of the 
roots in wet weather, they may be left to dry 
upon the ground and in the handling during 
loading aud packing in the pits aud remov¬ 
ing to the cellar or barn for use, much of the 
soil becomes loosened and is got rid of. At the 
worst, the roots should be washed free from 
soil, but it is very rarely that this is found 
necessary. 
-- 
HISTORY OF A POOR FARM.-No. 11. 
Management of Manure. 
In soiling cattle, the production of manure 
is very large and continuous. To handle it 
over several times for the purpose of decom¬ 
posing it and getting it into such a condition 
for use as is generally supposed to be proper 
among farmers, is very laborious, and labor 
costs money. It is a question which is the 
better—to haul it out and use It freBh or to turn 
it over aud keep it in the heap until it is de¬ 
composed. 
“ I thought you said once that the more 
labor one could use, the more profit could be 
made," remarked my old neighbor. 
" The more labor that can be used ■produc¬ 
tively, the more profit,’ 1 I replied ; '• a man may 
dig holes aud fill them up again, day after 
day, and yet produce no useful effect; while, 
if he plauts a fruit-tree iu each hole, and tends 
it well afterwards, the more he docs, the better 
it is for the world aud himself. Labor may be 
thrown away uselessly, and often is, in turn¬ 
ing over mauure aud making it as is generally 
supposed, fit for use. I think manure is fit 
for use the moment it is taken from the stable; 
the only question is, can we make it better or 
more available by tiu uiug it over aud keeping 
it rotting iu a heap for some months before 
using it?” 
"The decomposition of organic matter— 
such as stable mauure—is a resolution of the 
matter, into its mineral and gaseous constitu¬ 
ents ; aud as vegetables feed only on soluble 
mineral aud gaseous matters, the decomposi¬ 
tion is a necessary process previous to the use 
of it iu the field,” said Doctor Jones. 
"Let us have that understood,” said Mr. 
Martin, “the doctor is too scientific by half. 
I suppose he means that before manure is 
available for use it must be reduced to its inor¬ 
ganic elements; the potash, lime, phosphoric 
acid, and nitrogeu iu it, must be separated by 
decomposition, so that they can be dissolved iu 
water and absorbed by the plauts." 
" Yon mean it must be well rotted,” said 
the old gentleman, "if that is whatyou mean by 
decomposition, why can't you say so plainly ?" 
•" Let us see if 1 cannot explain this matter 
so that we can get to the bottom uf it before 
we discuss it any more," said I. “We take a 
heap of fresh mixed manure, a cord, if you 
please, aud a cord of wood: the former we 
pile and let it heat and ferment; the latter we 
set on fire ami burn. There is heat in both 
piles, but more in the wood pile. The heat is 
a process of combustion or burning, as much 
iu one case as in the other; the low heat of 
the manure is a slow combustion, while the 
lire in the wood is rapid combustion. But with 
both piles, the effect will be the same iu the 
end, it the manure is given time cuougli to 
work its slow process to the same result which 
the rapid process of the fire produces with the 
wood. There will be left in the end, simply a 
small pile of ashes from each cord. Suppose 
we had a cord of dry beech wood weighing 
4,000 pounds, and a cord of mauure weighing 
the same; there would be left of each a certain 
quantity of ash consisting of the following, viz.: 
In the wood. Iu the manure. 
Amount of Ash_-.22 lbs. 124.4 lbs. 
Consisting' of 
Potash. 3.8 '* 20.8 " 
Soda.0.8 * 0.0 '* 
Phosphoric acid. 
Jcnosulioi 
Sulphuri 
Silica.... 
Chlorine, 
. 22 lbs. 
124.4 lbs 
.. 3.8 •* 
20.8 “ 
.. 0.8 ‘ 
8.0 “ 
.. 2.8 " 
22.8 “ 
..12.4 * 
5.6 “ 
. 1.3 * 
8.4 “ 
. 0.4 ' 
4.8 •* 
. La •• 
50-0 “ 
6.0 ” 
22.0 " 
he wood. Now, as in combustion, everything 
is driven off but the ash, we shall have lost 
out of that cord of manure, 18 pounds of 
nitrogen, which at first existed in it and which 
ought to have been saved. It appears then, 
that as combustion, rotting and decomposition, 
are, practically, the same processes when car¬ 
ried to the end, a change begins to occur from 
the commencement, aud we begin to lose the 
valuable nitrogen as soou as a pile of manure 
begins to heat iu any degree. It is true that 
the change of unavailable organic matter into 
available mineral matter also begins ; but here 
the question arises : does this advantage com¬ 
pensate for the loss of the nitrogen which is 
the most valuable part of the manure ? This 
is the whole story as plainly as I can put it.” 
“ It seems to me,” replied Di. Jones, " that 
the fact that decomposed or, if you wish, rotted 
manure is immediately available is worth as 
much to us as the little nitrogen that may 
be lost in the process of decomposition.” 
"How much is the loss?” asked the old 
gentleman. 
" That has been ascertained with great ex¬ 
actness by some experiments made by Dr. 
Voelcker of Engiaud,” I replied; "but it 
might be well for us to go through with this 
matter in some regular order. To begin, let 
us take the following analysis of fresh mixed 
barn-yard manure, kept in a heap 14 days : 
Composition of the Manure (2,000 tbs. ) : 
Water.1^23% lbs. 
Organic matter... .. 582 
(Containing nitrogen . (13) “ 
Mineral matter (,asli). 111}$ “ 
S,000 “ 
"A ton of fresh manure, you see, contains 
only 13 pounds of nitrogen aud 111J pounds of 
ash or mineral matter, and of this only about 
20 pounds, including 14 pounds of potash and 
6 pounds of phosphoric acid, are of any actual 
value; aud iu drawing it to the field we carry 
1,323 pouuds of water, which is practically 
useless. Now, if wc should put 10 tons of this 
kind of manure in a heap, aud keep it exposed 
in the yard to the weather for 3 or 12 months, 
there would be a difference in quality, as ex¬ 
pressed in the following table, viz.: 
3moe, 
12 mos. 
Fresb. 
old. 
old. 
Weight of mauure, The.... 
. 20.000 
17,300 
11,500 
Contains water. 
.13,284 
13,844 
7,542 
Soluble oricanio matter. . 
406 
200 
48 
Containing nitronon.. . 
. Wh) 
(18&) 
(3}$> 
Insoluble organic matter 
Copuiuing nitrogen. .. 
. 5.152 
1.981 
1,142 
. (97) 
(78) 
<11>4) 
Soluble mineral matter .. 
308 
174 
66 
Insoluble mineral matter 
. 810 
1,098 
2.702 
20,000 
172100 
11,500 
Total nitrogen. Tbs.... 
128'i 
9Ui 
45 
Equal to ammonia_ 
156 
117 
58 
“ There was some nitrogeu aud carbonic acid 
in each, but these have been driven off by the 
heat, aud are lost. The result is, that if we 
give the mauure time to become completely 
decomposed or thoroughly rotted, we have 
1241 pounds of uiiueral matter or ash, ouly, 
left of the two tous. Aud this is all that can 
be made available for the use of plants from 
two tous of manure, except the nitrogeu which 
we have as yei taken uo account of, j uat as the 
22 pounds of ashes will be all that is left of 
“Now, we can put our finger upon the loss 
and the gain, such as it is. After three months 
we have, instead of 10, only 8J tons of manure, 
with 000 pounds more of water; the organic 
matter has largely disappeared, having de¬ 
creased from 5,048 to 2,184 pounds, and the 
soluble miucral matter has decreased from 308 
to 174 pounds, while the iusoluble has Increas¬ 
ed 28S pounds. But the nitrogeu has gone to 
the extent of more than one-half of that which 
was most available, and 19 pounds of the other 
have disappeared. The losses iu the manure 
kept over one year are positively ruinous.” 
“ Do you mean to say that the manure which 
is lying iu my yard since last summer, has lost 
nearly all that was good for anything in it ?” 
asked the old gentleman. 
“ 1 should say it had lost all it over had,” 
remarked Mr. Martin; “I saw it yesterday 
with a foot of water over part of it, and a 
stream of water soaking from it down the hill 
iato the road.” 
" Yes ; the wind tore the spouts off the barn, 
and we have been too busy to put them up 
again.” 
“ Well, all that water has probably washed 
out ot your manure the whole of the soluble 
organic and mineral matter, leaving it desti¬ 
tute of auy immediately available fertilizing 
properties remarked Dr. Jones. 
" Made it good for nothing, or next to that,” 
said Mr. Martin. 
“If you had used that manure a year ago 
when it was fresh, you would have saved every 
portion of it,” said I; " aud this puts the case 
very well; for the fresh manure which I am 
now hauling out from the cellar and plowiug 
uuder for corn, is safe and cannot lose a par¬ 
ticle of its value auyhow, even should the 
corn not get the whole benefit this year; while, 
if I had kept it as you did yours, for a year, I 
might have lost nine-tenths of its value at the 
worst, and two-thirds of it, at the best; aud if 
I kept it only three mouths, it would still lose 
very considerably. In usiug fresh manure we 
get the whole of its value in the cud, without 
doubt; but in keeping it over, we lose a por¬ 
tion aud get the rest iu a more quickly avail¬ 
able condition.” 
" Then you think It best to use the mauure 
as soon as it is made ?” said Mr. Martin. 
" It depends upon circumstances. 1 would 
not Ukc to say that positively. 1 think it best 
for me and for any other dairyman. Some 
time ago I was at i large dairy farm in West¬ 
chester Co., N. Y., where 800 cows were kept, 
aud a wagou was kept in the ceBat under the 
trap to receive the manure from the gutter as 
it was raked out every day, and as soon as it 
was loaded, it was drawn away to the field and 
