THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
convulsive tendency while in our service 
from which it never fully recovered. Nuts 
would work loose and drop off, pitmans 
would twist and break, cogs would disengage 
and slip, journals would heat and hug the de¬ 
moralized shafting, and the eutire apparatus 
seemed diametrically opposed to being used 
as a mowing machine. But being resolved to 
overcome this notion, if possible, we followed 
the thing around the lot, the agent, ourselves, 
the hired men, and a deputation of spectators; 
some of us with repairing tools, others with 
grass scythes to complete the imperfect work. 
The agent was a plucky fellow, but found 
the contract too large and finally left for more 
explicit instructions from head-quarters, 
promising to send 60 me men and Improved 
parte. 
In this way we mowed along with this 
ancestral queen of the meadows for some 
weeks, getting behind our neighbors, allow¬ 
ing our grass to deteriorate in quality and 
well-nigh losing the price of the machine in 
the extra wages paid to hired help. We also 
tried its adaptability for reaping gram, hook¬ 
ing on all the attachments; and a more for¬ 
midable and hungry-looking appliance it 
would be difficult to imagine. But in its ca¬ 
pacity as a reaper was the failure most brilliant 
and complete ; and such an ignominious 3 narl 
of wood, metal, straw and graiu as we very 
promptly sailed into on the start, uever was 
seeu. We very soon became satisfied with its 
complex advantages iu this direction, and 
drew out of the field. By this time various 
little improvements having suggested them¬ 
selves to our minds, and several parts having 
become either broken or lost, much of the ma¬ 
chine was reconstructed aud essentially new, 
and yet there was no visible sign of success; 
although I remember my own youthful mind 
was then fully impressed with the eutire prac¬ 
ticability of mowiugand reaping by machinery. 
But we gave up the contest for the time and 
the wonderful machine was stowed away in 
the back corner of a granary where a few of 
the parts may yet be found. Not content 
with tins experiment, however, we continued 
to test the various mowers that appeared af¬ 
ter that, until, in I860, we purchased the new 
Walter A. Wood Mower, which was the first 
really successful machine we could find; and I 
may add that this very machine with parts sup¬ 
plied as they became worn, has been in U6e on 
that farm yearly ever since, doing its work well, 
and is to-day in active service. And for some 
reasons I yet prefer it to many others of later 
design. Surely the improvements made iu 
agricultural machinery alone duriug the last 
twenty years have been most remarkable. 
Ulster Co., N. Y. 
■-• ♦ ■ 
EDUCATION OF THE RURAL CLASSES. 
PROFESSOR ELBRXDGE GALE. 
I Ail glad to see that the editorial columns 
of the Rural New-Yorker have spoken out 
so clearly of late for the higher education of 
the farmer, The hope is cherished that the 
time is not far distant when the entire rural 
press will speak out specifically on this sub¬ 
ject. The education of our youth towards the 
farm is a matter of vital moraeut. It is useless 
to regret the departure of our youug men from 
the farm, while we fail to educate them for 
rural pursuits. If we wish to raise the esti¬ 
mate iu which rural occupations are to be held 
by the people, we can ouly do it by securing a 
higher grade of intelligence ou the part of 
those engaged therein. If those who are en¬ 
gaged iu the various pursuits of the farm, are 
to exert a controlling power in society, it will 
be attained only through a wise and broad cul¬ 
ture. This culture must not only be broad and 
thorough, but it must be peculiarly adapted to 
rural life. In its culture for life ou the farm, 
we believe our educational system Is defective, 
and ou that grouud it should be carefully 
scrutinized by those who arc most interested 
in the matter. A certain clasB of journals in¬ 
dulge iu a great deal Of cheap talk over the 
beauties of our educational system, but when 
we see its effects upon our youth, It is our 
privilege to look into the mode of culture for 
farm life aud see if there is not something 
more that can be done. 
All the culture offered the rural classes with 
special reference to their occupation, can be 
placed under the following heads: 
1. The rural press, embracing all that class 
of papers iu part, or entirely, devoted to the 
varied pursuits of the farm, the orchard aud 
garden. The press is doing a grand work iu 
the popular education of the people. It must 
be accepted to-day as really the great educa¬ 
ting power, exerting, no doubt, many-fold 
more influence than all things else combined. 
The importance of the press can scarcely be 
realized. Its wise direction must always be a 
matter of the gravest moment. The farmer, iu 
his quiet home, should always be proud of 
what the rural press has done for him, and 
cherish it as the one great instrumentality for 
his deliverance from the bondage of iguoranee 
and wrong. 
2. The Becond educating power embraces all 
associations or societies formed either to pro¬ 
mote all the interests of the farm and farm life, 
or some special rural occupation. These, no 
doubt, have done a great deal of good; but 
they at most can be said to exert only a second¬ 
ary educational influence, their object being 
more to stimulate enterprise than to prepare 
minds and hands for industrial work. 
8 . As the third and last educational power, 
we have the Agricultural Colleges. The origi¬ 
nal aim of these institutions was, no doubt, in 
the right direction; and where this is carried 
out they will be a success. Some of these in¬ 
stitutions are no doubt exerting a very salutary 
influence, as far as it goes, in the education of 
the rural classes. Others of them, as far as can 
be inferred from a careful scrutiuy of annual 
reports, are little more than agricultural In 
name, really making agriculture a kind of 
fifth wheel, giving tier a place by sufferance 
because the uncomely maid brings a fair en¬ 
dowment. Even in some of these cases, you 
may see sometimes a very floe display of agri¬ 
cultural pyrotechnics, but no harm will be 
done perhaps, if w<S remember that whatever 
goes up like a rocket must come down like it 
also. These Institutions do not eveu remotely 
reach one In a thousand of ouryouth. And very 
small is the number of those who come under 
their influences who are thereby led to rural pur¬ 
suits. So we are reluctantly forced to accept 
the fact that the great mass of our youth are 
receiving no special training for rural life. 
The instrumentalities are all good so far as 
they go, but they are not sufficient for the 
emeigency. We must seek in some way to 
give the elements of rural culture to the chil¬ 
dren, and as soon as this can be done, the 
power of the press, societies and agricultural 
colleges for good, will be immensely increased. 
Manhattan, Kansas. 
CHIPS. 
In timber countries there is always a wood- 
pile, a wood-shed and a chip-yard at every 
scarce; but chips for a potato patch are far 
beyond all other natural manures for this root. 
They keep the soil open mechanically; they 
keep it moist by the attraction between decay¬ 
ing wood and the atmosphere ; they keep It 
warm, both while undergoing fermentation 
and decay, and also, by fostering looseness, 
they admit the air and its genial influences, 
which are many. 
Most farmers know all this, and put their 
knowledge into practice. Many know it, and 
do not do so. I wish to say to these latter that 
by allowing small chips to accumulate around 
the house, they rnaintaiu an uusightly appear¬ 
ance, and by not hauling them to the potato 
patch, they lose annually 5b per cent, of the 
crop iu quantity and as much in the quality. 
This little problem in percentages docs not 
rneau that the whole crop Is lost, although 
50 plus 50 do equal 100. Still the gain by the 
use of chips for this purpose is 100 per cent., 
taking it ‘“by and large," as the sailors say. 
This kind of manure Is immediate and lasting 
iu Its beneficial effects, is cheap, handy, and a 
dead loss unless put to work, as all waste ma¬ 
terial should be. S. Rufus .Mason. 
Dodge Co., Neb. 
AN EXCELLENT CORN CRIB. 
PROFESSOR C. L. INGERSOLL. 
The accompanying cuts illustrate a corn crib 
which was built here, at the Agricultural Col¬ 
lege last year. After one year’s experience we 
are so well satisfied with its construction and 
its advantages that I feel justified in present¬ 
ing a brief description of it for the benefit of 
the Rural readers. The building, which is 
seen in Fig. 1, is spacious and substantial, 
measuring 40 feet in length by 34 feet in width. 
Special regard has been given in it - construc¬ 
tion to the free circulation of air through the 
cribs, this being an essential point where a 
large quantity of corn is stored. It rests on a 
stone foundation 18 inches high, which, how¬ 
ever, does not run the entire length of the 
house but ouly six feet from each corner and 
six feet lu the middle. A driveway. 12 feet 
wide, passes through the middle with the cribs 
ou both sides. The approaches are plank 
bridges, and the sliding doors, at both ends, 
move on rollers. The lower story is 13 feet high, 
the house is 6ided tight and the ventilator acts 
as a chimney, inducing currents of air through 
the cribs, as the center of the loft Is floored 
over. 
The ground plan is seen at fig. 2, with the 
stairs leading to the loft at a. Fig. 3 shows a 
section of the house. Inetead of letting r.he 
corn rest directly on the floor, scantlings slop¬ 
ing forward at an angle of about 40 degrees, 
are spiked to the studs of the siding, and to 
these planks are nailed, as shown in the cut, 
upon which the corn rests. There is a space 
of one inch from plank to plank, but as they 
are inclined forward and overlap one another 
a couple of inches, no corn can run out- This 
construction gives free access of the air, and 
the corn Is constantly moved forward to the 
place where it is shoveled out. A space of 16 
inches is left open at the base of the cribs 
through the whole length of the house. 
Through this opening the com is removed 
from the cribs, aud to prevent It from sliding 
out in the driveway, a two by six-inch scant¬ 
ling, b, b, is bolted to the floor 18 inches from 
the front of the cribs. 
Fig. 4 shows a front view of the cribs. The 
boards are planed strips six inches wide and 
nailed so as to leave inch opeu- ^ , 
ings between them. At conven- ||||||] 
ieut intervals are openings, |||pf§ 
through which the com is thrown 
into the crib from the wagon. ||||||l 
The advantages offered by this pH|||\ 
construction are: 1, A wagon 0 l|a\ 
can be driven through the house jj»V\ 
from either way aud be loaded jV} IfA 4 
or unloaded from any part of the | «||\ 
crib. 2. Its arrangement Is such | 
that air can pass freely through 
the house from any direction, | 
and still no corn can run out, 
not even shelled coyn. 3. If the 
corn should be put in green 
and there is danger of molding 
and beating, or if rats and mice 
should begin to work in it, an hour’s work 
with the shovel, throwing the corn from 
the bottom to the upper portion of the 
crib, would change its position, prevent it 
from heatiug and destroy the nests of the ver¬ 
min. In an ordinary crib this would be a 
laborious task, especially if it was full, as a 
portion of the corn would then have to be re¬ 
moved before the rest could be turned- 4. 
Every load taken from the crib causes the rest 
to be moved without extra work. 
8 ome of these principles have been applied 
singly, but I have never before seen them so 
advautageously combined. The whole house 
can hold 5000 bushels, 4000 below aud 1000 
above. 
Agricultural College, Lansing, Mich. 
WHEN TO APPLY MANURE. 
house. The soil is mostly heavy clay, hard to 
plow, easily dried up, soon baked after a rain, 
and generally not couducive to root growth. 
Many modes are employed to render such soils 
sufficiently open, warm and moist for the rapid 
growth of esculent roots, especially potatoes. 
Heating manures (long,, strawy stuff; are not 
good for such crops, and all manures are 
allowing ample room to drive uudor the loft. 
To Induce a free draft through the house, the 
sidlug of the lower part is not tight; but, 
uotches being cut in tbe upright timbers, the 
boards are nailed on, as shown in flg. 5, over¬ 
lapping each other enough to exclude the rain, 
and still leaving air-spaces three-eighths of an 
inch between the boards. The upper part of 
Like the writer of “History of a Poor Farm,” 
I was a strong advocate of surface application 
of manure, but have lived to learu the truth of 
the old say lug, " clreumstanoea alter cases.” On 
lands adapted to the growth of grass, there is 
probably no better way thau to use flue man¬ 
ure—mails so by frequent forking over¬ 
spread evenly on the sod, for I believe it to be 
a truism that, if we can get a rich sward, we 
shall find no difficulty iu growing profitably 
any cultivated crop adapted to the soil aud 
climate, until that fertility is exhausted. But 
let us take, for Lustance, the sandy lands of 
the South, where valuable 'grasses do not 
thrive and where experience teaches that but 
very slight benefit is derived from manure ou 
the surface, while a wonderful effect is pro¬ 
duced by plowing it under. In effect we at¬ 
tain the same results from fresh manure 
plowed under on sandy lands, that are ac¬ 
complished by forking over or piling iu a com¬ 
post heap ; therefore we get an earlier return 
than we would from the same process on a 
clay soil. Of course, however, the effects are 
not so lasting. Many farmers hold that the 
best results follow tbe application of manure 
to corn after the first hoeing; for if the man¬ 
ure Is applied before the corn Is planted, Us 
strength is all goue before the ears are set, at 
which time stimulating food is most beneficial 
to the plant iu order to produce the highest 
results. p. 
-♦♦ » 
A Better Corn Marker.— The Corn Marker 
by I. P. Roberts, of Cornell University, is good 
only as far as it goes. It is exactly like those 
that have been used in this country for the last 
