THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
eleven years, to my knowledge, and I presume 
for as much longer. I improved it in this 
manner: I made tioo trackers instead of one, 
and the middle runner three times as long as 
the side ones, and thus by equalizing the draft 
on the two sides, and adding a stiff rudder, 
obviated all difficul ties i n marking straight rows. 
I round the front end of the runner as he does, 
and also the hack ends, to facilitate turning. 
Five runners, if the team is strong enough, 
will run as well as three, and get over the 
ground faster- S. Hums Mason. 
Dodge Co., Neb. 
-- 
A Good Method of Cubing Tobacco.— In 
the curing of tobacco it seems to me that our 
Southern manner of hanging it, is much better 
than the practice of New York State growers. 
Our barns are provided with cross-timbers, or 
rather poles placed in tiers a sufficient distance 
apart to allow of a free circulation of air be¬ 
tween the courses of tobacco, and four feet 
asunder horizontally. Then a stock of sticks 
usually ot pine, are split four feet long to an 
inch square, and we are prepared for cutting. 
With a large knife, split the plant down to 
withiu about six inches of the lower leaf, cut 
and leave it to wilt. The sticks are taken to 
the field where the tobacco is hung upon them 
when it is ready for hauling to the barn In 
this shape the crop is handled conveniently 
and more expeditiously than by the northern 
method. Another advantage gained is in the 
more rapid curing of the stalks. The sticks 
will last a life-time, besides being less expen¬ 
sive than twine. m. b. b. 
- 4 - 4-0 - 
How to Slant Drag Teeth.— In making a 
drag, always set the teeth slanting; then it 
w ill not gather grass, weeds, roots, etc,, as it 
will if the teeth have been set straight. To 
get the right slant, place the drag after it is 
framed, or one of the beams before it is used 
in the frame, on your saw-horse; then put 
under the head cud something so as to raise it, 
say 31 inches, and bore perpendicularly down¬ 
ward, as here represented, and the proper 
slant will be secured. 
—-*-*-♦- 
An English Plow' Sled.— The accompany¬ 
ing engraving is a representation of an Eng¬ 
lish plow sled, recently shown at the Interna¬ 
tional Agricultural fair at Kilburn, Eng. The 
base is of wood, the standards, wrought-iron. 
The plow is securely placed on the sled be 
tween the uprights, the latch thrown over and 
secured by the pin, when it can be dragged 
conveniently to any part of a field from the 
barn. The device is so simple that any farmer 
could construct one. using w ood entirely. 
. - 
The illustrations of root cutters in alatenum¬ 
ber prompt me to send the Kdbal a note of my 
“wrinkle:” Having a good broad-axe, which 
was not very frequently used for its legitimate 
purpose, 1 had the blacksmith bend a handle 
for it of $ round iron, something like this. 
The erook at the lower end of the handle is 
slipped into the eye of the axe, wedged to its 
place with a good hard-wood wedge. I have 
the best liand-cutter for roots I ever saw. It 
holds an edge splendidly, its great weight 
makes it slide through the hardest ruta-baga 
like a hot knife through butter. .r. a. av. 
Howard, Pa. 
HISTORY OF A POOR FARM.-No. 14. 
The Season’s Work. 
On the whole the progress during the pres¬ 
ent season, so far, has been satisfactory. The 
constant necessity for expenditure in perma¬ 
nent improvements, such as additions to the 
fences and buildiugs and the purchase of arti¬ 
ficial fertilizers, has used up all surplus in¬ 
come, but it is something to be. able to point to 
a monthly casli aecouut and see that the bal¬ 
ance, if it is but a small one, is always on the 
right side, and that the stock is increasing and 
the condition of the farm is improving, in ad¬ 
dition. The work done, this season has been 
as follows: Field No. 3, consisting of 13 acres, 
has been planted with four acres of early 
sweet corn for market; of which the first 
gathering, much injured by dry weather, has 
already been made ; three acres of Globe man¬ 
gels and sugar beets ; three acres of late sweet 
corn and two acres of German Millet. The 
early corn being now in course of harvesting for 
market, the stalks w r ill be cut at ouce for the 
cow’s and the ground will be plowed aud sown 
to rye for early cutting in the spring. Field 
No. 3, five acres, lias been 60 wn to oats, which 
were cut and fed, and the ground is now ill 
Hungarian grass, which will soon be ready for 
cutting, w'hen the field w’ill be at once plowed 
and seeded with white turnips, with orchard- 
grass aud clover, for cutting in the spring. 
Field No. 4, six acres, has given a crop of rye, 
used partly green aud partly cut ripe for grain 
and straw, the ground having been plowed 
aud sown to millet; and three acres of oats 
sowed late and now Cut, the ground being 
plowed and planted with melons for market. 
Field No. 5, four acres, is planted with corn 
fodder, as is field No. (5, of about four acres. 
The swamp field, 10 acres, is in grass, which 
has been mown for hay. The remainder of 
the 65 acres is as yet unimproved and remains 
partly in a piece of shaded pasture not yet 
quite cleared up. and some hill sides over¬ 
grown with brushes, which have not yet been 
cleared for want of time and means. The 
stock has been increased to 17 cows, one bull 
aud six calves, which have been fed from the 
farm, some surplus has already been put away 
for winter feeding, and the ground is all slilj^ 
occupied with flourishing crops. One field, 
No. 1, of five acres, in clover and timothy, has 
been mown twice and the clover is now seed¬ 
ing and will be left to drop its seed upon the 
ground. 
The cost of artificial fertilizers this season 
has been about $100. Two hundred aud 
twenty-seven loads of manure have been used 
on field No. 3 ; 40 loads upon field No. 3, and 
32 loads upon the melon patch in field No. 5. 
The effects of last year’s application of ferti¬ 
lizers upon fields five and six have been so 
marked that, with the exception of 200 pounds 
of guanci on the melons aud 300 pounds of 
complete manure upon the oats,—very light 
dressings,—no other has been thought neces¬ 
sary. The clover in field No. 1. dressed with 
1,000 pounds of complete manure in the spring, 
gave as good a yield as could have been ex¬ 
pected, considering the dry weather ; equal at 
least to two tons of hay per acre. 
“ You would have done much better if you 
had got your plowing done earlier,” remarked 
William. 
“ If there is an early frost, the late corn will 
he caught, that is certain,” responded my old 
neighbor. 
“ Well, what is the use of borrowing troub¬ 
le ?” said Mr. Martin: “ when a man does his 
best, it is stupid to be always saying: * If I 
could only have done so and so!’ Farmers 
are the greatest grumblers in existence. The 
weather is always too dry or too wet; there 
are these bugs aud those worms; aud a peck 
of troubles always ready to be overhauled and 
counted over and over again. What is, is to 
be; and cannot be helped. If I were not a 
Christian and a believer in a good Providence, 
I would be a Mohammedan and a believer in 
fate; indeed, I don’t know but that the latter 
is sometimes the more reasonable aud the hap¬ 
pier man. * Farming don't pay ‘ there’s no 
money in farming ;’ 4 there’s no price for any¬ 
thing.’ These are the common complaints, 
aud some men sit upon the fence for an hour 
at a time grumbling about their poverty and 
misery, aud if $10,000 were offered them for 
their farms aud stock uot one of them would 
say, ‘thank you. I’ll take your offer;’ but 
would scornfully reject it, What would our 
fathers and grandfathers think of that despised 
$10,000! We have been Jiving too fast and 
have learned to look upon an Income, or a 
fortune, that would have bewildered our 
fathers who cleared these fields from the 
woods, as altogether beneath our notice.” 
“It has been the fashion,’-’ I replied, “to 
consider that a farmer who had everything 
about him in a sort of show condition—no 
weeds in his fields; the largest crops; the 
most costly stock, and every labor-saving de¬ 
vice that money could purchase—as a ‘high 
farmer.’ This term is now better understood. 
The farmer who makes the best from his op¬ 
portunities, and who makes the most from the 
least expenditure, is the high farmer. A Kan¬ 
sas or a Minnesota farmer who produces 15 or 
20 bushels of wheat per acre ou his prairie 
land, and neglects the manure which lies about 
his barn, and burns his straw to get rid of it, 
is doing a better and more legitimate business 
and is really farming better than if he spent 
much money for labor and stock to turn his 
straw into manure and to spread the manure 
upon his already rich soil. He makes the best 
possible use of his means aud circumstances, 
and that is all that can be expected or desired. 
It will not pay to spend $100 per acre in im¬ 
proving laud that can only be worth $75 when 
it is brought into cultivation, nor will it always 
pay to hire extra labor of men and horses to 
get a crop into the ground a week or two ear¬ 
lier. Judicious expenditures only are. to be 
recommended: a farmer who spends money 
without good security that he will have it re¬ 
turned witli interest, squanders and wastes it. 
We must thoroughly understand our business, 
and then manage it with as much skill as we 
possess." 
“But everybody has not skill, and some 
don’t understand their business,” remarked the 
old gentleman. “I begin to think, although I 
am 86 years old, and have been farming since 
I was 20. I don’t know so much about it as 
some of the young folks; at least they try to 
make me believe that." 
“That’s the way witli young folks,” drily re¬ 
marked Mr. Martin. 
“ Well, is it not true of nearly every business 
and profession?” said I. “Doctors used to 
bleed aud physic their patients upon every 
opportunity, and the lancet or the blue pill 
was the first resource. Now the practice of 
medicine is wonderfully changed, and the 
medical student is taught more to prevent dis¬ 
ease, or at least to mitigate it by attention to 
sanitary precautions and gentle treatment, 
than to cure it tty ‘heroic’ measures. The 
changes iu the practice of engineering, min¬ 
ing, working of metals, muuufacturiug of all 
kinds, and transportation by land aud sea, have 
mado all things uew in regard to these indus¬ 
tries, so that the old practitioner or artisan 
has to begin anew or retire from business to 
make place for younger men. In agriculture, 
too, everything is uew; old practices have be¬ 
come obsolete because of the new discoveries 
in agricultural sclcucc and the new inventions 
in agricultural machinery. The modern work¬ 
man could not live by working as his prede¬ 
cessor of 50 or even 25 years ago. The cost 
of producing articles of eousumptiou has been 
decreased greatly, and farm produce is no ex¬ 
ception. The standard of living, too, is higher 
than it was. When things change so radically 
as they have done of late years, it is to be ex¬ 
pected that the youug people will do the new 
work and the old people will give place to 
them, to a great extent. Youth is enterprising 
and hopeful; age is conservative and cautious; 
and it must be confessed, in this enterprising 
country youth has the advantage of age. I 
think you will confess that your graudson 
William mauages your farm in an excellent 
manner; and you must remember that the soil 
is now very different from what it was when 
newly cleared, 60 years ago." 
“William does very well,” the old gentle¬ 
man replied. “ The farm keeps a large family 
now, and his expenses are much larger than 
mine ever were. I don’t know but, on the 
whole, his children have more enjoyment; I 
know they have less work to do than mine 
had. My only fear is that it will uot last, and 
the farm won’t stand the strain.” 
“Never mind, grandfather; as long as the 
farm is not in debt, and we never spend a dol¬ 
lar until it is earned, there will be no danger. 
When we have uot the money, we can easily 
reduce our expenses, and my girls will take a 
baud in the work as well as any; although 
they don’t care to do it until they are called 
upon.” 
“William is right,” I remarked, “and Mr. 
Martin, or his daughter, even, cannot reason¬ 
ably object to his views. Money is not the 
chief object iu life. A safe source of income, 
of course, is desirable, if not necessary to hap¬ 
piness. That is reasonably assured on a good 
farm that is clear of debt and well stocked. 
The most reckless man could scarcely starve 
under such circumstances. The more certain 
a man’s living is, the lees need for a surplus in 
hand for ‘rainy days’ and times of disaster. A 
farmer can afford to live closer to his income 
than any other man, while seed time aud har¬ 
vest fail not, always providing that he keeps 
out of debt and buys nothing or incurs no lia¬ 
bility until the cash is in hand to meet it.” 
- 4 - 4-4 - 
JOTTINGS AT KIRBY HOMESTEAD. 
COL. F. D. COBTIS. 
About Clawson and Other Wheats. 
Clawson wheat is the leading variety grown 
in this section of the country. Hundreds of 
acres are now being harvested, aud the yield is 
fine. Everybody says the flour made from this 
kind of wheat is not equal to others, but it 
stands the winters well, and they feci so sure 
of a good crop with it, that they sow it. Some 
millers make much better flour out of it than 
others, as it requires careful grinding to keep 
the. brau from mixing too much with the flour, 
which makes it dark-colored, aud causes the 
bread to get dry quickly. Michigan White 
does well on the farm of Mr. Frederick Curtis. 
He lias raised it successfully for a number of 
years, and gets first-class flour from it. His 
soil is a gravelly loam. Clawson seems to be 
suited to any kind of soil, and yields better 
thau rye. Fultz is a stranger to us. but from 
what we cau learn of it, avc shall try it this 
fall. If it has the growing qualities of the 
Clawson, and will make better flour, it is just 
what avc Avant. We baA T e seen fine crops of 
wheat this year grown ou old meadows, which 
were mown last season, and as soon as Ihe hay 
Avas taken off were thoroughly plowed, and a 
few weeks afterwards pulverized Avith a Iavo- 
horse cultivator. Witli this implement a com¬ 
plete summer-fallowing can be obtained be¬ 
tween the hay harvest and the time to sow 
wheat, with the hay as a gaiu. In the liot, dry 
weather of summer the sods rapidly decay, 
and by cultivating two or three times, the 
ground is admirably fitted for the autumn 
crop. This is an advance on the old system of 
fallowing, which is the result of improved im¬ 
plements. Run-out meadows cau be turned to 
good account iu this Avay, aud by reseeding 
Avith timothy or orchard-grass, boavu Avith the 
Avheat, may be brought back to a meadow with 
the loss of only one year. Mr. Frederick Curtis 
has practiced sowing clover in the fall with 
his Aviuter grain, and is much gratified with 
the results. He escapes the spring drought 
which is often so damaging to spring seeding, 
as the autumn seeding is firmly rooted when it 
comes. He puts his crop in the last of August, 
so as to obtain as rank a growth as possible be¬ 
fore wi uter sets in. This grow th ser\ r es to protect 
the clover, and Avheu harvest time comes, it is 
good feed. A \ r ery little manure spread upon the 
surface, will help the wheat aud almost always 
insure a “catch” of the grass seed in the au¬ 
tumn, and make the clover, if sown in the 
spring, a success also. Broadcast soAving is 
aA’oidcd, il possible, as the drilling is found to 
be the best. When Aviuter grain is soAved 
broadcast, it should be covered with a culti¬ 
vator, aud the ridges left to gaiher the suoav 
aud make protection. The deep covering will 
aid very much toAvards securing the same 
result by preventing the grain from being so 
easily thrown out by the frost. 
8nlt, Sulphur and Charcoal for Pigs. 
We have obseiwcd that when pigs are fed a 
great deal of hearty food, they are fond of salt 
and charcoal. Pigs are often affected Avith in¬ 
digestion, and the salt and charcoal are good 
remedies. We cannot very well mix these 
things with their food in the right proportion, 
aud, moreover, it Avould uot lie best to attempt 
to force a pig to eat them unless it Avanted to, 
or else its appetite might be destroyed and 
harm come from the experiment; but by mix¬ 
ing the salt and charcoal together, and putting 
them in a box accessible to the pigs, they will 
eat no more than they require. There is no 
danger in putting either salt, charcoal or sul¬ 
phur, where the pigs can get them, but to mix 
them iu theirfood might injure them, especially 
if any one of them should possess a voracious 
appetite. Hogs will eat a considerable quantity 
of sulphur, aud it is exceedingly healthful to 
them as a purifier of the blood, and to help 
them to get rid of the vermin Avliich infest their 
bodies inside and out. We want the pigs we 
are going to eat to have plenty of sulphur, at 
least all they will take. Their flesh makes 
better food. 
Puddling Plniils. 
The Ru ual seusibly urges “puddling” the 
ground Avheu green plants are transplanted. By 
“puddling ” is simply meant putting water iu 
the holes Avhcre the plants are set out audcoA’- 
ering the wet ground, Avliich is pressed around 
the roots, Avith the dry earth; this keeps the 
moisture at the roots, where it is wanted- 
Wheu beets or turnips are transplanted we al¬ 
ways wring or twist off the largest leaves, and 
this keeps the plant from Avilting. We set hun¬ 
dreds of mangels the other day by “ puddling ’ 
and tAvistiug off the tops Avheu the sun was 
shining fiercely hot, and not one died that we 
have noticed. These facts about transplanting 
have been printed many a time, and avc would 
not repeat them, but for the circumstance that 
a neighbor Avbo saAv us working had never 
heard of them and did uot think transplanting 
could be done, in hot or dry weather. 
Too Muny Eggs. 
We threw aAvay sixty-five turkey eggs Avhich 
would uot hatch—reason, too many eggs under 
the hens and turkeys. In many of these eggs 
were dead turkeys, shoAviug that they Ayere 
ehilled. We were too greedy that time, and 
tried to have the sitting fowls do more thau 
they could. 
Tbe Defiance Wheat. 
This spring wheat, like all Other kinds, 
rusted badly and will uot do well. 
