<®36 ’n» RURAL flEW-YORKER. e 7 < 
tirely worn out (in this way often remaining 
five or six mouths), is highly injurious to the 
feet. 
In any case the hoof wall should not be 
allowed to grow out over the shoe so as to 
cover it and thus throw the pressure largely 
upon the sole, nor should the shoe bo allowed 
to be carried forward, especially in the fore 
feet, so as to lot the heels of the shoe press upon 
the back part of the sole, altogether giving the 
horse an unnatural, flat-footed appearance. 
This carrying forward of the shoe is due to the 
tendency of the hoof when shod to increase in 
length at the toe,and thus to advance the shoe. 
The form and size of the shoe, although of 
minor importance, are dill of sullicient impor¬ 
tance to demand our attention. The shoe 
should be neither too thick nor too heavy. 
There Ls very little danger of its being too 
light. It is very tiresome for a horse to be 
obliged to constantly cany unnecessarily 
heavy shoes, and they also increase the con¬ 
cussion of the limbs and feet. The light, thin 
shoe is without these objections, and allows the 
frog to reach the ground. In general, the 
weight of the shoe should conform to the size 
of the animal and the work expected of him. 
It should be of only moderate width. The 
broad shoe is a very poor •‘catch.'’ Both sur¬ 
faces should l>e perfectly level, t. e., the shos 
should be “true” and of the same thickness 
throughout The hoof surface should be flat, 
not beveled as is the common practice, which 
throws all the support upon the wall, and al¬ 
lows dirt and gravel to work in upon the 
bevel between sole and shoe. With the flat 
shoe the support is divided between wall and 
sole as it should be, and there is not the dan¬ 
ger of graveling. In outline the shoe should 
be the exact counterpart of the hoof after it 
has been properly prepared; to apply a shoe 
that is too small and then rasp down the hoof 
to correspond, not only shows poor workman¬ 
ship, but is very injurious to the foot. A clip 
at the toe of each shoe, or in special cases one 
on each side of the hind shoes, can usually he 
added te advantage. But they must not lie set 
too deeply into the wall nor drawn too tightly 
when hammered down. 
Calks, or as they are more commonly called, 
1 ‘corks,” are always injurious to the limbs, how 
ever necessary they may be to enable the foot to 
hold. Upon ice or hard snow, they, or some 
similar device, are a necessity, and must un¬ 
fortunately be used. With this exception, 
there are rare instances where calks are nec¬ 
essary. When used, however, they should be 
of equal bight at heel and toe. Nearly all 
farmers could well do without them during, 
the summer months at least. Eveu ou the 
paved aud concreted streets of our cities the 
properly made, flat shoe is less liable to slip 
than the one with high calks. With a narrow 
shoe beveled on its wearing surface from with¬ 
out. inward 1 —to correspond to the natural bevel 
of the normal foot—and a healthy frog brought 
into use, there is in most eases no danger from 
slipping. The reason why most horses slip so 
easily as soon as the calks are worn down, is 
because the frogs have become dry aud con¬ 
tracted and t he shoes are made too wide, with 
a smooth, level wearing surface, both condi¬ 
tions being very favorable to slipping. 
The preparation of the hoof should receive 
siH'eial attention, this being the most, impor¬ 
tant part of the Operation, and also the part 
most frequently unsatisfactorily performed. 
The wearing surface of the wall should bo 
rasped or pared until perfectly level, and the 
two sides be of the same bight, so that a plane 
across them will lie at, right, angles to the pas¬ 
tern. Usually the pariug lius to be done 
mainly at the too, but the obliquity of the 
pastern and form of the foot must be the 
guide. Where the wall does not project 
beyond the sole no paring is required; and 
when paring is necessary it should be carried 
nearly to, but never beyond the border of the 
normal concave sole. This removal of the ex¬ 
cessive growth of the wall is usually the only 
paring that is allowable, any additional being 
not only unnecessary, but almost invariably 
highly injurious. The wall having been worn 
or pared to the level of the sole, both may be 
rasped until the latter, especially at the toe, 
presents a bearing surface equal to one, or one 
and one-half times t he width of the wall. This 
allows the sole to bear a portiou of the weight, 
which in its natural condition it is abundantly 
able to do. Finally the sharp border of the 
wall ought to be slightly rounded with the 
rasp to avoid the danger of splitting. 
The healthy sole should uover be cut. The 
shedding of the hard, dry. horny scales from 
the sole is a natural process that will best 
take care of itself. And unless the flakes are 
liable to become imprisoued under the shoe, 
especially near the heels, it is much better for 
the foot that they be left to shed naturally. 
It is permissible, however, to remove any 
flakes that are loosely attached, but nothing 
more. The barbarous custom of paring the 
sole until it will give under pressure of the 
thumb ought uot to be tolerated. 
The idea that the frog must be reduced, that 
its coming in contact with the ground will 
lame the horse, is a very injurious popular fal¬ 
lacy. On the eontrary, the frogs should not 
be pared any further than to remove nigged 
ends, and should if possible be made, to come 
in contact with the ground. This is one of the 
most important safeguards against, contracted 
feet. The paring of the bars, “ opening of 
ttie heels,” is equally injurious and should not 
be allowed, Tbo sole, frog and bars are all 
important factors of the hoof as a whole: they 
are the natural protectors of the ground sur¬ 
face of the foot, aud should be left intact. 
The application of the shoe and careful 
driving of the nails require no little skill 
To secure a perfect tit the red-hot shoe is care¬ 
fully applied to the hoof for a few seconds, 
when any little inequalities are readily seen 
and removed. This secures a- perfect fitting 
of shoe to hoof, which it would be almost im¬ 
possible to obtain by a cold fitting. While 
the brief contact of a red-hot shoe to the hoof 
is in a general way beneficial, it becomes very 
injurious if applied too long, so as to fuse 
more than the surface horn. The shoe being 
accurately fitted, is cooled, filed and finally 
nailed to the hoof. In driving the nails it 
must Vie remembered that the hoof wall Ls 
thickest at the toe and gradually becomes 
thinner towards the heels, the inside quarter 
being thinner than the outside, and the nails 
should lie driven accordingly. They should also 
be driven carefully to avoid the necessity of 
frequent withdrawals. 
Preparatory to clinching, a slight notch 
only may lie made under each nail. A deep 
furrow with the rasp along the row of nails, 
as Ls the common practice, is very objection¬ 
able. After the nails have been driven up 
and clinched, any roughness may be removed 
with a file, but the surface of the hoof wall, 
even below the eliuches, should not be touched 
with the rasp. 
Too much importance cannot 1* given to 
the preservation of the tough surface horn; 
and let me here repeat that, except to shorten 
the over-grown wall aud prepare a suitable 
bearing surface for the shoe, no rasping or 
paring Ls usually required, aud under ordi¬ 
nary circumstances should uot be allowed. 
CORRESPONDENTS’ VIEWS. 
Mrs. Fisher’s California letters are inter¬ 
esting, but 1 think she places too much confi¬ 
dence iu the statements of strangers simply 
because they are very polite. My experience 
teaches me that many Californians are prone 
to put the best, side ahead, to give single ex¬ 
ceptional cases as general results, uud to say 
many wide things iu order to make newspaper 
people paint the best side of California. In 
Transcontinental Letters LXIV, I notice an 
error as regards wine making. Mrs. F says; 
“Good, now wine costs about 75 cents a gal¬ 
lon. Vineyardists receive $18 to $22 a ton 
for grapes; and it is conceded that if u man 
gets 15 cents a gallon for his grape juice, he 
makes about $500 per acre off bis laud.” 
Figuring on this gi ves some surprising results. 
In Sonoma County Cal., the average yield Ls 
about six tons of grapes and about 140 gallons 
of wine par ten, or say 840 gallons of wine per 
acre. Now, to make $500 per acre at 15 cents per 
gallon, the yield would have to be8,888gallons 
of wine per acre. There may lie a few ex¬ 
ceptional acres that yield that much in extra 
seasons, but the average yield will uot be one- 
fourth that amount. Again, if vineyardists 
receive $500 pot acre when soiling grape juice 
at 15 cents a gallon, and we calculate a fair 
yield at six tons of grapes jier acre, aud the 
weight of a gallon of wine is 8’pounds, then 
we (iud that i pounds of grapes must make 
8 l .j pounds of win®. If “good wine sells for 
75 cents per gallou” and at 15 cents a gallon 
the product of an acre would be $500, at 75 
cents it would bo $2,500. It will be readily 
seen from this that many of these California 
statements will look waste for an investi¬ 
gation. E. REICHENBACH. 
Wayne, Ohio, 
I had 60 bushels of wheat per acre last year. 
One field of nine acres has not been manured 
for several years. It was very light sand, 
plowed three times, packed firm with burrow 
and leveler at least four weeks before sowing, 
and sowed about one inch deep one-and-a-half 
bushel per acre. This gave me a new idea, 
viz.: have the ground firm aud sow shallow. 
I claim that litt le things like this are of more 
importance to us than a close study of nitro¬ 
gen, ammonia, etc. [Perhaps so, uud yet 
“nitrogen, ammonia, etc.,” make the basis of 
all good farming. Somebody must study 
them.—E ds.] a. a. 
Kelso, Ontario. 
My premium—the R. B. C. corn-sheller— 
came all right. I mast say that I am more 
than pleased with it. I never saw one like it 
before. It simply works like a charm and Ls 
far ahead of anything in the corn-sheller line 
I ever saw. Long live the man who invented 
it, say I. l. l. coe. 
Catharine, N. Y. 
I have a white dent corn that originated 
with me five years ago; it will mature in 80 
to 85 days. This season a trial plot was 
planted on June 16, and matured Sept. 1st. 
Eatontown, N. J. j. b. j. 
TOBACCO CULTURE IN CONNECTICUT. 
Tobacco, the money crop; growing sets; fer¬ 
tilizing the bed; setting out plants; culture; 
harvesting; handling; a precarious crop. 
This is the season for harvesting tobacco. 
The loads of plants on their way to the shed 
where they are to hang for curing emit an 
odorless fragrant than the spices of Araby; 
but, like many other disagreeable things, the 
otlor is tolerated in view of the profit of the 
crop, for it is really the only one raised in this 
vicinity that directly produces money. In 
sight from where I write Ls a field of five acres 
the growth of which I have, during the past 
two months, watched with interest. It Ls 
owned and worked by Mr. F. B. Strickland, 
who is admitted to be one of the most success¬ 
ful tobacco growers in Hartford County. I 
have taken some pains to inquire into his meth¬ 
ods aud will give the result to the readers of 
the Rural. 
Seed is grown in a hot-bed in time for the 
plants to grow large enough to set by the first 
of June, or earlier if the weather is such that 
the ground enu be properly prepared. Con¬ 
trary to general practice, he prefers to raise 
successive crops on the same ground, that now 
growing being the eleventh. The ground is 
plowed deeply, and a goodly quantity of fertil¬ 
izer is covered; then ridges running north and 
south are made three-aud-a-half feet apart by 
turning deep furrows together. Before these 
are turned, he applies a goodly quantity of 
stable manure, castor pomace or tobacco 
stems on the surface to lie directly below the 
plant when set and ready to furnish food for 
which the roots will soon make a start. It is 
not well to give the young plants a too vigor¬ 
ous growth by the application of fertilizers to 
the hill, but when established they will assimi¬ 
late to advantage a largo amount of food that 
should be within ready reach. He prefers to 
start root growth first. Tim done, that of the 
leaf will readily follow. 
Plants are set 18 inches apart in the row if the 
variety is Havana or Spanish, or a little fur¬ 
ther if seed leaf. This crop is Spanish, which 
is uow generally preferred here, as it gives a 
finer leaf aud commands a larger price, al¬ 
though the quantity that cun be raised on an 
acre is less than when the seed leaf is grown. 
Great care is taken to set the plauts properly, 
for a plant well set is far on the way to per¬ 
fect growth. Mr. Strickland never lets his 
work drive him. His land is made ready as 
early as possible, aud he prevents it from be¬ 
coming weedy by stirring it before the weeds 
appear, and takes the worms off before they 
have time to oat the leaves full of holes. He 
tops low, believing it better to have the same 
weight iu fewer leaves, and that a few good 
leaves are of greater value than more poor 
ones. When the suckers appear they are 
taken off iu a hurry lest they take strength 
from the leaves. He says it is more profitable 
to pay three men for one day's work each than 
one man for three days, because the work eau 
in that way be done when it is needed. In 
harvesting he pursues the same plan. 
When an acre is ripe it is cut uud hung in 
the field on hooks put on the sides of lath al¬ 
ternately. Ou lath four feet long six plauts 
are huug. From the field it is tukeu ou pro¬ 
per racks to the drying shed, where it is hung 
to dry and cure under daily inspection, to see 
that there is nothing wanting to aid it iu these 
changes. So It will hang until some favorable 
day in Winter, when the atmosphere is sufti- 
ciently charged with moisture to change it 
from its dry, brittle condition to one where it 
is pliant and can be handled without harm. 
Then, holdiug the butt of a stallc in the left 
hand, the leaves are rapidly stripped off with 
the right, and when a handful of good leaves 
is obtained t hey are bound together by wind¬ 
ing a leaf about their larger ends, when the 
bundle, or “baud,” as it is called, is ready to 
be laid aside to be packed in boxes or cases 
holding from 250 to 300 pounds each. Iu these 
cases it undergoes a sweating process that if 
successfully accomplished gives the leaves a 
fine silken texture of the desired color. 
When stripping, the leaves are divided into 
two classes—firsts and seconds, or wrappers 
and fillers—and the sensible man does not en¬ 
deavor to put with the “firsts” any that do 
not really belong there, knowing that a little 
inferior wjj] lessen the price of the whole. 
For the same reason he rejects entirely some 
of the poorest fillers rather than have them 
lower the average of the rest. 
But tobacco culture is hazardous business at 
best. There is not a day from the time the 
seed is sown until the crop is sold and paid for 
that there Ls not more or less risk. Sometimes 
the plants tail to get a good start in the seed¬ 
bed. When sot in a dry time their growth is 
cheeked. Then the grub or cut-worm attacks 
them with vigor, and when he is subdued the 
tobacco worm requires combating. In later 
days a drought is injurious, and too much rain 
is not much better, especially iu low land, for 
a tobacco plant whose roots are covered with 
water 24 hours is spoiled. Heavy winds blow 
over the staJks and whip the leaves into 
strings; aud eveu a moderate hail storm is 
entire destruction. But a crop well raised, 
well cured aud well sold is profitable. 
Bloomfield, Cl. l. a. Roberts. 
POTATO SPORTS. 
In digging a field of Pearl of Savoy Pota¬ 
toes (Early Rose type) my workmen found sev¬ 
eral hills of Beauty of Hebron, evidently the 
product of a single tuber, that got into the 
lot of seed siime way. Two of these hills con¬ 
tained well marked Beauty of Hebrons, while 
several contained rose-colored and white po¬ 
tatoes instead of light flesh-colored aud white 
—i. e., where the Hebron should have been 
light flesh-colored, it is red like the Pearl of 
Savoy, and one of these latter hills contained 
one handsome, smooth tuber, that is about 
equally divided from stem end to seed cud, one 
half being a finely marked Beauty of Hebron 
and the other half rather dark red for Pearl 
of Savoy. Each kind runs the whole length 
of the tuber and the dividing Line is very dis¬ 
tinct. G. w. p. j. 
Caribou. Maine. 
[Such “sports” are not rare. Climate or 
soil or both often change the color of pota¬ 
toes. During the past season a Rural seedling 
in rich garden soil was solid pink. In a sandy 
soil within a quarter of a mile, it is streaked 
buff and pink—sometimes buff. Our friend 
will fiud that by planting eyes of the pink 
parts, he will iu a few seasons succeed in fixing 
a pink-skinned variety.— Eds.] 
WHAT ABOUT THE POTATO CROP ? 
We want to know all we can about the po¬ 
tato crop. Potato men iu New York State 
should tell us about the potatoes there. Mine 
go about llK) bushels to the acre. They never 
rot in this sandy soil. They bring about 40 
cents a bushel in White Pigeon. The potato 
dealers here have things fixed so that they eau 
give just about what they like. For that rea- 
sou we waut to know w hether there is much 
rot iu the East. If there is, we can hold our 
crop to better advantage. t. t. 
White Pigeon, M ich. 
DRILLING AND HARVESTING CORN. 
I planted my corn this year in drills in¬ 
stead of hills and can now report results. Al¬ 
though it was sowed with an ordinary wheat 
drill which did the work only poorly, and in 
spite of the succeeding drought which caused 
it to come up very unevenly, it has matured 
a very satisfactory crop. I am well pleased 
with this method of planting. But two 
things are requisite to insure the greatest suc¬ 
cess. A good planter is needed so that the 
corn shall bo evenly distributed, aud theu the 
smoothing harrow should be put over the 
ground at least once a week for the first five 
or six weeks. This thoroughly destroys all 
weeds when small, and renders the use of a 
hoe superfluous except to cut up thistles or 
other perennial weeds. 
There can be but one objoction raised to 
drill planting of corn, when treated as above 
described, and that is the increased labor of 
cutting. This can be entirely obviated by 
cutting it with a self-raking reaper, which 
will do it easily, putting it in fine shape for 
binding, if only a single row is taken at a time. 
By letting tko corn lie one day in the gavel 
before binding, it will lie so wilted that any 
stalk will answer Mi a binder. 
When corn is so cut and bound in bundles 
and these are set into rather large shocks, it 
cures out nicely aud is in the best possible 
shape for hauling into the barn or shed for 
husking. And by using the reaper it can be 
cut, bound aud placed iu shocks with less than 
half the labor of cutting by hand and standing 
in the ordiuary stock. There are many things 
yet to be learned iu farming. 
HARVESTING ROOT CROPS. 
Unless everything is ready for the root 
harvest, no time should lie lost, as in this lati- 
