434 
June 13 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
stock keeping, and was surprised by the attention and 
interest manifested. When cover crops have grown 
as stated in last issue, there has been little trouble 
from lack of humus. Without either manure or vege¬ 
table matter not very good results have come from 
commercial fertilizers of any sort alone. A few years 
ago there was a general impression that potash was 
the great desideratum for the fruit tree. Instances 
are on record where wise men examined the soil and 
declared the trees needed potash. But alas for the 
pocketbook of the owner, as well as his faith in ex¬ 
perts (?), no results followed. Evidently in most 
cases there is sufficient potash in the soil if it is prop¬ 
erly handled. (See Prof. Beach’s experiments at 
Geneva in 10 years’ use of wood ashes.) Phosphoric 
acid in the form of South Carolina rock, is in many 
cases seemingly giving all the mineral matter needed, 
when used in connection with legumes or stable ma¬ 
nure. In some cases, where the trees have failed to 
fruit, notably where little or none of the two last- 
mentioned have been used, nitrate of soda has given 
very satisfactory results. 
PRUNING.—In no one thing is there such a notable 
lack of care as in pruning. One cannot pass through 
the best cared-for orchards in any section but he is 
impressed with this fact. Here is an orchard well 
cared for in every other respect but with the trees 
fairly butchered, looking like the man who went from 
Jerusalem to Jericho, and was left half dead, wounded 
and bruised. Even were any good Samaritan at hand, 
any “oil or wine’’ he might “pour in’’ would be of 
little avail; the whole center cut out, stubs left from 
one to six inches long, ends of branches cut square 
off, without anything left to draw the sap and heal 
the wound; all the fruit spurs cut off, except at the 
end of the branches, leaving them like the brush at 
the end of a cow’s tail. In other cases (and these 
latter are to be preferred), a dense growth of wood is 
left over the whole tree, with not a few dead limbs, 
some of them badly cankered, where no light can 
penetrate, and spraying, if done at all, can be but 
half done at the best. Of course there are notable 
exceptions, where the trees are trimmed with good 
judgment and according to their kind, Baldwin' and 
Greening receiving different treatment; wood left well 
distributed to bear the burden of the fruit without 
injury to the tree; plenty of room for the sun to get 
in without burning, and not so high that the picker 
has to ascend toward the third heaven to get the fruit. 
’The low-headed tree is steadily coming into favor as 
the need of thorough spraying becomes more appar¬ 
ent. This certainly is more desirable. I could write 
a whole chapter on this subject, but I forbear. 
SPRAYING.—I^st but not least comes spraying. 
While it is essential if one is to have perfect fruit, it 
will take the place of none of the things mentioned, 
as some have found to their sorrow. No question is 
receiving more attention, and probably in no place is 
the work so well and thoroughly done as in western 
New York. They have worked out many of the im¬ 
proved methods, both as to appliances, material and 
time of application. One pf our most prominent Sta¬ 
tion men told the writer he always liked to attend 
these meetings, because he always got some gobd 
points along this line from these practical men, yet 
they are ever eager to learn anything better. Spray- 
pump men and their appliances were as thick as 
blackberries, all through this section. If one were to 
judge from their marvelous tales and the ease with 
which their new machines in perfect order sprayed 
clear water he would think spraying an easy and de¬ 
lightful occupation. Alas for the reality! More and 
more importance is being placed on the early spraying 
with Bordeaux, some insisting that they receive 
marked results from an application for the Apple 
scab in March. Doubtless last year, with the peculiar 
weather conditions prevailing, there was some benefit, 
yet I doubt, taking all things into account, whether 
enough cleaner fruit was obtained to pay the increased 
expense over a thorough application just as the foliage 
is coming out, when poison can be added for bud- 
moths, tent-caterpillars and the like. Many are using 
an excess of lime over the old formula, and in spite 
of some scientific statements condemning the prac¬ 
tice, certainly good results seem to follow. Paris- 
green as a poison is rapidly being displaced by white 
arsenic, sal soda and lime, or the arsenate of lead mix¬ 
ture usually bought under one of its commercial 
names like “Disparene.” Except for the pastured or¬ 
chard, where the limbs come down with the weight of 
fruit later in the season, and the stock eat the same, 
no poison is so good, no damage to foliage, and it 
adheres through the entire season, one pear grower 
stating that when he had used it on Seckels no Fall 
web-worm appeared on those trees, although they 
were very thick elsewhere. One or two good careful 
men will this year test the dust sprayer. The large 
tank with powerful pump is superseding the 50-gallon 
barrel. In many cases the steam sprayer, costing 
from $200 to $250 complete, is being used; no man 
power can give the same uniform pressure and con¬ 
sequent perfect penetrating spray. This year the 
gasoline engine is very much in evidence, and as they 
have the test of the field, and become better under¬ 
stood, will doubtless be more in demand. Like all 
machinery a steam rig needs careful looking after, 
and must not be left to the ordinary “hired man.” 
For the large grower, who can afford the expense, as 
they become simplified the steam sprayer will be the 
machine. These things in combination are what bring 
success. Some one says, “So much labor.” Whatever 
is worth having costs effort. When the apple crop is 
several times in value that of the hay and grain of 
the farmer with the same number of acres (and these 
take hard labor to produce), and the fruit grower 
sees his land increase in value to $100 and over per 
acre, where the other’s land equally well situated will 
not bring over $50 or $60, he feels that it is labor well 
expended. The value of land must always be based 
on its earning power. edward van alstyne. 
HANDLING HAY ON WESTERN FARMS. 
How It Is Done in Indiana. 
After the hay is mown and cured sufficiently, we 
use a hay loader, which is attached to the back of 
the wagon. This tool rakes the hay from two swaths 
and elevates it on the wagon; it requires only one 
man to do the loading. In this way hay can be taken 
up as fast as a team will walk, and if the team is a 
steady one, not requiring a driver, the work is all 
done thus far by one man. When the hay is very 
light it is found sometimes more practical to rake it 
first in windrows and then use the loader to take it 
up from them. Unloading is done in this locality 
mostly with hay forks or slings, when the hay is put 
in barns. The barns are equipped with a hay fork 
or sling constructed upon a track. When the hay 
fork, which is a very large fork that will carry a good 
portion of a load each time, is used, the fork is in¬ 
serted in the load of hay and drawn up by rope and 
tackle by a team and by use of the track the hay is 
run to any part of the barn desired and dumped. 
When unloaded with a sling ropes are placed in the 
load at desired places when the load is being put on 
the wagon; then when it reaches the barn only the 
ends of the rope need be attached to the sling and 
tackle, and the load can be unloaded with only a few 
draws. •J- s- 
Lima, Ind. 
Liifle Use for Hand Forks. 
Our hay is mown with a six-foot mower, a tedder 
is used when necessary, which is not often, as the 
ground is usually hot and dry enough at haying time 
to dry the under side. Then a loader is coupled be¬ 
hind the wagon, which rakes and elevates the hay on 
a strip from eight to nine feet wide, as fast as the 
team will walk. The time taken to get a load de¬ 
pends on the man who does the loading. It Is heavy 
work for a team, but if it be a good one it will hold 
out as long as the man will. A common double har¬ 
poon fork is used to pitch off, with carrier and steel 
track. Before we had barn room enough for our hay 
we used a sweep rake and ricker for stacking in the 
fields. The rakes were heavy, made of wood, about 
12 feet long and with a horse hitched to each end the 
hay was pushed on to the elevator, where it was ele¬ 
vated to the top of the rick by horse power. But very 
few of these are used here now. The loader and 
M'hat is called a single pole stacker, or a cable sup¬ 
ported by long sticks or poles, and stretched length¬ 
wise of the stack, was used similar to a track in a 
barn. The hand fork is used to load the hay and to 
mow it away, and also in stacking, but with one ex¬ 
ception I have not seen hay pitched on the wagon by 
hand for several years. If we expect to get our hay 
in in its best condition we have to be prepared to do 
it quickly, as after it is ready to cut for hay it ripens 
very fast, and a good deal of our hay is overripe when 
cut, but if we commence too soon it is considered that 
the loss is still greater. We use less hay than before 
the advent of the corn harvester. A considerable 
amount of hay is shipped out from here. The present 
price is $10 per ton delivered in town. Our farmers 
are beginning to see that when land without buildings 
is selling for $50 and upwards per acre it is time to 
utilize cornstalks. jerome smith. 
Iowa. 
The Sweep Rake in Missouri. 
There is no hay tool more complete and labor-sav¬ 
ing than the loader. This machine is hitched on rear 
end of wagon. The team pulling the wagon that is 
being loaded also pulls the loader. The loader gath¬ 
ers the hay out of the swath and elevates on to the 
wagon. There are several makes of these loaders. 
The machine so geared that the cylinder gathering 
the hay off the ground revolves with forward motion 
is the best. Three men can load all two-horse team 
can pull, draw to stack, shed or barn within one- 
fourth of mile, unload with use of hay fork, all in 
half an hour or less time. Where hay is stacked in 
the meadow many use what is called a sweep rake. 
These are about 16 feet long, made usually by taking 
a pole six to eight inches in diameter, boring holes 
every two feet or so, putting strong teeth six to seven 
feet long made of good strong wood, tapering nicely 
to a point. A horse is hitched to each end, the rake 
sliding on the ground between the horses. The teeth 
are shaped from the under side so they will not run 
in the ground and will quickly gather all the hay 
either out of swath or windrow that the two horses 
can pull to the stack, where it is elevated with hay 
fork and crane. The loader is used when the hay is 
to be hauled before stacked or mowed away. 
Nichols. Mo. G. T. T. 
Machines that Save Hand Labor. 
The scarcity of hand labor on the farms of the Mid¬ 
dle West has hastened the adoption of the most im¬ 
proved methods in handling the large fields of hay 
and grain. The farmer with large acreage uses mow¬ 
ers with cutter bars six, seven and sometimes eight 
feet in length, changing the sickle for a sharp one 
three and four times each day. On this machine he 
uses a team weighing from 2,400 to 3,000 pounds. Fol¬ 
lowing the mower he uses a side delivery hayrake 
which throw’s the hay into windrows. With the side 
delivery rake he may travel around an entire field or 
cut it into lands according to the size and shape of 
the enclosure. The hay loader is then attached to 
the wagon and the driver, generally a boy, covers the 
windrow in driving, and the hay is delivered from the 
loader in the rear to the load where a man places it 
evenly over the rack. When loaded the hay loader is 
detached and used on the next wagon. As the wagon 
passes over the windrow and collects the hay, the 
side delivery rake again passes, throwing towards the 
center when another windrow is formed and this re¬ 
peated until the entire field is cleared. 
The hay fork is used at the barns in connection with 
the track carrier system. This allows the farmer to 
harvest large fields of hay with a small force. This 
is the method used when the farmer does not stack 
his hay in the fields. Where the large fields of Al¬ 
falfa are harvested and stacked, the same method is 
practiced, except the use of the hay loader and the 
wagon, in place of which a large sweep with one 
horse at each end is used and loaded from the wind¬ 
row; it is driven towards the stack, deposited on a 
dump, and thence to the stack. This practice has had 
an extended use in the past three years, especially 
through the Southwest and Nebraska, f. k. obane. 
Urbana, Ill. 
BUNCHER ATTACHMENT FOR MOWERS 
We recently asked whether the “buncher” attachment 
for mowing machines Is a useful and practical device. 
Out of a number of opinions from practical farmers we 
select the two following: 
Good Work in Barley. 
I purchased a buncher last year so as to have it to 
use in cutting clover seed, but we did not have any, 
so did not use it, but think that it would work all 
right. I tried the windrower in a small way in cutting 
hay, but the season was so wet that it did not prove 
a success. I think that in a dry season and more es¬ 
pecially where they use a hay loader, ti would 
work all right. Where it did work very successfully 
was in cutting barley. You can cut barley before it is 
ripe enough to cut with a binder and it will dry out 
very much quicker and be a great deal brighter than 
when cut with a binder, and it is not thrashed out as 
it is when cut with a mower. In cutting with the 
windrower the swath is out of the way of the team the 
next time the operator cuts around, and then when 
raked the horse walks between the rows and it leaves 
the barley in bunches. Then by putting five swaths 
in a bunch the barley is all bunched and in good con- 
