1903 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
723 
h TALK ABOUT IMPROVED TOMATOES. 
Varieties and Seed Selection. 
The canner requires a tomato that ripens all over 
at once, and bright red in color, meaty and smooth, 
and the larger the better. The tomatoes that fill the 
above requirements are not among the extra early 
varieties, and will be found in such varieties as 
Ignotum, Livingston’s Perfection, New Stone, etc. 
On the other hand, if the trucker is located in the 
South and expects to ship to northern markets, the 
above varieties are not suitable. His market requires 
a small variety that will pack in the carrier nicely, 
that can be picked as soon as it has attained the 
desired size, and will ripen en route. Of the several 
varieties that answer the above purpose, I consider 
[aster’s Prolific one of the best. Bond’s Early Min¬ 
nesota, when a purple variety is desirable, is a great 
cropper. The trucker living near large cities where 
tomatoes are sold in the open market comes up 
against a different proposition; he requires an earl>; 
tomato of good size that produces the bulk of the 
crop when the prices are high. With us, the Living¬ 
ston’s Beauty has been the favorite, but of late years 
it has deteriorated to such an extent that we have dis¬ 
carded it almost entirely. The New Imperial has 
proved very satisfactory, except that the bulk of the 
crop comes on too late for the best price. It also 
has a tendency to grow an excessive amount of vino 
if highly fertilized. In my 15 years’ experience as 
one of the latter class of truckers, I have tried most 
of the new varieties to 
find one that is of good 
size, good flavor, meaty, 
and that will produce the 
bulk of its crop before 
the middle of September, 
whose vine will produce 
an open top with scanty 
foliage with a liberal 
amount of fertilizer. 1 
have found none quite 
equal to the Earliana. Its 
objections are that it is 
inclined to produce some 
wrinkled specimens, which 
1 hope to eliminate with 
a few years of careful se- 
Lction and breeding. I 
have noticed quite an im¬ 
provement from a single 
year’s .selection. I have 
made no attempt to in¬ 
crease its earllness. 
It is a general practice 
of tomato growers to buy 
their seed. I have always 
raised my own seed, ex¬ 
cepting of those new 
varieties that come up 
from time to time. My 
reason for doing so is 
that I can select those of 
a desired type with a view 
of improvement. I will 
state an instance. Several 
years ago 1 had a strain 
of Imperial of which five 
bushels would produce one pound of seed. In two 
years, by selection, it required nine bushels to pro¬ 
duce one pound of seed, thus practically breeding out 
almost one-half the seed. The seedsman to whom 1 
offered the seed would not stand the price asked, 
thus compelling me to reduce the quality down to 
414 bushels for one pound, which I did in two years 
by selecting for stock those fruits that contained a 
larger amount of seed. As tc improving a variety as 
regards earliness, I would select specimens from a 
plant that showed a tendency to ripen the bulk of 
its fruit early, instead of selecting single specimens 
that ripened early from various plants. My reasons 
are that a tomato plant that shows a tendency to 
ripen the bulk of its crop early will produce more 
dollars worth of 'tomatoes in a season than those 
plants that produce an oc-iasional early specimen, and 
the remainder of crop w.ken the market is full; in 
other words one bushe' ’n July is w'orth six bushels 
in September. 
In reply to M. Garrahan, page 673, I would like lo 
ask if the wonderful improvement made in these 
varieties of vegetables of to-day is the work of the 
patient labor of those men which he is pleased to call 
codgers, fogies, etc., or is the credit due to some fel¬ 
low who profits by the skill of the aforesaid codgers 
by selling us seed that he knows as little about as 
a pig does about his ancestors? 
Rens:elaer Co., N. Y. joiix jea.nnin, .jk. 
R. N.-Y.—Mr. Garrahan’s remarks seem to have 
stirred up much discussion. Another good farmer 
will be heard from next week. It will all help in the 
demand for the seeds. 
BURNING FOR A PEACH ORCHARD. 
Those who have read the accounts of J. H. Hale's new 
peach orchard on rough mountain land will be interested 
in the following statement: 
I did a great piece of work here Saturday, September 
26. It had been warm and dry all the week, and I 
drove out on the hill where my three Italians had 
finished cutting the brush. There was bttle or no 
air, and we started little back fires every 10 or 15 feet 
along the road side, then worked along down the road 
that we traveled through in among the brush and 
started fires all across the south side, and as the wind 
was blowing a little from the south we got things 
moving, and in about two hours the fire had swept 
the whole 75 acres clean, and not a bit of damage 
done to any surrounding property. It was the clean¬ 
est and nicest job of the kind I have ever seen done 
anyw^here, and now the Italians are picking up the few 
fag ends that are left and the boys are out with teams 
moving some of the loose stones. By the time the 
apple trees are ripe enough to move from the nursery, 
we shall have the holes ready for a lot of them. 
J. 11. HALE. 
ROPING HAY.'' 
Will John Gould, of Ohio, who wrote on page G26 on 
“bunching hay with horse rake," tell what he means by 
“roping” a windrow? His article is very interesting to 
me, and from what I can understand of his terms, meets 
my ideas on curing hay exactly. c. w. 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
“Roping hay’’ is, so far as I now, both a northern 
Ohio invention, and term, and here on the “Reserve” 
thousands of tons of hay are gathered with a rope. 
It is not only a fast way, but a clean way, and requires 
very little if any raking after, if the conditions are 
right. The machinery is simply a good stout 1% 
inch rope, 80 feet in length, with an iron whiffle tree 
hook in one end, and bound so it will not untwist, 
at the other. A whiffle tree and one horse of the span 
is hitched to one end of the rope and driven astride 
of a windrow of the hay, and stopped about 50 feet 
from the end. Some of the hay at the end is pushed 
forward enough to make a little bunch. The loose 
end of the rope is now looped about this bunch, and 
tied with a half hitch into the whiffle tree of the other 
horse. A driver starts the team slowly, the second 
man thrusrs his fork into the hay at the rear, just 
above the rope, so it will not pull over; and as soon as 
the hay is moving forward all right, this man comes 
around at the side and lightens up the hay between 
the ropes, so it will not roll under, as the rapidly 
gathering mass of hay grows larger. Pretty soon he 
will stand on the rope to hold it close to the ground, 
and the driver who has lengthened reins will stand 
on the opposite rope, and the size of the bunch will 
be governed by the strength of the team. The 
gathered bunch of hay will—or should—weigh about a 
ton, and slips over the stubble, with far less friction 
than one would think. When taken to the place 
wanted, the half hitch is cleared from tlie whiffle 
tree, and the first horse draws it clear from the ma^.s 
of hay, and the next windrow is attacked. WTien 
ready to pitch, the first forkful should be the one in 
front, and the rakefuls come out without much if any 
tangle. In stacking hay these rope loads are pulled 
up to the stack first on one side, then another, until 
the stack gets too high to pitch on to, when a partial 
load of hay is brought in, and the hay in the bunch 
is first forked up on to it. Where hay is to be left 
in the field to cure out, the loose hay in front of a 
bunch is used to top it out and so compact is the 
hay, that wetting in—if well topped—is about im¬ 
possible. Where the meadow adjoins the hay barn, 
many rope in the nearby hay and avoid all loading 
and pitching, and where a horse fork is used, haying 
is an occupation that harmonizes well with white 
duck suits. .Tonx got'ld. 
Ohio. 
WHAT TO DO FOR TOUGH CLAY. 
What do you consider the best plant to grow on land 
that is underlaid with hardpan or blue clay, or any 
other formation that renders it impossible for water 
readily to soak through, even close beside a ditch? I 
desire to loosen it and make it porous and more valuable 
for crops and more .agreeable to work. ii. m. 
riumvillo. Mich. 
A clay that will not permit water to soak through 
it, even close to a ditch, is a hard soil to deal with. 
In most of our clays over half the weight is made up 
of particles so small that 25,000 of them will scarcely 
span an inch. Such fine particles pack together in 
such a way as to prevent the passage of either root¬ 
lets, water or air, hence plants cannot grow. Apply 
lime, since the lime causes the small particles to 
group themselves into 
kernels of larger size 
which leaves space on all 
sides of them for the pas¬ 
sage of water, air and 
rootlets. Lime is the 
great fertilizer for heavy 
clays. It is rather slow to 
act, except in wet seasons. 
Plow under coarse barn¬ 
yard manure, since it 
breaks up the soil and in¬ 
troduces a slow decaying 
humus which is much 
needed. If clover can bo 
made to grow it will mel¬ 
low the soil, its roots 
will reach down into the 
subsoil, and when they 
decay will leave openings 
for ventilation and for 
other roots to follow. 
The greatest care must be 
taken neither to plow nor 
work in any way this 
plastic soil when it is 
either to wet or too dry. 
In the former course it is 
puddled, and the earth 
dries into large hard 
clods. When too dry it is 
very hard to plow it at 
all, and if the plow does 
its work the soil either 
remains in hard clods or 
breaks up into the finest 
dust, which puddles at 
first heavy shower. 1 suggest that the inquirer 
plow the ground this Fall and apply a good heavy 
coat of manure, choosing the time when the 
ground is neither too wet nor too dry. Then dispense 
with the roller unless very cloddy and sow rye, plow¬ 
ing rather deep this Fall if the soil will warrant it, 
and plowing under the rye next Spring as soon as it 
reaches the height of a foot, plowing fairly shallow; 
or let the rye grow until it just begins to head, when 
it may be cut off for hay, in the meantime sowing 
early next Spring, when the ground is frozen, fully 
10 pounds of Medium clover seed per acre. In treating 
the ground this Fall an abundant covering of lime, say 
20 to 30 bushels to the acre, should be applied to the 
surface, leaving it not smooth but sufficiently rough 
to insure a soft mulch on top, if possible, to prevent 
the too rapid and too extreme evaporation of mois¬ 
ture. If he can get a good stand of clover I am quite 
certain that the lime and the clover together will 
greatly ameliorate the sticky nature of his soil. 
Michigan Agricultural College. c. d. smith. 
STATE FAIR EXHIBITS.—I hope to see some changes 
made in the premiums at the State Fair. The scheme of 
making the exhibitors pay an entry of one-tenth the 
amount of the premium offered is wrong. The exhibitors 
that fail are helping the lucky one, and often there is 
so little difference the judge is at a loss how to decide. 
If the winner should p..y one-tenth of his premium he 
would have something to pay with. This prevents many 
from exhibiting. In addition to this, exhnibitors were 
not allowed to drive in a h^rse with their txhibits with¬ 
out paying to get the horse in. I shall not exhibit any 
more unless there is a change. exhibitor. 
New York. 
A PUREBRED GUERNSEY COW. Fig. 271. 
