May 12 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER: 
334 
CO-OPERATIVE FARMERS’ SELLING OR¬ 
GANIZATIONS. 
Several Good Ones in Wisconsin. 
One potato growers’ organization is reported from 
Grand Rapids, Mr. B. M. Vaughn, secretary, organ¬ 
ized for the purpose of cooperation in marketing 
potatoes and watching the markets, both at home 
and abroad, etc. The venture proved a failure in 
marketing potatoes, owing to the fact that tne mem¬ 
bers were so widely scattered that the expense of 
communicating with them when a good offer was re¬ 
ceived for a carload, would be greater than the sav¬ 
ing on me car. Vue association proved of consider¬ 
able value, however, in keeping the run of prices, 
limiting the acreage in prospect of low prices, etc. 
The probabilities of success in such a venture are 
very well expressed by Mr. Vaughn, as follows: “If 
the potato growers who are raising potatoes of a 
uniform type were close enough together, or could be 
reached by telephone when a car was ordered by 
parties who were responsible, such an organization 
might very likely be a success in selling. However, 
there is too much tendency to suspicion and jealousy 
in the make-up of the average farmer to make such 
an organization the success that other cooperative 
organizations have been.” 
The closing sentence, if extended, would explain the 
practical failure of every farmers’ organization ever 
attempted. The Wisconsin fruit growers seem to 
have met with more success. Three organizations 
are reported as follows: The Sturgeon Bay Fruit 
Growers’ Association shipped last season 9,700 cases 
Of berries at an expense of two cents per case for 
manager’s commission, telegrams, etc. A commis¬ 
sion rate of seven per cent was obtained by the As¬ 
sociation, while the regular rate was 10 per cent. 
The manager, Mr. A. L. Hatch, reports general sat¬ 
isfaction among members and a large saving in trans¬ 
portation rates. “Couldn’t sell all our fruit in home 
markets or those we could reach by boat. Coopera¬ 
tion secures better facilities all around.” At Ripon, 
Wis., the berry growers have an organization of 10 
years’ standing. The results obtained are very 
clearly stated in the following letter from the sec¬ 
retary, Mr. L. G. Kellog: “Our Association has given 
general satisfaction and resulted in a great benefit 
financially to the fruit growers at Ripon. It has 
given us a standing in the markets, enabled us to get 
better transportation facilities, lower freight and ex¬ 
press rates than we could get individually. In fact, 
it is the only way to handle a perishable product, as 
small fruit, in any locality. Commission firms are 
willing to handle consignments from the Association 
for seven or eight per cent, while they charge indi¬ 
vidual shippers 10 per cent. Our Association has 
practically done away with that useless competition 
which cheapens prices without increasing consump¬ 
tion. Prior to the organization of our Association, 
the bulk of the fruit grown about Ripon was handled 
by our local grocerymen, whose sole aim seemed to 
be to get rid of the fruit, regardless of the grower, 
and get his 10 per cent or .01 cent per box up, 
for handling. Jealousies would creep in among the 
dealers'and I have known berries to be dropped 30 
cents per case in one day, without any cause what¬ 
ever. This is what led to the organization of our 
Association in 1890. The express rate per case to 
Minneapolis or St. Paul is 27% cents, by freight in 
refrigerator car 12 cents per case, a saving of 15% 
cents per case to the grower, and our commission 
firms always advise shipping in refrigerator cars, as 
berries invariably arrive in better condition than by 
express.” 
An association of small fruit growers at Sparta, 
reports a profitable business and complete harmony 
among members. The figures furnished do not show 
expense of shipping as separate from cost of crates, 
picking, etc. 
The number of cases shipped last year was 85,000. 
These facts show clearly the possibilities of co¬ 
operative organization for fruit growers and farmers. 
FREDERIC CRANEFIELD. 
DUMPING MANURE IN SMALL PILES. 
In reply to the query in Hope Farm Notes, in The 
R. N.-Y. for April 21, I would say it is my custom to 
haul out manure from our sheep houses through the 
Winter when the ground is frozen, leaving it in small 
piles, six paces apart in the row's, and the rows six 
paces wide. As soon as the piles are thawed out 
toward Spring, while there is often some ice in the 
bottom, they are shaken out and evenly scattered, 
covering the whole ground. We haul when the 
ground is frozen to avoid cutting up the field. We 
put in small piles, so as to give all of the land its 
proper allowance. Each pile is to cover every particle 
of the 36 square yards, and no more. We feed our 
soil as carefully and as systematically as we do our 
animals. Too large piles or too generous a portion, 
more than the crop can assimilate, would go to waste, 
and might injure the crop, the same as too large an 
allowance given to an animal. Our reason for shak¬ 
ing out and scattering evenly as soon as frost is out 
is to avoid loss of ammonia. We do not spread our 
manure according to the common acceptation of the 
term, which is to stand beside the pile and throw it 
in forkfuls hither and tnither. I have never been 
able to do, nor have I ever seen, what I call a good job 
of manure spreading done from the wagon. Our out¬ 
put of manure is 600 to 800 two-horse wagonloads 
every season. T - G - 
Livingston Co.. N. Y. 
R. N.-Y.—We referred to the practice of hauling 
manure out in Spring and dropping it m little piles— 
then spreading these. This gives double labor at a 
season when work counts most. The Acme harrow 
run over manure spread from the wagon, before plow¬ 
ing, will give a better distribution. A Kemp manure 
spreader would put the manure on in fine shape. 
MAGGOTS AND SMUT IN ONIONS. 
Sulphur and Lime Suggested. 
If I have good luck, I usually raise from 600 to 1,000 
bushels of onions per acre; last season had 800 per acre. 
If drought had not Intervened no doubt it would reach 
1,000. Sometimes the maggots get at them, when they 
will destroy most of the crop. I have tried salt, ashes, 
and almost everything that I could think of, all to no 
effect. Is there anything that will down ’em? t. d. 
Maine. 
The oft-recommended use of soot, wood ashes, gas 
lime, paraffin oil, burdock infusion, kerosene emul¬ 
sion, tansy decoction, whale-oil soap solution, liquid 
manures, salt and kainit can well be compared to the 
THE HOFFMAN SULPHUR-SEED DRILL. Fio. 102. 
old adage of putting salt on a bird’s tail to catch it. 
When one is fortunate enough to catch a maggot mi¬ 
grating from one bulb to another the above substances 
may possibly reach and kill it. When such sub¬ 
stances as the above are recommended, the fact that 
the fly always deposits her eggs on the leaf, or, if pos¬ 
sible, in the axil of two leaves, and that the maggot 
always works its way down between the leaves in 
order to reach the buiblet, feeding between the scales 
of the latter, and is always protected from all external 
substances by the thin outer scales of the buiblet, is 
entirely overlooked. The only sure means of getting 
at. the Onion maggot after the eggs have once been 
laid, is carefully to lift all infested onions and destroy 
the maggots by crushing or by dipping into kerosene. 
If this is done early in the season, when their work is 
first noticed, it will be no more of a task than the pro¬ 
cess of first weeding. If neglected, the second brood 
of flies iSs likely to be so numerous that the task of 
hand-killing is out of the question. Furthermore, 
while the onions are very small one maggot will de¬ 
stroy more than one buiblet. 
In addition to the hand-gathering it is quite essen¬ 
tial to see that no old onions are allowed to lie on or 
near the field to rot. Some growers use old onions as 
a manure. If these are put on early enough, and 
plowed in deeply, so that none remains near the sur¬ 
face during April and May, no harm will result, but 
old and decaying onions on the surface are very at¬ 
tractive to the flies, and those which sprout afford ex¬ 
cellent breeding places for them. If growers have 
the time the above fact can be taken advantage of as 
a trap for the flies. Heaps of old onions can be 
placed on margins of fields, and as soon as maggots 
are seen working in them the whole mass can be de¬ 
stroyed by the use of large quantities of kerosene, or 
even by mixing thoroughly with caustic lime. Later 
in the season “smutty” onions, which are usually de¬ 
caying, form excellent breeding places for the flies. 
It has long been known that seedling onions grown 
in new soil in flats, and then transplanted to smutty 
soil, will not be troubled with smut. In fact, it is 
known that seedling onions are the only kinds that 
are troubled with smut. It is also well known thaf 
systematic and frequent rotation of crops will reduce 
the amount of smut in land. When once land is 
brought to a state of cultivation suitable for onions, 
it is usually preferable to continue to grow the crop 
on the same field for several years. When from one 
to 20 acres of onions are grown by one man, trans¬ 
planting is not only an expensive method, but onions 
too large for general market purposes are produced. 
For the general grower a medium-sized onion is the 
most profitable general-purpose onion to grow, and 
these can be produced most cheaply by sowing the 
seed moderately thick. As early as 1888-9 Professor 
Thaxter, of the Connecticut Experiment Station, show¬ 
ed that the use of sulphur was a partial protection 
from Onion smut. For several years this Station has 
been trying to determine the best methods and 
amounts of sulphur to be used for the above purpose. 
So far the use of sulphur and air-slaked lime sown 
broadcast has given no results whatever. In addi¬ 
tion, it has been found quite essential to have the sul¬ 
phur incorporated in small quantities with soil coming 
in contact with the germinating seed. By the use of 
100 pounds of sulphur mixed with 50 pounds of air- 
slaked lime to an acre, applied in row with seed, it 
has been found that 75 per cent of a stand can be 
maintained, whereas untreated rows usually main¬ 
tain a stand of 25 per cent. Hence you see that sul¬ 
phur is not an absolute preventive of smut, nor will 
its use ever rid soil of this trouble. It is simply a 
means to an end. From the necessity of applying the 
sulphur in row with seed, the Hoffman sulphur-seed 
drill, shown at Fig. 102, has been evolved. This is a 
three-row drill, the sulphur boxes being placed in 
front of the seed boxes. The spouts of all boxes are 
arranged so that the sulphur strikes the ground just 
ahead of the seed. f. a. sirrine. 
N. Y. Exp. Station. 
POTATO GROWING IN BERMUDA. 
The daily papers recently stated that a Long Island 
man was farming two sides of the world—that is, Long 
Island and Bermuda. The report had some truth in it, 
and Mr. W. F. Jagger, a R. N.-Y. subscriber, tells about 
it as follows. We are interested in this experiment, 
since we hope to try seed potatoes from the Florida crop: 
The Bermuda Islands lie about 700 miles southeast 
from New York. There are 300 islands; the five prin¬ 
cipal ones are connected by bridges. The Islands are 
a coral formation, and where not under cultivation 
are covered with a heavy growth of cedar. The cli¬ 
mate is delightful in Winter. Frost is unknown. 
Population about 18,000, about three-quarters colored. 
The soil is very rich, and produces three crops a 
year. The principal products are potatoes, onions and 
Easter lily bulbs. The Bliss Triumph is a round, red¬ 
skinned potato, and is planted in Bermuda about 
October 1, maturing January 1, and the bulk of the 
crop is immediately shipped to New York. The 
ground is at once planted again with the Red Garnet, 
a late potato, and that crop is harvested April 1. 
After that they get a crop of corn, sweet potatoes or 
watermelons for Summer, and follow this up year 
after year on the same ground. 
I spent two Winters there five and six years ago, 
and as an experiment brought two barrels of Bliss 
Triumph home, and planted them on my farm at 
West Hampton, L. I. The potatoes came up very 
strong and ripened early; I shipped 46 barrels to 
Bermuda for seed in September, and I have been in 
the business ever since, but have always had north¬ 
ern-grown seed. The yield has been rather light, and 
this year, having orders for 2,000 bushels of seed, I 
secured my seed in Bermuda, and will have it shipped 
April 1. The Triumph potato, grown on Long Island, 
is not fit to eat; it is very soggy, but grown in Ber¬ 
muda, it cannot be beaten. The best farmers on the 
Islands plant Long Island seed, and claim that the 
yield is three times as large as from Halifax seed. I 
rented a small farm in Bermuda five years ago for 
potatoes. Spent a little money, had a lot of fun and 
experience, and sold my crop of potatoes April 1 on 
the dock at Hamilton, Bermuda, for $7.20 per barrel. 
While on the Islands this time Mr. Bishop, who has 
charge of the public gardens, gave me an order for 
2,000 rooted cuttings of carnations, and they were 
shipped by the following steamer. 
I have read with interest the article on corn and cow 
peas on page 303. I have tried growing the two crops 
together for the past three years, with satisfactory re¬ 
sults. I plant both at the same time by mixing in the 
planter, using one bushel of peas to two or three bushels 
of corn, and drilling somewhat thicker than for corn 
alone; cultivate shallow. Last year I planted all my 
corn that way, and expect to continue doing so. I con¬ 
sider the combination an excellent one for southern Il¬ 
linois. A - A - H- 
Du Bois, Ill. 
