1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER; 
543 
A DAIRY FARMER’S NOTES. 
SOWING HAY.—It has been very dry here, and 
our hay is but little more than half as much as last 
year. Nearly everyone in the vicinity is now—July 
25—through haying, and all report about the same 
proportionate yield; some say a little over, and others 
a little under a half crop. But those oats and peas 
are nice. We cut an acre of the earliest on a Thurs¬ 
day, just at night, intending to rake them up to¬ 
wards night the next day and bunch them up Satur¬ 
day afternoon to stand over Sunday. But on Friday 
there was the appearance of rain, the leaves on many 
of the trees were blowing upwards so as to show the 
whiter underside, and we decided to bunch up the 
oats and peas at once. Saturday, just at night, we 
pitched them over, loosening up the forkfuls as much 
as possible, and left them to stand till Monday. It 
was our intention to turn them out and draw into 
the barn, but there was no dew Monday morning, 
and rain threatened again, so we drew them right 
into the barn as they were. They are not likely to 
hurt. It hasn’t rained to speak of all this time, and 
we might have cured them by spreading and turn¬ 
ing, and drying in the sun, but we think they are 
better than they would have been if cured in that 
way, and it is less work. The river has risen six 
feet, consequently there must have been rain north 
of us, and our suspicions were well grounded. 
RAPE AND WOODCHUCKS—The rape that was 
sown for feeding the lambs a little later is doing 
very well, or at least part of it is. One corner, and 
not a small one either, seems to be reserved for the 
woodchucks. It makes them fat, the only trouble is, 
I can’t sell woodchucks. They won’t bring a cent a 
pound, besides, I can’t catch them. Will have to sell 
them “as they run,” if at all. Have tried the carbon 
bisulphide, put it in the hole on some corncobs, and 
then stopped the hole as closely as I could, but 
the next day the woodchuck was as active as 
ever. He had cleared away the sods and dirt 
that I put in the hole, and had as good an 
entrance as before. I began to think the fluid 
had lost its strength, for it has been standing 
a good while. But no, the druggist says carbon 
bisulphide is a compound of two gases made 
by passing the fumes of burning sulphur over 
red-hot charcoal, and then the gases condense, 
forming a liquid. It is not a solution of the 
gases in water like ammonia water. It will not 
lose its strength, though it will easily evaporate 
and waste away if not closely corked. So I 
have just been to try again, and this time 1 
am sure Mr. Woodchuck will have to breathe 
some of the fumes of the deadly stuff. Its 
vapor is heavy, hence it follows along the hole 
to the lowest places. Some of the rape did not 
come up well at first, but after we had a shower 
the rest appeared. It was a small piece, and 
we covered the seed by sweeping with an old 
broom, and in some rows the seed was not so 
well covered. Had there been more rain, I 
think the result would have been different. 
When it is so dry as it has been this season, 
such seed needs to be well covered. We have 
had very few showers since the snow left. 
Early in July there were a few, but not enough 
to affect the springs, and it is probable that they are 
lower now than at any previous time this year. 
WEATHER SIGNS.—I asked the wise man whether 
LOW BUSH BLUEBERRY (Vaccijuum Pennsylvanicum). Fig, 186. 
there is any real significance in the action of leaves, 
as often noticed when storms are threatening. Ho 
answered “Yes,” with that peculiar accent which ex¬ 
presses some doubt. While it lasts he said it signi¬ 
fies precisely what a barometer would, only from a 
different cause, though the causes are inseparable. 
Storm areas, he says, come from the west. They are 
areas of low barometer, and it does not rain except 
in the vicinity of these areas; but it does not always 
rain then. Consequently, low barometer does not al¬ 
ways prove that it will rain. The barometer lowers 
because there is less pressure of atmosphere. This 
low pressure of atmosphere means that there is not 
so much air in that area, and that a sort of chimney 
is formed where the air tends to blow upwards. "So 
you see,” ne went on, “the leaves blow upward be¬ 
cause the air is moving upward in this chimney or 
center of the storm area. It may not rain, for the 
air may not contain sufficient moisture, or have the 
right temperature to condense what moisture there 
is, but it also may rain, for this appearance of the 
leaves tells that the area where storms occur is pass¬ 
ing over to the eastward.” h. h. l. 
Bainbndge, N. Y._ 
WINTER OATS FOR GRAIN AND PASTURE. 
Many readers know that farmers in Delaware and States 
farther south often sow oats in August or September as 
they do rye. These “Winter” oats make a vigorous 
growth through the Fall, survive the Winter and give a 
fair yield the next season. We are asked whether they 
will live through our northern Winters, or give superior 
Fall pasture. Prof. A. T. Neale, of the Delaware Ex¬ 
periment Station, gives his experience below: 
Winter oats seeded early in August appear to be 
quite as hardy as wheat. I seeded an acre of these 
oats last August, and harvested it as silage about the 
last of June, 1900. To-day my stock, about 30 cows 
and heifers, are living and thriving upon it. The 
yield was between seven and eight tons of green 
forage per acre. I used one bushel of seed only per 
acre. The field had been in Canadian field peas and 
oats, fed as a soiling crop. Many seeds of Summer 
oats fell, sprouted and grew with the Winter oats, 
and yielding to the severe freezes of midwinter, fell 
and mulched the Winter variety. The Spring growth 
was remarkable; I examined many heads, the range 
lay between 30 and 50 berries per stalk. There is 
much available information in Kent County quite 
favorable to this crop. E. H. Bancroft has used it in 
seedings with Crimson clover as a Summer silage 
crop for several years, and recommends it highly. 
Several Kent County farmers use it as a grain crop. 
Near Frederica, between the years 1890-1896, it re¬ 
seeded, season after season. Since 1896 I have heard 
nothing about it. Mr. Bancroft can seed his land 
rather late, and yet it succeeds. He plows his fields 
after removing early Bristol silage corn as early in 
September as is possible, and on such land gains first- 
class crops of mixed clover and Winter oats. Very 
many failures of oat crops were experienced in New 
Castle County a few years ago. The plants seemed 
to an ordinary observer to be thriving until the seed 
heads appeared, then in place of oats Cheat was 
found. That happened <v*ce at least when the seed 
was grown here at Newark; a good explanation of 
the true cause of that failure is not yet known. Men 
who have had much personal experience believe in 
August sowing, and are inclined to trace many fail¬ 
ures to later seedings. Personally, I have not pas¬ 
tured Winter oats; am informed that it tolerates 
that treatment very well. It withstood the very se¬ 
vere Winter of 1898-’99 at Bristol, Pa., on Landreth’s 
testing grounds, and yielded a very heavy crop during 
June, 1899, 
--—' j 
LOW BLACK BLUEBERRY (Vacciniu.m Nigrum). Fig. 188. 
NOTES ON PLOWING. 
One who has never used three horses for plowing 
will be surprised to find what an improvement they 
are over two. They can handle a heavy plow at a 
lively gait. This is an advantage in thick sod, as a 
quick movement turns the furrow in better shape, 
particularly where it has to be thrown up hill and 
acts a little contrary. The draft on a three- 
horse plow may be straight with the landside, 
and in this way it works better and handles 
easier than where the beam is set at an angle 
to make the plow run to or from the land. A 
rig of this sort is best in large fields free from 
obstructions. No one would think of plowing 
the garden or some little three-cornered, side- 
hill, half-acre patch back of the woods with it. 
There is considerable power in three lively 
horses, and they should be taught to stop at 
“Whoa.” When a hidden rock is struck, un¬ 
less they are trained to stop at once, something 
is liable to break. Striking such obstructions 
is trying to patience. Ill-natured animals bite 
at each other when stopped with such a jerk, 
and the whack that the handles give a man’s 
ribs, if he is walking close to the plow, is apt 
momentarily to mar his happiness. If a fast 
stone throws the plow out on the land side and 
the team goes several feet before stopping, one 
is likely to leave the “balk” to be mended on 
the next round. This makes a poor job, the 
best way being to back and fix it at once. A 
team that has not been spoiled may be trained 
for this work without difficulty. A little pa¬ 
tience, careful pulling on the lines, and a low 
voice will do it. Yelling and jerking the lines 
will spoil any horse. A three-horse team 
which the writer used, was so well broken that the 
lines could be thrown over a plow handle, and it 
was scarcely necessary to touch them in the round of 
a 15-acre field. “Whoa” at the end of the furrow, and 
then “Come around,” would fix the corner just right. 
Of course it takes a little time and care to break 
them in this way, but it pays in the end, as more 
work can be done and annoyance saved. It is doubt¬ 
ful whether any lord of creation with his “coach and 
four” ever enjoyed himself more than I did for two 
weeks one Fall, following this team day after day. 
Any possible monotony was relieved by the yellow 
jackets’ nests we turned up now and then, making 
those particular spots in the field .resemble a tropical 
Summer for a round or two. 
To keep the furrow just wide enough, and not make 
balks or leave refractory clods edgewise, the holder 
must watch the plow, and not have his eyes on the 
heavens or the landscape. The little tricks in hand¬ 
ling, which make him a good plowman, are learned 
only by experience. The mind, however, may be 
active on other things part of the time. One man 
whom I knew carried a notebook. While plowing, 
he thought out farm problems and other questions 
that he wished to investigate, and these were written 
down when he reached the corner or stopped to let 
the team rest. Thus he preserved many ideas which 
proved helpful. Another showed me a copy of the 
New Testament, which he carried in his pocket and 
read at odd moments. Another recited poetry and 
sang while following the plow. He got practice as a 
singer and reader, but it was a little rough on the 
horses to make them listen to such a continual per¬ 
formance. These things show what may be done by 
training the mind to use spare moments in whole¬ 
some thought while at the same time it has sufficient 
oversight of the mechanical work on hand. Of course 
this practice must not be carried too far. w. w. n. 
MARKET BOX OF BLUEBERRIES. Fio. 187. See Page 545. 
