638 
September 22 
TITE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
to taste, work in a little flour and butter, to make 
the liquor as thick as cream, and let it boil for five 
minutes. When you are ready to dish it up, stir in 
two tablespoonfuls of cream, or the yolk of an egg; 
stir it over the fire for a minute, but do not let it boil, 
and serve. Mushrooms can be cooked in the same 
manner as oysters, either stewed, fried, broiled, or in 
a soup. 
To dry mushrooms, wipe them clean, put in baking 
pan the bottom of which is covered with white paper. 
Dry in cool oven until shriveled, hang in cool place 
in paper bag. When used, put in cold water and milk 
and simmer, causing them nearly to regain their 
natural flavor and size. s. fred haxton. 
- $L r p?> 
HORSE SHOE FARM NOTES. 
Thoughts About the Si/o. 
SHORTAGE OF PASTURE.—This section remains 
dry and burnt, pastures are useless, and stock is fed 
regularly. The yield of coarse fodder and grain Is 
the smallest in my farming experience. Yesterday a 
neighbor said, “I have not got as much in my barns 
as I should have April 1, and I am obliged to feed 
that every day;” and he is a careful man. Many a 
man will have to have a ladder to get out of his silo 
when he finishes filling this year. The only good 
effect I can see from this drought is the lesson it en¬ 
forces of the value of corn, and the great number of 
silos which are being built, more perhaps than in all 
former years, nine in a half mile on one road. The 
majority of them are tubs, but here and there one 
finds octagon and square ones, if inside of building. 
SILO BUILDING.—Many are paying a third more 
for stave silos because they have an idea they can¬ 
not build one, do not figure on cost, or are indis¬ 
posed to have any trouble. One can buy the lumber 
and put up a good silo for a great deal less than 
the price asked for completed ones. This is not guess 
work, for two have been built here this year, and I 
notice the fact to aid those who have to save. One 
objection to a hoop silo is that it requires watching 
ana care. In Summer the hoops must be kept screwed 
up, and a white-faced neighbor who had just come 
down from the top of a 30-foot silo remarked, ‘‘I ex¬ 
pected every minute she would collapse, before I 
could screw up the nuts.” It had been built several 
years at that. Many are building two small ones, 
because of trouble in feeding fast enough to keep 
ahead of the heating and spoiling. I do not believe 
this necessary, and it is more expensive. 
PARTITIONS IN THE SILO.—Having reduced my 
stock I found my silo much too large last season, and 
asked several experts and experiment stations 
whether I could not put in a cheap partition as fol¬ 
lows: Nail on single three-inch strips on two siues 
and set up foot-wide, hemlock boards, filling both 
sides at once. These boards were not nailed, were 
on the side of the strip we would feed last, and were 
put in as we filled. When we were up to a point that 
we would reach in feeding by Spring or warm weath¬ 
er no more were put in, but we filled on up without 
boards. Everyone said 1 would fail; that the corn 
would not settle over the boards, etc., but I put them 
in, and it worked all right. We fed clear to the bot¬ 
tom of one half before using the other side below the 
boards, and could keep up without loss. Corn cut 
short, one-half inch will settle the edge of the board 
dividing it. We filled up as high as we could on each 
side of the last board before covering it. This year 
we shall make a tube of old bran sacks and hang it 
in the silo, attached to a frame laid across the top, 
so the corn will fall from the corner into it. A man 
can take hold of the bottom end of this tube and 
swing it around sc as to spout the cut corn into the 
corners, or any part of the silo, but more important 
still, the leaves will not become separated from the 
grain as they will when floating down, or where the 
corn piles up and the grain rolls down to the edges. 
An accumulation of leaves makes a soft spot which 
will mold if corn is dry. The outside should be kept 
much the highest, but from my own experience 
should not be tramped much. If it were not for the 
necessity of keeping the silage from separating into 
grain and leaves I would not care to have anyone in 
the silo at all. The condition of the corn when put 
in determines the keeping qualities. Very green corn 
in a wet season should be cut and well wilted, mature 
and drought-stricken corn is dry enough when cut, 
and corn which was glazed and has laid in a hot 
sun for some days should be sprinkled well, or it 
will fire-fang. Too much sap makes a sour article, 
and too little makes only cut cornstalks. The shorter 
the cut the closer it will pack, and the better it suits 
me when taken out. On fields where corn is short 
and light one can pitch on with a fork, but on all 
other fields I believe one saves enough to hire a corn 
harvester at $1.50 per acre. Less help is needed when 
drawing from the field and feeding the machine, but 
if one cannot afford to buy one and cannot rent one 
use an old reaper. 
CUTTING THE CORN.—Any size corn can be cut 
as follows: Drive so as to take only one row, and 
that at the far end of the knives; set the machine so 
it will not throw off. Have a man follow and when 
table is full grab hold of the tops and step out around 
toward the seat, or into row cut the round before, and 
then stand still. The machine will pull out from 
under the bunch and you have a big lot of corn in a 
straight bundle. These bundles will not wilt much 
except on outside for several days, and it’s much 
cheaper than cutting by hand; being done the day 
before filling, one has more help left for drawing. Set 
your machine and construct your table so corn can be 
pulled from load down on to them and not have to 
be lifted up. This will make a great big difference 
in your feelings at night. It’s heavy work at best, 
and “gravity” is worth any two men you have, and 
never gets tired, either. A shallow trench to lower 
the wheels of the wagon on machine side works 
wonders. Load the corn properly and a boy can slide 
it from wagon easier than two men can lug it up to 
and pitch it on to the machine from the ground. We 
find the traveling feed-table a great help and I be¬ 
lieve one man can put more corn through with it 
than two without. The new metal elevator and swivel 
carriers do not spill and scatter as much without 
a cover as the old ones did with one, and it is not 
half the trouble to get the machine in line, as the 
swivel adjusts itself. The blowers which send the 
corn through a tube are a nice thing when perfected, 
but at present require considerable extra power, and 
some of them get clogged. To prove they were 
strong enough an angry agent at the State Fair ran 
in several long pieces of fence boards. The lumber 
was literally chewed and thrown, or rather blown, 
DARK PURPLE-LEAVED JAPAN MAPLE. Fig. 232. 
See Ruralisms, Page 642. 
over a large area. They will be easier handled than 
the present elevators. 
The best cover that I have ever used was wheat 
chaff six inches thick, a peck of oats and plenty of 
water well mixed and packed. The oats grew and 
the roots held the chaff in a network. When taken 
off it would roll like a carpet and there was no loss 
of corn. c. e. chapman. 
GREAT VALUE OF ORCHARD GRASS. 
The remarks on Orchard grass, page 575, tempt 
me to add something of over 40 years’ experience. I 
was living in Pennsylvania and had bought a farm 
from an old resident, on which was a remarkably fine 
field of Orchard grass which, when I purchased the 
farm, was nearly ready to cut for hay. The owner, 
seeing my interest in that field, told me its history. 
It was twelve years before the time we stood in the 
grass over waist high, that the land was seeded. The 
farmer was an old man, and, said he, “If you live to 
see that grass give out you will be older than I am. 
I sowed that field 10 years ago, and have mowed it 
and pastured it nine times, and it has given steadily 
over two tons of the best kind of hay to the acre, and 
pasture afterwards, for 25 cows from July until the 
snow has covered it.” There were nearly 30 acres 
in the field, and the old man begged me never to turn 
that sod. I promised him I would not, for the very 
good reason that if it would do so permanently noth¬ 
ing better could be wished. 
In 1871 I moved to New York and soon after lived 
in New Jersey a few years and then went to North 
Carolina. From there in or about 1893 I had occasion 
to write to the Pennsylvania farmer who was still 
on the farm, and asked him about the Orchard-grass 
field. He told me it was just the same in every way 
as when he got it, over 20 years before, but that the 
grass was thicker on the ground and so free from 
stools that he was cutting it with a mower. It had 
to be mowed by hand previously, because of the 
stools. Every year the droppings of the cows were 
scattered and manure was spread over it, with a 
dressing of lime, which had made a thick bottom of 
clover. It was, he said, the best 30 acres on the farm. 
In 1873 I moved into New Jersey, and had occasion 
to sow some Orchard grass for cutting for cows, fed 
by soiling, early in the Summer. This grass comes 
in very conveniently early in the Spring and is essen¬ 
tial to success for this use. I cut the grass myself, 
and I mowed in the Orchard grass when it was so 
high that I could not see over the heads on a level. 
One square rod of it I weighed as it was cut, and the 
weight was a little over 80 pounds. This made a full 
feed for one cow, and some of the cows could scarcely 
eat it. This lot was sown with three bushels of seed 
to the acre, which is as little as should be sown, on 
account of the habit of stooling if it is sown less 
thickly. I have a small field of it now in North 
Carolina which is mown for soiling cows, or for hay, 
and sown at this rate with half as much tall Oat 
meadow -grass and Red clover make a dense mat with¬ 
out any stools, although both these grasses have a 
stooling habit. I have also found that this grass 
makes an excellent growth on low wet land, growing 
densely and luxuriously, and has a deep green color. 
H. 8. 
A SHAKY SEED CONTRACT. 
Do Not Sign the Contract. 
At the New York State Fair we met a number of 
farmers who complained of the business done by a 
seed company said to be located at Buffalo, N. Y. 
This company had an exhibit on the grounds, with 
several loud-talking agents who were past masters 
at the art, telling big stories about farming. One of 
these agents proclaimed loudly that he had a new 
corn, the result of a “cross between Stowell’s Ever¬ 
green and Pride of the North.” If there are any pos¬ 
sible good qualities which this corn did not possess, 
the agent had either forgotten them, or else the Eng¬ 
lish language is not strong enough to give them 
proper expression. It was the same way with cele¬ 
brated new potatoes, oats, rye and other farm prod¬ 
ucts. In view of these big stories and the earnest 
complaints made against the company, we spent some 
little time in looking them up. We find that they go 
to farmers through the country asking them to go 
into a contract. The farmer is expected to sign this 
agreement: 
SIRS—I will sow.bushels of your New Czar Rye 
before Sept. 30 this year at the rate of one and one-' 
fourth bushels, per acre, on my best ground properly 
cultivated, prepared and fertilized with well-rotted barn¬ 
yard manure or some standard commercial fertilizer. I 
reserve the right to buy the seed at $2 per bushel before 
December 15, this year, if I conclude not to pay for the 
seed before that date. I agree to mail a report on the 
crop and ship back 10 bushels marketable Rye for each 
bushel seed from . Station on or before 
Aug. 20 next year. One-half to be the New Rye, other 
half good marketable Rye, any variety. 
Signed . 
In our opinion a farmer would be foolish to accept 
any such contract. Take the average yield of rye. 
He cannot afford to give 10 bushels properly cleaned 
and loaded on the cars for one bushel of seed. We do 
not see that he has any guarantee that the rye is in 
any way better than grain grown on his own farm 
for years. Of course the agent says that the rye, oats 
and corn are far superior to the ordinary sort, but 
this statement does not make them so. It would be 
an easy matter if a man wanted to do so to go to the 
elevators in Buffalo and buy large quantities of cheap 
grain of ordinary kinds. If such oats, rye and wheat 
could be sold to farmers on this contract, getting 10 
bushels back for every bushel of seed delivered, the 
business would be far better than any scheme of 
planting and reaping yet devised. We are frank to 
say that we do not like this way of doing business. 
The best farmers and the experiment station people 
do not seem to have heard of these wonderful new 
varieties, and the average farmer makes a mistake 
in going into a contract of this sort until he is ad¬ 
vised by those who ought to know, that the varieties 
are superior to those which have given fair results 
on his farm. In our judgment this game is about 
like that played by those Ohio nursery people. The 
agents go about telling wonderful stories about new 
varieties of fruits, which the experts never heard of. 
They tell the farmer of the wonderful advantage to 
him of getting in ahead of his neighbors in producing 
these so-called new varieties. No farmer would think 
of going to his grain bin and measuring out 10 bush¬ 
els of his own wheat for a bushel of some variety 
which he has never seen growing, and which may or 
may not be equal to that in his own bin. Yet, that is 
just what these people ask the farmer to do. From 
the information we have been able to obtain, we do 
not hesitate to warn our readers against this scheme. 
We would not under any circumstances sign a con¬ 
tract offered by this company. In our judgment every 
reader of The R. N.-Y. who does so, will live to re¬ 
gret it. 
