366 
May 24 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
missed them, financially, out of all the stock put to¬ 
gether. For a full-grown orchard where the roots 
have full possession of the soil, with trees headed 
high and strictly commercial varieties, Mr. Wood¬ 
ward’s method is all right; but for a young orchard 
and a local market I differ with him. After all, what¬ 
ever method is followed, the man at the helm is the 
deciding factor between success or failure. 
Onohdaga Co., N. Y. grant g. hitchings. 
A MECHANIC WANTS A FARM. 
I have read the articles by j. A. Thayer, and gen¬ 
erally speaking, think he is correct except in regard 
to prices of land. I am one of those city mechanics 
who are thinking of going into the country to work 
a farm, and I have given the matter considerable 
thought and study, both in regard to location and 
price and quality of land. I can have a choice of sev¬ 
eral good farms in the town of Londonderry, N. H., 
the home of Horace Greeley, and think if he were 
alive to-day he would reverse his advice, “Go West, 
young man,” and tell them to go East and take up 
some of those abandoned farms. The farms men¬ 
tioned contain froth 40 to 100 acres and good build¬ 
ings, and can be had at from .$1,500 to $2,500 which 
falls a long way short of $75 to $125 an acre. I saw 
the farms last Fall, and found out all 1 could about 
their productiveness. They are all good, and 
can in a few years be made to pay a good in¬ 
come if a man is not afraid to work them. The New 
England States are full of just such places, anrr the 
markets are certainly numerous and second to none. 
No commission man takes the farmer’s profits, as in 
most of the West. If he does not raise such immense 
amounts of stuff he certainly gets all there is in it, 
and gets it direct. 1 have also investigated quite a 
little in regard to farms in Virginia, and there are 
numerous places there within prices mentioned that 
can be made to pay well. I don’t look at farm life 
as poetic, although the true poetry is nearest to na¬ 
ture. I consider it is a life of hard and earnest toil, 
which no man should undertake who is afraid of work. 
Detroit, Mich. g. 
HIGH FEEDING FOR POTATOES. 
P. B. Crosby, of Maryland, sends us the following 
statement about the cost of feeding a potato crop. It 
may shock some of our western friends: 
For the past live years I have been trying - to grow a 
profitable crop of potatoes, and while this is the first 
year I have kept an accurate expense acount, It is safe 
to say that my only assets so far are large and varied 
experience. This year my expense account for about 
five acres reads as follows: 
1,800 pounds kainit . $10 80 
2,400 pounds dissolved animal bone.!!!.!! zv!e0 
500 pounds nitrate soda. 10 00 
225 pounds muriate potash. 4 - 95 
225 pounds sulphate potash. 5.62 
1,500 pounds hard-wood unleached ashes. lo 00 
4,168 pounds sweepings from fertilizer factory... 20.83 
38 loads well rotted stable manure. 19 00 
Plowing, harrowing and planting. 23 00 
11 barrels seed. 34.80 
4 ounces bichloride of mercury.’ ’25 
Total .$166.85 
I confess I am somewhat startled at the result. My 
previous experience seemed to teach that it does not pay 
to farm half way where potatoes are concerned, but my 
resolution to put in a crop in the way I thought it ought 
to go in is a severe strain upon my faith. If any reader 
of The R. N.-Y. has any word of encouragement to cheer 
me up until harvest time the same will be most grate¬ 
fully received. The manure and part of the sweepings 
were broadcast, and the remainder of fertilizer mixed 
and applied in the row (with an Aspinwall planter) and 
on the row by hand. 
The use of wood ashes is opposed by most potato 
growers because the lime in it increases the liability 
to scab. Mr. Crosby explains: 
The leason I put 300 pounds per acre on my potatoes 
was due partly to yourself. In The R. N.-Y. you said 
to a correspondent that one of the requisites of a high- 
gi ade fertilizer was that it snould derive its potash from 
more than one source, hence I got as many sources as 
I could, both sulphate and muriate of potash, kainit and 
the aforesaid ashes, notwithstanding that I had read long 
accounts of experiments showing that ashes tend to pro¬ 
duce scab. Better have potatoes with scab than no 
potatoes. In the same field of which the potato patch 
is a part, three years ago a pile of brush burned in¬ 
creased the yield of wheat over ten bushels per acre, 
which is to my mind indisputable evidence that while 
other forms of potash may benefit, ashes will benefit the 
soil, and we cannot afford to ignore what we see on our 
own land for the sake of what we read has been seen 
on other lands. 
We prefer sulphate of potash to ashes, and thus 
avoid the use of lime. A single form of potash might 
answer but there should surely be different forms of 
nitrogen. Mr. Crosby has at least four different 
sources of nitrogen. But do you expect that the pota¬ 
toes will use all this plant food? 
I do not think I would have had the courage to put in 
such an expensive crop of potatoes if I had not had an 
eye to the grass that is to follow. When a boy I saw my 
father raise more and better hay from five acres of 
potato land than from twenty acres of wheat land, and 
if I can keep my potatoes cultivated properly I certainly 
shall have an ideal seed bed for grass. 
Our opinion is that the extra culture that is usually 
given potatoes has much to do with the good crops of 
grain and grass which usually follow. It is also true 
that most farmers put the best they have on the pota¬ 
toes and that always means a surplus for the crop 
that follows. 
This spring I am farming 710 acres with no regular 
help and it makes my shoulders ache to think of knap¬ 
sacking for spraying five acres every two or three 
weeks. Why cannot I dissolve the copper sulphate In as 
little water as possible, thereby getting a strong solu¬ 
tion and then slake the lime with the solution and put it 
on with a blower while the plants are wet with dew or 
FERTILIZING THE FARM BROOK. Fie. 140. 
rain? When we spray on a sunshiny day ten minutes 
after there is no water left, and to my unscientific mind 
there is no difference then in results whether it has been 
a solution the water of which came from the pump or 
the dew, for the other processes have been the same, 
the sulphate being dissolved In water in each case. I 
judge the dissolving of the sulphate in water to be the 
main point, as that insures the desired finely-divided 
particles. 
You can do this with fair success. We understand 
that the preparations of dry Bordeaux Mixture are 
made in about this way, dried and ground fine after 
being taken from the water. We have often used 
the dry mixtures on potatoes. They do quite well 
when the vines are wet and when the air is still. In a 
strong wind they blow too much. 
GREAT VIGOR OF RUSSET APPLE TREES. 
I have read with much interest several articles 
about the russet apple. Are not some of these writers 
trying to grow it on land that is not suitable for it? 
One writer says there are 20 kinds of russets. If 
there were twice that number I think the Roxbury 
Russet would be good enough for me, and I would 
venture the assertion that there is not another variety 
on the list that will grow as large, live as long, and 
WHERE THE MANURE GOES TO. Fu 141. 
do the life-work that the Roxbury Russet will do if 
properly grown. I can mention two trees that I know 
something about. These trees are very large, and 
very old, perhaps it takes a big tree to give a big 
record. The seed from which tree No. 1 was grown 
was planted by my Father in 1818. I do not know 
much of its record until 1850. since that time it has 
averaged four barrels of No. 1 fruit in a season. The 
tree was never cultivated, but has furnished many 
premium specimens. It is seven feet in circumference 
six feet above the ground. The branches covered a 
space of 40 feet before they were badly broken by se¬ 
vere gales, when the tree was loaded with fruit a few 
years since. So badly was the tree damaged, 
that I supposed its days of usefulness were over, and 
I set a sugar maple four feet- from the tree, intending 
to cut it down at the end of the season, and look to 
the maple for its shade. But the tree threw out such 
strong branches and showed so much vigor that it 
was spared, and so has been until to-day, when we re¬ 
moved the maple to make room for the second edition 
of the old russet tree. I have no doubt that the tree 
with its new top is good for 16 years more, which will 
cover a full century of its existence and take in three 
generations of those who have taken an interest in 
it. Few trees are placed in a more favorable position 
than tree No. 2, 20 rods from No. 1, at the foot of the 
kitchen garden, 'ihis tree has always been cultivated, 
and had all the plant food it could use. Like most 
russets, this has been an annual bearer, but giving 
more fruit some seasons than others. We have taken 
from its branches 14 barrels of first-class fruit. There 
has not been a season within the last five years that 
the tree has not produced over 2,000 pounds of fruit. 
It is free from decay and will outlive some of the 
Baldwin trees we set last week. 
While not advising anyone to set a russet orchard, 
owing to the market demand for a red apple, I would 
advise those who have this variety, and land that will 
grow them, to continue to take good care of their 
trees. In a season like the last, one tree will bear 
more fruit than a dozen trees of almost any other va¬ 
riety. They will come from the fruit cellar as hard 
and firm as when put in in October. We have just 
sold a two-horse load of russets for $4 per barrel, and 
do not expect to live long enough to see the time they 
will not be wanted at a fair price in the Spring mar¬ 
ket. j. E . 
Sherborn, Mass. 
ROUNDABOUT TRACK TO A FARM. 
I made a visit to England and France which was 
at the wrong time of the year to see much of country 
life. The most that I saw was from car windows and 
in the markets of Liverpool, London and Paris, where 
there were very fine displays of vegetables. Cauli¬ 
flowers, Brussels sprouts and turnips have much more 
attention than with us. They use at least three times 
the manure per acre that we do. Stacking all hay 
and straw out of doors I do not think would suit our 
climate, but looking at their pleasant homes 1 took 
the farming fever and have hired a 50-acre farm nine 
miles from the city on line of an electric road. One 
piece of 40 acres has eight in pasture (part woods). 
Another piece of eight acres across the road running 
to the seashore has 60 apple trees on it. Each lot has 
a good house and barn with water piped into the 
house; also two separate orchard lots (old trees) of 
an acre each. I have plenty of modern farming tools, 
except for cutting hay, and one good work horse. 
The farm is in a good state of cultivation. I cut 30 
tons of hay last season and have six acres new seed¬ 
ing. I am to pay $250. The owner is to live in house 
on eight-acre lot. I am to furnish them vegetables, 
apples, etc., raised on the farm and their fire-wood. 
We have a supply at each house now for a year. There 
is a good chance to get sea dressing, as rock-weed 
waste, fish, crabs and mussels are plentiful. T in¬ 
tend to plant one acre of sweet corn, same of pota¬ 
toes, three-fourths acre of turnips and have one-fourth 
acre in garden. Have bought one ton of phosphate. 
There is about one car of manure on the place. I 
cannot do much work on the place myself, but pay a 
man $1.50 per day and he boards himself. How do 
you think I shall come out? H . c. 
Maine. 
R. N.-Y.—We give it up! There are good chances 
on a farm but our experience shows that the farmer 
must be on the ground himself if he expects to pay 
tor a farm. With crops like hay, grain or apples a 
man may perhaps farm by proxy; but he cannot do it 
well with crops that require careful cultivation. 
FEPJDING THE WATER.—The pictures shown at 
Pigs. 140 and 141 need little comment. Actual photo¬ 
graphs—they show just how not to do it. They open 
a discussion of the manure question which will be 
continued by Prof. I. P. Roberts next week and car¬ 
ried on by others. See the slope from the manure 
piles down to the brook and pond! The heart of the 
farm goes running down those little hills. Prof. E. 
B. Voorhees, of New Jersey, found that a cow averag¬ 
ing 1,000 pounds gave in solid and liquid manure 70 
pounds per day or 12.78 tons per year. If every bit 
of the manure from these well-fed cows could be 
saved, we should have 117 pounds of nitrogen, 77 of 
phosphoric acid and 89 of potash from each cow. This 
means the fertilizing elements that you would buy in 
731 pounds nitrate of soda, 550 pounds acid phosphate 
and 178 pounds of muriate of potash—1,459 pounds in 
all—heavier than the cow! Prof. Voorhees found 
that the manure pile lost by leaching, 45 per cent of 
its nitrogen, 30 per cent of phosphoric acid and 35 
per cent of potash. In such a situation as is here pic¬ 
tured the loss will be much greater. How long can 
the farm or the pocketbook stand such a drain? Sure¬ 
ly the heart of the farm goes down these little hills 
and with it the paint on the buildings, the courage 
of the farmer and the ambition of his wife. As it 
goes it pulls the nails out of the fence, the blinds off 
the house, the children from their birthright and the 
very joy out of life. 
