1902 'Y 
A NEW ENGLAND AUTHORITY SAYS DON'T 
Prof. Waugh on Grass in Orchard. 
I have just, been reading The R. N.-Y., page 783, and 
I can’t keep out of the quarrel any longer. It seems 
to me that you are doing the people an injustice in 
giving them so much of this Hitchings style of grow¬ 
ing fruit trees. It may he very well to mention such 
things as a matter of news. The Police Gazette says 
that people should read about crime so as to know 
what it is like. But you don’t believe in giving all 
the bloody details—filling up page on page with that 
sort of stuff. Neither do I believe in filling an agri¬ 
cultural paper with so many pages of how not to do it. 
Of course you have been careful not to recommend 
the sod-land system. Very good. The Police Gazette 
doesn’t recommend larceny, nor highway robbery, nor 
prize fighting, either. It gives them "merely as mat¬ 
ters of news.” 
Furthermore, it seems to me that Craig and Van 
Deman and the other horticultural arc-lights, in their 
anxiety to be perfectly fair and judicial, and in their 
less-laudable desire to hedge so that nobody can trip 
them up, have abdicated their sworn duty. We look 
to such men for leadership; and if they are wabbly 
and uncertain, and think it may be so, or it may be 
some other way, why what can the rest of us do? We 
common apple growers and farmers, never very sure 
of our ground, and always willing to take the easiest 
way of doing a thing, are more than apt to accept 
their careful balancing of opinions as permis¬ 
sion to d > as we please in such cases. 
Now if there is anything which modern 
science and practice have established with re¬ 
spect to agriculture and horticulture, it is that 
the emphasis ought to be on the last two syl¬ 
lables. If we aren’t going to cultivate it isn’t 
culture. It is possible to grow corn and pota¬ 
toes and apples without cultivation, but that 
isn’t agriculture. We have fought and fought 
this old heresy of sod orchards, and have driven 
the whole army of laziness, indifference and 
ignorance clean back to the borderland, until 
we thought the war was almost over. Craig 
and Van Deman have helped nobly. Every 
good fruit grower in the country has been en¬ 
listed. They have proved through the long bat¬ 
tles that the way to grow apples is to cultivate 
the trees, and that any little local exception to 
this rule is something too trivial to be more 
than curious. Now it seems too bad to see the 
captains, including The R. N.-Y., coming out 
on the field with a flag of truce and asking if 
we can’t start the fight all over again. Don’t 
misunderstand me. Mr. Hitchings may disre¬ 
gard the commandments and not suffer for it. 
Such things often happen in the moral sphere. 
If the proper penalties were always rigidly en¬ 
forced, where would you and I be now? But 
that makes it none the less wrong to embezzle 
trust funds or to grow grass in an orchard. It 
seems to me that the prominence which you 
have been giving to this matter, along with the 
extremely mild criticisms of it, is likely to have 
a very bad effect. For my part I wish to speak 
against it just as strongly as I can. Mr. Hitch¬ 
ings may be an exception, and there may be 
others, but they are as nothing compared with 
the rule. What the agricultural world needs 
is the gospel of cultivation—culture, culture, 
culture. This is the gospel which has saved the coun¬ 
try thus far and which must be depended on for the 
future. When some short cut has been discovered for 
getting ’round the Golden Rule, then it will be time 
to consider some short cut for the gospel of agricul¬ 
ture. F. A. WAUGH. 
COOK'S DAIRY AND FARM NOTES. 
Feeding for Increased Milk. 
About September 20 it commenced to rain, and it rained 
about two weeks nearly every day. Our cows fell off 
in their milk and kept going down till some dried up 
the last of October and November. The pasture was 
quite good, and I fed green corn and silage. Would it 
have helped them had I kept them in the stable or fed 
them grain? f. h. s. 
East Point, Pa. 
It would depend altogether upon the time these 
cows are due to calve, and whether they are good 
milkers. If they are not due until Spring I should 
most emphatically say yes; grain would have helped 
them. If they had plenty of grass and silage and are 
coming in late I should say they were not the best of 
cows, or else they have in former years dried up early 
and have the habit therefore fixed upon them. In 
such a case I know of no cheap easy way out. The 
early Fall stabling when cows are thoroughly well 
fed and in good condition does not usually in prac¬ 
tice meet the theoretical view of the case. On the 
contrary, I have had cows shrink in the milk when 
stabled early. The trouble with early constant stab- 
HE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
ling is that the owner forgets when feeding that the 
food previously obtained out of doorfc 1 is no longer 
supplied, and their rations are consequently short. 
A Protein Ration for Milch Cows. 
I have an abundance of good corn fodder, and desire 
to provide a supply of ground feed that will be a milk 
producer; a concentrated feed. I have been feeding wheat 
bran at $16 per ton, but am not satisfied with results. 
I am offered a certain commercial ground feed at $22 pur¬ 
ported to be a distillery by-product, dry grain, having 
corn as its basic element, yet so compounded as to an¬ 
alyze as follows: Water, 7.29 per cent; ash, 2.07 per cent; 
protein, 31.37 per cent; fiber. 13.39 per cent; fat, 8.47 per 
cent; nitrogen, 37.41 per cent. If this analysis is correct 
it would certainly give far better results and be cheaper 
at the price than wheat bran. From this statement 
what is your opinion of the feed, its comparative value 
and what amount (pounds) would you recommend fed as 
a ration in connection with good unshredded corn fod¬ 
der as roughage? Or would it, as a certain dealer sug¬ 
gests, give better results to mix it with wheat bran hav¬ 
ing 15.10 per cent of protein, which would reduce the 
aggregate amount of protein to 22 per cent, which 
amount is considered to give good results at a less cost 
if mixed equal parts? b. o. 
Clinton Co., Ohio. 
These dried distillers’ grains are a very satisfactory 
food; the starchy portion has been removed from the 
corn in the process of manufacture, and the residue 
analyzing about as indicated in the question. To say 
just how rich a protein ration these cows will stand 
is out of the question, depending upon period of lac¬ 
tation, breeding and previous care. No doubt an im¬ 
GANS PEAR, Natural Size. Fig. 338. See Page 834. 
provement in milk flow will follow a mixture of bran 
and distillers’ grains, equal parts, or still better use 
wheat middlings in place of bran unless cows are 
young and a growth is necessary, or are nearly dry 
and soon to freshen. The texture of these grains is 
coarse and bulky, which makes a good combination 
mechanically considered. With fine gluten meal, bran 
is more desirable. Any combination of foods that in¬ 
creases palatability improves the effectiveness in milk 
or beef. If your State has a cattle food law you will 
be materially aided in having a guarantee that these 
by-products are up to analysis. The number of these 
foods is yearly increasing, and each State should enact 
laws protecting the purchaser. New York State has a 
very good law. 
Plowing and Drainage Questions. 
My land is partly a heavy clay. I keep four 1,150 hors s 
and use three on a large Syracuse plow. Will it pay 
me to buy a gang and use four? Would it pay to use a 
light gang or disk plow in place of a 20-inch Cutaway 
harrow? I think of building a barn cellar. Stone is 
costly. Would it not be cheaper for me to dig a trench 
10 inches wide, as deep in the ground as I want the wall 
and fill it with cement; after it has hardened dig out the 
cellar? I want to put in some culverts. The glazed pipe 
comes too high for me. Can I make wooden forms and 
make 10-inch pipe? J. h. 
Biddeford, Me. 
I have no experience with gang plows. I should 
prefer the Cutaway or disk harrow. In connection 
with good plowing I have found no way of so com¬ 
pletely and thoroughly pulverizing a tough soil as 
831 
with a harrow of this kind. We must not overlook 
the fact that good plowing is the foundation of perfect 
soil preparation. No tool has been given us to take 
its place. Have you not seen the marked effect often 
of a second plowing between two crops? Next to it 
is the ability of a disk harrow to change the relative 
location of dirt particles with its attendant quick 
chemical changes, patent to all who have studied. 
You could build the concrete wall in the way men¬ 
tioned and have a firm solid foundation. The only 
objection would be the rough surface of the wall. You 
would have difficulty in digging a trench and having 
a smooth surface. Soils usually contain small stones 
that would work out in the process. The cement 
would follow every indentation. The back could safe¬ 
ly be made against the dirt. Dig out the cellar first, 
using a "form” of boards for the inside of this con¬ 
crete wall. The “form” can be raised as the concrete 
hardens. Without small or crushed stone, using only 
sand and cement, this wall will be very expensive. 
One part Portland cement, four parts clean, sharp 
sand and about an equal quantity of crushed stone 
will form a solid wall. The stones are held in place 
and are comparatively cheap filling. If you have 
small round stones lying upon the surface they will 
perform the same office. The surface through much 
of the East is more or less covered with these drop¬ 
pings from the glacial period. They are a nuisance 
on fields but have value for concrete and roadmaking. 
If my conception of the last question is right, J. H. 
would make a concrete culvert, using wooden 
forms. By all means use glazed tile. The ex¬ 
pense would be only fractional. The only secret 
in using tile for sluices and culverts is to get 
them covered deep enough so that wagons will 
not crush them and to give a gentle decline 
with a free outflow at the end to prevent water 
standing and freezing. Where these precau¬ 
tions are observed they make a substantial cul¬ 
vert. If J. H. means the use of plank or tim¬ 
bers he will find, if some of the soft non-perish¬ 
able woods like cedar are used, a very lasting 
job will result. I have used hemlock plank; 
they will last 25 years if kept covered away 
from the air. Moisture and air make a com¬ 
bination sure to produce decay without regard 
to substance. A cedar post always rots first 
near the surface. 
Corn for Freshening Cows. 
I have three grade Jersey cows due to come In 
during the next two months. They have had pas¬ 
ture through the Summer and a moderate grain 
ration. They are in fairly good condition, and I 
wish to keep them so, that I may get the best re¬ 
sults from them next season. I have corn on 
the ear, oats and wheat bran from which 
I was intending to make a ration for them after 
they were dried off. I have one bushel of oats 
ground with two bushels of ears, and planned to 
give each cow one quart of this mixture and one 
quart of the bran per day, but am told that it is 
not safe to feed them any corn at this time. What 
do you say? Is it safe to feed these cows that 
small quantity of corn or not? If not, why not? c. 
It is a safe rule to follow while cows are dry 
to abstain from a corn diet. The small amount 
here mentioned can do no harm. What the ani¬ 
mal must have during the last three or four 
months of gestation is an abundant ration of 
Eoods containing blood and bone-making ma¬ 
terial. When she undertakes, as she will if 
necessary, to build the embryo calf from her own 
tissue, there must soon come a loss. Corn con¬ 
tains a minimum of these essentials, protein and ash. 
On the contrary we must not lose sight of the fact 
that they must have heat-forming food during the 
Winter. These Jersey cows with a thin coat of hair, 
thin skin and usually not over supplied with fatty 
tissue, will profitably use a small amount of corn, 
one or two pounds daily. If this small amount after 
trial proves to produce an excess of heat it can be 
withdrawn. The temperature of the stable will also 
determine to what extent corn may be used. The 
same cow at a uniform temperature of 50 to 55 de¬ 
grees will find corn a positive damage, while at 30 to 
40 degrees she can appropriate the extra heat to the 
best advantage. From 75 to 90 per cent of the food 
is utilized in animal heat and energy. Of all the 
concentrates corn furnishes the cheapest source. 
Carefully watch their condition and with these prin¬ 
ciples in mind the foods can be adjusted. We might 
add that the coarse fodder will influence the feeding 
of grain. If it is late-cut Timothy hay more easily 
digested grain will be required than if early-cut mixed 
or clover hay. Twenty-five pounds of silage each 
day will be of advantage, and if from mature corn I 
should positively not feed any corn in the grain ration. 
h. e. cook. 
Think what Lawes and Gilbert would have done for 
agriculture if they could have known 25 years ago what 
we now know of the bacteria which fix nitrogen! 
