1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
639 
ALL SORTS. 
WEEDLESS POTATOES.—I have about one acre 
of potatoes. My plan is to plow the ground as early 
as possible in the Spring; and then to cultivate be¬ 
fore the potatoes are planted. The early plowing, if 
followed by thorough tillage, will insure moisture 
through the season, even though it be as dry as this. 
I plow 10 inohes deep, and if sod land, turn the fur¬ 
row as flat as possible, and then work it till the soil 
is mellow and fine for at least eight inches deep. 
With the cultivation given after planting, with an 
ordinary cultivator, I have no trouble with the weeds. 
I think the trouble most people have with weeds 
comes from the fact that they do not properly fit the 
land before planting, thinking that they can culti¬ 
vate the ground after the crop is up. I realize that, 
with a large acreage, it takes a deal of time properly 
to fit the soil, but it pays nevertheless. j. m. s. 
GREEN FODDER FOR HORSES.—I have had no 
experience in feeding rape to horses, but I have had 
lots of experience feeding green corn, and I consider 
there is nothing better. We have been feeding green 
fodder for about four weeks, having planted some 
early for that purpose; now that is about done, and 
we shall commence on the other corn. We have been 
feeding the fodder to stallions, brood mares and 
mares without colts, and to all our sale cattle. We 
have marked a wonderful improvement in the calves 
since we started to give them the fodder. 
I was for many years with one of the largest im¬ 
porting and breeding establishments in the United 
States, and we there fed green fodder to a great 
extent. One has to be very careful in feeding it at 
the start, till once the horses are used to it. It has 
great fattening properties and very cooling, also. I 
consider i't one of the best feeds for horses in its 
season. william barrie. 
Indiana. 
POTATO DIGGING.—I do not advise any man 
with one or two acres to bother buying any digger, 
if he is a good plowman. Use a good-sized plow, 
keep the team a little to one side, and run 'the plow 
slightly on tne land side. After picking, go through 
the row in the opposite direction. It takes some work 
with the feet or the potato hook; on a trial in a 
patch that made 200 bushels per acre, my man and 
I picked and loaded in the wagon, 40 bushels in one- 
half day, using a common plow. In the same time 
and field, we took up 55 bushels after the light dig¬ 
ger, and 70 bushels after the elevating machine, 
making the cost of digging where we used the plow, 
2V 2 cents per bushel, counting wages at $1 per day; 
with light digger, less than 2 cents, and with big ma¬ 
chine near iy 2 cent per bushel. So you see the dif¬ 
ference in cost of raising between the plow and big 
machine is 1 cent per bushel, and on 200 bushels pei 
acre, $2. The difference between cost in using the 
light machine and the large one would be $1 per 
acre. v ‘ B ' 
Dewistown, Pa. 
FEEDING OATS AND PEAS—With a few excep¬ 
tions, dairymen depend upon pasturage for keeping 
their cows in Summer, with corn to help out as soon 
as it can be grown to a proper size, which does not 
' occur till late in July or early in August, in many 
instances. By July 1, or soon after, most pasture 
grasses begin to get dry and hard, less palatable, and 
less nutritious, consequently the cows commence 
shrinking in milk, and when once they have shrunken, 
it is impossible to bring them up to the June flow 
again. Of course, there are those who let their cows 
go dry during July and August, but that is not the 
case with the great majority of dairymen. Rye comes 
in as an early succulent food, and may, in many in¬ 
stances, be used with profit; but for the July feed, I 
do not think there is anything equal to oats and peas. 
Fig. 239 shows a small portion of a field of this crop, 
with some of it cut and in the swath. On the farm, 
when this picture was taken, the cows ran out to pas¬ 
ture at night and the greater part of the day. A feed 
of oats and peas is placed before them when brought 
up for milking—25 to 30 pounds per day. It is esti¬ 
mated that the field produces, at least, 12 tons of 
freshly-cut feed per acre, and it is figured that the 
cost is about iy 2 cent per cow per day. The owner 
does not believe that it would pay to increase the 
feed of oats and peas, as it isn’t good economy to 
feed so much that the cows will not look for feed in 
the pasture. No grain is fed except to two or three 
heavy milkers, which seem to be growing thin. 
When oats and peas arc past their best, millet and 
corn will take their place. With corn, a little bran 
will be fed to help balance the ration. This feed 
keeps up the flow of milk very well, and no dog is 
needed to fetch the cows to the stable. It is better to 
let the feed wilt a little before taking it to the barn. 
Oats and peas furnish a rather narrow ration, scarcely 
more than 1:4 by the Cornell bulletin; but with the 
pasture feed, it is, no doubt, wide enough, also is 
probably narrow enough to require no grain. 
Bainbridge, N. Y. H, H. L. 
MISTAKEN CONCLUSIONS.—Here is a curious 'in¬ 
stance of the way observing men may be mistaken in 
their conclusions. A large apple grower observed the 
intimate relations between ants and plant lice. He 
noticed that the ants seemed to follow the lice about 
and keep track of them, and concluded that the ants 
destroyed and ate the lice, and he made up his mind 
to help them along 'in this work. He, therefore, did 
his best to scatter the ants about his orchard, going 
so far as to carry ant hills from the outside in among 
the trees. He was greatly surprised to find that he 
had been entirely mistaken in his conclusion, and was 
really doing a bad thing for the trees. Instead of de¬ 
stroying the plant lice, the ants take care of them 
much as a shepherd would care for a flock of sheep. 
With some varieties, the ants actually carry the eggs 
of the plant lice down into t^eir burrows, so that 
they may be hatched out. The eggs of some of the 
lice would be destroyed unless ants cared for them in 
this way. It is stated that the ants actually carry 
some varieties of the lice down into the ground on the 
roots of the apple trees, and herd them there so that 
i..ey would work on these roots, and thus secrete a 
substance of which the ants are very fond. There is 
probably no other insect which makes use of the 
lower forms of life 'in this way, but the ants do ac¬ 
tually protect and herd the lice, so that they will pro- 
viue an agreeable food. Thus, our friend, instead of 
HOW TO HANDLE BEES. Fig. 240. 
helping his orchard along, was doing a positive in¬ 
jury in protecting the ants. This only shows how 
easily we may be deceived by such observations un¬ 
less we know positively the habits of the various 
insects. 
HOW TO HANDLE BEES. 
To become familiar with the habits and life of the 
honey bee, in an intelligent and practical way, it 'is, 
of course, necessary to use a movable-frame hive of 
some sort; in order to meet their needs, we must 
know what is going on inside the hive. When bees 
are in the field gathering honey, or w-hqn swarming, 
they will never volunteer an attack, because they 
are then filled with honey; but when their little 
home is molested, they will then act in self defense, 
and resent the attack. It is, therefore, necessary to 
use a smoker of some kind. Before opening a hive, 
send in a few puffs of smoke at the entrance to 
alarm them, and they will immediately rush for the 
combs, and fill themselves with honey. After smok¬ 
ing them, it is well to wait a minute or two that they 
may gorge themselves; the cover can then be lifted 
off, and a little more smoke blown in on top of the 
frames, and the bees will adhere nicely to the combs. 
With screw-driver or tack-puller, the division board 
can be removed, and the combs pried apart, and one 
by one examined without any danger of being stung. 
In an apiary where there are many bees flying, it 
is always best to be on the safe side, and wear a veil, 
but gloves are unnecessary and cumbersome. A 
beehive should not be pulled apart every few days 
for mere curiosity, but should be examined occa¬ 
sionally to ascertain the needs of the bees and con¬ 
dition. If the colony is weak, it can be strengthened 
by adding a frame or two of sealed brood taken from 
some other colony strong enough to spare it. It is 
well to select one kind of hives and frame, so that 
all the furniture of the hives will be interchangeable, 
and not have two or three kinds of hives in the 
apiary, which will surely cause a great deal of vexa¬ 
tion and annoyance. 
Bees should always be handled very gently; they 
seem to dislike quick, jerky movements. In early 
Spring or Autumn when the days are cool, it is pru¬ 
dent not to open the hives until near mid-day, when 
the field bees will then be out gathering honey. On 
cloudy or rainy days, it is best not to open hives, 
for the field bees are then at home, and are cross, 
being deprived of the privilege of gathering the 
precious nectar. 
A man once asked me, “if I take off honey at night, 
when the bees are asleep,” whereupon I 'informed 
him that bees never sleep, they work incessantly for 
six weeks, and then die of old age. Their wings, 
which are but tissue, become shredded, and they fall 
to the ground in their way to and from the field. At 
night is the very worst time to molest bees, as some 
pilfering persons have found out to their sorrow. 
It is true that bees do not fly at night, but they crawl 
and sting. By injudicious handling, bees can be 
made very irritable and cross, so that they will sting 
everybody near and far, and will remain angry and 
vicious for weeks.. I have neighbors on three sides 
of my apiary; one has a horse, and all have chil¬ 
dren, and I have children myself, and I have yet to 
hear of the first child or horse being stung. 
This Summer I have some Italians and some black 
and some hybrid bees. It is claimed generally that 
black and hybrid bees are very much crosser than 
Italians, but I find no trouble with any strain by 
handling as described above. f. g. iierman. 
A BAD WET SPO T. 
Making It “Dry Up.” 
In one corner of my meadow there is a soft spot about 
20x40 feet: there is a ditch alongside for drainage four 
feet deep, but it does not take the water away sufficiently 
to permit driving on it with a team. The subsoil is blue 
hard clay. "Wishing to find the reason why I could not 
drain it, I dug into the clay and found a quick flowing 
stream of quicksand about six inches deep, and am a 
little afraid to disturb it, as it is gradually carrying 
everything into the ditch, so we would like the advice of 
some one of experience in such matters. w. g. a. 
Massachusetts. 
Ans.—T he wet spot needs to be drained. It may be 
that a drain running around the wet spot laid as low 
as, or a few inches lower than the vein of water, 
would intercept the flow and convey it out and dry the 
land. In laying tile in quicksand, cover the joints all 
around with clay. The clay will prevent the quick¬ 
sand from entering the tile, and in a short time the 
water will enter freely. The clay will soon become 
sufficiently porous, for all practical purposes, in 
draining the land. Dig the ditch two or three feet, 
beginning at the outlet; level the bottom, giving the 
average fall of the land, lay two or three joints of 
tile on clay at the joints, then cover the joints over 
with clay from an inch to two inches in thickness, 
and stop up the upper end of the last tile laid to keep 
out the water and sand until the ditch is dug two or 
three feet farther; then the tile can be laid as far as 
the digging has been done, as before, and so on until 
the drain is completed. The first tiles laid should be 
covered a foot or more, so as to keep back the sand. 
In laying the tile fill the upper end with plastic clay, 
and as it is settled down into the sand, rem'ove the 
clay from the end of the tile before laid. Join the tile 
as closely together as it is possible to do by hand, 
then cover joint quickly with clay. If clay cannot be 
had easily, use tar paper to wrap the joints. A strip 
three or four inches wide and long enough to encircle 
the tile at the joint, will give good satisfaction, but in 
using tar paper do not fail to keep the upper end of 
the last tile closed so as to keep out the sand. The 
tile, if laid in quicksand, will not move after the ditch 
is filled. If the wet spot in question is encircled, or a 
line of tile is laid so as to cut off the flow of water 
through the quicksand under the soil in a broad sheet, 
the land will become dry and firm as desired, j. w. b. 
No doubt about it. The corn leaves have rolled in some 
fields because the soil was not rolled at planting time. 
Oregon is now setting extensive orchards of Winter 
apples. It is said that it costs about $120 an acre to clear 
out the stumps in the fir lands, but the value of the fruit 
trees justifies this preliminary. 
As an illustration of the way business is done in Cali¬ 
fornia, we notice a circular received from that State, of¬ 
fering peach pits in car-load lots of 30,000 pounds, at $15 
per ton. Smaller lots are offered at higher prices, but 
it is said that tremendous business is done in these pits. 
The pits are said to be small this year, so that there is- 
more actual seed per ton than ever before. 
H. A. Phillips, secretary of the Wisconsin Horticultu¬ 
ral Society, tells of a new apple which he calls “a 
Wealthy sprout.” The tree bore five beautiful apples 
last year, and the fruit keeps longer than the Wealthy. 
Last year’s crop was lost so that it could not be tested. 
This year, the tree has five more apples, and it is hoped 
that this number will not prove to be the usual annual 
crop. 
