59o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 27 
probably be less than 50 acres ; but I have 300 acres 
in cultivation, consisting- of 225 acres of wheat, 10 of 
oats, 28 of rye, and 37 of corn.” 
“ You do not mean to say that one man handles all 
those crops ? ” 
“ Yes. The rye, of course, was sown in the Pall; 
05 acres of wheat were pulverized in on corn-stalk, 
and 35 acres on stubble ground. The rest of the w heat 
and the oats were sown at Fall plowing, and the 
ground was harrowed three times. The pulverized 
ground was harrowed twice. It took me about 20 
days to do all the seeding. In harrowing, I used a 30- 
foot harrow, and six horses, and do 60 to 80 acres per 
day. A picture of this harrow is shown at Fig. 275 
on the first page. Five horses pulled the gang-plow, 
which is also shown in the picture, and they will plow 
five to six acres a day. For deep plowing for corn, 
however, four acres or a little more, would be a day’s 
work. I use a wagon-box broadcast seeder, and 
with a long daj’’s work, can sow over 50 acres per day 
with it.” 
“What do you figure that it costs to handle the 
ground in this way ? ” 
“ Here is a statement of my last year’s account, and 
these figures are fair from our standpoint.” 
COST OF GROWING WHEAT IN SOUTH DAKOTA. 
Per acre. 
Seeding- 50 acres per day, 4 horses at 50c. and 1 mau at 51,13. .06 
Harrowing 60 acres per day, 6 horses at 50c. and 1 man at 
$1. 54, each time over. 06% 
Pulverizing 17*4 acres per day, 4 horses at 50c. and 1 man 
at 51, 53.17 1-7 
Plowing 5 acres per day, 5 horses at 50c. and 1 man at 
51,53 50 .70 
Seeding on plowing cost, .70-|-(3X.6%)-|-.06=96c. per acre. 
Seeding on pulverizing cost, .I7*4-|-(2X.06?s)-|-.06 = 36;4c. per acre. 
“You say you had 28 acres of rye. Why 
was that used ? ” 
“ Rye is a crop that we can depend upon 
with considerable certainty. It is worthy of 
consideration as a forage plant. If it gets a 
chance to get well through the ground in the 
Fall, it will be quite certain to make a fair 
crop. The ground does not heave and the rye 
will not winter-kill. The cultivated grasses 
and clover do not do well here, as the Fall 
and Winter are too dry for them. I have no¬ 
ticed, however, in places in the prairies, and 
along the roadsides, small patches of Red-top 
and Blue grass coming in.”- 
Hay and Trees. —“ What do you use for 
hay ? ” 
“ We depend chiefly on millet and prairie 
hay. The prairie grass can be cut about 
twice in three years. It is short and thin, 
quite nutritious, so that it makes fair feed. 
Most of it will stand up for a year or two so 
that it can be cut at any time.” 
“ Is your country a fruit section ? ” 
“No, not by any means. The high and 
dry winds that sometimes sweep over the 
prairies, keep trees more or less stunted all 
the time. Some species, except on low 
ground, are killed outright. White ash ap¬ 
pears to do as well as any that has been tried. 
The top picture on the first page, shows the 
comparative height of an ash grove 12 years 
old on high, dry ground. This grove, and 
in fact, any ground left uncultivated, is 
likely to be overrun by Colorado Bluestem 
grass, which much resembles Quack grass.” 
“ Does the Russian thistle give you much 
trouble ? ” 
“ No, it does not cut much of a figure any 
longer. Except in filling up groves and 
being blown by strong winds against fences so as 
sometimes to break them down, it gives no more 
trouble than foxtail or almost any other weed. It 
grows only on cultivated land, the pastures and prairies 
being entirely free.” 
The pictures on the first page represent first, the 
grove of White ash, the plow drawn by five horses, a 
group of the tools used on Mr. Milne’s farm, a picture 
of the horse and buggy to show the comparative 
height of rye as grown in South Dakota, and the 
great 30-foot harrow which is hauled by six horses. 
Some of our one-horse eastern farmers will probably 
open their eyes at this story, and some of them may 
want to pack up their trunks and go to South Dakota, 
where they can cover 300 acres, while others will be 
well content to stay at home and pick up stones on 
their few eastern acres. 
THE STONE PEAR. 
This new pear is showm at Fig. 276. B. W. Stone & 
Co., Thomasville, Ga., send us a few notes in relation 
to it. Some of the pears were kept by them in a box 
in the office for five weeks after being picked ; pretty 
good for an early pear in midsummer. 
The Stone is said to possess all the good qualities of 
the Le Conte, and some others in addition. The tree 
is vigorous, more spreading than Le Conte, with the 
small limbs more stocky. The leaves are larger and 
darker. The bloom is larger and is one week later in 
opening. The fruit is large, pyriform, smooth, with 
a clear, tough skin. Flesh white, medium grained, 
firm and of good quality. The fruit is ready to ship 
from two to three weeks earlier than Le Conte. The 
firm say that the pears are of finer size, finer shape 
and of better quality than the best Le Contes which 
go to market early, and sell from 85 to 86 per barrel. 
The original tree, now 12 years old, came from a bud 
variation from the Le Conte, and was grown from a 
cutting. It has been producing fine fruit without any 
variation for six years. It is growing in an orchard 
of 300 Le Conte trees, and can be distinguished at a 
distance because of its spreading habit, larger and 
darker leaves; it is said to be less susceptible to blight. 
WHAT THEY SAY 
Our Friknd Ragweed. —A Washington subscriber 
says that, on his Virginia farm, which was impover¬ 
ished by growing slaves, ragweed is considered a 
valuable crop for green manuring, the regret being 
that it does not prove as vigorous in growth as on the 
old home farm in Ohio. The custom is to clip the 
ragweed with the mower when in bloom, and after¬ 
wards plow in the dry stalks. Many other farmers 
look upon ragweed as in one sense a valuable crop, if 
properly handled. On many wheat and rye fields, the 
ragweed comes in in a perfect forest after harvest. If 
plowed under when in bloom, or clipped off before the 
seed forms, it really adds something to the soil. The 
ash of ragweed is richer in potash than that of any 
other plant, and we have a notion that the ragweed is 
peculiai-ly able to make use of the potash in the soil. 
Certain it is that observant farmers understand that a 
crop of green ragweed plowed into the soil will make 
itself felt in subsequent crops. 
Salt the Fence Posts. —Bore half a dozen auger 
holes two-thirds through the end of the post to be set 
in the ground. Fill the holes with salt, and drive in 
plugs to keep it there. I have seen posts that have 
stood in the ground 30 years that when taken up were 
perfectly sound, as sound as the tops which had 
always been kept well painted. They were chestnut 
posts. Of course, one should take off the bark. 
Brockton,.Mass. b. f. b. 
A friend in Philadelphia sends us what he terms “a 
mild criticism” of a recent picture in The R. N.-Y.: 
We think, perhaps, you might do a little educating to overcome 
a fault, which is very apparent in the photograph on the first 
page of August 13. It is supposed to be a photograph of a corn 
harvester at work, whereas, if you will look at the picture, you 
are confronted by the stare of two men who are evidently posing 
to have “their picture took ”, thus detracting from the picture 
of the corn harvester, which is what you mean to show. Had 
one of these men gone to the horses’ heads, or been sitting on the 
machine looking at the horse, while another was gathering corn, 
it would have made an effective picture; but it is a great mistake 
in pictures of this character to have the figures pose as though 
they were the important feature. 
That’s a fair criticism, but who is going to get within 
ear-shot of the American farmer and tell him that the 
public prefer a view of a machine or a horse to his 
classic features ? Now and then the wife may get ip 
the background, or the first baby may enjoy some 
special privilege, but the American farmer, whose 
brothers faced the Spanish bullets and barbed wire at 
Santiago, will stand up in front of a camera whenever 
he gets a chance to do so. 
Two Tennessee Notions. —A reader in east Ten¬ 
nessee describes two labor-saving live-stock devices 
seen on a recent mountain trip: “The first was a 
man driving pigs from his corn field, his dog catching 
and holding one until he came, when he tied a knot 
in its tail and put it squealing over the fence. How 
those pigs did run ! I never heard whether or not 
they ever returned ; it was only a snap-shot in pass¬ 
ing. The next view was cattle licking their own and 
each other’s backs. I inquired the cause, and found 
that the owner had been salting them on the back. 
Then they lick it off, moistening it, and preventing 
both insects and the grub here called a ‘ wolf’, which 
inhabits lumps on cows’ backs.” 
Notes on Budding. —The reader who wisely deter¬ 
mines to learn how to grow trees himself, and make 
sure of having the varieties desired, and of full success 
in transplanting, must see to it that the stocks he 
wishes to bud are in a thrifty growing state, while 
the buds themselves should be firm, plump and 
browned with full ripeness—such as may be found in 
August on the sunny side of a healthy tree fully ex¬ 
posed to light, with the terminal bud as fully de¬ 
veloped and ripe as any. Budding may be done earlier, 
and with green, tender buds, but in that case, the 
wood must be nipped out of the little bud shield and 
only its bark inserted deftly upon the cam¬ 
bium of the stock. Often the eye of the bud 
comes out with the wood. The use of ripe 
buds is much simpler and surer. In bud¬ 
ding peach or plum or sour cherries, only 
the most pointed buds should be used, as 
the rounder ones are likely to yield a flower 
only. Terminal buds are always wood buds, 
and terminal grafts set in under the bark at 
the surface quite late are very sure to grow if 
not displaced during Winter. w. g. w. 
Pennsylvania. 
A Better Doorvard. —May every farmer 
be inspired to have a well-kept dooryard 
about the house, and not rely upon horses, 
stray calves, and the like to take the place 
of a lawn mower. Nothing speaks more in 
praise of a farmer than a good lawn about 
the house, with all of the litter, rubbish, old 
wagons and sleds put “ out of sight,” and 
the grass evenly clipped. Of course, shrubs, 
ornamental trees and flowers—just enough 
—add to the effect, but a solid sod is far in 
advance of what one often sees. The lawn 
can be fixed so that the common two-horse 
mower, with the guards well tilted down, 
will do a remarkably good job, and in the 
often hurry of farm work, time could lie found 
to mow it, when the lawn mower would be 
about out of the question. A graveled road¬ 
way from the highway and some gravel walks 
are a joy forever; in fact, all that a good 
lawn about the house is made up of is the 
surface smoothed to the natural contour of 
the ground, grass and shrubs, and stones 
laid in order, all of which are found in 
abundance on any farm. The few things 
mentioned, put in place by some work, ami 
a resolve that the place, when fixed up, shall 
not be allowed to relapse back into savagery. I do 
not theorize in this matter; I speak from knowledge, 
and I would no more go back to that old dooryard 
existence, than I would adopt moon signs for de¬ 
monstrated facts. Something is being done, it is true, 
in lawn making on the farms, but there is great need 
of a dooryard crusade that would amount to a con¬ 
quering revolution, and establish the fact that the 
lawn and side yards on the farm are its rightful 
belonging, and forever banish the idea that such are 
only for the village and city dweller. j. g. 
Hens Thay Lay Figures. —As a sample of the cur¬ 
rent poultry literature which some of our contempo¬ 
raries are fond of feeding to their readers, is the fol¬ 
lowing, which has been going the rounds of the agri¬ 
cultural press : 
To breed hens for prolific egg-laying has been achieved. The 
process is easily explained. Take a hen that lays 125 eggs a 
year, and a male from a hen that lays 120 eggs a year, and their 
pullet progeny will lay 150 eggs a year. Now then, take a pullet 
from a hen that lays 150 eggs a year and a male from a hen that 
lays 125 eggs a year, and you will raise hens that will lay .200 eggs 
or more a year. 
Our experience would indicate that it is a good deal 
easier to explain this process than it is to carry it out. 
The chances are that the man who wrote it never saw 
a hen in his life. He is one of those wise individuals 
who seem to have an idea that a hen is a mere bag of 
eggs, and all you have to do is to pour the feed in at 
ope end of her, and she will do the rest. The trouble 
