1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
6i3 
FARMING AMONG WESTCHESTER HILLS. 
AGRICULTURE IN A ROCK-BOUNI) COUNTRY. 
Hens and Fruits, With Vegetables to Pave the Way. 
[EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.! 
Part I. 
The Country and the People. —It would he diffi¬ 
cult to imagine a greater contrast than exists between 
the conditions, methods and surroundings on that one- 
man, 300-acre farm described in last week’s R. N.-Y., 
and the farm of White & Rice, situated in the north¬ 
ern part of Westchester County, N. Y., eight miles 
back from Peekskill. The whole country in the vicin¬ 
ity of the latter is made up of hills and intervales, the 
higher ground cut up into small fields inclosed with 
the old-time stone walls. The old farms were not 
large, but the fields into which they were subdivided 
were numerous. On many of the farms, these old 
walls still remain, and one old farmer who was labor¬ 
iously repairing his walls, said that he wouldn’t have 
them taken away if any one would do it for nothing. 
Modern methods and implements are at a disadvant¬ 
age in these small fields. 
The farmers here, almost without exception, belong 
to the old-time families. While many parts of New 
England have become almost depopulated by the ex¬ 
odus of the younger generation to the towns and cities, 
or to the West, the people in this region have clung to 
their rocky farms, which have descended from father 
to son, some of them from Colonial days. Many of 
the families have intermarried, and little new blood 
has been brought in. They are not wealthy, but 
most of them own their own farms, free and clear, 
and some have a little nest-egg besides. They are con¬ 
servative, cling to the old customs, and are slow to 
adopt new methods. Many ox teams are found here, 
some of the houses date from Revolutionary times, 
and although within 40 miles of the heart of New 
York, the rushing, hustling spirit of the great metrop¬ 
olis seems not to have pemtrated to the slightest 
degree this quiet rural region. An evidence of its 
proximity, however, is found in the great new dam 
constructed for the storage of water for the city's 
needs, and in the great stone wall extending for many 
miles through the country, and inclosing the water¬ 
shed, the property of the great city. Within this wall 
not a building is found, and whole villages, some of 
them containing hundreds of houses, were removed 
bodily. 
The Firm and the Farm.— The firm of White & 
Rice is nearly five years old. Mr. White is a son of 
the old owner of the farm, who here reared his family 
and spent the greater part of his life. J. E. Rice is a 
graduate of Cornell, known as an institute speaker 
in several States, and combines the scientific educa¬ 
tion received at Cornell with hard, practical work. 
Mr. White married Mr. Rice’s sister, thus forming 
what the former terms a triple alliance. The firm 
started on this farm nearly five years ago, while the 
senior Mr. White was still living. 
The soil was greatly impoverished by the old-time 
methods of farming, and the selling of milk, with 
little fertility returned to the soil. Then the small 
fields surrounded with their ramparts of rock pre¬ 
cluded the use of modern tools to any advantage. 
Many portions of the farm, too, were sadly in need of 
draining. Many acres were overgrown with a scrubby 
growth of trees and bushes. A big handicap, too, is 
in the distance from market. Yorktown, on the New 
York & Putnam R. R., is the nearest station for ship¬ 
ping to New York. At Peekskill, eight miles away to 
the west, they find now their best market, but this is 
a long haul over such miserable loads and up and 
down such hills as are found here. All available rail¬ 
roads and express companies are under one manage¬ 
ment, and transportation rates are exorbitantly high. 
I asked Mr. Rice how they came to locate here, and he 
said the farm was in the family, or he never would 
have thought of locating here ; but now that they are 
settled and at work, acquainted with the people, and 
the possibilities in the farm are becoming manifest, 
nothing would induce him to move. Their lease ex¬ 
pires next Spring, when they expect to have a deed of 
the place, and then begin further improvements. 
Small Capital, Large Faith.— When the firm 
began business, one had $300 in cash, the other $300 
worth of stock. Mr. Rice tells with considerable sat¬ 
isfaction that the only harrow they had the first year 
was a riding cu’tivator. But they determined not to 
run in debt, and never to lay out a dollar for the mere 
purpose of making a show. Mr. Rice very modestly 
said that they hadn’t done anything yet worth writing 
about, but hoped to have something after a year or 
two more. I think they have already done enough to 
set thousands of our eastern farmers to thinking, and 
to start the query as to why farming doesn’t pay. 
Just think of it. Two young men started with only 
$600 capital, but with clear heads and willing hands, 
on an impoverished farm covered with rocks and bogs, 
miles from market over poor and hilly roads ! 
They haven’t any showy improvements, but they 
have laid a foundation sure and solid. Acres of brush 
land have been cleared; long stretches of surface 
ditches have been opened and cleaned out; consider¬ 
able tile has been laid and more w ll soon follow; 
hundreds of loads of rocks and stones have been 
carted away, many of them being used for filling in a 
low piece of road that was almost impassable during 
wet times ; many modern labor-saving tools have been 
purchased; a reservoir for collecting water has been 
made, a windmill erected, and pipes laid to lead to a 
large reservoir at the barn, whence the water is piped 
to the house, forcing-house and other places ; thou¬ 
sands of thrifty trees and vines have been planted, 
many of which are already bringing in good returns, 
besides many other improvements. The tiles laid 
last Winter have already paid for themselves this 
Summer. 
Some of the old walls removed allow long bouts 
with plow, harrow and cultivator. Much has been 
accomplished, but it has been done in a safe way and 
every dollar has been so aimed as to bring back dol¬ 
lars. Some of the details and methods will be given 
next week. f. ii. v. 
Among the Marketmen 
WHAT I SEE AND HEAR. 
Potato Prospects. —There seems little doubt that, 
taken as a whole, the’potato crop is short, especially 
in the East, and that good potatoes should bring satis¬ 
factory prices ; that is, satisfactory to the sellers, the 
buyers will, probably, think differently. The tubers 
are rotting badly in many parts of the country. The 
drought in June and early July in some localities 
stopped the growth, and rains came too late to do 
much good ; in such cases, where growth has been 
stopped and again started by rains, the tubers are 
likely to be prongy. In cases where there is a ten¬ 
dency to rot, it may be the part of wisdom to get rid 
of the crop as soon as possible ; but good potatoes this 
year should bring the growers good money. Reports 
from the West are more promising, but in some local¬ 
ities there blight and rot are doing their work. 
t t t 
Meat for the Cat. —One interesting sight in the 
commission district is that of an old woman going 
around among the commission houses with a big bas¬ 
ket on her arm from which, at each place, she extracts 
choice morsels and scraps of meat for the pets, as she 
calls them, which are kept for the purpose of catching 
the numerous rats and mice. This old humanitarian 
keeps a fruit stand down near one of the big steam¬ 
ship docks, and when the boats come in each morning, 
she replenishes her basket from the table scraps, and 
is ready to start out on her daily round, ller heart 
has, probably, been touched by the sight of some of 
the starved-looking tabbies, and she does this work 
purely for love of the cats. Commission merchants 
say that she would feel insulted if any one offered to 
pay her anything for this work. Needless to say that 
the cats all know her, and they, at least, appreciate 
what she is doing. 
t t X 
English Marketing by Railroad.— A practical 
scheme for bringing producer and consumer nearer 
together to the advantage of both, has been devised 
by the Great Eastern Railway in England. It was 
put into operation 2% years ago, and its advantages 
have been so appreciated that the business is con¬ 
stantly growing. The railroad company prepares a 
list of producers of all kinds of food products along 
its lines who are willing to furnish their products in 
small quantities directly to consumers. This list is 
circulated among the householders in London, who 
are thus enabled to learn where they can obtain just 
the products they desire, fresh from the farm, garden 
or poultry yard. The charge for carrying these prod¬ 
ucts is small, and the company is reaping the benefit 
of its wise and public-spirited venture. From all sta¬ 
tions on the line except those within 20 miles of Lon¬ 
don, fourpence is the charge for carrying 20 pounds, 
including delivery within a radius of three miles of 
Charing Cross. A penny is charged for each addi¬ 
tional five pounds up to sixty pounds, which is the 
limit. Beyond the three-mile limit, the packages are 
delivered for a slight additional charge. In 1896, the 
first year of the trial of this scheme, 60,034 boxes were 
carried, of an average value of about 7s. 6d. (about 
$1.82 of our money). In 1897, the number had nearly 
doubled, 112,098, and the first half of this year, 71,294 
parcels were carried, a number considerably in excess 
of the first half of last year. In order to stimulate 
this traffic, the company has put on sale at all its sta¬ 
tions, light and inexpensive boxes for the packing of 
the produce. This eliminates the returning of empties, 
and insures packages of uniform shape that can be 
handled and packed in the cars to better advantage 
than the miscellaneous packages producers would be 
likely to send. The object of the railroad company, 
of course, is to carry the goods and get the fee. But 
their reward will be two-fold, for if this plan be car¬ 
ried out to its fullest possible extent, it will put an 
immense amount of money into the hands of the pro¬ 
ducers, a large part of which they will spend for other 
products which the company must transport, and thus 
get another return. We are not told as to the method 
by which orders are transmitted, prices fixed and bills 
collected, an important consideration. F. ir. v. 
THE WORK OF A WINDMILL. 
NO USE FOR SILO FILLING. 
Every year about this time we are asked whether it 
is possible to use a windmill in filling a silo. We 
sometimes think that some one of our readers must 
have tried almost everything in the way of farm 
operations, but we are not able to find any one who 
can really say that his windmill was sure enough to 
keep the ensilage cutter going. 
John Gould says that he has never known the silo 
to be filled with wind. There are plenty of power 
mills in his country, but the wind is too variable and 
“ a fellow with eight men and three teams at work, 
would be in a bad box ” if the wind stopped blowing. 
Steam is generally used there. 
Prof. I. P. Roberts does not think that a windmill 
can be used to advantage in running an ensilage cut¬ 
ter. Possibly in the Far West, where the winds are 
more constant and stronger than in the East, a farmer 
might rely upon the wind for filling a small silo. No 
case, however, has ever come to his notice where this 
was actually done. 
Prof. F. II. King, of the Wisconsin Experiment Sta¬ 
tion, has given a great deal of study to the subject of 
wind power, but has never heard of a case where a 
windmill filled the silo But the chances, he thinks, 
would be against any profitable use of the windmill 
for this purpose. There are cases where there is a 
period of eight or ten days when no wind is available 
for work, and the windmill might take a notion to be 
idle just when the frost was marching upon the corn. 
This matter of windmill power is well discussed by 
Prof. King in Bulletin No. 63 of the Wisconsin Sta¬ 
tion (Madison). Prof. King has noted an entire year’s 
work performed by a 16-foot geared windmill. By 
means of ingenious appliances, it was found possible 
to give exact figures as to the force of the wind fcr 
each day in the year, the amount of work actually 
performed day by day, and the number of hours dur¬ 
ing the year when the mill stood idle. There were, 
during the year, 5,239 hours when the wind traveled 
with a force of nine miles per hour, or over. There 
were 3,531 hours when this force did not reach nine 
miles per hour, or when the wind was too light to 
pump water. During the entire year, there were, on 
an average, about 14 % working hours per day. and 9% 
idle hours. The laziest months were in June, July 
and August. In June, the average was 11 working 
hours and 13 idle hours per day; during the last of 
July and the first of August, there was one period of 
168 consecutive hours when no work was done. It 
will be seen that the mill was id est during the irri¬ 
gation season, which does not speak well for the value 
of the windmill for pumping water for irrigation. Of 
course, this could be remedied somewhat by using a 
tank or reservoir to hold the surplus water. The 
power of this 16-foot windmill varied with the power 
of the wind. With the wind blowing at the rate of 
10 miles an hour, the mill developed only 40 per cent 
of one-horse power ; at 25 miles per hour, about 4)4- 
horse power was developed ; at 31 miles per hour, 5%- 
horse power was indicated. 
BUS/NESS BITS. 
I. N. Barker & Son, Thornton, Ind., wish to send their cata¬ 
logue of Berkshire pigs to all Berkshire breeders who desire it. 
Send them a postal card asking for it. 
Mr. Sidney Spraode, of Falconer, N. Y., writes us that Ills 
Shropshire rams and Chester White swine are eligible for regis¬ 
try, and of exceptionable individual quality. He has quite a 
stock and is making easy prices. 
The circulars describing the Universal repair machine, made 
by the Bloomfield Manufacturing Company, Bloomfield, Ind., con¬ 
vince us that it is just the thing to have in the farmer’s workshop 
if he has any skill in the use of tools. 
F. W. Mann Company, Milford, Mass., are the manufacturers of 
the famous Mann green bone cutters which, since their introduc¬ 
tion to the public, have completely revolutionized the poultry in¬ 
dustry. The feeding of green cut bone has increased the produc¬ 
tion of eggs in numerous instances. Write them for free cata¬ 
logue. 
The first essential in butter dairying is to make a good quality 
of butter, and next, to ship it in attractive form, so protected 
that it will not absorb bad odors from its environments. Chas. 
E. Smith <fe Co., Westboro, Mass., have a Victor fastening clip for 
butter tubs, pails, etc., that will be found useful. We assume 
that it costs little and will add to the appearance of the package. 
They will be glad to send you circulars. 
It seems to us that the best tool we have yet seen for handling 
and screening potatoes and other vegetables, also ear corn, is 
the Diamond Scoop fork, manufactured by the Ashtabula Tool 
Company, Ashtabula, Ohio. Made of one solid piece of the best 
quality steel, it is light, yet very strong and durable and of great 
capacity. It is claimed by the makers, and it seems probable, 
that more vegetables can be handled with it in a given time than 
with any other form of scoop fork, and there is no danger of cut¬ 
ting or bruising. The manufacturers send a full description of 
the Diamond Scoop fork and a catalogue of all kinds of farm 
and garden tools free to any one addressing them as above. 
