654 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 24 
WHA1 THEY SAY. 
Putting Out Fires. —About 15 years ago, it was 
customary to find so-called “ hand grenades,” in most 
houses and barns. They were large bottles of thin 
glass, containing some solution which was said to be 
effective in putting out fires. Gradually, these bot¬ 
tles went out of use, but now they seem to be coming 
in fashion again. The Mark Lane Express, of Eng¬ 
land, says that millers and farmers are using a mix¬ 
ture of 20 pounds of common salt, and 10 pounds of 
nitrate of ammonia, dissolved in seven gallons of 
water. This is put up in quart or two-quart bottles 
of thin glass. At the outbreak of fire, these bottles 
are thrown as close as possible to the flame. When 
heated, the solution sends out a gas which will help 
to put out the fire. 
Cross Drilling Wheat. —Speaking of cross drilling 
wheat, Prof. C. F. Curtiss, of Iowa, says that he has 
tried this method with Alfalfa, and can see nothing 
in its favor. We can find no reason why wheat drilled 
both ways should give any better results than when 
drilled one way. The ground is left more uniformly 
ridged and in better condition to hold snow, from a 
single drilling than when cross drilled. S. Mills, of 
Indiana, says that cross drilling takes twice as much 
time without giving better results. When we are 
putting in a crop, we want to sow it as quickly as pos¬ 
sible in good condition. If we were to drill one way, 
and then have rain before we cross it, that would 
make bad work, and quite likely injure the crop. 
Neighbors have tried this cross drilling and given 
it up. 
Shade Trees and Crops. —F. K. Phoenix, of Wis¬ 
consin, reports that one of his neighbors who has 400 
acres adjoining a popular Summer resort, says that, 
if he could get the finest shade trees in the world set 
out for nothing, along the highways through his 
land, he would not accept them. The reason is that 
the roots and shade would damage his crop. We 
think he is right about this, having had a chance to 
notice the effect of shade trees on sweet corn and 
potatoes during the past season. For at least 50 feet 
back from the road, the crop suffered to a consider¬ 
able degree. This seems to be the great objection 
made to a hedge. It thrives on food that ought to go to 
the farm crops. It also collects snow into drifts dur¬ 
ing the Winter, and thus contributes its share to the 
bad roads. 
A Farmer’s Telephone. —John Gould writes us 
about the telephone company which farmers of 
Geauga County, O., have organized. There is a system 
of telephones covering about 20 townships, with prob¬ 
ably 40 telephones, located in farmers’ houses. On 
some roads and streets, half the farmers have a tele¬ 
phone. You buy $12 worth of 10-cent tickets, for 
which the company puts a box into the house and 
maintains it for a year. If you wish to reach an out¬ 
side connection, you add a 30-cent fare, or use three 
tickets. By this plan, a farmer “a mile from any¬ 
where”, is within speaking distance of the world. 
For example, when the Spanish fleet was sunk, the 
whole system was rung up, and in a minute, the whole 
county was informed of it, hours in advance of any 
daily paper. We expect soon to have a full account 
of this company’s operations written by Mr. Gould. 
English College Farm. —We find this advertise¬ 
ment in the English Mark Lane Express: 
U NIVERSITY COLLEGE OF NORTH WALES 
COLLEGE FARM. 
In connection with the Agricultural Department. 
LLEDWIGAN FARM (369 acres) has been taken by the 
College for teaching and experimental purposes. Diploma 
(two years) and Degree (three years) Students will in future 
follow courses for at least one year at the farm, under the 
supervision of the Professor of Agriculture. Special 
arrangements will be made to take Farm Pupils, for px-ac- 
tical instruction only. For full information apply to the 
undersigned, JOHN EDWARD LLOYD, M. A., 
Secretai’y and Registrar. 
We understand from that that the college has hired a 
genuine farm, and that students must spend at least 
one year working on it before they can be graduated. 
The scheme for taking students who desire only prac¬ 
tical instruction seems to us a good one. 
When to Plow Under Cow Peas. —It seems to be a 
question as to the best time for plowing under cow 
pea vines for manure. A number of our readers have 
grown the crop the past year with some success. The 
vines are now large and green, and the question arises 
what to do with them. Some wish to plow the vines 
under at once before frost, thinking in this way to 
obtain the best results from them. In our opinion, 
this would be a mistake. Unless some Winter crop 
like grain is to follow them, we would let the vines 
die down on the ground and stay there through the 
Winter, and then plow them under in the Spring. By 
plowing the vines under during the hot weather, one 
is likely to sour the ground, unless lime or wood ashes 
are used to prevent this. One reader says that he has 
let vines rest on the ground till Spring, and then 
found that the crop all disappeared. There seemed 
nothing left but hard wood, with the leaves all out of 
sight. A crop of corn or strawberries would tell a 
very different story if planted where these dead cow 
pea vines were plowed under. The best advice we 
can possibly give, for sandy or light soil, is to let the 
vines die down to cover the ground through the Win¬ 
ter. Do not plow them under this Fall, unless you 
need the ground for some Fall crop like rye or wheat. 
Maine Canned Apples. —In Maine, large quantities 
of canned apples are usually put up. These apples 
are pared, cored and quartered, put into cans and heated 
in the usual way. It is said that this product is much 
preferred to evaporated fruits by most consumers, 
and is, on the whole, more profitable than the evapor¬ 
ated article. Great quantities of apples are annually 
bought in Vermont and New Hampshire, and taken 
to Maine for canning. There are thousands of con¬ 
sumers in the country who prefer a baked apple to 
almost any other kind of prepared fruit, and the apple 
canners cater to this class of people quite successfully. 
Wiiat Varieties of Apples ?—In regard to graft¬ 
ing that unproductive orchard of Maiden’s Blush, 
Longfield, Sutton Beauty, Fameuse, Hubbardston and 
Jonathan (see page 623), I would say that Fameuse 
cannot be recommended for commercial purposes in 
western New York for the reason that it is so suscept¬ 
ible to scab that it is difficult to grow fine fruit of 
this variety in this section of the country. Moreover 
I have never seen Fameuse from western New York 
which equaled in color and flavor some of the Fameuse 
which are produced in the Champlain Valley and along 
the St. Lawrence. Hubbardston and Sutton both do 
well in western New York, and may be classed 
among the desirable varieties for commercial orchards. 
LUTHER BURBANK IN 1898. Fig. 300. 
Maiden's Blush and Longfield are both valuable Fall 
apples of a fair yellow color, with beautiful blush. 
The Longfield has tender, juicy flesh, and needs to be 
handled with great care in order to reach the con¬ 
sumer in attractive condition. The Maiden’s Blush is 
a firmer apple and does not show the marks of hand¬ 
ling so readily as Longfield. Both are productive 
varieties. Jonathan is an ideal apple for dessert use. 
It is medium sized, very beautiful red color, ranks 
among the best in flavor and quality, and reaches 
prime condition in January. It is productive but not 
a very vigorous grower in the orchard. Unless the 
orchardist can command fancy prices for Jonathan, 
he will, probably, make more money out of Baldwin 
and Ben Davis. [prof.] s. a. beach. 
Horticulturist New York Experiment Station. 
Rot in Plums. —I see that one of jmur correspond¬ 
ents from Illinois complains of his entire crop of Bur¬ 
bank plums rotting. It seems to me that he did not 
deserve much of a crop when he leaves a tree that was 
planted out the year before, to try to mature two 
bushels of fruit. H. E. Van Deman’s advice to spray 
for rot with sulphate of copper before the buds open 
is just right, and to spray European varieties with 
Bordeaux Mixture after the leaves expand is also just 
right. But to spray Japan plums with Bordeaux Mix¬ 
ture while in leaf, I have found, nine times out of ten, 
to be all wrong. It will, no doubt, have its good effect 
in killing the spores of rot, but the leaves of Japan 
plums are so sensitive that they fall from the tree, 
and are then worse off than if left ud sprayed. There 
is one other remedy for rot of plums that is within 
the reach of everybody, that is to pick off the decayed 
fruit at different times during the season, and burn or 
bury it. This and the spray are the all-important 
remedies. There is no plum that is good for anything 
that is proof against rot. My own trees which have 
been treated as above are carrying a fair crop, which 
is, probably, about two-thirds of what originally set, 
though the season since July 10 has been about as 
favorable to rot as it could be. N. s. tlatt. 
Connecticut Pomologist. 
Potatoes in Minnesota. —The Red River Valley in 
Minnesota has become quite noted as a potato-grow¬ 
ing section. One year with another, potatoes have 
given very fair returns to the growers. Last Spring, 
wheat was so high in price that farmers up there 
could think of nothing else ; therefore, the potato 
acreage was considerably decreased. Now, wheat is 
low again, and potatoes are high. This is a good illus¬ 
tration of the way many farmers plan their business. 
In the long run, a steady, conservative policy, holding 
on to a crop that pays fairly well in a series of years, 
is the best one to pursue. Even of those who planted 
potatoes in the Red River Valley, only those who 
were fully equipped to fight weeds and bugs will har¬ 
vest much of a crop. The wet weather brought out a 
large crop of weeds, and for some reason, the bugs 
have been unusually bad. The crop from that section 
is light, and will be mostly sold for seed. 
GRINDING GRAIN AT HOME. 
SHALL THE FARMER BUY A MILL? 
How Much Can He Save ? 
Not long since we sent the following questions to 75 
farmers who have had experience with a small grind¬ 
ing mill: 
One of our readers in New York State, a farmer, feeds every 
year 500 or 600 bushels of corn, and about 300 bushels of oats, with 
some rye and buckwheat, all of his own raising:. He wants to 
know whether it would pay him to buy a mill and do his grinding 
at home, and if so, do the sweep powei'8 give good satisfaction, or 
what other power would be likely to do better work ? Do you 
consider that it would be practicable to buy a mill in company with 
two or three neighbox-s living within two miles of the farm, and 
move the mill from one place to another as needed ? 
There are a great many farmers situated like this 
one. They raise, on the farm, about all the grain 
needed for feeding their stock. Most of the grain is 
hauled to the local mill for grinding, or fed whole. 
They realize that it may not pay them to own a thrash¬ 
ing machine or a buzz saw, but most of them think 
the miller gets too large a share. 
In reply to these questions all but one of our corres¬ 
pondents say that the farm mill will pay. One man 
thinks that, considering the cost of power, it would be 
cheaper to go to the mill, but all the others say with¬ 
out reserve that a man feeding 1,000 to 1,200 bushels 
of grain cannot afford to give the miller the usual toll. 
These answers come from Nebraska to Maine. This 
week we give four typical replies, and next week we 
shall give a condensed report of the whole correspond¬ 
ence, showing what powers are liked, and how the 
grinding is done. 
Value of a Missouri Mill. 
My feeding time is during the Winter months, and 
at that season of the year I have plenty of time to at¬ 
tend to it. I live 2% miles from a mill run by steam 
power. It requires as long to take a load of grain to 
the mill, and have it ground, as it takes me to grind 
the same load at home. The main point is to have a 
mill that will grind all kinds of grain fine. I grind 
ear corn, first grinding it coarse, and then mix with 
oats or other grain, and regrind. With shelled corn 
I mix my other grain and grind but once. I should 
prefer to own the mill myself, thus having it when 
wanted, and with proper care it will last longer. 
My neighbors grind a good deal on my mill, but do 
not take the same care that I do myself. A great 
many sweep mills are used in our locality, and as the 
number increases yearly it is evident that results are 
generally satisfactory. I grind from 2,000 to 2,500 
bushels of grain during feeding time. A. m. huber. 
Belton, Mo. 
It Pays in South Dakota. 
I think home grinding would pay well in New 
York State, where all grain brings a much higher 
price than with us. Men here, feeding from 500 to 
1,000 cattle a year, are all grinding their corn, which 
a few years ago they fed whole, and they would not 
go back to the old style again. I raised a number of 
Fall shotes two years ago, and fed them corn and 
oats ground together in proportion of two-thirds oats 
and one-third corn through the Winter, and finished 
off in the Spring on corn meal, and they tipped the 
scales at 369 % pounds apiece at 10 months of age. 
The ground feed was fed dry, out of a homemade self- 
feeder, and I think I could not have made such a gain 
if the grain was fed whole. 
I am using a four-horse sweep power, but if I were 
to get another, I would get a tread, as I believe a 
three-horse tread is equal to a four-horse sweep, as the 
horses have to stand up and do their own work, while 
on a sweep a horse can shirk. Besides, it saves the work 
of harnessing, neither is a driver needed. It would 
be more convenient to build a cover over the mill, so 
that grinding could be done in wet weather, besides 
keeping it dry and from the sun. 
