414 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
June 11 
trade center. He must have good railway facilities, 
and it is all the better if within driving distance, be¬ 
cause this enables him to transport supplies cheaply. 
This last point is an actual necessity if he intend to 
grow flowering plants for the wholesale market, espe¬ 
cially the line generally known in the trade as 
“ Easter stuff ”, because such material is usually de¬ 
livered by wagon. A man may grow cut flowers any¬ 
where within two hours’ journey of his market, but 
20 miles by road is quite far enough if he is growing 
flowering plants. Conditions are different with foliage 
plants, because in this case, the grower rarely de¬ 
pends on a nearby market.” 
“ If a man in a small town wished to start as a re¬ 
tail florist, how would he best begin, if his only glass 
consisted of frames ? ” 
“ He would best begin with bedding plants, started 
from seed in February, March and April, starting the 
first in hotbeds, the later in frames. Pansies he should 
sow in August, and again in January and February, 
carrying the first over Winter in beds outside, merely 
covered with evergreen branches. They always sell 
well, though cheap, and a great many truckers—espe¬ 
cially foreigners with a very small place—carry them 
as a side line. He could keep violets, Sweet Alyssum, 
forget-me-nots and similar flowers in frames. As soon 
as he could build a small greenhouse, heated by hot 
water, he could grow carnations, Alyssum, forget-me- 
nots, smilax and Stevia for Winter and, in a separate 
compartment, he could propagate geraniums, Ager- 
atum, Coleus, heliotrope, etc., moving the overflow 
into hotbeds as soon as permitted by the weather.” 
“ Even the least critical trade now demands roses ; 
could he grow them in the same house ? ” 
“ I wouldn’t recommend it. ne might do well with 
some of the less exacting old Teas, 
such as Bon Silene, Safrano, and 
Niphetos, but he could not expect 
many flowers. Better not try roses 
unless there is a separate compart¬ 
ment for them, where they can have 
abundant light, and more heat. The 
carnations would be planted out on 
the bench, with Alyssum or forget- 
me-nots at the edge.” 
“ Would you advise a man to at¬ 
tempt growing flowers for the whole¬ 
sale trade with no other glass than 
frames ? ” 
“No, I don’t see how he could do it, 
unless he limited himself to violets, 
pansies, English daisies, and out¬ 
door flowers, and there is little 
money in them.” 
“ What outdoor flowers could he 
grow for cutting ? ” 
“ Peonies, Irises, lilies, Gladiolus, Achillea ‘ The 
Pearl ’, Coreopsis, cornflowers, Gaillardias, Spiraeas, 
Phlox, sunflowers, and a variety of other hardy herba¬ 
ceous flowers. These are all sold cheaply, so that they 
can only be treated as a side issue, but where there is 
ground to spare they are grown for a certain line of 
trade A good many commission dealers do not care 
to bother with them. The florists fill their windows 
with them, but they are chiefly sold to the Greek 
fakirs. The regular florist doesn’t like the Greeks, 
but they sell to a trade that is not reached by the 
flower stores.” 
“ Is there anywhere a beginner may go to obtain 
knowledge of the florist’s business ? ” 
“ Practically, no, though the Missouri Botanic Gar¬ 
den, in accordance with the bequest of its founder, 
trains young men in gardening and floriculture. The 
best plan for a beginner is to secure a position on some 
florist’s place. He will have plenty of hard work, and 
is very likely to get discouraged, but the knowledge 
he gains will all be practical. Wages are generally 
small in this trade; and this dissuades many Ameri¬ 
cans from it. I don’t know any handicraft that re¬ 
quires such varied general information as the florist’s 
business, yet the mason, bricklayer, plumber and 
blacksmith are all more highly paid. But it is a fine 
occupation to find employment for both sons and 
daughters, and thus keep a family together.” e. t. r. 
WHAT THEY SAY. 
Moles and Mice. —In a bulletin on the mole pub¬ 
lished by the Department of Agriculture of Pennsyl¬ 
vania, an effort is made to clear that animal of the 
charge of eating corn, peas or other vegetable food. 
It has often been observed that, where a mole makes 
its run along a planted row, the seeds are eaten. 
Naturalists assert that the mole lives almost entirely 
upon animal food, and that, in fact, it is almost im¬ 
possible for him to devour large quantities of vege¬ 
table food. How, then, may we account for the dis¬ 
appearance of seeds, and the fact that tooth-marks 
are seen upon them ? Harry Wilson, who writes this 
bulletin, declares that such damage as the eating of 
grain seeds and fibrous roots, and the gnawing of 
other roots, is entirely due to mice. Mice take pos¬ 
session of the runways made by the mole, and occupy 
them during the season. These mice are vegetarians, 
and devour large quantities of roots and seeds, and 
the damage done in the runway of the mole is almost 
entirely caused by these mice. The mole, therefore, 
is only indirectly responsible for such damage, be¬ 
cause he provides a passageway. He, probably, does 
five times as much good as harm, for he devours im¬ 
mense quantities of injurious insects that, probably, 
could not be captured by any other animal. 
Windmills for Pumping. —The United States Wind 
Engine Company, of Batavia, Ill., write us that they 
have a number of eight-foot windmills operating 
eight-inch irrigation pumps, where the lift is only a 
few feet. They believe, however, that in the long 
run, a man would get enough more work to pay for 
buying a larger size of windmill, say a 10 or 12-foot 
mill. Of course, in the deeper wells where a higher 
lift is required, the larger mills are an absolute neces¬ 
sity. There must be poor winds where a good 8-foot 
windmill will not operate an 8-inch pump. 
Profitable Live Weight. —A good hen weighing 
five pounds lays, during the year, 130 eggs which sell 
at an average of 1% cent each, or a total of $1.95. It 
costs 75 cents to feed the hen so that she pays a profit 
of $1.20 for a year's work, or 24 cents a pound. A 
scrub cow, weighing 900 pounds, makes during the 
year 150 pounds of butter, which sells at an average 
price of 20 cents a pound, or $30. She eats the equiva¬ 
lent of two tons of hay worth $ 24 , and one ton of grain 
worth $15, or a total of $39. The owner of such a cow 
usually wastes, at least half of the manure, so that 
the scrub runs fairly in debt. A lazy farm hand pays 
during the year $15 for tobacco and other trifles, $30 
for clothes, and $150 for food—a total of $195. He 
works during the year 150 full days, the rest of the 
time being spent fishing, “ resting ” and talking. It 
is the exception where such a man earns over $1 a 
day. Like the scrub cow, he runs in debt—to be 
carried by the charity of his wife or members of the 
community. It is a fact that 1,000 pounds of good 
business hen is about the most profitable half ton of 
live weight that a farmer can have on his farm. The 
scrub and the laze may be kept if one is charitably 
inclined, but it does seem that, nowadays, there are 
more worthy objects of charity. 
Government Aid to Farmers. —The English Mark 
Lane Express thus refers to the Russian system of 
giving government aid to farmers : 
This is the system of enabling the farmer to carry the neces¬ 
sary stores in his own granary or barn, the government advanc¬ 
ing cash on the security of the grain, under the force of special 
enactments giving the State a first charge, and rendering the sale, 
or, rather, resale of such stores a criminal offense. The great 
merit of this system is in obviating the rush of farmers to sell 
grain immediately after a new harvest. But it has the drawback 
of being no absolute guarantee of the eventual price. If the 
government advanced 20 shillings per quarter at three per cent, 
it would confer a boon on many agriculturists, but it would do 
nothing to fix the price above 20 shillings. 
It is not likely that this system would prove successful 
in England, although English farmers just now are 
hunting for some system of government aid. Some 
of them demand a protective duty, while others desire 
that the government shall erect storehouses in which 
to keep a constant supply of wheat on hand. The 
English people as a class, however, seem to feel that, 
so long as they control the sea, the English wheat 
supply is secure. 
Manure in Montana. —Director S. M. Emery, of 
the Montana Experiment Station, says that there are, 
doubtless, 1,000 ranches in that State which have from 
1,000 to 5,000 tons of sheep manure in the yards and 
on the floors, which will never be hauled out for use. 
He says that, in that country, they move barns when 
they can no longer get in and around them for the 
manure piled up on all sides. Most of the lands, as a 
rule, if half tilled, hardly need manure, and labor is 
too high in many cases to pay for hauling it out. Soipe 
readers who are annually frightened at their manure 
and fertilizer bills, may not want to move to Montana 
on the strength of this statement: but they would 
certainly like to get hold of some of that manure at 
cheap freight rates. 
Manure for Fuel. —Two farmers in California 
report an experience with irrigating wheat. They 
used a traction engine to run two pumps, one with 20- 
inch and the other 12-inch discharge. The water is 
lifted seven feet from the river, and they can irrigate 
30 acres of wheat per day at a cost of 20 cents an 
acre. Fuel costs nothing, as dry manure is used for 
the engine. This burns readily and makes a hot fire, 
and it is said that farmers are glad to give the ma¬ 
nure for nothing in order to have their barnyards 
cleaned up. Two men are kept busy hauling this dry 
manure to the engine. In the East, we put the 
manure into the ground to help the plant pump water 
from the soil; in California, they can put the manure 
into the engine to pump water from the river. 
Pacific Coast Tomato Culture. —We get an idea 
of the size of this country when some one describes a 
successful method of producing a crop. On page 351, 
M. S. B., a successful tomato grower on a small scale, 
told how he operates. A reader in the State of Wash¬ 
ington says that, from his point of view, this descrip¬ 
tion is all wrong, except the remarks about saving 
seed. He then goes on to give the following account 
of the way tomatoes are grown on the Pacific coast : 
Plant seed in hotbed March 1. Plow ground April 15 
to 20 ; harrow once, or what is better, use what we 
call a clod masher, which consists of three or four 
logs about eight inches through, and six to eight feet 
long, having holes bored through each end, for log 
chains to pass through so the logs 
are loose on the chain. This smooths 
and levels the ground, after which 
the rows are generally laid off three 
feet apart with a shovel plow, or 
small turning plow. We are care¬ 
ful to get these rows on a proper 
grade to irrigate, after which the 
water is turned in, and the plants 
are dropped in the mud about two 
feet apart in the row. One man can 
set about 3,000 plants in a day. The 
water is left running two or three 
days, then turned off, and as soon 
as dry enough, which will be in one 
or two days, the plants are hand- 
hoed. Afterward they are hoise- 
hoed about four times at intervals 
of two weeks, during which time 
they are irrigated as needed. This 
is all, and we have ripe tomatoes 
July 10. We plant the Early Michigan and At¬ 
lantic Prize. We use no fertilizer, and yields of 15 to 20 
tons of ripe tomatoes to the acre are not unusual. 
We ship to the East and West, and they net us about 
an average of one cent per pound. Come West, M. 8. 
B., where you can raise tomatoes with less work. 
Velvet-Bean Flowers. —The picture on our first 
page is engraved from a photograph sent by Mr. A. 
W. Smith, of Americus, Ga. Mr. Smith has trained 
the vine over 30 feet high on a windmill tower. It 
makes a strong, vigorous growth, and will readily 
climb over a porch, or on lattices or strings. The 
blooms are attractive to the eye, but their odor is 
quite objectionable to most people. Seedsmen and 
growers tell us that the Velvet bean is being quite 
extensively planted this year. A large acreage has been 
planted in Florida and the other Gulf States, and small 
plantings for experiment at the North are numerous. 
Strawberry Barrels. —It would appear as though 
many of our readers have attempted to raise straw¬ 
berries on barrels. One woman writes that, if S. S. S., 
on page 350, will take a woman’s advice, he will not 
have any trouble with the strawberry plants pulling 
the hole in with them. Instead of 1 %-inch auger holes, 
she advises him to take a one-inch auger and bore 
four holes one above the other, and then with a com¬ 
pass saw, smooth the sides. This will give a hole 
one inch wide and four inches long. Plant as he de¬ 
scribes, and the plant will settle with the soil. When 
soil is settled, fill in above the plants with soil or a cob. 
City Men In Country. —The California Fruit Grower 
recently printed an advertisement in which a man 
offered the services of himself and wife for board and 
lodging on a farm. He was a city man with a fair 
share of money. He intended to make farming a busi¬ 
ness, and took this method of learning something 
about it before investing in the farm. This strikes us 
like a sensible proceeding. Every year, we have dozens 
of letters from city men who want to obtain positions 
in the country where they can learn how to farm. 
Most of these people are disappointed after a short 
trial, but this California man seems to have struck 
upon a sensible way of learning the business and also 
learning something about the social life of the country. 
THE BUSINESS HEN, THE SCRUB COW AND THE LAZY FARM HAND. Fig. 181. 
