THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 5 
176 
© 
INCOMES FROM SMALL FARMS. 
Results from Good Culture and Heavy Feeding 
I am going to make the broad statement lhat a 
small farm, well managed, will return a larger divi¬ 
dend on capital invested than will be received on the 
same amount of capital invested in any other busi¬ 
ness, a gold mine not excepted. In the statement 
about to follow 1 will endeavor to prove the asser¬ 
tion made above. The farm, stock and all implements 
are valued at $8,000, and are earning 24 per cent. 
This does not take in family living, clothes, etc. What 
merchant or manufacturer does when figuring his 
dividend? He takes his inventory at his place of 
business regardless of any 
item of living. On the 
other hand, I have not 
credited the farm with 
anything consumed at 
home. We have our gar¬ 
den and our potatoes, also 
eggs, milk, etc., free. 
We cannot expect to 
reap a full harvest on all 
crops we attempt to grow. 
In this statement there 
are several failures and 
part failures. My pepper 
crop was only a partial 
success; turnips same; 
should have had 100 bar¬ 
rels. My celery crop of 
one acre was the finest I 
ever saw just before har¬ 
vesting time, but I lost 
two-thirds of it in the 
bleaching trenches. The 
blight visited my melon 
field and cut expectations 
in ha’.f. It also ruined my 
egg plant. I should have 
bad $100 worth at a very 
modest estimate where I 
received only $11. While 
the above is being done 
we are at the same time 
and on part of same farm, 
growing six acres of apple 
a handful in the hill or row of some quick-acting com¬ 
plete fertilizer, rich in nitrogen, about 200 or 300 
pounds per acre, and side-dress once or twice during 
growing season, with nitrate of soda, dried blood, or 
ground fish scrap, as we think the crop may need. 
With this feeding, good seed planted right, and at the 
right time, and thorough cultivation, wc manage to 
reap some maximum crops, some fair ones and some 
failures. The following crops were taken from my 
small farm of 30 acres and seven acres rented in 1902: 
Early tomatoes .$1,084.14 
Late tomatoes . 169.19 
Plants, tomato, pepper, egg, cabbage, celery and 
sweet potato . 600 .Oj 
Carrots . 424.20 
The foregoing is a true and correct statement 
of the receipts and disbursements for the year 
named. If this little article succeds in its mission 
in showing what can, and is being done, on 37 acres 
of ordinary New Jersey sand, and helps some of those 
who think "farming don’t pay” to a better idea of 
their business and its possibilities, it will do some 
good at least. 
Monmouth Co., N. J. c. c. nuns art. 
A WELL-TRAINED PEAR TREE. Fig. 77. See Page 179. 
THE GREAT PERSIAN CYCLAMEN. 
One of the finest plants for window decoration at 
this season is the Persian Cyclamen in its new and 
greatly improved varie¬ 
ties. It is native to Greece 
and Syria, and is now 
known to botanists as C. 
latifolium, but the com¬ 
mon name of Persian Cy¬ 
clamen is likely to be re¬ 
tained. It is beautiful in 
flower and foliage when 
well grown. Fig. 76 shows 
a good specimen, greatly 
reduced in size. The col¬ 
ors are white, rose, pur¬ 
ple, crimson and mottled, 
while the leaves are often 
beautifully v a r i e g a ted. 
New forms are offered with 
oddly crested flowers. These 
do not come altogether 
true from seeds, but are 
fine enough to reward the 
grower for a considerable 
outlay. The best Cycla¬ 
men seeds of the plain 
type cost 25 cents a packet 
or $1.50 per 100. They are 
sold under the name of C. 
giganteum. Seeds of the 
crested or Papilio variety 
cost 50 cents a packet. If 
started now in the window 
garden or greenhouse, 
seeds will produce, under 
proper treatment, grand 
trees now four years old; 
also 4 V 2 acres asparagus that we are only beginning 
to cut, and that will not be to its prime for two or 
three years yet. My Kieffer pear orchard is bearing 
its first crop this season, but ought to do far 
better when trees get larger. It requires three horses 
and five to six men to do the work on this place dur¬ 
ing Spring, Summer and Fall months. Two men are 
kept the year around. 
I use 200 tons New York stable manure, aside from 
what is made on the farm, and about 12 tons ferti¬ 
lizer, most of which we mix on the farm, but it is not 
mixed as a complete fertilizer; we mix acid phos¬ 
phate and muriate of potash together, using our ni¬ 
trates in whatever form we think best by themselves. 
This, however, is not done on all crops. On some 
trops we use a complete fertilizer to save extra work. 
The manure is practically all broadcast during late 
Winter and plowed under. Before harrowing we sow 
broadcast our mixture of acid phosphate and potash, 
200 to 500 pounds per acre, according to what crop we 
intend to grow, we harrow this in thoroughly and use 
Toppers . 252.00 
Turnips . 73.00 
Sweet corn . 205.00 
Pears, Summer . 58.00 
Kieffer . 195.50 
Celery . 166.28 
Strawberries . 135.22 
Raspberries . 187.20 
Cucumbers . 103.70 
Young pigs . 70.25 
Beans, wax . 89.80 
White and sweet potatoes . 37.50 
Melons . 51.60 
Egg plant . < . 11.00 
Asparagus .... 27.10 
Radishes . 10.15 
Rhubarb . 18.00 
Total receipts .$3,969.63 
Running expenses. 2,049.67 
Net earnings .$1,919.96 
EXPENSES. 
Hired help for season. $701.05 
Board for same. 400.00 
Paid for picking berries. 68.88 
Manure and fertilizer. 635.19 
Blacksmith bills, etc. 47.00 
Corn bought for stock feed. 79.06 
Hay bought for stock feed. 15.00 
Rent on seven acres ground and taxes. 103.49 
Total expenses .$2,049.67 
blooming plants as shown 
in the cut in from 10 to 12 months’ time. Very good 
cultural directions are sent out by reliable dealers 
with the seeds. 
SILAGE FOR HORSEIS.—Tell A. M„ Clinton Co., N. 
Y.. on page 47, not to think of feeding his horses silage 
as there is always around all silos that I have ever seen 
more or less waste or decomposed matter which molds 
and spoils. This in certain stages is fatal to horses, 
but does not seem to injure cows very much. This 
moldy stuff or moldy or musty feed of any kind pro¬ 
duces a disease that is most insidious and fatal. I have 
known farmers to lose every horse in a day or two. The 
disease is called spinal meningitis or choking distemper, 
putrid sore throat, etc., and Prof. Pearson, of the Uni¬ 
versity of Pennsylvania, has suggested “forage poison.” 
I nderstand, one might feed it with impunity provided 
there was not a bit of the spoiled silage in the mangers, 
but you would run a great risk, and I as a veterinary, 
from my experience and observations and experiences of 
others, would hardly dare keep horses in a stable ad¬ 
joining a silo. 1 could give many instances as any other 
veterinary could, who has lived in districts where this 
disease is prevalent. Trusting this will be of use to 
A. M. let him cure all his feed thoroughly and be sure 
do not feed musty food of any kind unless he thoroughly 
cooks it first. chas. williams, v. m. d. 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
NORTHRUP, KING S CO’S 
Peep o’ Day 
The Sensational Early, New 
Sweet Corn 
THAT IS SWEET 
Ten days to 
tioo u’eeks 
earlier than 
any other sort. 
Tenderest, 
Juiciest, 
Sweetest and 
Most Productive 
Suited to all soils 
and climates. 
FVFRY PK,VATE r.ARHFN s,l0rLD 
LYLIVl MARKET UMK.L/L1Y (; k 0 W IT 
See Catalogue for Cash Prize Offer 
DAVC Get a half acre or vacant lot 
and have a Sweet Corn Farm. 
People will buy this corn eageriy at a 
good price because it is early and sweet 
SPECIAL OFFER £ 
ver, or stamps, (with name of this 
tragazine) for large packet of N. K. k 
Co's ‘‘Peep o' Day" Sweet Corn (300 
seeds; enough for 60 lulls) and our 
pictured catalogue of NORTHERN 
GROWN SEEDS. Valuable seed prem¬ 
iums FREE. WRITE NOW. 
NORTHRUP, KING S CO. 
Seedsmen, Minneapolis, Minn. 
SWEDISH OATS 
[Wis. No. 41 
Best out of 36 varieties for 
4 years at Wis. Ex. Station. 
Stiffest straw, plumpest, 
heaviest yielder. 10 bushel 
lots at 85 cents, sacks included. 
MANDSCHEURI BARLEY 
Doubles the yield of common var¬ 
ieties. No barley equal to it. Our 
seed is pure and clean. 10 bu. at 
75c; 50 bu at 70c. 
SPELTI [Emmerl 
The wonderful Russian (train. Out- 
yields both barley and oats. Succeeds 
well everywhere. Great stock feed. 
10 bu. of40 lbs at 70c; 50'Jbu at 65c. 
JAPANESE MILLET 
[Billion Dollar Grass] 
Most valuable of all forage plants. Yields 
more than German Millet and of splendid 
quality. 10 bu. of 40 lbs. at f 1.35. 
CLOVERS AND GRASSES 
We have large stocks of Medium, Mammoth 
and Alsyke Clovers, Alfalfa, Timothy, Red 
Top, Orchard Grass, Brome Grass, Lawn 
Grass, etc. Lowest market prices. We also 
make a specialty of choice Seed Potatoes and 
Seed Corn. Garden Seeds of all kinds, Tools 
and Poultry Supplies. 72-page catalog free. 
L. L. Olds Seed Co., Driver V, Clinton, Wis. 
ESTABLISHED 1802. 
for over a hundred years have been 
universally recognized as the standard 
of excellence 
OUR CATALOGUE— the 103d 
successive annual edition—contains a 
more complete assortment and fuller 
cultural directions than any other 
seed annual published. It contains 
144 large-size pages, profusely illus¬ 
trated with half-tone plates. In every 
respect and without exception it is 
the most complete, most reliable and 
most beautiful of American Garden 
Annuals. We Mail It Free. 
J. M. THORBURN & CO., 
‘.US Cortlandt Street, New York. 
T&ES 
Fruit and Ornamental. 
Shrubs 
Evergreens 
Roses 
Hardy Plants 
All the Best and Hardiest Varieties. 
Largest Collections in America. 
Illustrated Descriptive Catalogue. 
FREE on request. 
ELLWAN6ER & BARRY, 
Nurserymen—Horticulturists. 
Mount Hope Nurseries, 
Rochester, N. Y. 
KMtabllahed 1840. Mention this publication. 
