Vol. LXIII, No. 2847, 
NEW YORK, AUGUST 20, 1904. 
*1 PER YEAR 
THE BUSINESS OF AN OHIO FARM. 
drown from a Single Rented Acre. 
AN AGRICULTURAL, FACTORY.—Fig. 272 shows 
our home, which we have named White Oaks. Our 
family numbers five, wife, two boys, one girl and the 
writer. Our office is nearby, from which we manage all 
business of the farms, which embrace S00 acres of fertile 
Miami Valley soil, the nature of which differs sufficiently 
to allow us to grow with success a great variety of 
crops. We grow a variety of crops, yet our main busi¬ 
ness is and always has been the growing of small fruits 
and small fruit plants, all other interests being supple¬ 
mentary to this. Our fruit is sold to nearby markets 
as much as possible, the remainder shipped to points 
offering best inducements, or rather remitting best re¬ 
turns. We have perhaps 200 acres now devoted to plant 
growing, 100 acres to fruit exclusively, the remainder 
to potatoes, corn, oats and barley for seed purposes, with 
a general line of farming, trucking and cattle feeding 
following. Now this is what we do. To do it requires 
almost an endless amount of help, and many buildings 
and storage houses or barns to care for teams and prod¬ 
ucts. Located conveniently on the farms are nine 
dwelling houses, each a 
modern country home, with 
as many large barns, rang¬ 
ing in size from 36x60 to 
46x100 feet, six of which 
are bank barns with base¬ 
ment under the entire build¬ 
ing. With the exception of 
80 acres this land is in one 
body, being bought as was 
needed from adjoining own¬ 
ers at an average price of 
$100 per acre, the above 
named 80 acres being only 
a few miles distant and de¬ 
voted to special lines. Each 
set of buildings is connected 
by telephone, and in turn to 
our own residence, allowing 
us to keep in close touch 
with every move that is go¬ 
ing on without the neces¬ 
sity of being on the ground 
personally often for a month 
or more, yet it is not only a 
pleasure to see what is go¬ 
ing on, but is a great encouragement to our men to 
have the “boss” come around. The products grown that 
are not sold by methods above mentioned are fed upon 
the farm. We annually feed about 150 head of stock 
cattle, which we buy in Chicago in December and fatten 
and dispose of in April and May. This we call our fer¬ 
tilizer factory, by which we keep up fertility with the 
aid of clover. All hay, corn stover, straw and grains 
that we can raise and much that we buy goes to this 
factory, and we are sure of the “brand” we get. 
A CO-OPERATIVE EXPERIMENT.—This is what 
we do. As to how we do it is another matter. At 
first we hired all our help and managed everything per¬ 
sonally. Help was then plentiful and our interests not 
so varied or extensive. Gradually we found we were 
getting more on our hands than we could see to prop¬ 
erly, no matter how hard we worked, nor how hard we 
tried to do everything just right. We hired good fore¬ 
men at good wages; help became harder to get; matters 
got worse instead of better as we broadened our opera¬ 
tions. We then began picking out our best men in cer¬ 
tain lines and establishing them in business for them¬ 
selves, giving each a half interest in what he grew, hav¬ 
ing a definite understanding as to the part each is to 
perform. This plan worked well; in fact, so well that 
we now have turned over everything to this method and 
have divided the land into six separate tracts with nec¬ 
essary buildings on each, giving to the manager of each 
tract complete control as to the growing of the crops 
on his farm. Now the entire result rests upon the 
choosing of the man for the place. The success or 
failure depends upon him, for it matters not how good 
the land or how carefully we plan the work for the 
growing of the crop, if the man chosen is not fitted to 
fill the place the venture is going to be a failure. We 
endeavor to get only such men as we know are a suc¬ 
cess at the work we want them to do, having drilled 
most of them for a number of years thoroughly along 
the lines they are to follow, for we want each man at 
the head of a department to know enough to run every 
detail of the industry entrusted to him; we want them 
to shoulder the responsibility, and to feel that it rests 
upon their own efforts whether or not they succeed, so 
we must know beyond a doubt before we entrust any 
branch of our business that our man has ability and 
can do the work and is in every way efficient. As a 
matter of fact, he must be honest, industrious and up¬ 
right, and have the above-named qualifications beside. 
HOW IT IS MANAGED.—By our method there is 
no confusion, no noise, no misunderstanding; every man 
knows what is expected of him; he plans accordingly; 
gets teams, tools and hires help necessary to do his 
work. He has equal interest in the work with us. He 
is at home, his own wife cooks his meals, and he feels 
as independent as if he owned the farm himself. He 
has his stock about him; all necessary buildings, and 
located right at his work, being able to work good time 
and where he can watch his crops grow and develop. 
Thus it is on each place, everything going quietly and 
smoothly as if they were entirely independent of each 
other, which, in fact, they are as far as the tenant is 
concerned. How about our own home? By this 
method we are relieved of thousands of small matters as 
well as many larger ones. Everything depends upon 
our men for the growing and caring for the crops. Our 
entire time is devoted to selling what is grown; study¬ 
ing what may be wanted by our customers, and having 
it at a time they want it; no little task, yet so different 
from the old way that it seems light, and almost like 
retiring from work. We need to keep but two horses 
now to do our driving, one cow and chickens; no help 
to board or to have in the house. We all work as a 
matter of course, but we have cut out all the drudgery 
of the farm, and retained the advantages. We have 
built our new house while we were comparatively young, 
that we may enjoy it with our children. How old am I? 
I am 40. My wife? She is not so old; looks about 20; 
boys 12 and 8; girl 5. w. n. scarff. 
FIGHTING THE BUFFALO CARPET BEETLE. 
Sulphur Fumigation for Insect Pests. 
In a recent issue of The R. N.-Y., I notice an article 
on the Buffalo Carpet beetle, giving its life history 
and various methods of fighting it, special emphasis 
being put on wire door and window screens to bar out 
the adult insects. It will not do to depend too much 
on screens. At their best they do not fit very tightly, 
and if every door and window was battened I doubt if 
this beetle could be kept out. It is less than one-eighth 
of an inch long, and of much less depth than the lady¬ 
bird. A liberal use of gum camphor will go far to 
prevent their depredations in closets, boxes or bags of 
furs and clothing. A lump of gum camphor the size 
of a walnut will last nearly all Summer, and retain its 
efficiency if wrapped in several thicknesses of paper. 
I would not advise anyone to discard his carpets, 
but they should be tacked down lightly, using as few 
tacks as possible. If the floor has cracks between the 
boards and under the baseboards they should be filled 
with putty, and if the job of puttying is an extensive one 
much time can be saved by using a putty bulb and liquid 
putty. For a number of years our house was badly 
infested with this pest, 
probably worse than most 
houses, on account of hav¬ 
ing an extensive collection 
of natural history speci¬ 
mens. All specimens are 
thoroughly poisoned with 
arsenic and diluted bichlo¬ 
ride of mercury, yet they 
tend constantly to attract 
moths and Dermestes. Some 
time ago my wife tried 
burning brimstone to rid the 
house of moths, and it has 
proved a success. The 
fumes of burning sulphur 
will corrode iron and steel 
and tarnish silverware, so 
everything of these mate¬ 
rials should be removed 
from the rooms. Stoves, 
stove pipe, etc., of course 
are not moved. We gener¬ 
ally treat three or four 
rooms at a time. All boxes, 
bureau drawers, bags, etc., 
are thrown wide open; clothing is shaken out, the car¬ 
pets are turned up around the edges, the windows and 
doors, except one for exit, are corked with cloths, and 
the brimstone fired. It must be thoroughly done, three 
or four pounds of brimstone burned, and the rooms 
remain closed four or five hours. It is not a great task 
to go over a house in this way, and if it is done once in 
April, again in May, and again some time during the 
Summer the house will remain almost free from moths. 
If it is done late in the Fall it will destroy the flies and 
wasps that creep in and cluster in the corners, behind 
maps, pictures, etc. The best dish for burning brim¬ 
stone is a sulphur pot used in evaporators, or a 
plumber's lead pot. In absence of these a frying pan 
will do. To avoid risk of fire a pan partly filled with 
earth should be set on a couple of bricks and the sulphur 
pot set on top. d. d. s. 
Oswego, N. Y. 
R. N.-Y.—The fumes obtained from the evaporation 
of gum camphor by heat are excellent for discourag¬ 
ing all sorts of troublesome insects, and do not make 
the room uninhabitable except for those to whom cam¬ 
phor is especially distasteful. Put a piece of gum about 
the size of a walnut into a. metal cup (not soldered, 
of course) and hold over a lighted lamp. In a few 
minutes the gum will melt and then evaporate. We 
have often cleared a room of mosquitoes in this way. 
WHITE OAKS, THE HOME OF AN EIGHT-HUNDRED ACRE FARMER. Fig. 272. 
