loot 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
4i i 
SHALL WE BUY APPLE BARRELS EARLY? 
On general principles it would be thought the part oi 
wisdom to buy early, as barrels are invariably cheaper 
in June than they are in September or October, and as 
time is of some value early buyers will economize in 
that direction. I have in mind just at this moment a 
remark made by one of the leading apple growers in this 
section. Speaking of his experiences in a certain year 
—not last year—when barrels were scarce, he said: “I 
did noMnind the high price so much as the loss of time 
involved in getting them, which actually amounted to 
more in dollars and cents than the cost of the barrels.” 
I have no doubt many others have had a similar experi¬ 
ence, extreme though it be. There would be but one 
answer as to the advisability of “laying in” coal, also 
a number of other commodities which will suggest 
themselves, which vary according to locality and season. 
Why then should there be any question of this character 
as to apple barrels? I can imagine somebody rising 
from his seat right at this point and saying: “I can 
answer that! I laid in some once, and it was the last 
time, too. When I got ready to use them I found them 
in knock-down form.” That is just what will too often 
happen when barrels are picked too green. The average 
barrel manufacturer is not a practical cooper, and the 
average cooper is just practical enough to throw a barrel 
together (in trade parlance) which will stand long 
enough to go from the shop to the orchard. If it gets 
there safe and is properly packed it will go a good deal 
farther, and stand up better than if empty. But if the 
manufacturer is a practical cooper and has an honorable 
pride in his goods, and properly inspects them, it will 
be advantageous from every point of view to buy his 
barrels early in the season. Such a barrel maker does 
not wait until July or August to begin manufacturing, 
but is usually found making barrels the year round. 
The barrels which he makes and expects to keep in 
storage for future sale will be found safe to buy now. 
But unless you can be reasonably sure of getting barrels 
well made of dry stock my advice would be, don’t buy 
at any price. Of the barrel made of green stock it has 
been said: “He (the Commission Man) doth not look 
with favor upon the barrel when it is straight. Neither 
doth he regard with equanimity the open joint that 
revealeth the color of the fruit within. With his tongue 
lie curseth the barrel that movetli itself away by reason 
of slack hoops, on such he setteth a price.” R. G. 
PLANTS THAT WORK FOR US. 
Sofa Beans in New York. 
Soy or Soja beans are becoming an important part 
of the ration for dairy cows in this section. Some of 
the farmers even think it a solution of the feed ques¬ 
tion, and that they can grow a balanced ration for the 
cow without the use of high-priced grains. In the 
growing of the Soy beans it is important to have good 
seed and of the right variety. The only kind that ma¬ 
tures and ripens seed here is Henderson’s Early 
Green, using about six quarts of seed per acre planted 
in the same hill with the corn, using a stab planter so 
that it can be rowed both ways. It does not seem to 
interfere with the growth of corn in the least. Cut with 
the corn into the silo one has greatly increased the 
amount of protein and with two parts of silage and 
what early cut hay or Alfalfa the cow will eat up clean, 
very little if any grain* need be fed. One of our best, 
and most reliable farmers who has tested this method 
for a number of years claims he cannot increase the 
flow of milk by the use of grain. My experience with 
it is that it will grow in all kinds of weather. The last 
two seasons it has been very wet and cold, and cow peas 
of all kinds have been an entire failure? while the Soy 
beans have grown luxuriantly. A point that we have 
noted is that it does better the second year and after on 
the same soil, as the soil becomes inoculated with bac¬ 
teria and the roots become covered with nodules as 
nitrogen gathers that give it that dark green color. 
M ith the Soy bean and Alfalfa who can say but what 
the dairy business will be revolutionized? 
Hamilton, N. Y. F. n. P. 
Co tv Peas in Corn for North Carolina. 
G. W. G., on page 364, asks what are the best climb¬ 
ing cow peas to plant with corn for silage, how plant 
and what time, etc. In this section no silage is made 
and no variety of climbing peas that will get at the 
right stage to cut when the corn would be at the best 
for silage as I understand it; viz., at the glazing period. 
It is the custom here to plant peas in all corn. This 
is done in two ways; first, when the corn is 10 to 15 
inches high a small hole is dug with the corner of a 
hoe between each hill of corn, 6 to 10 seeds put in these 
holes, and covered with a small amount of earth as the 
corn is cultivated by running the cultivator on each side 
of it. I hese make but very little growth until the corn 
is about matured. It is the custom here to pull the 
blades from the corn when it is just getting hard, about 
at the period it would be cut and shocked at the North. 
W hen the blades are removed the peas grow up and run 
over the stalks with the ears of corn, after causing it to 
fall down, and producing the pods in abundance, which 
are gathered by hogs, except what are picked for seed. 
The Whipporwill is not a running variety, and is not 
planted except after small grain and at the last plowing 
of corn, when sown broadcast for manure or hay. 
Mt. Olive, N. C. j. o. l. 
Hard on Alfalfa and Clover. 
My field is about five-eighths acre, gravelly, and most 
of it extremely stony. About seven years ago it was 
seeded to Alfalfa and plowed up next year as no good, 
SIDE VIEW OF GOOD DAIRY COW. Fig. 178. 
See Page 422. 
but about in center of piece were a few roots that per¬ 
sisted in living. Patch was plowed and worked every 
year. There were also several large roots around edges, 
healthy, thrifty and productive. We came in possession 
of the place April 1, 1902. We put on a little manure, 
ashes and fertilizer, and planted potatoes in 1903; more 
manure, 200 pounds fertilizer and sowed to peas and 
oats. Peas grew five feet high. We cut them for hay, 
plowed the piece and sowed Alfalfa August 1. It was 
raining nearly all the time, and in four days the piece 
began to show green, and September 16 the hay was 
from 10 to 15 inches high. We mowed and fed green, 
and estimated more than a ton of feed. It went into 
Winter in good condition; ground quite well covered 
and plants well stoolcd out. Ground was quite well 
covered with snow until about February 1; there was 
a general break-up, and the Alfalfa was nice and green, 
but about February 16 the thermometer went down to 
24 below zero. A large per cent, of it failed to get the 
breath of life this Spring. April 25 we sowed no more 
seed and dragged well with a one-horse spike-tooth 
drag. The new seed is coming nicely and we shall 
await developments; shall try to get a dressing of lime 
for it this Fall if it lives. Much of the Red clover on 
BACK OF GOOD DAIRY COW. Fig. 179. 
See Page 422. 
heavy land stands on stilts four to six inches high, 
ruined. Crimson clover failed to show a green leaf. 
Standing Stone, Pa w. B. t. 
CEMENT TROUGH FOR WATERING STOCK. 
I have never had charge of a stable equipped with 
individual drinking basins for cows, or with mangers 
used as water trough for a row of cattle. I have friends 
using each system with gratifying results to them. 
Personally, my inclinations are toward the watertight 
cement continuous manger-trough, provided there is an 
abundance of water for use, so that a strong flow can at 
once be directed into the trough, that the operation 
of filling will be prompt of execution. The individual 
drinking basins in Winter are more likely to cause 
trouble from freezing of pipes or basin unless carefully 
attended to, and it also seems to me that these basins 
will be much more likely to accumulate filth in the form 
of hay dust, chaff, etc., and so produce unsanitary water 
than will be the case with the cement trough. A broom 
will soon brush out a long cement trough and make it 
clean and attractive. A number of small basins require 
much more attention. The chief argument that will be 
raised against the cement trough is that it will distribute 
disease, as, for example, tuberculosis. In view of the 
shifts which occur of stock in stables, I fail to see how 
disease may be much more distributed through this sys¬ 
tem than by the small basins, where germs will be if 
anything more likely to lurk. In general, my opinion is 
that the basin will be kept less clean tnan the easily 
cleaned mangers. 
The average farmer is slack in the care of the interior 
of his stables. Many really excellent devices are 
neglected that should be used, simply because they are 
thought to be of too much trouble. 1 he open cement 
trough presents the very least amount of objection from 
tliis point of view. Further, if the herd is a healthy 
one, there will be no special danger from spreading 
disease through drinking in their open trough extend¬ 
ing along in front of a row of cows. Such a trough, 
with no corners, flushed with water twice daily, I should 
consider a model feeding and drinking place from the 
sanitary point of view. In Winter there might be some 
trouble from freezing when extremely cold weather was 
on, yet this should be dealt with as easily as any other 
form of watei ing, excepting where a tank heater is used 
in the water trough itself, as is so common in the West. 
Ohio State University. c. s. plumb 
VALUE OF OHIO ORCHARDS. 
Hill land is worth about $20 per acre here as a rule, 
and it is on the tax duplicate at $4 to $6 per acre, some 
exceptional farms being valued higher, and some farms 
sell as low as $5 per acre occasionally. Most hill farms 
are valued as a whole at $5 to $6, and nothing said 
about an orchard as far as value is concerned. I know 
of a man involved in a suit whose farm was sold, and 
the buyer got enough apples of? it the first year to pay 
him for his investment, and only a small part of the 
farm was devoted to orchards. If the land cost $20 
to start the preparation and trees would bring the cost 
at the end of the first year up to about $40 per acre, 
and it would be worth about $10 per acre per year to 
give it fair attention for the next six years, making the 
outlay about $100, wnen it should begin to bear fail 
crops. Some fruit can be gathered at four or five years, 
and there would be more expense than $10 some years, 
but the receipts of the first apples might offset the extra 
cost. For the next 20 years the orchard should produce 
an average of 50 barrels per acre and sell for an average 
of $2 per barrel, making the gross receipts about $100 
per acre, and the expense annually would be about half 
the receipts, leaving $50 per acre for 20 years, or $1,000 
as a dividend from an orchard with good attention. 
Trees will usually bear themselves to death on our thin 
hills by the time they are 30 years old, and many of 
them die sooner, probably from starvation in many 
cases. The age and condition should determine the 
selling price, and if the varieties are not good ones it is 
not worth a dollar. I would consider orchard lands 
worth from $50 to $200 per acre. Here there are knobs, 
banks and ravines that one could afford to give away to 
v*et rid of them if he could do so, but when a farm is 
valued that must be considered with the good part. 
There are no farms I know of with orchards on them 
which are for sale, and plenty of hill farms can be 
bought at from $15 to $25 per acre without any orchard. 
Some favored localities where small fruits and vege¬ 
tables can be grown well would command higher figures. 
Bottom land will bring from $50 to $100 unless it is 
low and wet. As a rule farmers having orchards make 
better living than those without fruit to sell. When 
there is plenty of fruit on the farm the boys generally 
find plenty of employment at home, and when it is with¬ 
out it they have to work out to get a start, and fewer 
of them ever do get a start. u. t. cox. 
Lawrence Co., Ohio. 
WATERING HORSES.—I notice many farmers are 
very careless about this. Many a man will leave home at 
6 to 6.30 A. M. to do a day’s work plowing, work the 
team until noon, then water and feed; hitch up again at 
one and work till six. The man will have water to 
drink several times during the forenoon and afternoon, 
but never thinks of his team. A team should be watered 
at least once during each half day, and twice or three 
times would be better, particularly in hot weather. By 
watering often a team will not drink an over quantity 
at any one time, as is often the case when horses are 
watered only three times a day, and in hot weather I 
always water my horses in the evening, perhaps at 8.30 
or 9 P. M., about 2J^ or 3 hours after they have eaten 
their night feed. lester r. maynard. 
Massachusetts. 
