1904 
EVERYBODY'S GARDEN. 
1. I have a fine row of young rhubarb plants 
from seed sown last Spring. They have been 
transplanted this season into rich ground. 
IIow should I treat them hereafter? Will it 
do to put stable manure on them in the Fall, 
or how should I fertilize them? Of course 
we do not take It up in the Fall. 2. What 
kind of chickens should I raise? I want 
about 50 hens, and I want but one kind. I 
want them for eggs, and now have Plymouth 
Rocks. M. M. H. 
Guilford College, N. C. 
1. Give the rhubarb clean culture, work¬ 
ing the ground thoroughly and often dur¬ 
ing the season. Do not allow any seed 
stalks to grow; break them out as soon 
as they start growth. No stalks should be 
pulled this year; but all left to go back 
on to the ground. Cover the row plenti¬ 
fully with manure in the Fall, but leave 
the clumps nearly or quite uncovered. 
This will be the best treatment for your 
locality, as you get but little if any severe 
cold weather. The rhubarb will do better 
to get all the freezing possible in your cli¬ 
mate, so leave the clumps uncovered, but 
apply the manure liberally along the rows. 
In the Spring spade or fork it into the 
soil, and next season you should be able 
to full considerable for use, but it will 
not reach its best until the third or fourth 
year. 2. If you raise hens chiefly for the 
eggs, it would be better to change the 
present breed for Leghorns, either White 
or Brown. My personal choice is the lat¬ 
ter, but either would be better than Ply¬ 
mouth Rocks. Black Minorcas are also 
excellent layers and perhaps more docile 
than the Leghorns; but any of them are 
better egg producers than those you now 
have. 
Hotbed Trials. —In a recent issue of 
The R. N.-Y. a subscriber asked why the 
manure in his hotbeds failed to heat. We 
have not far to seek for the cause of our 
own trouble. The simple reason was that 
too much rotten manure was mixed in, 
and the whole mass was too wet. The 
assortment was gathered from various 
sources and contained a large percentage 
of rye straw. Ice and snow was liberally 
mixed in; and lack of judgment in assort¬ 
ing while loading has made all sorts of 
trouble. Usually it is not difficult to start 
with hot water; but ours was water-soaked 
to begin with, and the more water was 
added the worse it became. Some beds 
had to be torn up after being tramped 
and covered with the glass, shredded corn- 
fodder and other litter was added to ab¬ 
sorb some of the moisture, and thus the 
fires have been set going under difficulties. 
Autumn is the time to gather and store 
the soil, and the manure after leaving the 
stables should never be exposed to the 
elements, but be carefully sheltered and 
handled to prevent burning, j. e. morse. 
FARMING ON A BUSINESS BASIS 
FROM THE MANAGER’S VIEW. 
We will suppose that A (the owner) 
invests $10,000 in farming. It is divided 
as follows: 
Real estate. $7,000 
Teams, tools, etc. 1,200 
Give stock (excepting teams). OOo 
Reserve for current expenses. 1,200 
B (the manager) works for a salary, 
therefore his object should be to please 
A, and to make the business a success 
financially. B is to take the responsi¬ 
bilities as far as possible, besides doing 
a proportion of the manual labor. No 
farm manager can make a success of it 
and wear a “boiled shirt and standing 
collar.” There are many jobs he can 
shorten from 10 to 50 per cent by taking 
hold himself, and the more dirty and dis¬ 
agreeable the job the more necessity for 
him to “put his shoulder to the wheel.” 
Nor must he be handicapped financially, 
and yet there must be a limit to expenses. 
Therefore he must be allowed to draw on 
reserve as necessary. He should be re¬ 
sponsible for all moneys handled by him; 
if necessary should give bonds for same. 
He should be free to raise such crops 
as he thought the land adapted to, and 
should hire help as needed, but if possi¬ 
ble should consult with A on all things, 
and have him suited. He should superin¬ 
tend any repairs made on farm in any 
way. I see no reason why such a combi¬ 
nation of labor and capital should not 
be successful, provided a proper contract 
were drawn to start with, and then lived 
up to afterward. o. j. b. 
Stanley, N. Y. i 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
461 
Fertilizers in Missouri. 
H. H., Neosho, Mo .—I wrote to ourf agri¬ 
cultural school asking them to give me a for¬ 
mula of fertilizer to apply on corn. Our soil 
here in the Ozark region is rather thin. 
The enclosed letter is their reply : “Our ex¬ 
periments indicate that on most soils fine 
ground hone meal gives as good results as auy 
fertilizer which we have applied. I would 
not apply potash alone, although on some 
soils some potash will give fairly good re¬ 
sults.” Is it not a fact that bone meal is too 
slow in its action on corn? Would some¬ 
thing with potash in it be much better? flow 
is superphosphate, as it comes from the 
packing houses in Kansas City? 
Ans. —It is true that fine ground bone 
is a good fertilizer on moist soils that 
contain plenty of organic matter. We 
do not use bone alone in the East, how¬ 
ever, as we feel satisfied that some soluble 
form of phosphoric acid is needed for the 
corn crop. The experiment stations of the 
West urge the use of bone meal alone 
because it gives the cheapest form of 
phosphoric acid, and they know that 
farmers, when beginning to use fertilizers, 
will not pay any more than they 
can help. While the scientific men of the 
West say that potash is not necessary, 
we believe that for the corn crop on many 
soils, at least, a fair quantity of potash 
will prove profitable. We would cer¬ 
tainly experiment with it, if nothing more. 
As to whether bone meal is too slow or 
not, a great deal depends upon its fine¬ 
ness. We have samples of bone meal that 
is ground to a fine powder, almost as fine 
as flour. Probably 60 per cent of the 
phosphoric acid in this very fine bone 
meal would be available the first year to 
a crop of corn. In another sample much 
coarser and barely cracked, probably not 
over 20 per cent"would be available in the 
same time. Experience shows that on our 
soil it is better to use at least half of 
the phosphoric acid in the form of super¬ 
phosphate; that is, a phosphate that has 
been cut or dissolved with acid. The- 
other half may just as well be in the 
form of fine ground bone; in fact, it is 
a good plan to use part of the bone, as 
you thus obtain an amount of nitrogen in 
it, and also a form of phosphoric acid 
which will “stay by” the plant. The pack¬ 
ing houses make what they call a “super¬ 
phosphate,” which is fine bone treated with 
acid, with a little tankage mixed in it, 
and sometimes a little potash. If you come 
to figure on it you will find that the phos¬ 
phoric acid in this superphosphate costs 
you more than it would in a sample of 
acid rock. At the same time the super¬ 
phosphate may pay better because you can 
get it handier, and by using a small 
amount of potash it will give a complete 
fertilizer. You can buy the bone meal and 
acid rock separately and use them to¬ 
gether, or buy the superphosphate and the 
bone and use them in the same way. As 
an experiment we would try on several 
strips through the fields muriate of pot¬ 
ash at the rate of 75 to 100 pounds per 
acre. Take strips of five or six rows 
wide and put the potash on these strips 
in connection with your other fertilizer. 
When you come to estimate the results 
do not go by guesswork, or by looking 
down the rows, but take the time to cut a 
fair strip here and there, both where the 
potash was used and where it was not, 
and either weigh or estimate in some care¬ 
ful manner just what the difference 
amounts to. Be sure to put your strips 
with potash wide apart so that there will 
be plenty of chance between them to de¬ 
termine the value of the bone fertilizer 
alone. If you think you can afford to do 
so it would also pay to leave a strip or 
two through the field with nothing at all. 
You will understand, of course, that in 
using fertilizers in a State like yours, it is 
largely a matter of experiment, and you 
must feel your way along somewhat in 
advance of the scientific men, because you 
will see that they must be cautious in giv¬ 
ing their advice, or otherwise it would not 
be well understood. 
Dwarf Essex Rape.—W ith us iu southern 
Dutchess County Dwarf Essex rape survives 
the Winters and gives some trouble in the 
Spring, although nothing serious, as it is 
h easily killed. We are in latitude 41. 
New Hamburg, N. Y. c. e. w. 
No Friend of Robins. —On page 421 an¬ 
other friend of the robin sounds as if the 
writer had not much to do with growing 
cherries, either for profit or otherwise. She 
is simply showing friendship for the bird, 
a feeling I suppose we all have, but if the 
robin's friend had a fine crop of cherries 
almost ready for market and some children 
or others as familiar to us as even the little 
robins are, were to reach into those trees and 
pick cherries as fast as they could devour 
them till every tree was about stripped of 
fruit, what would such people think or do 
to such thieves, in spite of the good to be 
found in said robbers otherwise? It is all 
very well for some people, law-makers in¬ 
cluded, to pass judgment on the robin pest. 
They are to be classed with) a city clerk run¬ 
ning a peach farm infested with San .Tos6 
scale. After spending 10 years raising a 
tree we are to allow some pest to eat up the 
crop just because some other people think 
the robbers to be “cute.’ We don't see many 
cherry growers befriending the pretty robin. 
A short time ago II. M. Haven, Van Huron 
Co., Mich., had something to say in his fa¬ 
vor, but Mr. Haven had nothing to lose by 
him, as he is not a fruit grower, but a seed 
grower. lie claimed the robin cleaned out 
lots of cutworms. He may eat some, but 
lie more than offsets that by the enormous 
amount of earthworms he gets away with, 
and we all know the earthworm to be the 
farmer’s friend. If fruit growers would get 
more active and do a little more talking 
they could surprise some of these robin lov¬ 
ers. I think the people who made the laws 
to protect robins know aoout as much as 
the people of Michigan who a few years ago 
wanted rabbits on the protection list; a nice 
little pest that will kill more young trees 
than a man can plant in a day. Such people 
who have had six months’ experience in 
farming are often considered great writers 
for farm papers. w. T. 
Van Buren Co., Mich. 
For the land’s sake, use Bowker’s Fer¬ 
tilizers. They enrich the earth.— Adv. 
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HOW TO FIND OUT. 
Fill a bottle or common glass with your 
water and let it stand twenty-four hours; 
a sediment or settling indicates an un¬ 
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stains the linen it is evidence of kidney 
trouble; too frequent desire to pass it, or 
pain in the back is also conviwcing proof 
that the kidneys and bladder are out of 
order. 
What To Dc. 
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When writing be sure to mention that 
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