82 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
February 6 
NOTES FROM A CONNECTICUT FARM. 
Potatoes Run to Vines —We raised, the past year, 
about one-fourth acre of a new unnamed seedling 
that, in 1895, on The R N.-Y.’s trial grounds yielded 
at the rate of 484 bushels per acre. They were very 
handsome potatoes, and we expected to turn them 
into their weight in gold (more or less), next season, 
to those who wanted to “ get in on the ground floor”. 
They were planted April 30, came up in fine shape, 
began to bloom about June 15, and were in full bloom 
a month and more. They completely covered the 
ground, and every one who saw them said that they 
were the finest-looking tops they had ever seen. 
They were, indeed, a beautiful sight. Our hopes 
grew higher, but-. We pulled up a hill occasion¬ 
ally, but seldom saw a tuber save now and then a 
small one the size of an egg. The blossoms began to 
drop from about July 15, and nearly every plant had 
from 10 to 30 seed-balls, the largest we had ever seen, 
many of them an inch or more in diameter. There 
were on the piece not less than 40 bushels of seed 
balls. We dug the potatoes in October, and harvested 
about 25 bushels, most of them of large size, but not 
as handsome as the year before. The queer point is 
that the yield above ground was larger than that 
under ground. It is our opinion that the strength 
and vigor that should have set tubers were expended 
in setting the seed balls, the tubers not forming until 
after the seed balls. It is needless to say that they 
will not be introduced to a suffering public. We 
shall try a few of them this coming season, and as 
soon as they bloom, intend to pick off the flowers and 
await results. We regret that we did not save the 
seed-balls, owing to push of work, as the seed could 
have been sold. 
Pobk at 10 Cents. —At a recent Grange meeting, I 
was talking with a milkman who raises a good many 
hogs. When asked how much he “got” for them he 
replied, “ They net me, on the average, 10 cents a 
pound.” Some surprise was expressed at this when 
ordinary farmers were selling theirs at four to five 
A SIMPLE POST FENCE. Fig. 42. 
cents per pound. He explained, “You see, I sell 
milk, and so sell my hogs to my customers at practi¬ 
cally no expense for selling. I butcher them, use all 
that I can for sausage, which sells well at 10 cents 
per pound. I sold 60 pounds yesterday. The should¬ 
ers and hams I cure myself and then get them smoked 
at 10 cents apiece. The shoulders 1 usually sell at 10 
cents a pound and the hams at 12 cents. The rib 
pieces I sell fresh at 10 cents. If there’s too much 
fat pork, I put ic down to sell in the summer, but 
most of it I try down for lard, which I can readily 
sell at 10 cents per pound, as people know that it’s 
pure ; there is so much doctored lard now. The head 
and feet my wife cooks and makes into head-cheese, 
which sells at same price as sausage, so there’s no 
waste except a few bones from the head and feet.” 
Perhaps there’s an opportunity for you to do like¬ 
wise in your own town. Our custom is to butcher 
our pigs when they weigh from 80 to 120 pounds. 
These we sell at seven cents per pound by the side to 
private families and boarding houses. Most any one 
can use 40 to 60 pounds of nice young pork that’s 
nearly all lean meat. 
“Robber Cows” ; Milking Stool. —We always get 
rid of the cows at this time of the year which, from 
one reason or another, will not pay to keep another 
year. Soon after coming into their winter ration, we 
give them, in addition to their regular mixture of 
grain, all the corn meal they can handle. They will 
increase in milk for a while and add fat so that in a 
month or two they are in pretty fair condition and 
have paid their feed bill in milk. We then dry them 
off for a week or two and butcher. They make pretty 
good beef, and we have but little trouble in finding 
people who prefer to buy it by the quarter (5 or 5^ 
cents for the fore, 6 or 6^ for the hind), rather than 
to buy in small lots at the market, paying top-notch 
prices. After selling the hide and tallow, they will 
average about $30, which is pretty good for scrubs. 
We are not lazy, neither do we want to sit too long 
at a cow when milking ; but when one has to milk 
six, eight or ten yows twice a day, he will find an 
upholstered stool quite comfortable. Fold a grain 
sack three or four times, use a half dozen shingle 
nails and nail with leather washers, and you have an 
easy stool. We saw directions for making one several 
years ago in an agricultural paper, and have used 
them ever since. h g. Manchester. 
THE PORTABLE FENCE. 
A BATCH OF VARIOUS DESIGNS. 
About a year ago, The R. N.-Y. offered a prize for 
the most useful portable or movable fence Out of 
the great number of designs entered for competition. 
we print a few this week, and shall follow with others 
in subsequent issues. We do not regard the fence 
problem as solved by this contest. In fact, few strictly 
new ideas have been brought out. Each section seems 
to have its favorite fence. Probably the character of 
the soil and its surface, the cost of timber and the 
character of the stock to be fenced in, all have some¬ 
thing to do in deciding the form and construction of 
the fence. The best that we can hope to do is to pre¬ 
sent some of the different types so that readers may 
compare them and thus change or modify to suit. 
With Movable Posts. —The fence that 6eems to us, 
on the whole, most useful, is shown at Fig. 42. This 
is designed by A. B. Twitchell, Oswego County, N. Y. 
As shown by the picture, the panels are made of 
x4-inch boards and wire. The batttens are two 
inches wide. One batten in each panel is made long 
enough to drive into the ground. Between the battens 
at the end is a space large enough to drive a false 
post. If required, a wire loop could be put over this 
space and around the stakes used. The lower figure 
shows how the fence is put together by notching the 
end pieces into the openings on the next panel. By 
driving down the stakes, all is made firm. The right 
end of the lower figure shows an extra batten on the 
panel. This is used for a corner—the notches of the 
next panel being put in from the side rather than 
from the end. 
Fence fob Timbered Country —The fence shown 
at Fig. 43 was designed by J. F. Whiting, Linn 
County, Oreg. With various modifications, this plan 
of making panels of wood with sharpened sticks for 
posts, and binding them together, is very popular. 
Mr. Whiting gives this description of his fence : 
“ Fig. 43 shows one panel of the fence bound to an¬ 
other with wire or a withe, standing snug and per¬ 
pendicular. It is made of young timber, blazed and 
nailed securely at the laps, with braces extending 
from the lower part of the posts to the center of the 
upper rail, thereby thoroughly bracing the panel. 
When driving the fence (which should be done by two 
men with wooden mauls), the panels may be set 
bracing, as in the left of Fig. 43, and as much as 
desired, according to the kind of stock to be inclosed. 
The height of the fence may vary according to needs, 
and the panels should be from eight to twelve feet in 
length.” 
Post-and-Rail Fence. —Another common fence is 
shown at Fig. 44, designed by Winthrop Howland, 
Long Island. It doesn’t require much of an ex¬ 
planation. The point about it is that blocks are 
nailed to the posts so that they cannot be driven in 
too far. This fence is strong and easily moved. 
The Zig-Zag Fence. —Many variations of this fence 
were submitted ; one of the most convenient is shown 
1 
V 
l' 
s 
m 
V 
* 
j 
\ 
V 
1 
W/f//////////////////////^ 
w////////m///////////m 
v////////////////////mm^ 
\w//////m/////m7mm///m 
A ZIG-ZAG PORTABLE FENCE. Fig. 45. 
at Fig. 45, designed by J. E. Snyder, of Ohio. Mr. 
Snyder has this to say about it: “ Each panel is 
made of four six-inch boards, 12 feet long, and five 
upright pieces, 1x3, the center one being placed at 
an angle to strengthen the panel. For turning hogs, 
I make this fence three feet high ; for cattle, four 
feet. Fig. 45 shows the way it is put together. In 
setting up, simply hook the panels together at the cor¬ 
ners, setting them zig-zag, and it forms a fence that is 
strong, economical, easily and rapidly moved, and 
durable. It requires no posts, and may be made in 
any length of panel to suit. For fencing off a hog 
pasture in a clover field, or for hogging down corn or 
rye, I have found it to be just the thing.” 
Hook-and-Eye Fence. —This design, Fig. 46, is 
sent by O. D. Case of Connecticut. Three sorts of 
panels are shown. The “ eyes” are horse-shoes and 
the “hooks” are half horse-shoes. In putting up this 
fence, the panels are simply hooked together end to 
end. The heavier panels will stand up better than 
the light ones. 
The usual form of portable fence is without posts. 
The panels fit upon three-cornered heavy pieces which 
hold up the end and cannot well be turned over. There 
are several forms of these end pieces, and we shall try 
to picture a few of them next week. 
WHAT CELERY TO PLAN 7 J 
What do you consider the best two varieties of celery, early 
and late ? With some, White Plume is very likely to f?row hoi 
low, and Giant Pascal, while large and of excellent flavor, doe 
not blanch white enough to suit most people. 
Golden Self-Blanching; Giant Pascal. 
For immediate use, I have found the Golden Self- 
Blanching the best variety. White Plume is hand¬ 
some and sells well in some markets, but it is valueless 
so far as eating it is concerned. But the Golden 
Self-Blanching, while it is not as “self-blanching” as 
White Plume, is nevertheless very easily blanched, 
and is of the very best quality. It will keep until 
about Christmas. For winter use, I have found 
nothing better than a good strain of Golden Heart or 
A HOOK-AND-EYE FENCE. Fig. 40. 
Giant Pascal. The Pascal can be blanched perfectly 
white by placing it in the celery house or cellar 
packed close together with its roots in moist soil and 
the cellar kept cool and dark. It does not blanch as 
easily as the Golden Heart, but it is larger, of the 
best quality and keeps longer. s. m. iiarris. 
Monroe County, N. Y. 
Introduction of White Plume a Mistake. 
The conviction is gradually growing upon me that 
the introduction of the White Plume was a mistake 
and has resulted disastrously to the general grower 
of celery for market. This popular variety is never 
(hardly ever) first-class in quality, and more usually 
stringy, and strong in flavor. It is so easily grown, 
too, that growers are likely to overstock the market 
with the inferior stuff, and make people sick and tired 
of celery. Yet what variety can we grow in place of 
it for early use? There is none, that I know of, that 
will come on as early and grow as thriftily at its 
season. I have my doubts whether the newer Pink 
Plume is much or any better. Golden Self-Blanching 
is decidedly better in quality and appearance, but it 
is of slower or more dwarfish growth and, therefore, 
more difficult to bring into good marketable condi¬ 
tion. It is easily blanched, either by boards or bank¬ 
ing. Giant Pascal is yet my favorite for late use, but 
unfortunately, it takes more than an ordinary length 
of time to blanch well. It does best when highly 
banked with earth, or stored in trench or root house. 
It also needs an especially liberal allowance of 
manures in order to bring out its best qualities. The 
ordinary pink varieties (New Dwarf Rose, etc ,) are 
of recognized superior flavor, although hardly better 
in this respect than Pascal. For ordinary market 
purposes, the older Golden-Heart Half-Dwarf is, per¬ 
haps, as good as the best. For home use, give me 
Golden Self-Blanching for early, and Giant Pascal for 
