1897 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
297 
AMONG THE MARKETMEN. 
WHAT I SEE AND HEAR. 
Commission merchants receive all sorts of queer 
consignments, and a man of experience will, usually, 
find some one to buy them. In front of one store, 
three peacocks attracted much attention. Each was 
in a separate box, and each box had an annex several 
feet long to accommodate the tail of the bird. The 
bird was compelled to remain in this cramped posi¬ 
tion. The commission merchant admitted that the 
demand for peacocks is not large, but some sales are 
made at good prices. 
X X X 
This is the season of shad in the city, and the mar¬ 
ket is fully supplied with fine fresh ones from nearby 
waters. Excellent large roe-shad may be bought for 
25 to 35 cents, or 50 cents in some of the more aristo¬ 
cratic markets. But a big difference is observable in 
the manner in which they are displayed by the deal¬ 
ers. On one stand, a large bed of green parsley was 
made, and on this the shad were arranged in a manner 
so tasteful as almost to compel a hater of the bundles 
of bony sweetness to buy. There’s money in catch¬ 
ing the eye of the careful buyer. 
XXX 
Hothouse lambs have been coming in at a great 
rate, and the wonder is that the price has kept up as 
well as it has. The weather has been cool and favor¬ 
able, but with the advent of warmer weather, which 
must soon be expected, arrivals in poorer condition 
are probable. Some shipments of live lambs have 
arrived, and thi3 is usually a safer method to ship, as 
butchers prefer to buy city-dressed meat during the 
hot weather. Great care must be taken in dressing, 
cooling, packing and shipping, and small, light, poor 
lambs should not be shipped under any circumstances. 
X X * 
Some of the finest, largest hothouse strawberries I 
have seen recently, were received here during the 
week. Some of them were immense. But they brought 
a low price, that is, low for hothouse berries. The 
regular season for these is about over, and strawber¬ 
ries of pretty good quality are plentiful from the 
South. Such berries as these at Christmas would 
have gone off like hot cakes at a good round price. 
Which only goes to show that the choice products 
must be ready for market just when the market is 
ready for choice products. f. h. v. 
NOTES ON GRASS SEEDING. 
Will you tell us, now that results are most evident, what you 
consider the surest way to obtain a complete catch of grass and 
clover ? What has been your experience this past year ? Do you 
advise sowing grass seed alone in the fall, or clover alone in the 
spring ? What seems the best practice one year with another ? 
Do you advise seeding with buckwheat ? 
Lime Needed for Clover. 
On a gravelly piece of land from which a good crop 
of barley was removed, the seeding (clover and Tim¬ 
othy) failed last year. The ground was well prepared 
immediately after the barley was removed, was left 
for a time to weather, harrowed four or five times at 
frequent intervals, and sowed to Timothy and clover 
the first days of September. This effort to seed with¬ 
out a crop was very successful. The grass is now more 
advanced upon this piece than upon the old meadows. 
Our wheat stubbles which were seeded to clover with 
a little Timothy about April 1, 1896, show a good 
stand in both Timothy and clover. Judging by other 
years, we should get at least 2)4 tons per acre of well- 
cured hay. 
A letter just received from one of my correspondents 
states a case of success where failure had been the 
rule for the last quarter of a century, in something 
like the following language : “I have had great 
difficulty in getting a stand of grass or clover. On 
one part of the field, we have never been able during 
the last 28 years, to form a good meadow sod. I pur¬ 
chased 30 tons of lime, spread it on the plowed ground, 
sowed grain and seeded, with the most satisfactory 
results. About one-half acre, where the lime run 
short, was treated in all respects like the rest of the 
field, but on this area, there are not a half dozen liv¬ 
ing clover plants.” 
It is quite probable that much of the soil is too acid 
for clover, and might be greatly benefited by a dress¬ 
ing of 10 to 15 bushels of lime per acre. Certainly it 
is worth trying. Those who suspect that their land 
has become acid from long cultivation, should pur¬ 
chase a little blue and a little red litmus paper at the 
drug store. Cut a piece half an inch wide and an 
inch long, press it upon tfie damp earth, and note 
first if there is enough moisture in the soil to wet the 
paper. If there be and the soil be acid, the blue lit¬ 
mus paper will turn reddish. If the soil be alkaline, 
the red litmus paper placed upon it will turn blue. 
I have not had enough experience to learn posi¬ 
tively whether it is best to sow with a crop or to sow 
as indicated above where the seeding failed. My 
opinion is, that we should till our wheat during the 
spring by thorough harrowing, and that we should 
not attempt to seed the land wherever there has been 
failure in the past. As soon as the grain crop is har¬ 
vested, plow and treat as noted above, and sow liber¬ 
ally to both clover and Timothy. If a Timothy 
meadow is desired, about one part clover to six of 
Timothy will suffice ; if a clover meadow, reverse the 
quantities of seed. Harrow in lightly and roll to 
bring the moisture to the surface. I. p. Roberts. 
New York. 
Like to Seed with Rye. 
I have been very successful in seeding after both 
rye and oats. Rye has the preference because it is 
taken from the ground in July, leaving a good grow¬ 
ing season for the grass and clover. My practice is 
to have the soil in as fine a state as possible, and after 
drilling the rye, I follow immediately, sowing about 
four quarts of Timothy seed per acre, and following 
this with a heavy plank drag that grinds the soil still 
finer, and compacts it enough, besides covering the 
grass seed lightly. The following spring, I sow a 
mixture of four quarts clover and four quarts Timothy, 
and on low ground from one to two quarts Alsike 
clover per acre. I like to sow when the ground is 
nicely honeycombed with frost, in this section not far 
from April 1. If this ground has been top-dressed 
with stable manure, the chances for a large growth 
of grass the first season are bettered. All of my seed¬ 
ing last season was with rye, and is very good this 
spring. I have never experimented in sowing Timothy 
without grain in the fall, or clover alone in spring, 
because it interfered with my regular rotation, and I 
seldom fail to secure an even stand after a grain crop. 
If any thin spots appear in the field, I sow Timothy 
seed on them in the faU, which insures a good sod. I 
believe that rye is a benefit to the young grass plant, 
furnishing both shade and protection from cold, dry¬ 
ing winds during the early growing season. 
While I consider rye the safest crop to seed after, 
yet if I wished a grass crop one year quicker, I should 
sow after early-sown oats. Some of my heaviest crops 
of clover have been cut the year following an oat 
crop. I would not advise sowing grass or clover seed 
with buckwheat. This crop is a summer crop sown 
from June 20 to July 1 during the driest and hottest 
part of the season, which would be against the ger¬ 
minating of the grass seed. Again, buckwheat is a 
rank, thick-growing crop, a sort of weed-killer in 
itself, and this would be very much against the growth 
of the little grass plants. Buckwheat roots loosen 
the soil and the frost honeycombs it more than after 
any other crop, which renders the grass plants more 
liable to be winter-killed. Buckwheat is largely 
grown here, but very little grass seed is sown with it 
Schuyler County, N. Y. chas. chapman. 
Poor Grass in Vermont. 
According to most reports of farmers in this section, 
new seeding has come through in very poor shape, at 
least all seeding on this farm looks so now. I have 
no set rule as to the time of sowing grass seed. Last 
spring, I sowed it with my grain. I usually sow 
clover in the early spring—March or April—on my 
winter wheat ground. Most of my meadow land is 
too low and flat for clover to be a sure crop. I have 
also sown grass seed, either Timothy or Red-top, in 
August after the grain is taken off. I then work the 
soil up in good shape, using a Cutaway harrow, and 
then cross-work it with a smoothing harrow, sowing 
the seed with a Monitor seeder, one-half bushel to 
the acre. If there is a fair amount of rain in the 
latter part of August, I very seldom fail of a good 
catch. This fall seeding is when I wish to discard 
clover. As to seeding with buckwheat, I never did 
but once, some 18 years ago, on a lot where it was so 
wet for three seasons that I could sow only buck¬ 
wheat as a trial crop. I put the land in fine shape, 
sowing one-half bushel of Silver Hull buckwheat and 
one-half bushel Red-top to the acre with 200 pounds 
of Bradley’s phosphate. I had a first-class crop of 
buckwheat and as fine a stand of Red-top as ever 
grew. But where the bunches of buckwheat stood 
while drying, it was killed out, making the meadow 
look quite spotted in the spring. Only for the wheat 
having to stand so long to cure, I should like the 
practice of seeding after buckwheat, w. h. holmes. 
Chittenden County. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
Hotchkiss Brothers, Wallingford, Conn., have Invented an 
insect powder distributor, for dusting plants with dry powder to 
kill insects and fungous growths. They have an illustrated cir¬ 
cular they want to send people who are interested. 
Harness the wind and you have the cheapest power yet known. 
The Phelps & Biglow Windmill Company, Kalamazoo, Mich., will 
be glad to tell you how to harness it with their line of windmills. 
In addition to their regular line of pumping mills, they manufac¬ 
ture power mills for running feed grinders, corn shellers, etc. 
Preparing and applying kerosene emulsion according to the 
old method is a very laborious operation. A very ingenious con¬ 
trivance for doing this work Is the new emulsion sprayer made 
by the Deming Company, Salem, O. These sprayers are made 
both in knapsack and barrel type. The catalogue of this firm is 
a valuable treatise on the subject of spraying. Send for it. 
Chloro-Naptholeum is guaranteed to be absolutely non-poison- 
ous, and is recommended as a sheep dip, being sure death to 
ticks and lice. It is also recommended for scab and foot-rot, 
galls, sores and wounds on any kind of stock. As a disinfectant, 
it is said to give excellent results. It is sold by the West Disin¬ 
fecting Company, 206 East 37th Street, New York City. Send for 
circulars. 
There has not been a single instance of fire or explosion from 
the use of the Charter gas and gasoline engines. This is, cer¬ 
tainly, an enviable record when considering the great number of 
these engines in use. These are well adapted for all farm work 
where engine power is needed. Write to The Charter Gas Engine 
Co., P. O. Box 26, Sterling, Ill., for further information. This firm 
also make portable gasoline engines. 
Tub name Buckeye has long been a familiar trade mark, and 
when farmers see the name, they realize that it represents the 
reliable goods made by P. P. Mast & Co., Springfield, O., and 
Philadelphia, Pa. A peculiarity of the Buckeye Hillside culti¬ 
vator is that it is equipped with spring teeth instead of shovels, 
if desired. It is peculiarly adapted for work on hillsides. This 
firm also manufactures grain drills, seeders, hay rakes, etc. 
Successful 
growers of fruits, berries, 
and all kinds of vegetables, 
know that the largest yields and 
best quality are produced by 
the liberal use of fertilizers 
containing at least 10% of 
Actual Potash. 
Without the liberal use of Pot¬ 
ash on sandy soils, it is impos¬ 
sible to grow fruits, berries and 
vegetables of a quality that will 
command the best prices. 
All about Potash—the results of its use by actual ex¬ 
periment on the best farms in the United States—is 
told in a little book which we publish and will gladly 
mail free to any farmer in America who will write for it. 
GERMAN KALI WORKS, 
93 Nassau St., New York. 
WHEAT 
Will probably bring good prices 
next Fall—now for a big crop. 
NITRATE OF SODA 
Applied in the Spring, 60 to 100 
pounds per acre—will greatly in¬ 
crease the yield. It can be ob¬ 
tained of any enterprising fer¬ 
tilizer dealer. 
Please ask for pamphlet with full instruc¬ 
tions for using NITRATE on Wheat and 
other crops and instructions for HIKING 
FERTILIZERS at home. Address 
S. M. HARRIS, Moreton Farm(P.0.)N.Y. 
FERTILIZERS 
Cash and responsible buyers 
Address HUBBARD & CO.. 
708 Merchants B'k, Balt.,Md 
$20 PHOSPHATE FOR POTATOES AND CORK 
Sold to farmers direct. We have no agents. Send 
for Circular. Low prices for car-load lots. 
York CHEMICAL WORKS, York, Pa. 
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Farmers, 
Gardeners and 
Fruit Growers 
To economize should freely use the time 
tested reliable brands of FERTILIZERS 
we manufacture. The goods increase 
quantity and improve quality of Grain, 
Grass, Vegetables and Fruit, and make 
healthy Trees > Vines and Shrubs. 
Brands for all soils and all crops. 
nr Some prefer making their own “ home 
mixings,” for such we always keep in stock the 
Chemicals and crude materials required. 
THE CLEVELAND DRYER CO., 
No. 130 Summit Street, Cleveland, Ohio. 
Surplus Stock Cheap. 
23,000 Brandywine Strawberry; 10.000 souhegan 
Blackcap. Write fur prices to WALTER F. TABER, 
La.eview Fruit Farm, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
PAD CAl C Pile AQ~ Good Market Garden 
run OALk UnCAr and Vegetable Forc¬ 
ing Business, live acres, line hothouses, good situ¬ 
ation, big demand, part exchange. 
Address HARRY W. LEE, Alexandria, Ind. 
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SAVE MONEY! 
DIRECT SALES TO FARMERS / 
* Economy is the Hoad to Wealth.” 
Then—Why not economize ? Pave your way by i 
\ cash dealings, and save from $10 to $12 per ton on 
i your fertilizers. Per ton. 
Pure Raw Bone Meal, - $22 
Scientific Corn and Grain Fertilizer, 16 
** Potato Fertilizer, - - 25 
“ Bone and Meat, - 18 
FOR samples and book write 
THE SCIENTIFIC FERTILIZER CO., 
P. O. Box 1017. PITTSBURGH. PA 
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If Short 
of HAY or FODDER, get our GRASS 
and CLOVER FODDER, and our 
special prices on pure 
Southern German Millet. 
State quantities wanted. 
JO w N SO N & STOKES, 
217 and 219 Market St., Philadelphia. 
HI _ X10.000 Minnewaski and Snyder 
U I Q IITO Blackberry, $5 per M; 50,000 Paiker 
I I fl || | TV Earle, Greenville, Timureil and 
I IUII1U Bubach No 3 Strawberry. $2.50 per 
M; all exceptionally tine, strong and well rooted. 
W. A. FREED, Homewood. Pa. 
£ — y C a | n -One Leggett Paris Green Gun. 1895 
lUl dale pattern, used one season; all com¬ 
plete Price. $5, C. O. I). Address 
E. LINDEN BERG, Dubuque, lu. 
