1897 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
439 
Farm Labor in ihe Souih. 
A. R B., Drewry’s Bluff, Va—A s 
nearly all the employees on thefarms here 
are negroes, the term, “ good,” is hardly 
applicable, that is, if compared with the 
intelligent white help usually to be 
had in the North. But with a knowledge 
of the character and ways of the negro, 
the farmer in the South gets along very 
well with him, and finds him greatly 
preferable as farm help to the white 
laborers to be secured here. The num¬ 
ber of available farm hands fluctuates 
somewhat, as many, particularly young 
men, come from distant counties every 
spring to this and other points that afford 
more work and better wages. Were it 
not for this influx during the busiest 
times, a sufficient farm force would be 
hard to obtain ; as it is, however, the 
farmer here has little in this line to give 
him concern. 
The wages are about as unvarying as 
the earth’s rotation. Eight to ten dol¬ 
lars with about 81.50 worth of pork and 
corn meal as rations, have been for 
years and now are the compensation for 
26 days of work, the day ending with sun¬ 
set. Hired by the day, average hands 
are paid 60 cents. The best men receive 
75 cents for haying and harvest work. 
Improved farm machinery has enabled 
the farmer to accomplish much more, 
with less help, than formerly, still it has 
not displaced as many laborers as one 
might suppose it would, as more work 
and a greater variety are undertaken. 
The few men w hose employment is taken 
up by machinery seem to gravitate to the 
cities. 
Fertilizer Bags tor Hay Caps. 
F. A. P., Dudley, Mass. —For bay 
caps, we have for many years made use 
of waste burlap grain and fertilizer 
bags. Emptying several every week, we 
lay them away, and always have a 
plenty for the purpose. The smaller 
ones, such as cotton-seed meal comes in, 
need to be sewed two together at the 
sides in order to be large enough for 
this purpose, but we often use the large 
bran sacks without sewing together. 
Although we have a lot made of heavy 
unbleached cotton cloth, we prefer the 
burlaps, as they will stay on without the 
bother of fastening. Usually wind that 
is strong enough to blow them off blows 
the cock over too. 
Hay that is dry enough to keep with¬ 
out turning yellow or souring, will keep 
for a long time under these burlaps, no 
matter how hard the rain comes down. 
Notwithstanding that burlap swells 
enough when wet to turn rain, it allows 
the steam from the hay beneath to pass 
off readily, which the patent paper or 
waterproof cloth does not. In catching 
weather, we have often made over the 
cocks of clover or rowen between show¬ 
ers when they had begun to heat so as 
to endanger the quality, and when there 
did come a few hours of sunshine, they 
could be got ready for the barn with 
very little trouble. We prefer to cure 
our clover and rowen in the cock in the 
field under hay caps if necessary, to 
taking chances of burning our buildings 
during the process of curing in the barn. 
More About Hay Caps. 
E. D. G., Ashburnham, Mass. —I have 
used hay caps many years, and consider 
them of great value. Here most farmers 
use heavy cotton sheeting one yard wide, 
two lengths two yards long, and sew to¬ 
gether and hem the edges, making a cap 
six feet square; then we tie into each 
corner 10 or 12 inches of cord, fastening 
the other end of the cord to a hardwood 
pin 8 or 10 inches in length. When fold¬ 
ing, we first lay the pins close together 
in the center, and all one way, then fold 
one-third the width of the cap over the 
pins across the end of the pins, then the 
other side the same way ; then double 
the other way, take hold of the pins and 
roll up, and we have a roll two feet long 
and, perhaps, four inches through, with 
the pins in the center altogether ready 
for use, or to pack away. Such a cap 
will cover a large amount of hay, and 
the pins being put into the ground 
stretching the cap out tent fashion, will 
conduct rain away from the hay much 
better than when pins are thrust through 
rings into the hay. Such caps are much 
better for curing hay, allowing a much 
better circulation of air. Clover and 
also oats put up after one day’s sun will 
cure into a much better quality of hay 
than in any other way. I have known 
many instances where the use of these 
caps through one storm has paid all 
they cost (hay here is often worth 818 to 
822 per ton). Of course when we have 
nice settled weather, we do not use 
them ; but when the weather at night 
looks at all doubtful, on go the caps, 
and we feel as though we had taken out 
a valuable insurance policy. Also when 
showers are seen gathering and the hay 
cut is not ready for the mow, we hastily 
get it into cocks, put on the caps and 
avoid much after work, and damage to 
hay from the wet. We don’t apply any¬ 
thing to the caps, and they last 12 or 15 
years. I know some that have been 
used much longer. It is said to be un¬ 
safe to coat with linseed oil, as packing 
together will cause heating and spon¬ 
taneous combustion. One having these 
caps will find them handy many times. 
I use them to protect the garden from 
early frosts; in fact, I should not want 
to get along without them. 
Some Costly Oats. 
J. B. F., Mattoon, III. —Here is my 
experience with last year’s oat crop : 
Rent, 20 acres at $4.06J4.$81.25 
Seed, 50 bushels at 17 cents. 8.50 
Cutting 20 acres at 70 cents. 14.00 
Twine, 50 pounds at 8 cents. 4.00 
Shocking at 10 cents. 2.00 
Help thrashing. 10 00 
Thrashing machine bill. 8.00 
Total cost.$127.75 
Oats received, 400 bushels at 10 cents. 40 00 
Net loss. $87.75 
The straw was almost rotten. I did not 
charge for sowing, as I did that myself. 
Crimson Clover in Indiana. 
J. H. H., Indianapolis, Ind. —My ex¬ 
perience with Crimson clover is wholly 
different from Mr. Latta’s, page 323. 
Two years ago, I decided to try the 
clover after reading what you said about 
it, and sowed four or five acres. The 
season was very dry, and I got no catch 
except on one plot of about 1J4 acre, on 
which rain fell just after seeding. It 
was a complete success, and when it 
bloomed the next May, made the pret¬ 
tiest sight I ever saw on a farm. Last 
year, I seeded about six acres, but the 
catch was only partial, though the sea¬ 
son was wet, perhaps too wet. What 
caught, however, grew finely and was 
not affected by cold weather. The past 
winter was a fine test, as there was much 
thawing and freezing, as well as intense 
cold, the thermometer falling to 14 
degrees below zero. My experience is 
that it will stand the winter, and all 
that is needed is a good catch to begin 
with. This year, in sowing in corn, I 
shall cover with Breed’s weeder. I send 
some buds, part of which are white. 
They grew along the edge, and near 
some stray White clover, which, evi¬ 
dently “corrupted the breed.” 
Crimson Clover and Grass Seeding 
E. S. S., Eagle Harbor, N. Y. —I send 
a box containing one root of Crimson 
clover. The field from which this root 
was taken was sown July 21, on land 
planted to potatoes in 1895, plowed early 
in the spring and worked over two or 
three times. The seed was harrowed in 
with a 48-tooth harrow. The clover 
covers the land like a brush ; there is 
hardly any room for another plant to 
grow. I discovered to-day that it was 
going to seed. I intended to plow it 
under to benefit peach and pear trees, 
but I don’t think it could be done on 
account of the length and the amount of 
it on the land.—[This was one of the 
best specimens of Crimson clover we 
have yet seen, as it reached us. This 
one stool weighed 29 ounces, and aver¬ 
aged 33 inches in height.— Eds ] 
Being a victim, I wish to enter a pro¬ 
test against nurserymen substituting 
something else for what is named in an 
order, simply because they have the 
money and can’t supply what an order 
calls for. In regard to seeding land to 
Timothy alone, I sowed five acres of oat 
stubble last year. The land was mostly 
a clay loam with a hard clay subsoil; 
and perhaps one-half acre a hard white 
clay. As soon as the oats were har¬ 
vested, I plowed the ground seven or 
eight inches deep, rolled and harrowed 
it several times in the course of six 
weeks, until it was a perfect seed bed. 
I sowed broadcast 200 pounds of the best 
fertilizer I could get, and two bushels 
of seed, mostly hulled. The seed was 
then covered by going over it with a 
harrow bottom-side up. It did not make 
much growth last fall, not near what I 
expected ; it looked very slim this 
spring, the first of April, but to-day it 
covers the land like a mat and is doing 
finely. I am well pleased with the ex¬ 
periment, and shall try another six 
acres of the same field this fall, with a 
little variation on account of having 
learned a thing or two. 
Cellars for Apple Storage. 
Prof. F. A. Waugh, Vermont Ex¬ 
periment Station. —Since writing the 
article in The R. N.-Y. about Mr. Kin¬ 
ney’s apple storage house in Grand Isle 
County, Vermont, and since replying to 
the question of your correspondent re¬ 
garding convenient home storage of 
apples, I have been supplied with some 
interesting notes by Mr. H. D. Allen, of 
South Hero, Vermont, who has been 
quite successful in growing and market¬ 
ing apples. He uses three cellars under 
different parts of his buildings. There 
is little or no fire over any of them, and 
the mercury can be kept at 30 to 34 
degrees, 34 being the temperature 
desired by Mr. Allen. If the tempera¬ 
ture goes up to 40 degrees for any length 
of time, it is likely to result in some 
damage to the apples, but it may go 
down to 25 degrees for a short time 
without any injury. The apples are put 
into these cellars as they are drawn 
from the orchard at picking time, and 
are sorted just before shipping. Ship¬ 
ments were made this year in February 
and March to Boston and New York, 
mostly to New York. 
Mr. Allen has 500 bearing apple trees, 
mostly young. During this spring, he 
disposed of 562 barrels of sorted apples 
in New York and Boston markets, be¬ 
sides what had been used elsewhere. 
He has a well-deserved reputation for 
fine sorting and packing, and this can be 
seen in the prices received. The 562 
barrels sold for 81,273.52, the net return 
being 8071.45. This means that the 
apples averaged 82.26 a barrel in the 
city markets, and returned 81.73 a bar¬ 
rel in cash after paying freights, cartage 
and commission. In a season when a 
great many growers did not get enough 
to pay for their barrels, this is a very 
gratifying showing. It merely indicates 
what may be done by intelligent busi¬ 
ness methods, against adverse conditions, 
even without a great cash capital. 
Some of the individual sales were 
quite remarkable. 4X Spys sold as high 
as 83.75 a barrel in New York, and 4X 
Greenings as high as 83.50. In apples 
carefully handled, as these were, there 
was, too, a comparatively large propor¬ 
tion of this grade of fruit. 
Fence Machine Cheaper Than Wire. 
F. R. C., Florence, Ky. —“If a man 
has 200 rods of poultry fence to put up, 
will it pay best to buy fence ready-made 
of wire, or buy a machine and build it 
himself ? ” One can get a very good 
fence for about 60 cents per rod in 60- 
inch fence, stay wires six inches apart. 
He can get the Carter fence machine for 
813, and weave about nine or ten rods 
per day. Wire, etc., will cost about 25 
cents per rod, leaving 35 cents for the 
work, or if he weave 10 rods, 83 50 per 
day. Still, I think the stay wires should 
be about four inches apart, which he 
can get by cutting off the bolt which 
holds the ball of wire. The balls may 
be made shorter by driving a hole in a 
block of wood and placing it on the 
spooler. The above count is for a heavy, 
square-mesh fence of No. 9 to No. 12 
wire, and will turn any bull as well as 
poultry. Any diamond-mesh fence such 
as the regular poultry netting will draw 
up between the posts at the bottom and 
top if stretched as tight as it should be. 
Of course, the stay wires being closer, 
will make the work correspondingly 
slower. 
You Will Never Miss Tlio Pago Fence* 
’Till The Cows Itreak lu. 
Many a fanner who lias been persuaded to but,,. 
One or tlio many substitutes "warranted just as 
good as the Pago has llattored himself that a sav¬ 
ing has been made. Sooneror later the real test 
comes, and as the smooth tongned agent Is not 
present to "argue' with the unruly stock, the un¬ 
lucky farmer awakens to the fact that his imagln- 
ery •savings” have been transformed into an actual 
loftn, not to mention tlio "loss of confidence." 
PAGE WOVEN WIRE FENCE CO., Adrian, Mich, 
ADAM 
THE FENCE MAN 
Makes Woven Wire 
Fence that “Stands 
Up.” Cannot Sag. 
J Get his new catalogue. It 
1 tells all about the Heat 
'Farm Fence Made. 
Also Steel Lawn and Cemetery Fences. 
W. J. ADAM, Joliet, Illinois 
WHO’S SHELLABERGER ? 
He’s the Wire Fence Man, of Atlanta, Ga., and sells 
the best aud cheapest fencing In existence for all pur¬ 
poses. Freight paid. Catalogue free. Write for it. 
K. L. SHELLABERGER, 75 F St., Atlanta, Ga 
$6.50 - Buys 4 BUGGY’ 
C DC - Buys4 CARRIAGE 
a'on Bu y s 4 Mill or 
U.&U Light Delivery Wagon, 
All tired and hubs banded. 
Send stamp fornew price list for wheels 
ami axles for any kind of wagon. It will 
pay you. Wilmington Wheel Co., 
401 Union St., W llmlngton, l>eL 
<D 
(A 
GENERAL AGENTS 
wanted to superintend sub¬ 
agents selling the Combination 
Lock-pin Clevis to farmers and 
others. Self locking; always 
secure; sells at sight; exclus¬ 
ive territory. 150 per cent profit. 
CORMANY MFQ. CO, 
--» Ilearbora Street, Chicago, 
Spraying Crops 
Prof. Clarence M. Weed. Why, When and How 
to Do It. Illustrated. Covers the whole field 
of the insect and fungous enemies of crops for 
which the spray is used. Paper.25 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, Nkw York. 
