1897 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
547 
eral acres of Alfalfa, if he can grow it with any degree 
of success. I consider its feeding value 20 per cent 
greater than any other hay. I have 30 acres on my 
141-acre farm, which is fully equal to 60 to 80 acres of 
other hay. b. e. coe. 
Onondaga County, N. Y. 
Seeded with Barley and Oats. 
The best soil for Alfalfa is any dry soil where ordi¬ 
nary clover does well, or does not heave. With us, it 
has done best on the ridges and land somewhat stony. 
We have seeded with barley and oats lightly sown, 
also sown alone, but we believe that the better way 
is to sow one-half bushel alone per acre, as early in 
the spring as the soil will work mellow and dry, and 
brush it in with the smoothing harrow, or weeder. 
Another good way is to go over the ground with a 
Greely pulverizer lightly. 
Alfalfa sown as we have indicated can be cut for 
hay the first year, once, twice, and we have seen it 
cut three times, but we would not recommend more 
than twice, or cutting so late that it cannot get a 
good start for protection in winter. We aim to put 
on with the manure spreader, about eight loads of 
manure per acre after the last cutting. Last year, 
after cutting three crops for hay, we cut the fourth 
crop and fed it wilted in the barn, to our dairy ; but 
we now feel that the last cutting was a mistake. We 
would not recommend Alfalfa as a crop to pasture, as 
cattle are very liable to bloat. But we 
would recommend any farmer, and espe¬ 
cially dairymen who delight to see their 
cows stow away hay that will give the 
best results in the pail, to try Alfalfa. 
Cut when beginning to bloom and use the 
tedder freely. F. h. gates & sons. 
Madison County, N. Y. 
SWEET P0 TA TOES FOR HOME USE. 
We do not aim to raise sweet potatoes 
for sale, although we usually have a sur¬ 
plus thus to dispose of, besides feeding the 
smaller ones to cows, pigs and poultry. 
We try to have an abundance for family 
use nine months out of the twelve, and I see 
no formidable reason why we could not 
have them during the other three months, 
save that, during this period, white pota¬ 
toes, snaps, and other vegetables are in 
abundance and at their prime. Under the 
old regime, the most difficult part of rais¬ 
ing sweet potatoes was the making of the 
hotbed, and the most scrupulous attention 
for a certain length of time. Just then, 
10,000 troublesome thoughts thrust them¬ 
selves through the tried and tired brain, 
while later, the drawing of the slips was 
far from congenial work for old and rheu¬ 
matic limbs. 
This year I decided to dispense with the 
hotbed altogether, and my satisfactory ex¬ 
perience leaves no desire to resort to it 
again. I placed a box, 12 inches deep, in 
a light shed, put in clear sand until, 
when firmly tramped, the box was about 
half full, and then soaked with pretty 
warm water. The potatoes were now laid 
side by side, without touching one an¬ 
other. I found that the box would hold 
just 36 potatoes. Over these, about three 
inches of the same sand were evenly sifted and then 
liberally watered. After the lapse of about a week, 
room was made at the corner of a bench in the 
greenhouse, and the box was shifted thither. In 
a few days, the surface of the sand fairly jumped, 
and an abundance of plants was assured. Fear¬ 
ing frost, which later did come, and not caring to 
have the plants grow too long, as soon as they were 
of proper size, I pulled them in bunches of 25 and 
heeled them in in another box. This enabled me to 
get 75 to 100 plants in a row not over 12 inches long. 
The rampant growth was temporarily checked, but 
the root formation continued. Every two or three 
days, I could thus draw from 100 to 200 vigorous 
plants, the removal of which threw all the vital force 
of the seed into the younger sprouts. Instead of stoop¬ 
ing or kneeling to draw the plants, I could stand 
erect, and instead of having to work with outstretched 
arm, I could use the edges of the box as a rest and 
fulcrum. A tedious job had thus been transformed 
into a pleasant recreation. 
I had intended to test the plant-producing capabili¬ 
ties of the sweet potato, but after these 36 had yielded 
upward of 2,000, I did not have a foot of unoccupied 
soil, and as the potatoes did not manifest any inclina¬ 
tion to cease throwing up sprouts, the box was now 
left to its own sweet will. The “ possibilities” of 
plant production in ample time to raise a crop, how¬ 
ever, are simply enormous. Occasionally, the top of 
a somewhat stubborn plant would break. This was 
inserted in moist soil. In a few days, it was nicely 
rooted and as good a plant as any. Had I prepared 
the box a few weeks earlier, cut and rooted the tops 
whenever the plants permitted, there is no saying 
how many thousand plants might have been produced 
with only three dozen potatoes to start with. 
Comparatively few persons have ever seen a sweet 
potato bloom. To those who raise ivy in tubs or 
boxes for ornamental purposes, I would suggest to 
try one or more sweet potato vines in a similar man¬ 
ner, training to a light and neat support so that, on 
the approach of frost, the plants can be taken indoors. 
When in bloom, it will be something unusual, if not 
new, to talk about and show to visitors. j. c. s. 
Ore Banks, Va. 
A PICTURE OF FRED GRUNDY. 
We find that many of our readers come to feel a 
personal interest in our regular contributors. When 
men or women write in a forcible, striking way, and 
advance ideas that either run parallel with our own, 
or stick into us like splinters on a rough board, we 
are sure to spend some time in wondering what sort 
of people they are. What do these people look like ? 
Are they real men and women ? We feel that readers 
of The R. N.-Y. have often asked themselves such 
questions after reading some particularly lively shot 
from our friend, Fred Grundy. In order to set 
their minds at rest and show them that there is really 
a live man behind Grundy’s articles, we show at Fig. 
225 a picture of the man himself with a second edition 
in the person of his daughter, Fedora. 
It is not necessary to go into a long biographical 
sketch in speaking of Fred Grundy. It is enough to 
say that he has worked himself up from a poor boy 
to a comfortable and satisfactory position in life. It 
has not been all plain sailing for Mr. Grundy. He has 
had more than his share of hard knocks. Disappoint¬ 
ments and ill health have hampered him, but he kept 
moving all the time. There were no idle days in his 
calendar. He did not quit and complain, but kept 
moving ahead as well as he could, and now he finds 
it very satisfactory to sit in his comfortable home 
and feel that, by his own energy and pluck, he has 
made a little corner in the world for himself. 
Our readers have, doubtless, noticed that there is a 
“ hustle ” and “ snap ” about his writing, and this is 
characteristic of the man, A large part of his suc¬ 
cess may be attributed to the skill and patience with 
which he has developed the small things of life. 
Poultry, small fruits, gardening and other things 
which the large western farmer sometimes considers 
of small importance, have brought Fred Grundy 
closer to the Klondyke gold fields than the great flocks 
and herds of careless large farmers will ever come. 
We like his idea of bringing the baby into the pic¬ 
ture, though we are a bit disappointed that Mrs. 
Grundy kept out of sight. If you will trace up a man’s 
success in life, you are pretty sure to find a wife or 
mother holding, at least, one corner of it. She is the 
“ power behind the throne,” and it does not hurt the 
throne any to move it aside so we may see her. 
NEW IDEAS FOR FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 
During the college season of 1894-’95, I arranged 
several lecture courses on agriculture, to be conducted 
by myself and others before Granges in different 
parts of Connecticut. The most of these lecture 
courses consisted of three lectures, one each week for 
three consecutive weeks, and were conducted on the 
university extension plan under the auspices of the 
Connecticut Society for University Extension. 
During the fall and early winter, circular letters 
were sent to nearly all the Granges in the State offer¬ 
ing a lecture course provided the traveling expenses 
of the lecturer were paid. Since one object was to 
ask for the expenditure of as little money as possible, 
experiment station literature, State and National, was 
supplied to my hearers to be used as text books. 
My second experiment with this method of teach¬ 
ing agriculture was undertaken last winter at my 
home in Vineland, where I delivered three lectures 
to farmers at the high school building. There was 
no charge of any kind, since one of the chief objects 
of the course was to show how regular an attendance 
could be secured, and how well those attending would 
do the work of a university extension course, if such 
a course were offered as freely as a farmers’ institute. 
The nature of the work to be undertaken was fully 
explained in the local papers and at a preliminary 
meeting. There were two requirements of admission 
to the lecture course : 1. Each one must 
have the intention of attending the full 
course. 2. The reading and study required 
by the lecturer must be performed. From 
two to four hours per week were re¬ 
quired. The results secured as to attend¬ 
ance were: In Connecticut, it ranged 
from a very few on stormy evenings or in 
sparsely populated districts, to a full 
house. In Vineland, the average at¬ 
tendance was 30, with a large propor¬ 
tion of those who attended every lecture 
or two of the three. The attention given 
compared well with the average attention 
accorded the college professor by the 
college students. This was evinced by 
the questions asked as well as by the 
answers I received to questions. A 
written examination was held at the 
close of the lecture course in Vineland. 
The chief difficulties in the way of the 
adoption of the university extension 
methods of teaching by farmers in their 
organizations are, in my opinion : 1. The 
considerable expense of such a course at 
$20 or $10 a lecture. Higher education, 
even in colleges, does not flourish unless 
supported largely by the State or by en¬ 
dowments. 2. The great majority of 
farmers do not place a high money value 
on higher education applied to agricul¬ 
ture. 3. The small average attendance at 
a course of lectures as compared with the 
attendance at a single lecture makes 
many people think that the course of lec¬ 
tures is less valuable. In spite of these 
difficulties, I am thoroughly convinced 
that university extension methods of in¬ 
struction should be used in teaching 
farmers in addition to the institute 
methods which have proved themselves 
to be valuable for a certain purpose. It is only by 
several lectures supplemented by study on the part of 
the hearers that a lecturer can adequately explain to 
an average audience the principles underlying any one 
branch of farming. It is these general principles 
that are essential to success in farming just as much 
as the details of a successful farmer’s experience. 
New Jersey. _ g. A. mitchell. 
LIME ON A STIFF CLAY SOIL. 
In July, 1896, one of our tenants informed me that 
he could not pay the same rent another year unless 
something was done to bring up the meadows and 
increase the yield of hay. After considerable arguing, 
he said, “ If you will buy the fertilizer and seed, I 
will cart them from the railroad, and see that they 
are properly sown.” Believing that his ideas of pre¬ 
paring land for the reception of fertilizer and seed 
were not up-to-date, I at once told him that, if he 
would prepare the land and sow the fertilizer and 
seed as I directed, I would do as he requested. He at 
once assented. As the meadow we intended tackling 
was a stiff clay soil, I decided to use lime, and pur¬ 
chased a car-load of 400 bushels at a cost of $16. 
The land, which had been mown in July, the grass 
being hardly worth cutting, was badly infested with 
weeds and sorrel. To kill the roots of the sorrel and 
weeds, 1 ordered the ground harrowed no less than 20 
times with the spring-tooth sulky harrow, and if that 
did not leave the ground in good condition, to con¬ 
tinue harrowing until the ground was in condition. 
FRED GRUNDY AND MISS FEDORA GRUNDY. Fig. 225. 
