I'JOl 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
267 
POTATO GROWING ON LONG ISLAND. 
The beauty of the potato farming as our potato- 
raisers practice the crop, is that when the potatoes 
are planted the ground is all ready without further 
fertilizing, for the crop of wheat and the grass crop, 
which, as a rule, with us foliow it. This is not in¬ 
variable, for one man tola me that his wheat and 
clover would lodge if sown after potatoes, and he 
practiced seeding down with Timothy and Red-top 
on that account. He uses about a ton to the acre of 
fertilizer, and, as he said, all the coarse manure he 
could make. We have a variety of soil, from that so 
sandy that in a dry season, like the last, the crop will 
be almost a failure, to heavy loam almost clear from 
any grit, and the methods of manuring and planting 
vary with different farmers. Many use their horse 
manure plowed in and from 1,500 to 2,000 pounds of 
fertilizer to the acre in the drill. Some say 1,500 
pounds will produce as many potatoes as more, and 
others will laugh at the idea. Some put part in the 
drill and broadcast the rest. I suppose that a ton to 
the acre is about right of a good potato fertilizer, and 
the best way to use it on his own soil each man can 
find out for himself. From 250 to 300 bushels to the 
acre is considered a good yield, although that is 
sometimes exceeded, while often the crop is less. The 
kind planted at present is Carman No. 1 almost alto¬ 
gether by those who have tried it, and those last year 
who planted other kinds were sorry, so far as I have 
talked with them, that they did not plant No. 1 only. 
If you want to see what pluck, push and potatoes 
can do just come to Long Island and we can show 
those who started with little or no capital who have 
now nice houses and other buildings, carriages and 
horses, machinery, windmill, etc., proving most sure¬ 
ly that the cry which some farmers raise that farm¬ 
ing is “played out” is all moonshine. They raise 
from 25 to 40 acres of potatoes, sell quantities of 
wheat, straw, hay and other products, and in a gen¬ 
eral way are giving the farmers a lesson which many 
of them very much need. Tell the person who wants 
to experiment with one-half acre of potatoes to put 
one ton to the acre in drill on part of it; one ton 
broadcast harrowed in on part; one-half ton in drill, 
one-half ton broadcast on another, 1,500 in drill, 500 
broadcast on another and note results. u. c. f. 
Water Mill. N. Y. 
WANTED! AN IDEAL FARM HAND. 
I have 320 acres, follow general farming, keep one 
man by the year, and others by day or month as re¬ 
quired. I keep a married man by the year; furnish 
house, firewood, keep for cow and calf, fruit, and an 
acre of ground, with team when needed to cultivate 
the same, besides other privileges that generally go 
on a farm. I pay $15 per month cash; man boards 
himself. I work 10 hours per day in Summer, from 
7 A. M. to 6 P. M., with one hour at noon; shorter 
hours in Winter. I do no dairy work; milk but two 
cows, which the yearly man does before 7 A. M. and 
after 6 P. M. That and caring for his team is all the 
choring he does in Summer, so he knows exactly what 
his work is. Now, I don’t think my system is hard, 
and while my men by the day or month usually work 
pretty well, yet I have plenty of trouble with the man 
by the year. He does not seem to be satisfied that he 
has a good thing, and “soldiers” on me at every gcod 
opportunity, especially if I am away from the farm. 
He is exceedingly careless with horses and tools, con¬ 
tinually having accidents and losing time, and sure 
to make the wrong move unless I am there to direct. 
I find that various articles disappear from time to 
time, such things as a bag of flour, corn, bran, oats, 
and other little things that “will never be missed.” All 
of this is very unsatisfactory, and, of course, I would 
not tolerate it for a week if I could avoid it, but I 
seem to be helpless. Men are scarce, and the natives, 
except on short jobs, act as though they expected to 
loaf at their work about half of the time. I would 
like to ti'y Germans or Swedes, young married men. 
Do you think it advisable? Do you know anything 
about that class of help? Could I get information 
from Commissioner of Immigration, Castle Garden? 
MICHIGAN FARMER. 
R. N.-Y.—Four out of five farmers could tell about 
the same story with some slight changes. It is easy 
to talk about the ideal farm hand, but the fact is that 
there are not men enough of this type to go around. 
In hiring help there are two essential points; what 
can he do, and is he to be depended upon? Plenty of 
men can do a good day’s work if they have a mind; 
but will shirk unless watched; or, after a holiday or 
a trip to town at night, there is no certainty that they 
^ill be able to work the next day. Others work just 
as well alone as when the boss is around, and do not 
misiise team or tools, hut they can’t do much work. 
A farm hand who is smart to work and can be trusted 
is such a scarce article that he can take his pick of 
the best farmers in the neighborhood, often at $5 per 
month above ordinary wages. The conditions named 
in the question are not hard, but probably this em¬ 
ployer cannot get a satisfactory year man at the 
price. He will either have to increase the pay, or take 
some one who is honest and can be depended upon, 
but not much of a worker. The ability to be trusted 
and to use good judgment brings a proportionately 
higher price than the power to do actual work. A 
railroad or bank president draws a large salary not 
on account of the amount of work he does, but be¬ 
cause the stockholders feel that they can depend up¬ 
on his integrity and judgment. In a farm hand there 
is not so much at stake, but if it is worth anything 
to a farmer to feel that he has a man who can be de¬ 
pended upon, he must expect to pay cash for it. The 
better class of English, German and Swedish laborers 
make excellent help, but they are soon picked up at 
cows DISHORNED WITH CAUSTIC POTASH Fig. HO. 
high prices, or get into other lines of work in which 
there is more money. In getting immigrant help a 
person runs some risk, as often a man who starts out 
fairly well, turns out to be worthless. You should 
write to W. H. Meara, 45 Pearl Street, New York, 
and tell him what you want. He is at the head of a 
Labor Bureau maintained by the German Society. 
THE WEEDED ON CANADIAN WHEAT. 
As to using the weeder on wheat in Spring, I would 
say yes, most decidedly, provided that the wheat had 
a heavy top in the Fall, in which case the snow would 
beat it down so closely that the clover seed would 
be slow in working its way to the ground. Should 
this be the case, 1 would advise sowing the clover 
first, and then use the weeder freely. This will give 
the clover seed a chance to take root before the sur¬ 
face of the ground is dried out. As to the weeder 
injuring the young grass I think there is no danger 
whatever. Some farmers here use a heavy iron har¬ 
row on their wheat in the Spring, and I have never 
heard any complaints about the injury done to the 
young Timothy, Should the growth of the wheat be 
light in the Fall, however, I would not consider it 
cows DISHORNED WITH CLIPPERS. Fig. 111 . 
For De.scriptiou see Page 277 . 
necessary to use the weeder in the Spring. The gen¬ 
eral practice here is to sow the clover seed on the 
snow and leave it to work its way into the soft sur¬ 
face of the ground when the snow melts off. A good 
shower of rain at this time of year would be almost 
certain to give the seed a good start. j. j. 
Esquesing, Ontario. 
New Cement Over Old.—S. E. Barney, page 225, says: 
•‘Cement will not adhere properly to any smooth surface. 
Ilcmember, you cannot overlap one coat of cement on 
another after the first is set.” I made a cement walk in 
November, and it froze before well seasoned. In the 
Spring and following Summer it roughed up and cracked 
badly in places. The next year I procured a barrel of 
the best Portland cement, and put a half-inch coating 
on the walk the whole length, which united firmly and 
has not cracked in the three years since. I made a thin 
wash of cement and painted the top first; then when 
commencing to set 1 put on the addition, making an even 
surface over all—lapping on, and making it thinner on the 
good spots. The old and new, where thick or thin alike, 
became as one solid piece. c. b. chapman. 
PE* LOUSE IN FIELD PEtS, 
For two years we have tried oats and peas, both 
for feeding green and for hay, and for two years I have 
sung their praises, till I am in danger of becoming an 
oat-and-pea crank. Nor am I done yet. For a few 
months, though, I have sung very softly, and the rea¬ 
son is this: Last Fall we sowed a piece of barley and 
peas. They started nicely in spite of the dry weather, 
for we fitted the ground very thoroughly and used a 
fairly good supply of stable manure. After a little I 
noticed that the peas were dying, and upon closer in¬ 
spection, found that the Pea louse had put in an ap¬ 
pearance. It completely spoiled the peas. Since then 
I have been in doubt whether we can raise oats and 
peas as formerly. One of my neighbors says he has 
read in The R. N.-Y. that early peas grown for can¬ 
ning and for market were not affected seriously by 
the Pea louse, and Prof. Voorhees informs me that 
he finds his fields of oats and peas are not attacked 
by it, provided the seeding is not made later than the 
middle of April. But that is down in New Jersey, 
where the Hope Farm man lives. Up here in central 
New York, where we have numbers of months of Win¬ 
ter and other months of “very-late-in-the-Fall” wea¬ 
ther matters are different. It is seldom that we do 
any sowing as early as the middle of April. Most 
years much of it is done after May 1. Will the Pea 
louse delay its activities to accommodate our later 
season? We haven’t had experience, but I believe it 
will. At any rate we shall sow our oats and peas this 
season as heretofore, except that we shall sow as 
early as possible. I expect to meet with success. It 
is our only chance, so far as I know, to grow much 
protein food except what little clover we can get, and 
we must make the most of it. Then, too, oats and 
peas are ready to feed green at just the time when 
something is needed on a dairy farm, and before corn 
is ready. n. ii. l. 
Facts About Maple Sap. 
Can the sugar in maple sap be taken out by centrifugal 
force like the cream from milk by a separator? 
Prof. J. L. Hills, of the Vermont Station, says of this: 
Inasmuch as the sugar is dissolved and not, like the 
fat in milk, in an emulsion, there is no likelihood that, 
like the fat in milk, it can be removed by centrifugation. 
How much sap is there in a maple tree? 
The same authority states that in January the wood 
is saturated with sap—about 40 per cent of its weight 
being water. A big tree weighing 10,000 pounds would 
contain 4,000 pounds of sap. If this contains three per 
cent of sugar there would be 120 pounds of sugar in the 
tree. 
Does the sap move within the tree at this time? 
During the sugaring season there is probably little 
movement of the sap within the untapped tree, but this 
sap may be under great pressure. The pressure, on a 
good sap day, may rise in such a tree to the startling 
amount of over 20 pounds to the square inch. 
Then tapping relieves this pressure? 
When this pressure is relieved by tapping at any point 
there Is a tendency to drive the sap from all directions 
out through the tap-hole. Careful experiments Indicate 
that the sap moves very easily and rapidly with the 
grain of the wood, but very slowly if at all across the 
grain and that, as a result, the sap flows into the tap 
hole from above and below, but not to any appreciable 
amounts from the sides. Two or more tap-holes on dif¬ 
ferent sides of the tree will therefore drain more sap 
from the tree than will one hole. 
An Experience with Oat Smut. 
I notice in Hope Farm Notes that you are having a 
number of queries regarding the remedy for oat smut, 
and possibly our experience last season may be of some 
value. When it came planting time I found I had 
neglected to order the formalin, and was obliged to use 
the hot water treatment. As this method is so fully de¬ 
scribed in Parmer’s Bulletin No. 75, entitled “The Grain 
Smuts,’ and as it is free to all by application to the 
United States Department of Agriculture, I will not de¬ 
scribe the process now. The water was kept hot by 
steam from our boiler, piping it to a tub, and supplying 
cold water through the hose and dipping this boiling 
water into the barrel where the oats were soaking. 
'I'hrough some oversight we did not treat a sufficient 
quantity of oats, and the last of the field was sown with¬ 
out being soaked. Stakes were placed where the sowing 
of the untreated oats began, and as harvest time ap¬ 
proached, the line of smut, beginning where the prepared 
oats gave out and the untreated were sown, was as dis¬ 
tinct as if a line were drawn across the field. The stakes 
were unnecessary. The smut told the story. We ex¬ 
amined the field several times, and failed to find any 
smut where the treated oats were planted. This method 
is, of course, more laborious than soaking the seed in 
formalin, but in our case it was effective. f. c. c. 
Maine. 
R. N.-Y.—The water must not go over 135 degrees nor 
below 132 to kill the germs, and not injure the oat.s. 
With the facilities on the average farm it is hard to 
secure this exact temperature. Exposure to high dry 
heat will also kill the germs. 
Don’t be discouraged if cow peas do not do well with 
you the first year. After two or three trials, tubercles 
usually appear on the roots, and in time they develop, 
covering the entire ground, .so that the peas do their 
best work in gathering nitrogen from the air. It is not 
necessary to send away to get soil containing these 
tuberoles, as they will develop of their own accord with 
continued cropping. 
