53o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 3 
A CRIMSON RAMBLER ROSE IN ILLINOIS. Fig. 230. 
form large white eggs. There is every reason to be¬ 
lieve that an earnest attempt is being made to solve 
the problem of wholesale egg production, and The 
R. N.-Y. will watch the outcome with much interest. 
So many big egg projects have failed that chicken 
men are naturally sceptical, but it is within the range 
of possibility that the managers of the Guaranteed 
Egg Company may solve the problem. There is no 
doubt that they can dispose of a vast number of such 
eggs as they plan to produce at rates above market 
quotations, as they have been tendered contracts by 
some of the largest hotels in New York, but the gist 
of the matter is whether they can keep so many hens 
healthy and happy through a profitable laying age. 
There is no evidence to show it has yet been accom¬ 
plished on a really large scale. The immense propor¬ 
tion of eggs sold are produced by hens that run at 
large under almost natural conditions, and the writer 
has long thought that poultry products are too low in 
price, and scarcely pay cost of production if labo.* 
and materials are estimated at their real value. The 
fact that in thousands of small flocks running prac¬ 
tically at large the hen rustles for most of her food, 
which would otherwise remain ungathered, and per¬ 
forms the major Share of her own work, accounts for 
the supposed profit attributed to poultry keeping. 
The R. N.-Y. will keep its readers advised of the re¬ 
sults of the new egg enterprise. w. v. F. 
M EXPERIENCE WITH GRASS SEEDING. 
On September 19, 1900, I put a lot, 200 feet square, 
into grass by the Clark method, at a total cost of 
$30.03 for the plowing, cultivating, fertilizers, seed 
and seeding. We sowed 14 quarts Timothy, 14 quarts 
Red-top and four quarts Medium clover on the 40,000 
square feet of ground. This is not quite one acre, as 
you know. The lot is good limestone soil and natur¬ 
ally grass land. In 1899 we raised 2,061 pounds to¬ 
bacco leaf, that we sold for $153.82, and in 1900 we 
raised 1,903 pounds that we sold for $152.24, on this 
piece of ground. I mention these tobacco facts to give 
you an idea of the condition of this lot. The grass 
crop was put in very carefully. The cultivation was 
so thorough that the lot was as fine and even os it 
was possible to make it. The ground was plowed and 
rolled, when rather dry, about September 10, and 90 
bushels of air-slaked lime spread evenly over it. We 
then waited for rain that came in soaking showers 
on Saturday, September 15. By the Monday morning 
following the ground was in first-class condition for 
the spring harrow and land roller. We went over it 
alternately so frequently with these implements that 
the lot looked like a big garden. Then we further 
fertilized it with a mixture of 480 pounds fine-ground 
animal bone, 160 pounds nitrate of soda and 160 
pounds muriate of potash. After the cultivating and 
fertilizing was so thoroughly done that I was sure 
Mr. Clark himself could not exceed it, the seed was 
sown. The sower started early in the morning of 
'September 19 and finished about 6 P. M., after work¬ 
ing at it faithfully the entire day. No man in the 
State could have oast that seed more evenly and regu¬ 
larly. In due time the seed sprouted and the grass 
came up beautifully, and continued to grow nicely 
and evenly until the ground froze. 
In the Spring the grass made an early start to 
grow; but I soon saw that the clover and Red-top 
were being crowded out by the Timothy. During 
May we had wet, cold weather, and the grass com¬ 
menced to go down in spots. By June 24, when we 
cut it, it was all lodged and damaged, by being down 
too long, and not drying on the ground. The grass 
stood much too thick on the ground to give a good 
yield of first-class hay. We took off 6,310 pounds of 
hay that I sold for 50 cents per hundredweight, yield¬ 
ing me gross $31.52, or net on the cost of putting the 
seed into the ground $1.52. I expect to mow the lot 
once more this season, as the grass is sprouting out 
nicely now. I may report any further yields. I think 
that for our soil I used too much Timothy seed. I 
believe that seven quarts of Timothy seed with the 
Red clover and Red-top, sown lost Fall would have 
made me more and better hay. There was nothing 
to cut but Timothy, and it stood so thick that its 
stalks could not develop. It was down in all direc¬ 
tions from sheer weakness of the stalk. When the 
Timothy went down it ceased growing, and thus did 
not average more than 24 inches in length. If this 
gross had stood less thick on the ground it might 
have averageo 48 inches in length. It then might 
have yielded five or six tons of prime hay. I believe 
that Mr. Clark raises the quantity of hay per acre he 
claims, but I also believe that if he had my land and 
would understand it as well as he does his own, he 
would sow less Timothy seed to the acre than he 
recommends. In the future I would consider seven 
quarts Timothy an ample sufficiency for an acre of 
our land. I think a novice would better not put out 
too much grass by the Clark method, until he has 
tested his ground thoroughly. g. a. b. 
Wrightsville, Pa. 
CONDITIONS IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY. 
In reply to your inquiry as to value of land here 
compared with 20 years ago, I do not think that it 
Will be unsafe to say that it is lower now. There is 
so little land changing hands—^almost none except 
compulsory sales, and it is noticeable that farms thus 
sold have to be put up at the court house door two 
or three different times before they are allowed to go. 
Men used to rent here for years, and then would be 
able, from the profits of their toil on the farm, to buy 
a farm and, in a few years more, buy another and so 
on; but nothing of that kind is seen now. Most of the 
farms are sold to town men who have money which 
Bossy (to the Baby): “ No, there wasn’t a bit of anything bad 
in that milk when it went to town; nothing but what was good 
for little children. If it wasn’t up to grade, you’ll have to get 
your father to watch the city dealers.”—Chicago Record-Herald. 
they must put somewhere, and while Investment in 
farms does not give any six per cent return yet it is 
safe and under their eyes. We are in the northern 
end of Shenandoah Valley—good land; staples, corn 
and wheat. These have been too low of late years to 
pay. Wheat has started now at 60 cents, though 
drought in the West may make better prices here. I 
am not a farmer originally. I spent my active life 
in the Presbyterian ministry—broke down 20 years 
ago in my voice, and had to go out of doors. Got my 
father’s old homestead, have nearly 200 acres, and set 
out (15 years ago) a good-sized apple orchard and 
have since put greater part of the entire tract in 
same. Two years ago I was offered more than doub’e 
what I paid. This will answer your question about 
cause of increased value of any land here. A great 
deal hod been set in orchards, but there is only a 
portion of the country here that is adapted to apples 
especially. Bands are down here. Had your question 
been as to value compared to 40 years ago, or rather 
before the war, when values were staple, I could 
easily have told you there has been a tremendous 
slump; from two-fifths to one-half less now than then. 
Ihe farming interests are the great interests—the 
source of our welfare—occupying the attention of 
probably more of our toiling people than any or 
all others; and this state of things—the impover¬ 
ishing of the agricultural people through the shrink¬ 
age of farm values extends over a period of the al¬ 
leged greatest prosperity the world has ever seen. 
A few families and corporations, certain lines of busi¬ 
ness favored by the Government that claims to treat 
all alike, have grown rich beyond belief; but their 
wealth has been sucked from the farming people very 
largely, os seen in the shrinkage of value of farms 
which once made the farmer an independent man and 
his occupation one that young men sought after. To¬ 
day all want to go to the cities and get rich fast. 
Gerraldstown, W. Va. s. h. m’k. 
CRIMSON RAMBLERS; YARD TRIMMING. 
One of the prettiest things In the season of pretty 
things is a well-trained Crimson Rambler rose. 1 
send a picture, seen in Fig. 230, of one in the yard 
of A. M. Leslie, Christian Co., Ill. When the picture 
was taken the plant was a mass of brilliant crimson 
bloom, actually thousands of roses on it. It is four 
years old, and is trained on a strong trellis about 
eight feet high and 10 feet long, and the picture shows 
how it was covered. It truly was a vision of loveli¬ 
ness. This plant shows what a little—a very little— 
time and attention will do in the way of ornamenting 
a yard or lawn. After the trellis was built Mr. Les¬ 
lie probably did not spend over two hours in a year 
on the training of this rose. He merely attended to 
it at odd moments, when it needed a little attention. 
He is one of those men who have a knack, not natural 
but acquired, of getting the most out of everything 
he plants. This knack consists of nothing more nor 
less than doing everything at the right time—attend¬ 
ing ito a thing when a minute counts for more than 
an hour later. And that really is the whole secret 
of success with anything, especially anything that 
grows. Many a farmer thinks he cannot have a 
pretty lawn or “door yard” because he cannot afford 
the time he thinks is necessary to attend to it, when 
in fact all that is needed is a few minutes each day. 
A snip here, a bit of string there, a tack, a hack, a 
wrap and a pinch after supper or before breakfast, 
and a hard, unsightly place is transformed into a 
bower. One can have these things if he wants them. 
The main question is, Does he want them? 
Illinois. FRED GRUNDY. 
PIGS IN THE PEACH ORCHARD. 
If P. E. S., in The R. N.-Y. of July 20, page 511, 
read my advice to pasture hogs in an orchard with 
both eyes open, he must have seen that I only ad¬ 
vised pasturing an apple orchard. Under no cir¬ 
cumstances would I allow a peach or plum orchard 
to be seeded for pasture at any age. In my experi¬ 
ence and observation one may just as well pull out 
and destroy either a peach or plum orchard, especially 
the peach, as to neglect the cultivation even for a 
single year. Peaches and plums are both gross feed¬ 
ers, and in order to have them bear regularly and 
produce fine fruit they must be not only fed liberally, 
but must be cultivated. I cannot endorse Prof. 
Plumb’s advice when he says: “Still if the orchard Is 
a year or so in clover and the stubble plowed under 
the trees should be much benefited.” A worse thing 
could not be done than to sow a peach or plum or¬ 
chard to clover and leave It for even a single Sum¬ 
mer, unless it be to leave it two Summers, but one 
will be enough to ruin it. 
By all means keep the orchard under cultivation. 
It is all right to give the hogs the run of the orchard, 
and while ordinarily they will not bark the trees, 
provided they have plenty lo eat and plenty oi water 
to drink, they will sometimes, even when well fed, 
get a taste of the bark, and then soon ruin the or¬ 
chard, so the only safe v/ay is to protect the trees, 
especially If small. But It is not safe to put tin or 
any other thing that excludes the light, about the 
bodies; the shade is sure to injure the bark, and may 
cause the death of the trees. Use wire netting, chick¬ 
en wire with a two-inch me^, and be sure to have 
it three feet high. 'They will eat above a two-foot 
wire. Put it loosely about the tree and twist the 
ends of a few wires together and it will stay until 
the tree outgrows It, which it will do very soon if 
well fed. The only admissible way of seeding a peach 
or plum orchard is to sow clover or Winter vetch in 
August and plow it in the next Spring. 
J. 8. WOODWARD. 
The Department of Agriculture Is making arrange¬ 
ments with European governments to secure monthly 
telegraphic reports of crop conditions. These statistics 
will make a valuable addition to the regular monthly 
bulletin Issued by that Department. 
SHROPSHIRE3EWES ON A RAPE FIELD.^Fig. 232. 
