658 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 28 
and coal is cheaper. In some places there is not an 
adequate supply of fresh bones. The hen man should 
be sure of his supply, but he may rest assured that 
where he can get them the bone cutter will give him 
cheap hen food—provided he is willing to turn the 
crank, and that is no small job. 
"THE BACK FIELDS OF CONNECTICUT." 
Further Explanation of the Situation. 
Since the article by Samuel Marvin was printed on 
page B15, we have had much inquiry about farm lands 
In New England. In view of the great Interest mani¬ 
fested in the matter we asked Mr. Marvin to continue 
the discussion, which he does in the following article: 
T have had quite a number of letters from persons 
in the West and South, and many from the New Eng¬ 
land States. These communications were from pro¬ 
fessional men, mechanics, farm managers, and par¬ 
ties owning farms themselves, all eager to change 
their homes and business for farm life here. I would 
not discourage any one of them in his desire to settle 
in this part of New England, and would gladly give 
all the information that I can, but I am not a real 
estate agent, neither have I the time to And out the 
particulars concerning farms quite a distance from 
nere, as most of them are, which most cf those writ¬ 
ing to me wish me to do. By enclosing a stamp to 
the Hon. T. 3. Gold, West Cornwall, former secretary 
of the Connecticut State Board of Agriculture, you 
will by request receive a printed list of farms for sale 
in this county, with price, and any information that 
can be obtained from that source is perfectly reliable. 
The question that comes to me first is: Can a man 
unaccustomed to farm life come here and make a suc- 
c^s of it? An acquaintance of mine residing in one 
of our nearest cities, seeing the article on page 515, 
recognized at once by the description the place where 
he was horn. The 200-^aore farm for 1^600, 30 years 
ago was sold by his father for $7,000 cash. This man 
thinks that prices of farm land have reached their 
lowest mark, and that higher wages are paid now to 
the wage earner than will be in the future, and he 
advises all who can to save a little from their earn¬ 
ings to invest it in these productive hill farms. For 
a man who has had little experience in carrying on 
a farm I should think it doubtful whether he would 
succeed. To be deprived of the advantages of living 
in or near a city, if one has been accustomed to it, 
would be a great drawback; besides, a living here 
must be worked out by hard untiring labor. What 
would a school teacher or a mechanic do here, for in¬ 
stance, in trying to break up some of these rough, 
rocky fields, with a lively team and 125-pound plow? 
In less than two hours he would wish that the farm 
and himself were in the bottom of the sea, and that 
the writer of the article that lured him to the place 
was along with them. But with a man having a gen¬ 
eral knowledge of farm life, who is naturally indus¬ 
trious and thrifty, I think success is sure. The for¬ 
eign element has been very successful here, some 
owning what were once considered as very desirable 
farms, owned and occupied by the first “men of the 
town, who long since have passed to the “green fields 
beyond the swelling fiood.” I have in mind one man 
who lives in a neighboring town who came to this 
country about 40 years ago, with 50 cents in his 
pocket and all his worldly goods tied up in a red 
handkerchief, besides a wife and small children. By 
Industry and economy after a few years he was able 
to make a small payment on a farm that he wanted 
to call his home, in one of the most deteolate and 
rocky parts of this county. He told me that in some 
of Ms fields he had plowed and cultivated the rocks 
were so thick that he had to hold up his goats by 
their tails so they could get their noses between the 
rocks to find a bite of grass! He now owns a large 
farm, with 40 cows; good teams and tools. I think 
it would be a welcome day for some of these old resi¬ 
dents to have their old forsaken farms brought back 
to life again; to see on a dark stormy night a light in 
the window of these now silent homes. Where desola¬ 
tion and decay have commenced their destructive 
work. It would bring back to their memory the days 
long gone by, when the axes of a hundred woodmen 
could be heard on these hills, as thousands of cords 
of wood were prepared for charcoal to melt the iron 
ore with which these hills abound. I think success 
depends more on the man than the farm. The farms 
are surely here productive, rough and rocky; fences 
generally poor, and bushes galore, and a comfortable 
living can only be secured by hard work and patience 
in well doing. If professional men or those who work 
at a trade are desirous of owning a farm in this lo¬ 
cality why not rent at first, with the privilege of a 
purchase, or find a small farm within easy driving 
distance of some good market, and become proficient 
in poultry raising, or the growing of small fruits and 
vsgstaliles? I think ths most to be solved is how to 
reclaim the pasture* that are so overgrown with 
bushes and weeds. I am sure that sheep Husbandry 
is the only thing to resort to, or a man might buy one 
of these cheap farms, keep a milk or butter dairy, 
large enough to meet his everyday expenses, and stock 
his farm with all the sheep he could safely carry. He 
certainly would be on the road to success. There are 
no sweeter pastures than Ditchfield County affords, 
no water will better quench the thirst of man or 
beast than the springs that boil up from the heart 
of these hills, and many never fail during our sever¬ 
est droughts. The “head of the sheep is aJs gold to 
the land,” and if throughout all New Englano the 
hill pastures were stocked with sheep we would not 
have to send AVest for our mutton, our Spring lamb, 
and for wool for our looms, and now where the sweet 
fern, the hardback, the alder and briar are fast taking 
possession, the clovers and fescues would occupy the 
ground now going back to woodland. 
It is possible in the future that the electric system 
of travel may be so perfected that trolley cars may 
wind around among these hills and valleys, which 
will bring the markets to our very doors. Then can 
we send our milk, butter and cream, our beef and 
mutton, our vegetables and fruit, to the city markets 
to compete with the farms that are near them, but 
which are taxed heavily for a higher valuation. I 
believe that the cultivation of the apple would be 
profitable. Fruit of all kinds grows in perfection here; 
we have no canker worm to eat the leaves of the 
apple tree, no curculio to sting the beautiful plums; 
no Currant worm to strip the bushes of their foliage. 
The iron in our soil gives a high color to the peach, 
a rosy cheek and a tough skin to the apple, which 
makes it a good shipper, and large size and sweet¬ 
ness to the strawberry, blackberry and other small 
fruits. These hillsides that slope to the west, pro¬ 
tected from the chill and blast of the east wind, are 
THE SULTAN OE OCCIDENT PLUM. Fig. 293. 
See Ruralisms, Page 662. 
an ideal place for the apple orchard, and with the 
present demand for export of choice fruit I do not see 
why in the future the much-neglected apple would not 
be a source of profit. Will these hardy tillers of the 
soil ever see this millenium day, when the trolley 
shall pass their doors, and place them on a footing 
with those who live in easy distance of good mar¬ 
kets? Then indeed can they work on with new en¬ 
ergy and vigor. The pastures will look far more 
green and beautiful than tney do now; the crops of 
Summer and Fall will be gathered with a promise of 
better Teturns for their labor. The Autumn tints that 
make these hills so beautiful when the frost has 
painted the leaves in their dying colors, will shine 
out more beautiful than ever, and when the icy blasts 
of Winter bring .the covering of snow on these neg¬ 
lected farms, with stock safely housed, and an 
abundant supply of this world’s goods we can gather 
around our firesides with more thankful hearts than 
ever, wihile peace and plenty are wri.tten above our 
doors. S. MABVIN. 
FRUIT GROWER /S. BEE KEEPER. 
The following gives the substance of a correspond¬ 
ence with Prof. Frank Benton, of Washington, There 
has been some discussion as to whether bees should 
be fed at the hive when their natural food is scarce: 
What should be a fair statement of the proper rela¬ 
tions between fruit growers and bee keepers? 
Why, so far as I can see, that, taken all in all, each 
is helpful to the other; therefore their relations 
should be cordial, and in those cases (exceptional, I 
think) in which their individual interests do clash, 
great forbearance should be exercised. 
Would it not be fair to compel the bee keeper to 
feed his bees at home in seasons when they would 
otherwise prove a nuisance to his neighbors? 
Yes, if that, without a burdensome tax upon the 
bee keeper, would remedy the trouble. I am not at 
all sure that feeding would keep the bees at home. It 
would doubtless keep some at work in the hives, but 
probably others would go out in search of the sup¬ 
posed field of stores which was yielding the daily 
gains. When food is first given to hungry bees (or to 
bees that are not gathering from the fields) no mat¬ 
ter how much they have in their combs, they are at 
once incited to great activity, fiy out and search 
about. Gradually, finding nothing outside, they fiy 
less, but still fiy more than those not fed. 
Would it be possible to keep bees at home by feed¬ 
ing them heavily? 
It is possible—I am not sure—that feeding to satiety 
would keep bees from trying the slow process of get¬ 
ting honey (sugar) from the juices of fruits. But 
what about the cost? Take a case of 100 colonies in 
this section of the country. They get very little for 
two months in Summer—not enough to live on and 
keep up a little brood-rearing. They must have stores 
gathered before July or be fed. Now suppose, to keep 
them at home during this period, I fed even two 
pounds per colony daily. I do not believe this would 
suffice. The cost would be, for 60 days (really the 
dearth of honey-producing flowers lasts until Sep¬ 
tember 10) $360—not counting time of feeding. 
(Sugar, two pounds at six cents, 12 cents; water, two 
pounds, makes feed cost three cents per pound.) This 
is over half the return in honey—gross return under 
favorable circumstances. Would it be just to make 
the bee keeper pay this, when very likely the cracked 
and rotting fruit which the bees would take from the 
neighbor’s orchard has been produced, at least has 
set, because of the labors in pollination of these same 
bees? Not only that, but also much of the crop of 
good fruit which the grower was able to gather was 
due to the bees. 
What about moving away? 
The cost of moving the bees would be less than to 
feed them. But where should one go? Can he get 
away from the fruit grower? If the professional 
fruit grower can complain and collect damages for 
the fruit on his 1,000 trees the owner of one tree, and 
1,000 owners of crees within two or three miies of the 
apiary, might collect. See where it ends; The bee 
keeper, with his useful insects, is driven out—finds 
no resting place, but is a tramp whom no one wants. 
“Move on,” is the word! Or, what would result? He 
must quit the business. Now, if, fortunately, some 
abundant bee pasturage happens to exist a few miles 
away the solution is easy. But oftentimes this is of 
short duration; then would come another move, and 
so on. Or it is hundreds of miles away and uncer¬ 
tain. Cost to bee keeper is not in proportion to re¬ 
turn. 
Does the bee really prefer fruit juices? 
When the bee finds a fair supply of nectar in the 
flowers within reach of the apiary it prefers that to 
fruit, and few bees then attack fruit. But I am not 
at all sure that even lioeral out-door feeding near the 
apiary would keep all of the bees, or nearly all of 
them, from trying to get fruit juices. I am, however, 
certain that moderate feeding during honey dearths 
in Summer pays the bee keeper who knows how to 
do it without too great expense. 
Is this practice general? 
In this view a very large number disagree. Few 
practice it. But I am convinced that the bee keep¬ 
ing of the future will have it as one of the prime 
features of good management whenever moving to 
pasturage or creating artificial pasturage (sowing 
and planting economic plants that also yield honey). 
THE FALL WEB-WORM. 
Many shade, forest and fruit trees are now fes¬ 
tooned with the unsightly silken webs of an Insect 
known as the Fall web-worm (Hyphantria cunea). 
One of these festooned trees, found on Cornell’s Cam¬ 
pus, is shown in Fig. 296. These nests remind one 
of those made by the Apple tent-caterpillar in June, 
but the latter insect uses its tent only as a retreat 
or home when not feeding on other parts of the tree, 
while a family of Fall web-worms extend their nest 
over their whole feeding grounds, thus making it 
serve the purpose of shelter and enclosed ranch at 
the same time. Thus the tent-caterpillar feeds out¬ 
side its tent, while the Fall web form works inside 
its web, and Joes not go out on foraging expeditions. 
One of these Fall webs and its inhabitants is well 
shown in Fig. 295. The web worms are quite hairy, 
as shown in Fig. 294, but are only about half as large 
as a tent-caterpillar. The web-worms hatch in Au¬ 
gust from a white mass of 400 to 500 eggs laid on the 
leaves by dainty little white moths; a moth and an 
egg-mass are shown, natural size, in the upper part 
of Fig. 294. Soon the webs will be deserted by their 
wriggling, hairy builders and inhabitants, which go 
into the trunks of the trees or to neighboring rub¬ 
bish on the ground, where they spin cocoons in which 
they pass the Winter. There is only this Fall crop 
of webs in the North, but two broods occur in a year 
south of New York City. The insect is a native 
