6 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JAN. 4 
tended to my own business this winter, 
they would easily equal those of 1882. I 
had three bushels more wheat to the acre 
this year; but I had to sell for less—95 
cents per bushel for a car-load on the track 
here. Potatoes brought about the same 
price per bushel as in 18S2; but I had more 
of them. I shall get about the same price 
for my clover seed. In the place of 
squashes we had about the same value of 
small fruits. In 1883, my debts being all 
paid, and feeling that I could not wait any 
longer for a decent home, I “ pushed things” 
for a new house and furniture, my cash 
sales running up to about $3,000. In view 
of these receipts which can be verified from 
my books, does “ Farmer’s Wife,” R. N.-Y. 
page 821, wonder if we do “have a little 
bank account to fall back on? ” 
Sometimes the gross receipts do not tell 
the whole story. You know our living ex¬ 
penses. For help we paid just about $200 
this year; nothing ever for fertilizers. 
Now, in regard to lecturing and writing, 
once for all : I care not a snap of my finger 
for the income from either. By giving it 
my undivided attention I can make all the 
money I have any desire for from my farm. 
I wrote to Secretary Bonham twice last fall 
urging him to leave me out of the institute 
work and let me attend to my business; 
but he wouldn’t hear of it. He paid me 
the enormous sum of $170 for my last win¬ 
ter's work, and no more. I would go to 
bed and stay if I could not make that much 
at home. My lecturing and writing have 
invariably been called for. and I have taken 
what friends chose to pay me. I have never 
once looked in this direction for any income. 
But as I must neglect my work more or 
less to attend to it, of course fair compen¬ 
sation is only right. Now, friends, please 
digest these facts thoroughly enough so 
you will not say again that I am dishonest 
in claiming to make a good living from a 
50-acre farm outside of all literary work. 
In the year 1881 the hay was fed out in our 
barn on water-tight|stable floors. The straw 
was fed with purchased bran and oil-meal, 
and brought $92 more than the cost of these 
purchased supplies. I am not pulling every 
string now, as then, in my farming ; there 
is no need to, and then “ no man can serve 
two masters.” 
WHY ORANGES ARE LOW. 
J. B. U., De Leon Springs, Fla.—T he 
low prices of oranges in Northern markets 
have been due to the shipments of green 
fruit. I have lived here many winters; 
but we never consider oranges wholesome, 
or enjoy their use before the middle of De¬ 
cember; and this season the fruit is a 
month later than is usual. Already one- 
fourth of the Florida orange crop has been 
shipped, (500,000 boxes) and most of this 
amount was of a quality that was unfit for 
use. Ought we to look for good prices ? 
Never before have buyers been so numer¬ 
ous. Every grower in the State has had an 
opportunity of selling his crop at home at 
a very fair price. Most of the buyers are 
ready to purchase the fruit on the trees, for 
then they can pack and sort to suit their 
markets. It is the small growers who ship 
five to 10 boxes at a time that send un¬ 
sort' d fruit to market, and there are thou¬ 
sands of them. Many of them do not 
know how to pack properly, and the num¬ 
ber of boxes handled at a time will not al¬ 
low a very great selection, so as to make 
even a box of each grade. But when the 
Northern dealer, or his agent, buys and 
packs the fruit, the case is different. He 
knows what his trade demands, and as he 
usually ships in car-loads, he can sort his 
fruit to meet his trade; whether it comes 
from one grower or from 20. We have 
enjoyed our crop of Japanese Persimmons. 
I think them far ahead of oranges. What 
few were shipped to New York sold at 
fancy prices. Can the R. N.-Y. give any in¬ 
formation as to the probable future de¬ 
mand for this beautiful fruit ? The quan¬ 
tity will increase rapidly for a few years. 
Oranges in this region bring from $1 to 
$1.15 per box, on the tree. 
R. N.-Y. There seems little reason to 
doubt that the demand for this fruit will 
grow. Anything new in the fruit line that 
is really good is sure to become popular 
here. New York people are constantly on 
the lookout for novelties. The only trouble 
lies in the fact that the supply of these per¬ 
simmons promises to become quite heavy 
all at once, for the reason that many trees 
were set out so they will all begin bearing 
together. However, if you can make New 
York people “think them far ahead of 
oranges,” there will be few unsold. 
PLANTING an orchard. 
S. M. B., VlRA, Pa.—N o doubt a number 
of the readers of tile R, N.-Y: are preparing 
to set out young orchards in the spring. 
Raising apples for market is not so profit¬ 
able now as it was 30 years ago. At least, 
such is the case in this section—Central 
Pa. Then, through the smaller towns the 
farmer could sell from 10 to 20 bushels of 
winter apples, perhaps, to one customer, to 
be put away for winter use. Now all that 
is changed. Parties go to the grocers and 
buy as needed ; the farmer sells as the de¬ 
mand requires, keeping the bulk of his ap- 
pies in the cellar, running all risk of loss. 
Again, orchards are not so profltsable as 
formerly, and some years the orchardist 
will have on hand a lot of inferior and tin- 
salable fruit; hence the question to be con¬ 
sidered is, will it be a good investment to 
plant out four or five acres of the best part 
of the farm to apple trees with no assur¬ 
ance of a market. Of course this question 
is to be decided according to location ; but 
in many places it will not pay. I have set 
out two orchards, one a score of years ago 
on the Illinois prairies and one more re¬ 
cently in the Keystone State. If I were 
setting out another of, say, seven rows of 
trees, I would have the middle or fourth 
row planted to the best varieties of pears, 
I would plant the rest in apples having the 
second and sixth rows of upright-growing 
varieties that require less room. Some 
varieties such as Bellflower, require double 
as much room as a Jefferis. By planting 
in this way, space can be economized and 
the trees can be planted a little closer than 
30 feet. The Baldwin unless in the South 
or West where it drops badly, is a nice up¬ 
right grower and as profitable as any. Be 
sure to buy only of a reliable nurseryman ; 
if you do not half of the trees will certainly 
not be true to name and will probably be 
worthless, or at least not suited to your 
locality—this has been my experience. As 
a rule, always buy plants or seeds of a re¬ 
liable dealer. One year ago I bought and 
sowed some Timothy seed and found too 
late that it contained Ox-eye Da'sy that it 
will require much labor to eradicate. 
CAUTION ON FEEDING SILAGE TO HORSES. 
R. H. T., Darby, Pa. —It is a most re¬ 
markable circumstance that with all the 
articles pro and eon on the subject of si¬ 
lage, nothing has been written to my 
knowledge on the poisonous effect silage 
has on horses. In fact most articles on the 
subject would lead one to suppose that it 
agreed with horses quite as well as with 
cows. Such being the case, I think my ex¬ 
perience should be given as a warning to 
those who use silage as a general food for 
all stock. On December 1st I opened my 
silo, the top of which was somewhat 
moldy. The silage was mixed with cut 
corn-fodder in the proportion of four of sil¬ 
age to five of corn-fodder, in addition to 
which I fed about four pounds of a mixture 
of bran, malt sprouts, corn-meal and cake- 
meal to each animal twice a day. This has 
been eaten greedily, and the cows do well 
on it. On about December 10th my two 
horses were stricken in the same way— 
they got down and were unable to get up. 
Both died within 24 hours of each other. I 
called in Dr. Bridge, the Pennsylvania State 
Veterinarian. He said that their death 
was due to cerebro-spinal meningitis, 
caused by feeding the silage, even in small 
proportion, as in this case. He further 
stated that feeding silage, moldy or other¬ 
wise, and also moldy hay or grain to horses 
causes a great ri$k; and that in conse¬ 
quence of the past rainy season and the gen¬ 
eral prevalence of mold in hay and grain, a 
large proportion of horses will be lost. 
From the above experience these questions 
suggest themselves : Is silage wholesome 
for horses ? Is wet cut food—a mixture of 
hay or fodder and grain—considered as 
beneficial to a horse as dry hay and grain ? 
I would like to hear through the R. N.-Y. 
the experience of others on silage for 
horses, and would desire a general discus¬ 
sion on the most economical and whole¬ 
some food for horses ? 
R. N.-Y. We shall, in a short time, pre¬ 
sent the views of the best authorities we 
can find. 
THINKS THE FERTILIZER IS LOST. 
W. S. H., Oneco, Conn.— I read the R. 
N.-Y.’s report on potato growing on the 
first page of the issue of December 14, 1889, 
and think that the crop was a good one 
everything having been taken in considera¬ 
tion ; but the Rural is going to get left if 
it follows out the programme as laid down 
for next season. I tried the same plan 
three years since and was beaten. I plowed 
an acre of sod ground and planted it to po¬ 
tatoes, using 1,400 pounds of Williams and 
Clark’s Potato Fertilizer, half in the drill 
the other half sown broadcast. The pota¬ 
toes rotted badly that year; but I sold 
enough to pay for the fertilizer. Next 
spring I sowed the piece to oats with clov¬ 
er and Herd’s Grass; the result was that I 
got half a crop of oats which I cut for fod¬ 
der. The grass seed did not catch to an ex¬ 
tent worth mentioning. The oats I believe 
depended upon the decayed turf for sus¬ 
tenance. My idea is that the man who de¬ 
pends upon the commercial fertilizer that 
is left over from this year’s crop to produce 
a crop next season, will be disappointed, for 
before next season arrives all that is solu¬ 
ble in that fertilizer will have traveled a 
good way towards China and be out of 
reach of the grass roots. I would suggest 
that the acre should be divided into three 
plots, having oats and clover on the first 
plot; oats and clover on the second with 
200 or 300 pounds of fertilizer, and on the 
third plot clover seed alone. 
R. N.-Y.—We will try to follow out some¬ 
thing of this plan. We know that many 
farmers are confident that chemical fertil¬ 
izers are useful only to the crop on which 
they are applied. It was for this reason 
that we selected a piece of ground that 
would be as liable as any to lose the fertil¬ 
izer by leaching. We shall watch the re¬ 
sult with a good deal of interest. 
. FLOUR FROM JAPANESE BUCKWHEAT, 
J. E. H., Johnstown, N. Y.—TheR. N.- 
Y., of December 14, contains an article from 
C. H. F., Forestville, Chautauqua County, 
N. Y., in which he says the Japanese buck¬ 
wheat was a good yielder, but he could not 
sell it to millers, as they claimed that it 
would not make good flour or as much per 
bushel as the ordinary sort. My experience 
with this buckwheat is quite different from 
that of the millers referred to. While the 
yield was good, I find it makes the whitest 
of flour and of good quality. As a miller, I 
have floured a considerable quantity and 
shall encourage the cultivation of it by 
furnishing seed for next season’s sowing, 
and will also buy the crop back if in good 
order. I make 25 pounds per bushel and 
that is all I want from buckwheat of any 
variety to maintain the reputation I have 
already attained in making excellenr flour, 
and the flour from the Japanese sort will 
compare favorably with the best. 
“Uber,” Clark’s Falls, Va.— The 
R. N.-Y. asks : “Why quit farming in New 
Hampshire ? ” Although I cannot say 
why others have done so, I can state with 
a great degree of positiveness why I would. 
It is simply on account of the long winter 
season. Were it not for this I would cer¬ 
tainly purchase that 180-acre farm offered 
by H. B. Whitney, as I believe I have never 
before heard of such a bargain in real estate. 
The R. N.-Y. asks (page 770) if three bar¬ 
rels of potatoes per capita is a fair average 
consumption, and I reply that my family 
of four persons will notconsume more than 
four barrels in a year, or an average of one 
I arrel of white potatoes each, and if sweet 
potatoes are good (as dry as in some years) 
the average of white potatoes consumed 
will be less. 
POTATO FERTILIZER. 
J. E. B., Address Mislaid.— In the R. 
N.-Y. of December 14 a trial acre of pota- 
tatoes is described. I would suggest that 
the fertilizer should be scattered in the row 
after marking with the trench plow, and 
then the man should go through the row 
again with the trench plow or a shovel 
plow, as I think this would mix the fertili¬ 
zer better with the soil than it can be done 
by simply scattering it in the furrow and 
covering it with earth. As a test of the 
value of a complete fertilizer as recom¬ 
mended by the R. N.-Y., I tried an experi¬ 
ment upon a short row of potatoes—the 
Late Beauty of Hebron with the Mapcs 
Complete Manure, at the rate of 2,000 
pounds per acre. I raised at the rate of 400 
bushels or a little more per acre; 500 pounds 
gave about 300 bushels per acre aud where 
none was used the yield was about 150 
bushels per acre. I mixed the fertilizer 
with the soil with a hoe, but for an acre or 
more I would suggest the plow. 
SPICE. 
At the Elmira Farmers’ Club, as report¬ 
ed iu the Husbandman, the following dis¬ 
cussion occurred : 
George W. Hoffman: I would rate the 
Berkshire as anything but a fine hog; it is a 
long, course, tough hog, nearly as long and 
coarse as the Poland-China. The Berkshire 
40 years ago was a very good hog. but now 
I would not have one of them : the ribs at 
the back-bone are concave and the animals 
have the appearance of being fat when they 
are not. I like what is known as a razor- 
back having a sharp back like a house roof ; 
when you get one looking fat you have 
some meat on it. Give me any breed before 
a Berkshire. 
I would pick a Jerspy-Red or Duroc-Jer- 
sey for myself. It kills better than any 
other hog to my notion. The Duroc-Jersey 
at first was long and coarse, but it has 
been bred fine, the rind is thin, it is a bet¬ 
ter hog for me than the Yorkshire. I think 
I would like the Yorkshire for pig pork. I 
keep my hogs until about 18 months old. I 
think the little black Essex makes about the 
best pig pork, but it is not so profitable as 
some other breeds. I believe pork is br'nging 
a better price now than in years gone by. 
We used to ring about 60 hogs in the spring 
and turn them out in pasture, and leave 
them out until fall. We fed them pump¬ 
kins from the time the corn was cut till 
about the first of November. We used to 
fat them in from six to eight weeks. We 
cooked the feed, boiled potatoes, corn, buck¬ 
wheat and barley, and fed twice each day 
all they would eat up clean. We did not 
let the feed sour. We thought we could 
make more out of our grain in that way 
than any other. 
Charles Heller: Forty or 50 years ago 
we used to boil potatoes nearly all night. 
I feed three times each day. I don’t believe 
that twice in a day is enough. I think hogs 
will do just as well on corn alone. I like a 
Berkshire. A Berkshire pig at six weeks 
old is fat; put him in the pen and feed six 
months and he will be fit to kill. A razor- 
back pig will not fat until a year or more 
old. I like a hog with a thin rind 
and small bones. We cannot turn hogs 
out now as we used to do. If we could it 
would be a cheaper way to keep them. I 
raise what I can for my own use and no 
more; there is no money in raising pork 
for the market at the price we get now. 
George W. Hoffman : I insist that 
there is as much profit in hogs as there is 
in steers, but they should run out and have 
the same advantages. There is but one 
better animal to enrich land, and that is 
said to be the sheep. Hogs are better than 
cows or steers to enrich land. I would turn 
them out with the cattle; they will eat a 
great many weeds and grasses that the cows 
will not. Of course, you will have to keep 
better fences and will have to ring the hogs, 
but with the appliances of to-day two men 
will ring 100 in a short time. We can grow 
almost anything on hog pasture. At tbe 
present price of corn, buckwheat and bar¬ 
ley I think there is as much profit in pork 
at five cents per pound as in anything we 
could raise. We used to think there was 
more profit in pork at or four cents than 
there was in selling grain when it brought 
more than it does now. I would cook the 
food ; you cannot make a profit out of any¬ 
thing if it is not well taken care of. I 
would bed my hogs with straw ; it will 
make more manure if nothing more. 
David Siiapfee : I would not cure hams 
by rubbing,I would put them in a weak brine 
for a few days to draw the blood out, and 
then make a pickle of saltpeter and brown 
sugar and put them in that about four 
weeks. When smoked nearly enough, I 
sprinkle a table-spoonful of Cayenne pepper 
on the fire, which will keep the flies from 
the hams. 
A YOUNG animal, says Prof. W. W. Cooke 
of Vermont in a lecture, as reported by the 
Massachusetts Ploughman, requires more 
flesh-producing material than a full grown 
one. In straw the proportion of flesh-pro¬ 
ducing to heat producing is one' to 30, 
in linseed-meal it is one to two; these may 
be mixed and made to produce a proper 
ration. The farmer who produces the 
coarse, heat-producing materials on his 
farm should not buy corn but bran, cotton¬ 
seed meal, middlings, oil-meal and gluten- 
meal. Taking a ration that will produce 
one part of flesh to seven of heat, composed 
of 12 pounds of hay, 12 pounds of corn¬ 
stalks, two pounds of coru-meal, one pound 
of cotton-seed meal, and two pounds of bran 
for a cow weighing 1,000 pounds, it would 
cost 13.10 cents per day at the present 
prices. 
We have to pay to-day for: hay, $8 
per ton, corn fodder, $5, corn-meal $20, cot¬ 
ton-seed meal $26, bran $20. It is said by 
some that we must feed differently for but¬ 
ter than for milk, but he believes we should 
not. 
The farmer should raise as much as pos¬ 
sible of what he feeds, should determine the 
crops that- he can grow with the most econ- 
