THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
99 
i89o 
had come home badly used up, have since 
then improved in condition though fed 
entirely on silage and one gallon each of 
provender per day. My brother feeds his 
horses on silage without any disadvantage; 
they have had no hay this winter, and they 
are working steadily every day. 
My experience so far is that silage made 
from peas, oats and vetches is a cheap and 
wholesome feed for horses. I am satisfied 
that mine are being wintered this year on 
half what it would cost me to keep then, on 
hay and oats. I find also that the silage 
that was put in after being a few hours ex¬ 
posed to the sun and partially dried, is 
sweeter than that put in green from the 
mowing machine. It has a sweet smell 
very much like bees-wqx made from the 
blossoms of buckwheat. I put a quantity 
of squashes and tomatoes with the corn in 
a corn silo as an experiment. They kept 
splendidly and were eaten by the cows with 
the same relish that a boy has for the 
plums in his pudding. I shall not allow 
any unmarketable tomatoes to go to waste 
in future. 
This winter I have made no effort to keep 
the frost out of my silos. When the 
mercury goes away below zero, the silage 
freezes on the surface of the cut part (I 
work it from the bottom of the silo instead 
of taking it off layer by layer from the top), 
but I find no perceptible difference in the 
result in the milk pail. My cows, Jerseys 
eat it as well as if it were not frozen and 
there is a decided advantage in having no 
silo smell from it in the stable. 
Another fact worth noticing is that 
sheaf oats cut and mixed with the silage are 
fed without loss. If sheaf oats are fed to a 
cow or steer without corn silage, a large 
percentage of the grain will be voided in 
an undigested state: when ted to my cows 
with corn silage, no trace of undigested 
grain can be found in the manure. I have 
fed cattle in years gone by under the old 
system, with hay, straw and turnips and 
during the past two years on the silo system, 
and I consider that the farmer who neglects 
to adopt the new method is not “ keeping 
up with the procession.” 
The Dominion Experimental Farm is 
located at this city, and my farm adjoins 
it. I have therefore the advantage of 
seeing many of the interesting experiments 
that are being carried on there by a staff of 
specialists under Professor Saunders, who 
would be a credit to any country in the 
world. Fortunately for the interests of 
agriculture in Canada, the Minister him¬ 
self is an enthusiast on the subject, and 
Professor Saunders is nob only a scientist in 
every sense of the word, but possesses that 
practical common sense so essential to the 
success of an experimental station. Under 
our law farmers from any part of the 
Dominion can send samples of seeds of 
all kinds, without any expense whatever, 
even for postage, to the Central Experi¬ 
mental Farm and have them tested and 
reported on with the least possible delay ; 
and there is now no excuse for any Ca¬ 
nadian farmer not knowing exactly the 
quality of the seeds he is to sow. Ca¬ 
nadians are making rapid progress in 
agriculture ; there is a noticeable improve¬ 
ment from year to year in stock, imple¬ 
ments and buildings, and while fortunes are 
not being made by our farmers, there is a 
solid, substantial improvement in their 
circumstances and surroundings, especially 
in Ontario, that will compare favorably 
with that of any other community on the 
Continent. A. HOLLAND. 
Ottawa, Canada. 
fkltl Crops. 
THE DAKOTA RED POTATO. 
I see by the R. N.-Y. of January 11 that 
the editor considers the Dakota Red a poor 
potato. I would like to give readers of the 
paper a few facts in regard to this variety : 
My potatoes were planted in the middle of 
May. I had a small plot adjoining my 
prize acre, which had the same treatment 
received by this acre,and on the first day of 
September, in company with one of my 
neighbors, I dug a number of hills and 
weighed the produce, which amounted 
to a rate of over 800 bushels to the acre, 
and the same day we tested the tubers by 
cooking, and found them drier and of bet¬ 
ter quality than the Early Rose or Beauty 
of Hebron—the varieties we had been using 
—and from that time we have used them in 
preference to any other variety. I consider the 
Dakota Red here in Aroostook the coming 
potato. It is the best able to withstand 
blight, rot, and bugs, of all that we have 
here. On the last of July and first of Au¬ 
gust blight took all of my potatoes except 
the Dakotas. At that date large fields of 
Early Roses and Hebrons were dug and the 
potatoes shipped away as the blight had 
ruined them. Four prizes came to this and 
the adjoining town in the late potato con¬ 
test, and all had planted Dakota Reds. From 
past experience I would plant them every 
time for a big yield. They were the only 
kind I grew last year with which I would 
have the ghost of a chance of taking any 
prize, as the blight took the other kinds so 
very early in the season. Aroostook is a 
great potato county. A large number of 
farms in this town produce from 4,000 to 
5,(XX) bushels yearly. CHARLES B. COY. 
Aroostook County, Maine. 
[The R. N.-Y. tried the Dakota Red the 
first season it was introduced and again 
the next season. The yield was not heavy, 
and the potatoes were unshapely with 
deep eyes.— Eds.1 
SOME EXPERIENCE WITH THE SOJA 
BEAN. 
Characteristics of different varieties; tall 
and dwarf kinds; compared with a 
Chinese variety, and coiv-peas; nutri¬ 
tive value; much relished by pigs and 
cows; the experiment stations and the 
Soja. 
About six years ago, through the cour¬ 
tesy of Prof. Brooks, then a resident of Ja¬ 
pan, I received seeds of seven varieties of 
the Soja Bean. The seeds varied in color, 
form and size; some were as round as shot, 
others were rather flat, not quite as thick 
proportionately as the average of beans; in 
color one was black, another spotted with 
brilliant scarlet and almost as attractive 
to the eye as the pretty Lady Pea of our 
childhood; most of them had that peculiarly 
rich light brown hue possessed by no other 
variety of bean. The black-colored one 
was twice the size of those of a round form. 
Samples of all the kinds were planted the 
first of June. There was a remarkable dif¬ 
ference in the size of the stalks and the 
time of maturing their seeds. In hight they 
varied from 15 inches to four feet. The very 
dwarf variety was as early as, or earlier 
than our earliest dwarf bush beans, while 
the tallest kinds matured but a small frac¬ 
tion of their seeds and were evidently too 
late to be depended on for a crop as far 
north as latitude 43 degrees. 
The next season I planted the taller 
varieties side by side with some of the 
more luxuriant of the Southern cow-peas, 
to determine their comparative yield for 
fodder purposes, and I also planted, at the 
same time, some beans which I had re¬ 
ceived at the Centennial exhibition in the 
Chinese department—a very small, reddish 
bean, bearing eight or 10 to the pod, slight¬ 
ly running in its habit of growth and very 
prolific, yielding at the rate of about 40 
bushels to the acre. I fouud that in its 
habit of growth and general appearance, 
the Chinese bean bore a closer resemblance 
to the cow-pea of the South than it did to 
our common variety of beans, but that it 
had one distinguishing characteristic—it 
was decidedly earlier and could be depended 
upon to ripen its crop as far north as 43 de¬ 
grees of latitude in the average season. The 
black Soja differed from its fellows of the 
larger varieties, in being of a half run- 
(Continued on Page 105.) 
Cirmjttrfym. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Illinois. 
Pleasant Valley, Jo Daviess County, 
January 28.—The winter so far, excepting 
the past week, has been very mild. Christ¬ 
mas and the day before were so warm and 
showery that the grass and winter grain 
grew as if spring had really come. Last 
Wednesday, however, the thermometer 
went to 12 degrees below. The Sunday of 
the great St. Louis cyclone we had a freshet, 
and it rained hard all day. We had a frost 
next morning. There appears to be a lit¬ 
tle more call for cattle than there has been 
for some time and prices of both cattle and 
hogs are improving. Frost came early and 
there are lots of soft, moldy corn. 
Corn sells at 20 cents, and butter and 
eggs at 12 cents. The tariff, the way it is 
now managed, is a cheat and imposition on 
the farmer: while diamonds, etc., are let in 
free, a duty of 60 per cent, is charged for 
window. glass. Sugar, salt and lumber 
should be free, and the immense combines 
that steal provisions from the farmers and 
charge city consumers two prices should be 
broken up. w. s. 
Maryland. 
Sharptown, Wicomico County, January 
34.—We are having very warm weather. 
Peach buds have started to such an extent 
that the leaves of the blossoms can be seen. 
They are in a fine state to get killed if 
severe cold comes on. As our peach crop 
was a failure last year, we are without 
money and have nothing to sell. In fact, 
we have to buy almost everything we use. 
We are buying Western corn ; it costs 40 to 
45 cents per bushel delivered here. Wheat 
and rye are looking well. Eggs are low— 
12 cents per dozen. Labor is cheap. 
J. E. T. 
Michigan. 
Jackson County, January 26.— Proba¬ 
bly nothing has paid better in this region 
during the past year than the raising and 
fattening of half-blood Shropshire or other 
coarse-wooled lambs. The ewes are, for 
the most part, high-grade Merinos shear¬ 
ing from seven to 10 pounds per head. The 
lambs are dropped in March and April, 
6ome as early as February. These lambs 
can be contracted to feeders in July and 
August at §2.50 to §3 per head to be deliv¬ 
ered in October or before, giving quick re¬ 
turns and a handsome profit at that age. 
Many, however, prefer to feed, thus using 
all the coarse grain raised at home and 
frequently buying considerable quantities 
of Western corn. Most of the lambs 
raised here are fed, either by the farmers 
who raised them or by some one near, 
those who make a specialty of feeding hav¬ 
ing from 100 to 300 or 400 each winter. 
Feeding is begun as soon as the lambs are 
weaned, which is in August, or as soon as 
they are brought in from the other farms 
where they have been raised, bran and oats 
usually being the first grain feed. 
4s the pastures become poor, corn is ad¬ 
ded to the ration. When the lambs are put 
in the yard for the winter, the grain feed 
is corn and oats in equal parts by measure. 
As the winter advances, the proportion of 
corn is increased until for the last month 
or so the grain is clear corn. Clover hay 
and bright corn-fodder are fed mornings 
and nights with straw at noon. A plenti¬ 
ful supply of clean water and a box of salt 
placed where the animals can have access 
to it at all times, are also necessary. The 
lambs are marketed about April 1st; their 
weights varying, of course, according to 
the care, feed, etc. they have received, but 
averaging from S5 to 110 pounds eacn, and 
they sell readily at six cents per pound on 
foot. Nearly all in this vicinity are 
already contracted at that price. Add to 
this the amount received for the wool 
from the ewes, and the receipts from our 
sheep foot up quite a nice sum, even at the 
present low price of wool. While these 
prices continue, those who are engaged in 
this branch of sheep husbandry will keep 
right on, believing that nothing will pay 
tr** * • 
Mrs. M. J. COVELL. Fig. 39. See First Page. 
Mrs. ANNIE C. DUNN. FlG. 40. 
