i89o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
233 
Miscellaneous. 
C. P., Oak View, Pa.— Where can I get 
a good two-horse iron land roller f 
Ans. —TheHigganum Co., 189 Water St., 
New York sell iron rollers from $40 to $75 
according to size and weight. 
H. C., Winchendon, Mass.— Are J. H. 
Bunnell & Co., Nos. 76 and 78 Courtland St. 
N. Y., dealers in telegraph instruments, re¬ 
liable ? 
Ans.—T hey are so considered. 
C. F. R., Tonawanda, N. Y.— Is the 
Farmers’ Favorite grain-drill a first-class 
machine ? 
Ans.—Y es, it is, in the R.N.-Y.’s opinion. 
We have used it for many years. 
W. H. L., (one of the 10 Altamonts in 
the U. S.)— What are the names of two or 
three California papers devoted to agricul¬ 
ture, mining, lumbering and general news ? 
Ans. —California Fruit-grower, Mining 
and Scientific Press, Pacific Rural Press, 
Pacific Coast Wood and Iron. Resources of 
California, all published at San Franscico. 
C. H. W., Shirley, Mass.— What is the 
best way to keep the little flies off cabbage 
and turnip plants ? 
Ans.—I t is hard to tell the best way. A 
good way is to sift fine, dry, wood ashes 
over the plants while wet with rain or dew. 
This must be done before the flea-beetles, 
which, we suppose are meant, have injured 
the plants, and the operation must be re¬ 
peated at intervals. 
C. R. W., Westfield, N. J.—What kinds 
of sweet com should one plant? When and 
how should they be planted on a soil com¬ 
posed of sand, loam and gravel, not rich? 
Ans.—P erry’s Hybrid, Crosby, Moore’s 
Concord and Evergreen make a good suc¬ 
cession. Plant just as soon as danger of 
frost is over. Plant in drills one foot apart, 
the drills three feet apart for the first two, 
and 3% for the last two. 
C. F. R., Tonawanda, N. Y. —Is it a 
good policy to sow plaster with the spring 
grain on a dry loam that should have been 
manured ? 
Ans.—Y es it is a very good plan to sow 
plaster with spring grain ; hut it is a better 
one to drill it in with the seed, because 
then it will not deter the grain from ripen¬ 
ing. If sowed on spring grain after it is 
up, it is likely to prolong the ripening sea¬ 
son, thereby causing rust and mildew. 
L. M. S., Castleton, N. Y. —1. What 
kind of a potato is the Stray Beauty ? 2. 
What varieties of strawberries would be 
most profitable on soil composed of mixed 
clay and gravel ? 
Ans.— 1. The Stray Beauty was sent ont 
under this name seven years ago by Samuel 
Wilson, of Mechanicsville, Pa. It is be¬ 
lieved to be Bliss’s Triumph. It is a very 
early potato of medium size and good 
quality. It is not a very heavy yielder. 2. 
Chas. Downing, Bubach, Crescent, Jessie 
and Sharpless. 
O. J. N., Slaterville, N. Y.— Will the 
following fertilizer formula be good for 
potatoes : German potash salts, 400 pounds; 
dried blood, 100 pounds; pure ground bone, 
200 pounds; plaster, 300 pounds ? Is am- 
moniated bone the same thing as pure 
ground bone ? What is Mapes’s formula 
for a potato fertilizer ? 
ANS.—Ammoniated hone does not mean 
anything in particular except as may be 
judged by the analysis. All raw bone con¬ 
tains ammonia—say two per cent, or more. 
If nitrate of soda, blood, etc., be added it 
might fairly be called ammoniated. The 
Mapes formula is : nitrogen, 3.7; phosphoric 
acid, 8.0; potash, 6.0 per cent. We should 
increase the bone and lessen the potash in 
our friend’s formula. 
J. J., Toronto, Canada.— 1. Where can I 
get a good trench plow? 2. Where can a 
spraying machine be obtained? 3. What 
poison is the best insecticide, and how 
should it be used? 4. Should spraying be 
deferred until all the blossoms have fallen ? 
5. How often should one spray to insure 
sound fruit? 
Ans.— 1. Of the Syracuse Plow Co., Syra¬ 
cuse, N. Y. 2. Of the Field Force Pump 
Co., Lockport, N. Y., or Rumsey & Co., 
Seneca Falls, N. Y. 8. Paris-green, one 
pound to about 200 gallons of water thor¬ 
oughly mixed and kept stirred while apply¬ 
ing. 4. Yes; never spray until after the 
blossoms have all fallen; it will do no good 
before the fruit sets, and you may destroy 
your neighbors’ bees by spraying while the 
blossoms are still on. 5. As soon as the 
apples have set, and again in 10 days or two 
weeks, unless rain sufficient to rinse off the 
poison intervenes, when it will be necessary 
to[ repeat the'operation, 
Discussion. 
"A CHANCE FOR ENTERPRISING YOUNG 
MEN.” 
“Ex-Farm Manager.”— “A chance for 
enterprising young men,” on page 189 of 
the Rural for March 22, certainly tells of 
an encouraging chance for them; but I 
have found the city gentlemen who own 
such places different from what one would 
suppose them to be. I have twice tried to 
work farms owned by city men with no 
profitable results. According to my exper¬ 
ience, the city man says that he knows 
nothing about farming and he wants his 
newly employed manager tb take charge of 
everything, and to make the farm pay 
something. It'ought to be selt-snstaining, 
but he doesn’t expect it will be that. 
Things start off nicely and the prospects 
are bright, but the manager soon finds 
that he is in need of tools, or that a 
meadow, a piece of winter grain, or a 
spring crop does not look quite as it should, 
and that a top-dressing of some good ferti¬ 
lizer would help it. The manure pile is 
scant, so some fertilizer must be bought. 
Then the city owner begins to complain 
that the bills are frequent and heavy: 
“You must economize; we can’t stand 
this expense,” says he. “I will let you 
have half what you ask for,” and the man¬ 
ager must get along with one man less 
than is needed so as to reduce the ex¬ 
penses. Then the city owner begins to 
doubt the manager’s ability, although he 
doesn’t say so, but he inquires of some 
older farmers how such and such things 
should be done, and whether they think 
the manager is just the man for the place, 
etc. Now these things are very discourag¬ 
ing to a young man. As Mr. Wm. Fal¬ 
coner says: “ The foreman should not be 
expected to spend a great deal of his time 
at field work.” To keep things running 
and plan for his work ahead and see that it 
is done in proper season, is about all he can 
attend to if the farm is much of a place 
According to my observation, the average 
city man will hire some foreigner who has 
a fair knowledge of general farming, and 
whom he can get cheap, in preference to an 
American or an educated young man. 
“ One of the Young Men.” In the 
issue of the RURAL of March 22, an 
interesting article on page 189, brings to my 
mind a few points that may be of interest 
to readers of the R. N.-Y. The Rural 
wonders that more young men do not take 
the position of managers on the farms of 
wealthy men, whose business necessitates 
their leaving their farms the greater part 
of the time in charge of hired men, overseers, 
foremen or managers, and it further states 
that many men with abundant capital 
would buy farms, provided they could get 
capable men to superintend them. 
This undoubtedly is true, but why cannot 
this capable help be obtained ? Because 
intelligent, energetic and reliable young 
men with experience, can command larger 
salaries in less laborious situations, where 
the chances for their advancement are 
surer, where society and life generally are 
more attractive to the young, and that is in 
the city. 
Given a young man of 25 or 30 years of 
age, temperate, industrious and honest, 
capable of doing good work almost any¬ 
where, and the capitalist having a position 
as manager in a wholesale house, and also 
one on his fancy stock farm to fill, would 
give this same young man three times as 
large a salary in the former as in the latter 
position. Which would he accept ? The 
idea is altogether too prevalent that any¬ 
thing or anybody connected with farming, 
must be had for a mere pittance, so the 
Rural need not look farther for the 
answer to its question, “ Why young men 
leave the farms and are not oftener seen in 
the position of managers of rich men’s 
farms.” 
If these monied farmers would pay good 
salaries for managers, many young men 
with brains and experience would prefer 
such positions to any in the city, for that 
love of a country life, seen in a majority of 
the people, cannot be stifled, but the chances 
of advancement seem to be in favor of the 
city for the young man of ability, integrity 
and energy. 
It is a deplorable fact, for the agricul¬ 
tural interests need all of the talent, en¬ 
ergy and experience of the best men en¬ 
gaged in it, combined with all of the 
science, experimental knowledge and 
chemical research of the stations and 
agricultural colleges, coupled with a united 
and harmonious national organization 
of farmers, and all should work in unison 
for the general welfare of agriculture, to 
elevate it to the position of importance that 
it should occupy and to establish farming 
upon a paying basis; for no amount of 
flowery speeches or glowing reports can 
remove the fact that farming generally has 
been a losing business for the last five 
years, and that farm lands have decreased 
enormously in value in the last 15 years, 
and are still falling. 
What can be done to stop this decline ? 
To make farming profitable under present 
conditions, good business ability and push 
are required and the application of all of 
the new and improved methods, and these 
changes must come from the young men of 
to-day, who will be the farmers of to-mor¬ 
row, for men grown old in the business are 
slow to change their methods. So give the 
young men some inducement to stay on 
the farms as owners, shareholders or man¬ 
agers, and they will stay, but the present 
opportunities there must be greatly en¬ 
larged before they will do so. 
IS THE MOLE A FRIEND OF AGRICULTURE ? 
H. P. B., Charleston, S. C.— The follow¬ 
ing is an extract from “ The Universe ” by 
F. A. Panchet, M.D., corresponding mem¬ 
ber of the University of France: “ If some 
destructive insects eat our crops, their 
natural exterminators again are found 
among the carnivorous mammals and 
birds. At the head of these protectors of 
agriculture must be placed, at the present 
day, the mole, the habits of which have 
been for a long time misunderstood. Far 
from being hurtful to the products of the 
earth, it is one of their most effective guar¬ 
dians ; occupied from morn to night in de¬ 
vouring all the enemies of their roots, it 
never attacks a root itself. The food of 
the mole is composed of cockchafer grubs, 
mole-crickets and insects ’of all kinds. A 
naturalist has calculated that a mole de¬ 
vours annually 20,000 grubs. The mole 
never gnaws roots. I have opened hundreds 
without ^finding one in their stomachs 
which, on the contrary, were always gorged 
with grubs of; the May-bug and earth¬ 
worms. This insect-eater is therefore one 
of our best friends. This is well-known 
where agriculture is intrusted to experi¬ 
enced hands. In such places and in some 
vineyards devastated by these grubs, men 
place purchased moles to destroy these re¬ 
doubtable enemies. All those authors who 
have recently ^written on agriculture, or 
have interested themselves about the mole, 
such as Ratzburg, Joigneaux, DelaBlan- 
chere, consider this animal as of great ser¬ 
vice to farm industry.” 
R. N.-Y.—We have had considerable ex¬ 
perience with moles or at Jleast with one 
species of this animal. The Rural Grounds 
have always been alive with them and the 
lawns they have injured or destroyed by 
converting them into a net-work of tunnels, 
and the plants they have upset, have in¬ 
duced us from time to time to seek for 
means of prevention or extermination. We 
have no evidence whatever that they have 
ever eaten a root or harmed a plant in any 
way except by running under it, thus de¬ 
priving the root of food and moisture. We 
have caught them from time to time and 
placed them in cages or boxes. They have 
been supplied with kernels of corn, wheat, 
etc., which were previously counted. 
Though kept until half starved, apparent¬ 
ly, not one of these kernels has been eaten or 
even nibbled. Earth-worms supplied at such 
times were devoured. Appleton’s Cyclo¬ 
pedia, a pretty good authority, says the food 
of the mole “ consists of worms, insects and 
tender roots.”i [It also says: “ The mole is 
frequently very' detrimental to cultivated 
lands, but the loss is more than counter¬ 
balanced by the destruction of noxious in¬ 
sects and weeds.” 
The following notes on the mole by 
Henry Hales will prove interesting: 
“ The habits of nocturnal animals can be 
observed only with difficulty and the mole, 
besides being mostly nocturnal,[lives under 
the surface of the earth. There are several 
distinct species of moles in different parts 
of this continent. In our Eastern States, 
there are two species that are common— 
the Shrew mole, and the JStar-nosed mole. 
The latter is not so numerous as the form¬ 
er, as it lives mostly in low, damp, rich 
soils, and does not make such extensive 
burrows as the common Shrew mole 
(Scalops aquations) that mapsout our lawns 
with such varied maze-like designs. Like 
the crow, this little animal has been the 
subject of much controversy among 
cultivators of the soil, as to its use¬ 
fulness or destructiveness. Its physi¬ 
cal peculiarities X&re truly remarkable. 
It would puzzle an evolutionist to tell us 
what it has been evolved from. Only think 
of a mammal having a sternum or raised 
ridge of bone down its breast like a bird, to 
protect the powerful muscles that give its 
hands and head such great strength. The 
better to facilitate its burrowing, the fore¬ 
arms are covered 'within the skin of its 
body; while the hind legs are small, and 
the hind part of the body is smaller than 
the fore part, so that the whole strength 
of the animal is thrown into the short neck 
and paws which resemble hands. These 
are large and flat with five toes armed with 
strong claws. They are turned outwards 
in the position of a man’s hands while 
swimming. In fact, the animal may be said 
to swim rather than to run in the earth. 
The fur is fine and soft and, what is most 
marvelous, it has no natural inclination 
to lie in any particular direction; hence it 
will lie in whatever direction it is brushed, 
and hence does not impede backward 
motion, and the mole can move backward 
almost as well as forward. The very small 
eyes and strong sense of touch and hearing 
surely make this little thing a wonderful 
specimen of organized creation. Its snout 
is long, flexible, pointed and at the same 
time very powerful. The Shrew mole can 
turn the point of its nose into its mouth. 
This sharp-pointed nose can be moved in 
any direction. It is vigorously used in bur¬ 
rowing, commencing the tunnel through 
which the little creature scrambles so rap¬ 
idly with the aid of its strong hands. Its 
structure is wonderfully adapted to its mode 
of life. The Shrew mole is found from Can¬ 
ada to Florida. As there is so much differ¬ 
ence of opinion regarding its usefulness, it 
would be interesting to hear from farmers 
and gardeners the result of their observa¬ 
tions. 
TRADE WITH BRAZIL. 
H. G., Walnut, Kansas.— Does the R. 
N.-Y. believe that the removal of the tariff 
on Brazilian sugar would increase the de¬ 
mand for our bacon and other farm pro¬ 
ducts in that country ? The writer of this 
frankly believes that it would not. This 
country annually imports about $5,000,000 
worth of a very low grade of sugar from 
Brazil, and if the theories of free traders of 
the Cleveland, Canfield and Sumner type 
are correct—that the tariff in every case is 
paid by the consumer—it is not very plain 
to me bow the removal of the tariff would 
help the Brazilian sugar producer. It is a 
cherished but fallacious theory of the ad¬ 
vocates of a “ tariff for revenue only ” that 
all trade between nations is barter, and if 
we want other countries to buy our pro¬ 
ducts we must throw down all barriers and 
give them the free benefits of our markets ; 
but this theory is not borne out by the 
facts. This country annually imports from 
$25,000,000 to $30,000,000 worth of coffee 
from Brazil, and coffee has been on the free 
list for a good many years; but the people 
of Brazil have never yet consented to take 
over $7,000,000 or $8,000,000 worth of our 
products in exchange for $40,000,000 worth 
of their products which, with the exception 
of sugar, are all or quite all on the freelist. 
The articles which England exports to this 
country are nearly all subjected to heavy 
charges at the Custom House, but England 
is the best customer for our surplus agri¬ 
cultural products. If the R. N.-Y. ’s Brazil¬ 
ian subscriber had inquired how that bacon 
which he paid 26 cents a pound for, got to 
his country, he would probably have learned 
that it went to Liverpool or Lisbon first and 
that the retail dealer in the town where he 
bought it made more profit on it than had 
all others who had handled it. It is not 
likely that Brazil will ever provide a mar¬ 
ket for any great amount of our surplus 
bread and meat. A country extending 
from about five degrees north of the Equa¬ 
tor to 33 degrees south will be able to sup¬ 
ply its inhabitants with about everything 
necessary for their convenience, happiness 
and comfort. 
It seems strange that an agricultural 
journal should advocate the placing of 
sugar on the free list just when the sor¬ 
ghum and beet sugar interests are promis¬ 
ing such important results, and the Louis¬ 
iana sugar planters are producing by new 
processes nearly twice as much sugar to 
the ton of cane as in the past. The re¬ 
moval of the present duties would destroy 
the whole business at one blow, and the 
farmers who should grow the beets and 
sorghum and cane to make the $80,000,000 
worth of sugar which we now import, 
would be relegated to raising 15-cent corn 
and 40-cent wheat and three-cent pork. 
Stop agitating the tariff and capital will 
seek investment in the sugar business as it 
already has in the salt industry of this 
State. 
R. N.-Y.—We are preparing a series of 
articles on the possibilities of the South 
Pi.sceUaneouis 
“Herbrand” Fifth Wheel for Buggiet. 
