i89o 
THU RURAL NKW-YORRER, 
4iS 
tion completed. A hole should be made in the lowest part 
of the bag to allow any water which may possibly enter to 
escape. In gathering, the grapes are picked and stored 
with the bags on, care being taken in handling, and in a 
cool place they may be kept for a long time in perfect con¬ 
dition. 
NEW JERSEY FRUIT NOTES. 
Strawberries have been a light crop owing, it is thought, 
to the frost when they were in blossom. The vines are 
healthy but the fruit is not abundant. Gandy (our first 
season) is the favorite at present. Belmont is doing pretty 
well. The most of the berries on the market are small and 
soft and are selling low. It is a well demonstrated fact 
that it does not pay to grow strawberries except on good 
soil, with the cleanest culture and on land thoroughly en¬ 
riched and well mulched during the winter. Then if we 
grow the large berries, there will be a prospect of some re¬ 
turns for the outlay. The Crescent is planted largely, as 
it will endure more bad treatment than most berries. Its 
main fault lies in the small size of the fruit of the late 
pickings. Crescent and Jersey Queen will fruit when set 
alone; they may not be quite “perfect,” yet it looks as 
though it was not essential that any other berry should be 
near by to fertilize them. We have been spraying apple 
and pear trees with ammonia water and carbonate of cop 
per; but no effect is visible up to this time; still we expect 
to continue the spraying until the last of August, by which 
time I hope to find that it is useful in preventing the scab 
on the apple and pear, and the cracking of the latter. This 
is an experiment of some importance, as this scab or fungus 
affects not only the fruit, but the tree as well, so that unless 
some natural or artificial agent arrests it, our orchards 
will fail not only to fruit hut to grow. I am inclined to 
think that the fungus is worse ou well enriched soil, es¬ 
pecially where the fertilizing material contains a high per¬ 
centage of nitrogen. The apple and pear crops are light. 
The trees were mostly well set 
with blossoms, but I find that, as 
a rule, where the crop was heavy 
last year, little or no truit has 
set. I have the records to show 
that east winds and light frosts 
do not prevent fruit from setting; 
nor does the moon, whether old or 
new, have anything to do with 
the matter. The bloom of the 
apple and pear, to become fertil¬ 
ized, must have a temperature of 
not less than (55 degrees, (80 would 
be better,) and a clear, dry air; a 
light breeze must be stirring at 
the proper time during the blos¬ 
soming period, and the fruit will 
set, from whatever point the wind 
may blow. A clear, dry air is 
necessary for the proper fertiliza¬ 
tion of all fruits and grains. 
The Nero Apple set the fruit first; 
the Porter bloomed last and set 
no fruit, nor did it yield any last 
year. I see by my notes taken in 
May that the Porter bloom was 
just opening, on May 10, when 
Nero apples were as large as mar¬ 
rowfat peas. Pomme Grise was 
in bloom on April 30, and on May 
2, the mercury reached 38 degrees, 
while bn May 9, it stood at 35 
degrees, and near us ice was re¬ 
ported. Pomme Grise has a good 
set of fruit. The Kelffer Pear 
was in bloom April 13; about one- 
third of the blossoms opened; the remainder were killed by 
the cold of April 1; there is enough fruit on it now, how¬ 
ever. Of peaches the Behumcaker and John Hass have a 
full setting. There are several peaches on the Family 
h avorite; but on most kinds there are very few or none at 
all. The large-flowered varieties seemed to stand the 
winter best. i. j. blackwell. 
Essex County, N. J. 
to certain conditions of climate, exposure and slope of 
roof. What are they ? 
Cream for City Trade. —When the ice-cream business 
opens fairly the city demand for cream takes a surprising 
jump and many milkmen hold their skim-milk and ship 
cream alone. A friend who has had considerable experi¬ 
ence at this business tells this story of his methods: “ I 
have sold much cream, and learned how to start it to mar¬ 
ket in 20 or 40 quart cans, so that it will arrive in good 
order. I tried several devices for skimming, and finally 
took to the Moseley & Stoddard creamer, which draws the 
cream down and out of the bottom of the cans by means of 
a very long funnel, leaving the skim-milk to be drawn off 
at one’s leisure. The cream can be left in the ice water 
until about five minutes before one has to start for the rail¬ 
road. I never used to skim until the horse stood at the 
door, and 60 quarts of cream were skimmed, put into the 
cans and on the wagon within five minutes by the watch. 
Do not skim too closely; rather hold back a little cream 
than send a little skim-milk, which tends to make thin 
cream. This point may tell seriously for or against you 
when your city customer wants to drop some one, having 
more cream than he needs. Another point : if you use ice, 
put your ice in the creamer before you begin to milk, so 
that everything may be as cold as possible when the warm 
milk is poured into the cans. The cream will rise fully in 
eight hours in this way, and you get nearer all there is, 
than by any other way, unless possibly a separator may do 
better. Get your milk as warm from the cow as possible, 
into as cold a can in the creaimr as you can, that is the 
way to get the most cream from any milk, and by all odds 
the quickest.” 
Bors on the Farm. —In spite of all the volumes that 
have been written on this subject, it is still the favorite 
one with a large proportion of our farmers. Said a good 
friend the other day : “That picture in the last Rural 
goes * right to the spot,’ and it’s a wonder that the boy 
in 
Of 
A LISTENER’S NOTES. 
Are “Roofings” Durable ?—The following note 
which reached me a few days ago, opens a subject 
which farmers are greatly interested : “ I am a retired 
naval officer, and I settled up here, on top of the Alleghan 
ies, six years ago, on account of the delightful climate, 
course, I went to farming, and have farmed away $25,000, 
and have as much to show for it as the amateur farmer 
generally has. I was born and brought up on Brooklyn 
Heights, and have seen, in and around New York, a large 
amount of roofing used. I covered seven buildings here 
with the roofing, but it was wasted money and time. As 
soon as cold weather came it began to shrink and to tear 
away where it was nailed at the laps. I double-nailed the 
laps, then it split through the middle of the sheets. The 
paint soon cracked, peeled and washed off. Before the 
winter was half over my roofs leaked like a riddle, and I had 
to re-roof in a hurry. I did so with iron, knowing what I 
was handling. I lost more hay iu one barn, spoiled by 
leakage, than the new roofing cost. Is it a fraud and 
humbug, or is our climate to blame for its total lack 
durability? The average range of temperature in our 
climate is about 40 degrees each day. Ninety-two degrees 
in the shade, is the hottest I have ever seen here, and 28 
degrees below, Fahr., the lowest.” 
The little experience I have had with these roofings 
gives a different result from this. I would like to have 
farmers who have used these materials give their experi¬ 
ence, so that we may see what conditions are necessary to 
insure success with the roofing. I think it is well suited 
RED POLLED HEIFER, MIDGET. Re-engraved from The Mark Lane Express. Fig. 1 4S. 
staid on the farm even as long as he did, for what attrac¬ 
tions had the farm and home for him ? All work, and 
hard work at that, will crush the spirit out of any boy : 
but let him have books, papers, pictures, music, colts and 
calves, days off for picnics, fishing, hunting, spending- 
money, which he will be sensible enough to use discreetly, 
and clothes good enough to prevent him from feeling 
ashamed of himself when with his companions, and at the 
same time let him be taught economy in all matters, and, 
depend on it, such a boy will not leave home till it’s nec¬ 
essary for him to go. 
Now give the Rural readers a companion picture show¬ 
ing the other side—* Why James Doesn’t Want to Leave 
Home.’ ” 
The Grave vs. the Churn.— Ever since I have been 
able to read, I have heard about making butter by burying 
cream. It is a pity they did not make butter in the days 
of Baron Munchausen, for he would surely have given us 
a chapter on this method—raising butter from the grave. 
An English friend tells me of an experiment made by 
some wise men at an Australian agricultural college. 
They took 63 pounds of cream and churned it in an ordi¬ 
nary box churn. Another 63 pounds they put in a calico 
bag and buried two feet deep in loose soil for 24 hours. 
The churned cream made 34 pounds of butter. Most of 
the buried cream turned into butter, but after being 
worked in a churn and butter-worker it made only 27>^ 
pounds. The wise men concluded that “although butter 
can certainly be successfully made by burying the cream 
in the ground, there is nothing to be gained by the opera¬ 
tion The labor spent in covering and uncovering the 
cream, putting it in and out of the bag, takes more time 
than would be required under favorable circumstances in 
churning.” There are a good many South American In¬ 
dians who might have told us the same thing. 
Sport on the I<arm. —Last year JFred Grundy told us 
about a shrewd old fellow out in Illinois who was able to 
secure his pick of harvest hands because he made his 
house a pleasant place to live in. He had several pretty 
a 
of 
daughters and they had more pretty friends 'who were 
always invited at harvest or when extra hands were 
needed. The old gentleman provided a place for croquet 
and tennis, and took an interest in the sport himself. 
After supper, every night, the young folks had great sport. 
The smartest young men iu the county were glad to hire out 
where “work while you work and play while you play,” was 
the business motto. There are lots of farmers who ought 
to learn this story by heart. When work is done, quit 
and have what honest sport you can. Strange as it may 
seem to them, there are thousands of farmers who would 
find a tennis court with a set of balls and racquets the most 
profitable investment they can make. And the next best 
investment would be for the farmer and his wife to go 
out and play a few games with the young folks. 
SILAGE NOTES FROM WISCONSIN. 
My silo is 22 by 24 feet and 18 feet deep, and is divided 
into two compartments. It is built of wood resting upon 
a wall one foot high, the bottom being on a level with that 
of the basement stable, where the cows are kept. I have 
used for filling it the B. & W. Southern corn, Stowell’s 
Evergreen, and the yellow flint (Yankee); but I have dis¬ 
carded the B. & W., as it fails to mature early enough, 
and because my land is low and very rich, causing this 
variety to grow to such an immense hight that the winds 
blow it down before harvest time. For the last two years 
I have used only the yellow flint, which grows from seven 
to eight feet high, and yields from 100 to 125 bushels of 
ears, and gives from 14 to 16 tons of silage per acre. I 
plant with a two-horse planter in rows three feet eight 
inches apart with hills 1% to two feet in the row and four 
to five stalks in a hill. I prefer to plant in hills rather 
than in drills, as I always find it necessary to hand hoe, if I 
would have the field free from weeds. One advantage the 
flint corn has over the dent is, that it has more foliage, 
which keeps green till after the corn has well matured, 
which is not the case with any of 
the dent varieties. It also has 
more ears to the stalk and even 
for the silo I prefer ears of corn 
to stalk buts. 
Each year I have begun to har¬ 
vest as soon as the larger half of 
the ears were fairly well glazed. 
I am of the opinion that overripe 
corn or that which has dried too 
much will mold in the silo, for 
the reason that it will not settle 
fast enough and firmly enough to 
exclude the air. I cut with a 
Champion self-raking reaper, cut¬ 
ting one row at a time. A good 
walking team will cut an acre 
in an hour. If the weather is 
pleasant, we cut in the evening 
what we intend to put in the next 
day, as it “handles ” better when 
partially wilted. I prefer to have 
the corn dry, but I have put it in 
when quite wet from showers and 
found that no damage resulted. 
In drawing I use two low wheat 
drays with racks 16 feet long, lay¬ 
ing the corn crossways. One man 
loads a dray, drives to the cut¬ 
ting platform, then hitches to 
the empty dray and draws an¬ 
other load, while another man 
takes the corn from the wagon 
and places it on the feeding table. 
One feeds the cutter and another 
in the silo keeps the surface level 
and tramps around the edges. I use a one-horse tread-power 
with a 13-inch cutter, with a carrier attached; we cut into 
half-inch pieces. We change horses once in the forenoon and 
once in the afternoon. In this way four men with three horses 
will in eight hours put in from an acre to an acre and a- 
quarter of corn that will weigh 14 to 16 tons per acre. I 
fill every day when the weather will permit, putting the 
corn into one compartment one day, and into the other the 
next. I have not as yet seen any way by which I could im¬ 
prove upon this method. Were I doing a large business I 
would prefer a two-horse tread-power or an engine; but 
either of these would require extra hands. I think that in 
the majority of new silos partitions are discarded; but as 
yet I prefer tnern, as less surface of the silage is exposed 
while feeding. 1 feed from the top in layers that last three 
days. The only drawback that I have experienced is from 
molding on the top and a few inches around the edges. 
The first year I took pains to keep the edges well tramped, 
using a hard-wood stick two by four inches and six feet 
long. I covered the silage first with tarred paper, then 
with inch boards closely fitted, then came a foot of marsh 
hay, green, weighted with fence posts and plank. But as 
a majority of writers on the silo have claimed that the 
tramping and weighting were unnecessary, if not injurious 
for the last two years, I have tramped less and have dis¬ 
pensed with the paper, boards and weighting, covering 
with some kind of green grass for a depth of five or six 
inches and putting over that about a foot of cut straw or 
chaff. Although i have suffered but a very small percent¬ 
age of loss in any case, there has been during the last two 
years more moldy silage at the sides and corners than 
there was the first year. I think this was due to the fact 
that as the middle settled, the edges were naturally drawn 
away slightly from the sides, allowing the air to get in. 
in this opinion I may be wrong, but in the future I shall 
tramp the edges more thoroughly, and after covering the 
silage in a way as nearly air-tight as possible, I shall 
weight the edges, say, for the width of a plank, and upon 
the plank I will place either stones or kegs filled with 
