43o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
better farmers so that they will be enabled to become 
better customers for manufacturers, merchants and com¬ 
merce, It is non-partisan politically. It has united its 
forces with none of the political organizations, and yet it 
has endeavored to influence legislation. It has generally 
been ready to oppose those who were arrayed against the 
agricultural interests. It is the eternal foe of trusts and 
combinations that have for their purpose the imposition 
of burdens upon the people. It carefully watches the 
candidates that are nominated; and its members are 
urged at all times and under all circumstances to become 
active politicians—politicians in abetter and wiser sense if 
necessary : to attend conventions, to become a power in 
the party where their judgment and conscience have taken 
them. It exists in 36 of the States of this Union. In some 
it is very strong ; in others it is weak, but it has through 
its precepts and example, through the spoken words and 
printed pages promulgated the desire for agricultural 
association. Though many are uniting with other some¬ 
what kindred associations, it is stronger in power and 
influence to-day than ever before. While it possibly has 
not as much faith in the efficacy of legislation to cure 
all the evils which confront us as some others of the active 
farmers’ associations may have, yet it does believe an 
enlightened public can dictate legislation that will protect 
and benefit. It believes, universally I think, that while 
the policy of protection to American industries remains in 
force, agriculture is entitled to its fair share of protection. 
It believes that the cotton of the South and the wool of 
the North and West are no more raw materials than any¬ 
thing else that is produced by toil. Its membership comes 
from all political parties and from nearly all of the Chris¬ 
tian churches. It has enlisted the active efforts of the 
patriotic and the ambitious. 
FEEDING STEERS; KILLING CANADA THISTLES. 
In order to raise a good steer the foundation must be well 
laid. The calf must be well fed, for “ it does not pay to 
raise a starveling.” When butter is cheap, as it now is, 
and cows are slow of sale, I place two calves in one stable 
and turn the cow in to them morning and evening. I select 
cows that are large milkers and may be hard milkers. 
According to circumstances I allow them to suck from 
three to four months. As soon as the calves will eat, I 
encourage them to do so, by giving them oat-meal and 
bran and also fine clover hay. After they are a few months 
old and have learned to eat hay. and during the hot weather 
water is kept in the manger, for by this time the cow will 
not supply enough milk to satisfy their thirst. When they 
are a year old I turn them out to pasture, salting them 
once a week. In the fall I yard them, where they at all 
times have access to water and a good shelter to go under. 
I keep salt where they can always get at it when they 
want it. Until about February 1, I feed them either cut 
corn-stalks or clover hay. For the next six weeks I feed 
them two quarts of either barley meal or two quarts of 
equal parts of ground corn and oats once a day. After that, 
say to the middle of March, I feed them four quarts of 
corn-meal twice a day, and all the clover hay they will eat. 
By May 1 they will be ready for the butcher and will weigh, 
if they are grade Short-horns, Holsteins or any of the beef - 
breeds 1,200 pounds, and are then two years old—the most 
profitable time to turn them off. Last spring I sold three 
such beasts that averaged 1,250 pounds, at four cents per 
pound—$150 for three two-year-old steers. There was a 
profit. I know of two-year-old steers that were sold last 
spring by farmers in this locality for $25 apiece; whereas 
by a little more care and a little more grain, they would 
have brought $40 or $50 each. If a farmer cannot, and will 
not, give his cattle proper care, the better way is to sell his 
calves for veal, and not subject himself to so much loss by 
raising a scrub or rant two-year-old steer. 
I had a nine-acre lot that was completely overrun with 
Canada thistles; besides, on a part ot it there was a good 
deal more Quack Grass than made it agreeable to farm. 
In the spring, four years ago, I put it under barley, and 
when the crop was cut, scarcely any barley could be seen 
so thick and high were the thistles; but the yield of barley 
was 35 bushels to the acre. Just as soon as the crop was 
secured, the plow was started and we plowed deep. Then 
dragging and rolling followed. The weather was dry. In 
this condition the land was left till about September 1, 
when the sulky plow was started around the lot, plowing 
with two horses at the rate of three acres per day. The 
plow was set to run about two inches deep ; after that we 
dragged once and sowed to wheat. The result was that 
thistles and Quack Grass are no more to be seen in that 
lot. Of course, dry weather is needed to perform the oper¬ 
ation successfully. P. G. K. 
South Livonia, N. Y. 
TWO IMPLEMENTS. 
A Milking Device.— The air is swarming with flies, 
bringing a return of the vexations with which milkers are 
all so familiar. The plan shown at Figure 151 does not 
mean that one has to hitch the cow by the tail to hold her 
while he milks. The device is designed to be used in the 
stables to keep the cow’s tail out of the pail and out of the 
milker’s face, which is usually the second place she wishes 
to put it. It is made of a small piece of hickory with a 
long, deep notch sawed in one end. A clinched nail or 
screw keeps it from splitting further. The long hair or 
brush of the tail is slipped between the prongs, and the 
ring is slipped over the ends, thus securely fastening it. The 
ring is fastened to some part of the stick with a string 
long enough to permit its being put in place readily. 
Strapped to the upper end of the stick is a snap into which 
is slipped another ring at the end of a small rope attached 
to the wall behind the cow. When the milking is finished, 
with one hand slip the lower ring off the prongs and the 
whole will drop back against the side of the stable, and the 
tail be free. Small ropes, with rings at the end, are fast¬ 
ened along the back of the stable midway between two 
cows, one answering for both. The fastener is uusnapped 
and moved from ring to ring as needed. This is valuable 
not only as an aid in fly-time, but as a cause of additional 
cleanliness, which at some seasons is the greater benefit. 
Automatic Gate-Fastener. —Another useful contriv¬ 
ance in use in the same stable is shown at Figure 152. It 
is simply a piece of hickory shaved as represented, and 
securely fastened at the end furthest from the gate, so that 
it will spring towards it. When the gate is being closed, 
it pushes this to one side until it is shut, when the notch is 
reached and the spring immediately flies back, securely 
fastening the gate. It would bo equally useful for gates 
in many situations other than stables, and might be used 
for doors wherever the part which extends along the edge 
of the door could reach on through, to afford a means of 
opening it from the opposite side. F. w. c. 
DIGGING POTATOES BY MACHINERY. 
On page 761 of last year’s volume, our correspondent, 
Bucephalus Brown, described the production of a large 
crop of potatoes by one of his neighbors. This neighbor 
gave 60 acres to the crop. The whole work of planting, 
A Milking Device. Fig. 151. 
cultivating and harvesting was done by machinery. To 
give an idea of the size of the crop, we may repeat a few 
of the figures. The total crop, sold and reserved for seed, 
was 9,958 bushels. The cost of the fertilizer used was 
$1,140, while the profit was given as $2,289 42. Of course 
this great crop could not have been dug and sorted by 
hand without employing a regiment of men. We give at 
Figure 153 a photograph of the field during the digging. 
This method is very much ahead of the “ fork-and-back ” 
system, not only for the diggers, but for the pickers as 
well. The digger and sorter, following the planter, have 
revolutionized potato-growing, and potato “patches’’are 
now being concentrated into potato “ farms ” just as the 
old-time shoe “shops” have been gathered Into great “shoe 
factories.” The only way for the “shop” to exist now is 
for the owner to possess the ability to turn out extra-fine, 
hand-made shoes. The potato “ patch ” will not pay ex¬ 
penses unless the owner makes up in quality what he 
lacks in quantity._ 
BENEFICIAL INSECTS. 
I. 
Ravages of injurious insects checked or prevented by 
parasitic enemies; man upsetting the “ balance of 
Natureinsect friends of man; extent of the good 
they do; necessity for distinguishing friends from 
foes. 
The enormous and increasing destructiveness of insects, 
so impresses the practical farmer and fruit-grower that 
unless he thoroughly studies the subject, he is quite likely 
to condemn all of the class; not thinking or even knowing 
that many insects are of great value, being not only worthy 
of praise and protection, but absolutely necessary to the 
husbandman’s success. When we remember that the tiny 
Hessian fly, wheat midge and chinch bug may snatch mil- 
Automatlc Gate-Fastener. Fig. 152. 
lions of dollars from our farmers in a single year, and in a 
single State, and then learn that beneficial Insects can and 
often do prevent this entire loss, we are prepared to appre¬ 
ciate the values of our insect friends. Many insects, like 
wire worms, cut-worms, white grubs, etc., work in 
under ground burrows and in such countless numbers that 
it is often beyond the skill of man to prevent their ravages. 
Occasionally the destruction wrought by them is terrible, 
and were it often repeated it would make agricultural 
success impossible. Without doubt we owe the escape to 
these same insect friends. In adjusting the wondrous 
balance of Nature, these beneficial insects take prominent 
TULY 5 
rank. Without them the insects injurious to vegetation 
would prevail, and vegetation would cease to be. This, of 
course, would be fatal to the enemies of vegetation, and 
the earth would soon become a barren waste. Man in 
clearing up the forests and destroying our native plants, 
breaks in upon this harmony or balance. How necessary 
then that he should know his friends and enemies among 
the insects that he may not further disturb the balance to 
his own hurt. By destroying the native food plants of in¬ 
sects, and crowding the cultivated plants, which must re¬ 
place the native ones as food for the same insects, man 
places a premium on insect despoliation. He ought then to 
encourage, or at least not to destroy the insect friends 
that will alone prove able to hold the enemies in check. 
Every farmer, then, should know his friends and under¬ 
stand their habits. In these articles I hope to give such in¬ 
formation. 
Insects are beneficial in two ways: commercially, and as 
the destroyers of other insects, which are noxious to man. 
Moreover, many insects are at least friendly as scavengers. 
They feed on and thus remove what would be filthy, un¬ 
sightly, and perhaps unwholesome. I will refer only to 
the Insects that are commercially important. The silk 
moth that gives us the silk is at the foundation of an in¬ 
dustry that involves millions of dollars annually. The 
honey bee which furnishes us honey and wax enriches the 
world annually by many millions of dollars. Not only do 
the bees furnish these valued products, but they do even 
more good as aids in the cross-fertilization of plants, with¬ 
out which the fruitage of many of our most important 
fruits and vegetables would be very meager. We may 
state it as a demonstrated fact that all plants that attract 
bees, stand in pressing need of the services of the bees. 
The color and the perfume of the flowers are distress 
signals, the bees are the ageuts attracted to relieve the dis¬ 
tress. The farmer and horticulturist, then, should be as 
friendly to the bees as is the bee keeper himself. The 
cochineal insect of Mexico, and the lac insect of Asia—two 
scale or bark lice—give us our carmine dye and our shel¬ 
lac. The blister beetle gives us the “ Spanish-fly,” and a 
species of gall fly gives us an important element of much 
of our best ink. 
The insects which prey upon other insects are divisible 
into two groups : the predaceous, which capture and devour 
their prey as the cat overcomes the mouse, and the para¬ 
sitic, which lay their eggs on or in other insects. The larvae 
which hatch from these eggs feed upon their host, which 
becomes—most unwillingly—the home and food as well as 
the victim of these parasites. We have very many of these 
predaceous and parasitic insects, and it will be the pur¬ 
pose of this series of articles to describe and illustrate the 
several types, so that those interested may know them, 
and therefore not destroy their good friends under the im¬ 
pression that they are fighting their enemies, as has often 
been done. A J. cook. 
COMMUNAL FORESTS. 
CHARLES BARNARD. 
Communal)orests owned by townships; utilizing value¬ 
less lands In timber growing for township invest¬ 
ment; how to do it; forestry commissioners and 
rangers aiid their duties; succession of tree crops; an¬ 
nual income; management of the crops. 
One of the most striking features of the landscape seen 
on the ride from New York to Boston is the great tracts of 
uncultivated and apparently valueless land. Bare, rocky 
pastures, thiu, poor woods, stony hillsides, and vast glacial 
drift heaps alternate with marshes and wooded bogs. The 
poor land may be seen before leaving the limits of New 
York City and stony woods may be met in sight of the 
gilded dome of the State House at Boston. It is reported 
that there are in each of the six New Eugland States many 
old farms that are not worth the holding. They do not and, 
it is said, cannot produce any paying crop, unless blueber¬ 
ries be a paying crop. 
Much has been written about these abandoned farms. It 
is said they are so valueless that it hardly pays the town to 
take possession of them for the unpaid taxes. What could 
the town do with them—except to sell them ? Such lands 
invariably grow up to weeds, shrubs and valueless trees. 
Left alone long enough, it is true such lands will be grad¬ 
ually covered with trees, but who can afford to wait for 
a wood lot ? A man might be comfortably buried before 
such a crop would pay. A man’s children might starve to 
death waiting for timber to grow. 
This is perfectly true, and yet Nature seems to hint at a 
solution of this matter of abandoned farms. A man lives 
an allotted span of life. A tree will outlive a man—perhaps 
thrice over. On the other hand, a town is immortal. The 
town’s people may die, but the town itself may live for cen¬ 
turies. These same New Eugland towns that complain so 
bitterly of the burden of valueless laud are many of them 
200 years old, older than the woods that cover their hill¬ 
sides. A man may not live to grow trees for a crop—a town 
can, because it is itself immortal. Why, then, should not 
a township grow timber ? 
How? Why? Why, because it would pay. How, is 
not so easy, and it is therefore worth while to consider the 
“ how ” aud let that show “ why.” Suppose there are in a 
township, say, two or three abandoned farms, or farms 
that must be sold for the taxes. There are, besides these, 
sundry lots and parcels of land belonging to various tax¬ 
payers, that are really a burden, and not worth per acre 
the taxes paid upon them. Such lands pay no return 
whatever, and the owners would, in many cases, be glad to 
sell them for from $3 to $10 per acre. Suppose, now, the 
voters in town meeting assembled should take possessiou 
of these abandoned farms and hold them as town property ; 
not as a speculation, waiting for some club to buy them 
out for a game preserve or private park, not as a venture 
in real estate at all, but as a permanent investment for the 
benefit ol the town. Having secured the title in the land, 
