626 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
SEPT. 20 
FARMERS’ CLUB—DISCUSSION. 
Terry and Teall. 
STARTING 20 YEARS AGO AND STARTING NOW ! 
J. S. Teall, Onondaga County', N. Y.— 
T. B. Terry is a sharp shooter ! Not long 
since I listened to a sermon by one of the 
big guns of the M. E. Church, in which the 
speaker made this statement; “ I have 
just finished reading one of Bob Ingersoll’s 
anti-religous books, and I thank the Lord 
for the publishing of that book.” Why ? 
Because it demanded a reply. I have made 
a statement. T. B. Terry has taken me up 
on it; now he demands a reply. He finds 
farming a mere pastime. I am glad there 
are men who have reached the top round of 
the ladder; but he does not say what he 
passed through to get there. Then, too, 
he was fortu nate enough to get his property 
together in better times than ours. The 10 
years succeeding the war were grand times 
for farmers, and that must have been about 
the time he was battling for success. But 
had he started out to day, or five years 
ago, as I did, a little in debt, on a 50-acre 
farm somewhat run down, he would be 
very likely to say : ’‘Farming is slow and 
hard, and you cannot make anything else 
out of it.” I claim it is hard and slow as 
compared with other lines of business. He 
states that four out of five of his friends of 
younger days have made failures in some 
other business. I can cite the names of 
friends of mine, boys younger than I am, 
who are far ahead of me. A cousin of 
mine, a commercial traveler with a large 
salary, has been in every State in the 
Union this side of the Rockies. In fact he 
fares sumptuously every day. Another 
young man with a very limited education, 
started a little grocery on the four corners 
near my farm with a few hundred dollars 
three years ago. To-day he is running a 
general merchandise store in a town of con¬ 
siderable size and bids fair to make it a 
success. Two brothers started a few years 
ago with what money they had saved while 
working out by the month on the farm. 
To-day they are well-to-do country mer¬ 
chants. They can leave their business on 
more days (one at a time) and give more 
for the support of the church, have better 
clothes and houses furnished in better style 
than I. Is it any wonder that I cry out 
that farming is hard ? After all, T. B. 
Terry’s letter has done me good. It has en¬ 
couraged me to look a little higher, how¬ 
ever hard the work may be for a few years 
now. Perhaps I may find it easier farther 
on. I read and study The Rural every 
week that I may find a line of farming 
suited to my locality and circumstances. 
More About the Silo. 
John Gould, Portage County, Ohio.— 
The silo literature of The Rural is ex. 
cellent reading and fortified with facts. So 
is Prof. Henry’s, and the conclusions he 
arrives at must be about orthodox. His 
idea of packing about the walls “care¬ 
fully,” I could wish a little more clear. 
Just how much is Implied by “carefully,’* 
some of us would like to know. If by it he 
means a good deal, then the Ohio siloists 
will say: “No; the less packing the better up 
to the point of just enough to cause the 
silage to settle as fast at the walls as in the 
center.” When I tramp but little, I find 
that the silo with corners keeps its silage 
as well, and with as little loss, as the one 
that has corner strips to obviate the sharp 
angles. Green swamp hay, or wet straw a 
foot or more deep, makes the best cover. 
The silage should not be left level when 
ready for the cover, bat should be at least 
a foot higher at the sides than in the 
center; then when the green hay is on, a 
few old rails or scantlings are put along 
each wall on this higher layer, and as the 
silage settles, this ridge sinks into what 
would be otherwise a depression along the 
walls, and prevents some little loss. 1 do 
not think it pays to cut this straw or hay 
into short lengths, especially if the pay of 
the engineer must be continued and any 
extra help is needed. The silage should 
not be covered for at least four days after 
the filling in has ceased; for even then 
ample moisture will be rising from the pit 
to moisten and mat the straw or green hay 
into an air-proof blanket. The reason Mr. 
Wilkinson gives for a basement story of 
masonry for the silo, “to prevent juices 
from working out at the doors,” is some¬ 
thing Ohio silo men do not understand. In 
what stage of growth does Mr. W. cut his 
fodder so that juices will be pressod out t 
The Ohio silos, as a rule, have clay floors, 
and when the last of the silage was thrown 
out of mine last spring, the floor was 
scarcely moist. Years ago when silos were 
filled with half-grown corn in August, 
some of them would spring a leak, but now 
when they are filled 20 days later, and with 
mature corn, this leak has disappeared, and 
we get silage that is not rankly sour, the 
result of “superfluous water, which makes 
sour silage,” as well said by Prof. Henry, 
on page 582. The finest clover silage I ever 
saw, and an article that was very satis¬ 
factory in every way to the owner of a 
Jersey dairy, who was making fancy butter, 
was from a pit filled with freshly cut 
clover from the field, and put in during 
a drizzling shower in September that 
thoroughly sprinkled the clover both in the 
windrow and load, and on it there were no 
weights beyond a load of swamp hay, and 
a few old rails to hold it down. Rain on 
clover or corn as it goes into the Ohio silos, 
has no terrors for us silo men beyond the 
disagreeable dampness imparted to our 
clothing as we work, and from Boston to 
beyond the Mississippi River, I never saw 
better or sweeter silage than this rain- 
sprinkled fodder and clover made. The 
rest of the article I heartily indorse. 
The German Hare. 
T. Greiner, Niagara County, N. Y.— 
The Rural’s controversy with regard to 
the “ German hare ” is somewhat amusing. 
I do not believe there is a live German hare 
in the United States. The true Lepus 
timidus is a fine fellow, indeed, and if it 
could be domesticated and raised for mar¬ 
ket here, there can be no doubt that a full- 
grown specimen would readily bring $1.50. 
The German people in the “ Fatherland ” 
pay that much for them ; and the demand 
is larger than the supply. I have seen 
these animals tamed and trained to do 
tricks, but have never heard of their being 
domesticated or bred in confinement. Un¬ 
doubtedly efforts have been made in this 
direction, but, for some reason, without 
success. This animal, when full-grown, 
weighs 12 to 15 pounds, is longer-bodied, 
longer-necked, longer-eared and longer- 
legged than any rabbit I know of; has a 
thick, brown fur (much used by hat 
makers, who pay about 25 cents apiece for 
the skins), and very dark meat of a pe¬ 
culiarly rich, gamy flavor, which is highly 
prized by German epicures. During win¬ 
ter and early spring, after the legal hunt¬ 
ing season, numbers of these animals may 
often be seen from the car windows gam¬ 
boling in fields of winter grain, whore 
they find abundant pasture and hiding 
places. They spend all their days above 
ground, and even their young are born on 
top of the ground, the nest being usually 
made in a little depression. Their timidity 
is proverbial, but the males often indulge 
in desperate fights, and the females defend 
their young valiantly against minor 
enemies. In flight they are as swift as the 
wind, and their leaps are often of enormous 
length. Of course the animal enjoys the 
protection of the game laws. This is the 
German hare, and altogether an interesting 
and valuable animal, entirely different in 
appearance, motion, color, skin and meat 
from the rabbit-like American hares, 
which, however, are hardly known under 
this, their proper name, being Invariably 
called “ rabbits.” Mr. Wilson’s “German 
hare” is no hare at all, but a rabbit— 
probably the variety known as " Belgian 
hare rabbit,” or simply hare rabbit, which 
in outward appearance more nearly re¬ 
sembles the German hare than any rabbit 
I am acquainted with. The head forma¬ 
tion is nearly the same, but the fur is 
lighter in color; while the neck, body and 
legs are shorter. Like any other true rab¬ 
bit, it is a burrowing animal, and casts its 
young in an underground nest. Its meat 
is white, and as different in flavor from 
hare meat as beef is from woodcock, or 
from wild turkey. It is nice anil juicy, but 
lacks the gamy character, and the peculiar 
richness and flavor of the hare meat. 
Either is entirely sul veneris, and without 
any resemblance whatever to the other. 
This Belgian hare rabbit, of which a truth¬ 
ful picture is given in Mr. Wilson’s 18110 
catalogue, makes a fine pet for children, 
and has some value for its meat, as it can 
be raised almost exclusively on weeds and 
garden refuse, and in eight months’ time 
will grow to weigh eight pounds or even 
more. I grew them at one time quite ex¬ 
tensively, partly for pleasure and partly for 
home use. The young males were castrated 
and used for the table when about seven or 
eight months of age. All the members of 
the family seemed to like the meat, when 
nicely baked. I, myself, always had a 
slight prejudice against tame rabbit, and 
this somewhat interfered with my enjoy¬ 
ment of such meals. In reality, the meat 
is but little inferior to chicken. 
Mr. Wilson says there is money in raising 
these rabbits. I have not been able to see 
it. I had plenty of them, but found next 
to no sale for them at any price. People 
who invest in this enterprise with the idea 
of “ clearing more cash from two acres of 
ground stocked with 15 or 20 hare rabbits, 
than can be made from the best 100-acre 
farm in the United States by ordinary 
farming,” or of “ making $40 to $50 yearly 
without much extra labor and with but 
little cost,” as the result of the purchase of 
a pair of these rabbits, will surely find out 
their own and Mr. Wilson’s big mistake. 
More About Chemical Fertilizers. 
Walter F. Taber, Dutchess County, 
N. Y.—On page 504 of The R. N.-Y., D. C. 
Lewis refers to my article on page 528, and 
to the amount of plant food which I stated 
would be needed to produce 100 bushels of 
corn and stalks, and asks what amount of 
potash, phosphoric acid and nitrogen would 
be necessary to grow an average crop of 50 
bushels per acre. Mr. L. misapprehends 
my meaning when lie assumes that these 
amounts are needed independently of the 
elements contained in the soil; but if the 
soil is to be left as good as before the crop 
was taken from it, th6y would be required, 
the amounts given being what analysis 
shows are contained in 100 bushels of corn 
and the stalks. I would not undertake to 
say just how much of these fertilizing ele¬ 
ments it is necessary to apply to grow any 
given amount of grain, because the charac¬ 
ter of the soil, its preparation, which I con¬ 
sider a very important factor in the case, 
and climatic influences, which might in one 
case dissolve every fertilizing element in 
the Boil, so that the growing crop could in 
one case appropriate the plant-food while 
in another it would lie dormant for lack of 
sufficient moisture to dissolve it, exercise 
such influences that no certain rule can be 
applied. We know that the grain takes 
from the soil much more than does the 
stalk or straw ; therefore the return of the 
latter to the soil restores but a small por¬ 
tion of the elements taken from it by the 
crop, and what is returned is in such a 
crude form that it is not readily available 
for plant growth. I place but little de¬ 
pendence, therefore, upon these crude ma¬ 
terials when plowed under, further than 
the fact that they serve to aerate aud 
loosen the soil, their action being more me¬ 
chanical than manurial. The plowing 
under of green crops serves a better pur¬ 
pose, as the results are both mechanical and 
manurial, aud if these are supplemented by 
potash and bone, the land will be fed, and 
it in turn will feed the crops. I consider it, 
therefore, much safer to feed the laud lib¬ 
erally than to trust to the uncertainties of 
a favoring season, as these elements of fer¬ 
tility if not all used by the present crop are 
not lost. 
Irrigation In Indiana. 
J. Dutter, Angola, Indiana.—R ecent 
discussions of artificial irrigation by means 
of wind power lead me to describe my sys¬ 
tem. I have 20 acres and in the center is an 
elevation about 30 feet, with a gentle slope 
in all directions from the place where I have 
a driven well 43 feet deep in an eight-foot 
vein of very coarse, wet gravel. On this 
hill I have three tanks: one holds 205 barrels 
of water. This is set on a foundation 14 
feet high. Under it is a 22-barrel tank for 
winter use, and there is a 12-barrel tank for 
stock. Leading from these tanks is a lji'-inch 
galvanized pipe with hyilr&nts at suitable 
distances for spraying purposes. One hy¬ 
drant is located at the barn for watering 
stock and one at the house for use in case of 
fire and for spraying my lawn. I can water 
the whole 20 acres from this well. I use the 
Monitor wind engine, and when the wind is 
strong it will pump the big tank full in 
about 86 hours. In managing my berry 
patch, I cultivate my raspberries and black¬ 
berries until dry weather, and then I cover 
the ground with straw or marsh hay and 
spray as often as necessary heavily, and 
get large berries. I never take the mulch 
off the strawberries in the spring; but I 
spray when they need water. I could irri¬ 
gate by under-drains as The Rural de¬ 
scribes, which I think would be a splendid 
system of irrigation; but I am a strong ad¬ 
vocate of thorough aud deep, level culture, 
with a heavy mulching afterward. 
Pay the Pedigree Price. 
F. M. Carryl, Orange County, N. Y. 
On page 528 of The Rural Is an article on 
" Faying for Pedigrees.” Well, why not 
pay for a pedigree? It is worth paying 
for whether the auimal is used for breeding 
or not. Because the worth of an animal 
depends on what it can do in the line for 
which it was bred, aud as “like produces 
like or the likeness of some ancestor,” so 
the value of an auimal is in direct pro¬ 
portion to its tendency through heredity 
to transmit its characteristics, and how is 
one to j udge on this point unless he can see 
the pedigree aud learn from the records in 
it to what extent he may expect perform¬ 
ance in a given animal. To be sure, the 
animal one is considering may show 
every physical indication of ability in the 
desired direction; but "appearances are 
sometimes deceiving,” while “ blood will 
tell.” In my own herd are cows possessing 
every indication of being first-class, but 
experience shows that some others in which 
the “indications” of excellence are less, 
"do” considerably more, while in almost 
every case, an animal whose ancestors were 
or are good performers, does well. I know 
a breeder of Jerseys who has sold at grade 
prices, many registered cows, but he did 
not give any papers with them to show 
their breeding. He only said: “ That cow 
I will sell for so much without any papers,” 
and the buyer bought her on her appear¬ 
ance alone. The price of the same cow with 
papers would have been perhaps twice as 
much ; but the buyer would have known 
much better what to expect from her. One 
may get just as good stock this way, but, 
for one, I prefer to pay for and be guided 
considerably by the pedigree. Look at 
horses: an animal as yet wholly untried 
sells on its breeding, and even If it fails as 
a performer when mature, it still has con¬ 
siderable value as a breeder, solely on ac- 
countof its breeding,and asathingis“worth 
what it will sell for,” and as the pedigree 
makes it sell for more, it follows that when 
one buys, he should get the pedigree too. 
Then if he is disappointed in the auimal 
as a “ performer,” he can sell it to some 
one as a “ breeder.” 
“ Free Text-Books by all Means.” 
O. P. Russell, A. M., Pulaski County, 
Arkansas. —I have been much interested 
by what Rural correspondents have said 
about “ That District School of Yours.” 
Upon one topic—text-books—much addi¬ 
tional might be said. In my judgment 
free text books are by all means desirable. 
State or even county uniformity is with 
difficulty secured, is subject to very grave 
objections, and by no means to be desired. 
School districts are corporations that have 
in charge the education of the children 
within their limits. Let their affairs, 
therefore, be conducted in a business-like 
manner. The directors can purchase the 
necessary books for far less than the 
patrons, and successive clas-es can use the 
same books. Superintendent H. B. Pierce, 
of New Brunswick, N. J., some years since 
wrote: “ For the past 18 years our 
‘Readers’ have not cost, on an average, 
more than 10 cents per year per pupil ” 
* * * “ More than <500 different girlB used 
the same 45 reading books.” 
A hasty glance at a few reports from 
various States where free text-books are 
supplied gives as the total average expense 
per year per pupil for all books used. In¬ 
cluding in several instances the high school, 
the following: 25, 2<5X, 84, 45 and 50 cents. 
The report of the State Superintendent 
of Public Instruction of Maine for 1885 
classifies the following advantages of the 
system of free text-books: “1. It makes 
uniformity easy and permanent. 2. It 
gives every pupil all the books he needs, 
and at the time he needs them. All other 
methods are defective in this regard. 8. It 
makes classification easier than by any 
other method of supply. 4. It increases 
the attendance upon the schools by allow¬ 
ing poor pupils freedom from the oppres¬ 
sive burden of buying text-books, a burden 
not infrequently such as to keep pupils en¬ 
tirely from the schools. 5. It is more 
economical—it costs less than any other 
method of supply.” In addition to the 
above it might be said that in the case of 
those who frequently move from place to 
place the expense of keeping their children 
supplied with books is so heavy as to pre¬ 
vent their attendance. Fall River, Mass., 
in 1881 reported that during the seven years 
they had supplied free text-books, while 
the school population hail increased two 
per cent., the school attendance had in¬ 
creased 27 per cent. 
This question, which touches the pockets 
of every one who patronizes a school, Is of no 
little importance. The decrease in the cost 
of books allows a longer term, or better 
remuneration for the teacher. With free 
text books each district can do in all things 
as seems best for its school. For higher 
classes agricultural or other papers may 
be used as texts in reading. The directors 
might select any book upon any subject 
they might desire as a text for this pur¬ 
pose, and the pupils might carry on experi¬ 
ments both at school and at home in connec¬ 
tion with the study. To illustrate: if 
some work on tree culture is being read, 
grafting and budding could be taught so 
successfully that each pupil could practice 
the work to any extent he might deBire. 
