T 89o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
895 
A THIRTY-PER-CENT INVESTMENT. 
It is a fact well known to those who have had much ex¬ 
perience in underdraining, that when land is in grass the 
course of such drains can be readily seen, even years after 
they have been laid, by the greater crop over them. Last 
fall, while walking over a piece of land which was orig¬ 
inally an alder swamp but had been drained and in grass 
for about 10 years, I was interested in tracing out the 
drains—the exact location of which I had forgotten—by 
the lines of extra growth of the second crop. I traced 
with my eye the course of the main drain to where the 
grass land ended in half an acre in beets, under which the 
drain ran. Chancing to glance over the beet bed I found, 
to my surprise, that the extra crop could be traced as dis¬ 
tinctly in the beets as in the grass. On examining the 
crop with care I found that on the area over the drain, 
about four feet in width, the crop would average twice as 
large as on the remainder of the bed. While it is true that 
an increase of crop might as reasonably have been ex¬ 
pected in beets as in grass under like conditions, still I had 
never before noted an increase in tillage crops just over 
drains, neither do I remember to have seen or heard it 
alluded to when the subject of underdraining was dis¬ 
cussed. The discovery set me thinking. The main drain, 
everything included, had cost me a dollar a rod, and the 
extra yield of the crop of beets growing over it was worth 
at the market price (60 cents per bushel) 30 cents for each 
rod of drain, which was a return in one season of nearly 
83 per cent on the original investment. 
Let me note here that this profit from underdraining is in 
addition to that which is usually figured on, to be obtained 
from taking surplus water out of the soil for about a rod 
on each side of the drains. This discovery has caused me 
to look at the matter from an entirely new standpoint, so 
that instead of, as formerly, regarding it sometimes as a 
regrettable necessity, my mission now is to study my 
farm carefully with the desire of finding every opportunity 
possible for making a 30 per-cent investment. On my 
onion-bed, wherever the land is so low that the crops are 
sometimes endangered in wet seasons, with the help of 
oxen, plows and scrapers, I excavated long, broad areas 
of sufficient capacity to receive cross walls, topping the 
mass with smaller stones and, of course, burying them be¬ 
yond the reach of the plow. 
Why does the soil immediately above the drains yield a 
crop so distinctly larger? The usual reason given Is that 
the drains admit air and this permeating the soil causes 
in its character changes that create or liberate plant food. 
This cannot be the reason; for I know of an instance where 
this extra cropping can be seen over a water pipe, where, 
of course, no air can circulate. The small quantity of air 
that is buried with the earth when filling drains cannot 
explain, on the theory of its producing chemical changes, 
any long continued excess of fertility in the surface-soil. I 
can think of but two explanations of the phenomenon: one 
that the closely packed under soil (mine is hard-pan) hav¬ 
ing been broken up, the roots of plants can penetrate to a 
greater depth, and the deep-growing roots being water 
roots, the plants are thus enabled to obtain more water, 
which certainly would increase their growth in dry seasons. 
Another explanation is that the hard sub soil being more 
or less brought to the surface and acted on by frost, air and 
rain, becomes rich in plant food. A third explanation 
occurs to me, viz., that through the years it has been under 
cultivation more or less of the elements in the manure ap¬ 
plied have worked their way down to a level below the 
feeding ground of the roots, and that in digging for drain¬ 
ing these lost elements are brought to the surface. The lat¬ 
ter explanation is the only one by which I can account for 
the wonderful growth of some weeds which I found in soil 
freshly dug from two or three feet below the surface, that 
to the eye appeared to be merely pure gravel. I believe that 
to these three agencies, either singly or combined, we can 
attribute the extra crop we get directly above our under¬ 
drains. But let the explanation be what it may, hereafter 
I shall regard all my low land as an unworked mine, and go 
for a 30 per-cent investment wherever I can put iu a tillage 
crop. J. J. H. GREGORY. 
Essex Couuty, Mass. 
THOUGHTS FROM THE FARMERS’ INSTITUTE. 
Hints on orchard and small fruits, the treatment of 
dairy stock, butter makiny and the care of butter. 
One of the best things about these meetings is the 
“question box.” Here are a few samples :— 
Question : How can we get finely colored fruits ? 
Mr. Powell: Turn into the orchard sheep or hogs ; that 
is, fertilize it. The soil lacks some important element. 
Prune out the branches so that the fruit will get the in¬ 
fluence of the sun. Spray the trees to protect the foliage, 
which is necessary to perfect fruit. 
Ques.: Are ashes good for fruit ? 
Ans.: Yes; they contain potash. 
Ques.: What is their value ? 
Ans.: $12 per ton. Leached $3 to $4. 
Ques.: How should grape vines be trimmed ? 
Ans.: Leave but one eye on the new growth. 
Ques.: What causes the black spots on apples ? 
Ans.: A fungous growth. Spray the trees with the 
Bordeaux Mixture early in spring. For the codling moth 
spray with a mixture of one pound of Paris-green to 250 
gallons of water. This also kills all other leaf destroyers. 
Spray plum trees for the curculio. The mixture should 
be applied as soon as the blossoms fall. 
Ques.: Should young trees be root-pruned when planted? 
Aus.: All broken or bruised ones should be. The cuts 
should be made on the under side of the roots, slanting so 
that the cut surface rests on the bottom; fine rootlets in 
great quantities will start from the cut and give vigor. 
Prune a good many of them. 
Ques.: How can we get rid of the woody flavor in butter, 
caused by the package ? 
Smith, of the Dairy Commission : Use parchment paper. 
Others said: Use packages lined with praffine. The ex¬ 
perience of many seemed to warrant the conclusion that 
only parchment paper of the best quality is reliable. For 
nearby private customers, use crocks. 
Ques.: What is the best way to color butter—in the 
cream or salt ? 
Ans.: In the cream; one would have to work the butter 
too much to get the salt and color evenly distributed. 
Coloring by feeding clover hay and corn meal, and by a 
judicious selection of cows, was suggested by another. 
Ques.: Should granulated butter be washed ? 
Ans.: Yes; stop churning when the butter is the size of 
wheat kernels, and draw out the skim-milk. Put in some 
cold water, give the churn a few turns, draw off the water, 
repeat the process twice. Then it will be perfectly clean. 
Put the salt into the churn and give a few turns, mixing 
the salt and butter together. Let it stand an hour or two, 
then take out, work and pack immediately. 
Col. Curtis gave an able and instructive lecture on the art 
of butter-making. Bottles containing the proportionate 
constituents of clover, corn and milk were shown, and the 
necessity of feeding with a purpose was clearly illustrated. 
The feed ration should contain the same elements as the 
milk for the best results, and much outlay can be saved 
by a proper selection of cheaper foods. One thousand 
eight hundred pounds of good, clean, bright, housed oat 
straw with 200 pounds of cotton-seed meal are equal in 
value to one ton of Timothy hay. The quality of the 
butter is affected by the food. Corn adds stearine which 
makes it brittle; cotton seed and linseed, oleine, which 
makes it soft. No one food should be used to excess for 
quality. Cream is the autocrat of the family. The 
moment it is in proper condition it should be churned ; by 
delay, acid is formed, which consumes and destroys, caus¬ 
ing loss of butter and injury to quality. Add 10 per cent 
of water warmed to 110 degrees to the milk and strain into 
cans surrounded by well water, for the best results in 
cream separation in winter. 
An address by F. O. Ives upon stock breeding attracted 
much attention. Some of the points brought out were 
that stock has been, and always must be, the main reliance 
for manure. Science has done nothing for stock breeding. 
We have only the results of experience. Laws should be 
made to govern the use of males. No scrub should be 
used. To succeed, have an ideal and a love for the busi¬ 
ness. Avoid the use of parents with bad forms or disposi 
tions, and insist on constitutional vigor. Comfortable sur¬ 
roundings and kind treatment of breeding stock have 
good effects-on the offspring. Avoid extremes in parents. 
Get the best stock within your means. At present the 
most profitable animals are those which mature early and 
can be sold at one year or less. 
On small fruits Mr. Powell said millions of dollars 
are paid out for fruit brought from a distance, which 
should be grown at home. Fresh, home-grown fruit sells 
for more and adds to the already great demand. Always 
put fruit in attractive packages. Give honest measure, 
and have the middle as good as the top. Manure heavily, 
plant some hoed crop, as corn or potatoes, and free the soil 
from weeds. The next spring cultivate thoroughly, and 
mark out three feet each way ; set two plants in each hill 
six inches apart. Cultivate both ways with a Planet, Jr., 
and allow no weeds to start. It is easier and cheaper to 
keep the land clean by killing the weeds before they come 
to the surface of the ground. Cease cultivating the narrow 
way when runners start, and get matted rows. Young 
raspberry shoots should be cut off at 18 inches, which 
causes them to send out many laterals, and makes them 
less liable to break over, and they need no wire or stakes. 
Red raspberries are selling well, and the demand for them 
is rapidly increasing. Cuthbert is the best. Currants are 
good for stewing green. For the worms, spray with one 
teaspoonful of white hellebore to 12 gallons of water. 
In an able address by George. A. Smith on the success¬ 
ful treatment of dairy stock it was shown that no increase 
in the price of dairy stock, need be expected, and the only 
profit possible will be in weeding out the poor cows and 
giving more thought to the feeding rations and care of the 
stock. Make a better product and seek a market of your 
own. By keeping stock in warm quarters 25 per cent of 
the hay is saved. Salt placed where stock can have access 
to it at all times increases the amount of milk 14 per cent. 
By experiment, it has been found that the cost of milk 
varies from 1.82 cent to 5 cents per quart, as given 
by different members of the same herd. Cool milk to 80 
degrees by aeration, and it will ship better than if much 
cooler by the use of ice water. There is need of thought 
to bring back to us the profits which the Elgin farmers 
have taken from us. C. E. c. 
Peruville, N. Y. 
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New-Yorker. 
AGRICULTURE IN ENGLAND. 
PROF. J. P. SHELDON. 
The condition of agriculture and of the farming classes 
generally in England, save in the heavy-soil, grain-raising 
counties, may be said to have made a substantial improve¬ 
ment during the year which is now drawing to a close, as 
well as in that which went before. The improvement is, 
however, as we must admit, not so great as to lift us up to 
the high-water level of agricultural prosperity that was 
current in the decade commencing with 1870, but it is 
substantial and marked, as far as it goes, and farmers are 
in better spirits than they have known for about 10 years. 
We have for along time seen that the abnormal prosperity 
of the “ seventies ” was not prosperity in the true sense of 
the word, but inflation brought on by the Franco German 
war. All the same, it is true that agriculture was flourish¬ 
ing in the “ sixties,” flourishing too in a healthy manner, 
and in a steady-going way; but the leaps and bounds which 
occurred in the “seventies” were due to pure inflation, 
artificially produced, and during the “eighties” we have 
been suffering from the inevitable reaction and paying the 
piper to whose music we had danced before. Had the war 
in France never occurred, we should have gone on steadily, 
no doubt, not perhaps Improving very much; but while we 
should have avoided the feverish inflation of the “seven¬ 
ties,” our condition in the “eighties” would have been in¬ 
finitely better than it has been, and the net result would 
have been much more satisfactory. Here, then, we have 
an illustration of the evil and mischief caused by war, even 
in neutral countries; and it must be obvious that the 
devastation and destruction of life and property caused by 
it are losses not only to the nations involved in the struggle 
but to mankind at large. 
We farmers of Great Britain are at last, as we may ven¬ 
ture to hope, emerging from the disastrous reaction of the 
inflation alluded to—a reaction, indeed, that was, unfor¬ 
tunately, intensified by a number of unfavorable seasons, 
and by a greatly increased foreign competition, particu¬ 
larly from America. But we have “ touched sand,” as we 
believe, and our heads are still out of water. Indeed, we 
find we have a fairly firm foothold on the bottom, and can 
wade tolerably well, if for the present we do not care to 
swim. Thr* value of land for sale has fallen from 20 to 80 
percent, according to its character and adaptability, dur¬ 
ing the 10 years now coming to an end, the heaviest fall 
being in heavy arable clay soils. The finest permanent 
grass lands have fallen least of all, and it is in the grass¬ 
land counties that we find a substantial revival in the con¬ 
dition of agriculture now as compared with that in the 
early “eighties.” But while the value of land to sell has 
fallen so much, there is not a corresponding fall in its 
value to rent, save on the heavy clay soils, and in many 
cases such soils will not let at any price. On the sound 
soils — that is, on soils which are naturally drained, 
whether they be grass or arable soils—and particularly on 
the grass soils, a better state of things prevails. Most of 
the light and sound arable soils are used for crops which 
are subsidiary to the support of live stock; for they 
would not pay as grain raising farms, and in this way the 
style of farming on such soils has undergone a consider¬ 
able modification and adaptation during the past eight or 
ten years. The permanent grass farms are for the most 
part tenanted, save where they are cold and wet. In my 
part of the country I am not aware of a single unlet farm, 
though several are having a change of tenants at Lady 
Day next, the 25th of March. And, as a rule, farms that 
were moderately rented before, easily attract new tenants 
at the old rent. I do not think that the average fall 
in rents in this part of the country is more than about 10 
or 15 per cent, and there are now far more applications for 
vacant farms, or rather farms about to become vacant, 
than was the case two years ago. 
We know that it is hopeless to expect that grain raising 
per se will be a profitable pursuit in this country for a 
long time to come; the period will be determined by what 
comes to pass in America. We are well aware that we 
cannot raise wheat in competition with America, Canada, 
India and Russia, and although we still raise wheat, ob¬ 
taining crops which are equaled only in the more favored 
portions of the countries named, we raise them not for 
their own sakes, but as crops in a rotation, and quite sub¬ 
sidiary where once they were paramount. And thus it 
follows that while we take an occasional wheat crop on 
land which in one form or another is mainly used for the 
maintenance of live stock, some of our heavy soils, which 
are fit only for grain crops, and are very costly to culti¬ 
vate, are lying idle and lapsing into desolation. Many of 
these clay farms have been offered rent-free to tenants 
who would undertake to cultivate them and pay the rates, 
taxes and tithes that come against them, and such offers 
have been declined. Indeed, the rent such land was wont 
erstwhile to bear, was not much in comparison with the 
loss which has fallen upon the cultivation of it. Fora 
long time it will not again be profitable to cultivate this 
land, and it is falling a prey to weeds. The best thing to 
do with it would be to lay it down to permanent grass, and 
not to disturb it again until there shall be a certainty of 
profit. But such land is not adapted to make good per¬ 
manent grass land, for it is dense, damp and cold. And, 
farther, the cost of cleaning it and making it fit for grass 
seeds would be far more than any profit which would 
accrue in many years to come; for it is well known that in 
heavy clay soils, even if well laid down, a generation must 
pass before a good permanent sward forms. Therefore it 
will not pay to use these soils for wheat and beans, nor 
will it pay to lay them down to glass, and it follows that 
they are left unproductive, reverting to a state of nature 
which in some age will be grass of a rough and unsatis¬ 
factory character. Happily we have no very large areas of 
these intractable clay soils. 
Sheoe, Surrey, England. 
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