1896 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
255 
greenhouse, about April 1, and from one to four weeks 
later than most of the growers in the vicinity are in 
the habit of starting it. As soon as the first true 
leaves had started, one-half of the plants were given 
to a neighbor, and the rest pricked out about four 
inches apart, and so managed that they grew steadily, 
but at a constantly accelerated rate until June 1, 
when they were set in the open ground. In the 
meantime, the field which was rich from previous 
manuring, and had had a good dressing of well-rotted 
manure cultivated in, was again cultivated, plowed, 
cultivated, cultivated again, and thea fined with a 
harrow. In cultivating before setting the plants, the 
implement was run as deeply as possible, so that the 
whole field was in fine tilth to the full depth of the 
plowing. The plants were so stocky and so carefully 
set in the fine soil, that they hardly wilted at all, and 
within four days had started into new growth. 
From the day after the plants were set until they 
were so large as to prevent it, the field was cultivated 
from one to four times a week, great care being 
taken to stir the surface soil only. The plants grew 
steadily, and, though they never became very large, 
they were very productive, the yield of the field of 
about 3% acres being at the rate of nearly 800 bushels 
of excellent fruit to the acre. The party who received 
the rest of the seedlings, thought that they were much 
too late and small, and setting them closer in the beds 
than those of his neighbor, pushed them forward as 
rapidly as possible, so that, by the middle of May, 
they were much larger than the others, and badly 
crowded, and when set in the open ground, were 
spindling and soft. The field where this lot was set 
adjoined the one where the first lot was planted, and 
was similar in character. It received a heavy dress¬ 
ing of manure, which was poorly spread on the hard 
surface and plowed under, and the field gone over 
with a harrow. The plants were in such condition 
and so poorly set, that it was fully 10 days before 
they commenced growth, and the first lot was now 
the largest and continued so for a week ; but by that 
time the second lot had been cultivated and com¬ 
menced a rapid growth, soon overtaking and passing 
the first. 
This field was cultivated three times, as deep as the 
implement would run, and soon after each cultivation, 
the plants started into vigorous growth, which was 
joyfully noted as a promise of the big crop that was 
confidently expected, as the plants had made an enor¬ 
mous growth, and by August 1 were larger and, seem¬ 
ingly, more vigorous than the first lot. This expecta¬ 
tion was never realized. The fruit was not there, and 
this field gave less than 300 bushels to the acre. 
It seems evident that the vast difference in the 
outcome of these two crops, was due to the failure, in 
the latter case, to understand and humor the plants. 
They made an immense growth of vine, but it was 
made intermittently, whereas steadiness of growth is 
the great essential to the best development of all 
solanaceous plants. The field cultivation had much 
to do with the failure, but that the possibility of a 
full crop was gone before the plants were ever set in 
the field, is shown by the fact that a row of the second 
lot of plants was set in the first field ; and though the 
proportionate yield was not ascertained by weighing, 
it was very evident that they were less productive 
than the plants in the adjoining rows. To start 
tomato plants 10 or 12 weeks before they can be set 
out of doors, and then starve them into a weak, dis¬ 
heartened growth, or so crowd them that they are 
drawn and spindling before they can be set in the 
open ground; to “ nag ” them into excessive growth 
by deep cultivation, or coax them into it by rich 
manure left in masses in the soil, is to limit a maxi¬ 
mum crop to 200 or 300 bushels. Are you content 
to do it ? WILL W. TRACY. 
WHAT THEY SAY. 
Planting Old Trees. —During a period of time 
covering from 20 down to 16 years ago, I did a small 
jobbing business in fruit trees, and one spring I had 
quite a number left on my hands. The trees were 
then from three to five years old, and not wishing to 
lose them, and thinking that I might be able to sell 
them later, I set them in a long, double nursery row. 
From year to year, I set some and sold some, until 
seven years after setting in the row, there were nearly 
100 trees left. Of these, I set about half in my 
orchard, and the rest I sold to a neighbor, on condi¬ 
tion that if they proved satisfactory, he might pay 
me just what he thought they were worth. Two 
years later, he cheerfully paid me just what he would 
have to pay for common two or three-year-olds of 
nursery agents. 
After all these years, those trees are large and 
healthy, and bearing good crops of good fruit, and 
to-day no man could pick them out, either in my 
orchard or his. I believe that my orchard and its 
fruit receive more compliments than any other 300- 
tree orchard in this vicinity. 
I will cite one more case. An eccentric man living 
a few miles from here, had a farm about a mile from 
town, also a house and lot in town. He moved from 
the farm to town and back again about every year for 
six or seven years, and he had six trees that moved 
with him every time, until at last, they were so large 
that he had to go twice with a wagon to bring the six 
trees. The trees bore good crops—as good as trees 
that were not moved. I do not recommend this for 
common practice, but I have known thousands of 
four, five and six-year-old trees set that made good 
orchards. s. ii. s. 
Charlevoix, Mich. 
A Milk Shelf. —During milking, the milk some¬ 
times has to be carried a distance to be strained. To 
save useless travel and work, an extra pail or more, 
1 . 
is set behind the cows to be filled, so that two full 
pails may be taken. To put these extra pails on the 
floor behind the cows during milking, is not a proper 
practice, as dirt is liable to get into them. So I built 
a couple of hinged shelves behind the cows in my 
stable, a proper distance apart; two strap hinges are 
fastened on the under side, and the leg is hinged to 
fold up lengthways of the shelf, so it is out of the 
way when folded. The inspector of the New York 
Condensed Milk Company who visits the farmers’ 
stables here, thought it handy, and a good thing. 
Strike the bottom of the post with the foot and it 
folds itself when dropped as at 2, Fig. 79. 
Orange County, N. Y. m. h. c. g. 
Booms Crimson Clover. —My experience with Crim¬ 
son clover has been very satisfactory, so far. Last 
summer, I purchased 15 pounds of American-grown 
seed from one of your advertisers, sowed it broadcast 
in a corn and melon patch of about one acre, and cul¬ 
tivated it in with a heavy garden rake. The seed was 
sown July 11, and as the ground was in good con¬ 
dition and contained plenty of moisture, in three days 
it was up. Although the weather in the latter part 
DEVELOPMENT OF THE DIBBLE. Flo. 80. 
of the summer and fall was very dry, it throve ex¬ 
ceedingly well, and when winter set in, would have 
made excellent pasture. At this writing, March 24, 
1896, it has stood the winter well, and looks as green 
as a lawn in May. I believe that it will stand more 
hard freezing, and make a surer crop than Red clover. 
It’s a Godsend ! Boom it! eli shay. 
Armstrong County, Pa. 
Millet on That Pond Bottom.—As to the best 
crop for a pond bottom of 35 acres, under water seven 
years, water now off except a brook, to which there 
is a fall of 6 to 12 inches to the 100 feet, the soil being 
of clay loam underlaid with clay, I have the same 
conditions of land and water. Tell E. V. R. G. to 
get a 48-inch Right Lap Cutaway, and a 10-foot Cyclone 
smoother. Four horses with that Right Lap, will 
plow his 35 acres in four days. He should plow it 
four times, crossing alternately, using the Cyclone 
smoother after each plowing. He can cover his 35 
acres with this smoother in twc days, and thus make 
a perfect grade. Plow first four inches, and finish 
with five inches ; if the work be well done, the field 
will be a perfect park with a fine seed bed five inches 
deep. The 10 acres drained, and probably all, will 
be good for any roots. Onions would pay well. South- 
port, Conn., collects $1,000,000 a year from the solid 
onions. Fodder corn would, probably, grow there 
well on most of it. In some sections, sorghum is 
grown for hay. Two bushels of seed are sown broad¬ 
cast to the acre. Rye, wheat, bai’ley, oats and millet 
are sown for hay. Millet is best for a fodder crop ; 
Crimson clover would be worthless there. I have 
tried millet under similar circumstances, and know 
that, if he will prepare the land as here directed, and 
seed it very thoroughly with millet, and then top- 
dress it with 200 pounds of the fertilizer I use, or 200 
pounds nitrate of soda to each acre, he will see the 
largest crop of millet ever grown in America. 
GEORGE M. CLARK. 
Tar on Corn. —I have never used tar as a protection 
against worms, but have, for 30 years, used carbonate 
of ammonia with success. I use a full ounce of the car¬ 
bonate to one bushel of shelled seed corn. I dissolve 
the ammonia in a small quantity of warm water, then 
add quite hot water sufficient to cover the corn in a 
tub of sufficient size. In soaking one-half bushel or 
a bushel at a time, the water may be applied very hot 
if added slowly, stirring the corn well, so that it will 
be about as hot as a man can bear his hand in the 
corn. Leave the water on the corn for 24 hours, 
stirring several times and keep in a warm room ; then 
drain the water off. If the conditions are all right, 
the corn will begin to sprout in about 36 hours, and 
should be planted as soon as the sprouts break 
through. I have never had cutworms trouble corn 
so treated, and if the ground and weather are fair, 
the corn will be from a week to 10 days earlier than if 
planted dry. Consequently, cultivation may commence 
sooner, so that weeds don’t get the start of the corn. 
Van Wert, 0. a. r. s. 
Will a Silo Pay ?—If any man keeps cows, he 
should not go another year without a silo. To do with¬ 
out one, is like our grandfathers in olden times who 
plowed with a wooden plow. I keep from 70 to 75 
cows, and never feed anything but ensilage made from 
green corn, for coarse feed. My ration per cow is 27 
or 28 pounds of ensilage. The grain ration is 14 pounds 
of mixed feed per day. One man can feed 50 cows ensi¬ 
lage, sooner than two men can feed the same number 
coarse fodder, and then each cow gets her exact num¬ 
ber of pounds of feed. I had two silos, made on a cheap 
plan, and I find that they do as well as two of my 
neighbors’ that cost, one of them over $300, and the 
other about $400. Mine are made from 2x4 hemlock, 
16x24 feet and 18 feet high. I use a sill 6x8, then lay 
the 2x4’s on them, and use plenty of spikes. I have 
the inside run up true, then cover with good oil paper. 
To protect the paper, I use three-eighths inch boards 
running up and down. I wholesale my milk to dealers, 
and sell about $7, COO or $7,500 worth a year. j. h. s. 
Trucksville, Pa._ 
" THE BEST TRANSPLANTING MACHINE 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DIBBLE. 
A team of steady horses, a man and two boys, all 
in their proper places on a Bemis transplanter, con¬ 
stitute the “ up-to-date” transplanting outfit. The 
extensive tobacco growers and market gardeners of 
to-day, consider these transplanting machines a 
necessary part of their outfits. The machine sets and 
waters the plant at one operation, and there is, there¬ 
fore, no need to wait for a rain. It is a very excellent 
machine exactly suited to the needs of these men. 
The gardener on a small scale, and the farmer, how¬ 
ever, cannot afford to pay $75 or more for a machine 
that would be used but an hour or two each season. 
The dibble, or dibber, is still the only tool employed 
by the majority of people who re-set small plants. 
The first gardener, probably, used the dibble shown 
at 1 in Fig. 80. This is a very excellent means, and 
sufficient if the number of plants to be set is not too 
great. The gardener who uses this plan will be sure 
of the main point in this work, that the ground is in 
proper condition before beginning. 
Shortly after the first gardener’s fingers were worn 
off, he devised another dibber, by cutting off the 
upper eight or ten inches of a retired fork handle, and 
sharpening the cut end like 2. This was used forever 
after by this gardener, and by many generations of 
his descendants. It saved the fingers, but in the palm 
of the hand was a very sore spot for weeks after 
transplanting, and besides, he could not properly 
press the soil around the roots of the plant after it 
was placed in the hole made for it. The roots also 
were bunched. 
One of his descendants improved on the fork handle 
by making a dibber with a curved top or handle, and 
adding a metal tip like 3. This was a good move, 
aud has been illustrated in many works on gardening. 
