4o8 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
June 13 
/IsWeCoIoI^ 
"KNOW HOW.” 
When I was a boy on the old farm, 
there was a big rock right in the middle 
of our best field. It spoiled, at least. 15 
hills of potatoes, and that was a big loss 
n those days. We dulled our hoes over 
it, and went walking around it. The 
oxen lost lots of time in hawing and 
geeing around it when the field was 
plowed. The old gentleman who 
“ brought me up ” owned a third interest 
in an old blind horse, which I used to 
ride in front of the cultivator. One day, 
I rode the old horse at this work, dream¬ 
ing of the day when I should be Presi¬ 
dent, and walked him right on to the old 
i oek. It startled him so that he fell 
down, barked his knees, cultivated the 
old gentleman's rib3 with the cultivator 
handles, and of course, that meant an 
application of birch bark to my back. I 
s jeak of all these mishaps to show you 
how much labor and time were lost, and 
how much misery was caused by that 
old rock. 
□ While healing his ribs, the old gentle¬ 
man figured out how much actual time he 
had lost by stopping to get around that 
rock. I forget just how many days he 
made it, but it was enough to vex his 
economical soul, and he made up his 
mind to get rid of that rock. So, when 
winter came, we went out with our pick 
and spade, and dug a big hole by the 
side of the rock. It looked as though 
we had a hole large enough to hold a 
house, and then we called the neighbors 
in and with much pulling and pushing, 
succeeded in tipping the rock over— 
down into the hole. Put, after all, we 
didn't get the hole big enough and one 
point of the rock still stuck its nose 
above ground. We pounded at it with 
a sledge, but still it stuck up, and while 
it now spoiled only three hills of pota¬ 
toes, it was still a nuisance. We had 
spent about as much labor as we had 
lost over it, yet still it was there. There 
it remained—a menace to hoes and 
horses until, one day, a man came along 
with a dynamite cartridge. He put it 
on the rock, touched it off, and—there 
was only a hole in the ground left to re¬ 
mind us of our stubborn friend. 
Now, you will see the point right 
away. For years, we lost time, temper 
and talk, in working around or stum¬ 
bling over that rock, when, at last, we 
realized our loss, we could only go to 
work with the crude contrivances we 
knew about to remedy the trouble. Pick 
and spade, with hand labor, were all we 
could employ out of ourown experience, 
and though we spent as much time and 
labor as we had lost, we did not do a 
good job. Then came a man who knew 
more than we did. He knew how to 
utilize the forces that Nature had tucked 
away in the earth, for the use of man. 
He was master of the wonderful power 
shut up in that dynamite cartridge. At 
his bidding, that force was applied, and 
in the fraction of a second, it did the 
work we toiled unsuccessfully for weeks 
to bring about. We lost labor and time 
because we didn’t know how to utilize 
forces stronger than those in our own 
muscles. We didn’t “know how,” be¬ 
cause we had no means of learning what 
others had been finding out. We were 
confined too much to our own work and 
thought. 
Now, there are hundreds of farmers 
to-day who are in that same condition to 
a greater or less extent. The “ rock ” 
in their way may be poor live stock, or 
poor tools, or some old-time method of 
doing things that modern agriculture 
has rejected. At last, they realize that 
they are losing time or money over that 
rock, and they start in honestly and sin¬ 
cerely to put it under ground. But they 
take the old-fashioned way to do it, and 
the job is never well done while some 
other farmer, who knows how to utilize 
power and fertility, may put the rock 
out of sight in half the time. We may 
define science as the “ know how ”—the 
ability to understand something of the 
fixed laws of Nature, so that natural 
forces may be harnessed on the farm. 
How does a man pick up this “ know 
how ” ? We can't all go to college and 
spend half our time in study. Now stop 
and read this letter : 
KNEW ALL ABOUT FARMING. 
In a recent trip through one of the hill towns of 
the State, I discovered a wonderful'man, a man 
that knows all about farming. I invited him to 
take The Rural New-Yorker. He said, “No.” 
I asked him if he took any agricultural paper, 
and be said “No ! I don’t need none. I know all 
about farmin’ now. I was three years learnin’ it 
of old Joshua Brush, the best farmer in our town, 
and, I ’low I learned it thorough. I mought read 
your paper till I was gray as a rat. and it 
wouldn’t move me a mite ; 1 ’m sot that way, and 
don’t want no book farmin’ fur me.” Wonderful 
man that; got great head on him. 
Vermont. c. w. scarff. 
That man’s “ rock ” is his own head, and 
the chances are that he will never know 
how much it is losing for him. Of 
course, we understand that “ book farm¬ 
ing ” alone is as bad as all muscle farm¬ 
ing ; but we do believe that, if a farmer 
expects to succeed in these times, he 
must think as well as use his muscles. 
He must not only use his own thoughts, 
but those of others as well. He can no 
more live on his own thoughts, than he 
can live without buying food or cloth¬ 
ing, or other things from other people. 
The R. N.-Y.is in the business of collect¬ 
ing the best thoughts and experience of 
hundreds of good farmers. For SI a 
year, it gives you the opportunity of 
consulting the best experts in the coun¬ 
try. Enlarge the thoughts of your 
neighborhood. Do it by bringing your 
neighbors into The R. N.-Y. family. 
CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE. 
Indian Territory Outlook. — Prospects for 
fruit are good so far in this section. Too much 
rain for growing crops. Vegetables are abund¬ 
ant. The Colorado potato beetles are here in 
numbers this season, for the first time. 
Cherokee Nation. r. robbinb. 
Japan Plumb in New England. —J. H. Hale gives 
the following report regarding the hardiness of 
Japan plums jn New England : “ In 1893, 1894, 
and 1895, peaches of nearly all varieties went 
through the winter all right, and fruited abund¬ 
antly, as did the Japan plums; but the winter of 
1896 practically killed all the peaches, so there is 
to be no fruit in New England this year, except 
here and there in isolated cases; but wherever 
there are Japan plums, they have stood the trial 
and come through all right. So far as I can ascer¬ 
tain, all trees of every variety, past three years 
of age, have bloomed freely, and have set an 
abundance of fruit, so that whoever has Japan 
plum trees, can be sure of fruit this season, when 
more tender peaches are lacking. From now 
on, I think we can go on in perfect confidence, 
planting such varieties of Japans as best suit our 
taste and mai’kets. We here have planted about 
2,000 of these trees this season, about equally 
divided between Red June, Willard, Burbank, 
Berckmans and Hale; very few Abundance and 
Cbabot, with a few others for experimental pur¬ 
poses. The earliest of these will ripen its fruit 
by the middle of July, and the latest the last week 
in September, and from my present knowledge, I 
believe they may be grown with success on a 
greater variety of soils than any other fruit we 
have, unless It be the apple. I have seen trees 
thrive on the lightest, driest sand, and again, in 
very moist, wet ground, where I would never dare 
to have planted any other fruit tree. 
Tiie Season in Wayne County, N. Y.—We have 
peas in bloom now (May 24), and expect to have 
peas and new potatoes by June 10 or 15. Corn in 
the garden is a foot high. We have the earliest 
garden in years. I had the first strawberry to¬ 
day, and think that, by next Sunday, we shall 
have enough for a mess ; they are selling in mar¬ 
ket for 18 cents per quart. My orchard is thrifty 
and loaded with healthy young sets ; but some 
orchards are suffering from some disease, and 
the Army worm. I have not sprayed, and find 
that the young sets are mostly perfect. We shall 
have no plums, cherries, peaches or quinces this 
year. The Niagara grapes are nearly all de¬ 
stroyed, but there are plenty of Wordens, e. h. 
Among the Kelp Farmers. —The South Shore 
of Massachusetts, as it is termed by the people of 
Boston and vicinity, is really the north side of 
Cape Cod, the distance from Boston Light to 
Highland Light, the tip end of the Cape, being 65 
miles in an air line ; but to follow the coast, it 
would be nearly double the distance. Within the 
past few years, a great many cottages and hotels 
have been built for occupancy during the summer 
months. A great deal of the food consumed by 
the occupants is shipped from Boston, which 
struck me as somewhat peculiar, as the soil is 
naturally quite fertile. 
In certain localities, are a class of farmers 
termed kelpers. A portion of the coast is rocky, 
and northeast storms detach tons of kelp and 
rockweed from the bottom, hurling it high upon 
the beach ; the kelper then reaps his harvest. No 
matter how cold the weather, some have several 
teams hauling at once, getting up before daylight 
and some even work by the light of the moon. 
One cold day last winter, when the mercury was 
below zero, I saw several loads of kelp go by, and 
the drivers sitting on the loads, looked anything 
but happy. I said to a bystander, “Does it pay 
to haul kelp V” “Well,” he said, “ that depends. 
I raise about 700 or 800 bushels of onions and 
potatoes. If I have a load of stuff to carry to the 
harbor, I bring back a load of kelp ; it doesn’t 
pay me to make a business of it, and I am only a 
mile from the shore.” 
I said to another who keeps about a dozen 
horses, aDd about half that number of men, “ Do 
you depend on kelp to keep up your land ? ” 
“I use a good deal of fertilizer with it.” 
“ Where do you market your produce ? ” 
“ In Boston, which is about 25 miles distant.” 
“ What do you get for a load, on an average ? ” 
“ About $75 or $100. I aim to grow two crops a 
year, peas and potatoes for the first crop, followed 
by squashes, cabbage and cauliflower, also 
cucumbers for pickling.” 
“ Would it not pay you to sell your stuff nearer 
home ? ” 
“ Oh, if you want to talk with a peddler, see 
Jim Sampson.” 
“ Mr. Sampson, I understand that you have a 
large trade in Nantasket, during the summer 
months ? ” 
“ I used to have. I am too old now. I have 
taken a $100 load to Nantasket, and peddled i i 
all.” 
“ Sold to hotels ? ” 
“ No, I didn’t; they don’t want to pay one-half 
that the stuff is worth.” 
“ Do you haul any kelp ? ” 
“ No; I used to, and got my land full of weeds 
by using it. I don’t use anything now but bone 
and potash, with a little nitrate of soda. I am 
now raising grass mostly.” 
“ But can you keep up your land with chemi¬ 
cals?” 
“ Well, I am doing it.” 
“ What about stable manure ? ” 
“ Oh, you go to Pat Kane or E. Clapp; they will 
talk stable manure.” 
“ Mr. Clapp, I am told that you raise quite a 
lot of produce.” 
“ No, I don’t raise anything but potatoes.” 
“ What fertilizer do you use ? ” 
“Stable manure is good enough for me; I buy 
it in Boston by the car-load.” 
I then visited Mr. Kane. “ Do you haul much 
kelp ?” 
“ All I can, and I buy manure by the car-load. 
I don’t use a great deal of commercial fertilizer. 
My stuff is peddled out, most of it going to Nan 
tasket.” 
I talked with a number of others, and the gen¬ 
eral opinion was that it only pays to haul kelp 
rather than let teams stand idle, and it is done 
mostly by those who wholesale their produce ; 
that cabbage and all kindred vegetables are 
mostly benefited, that kelp is harmful to potatoes, 
the excess of salt making them soggy ; that, 
applied to strawberries and small fruits, it pro¬ 
duced plants with-a large amount of foliage, and 
little fruit, and that a man of average intelligence 
could get a good living supplying the cottages 
with produce during the summer months, u. a. d. 
Test of Separators. 
“ Herewith find report of the test of Separators held at my 
place in Hubhardton, April 22,1896. The committee of 3 chosen 
from the 50 dairymen present decided that on the th ree points 
of amount per hour, general durability and ease of running, 
the Improved United States Separator was muc h su perior. The 
test of the skim-milk was left to be decided by the Vermont Ex¬ 
periment Station. Eight tests of each were made at the station, 
the average of the tests of each Separator being as follows: 
No. 5 Imp. U. S., O.ll of 1 per cent, of fat left in the skim-milk. 
Sharpies, 0.23 
De Laval “Baby,” 0.30 “ “ “ “ “ 
So that in all points the Improved United States Separator was 
decided to be superior.” 
Hubhardton, Vt., May 20, 1896. C. A. ST. JOHN. 
Would you know more of this Separator and of this test? 
Write for catalogue and prices. 
We WANT AGENTS IN ALE unoccupied territory. 
VERMONT FARM MACELINE CO., Bellows Falls , Vt. 
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they will grow twice as fast. Keep 
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