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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
December 19 
The type of farming pursued is quite different from 
that prevailing in this country, and determines the 
application of manure at times when men and teams 
are not pressed by other work. Under these condi¬ 
tions, manure has been applied and plowed under in 
the spring, has been harrowed in in the spring, has 
been applied to sward ground in the late fall or after 
the final freeze of the year, and also in December to 
ground fall plowed. Some has been applied after 
December snows had fallen. No seed crops are 
grown upon the farm unless potatoes are so regarded. 
For this class of crops, I have been unable to discover 
material gains or losses of crops that can be ascribed 
to the method of using the manure. There was an 
apparent difference in favor of the manure applied to 
plowed ground turned in November, the application 
occurring in December. 
If I could have things on the conditions of your 
inquiry—“ exactly to suit,” I would apply in the 
spring to plowed ground not long before the crop is 
put in, that spring rains might not leach it and that 
all of the organic matter might be well and, at 
an early period, incorporated with the soil before be¬ 
ing subject to material losses. I have come to attach 
considerable importance to the retention of all the 
organic matter that well can be saved. The results 
of trials at the Utah Experiment Station were as fol¬ 
lows : Manure applied on snow in wintsr as an aver¬ 
age of three years, gave in grain and straw 3,177 
pounds ; applied in spring and harrowed in, 2,555 
pounds ; plowed under in the spring six to seven 
inches deep, 3,866 pounds; applied wholly on top 
without harrowing in, 2,433 pounds ; no manure, 1,155 
pounds. The soil was a sandy loam with an open 
subsoil. The result on this farm differs from my 
advice in respect to winter application, and reconciles 
me to the personal practice of winter application in 
seeming antagonism to sound reason. The atmo¬ 
sphere of Utah is less humid than ours. 
Although spring rains fall not far be¬ 
hind eastern precipitation, yet perco¬ 
lation of fertility does not occur, so 
that conditions are not parallel. 
New Hampshire. j. w. sanborn. 
ONE HUNDRED CABBAGES TO 
THE TON. 
HOW AN IOWA MAN GROWS AND SELLS. 
To grow cabbage successfully, one 
needs very rich, heavy land, and it is 
better to rent suitable land of “the 
other fellow” at §10 per acre, than to 
grow the crop on your own land, for 
the effects of a cabbage crop can be 
seen for two or three years. The ton 
of cabbage shown at Fig. 277 was taken 
fiom an acre of Maule’s Surehead and 
Livingston’s Blue Bloom grown on 
rich bottom land. The ground was 
virgin prairie until 1891, when it was broken up and 
produced 100 bushels of corn per acre. In 1892, it 
grew squashes and celery ; in 1893, potatoes, and in 
894 and 1895, watermelons. 
Although naturally very rich, it received 25 loads 
of manure in 1894, and was manured again just before 
plowing in the fall of 1895. It was plowed very deep 
again in May of this year, then harrowed and planked 
until fine and smooth. The seed was drilled in rows 
three feet apart with a Planet Jr. drill, June 1. We 
aimed to have three or four plants to the foot, and 
then were sure of a stand. At three weeks old, the 
plants were thinned to two feet apart. Up to this 
time, we had tended the rows by hand, and the 
middles with a Planet Jr. horse hoe. We now used 
the Z. Breed weeder every three or four days till the 
leaves reached across the rows. One shallow cultiva¬ 
tion with the horse has finished the tending for the 
season. 
Some ripened prematurely in September, and were 
sold on the market wagon, but the main crop was 
just ready to sell when the demand for winter cab¬ 
bage began in the latter part of October. We had 
contracted to the Western Normal College of this 
place two tons of our cabbage at one-half cent per 
pound, and filled the order with 227 heads. One load 
of 100 heads, averaging over 20 pounds each, was 
photographed and is the subject of the illustration. 
It was mentioned in all the local papers, and attracted 
so much attention that we were soon overrun with 
orders for “that big cabbage”, and in a week from 
the time we began selling, we were sold out, much of 
it being sold in the field to farmers from the surround¬ 
ing country. 
This crop has always paid me a fair profit, and some 
years pays enormously. This year, we sold over 4,000 
heads from the acre at an average price of over four 
cents per head, and by “judicious advertising” and 
“ pushing”, disposed of it easily. Many people fail 
by planting too early, so that much of the crop rots 
or bursts before selling time, while others fail to sell 
their crop to advantage. Three other gardeners here 
who had good crops of cabbage still have much of it 
unsold, while ours has been all gone for three weeks, 
and almost every day people are here wanting some 
of the “ big cabbage” they have read of in the local 
papers. Like Mr. Gale, I believe that the home mar¬ 
ket is-generally the best if one has the right kind of 
stuff and pushes it properly. henry field. 
Page County, Iowa. 
The Farmers’ Club. 
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see whether it is not answered in our advertising columns. Ask 
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piece of paper.l 
Utilizing Whole Carcasses for Poultry Food. 
Several Subscribers. —We read of poultrymen who work up whole 
carcasses of horses or other animals for poultry food in bone 
mills. How can this be done to the best advantage ? 
A WESTERN HUNTER TALKS. 
The Mann mill No. 2 is not large enough to take in 
a very large animal, but by freezing the meats and 
bones solid, sawing them into blocks that will go in 
the mill, one can grind any sized animal. I have cut 
up beef, deer and horse meats and bones frozen hard 
by cutting into chunks about 3x6 inches in size. In 
handling large animals, I hang them up in pieces to 
freeze. I have fed the food to chickens with good 
results, also to dogs and foxes with which I have 
been experimenting to raise for their fur ; but I have 
failed, so far, to have them breed under confinement. 
I have the Arctic white fox, and expect to turn them 
loose in the Rocky Mountains at this place. As to the 
profit, I kept no record, but we always had eggs when 
our neighbors had none. I am personally a trader, 
and principally for furs. The subject of raising fur¬ 
bearing animals should have more attention. 
Montana. c. t. warnecke. 
WORKING UP HORSES IN COLD WEATHER. 
I have only a medium-sized bone cutter, but have 
ground up the hardest bones in old horses. I can put 
in a piece of bone as large as my fist, and a lot of 
smaller pieces around it. One can get mills that will 
take a large piece. The larger the piece one can get 
in, the better and easier it will work. I generally 
kill a horse only in cold weather when it will keep, 
and grind the meat through a sausage grinder. I 
have only a small mill and only a small flock of poultry 
—about 80 fowls, but I have never tested it accurately. 
The bone mills are a good thing to put green bone 
into shape for poultry, and it is a great egg food. I 
believe that to any one having 50 hens, it will pay 
good interest. G. M. s. 
Clinton Hollow, N. Y. 
PRACTICE OF AN OHIO MAN. 
I have used a No. 2 Mann bone cutter three years, 
and have facilities for keeping about 100 hens in 
seven lots. During spring and fall, I have used some 
bone from markets, which cuts quite readily by hand; 
have used several old horses during the winter sea¬ 
son. They can usually be bought in the country for 
about what their hides are worth. These are killed 
and dressed with some care, cut up in pieces that can 
be handled, and hung in a building or in the limbs of 
a tree to freeze. I cut these on a block with a heavy 
ax into as large pieces as will go into the hopper. 
Nothing can be done with meat when in any 
quantity on the bones, unless frozen. When the 
pieces are frozen, I have attached the bone mill 
to the power of a neighboring grist mill, and 
while at it, usually cut up one or two carcasses at a 
time. They will make eight or ten bushels each. I 
pack the cut meat and bone in crates, and set them 
where they will be least affected by any thaw. I use 
this as a food (not a tonic) simply because it is the 
cheapest food I can buy. I put enough for a feed 
into a kettle, and thaw it out, or cook it somewhat. 
This I dry by mixing in some sort of ground feed. I 
give the hens all they will eat. At night, I feed a 
little whole grain. I have fed the meat and bone 
prepared in this way exclusively, with no evil result 
in health of fowls ; but no diet of one article is the 
thing. The meat could be cooked without cutting, 
but any meat which one can afford to buy would be 
too tough, to pay either for cooking or trying to feed 
afterward. Horse meat has a fishy smell when cook¬ 
ing. I use a kettle with a close cover, from which a 
two-inch pipe runs directly into the stove pipe. This 
takes absolutely all odors out of the room. When a 
boiler house is used, usually there is a chance to cook 
in it. As to the profit of cut bone, all poultrymen 
understand that the feed is only one of the conditions 
upon which success depends. 
I think it will pay to cut by hand some bone bought 
at markets for broilers or laying stock, especially if 
the eggs are to be used for hatching. I would feed 
this raw and fresh cut. I think it pays to use meat 
and bone for a considerable part of the diet, when 
otherwise healthy old animals can be obtained very 
cheaply, and when some sort of power is accessible 
with which to run the machine for cutting in large 
quantities. Wind mill or horse power is good. It 
will not pay to try to cut much by hand. A large 
amount of hand work is required in preparing the car¬ 
casses for the machine at best. An unexpected warm 
spell may necessitate throwing away considerable 
unless it can be protected from the warmth. If situated 
so ordinary bone refuse of the markets can be ob¬ 
tained cheaply and plentifully enough, I should much 
prefer it. He who in addition to this has power at 
command which he can use day by day has greatly 
the advantage. Cutting bone by hand is hard and 
slow work. I have fed ducks as above 
described with good results, f. e. b. 
Trumbull, O. 
When and How to Use Lime. 
G. //., Two Johns , Caroline County , Md ..—I in¬ 
tend to burn 2,000 bushels of oyster shells to 
make lime to spread on my wheat during the 
winter. My neighbors say that it will burn up 
the wheat and be of no use whatever. 
ANSWERED BY PROF. H. J. WHEELER. 
I have never had any experience in 
applying freshly burned lime to wheat 
or grass. European writers refer to 
the fact that lime in its caustic state is 
liable to burn vegetation, and I pre¬ 
sume that they are correct. Under the 
circumstances, if the lime were burned 
immediately, given abundant oppor¬ 
tunity to air-slake in small heaps and 
most thoroughly exposed to the air, it 
might be safe to apply it in the course 
of the winter. It might, also, be well 
to spread it upon the snow when the prospect for its 
remaining some time is good. In that way the object 
could be accomplished, I presume, without danger, 
though, of course, it would be somewhat a matter of 
experiment. I think that the better plan would have 
been to burn the lime one year earlier, and harrow it 
into the soil before the wheat was sown, for in gen¬ 
eral it may be said that success from the use of lime 
depends upon a particle of lime coming in contact 
with every particle of soil, and this is more nearly 
accomplished by harrowing it in than by any other 
means. Of course, if spread upon the surface, it be¬ 
comes slowly soluble and thus finds its way to the 
particles of soil below. I am aware that certain 
French or English writers have stated that lime 
should never be harrowed in, but I think that their 
statements must refer to excessive applications such 
as were made frequently in earlier times, and par¬ 
ticularly upon clay soils or those where there was 
difficulty in mixing the lime with the soil by harrow¬ 
ing. At all events, it does not seem to be wise to do 
as some writers recommend, namely : to spread the 
lime on the surface and plow it under or, at least, if 
this be done, only a fractional part should be thus 
applied and the remainder sown on top and harrowed 
in after the plowing is done. 
The statement that lime is of little or no use the 
first year does not hold good if applied as outlined 
above, for we are having excellent results from its 
use in several places in Rhode Island in connection 
with beets and clover. At some places where the 
clover a few weeks ago looked as well without lime 
as with it, and, perhaps, better, it is now turning 
yellow and dying, while that upon the limed plots 
stands as thick and vigorous as seems possible. From 
our tests in various parts of the State, I have become 
convinced that lime is the keynote to clover growing 
with us. By this I do not mean that lime should ever 
be used alone, but always in connection with potash, 
phosphoric acid and nitrogen in some form or other, 
