1905. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
679 
CLOVER IN WHEAT STUBBLE. 
I note what Mr. Van Alstyne says about cutting 
clover in wheat stubble in R. N.-Y. August 26. All over 
southern Ohio this year where clover will grow, and the 
seed was sown, and many places where it was not ex¬ 
pected, there is a wonderful growth of clover. And 
there is not an acre of it but that would be the better 
next year if it was clipped. Much of this will go to 
seed, and as a result, die, because it has accomplished its 
purpose. This going to seed and dying is in many cases 
the true solution for clover smothering and dying. While 
now everyone is proud of the clover stand, many will 
be disappointed next season on account of thin stand, 
and be at loss to know why it is so, simply because they 
do not understand the crop, and fail to give it proper 
treatment. 
The first year after the wheat is off, the clover should 
not be allowed to go to seed. Clipping with a mower is 
much better than pasturing to secure the desired end. 
Pasturing is allowable in seasons of rank growth like 
the present in this part of Ohio. But when the season 
is dry, clipping will keep down the weeds, and give the 
clover the best possible chance to get a strong hold 
against the adverse times that come to it during the 
Winter. Weeds cut down and lying on the ground are 
a much better protection for the plants during Winter 
than they can possibly be standing, and, besides this, 
what a pleasure next year at hay-making time, to have 
no hard weeds to cut, and gather up with the hay. 
Ross Co., Ohio. John m. jamison. 
GRADING AND PACKING RAW FURS. 
There is no occupation (with the exception of farm¬ 
ing) in which so many men and boys are engaged during 
the Winter months as in trapping fur¬ 
bearing animals. Besides the hard work 
connected with trapping, the trapper 
often has a much harder time in dis¬ 
posing of his collection at satisfactory- 
prices. Pie is often misled by the ex¬ 
treme high prices which several unscru¬ 
pulous dealers send broadcast through¬ 
out the country, so that when he re¬ 
ceives his returns he gets about one- 
half what he would have received had 
lie shipped to a house that quoted the 
market as it really was. 
Let us consider the question of grad¬ 
ing furs as they should be when they are 
prime and well furred. Nearly every¬ 
one is aware that the value of a skunk 
skin is determined by the length and 
breadth of the white stripe which ex¬ 
tends down its back. A skin on which 
the stripe extends five inches provided 
it is narrow should be graded as a No. 
I along with those which have only a 
white spot on the head. A narrow stripe 
which extends to within three or four 
inches of the tail should be classed as a 
No. 2; a full narrow stripe as a No. 
3, and broad stripes and whites as 
No. 4. A number of trappers pay too 
little attention to the width of stripe when shipping and 
are often dissatisfied with returns, while in reality the 
dealer gave a square assort. 
Minks are graded according to color and it no doubt 
often surprises the shipper when he receives his re¬ 
turns to find that his small dark skin brought more 
than his large pale one. A mink that will measure 28 
to 30 inches from tip to tip, prime and well furred, 
should be graded as No. i large, but it should meas¬ 
ure about 3 x /z to four inches wide at tail and two at 
head on flesh side; medium, from 20 inches up accord¬ 
ing to width. 
Foxes are graded according to size and quality of fur; 
some houses also make a distinction in color, which is 
nothing less than robbery, for the majority of fox skins 
are dyed. Raccoons are graded about the same as 
foxes with tin- exception that the extra dark and black 
are worth more than the ordinary, about twice as much. 
The muskrat is more easily graded than any other of 
our more common furs because a Fall rat will always 
have a dark streak down its back; Winter rats are part¬ 
ly clear, while Spring rats are entirely so, consequently 
a glance shows how to rssort them. They should al¬ 
ways be left flesh side out. Last, but not least of our 
most common furs, comes that rat-tailed individual, the 
opossum. There is something strange about it, but 
an opossum will often look entirely prime on the flesh 
side while there will be scarcely any fur on it whatever. 
So be careful and look over your opossums before 
shipping. They are generally assorted into four grades 
although some houses make more. T very seldom get 
any of them through this section any more, but they 
are still to be found in abundance throughout the 
West and South. 
As regards the packing of furs there is no universal 
rule. But every shipper should endeavor to pack his 
collection in the best possible manner, for although it 
may not be universally known proper packing has much 
to do with realizing good prices. Furs should be packed 
flat if possible and left full length and should be left 
flesh side out as they will present a much better appear¬ 
ance when opened up. I get a lot of shipments that 
have simply been thrown in a bag and often 1 have to 
restretch a number of the skins, but if I attempted to 
cut that shipper on assort he would call me a swindler. 
Orange Co., N. Y. jas. p. elus. 
FURTHER REMARKS ABOUT ALFALFA. 
As to the remarks on page 631, neither inoculation 
by soil, nor inoculation by “nitro-culture” will cover a 
thinly-seeded field with Alfalfa. It is pretty evident 
that good seeding and good feeding and good weeding 
(or killing of weeds) will enable Alfalfa to grow with¬ 
out the help of bacteria. This fact was learned at a 
cost of $1,500 and years of experimenting by a man 
who cut last year from a little over two acres, more 
than 13 tons of Alfalfa weighed when ready for the 
barn. He left uncut a later growth of 20 inches, at 
least two tons. In the face of this success, he im¬ 
ported a ton of Alfalfa soil for a new sowing of 10 
acres. The essential fact is said to be that the nitrogen 
in that 13 tons came from his own pocketbook and that 
the nitrogen in the yield from that 10-acre field 
will come largely from the air. If one plant thrives and 
another is starved out by weeds, the two being less than 
two feet apart and fed alike, one inoculated and the 
other not, what is the lesson to be derived therefrom? 
If two fields will do equally well, one inoculated and the 
other not, the lesson of the two plants should not be 
disregarded. Before one decides that soil is not inocu¬ 
lated he should soak the soil about a plant with gallons 
ters and one Summer. No other kind of treatment 
ever brought us a satisfactory germination. It may 
seem a long time to wait two years for the seeds to 
germinate, but this long time ceases to be a factor when 
we consider that we can, as a rule, stratify every Fall, 
thereby insuring the possibility of getting a crop of 
young seedlings every year. robt. e. Eastman. 
Kansas Agricultural College. 
IT PAYS TO BE SURE. 
In celery growing great care is needed to get the 
best varieties for either Summer or Winter use, and 
not to confound the Winter and Summer kinds. The 
Summer kinds are not well adapted to Winter, and the 
Winter kinds cannot be bleached for use in Summer. 
One Florida celery grower lost $10,000 on one year's 
crop by a single blunder of that kind. In Florida the 
only varieties of celery that can be used successfully are 
the Summer kinds that can be bleached between foot¬ 
wide boards on each side of the large and growing 
plants in the row. He had been growing S'/t acres of 
celery that netted him $1,500 per acre. Among these 
plants he discovered some either a sport or a different 
variety, which grew larger and handsomer than the 
rest of the field. It also bleached nicely between the 
boards and was more crisp, and nutty to eat. He was 
anxious to learn what kind it was, and wrote to his 
seedsmen (probably in some northern city; he did not 
tell me who) and described the appearance of this 
new and better kind of celery. His seedsman replied 
that he thought it must be Giant Pascal, one of our 
best northern Winter varieties. If that was Giant Pas¬ 
cal he wanted to plant nothing but Giant Pascal, and 
did so. It takes 35.000 feet of boards to bleach a 
single acre of celery (if all is bleached at one time). 
The lumber man sold him the boards on 
credit and drew them to his field. In the 
Fall he had to go and draw the boards 
home again to get his pay. The grower 
could not bleach a single bunch of those 
eight or more acres of celery that should 
have netted at least $10,000. 
Had he sent by express a bunch of the 
green growing plant to his seedsman at a 
cost perhaps of $5 or spent $500 in going 
himself, until he found out what the 
name of the variety was, he would have 
made a grand strike. Acting upon one’s 
lack of information, anywhere, but espe¬ 
cially in costly vegetable growing, is pay¬ 
ing most too high for tuition. r. 
GETTING STOVEWOOD ON CALIFORNIA FARM. Fig. 290. See page 681. 
of water and remove the plant with the utmost care. I 
find the tubercles in clusters and very slightly attached 
to the rootlets. I am advised that this is an abnormal 
condition due to heavy soil. w. w. swett. 
New Jersey. 
STARTING TREE SEEDS IN KANSAS. 
I notice in The R. N.-Y. a request by a Kansas 
reader, inquiring about methods of treating certain 
conifer tree seeds in order to cause them to germinate. 
Our common Red cedar was mentioned, and I thought 
it might be of interest to your readers to know how we 
treated the seed here at this station and secured a high 
percentage of germination. In the month of November, 
1903, I stratified some of the seeds in moist sand, just 
as they were gathered from the trees. The box in 
which the seeds were stratified was buried in moist 
earth and covered about six inches deep. The seeds 
remained in this position and condition during the Win¬ 
ter, and in the Spring of 1904 the box was lowered so 
that it was covered about 18 inches. Before the ground 
froze in the Fall of that same year, the box was raised 
to within a few inches of the surface, and allowed to 
remain there during the Winter of 1904 and 1905. In 
early Spring, following the Winter, the seeds were ex¬ 
amined and to our most agreeable surprise many of 
them had already germinated. The box was taken up 
immediately, the seed separated from the sand, and 
sown rather thickly in shallow broad rows. The seed 
bed was then covered with a thin layer of old leaves. 
In a short time thereafter hundreds of little seedlings 
had pushed through the soil covering and the leaves. 
Probably as high as 75 per cent germination was se¬ 
cured. Some were lost by the damping-off fungus, but 
otherwise a remarkable and satisfactory growth has 
been made. These seeds were in stratification two Win- 
GRANGE IN SMALL PLACES. 
I am coming to feel confident that the 
Grange, when located in purely rural sec¬ 
tions, away from the influence even of 
small towns, is performing a certain func¬ 
tion generally undertaken and expected of 
the church. Our own local Grange has a 
very liberal flow of young blood. It is 
the custom, or fashion, as one sees fit to 
call it, for both the children to look for¬ 
ward to the requisite age, 14, and for par¬ 
ents to have the same desire to see them inside the 
gates. Here they are held to a dignified respect 
and consideration for the very fundamentals that 
underlie good government, viz., respect for the 
opinions of others, full and free discussion for the 
questions that arise and quietly to abide a majority 
decision. Here are discussed questions that affect al¬ 
most every phase of country and often of city life, with 
that naturally unbiased frame of mind born of country 
life. When one can count 20 out of an attendance of 
80 who are under age. which was the case at the last 
meeting, it surely augurs for a Christian uplift in that 
community. In judging ethical and moral questions, 
much depends upon one point of view. Would it be 
better if the church could do this same work? Yes. 
perhaps, but better done through the Grange than not 
at all. I have not so much to say when the meeting 
place is located in town. My observation leads me to 
say that the Grange is not living up to its full useful¬ 
ness when the hall is located in a village. Here may 
be found other attractions, without saying they are 
good or bad, that keep these young people away, saying 
nothing about the older ones. I would, if possible, 
when locating Granges fix their meeting place outside 
the towns. I know the busy business farmer feels that 
he can attend Grange and do the town shopping on the 
same day. He succeeds in doing the shopping, and the 
young people keep away. The small center where the 
Grange is the full power, not influenced by other busi¬ 
nesses, is the place to locate Granges and build halls. 
H. e. c. 
R. N.-Y.—The Grange has become as permanent a 
fixture in many small communities as the blacksmith 
shop. Among other valuable feat -res it strongly em¬ 
phasizes the need of sincerity in home life and dealings 
with others, an element of which there is no current 
surplus. 
