1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
55 
HOW TO DEAL WITH CRIMINALS. 
The query by Mr. Cosgrove on page 926, as to what 
lie should do with the horse thief, has been interesting 
to me. As a reporter, and otherwise connected with 
the courts of this large county, I have seen the disposi¬ 
tion of the charges against many criminals, and have 
been interested in watching their cases. If Mr. Cos¬ 
grove is satisfied that the thief is sincere in his promises 
to reform, and he has not made similar promises too 
many times, I should say by all means do not press the 
charge against him. I doubt if a reform school or a 
term in prison ever made very many prisoners reform. 
They are brought in touch with other criminals in these 
institutions, and a constant association with them for a 
term of years tends to lower rather than to raise their 
moral condition. A man may be sent to a State prison 
for a term of years upon a conviction for forgery, and 
while associated with other forgers may learn from 
them how to commit forgeries requiring greater skill. 
He might also learn from other fellow-prisoners how to 
do a good job of safe blowing, or many other forms of 
crime. Now, my opinion of these matters, after care¬ 
fully studying conditions as they have come under my 
■observation, is that unless a man is really a dangerous 
character and should be shut out from society to protect 
society, or unless he has shown that he must have 
severe punishment as a deterrent, it is usually a good 
plan to give him another chance. I cannot recall a 
single person sent to prison who ever made a good 
citizen afterwards. 
Let me refer to two cases briefly. A young man of 
our village who had no living parents was cared for by 
relatives, who were highly respected. He committed 
many petty offenses, and people, out of respect for the 
couple who were caring for him, overlooked them. He 
obtained goods in neighboring cities under false pre¬ 
tenses, and committed forgeries. In one city he com¬ 
mitted forgery, and a business man from his home town 
went to that city and was instrumental in securing his 
release. Soon thereafter that same young man stole 
nearly $r>0 from the safe of his benefactor. He was 
arrested and sent to State prison for several years. In 
this case he had shown that he was not entitled to any 
more consideration of a lenient nature. 
Some years ago a large building in this county was 
burned, and after two or three years a colored man and 
a woman of suspicious character were implicated in the 
crime of causing the fire. The colored man confessed 
that he went with the woman while she did the deed. 
The woman denied it, and stood trial, the colored man 
being a principal witness for the people on the trial. 
The colored man was confined in jail for more than a 
year, being held as a witness. He won the respect of 
every official who had to do with the criminal matters 
of the county, and even the judge who presided at the 
trial of the woman finally made his bail so low that he 
could easily obtain bondsmen. He is still wanted as a 
witness for the people, as on the former trial the jury 
disagreed. In the jail he was orderly, and assisted the 
sheriff very much in keeping the other prisoners from 
making a disturbance The officials looked up his rec¬ 
ord, and found that he had a good reputation and char¬ 
acter up to the time he met the woman. I do not know 
a person who wants to see the colored man punished 
further for his implication in the crime. He has shown 
his sincerity in his avowed intentions of being a better 
man. If the thief of Mr. Cosgrove’s horse shows this 
sincerity I believe he might safely be given another 
chance. G. l. m. 
Chautauqua Co., N. Y. 
FERTILIZER FARMING FOR POTATOES. 
Can I raise a good crop of potatoes without manure by 
using phosphate? What quantity should I use, and how 
use it, under the potatoes or on top? Which is best to 
raise the largest crop, and how do the largest growers plant 
their potatoes, in hills or in drills? What distance apart is 
best to raise the largest crop? J. xr. l. 
Ontario. 
Yes, some of the best farmers we know never use 
anything but fertilizer, and grow large crops of pota¬ 
toes. Of course they use fertilizers that provide what 
the crop needs and have the soil in good condition be¬ 
fore they start. By a good potato fertilizer we mean 
one that contains about four per cent of nitrogen, nine 
of phosphoric acid and seven of potash. The nitrogen 
should be in at least three forms, such as nitrate of 
soda, dried blood and ground bone, so as to give a 
supply all through the life of the crop. Growers use 
all the way from 000 to 3,000 pounds of fertilizer per 
acre, depending on the character of the soil and the 
crops that are to follow potatoes. A good potato soil 
is mellow and easily worked, and should contain 
a large amount of humus or vegetable matter. We are 
sometimes advised to break up new or waste land and 
plant potatoes as the first crop—using fertilizers heavily, 
hrom an experience this seems bad advice. Corn would 
be a better crop to start with—rye or Crimson clover 
being seeded in the corn, and the green crop plowed 
under in Spring before the potatoes are planted. We 
know of cases where cow peas or Canada field peas 
have been sown on poor land, the crop plowed under 
and potatoes planted with fertilizer. This gave a good 
crop—far better than where the land was used without 
the green crop. The best potato growers in the East 
seem to agree that it is better practice to plant corn on 
a grass or clover sod and follow the corn with potatoes 
and fertilizer. There are, however, a good many who 
use the rest in the drill. The potatoes are usually fol¬ 
lowed by grain or grass and for such crops the broad¬ 
casting is best. The drills are usually made 3feet 
apart with hills the same distance when they are used. 
The seed pieces are put about 15 inches apart in the 
drills. The largest crops have been grown in drills, but 
you can cultivate the hills both ways with the horse. 
PAK-CHOI CABBAGE. MITCH REDUCED. Fig. 29. 
See Ruralisms, Page 04. 
follow a rotation of grass and potatoes—with no other 
crop—cutting the grass two years, then plowing the sod 
for potatoes, and reseeding after the potatoes are dug. 
The larger potato growers use a planter which opens 
the furrow, drops seed and fertilizer separately and 
finally covers and smooths down the furrow. The seed 
is cut to an average of two eyes to the piece. “The 
PE TSAI CABBAGE, MUCH REDUCED. Fig. 30. 
See Ruralisms, Page 64. 
Farmer’s Garden” contains pictures showing how this 
is done. It appears to make little difference whether 
the fertilizer is put above or below the seed pieces in the 
drill—no machine attempts to plant in hills. Some 
growers advocate spreading all the fertilizer broadcast 
and working it in with a harrow before planting. They 
argue that this brings the roots of the plants out all ovei 
the soil, so that they have a better range for moisture. 
Others put all the fertilizer in the hill or drill, claiming 
that as the tubers are formed there that is the place for 
the food. Others broadcast about half the fertilizer and 
WHY DID THE ALFALFA FAIL ? 
The following is my experience with the wonderful 
Alfalfa in Rhode Island. I have no doubt of its great 
value in many parts of the country, but I do question 
its practical value in New England. In the Fall of 1902 
I plowed deeply a three-acre corn stubble on gravelly 
loam, with a gravelly subsoil, about 12 feet above ground 
water. In the early Spring of 1903 I spread about 
1,500 pounds of utislakcd lime per acre, and harrowed it 
in well, and about a week later replowed and rehar¬ 
rowed several times till the last of April, when the 
ground was like an onion bed. I then sowed 30 pounds 
per acre of seed and harrowed, fertilized, bushed and 
rolled. The seed came up promptly, and there was a 
splendid stand, several plants to the inch, which under 
the influence of fine weather and nearly a ton of high- 
grade fertilizer (containing nitrogen three per cent, 
potash six per cent, phosphoric acid six per cent) grew 
very rapidly till the middle of June, when weeds began 
to shoot up here and there. At this time the Alfalfa 
was eight to 12 inches high and of a dark green color. 
It was now clipped, running the mower as high as pos¬ 
sible. This seemed to discourage the Alfalfa, which 
almost at once lost vigor and color, although it grew 
again enough to need clipping, or rather the weeds did, 
in about three weeks’ time after the first cutting. The 
condition grew steadily worse, the plants shrinking and 
dying all Summer till frost time, when there was not a 
plant to the square yard, and the next Spring there 
started up about one plant to the rod, and these had no 
nodules at any time. I had secured some of the Agri¬ 
cultural Department yeast cakes, part of which I applied 
to the seed before sowing, and part I mixed with water 
and applied to the young plants with one of my potato 
sprayers. I also secured some soil from Mr. Dawley’s 
famous field, and applied it to a portion of the land, 
and still another part I left untreated by any microbe. 
The results were equally poor under all the treatments, 
no difference being discoverable. 
T am unable to see how I could have treated the 
Alfalfa any better, and yet it was an utter failure, as it 
has been with several others in the State, including, if 
I am not mistaken, the Experiment Station. If any of 
your readers can point out where I blundered 1 shall be 
thankful, and will try again. Meanwhile I shall keep 
up my close acquaintance and warm friendship for the 
Red clover, which is the sheet anchor for us poor chem¬ 
ical farmers. h. w. heaton. 
Rhode Island. 
A YEAR'S POULTRY RECORD. 
People are writing me asking if T arti going to publish 
my poultry account for 1905. Doubtless there are quite 
a -number of R. N.-Y. readers who would be interested 
in knowing how things have “panned out.” A man 
may have good success with poultry for year or two; 
then for some reason that he fails to discover they 
cease to pay a profit and he determines that “there 
isn’t any money in the hen business,” sells his stock and 
gets out of it. Advice and instruction on poultry mat¬ 
ters are easily obtained; but what interests the public 
most is actual results in dollars and cents from year 
to year. Realizing this I am happy to say that each year 
since I left the city and started poultry keeping as the 
main part of my farming operations, has shown an 
increase in the actual profit obtained over the preceding 
year, as well as an increase in health and strength due 
to the outdoor life. 
Commencing the year 1905 with 503 hens and pullets, 
by midsummer they had been reduced by sales and by 
poultry used in the family, also by those which had,— 
like the Scotch verdict on the man who hung himself 
with a piece of twine.—“died of their own free will and 
accord.” to 316 head: and sales of the older hens 
brought the number down to 275, but the addition of 
178 pullets brings up the flock to 453; 50 less than 
(here were January 1 a year ago. It will be noticed that 
in the report I deduct for “decrease of flock,” $32.50; 
no account is made of depreciation of plant, as a new 
house and additional fencing more than make up for 
the annual loss by “wear and tear.” 
T append the monthly account of eggs received, show¬ 
ing a steady decrease after March, as the number of 
hens was reduced: January, 3.741; February 4,856; 
March, 7,070; April, 6,483; May, 5.663; June. 4,752; July, 
4,372; August, 3,985; September, 3,688; October, 2,574; 
November, 1,573; December, 1,759, the total being 50,516. 
Poultry account for 1905. 
Number of eggs laid, 50,516. 
Received for market eggs. $958.20 
“ “ eggs to set. 179.48 
“ “ fowls and chicks. 202.73 
Disbursements. 
Paid for grain. 
“ “ eggs ... 
“ express on eggs. 
“ for chicks . 
$565.47 
35.63 
37.11 
38.09 
$1,340.41 
676.30 
Actual orts/i profit. $664.11 
Est. value of eggs and poultry used in family.... 40.00 
Est. value of droppings 10 cents per lien. 40.00 
$744.11 
Decrease of flock 50 ®, 65 cenls. 32.50 
Connecticut. 
$711.61 
GEO. A. COSGROVE. 
