438 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May 26, 
to it; and I am willing to admit that 1 myself have 
never seen anything more surpassingly beautiful. I 
have just 40 acres of it, and within a day or two we 
shall begin plowing it under,- and will plant the land 
to corn. It seems like a great waste to plow under 
such a magnificent growth of hay, but 1 have found by 
experience that it will pay. From that field we shall 
expect to harvest nearly twice as much good, sound 
corn per acre as from other land, which is naturally 
just as good, but not clover treated. I believe it to be 
the cheapest fertilizer that can be used. With seed 
at $4 per bushel—the price paid last year—and one- 
fifth bushel sown per acre, it costs in actual cash just 
80 cents for about 8 to 10 tons of green clover to turn 
under. Of course it takes a little time to sow the seed, 
but that is a very small item; and after it is sown no 
extra work is required. Of course it is a little more 
trouble to plow under a heavy growth of clover than 
it would be to plow the land without it, but a team 
of good animals hitched to a good plow with a chain 
to hold the tops well down into the furrow does the 
work most beautifully, and after it is once plowed un¬ 
der that land will be so mellow and so easy to culti¬ 
vate that we shall feel repaid for the little extra trouble 
it gives. 
Scientifically, I do not know what the result would 
be if this treatment were kept up for many j'ears. I 
suppose that the soil would eventually become acid, 
but we shall use lime to counteract any such result 
when found to exist, and in the meantime we shall plow 
the entire crop of cornstalks down along with the 
clover, as we believe they will be of benefit in avoiding 
soil acidity. Every two or three years we shall allow 
a crop of seed to ripen, and then plow the stubble for 
wheat. I believe that Crimson clover means more to 
the farmers of the Eastern Shore of Maryland and 
perhaps much other territory, than most of us are now 
willing to admit. From one seed in the thickest part 
of the field above described I found 68 stems and blos¬ 
soms, and from one seed along the edge of the field 
where it is not crowded quite so much I found 91 
stems and blooms. This is not guesswork, but by actual 
count. When we think of the multitude of plants per 
acre who can estimate the amount of plant food such 
a crop adds to the soil when plowed under? 
Princess Anne Co., Md. A. L. gepford. 
MORE ABOUT THE SEEDLESS APPLE. 
The following statement is made by a Colorado man 
of wide observation and sound judgment. He is recog¬ 
nized as one of the best authorities in that State: 
“I have known of this fruit at Grand Junction for 
the past 10 years at least. Quite a large proportion of 
the apples are entirely seedless, though occasionally 
apples occur with one or two, or even more, seeds. The 
hull that contains the seeds is present in all the apples, 
whether they have any of the seeds or not. I am of 
the opinion that the hulls are not very firm in those 
apples that have no seed. T have eaten of the apples, 
and consider them no better than, in fact, I should con¬ 
sider them rather inferior to, the Ben Davis as an ap¬ 
ple to eat out of the hand. The color is not much 
different from that of a rather highly-colored 
Jeniton (Ralls), and it is an apple of about the same 
size. I should not consider the fruit of any special 
value from a commercial standpoint, but simply as a 
novelty. One who is interested in having all the curi¬ 
ous fruits growing might like to have one or two of 
these trees as a sort of curiosity. I believe I am quite 
correct in not thinking the apple is one that will ever 
be of commercial importance. The claims that the 
apple is not attacked by the Codling moth are entirely 
without foundation. I have been told several times that 
it is the worst of all apples for the Codling moth, as 
the calyx is very deep, and the worms are able to enter 
without being likely to get a poisonous dose, even if 
the trees are sprayed. The Seedless apple is not a new 
thing at all, as it has been known for many years, 
perhaps a century. There is no foundation of fact in 
the claims that have been made that this apple may be 
used to produce seedless apples of other varieties.” 
BORDEAUX MIXTURE SIMPLY MADE. 
On farms where potatoes, and other plants that are 
attacked by fungus enemies, are grown, the Bordeaux 
Mixture has become a common article. In nearly all 
cases it is mixed on the farm, and, as it often happens 
with many such mixtures, it is not always mixed prop¬ 
erly. Bordeaux is usually made in the proportion of 
five pounds lime, five pounds copper sulphate, and 50 
gallons of water (5—5—50). However, in all cases 
the mixer should be guided by the ferro-cyanide of po¬ 
tassium test, and not by weight, because the strength of 
both the lime and the copper sulphate varies greatly. 
To obtain the best results the lime and the copper sul¬ 
phate should both be diluted to a weak solution 'before 
mixing together. 
Fig. 176 shows a convenient method which can easily 
be followed by the most inexperienced person, and 
which will enable him to mix the Bordeaux as it ought 
to be mixed. The figure on the left shows a box in 
which 50 to 100 pounds of quick lime is slaked and kept 
covered with water. The small barrel next to this con¬ 
tains 25 gallons of water, into which are poured four to 
six pails of milk of lime as shown by the arrow. The 
figure on the right show's a large barrel in which 100 
pounds of copper sulphate is dissolved in 50 gallons of 
water, making a gallon of the solution contain tw'o pounds 
of copper sulphate. Next to this is a small barrel which 
contains 25 gallons of water, into which is poured three 
gallons of the copper sulphate solution (six pounds cop¬ 
per sulphate). Always stir the copper sulphate solution 
thoroughly before dipping any out. Then stir the two 
ARRANGEMENT FOR MAKING BORDEAUX. Fig. 176. 
diluted solutions and open up the faucets, letting the 
tw T o streams run into each other. This mixes the two 
solutions thoroughly as they go into the spray barrel 
together. Before the two small barrels are quite empty 
turn off the faucets and test with ferro-cyanide of 
potassium. If it turns the solution to a brick red color 
then lime is lacking, and milk of lime should be added 
until the ferro-cyanide of potassium fails to color it. 
The Bordeaux is then ready for use. A. w. sweetson. 
SORGHUM GROWING FOR STOCK FOOD. 
A farmer friend in Kansas says that sorghum and 
Alfalfa have been the redemption of the State, and 
without a doubt it is true of many parts of that State. 
Sorghum can well find a place as a crop on every 
stock farm, and with its use the number of animals 
kept can always be increased. For my own use in this 
way I have grown several small crops, and find that 
cattle, horses and hogs all relish it, and eat it without 
waste. I have always grown it in rows about as thick 
as if intended to use for syrup making, and in the 
main have allowed the seed to ripen, or nearly so, be¬ 
fore feeding any of it. A great argument in its favor is 
that it can be used any time after it gets a good start, 
as pasture, or a soiling crop to bridge over a period 
of drought, when pastures are cut short, and animals 
shrink in flesh and suffer for lack of grass. But it is 
better feed if it has reached maturity, or nearly so. 
After September or October droughts pinch the grazing 
and meat stock on the farm, then sorghum can be used 
to better advantage than any other forage crop that 
METHOD OF BAItK-GRAFTING. Fig. 177. 
I have had any experience with. Such a large amount 
can be grown on a given area that it wall feed farther 
than any other forage crop that can be grown over such 
a large area of country. 
It is a most excellent crop to feed fattening hogs at 
this season. The ease with which it can be fed, and 
the small amount required for a number of hogs, is 
a recommendation to it, in that it saves much time for 
the farmer during the busiest season of the year, for 
it takes much more time to husk corn for hogs than it 
does to cut sorghum and throw it out to them. Cattle 
and horses will eat it without wasting seed, blade or 
stalk, hogs chew all the juice out of the stalk, only 
refusing about what will bed them well. Matured 
sorghum, as I have grown it, will not do for sheep feed, 
as they will only eat the seed and blades. These they 
relish very much and will overfeed on the seed quicker 
than they will on corn, 
My farm is cut up into fields of near the same size, 
and as I cannot use the amount of sorghum that can 
be grown on one of these fields, and dislike to plant 
a part of a field to this crop because of the inconveni¬ 
ence of cultivating two crops in the same field, I regard 
this as one objection to growing the crop. Another 
more serious one with me has been the difficulty in 
getting a good stand, and getting it started without 
the expense of hand hoeing. However, I have never 
tried hastening the sprouting by soaking the seed as 
is done by some. 
I have experienced no trouble in curing the crop. 
It has been my custom to allow the frost to wilt the 
blades before cutting. Then cut with a corn harvester, 
shocking at once, putting as many as 30 to 50 bundles 
in a shock. Because my mows have already been filled 
with hay I have allowed it to stand in the shock till fed 
out. It should be fed out before the first of March, if 
it stands out over Winter, for a continued spell of 
warm weather will injure its feeding value, if not make 
it unpalatable to the stock. For a horse having the 
heaves, I have never had a more desirable roughage. 
Such a horse will grow fat on it, and the heaves trouble 
grows better while the sorghum lasts. 
JOHN M. JAMISON. 
EXPERIENCES AT POST OFFICES. 
As we are all interested in the post office business I 
write you a little about conditions here. I sent my son 
to the office some time ago to inquire for mail. The 
clerk sat at the delivery window reading a magazine. 
On the boy asking for mail the clerk continued read¬ 
ing for a while, paying no attention. On a second in¬ 
quiry he said: “Will you take it now or wait till you 
get it ?” Our postmaster received $3,000 a year salary, 
and does absolutely nothing, so says his first assistant. 
We have had seven postmasters since I have lived 
here, and they have either died in office or shortly after 
of high living and nothing to do. We have 14,000 popu¬ 
lation. I would like to know how many such places 
there are, and how much the Government would save 
by abolishing those postmasters and letting the assistants 
take their places. y. a. 
Central New York. 
Perhaps the Louisiana postmaster—whose apology for 
sometimes being discourteous you quote on page 333— 
may have more inquiries for letters by persons who 
seldom or never receive a letter, than postmasters at 
the North. People from the North visiting the South 
have noticed among the colored people a characteristic 
yearning (evidently) to receive letters, as the white 
folks do, and they are known to go daily to the post 
office and inquire for a letter, when they'really had no 
reasonable expectation of getting one. The writer has 
often observed this in Florida, when their hopes were 
so often disappointed that it would seem almost pa¬ 
thetic. The Rev. Mr. Mead, the temperance lecturer 
from New York State, whose sympathies were often 
excited when South by this unsatisfied longing for a let¬ 
ter, observed among the colored people, said he some¬ 
times took pains to get a list of the names of some of 
the colored people he so often observed at the post 
office inquiring in vain for a letter, and as he could find 
opportunity he would write a kindly letter and direct 
it to them. He told of a grateful reply once received 
to a letter directed to an old colored man, who could 
neither read nor write. The old negro got somebody to 
write a reply and tell Mr. Mead how glad he was to get 
his letter, and then asked, “Why didn’t you write be¬ 
fore ?” The writer never remembers hearing a southern 
postmaster or clerk give a discourteous answer to such 
inquiries. But he himself did once get a very curt and 
saucy reply from a postal clerk in the Philadelphia post 
office when he asked three times in a day for several 
days for a letter that had been five days right in that 
office and was very much wanted, as it contained a bill 
of lading of a car of oranges that was on its way from 
Florida to Philadelphia, and was wanted to catalogue 
the oranges for auction sale, and which were due to 
arrive that very night. On that same day that oft- 
called-for. but undelivered letter was returned from the 
Philadelphia post office to Tampa, Florida, stamped “un¬ 
called for.” It was at once forwarded again to me, 
following another list sent by telegram at my order. 
When it came the second time I stuck it in that saucy 
clerk’s face, and he danced lively, as I reported him to 
headquarters. H. s. record. 
Massachusetts. _ 
BARK GRAFTING.—Here is a method of bark graft¬ 
ing that I have used successfully, particularly on apple, 
+or six years. Make incision with a sharp knife three- 
fourths inch or longer, depending on size of stock or 
scion. Lift the bark slightly and enter scion at the dot. 
as shown in 1, Fig. 177. In the cut 2 shows the scion 
set and ready for the wax. G. w. ir. 
Callery. Pa. __ 
No man commands the confidence of others until he has 
faith in himself. Yet too much self-faith goeth before a 
fall. • 
