63o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 18 , 
fault can be located. Every first quality basket bears 
the following label: 
FROM 
OAK LAWN 
FRUIT FARM 
VISALIA, KY., 
15 Miles South of Cincinnati, O. 
Deliveries Daily by Wagons. 
These Grapes are grown by 
the best methods on DRY, 
SUNNY HILLSIDES, and are 
unexceled for SWEETNESS 
a u d FLAVOR. Carefully 
packed, f ull weight, and 
guaranteed. 
Second class goods bear no marks and sell low. 
VARIETIES.—Of the varieties Ives Seedling and 
Concord are the easiest to grow, and are grown almost 
exclusively in the vicinity of Cincinnati. There is al¬ 
ways sale for them at a price. The Niagara and Ca¬ 
tawba are very subject to rot, and sell a little higher 
than the black ones mentioned. Moore’s Early does not 
thrive at all with me. Delaware sells well, but rotted 
badly last year, though it is said to be almost immune. 
It has the leaf-infesting variety of the phylloxera every 
year, which injures the foliage, is of slow growth and 
bears about half the quantity of Concord or Niagara. 
Birds and tree crickets are particularly destructive to the 
Delaware by cutting the skin. The bees follow, and 
leave nothing but the skins, so dry they will rattle in the 
wind. We find it necessary to employ men during the 
ripening season until the harvest is over to devote their 
time to intimidating the birds by shooting, etc., and only 
in this way can we prevent the destruction of the crop. 
We find the best way to obtain help here is by furnish¬ 
ing dwelling house, garden, cow pasture and feed, etc. 
We have six such houses scattered over this 190-acre 
farm. In conclusion will say if my story seems slightly 
pessimistic in places, it is only in the interest of truth. 
I cannot tell any big story of success, as some envied 
farmer-writers are doing, but by a process of elimina¬ 
tion concluded that for me, with all the circumstances 
taken into consideration, it is the proper thing to throw 
what energy I have into this specialty. With others, 
something else might be far better. There are many 
crooks and turns that can be learned only by experi¬ 
ence, and I include the selling end as well as the pro¬ 
duction. The flavor of the native grapes grown on these 
hillsides (if properly grown) cannot be surpassed, and 
abundantly justify the poet in breaking into song. 
F. B. THRELKELD. 
GREAT VALUE OF A HORSE FORK. 
We have been much interested in the discussion of the 
hay question, and although we never noted the time 
required to unload hay with a horse fork till the other 
day, we think the New York man may easily be within 
(he bounds of truth under the most favorable circum¬ 
stances. The size of the load and the speed the fork 
horse traveled and distance to cover must be taken into 
account. We unloaded at least a ton at six fork loads, 
drawing it 25 feet up to carrier track, then 60 feet to 
end of mow in 13 minutes, and as part of the load slid 
off the wagon and had to be taken up from the ground 
I am satisfied that we have often beaten that record. 
As for its injuring girls to rake hay with a horse-rake, I 
believe if they were raised to discard corsets and other 
restrictions and dress healthfully and sensibly and have 
become fairly expert drivers of quiet and reliable 
horses, that such exercise will prove beneficial to the 
large majority of young women. Three men and one 
team hauled and mowed away in shed eight loads on 
14-foot rack in six hours. One pitched all the hay bn 
the wagon, while one loaded it, and the other bunched 
the hay in the windrow ahead of the wagon while 
loading, mowing it away while unloading. The same 
afternoon another man took a team off the mower and 
hauled in three loads of usual size, probably one ton 
from hay bunched previously with help of man who 
had finished the bunching. W. 
Elmoville, Ill. _ 
COW PEA HAY IN DELAWARE. 
We try to plan to sow our peas about the last of 
May or first of June, so that they will be ready to cut 
about the first of August. This gives you the benefit 
of the long hot days, and the peas will cure in a few 
days’ time. You can sow them for feed, however, any 
time as late as the middle of July, and they will mature 
before frost, but we prefer the earlier planting. As soon 
as the peas have made in the pod they are ready to 
mow. We then let them lie on the ground until the 
sap is dried out of the pods and large vines; then they 
are ready to put in the barn or stack. If the weather is 
dry and warm they will soon cure by lying on the 
ground, but if it happens to be wet and rainy after they 
are cut it will require more time. The hay will not be 
injured by moderate rains, but it will cause the leaves 
to drop and turn the hay darker. We use the regular 
Black cow pea. the Whippoorwill and the New Era prin¬ 
cipally. The two latter make excellent feed, but do not 
mature quite as soon as the Black. We sow from one 
to l J /i bushel to the acre, either drilled or sown by 
hand. Some of our farmers use from one to two 
gallons of corn to the acre with the peas, and others will 
use millet. I do not like the latter, as it is more ex¬ 
haustive to the soil, and I do not like it for horses. 
Pea hay is very nutritious and excellent feed for all 
kinds of stock, besides improving land and leaving it 
in fine mechanical condition for succeeding crops. If 
the land is light and poor, from 200 to 400 pounds of 
rock and kainit per acre would be a benefit to it. 
— — — ' ■■■ — 1 
H O &>■ 
C<rWl> 
X- 0 
\wccx. eitThO . 
X o A • PmXauul 
/ 
S 
xo Cl 
( paU 
X. 
30 Cl. 
IaaAj&s. 
2^.0 & • 
b 
3 
1 O (L. „ 
AN IOWA FARM ROTATION. Fig. 261. 
I would advise our northern farmers to sow early, as 
the pea is a hot-weather plant. If they will let the 
pods get pretty dry there will be no danger of molding. 
Delaware. _ j. t. wright. 
AN IOWA FARM ROTATION. 
The accompanying diagram gives rotation on a farm 
of 160 acres. First comes 40 acres in corn. This 40 
acres of corn at 40 bushels per acre is 1,600 bushels of 
corn at 40 cents per bushel, $640. Total cost of same, 
$200, leaving $440 net proceeds of this 40 acres. Twenty 
acres in oats used as a nurse crop for seeding clover 
and Timothy at 30 bushels per acre, 600 bushels at 
25 cents per bushel, $150; $75 cost of seeding and labor. 
$75 net. Clover or Timothy meadow 20 acres, $120; 
grass seed, $60; for hay, $180; $110 net. Meadow 20 
acres at l l /> ton per acre, 30 tons of hay at $5 per ton, 
$150; $30 expense, $120 net. Twenty acres in pasture 
grass in one plot, 30 acres in another, which will keep 
30 head of stock at $7.50 per head for pasture season, 
$325 net. Ten acres contains farm buildings, orchard, 
garden and hog pasture, which will return at least $50 
net. Total proceeds of this farm for one year. $1,020. 
NEAPOLITAN EARLY PEPPER. AVERAGE NATURAL 
SIZE. Fig. 262. See Ruralisms. Page 634. 
This is an average Iowa farm of my section. Usually 
there are 40 acres put in corn, using a three-year rota¬ 
tion by planting three crops of corn, then seed to clover 
and Timothy. By so doing we have 20 acres of new 
ground broken up each year, 20 acres to seed to clover 
and Timothy, using oats as a nurse crop. w, E. C. 
Corydon, Iowa. 
THE VALUE OF GINSENG. 
We have often expressed our opinion regarding the 
practical value of ginseng. Medical authorities have in 
the past considered the root of very little value. Grow¬ 
ers who are cultivating this crop have much at stake, 
and they are interested in showing, if they can, that 
there is to be a greater demand for ginseng in the 
future. Lately some of them have made the claim that 
chemists have discovered new properties or virtues in 
the root, and that it will be in great demand for medical 
purposes. We submit with this the most reliable infor¬ 
mation we can obtain. First the opinion of Dr. H. W. 
Wiley, Chief Chemist of the Agricultural Department: 
I desire to state that to the hest of my knowledge no 
new medicinal virtues have been found in ginseng by 
chemists and doctors during recent years. So far as I 
know, ginseng roots are largely used by the Chinese. Dur¬ 
ing the past few years advertisements have appeared in 
various papers holding out that there is a considerable 
profit in the growing of ginseng roots. The Department’s 
attention was repeatedly called to this matter, and about 
a year ago a circular letter was issued by this Department 
with regard to ginseng root. I have requested the Bureau 
of Plant Industry to forward a copy of this circular letter 
to your address. h. w. wiley. Chief. 
The circular referred to reads as follows: 
Since the successful cultivation of ginseng calls for 
special conditions and unusual care in treating the seed 
and plants, it is clear that there will be a very large 
number of failures. Moreover, if a small proportion of 
those who contemplate going into ginseng cultivation suc¬ 
ceed, there is danger that overproduction may ensue, with 
a consequent fail in price. In marketing the dried root of 
late, a marked discrimination against the cultivated article 
has developed, founded, it is claimed, on the failure of the 
Chinese to accept it, tbe wild root being preferred. At 
this date there seems to be almost no sale for the American 
cultivated root. IIow long this condition of the market will 
continue is not known. All these considerations make it 
wise for those who contemplate going into ginseng cultiva¬ 
tion to look at their prospects with conservatism. 
Now comes a note from the editor of the. Medical 
Record: 
Replying to your inquiry regarding the use of ginseng in 
medicine, I will say that I have never heard of its 
being prescribed by any physician, though it may possibly 
be used in certain proprietary tonic mixtures. It has some 
of the properties of ipecac, but is inferior to that drug 
even as an emetic. I think the call for it must still lie 
confined to the Chinese. thomas l. stedman. 
If the proprietary medicine makers are to use ginseng 
it might create a demand. In order to be sure we wrote 
to one of the most prominent manufacturers. This is 
the reply: 
Replying to your inquiry in regard to the report of 
growers of ginseng that chemists and doctors have found 
new virtues in ginseng root to such an extent that it is 
being largely used in medicines I would say that I am not 
aware of any such discoveries. I think the whole explana¬ 
tion of the increased demand for ginseng is from the 
growing demand received from China. The dried ginseng 
root, as you no doubt are aware, is considered as something 
of a fetish by millions of Chinamen, and if they carry 
about a piece of the dried root in their pocket they con¬ 
sider that it makes them immune from disease. In other 
words, they use it as a kind of charm to keep off disease. 
It is claimed that the cultivated root is not nearly as 
potent as a medicine as the root found growing wild in 
our American forests. The root has always heen known (o 
possess mild tonic properties. It is not. in my opinion, 
anywhere nearly as good a tonic as golden seal root. 'Hie 
latter root, when I first commenced to use it, eould be 
bought in the open market for from 15 to 25 cents a pound. 
The vast increase in the demand for this root, coming 
largely from my establishment, and also from foreign 
countries, where it has grown greatly in favor by physi¬ 
cians. has caused the price to go up, so that the latest 
quotation we have been able to get recently for the root 
is $1.15 per pound. This is a root that admits of success¬ 
ful cultivation, and it is my belief that large profits would 
inure to the farmer from its cultivation if properly under¬ 
taken and persevered in. We have, from time to time, 
tried to encourage the farmers to engage in the cultiva¬ 
tion of this root by making mention of the greatly enhanced 
value of the root of late years in some of our advertising. 
While the root is rather slow of growth, and requires 
probably from four to six years to mature to its fullest 
size, yet a vast quantity of it can. from our observation, be 
grown on a given sized piece of land. As I understand its 
cultivation, it does not require extremely rich soil, the roots 
growing rather firmer and better on soil of moderate rich¬ 
ness, but which has some sandy loam in its makeup. It is 
also claimed that it may be grown in the open field 
without any covering whatever; while others have claimed 
that it is better to have a partial board screen roof over 
it for protection from direct and continuous rays of the 
sun A covering or screen as is used over pineapples 
in many parts of Florida where they are grown, would be 
all-sufficient, and it is probable that the statement of those 
who claim that it can be grown successfully without any 
screening or covering from the sun is correct. 1 believe 
that the use of golden seal by the medical profession is 
bound to increase greatly, provided that the root can be 
obtained at reasonable prices, and does not run up into 
the almost fabulous figures now reached by the ginseng 
roo t K. V. PIERCE., M. D. 
In order to cover all sides of the matter, we asked one 
of the largest dealers in drugs and medicines for an 
opinion. It is here: 
In reply to yours with reference to ginseng, we beg to 
state that in our opinion there is no foundation for any 
such reports as you state the growers are making. The 
drug is hardlv used at all in this country, except by one 
or two speciaitv manufacturers. Most of what is collected 
here is exported, and only the finest grades realize any 
considerable price. We may add for your information that 
the general opinion regarding the medicinal virtues of this 
drug is that the root is inert; and its great repute amongst 
the”Chinese is principally due to the fact that occasionally 
specimens of the root are found which bear more or less 
fanciful resemblance to the human form. Similar virtues 
were for the same reason attributed to other drugs by 
European people several hundred years ago. 
1 1 MCKESSON & ROBBINS. 
Reports of dealers in ginseng will come next. 
