1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
795 
SIDE LINES IN DAIRYING. 
The dairy farmer has many side lines, among them 
being the growing of potatoes. As a usual thing the 
potato fields are too small to think of procuring special 
potato machinery for use in tilling and harvesting the 
crop. The result is that potato growing means a lot 
of very hard labor. As labor is becoming more and 
more expensive, potato growing, except for home use, 
is being cut out a good deal, and some farmers buy 
their potatoes, as they do their butter. Many bushels 
in the aggregate are sold, however, and frequently 
shipments are made. Some seasons many carloads are 
shipped from our stations, and not infrequently good 
prices are realized. 
The question of spraying potatoes is often up for 
discussion, but. heretofore no one has had the courage 
to put the advice of the experiment stations and of 
writers and speakers generally into practice. I knew 
one man, who when first returning to the farm eight 
or 10 years ago, attempted to spray with a little spray 
pump that is used about the farm. It is a cheap pump, 
costing one or two dollars, and not very suitable for 
spraying a field of potatoes. That season the spraying 
did not show much profit, and the difficulty attending 
the operation with other work pressing, has prevented 
any attempts at spraying since that time. There are 
regions where it would be practically impossible to 
grow a crop of potatoes without spraying, but here 
tolerably satisfactory results are secured. Never until 
this season have 1 known any systematic attempt to 
be made to spray, in field practice. A young man pur¬ 
chased an outfit last Spring, costing, I believe, about 
$8. At any rate it was one of the cheaper outfits. 
Some instruction had been given in the rural school 
in the method of preparing the mixture and testing it 
to determine if safe to use. A sister of the young man 
was in the school, and had actually prepared the mixture 
on a small scale, and had made the test with prussiate of 
potash solution. She assisted in the preparation at the 
farm. There was some trouble experienced in the process 
of preparation and application the first time, but soon the 
best method was learned from experience, and during the 
season the potato field received several applications of 
Bordeaux Mixture. The result of this experiment is 
interesting from any point of view. The potatoes 
have now been dug. Two or three rows were left un¬ 
sprayed for a check, and in these the tops died early 
in the season. -Those that were sprayed kept green till 
late, even into September, while the unsprayed died 
down considerably in July. It is safe to say there was 
a month or six weeks’ longer time for the sprayed field 
to grow. Neither lot rotted to amount to anything, so 
that this seasoiij at least, spraying did not operate to 
prevent rotting. The longer growth is what did the 
business. One hundred bushels of potatoes extra on 
one acre of ground is what is claimed as 
a result of spraying, and the cost of the 
job is reported- at $5. As potatoes are 
worth about 50 cents a bushel, there 
would be a nice profit even if the cost 
were a little more and the returns slightly 
less than this. 
Another side line of the dairy farmer 
is apple growing. Comparatively little 
attention is given the apple orchard as a 
rule. There arc fewer trees than 20 years 
ago, but practically every farmer has 
some. Most orchards are neglected, and 
not a few are producing inferior fruit. 
Markets for apples have not been very 
favorable; in fact, there can hardly be 
said to be any market at all unless under 
exceptional conditions. None of our or¬ 
chards is sprayed, and little attempt is 
made to get much fruit beyond the re¬ 
quirements of the family. In an adjoin¬ 
ing town six miles from here is an apple 
orchard of 800 trees that was set on a 
sleep side hill, part of it about 40 years 
ago. Soil and conditions are similar to 
ours. 1 lie trees have been pretty well 
cared for, though left in the sod. One 
reason for not cultivating is the fact that 
the land is so steep. It has been quite 
well fertilized, usually with stable ma¬ 
nure. The grass has been cut each year and taken 
off. For a year or two poultry has been kept in a 
part of the orchard. That, of course, means less hay, 
but more profit, and a somewhat improved condition 
of soil. When I visited this orchard less than a week 
ago, the fruit was looking well, and putting on a fine 
color. When asked if the orchard had been sprayed 
the owner said he usually sprayed it three times each 
season, but this year it was not sprayed. The spraying 
outfit had been lent, and when returned it was without 
a nozzle, a very necessary part, and the time was too 
late to allow of procuring one soon enough to be of 
use. The failure to spray is estimated at a $50 damage. 
I he market for this fruit is already mostly made, and 
is largely local. This grower is getting $2 a barrel 
for his apples right in his own town. It seems very 
probable that the farmer who will take a little time to 
fix up his orchard and look up his markets might get 
something out. of it. The difference is that Mr. Sim¬ 
mons gives his time to the orchard largely, while the 
dairyman hasn’t much time to give. 
That apple growing may be successfully conducted 
in this region seems to be the belief of others. W. A. 
Moyer, the industrial agent of the Delaware & Hudson 
Railroad, has prepared an attractive and interesting 
pamphlet on apple culture. As I understand the mat¬ 
ter, the pamphlet is prepared under the direction of 
Prof. Craig. At any rate it is well arranged, and con¬ 
tains a large amount of very sensible advice. Mr. 
Moyer was brought up on a farm, and he says in a 
A PAIR OP LIGHT BRAHMAS. Pig. 341. 
letter: "I am fully convinced that no one in the world 
is quite so happy as the man who stands on his own 
land and is able to say, T own it from center to sky.’ ” 
He also adds: “I am convinced that any railroad run¬ 
ning through a rich farming community must neces¬ 
sarily be a rich railroad.” Mr. Moyer is working out 
a number of other lines in relation to farming, and is 
getting farmers to try some of the better methods. For 
many purposes he is strongly urging the use of cow 
peas. The D. & H. people have evidently hit' upon a 
good line of work, and a good man to carry it out. 
Chenango Co., N. Y. h. h. lyon. 
LIME AND MANURE FOR ALFALFA. 
I notice an article on page 711, by L. J. Farmer, in 
which he gives the entire credit for the success of his 
Alfalfa, to soil from an Alfalfa field. It would, seem 
to me that he has failed to give himself proper credit 
for his own hard work in thorough preparation of the 
land, and in keeping it up in good condition during the 
past years by the application of manure and care of the 
land in growing his strawberries. We know from his 
reputation as a berry grower that he has not raised 
either the fine berries nor the plants he sells on any 
ordinary poor land, and I do not think that our friend 
Farmer would be at all pleased if he were to fill an 
order very carefully, with selected plants of his best 
varieties, carefully packed and shipped in good season, 
and have word come back from the planter a few 
weeks later that the plants were planted in the “old of 
the moon” so the roots would grow down and the 
tops grow up, and that was why they had done so 
well; neither, on the other hand, would L. J. Farmer 
take the full credit for success where his plants were 
used by a careful planter, set on strong, rich land, as 
he himself describes in this case, and 1 believe it is 
much the same way in his Alfalfa experience. Were 
L. J. Farmer to be situated, like some of us, up on 
top of a hill where the land has been “run to death” 
by raising potatoes, rye and buckwheat, some of it not 
seeded for over 20 years, so sour you can smell it 
after a rain, when it covers over with a scum, red 
with sorrel at blooming time and green with it at 
other times, so poor that one has to go 300 feet to 
get a small rakeful of hay, where clover would not 
grow, and Alfalfa would not think of it; and then take 
that same land and by the application of stable manure, 
lime and thorough preparation of the land through a 
period of several weeks, and without any soil from an 
Alfalfa field secure the most beautiful stand of Alfalfa 
one’s heart could desire, it would be another matter. 
A portion of our land on this farm is in good con¬ 
dition, fairly so, but the above conditions more nearly 
describe the larger part of it when we took hold of it. 
The past Summer we started in to get some Alfalfa 
growing. The land was plowed several weeks in ad¬ 
vance, and dragged up with spring-tooth drag after 
every rain, and in addition a top-dressing of fresh 
manure applied to most of it with manure spreader and 
harrowed in, also about 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of ground 
lime (not air-slaked nor.steamed, but ground) spread 
broadcast per acre, and quickly dragged in. The land 
was gone over a few extra times with drag just before 
seeding, and smoothed over with a weeder, then the 
seed was sown August 15-16, and again gone over with 
a weeder, and it is to-day a beautiful success. I do 
not give the credit to any one thing. I believe that 
there is too much faking about bacteria and too much 
mystery hung about growing Alfalfa, and that any 
farmer on well-drained land can do as well as we 
with the same care, without thinking he has to get 
yeast cakes or the soil from an Alfalfa field. I believe 
that this sour land can be made to produce better crops 
by careful cultivation without lime, than by the use of 
lime with less care in cultivation, but that the applica¬ 
tion of lime alone without further application of 
humus would be of little value. Even moderate appli¬ 
cations of stable manure make a wonderful change, 
and the constant stirring of the soil certainly seems io 
help to “sweeten” it. I do not know what “scientific” 
men would say to this. A crop of Alfalfa is well worth 
working for, and I trust that our experience may lead 
other farmers to go ahead and try for themselves with 
the materials they have at hand. I would suggest late 
Summer sowing instead of Spring sowing, as after the 
first of August the weeds do not seem to start very 
much, and the repeated dragging of the land before¬ 
hand kills out each successive crop of weed seeds which 
start, and the land is clear, ready for the 
Alfalfa to go ahead and do its best. 
ISAAC C. ROGERS. 
Livingston Co., N. Y. 
SUGAR BEET GROWER'S STORY 
There are several thousand acres an¬ 
nually contracted for by the Lyons Beet 
Sugar Refining Co. in this and adjoining 
counties, and the acreage increasing each 
year. Some of our best farmers have 
grown them for several years, and con¬ 
sider them a good paying crop. The bulk 
of the crop this year was contracted for 
at $5 per ton net, delivered on board car 
or canal boat. The average yield last 
year was, 1 believe, about 10 tons per 
acre. For the last three years the com¬ 
pany has furnished Italian help to those 
who need it at $1.25 per day, but most 
of it was done at $6 per acre, that is the 
thinning and weeding, which has to be 
done by hand; the grower of course does 
the cultivating. Any good corn land will 
grow sugar beets; they should follow 
corn or some other well cultivated crop, 
and the land should be plowed deep, the 
deeper the better. We sow the seed with 
a common grain drill; I let every fourth 
drill sow. That left the rows 28 inches apart, and let 
every tooth run phosphate, about 400 pounds per acre. 
We sow 12 pounds beet seed per acre, costing this 
year 15 cents per pound. After beets are up and in third 
leaf, thin with hoe, cutting right through the row, leav¬ 
ing bunches eight to 12 inches apart. Weeders then 
follow and thin bunches to one plant. Cultivate at least 
every 10 days. At last cultivation put wings on and 
hill up. Beets vary in maturing, according to land, so 
the factory sends men about the middle of September to 
all the fields to get samples, which are sent to the fac¬ 
tory and tested, so we may know when to harvest. In 
harvesting take moldboard and wheel off any common 
plow, and run point under row. Beets are then 
lifted by hand and after topping put in piles and covered 
with tops. Cost of harvesting runs a little more than 
potatoes. NEW BEET GROWER, 
Wayne Co., N, Y. 
