THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 25, 
146 
DENMARK’S SMALL FARMERS. 
A recent congress of the “housemen” or small farm¬ 
ers at Jutland, has adopted unique resolutions regarding 
taxes. There were in 1902 160,000 of these small farm¬ 
ers occupying farms of one to 20 acres. Following are 
extracts from resolutions adopted: 
“The small farmers make this demand: the speediest 
possible abolition of every tariff, import and tax, direct 
or indirect, upon articles of consumption, that is, upon 
food, clothing, furniture, buildings, farm implements, 
tools, machinery, raw materials and income gained by 
labor, because all such burdens are resting with undue 
weight on labor and the poor man.” * * * Instead 
'of taxes upon these articles the “housemen ’ demand 
that for obtaining public revenue, value of the land be 
taxed which is not the result of the work of a single 
individual, but is caused by the growth and development 
of the community. * * * We require that such po¬ 
litical parties as want our assistance must work for a 
tax reform of this kind during the present session of 
the State assembly.” 
The ideas involved in these resolutions are radically 
different from what would be expected of farmers, 
large or small, in the United States, but they are simi¬ 
lar to those expressed often among our suburban resi¬ 
dents, and are undoubtedly based upon the theory that 
site or location value, regardless of improvements, 
should be considered as the primary source of public 
rffvpnuc GEORGE WHITE. 
FERTILIZER TESTS IN PENNSYLVANIA . 
What Chemicals for Potatoes. 
Morningside Farm is located in northern Pennsyl¬ 
vania, in Bradford County, not far from the New York- 
State line. The soil is chiefly red shale. The region 
is one in which commercial fertilizers have as yet come 
into use but little. A farmer told me only last Sum¬ 
mer that lie bad tried it, and had called an intelligent 
neighbor to view the crop with him, but neither could 
see any effect from the fertilizer. 1 his fairly repre¬ 
sents the prevailing opinion in the vicinity, as I have 
heard it expressed, modified by a more or less general 
feeling that on buckwheat fertilizer may have some 
value. It should be added that such trials have appar¬ 
ently usually been made with “phosphate,” which means 
any ready-mixed fertilizer, and may have almost any 
sort of composition, except that from the nature of the 
case it must be limited to low-priced materials. In 
view of this prevailing opinion two simple trials .at 
Morningside Farm possess some interest. The first 
was made with potatoes and hay several years ago, on a 
hillside, deficient in humus, and in a general run-down 
condition. The trials included nitrate of soda, at the 
rate of 200 pounds per acre, acid phosphate at the 
rate of 600 pounds per acre, and muriate of potash at 
the rate of 120 pounds per acre. With potatoes, nitro¬ 
gen and phosphoric acid gave a heavier yield than all 
three ingredients together, the increase over plots with¬ 
out fertilizer being about 55 per cent. The yield from 
all three was nearly as good. With hay all three gave 
best results, an increase of 100 per cent in the crop, ten 
bunches as against five, which were not weighed. 
In 1900 more careful tests were made upon potatoes, 
five plots being used, as follows, each one-tenth acre in 
size: Plot 1.—No fertilizer. Yield 394 pounds. Vines 
weak and scattering. Size of potatoes, one-half fair to 
average; one-half small. Plot 2.—Twenty pounds ni¬ 
trate of soda; 20 pounds muriate of potash. Yield 
081 pounds. Vines stronger and healthier. Size of 
potatoes, three-fourths fair to average; one-fourth small. 
Plot 3.—Twenty pounds nitrate of soda; 20 pounds 
tankage; 40 pounds basic slag. Yield 688 pounds. Size 
of potatoes, average. Plot 4.—Twenty pounds tankage; 
40 pounds basic slag; 20 pounds muriate of potash. 
Yield 716 pounds. Size of potatoes, better than No. 3. 
Vines on this plot appeared to ripen before any of 
the others. Plot 5.—Twenty pounds nitrate of soda; 20 
pounds tankage; 40 pounds basic slag; 20 pounds muri¬ 
ate of potash. Yield 803 pounds. Size of potatoes, 
three-fourths fine, one-eighth good. ®ne-eighth small. 
General growth and appearance of vines better than 
any of the others. A poor streak of soil crossed this 
plot. In regular field rows, eight rows without fertilizer 
yielded 23 bushels. Eight rows with fertilizer, at the 
approximate rate of 500 pounds per acre, made up of 
100 pounds nitrate of soda, 100 pounds tankage, 200 
pounds basic slag, and 100 pounds muriate of potash, 
yielded 48 bushels, a little more than double the 
amount from rows without fertilizer. Under these 
conditions ail three elements seem to be needed. Their 
application at the rate of 1,000 pounds per acre in¬ 
creased the yield 68 bushels per acre. Apparently there 
is no reason to think, therefore, that properly com¬ 
pounded fertilizers are any less valuable in that par¬ 
ticular region than elsewhere. 
None of these results, however, begins to equal the 
effect produced by the remains of an old stack of 
buckwheat straw found in the field where the first 
tests were made. This covered only a small area, and 
no estimate of the yield was made, but I remember 
digging one bill in this space and finding 11 fine large 
potatoes in it. There was so much vegetable matter at 
this point that it looked as though it would be unfavor¬ 
able to plant growth, but the results showed far other¬ 
wise. Now, if some wise man would tell us how much 
of that result was due to the actual plant food fur¬ 
nished by the straw and how much was due to other 
effects upon the soil, I .should like to hear his answer. 
HALVES OF SPENCER SEEDLESS APPLES. Fig. 58. 
I should like to know how to put an entire field into 
that condition by some feasible method. One lesson 
seems to be plain, at all events, which is that there is 
little danger of getting too much vegetable matter into 
the soil, and that we should take every opportunity 
to increase the supply. 
There are some interesting and unsolved problems 
connected with the use of fertilizers for potatoes. One 
of these has to do with the forms of nitrogen best 
suited to the crop. Nitrate of soda, as all know, is 
CROSS SECTION OF SEEDLESS APPLES. Fig. 59. 
our most quickly available form. If applied at plant¬ 
ing time is it largely lost before the young plants are in 
a position to make use of it? The potato plant has a 
considerable supply of food upon which to depend be¬ 
fore it needs to elaborate food for itself. Apparently 
it does not need outside supplies so soon as most other 
plants. Is a slower-acting form of nitrogen better 
adapted to its needs? A general feeling prevails that 
it is. 
Another closely connected problem is the influence 
TYPICAL SPENCER SEEDLESS APPLES. Fig. 00. 
of fertilizers on blight. What method of treatment will 
best enable the plant to ward off this disease? In the 
above tests the plants which received no fertilizer showed 
decidedly less injury from this cause thai^ those which 
received fertilizer. The plot which received no nitro¬ 
gen except that contained in the tankage was appar¬ 
ently more affected than any of the others. I know 
one very successful grower who believes that a quick- 
AN “ORIGINAL” SPENCER SEEDLESS TREE. Fig. 01. 
acting fertilizer favors the blight, an opinion based 
upon observation. He believes that if nitrate of soda 
is to be used it should not be applied until the plants 
are well developed, and suggests that at that time it 
might have a favorable effect in this regard. If this 
be true, Plot 5 in the above tests should have blighted 
worse than Plot 4, which was not the case. The prob¬ 
lem is a complex one, but none the less important. 
FRED W. CARD. 
PLANTING WALNUTS AND ALMONDS. 
I wish to plant 10 acres to English walnuts and almonds. 
What varieties would he best for commercial use? How far 
apart should the trees be planted? Would it be best to 
plant together, or plant in different plots and use peaches 
for tillers between walnuts? E. b. 
Asotin, Wash. 
Walnut trees should not be, planted nearer than 50 
feet apart, for they will eventually extend their branches 
so as to fill the intervening spaces. A fruit or nut¬ 
bearing tree of any kind should be given room fully to 
expand its branches laterally as well as vertically, that 
the sunlight may reach the foliage on all sides as well 
as above. This causes the proper development of the 
crops and this cannot be without it. When the frees 
are crowded 'for air and light their lower branches 
dwindle and finally die in part, and the rest assume an 
upward tendency. This is all right for a forest, but 
not for an orchard, and those who are planting walnut 
trees, which should live and bear for very many years, 
should not make the mistake that many make who plant 
trees of a more temporary character. It is bad enough 
to crowd an apple, peach or prune tree, but the con¬ 
sequences with a nut free are far worse, because more 
lasting. 
It is all right to fill in between the walnut trees with 
others that will bear early and be ready for removal 
with a few years, but I would not advise planting many 
almond trees anywhere in Washington. I have seen 
them in bearing there, but the conditions that are re¬ 
quired for really profitable almond growing are peculiar, 
and I do not think exist there. I know some almond 
growers in Oregon whose orchards I examined that 
were pulling the trees because they did not pay as well 
as t’hey should. The almond requires a very dry sea¬ 
son when they are maturing and the nuts dropping out of 
the hulls. They should be very clean and bright, and in 
a humid region this cannot be so, for the almond is sur¬ 
rounded with a soft and almost pulpy covering which 
holds moisture and discolors the enclosed nuts in rainy 
weather. T he fairest and most marketable almonds I 
ever saw, not excepting those of California, were in 
southern Utah, where the ripening season is very dry 
and the air remarkably pure. I would warn anyone in 
Washington and Oregon to be very careful and go slow 
about going into almond culture. The peach, prune, 
apple or pear would be a good filler for a walnut or¬ 
chard. The Franquette and Mayette are the best two 
varieties of the walnut to plant anywhere on the Pacific 
coast. Trees that have been propagated on Black wal¬ 
nut roots are the best, but these are almost’ impossible 
to get. Next to these seedlings of the first generation 
from grafted trees should be planfed. 
_H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
BUYING MILK BY FAT TEST. 
In your notes on high grade milk, I notice that none 
of your correspondents sells milk as we do in this 
section. We sell to Whiting & Sons, of Boston, who 
have the entire territory from Greenwich on the G. & 
J. R. R. around to Buskirk on the B. and M. entirely 
to themselves. They pay $1.70 per hundred pounds for 
four per cent milk and two cents per hundred more 
for every point over four per cent, or two cents less 
for every point under; thus 4.5 milk would pay $1.80. 
This price, $1.70, is for December, which is the highest 
they have ever paid. The lowest for last Summer -was 
94 cents per hundred for May, June and July for four 
per cent milk. Most of the cows through here are 
Holsteins, full bloods and grades, although there are 
some Guernsey herds. Now, is the two cents per point 
a sufficient incentive to keep up the test? Every morn¬ 
ing a sample is taken from each farmer’s milk, and put 
in bottles, which are kept for that purpose, and num¬ 
bered, so that everyone’s milk is kept separate. This 
milk is then tested twice a month, usually the fifteenth 
and thirtieth, bv the man in charge of the shipping 
station. Some months there is considerable grumbling 
among the farmers over their test, although there is no 
way of telling whether they are correct or not. Perhaps 
that is the reason that the majority pay more attention 
to keeping up the flow of milk than they do to the 
test, but I believe in most cases the men doing the 
testing are honest. It seems as though there should 
be a difference in the rate for milk above four per cent 
in the Winter, when it is worth $1.70 per hundred, and 
in the Summer when it is worth only 94 cents, but 
the two cents per hundred per point Winter or Summer 
remains the same. Here is the most objectionable part 
of shipping milk I find you cannot raise hogs at a 
profit without skim-milk. We formerly had butter 
factories to patronize, and the skim-milk was very handy 
at feeding time. I have given up breeding Poland 
Chinas o-n this account. 
My reason for keeping Poland Chinas is that if a 
man is selling his hogs alive I believe there is more 
money in this breed than in anv other, as they are 
always fit to go, and it does not cost much to make 
them weigh 200 pounds; always provided you have 
the skim-milk to start the little fellows along. For 
home trade where you have to dress them a Chester 
White will be more satisfactory, as most of the butchers, 
object to a black hog, although they dress almost as. 
white as the white ones. jay f. Harrington. 
Washington Co., N. Y. 
