1909. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
361 
ONE REMEDY FOR SWINDLING. 
Pear and peach trees fully in bloom, 
the time for planting corn is at hand 
(March 10). In some place, it is 
already up to a good stand. Of late 
years our people have learned to make 
the seed very distasteful to birds, moles, 
gophers, etc., by pouring common kero¬ 
sene oil over it and mixing well, so 
every grain gets a touch of it, before 
it is put into hopper of planter. About 
a i tablespoonful to( a peck of seed 
is plenty, and the result will be sat¬ 
isfactory, as much so as it ever was 
with tarring of seed. Some even claim 
that the oil softens the hull and makes 
the seed sprout quicker than it would 
without the oiling. What is wanted is 
just to get the seed to smell of the 
oil, and Mr. Bird, etc., has no use 
for it. 
I have been much interested in the 
different reports as they appear in The 
r N.-Y., as to how much of the con¬ 
sumer’s dollar is really the producers’ 
and shippers’ share. We all understand 
<>hat there is something very much, 
out of joint, but do not always see 
where the exact trouble is. Some facts 
came to my knowledge recently that 
really shocked me, as I could not think 
of such .low-down rascality as was 
clearly shown. A particular friend 
from one of our principal cities of the 
State was on a visit to us, and talk¬ 
ing on farm topics one way and an¬ 
other, my friend remarked that if the 
farmer got what by rights ought to 
be his he could not help but prosper. 
He cited an instance: One of his 
neighbors, a good friend, is a telegraph 
operator for one of the leading rail¬ 
road systems in the State, who told 
him this: “We have in this city two 
leading commission men or firms, who 
handle a large volume of stuff. Both 
houses have drummers on the road 
who hustle for business, which they 
get in plenty. Now let us call one 
house Mr. Dago and the other Mr. 
Yankee. Openly for appearances’ sake, 
these two houses fight one another. 
Secretly they are in partnership, any¬ 
way as far as their stealings go. A 
short time ago the Dago house bought 
two carloads of cabbages from a 
shipper somewhere up North, prob¬ 
ably Wisconsin. Goods were bought 
at a fixed price wth privilege of ex¬ 
amination. Cabbage arrived in due 
time, and, as the operator said, in ex¬ 
cellent shape. Mr. Dago opened car, 
took out a crate or two and pronounced 
the lot damaged and refused to re¬ 
ceive it. The operator wired back to 
shipper, “Goods refused; what do with 
them?” Back came the answer, “Do 
the best you can with it.” Mr. Yankee 
then came, paid freight on the two 
cars, and promised to settle with the 
shipper at a fair rate. He and Mr. 
Dago then went to unloading the goods 
and filling the orders that had al¬ 
ready been booked for them. “Now,” 
said the operator to my friend in con¬ 
clusion, “judging from the way these 
two fellows have been skinning the 
shippers right and left, the shipper of 
those two loads of cabbages is lucky 
if he gets anything above the freight 
out of it.” Now while this on the 
face of it is a plain case of swind¬ 
ling, yet there is no redress—no con¬ 
viction in any court could be had. The 
operator, perhaps the only witness that 
might be had, would refuse to testify, 
for if he did his company would fire 
him in short order. Is there no pos¬ 
sible way to protect shippers against 
such sharks? 
We have tried in our State (Texas) 
to get our railroad commission to or¬ 
der the different roads in our State 
to issue a free pass or permission to 
a shipper to accompany his car of 
produce, free' of charge, to its des¬ 
tination and return. This is done with 
bananas. A man goes with every car 
and sees to it en route that the “vents” 
are closed or opened as may be re¬ 
quired. Men also are entitled to go 
along with cars of live stock. Our rail¬ 
road commission did not grant the 
concession, as they said, for the want 
of jurisdiction outside of our State 
lines. The matter proper would be 
for Dur Interstate Commerce Com¬ 
mission to decide, and it appears to 
the writer as if it would be a good plan 
to make the effort. The ’railroad 
people, of course, will 'oppose any¬ 
thing in this line being done for the 
shipper, because quite often they are 
to blame for goods spoiling en route 
through delays, etc., which would give 
the shipper a hold on them if he could 
prove it, and this is what they don’t 
want. If the railroads cannot afford 
to give a free ride to the man with 
his car, say let them make it half-fare. 
If that man who shipped the two cars 
of cabbages could have been on the 
spot, instead of being buncoed there 
would have been something else doing. 
A man would not have to go with 
his car or cars if he did not deem it 
necessary. It would only be a relief 
in case of need. I would be glad to 
hear from some of your big shippers 
in car lots on this point. Cabbages 
have been selling in our markets all 
Winter at from' $2.75 to $3 per 100 
pounds. J. W. STUBENRAUCH. 
Oats and Barley Together. 
W. II. 1 ST., Bethel, Conn. —How would it 
do to sow oats and barloy together? Would 
they get ripe at the same time, or would it 
be better to sow each separate? If you 
sowed together how much of each would 
you sow? 
Ans. —There is no reason why oats 
and barley should not be sown to¬ 
gether. They will make a good growth, 
should both be sown in the (early 
Spring, and they will ripen about the 
same time. The amount of seed to 
be used will be determined somewhat 
by the condition of the land. If a 
strong, fertile soil, use 114 bushel of 
oats and one bushel of barley per 
acre. If the soil is inclined to be light, 
sandy in its nature, use a bushel and 
a half each of barley and oats per 
acre. The seed should be put in as 
early in the Spring as the land can be 
given tillage. In your section the seed 
should be in the ground" at least by the 
middle of April. l. a. clinton. 
The Ashes from Manure. 
A. B., Fair Haven, Pa. — I can get ashes 
of burnt horse manure, that is, the fresh 
horse manure piled and set on fire; after 
it is done burning it looks like phosphate 
and smells like lime. Would you prefer haul¬ 
ing the ashes or fresh manure? I bought 
28 acres two miles from Pittsburg, and 
the soil is very poor. 
Ans. —An average sample of horse 
manure will contain about the follow¬ 
ing in one ton: 1,425 pounds of water, 
508 pounds organic matter and 67 
pounds of ash. In the organic matter 
will be found 10 pounds of nitrogen, 
and in the ash 13 pounds of potash, 
six pounds phosphoric acid and five 
pounds of lime. It is a fact that if you 
should burn a ton of manure completely 
—so that nothing more could burn, you 
would have less than 70 pounds left. 
That would be what we call ash—like 
what is left from wood and coal after 
everything has been burned. During the 
burning all the water in the manure 
would be evaporated and all the nitro¬ 
gen in the organic matter would be 
driven off into the air. That is because 
this nitrogen is a gas, which passes 
off, as ammonia does out of a bottle, 
unless it is combined with some other 
substance to form a solid like the straw 
or hay in the manure. Tt is not likely 
that the manure you sneak of is com¬ 
pletely burned, but the difference be¬ 
tween manure and its ash would be 
about as follows: In a ton of manure 
you would take 10 pounds of nitrogen, 
13 of potash, and six of phosphoric 
acid—all worth about $2.40. In a full 
ton of the pure ashes you would take 
at least 375 pounds of potash and 160 
pounds of phosphoric acid, besides 10 
pounds of lime. Such a load would 
be worth over $25 as plant food—but 
you must remember that there is no 
nitrogen in it. We should haul as much 
of the fresh manure as possible—both 
because the nitrogen |s needed while the 
organic matter gives needed “bulk” or 
humus for the soil. A combination of 
the two—fresh manure plowed under 
and ashes broadcast, would be fine. 
%, 
Follow the Cycle with 
Bradley’s Fertilizers 
and Modern Rotation 
“I find that as I have increased from year to year 
the amount of fertilizer used on my potato crop, 
the easier it has been for me to pay for the fertilizer . ’ 
(So writes one of our customers.) 
Farming on this 
plan with 
Modern Labor 
Saving 
Machinery 
gives annual 
returns often 
equal to the value 
of the land under 
cultivation 
and keeps up 
soil fertility 
The above cycle shows how this customer as well as other 
successful farmers make it pay to increase their use of Bradley’s 
Fertilizer. On the fifth year the land is again planted to 
potatoes with a good grass sod, produced by the Bradley’s 
Fertilizer, plowed under. The second year another field is 
planted to potatoes, the third year another, and the fourth 
another, so that the rotation never ceases. 
It is becoming the custom among the most successful 
farmers to use one ton per acre of Bradley’s High Grade Fer¬ 
tilizers on potatoes, and besides growing a large crop they find 
that a good quantity of the plant food remains to benefit the 
succeeding grain and hay crops. 
Write to us or apply to our nearest local agent for descrip¬ 
tive booklet. 
BRADLEY FERTILIZER WORKS 
92 State Street, Boston, Mass. 2 Rector Street, New York 
