1909. 
TH K RURAL NEW-YORKER 
ei3 
BURLAP HAY CAPS. 
I noticed your inquiry in regard to hay caps. Tell 
those farmers who have a lot of burlap sacks to sew 
two or more of them together, according to size 
wanted, using binder twine to sew with, and I think 
they will find them equal to any that they can get. 
They will protect the hay through the hardest rains, 
and, if properly taken care of, will last a long time. 
One farmer here sews four together, covering the 
hay cock nearly all over. E. A. G. 
Millington, Mass. 
SIMPLE FACTS ABOUT POTATO SPRAYING. 
I am about to spray potatoes this year for the first 
time, and there are one or two points not clearly ex¬ 
plained in anything I have read. IIow much Paris-green 
should I use to 50 gallons, and how much Bordeaux for 
any certain number of acres? On page 529, Mr. Martin 
says to use 1 l /t pounds of green to the acre, but this 
does not answer either one of my questions, and really is 
nothing to go by for a greenhorn to mix his first barrel. 
Warren, Pa. w. a. s. 
If 50 gallons were applied per acre we would put 
into it \y 2 . pound of green. If rains threatened, 
hardshells and their larvse were decidedly too plenty, 
two pounds of green would be used per acre. This, 
of course, is for extreme cases. The extra amount 
of green used is trifling, compared with the possible 
bug damage in only a few hours, let alone the possi¬ 
bility of second expenses and labor of respraying 
and irreparable damage. Constitutionally the potato 
is none too strong. Insect and disease foes attack 
usually the potato foliage, which is its very vitals at 
this stage. If the damage is serious the plant sus¬ 
tains a shock from which it seldom recovers. We 
never fool with the bugs. 
Ordinarily 50 gallons of Bordeaux cover 1 l / 2 acre 
and three pounds of green is put into barrel for bugs. 
It is positively immaterial how much or how little 
water is used per acre, but it is imperative that 
enough poison per acre is used. A pound, possibly 
three-quarters of a pound of good green will do 
fairly satisfactory destruction if all conditions are 
right, such as pure green and favoring weather. 
Standard formulas for Paris green vary from one- 
quarter to five pounds green per 250 gallons of wa¬ 
ter. The latter strength is recommended by scienti¬ 
fic men but rarely, except for heroic work. The 
former strength is a constant -reminder of some hotel 
soup. Such dilute, homeopathic doses are doubtless 
right for special orcharding work, hut altogether too 
weak for prompt, effectual and satisfactory potato 
work. There is some adulterated green on the mar¬ 
ket. Several years ago when doing general spray¬ 
ing for the public, using water and green only, 
relief valve was sd adjusted that 50 gallons covered 
five acres and seven pounds of green was used per 
barrel with gratifying results. No lime was used, 
or foliage burned. The aim should be to have green 
evenly distributed over each acre. 
There are many good poisons, some of which are 
undoubtedly more safe, but when economy, deadliness 
and rapidity are in jeopardy Paris-green compares 
favorably with the most of them, except white ar¬ 
senic, salsoda and Bordeaux. This latter insecti¬ 
cidal-fungicidal remedy is probably the cheapest so¬ 
lution to date. Local experiment stations furnish 
details. Friends tell us it does good slaughtering, 
but will burn potato foliage if used too freely. 
As to “ how much Bordeaux to prepare for any 
certain number of acres,” this also depends on how 
much Bordeaux a sprayer applies per acre and form¬ 
ula followed. For say five acres of potatoes, 5-5-50 
standard, 50 gallons Bordeaux per acre at each ap¬ 
plication, 25 pounds of vitriol would be required. 
For one or two weeks, both before and after max¬ 
imum growth, an important period with the crop, it 
will usually pay to apply 100 gallons of Bordeaux, or 
more, per acre. With either old or new sprayer, ex¬ 
perienced or inexperienced man, the sprayer should 
be thoroughly cleaned and put into actual working 
order and tested by spraying a barrel of clear water 
in the field in order to be in perfect readiness when 
the call comes from the field and the -bugs’ appe¬ 
tites pass endurance, to be in a position to “strike 
while the iron is hot.” On time is a virtue. Jokingly, 
some friends have said: “This day^ and generation 
are developing by Bordeaux a new species of potato 
bugs with copper-lined stomachs that can resist poi¬ 
sons.” _ T. E. MARTIN. 
HUNTING ON SUNDAY.—Two tilings seem to interest 
our people particularly just now—damage from railroad 
fires and experience witli hunters. Last Winter a reader 
at Geneva senl us a clipping describing a ease where a 
man was arrested for hunting on Sunday. The result 
of the trial is given as follows: 
“The evidence showed that Bell was seen in the town on 
a Sunday. He had a dog and a gun with him and was 
accompanied by another man. The defense maintained 
that Bell was in the country simply for the purpose of 
training his dog. The taking of evidence and the sum¬ 
ming up by the attorneys consumed the entire after¬ 
noon and the case was given to the jury late in the 
afternoon. After being out a few minutes the jury brought 
in a verdict of guilty. Bell was fined $10, the maximum 
penalty for the offense.” 
THE MILK PROBLEM. 
I am very glad to see the subject of the actual cost 
of milk production discussed, and hope we may hear from 
others, including those who, like ourselves, feed silage. 
In these days, when cows, labor and feed are so high, it 
is necessary to figure closely and carefully in order to 
make even a living, with the present scale of milk prices. 
Only when the time comes that we shall have a regular, 
consistent price throughout the year will we begin to 
feel that we can calculate ahead and have something on 
which to make improvements and modernize our working 
plans and equipment. As in every other business, capital 
is necessary on the farm, and one may read with eager 
eyes the tales of big crops and how to enrich the land, 
all in vain, unless he has the money to invest in the 
necessary helps. New York City needs and wants pure, 
sweet milk, and the sooner it reaches there after it is 
milked the better. There are fertile farms all about 
especially adapted to dairy farming, and many of them 
fairly well equipped. Few are stocked over half. Why? 
Because the price and restrictions crush and kill all in¬ 
centive to further effort—and what is the result? Milk 
the city; must have, and so the dealers send by special 
fast train up into the northern part of the State for 
milk to supply the demand, and the Board of Health com¬ 
plains that tlie milk is not wholesome and conditions must 
be looked after on the farm. Milk, in the home of the 
producer, is considered old after 24 hours; what must it 
be when it comes so far? If the people of New York 
City and the Board of Health will bring to bear such 
pressure on the companies who sell the milk as to force 
them to pay in proportion to what they charge, then half 
the battle will be won; or else let them so assist the 
nearby farmers with their influence and support as to 
enable them to say, “We will produce the milk, clean, 
sweet and pure, when we get the price that pays. In¬ 
tensive farming all through the country about New York, 
fresh, wholesome milk! The people of the city can have 
it if they will give the intelligent farmer an incentive 
and an opportunity; and inspectors and guests coming 
to view the source of their milk supply will receive the 
old-time country welcome whenever they visit the farm. 
M. B. H. 
FARM CONDITIONS IN NEW YORK. 
Those who are desirous of acquainting themselves with 
the conditions of real estate in the region of the unoc¬ 
cupied farms of New York State will doubtless find it to 
their advantage to study the various articles that have 
appeared in the It. N.-Y. during the past six mont\hs„ 
dealing with the subject. I would mention especially the 
articles in the issues of Nov. 21, Jan. 30, March 13 and 
March 20. These, with an article that is to follow, re¬ 
lating to church and school conditions, will help consid¬ 
erably to gain a somewhat definite understanding of the 
situation. I will add that our rural school year is 32 
weeks, with local privilege of extending longer; but this 
is seldom done. 
It is doubtful whether a person not acquainted here 
can get a perfect understanding of soil, climate, topography 
and social conditions from mere reading. Two persons 
get different ideas from the same words. A general un¬ 
derstanding may be had. I want to say something in this 
article about our local markets, highways and railroad 
facilities. Railroads are more or less numerous. The 
fact that a farm is three miles from railway service counts 
but little against it. Some of the cheap farms are nearer 
than that. Some very desirable farms are five miles 
away, and there are localities where it is ten miles to a 
railroad station. Right here there are few farms, more 
than six or eight miles distant from a railway station, 
and most, farms are much nearer. Our highways are 
being improved, but there is yet much to be desired. The 
State is constructing roads at. enormous expense, and the 
work is paid for by the State. Taxes are not supposed 
to be increased thereby, but of course the bills have to 
be paid somehow. Most of these roads are not regarded 
as very satisfactory by the public, since the money ex¬ 
pended is not believed to be wisely distributed. However, 
there are. always leaks in any public enterprise, and some 
good will come out of highway improvement at State 
expense. Our common dirt roads are at times horrible, 
but. the new and more expensive system of working is 
bringing some benefits. A better understanding of how 
to construct and maintain a dirt road is bringing us 
better roads, and many of those who have road questions 
to settle are coming to understand something of the ad¬ 
vantages of keeping water out of the highways. 
Our local markets are good only in certain respects and 
for limited quantities. For several years there has been 
generally a good local market for butter, since dairymen 
all sell milk at the creamery or station. There appears 
to be a very good local market for small fruits. This, 
of course, could be overstocked, but it seldom or never 
has been. The market for poultry and eggs is next to 
nothing, shipping to New York being much the more profit¬ 
able. Potatoes are commonly slow, locally, but cabbages 
frequently do very well. There is an unlimited market 
for grains of all sorts among the farmers, except for oats, 
which are too high for farm feeders, and these sell well 
in town. Hay is commonly sold locally, but some of it 
is shipped away. Orchard fruits would not usually sell 
very well in local trade, tinless one wanted to peddle 
a few hundred bushels. Our local merchants do not com¬ 
monly try to find an outlet for farmers’ products, as they 
once did, and the farmer has to look out for bis own 
markets. 1 am not sure but the farmer is as well off for 
it. He also looks out a good deal for the things lie buys, 
and very frequently orders his goods in quantities from 
far and near. The dealers might hold the farmers’ trade 
much better by trying to accommodate him in the matter 
of sales. Our creameries and milk stations are located 
at frequent intervals, and- are all anxious to purchase 
milk. The dairy business far surpasses all else here, but 
one is not obliged to engage in it if he prefers fruits, 
grain growing, poultry or other/lines of farming. 
Chenango Co., N. Y. h. ii. lyon. 
R. N.-Y'.—Mr. Lyon’s articles have attracted consid¬ 
erable attention. Many people are writing or coming in 
person to investigate these farms. We commend Mr. 
Lyon's fair and conservative statements to the considera¬ 
tion of western land "boomers.” 
CROP PROSPECTS. 
We are very wet here, showers almost daily, and sun¬ 
shine is needed. A letter from North Florida says that 
they have had no rain of any account since March 18, 
and that the leaves on the forest trees are curling up 
and the wells almost dry. w. f. m. 
Salisbury, Md. _ 
• I wish you might have seen the 150 or more acres of 
clover I have been plowing under the past few weeks, 
and a field of Russian Vetch I am saving for seed. Just 
beginning to sow cow peas (June 7), and hope to get 
in at least 65 acres of them. These plants are all great 
to help a lazy farmer get rich and his land richer, 
(treat crop of peaches here this year, and a good, big start 
for our first apple crop. Two sprayings already out the 
way, and pump all ready for another. Corn at $1 made 
us plant 60 acres, on clover sod mostly. 
Connecticut. j. h. hale. 
This country is comparatively new. At this place there 
are three real estate agents at work selling land at $100 
to $150 per acre, selling mostly to Illinois men. It is 
very level, and the soil is rather coarse. From an eastern 
man’s view it seems to me that they are paying a 
very high price. They sell all they raise and put noth¬ 
ing back on the soil. Very little stock is raised here. 
One very encouraging feature to me is that it is being 
bought and settled by young people, and all of them 
have quite large families. Race suicide is not prevalent 
here. We are having lots of rain, and the ground is very 
wet. v. 
Paulding Co., O. 
While it is true that we have bad an “awful Spring.” 
I have nothing to complain of in the condition of the 
farm to-night (May 31). We got our oat ground plowed 
last Fall, and the manure hauled out nearly as fast as 
it was made all Winter. I will say right here that this 
is the reason why I have never bought a spreader. I 
can’t afford to have three or four hundred loads of ma¬ 
nure around the barn when Spring opens up. We sowed 
oats and peas when we could and plowed for corn when 
it was too wet to sow. So that now we have all our 
crops in. and the corn is coming up. We had so much 
silage that we have kept the cows in until the grass has 
got a fine start, and the cows are just straining their 
bags with milk. It is true that it has snowed this month, 
but the Alfalfa has grown between squalls. j. u. ji. 
Madison Co., N. Y. 
Our fruit prospects in this section were not over bright 
for this year, and June 1 our section was visited by a 
violent hailstorm, which completely ruined all fruit over 
which it passed. Some were not in its track, while others 
were. I have not been able to determine the extent of 
damage yet, but by way of an example of the thorough 
clean-tip, it made, I visited a peach and Strawberry grow¬ 
ers’ place who was in the path the following day. He 
had a five-acre patch of late berries on which lie had 
made his first picking on the same day the storm came. 
Had a mower run over it a cleaner job couldn’t have been 
made. There was no sign even of the plants except some 
leaf stalks (stubs). Every berry and leaf was cut off. 
His blackberries and raspberries were showing bare canes, 
no foliage or berries left. Peach trees nearly stripped of 
foliage, and what was there hanging in shreds, young ap¬ 
ple trees bruised from top to bottom. His garden was 
gone, no sign of it left. I walked across a piece of ground 
he said was his onion patch. It was as bare as the road. 
I never saw a more complete wreck. His new packing 
house was blown down, and as six pickers were in it, it 
is a marvel no lives were list. Still, if a man has one 
visitation like this in his career it is usually all. I had 
the experience once, about 10 years ago. I have never 
forgotten it; but it was| my only one one in 21 years, 
and things came out all right again by next year. 
Sec. Va. Horticultural Society. Walter whately. 
To the western stockmen the present Spring has been 
one of the most trying in many years. This is especially 
true of the Rocky Mountain region where the season has 
been unseasonably late with severe snow storms long after 
the ordinary period. On many of the lambing grounds 
there the snow was so deep that it was impossible to 
reacR them, and, in consequence, the lambing operations 
were transferred to other locations where the surroundings 
were not altogether satisfactory. The extremely cold, 
windy weather has also kept the green grass from start¬ 
ing as early as usual, in consequence of which the ranges 
have been fully a month late. When the usual time ar¬ 
rived for turning the stock onto the open ranges from 
the feed lots there was very little grass available, and 
as the stockmen had used up all their supply of hay, the 
stock, especially the cattle, suffered somewhat for want 
of feed. In New Mexico the sheepmen made a strong 
plea to the Forest Service to allow them to take some 
of their herds into the Pecos National Forest, which has 
been closed against sheep grazing for several years. The 
closing of this forest to sheep was owing to the watershed 
interests involved, together with the question of pro¬ 
tecting the young growth of timber which is coming for¬ 
ward on that forest. However, the condition was so 
serious that after carefully weighing the question, the 
forester suspended for a time the prohibition against 
sheep, and 25,000 sheep will be allowed to enter that 
forest to graze unti such time as the conditions on the 
outside ranges become normal, which is hoped will be as 
soon as the Summer rains set in early in July. A pleasing 
illustration of the care the stockmen take of their animals 
was noticed in a recent trip of forest officers over some 
of the ranges in Colorado and Wyoming. The sheep had 
been sheared at the usual time, but, as the season was 
very backward and the animals in rather poor condition, 
to meet unusual storms many of the sheepmen had pro¬ 
vided small canvas blankets or covers for the sheep. After 
shearing, these covers were fastened to the sheep in such 
a way as to protect their backs and sides, which, in a 
measure, took the place of the wool which had been 
taken from them. Thus they were Ix'tter able to with¬ 
stand a severe storm and the use of such blankets has 
been the’ means of saving many thousands of dollars to 
the sheep owners. 
EXPRESS IN CANADA.—Our Canadian friends also 
have their troubles with express charges. The Weekly 
Fin it Grower gives a synopsis of the evidence before the 
Railway Commission : 
“The evidence l>efore the Railway Commission on 
Wednesday revealed the astounding fact that all the real 
money ever invested in the Canadian Express Company was 
the sum of $27,500: that the value of the plant is now 
$212,000, anti that the company's net earnings or profits 
on this valuation amount to $212,000 per year, or over 
100 per cent profit. 
“It was shown that the only real cash that was ever 
invested in the Dominion Express Company was $24,500, 
and that the plant is now valued at $592,000 and the net 
earnings or profits on this valuation - are over 92 per 
cent. Evidence was produced to show that the Canadian 
Northern Express Company, practically all owned by Mc¬ 
Kenzie and Mann, makes a clear profit of 100 per cent.” 
It is reported that the Canadian Express Company 
started witli a normal capital of $500,000, which has now 
risen to $3,000,000. Y’et no cash except the original 
$27,500 has ever been put into the business ! Such figures 
can be piled up day after day, and all arguments for a 
parcels post. 
CANADIAN FRUIT PROSPECTS.—On May 31 the 
Canadian Department of Agriculture issued this report: 
The Winter has been fairly mild throughout Ontario. 
Quebec and the maritime provinces, and fruit trees of all 
kinds have come through it in good condition. There have 
been practically no complainls of damage from mice, sleet 
storms or frost. Small fruits have Wintered well and 
are looking exceptionally healthy. Near Winona and 
Frultland, in the Niagara District, peach buds were Win¬ 
ter-killed in some orchards along the lake, especially on the 
lower branches: but the trees generally are looking well 
in tiie commercial peach sections. 
British Columbia has had an unusual Winter. Consid¬ 
erable cold weather with a light snowfall was experienced 
at the coast. In the interior valleys the snow was fairly 
heavy, accompanied by an uncommonly low temperature. 
In the irrigated districts where irrigation and cultivation 
were continued too late in the Fall, some killing back 
of young wood is reported. Strawberry plants have stif¬ 
fen'd severely from frost heaving during the Winter except 
where they were well mulched, and the output promises 
to be much smaller than usual. Similar conditions are 
reported with reference to the strawberry plantations 
from the Hood River district in Oregon. Small fruits, 
for the most part, are looking well. Peach buds have 
been damaged in a number of instances, and some damage 
was done also to plums and pears, particularly in the 
interior valleys. Apple trees escaped with very little in¬ 
jury. ‘ _ 
Let us give you the most important thing about the 
mosquito business again. The insect breeds in stagnant 
water. It cannot live unless this water is found. A tin 
can half full of water near your house would l>e re¬ 
sponsible for enough mosquitoes to drive you from home. 
During this wet season be sure to see that there ar« 
no such cans or pans around your house. 
