the RURAL NEVV.yORKER 
713 « 
1909. 
THE ELGIN, ILLINOIS, DAIRY DISTRICT. 
Part VI. 
The present renting or tenant system 
on the farms in our country is extensive 
and varied in its operations. The 
scarcity of good help, the reluctance of 
the present generation of young men, 
born of American parentage, to continue 
on in the footsteps of their fathers, has 
brought about a condition of affairs en¬ 
tirely at variance with those in exist¬ 
ence 25 or 30 years ago. Then the far¬ 
mers hereabouts were owners of the 
land which they occupied, and tilled 
with the help of some young and in¬ 
dustrious foreigner, who was willing to 
work for a steady home, a chance to 
learn American ways and a reasonable 
amount of wages. Now, it is fair to 
estimate that three-fourths of the pres¬ 
ent occupants of our farms are tenants, 
a large proportion of whom are of for¬ 
eign birth, and who have acquired a 
sufficient amount of means by working 
for others to^enablc them finally to man¬ 
age a farm on their own account. Many 
of these people have large families and 
do not hire much extra help except dur¬ 
ing the busy season of the year; conse¬ 
quently the larger part of the percentage 
of gain is kept and controlled by the 
family for the family good. The own¬ 
ers of the farms have retired, so to 
speak; have moved to town, or possibly 
have built themselves a home on an¬ 
other part of the old farm and are tak¬ 
ing life easy, while their sons and daugh¬ 
ters have taken up with other occupa¬ 
tions which seemingly hold out a prom¬ 
ise of greater reward for a smaller 
amount of labor. 
The tenant system operates mainly in 
two ways; either by renting the land 
outright at so much per acre cash rent, 
or for a share of the gross income, 
which is usually one-half. Occasionally 
a farmer builds a tenant house on his 
farm and hires a married man out¬ 
right by the year. When the owner of 
the land has no desire for city life the 
latter plan is productive of good results, 
as it enables him to keep in touch with 
everything pertaining to the farm. 
Where this plan is followed out the ten¬ 
ant is paid from $30 to $40 per month, 
and is given use of the house free, to¬ 
gether with a garden spot and pastur¬ 
age for a cow. Other perquisites may 
be given the tenant, depending upon the 
man himself and the resources of the 
farm. A good reliable steady man can 
always make a better arrangement with 
his employer than a poor one. The 
cash rentals of our farms range from 
$4 to $6 per acre, according to distance 
from markets, the building equipment, 
general condition of soil and amount 
of land available for crop rotation. A 
farm with good buildings and fences, 
land in good productive form, and with 
the larger per cent available as needed, 
will always command a higher rental 
than one having poor buildings and con¬ 
siderable land which can be used only 
for some certain purpose, such as pas¬ 
turage or hay cropping. When cash 
rent is paid the tenant furnishes every¬ 
thing, cattle, teams, tools, etc., keeps 
all moneys and pays all bills attendant 
upon the farming operations. Rents are 
paid according to terms as may be 
agreed upon. Quarterly payments seem 
to be the most popular term in paying 
cash rents, and these payments are not 
always paid in advance. Other terms 
may be in force in some cases, depend¬ 
ing upon the landlord. 
When the land is rented on shares 
the owner of the farm furnishes the 
land and the cattle, and gets one-half 
or the gross proceeds. The' cost of 
teams and feed, tools, seed and harvest 
is borne entirely by the tenant, but there 
are some landlords who will pay one- 
half of the thrashing bill. The cost of 
renewing or freshening up the herd of 
milch cows is divided with the tenant. 
If a cow is no longer productive she is 
disposed of and the amount needed to 
supply another is shared equally by land¬ 
lord and tenant. The tenant on shares 
is usually allowed milk for his family 
use, and a piece of ground for garden¬ 
ing purposes. In many cases contracts 
may be drawn which allow tenants more 
privileges. As a rule our farm owners 
are fair-minded men and appreciate a 
good tenant by granting him special 
privileges, which a poorer one could not 
expect to get. The keeping of the farm 
in shape is a requirement insisted on by 
all farm owners, no matter whether the 
farm be rented for cash or on shares. 
The tenant is supposed to keep fences 
and buildings in as good repair as when 
taken by him, the landlord furnishing 
new material, where necessary, to ac¬ 
complish this. All manures must be 
left upon the farm, and all reasonable 
methods used to keep the land in a good 
productive form. w. c. b. 
MANURE SPREADERS IN COLORADO 
On page 390 I noticed an article on 
the manure spreader. I would like to 
give a Colorado man’s experience, as 
I believe it a good thing, worth passing 
around among the farmers. I have 
been in the West over 40 years, and to 
the western farmer and stockman ma¬ 
nure is looked upon as a nuisance. 1'he 
practice in this part of the country is 
to build corrals to hold 2,000 -to 4,000 
sheep, to put the sheep in at night, and 
stormy days, and when the manure gets 
two or three feet deep to move the 
corrals, and thousands of tons of ma¬ 
nure can be seen in that condition to¬ 
day in Lincoln and adjoining counties, 
not considered of any value. A Ger¬ 
man farmer a few miles from Limon 
I noticed used manure freely on his 
garden ground, and brought the finest 
cauliflower and cabbage to town I ever 
saw. I tried the same thing last year, 
and raised cauliflower that I sold at 
eight cents per pound, which brought 
at the rate of $500 per acre. I consid¬ 
ered hauling manure would pay on 
other crops also, especially Alfalfa, but 
I had not the nerve to pay over $400 
for a spreader to experiment with as 
E. C. S. did. When I saw a spreader 
advertised for $69 I ventured to pur¬ 
chase one, about four months ago. 
This was the first spreader ever pur¬ 
chased in this country, and has proved 
a great labor saver; it spreads evenly 
the finest dust or coarsest manure 
mixed with cornstalks and hay. On 
hard ground I can haul and spread a 
full load of heavy manure with a span 
of mules weighing less than 900 pounds 
each; on plowed or soft ground I put 
on four light mules or a heavy span 
of horses. It runs easily and works 
like a charm. It is quite a curiosity to 
the cowboys and natives, but I am 
sure it is going to be a paying invest¬ 
ment for me. I have been lending it 
to neighbors who would not have 
thought of hauling manure if it was 
not for the curiosity of seeing it un¬ 
loaded so easily, and when they see the 
results will do more of it and improve 
the country. This part of the country 
is being quickly transformed from a 
great stock range into a rich farming 
country. Many of the wealthy men 
who have retired from business and re¬ 
side in costly residences in Colorado 
Springs and Denver made their money 
on sheep and cattle in this part of the 
country. Now the country is being 
settled up by a good class of citizens 
who have been renters or laborers in 
the Eastern and Northern States, who 
want land of their own, and in time 
will utilize the thousands of tons of 
manure that were looked at as a worth¬ 
less nuisance by stockmen. Our soil 
is rich, but lacks humus, and although 
no one will think of using commercial 
fertilizers for years, many will spread 
manure oyer the ground instead of 
throwing in ravines to wash away, or 
in large heaps and try to burn it up. 
The writer expects to put in over 200 
acres of Alfalfa, 300 acres or more of 
other crops' without irrigation, and a 
good lot of garden truck (this season) 
on new ground that does not need ma¬ 
nure, and will likely get as good returns 
on $15 per acre land as will be had on 
some of the high-priced land in the 
East where fertilizers are used, but 
cannot expect that to last always—so 
will commence to practice early on 
some of the tricks of our eastern 
friends. w. s. pershing. 
Colorado. 
POULTRY FOR PROFIT. 
I find the White Wyandotte to be one 
of the best paying fowls that I have 
ever tried. They are easy to raise and 
with ordinary care will make good Win¬ 
ter layers. The illustration (Fig. 407) 
will give a fair idea of the size and 
beauty of these chickens. The eggs 
were set in June, and every one 
hatched. We raised 10 out of the 15. 
The little chicks were taken to a shady 
grove and kept there until a few 
weeks old, when they were allowed to 
run at will. They were fed on plain 
food, such as cornmeal, bread crumbs, 
etc., were given plenty of clean, cool 
water, and were put in a coop at night, 
anti were not allowed to run out while 
the grass was wet. At the age of five, 
months one of the cockerels weighed 
eight pounds, and one of the hens 
weighed five pounds. They began lav¬ 
ing just after Christmas, and showed a 
good egg record. We are still raising 
the White Wyandottes with good re¬ 
sults. They are great pets, as well as 
paying a good profit. We think that 
anyone raising chickens for pets or 
profit could do no better than give them 
a trial. g. t. j. 
Delaware. 
Fencing in Sheep. 
Is a man who keeps sheep in New 
York State obliged to build his neighbor's 
part of the line fence? If he does not, is 
he liable for damages when his neighbor 
refuses to fence against sheep? d. b. h. 
New York. 
The statutes authorize the voters at a 
town meeting to designate what consti¬ 
tutes a legal fence for that town, so if 
you will refer to the town clerk he can 
give you what his records show on the 
matter. Town Law chap. 367. Also 
write your neighbor requesting him to join 
you in building a sheep-proof fence. If 
the records of tlie town clerk give you no 
help you should call in three fence view¬ 
ers. who are empowered to build a suffi¬ 
cient fence and apportion the cost. 
Scouring Foal. 
I have a colt a month old which has 
scoured for about two weeks. Have been 
feeding wheat flour, but this does not stop 
it. Could you give me a remedy? Have 
been feeding the mare corn, cornmeal, 
bran, hay and very little grass. h. r. 
New Jersey. 
Stop feeding the mare corn and let her 
live on oats, bran and hay. Give the foal 
two or three ounces of castor oil shaken 
up in milk and followed two or three 
times daily with a teaspoonful of a mix¬ 
ture of one part of salol and two parts 
of bismuth placed on the tongue and 
washed down with water or milk. Keep 
mare off grass until foal is well. Give 
tlie above doses according to size and age 
of foal and severity of case; the smaller 
doses being preferred if the foal is small 
and tiie attack a mild one. See that the 
mare does not lie on dirty bedding. Germs 
may enter the foal by way of the mouth 
when it is allowed to suckle from a con¬ 
taminated udder. It therefore is well to 
wash tlie mare’s udder twice daily with 
a two per cent solution of coal tar disin¬ 
fectant and also wash before the foal is 
allowed to suckle for the first time. 
a. s. A. 
When you write advertisers mention Thu 
R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply and 
a square deal.” See guarantee page 8. 
Dairy Tubular Cream Separators 
are entirely different from all others 
—are simple, sanitary, satisfactory. 
Mr. St.John Backus, of Sloan.Iowa, 
writes:— “I bought a Tubular “A” 
No. 6. Before buying this separa¬ 
tor, I tried seven makes. None 
was satisfactory, so decided to 
try your Tubular. I found it more 
than satisfactory and could I not 
have returned the other makes, as 
I did, I would have consigned 
them to the scrap pile.” 
Made in the world’s 
greatest separator facto¬ 
ry. Branch f 
factories i n 
Canada and 
Germany. 
Sales exceed 
most, if not 
all, others 
combined. 
Write for 
catalog 
No. 153 
THE SHARPLES SEPARATOR CO. 
West Chester, Pa. Chicago, Ill. 
Toronto, Can. San Francisco, Cal. 
Winnipeg, Can. Portland, Ore. 
Knocks Out 7 
WE MAVE THE 
IE A [ ADJUSTABLE 
t£AL STANCHION 
■ ADJUSTING IRONS 
. ■ * 
LOCH-OP£/i CUP 
,' ASb— ' NO 0THER 
: Vfl STANCHION HRS IT 
RDJUS TlNGnlRONS i 
rifioo for row’s return, 
wrong place. 
Adjusts for cow’s 
length. Makes stall 
long if cow Is long, 
makes It short lr 
cowisshort. Lock¬ 
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plest and most se¬ 
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any stanchion. 
Lock-O pen Clip 
holds stanchion In 
No getting of head la 
Write for Fine Free Book 
on James Adjustable Stanchions and Automatic 
S. '(.cleaning Mongers. All about theModern 
C'OW Stable—how to have convenient, sanitary, 
cemfcr’ahlp. Many fine views of typical dairy 
bares, barn plans, fixtures, etc. Address today 
THE KE'IT MANUFACTURING COMPANY 
130 King St., Fort Atkinson, WIs. 
j$f500to$5000aYea{ 
has beon made by hundreds 
of people operating the 
“American” Drilling Machines 
There is no business in the world where 
a few hundred dollars investment, com¬ 
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Quickly as the operation of an 
“American” Well Machine. 40 
years’ experience and 59 regular 
styles and sizes make them the 
world’s standard. 
Complete New Catalog FREE, 
The American Well Works 
Gen’l Office & Works, Aurora, III. 
_ First Nat. Bank Bldg., Chicago, 
Chas. TS. Corwin.(Export) 12-25 Whitehall St.. N.Y. 
HENDRICKS HAY PRESSES 
You have seen them advertised for 
years. It’s the same reliable, reason- 
able-priced press that 
It always has been. 
We have a new free 
catalogue and your 
name on a postal 
mailed to us will 
bring rt to you. 
Ilendriebs Hn> Pr,«» Co. 
Cornell 3L, King .toii|! 
DOUBLE ACTION “CUTAWAY” HARROW 
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work. It will increase your crops 25 to 50 per cent. This machine 
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one foot in a day. and can be set to move the earth but little, or at 
so great an angle as to move all the earth one foot. Runs true in line 
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All other disk harrows have to run \ CROPS 
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The Jointed Pole Takes All (he Weight Off the Horses’ Necks, 
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