l non. 
THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
S96 
PLANNING FOR A RENTFD FARM. 
C. At. J-, East Orange . N. J .—My farm 
consists of about 70 acres of good sandy 
loam soil, nine acres of woods, and about 
10 acres of permanent pasture. I bought it 
about a year ago, and it is rented now, 
but not satisfactorily; I want to rent it 
as a dairy farm on shares, and for a term 
of years, if possible. My idea is to begin 
with 10 or 12 cows and gradually increase, 
the number. The present barn is dilapi¬ 
dated, and I must build a new one, also a 
silo. As my capital will be somewhat lim¬ 
ited, I shall have to build them only large 
enough for immediate needs, and make ad¬ 
ditions as required. How large should they 
be to store feed for this number of cattle 
and necessary horses? Is it advantageous 
or desirable to have the cow stable sepa¬ 
rate from barn? Considering the additional 
expense, should I be justified in doing so? 
What crop rotation ought t»o be practiced 
for best results, and to include potatoes? 
It seems to me the pasture ought to be 
improved, and three or four acres at one 
end needs draining. The 70 acres above 
mentioned are located on a slightly rolling 
plateau about 30 feet high at the northern 
edge where the pasture begins and slopes 
down to the road. There is a brook five 
or six feet wide running through it from 
end (o end, and the part needing drainage 
is lower than the banks of the brook in 
places. What suggestions? What are the 
chances of my securing a first-class farmer, 
capable and reliable, to operate the place 
on shares, I, of course, to furnish all stock 
and implements? Milk has been sold, ac¬ 
cording to season, at four to 4% cents per 
quart, delivered to a retailer about three 
miles away, ITnd other produce can be sold 
at New York prices in either or all of four 
towns having 5,000 to 50,000 people and 
1 Yj to five miles away. No freight or com¬ 
missions to pay. It ought to be a good 
proposition for the right man. What tools 
and implements, harness, *wagons, etc.;, 
would be necessary? 
Ans. —It will not pay to build a tem¬ 
porary or inadequate structure, even if 
your capital is limited. By this I do not 
mean for you to put up anything extrav¬ 
agant, or beyond what you can afford. 
When you are building, a few hundred 
dollars will make all the difference be¬ 
tween what will supply your needs for 
a long time, and be satisfactory, and 
that which will never be right. To add 
to it afterward what you will eventually 
want will cost twice as much, and then 
not be as good. It takes no more roof 
to cover a building with 20-foot posts, 
than one with 12, and comparatively lit¬ 
tle more labor to erect a good-sized 
building than a small one. The same is 
true of a silo? I would never advise a 
man to go in debt beyond his ultimate 
ability to pay, but I know by costly ex¬ 
perience that it is poor economy to put 
up, or fix buildings in a way which one 
knows will not answer after a few 
years. You would better borrow money, 
and pay 6 per cent interest. Doubtless 
$500 extra would be all you would need. 
The interest of this would only be $30, 
or $300, in 10 years. If you increase as 
you expect, it will cost at least $S()() to 
enlarge, and you have the advantage of 
the increased capacity from the *begin- 
ning, worth much more than the inter¬ 
est. True, it is better to have the cattle 
in a separate building, but I suggest you 
build one good barn, 40 x 46 feet, with 
20-foot posts. Make a 14-foot driveway 
through the center. Put your stable on 
the side which has the most sunlight. 
Allow five feet for a passageway behind 
the cows, then a gutter 14 inches wide, 
with a graduated platform for the cows 
to stand on, from four to four feet six, 
Put in swing stanchions with a couple 
of links at top and bottom to make it 
easy for the cows to get up and down. 
Allow for a six-foot -space in front, 
which will serve as manger and passage¬ 
way. Seal with matched lumber on the 
inside, and overhead, putting heavy pa¬ 
per between that and the outside siding, 
also next the driveway. Make the height 
eight feet in the clear. Put in a cement 
floor and window. This will give room 
for 12 cows, on the 40-foot side. Over¬ 
head can be used for storage for fod¬ 
der, letting it come down through a 
shoot, or in the driveway, where it can 
be conveniently fed. 
On the opposite side can be placed 
the stalls for the horses, a couple of box 
stalls for a bull, freshening cows or 
calves, and also a granary. Locate the 
silo at the end of the cow stable, where 
you would put the cow stable if you 
are to build one separately. It will then 
be in the proper place, by feeding from 
the other side. I think one 32 feet high, 
12 feet in diameter, would best serve 
you. Such a one would have a capacitv 
of 73 tons when settled and even full. 
As ordinarily filled, it will hold from 
60 to 65 tons. Ten head of cattle will 
use about 40 tons in 100 days. This 
will give you a capacity to increase your 
herd, or if you have the corn, it can be 
filled and prolong the feeding period, 
or to supplement the pastures in Sum¬ 
mer. The above will give you a good 
barn, containing a comfortable stable, 
at a minimum of expense. Later, if 
you prosper and desire to increase your 
herd, you can build a separate stable be¬ 
yond the silo, and there need be no 
material alteration of the barn. By sim¬ 
ply taking out the stanchions and ceil¬ 
ing overhead, the old stable can be used 
for storage. 
I would put in 10 acres of corn for 
the silo, sowing at the last cultivation 
clover, rape and Cow-horn turnips, to 
be turned under the next Spring. Fol¬ 
low the corn with potatoes, and if possi¬ 
ble, sow Crimson clover to turn under 
the following season. Then sow Canada 
peas and oats, seeding at the same time 
with Red clover. Cut the peas and oats 
when green for fodder, or to supple¬ 
ment the pasture. This will give a four- 
year rotation and take up your 40 acres 
of tillable land. Unquestionably, your 
pasture would be improved by a dress¬ 
ing in early Spring of 400 pounds to 
the acre of a fertilizer made up of 
1,500 pounds of South Carolina rock, 
300 pounds bone and 200 pounds muri¬ 
ate of potash. It is impossible to tell 
how to drain the land without seeing 
it. Nothing pays better than to take 
the standing water off such land. Read 
carefully Mr. Allen’s article on drain¬ 
age in a recent number of The R. N.-Y. 
If you can drain into the brook above 
high water mark, you should have no 
trouble. Three good horses should do 
the work. Then you should have two 
wide-tire farm wagons, one of them a 
low-down truck, a one-horse market 
wagon, a plow, Cutaway and slant-tooth 
harrow, roller, two-horse riding culti¬ 
vator, and a one-horse narrow-tooth 
walking one, a mower, corn harvester, 
will all be necessary tools. To this you 
may add a number of small tools, and 
it may be a potato digger and planter. 
A track and horse fork in the barn for 
unloading, will add much to the econ¬ 
omy and speed, as well as ease of doing 
the work. All the above is easy, and 
sounds well on paper, and while I know 
it is practical, to get “a first-class man, 
capable and reliable, to (operate the 
place on shares” or any other way is 
another, and difficult proposition. Any 
but such a man, will render all your 
plans of no effect. It is always difficult 
to do work -by proxy, and men who can 
or will do as they are told are scarce, 
and those with executive ability scarcer 
still. Nevertheless they exist if you 
can get hold of them. You must realize 
I have given you just a general outline. 
There are a multitude of details and 
conditions arising from time to time, 
which a whole issue of this paper would 
not suffice to supply. 
EDWARD VAN ALSTYNE. 
Weeds in Silage. —About one-quarter 
acre of my silage corn last year was 
on low* wet ground, and ragweed grew 
very rank, some of it four feet high. I 
could not separate it from corn in cut¬ 
ting, as I used a harvester. Stock ate 
it readily and I could see no ill effects 
in any way, but, judging from this small 
amount, think it might spoil through ex¬ 
cessive heating, as there was very little 
juice in the stalks or leaves of the rag¬ 
weed. However, my experience may not 
be anything to be guided by, as" the 
amount was small and the ragweed and 
corn were in about equal proportions. 
A larger amount might act differently, 
and it is not likely that the inquirer’s 
corn contains as much weed as the 
above. h. g. p. 
Verona, N. Y. 
50 CENT 
BUTTER 
BEFORE CHRISTMAS 
AND WHAT IT MEANS 
' ~j ( 
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% 
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42 K. Madison Street 
CHICAGO 
121 a A J 21b Filukrt St. 
PHILADELPHIA 
Dun mm A Sacra mknto Sts. 
SAN FRANCISCO 
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NEW YORK. 
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MONTREAL 
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