226 
THE RURAT» NEW-YORKER 
stand transplanting as well as plants grown without 
under heat. 
The ground in the beds should be made perfectly 
level. We use a 5x5-inch veneer box; some use a 
smaller one, 4j4x4j4. I prefer the larger one, as it 
holds more compost and grows and sustains a better 
plant. These boxes in the flat cost about $2.50 per 
1,000 and can be bought from any plant box manu¬ 
facturer. We use wire and stapling machines to put 
these boxes together. Six thousand boxes is a good 
day’s work for one man to make with a machine. This 
man has an assistant who “breaks” the box material 
and places the boxes in the bed as made. Two-ounce 
tacks are also used to tack the boxes together. Some 
small growers do not tack the boxes at all, just fold¬ 
ing and placing in the beds. Such boxes are apt to 
cause trouble in transplanting, not holding together 
in hauling to the fields. Some only use bands, i. e., 
boxes without bottoms in them. We use the box with 
bottom, and stapled at that. We have box houses on 
runners large enough to admit of two men and a 
small stove. With this outfit the work goes right 
along regardless of the weather. When one bed is 
filled a team is hitched on to the sled and it is 
moved to the next bed. The assistant places the boxes 
in the bed as fast as made and when the bed is about 
one quarter full from one end, he then uses a “kick 
bar”—a 2x5 plank, and presses the boxes up tightly 
toward the end, keeping the boxes always in true line 
both ways, using this bar several times in filling each 
bed. If boxes are a little loose a little soil is packed 
along the south side between the boxes and the bed to 
hold them in line the long way of the bed. When the 
bed is filled, it will contain about 2200 boxes if 5x5 
boxes are used. Great care should be used to keep 
the boxes in true line crosswise of the bed, for you 
will need straight lines later. When boxes are all 
lined up true, then we mark the inside of the bed 
with a crayon directly even with the center of each 
row of boxes. To do this quickly, a little strip of 
board 2J4 inches wide is used, placing it against the 
inside of the box and drawing a straight perpendicu¬ 
lar line about a foot long. This is done on the in¬ 
side of both top and bottom of the bed, but not on 
the ends. 
We use well rotted manure or compost for filling 
these boxes. This is gathered up months before and 
handled over many times, so as to heat and rot and 
get in the very best possible condition. All of this 
material is worked through a screen made of com¬ 
mon telephone wire, with about an inch and quarter 
mesh. This screen is about three feet by nine and 
worked on a couple of tall sawhorses. This screened 
material is shoveled into the wagons and directly 
into the boxes from the wagons. The object of this 
screening is to work out all trash and get the com¬ 
post in the best possible condition to produce an even 
lot of strong, stocky plants. Rake and gently press 
into the boxes this material, seeing to it that ail 
boxes are well filled and leveled off. This can be 
done two or three weeks before planting time. When 
ready to seed the beds the boxes should be plumped 
up with compost if any are a little short. We next 
go over the beds with a tool something like an old- 
fashioned potato masher with a handle about four 
feet long, and make an impression in the center of 
each box about an inch deep and 2j4 to three inches 
wide. Now cover with about an inch of new sandy 
soil if possible. We use sandy soil taken from the 
woods. This should be all passed through the screen 
so as to screen out all roots, leaves and the like. In 
sections where the soil was all clay I used leaf mold, 
not getting too deep so as to get much clay soil, as 
this is inclined to bake. This top-dressing should be 
carefully leveled off, using a straight edge so the sur¬ 
face will be smooth. The depression in the centers of 
the boxes is to furnish an all soil or sand seed bed 
for the seed to germinate in, and is an important 
point that should not be omitted. We are now ready 
for the marker. This is made by taking a straight 
board 1^x5; iy 2 inches from the end we bore our 
first hole and so on until we have a hole that corre¬ 
sponds with the center of each box. A little allow¬ 
ance will have to be made for the thickness of the 
veneer on each box. Then drive into each of these 
holes a little pin, leaving it project just one inch— 
no more. This pin should be an inch in diameter so 
as to make a little depression in the center of the box, 
one inch deep and an inch wide. 
Placing the end of the marker against the upper 
side of the bed, the center even with the first crayon 
mark and the other end even with the corresponding 
mark at the lower side of the bed, pins down, you 
give the marker a little pressure or a tunk with a 
mallet, and you have each box marked in the center. 
You can thus make the holes for the seeds for the 
entire bed in a few minutes, an'd no matter who is 
planting your seed will all be in the same depth. 
Cover as planted, seeing that no holes are skipped by 
the seeders. Beds should not be sanded ahead of the 
planters, only as needed, as the sun and wind soon 
dries out this loose soil, and the little holes fill with 
dry sand. We tisually 1 drop but three or four seeds 
to the hill. As soon as beds are seeded we wet down 
with a sprinkling outfit, using about 50 gallons to the 
bed of this size. Put on the sash and begin to heat. 
Keep a thermometer in the bed, placing it behind a 
shingle in the shade about three feet from the north 
wall, where you can watch your temperature on bright 
days. You can allow the temperature to go as high 
as 120 before the plants begin to crack the ground— 
if the beds are kept damp. If weather is favorable 
your plants will be coming up in about five or six 
days when the beds should not be kept quite so warm. 
The first week or two we generally keep them at about 
100. We control the tempei'ature by running back 
the sash a little and giving the plants air. We also 
use little blocks and raise the sash on the north side, 
A PRIZE NEW JERSEY HOG. Fig. 68. 
thus letting the hot air escape. In cold cloudy times, 
beds should be kept closed so as not to chill the 
young plants. As soon as the plants begin to show 
the center leaf we begin to thin, never leaving over 
two plants to the hill. If there are any vacant boxes 
we carefully take up a plant on the point of the 
weeder or knife and place it in the vacant box, always 
having a little cup of water handy to water it as soon 
as it is transplanted. They will always grow if well 
transplanted and kept moist for a few days. There is 
no need of any vacancies in your beds. The weeders 
we use are made generally from old table knives. Heat 
them and cut to a sharp point, leaving the taper 
about an inch and a half. Heat and turn this point 
up at a right angle and sharpen both edges and you 
have an ideal tool to work among the little plants. 
Of late years we thin our beds to only one plant to 
the box. By so doing we grow a stronger and better 
plant and have but one plant to the hill. This gives 
better and earlier melons. We always try to do this 
transplanting in the beds in cloudy weather, as the 
plants take hold better. The same method is ap¬ 
plicable to the growing of watermelon plants under 
glass, only there should never be but one plant to the 
box. They are a little harder to make live in trans¬ 
planting. PAUL ROSE. 
Michigan. 
(To he c(mtinued.) 
RENTING ORCHARDS ON CONTRACT. 
I have only had two years experience but will be 
glad to tell w r hat I can about it. Two years ago this 
Winter I rented two orchards for five years. They 
were both badly neglected as to pruning and fertiliz¬ 
ing and the San Jose scale was very bad. At first 
the parties wanted to know what I would give for the 
orchards for five years. After looking them over and 
seeing the bad condition that they were in I told them 
that I would not pay a cent, but if they would give 
me a lease I would treat the orchards the same as I 
have my own, and return them at the end of five years 
in as good shape as it is possible to get them. The 
lease was made out in that way. I pruned them thor¬ 
oughly, fertilized, sprayed and cultivated as if they 
were my own. 
One orchard of about 100 trees has already nearly 
paid for all that I have done for it. The other of 
February 24, 
75 trees has not done so well, as that was infested 
with the San, Jose scale very badly and I have had to 
cut the tops of some trees nearly all off, and am wait¬ 
ing for new tops to grow. They are doing nicely and 
ought to begin bearing again in two years more. 1 
think the price to be paid for an orchard for a term 
of years, depends a great deal on the condition of the 
orchard when rented. If they were as bad as these 
were when I took them I don’t think one could pay 
anything for the first five years and feel sure of 
making anything out of it. But if I had taken these 
orchards for a term of eight or 10 years I could 
safely agree to pay the owner 25 per cent of the value 
of the crops each year. In that way it would take 
about the first five years to get back all that has been 
put in, in the way of work, fertilizing, etc., but the 
last three or five years ought to bring a good profit. I 
think that if I were to lease an orchard that was in a 
good location, had been kept in fair condition, and 
was free from scale, I would be glad to pay one-half 
of the income that it brought in for five, eight or 10 
years. I think the location of an orcuard and its 
condition makes a great difference about the price that 
can be paid for the use of it for a term of years. 
New Hampshire. c. e. hardy. 
HOG GUESSING CONTEST IN NEW JERSEY. 
About 20 years ago, at Jacobstown, N. J., Taylor 
Devinney raised the heaviest hog on record. Since 
then the farmers around this section of New Jersey 
have been trying their best to surpass his record. Mr. 
Devinney’s hog weighed 1117 pounds, and each year 
since a promising hog will be selected to outdo “Mr. 
Big ’Un,” will be fed on the best the land affords, 
made decidedly uncomfortable, killed, dressed, and be 
found wanting by many pounds. . The hog pictured in 
Fig. 68, was raised by Victor Bush, Burlington Co., 
N. J., and was the chief topic of conversation. You 
know “money talks,” and many dollars changed hands 
as the result. The odds were two to one, three to 
one, and 10 to four that he would not weigh over 800 
pounds. The wise(?) ones were several pounds under 
weight, as the hog weighed 831 pounds and was pur¬ 
chased by “Dick” Lamb, proprietor of the Washington 
House. GEO. B. KATES. 
New Jersey. 
PICTURES OF LIVE STOCK. 
I must say something about photographing live 
stock. Pose the stock as naturally .as possible, have 
their feet well under them, so that each foot bears its 
share of the weight, and be sure that the animal is 
square with the camera. We will then get a picture 
like Fig. 71. Views taken at angles or intentionally 
distorted pictures fool no one, but give one a bad im¬ 
pression. Retouched pictures, to cover faults in ani¬ 
mals or posing, should not be tolerated. I am using 
an anistigmat lens of six-inch focus in an Optimo 
shutter, or a 4x5 camera, and get good results. This 
lens has a light opening of f. 6-8, and at full opening 
enables one to use fair shutter speed and yet get full 
exposure, which means no dark under shadows, or one 
can make slow snapshots on cloudy days. 
Six-inch focus is not long enough to take the best 
live-stock pictures; on 4x5 plates eight-inch would be 
better, as then we would avoid much of the distortion 
noticeable with short focus lenses. My lens is almost 
an all-purpose lens, that is it is suitable for a large 
variety of work. The animal in the picture has a 
very excellent pose and the' picture shows no distor¬ 
tion. No effort was made to get the picture to cover 
the entire plate, so instead of a poor picture on a 4x5 
plate, we have a good picture on a 3x4 card. How¬ 
ever, if we have a good finder and use care we can 
get a full-sized picture on a 4x5 plate, and the same 
is true of all other sized cameras. A good camera is 
a highly specialized instrument, and to be successfully 
used the operator must have skill and experience, and 
to get good stock pictures he should have some abil¬ 
ity as a judge of live stock also. When taking live 
stock have patience and do not scare the subjects 
till they are nervous and restless. Strive for natural 
poses and avoid having them stretched out as some 
show horses are trained to do, which is very silly, 
nor too much humped together. Have them on level 
ground, a good background at a distance, and the light 
full on the side to be taken; then go ahead. 
Ohio. W. E. DUCKWALL. 
R. N.-Y.—In photographs of this class we look for 
truth first of all, and Mr. Duckwall is quite right 
in his warning against retouching. But it is quite 
possible to spoil the appearance of a good animal by 
poor camera work. We are often assured that the 
camera cannot lie, yet unskillful developing may give 
an effect of gauntenss to a sleek well-conditioned steer, 
or defects be hidden by some manipulation. Skill 
and conscience are both needed. 
