1912. 
THB RURAL* NEW-YORKER 
061 
WHEN TO CUT TIMOTHY. 
TP. T. C., Washington, Pa .—Will you give 
us some light on the hay question? Is it 
better to cut Timothy meadow before or 
after the bloom falls, for horse hay? Some 
farmers say if cut when grass is green be¬ 
fore the seed ripens, the plant is not ex¬ 
hausted and will make a better crop next 
year, and for several years; others say to 
allow seed to ripen and fall to ground to 
renew the old plants, and in this way they 
can keep the meadow good for a greater 
number of years. Is it advisable to put 
lime on Timothy meadow, and at what 
season is the best result secured ? 
Ans.—W e should begin to cut the 
Timothy if possible when in bloom— 
at least before the seed hardens. This 
is specially true when there is much hay 
to cut, as otherwise the last of haying 
would mean harvesting straw. The early 
cut hay is more palatable to the stock, 
especially for dairy cows, while for 
horses or fattening cattle the late cut 
is satisfactory. It is a mistake, so far 
as the hay goes, to let the grass seed 
ripen and fall off. Consider the way 
oat hay is made and you will see this. 
When we cut oats “in the milk,” or 
when the grain is soft, we can cure the 
stems and leaves into a very good “hay” 
which the stock will eat up clean. Let 
the seeds fully grow and harden, and 
the stems are changed into hard straw 
which stock will not eat unless they 
have to. Part of the nutriment in the 
stems was drawn out to ripen the grain 
or seeds, and this with the hardness of 
ripening makes the difference between 
hay and straw. It is much the same 
with Timothy. The ripening seeds 
draw upon leaf and stem, and then if 
they are left to fall off we have what 
corresponds to straw when the grain or 
seeds are threshed out. The Timothy 
meadow will grow and give good yields 
for years if it is cut early and not too 
close and well fed. As for using lime 
on meadows we have not had great suc¬ 
cess in spreading lime on sod. The 
way to use lime is to work it thoroughly 
into the soil after plowing. When left 
on the sod it often forms a sort of 
mortar near the surface, and does not 
work down through the soil. 
COLLEGE STUDENTS AS FARM WORKERS 
What can you say of college students as 
Summer laborers on a farm? Is there any 
prejudice against such labor? Are such 
students satisfactory? 
This subject comes up two or three times 
every year, and in fairness to the farmer I 
wish vou could see it from our side. In 
the first place the student help never comes 
when a fruit farmer is rushed, spraying, 
setting trees and tilling the orchard. All 
should be done before the student help 
comes from school. In the Fall they are 
all back to school when the Fall rush of 
harvesting is on, thus leaving the fruit 
grower the pleasure of having the students’ 
company for two or three months during 
the Summer when we don’t want any 
extra help. I do not board any help in the 
house but hire the help boarded, paying $4 
per week. I have no prejudice against 
student help, but I fail to see why I should 
give students a nice vacation on the farm, 
pay them wages, at a time I don’t need 
them. Some of the students are good help, 
while some would not be worth much more 
than their board at $4 per week. Fruit 
growers are expected to give away every¬ 
thing they know about their business, while 
all other' branches of business keep their 
secrets to themselves. C. allis. 
Orleans C'o., N. Y. 
We have had two or three of these boys 
every Summer for the last three years, and 
1 certainly do not have any prejudice against 
them; in'fact, like to have them about. I 
do not think anyone is justified in asking 
them to pay for an opportunity to work. 
I do question, however, whether it is al¬ 
ways right to pay them as much as regular 
help receives, for the reason that they are 
inexperienced and cannot earn as much as 
experienced men. This is one of the dif¬ 
ficulties that we encounter in employing 
help of that kind. The wages that are 
paid here are not very high, and we find 
the boys’ ideas are far in advance of our 
usual wage. Occasionally we may strike 
boys that are more bother than they are 
worth, but if they mean business suffi¬ 
ciently to undertake work of this kind, it 
usually means that there is pretty good 
stuff in them. The greatest difficulty here 
has been that most of these boys want to 
work during vacation time, usually from 
the middle of June to the middle of Sep¬ 
tember, and in our apple operations this 
is not our busy time, and we are some¬ 
times puzzled to find profitable employment 
for the regular men that we must have 
during April, May, September, October and 
November. c. J. tyson. 
Pennsylvania. 
We have engaged to work for us this 
Summer two high school graduates, one of 
whom is planning to enter the agricultural 
college in September. We are taking them 
on exactly the same basis as the other 
help, the same hours, the same pay, if they 
are able and willing to do the work, no 
discrimination in their favor. Aside from 
prejudice, one reason why college men 
cannot find Summer employment in this 
part of the State, is that their vacation 
comes during the slack season on fruit 
farms. We need our extra help during 
Spring and Fall. If the agricultural col¬ 
lege would adopt the plan, followed by 
some universities, of dividing the year into 
four terms of three months each, any three 
terms of which may be taken by tiie stu¬ 
dent, he would be left free during either 
the Spring or the Fall term. We could 
use a dozen of these men during September 
and October, the harvest season, a lesser 
number in the Spring, and at both times 
they would be gaining experience. We 
feel that there is a prejudice against this 
class of labor. It might be called a theo¬ 
retical prejudice and was engendered at 
least in part by a letter sent out by the 
college a year ago. They took this letter 
to imply that the college youth would be 
of great benefit to the farm, because he 
was superior to the man for whom he 
wished to work, that he would raise the 
standard of the intellectual life. This rural- 
uplift idea is very distasteful to rural peo¬ 
ple. I believe that if one of these young 
men presented himself as an applicant for 
a job, dressed in working clothes, and with 
no testimonials except his own muscle and 
brawn, he would stand a much better show 
of getting work. 
Again, these men usually wish to board 
in the farmer's family. The practice of 
boarding help is being given up by pro¬ 
gressive fruit growers. The farms are 
equipped with tenant houses and most of 
the help are married men. These families 
in the tenant, houses often board the extra 
help at a reasonable price. We have been 
asked to give a boy work and board be¬ 
cause he was a “bright young man” who 
would “relieve the loneliness and monotony 
of country life.” Now be it understood 
that the home of a farmer is as dear to 
him as though he lived in a city. The 
unity of the family life is broken by the 
entrance of a stranger, and it is becom¬ 
ing a question whether there is not more 
loneliness and monotony in the city than 
in the country. I have endeavored to show 
that the prejudice against these college 
boys is not because they have tried and 
failed, but on account of the attitude, per¬ 
haps very unfair, which is ascribed to 
them. F. W. CORNWALL. 
Wayne Co., N. Y. 
HOLDING GRAIN SUPPLY. 
A subject which has hit me harder this 
Winter than before, has been a sore spot 
with me for quite awhile, and I now 
want some information, first hand if pos¬ 
sible, on the subject, and that is the stor¬ 
ing of grain for use on a poultry farm. 
Last Fall we bought oats for 39 and 40 
cents per bushel. We bought cracked corn 
and corn-meal for $1.10 and $1.15 per 100 
pounds; wheat for 92 cents. Now we are 
paying 65 cents for oats, $1.65 per 100 for 
corn (sifted cracked), and $1.10 for wheat. 
How can I keep these three grains from 
Fall until Spring and Summer? I have a 
large room in which I can put 100 vinegar 
barrels, each holding five bushels (and I 
have the barrels). 1 can put a sceen over 
the top of them. Can I keep wheat and 
oats in them? Any danger of heating? I 
can easily bore a dozen one-inch or 1)4- 
lnch holes at the bottom and immediately 
have the barrels). I can put a screen over 
holes to admit air and keep mice out. 
Would there be much danger from weevil? 
I can get over the corn proposition; I can 
crib cob corn, purchase a shelier and 
grinder, and grind or crack it myself, as 
we have a large gas engine on the place. 
I like the barrels because being oak no 
rat will gnaw through, and being iron 
hooped can be tightened very readily, and 
besides that, I have them. They can be 
pile'd on top of the lower row and still 
leave an air space. Iiran and middlings 
and other feeds which we use are not sub¬ 
ject to such violent changes as wheat, corn 
and oats, and the grower does not get the 
benefit of these advances either. Can any 
of The It. N.-Y. folks give me any infor¬ 
mation? J. r. <J. 
New Jersey. 
CONDITION OF MEADOWS IN NORHERN 
OHIO. 
Following the exceedingly dry season of 
1911, with the correspondingly light hay 
crop that was harvested in Ohio as well as 
in other Eastern States, we are now pass¬ 
ing through a period of exceedingly high 
prices for Timothy and other kinds of hay. 
The local buyers are now paying the farm¬ 
ers about $24 or $26 per ton for a good 
grade of Timothy, and considerable hay has 
sold for a still higher price. The prospects 
are that there will also be a light crop of 
hay in northern Ohio in 1912, even though 
the season should be favorable for the 
growth of grass and clover; and that if un¬ 
favorable weather should occur during the 
growing season, the hay crop will be an 
exceedingly small one. This prophecy is 
based on the present bad conditions of the 
meadows. 
The hot, dry weather, which prevailed 
prior to and during the time of hay harvest 
in 1911, was so severe that in a large pro¬ 
portion of the meadows the Timothy plants 
dried up after the crop had been removed. 
In some hay fields the chinch bugs, which 
were very abundant last year, destroyed 
many of the plants which would have other¬ 
wise have survived through the Summer. 
As a result of these unfavorable condi¬ 
tions, the stand of Timothy in most of the 
old meadows is very thin and spotted; in 
many of the meadows the plants have been 
so completely destroyed that there is prac¬ 
tically no grass growing on a part or all of 
these' fields. The new meadows are not in 
any better condition than the old ones. The 
Timothy seedlings in many fields were in¬ 
jured by the dry weather and chinch bugs, 
so that most of the plants had dried up 
before the Fall rains began. The clover 
plants were in somewhat better condition 
in most of the meadows in the Fall of 
1911 ; during the Winter, however, the clover 
plants were badly winter-killed on fields 
where the drainage conditions were not 
good. Only a small proportion of the 
newly seeded meadows have a satisfactory 
stand of grass and clover this Spring; most 
of them are more or less spotted; while 
many of these meadows will have to be 
plowed up. 
The Winter fields throughout a large part 
of Ohio have been winter-killed very badly. 
Very few fields have a good stand ; in most 
of the wheat fields the plants have been 
so completely destroyed that the soil will 
have to be plowed or disked up and sown 
to oats. On some of these fields the farm¬ 
ers will sow Timothy and clover with th<> 
oats crop, though oats are not regarded 
as a satisfactory nurse crop in this part 
of the country. In some of these fields the 
grass and clover seed will not be sown this 
Spring, but will be sown with the next 
crop of Winter wheat. For this reason, 
there will probably be a smaller acreage of 
new seeding than usual to produce hay in 
1913. The conditions which exist in north¬ 
ern Ohio are no doubt more or less the 
same in other portions of the North Cen¬ 
tral and Eastern States. In all probabili¬ 
ties, hay will bo scarce, and the price will 
doubtless continue to be unusually high for 
the next year or more. m. w. e. 
Aphides on Rose; Ants and Paeonies. 
1. I have a Jacqueminot rose bush 
which early each season the past three 
years is attacked by a little green bug 
which has spoiled it to such an extent that 
I had to cut the stalks back to about 15 
inches. What can I do for it? 2. What 
can I do for ants on my paeonies? They 
destroy all the buds, so they do not bloom. 
Brooklyn, N. Y. a. N. s. 
1. Tobacco extract, promptly applied, 
will destroy the green aphis; dilute ac¬ 
cording to directions on package, and spray 
with an atomizer, repeating when neces¬ 
sary. There are several good brands of 
nicotine sold by seedsmen. The green 
aphis has been quite troublesome already 
this season, and if unchecked is very harm¬ 
ful to young growth. 2. Ants are always 
a detriment, and have no place in the gar¬ 
den, but we have not noticed their actually 
attacking the buds of paeonies. Blighted 
buds and imperfect flowers often appear 
on weak divided plants, or where a pasony 
is suffering from drought or starvation. 
Occasional doses of liquid manure, espe¬ 
cially while the buds are forming, water 
during a prolonged drought, and a good 
mulch in Fall, ought to improve condi¬ 
tions. It may be that the ants are carry¬ 
ing plant lice about, which is their exas¬ 
perating habit (for they “farm” the 
aphides for the sake of their secreted 
honey-dew, whence they are called ants’ 
cows), and aphis attack may also injure 
the buds. If plant lice are noticed use 
tobacco extract as above, and destroy the 
ants’ nest, which should be easily located, 
with bisulphide of carbon. Pour the bi¬ 
sulphide into the entrances of the nest, 
stopping each up at once, or punch holes 
into the nest about a foot deep with a 
stick, stopping up with earth afterwards; 
use three or four ounces of the liquid to a 
large hill. The fumes penetrate all through 
the soil, and are very destructive. As the 
carbon bisulphide is inflammable and explo¬ 
sive, bring no fire or light near it, and do 
not smoke when using it. 
Killing Cutworms. — I would like to 
give a remedy I have used for two years 
for cutworms. Whenever I plant beans, 
melons, cucumbers or anything in hills, 
after the hill is made and the seed planted 
and covered I cover the top of the hill 
with cotton-seed meal, covering quite a 
large spot around where the seed has been 
put. By doing this when the seed is nlanted 
the fly doesn't seem to work into the hill 
and lay the egg that makes the cutworm. 
After a rain put more on the hill till dan¬ 
ger of cutworms is past. I have found this 
a very successful remedy. j. f. b. 
Connecticut. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply and a 
“square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
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cutworm lays its eggs after midsummer; 
they hatch the same season, and the 
worms hibernate over, becoming active in 
Spring. Thus the cotton-seed would not 
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“The Bashful State.” —On page 324 
Mr. Leavitt of New Hampshire writes of 
his experiences with deer in his State. I 
would like to tell him mine in Vermont. 
Some years ago (10) my father owned a 
farm in Vermont and set out 200 apple 
trees. lie painted the house and barn 
and up went the taxes. The deer de¬ 
stroyed part of his orchard and one day 
he shot one; he was fined $80, and could 
get no redress from the courts. Being 
discouraged he sold the place and we moved 
to the city. I would like to go back to 
my native State. T do not know what the 
law is now in relation to the deer, but I 
would not care to try to make a living 
against a destructive and protected indus¬ 
try. I might add that the New York 
and Massachusetts hunters came around in 
deer season, begged something to eat, some¬ 
times they paid and some times said thank 
you, and most always had a smile and re¬ 
mark for the ladies. j. g. m. 
New York. 
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