7 0L’ 
XH EC RURAL NEW-YORKER 
June 15^ 
HARVESTING CLOVER FOR HAY. 
When to cut clover for hay depends 
upon what one wants it for. If for 
milk cut early; if it is to be fed with 
grain for fattening purposes it should 
be cut later. A great deal depends on 
the growth of the crop. If the yield is 
heavy it should be cut before any of 
the heads turn brown. When the crop 
is light and mixed with grasses it is 
best to cut after the heads are browned. 
When the wind is in the north, the sky 
clear and there appears to be every 
prospect of a spell of clear weather 
and everything is in readiness I start 
the mower in the afternoon about two 
o’clock, and continue cutting until six, 
when about six acres are thus cut by 
supper before the dew begins to fall. 
What is cut in the afternoon is not 
touched, but lies in the swath until three 
o’clock the next afternoon, when it is 
raked up in rather small windrows. 
This may seem to some readers of The 
R. N.-Y. who have never tried this 
method a long time to allow clover 
hay to lie in the swath without raking, 
and is perhaps a greater task than some 
care to take, still I have found it of 
great importance in making clover hay 
without cocking. The clover is allowed 
to remain in the windrow till say nine 
o’clock the next day. At this hour, 
when the dew has dried off the outside, 
a couple of men go along the windrows 
with forks and turn the hay bottom 
side up without spreading the row out 
much, care being taken not to expose 
the tender leaves and bloom to the hot 
sun. About 11 o’clock on the following 
forenoon, provided rain has not threat¬ 
ened. the loader is driven around and 
the hay hauled to the barn. The haul¬ 
ing is always done in the heat of the 
day. Things are rushed from 11 a. m. 
until the middle of the afternoon. If 
work begins at 11 o'clock the cuttings 
of two days previous can be secured 
by three o’clock, when if the teams and 
men are wanted and the weather holds 
out fine cutting can’begin again. For 
example, begin cutting on Monday at 
2 p. m. This is raked up at 3 p. m. on 
Tuesday; on Wednesday at 9 a. m. the 
windrows are turned over with forks 
and two hours later at 11 o’clock the 
hay is drawn to the barn and stored 
away. Of course if rain happens at any 
time from Monday to Wednesday morn¬ 
ing the hay should be cocked, but with 
favorable weather there is no need of 
cocking, and a lot of time and labor 
are thus saved while the great economy 
of the hay loader can be brought into 
use. 
Much is said about hay caps for cur¬ 
ing in the cock, but if the clover is 
cocked—if cocked it must be—soon after 
cutting while yet green there is little 
need of caps. When cocked in the green 
state clover will shed rain remarkably 
well. In storing this clover hay from 
the windrows care should be taken that 
there is no tramping in mow. The hay 
has to cure, particularly by the method 
I have here outlined, largely in the mow, 
and the mass should be open and por¬ 
ous for the escape of the confined air 
and moisture. It is of equal importance 
that the doors and windows of the barn 
be closed tight during the day, for some 
time after the clover is stored, but it 
is necessary that there be plenty of ven¬ 
tilating outlets in the roof and gables 
for the air and moisture to escape 
through the roof. The hot air in the 
daytime is laden with moisture, and to 
permit it to circulate through the mow 
is to encourage fermentation. The doors 
therefore should be kept closed during 
the day. They may be opened when the 
air is cool at night. Two or three 
days after the'clover is stored it is well 
to get up on the mow and tramp as 
solidly as possible. The moisture and 
confined air have now mostly escaped, 
and there is no danger nor any great 
damage to the quality of the hay in 
tramping the corners and around the 
posts and girders where crevices may 
exist. WILLIAM HARDY. 
Illinois. _ 
CO-OPERATIVE NOTES. 
French farmers have made good progress 
in cooperative work. Agricultural syndi¬ 
cates are numerous, and are devoted large¬ 
ly to buying fertilizers and farm materials. 
They- are thoroughly organized all over 
France, and well conducted, with a member¬ 
ship of about 1(50,000. They do a business 
of several million dollars a year, and are 
said to save 30 per cent or more on fertiliz¬ 
ers and machinery. They also have their 
own system of analysis and test. A por¬ 
tion of their profits is invested in farm ma¬ 
chinery, which is rented to other members 
at a very low rate, or even loaned, in cases 
where the members are unable to pay. 
Tlie olive growers of the south of France 
have also formed a cooperative society. In 
former years crushing the olives was done 
by local millers, who thus took the profits. 
The growers organized, bought their own 
mills, manufactured the oil. and now dis¬ 
tribute it themselves. There are 21 of these 
olive societies in the south of France. In 
this ease the State Government financial 
societies grant long term loans through 
the credit associations. It was a condition 
that these loans must be employed for pro¬ 
viding buildings and machinery; they run 
25 years at two per cent. 
The French wine growers have also asso¬ 
ciated in the same way. Starting in 1901 a 
few small growers and day laborers 
founded a society. There are now 26 such 
associations in one district. They were 
made possible through the possibility of 
borrowing money from the State at’ low 
interest, and long loans. By organizing 
these French farms they save a large pro¬ 
portion of the consumer’s dollar, which 
formerly went to the middlemen, and have 
also been able to grade their crops to 
better advantage and put out a guaran¬ 
teed product. 
THE MAINE POTATO CROP. 
A few months ago a man in the south¬ 
ern part of Texas engaged in the potato 
seed business addressed a letter to Mr. Geo. 
---—, Aroostook County, but neglected to 
add town or State. This letter in due time 
reached its destination in Maine, and was 
delivered to the man for whom it was in¬ 
tended. This incident, among many others, 
proved the fame of Aroostook County, 
State of Maine, had gone out all over the 
land, and well it might, for its large yield 
of potatdes on the average and per acre Is 
far beyond the yield in any other section 
of the country. Throughout the United 
States there are good years and bad years, 
but Aroostook yield is always large, and 
the only drawback is occasional rot. In 
the past overproduction has been practi¬ 
cally the only rock . upon which the am¬ 
bition of the grower was wrecked. Owing 
to over-production in the three years pre¬ 
vious to 1911. many of the growers ran 
near bankruptcy, but the high prices of 
1911-1912 paid the back fertilizer bill, 
raised the mortgage and bought automo¬ 
biles. In proof of this 100 autos have 
been sold this season in the one town of 
Fort Fairfield, and at a recent board of 
trade meeting in this town it was stated 
there was an auto for every 26 of the 
population. 
Aroostook County’s marvelous soil is not 
the only good growing potato soil in the 
State. Central Maine has thousands of 
acres the soil of which is well adapted to 
the potato and its growth, and much of it 
will produce as largely as the soil of 
Aroostook. Central Maine farmers, how¬ 
ever, have in all the years been giving at¬ 
tention to diversified farming, and are only 
just awakening to the possibilities of the 
potato. Aroostook farm land has been in¬ 
creasing in value year by year, this, 
together with the cheaper land in other 
parts of the State, has caused many Aroo¬ 
stook farmers to sell their farms in Aroo¬ 
stook and move to the central part of Maine. 
These farmers, with their modern methods, 
have discovered the possibilities of its soil 
to yield largely, many of them securing as 
high as 400 bushels per acre. This at¬ 
tracted the attention of the central Maine 
native farmers and the potato fever is in 
the air, and soon all Maine will be potato 
mad. 
For three years previous to 1911 each 
year showed an increase of acreage, but 
1910 discouraged further energy along the 
potato line, and the crop of 1911 shows a 
falling off of two million and a quarter 
bushels. The following figures as compiled 
by the M. C. II. It. will be of interest both 
to the dealer and to the farmer: 
Potato Shipments.—Number carloads 
transported by the Maine Central It. It. : 
19.11 1910 
B. & A. 
M. C. 
C. P. 
Total 
Total 
July 
. . . 5 
14 
8 
27 
29 
Aug. 
... 1784 
48 
403 
2235 
340 
.Sept. 
... 3373 
700 
813 
4888 
3053 
Oct. , 
. . . 2344 
1512 
432 
4288 
2900 
Nov. 
.. . 2108 
639 
461 
3208 
2460 
Dec. 
. . . IO i o 
242 
260 
2075 
2692 
Jan. . 
,.. 1594 
582 
380 
2556 
3351 
Feb. 
... 1624 
554 
283 
2461 
3066 
Mar. 
... 2206 
352 
514 
3072 
3290 
Apr. 
... 941 
167 
297 
1405 
2808 
1 4 ch ) 4 
4810 
3851 
26215 
23989 
In 1910-11 7207 cars were shipped from 
M. C. points while only 4810 cars were 
shipped from the same points in 1911-12, a 
falling off of 2397 cars. Up to date Aroo¬ 
stook County has shipped 15.000,000 
bushels aud this amount with the Maine 
Central shipments added aud reduced to 
bushels makes the total shipments of the 
State of Maine 18.367.000 bushels. Add¬ 
ing to these figures stock sold starch fac¬ 
tories, local consumption and seed will 
bring the grand total yield to about 19,- 
300,000 instead of 29.000.000 as reported 
by the Government statistics which in most 
cases are overestimated. The total average 
yield per acre of Aroostook County is about 
250 bushels. c. e. e. 
Organizing in Maine. 
The Long Island Potato Exchange the 
first year of its existence reduced the price 
of fertilizer in Suffolk County. N. Y., $4 
per ton, saving the farmers of that county 
$80,000 in this one item. They also saved 
the farmer $2 per ton on coal, six cents 
per pound on Paris green and in fact 
made a large saving all along the line. In 
Aroostook County, Maine, because of the 
farmers’ exchange the farmers of that 
county saved a total of $ 120,000 by the 
reduction in the prices, and only half as 
much was saved as would, have been had 
the county been well organized. Page after 
page could be devoted writing of the bene¬ 
fits of cooperation, hut the great value of 
cooperation to the farmer is not so much 
from the higher price received for his pro¬ 
duct or in the lower price paid for his 
supplies as from the fact that the farmers’ 
exchange is a great education. It makes 
him more of a business man and gives him 
confidence in himself and when he visits the 
town or the city he does not meet the 
dealer there as the man who asks “What 
will you give, what will you take?” hut 
he meets him as a man engaged in business 
and as the superintendent of the plant, and 
the only plant in the world wherein the 
superintendent gets his living. He meets 
him as the man who has something to sell 
that is worth while, and he makes his 
own price in accordance with market con¬ 
ditions, again demonstrating that the farm¬ 
ers’ exchange is his board of trade and 
chamber of commerce combined. In proof 
of the interest in cooperation in the State 
of Maine the farmers of Fort Fairfield. 
Aroostook County, met at Grange Hall on 
May 25, and organized another farmers? 
exchange to be known as the Aroostook 
Farmers’ Exchange of Fort Fairfield. Offi¬ 
cers were elected as follows: President 
B. C. Ames; vice-president. W. II. Har¬ 
low ; treasurer, Steven E. Ames: trustees, 
F. II. Haines, George F. Ashly. Hiram 
Tome. The standing of these men in the 
communities where they live and their suc¬ 
cess as business farmers assure the success 
of the association for they are men who 
would not permit the word failure to be 
written after their names. C. E. E. 
Coming Farmers’ Meetings. 
American Ass'n of Nurserymen, Boston, 
Mass., June 12-17. 
Indiana Apple Show, Lafayette, Novem¬ 
ber 13-19: secretary. C. G. Woodbury, La¬ 
fayette, Ind. 
International Dry Farming Congress, 
Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada ; Congress of 
Farm Women, week beginning October 21. 
Massachusetts Fruit Show, under aus¬ 
pices of State Board of Agriculture and 
Massachusetts Fruit Growers’ Association, 
Horticultural Hall, Boston, Mass., Novem¬ 
ber 7-10. 
Field meeting of the New Jersey State 
Horticultural Society, Woodcliff Lake, N. 
J., July 17. 
Canadian Seed Law. 
“A special examination of seed of Alsike 
clover and Red clover imported from Can¬ 
ada during 1911 showed that approxi¬ 
mately one-half was unsalable for seeding 
purposes in that country, the seed-control 
act there prohibiting sale when more than 
a prescribed number of noxious seeds are 
found to the pound. One lot of seed of 
Alsike contained less than 50 per cent of 
pure seed, germinating only 15 per cent, 
or 7% per cent of the entire bulk. This 
particular lot contained approximately 135.- 
000 weed seeds in each pound.” 
This is from a Government circular. In 
some cases the germinating power of such 
seed was so low that 100 pounds of Alsike 
with power enough to grow would cost 
$44.35. The Canadians have a strict seeds 
law, but the dumpings are sent over here. 
That is a form of reciprocity which fails to 
reciprocate. 
Crop Notes. 
The Government cotton report gives the 
outlook at the last of May at 78.9 per cent 
of normal, which is nine per cent below 
last year, and 2.6 per cent under the 10 - 
year average at the same date. 
Recent heavy rains have done much dam¬ 
age, and delayed farm work to a great ex¬ 
tent. Some grain was sown, but begins to 
look yellow. Few potatoes are planted, 
and scarcely any corn. Gardens on low 
ground were almost a complete loss. Frank 
Baumert. of New York, was here the last 
week in May, and held a cheese meeting, 
and will pay factory prices for the Sum¬ 
mer milk. The Sauna Co., of New York, 
is making Italian cheese in the plant here. 
IVilford Paul purchased two purebred 
Shropshire sheep last Fall at Syracuse and 
now has three fine lambs. Frank Hunger- 
ford, of Orchard Farm, has about 300 
chickens, all Orpingtons. Black. White and 
Buff. Many farmers complain of trouble 
with their cows at calving time, some 
losing both cow and calf. g. w. l. 
Jefferson Co., N. Y. 
Wheat and grass look well. Oats sown 
very late. Lots of corn to plant yet (May 
29 1 ; wet Spring. Feed scarce and high in 
price; butter also high, so farmers have 
made some money. Dairying is a specialty 
here. Prospects for apples below the aver¬ 
age. though occasional orchards are full 
of fruit which is now well set. Many 
blossoms fell off. There will be some 
peaches in protected locations. Other 
places crop complete failure. Prospects 
for berries, cherries, etc., fair to good. 
Belleville, Pa. d. e. p. 
Strawberries have turned out pretty well 
here, and cherries are ripe now with a fair 
light crop. Peaches, pears, plums and early 
apples are very full, and I am having quite 
a lot of them thinned., Some varieties of 
late apples are full, but the Rome Beauty 
is not full generally, although they had a 
heavy bloom. On thrifty trees they set a 
crop, hut on trees in sod or on thin land 
where they did not grow any or very little 
last year there are very few or none now. 
A hint to keep trees growing by manur¬ 
ing. mulching, cultivating or using com¬ 
mercial fertilizer. Quite a difference can 
be noticed now where fertilizer was applied 
on sod three weeks ago. Starved trees like 
starved men cannot accomplish the work 
intended for them, or the good that those 
well fed can do. Now is the time to com 
mence looking up cooperage for next Fall’s 
supply of apple barrels. This county Is 
likely to need 50.000 barrels or more com¬ 
pared to 100.000 two years ago. 
Lawrence Co., O. c. T. c. 
Our season has thus far been very wet, 
cold and backward. Nevertheless our farm¬ 
ers are in a very prosperous condition, and 
have had ample capital to get teams, ma¬ 
chinery and the like, and we feel perfectly 
safe in saying Aroostook Cunty will plant 
the largest acreage every planted to pota 
toes. \Ve would estimate the increase for 
the county at about 10 per cent, although 
this particular part of the county will be 
even more. geo. w. p. jerrard. 
Maine. 
For Two Yearly Subscriptions to The Rural 
New-Yorker 
One of Them May Be a Renewal of Your Own Subscription 
This Set of Scientific and Perfect 
Cake-Making Articles Consisting of 
Two (2) Square Layer Moulds The Van Deusen Measuring Cup 
Size 7J4x7H inches; 1J4 inches deep, for baking 
layer-cakes, sheet-cakes, short-cakes, ginger 
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enables them to cut square, diamond or 
uniform shaped slices as desired, s. 
One Medium Round Loaf Mould 
Medium size, diameter 8J4 inches; inches 
deep. This is an old established style and is 
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preferred by a great many cake-makers who do 
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The moulds are made of a high-grade of 
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The Van Deusen Egg Whip 
Is especially designed for whipping the whites 
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is an absolutely correct measure, which is a 
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to have a correct measure as it is to have a 
correct pair of 
scales. This cup has 
one side marked in 
thirds and the other 
side marked in 
fourths, thereby en¬ 
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has slanting sides 
which prevent 
liquids running 
down the outside as 
frequently happens when using a cup with 
perpendicular sides. It is made of a high 
grade of charcoal tin and for quality, accuracy, 
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THE VAN DEUSEN CAKE MOULDS are scientific¬ 
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light delicate cake with no greasy crust. They 
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which a knife is inserted and the cake loosened 
from the mould when it is removed. 
The Old Way was to grease or paper the tin 
to keep the cake from sticking (because, there 
being no way to loosen the cake from the bot¬ 
tom of the old style tins, the cake would break 
in getting it out if it stuck), then add flour 
until the cake would not settle, being stiff 
enough to stand alone—like bread. Few real¬ 
ized the fact that they were using too mucli 
flour, because they only used the amount the 
recipe called for. But new developments show 
that at least one-fifth of the flour used, in the 
Loaf Cakes, was used only for the purpose of 
making them stiff enough to bear their own 
weight. 
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grease, the paper, and at least one-fifth of the 
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Mrs. Van Deusen Cake Moulds, Rules and 
Recipes. 
Delivered Prepaid far Two Yearly Subscriptions—one of them may be a renewal of your own subscription 
Send for Sample Copies 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 409 Pearl St., New York 
