. 0Uti 
THE RURAIi NEW-YORKER 
dered by the New York State Department of Agri¬ 
culture to make a tuberculin test of the Hoskins 
dairy herd. 
RUIN COMES.—Had he desired to object to this 
test, it would have been folly for Hoskins to have 
done so. The State provides that anyone who in¬ 
terferes with an order from the Commissioner of 
Agriculture shall forfeit $100 for his temerity. So, 
preliminary temperatures having been taken, appro¬ 
priate doses Of tuberculin were injected into each 
animal over one year of age. Those cows not already 
in milk were due to freshen some in the Spring, some 
in the Fall. A few were expected to calve within a 
few days. Three three-year-old heifers lost their 
calves within 24 hours, and four Fall cows aborted 
within four days. These cows had been regularly in¬ 
spected by the veterinarian of the Borden Company 
in New Jersey, and pronounced healthy. But this was 
a new deal—Hoskins had crossed the line. About 
noon of the following day the examiner, who was, 
I am told, consulting veterinarian to the State Agri¬ 
cultural Department, whirled into the yard, stepped 
into the stable where a part of the cows were kept, 
called for the temperature chart made by his assist¬ 
ant, who did all the work, and, according to Hoskins, 
gave the curt order, “Condemn the whole dairy.” 
Stepping back into his car he was soon out of sight. 
No need to stop and talk with Hoskins; he was con¬ 
sulting veterinarian to the State Agricultural Depart¬ 
ment, Hoskins was simply a farmer, facing ruin. 
But the assistant didn’t condemn them all, not quite. 
Here were a few cows "advanced in calf whose con¬ 
dition made the test valueless, and there a few whose 
temperatures did not make quite the requisite jump. 
So, only 28 were unconditionally condemned, with 
a promise that the rest should again be placed on 
trial later. Twenty-eight head, worth nearly $2,000, 
and Hoskins was a poor man, but he had crossed 
that line. 
THE RESULT.—Tears were of no avail, though 
they were shed a-plenty. Yesterday Hoskins was a 
thrifty New Jersey farmer, getting ahead. To-day 
there was nothing for him to do but watch his prop¬ 
erty taken from him by the State of New York and 
driven to the slaughter pen. His cows were the 
same in both States, and were undoubtedly fair rep¬ 
resentatives of the herds of those States, but they 
had crossed the line. The condemned 28 were 
shipped to New York and slaughtered under the in¬ 
spection of the same man who had condemned them. 
He found himself justified in this condemnation. 
His post-mortem report shows that out of the 28 
head he was able to find localized tubercular lesions 
in 26. These were passed as being sufficiently healthy 
to make wholesome food, and Hoskins received 2j4 
cents per pound for them. It would be interesting to 
trace that meat to the consumer and learn what price 
per pound he paid, and who got the difference. The 
post-mortem record of one of the 26 is unpleasantly 
suggestive of the way those cows were handled on 
that trip to New York. No. 1039, heifer, grade, age 
2 l /a years, color, black and white—very small tuber¬ 
cular lesion of the lungs; dead in the pen; tanked. 
Two six-year-old cows were classed as having gen¬ 
eralized tuberculosis. The rest, while too dangerous 
to be left on the farm as milk producers, were con¬ 
sidered sufficiently innocuous to be sold as beef. It 
is worth noting in this connection that it seems to 
be the practice of the State to assign the post-mortem 
examination of condemned cattle to the same man 
who made the tuberculin test, and condemned them. 
With no intention of questioning the perfect candid¬ 
ness of any member of the veterinary profession, it 
is certain that the statistics gathered from these post¬ 
mortem reports would carry greater weight, if the 
one who made the report had no means of knowing 
what the tuberculin test was supposed to have shown. 
It is placing a serious strain upon human nature to 
expect the same man to act as prosecuting attorney, 
jury and judge, and then perhaps to reverse his own 
decisions. 
THINK IT OVER.—This story of the Hoskins 
herd is given as a typical illustration of the hard¬ 
ship frequently worked by ill-considered laws passed 
by our legislatures in an attempt to promote the 
public welfare. No one questions, now, the necessity 
of providing some means for the elimination of the 
tuberculous cattle from the herds of the country, 
but when it is considered that from 30 to 40 per 
cent, and perhaps more, of our cattle are infected, 
the magnitude of the task is apparent. To pick out 
a herd here and there, and mark it for slaughter, 
ruining its innocent and helpless owner, because at¬ 
tention has been drawn to it by the fact that it has 
crossed a State line, is like plucking a few leaves 
from a tree in order to destroy its foliage. Granting 
that these cows are now, or may sometime become, a 
menace to public health, their destruction then be¬ 
comes a measure for public safety, and the expense 
should be borne by the public. Nothing of per¬ 
manent value will be accomplished by the destruction, 
here and there, of an individual herd, no worse than 
the neighboring herds, and the futility and injustice 
of such measures are so apparent that it is not sur¬ 
prising that questionable methods are probably often 
resorted to by knowing ones to invalidate the tuber¬ 
culin test. This problem, by its very vastness, should 
engage the attention of our agricultural authorities 
and legislatures, until it can be solved with protec¬ 
tion to the public, and in justice to the dairyman. 
M. B. DEAN. 
WHEAT SEEDING IN HUDSON VALLEY. 
I wish to know about raising wheat. I have six acres 
of sandy loam that has raised a crop of corn and one of 
oats since being manured. What kind of wheat, how many 
bushels to aero, what fertilizers to use, about seeding 
down? Wheat culture is a lost art here, and I want to 
start right. a. d. a. 
Pawling, N. Y. 
On land which has been manured and has grown 
a crop of corn followed by a crop of oats, some care 
must be used in preparing the seed-bed for wheat. 
Where inter-tilled crops like early potatoes or beans 
have been grown, the seed-bed is in the best of condi¬ 
tion for wheat after removing these crops. The 
inter-tillage of beans and potatoes is comparable to 
Summer fallowing. The growth of an oat crop is a 
different proposition. It frequently occurs that many 
weeds spring up among the oat stalks, and may even 
show their tops with the oat heads. The oat crop 
requires more moisture to mature than does any 
other grain crop, consequently, after harvesting oats, 
the land on which they were grown is likely to be 
rather dry and may be quite weedy. To prepare such 
a Held for wheat, one must plow it thoroughly, all 
stubble and weeds must be carefully turned under 
and if the season is dry, this is a rather difficult mat¬ 
ter. On a sandy loam soil, such as A. D. A. has, 
it can be successfully done with a good team and 
plow. 
The next step is to compact these furrows enough 
so that capillary moisture will rise through them. 
If the weather should be moist, it will be a fairly 
easy matter to prepare a satisfactory seed-bed. 
Usually the plowing and harrowing to prepare a seed¬ 
bed should be done promptly after the oats are re¬ 
moved from the field. It will take two weeks or 
more to make a satisfactory seed-bed for wheat. 
Wheat requires a seed-bed that is firm and compact 
underneath and very fine and mellow for about two 
inches on top. The seed-bed should be in this con¬ 
dition by the first of September or soon thereafter. 
It is difficult for me to say what will be the best 
varieties of wheat to sow in Dutchess County. Wheat 
growing in New York State has been on the decline 
for years. Our information about the best varieties 
of wheat for those sections of the State where it is 
considered profitable, is inadequate. Our neighboring 
State, Pennsylvania, has- tested Winter wheat varie¬ 
ties at the State College Agricultural Experiment 
Station for many years. For Dutchess County, I 
think it would be safe to try some of the varieties 
which have given the best results in Pennsylvania. 
Among those which were tested, and have been re¬ 
ported in Bulletin No. 82 of the Pennsylvania Ex 
periment Station, I would recommend Reliable, Daw¬ 
son’s Golden Chaff, Gold Coin, Fulcaster and Royal 
Red Clawson. Two old varieties which used to be 
well-known and probably may yet be available are 
Fultz and Poole. Much r ill depend on the source 
from which the seed is obtained and the certain his¬ 
tory of the particular strain of Fultz or Poole ob¬ 
tained. Of the varieties I have named Dawson’s 
Golden Chaff and Gold Coin are quite well-known in 
New York. The former has been grown successfully 
on the University Farm here in Tompkins County. 
It gives good yields in some years. Both varieties 
have yellow berries and are considered soft wheats. 
Since the perfecting of blend flours, these soft wheats 
have commanded as good a price here as those that 
have harder berries. I think it would be advisable 
for A. D. A. to sow mofe than one kind in his first 
attempt, in order to find out for himself the variety 
most likely to succeed on his place. In selecting a 
variety of oats for a region in which I was not well 
acquainted. I followed the plan of trying eight of 
the best varieties I could buy in one season. Yields 
were weighed with the result that two of the eight 
varieties seemed to be decidedly better than the rest. 
The following year, these two varieties were again 
grown with very good results which substantiated my 
judgment on the first variety test. Such a test is the 
best way to determine the variety question. 
Where manure has been applied two years ago 
and where two corn crops have been removed from 
the land, I believe that it would be wise to use com¬ 
August 31. 
mercial fertilizer with the Winter wheat crop. This 
is especially true, if a meadow is to follow the wheat. 
I would recommend a good grade of commercial 
fertilizer, either ready mixed or home-mixed, con¬ 
taining approximately 2% of nitrogen, 10% of phos¬ 
phoric acid and 6% of potash. I have known very 
good results in wheat growing to come from the use 
of raw bone meal used alone or in combination wit! 
some form of potash or with a complete fertilizer. 
The effect of bone meal on a wheat crop may not be 
very apparent but the grass which follows it will be 
benefited by such a fertilizer for more than one year. 
It is a good practice to top-dress a prospective wheat 
field with rotted barnyard manure where such is 
available. It is not a good plan however, to allow the 
manure to lie in the barnyard all Summer to waste 
until time for wheat sowing. 
The date at which it is best to sow Winter wheat 
will depend somewhat on the latitude. The attacks 
of the Hessian fly which are more plentiful in some 
seasons than in others make it seem advisable not 
to sow wheat early. Two years ago, our wheat was 
sown the last day of August. The soil was in good 
condition and a desire to have the wheat make a 
strong growth before Winter prompted this early 
sowing. The wheat did look nice during the Autumn 
but was so infested with Hessian flies as to be a 
partial failure the next year. For Dutchess County. 
I would advise sowing not sooner than September 
15, and not later than September 25. I have known 
wheat sown October 1 to make a good crop when 
soil conditions and the season were in its favor. One 
must try to have the wheat plants make a vigorous 
growth if possible, before Winter sets in. The Hes¬ 
sian fly is less likely to do much injury to wheat 
fields sown after the middle of September. From 
I'A to two bushels of seed per acre are used ac¬ 
cording to circumstances. On fertile soil lj4 or 1J + 
bushels seem likely to produce the best results. 
Where the soil is rich the wheat will stool better and 
the smaller amount of seed will occupy the ground 
and produce the best yield. 
If a meadow is to follow the wheat and Timotlty 
and Red-top are desired in it, the seeds of the grass 
should be sown at the time of wheat seeding. Some 
growers prefer to sow the grass seeds broadcast on 
the wheat field after the wheat appears above the 
ground. They say that if sown together, the grass 
will sometimes injure the yield of wheat because of 
the greater vigor of the grass plants. Ordinarily 
the growth of a good crop of wheat will hold in 
check the growth of the new seeding during tin- 
next Spring. My observation has been, that when 
for other causes, the wheat makes a poor yield and 
the stand of plants is thin, a good seeding of grass 
simply takes advantage of this condition and you 
have a good mixture of grass and wheat at harvest 
time. I would advise sowing five or six quarts of 
grass seed per acre. I prefer sowing it from the grass 
seed attachment of a grain drill to broadcasting it 
with any crank seeder I have seen. If the soil should 
be moist and the prospect of rain good, I would 
prefer to let the grass seed fall behind the drili 
hoes. If the soil is a little dry, it may be better to 
let the grass seed fall in front of the drill hoes so. 
that they will be covered deep enough to find moisture 
and sprout. Probably this will be the best way on 
sandy loam soil. 
If clover is desired in the meadow, the seeds should 
be sown the following Spring before the ground- is 
settled. The ideal condition for Spring seeding with 
clover is when the ground is honey-combed with 
frost soon after the snow has disappeared. It should 
be done in the early morning before the surface has 
melted and settled. The seeds will be covered deep 
enough to sprout them. I have known good stands 
of clover sown on wheat fields to be obtained after 
the soil was dry enough to crack open. If rains fol¬ 
low such seed sowing, the seeds which fell into cracks 
or were washed in by the rain, will sprout and come 
up successfully. When grass has been sown already 
on the wheat field during the previous Autumn, five 
or six quarts of good clover seed will be enough 
to get a good mixture of grass and clovers in the 
meadows. If clover only is sown for the meadow, 
use seven or eight quarts of seed. Where Medium 
Red clover is not always successful, it is wise to mix 
the seeds of Alsike clover and Medium Red clover 
in the proportion of two quarts of Medium Red to 
one of Alsike. ! 
In my experience, a good crop of wheat usually 
reduces the chances of a good meadow following it, 
and a wheat failure is nearly always followed by 
good meadows. Wheat growing is rather uncertain 
in New York State at the present time, but with the 
best of culture and good varieties, I can see no reason 
why it may not be profitable in such choice localities 
as Dutchess County affords. edward r. minns. 
