li 
applied in this instance, for the cost of the orchard 
under the assumed conditions would represent to me 
its fair valuation. A 10 per cent investment that is 
reasonably safe and permanent, should be considered 
a good one, although it may not agree with the ideas 
of those who are searching for the Philosopher’s 
Stone. If prices remain as they have been recently, 
the returns will be greater, while on the other hand 
if we allow ourselves to be dazzled by these high 
prices and lose sight of the greatly increased plant¬ 
ings that are going on all over the country, and the 
constantly improving methods of the growers, we may 
have an unpleasant awakening when the coming flood 
of apples makes its appearance. Predictions are easy 
to make and may be worth much or little. The point 
I would like to make is that, while orcharding is 
likely to continue to be a good business for the right 
man, it will not, under ordinary conditions, warrant 
the extravagant valuations of enthusiastic promoters. 
Rhode Island. H. w. heaton. 
MUCK SWAMPS. 
Mr. Scarff gives an interesting story of the re¬ 
demption of one of them on page 47 . We have seen 
this marsh in its worthlessness and can now see its 
profit in future. To succeed in this line of work it is 
necessary to know that there are two kinds of marshes, 
one with a hardpan near the surface, and another with 
none. With the first it is easy to make a success, but 
the latter has complications, and the man who lays 
tile in it in the regular way makes a mistake, which he 
is sure to find later. Some of these marshes are prac¬ 
tically bottomless. They are old lake basins which 
have become full of past vegetation, and when the sur¬ 
face is drained it decays and settles.. We have one 
of less than an acre where in 1887 “sheep troughs” 
were laid 2j4 feet deep. Before they rotted the marsh 
settled so much that we lost the outlet. In 1895 the 
were laid and the outlet lowered and when it was 
finished it soaked into us that the surface was settling, 
that the outlet should have been many feet deeper, 
and that the outlet tile would have to be dug up again 
and the work repeated. This little marsh has settled 
one foot each 10 years. It is a small contract to relay 
tile in the marsh, but one 'should be sure the outlet is 
deep as possible. Even for this small marsh it would 
have been worth $100 to the writer if some one had 
told him so before he began on it. Reynolds. 
Ohio. 1 
THE USE OF A PARCELS POST. 
We have made a good many statements about the 
way parcels post benefits the people of Europe. U. S. 
Consul H. S. Culver writes from Cork, Ireland, 
explaining how farm products are handled. You will 
see that the post office department carries such goods 
at low figures and that this service has compelled the 
railroads and express companies to come down to a 
fair price. 
“Farmers, merchants, and manufacturers patronize 
extensively these means of communication between 
the markets and the isolated individual customer. For 
instance, the farmer at Queenstown can order a pound 
of tea in London and have it delivered at Quecnstowm 
for three pence, or six cents. So the merchant in 
London can order a pound of butter of the farmer at 
Queenstown and have it delivered at his residence by 
parcels post for the same price. The railways main¬ 
tain a system of fast express trains, and all sorts of 
goods and commodities can be sent by certain ones, 
called goods trains. The rates charged include de¬ 
livery wherever there is a cartage service at the point 
of destination. People throughout the rural districts 
generally avail themselves of this express system to 
get their produce, such as that of farm and market 
garden, to market. Also, dealers in fruit, game, fish, 
eggs, butter, meat, and such commodities generally 
use this means of speedily reaching their customers 
or the market. 
“The rates by parcels post are six cents for one 
pound or less, eight cents for one to two pounds, and 
two cents additional for each pound up to 11 , the 
weight limit of parcels. The length of parcel allowed 
is three feet six inches, and the greatest length and 
girth combined is six feet. For example, a parcel 
measuring three feet six inches in its longest dimen¬ 
sion may measure two feet six inches in girth. Eggs, 
fish, meat, fruit, vegetables, glass, crockery, liquids, 
butter, cheese, etc., are transported by parcels post. 
"In addition to the parcels post the post office de¬ 
partment provides an express delivery service, ( 1 ) 
by special messenger all the way, ( 2 ) by special 
messenger after transmission by post, (3) by special 
delivery in advance of the ordinary mail at request 
of the addressee. The railway rates on goods sent 
by railway express for parcels weighing from one 
pound up to 24 pounds, not exceeding 30 miles, range 
from eight to 12 cents, and for parcels above 24 
pounds, one-half cent per pound; more than 30 miles 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
and not exceeding 50 miles, eight to 24 cents, and for 
parcels above 24 pounds, one cent per pound; more 
than 50 miles and not exceeding 100 miles, eight to 
36 cents, and for parcels above 24 pounds, V /2 cent 
per pound; more than 100 miles, eight to 48 cents, and 
for parcels above 24 pounds, two cents per pound/ 
ROTATION FOR A PENNSYLVANIA FARM. 
What do you think of the following rotation on a 
farm of about 40 acres in Venango Co., Pa.? Plow 
down second crop Medium Red clover in August or 
September, and sow to rye, using no commercial fer- 
SEVEN-YEAR McINTOSH IN SOD. Fig. 45, 
tilizer. Plow rye down in May of following Spring, 
and plant to potatoes, using about 1,000 pounds of 
good commercial fpotato special) fertilizer. After 
potatoes are dug in August or September plow up 
and sow back to rye, using no fertilizer, as the Fall 
before. The next Spring in May the rye is turned 
down and planted to potatoes, the same as the Spring 
before, using same amount of fertilizer. In August 
or September, after the potatoes are dug, plow up 
and sow to rye, using this time 200 to 300 pounds of 
good commercial fertilizer. This rye will be left to 
mature and will also be seeded heavily with Medium 
Red clover. The next season the first crop of clover 
will be harvested and the second crop turned down and 
sown to rye, which will be plowed down following 
Spring and planted to potatoes, thus starting the same 
rotation as before. 
You will note that this makes a four-year rotation, 
harvesting two crops of potatoes, one of rye, and one 
WITH CULTIVATED STRIPS AT SIDE. Fig. 45. 
of clover. There will be one crop of clover and two 
of rye plowed down each rotation or four years; also 
applied 1,000 pounds of commercial fertilizer for each 
crop of potatoes, and 200 pounds to 300 pounds'for 
the rye and clover. There will also be about five 
tons of limestone burned and applied each rotation, 
as I find it cheaper to do this than to apply oftener 
and not so much, this being due to the fact that I can 
get the stone in the ground less than one-half mile 
from farm, and can dig, haul and burn when work 
is slack. When would you consider the best time to 
apply this amount of lime? I can either apply it 
February 5. 
before the first year in potatoes or after the last 
year. Do you consider it a good plan to plow lime 
down with rye or spread on top of seed bed? Also 
do you not think that the Fall plowing for rye instead 
of harrowing in after potatoes are dug, will pay in 
the next year’s crop? In this rotation I would have 
half of the farm in potatoes, one-fourth in rye, and 
one-fourth in clover. These crops mentioned all do 
fairly well in this locality, and we have fairly good 
marketing facilities for rye and clover hay. It is less 
than one-half mile from station when the potatoes 
could be shipped. H. c. 
Venango Co., Pa. 
R. X.-Y.—We should use the lime after the second 
potato crop, when seeding to rye. We believe in 
sowing lime on the rough furrows and harrowing it 
in. We would not plow it under. From our own 
experience we think Fall plowing would pay. Most 
of our potato growers consider that the work done 
by the digger and harrowing gives the soil enough 
stirring, but if we had time to do so we would plow 
also. We find that opening the soil deep in the Fall 
to the air and frost has a good effect—when the 
land is covered by some living crop. Any suggested 
rotation must be considered with local conditions. 
We shall be glad to have Pennsylvania farmers tell 
us what they think of this one. With us in New 
Jersey, we should add corn to the potatoes, clover and 
rye, planting the corn on the clover sod—just ahead 
of the potatoes, and seeding to Crimson clover and 
turnips in the corn. 
THE MANURE QUESTION. 
Winter Handling of Manure. 
I have just been reading Mr. Fellows’ experience 
with Winter handling of manure on page 51. I 
was interested, as we have been spreading manure 
directly on land in Winter for five or six years, 
with, I think, very little loss of plant food. As 
our land is very flat we have never experienced the 
conditions Mr. Fellows did, although we have had 
some hard rains in early Spring with the ground 
still frozen. Our experience has been that we 
get better results on corn land by spreading on just 
before planting and plowing, or thoroughly har¬ 
rowing in, and on grass by spreading on after 
haying or in early Fall. Taking everything into 
consideration, however; we believe that the best 
way to handle Winter manure is to spread on land 
as soon as possible. Winter is the time we make 
the most, as in this section our stock has to be 
housed from early November until late May. There¬ 
fore, if that big manure pile is left until Spring it 
seriously interferes with Spring’s work. We have 
a cement floor in our cow stable, also in manure shed, 
which is separate from stable. We run manure 
from stable to shed with a litter carrier, and when 
enough accumulates for a day’s drawing the shed 
is cleaned out, if the weather is good; if not we 
wait until it is. Our shed is large enough to hold 
manure for a couple of months. Like Mr. Fellows, 
we believe in saving all the liquids, and the cement 
floor enables us to do this cheaply and easily. 
Vermont. ross. d. pearl. 
Manure On a Cement Floor. 
After reading articles by F. L. Allen. I would like to 
have some one tell us how to build a cement recei.iacle 
above ground to save liquid and solid manure from farm¬ 
ers’ stables that are cleaned out twice a day. a. it. h. 
It is impossible to store manure without some 
loss, yet it can be so handled that the loss may 
not be great. Any receptaclq with side walls like 
a box or bin is clearly out of the question, because 
of the inconvenience of hauling out. Nor is it 
necessary. All that is necessary will be a saucer¬ 
shaped basin with a good cement bottom. If this is 
covered, it need not be much larger than sufficient 
to pile the manure upon. If not covered it must be 
large enough to hold the manure and the wash. The 
cement floor will pay. The Ohio Experiment Sta¬ 
tion found that enough fertility was lost each season 
in earth-floored stables to pay half the cost of 
cementing; this too, though the loss of fertility was 
safeguarded in every possible way. It is compara¬ 
tively easy to avoid loss from leaching, but it is 
impossible to avoid some loss from fermentation in 
piled manure. The best that can be done is .to keep 
the pile as solid as possible with sides as nearly 
perpendicular as may be, the top level, and the 
whole heap moist. This means care and labor, and 
at best is attended with considerable loss of nitro¬ 
gen. 
The ideal way to store manure is by means of the 
covered barnyard, with stocky running upon it, to 
keep it compact and moist. This is not only best 
for the manure, but may be so used so as to promote 
the comfort and health of the animals, and at the 
same time lessen the labor of caring for them. 
I have been very much interested in the discussion 
of the manure handling question. Of course no iron¬ 
clad rule can be laid down, and every man must 
use his best judgment at all times. There are con¬ 
ditions under which it would be foolish to apply 
manure, but those conditions are not often encount¬ 
ered in Ohio; they may be more prevalent in other 
sections of the country. It is well when they do 
prevail to have a method and place for storing 
this most valuable product, but from a long ex¬ 
perience and close attention given to this sub¬ 
ject, I am convinced that in general larger returns 
will be secured with less labor if manure is applied 
fresh, and as a top-dressing to grass lands. Within 
a week two men have told me that they have re¬ 
ceived double the returns from manure since adopt¬ 
ing my method of application. f. l. allen. 
Ohio. 
