-910 
maturity at harvest, but that was a disappointment. 
My observations on the growth of the stalks served 
to show that the two rows which grew shorter 
stalks and less abundant foliage (Nos. 20 and 13) 
were near the bottom of the list as regards yield of 
grain, while those rows with taller stalks and rather 
scanty foliage included both the highest and lowest 
yields. 
What practical value comes out of this work then? 
How can these observations be turned to account? 
By grouping a number of the rows which had shown 
a tendency to tall growth and early maturity, I found 
that six of them (Nos. 11 , 4, 8 , 12 , 7 and 5) had 
an average yield of 64.2 bushels per acre and an 
average percentage of maturity of 85.8. The ears 
which produced these rows are my choice for an early 
maturing, grain-yielding strain of this variety. They 
are shown in the top row of Fig. 157. The ears in 
the bottom row are selected from those which pro¬ 
duced the taller stalks and more abundant foliage, 
for the purpose of growing a strain of this corn for 
the silo. The average yield of grain is 59.1 bushels 
and the maturity average 82.5 per cent. I intend to 
mix the corn found on these separate ears of each 
group, and plant each group in some field on the 
farm where pollen from other varieties will not reach 
it, and await the results. I think my test reiterates 
the fact that one cannot tell by the external ap¬ 
pearance of an ear of corn just how it will yield when 
planted. It is to be noted, though, that out of the 
first 12 ears which yielded more than 60 bushels per 
acre each, nine are found among the numbers from 
2 to 12 inclusive. 
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15 
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B 
A=stalks taller, foliage plentiful. 
B=stalks taller, foliage scanty. 
C=stalks shorter, foliage plentiful. 
D=stalks shorter, foliage scanty. 
But what about No. 1 ? It was husked from the 
shock at the same time with the rest of the test, 
but in quite different condition. It had dried and 
shrunken somewhat in the ears. Many of the grains 
of corn were loose on the cob. The total weight of 
ear corn was less than the weight of ears produced 
by Nos. 2 to 5 inclusive. The most significant fact 
was that 60 per cent of the yield was graded as soft 
corn. When this row was cut it was apparently as 
near maturity as its near neighbors. When the entire 
yield from this row was dried to determine the per 
cent of moisture it was found to contain 37 per cent, 
although it had cured for four weeks in most excel¬ 
lent weather. If one is growing corn for the grain in 
a climate hardly adapted to it as is ours, two weeks 
of maturing weather after husks begin to turn makes 
a vast difference in the quality of the grain harvested. 
Let the corn stand until frosted if it is not well 
matured before that. EDWAKD R. minns. 
PLAN FOR HOLDING MANURE. 
I have just been reading F. L. Allen’s answer to A. 
R. H. (page 126) in regard to the care of manure, 
and note his objection to side walls. Living as I do 
on a low lying bottom, subject to overflow very fre¬ 
quently, it is impossible for me to haul my manure 
out as made, and I have hit on the following plan, 
which works very nicely. My barn stands eight feet 
above the ground; it is 66 by 72, and stands on 35 
concrete piers. The tank lies in the southeast corner, 
beneath the cow stable. The ditch behind the cows 
slopes from both ends to the center, and the sides 
of the ditch are cut away on both sides so that there 
is plenty of room to pass out the manure, but there 
is no hole straight down, through which a cow might 
get her leg. As the whole basement is open there 
is no odor in the barn, the free circulation of air tak¬ 
ing it all away. I use lots of bedding, maple leaves, 
wheat straw from the chickens, who are fed grain in 
the straw and trash from the mangers. The manure 
keeps in good condition, and by forking up the wettest 
and throwing it on the top of the piles it is not too 
wet to handle. The walls of the tank are three feet 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
high and six inches thick, and inclose the whole tank 
except an opening three feet wide which is temporar¬ 
ily closed with three two-inch planks, 12 inches wide, 
set on edge, one above the other, and held against 
the short pieces of wall beside the openings by the 
weight of the manure pressing against them. By 
plastering the cracks with mud and clay a practically 
tight joint is made and there is no leakage. This 
tank holds 60 to 75 loads. In taking out the manure 
the wagon is driven alongside the openings referred 
to, and enough manure taken out to allow of the 
boards being taken away, and then the wagon drives 
through and the bulk of the manure, which is piled 
at either end, is then taken out very easily. W. T. p. 
Lake Cushman, Wash. 
GRAFTING THE CHERRY. 
I note E. S. Black’s article on top-working and 
root-grafting the apple, pear, plum and peach. I would 
like to ask him the best way to graft or bud seedling 
cherries. I have several hundred, along old fences, 
and clearings, which bear a small brown and light 
red cherry (sweet) mostly skin and stone. I can 
take up 100 this Spring looking very healthy and 
vigorous, averaging three-quarters to V/ 2 inch in 
diameter. I know some very fine cherries I can cut 
scions from, or will it be better to buy at $20 per 
100 from nursery what I want? Could the common 
wild cherry seedling be used also? There are very 
few farmers in this section who could not have an 
orchard if we understood the matter. v. D. s. 
Pennsylvania. 
You would better graft cherry stocks where they 
stand, then move them next Fall where you want them 
to fruit. The cherry is not so easy to make grafts live 
in, as are the apple, pear and plum. The outer bark 
is very thin and tough, and runs around instead of 
straight with the inside bark and grain of the wood. 
A sharp knife should be run down this outer bark 
deep enough to cut the outer bark only, and down as 
far as the split is to be made to receive the grafts. 
After the bark has been cut, place the knife or chisel 
directly in line with the cut bark so that the split will 
be made in line with the cut in bark; otherwise a 
ragged opening will be made instead of a straight 
split for the grafts to be placed into. Do not split 
the limb more than is necessary to receive the wedge 
part of the graft. The wedge part should be at least 
three-quarters of an inch in length. Always put two 
grafts in each limb. The point of the graft should 
be inward, and the heel or top of wedge even with 
outside bark, just enough to be sure that the inside 
bark of stock and graft cross each other. The top 
of stock where sawed off, and the split on each side 
should be thinly but securely covered with grafting 
wax, to exclude air and water. I have seen the most 
experienced grafters fail with cherries, and the bungler 
and inexperienced have almost every graft to live for 
them. The experts sa}’’ that the cherry should be 
grafted very early in the Spring, as early as first part 
of March. The most successful man I ever knew 
grafting cherries, always did the work just before 
the buds started to burst, or when they were swelling. 
He then cut his grafts and inserted them at once. 
This means that the trees from which the grafts are 
cut must be near by the stocks to be grafted, and care 
must be taken to keep them moist or they will shrivel 
and die. 
The time to bud these stocks would be about July 
first to fifteenth, as the Mazzard is apt to stop grow¬ 
ing after that time and then it would be impossible 
to bud. If grafts fail to grow, then sprouts will start 
out from the stock and they could be budded. Stocks 
the size named can be budded in tops, but I would 
prefer grafting, and if graft fails then bud the suckers. 
If grafts live, dig with all the rcots possible and plant 
where they are to fruit; bank up around the body of 
tree in the Fall, and level ground the following Spring. 
The small sweet cherries mention are what are com¬ 
monly called Black Hearts and Speckled Hearts, and 
are known to nurserymen as Mazzard. This is the 
only stock on which the sweet cherry should be grown, 
but is not a good stock to top-work the sour or 
Morello class on. The Morello does well on the 
Mazzard but I prefer the Mahaleb stock for the sour 
or dwarf cherry. If V. D. S. means by “common 
wild cherry” the choke cherry or Prunus Virginiana, 
no, he cannot successfully graft or bud other varieties 
on it. 
This question of cherry stocks seems to be the 
most persistent one of all the. questions about fruit 
stocks. The R. N.-Y. has had me answer it several 
times; others have answered it in the columns of The 
R. N.-Y., and scores of people have asked through 
correspondence with me about it. At almost every 
horticultural meeting it comes up for discussion, and 
yet it will not down. “How can I grow cherries, and 
what kind of stock to grow them on?” are per¬ 
ennial, persistent and important questions. At the 
Connecticut Pomological meeting last February, speak- 
April 2, 
ers answered questions about apples and peaches 
quickly enough; almost any kind of soil would grow 
them with the right kind of a man to manage them. 
But when some one asked the question, how to grow 
cherries, even the genial and optimistic president, Mr. 
Gold, was very pessimistic. The whole, or if not 
the whole, then the great cause of failure to grow 
the sweet or Heart cherries is because they are on 
the wrong kind of stock. The Mahaleb is a cherry 
that is by nature a dwarf, and the idea of growing 
the Hearts or sweet class of cherries, which by nature 
are intended to grow into immense trees—upon such 
a stock is absurd; and this is the chief cause of failure 
with these varieties. These cherries should be planted 
on gravelly or clayey loam, not too rich a soil either, 
as too much nitrogen or humus in the soil causes too 
rapid a growth, and often causes the tree to split 
during hard freezing weather. The sweet cherries 
should always be planted in the Fall, and if the bodies 
are encased with burlaps or straw to prevent drying 
of the bark, and rapid evaporation of sap, for the first 
year after planting, it will assist the tree to get its 
root system established. When this is done and the 
soil is congenial, the sweet cherry, barring accidents 
and with proper varieties, should grow and live as 
long as the oak, or any hardy tree. The Morello or 
sour cherries do best on the Mahaleb, as they are 
both dwarfs naturally, and few people have any com¬ 
plaint about making the trees live, grow and fruit. 
_ e. s. BLACK. 
A MIDDLEMAN AND CONSUMER’S DOLLAR. 
I would like to say a few things about “the con¬ 
sumer’s dollar,” from the standpoint of the “middle¬ 
man.” This much is admitted, that the consumer is 
being “milked” in many, many ways, and I would 
like to see an adjustment of buying and selling on a 
fair and legitimate system, but that is a problem by 
itself. A good deal has been printed on the price of 
buckwheat, from the time the farmer parts with it till 
it reaches the consumer. As a retailer, I want to tell 
my side of it. We have paid the miller $2.10 per 
hundred (he having paid $1.25 per hundred for the 
grain). This was sold for 29 cents for each 10 
pound sack, giving us a profit of eight cents on each 
sack, or about 30 per cent profit. That is pretty good, 
I hear some one say, and it is so far, but with modern 
methods of doing business how much has that 10- 
pound sack cost to put in the consumer’s hands? Did 
he carry it with him when he bought it? Did the 
other nine purchasers of the hundred take theirs? 
Not they! But a horse and wagon, with man, de¬ 
livered it and may have traveled 10 miles to do it; 
that and other expenses, such as rent, light, heat, etc., 
have used up 20 to 25 per cent of that 30 cents. And 
that is how it is all the way around in the majority 
of retail stores. Not all of the high prices are due to 
changed conditions, but any honest person will admit 
that most of the difference between prices that pre¬ 
vailed some years ago and the present are due to those 
conditions. E. G. w. 
Waverly, N. Y. 
The city of Amsterdam in Holland conducts a 
public pawn shop. It was established in 1614, and the 
revenues, aftenr paying expenses are applied to public 
needs. U. S. Consul Morgan says it is the custom of 
some of the Dutch people to pawn their best clothes 
regularly on Monday morning, keep them in pawn 
through the week and redeem them on Saturday night! 
In 1908 this shop did a lending business of $1,947,617. 
This is on the whole about the most remarkable busi¬ 
ness we have heard of yet, and it shows the “paternal” 
character of some of the old world legislation. If 
government can lend money on clothes—why not on 
land? _ 
Whatever else may be said of this age it is cer¬ 
tainly the time for very fat advice to farmers. Rail¬ 
road men, lawyers, grain dealers and various other 
gentlemen are telling us just what we ought to do. 
We have just received a pamphlet containing an ad¬ 
dress by E. Pfarrius before the “council of North 
American Grain Exchanges.” We are asked to print 
it all but the following will answer: 
Of course, your council docs not intend to antagonize 
agricultural officials or fertilizing companies. On the con¬ 
trary, you would work with them in full harmony, request 
the board of directors of every railroad to bill-board at 
railroad stations and at village street corners, in big let¬ 
ters, something in effect like: “Farmers, improve and 
save your soil! Help the country ! Try modern farming ! 
Raise thirty bushels wheat per acre and seventy bushels 
corn, as others do!” 
These “big letters” would be very attractive, par¬ 
ticularly to the gentlemen who handle and carry and 
manipulate that grain and incidentally take 65 cents 
of the consumer’s dollar! “Help the country!” By 
all means, and the best part of the country to help is 
that section of it which lies inside the boundary of 
the home farm. Show farmers how to get more than 
35 cents of the consumer’s dollar and the country will 
soon be provided for. 
