THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
: nbo called soil inoculation, and when the bacteria 
are well kept and properly used they do their proper 
work and help the crop. 
The great mistake made by many people who 
Study this for the first time is in supposing that these 
bacteria are really some wonderful kind of fertilizer. 
They are nothing of the sort. They simply give the 
plants a better chance to develop, provided the soil 
is in good condition, well drained and fertilized. 
They will not take the place of good seed, drains, ■ 
good tillage, lime or manure and fertilizer. On most 
soils they are not as essential as lime for Alfalfa. 
There is absolutely no sense in using them or “inocu¬ 
lating the soil” unless the seed and the soil are both 
right. _ 
PROFIT IN FERTILIZING OHIO SOIL. 
Figures for a Crop. 
Because the experiment station and institute lectures 
teach greater production per acre it does not neces¬ 
sarily follow that they urge greater total produc¬ 
tion. For example, this station has two half-acres of 
land lying side by side in the same field; these tracts 
are as nearly uniform in character of soil as it was 
possible to select them; they have had the same tillage, 
the same quantity of seed, and the same treatment in 
every way except in the one point of fertilizing; on 
one of these tracts the average yield of wheat for the 
last six years has been 13 bushels per acre—or the 
general world average—and on the other 33 bushels; 
it is therefore requiring more than 2% acres of land 
in one case to produce as much wheat as is grown 
on one acre-in the other. Allowing one dollar per 
day for the labor of a man, and counting a team as 
equivalent to a man in labor cost, the expense of 
producing these crops has been as below: 
Treatment of laud. 
None. Fertilized. 
Rental or Interest . $7.50 $3.00 
Plowing, harrowing and seeding . 5.00 2.00 
Seed, (wo bushels per acre . "*.00 2.00 
Cutting and shocking . 7.00 4.00 
Use of machine and twine . 2.00 1.50 
Thrashing . 2.50 2.50 
Total .$29.00 $15.00 
Value of crop . 33:00 33.00 
Net gain . $4.00 $18.00 
The cost of the fertilizer has been more than repaid 
in the clover crops grown in rotation with the wheat, 
hence no charge for fertilizers has been made in the 
above statement. This comparison shows that at the 
low rate of wages on which these results are com¬ 
puted the cost of the bushel of wheat has been nearly 
twice as great on the unfertilized land as on that 
properly managed. 
If, however, we were to compute the cost at the 
rate of wages current in this vicinity, namely, $1.50 per 
day for men and $4 per day for man and team, the 
account would stand as below: 
Treatment of land. 
None. Fertilized. 
Rental or’ interest . $7.50 $3.00 
Plowing, harrowing and seeding. 10.00 4.00 
Seed, two bushels per acre . 5.00 2.00 
Cutting and shocking . 13.00 7.00 
T'se of machine and twine . 2.00 1.50 
Thrashing . 3.50 3.50 
Total .$41.00 $21.00 
Value of crop . 33.00 33.00 
Gain ( + ) or loss ( —) .—8.00 +12.00 
The man in this vicinity, therefore, who raises the 
average crop of wheat of Ohio, does not get as much 
for his labor as he pays the man who helps him by 
the day. By either method of computation it will be 
seen that it would pay better to let three-fifths of the 
land lie absolutely idle, even though rent be paid on 
it, than to skim over the whole area under average 
methods. ■. chas. e. thorne. 
Director Ohio Experiment Station. 
R. N.-Y.—This is a striking showing for fertilizer 
which we understand was mostly potash and phos¬ 
phoric acid. The clover provided most of the nitro¬ 
gen. While the lecturers may not directly urge greater 
total production, such results would mean larger total 
crops, for no man would be willing to let half his 
farm lie idle when he knew how to make it yield 
paying crops. A large increase of food would be a 
blessing, provided the income from its sale were fairly 
divided. Our argument rs that, under present con¬ 
ditions, the farmer receives too small a proportion 
of the consumer’s price. The potato market for this 
season will give us an illustration. The retail price 
has been much the same as in former years, while 
the wholesale price to farmers went to 25 or 30 cents 
a bushel. Under present methods of distribution 
retail prices to consumers will vary but little, being 
held to an arbitrary standard. On the other hand, 
the wholesale price, or what farmers receive, will be 
determined by supply. The more they produce the 
less they will receive, while the consumer receives 
little if any benefit from the low wholesale price 
unless he can dodge past two or three middlemen. 
That is why we say that the question of distribution 
and sale is as important to farmers as that of pro¬ 
duction. It should be discussed and taught wherever 
farmers meet Prof. Thorne’s figures give us a chance 
to see what a farmer gets for his labor. We charge 
20 cents an hour for a man’s day and the same for a 
team. A farmer ought to earn as much as laborers do. 
A SUCCESSFUL PENNSYLVANIA FARMER. 
Mr. W. T. Suter, of Northumberland County, Pa., 
sends us the picture shown at Fig. 127. In speaking 
of these calves and of his farm, Mr. Suter says: 
“Mina and Daisy are bred from the best stock we 
could buy after hundreds of miles travel. Mina is be¬ 
tween seven and eight montlfs old, and Daisy between 
six and seven. They are regular pets, and Mina in 
particular is always looking for some one to .fondle 
her. We now have at the head of our herd Lilith 
Pauline de Kol’s son, whose dam at four years old 
gave 100.85 pounds milk in one day; 28.24 pounds but¬ 
ter in seven days. Also Sir Pieterlje Lyons Henger- 
veld, whose dam at five years and under unfavorable 
circumstances made nearly 27 pounds butter in seven 
days. I have kept Holsteins five years, and consider 
them first class, both for pleasure and profit. Cows 
are tested once a year for tuberculosis and have had 
but one diseased animal, and that in a lot I had 
recently purchased. Our business was built from a 
very small beginning, and we had to earn almost 
every dollar before it could be used. We have been 
fairly successful, and now have about 45 horses and 
cattle. Last season was a very discouraging one, 
but, in spite of the drought, our cash sales in 12 
months were over $5,200, averaging over $100 per 
week.”_ 
KEEP YOUR HENS AT HOME. 
A near neighbor keeps a large flock of hens that roam 
at will. The owner will not confine them, when I have 
a lawn in close proximity, planted to all kinds of flojver- 
ing plants, (hat they scratch out very hadly. If the said 
neighbor will not confine them, what course can I pursue 
to protect the plants from their ravishing? T. D. 
Palermo, Me. 
We went all through the discussion of this question 
several years ago. It was claimed that a hen destroy¬ 
ing a neighbor’s garden becomes a wild bird and can 
be shot. That is not so. You shoot such straying 
hens at your own risk, but about all the owner can 
do at law' is to bring suit for the value of the hens. 
All you could sue him for would be the value of crops 
destroyed. So that lawing is about the most unsatis¬ 
factory part of a hen quarrel. A reasonable man 
will keep his hens shut up if you go at him right. If 
■he will not do so, the treatment varies as to whether 
you are aggressive or diplomatic. The fighting man 
generally shoots a few hens and carries them to the 
neighbor’s property. This makes bad feeling, but the 
hens are kept at home. The diplomatist makes the 
hens welcome—puts up a little house and yard with 
nests, and entices the hens into it. They will lay 
there and usually go home when night comes. You 
get their eggs and the owner usually gets wise and 
shuts them up. If you cannot get the owner to keep 
them at home, you will have to protect your plants 
with ware netting. A lively young dog can be trained 
to drive the hens away. Whenever this question is 
answered we usually print the following suggestion 
for a last resort: 
A maiden lady owned a piece of grouud, 
And morn and eve in Summer she was found 
Within her garden. But her neighbor kept, 
A flock of hens, and while she worked or slept, 
With busy feet they dug her finest seed. 
In vain she chased them at her utmost speed, 
And “shooed” and stoned them, quite undignified, 
Then while her neighbor laughed until he cried, 
But women who can foil the wiles of men. 
Will not be daunted by a Leghorn hen. 
The hand that rocks the cradle, still can block 
Man's ridicule, and give his nerves a shock. 
Our lady cried a bit—as was her right— 
Then took some cards and on each one did write: 
“Please keep your hens at home!” A seed of corn 
She strung to each. With early break of dawn 
Back came the hens; they gobbled grain and string. 
Then back for home they started on the wing. 
From every mouth they dragged the lady’s card. 
“Please keep,” he scratched his head—his heart was hard, 
But shame cut through it like a knife, and hence 
His hens no more flew o’er the lady’s fence. 
AGRICULTURE IN THE COMMON SCHOOLS 
As a teacher who still entertains some of the 
“pedagogical notions and prejudices” objected to by 
L. A. T. on page 168 of The R. N.-Y., I have been 
hoping to see some one else discuss through your col¬ 
umns the matter of farm education. I think anyone 
who has ever given a thought to this important ques¬ 
tion agrees with L. A. T. that our children should be 
taught those things which will enable them to “get 
more enjoyment out of farm life, to understand it 
better, and to make it furnish them a better and a 
surer living.” As a means to this end we are asked 
to teach “agriculture” as a subject in the common 
schools, and it is against this that I, for one, protest. 
This proposition seems to me to be wrong in principle 
and quite impossible in practice. It rests on a mis¬ 
understanding of the office of the common school. We 
are given the child during the years between eight 
and 10 (I am speaking of New York State) six hours 
a day, and commonly in the rural districts only 160 
days a year, including holidays. In this length of time 
we must teach him to read easily and comprehendingly, 
to write clearly and intelligibly, to spell correctly 
three-fourths of the words in common use, and to 
know and understand a few fragments of literature— 
enough to give him a taste for such things. We must 
teach him about the world beyond that he has never 
seen, about his own country and section of country 
in relation to others, what contribution each section 
makes to the world at large, and why. We must teach 
him to write a promissory note and compute interest, 
to calculate percentages and ratios, to determine the 
amount of land in a given area, of hay in a barn, or of 
grain in a bin, of shingles needed for a roof or carpet 
for a floor, and to perform all his operations quickly 
and accurately. We must teach him about his body 
and how to care for it, how all kinds of alcoholic 
beverages are manufactured, and all their fearful and 
wonderful effects on the user. We must teach him 
of his country’s history, and of the men who made it, 
and we must ground him in the principles of our 
government and constitution. In addition to these 
subjects, which, except physiology, are required 
throughout this State for graduation from the com¬ 
mon school, we all try to teach enough drawing to 
give the children another medium for self-expression, 
and enough nature study to arouse an interest in and a 
love for the child’s home surroundings. 
This “mass of matter” has been determined upon 
after careful deliberation by trained educators, and 
I fail to see anything that “could be well left out." That 
it can be “better taught in less time”, all good teachers 
believe, and that is the goal toward which we set our 
faces. At present, however, the fact remains that the 
great majority of children never learn all that we are 
now trying to teach them. It is a common cry from 
the unthinking that because most children fail to go 
further than the elementary grades, therefore every¬ 
thing expedient for a man or a woman to know must 
be taught in the grades. They overlook the fact that 
these children fail to go further because they cannot 
master the work already given, and to give them more 
work only makes confusion worse confounded. More¬ 
over, a glance at the grade work as I have tried to out¬ 
line it will show it to be purely fundamental. Our work 
is solely to build foundations, and these foundations 
are needed by all alike, whether farmer, artisan, busi¬ 
ness man, or housemother. With these you can rear a 
superstructure of modern scientific agriculture, which 
I understand to be much more than a mass of unrelated 
information regarding stanchions, fancy poultry, top- 
grafts, etc. 
I am out of my proper sphere when I undertake 
to suggest a high school course, but it seems to me 
that a course in agriculture should belong with the 
courses in bookkeeping, stenography and commercial 
law. If this course could be made sufficiently elastic 
to admit other than regularly enrolled high school 
students, so much the better. If a certificate that 
the pupil had passed, say, the seventh grade in the 
common school, would admit to the agricultural course, 
it might prove an incentive to some who otherwise 
would not do even that much, for alas! it is the 
indifferent as well as the incapable who drop out by 
the way. 
As to those children, and they are many, who leave 
school unable to write a legible business letter, un¬ 
able to read an editorial in a newspaper, or to under¬ 
stand it if it were read to them, children to whom, 
in spite of all our efforts, the world beyond their 
immediate neighborhood is a closed book, the pro¬ 
posal to teach them agricult-ure reminds me of the 
speech made by the minister’s little daughter when 
they brought her in to see the fifth baby: “But, papa, 
I think there are other things we need worse.” 
Greene Co., N. Y. c. a. paddock. 
R. N.-Y.—The writer did not go far beyond the 
common grades because it was necessary for him 
to leave school and go to work. That is the fate of 
a large proportion of boys to-day. 
The Canadian Government wants farmers—either 
land.owners or farm laborers. It will try to exclude 
immigrants who would seek to remain in towns and 
cities. While this country has been drawing heavily 
from Southern Europe, Canadian immigrants have 
largely come from the North. There has also been a 
rush of Americans over the line to Western Canada, 
and probably 80 per cent of them have been farmers. 
There has not been before, certainly not in modern 
times, any such movement of farmers from one coun¬ 
try to another, and it would seem as if the flood had 
hardly begun. We believe that most of these im¬ 
migrants would have done as well on this side of the 
line, but there is no use trying to reason with one 
who has the restless spirit of adventure. 
