1910. 
803 
BUMPER HA Y AND OTHER CROPS ON 
CHEAP LAND. 
On page 723 a subscriber asks, and the editor an¬ 
swers as to the value of the Clark method of growing 
hay. An experience of more than a dozen years con¬ 
firms all the editor has said in relation to it. To-day 
we are cutting a field put down after this method last 
September. It requires two men to follow the mower 
and take the grass out of the way. As it lies in the 
swath I estimate the yield as fully four tons of cured 
hay to the acre. Since writing the above we have 
actually taken off 28 large loads from six acres. An¬ 
other field brought in to-day, which has been mowed 
five years, will turn fully two tons per acre. This 
field had a dressing in the Spring of 1909 of 400 pounds 
per acre of a 4-11-5 fertilizer. These fields and others 
that I have are all good land, which has been well 
tilled and fertilized, as well as cropped, for over 200 
years. Last week I had a forcible illustration of what 
thorough tillage and fertility will do in growing hay 
on unproductive land. In the town of Canaan, Co¬ 
lumbia County, five miles east from Chatham, a Mr. 
Quinion has purchased some 400 acres. He was for¬ 
merly from Connecticut, and has a brother farming 
there who is a hay grower a la Clark; I presume in 
that way he become tinctured with the Clark bacteria, 
lie has lived for some time in Dakota as a ranchman, 
being a friend of ex-Prcs. Roosevelt, whose ranch 
was 15 miles distant. Some three years age he re¬ 
turned East and purchased a 200-acre farm in the 
above-mentioned locality. This was not a “cheap” 
farm, in the accepted sense of that term. It has a 
comfortable house and good barns on it, and is pleas¬ 
antly located. The land is rolling and some of it very 
stony—from one field he has picked 1500 loads. It 
THE HOUSE ON AN OLD FARM. Fig. 344. 
has not been very well farmed. I have passed it for 
years, at rather long intervals, and have never seen 
on it what would be considered a first-class crop. Mr. 
Quinion has the western hustle and the Connecticut 
thrift, nor is he bound down by traditions and customs, 
and he began to do things. The first year he had to 
buy hay to keep his 20 head of stock and farm teams. 
Last year he sold 40 tons of hay, and at the same time 
increased his stock. His results are an eye-opener 
and a marvel to the whole region round about. His 
place has been a sort of Mecca all Summer, and not a 
few, who like the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, 
had heard the fame thereof, on returning, testified that 
“the half had not been told.” 
What has he done? In the first place he has plowed 
the land. I am sure he has turned up soil that never 
before saw the light, or got the air; and after plow¬ 
ing has fitted it as very little land in the town ever 
was fitted. Then he has used liberally of manure and 
fertilizer. He attributes much of his success to the 
latter. I am very sure, however, that without the 
thorough preparation of the soil, no such results 
would have followed, no matter what the fertilizer. 
The day of my visit he was mowing the second year's 
cutting from a rather steep hillside, beautiful Tim¬ 
othy, from five to six feet tall, and so thick that one 
could scarce see where the machine had gone. The 
picture, Fig. 345, shows a man following the mower, 
to clear the track for the next swath. Certainly the 
field would cut three tons of well-cured hay per acre. 
1 his on land where a ton of indifferent hay was con¬ 
sidered a big crop. More remarkable still was a 15- 
acre field, said to be the poorest in the town, which 
was not much behind the one just described. To get 
an adequate idea of what has been done to this field, 
one must walk back—as we did—to the “sister” field 
separated only by a fence. This one has not yet been 
taken in hand. It is covered over with “five-finger” 
and other worthless stuff. I should consider 500 
pounds per acre all that could possibly come from it, 
I HE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
and I would not gather the crop if it was given to me. 
Neighbors tell me the field showing the good stand 
was equally worthless. Fig. 347 shows Mr. Quinion, 
his neighbor, a friend, and the writer standing in this 
field. Fig. 346 is taken in the “sister” field. The first 
one can. be seen across the fence in the background. 
A year ago Mr. Quinion—like the man in Scripture 
—“began to say within himself: where shall I bestow 
my goods?” It looked as if he must “pull down his 
barns and build greater.” Next to him was a farm 
of 200 acres, once one of the best in the town. In the 
TIMOTHY HAY THE SECOND YEAR. Fig. 345. 
sixties it sold for $15,000, in 1S74 for $9,500. For 
seven years it has practically been abandoned. A 
widow lived in the house, which had become scarcely 
habitable. It is shown in the picture with Mr. Quinion 
standing in front of it. She was largely dependent on 
the kindness of a large-hearted neighbor. There was 
on the farm a good barn. This too may be seen in the 
background of the hayfield picture. Mr. Quinion 
bought this barn for $1500, with the 200 acres of land 
thrown in, so he put it. After obtaining possession 
he was not satisfied to let the land lie fallow, but has 
already begun a process of reconstruction. We walked 
through oat fields on it as fine as any we passed in a 
round trip of 60 miles. Not only were the oats good, 
but I measured young Timothy seeded with them that 
was over six inches high, and with it clover corre¬ 
spondingly good. Of course it is a long time before 
next Spring, and by that time the clover may go 
where the woodbine twineth; it stands to-day a per¬ 
fect mat, where none has grown for years. What is 
the secret? None. Thorough, deep plowing, excellent 
fitting, lime and fertilizer. While his preference is 
to seed without a crop of grain, the large acreage to 
get into grass in the shortest time has made him adopt 
the more speedy, if less sure method for the time be¬ 
ing. His aim is to get the land subdued and into 
grass, and then make a sheep farm of it, to which it is 
admirably adapted. Mr. Quinion is not a man who 
has money to spend on the land to get a crop no mat¬ 
ter what the cost, but a farmer who must live from his 
soil. He is demonstrating not only the possibilities 
of an acre of hay, but more important still, how 
TIMOTHY HAY ON POOR FARM. Fig. 346. 
quickly, through intelligent effort, he can make aban¬ 
doned land productive, from an economic standpoint. 
EDWARD VAN ALSTYNE. 
WOMEN AND INVESTMENTS. 
A case in the New York courts last week ought to 
interest thousands of women who go hunting for 
“investments.” A wealthy woman, Mrs. W. T. Bull, 
invested $35,000 in stock of the “Magnesia Asbestos 
Co.,” of which John Qualey and H. W. Corbett claimed 
to be officers. They told wonderful stories of great 
buildings, government contracts and $4,000,000 capital! 
On the strength of these great stories Mrs. Bull paid 
her money, only to find on investigation that there 
were no buildings, no contracts—little or nothing ex¬ 
cept a patent for making asbestos! Mrs. Bull had 
influence enough to have these men brought into court 
on a charge of grand larceny, but it is doubtful if 
she can get her money back. The same game is 
played again and again and women with surplus cash 
of their own are the usual victims. It is always the 
same—some smooth rascal has a patent or an “option” 
on an idea. Sometimes, like our friend Lewis, he has 
a “dream.” It does not seem to make much differ¬ 
ence if husband or brother advise against such invest¬ 
ment. Of course they may be in business, but they 
lack that finer “instinct” which the schemer tells these 
women is necessary to make the great and profitable 
things go. In the case of Mrs. Bull one of the men 
who sold her the shares claimed to be connected with 
a great university. It is a favorite trick of these pro¬ 
moters to parade the name of some popular educator 
or public man as bait for their hook, and they usually 
land their fish. Give us the money which such human 
skunks have stolen in this way and we could pay the 
national debt. It is the meanest business in the world, 
because it not only robs confiding people of their 
money, but destroys their faith in human nature. 
CONTAGIOUS MAMMITIS; SNAKES AND 
COWS. 
I have 10 cows. They all freshened In May. After 
fteshening, one after the other came in from pasture 
with swollen udder and sore teat (generally one teat) ; 
now two have two sore teats and one even three! The 
milk looks coffee-like. I have been ruhhing with oil, 
and massaged ever since, but to no avail. I thought 
simply it might be a cold, produced by lying on damp 
soil. Now a man tells me that my cows are getting 
“milked by snakeg,” and I believe it is so, as there are 
OVER THE FENCE FROM GOOD GRASS. Fig. 347. 
plenty of them around. Can you tell me what to do? 
I am afraid that those cows are spoiled unless I get 
a remedy quickly. b. m. b. 
We have never been able to prove that there is any 
truth in the old accusation that certain snakes suck 
cows; nor have we ever run across a man who has 
caught a snake in the robbery act. We simply do not 
believe that any such thing ever happened anywhere. 
If anyone takes exception to this assertion let him 
support his objection by a good kodak photo and sup¬ 
ported affidavit, drinking men barred! Seriously, there 
can be no question that your cows have been attacked 
by infectious mammitis (garget) which spreads from 
the milker’s hands and affected milk. The germ enters 
the teat by the milk duct, and its source is one affected 
cow, and before that some mudhole, pond, or manure- 
covered yard through which cows walk and in which 
they soil their teats. It is a terrible disease once intro¬ 
duced and few cows recover when badly affected. That 
is, they may not have all quarters affected, but those 
attacked usually lose their milk-secreting function. 
Isolate affected cows and milk last or have them milked 
by some one who does not touch the other cows. Wash 
the hands in an antiseptic solution before milking each 
cow, well or affected. A mixture of half an ounce of 
hyposulphite of soda to a quart of warm water will 
suffice for the handwashing. Clean up, disinfect and 
whitewash the stable. Keep cows away from all dirty 
places, such as we have suggested. Keep them out of a 
river or pond. At outset of attack foment the udder 
three times daily with hot water and once daily rub 
affected parts with camphophenique. Paint boils with 
tincture of iodine and open when soft; then inject 
peroxide of hydrogen. Where pus comes from a teat 
inject twice daily a little of a mixture of one part perox¬ 
ide of hydrogen and two parts distilled water, then 
massage the udder and at once milk out clean. Cows 
that have been badly affected so that the milk has dried 
up or pus has come away should not be retained for 
dairy purposes. a. s. a. 
