H2a 
logs for home use. and while drawing them on the 
logway at our home mill the owner asked me if I 
had any more like that to sell. I immediately set 
forth the facts of the case, and he said he would be 
up to see me in a few days. At about the same 
time T ran across another timber buyer, and soon had 
the two making a careful examination of the woods, 
though not at the same time, for I did not want the 
two parties to go in partnership on the deal. The 
best offer either would make was $1000, and after 
some bickering l concluded I could do no better 
and closed the deal with the local mill owners. The 
terms were $500 cash and the balance in two months, 
with two years in which to remove the timber. It 
is well to have all the agreement in the written con¬ 
tract, then there is no chance for contention. Also 
specify the right of way, so that the lumberman 
cannot drive all over your farm. The sawing tim¬ 
ber was removed this last Winter, and it has turned 
out of rather poorer quality than expected, so that 
while the buyers will make a good profit, yet they 
could scarcely have paid more and come out with a 
profit. And my friend’s estimate of the quantity of 
timber has proved just about correct, though none 
of the prospective buyers would admit it first. 
POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION.—There are a 
great many factors to be taken into consideration 
in determining the value of a piece of timber. 
Freight rates are of great importance in this matter, 
also the distance from the railroad. A few years 
ago a survey was made across the corner of my 
timber lot, and if the railroad had taken this route 
it would have added several hundred dollars to 
the value of the timber. However, the road took a 
different route. Then the cost of cutting, hauling 
and sawing timber is considerable, under the most 
favorable conditions, and with unfavorable condi¬ 
tions such as rough hilly land for lumbering, had 
roads and bad weather, the expense is still further 
increased. Probably the people who bought my tim¬ 
ber handled it much cheaper than I could have done. 
They were experienced lumbermen, with several big 
teams and all the necessary paraphernalia, which I 
should have had to buy, and which would have been 
useless to me after the job was done. The lowest 
estimate I could get on cutting was $1.25 per thou¬ 
sand, hut they got it done for one dollar. Prob¬ 
ably the man who took the job lost money on it. or 
at least failed to make anything, but that was his 
lookout. If I had tried to hire teams to draw logs 
it would have cost $4 per thousand. The lumbermen 
were wiser than I should have been, and paid one 
dollar per trip, loading the logs themselves and 
providing help to unload. A man could make four 
or five trips daily, and as it was all the way down 
grade and good sleighing, they drew very large 
loads. The record load was 2,100 feet, a large 
elm tree. However, it was not a profitable trip, as 
the sleighs were broken by the load. The lumber¬ 
men saw to it that the drifts were kept shoveled out 
and the thin spots covered with snow, so that as 
large loads as possible could be drawn. They also 
provided a team to double up some small grades 
in the woods at some of the skidways. If I had 
put in a mill on my own premises it would have 
meant considerable capital tied up before the lum¬ 
ber would be ready for sale, besides taking a lot 
of my time until the timber could all be sold, and 
I find it hard enough to keep my farm work up 
without a lumber yard to look after. 
THE BUYER’S RISK.—Lawyers have a Latin 
expression which freely translated means that the 
buyer must take the risk. This may be law, hut in 
practice 'this does not always apply. The timber 
buyer goes over a tract of timber quite carefully, 
counting and measuring the trees and noting their 
condition. They say a tree is no better than it 
looks. A smooth nice shell may cover rotten wood, 
but a tree that is knotty, crooked and full of holes 
has nothing of value inside unless it be ’coons or 
honey. So the buyer discounts his total enough to 
make up for the hypocrite trees. Thus the buyer 
gives himself the benefit of the doubt. If the trees 
are not as good as they look he is safe. If they are 
better, he wins. Of course a man sometimes loses 
money in buying timber, hut it is generally because 
lie is an amateur. In conclusion, I would advise 
the man who is unfamiliar with lumbering and the 
lumber business to let it alone. If you sell your 
timber on the stump you can put the money in your 
pocket, or wherever you like, and go on about your 
business. If you market it yourself you have a lot 
to learn. This of course applies to considerable 
quantities. If you can cut it a little at a time until 
you get into the business the thing is different. But 
at any rate, go carefully. If you make a blunder in 
marketing a crop of potatoes you perhaps may do 
better next year, but having disposed of your timber 
it will be many years before you have another crop. 
New York. Chester l. mills. 
THE RURAL NEW-YOKKER 
WHEN TO SPREAD MANURE. 
HAVE several carloads of horse and cow manure, 
and would like to keep my man busy hauling it 
out, but do not know just where to put it so it will 
produce the best results. Would it be advisable to 
use the manure spreader and put it on top of old mea¬ 
dow, then plow it under this Fall, or would you plow 
and spread it on after plowing? Part of the land to 
be plowed is of a gravelly formation, the remainder is 
sandy, no gravel at all. Do you think once over enough 
to go with the manure spreader? In this section most 
farmers spread manure by hand, and their fields look 
as though they put it on thicker than my spreader does. 
Sheffield, Pa. c. w. e. 
If your land is reasonably level, so that the water 
does not run over it in a flood, we should put out the 
manure at once, or at any time when convenient, and 
spread it over the whole meadow to he plowed under 
next Spring. On the whole we think this is a bet¬ 
ter plan than to plow in the Fall when corn is to 
be planted on this sod. This plan is followed largely 
through central New Jersey as a part of the rota¬ 
tion known as chemicals and clover. In this rota¬ 
tion all the farm manure is spread upon the sod, 
usually in late Summer or during the Fall. In the 
Spring this sod which was manured in this way is 
plowed under for corn planting. Experience shows 
that the manure spread at this time and loft on top 
of the sod through the Winter does not lose its 
plant food, while it does g've an increased Fall 
growth of grass to be plowed under in Spring. This 
matter of applying manure whenever convenient, or 
holding it under cover in the barn, in ord r to be 
hauled out in the Spring, is very largely a matter 
of convenience and farm management. On level 
grass land there will he very little loss if the ma¬ 
nure is hauled out day by day, or whenever the 
teams would otherwise be idle. In (he Spring the 
work usually crowds too much, for a f >zcn jobs 
ought to be done at once. Our own plan is to leave 
the manure on top of the ground on the grass, and 
put it under just before corn planting time. It is 
probable that once over with your manure reader, 
if the feeding attachment is left wide open, will he 
enough. Where the manure is spread by hand it 
is not as fine as when it comes from the spreader, 
and the larger chunks may make it appear that 
more manure is going on, hut this is not the case 
with the finer manure from the spreader and prob¬ 
ably you are putting on enough when you go once 
over with a good machine. 
SHALL WE USE POTASH ? 
ITE farmer who thinks, may learn a good deal 
by the possible potash pinch. For one thing, 
I am perfectly sure that most tobacco land 
which has been liberally dressed with potash year 
after year will yield good crops for two years or 
more with no potash added. I know of two of our 
best growers who dropped potash out of their 
formulas entirely for at least three years, and had 
as good quality of leaf as ever. Why should not 
the same thing hold with other crops? If potash 
has been used in a niggardly way for years, of 
course to cut it off entirely will cut down the crops. 
But if it has been used liberally I do not believe 
that cutting it out one year will make nearly as 
much difference as the vagaries of our seasons make. 
If potash prices soar I shall put none on my or¬ 
chard, for there is where I think it will be least ne¬ 
cessary to use it every year. The tree roots I have 
spread wide by broadcasting all my fertilizer, and 
they have got six or seven months in which to feed. 
If prices increase by one-half I will not use potash 
anywhere except on potatoes, and I will use at least 
75 pounds of actual potash per acre on them if I 
undertake to grow them. But what I should ordin¬ 
arily spend in potash at normal rates I will spend 
in acid phosphate and basic phosphate, and I think 
a man who trims his potash but puts on all the 
more phosphates will think seriously of revising his 
formulas in that way, even when potash resumes its 
normal price. 
Many even of our experienced market gardeners 
would he agreeably surprised at the result of using 
500 pounds of lime and 300 extra pounds of acid 
phosphate on cabbage and turnips next year. I fully 
believe the teaching that we need to use more phos¬ 
phates than we are using. I also am sure that on 
such soils as we have in this State the use of raw 
phosphate rock is much less profitable than the use 
of acid phosphate, fine bone or basic phosphate. 
Applications of slaked lime in Winter or very early 
Spi'ing will help to make the soil potash more solu¬ 
ble, to be sure. I believe in liming rationally at any 
time, but I doubt the wisdom of a specially heavy 
dressing of it to st/uecze out potash. 
I see no present prospect of a potash substitute. 
The street urchin wrote in his Sunday-school teach¬ 
er’s autograph hook, “Keep cool, ’t won’t last. Noth¬ 
in’ does.” Let’s keep cool. Seed time and harvest 
are going right on. Emperors cannot stop them. 
Neither can a temporary shortage of potash cut the 
September 19, 
yield much where the land has been properly fed in 
past years. What we don’t spend for potash let us 
spend for phosphates and perhaps nitrogen. 
Conn. Exp. Station. e. h. jenkins. 
THE GOVERNMENT CROP SERVICE. 
How Statistics Are Gathered. 
W luive had a number of letters from persons who 
say that they do not know how the Government 
obtains its figures showing the reported condi¬ 
tions of crops. How are these figures developed 
and what is the basis for figuring? Some of our corre¬ 
spondents tell us that they did not know that there was 
any reporter in their township or county, and therefore 
they want to find out how these figures are made up. 
Following these requests we have obtained a report from 
the Bureau of Statistics at the United States Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture, and this interesting statement fol¬ 
lows. 
TWO STATES DISCUSSED.—I will review the 
basis of information for the States of New York and 
Pennsylvania. This Bureau has in New York 1,187, 
and iii Pennsylvania 955 township correspondents who 
report to it monthly upon printed schedules of inquiry, 
furnished them for that purpose, concerning crop con¬ 
ditions in their respective communities. It has also a 
county correspondent in each county of both States who 
responds monthly to the same inquiries. The county 
correspondent is assisted iu making his esl ? mates by sev¬ 
eral aids who report to him from different parts of the 
county. 
AGENCIES EMPLOYED—A State Agent is em¬ 
ployed in each State who maintains an independent list 
of selected correspondents, numbering about 300 in New 
York, and about 200 in Pennsylvania, who report direct 
to him and upon whose reports, supplemented by his 
own observations and personal inquiry, he bases a 
monthly report to the Bureau for the State as a whole. 
A traveling field agent also makes similar reports basing 
his estimates partly upon reports from a smaller list 
of aids, many of whom have knowledge of conditions 
over considerable portions of the State, and partly upon 
the results of his own personal observations and in¬ 
quiries gained through careful travel throughout his 
territory each month. These agents’ territories include 
from one to four States, usually two, and they report 
separately for each State. Reports from these four 
sources of information are identical as to the questions 
asked, and include all of the general questions regarding 
acreage, condition and yield of farm crops; numbers, 
condition and values of farm animals. 
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS.—Supplementing 
these sources of information, the Bureau maintains spe¬ 
cial lists of correspondents to whom inquiries are ad¬ 
dressed regarding special crops. For instance, in mak¬ 
ing its general acreage and yield estimates it has the 
additional reports of about 700 representative farmers 
not included on its usual list for the State of New 
York, and about 450 in Pennsylvania. For acreage and 
yield of wheat it has reports from a list of 150 mills 
and elevators in New York, and about 250 iu Pennsyl¬ 
vania. Its live stock reports are supplemented by esti¬ 
mates from about 200 special live stock correspondents, 
including veterinarians and live stock dealers in New 
York, and about half that number in Pennsylvania. 
ACREAGE ESTIMATES.—The basis of the Bu¬ 
reau’s estimates of acreage are found in the Census 
enumerations. This Bureau accepts the figures estab¬ 
lished by the Census for the census year, and by apply¬ 
ing to this its estimated percentage of increase or de¬ 
crease based upon reports of its correspondents and the 
investigations of its special agents, estimates the ap¬ 
proximate change in acreage from year to year. By 
applying to this estimated acreage its estimate of yield 
per acre, it determines the estimated total production 
for the State. Similar methods are followed in arriving 
at the numbers and values of farm animals. By ob¬ 
serving the relation of average conditions from month 
to month to average yields for a series of years, it 
computes and publishes a monthly forecast of probable 
final production provided growing conditions for the 
remainder of the season conform to verage. 
VALUE OF REPORTS.—The value of these reports 
to the community at large, and to farmers in particular, 
is that they furnish a crop estimate based upon the 
opinion of those in immediate touch with and best in¬ 
formed on the subject, supplemented and checked by 
the investigations of trained traveling agents. Without 
this report, the producer, the consumer, the manufac¬ 
turer. the railroad manager, and business men generally, 
all of whom are vitally affected by the harvest, would 
be compelled to depend largely upon crop estimates is¬ 
sued by private interests. Information of crop pros¬ 
pects and outturn is imperative and such information 
will always be forthcoming though not always depend¬ 
able. The value of the government report resides not 
alone in its substantial accuracy and dependability, but 
largely also upon the fact that it is a government report 
carrying thereby the assurance that it is prepared with¬ 
out bias. That this information, assembled with so 
much care and thoroughness, may be received with con¬ 
fidence by all concerned and thus render a maximum of 
benefit, the handling of the data received at Washing¬ 
ton is surrounded by every safeguard to prevent any 
wrong interpretation of the figures or unfair use of tin 
valuable information. 
PREPARING ESTIMATES.—The estimates are 
prepared by a board composed of several trained statis 
ticians attached to the headquarters of the crop report¬ 
ing service at Washington, with the assistance of two 
crop experts from among the traveling field agents who 
are ordered to Washington each month for service on 
this board. The custom has recently been inaugurated 
of calling to the assistance of the Board from month to 
month census experts or specialists from the technical 
Bureaus of the Agricultural Department, who may pos¬ 
sess special knowledge of the important subjects of in¬ 
quiry for the particular month. For instance, in Jan¬ 
uary, in connection with the live stock report, the Board 
included the Chief of the Division of Animal Husban¬ 
dry of this Department; for the March report, in con¬ 
nection with the estimates of grain reserves, it had the 
assistance of the Cerealist of the Department. The in 
formation upon which the Board acts is not assembled 
until the morning of the report. Before the reports 
from the different sources are examined, the doors to 
tin* Bureau are locked, the telephones disconnected, and 
all other means of intercourse with the outside sus¬ 
pended until the report has been prepared and given to 
the press. The report is made public at a time an¬ 
nounced beforehand, in order that all desiring the in¬ 
formation may receive it at the same moment. 
LEON M. EST All ROOK. 
Chief of Bureau. 
