584 
THtC RURAL NEVV-VORKEK 
after being trimmed the beads are sorted accord¬ 
ing to their size and tlie form and strength of their 
hooks. The usual range is from one inch to three 
inches in length, but some from Oregon are four 
inches long. Those of small size are used on fine 
broadcloth, those of medium size on common goods, 
and the largest ones on heavy blankets. As they are 
sorted the heads are put into bins or boxes in 
which each size is stored by itself. If they are kept 
dry the teasels remain good for several years, but 
after a while their quality becomes impaired by age. 
CROP RETURNS.—In a favorable season good 
land, that has been well cultivated, should produce 
from 100,000 to 150,000 teasels per acre. They 
are sold by weight. They are so bulky that when 
prepared for market a bushel weighs only from 4 y 2 
to five pounds. In number it takes about 100 to 
weigh a pound. They are shipped from the factory 
in boxes which are usually made of basswood, and 
which vary in size with the quantities which are 
ordered. The price has fluctuated greatly. Ex¬ 
cessive over-production once brought it down to four 
cents a pound for teasels “in the rough," that is. as 
they were brought to the factory to he trimmed and 
sorted, but in recent years it has reached 20 cents a 
pound. At the price first named the crop does not 
nearly pay the cost of production. At the last one 
quoted there is a very good profit. Considerable 
seed is produced, but as very little of it is sown 
(lie yield per acre is not even approximately known. 
All that is used is home grown, and it has no mar¬ 
ket value. Seed for sowing is taken from the largest 
terminal heads. They are thoroughly dried and 
then thrashed with a flail. The seed is cleaned with 
a small sieve or by a winnowing machine. If no 
effort to save it is made the seed falls from the heads 
while they are being harvested and prepared for 
ma rket. 
A LIMITED CROP.—There are various reasons 
for the diminished area given to the teasel. Many 
<>f the former growers have died, and their successors 
in farming have largely chosen other crops. To 
some the fact that the plant requires two years in 
which to make a crop is an objection, and some do 
not favor it because of the amount of hand work 
which it needs. But there is no great difficulty in 
growing it. As is the case with other plants the 
yield varies but the crop seldom fails. The demand 
is good and is likely to continue to he good for many 
years. j. e. r. 
MAKING A NEW SOIL. 
In my back yard I have a strip of ground 4x50 feet, 
where for two years I have tried to grow & few rad¬ 
ishes, etc., without success. The land is what I 
should call poor, being probably what was dug out 
of the cellar when the house was built, and later leveled 
off to make the yard. I have tried practically all of the 
small vegetables, and either through ignorance on my 
part, or some other condition, everything grew to tops; 
fine'tops, but that was all. I never saw such nice cu¬ 
cumber vines as I had last year. Suddenly they yel¬ 
lowed and died. Tomatoes are the only plants I re¬ 
ceived any return from at all, and they were not what 
they should have been. I would like to know when and 
how to fit this soil, what fertilizer to use (it would 
necessarilv have to be a commercial fertilizer) and 
how much: when and what variety of vegetables to 
plant, and how to plant them? R. C. w. 
N this little plot of 200 square feet you have the 
big problem of how to build up a waste and sterile 
soil. The chances are that this is largely subsoil 
thrown out of the cellar and mixed with rubbish. 
No doubt it is sour and with little or no organic 
matter; probably baking hard in time of drought. 
A good soil will give up its plant food under proper 
culture, but this is really not soil at all, and about 
all you can do until you can fit it is to put plant 
food in so that your crops can take it out. You 
must in some way fill that land with organic mat¬ 
ter. If time were no object you could do this by 
sowing turnips, working them under in June, sow¬ 
ing buckwheat, following this by rye and so on un¬ 
til this decaying organic matter made soil out of this 
waste. You want crops at once, and so you must 
work differently. Arrange to get at some stable 
about 400 pounds of fine, well-rotted manure. 
Spread this evenly over the plot and spade it care¬ 
fully in, so as to have the manure mixed all through 
(he upper surface. Then get 25 pounds of slaked 
lime and scatter it evenly over the spaded soil. 
Rake this thoroughly in so as to get it out of sight. 
This is to sweeten the soil and fill it with organic 
matter, and having done this you have started your 
land on the road to soil. Get a small bag of some 
mixed fertilizer, designed for truck or garden crops, 
and use 10 pounds of it raked in about a week after 
using the lime. You may then go ahead and plant 
your seeds and set out your plants. We do not 
know whether this spot is near a fence and thus has 
too much shade. It ought to have the sunshine, but 
if you follow this plan your crops ought to grow, 
and year by year with careful treatment you will 
come closer to garden soil. It will be better to 
train the tomatoes up on stakes and thus have more 
room for the smaller vegetables. The garden must 
lie kept stirred with hoe or rake, and watered when 
necessary. In brief this is the way sterile soils are 
brought back. It means lime and organic matter— 
the latter added in the most practical and sensible 
way available. 
A FARM-PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT. 
Will you advise the best arrangement for a partner¬ 
ship between two parties who are situated as follows? 
A. is a man with capital and a 400-acre farm in poor 
condition. He does not care to put his time on the 
farm. B. lives nearly two miles away in a small vil¬ 
lage, and has no capital to invest in the partnership, 
but has a first-class knowledge for working a farm. 
While not a college graduate B. has studied hard for 
V 
I 
An Old-Time House. Fig. 203. 
the past three years and has a good practical exper¬ 
ience. 
A. has the following: 400 acres of land in poor con¬ 
dition with fair buildings, one cow, seven head of 
yearlings, three horses, four shotes. one two-horse wag¬ 
on, one two-horse sleigh, one mowing machine, one hay- 
rake, one walking plow, one walking cultivator, etc. 
B. has the following: One cow, one yearling heifer, 
one work horse, one one-horse wagon, one manure 
spreader, one fanning mill, one six horse-power gasoline 
engine and buzz saw, one mowing machine, one disk 
harrow, one spring-tooth harrow, one walking plow, 
one walking cultivator, one convertible wagon box. B.'s 
tools are all new, having been used only one season, 
and have always been kept under shelter. A. desires to 
get the responsibility of the farm off his hands and yet 
desires to improve the place. B. would look after the 
farm and turn his outfit in on the working end of the 
farm, and yet not sign any of the machinery or in¬ 
terest in the same over to A. in the partnership. A. 
would have his stock, tools, etc., and B. would have 
Pear Grafted on Thorn. Fig. 204. 
his. and yet all would be turned in to work for a good 
outcome. What would be B.’s proportion of the rev¬ 
enue or what should A. be willing to pay B. in case a 
partnership is not advisable? G. 
OU understand how impossible it is for an 
outsider to settle definitely such a proposition. 
Such things are personal matters which should 
be settled in detail by the interested parties. All 
that an outsider can do is to give general advice. 
We should apply the general rule—which we have 
so often given—of dividing the business into three 
April 17, 1!)15. 
parts—real estate, personal property and labor. As¬ 
suming that the farm is capable of providing busi¬ 
ness for a good farmer, it would represent one-third, 
which would belong to A. The live stock and tools 
are divided in this case. An inventory of each share 
should be made and valued fairly. Suppose, as a 
guess, A.’s equipment is worth $700. while B.’s is 
worth $800. Then A. would be entitled to seven- 
fifteenths or 47 per cent., and B. 53 per cent, of this 
third. If B. does the work he should receive one- 
third for that. On that basis A. would have one- 
ihird for real estate, and 46 per cent, of equpiment. 
while B. has one-third for labor and 53 per cent, for 
equipment. Figured out exactly this means 48.0 
per cent, of all proceeds for A., and 51.4 per cent. 
ior B. This of course is only a suggestion, but a 
fair agreement can be made by figuring on this 
P an. The farm may not be fit to provide a living 
yet. There may be large capital required, or perhaps 
( lie share of the personal property may be worth 
more than the other. These suggestions are given 
as a guide in figuring out such contracts. Most of 
them will come down to this rule, but personal con¬ 
sideration must be taken into account. An outsider 
cannot determine such things. At any rate be sure 
to have your contract in writing. 
A BACK-TO-THE-LANDER’S FIGURES. 
I am a man 42 years of age. I never worked hard, 
but feel healthy and strong. I have a little business 
of my own. but I am so disgusted with it that I will 
not stay any longer in it. I wish I could buy a little 
farm on which I could make a living for my small 
family, which consists of myself, my wife, seven years 
younger than I. and one little girl 11 years old. I was 
never a farmer, but my grandfather and uncles were 
farmers in the old country, and they made a nice living. 
I have also a brother-in-law, 24 years old. who has 
worked on farms two years, has a little experience, likes 
it and would go with me. Some weeks ago I saw an 
advertisement in The R. N.-Y. about a five-acre pecan 
orchard for sale in Florida. The trees are eight years 
old and have just come into bearing, no buildings, price 
$1,000. I did not pay much attention to it, but in tin' 
last week’s edition I have seen an article on page 440, 
entitled “Beats the Cow.” where the writer states that 
one pecan tree brought an annual, average of 3(50 
pounds for the last seven years, which were sold for 
25 cents a pound, which makes $90 in one year for one 
tree. That made me pay more attention to the five- 
acre pecan orchard. If each tree should bring as 
much as one-twentieth, which makes $4.50 and if there 
are 200 trees on the five-acres, I would have an income 
of $900 a year, and having one cow and some chickens 
that would' make a nice living. Will you advise me and 
give me more particulars about pecans, and also about 
the Florida climate, because I was told that only 
natives could live in that climate? A. L. 
New York. 
HIS is a common case of desire to go back-to- 
the-landing. Our friend is a laundryman and 
perhaps like many others he thinks all the 
troubles are in his business and all the joys in 
others. This scheme of figuring “possibilities” in the 
farm business is a good illustration of the way peo¬ 
ple go wrong. Some one will see a printed account 
of a hen that gave a profit of $10 in one year. He 
at once figures that all he has to do is to keep 1,000 
bens and pocket $10,000. The little things like learn¬ 
ing how to do it, disease, accidents or natural losses 
are not to be considered! Our friend sees the rec¬ 
ord of one remarkable tree. This is an old well- 
developed tree of natural vigor and ability, and 
grown in good soil under the most favorable condi¬ 
tions. It is one tree out of a million. It would take 
our friend 30 years to develop a tree that would 
come within mention of such a yield. lie does not 
know how large these Florida pecan trees are, the 
kind of soil or the conditions of culture. Think of 
it for a moment. If these trees could possibly pro¬ 
duce $900 worth of nuts per year, does anyone sup¬ 
pose the owner would sell the place for $1,000? 
Florida is full of people who would pay $5,000 for 
such a gold mine. Think again! Our friend is a 
laundryman. Suppose he washes 1,000 pieces each 
week. Some farmer reads in his paper that a New 
York laundry received $1.50 for washing a single 
delicate piece of lace work. He immediately figures 
about this way: “A laundry handles 1.000 pieces in 
one week and the price is $1.50. Knock off half to 
make it sure and we have $750 per week or $40,050 
per year!” 
What would A. L., disgusted with his business, 
say to that figuring? Yet most of the big farming 
stories are figured in the same way. Whenever a 
farm is sold “cheap” or at some “great bargain" 
there is some good reason for it and the baclc-to- 
tbe-lander ought to know what the reason is before¬ 
hand. A pecan orchard well located as to soil and 
markets is a fair property. Some of the Florida 
groves are on light soil and will not bear well un¬ 
less heavily fertilized. We know, as we own a small 
grove of this sort. Under no circumstances what¬ 
ever would we advise A. L. to buy Florida property 
without going down to see it and living one entire 
year, through all the seasons, in that climate. The 
chances are that he will do better on some small 
poultry and fruit farm near a lively Northern city. 
