Published by 
The Rural Publishing Co. 
333 W. 30th Street 
New York 
The Rural NewYorker 
The Business Farmer’s Paper 
Weekly, One Dollar Per Year 
Postpaid 
Single Copies, Five Cents 
Vol. LX XIV. 
NKW YORK, AUGUST 28, 1915. 
No. 4021. 
Tractor and Truck in the Hayfield. 
With Oxen to Wait Upon Them. 
I AM enclosing a few pictures of a tractor and a 
truck drawing hay on the Massachusetts State 
Farm. The tractor shown in the picture is an 8-1G 
horsepower Mogul purchased this Spring. We have 
already harrowed over 517 acres of land with it, 
and are using it every day the weather permits. 
The picture was taken July 1G. At that time we 
were haying on a field three-quarters of a mile from 
the barns. We have eight yoke of oxen on the farm, 
and have used them to draw in hay. As it was a 
very hot day and a long haul from the field over a 
hard road with a steep hill it was suggested that the 
or to obtain the exact income a bed would net per 
acre. This led me to keep an account of one of the 
home beds this year. It is now time to consider 
whether our early Spring crops paid, in order to 
see whether it will he a business proposition to con¬ 
tinue them next year and the years to come. Al¬ 
lowances must be made for the bed this year, be¬ 
cause it was a poor year for asparagus. This bed 
is 13 years old, so that you can see it has passed 
its prime. The record will show that this bed has 
done remarkably well for the amount of fertilizer 
applied plus the labor, when the season is taken into 
consideration. 
LABOR.—The cutting of the asparagus was done 
by boys at five cents per hour. It cost 12*4 cents 
fertilizer directly after the cutting season, when the 
roots start to store up nourishment for the follow¬ 
ing year, instead of applying it the first thing in 
the Spring; next, if we applied a greater amount 
we would expect to cut more stalks. This would 
tend to increase the net income and reduce the cost 
of the labor to a large extent, because the bed has 
to be cultivated, no matter how many stalks there 
are. The more bunches there are the less the cart¬ 
age would be per bunch. It would take a little long¬ 
er to bunch the crop and a little longer to cut it. I 
might mention another factor. If we had used a 
car to deliver the produce,- we could have done it 
in half an hour, as we are 2*,4 miles from the public 
market. Some one might say that the cost of the 
The Oxen Haul the Hay From Meadow. Fig. 390. 
The Tractor Takes It Along the Road. Fig. 392. 
The Motor Truck Substitute for Oxen. Fig. 391. 
The Tractor Walks Off With Two Loads. Fig. 393. 
tractor might save the oxen a lot of walking, and at 
the same time save time in hauling in the hay. The 
oxen drew the wagons in the field, and when they 
were loaded took them to the road, where the trac¬ 
tor hitched on and drew the loads to the barn, and 
brought the empty wagons back to the hayfield. The 
tractor drew the two loads up the rather steep hill 
with ease, and could undoubtedly have drawn three 
loads. 
The truck was used in the same way to save time, 
and also to ease up on the oxen. It was rather a 
queer sight to see a load of hay weighing over a 
ton coming uphill at 12 miles an hour. The truck 
has horsepower enough to pull three such loads, but 
it was not heavy enough to keep it on the ground. 
All the “kids” in the neighborhood were given a free 
ride so as to give the truck greater tracting power. 
The truck was purchased from an insurance com¬ 
pany as it had been through a fire, and the entire 
body burnt off. It was overhauled by inmates un¬ 
der supervision of the chief engineer, and a truck 
body put on. The engine is governed down so the 
truck cannot go over 12 miles an hour. 
Massachusetts. roeand a. payne. 
Does Asparagus Pay? 
IIEN I was connected with the New York 
State College Vegetable Gardening Depart¬ 
ment (doing graduate work), Mr. Paul Work, head 
of the department, remarked to me that he had nev- 
|l i been able to get an expense account on asparagus 
per hour to have it bunched. Hoeing and cultivat¬ 
ing was done by men working at 12*4 cents per hour. 
This will all be shown on the “data sheet.” Up to 
within three years ago, we were employing men to 
cut the asparagus at $1.50 per day, but it will be 
readily seen that the boys are a much better busi¬ 
ness proposition, as they only cost a third as much 
and will do practically the same amount of work. 
We happen to be fortunate enough to get Polish 
boys who are quick (as a rule), and who will work 
well, if they are looked after. The way to accom¬ 
plish this is to give one of the oldest boys, who 
has been working for you two or three years, charge 
of the bed, and hold him responsible for the work. 
This trust in him will make him feel his “import¬ 
ance,” and the crowd of boys will get along all right. 
Cnee in a while the boys are employed in weeding 
and hoeing the asparagus, but not this season, as 
they had all they could do in keeping down the 
weeds in the other vegetables. 
A PROFITABLE CROP.—I should say from the 
figures shown here in the results that they would 
prove this is a very profitable crop to cultivate, 
and it should also be borne in mind that this crop 
brings in money in the Spring, before most of the 
crops and thus gives a source of ready cash to pay 
the help while the succeeding crops are being plant¬ 
ed. and until they will produce their crops. I know 
there will be a great deal of criticism here, but if 
any of the conditions were changed the results 
would be changed. For instance, if we applied the 
car would he too great, but good second-hand ones 
can be purchased for $150, that will last four or 
LABOR SHEETS. 
DISBURSEMENTS. 
April 2S, *4 day harrowing. $1.25 
June 2, 1 day, man and horse, plowing. 3.00 
June 0. *4 day, man and horse, cultivating.... 1.53 
June 26, % day, harrowing. 3.75 
July 3, % day, cultivating. 2.25 
July 12, % day, 2 men hoeing and pulling weeds 1.93 
July 16, % day, man and horse, plowing. 2.25 
Aug.. 3 cultivatings, man and horse. 6.75 
Cutting top and raking and burning in fall y 2 day 1.65 
For cord (5e worth for every 50 bunches). 1.23 
Cutting, 300 hours, boys 5c per hour. 15.00 
Bunching 91.5 hours at 12*40 per hour. 11.44 
Fertilizer, 290 lbs. NaNo3, $S.70, plus bone meal 
Vi ton, $11. 19.70 
There were 26 trips to market, but it would be 
best to only count half of them as the other 
times later in the season other vegetables were 
included in the load. It takes 1% hours for 
„ th *s . 4.31 
Suppose we say the land would rent for $25 per 
acre . 25.00 
T|»tat .$101.04 
i o 10 bunches for home consumption. 3.58 
$10 4.62 
Recei p ts .$224.24 
Disbursements . 104.62 
Total area 1.05 acres, net income.$119.62 
Last year the bed yielded somewhere around 1,259 
bunches; total receipts $219.48. Do not know the’net 
income. 
five years and longer with care, not to mention the 
other uses to which it could be put. Turning to 
