870 
a few acres last year the first week in July, which 
made a fairly good crop. The rows for this variety 
chould be 2% feet apart, and from one to three 
kernels in each hill, the hills being eight or 10 
inches apart. A good many claim that more can 
be produced per acre when planted 12 inches apart, 
but I have given both ways a thorough test, and am 
convinced that a good many more can be grown on 
an acre planted eight inches apart than on one 
planted 12 inches. This variety grows up straight 
and does not require as much distance between the 
hills as the “Virginia” vai-iety. 
PROPER CULTIVATION ESSENTIAL.—Culti¬ 
vation of the peanut should commence just as soon 
as up, and be continued as long as one can get be¬ 
tween the rows easily with a horse and cultivator. 
The first and best implement to use in cultivating 
is the pea-weeder. It is run diagonally across the 
rows, just as soon as they show plainly. If it does 
not rain in a day or so, this will kill out most of 
the fine grass and weeds and such seeds as have 
just germinated. The weeder is of little value in 
a wet season, and .should never be used if rain 
threatens, but try to select a good clear day for this 
work, when the soil is moderately dry, and it does 
not look likely for rain in a day or two. This is 
from one who has tried both ways, and I know if the 
weeder is used in proper time very little hoe work 
will be required, except on certain spots. An acre 
is the rule for a man to work in a day with a hoe, 
and a boy 10 years old with a mule and weeder can 
weed over 10 acres per day easily, as the weeder 
doesn’t pull hard at all, and besides, I would much 
rather prefer running a weeder to using the hoe. 
After the work of the weeder is dispensed with the 
cultivator .should be used frequently running shal¬ 
low, and as close to the peanuts as possible for the 
first five weeks. The smallest sized teeth or hoes 
should be used. It is best to use the cultivator 
every 10 or 12 days if possible until the crop is 
laid by. After they commence to “peg” or form 
pods, the vines .should not be disturbed by close 
cultivation. 
AVERAGE YIELD.—The yield of the “Spanish” 
variety per acre upon an average, is from 25 to 
50 bushels, though I have grown as high as GO. The 
crop should be cultivated level, but it is advisable 
to put on a size larger hoe next to the peas at the 
last working, so as to push some of the loose soil 
close up under the limbs, but do not put a large 
hill. The average yield per acre for the Virginia 
variety is from 35 to 60 bushels, though on one oc¬ 
casion I got as high as 85. Don’t forget that thor¬ 
ough preparation of the soil before planting is es¬ 
sential, as this constitutes one-half the working of 
any crop. wm. habt harkison. 
I’rince George Co., Va. 
Manure Shed or Covered Barnyard 
I wish to erect a building in which I can put ma¬ 
nure from 25 to 30 head of cattle and five head of 
horses. I intend to build this of cement blocks, and 
run a carrier and rack from my dairy barn and horse 
stable into it. The cement blocks are for side walls 
with a floor overhead sealed' so as to make it as near 
as possible frostproof, so I can haul manure out of 
this building all VStinter without freezing. At present 
I have a barnyard that is 50x100, with a cement block 
fence and cement floor, not covered, and I am con¬ 
fronted with this difliculty. In the Winter the ma- 
mire accumulates in. this yard and freezes so that I 
cannot haul it out, and if we have a wet Spring I am 
also unable to get the manure out on the land with¬ 
out cutting it all up, so shall have to have some place 
where I can put this manure so I can haul it out 
when conditions are right. Do you think manure would 
freeze in this kind of a building? Also what size of 
building would be necessary for me to build under 
these conditions? P* K. T. 
Ohio. 
M IXED manure will not freeze in a building 
such as you describe, especially if a libei’al 
amount of straw is used in bedding; 25 cattle and 
five horses should produce a good load of manure 
per day. If you improve chances for hauling out, 
you should rarely be obliged to store it for more 
than two months. You will then need storage for 
60 loads. If you build high enough to allow an 
accumulation six feet deep, a building 16x25 feet 
ivill store the manure and allow a nine-foot drive¬ 
way along one end. 
Such a building as you have in mind, to serve 
the one purpose of housing manure, will be expen¬ 
sive. Can you not contrive to use the modern cov¬ 
ered barnyard, with straw mow or storage room 
overhead? A covered barnyard preserves the ma¬ 
nure and provides a place for stock to exercise at 
all times. Such a yard well littered is sanitary and 
comfortable for stock, and is even better for the 
manure, for there is no better way to preserve ma¬ 
nure than to have the animals that make it tramp 
it firm, to exclude air and prevent all decay. There 
is no bad odor from manure thus handled, and 
with plenty of straw cattle are clean. They have 
Ijhe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
their freedom in comfortable quarters in Winter, 
and in Summer will seek the cool shelter away 
from files. Thousands of successful livestock far¬ 
mers would not do without the covered barnyard. 
A covered yard 30x50 (or equivalent) with hay 
racks and watering trough is a great asset on a 
stock farm of the size mentioned. f. l. allen. 
Ohia 
The Legumes for Protein Food 
aiERE is much talk about the use of various 
legume crops for feeding dairy cows. In these 
days of high feed prices many a farmer will have 
to look to his own soil to provide substitutes for 
grain. The time has long gone by when any far¬ 
mer can afford to try to feed cows on Timothy and 
meadow hay and silage, buying nearly all of the 
protein, or muscle-making foods. That plan worked 
out some years ago when grain was cheaper, but 
to follow it now on the oi-dinary Eastern farm 
would simply lead a man over the hill to the poor- 
houSe, and nowhere else. Few people stop to real¬ 
ize just how Alfalfa or clover hay, and some of the 
other legumes, compare with wheat bran or other 
forms of grain. The following table is sent out 
from the Department of Agriculture, and is sup¬ 
posed to show what an acre under fair cultivation 
will produce as compared with the grains which 
we commonly buy. 
Crop 
Peanut vines. 
Timothy hay. 
Digestible 
Digestible Digestible 
Yield 
protein 
carbohydrates 
fat 
per acre 
per acre 
per acre. 
per acre 
Tons 
Pounds 
Pounds 
Pounds 
2V2 
530 
1,950 
45 
m 
393 
1,011 
30 
iy4 
190 
982 
45 
1 
132 
740 
60 
292 
980 
30 
2 
436 
1,538 
28 
114 
207 
917 
38 
1 
GO 
850 
24 
8 
176 
2,400 
112 
• • 
250 
832 
60 
138 
1.380 
70 
860 
1,209 
42 
One ton corn- 
meal . 
This table is figured not on the basis of analysis 
alone, but on an average yield per acre. It will be 
seen that these yields are fair. Most farmers will 
obtain more 'than 2^/^ tons of Alfalfa hay to the 
acre, and certainly more than a ton and a quarter 
of oat and pea hay. But even at the.se compara¬ 
tively low figures we see what an acre in these 
legume crops will produce. Wlien an acre of Al¬ 
falfa will give us the protein value of more than 
two tons of wheat bran, and an acre of Soy-bean 
hay give us more than a ton, besides leaving the 
ground richer than when the crop was seeded, we 
get an idea of what the legumes will do to a dairy 
farm. The Eastern farmer has simply got to come 
to this idea of producing more of his feed at home,- 
and the growth of Alfalfa, clover, cow peas and 
Soy beans will prove the most economical w'ay of 
taking care of the matter. Most of our New York 
farmers have not yet begun to realize the possi¬ 
bilities of the Soy bean and Sweet clovei*. Many of 
the best authorities believe that the great value of 
Sweet clover will come as a pasture plant, yet When 
the fir.st crop is cut early we know that it makes a 
fine fodder for cattle, and the table shows that an 
acre of Sweet clover would give us the protein value 
of nearly 2,500 pounds each of wheat bran and 
cornmeal. While the addition of Soy-bean fodder 
to the corn in the silo will increase the value of the 
.silage, we think our farmers will come to realize 
that it is better on the whole to cut and cure the 
Soy beans for hay, and then crush or chop this 
fodder fine, to make the basis for a grain mixture. 
Handled in this way w'e believe that our farmers 
will learn to buy their grain to better advantage, 
and by mixing with the chopped Soy beans cut 
down the cost of the grain ration, and that has got 
to be done if our Eastern dairymen expect to .stay 
in the business. 
July 14, 1917. 
year at this time I paid $38 a ton for laying mash, 
to-day $59 a ton. That is about 53 per cent, higher. 
Let me give actual figures: 
In May, from 425 hens I sold 550 dozen eggs. They 
netted me 42 cents, $231. My grain bill was $89. 
We take care of our country and do a day’s work on 
the farm besides, but adopting a rule laid down in 
youi; columns we consider that the poultry manure 
offsets the labor. We have computed our taxes, 
overhead and interest on investment at $5 per 
month. That leaves us a profit for the month of 
May of $1,37. We have lost money in January and 
February because the hens would not lay. Yet we 
.show a profit for the first five months of 1917 of 
$250. It is fair to figure from the experience of 
former years that we shall make a profit in June, 
July, August and September; we should lose some 
money in October and November, and make a little 
in December. On the year we have every reason to 
expect a profit of $500. 
A careful analysis of the situation leads us to as¬ 
sert positively that the increased pi’ice of eggs and 
poultry practically offsets the increased price of 
grain, and there is as good profit in the poultry bus¬ 
iness as ever. Of course, we buy our grain through 
a co-operative grain association and save something 
there, and we ship our eggs to a retailer in the city 
and get a good price, but any business requires some 
enterprise to make it a success. It seems to me that 
all possible encouragement ought to be given to poul¬ 
try keeping in the present food crisis. 
Massachusetts. stark parsons. 
R. N.-Y.—Single instances and single-year compar¬ 
isons are interesting, but they do not prove the gen¬ 
eral proposition that poultry keeping is profitable. 
These figures are good. Now let us have others for 
comparison. As stated in the editorial mentioned, 
prices for feed in our own neighborhood have gone 
from $28 to $65 with only a moderate increase in 
egg prices. W'e shall be more than pleased if orderly 
bookkeeping will .show a profit in poultry. 
Does Bookeeping Show a Poultry 
Profit ? 
I FEEL warranted in taking issue with you on 
your editorial in the edition of June 9th under 
the caption, “Only those poultry men who do not 
keep books will remain in the business.” 
I keep a very careful set of books, including in 
the expense account taxes, overhead expenses, in¬ 
surance, and giving consideration to the element of 
replacement. Orderly bookkeeping will not show 
“that while poultry products may be 25 per cent, 
higher, feed is 125 per cent, above former prices.”^ 
The same issue of The R. N.-Y, quotes egg prices 
in the Boston market at 40 to 41 cents. Last year 
at this time eggs in the Boston market were 25 
cents. Therefore eggs are 60 per cent, higher. Last 
Shall I Start the Chicken Business 
I wish to start in the chicken business next W'in- 
ter. Say I get 400 White Leghorns, Winter layers, at 
the present price of feed and grain, do you think it 
would pay me? AVith proper feeding, how much can 
I figure for each hen per day or month? I figure out 
at 400 hens I should get 200 eggs per day and AVin- 
ter prices for eggs would not be under five cents apiece, 
60 cents per dozen or more. That would be .$l0 per 
day. The breed is where I am puzzled. AA^hat do you 
think of it? What would it cost and what c*ould I 
net per day? w. E. R. 
New York. 
T aking up your questions in order—it all de¬ 
pends upon the man -whether it will pay you 
to start in the “chicken busine.ss” next W^inter or 
not. You do not .state that you have had any pre¬ 
vious experience along this line, and if this is the 
case it looks to an experienced poultrymau like a 
dangerous undertaking, to siiy the least. 
In the first place these are war times, and war 
prices prevail for pi*actically everything that a per¬ 
son would buy to make a beginning in this business, 
such as building material, tools and hardware of 
all kinds. Again, feed is aAvay up Avhere it costs 
from three to four dollars per year to keep a hen, 
instead of a dollar and a half or two dollars which 
we figured on before the war. The high price of 
feed naturally will increase the cost of laying stock 
this Fall, as many poultrymen have either gone out 
of the bu.siness entirely, or they have curtailed their 
production of pullets down to their own require- 
ment.s. This -will naturally force the price of good 
pullets, ready to lay, up higher than it has ever been 
before. 
Now the question is -will the price of eggs be 
high enough to make their production a profitable 
undertaking? During the past Spring and early 
Summer eggs have been selling at about 50% more 
thau last year, while feed cost over 100% more on 
an average right along during this i>eriod. The re¬ 
sult has been that good poultry farms have come 
out about even or perhaps a few wdiich have been 
run nnder specially favoi'able conditions have made 
a little money, Avhile those farms which have kept 
fancy fowl or poor layers of the utility kind have 
actually lost money during the best part of the sea¬ 
son. Now that the molting i)eriod will soon arrive 
this loss is sure to increase, and many more poul- 
ti^men will be forced out of the business who have 
been able to keep going through the Spring and 
Summer. 
Of course we are looking for cheaper feed at har¬ 
vest time, but the demand is so great both in this 
country and Europe that prices must remain high. 
The question is, can we sell fresh eggs at a price 
which will pay us to produce them during the next 
year? Eggs have been put into cold .storage this 
year at from 30c to 40c per dozen. This means that 
