witli large-leaVfd stalks <>f hkmIumii lieiglit for fod¬ 
der during the Winter months. Today our corn lias 
certainly been perfected as to yield and quality in 
both grain and stalk: rh > ears average 12 inches in 
length, hard as flint, making a most desirable meal 
corn, while the stalks aie now so develoiied that we 
are not hindered by immen.so stalks of few leaves, 
but. on the contrary, they are well leaved out and of 
handy height. The jierfection in this corn is not 
reached yet: as year pa.sses year, the ears are longer, 
as those I brought you will attest, and are so com¬ 
mon that it is little work to pick out a barrel of them 
from the crib. |.\n exact sized ear of -this corn is 
shown at Fig. 5.—Kd.] 
SKLECTINd SEED.—In February we sort out the 
largest ears, fully filled, hard, and having eight 
straight rows of grains from tip to butt. After test¬ 
ing. we select the ears over again as to fertility, 
according to our test; then, tipping the corn ear.s 
at the butt and tip for about an inch on each end, 
we have the .seed left on the cob, while we discard 
the tip and butt grains, fur we find that (he.v do not 
yield in conformity with the (pialities of the paremt 
ear. When the corn is growing we go through the 
piece looking for tile stalks of medium height pos¬ 
sessing two ('ars .-Ipiece, or the largest eai's with a 
medium stalk. This helps in .seed selection. 
SYSTEM OF OFETFRE.—We prefer an old : oi 
l>asture lot for the .seed bed, for two reasons m iinly 
First, the .sod, when turned under, gives a line humus 
ba.'<e and the soil is not depleted ;is to natural fer¬ 
tilizers through washing and frost, as woidd he the 
case on stubble or potato Land. We plow when the 
ground begins to warm up, sa.v the last of April. 
Second, in our method of corn culture we work the 
ground both wa.vs in the rows by a shallow culti¬ 
vator and use hoes ,iround the hills to stir up the 
earth and destroy vines and weeds. This const.ant 
stirring .soon cuts out running vines and weeds that 
had begun to creeii over the .sod previous to jilow- 
ing. Wo smooth the snrfiice with an Acme spring- 
tooth and finish llu* process \\'ith a p('g-tooth haI•l•o^^■. 
We plant our corn in hills 42 inches apart both ways. 
In planting with a h.-ind planter one lias to !»<> care¬ 
ful not to go too deeply. After, when we have plant¬ 
ed, we drop a handful of commercial fertilizer (ui 
the grain, just covering with ji thin layer of «‘arth 
to keep the fertilizer from burning the grain. .Vfter 
the com has sprouted it janshes up through the fer¬ 
tilizer, which is grjulually w.-ished down to the roots 
of the plant h.v rain, when the roots are old enough 
to ab.sorb it. We plant the corn before using the 
fertilizer, as we have better luck, for it does not burn 
the corn, a.s it does not and cannot touch it. As 
soon as it has sprouted .so that we can work it, we 
cultivate both way.s, ;ind as soon as the weeds come 
in iihout the hill we go through Avith hoes iind chop 
out the weeds, pulling up fresh e:irth aror.ml the 
stalk.s. We usually find it de.sirable to <ul!lv:ite 
about eight times to mellow the soil and <lestroy 
we('ds, Avhile one hoeing we find is .sufficient. 
IIARVE.STINE.—The corn is cut when I be e.irs 
glaze and begin to touglum. being ]»ut up in mod um 
shocks to insure a thoiough di-.\ing of foni’ to live 
weeks. Then we husk. Yield is 75 to loo bushels 
shelled corn per a<ae under favorable conditions. 
Maturity is attained in loo to 120 days; has never 
failed to mature. It matures usually the 1st to 15t;i 
of September. j. t. i>i.\e. 
We.stche.ster Co., K. Y. 
No More Left-hand Plows 
T he plow manufacturers of this country recently 
made an agreement to eliminate Avhat is c.alled 
the “south-paw” plow: 
Whereas, It is the belief of tho.se present that left- 
hand plows are iion-es.seutial; therefore. 
We, the undersigned inannfaeturers of farm operating 
equipment, making left-hand plows, hereby agree with 
each other to discontinue the manufacture of all bd't- 
liand plows as soon as the present stock of materials is 
exhausted, with the exception of the left-hand plow bot¬ 
toms in two-way plows; also necessaiy repairs for all 
left-hand plows. 
The great majority of f.irmers never saw a left- 
hand jdow. but there will be a few who will protest 
against 'this order. Tin* Parlin & Orendorff Co. has 
given us the following f.-icts about these plows: 
DISTRIP,I'l'IttX DF LEFT-HAND Pl.oWS.-- 
I.eft-haud plows have been u.sed to the e.xclu.sion <.f 
right-hand plows in the States of Indiana and Ohio, 
with .some of this left-hand business overlapping 
into Pennsylvania on the east and Illinois on tl.e 
west. This defines what might be called the left- 
hand plow section of the Fnited State.s. The i)re,s- 
ent-da.v farmei-s of this section are using left-hand 
plows because the.v Avere brought up that Avay, and 
this goes back for two or three generations. We are 
unable to state jnst now when the first left-hand 
)dow was made or Avho made it, but a demand <‘vi- 
'Ghe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
A Superior White Flint Corn. Fig. 4 
dentl.v existed in the past, and when one manuf.ic- 
turer started to make left-hand plow.s, the others 
Avere obliged to imike these patterns in order to 
secure any plow trade in certtiin .section.s. .SeA'eral 
things have combined to bring tliis agitation to a 
cliniiix. and one of the contributing forees is the 
number of tractor t»lows now on the market, all of 
which are right-handed, ami naturally the Indiana 
and Ohio farmers Avho use tractors plows must buy 
right-hand ploAvs because no left-hand tractor plows 
have ever been made. 
f'OST OF LEFT-HAND PL()W.'>.— In the actual 
manufacture there is no reason wh,v it should co>t 
more to produce a left-hand than a right-hand plow. 
Some of the ])low factories have enough busine.ss to 
keep a certain number of Avorkmen emplo.ved, Avith- 
out changing them about, on either right or left- 
hand Avork. In some of the other ploAV factories 
Avhere -the great percentage of ploAvs is of the right- 
hand type and Avorkinginen aa'Iio make these right- 
hand jdoAvs must turn about occasionally to make :i 
limited number of left-hand ploAVs, it Avill cost a 
little more to turn them out. It is a case of a right- 
h.-imh'd man being called ui)on to use his left hand. 
Put the 'heaviest oxpen.se to the manufacturer, 
Avhether he has a simill or ;i large left-hand i)1oav 
trade, is the enormous cost of making left-hand 
templets, jigs, dies, and patterns of all kinds, many 
of Avhicli are made of »tool steel, and the A'alue of 
the.se patterns in a factor,v like our runs into the 
tens of thousand.s of dollars. 
P.AHLIN & OKENIX)RFF CO. 
Crop Rotation for Western New York 
A DEFINITE question on the I'otation of crops 
suitable to this locality Avas recently brought 
up for di.scussion. and is pa.ssed on for further sug¬ 
gestions. 
.4 man Avho has about 00 acres of farming laud 
Avliich is in such shajie that it can be divided into 
lots of almost ;in.v size or sh.ape, Avishes to use as 
n(*arly equal amounts of l.-ind in the folloAving crops 
as ]»ossil'dc: J'otatoes, beans, corn, cabbage. Avheat, 
oats- (]ierh;ti>.s), and Alfalfa. In this case, beams, 
potatoes, cabbage and part of the Avheat and corn 
Avoidd be the money crops; the oats and Alfalfa and 
part of the corn and Avheat Avould be fed on The 
place. 
After much discussion, it Avas decided best ti, 
reserve about four acres for pasture, hog lot, gar¬ 
den. cxiieriiuental plots, etc., and divide the renuiin- 
ing 5(i acres into .seA’cn fields of about e(iual size. 
In one Avould be planted four acres of corn and four 
of potatoes on a sod. At the last cultiA’ation the 
coin Avoiild be seeded doAvu to rye and A'etch. The 
next year the corn ground Avoidd be planted to beans 
and the potato ground to cabbage, rommercial fer¬ 
tilizer. if used. Avould he luit on the cabbage. The 
next year this Avhole field Avould be put in oats and 
then seeded doAvn to Avheat, Avhich Avould be seeded 
to Alfalfa. The Alfalfa Avould be left dOAvn thret- 
A'cars and then ploAvcd for corn and potatoes. If 
early potatoes Avei-e groAvn it might be possible to get 
a seeding of rye and vetch -after digging. This 
Avould hive some time to groAv in*the ,Spring before 
it Avould be necessary to ploAv for cabbage. Rye and 
vetch could be .soAved in the beans, but probably not 
in the cabbage, at the last cultivation. This Avould 
:iiakc it necessary to pull the Iumiis by hand, but ex¬ 
cept ill-A ery large fields this is no great objection. 
This seven-year rotation Avould give a leguminous 
crop on the ground four or five years out of the 
.seven. It AA’ould leave only four acres Avithout a 
(-over crop each Winter. Due objection to it is thar 
it brings in some danger of mixing rye or vetch 
with the Avheat and so reducing its value. If a 
cover ciop is put on%thc bean ground it Avill leave 
only a croj) of oats betAveen the rye and Avheat. 
'I’his may not be enough. Whqt do others think of 
this suggestion for a croj) rotation? 
Another rotation that Avas discussed Avas for the 
iidcnsiA’e culture of a Id-acre field Avhere it is diffi¬ 
cult -to get manure, and considering the present high 
cost of commercial fertilizers. The sugge.stion was 
made to use this field for groAving a seed plot of corn, 
a .seed plot of Soy beams, a patch of potatoes and a 
patch ot (-.-irrots. 'I’liis Avould be done something as 
folloAvs: One-fonrth of the field Avonid be ]uil in 
corn. Avl ich Avould be .seeded duAvn to rye- and vetdi 
at the l-ist cultivation. 'I’he next year it Avould be 
put in Soy beans. Avhich Avonld be .seeded to rye and 
vetcii at the last cultivation. The next year if 
Avould be ploAved late and init in carrots, and the 
next in potatoes. This Avould turn doAvn three 
heavy leguminous crops just before the carrots, 
and AAould give a ye.-ir of clean culture before tlie 
jiotatoes. What are tiic faults of this suggestion? 
Wayne (’o.. N. Y. 
.M.FKKI) C. AVEF.I). 
