The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
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77 
General Farm Topics 
Cattle Banish a Hay Press 
The picture at Fig. 21 is sent by W. 
B. Huston of Schuyler County, N. Y. 
This shows a familiar scene on many a 
New York farm where hay is baled and 
sold. Of late years bay has proved a 
good cash crop, and a good many farmers 
feel that it pays them to bale and ship. 
The trouble is, of course, that every ton 
of bay takes away from the farm a large 
amount of plant food which ought to re¬ 
main there, and when year by year this 
sale of hay goes on the land is sure to 
run down more or less rapidly, according 
to the amount of fertilizer that is put 
back. We know of cases where Alfalfa 
is sold year after year from the farm, but 
enough lime and phosphorus is used each 
year to keep up the supply, and the Al¬ 
falfa appears to take enough nitrogen 
from the air to make up for the loss of 
that element. With ordinary Timothy or 
storage. They will not keep for any 
great length of time. As soon as squashes 
designed for long storage are half grown 
they must be frequently turned, or raised 
from the ground, so as to allow an equal 
development, and, what is still more 
necessary, to permit air and sunlight to 
reach all sides. Squashes grown for ex¬ 
hibition purposes are frequently grown 
upon trellises, which arrangement forces 
a uniform development, ripening, coloring 
and hardening of the shell. Squashes so 
grown are ideal for long storage, and it 
is as useless to put an uncolored squash 
into loug storage as it is put an uncolored 
apple into similar storage. The require¬ 
ments of both are identical in this re¬ 
spect. 
Nor is it of any use to attempt long 
storage with squashes that are scratched, 
or bruised, or stemless, or frost-bitten. 
They must be picked with the stems 
Hay Press on a Schuyler Co.. A 7 . Y.. Farm. Fig. 21 
similar grasses, there is of course no such 
return as there is from the Alfalfa, and 
selling hay year after year represents a 
dead loss to the farm. On the farm where 
this picture was taken, the hay press has 
now been banished. A herd of purebred 
Holstein cattle have taken the place of 
the hay press. They eat up the hay in 
connection with grass, pay a better price 
for it than the baled hay ever brought, 
and also keep up the fertility of the laud. 
Storing Squashes 
In a recent issue your correspondent, 
C. (). Ormsbee. tells of curing Winter 
squash by artificial heat, and eo prolong 
their keeping qualities. Will curing by 
artificial heat make a Winter squash out 
of the variety called Delicious? That 
squash is superb in quality, but with me 
it is such a poor keeper I hesitate to 
till orders from my customers unless I 
know the squashes are to be used at once. 
It would be worth dollars to me if I could 
learn how to make a Winter squash out 
of the variety called Delicious. at. 
New York. 
In order to keep squashes in storage 
for the maximum length of time, prepa¬ 
rations must be made early in the Sum¬ 
mer. First, the seed must be planted in 
ample time to allow the squashes to be¬ 
come thoroughly matured before the cold 
nights of Fall come. If this necessitates 
early Spring protection, such protection 
must be given. Commercially, a squash 
is ripe and fit for food as soon as it has 
attained its full size, and some varieties, 
like the Delicious, and Turban, and Es¬ 
sex, long before that time. But to bring 
out its finest flavor and develop its keep¬ 
ing qualities it must remain on the vines 
for a month longer iu order to fully 
mature. It is of no use to attempt to 
carry immature squashes in long storage. 
And the gardener who markets his 
squashes as soon as they reach a market¬ 
able size, and puts the last pickings into 
storage, will meet with failure every time. 
Reserve your earliest squashes for long 
storage and save the seeds of the best 
keepers for planting, and thus develop a 
more desirable strain. 
Neither is it of any use to put a de¬ 
formed squash, or one that is soft and 
uncolored on the under side, into loug 
whole and intact, handled as carefully as 
one would handle apples, stored in a 
warm, dry, well-lighted and well venti¬ 
lated place until the drying-room is ready, 
then subjected to a temperature around 
SO degrees until the shells are hard and 
dry, and then removed to a cold, but dry, 
well-lighted and well-ventilated room. 
With such treatment there should be no 
trouble with keeping even the Delicious 
until Spring. At the last exhibit held by 
the Vermont State Fair, Essex and Tur¬ 
ban squashes were shown that had been 
kept under similar conditions since the 
previous season. c. o. ormsbee. 
Root Growth of Wheat and Corn 
How deep do wheat roots extend down¬ 
ward in the soil? How deep do corn 
roots extend downward iu the soil? 
East Lynne, Conn. u. b. c. 
Both wheat and corn are members, bo- 
tanically as well as agriculturally, of the 
important family of grasses, and in root 
development are much alike. They are 
characterized by having a finely branched 
root system without a central tap-root, 
and in this respect differ strikingly from 
the leguminous plants, Alfalfa, peas, 
beans, etc. The depth below the surface 
of the soil at which the roots of wheat 
and corn will be found depends consider¬ 
ably on the nature of the soil with re¬ 
spect to air and water. Roots must 
breathe as well as leaves and in a com¬ 
pact soil, filled with moisture, the roots 
will be found quite close to the surface. 
In open soils and in dry soils the roots 
will be somewhat deeper. 
In general the first roots of both corn 
and wheat tend to spread out horizontally 
from the stalk for one or two feet and 
then descend vertically. Corn plants six 
weeks old were found to have the bulk of 
their roots from two to four inches below 
the surface of the soil at a distance of 
six inches from the stalk. Later iu the 
season the roots tend to go deeper into 
the soil, but even then most of the roots 
will be found in the first two feet of 
soil, but some will go deeper. Roots of 
wheat and corn have been found more 
than four feet below the surface. 
D. F. JOXES, 
'Mr Guide to Big Crops 
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