414 
usual crop to follow corn is either Winter grain or 
else the land is again manured and planted to 
cucumbers, or as Long Islanders call them, “pickles.” 
The Long Island farmer has long been accustomed 
to use plenty of fertilizer, and as a result of this 
his corn generally received an application of at least 
500 pounds per acre, which is sufficient to insure 
early maturity and heavyweight grain. 
THE SEED DISTRICT.—The largest production 
of seed corn is in the east end of the island around 
Riverliead, Mattituck and Southold, while the Hamp¬ 
tons are also large producers of the highest quality 
of grain. Much excellent corn is produced in 
Nassau County, the yields being full as heavy as 
tljey are in Suffolk, but because of its nearness to 
the city it is generally more profitable to produce 
sweet corn and sell the ears green than it is to 
produce even high-priced field corn. Oats and barley 
are not generally raised in the rotation with corn, 
as the farmers cannot afford to use enough lime to 
produce good grain. There is no one general rota¬ 
tion, unless it be the one used on light soils where 
corn is followed by potatoes, the potatoes by rye and 
the land seeded to grass which is cut one year. On 
every farm potatoes, corn, cabbage and cucumbers 
are grown with or without cover crops. Some of 
the best growers sow rye or wheat after the cucum¬ 
bers are off the ground and plow this under for corn 
next year. This system, or lack of system, will seem 
very queer to up-State farmers who center their 
rotation around the grass crop and devote every 
energy to the production of forage for their cattle, 
while the Long Island farmer centers his rotation 
around the potato crop and uses his other cash crops 
chiefly to spread out the season’s work. As corn 
does this better than others, we find Suffolk County 
one of the largest producers of ripe corn in New 
York State, and because of the small amount of live 
stock, we find the farmers quite willing to sell their 
corn for seed. 
CUTTING AND STORING.—Much of the corn is 
cut with a corn binder because of the shortage of 
hand labor and is husked in the field during the 
long, dry Autumn. When the husked corn is brought 
in it is sorted by hand and all immature or off type 
ears are thrown out, the remainder being stored in 
ordinary eorneribs until the association is ready to 
have it shelled and bagged. It is unfortunate that 
the farmers of New York State have not learned to 
demand that, their seed corn be on the cob. as this 
would make it more certain that no poor ears are 
used. It is. of course, true that shipping on the cob 
would make the corn slightly more expensive, but 
as even the highest-priced seed corn costs less per 
acre than most other seeds, farmers could well afford 
to pay the extra cost and be sure that their corn was 
perfect. The best known variety is Luce’s Favorite 
(see Fig. Ill), which is a purely Long Island type 
of unknown origin. This is an eight-row dent corn 
with an ear shaped like the flint corn and a large 
vigorous-growing leafy stalk which has many 
suckers. Many tests have shown this to be the 
heaviest yielding corn which will mature in the 
dairying sections of New York State. Large areas 
are also devoted to the growing of Longfellow flint 
corn and Reid’s Yellow Dent, both of which are 
somewhat preferred on the island as sources ol iipe 
grain. 
RESULTS OF SELECTION.—Probably no section 
of the United States has a greater list of local 
varieties than Long Island, and it is possible that 
many of these may have places to fill in particular 
regions of New York State. Because of their own 
difficulties in purchasing good seeds. Long Island 
farmers have a good appreciation of what it takes 
to produce high-class seed grain, and if the farmers 
of the dairying sections are willing to pay the price, 
there can readily be built up a trade in hand-selected 
ears of seed corn, every ear of which has been picked 
before the stalk was cut, stove-dried and carried 
through the Winter without freezing, and before 
being planted tested as to germination. Such seed 
corn as this cannot, however, be sold for less than 
$5 per bushel, but as it will give 20 to 50 per cent 
larger yield than ordinary seed, those who depend 
upon their corn crop for the production of cheap 
milk cannot afford to plant any less. The crop for 
1018 was the largest on record, both as to acreage 
and yield, the quality being better than even Long 
r si and usually raises. The other parts of New York 
State should be most grateful that Long Island can 
so well produce the seed that they need to buy every 
year. The Farm Bureau of Suffolk County has done 
much in the way of supervising the production and 
distributing the yield of this high-class seed corn. 
H. F. BUTTON. 
7ht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
A New England Farmer and Tractors 
H OW is one to get at the root of this tractor busi¬ 
ness? There are so many different makes on 
the market, and so many conflicting opinions about 
them that it makes one faint-hearted. Not only are 
there many different makes, but the difference in 
models is rather overwhelming. I am not in the 
market this year, but I rather expect to be next year, 
and hence am looking around a bit for opinions and 
ideas and performance records. I have become an 
avid reader of paragraphs in the farm journals of 
what other men say. But there are many different 
types of farms, and many different types of farmers, 
and I have read nothing which in any measure dupli¬ 
cates my conditions. I shall get along with Jennie 
Luce's Favorite Coni, Grown on Long Island. Fig. Ill. 
and Tom this year, but next year I shall be up against 
the proposition of buying another team or a tractor. 
If I were the kind of a farmer who can keep two 
teams busy the year round I should probably buy an¬ 
other team, for I have my doubts about the extreme 
practicability of a tractor on this farm, which is 
hilly and rather stony. But how is one to find out 
what tractors will do on such a farm? Which type 
of tractor is best on such a farm? What is the av¬ 
erage approximate life of a tractor with very care¬ 
ful handling on such a farm? 
\Iy point is this: In buying an automobile one can 
find reasonably enough what make is best suited to 
his purpose and what the car will do under certain 
conditions and with careful or careless handling, 
and a man can also find out something about what it 
costs to keep a car for a year, and the life of the car. 
March 8, 1919 
But with a tractor one has difficulty in finding out 
these things. Of course'the tractor is.still in the ex¬ 
perimental stage, or the stage of rapid development, 
and is excusable on these grounds. But excuse does 
not help the farmer who is interested and wishes to 
buy. I hate to lie the “goat!” I haven’t the money 
to experiment with a tractor. I have to be sure on 
some points. I know what a good pair of horses 
will do for me. Perhaps I would better wait until 
more have tried the tractor. And yet I hate to 
cheat myself out of a good thing by being over-con¬ 
servative. If a tractor will work on my land it will 
save me that extra team which I shall have to have, 
and will also save me the man to work them. It will 
save my feeding that extra team all Winter without 
their returning me anything. 
Isn t. it possible to get a wider expression of views 
which come from experience? Or is a certain amount 
of definite knowledge on this point unavailable? I 
do not want to be like the good neighbor woman of 
mine, who, when the rural free delivery was insti¬ 
tuted, said: “Humpip I guess I'll call for my mail at 
the office as usual; you don’t catch me trusting my 
mail to any man to carry around.” Neither do I 
want to be like the man who bought “witch grass” 
seed and sowed it 'because the agent told him it 
would solve his meadow troubles, because he would 
never have to sow it again. e. m. 
Vermont. 
Apple Trees by the Roadside 
A S an office desk proposition the roadside fruit 
orchard is a winner, utilizing waste land and 
receiving good cash returns. This works out all 
right on paper, but as a practical proposition I wish 
to be excused. When I purchased Orchard Ridge 
Farm in 1SS9, young apple trees had been planted 
along both sides of the road. These trees were 
mostly of the Baldwin variety, and vigorous growers. 
The six acres of orchard with these roadside trees 
were counted a valuable asset to the farm. The or¬ 
chard has nobly fulfilled its promise, while the road¬ 
side trees have proved to be detrimental from every 
viewpoint. As the trees grew and spread they in¬ 
terfered with crop growth for some distance in the 
field. Again, as there is a line of telephone poles on 
either side of the road, these poles and tree bodies 
interfere with mowing or cultivating the roadside. 
As this is a main highway leading into a large city 
nine miles distant, hundreds of loads of hay are 
hauled to the market by this route. Many farms in 
back were infested with wild carrot. The tree 
branches brush off more or less of this, until the 
roadside is now well seeded to this pest. and. to 
cap the climax. T never realized .$5 from these trees. 
This year I told my tenant that if he would take 
them all down close to the ground he could have all 
the wood for his trouble, and he has made a good 
job of it. 
Nor is this an isolated instance of the impractic¬ 
ability of planting fruit trees by the roadside. Apple 
trees were never intended by nature to be an orna¬ 
mental tree, and to try to force them into a class 
where they do not belong not only creates a discord, 
but shows poor judgment. There should be by all 
means at least a fruit orchard on every farm large 
enough to supply the wants of the family amply, 
while the commercial orchard is a separate problem. 
By all means let us get rid of old stone walls and 
apple trees, which will allow of proper cultivation in 
preparation for the proposed beautifying of the road¬ 
sides by the planting of trees and shrubs adapted by 
nature for that purpose The future demands this of 
us> h. e. cox. 
Monroe Co., N. A*. 
Ownership of Manure 
When a man rents a farm can he lawfully take the 
manure oil the place to use on another farm, or does 
it belong to the owner? There is nothing said about 
it in the lease. A - s - 
T HERE have been at least 50 questions regarding 
the ownership of manure. Some of them are 
complicated, but the general rule is that manure 
made on a farm from hay and grain raised on that 
farm becomes a part of the real estate, and cannot 
be removed by the renter. This does not hold in all 
the States, but is the general rule through the 
country. When the tenant brings hay and grain in 
from outside the farm and feeds it to stock on the 
farm the resulting manure would belong to him. 
Or unless there were some special rule to prevent 
it. the tenant might take the hay and grain to 
another farm and feed them there, thus gaining 
ownership to the manure. The general rule is that 
a tenant cannot sell or remove the manure made 
from feeding what the farm (produces. 
