to so to church, and occasionally enjoy some tame 
amusements. I never average more than eight hours 
daily labor. Remarks as to what is paid for pro- 
duce. railings at the merchant for making a profit 
on eggs (T am a merchant myself and know what 
there is in that), etc., are outside the question, as 
our man admits that he has an income of over 
$2,000. Only remains the question, what did lie do 
with it? 
I admire The R. N.-Y.’s efforts to show over-enthu¬ 
siastic back-to-the-landers that a farmer’s life is not 
all roses, but neither is it all back-breaking and no 
joy. provided a man does not go into farming with 
false illusions and just a little American business 
sense. Very, very few city folks “make” $1,700 in 
normal times, so even this “sad re¬ 
sult” farmer from Maryland is not 
so badly off— if he manages. 
VIRGINIA. 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
I believe the weeder has come to stay in the corn 
belt, and that its use will be more and more appre¬ 
ciated in raising more and better corn. The present 
generation of corn growers is seeking every device 
and method that will assist them in their work; 
and the prices that now prevail for corn, as well as 
other farm crops, have stimulated more interest and 
enthusiasm in all lines 
was ever known before. 
Macon Co., Ill. 
of agricultural work than 
j. c. NICHOLLS. 
Spraying Against the Wind 
Mr. A. C. Weed has had some good articles on the 
spray-gun. How does he spray both sides of the 
branches on a windy day? We do not have many days 
The Weeder In the Corn Belt 
T TIE Hope Farm man wonders 
what has become of the weeder 
as a farm tool. Well, it has come 
West and installed itself in the 
corn holt, and is rapidly becoming 
a most valuable and much appre¬ 
ciated tool ip the hands of the 
i -• T rio farmer. The more we use 
it the better we like it. and I be¬ 
lieve that may explain why it has 
fallen into disuse in some portions 
of the country—it has been shoved 
back under the shed and allowed 
to stay there, while dependence is 
placed on the cultivator and har¬ 
row. To secure the host results the 
weeder must be used at just the 
right time. Tf used loo soon after 
a rain, or not soon enough, it will 
not do satisfactory work. The soil 
must be just, dry enough to pulverize 
well. Again, the ground should not 
he cloddy. While the corn is young 
and tender, heavy clods rolled 
against the stalks will either weight 
them down or break them. Our 
method, when weather conditions 
permit, is to run over the field with 
a spike-tooth harrow a few days 
after the corn is planted. This dis¬ 
courages wood growth, levels the 
ground, and in case there has been 
a shower, breaks the crust. As soon 
as the corn is well above the ground 
we go over it with a corrugated 
roller. This crushes the small clods 
and puts the surface in good condi¬ 
tion for cultivation. From this 
time on only the weeder and the 
surface cultivator are depended on 
to keep the crop clean. If a rain 
comes, the first thing is to run over 
the field with the weeder. The crust 
is broken, moisture is conserved and 
weeds checked. A 40-acre field can he 
covered by a man or boy in one day. 
We use a two-horse weeder that 
cultivates three rows at once. We 
can then follow it up with the culti¬ 
vator in a more leisurely way, and 
have the satisfaction of knowing 
that the ground is not “baking,” and 
the smartweed and crab grass not 
getting the stai’t of us. Rains at 
this time of year are sometimes so 
frequent that if entire dependence 
is placed on the cultivator weed 
growth gains on us and seriously 
menaces the crop. Quick work with the weeder, as 
soon as the soil is dry enough to crumble, saves the 
day. Our corn growers are beginning to appreciate 
that fact more every season, and the sales by imple¬ 
ment dealers are increasing. As soon as the field 
has been covered with the cultivator, it is an advan¬ 
tage to run over it immediately with the weeder, 
whether there has been rain or not. The teeth of 
the weeder worl among the stalks of the corn and 
tear down the little ridge left by the cultivator 
blades. The two objects aimed at all the time in 
the care of the corn crop are to keep down the weeds 
and conserve moisture. The frequent and prompt 
use of both cultivator and weeder accomplishes this 
result effectively. The harrow has its place early 
in the season, but ihe weeder can be used long after 
the corn has grown too tall to make it possible to 
use the harrow. 
Cleaning Up the Onion Crop on a Southern Xcir Jersey Farm. 
Knee M ark and Cra-icling. Fig. 
This Means 
m 
“Asleep at the Sivitch 
’’ Chickins Xalurully Hunt for a Self-feeder and Use 
it Without Training. Fig. Joo 
that nrnot windy, and while the spray will drift 
through in great shape with the wind, it does not drive 
back against the wind unless I open it up like a fire 
hose. It has the power all right, but I do not like 
spraying with a tire hose. With the rod you could put 
the spray just where you wanted it, but I am not sure 
that the gun will deliver a fine spray where it is wanted 
except with the wind, and that will not cover all the 
tree. I particularly do not want to have to go over the 
orchard twice with wind in different directions. 
Bantam, Conn. E. D. c. 
MAKESHIFT METHOD.—It might be enough 
to say that those who do not want to drive 
through the orchard twice with different winds to 
spray both sides of the tree will have to he satisfied 
with some less satisfactory way of doing their work. 
Spr yir against the wind has always seemed to us 
a makeshift, and a pretty poor one at that. With 
reasonably good luck in the matter of changes of 
wind we can spray both sides of the tree quicker, 
better and with less waste of material, to say noth¬ 
A 
931 
ing of the nastiness of being covered and dripping 
with spray dope all day. Spraying is a very un¬ 
pleasant job at best, and there is no need of making 
it especially bad when to do so wastes both time 
and money. 
NOT A GOOD JOB.—We have often heard “ex¬ 
perts” tell of the great results they obtained by 
spraying against the wind, but when watching them 
at work it seemed little short of a miracle that they 
found any effect at all from their spraying. We 
have seen men who believed that they were thor¬ 
oughly saturating the trees, when if they had gotten 
off and watched the work they would have found 
that they were merely touching the ends of a few 
branches. There is at least one make of gun which 
if used at high enough pressure and 
with enough capacity for the size 
opening in the disk will throw 
a very fine spray much farther 
against the wind than any ordinary 
nozzle, hut it will not do a good job 
of spraying against the wind. We 
proved that last year. When spray¬ 
ing one side of a few rows of large 
trees there was a slight drift, against 
ns. hut we thought we had covered 
that side just as well as any other. 
When the apples were large enough 
to show up the scab spots we found 
that our covering of the tree had 
been in streaks, and when picking 
time came there were streaks of 
good apples and streaks of poor 
ones. Some of the streaks were 
only a few inches wide, but they 
showed that we had wasted many 
gallons of material and much still 
more valuable time. 
GOOD SPRAYING PAYS.—Time, 
when conditions are right for spray¬ 
ing. is the most valuable thing we 
have. I believe that on the basis of 
the final settlement of last year’s 
business my share of the result paid 
me about $20 an hour net for the 
time spent in spraying operations, 
and we do not feel that we can 
afford to waste much of this time 
trying to spray against the wind 
when a careful survey of the results 
through several seasons has proved 
to our satisfaction that at least half 
of the time and material is thrown 
away. If we could get over our 
orchards quickly enough it would 
pay us well to drive through most 
of the older blocks four times, cov 
ering all we could possibly reach 
each time from a different direction. 
With usual weather conditions this 
would assure us a crop which could 
almost be packed “A Grade” with¬ 
out sorting if we were able to do it 
in the two weeks following the fall 
of the blossoms. Under our condi¬ 
tions this is the important spray. 
If we get it on properly at the right 
time the others are of value only 
for certain special things. For leaf- 
curl in peaches we must spray be¬ 
fore the buds swell. Sour cherries 
must he sprayed just after the 
husks fall. Bud-worm calls for 
poison in the dormant spray. San 
•Tose scale must he sprayed with 
Winter strength lime-sulphur before 
9 
the leaves get too large. Little 
harm will he done at one-to-eight 
nearly up to the time for the “pink 
spray.” If we get the llme-sulpliur 
and poison spray on well enough to control scab the 
later broods of codling moth will not be large enough 
to he worth bothering with. This spray also con¬ 
trols tent caterpillars. We may have to make a 
later spraying to control Fall web-worm and red¬ 
humped caterpillar, which are gettiug numerous in 
our orchards. 
A DAMPENING EXPERIENCE.—It cannot he 
too strongly said that spraying against the wind i> 
an unprofitable job. I once did a good job at it and 
then reformed. We had about a tankful left, and 
had about a hundred pear trees to spray. It was 
near quitting time on the last day of spraying, and 
if they were not sprayed then they would be left. 
They were small trees just coming into full bearing, 
so we drove as close to them as possible and sprayed 
all the side near us by putting the nozzle against 
each twig, then I pushed the end of the rod through 
