1067 
Pie RURAL NEW-YORKER 
An Karly Lesson icith the Farm Team. Fig. 302. 
A Pioneer's Makeshift Stable in Western Canada. Fig. 303. 
Extra Horse on the Hay Loader 
Cutting Oats For Hay 
Reading about putting oats in about 
February 22 on honeycombed corn ground. 
I did so on this date, just sowing them 
broadcast on top of the ground, and left 
them as they were. Some of the neigh¬ 
bors thought I was crazy, and they said 
I would get nothing from the oats. How¬ 
ever, the oats are up nice and high, and 
well filled out. I wish to cut these oats 
for hay. Could the oats be cut with a 
mowing machine, say in the morning, and 
left to dry all day (if a good, warm, 
sunshiny day), and then be niked up like 
hay and put in the barn? Tell me just 
how this oat hay is to be cured. 
Pennsylvania. E. M. B. 
Y OUR experience in seeding in the 
mud is rather the exception. We 
have had a number of reports of this 
method, and some of them were not 
very satisfactory. A man must take 
his chances on a new plan of this sort. 
We have found it best to handle green 
oats or oats and peas together about 
as we would clover hay. That is, they 
are better cured in* the swath or cocks 
rather than spread out thin to the sun. 
We shail cut our own green oats within 
a week, as a little smut is appearing 
in them. We start the mower in the 
morning, and cut the green oats just 
as we would any kind of grass. These 
oats lie on the ground until about the 
middle of the afternoon, when they 
are raked up like hay. On a damp day, 
or when the dew is heavy, we cock 
these oats .ip in about the way des¬ 
cribed by Mr. Hartman in his recent 
article on curing millet hay. If the 
next day is windy and clear we shake 
these cocks -iy> loosely with a fork, so 
as to let the wind blow through them, 
and in some cases of extra good weather 
the oats can be put in the barn at the 
end of the second day. Usually we 
find that it is best to cock them up 
again for the second night, and open 
them again on the third morning, not 
spreading them out thin, but tossing 
them up loose for the wind to blow 
through. The wind does more than the 
sun to cult these big-stemmed plants 
like green grain, Alfalfa or clover. The 
object is td prevent the leaves of the 
oats from withering too soon, as a 
good share of the moisture in the stem 
must be drawn off by the leaves and 
evaporated in that way. Most farmers 
let the oats stand too long before cut¬ 
ting them for hay. We should not 
wait until the grain is solid and hard, 
but cut while it is soft and will smash 
easily between the fingers. 
Girdling Fruit Trees 
Five yeans ago, in my home in Gerards- 
town, W. Va., I girdled a Black Twig 
apple orchard, 11 years old. at your sug¬ 
gestion. aud it worked wonderfully well in making it 
hear. Would the same girdling work all right on other 
fruit trees that will not bear right? A friend here has 
some cherry trees that are non-productive, and wants 
to know. One obstacle here may be in the way : there 
is almost uo rain here between the Summer solstice 
and the Autumn equinox. Would it be dangerous to 
girdle trees here in June, at the start of the long dry 
spell? After the Black Twig girdling above. I girdled 
a lot of Grimes Golden in West Virginia, and a severe 
drought, unusual there, set in and held all the balance 
of that season. The trees nearly all perished in the 
uext two or three years. This was not conclusive, 
however, as the drought cause, as I girdled after middle 
of July, and Mr. Van Deman had cautioned me not 
to do it after June. s. H. mck. 
Washington. 
I N general I would not advise girdling fruit trees 
in order to bring them into bearing. Girdling 
will not make trees productive that fail to set fruit, 
because they are self-sterile. It is only trees which 
A Header at Work in a Canadian Wheat field. Fig. 304 
Increasing the Motive Power 
T HE picture of the hay-loader at work on the 
Pennsylvania farm, page 9X7, suggests a three- 
horse hitch to be used when engaged in this work. 
The writer uses a long log chain, extending back to 
the rear axle of the wagon, secured by giving it wrap 
about the reach. This is passed forward between 
the two wheels at the side on which the horse is to 
be driven. A whiflletree which lines up with the 
doubletrees is attached to chain. The chain is sup¬ 
ported by a rope or smaller chain attached to the 
outside of the rack. This makes the pull of the 
extra horse be applied in more nearly 
a direct line, extending from horse to 
rear of wagon. The advantage also 
lies in the fact that the extra horse 
may be quickly unhitched for use on 
another wagon or for unloading. The 
writer in using tliree-horse team in 
this manner drives the outside horses, 
using tie in ropes and also spare line 
for the middle horse, so that team may 
be quickly changed from two to three- 
horse outfit. The loader pictured is 
one of the push-loader type. This pulls 
harder than the web loader. It would 
be wise to use four small horses, but 
three large horses can handle it well 
under most conditions. The push- 
loader is recommended for taking hay 
out of the swath. However, hay may 
be cured better and handled much 
easier by the use of the side-delivery 
rake. The web loaders with which the 
writer is familiar do not rake as 
widely, and it is essential to have hay 
tossed together in windrows. The ten¬ 
dency is in the direction of the web 
loader. w. j. 
Ohio. 
Soldier-Farmers and the Truth 
T HE recent agitation for making 
farmers of our returned soldiers 
has quieted down considerably in the 
last few weeks. It were well if it 
censed altogether, for the plan is not 
at all practicable, as a rapid survey of 
the field will easily prove. 
In the first place, let us glance at 
the economic condition of the nation, 
and see if the addition of several thou¬ 
sands of farmers would not lie a detri¬ 
ment to our prosperity. At the present 
time the United States is facing an 
overproduction of food and farm pro¬ 
ducts. Such a state has always fol¬ 
lowed a crisis in America. For 10 
years after the Civil War the nation 
was burdened with an oversupply: 
prices were low and hard times preva¬ 
lent, and bad it not been for the vast, 
newly-opened fields of wealth in the 
West the entire nation might have be¬ 
come insolvent. 
In a recent address Secretary of 
Agriculture Houston pointed out that 
the nation is richer in foodstuffs than 
ever before. There are more hogs in 
the United States, more beeves, a 
larger number of milking cows, and 
considerably more laying hens than we 
have had in years past. The present 
plantings of grain are greater by thou¬ 
sands of acres than those of any pre¬ 
vious period. Furthermore, all arrows 
point to tlie maintenance of the present 
production prices until Fall. The period 
of overproduction following the Civil War lasted 10 
years; the present may not last nearly so long, but 
it Is evident that the nation is not in a position to 
support any great increase In food and farm pro¬ 
ducts for a few years at least. 
The next question is that of land. Where have 
we tlie land to supply our boys? Our best land has 
long been occupied and cropped, and such land as is 
left is probably of little value at the present time. 
A number of our Congressmen and Senators have 
sponsored the reclamation of abandoned farms 
throughout the land. Such men are generally 
credited with more intelligence, for the idea is 
absurd. Land that has been worked and found 
wanting by an experienced farmer is not likely to 
be more productive because tlie new operator has 
exploiting huge areas of cheap and hitherto unpro¬ 
ductive land, and pay for the opening of the same. 
Such a procedure is not generally regarded as good 
economics. 
Lastly, let us consider the soldier himself. Is he 
fitted to become a farmer? How many are farm- 
bred? How many have had farm training or ex¬ 
perience? It seems to be a prevalent idea among 
city people that the farm is a refuge for the failure 
and incompetent; that anyone can go to the country, 
buy a few acres of land, and spend the remainder 
of his life in peace and plenty, raising bumper crops 
with little or no effort. Nothing is further from the 
truth. Forty per cent of those who migrate to the 
farms fail, and return to the city within a few years. 
Greater technique and more diversified experience 
been a member of the American Expeditionary 
Forces. A farm is seldom abandoned unless there 
is some excellent reason; poor soil, bad climate, 
insect pests, or some other cause, and it would be a 
fine heritage to will such a place to a returned 
soldier. 
The other alternative is the opening of new, un¬ 
improved and uncleared land. This will take enor¬ 
mous capital, and ifo income can be realized from 
it for years. Can the Government afford to subsidize 
the farmer for the clearing of the land, purchasing 
of his equipment and stock, and in addition for the 
operating cost for a period of years? In other 
words, the Government must become the agent for 
is needed in farming than in any other profession. 
Our returned soldier has no capital to buy land, 
equipment or stock; therefore he must either be 
presented with the necessary funds or go into debt 
for them. With an overflooded market, land of 
questionable value, no experience and no capital, 
tlie soldier had better not consider the farm as his 
royal road to prosperity, but rather seek his place 
in some other line, and lie absorbed into American 
industry by the natural development that is grad¬ 
ually taking place. Let us no longer think of a 
first-class trench digger as a qualified tiller of the 
soil. HARRY BLOOM. 
R. N.-Y.—There is a difference between abandoned 
and “unoccupied” land. Some in the 
last named class might fit the soldiers. 
