April 10, 3 0-1 
586 
variations elsewhere, Cabbage seed is grown under 
contract, the seed dealer furnishing the seed to the 
grower by number, so that the grower may not even 
know what kind of seed he is raising. The practice 
of the better dealers is to go into a select field and 
pick out not more than four or five cabbage heads in 
a hundred which by their size, earliness, density and 
weight show the proper variety characteristics. These 
are carefully stored, reset and the seed distributed 
to the farmers. 
TIIE FIRST SEASON.—Unfortunately the acci¬ 
dents of a variable climate, as well as certain vicis¬ 
situdes of life, make it sometimes impossible to do 
this important work, and ordinary commercial stock 
is planted for seed raising. The farmer who raises 
cabbage seed gels his stock from the dealer and sows 
it in the open-air seed bed late in June. By the 
time that the plants are well grown the crop of early 
potatoes has been harvested, the land is harrowed 
level, given an additional half ton of high-grade fer¬ 
tilizer. such as 5-8-5, and the cabbages are set in 
rows 3 ft. apart and 15 in. apart in the row. If de¬ 
lays have occurred so that the season is later than 
desirable, the cabbage may be set. even closer. To 
say that a Long Island fanner gives clean and fre¬ 
quent cultivation is like saying that a Dutch house¬ 
wife keeps her kettles scrubbed. So the late-set cab¬ 
bages have all that a rich, well-tilled soil can do for 
them, and through the long, mild Autumn days they 
do their best to make up for their late start. If the 
heads mature they are almost certain to decay before 
Spring, but if they are so late that only a bunch of 
loose leaves form there is so little stored food that 
the seed crop will he a small oik*. When severe 
freezing weather threatens the seed cabbages are 
put into storage, the desired state of growth being 
a fully formed head which is not solid. The grower 
plows open a wide furrow and crowds in the cab¬ 
bages. three abreast, setting them in natural posi¬ 
tion and leaving as much as possible of the soil on 
Llioir roots. When the furrow is full the plow is run 
along both sides, plowing at least three furrows 
toward and against the cabbage. The covering is 
then completed with an asparagus ridger or in a 
small field by hand; 3 to 5 in. of soil on the top of 
the ridge is plenty, and no straw stalks or marsh 
hay is u?ed. 
SECOND PLANTING.—In the Spring, as soon as 
the soil can he worked, the rows are exposed by 
plowing along one side, the cabbages dug out and 
reset, this time in rows 4 ft. apart and 3 ft. apart 
in the row. The losses in wintering will usually 
equalize the thinner planting. The plants are set 
with a decided inclination to the southwest, as the 
prevailing wind is from that quarter, and the seed 
stalks are easily blown down. Good cultivation is 
again given, and some more fertilizer applied along 
the row. P.efoi.* June 1 the seed stalks are 4 to 5 
ft. tall, and a mass of yellow blossoms, which soon 
develop pointed pods like those of mustard, of which 
cabbage is a close relative. When these develop into 
the right shade of brown the stalks are cut, generally 
with a corn knife, and laid in open bundles on the 
ground to dry. If the weather is bright the seeds 
are soon ready to scatter, and the thrashing is done 
on a canvas with a flail, if. as often happens, the 
weather is “catchy,” tHo seed stalks are hurried to 
shelter as soon as they can be piled in narrow heaps 
without molding. A few use a small separator to 
thrash, but most of tlie seed is flailed out and cleaned 
from trash with a. common fanning mill. The seed 
is still moist, and is spread out thinly for a few 
bright days, and is then delivered to the seed dealer. 
YIELD.—At best, the cabbage seed may yield from 
GOO to 800 Ilis. of seed per acre, but more often the 
crop is less than 500 lbs., and losses bring the aver¬ 
age to about 300 lbs. For many years the regular 
contract price was 50 cents a pound, but the high 
values of potatoes and Lima beans combined with 
shutting off the imported supply and sent the price 
to $1.50 in 1010, but this year the price is a dollar 
a pound. If we consider the labor and fertilizer and 
remember that the crop is preceded by Cobbler pota¬ 
toes and followed by ‘"flowers," "sprouts” or white 
turnips, the average yield and price look good to 
most farmers. However, the chances of failure are 
many. h. f. button". 
The Spirit of the East 
O N page 287 you print a letter from Mortimer A. 
Turpin on the "Spirit of the East.” It is evi¬ 
dent that Mr. Turpin lias missed the point of the 
discussion, for lie begins by saying: “We in New 
York State don’t have to blow our liorn to advertise, 
as most Western States have to.” Then lie proceeds 
to enumerate a number of tilings that make the State 
of New York an attractive agricultural State. 
M,v contention, in u nutshell, is this; That the 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
man of the West has greater confidence in his farm 
and in his State than the man of the East has in his 
farm and his State, not so much on account of 
superior advantages, but because out here everyone, 
newspapers, preachers, bankers, merchants and all 
farmers, consistently talk of and tell about the won¬ 
derful opportunities of the locality in which they 
happen to reside; while in the East you will find 
few indeed who seem to think their country amounts 
to anything from the standpoint of agriculture. 
And why is that? In no small measure because 
the State itself does it; does it in its public schools, 
in its normal schools, agricultural colleges and always 
in its university, and always through its own public 
officials. 
Some years since a Governor of North Dakota 
wrote a splendid article on the agricultural oppor¬ 
tunities of North Dakota for Leslie's Weekly of New 
York City. Whoever heard of anything like that 
from a Governor of the Empire State? But why not? 
i know New York lias splendid grapes, fine peaches 
and the best apples in the world. But your New 
York apples bring less in New York City than the 
Ihtrelca Corn Grown al Massachusetts Agricultural 
College. Fig . ,i2S 
inferior apples of the West, your grapes sell for less 
than Western grapes; and why? Now let’s be 
honest. 
I can borrow more money in New York State; on 
my North Dakota farm, than I can borrow on my 
New York farm, and why? 
Let me give you my reason. My land here is con¬ 
sistently “boosted,” its never failing wonders are 
exploited, and because of this I become a man of 
considerable good judgment because I had sense 
enough to go and buy it. Down there my land is of 
doubtful value; for the purposes of a loan its value 
is less than the buildings are insured for, and be¬ 
cause of the fact that I own it, paid good money for 
it, my own lack of judgment is so self-evident that 
nr other proof of the fact is required. 
Now take these two viewpoints; and they are 
real, painfully so, to the man who has rubbed shoul¬ 
ders with them down there, and you have practically 
90 per cent of the reason for the decreasing attrac¬ 
tiveness. to actual farmers, of the State that Mr. 
Turpin claims is “awake to its possibilities.” 
No. New York State is not awake. If awake, how 
do you show it? Why let the West sell its products, 
under your nose, for more money than you get for 
better goods? What became of your apple crop? 
The vast bulk of it never saw the market. Much of 
it is still on the ground. The man of the West grew 
his apples on ground costing around $1,000 per acre; 
he frequently irrigates; that means that lie must, 
while hiking bis turn in getting water, arise at one, 
two, tf vet . ny other hour of the night, and take 
x*are of The water when it is alloted to him. And 
vet that same man takes his inferior fruit, packs it 
with care, pays freight on it for a long haul, puts it 
on the market, on your market, charges an exorbi¬ 
tant price, insists that be has the best apple grown, 
and gets by with it: all of this while the State of 
New York is awake, or asleep, as the case may be. 
North Dakota. a. p. j. 
The Cost of Canadian Milk 
S OME time since you asked why it was that milk 
couid be produced cheaper in Canada than iii the 
United States. An answer has been given on page 
437, but the writer has given only part of the rea¬ 
son; that is, a comparison of feed prices in Canada 
and the United States. The main part of the reason 
is what it costs the Canadian farmer to produce bis 
feed. Turnips, amounting to thousands of bushels, 
have been shipped since last Fall from this part of 
Ontario Province—75 miles west of the Niagara 
River—for 15 cents for 50 lbs., and the farmers grow 
from 400 to 000 bushels per acre. The average value 
of land about here is $00 per acre; a farmer grows 
from the value of an acre to one and a half times the 
value of his land with one crop. 
Nearly all the hay and grain, except wheat, are 
fed on the farm. When a farmer goes to get his 
grain ground be takes home, besides liis ground 
grain, some hundreds of pounds of middlings and 
bran, and at times Western corn. The manure 
spreader stands at the end of the litter carrier and 
is in use the year around. Large amounts of cotton¬ 
seed meal, oilcake meal and barrels of molasses are 
bought for feed. A ton of skimsmilk and three tons 
of grain will be shipped in the form of a ton of pork. 
Fodder and grain are changed into beef and mutton 
and sent to market on the legs of the animals them¬ 
selves. 
This is the manner in which this land has been 
treated these last 80 years, or ever since it was 
cleared; and it is not only maintaining its fertility, 
but in some instances increasing. Hay crops average 
about here from one to three tons per acre, oats 3d 
to GO bushels per acre, barley the same, wheat 20 to 
40 bushels, potatoes 150 to 300 bushels and cattle 
beets from 000 to 1.000 bushels per acre. Hence 
with plenty of such feeds, and not any fertilizer bills 
to pay, there is a substantial margin of profit. Taxes 
are up 100 per cent since the war, a good 100-acre 
farm being taxed $100 now instead of $50 before 
the war. 
As to wages, before the war a good farm hand got 
from $300 to $400 per year and board. Such will be 
the wages now, for tuxes will continue to be high. 
Ayr, Ontario, Canada. a. c. 
Building A Grain Stack 
Will you describe bow 0* build a stack of small grain? 
1 saw it done when I was a small boy. but have for¬ 
gotten the details. It is a lost art in this part of the 
country. Grain is hauled t«» the thrashing machine 
directly from the shock in the held. I want to stack my 
oats this year, and would like to do it according to 
“correct form.” I am sure there are some old-timers 
among your readers who can tell all about it. J. c. N. 
I T requires considerable experience in order to 
build a grain stack properly. I have built a great 
many, and will describe the method. Always build 
a stack bottom by placing a few poles or rails where 
the stack is to stand, and across these other poles 
about a foot apart to break connection with earth 
dampness and allow of air circulation. T usually 
build a long stack, but many prefer a round stack. 
Set the bundles up through tlie middle like a shock, 
gradually spreading the butts oi the bundles until 
at the last course they will radiate out like spokes 
on a wheel. The middle of the stack is kept a little 
the highest all the way up. Always keep the middle 
the highest After the bottom is laid begin at the 
outside and go around the first course even with the 
bottom, the second course even with the bands <m 
the outside course, and so on around until the center 
is reached. Use extra bundles if necessary to keep 
the middle full. After the stack is built up 4 or 5 
fc tlie outside bundles can project a little, but they 
must be bound in by the second course so that they 
will not slip or slide out. A beginner usually has 
some trouble at this stage, but if the middle of a 
stack is kept the highest all the way up there is 
really no need of this protection. After the stack is 
built up 10 or 15 ft., according to its size, begin 
drawing in a little on every layer as you build 
around (from now on the middle will naturally lie 
the highest) until the stack reaches the desired 
height. Now the bundles will begin to assume the 
same position that they did over the bottom. The 
top of a grain stack should be well thatched over 
with coarse hay to the depth of about 1 ft. if rainy 
weather is to be provided for. There are just two 
points to hear chiefly in mind in building a grain 
stack: Keep the middle the highest and keep the 
stack balanced, for if it tips to one side the rain is 
pretty sure to run in on the butts of the bundles on 
the up side, H * E - cox - 
