I 126 
iiig time plant a few of each kind in a small hotbed 
or a box near the heater. This will give one a pretty 
geod idea what percentage of the seeds wall grow, 
ond when you sow it at the proper time in the open 
ground you will know whether or not it will ger¬ 
minate. There is nothing more discouraging than 
for one to sow seeds at the proper time, expecting 
them to appear above the ground in due season; 
then as no signs of them can be seen, the planter 
begins to dig in the ground to see if the onion, or 
celery seed, or whatever he has planted, has ger¬ 
minated. If not he may lose the entire crop for the 
yean - , as it may then be too late to purchase more 
seed and to replant. Another important thing he 
will learn by testing seeds is how thickly the seed 
should be sown, for if only 50 to 00 per cent of the 
peed is good, it should he planted more thickly than 
it 80 or 90 per cent was good. In purchasing seeds 
the lowest priced are not always the cheapest in 
the end. 
PERSE!' ERANCE.—The third essential I men¬ 
tioned is just as important as'the other two. A person 
“may” make a success of a business by not applying 
himself to it all the time, but not in the gardening 
nor fruit business, and it is not enough just to “like” 
the business, but one must really “love” it. I could 
relate many instances in my experience where I 
was many times so discouraged in times of blight, 
drought, low prices and need of hired help, that I 
was tempted to throw up the sponge, but the hope of 
better times just ahead and the love for the business 
spurred me on till the goal was won. The experi¬ 
ence one gains from year to year is very helpful in 
making the burden lighter each season. For in¬ 
stance, one of the hardest and most tedious jobs I 
had to contend with was the hand-weeding of celery, 
onions, etc., but I soon discovered that by applying 
phosphate instead of manure to plots where these 
seeds were planted from year to year, and not allow¬ 
ing any weeds to go to seed, it would eliminate at 
least three-quarters of the time and backaching 
work that was first used in the growung of them. I 
have more trouble with purslane than any other 
weed, and I cannot seem to eradicate it. It will 
l>egin to drop seed nearly as soon as the blossom 
opens. I am very careful to carry the plants off the 
ground after they are pulled, and not allow them 
to lie in piles, as the seeds will ripen and fall if left 
in that manner. The only way I can get the best of 
it is to prepare the plot of ground that I am going 
to plant to lettuce or spinach in August, three weeks 
before the crop is planted. In that time most of the 
seeds will have germinated, and then by running 
my hand motor over the plot it destroys all that 
have started to grow. Then by planting the plot 
immediately the spinach and lettuce have got such 
a start before the second crop of weeds come up that 
they are easily controlled with the hand cultivator. 
WORKING AHEAD.—I have stated before in one 
of my articles the importance of doing the work 
when it. should lie done, and not say “Oh, a few days 
will not make any difference.” That will make all 
the difference between a good crop and a poor one. 
A neighbor once said to me, “I don’t see how it is 
possible for you to accomplish so much. There is 
not a weed to he seen in your whole plot.” I told 
him that my plan was to do a thing before it was 
needed; in other words, one looking at my plot 
would say it was in perfect order, and would not 
need any attention for a few days, hut I kept ever¬ 
lastingly at it, and do not allow the ground to get 
hard or the weeds to start, and by this method save 
more than half the labor that would be required if 
these things should occur. A number of my friends 
have said, “It certainly must be a pleasure to you to 
do this work and make a success of it,” while others 
have said, “My, what an awful lolt of hard work 
you must do to keep things in the shape you do.” 
Well, I am working on the first line of pleasure and 
forgetting the hard end of it. I remember reading 
some lines that a “beginner” should keep in mind: 
It isn’t the start alone that counts, it isn’t the start 
alone; 
It’s the place you hold at the end by which the worth 
of your work is known. 
The dancing horse and the prancing horse may be proud 
ere the race is run, 
But they never receive a cheer if they lag at the rear 
when the race is done. 
A fool may start for a lofty goal and hurry ahead, and 
still 
Be a fool if he quits with the end he sought beyond him 
over the hill. 
New Jersey. wm. perkins. 
7ht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
ning to show up in the meadow and it is undoubtedly 
time to plow up the field. The question is how to get 
the field hack into a new seeding of meadow for an¬ 
other year, thus keeping the field in permanent mea¬ 
dow. Hay is worth more than grain to us. and we do 
not care to raise any cultivated crop, as corn, etc., as 
this would interfere with our orchard work. Could 
the field be plowed in August, cultivated until Sep¬ 
tember and again seeded to a mixture of Timothy, 
Aisike and Red clover, and a little Alfalfa? I have 
never seen land handled in this way, and would like 
to hear from you about it. All of the farm is now 
planted to orchard except one field and we do not 
care to run a rotation on this field, but prefer to have 
a permanent meadow if possible. c. W. w. 
Wayne Co., N, Y. 
\A7 E have often tried to explain the so-called 
“ V Clark system of renewing a meadow. The 
theory of it is to plow or disk the old meadow in 
late Summer and fit the land as well as possible 
for re-seeding about the middle of September. The 
thorough way is to work the sod with a disk or 
spiing-tooth until the old grass and weeds are 
thoroughly cleaned out. In the original Clark plan 
the rule was to use no plow, but rely on a cutaway 
disk entirely. This, when well weighed down and 
given plenty of power, chopped and cut up the sod 
instead of turning it over. When sod is turned over 
and the upper surface well smothered it looks like 
a nice job—all ready for seeding. The trouble is 
tiiat the grass and vveeds are merely tucked out of 
sight and they will come to life later and grow up 
with the new seeding, making trouble after the first 
August 30, 1924 
pendent on the senses. The blind man. even the in¬ 
telligent blind horse, knows when he nears a solid 
object, and will not walk against it. My friend 
the editor can hear many things I cannot hear, 
though he is called almost a deaf man, and my 
sense of hearing is very acute. When we concede, 
no, when we begin to know, there are other acting 
forces within man besides the senses, then we are 
in a position to understand how some people can 
find water with a peach crotch while others fail. 
But we have not yet learned the ABC of the sub¬ 
conscious mentality of man, and perforce must go 
slowly. L. W. EIGHTY. 
Pennsylvania. 
This automobile is carrying the slogan “Eat Fruit” 
5,(MX) miles through 17 States. (See next page.) 
year. In a rotation where grass is cut only two 
years or so this does not make so much difference, 
hut where a permanent meadow is wanted the old 
grass and weeds must be killed out. Thus the most 
thorough work must he done in fitting the soil. Mr. 
Clark who advocated this plan, used to disk and 
harrow the land about f5 times before seeding. He 
was rewarded by yields of four tons or even more 
per acre, continuing 8 or 10 years. A good applica¬ 
tion of lime is usually needed, not only to supply 
this mineral to the crop, but to fit the soil. Heavy 
seeding will pay if a permanent meadow is wanted; 
12 to 15 lbs. each of Timothy and Red-top per acre 
and 5 to 6 lbs. of clover. We should use both Aisike 
and Red. The Red-top fits in with the Timothy 
and gives a heavier yield. Such mixed hay is not 
the best for selling, but is better for feeding. Of 
course a heavy crop will require heavy fertilizing 
year after year. 
Renewing An Old Meadow 
For the past five seasons we have obtained a good 
hay crop from a meadow, due to the application of 
about 500 lbs. per acre of a high-grade home-mixed fer¬ 
tilizer applied early iu the Spring. W’hile the hay 
was quite good this last year, spots of weeds such as 
golden rod. sd'rrel, wild carrot and charlock are begin- 
That “Electric Conductor” Finding Water 
I WAS rather pleased to note on page 1048 that 
my friend Fred W. Card was not quite ready to 
allow tiie “electric conductor” theorist to put one 
over on him. The editor will not even admit it is 
a fact that a man witli a forked stick can locate an 
underground stream. He says: “Now let us con¬ 
cede it ean he so found.” We are hardly ready to 
investigate the cause of a fact when we do not be¬ 
lieve it to be a fact. My friend Fred W. Card, 
though scientifically trained and holding a master’s 
degree from Cornell, has had enough experience to 
know that a man can with a forked stick locate un¬ 
derground streams of water, but he is making search 
for the cause in the laboratory of liis alma mater; 
lut so long as the laboratory will not recognize the 
subconscious powers of man he will find nothing 
there. Over in the psychological department they 
will, like the editor, concede that man is possessed 
of a subconscious mentality, but the workings there¬ 
of are no clearer to them than the pulling down of 
the stick is to the editor. 
Will you allow a “plain man” who knows to tell 
you that you will never find the cause of the move¬ 
ment of the stick outside of man. but within man, 
You will find it in the subconscious mentality of 
man. While the conscious mind of man cannot 
know of a stream of water hidden from all the 
senses, the subconscious can know, as it is not de- 
Wholesale Distribution of Mail 
I do not know whether you are at all interested, but 
I am enclosing letter and circular from post office de¬ 
partment in answer to an objection I made to them 
about all kinds of trash being put into the mail box 
only addressed to box holder. It seems to me that 
Householder, Third Ward, New York City, is just as 
definite an address as what they suggest in their 
circular. _ It seems to me that the only object of such 
a ruling is to hold open for exploitation every farmer 
in the country, and allow the “sucker bait” an easy 
way of distribution. I will admit that my objections 
to having my mail box flooded with all kinds of “sucker 
bait” and not even an address on it may be my own 
peculiarity, and such stuff may be welcome to tlie rest 
of rural America—but I doubt it. m. b. yager. 
Pennsylvania. 
\A/E are interested in anything that has to do 
v V with the comfort or profit of country people. 
In this ease the Postmaster General refers to a cir¬ 
cular which was prepared last year. As the pack¬ 
age marked “Boxholder” complies with this rule 
the department holds that it was properly addressed. 
This circular states: 
In order to facilitate the addressing and handling of 
ordinary mail on which the required postage is fully 
prepaid, in cases where it is desired to send a piece 
to every box holder on a rural route, the box numbers 
may be omitted from the individual pieces, but in order 
that the matter will bear a definite address as required 
by the Postal Laws and Regulations, each piece should 
he addressed in the following manner: Box holder. 
Route 1, Bristol, Tenn. 
All the pieces for the same route must be put up by 
the mailer in a package labeled, preferably by means 
of a facing slip, as follows: For distribution to box 
holders, Route 1, Bristol, Tenn. 
Each piece must bear the required amount of postage. 
It is desirable that the postage on matter mailed in this 
way for delivery on rural routes be prepaid in money 
under the permit system when presented in the pre¬ 
scribed quantities in accordance with the provisions of 
section 459. Postal Laws and Regulations, or by means 
of preeanceled postage stamps affixed to each piece 
under the conditions governing the use of such stamps 
on mail other than of the first class as set forth in 
Article 67. page 17, July, 1923, Postal Guide. 
This method of addressing will result in materiallv 
speeding up the handling and delivery of circulars, ad¬ 
vertising matter, etc., mailed in large quantities. Mail¬ 
ers may, of course, continue to address matter intended 
ior delivery on rural routes to the individual and route 
number, post office and State, as heretofore. 
Thus the plan of distributing is legitimate so- far 
as postage payment is concerned. As to the point 
that this enables dealers in “sucker bait” to ex¬ 
ploit the farmers—there is something in it. The 
question is how far should the government go in 
shutting out such advertising documents. It is quite 
a saving to any legitimate business when the ex¬ 
pense of writing the direction on each piece of mail 
can be avoided. Where should the government 
draw the line? 
Elevator in Farmhouse 
TN answer to Mrs. E. H. M., Connecticut, on page 
A 999, a simple lift or elevator in a farmhouse can 
he built that can be worked by the person in the 
lift, or by the persons on either first or second floor, 
or power. It can be pulled up or down from either 
floor. It will lock itself where stopped. It will 
take about one-eighth the amount of effort that it 
takes to walk upstairs. It can be arranged to pull 
by rope or by crank. As to cost, that will depend 
on conditions; where it is located in the house, the 
height of the ceilings, size of floor timbers, cost of 
labor and what lumber if any, you may have on the 
farm. It would want 14 4-in. wood or iron rope 
pulleys, and less than 100 ft. of %-in. rope. A good 
mechanic could do all the work in from six to 10 
days. The elevator could be continued to cellar 
with little cost; a little more rope and cutting 
through first floor and about one more day’s work. 
If Mrs. E. H. M. has a husband or son who is handy 
with tools, she could save most of the mechanic’s 
expense. g. e. s. 
Bantam" hens as foster mothers for young quail are 
the latest. 
It is not generally known that beets are afflicted with 
a disease related to that of scab on potatoes. The use of 
sulphur will help. 
