7ht  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
G47 
be  one  that  will  retain  the  greatest  number  of 
leaves. 
COW-PEA  HAY. — Cow  peas  ax-e  somewhat  harder 
to  handle,  as  they  are  more  viney,  and  for  that 
reason  require  a  little  more  care  and  attention 
than  do  Soy  beans.  The  best  time  to  cut  for  hay 
perhaps  is  before  the  pods  begin  to  turn  yellow.  At 
this  stage  most  of  the  pods  are  well  formed.  A  few 
are  mature,  but  very  few  leaves  should  have  fallen 
by  this  time.  We  use  an  ordinary  mowing  machine 
and  let  the  hay  stay  in  swaths  until  wilted  on  top, 
and  then  place  in  windrows  and  leave  for  one  or 
two  days.  At  times  with  very  heavy  growth  we 
have  been  obliged  to  use  a  tedder  both  in  the  swath 
and  even  in  the  windrows  but  we  never  use  the  ted¬ 
der  except  in  early  morning  when  the  plants  are 
damp.  From  the  windrows  the  hay  is  placed  in 
small  shocks,  piled  loosely  so  that  air  may  circulate, 
that  are  high  and  narrow  so  that  they  will  shed 
water.  With  good  weather  the  hay  is  ready  to  be 
housed  in  about  five  or  six  days.  Several  devices 
are  used  here  to  cure  cow-pea  hay,  some  better 
thaw  others,  but  all  used  with  the  idea  of  keeping 
the  hay  off  the  ground  and  allowing  free  circulation 
of  air.  A  pole  with  cross  pieces  near  the  bottom 
is  perhaps  the  simplest,  and  gives  good  results.  We 
use  a  four-sided  frame  coming  to  a  point  at  top,  and 
with  a  spread  of  about  three  feet  at  the  bottom. 
About  eight  inches  from  the  bottom  we  run  cross 
pieces,  thus  giving  us  a  hollow  space  in  the  middle 
of  the  shock  which  aids  greatly  in  the  curing. 
HARVESTING  FOR  SEED.— When  grown  for 
seed  these  two  crops  may  be  handled  about  the  same, 
although  the  cutting  of  the  cow-pea  crop  is  usually 
harder  than  cutting  Soy  beans,  due  to  .more  vine 
growth.  The  ordinary  mowing  machine  may  be 
used  with  a  buneher  or  windrowing  attachment  on 
the  cutter  bar,  or  a  man  may  go  before  the  machine 
lifting  the  previous  swath  out  of  the  way  with  a 
fork.  Many  of  our  growers  use  a  reaper,  and  are 
fairly  well  satisfied  with  results.  When  cut  in  this 
manner  the  growers  in  this  section  use  a  thrashing 
machine  to  get  out  the  peas  and  beans.  When  the 
ordinary  thrashing  machine  is  used  the  speed  of  the 
cylinder  must  be  cut  in  half,  so  as  not  to  split  or 
crack  too  many  of  the  seeds.  The  back  concaves 
may  be  lowered  or  some  removed  entirely.  Com¬ 
mercial  tlirashermen  are  doing  more  and  more  of 
this  work  and  are  charging  from  25  to  40  cents  per 
bushel  for  the  work.  We  use  a  harvester  designed 
for  this  purpose,  and  unless  obliged  to  we  shall 
never  go  back  to  the  old  methods.  There  are  sev¬ 
eral  harvesters  in  this  section,  and  they  will  harvest 
12  acres  a  day  with  a  team,  one  man  and  a  boy  or 
girl  to  drive  the  team.  They  are  efficient  if  the 
operator  knows  at  what  stage  of  growth  to  use 
them,  and  how  to  handle  them  when  in  the  field. 
We  harvested  120  acres  this  past  year,  and  feel  cer¬ 
tain  that  not  more  than  five  per  cent  of  the  seed 
was  left  in  the  fields.  The  proper  stage  to  harvest, 
with  our  machine  is  when  the  pod  will  snap  open 
if  pressed  firmly  between  the  thumb  and  finger. 
There  are  many  varieties  of  cow  peas  and  Soy 
beans  on  the  market,  but  we  have  tried  a  great 
many  and  found  only  a  few  that  suited  our  condi¬ 
tions.  For  hay  we  use  Wilson,  Virginia  and  Tar 
Heel,  while  for  turning  under  we  like  Mammoth 
Yellow  and  Tar  Heel.  g.  k.  todd. 
That  “Blight- Proof”  Potato 
WE  have  spoken  several  times  of  a  “blight- 
proof"  potato  which  lias  been  grown  for  sev¬ 
eral  years  on  Hope  Farm.  There  has  been  much  in¬ 
terest  manifested  in  the  matter,  so  that  we  print 
this  week  a  fair  picture  of  a  sample  tuber.  This  is 
about  the  average  size,  although  there  are  some 
considerably  larger  and  some  small  ones.  Our  his¬ 
tory  of  this  potato  is  about  as  follows : 
Several  years  ago  there  was  a  railroad  strike, 
so  that  we  were  unable  to  obtain  seed  potatoes  by 
freight.  We  spoke  of  this  trouble  in  print,  and  im¬ 
mediately*  began  to  receive  sample  lots  of  potatoes. 
They  came  from  all  over  the  country,  from  people 
who  were  anxious  to  help  us  out  and  get  us  to  try 
their  favorite  variety.  Among  other  samples  came 
a  package  of  the  variety  here  shown.  A  letter  oe- 
companied  the  package  stating  that  this  variety 
was  practically  “blight-proof,”  and  we  were  asked 
to  give  it  a  fair  trial.  The  potatoes  were  planted 
alongside  of  others,  but  in  some  way  the  original 
letter  was  mislaid,  and  we  could  not  tell  where  the 
potatoes  came  from.  Finally,  after  two  years,  we 
received  a  letter  from  G.  A.  Webb  of  Nova  Scotia. 
He  claims  that  he  sent  the  original  potatoes.  He  says 
that  this  variety  is  known  in  his  locality  as  North¬ 
ern  Spy.  It  is  highly  prized  as  a  “blight-proof” 
variety,  a  long  keeper,  heavy  yielder,  and  a  potato 
of  good  quality.  We  have  continued  raising  these 
potatoes  year  after  year,  and  find  that  they  are 
practically  “blight-proof.”  When  planted  alongside 
other  varieties,  the  vines  remain  green  and  growing 
long  after  everything  around  them  has  died.  Each 
This  shows  the  way  Soy  beans  have  been  grown  in  St. 
Lawrence  Co.,  N.  Y.  This  is  a  great  crop  for  dairymen 
— to  feed  along  with  corn  silage.  It  is  an  annual  crop, 
makes  a  fair  growth  on  acid  soil,  and  gives  as  strong  a 
feed  as  clover  or  Alfalfa  hay. 
year  this  quality  has  been  marked,  and  the  same 
report  comes  from  a  number  of  other  people  to 
whom  we  have  sent  samples  of  this  variety.  This 
year  we  received  a  letter  from  a  friend  in  Penn¬ 
sylvania  who  said  that  he  had  a  sure  “blight-proof" 
’Northern  Spy,  a  Blight-proof  Potato.  Fig.  330 
variety.  He  sent  us  a  few  samples,  and  they  turned 
out  to  be  practically  the  same  as  this  Northern 
Spy.  The  potato  is  light  red  in  color,  and  the  pic¬ 
ture  shows  its  typical  shape.  There  are  many  eyes 
well  distributed  over  the  tuber.  It  is  long  and  thin. 
There  are  rarely,  if  ever,  any  tubers  with  a  black 
heart.  The  vines  are  thrifty  and  strong,  and  really 
resist  blight  most  surprisingly.  The  potatoes  are 
excellent  keepers,  and  when  thoroughly  boiled  are 
of  good  quality.  Except  possibly  for  its  color  we 
should  say  that  this  Northern  Spy  is  a  desirable 
variety.  It.  probably  would  not  sell  well  in  a  mar¬ 
ket  where  brown  potatoes  are  desired.  For  family 
use,  or  on  farms  where  little  attention  is  paid  to 
spraying,  we  should  think  this  variety  would  prove 
very  satisfactory  indeed. 
What  Cash  Crop  on  Rich  Land? 
I  have  a  small  piece  of  low  ground  near  the  barn, 
about  four  rods  square,  which  gets  all  the  drainage 
from  the  barnyard,  also  from  the  hen  park.  It  is  well 
drained  and  well  watered,  very  fertile.  I  said  I  was 
going  to  plant  it  to - ;  my  good  wife  spoke  in  and 
said  :  “Why  don’t  you  ask  The  R.  N.-Yr.  what  to  plant 
there?” 
'So  here’s  the  question.  What  shall  I  plant  there  for 
a  cash  crop?  w.  E.  K. 
Michigan, 
WE  appreciate  confidence  in  our  judgment,  but 
hesitate  to  assume  responsibility.  These  long¬ 
distance  decisions  are  not  usually  accurate.  We  should 
have  to  know  about  your  markets,  the  kind  of  crops 
you  know  how  to  handle  well  and  what  people  in  the 
towns  near  you  prefer.  In  our  own  locality  such  a 
piece  of  ground  would  be  planted  in  cabbage,  celery 
or  strawberries.  There  would  be  a  good  demand  for 
Danish  Ball-head  cabbage,  well  grown.  Good  celery 
is  always  marketable.  We  think  Gandy  or  Chesapeake 
strawberries  would  do  well  on  such  land.  When  a 
man  prepares  to  grow  a  good  cash  crop  in  rich  land, 
he  should  find  out  what  sells  best  one  year  with  an¬ 
other,  in  his  home  market — for  that  is  the  place  for  a 
cash  crop.  There  was  a  New  England  man  once 
who  moved  to  Kansas  in  the  early  days.  He  plowed 
up  rich  prairie  sod  10  miles  from  a  town  and 
planted  strawberries.  There  was  a  wonderful  crop, 
but  he  could  not  even  give  half  of  them  away.  Near 
a  large-  town  this  crop  would  have  made  his  for¬ 
tune.  We  know  another  man  who  went  into  a 
wild  part  of  the  South  and  started  a  “commercial” 
chicken  farm.  He  raised  the  chickens  and  they 
laid  well,  but  there  was  no  local  market.  A  rich 
piece  of  land  like  the  one  here  mentioned  may  be 
like  a  small  gold  mine.  If  you  raise  good  crops 
of  what  suits  the  market  there  will  be  money  in  it. 
If  you  plant  things  which  local  people  do  not  care  for 
you  will  lose  money.  We  would  gladly  give  advice 
further,  but  the  truth  is  that  the  buyers  in  your 
section  know  far  better  than  we  do  what  they  want 
and  what  they  will  pay  for. 
Saving  Bulky  Barns  by  Baling 
With  the  modern  construction  of  one-story  cow  barns, 
there  is  no  necessity  of  building  the  immense  struc¬ 
tures  of  the  past.  The  only  use  for  such  structures 
now,  is  for  the  storage  of  hay  and  fodder.  In  laying 
out  a  new  plant  with  the  idea  of  erecting  a  modern 
stable,  would  it  not  be  more  economical  to  erect  a 
smaller  storage  building  and  install  a  baling  press? 
In  order  to  obtain  the  required  storage  capacity  it 
would  seem  that  the  difference  of  the  investment  in  the 
building  would  be  well  worth  saving.  Baling  presses 
are  used  to  a  very  small  extent  in  the  East.  What 
has  been  the  experience  of  your  readers  in  the  use 
of  these  machines?  How  much  power  do  they  re¬ 
quire,  and  what  is  their  capacity  for  a  10-hour  day? 
How  long  is  it  customary  to  allow  the  hay  to  remain  in 
the  stack  before  baling,  or  in  other  words,  how  soon 
after  the  hay  is  made  would  it  be  advisable  to  bale 
the  same?  How  soon  after  rye  was  thrashed  could 
the  straw  be  baled?.  Would  it  be  practicable  to  shred 
corn  fodder  and  then  bale  it,  or  would  it  be  necessary 
to  allow  the  shredded  stock  to  dry  out  before  it  could 
be  baled?  R.  h.  s. 
Boston,  Mass. 
WE  submit  these  questions  to  our  readers  for 
answer  or  discussion.  Evidently  something 
more  than  any  individual  reply  is  needed.  It  is  a 
good  subject  for  discussion.  This  is  coming  to  be 
the  modern  idea  in  barn  building — to  avoid  great  ex¬ 
pense  in  providing  storage  of  bulky  crops  by  baling 
them  whenever  possible. 
Experience  with  Salt 
FADING  “The  Fertilizing  Value  of  Salt,”  on  page 
766,  and  having  some  experience  with  salt  on  my 
land,  I  know  something  of  the  value  of  salt.  Salt 
is  good  for  gravelly  ground,  as  it  helps  to  hold  the 
moisture,  as  well  as  keeping  the  weeds  down.  I  have 
used  it  on  potatoes  with  great  success.  I  do  not  put 
direct  on  the  vines,  but  between  the  rows.  Last  year 
I  put  it  on  my  strawberries.  This  year  the  vines  are 
filled  with  blossoms,  and  I  shall  have  twice  the  berries 
that  I  ever  had. 
I  use  it  on  all  my  garden.  After  the  vegetables  are 
up  two  inches  high,  I  take  a  pail  and  spread  it  be¬ 
tween  the  rows  very  lightly,  but  keep  it  away  from  the 
vines.  I  do  this  about  three  times  during  the  Sum¬ 
mer  with  good  results.  I  have  never  tried  it  on  clay 
ground,  for  my  ground  is  gravel  with  black  muck  drawn 
in  and  mixed  together.  I  use  it  every  three  years  with 
lime  in  the  Fall.  oris  J,  bailey. 
New  Jersey, 
