CORTLAND COUNTY FARMERS' CLUB DISCUSSES HARVESTING HAY

The Cortland Democrat, Friday, July 1, 1887.

Cortland County Farmer’s Club.

   The club met at the regular hour with Pres. Blodgett in the chair. The subject of “Harvesting our hay and grass crops” was taken up.

   Pres. Blodgett—The first thing is to have our tools in readiness. At a certain time, one day, is of much importance. Grass is still green but is coming forward rapidly.

   Mr. Smith—I notice that our clover does not seem to blossom as much as formerly.

   Mr. Goodrich—I like to cut clover just as it is blossoming out and before it turns brown.

   Pres. Blodgett—Has anyone had any experience with hay caps? They are highly recommended, for by using them the hay can stand in the cock safely for two or three days. I think we can put in hay greener than we formerly thought. It will cure in the mow.

   Mr. Robinson—I think hay that has had no water on it can be put in barn quite green.

   Mr. Goodrich—What is the average cost per ton for putting hay in barn?

   Mr. Smith—I think it can be put in at $3.00 per ton.

   Pres. Blodgett—Has anyone else an estimate of the cost at present time?

   Mr. Goodrich—I had considerable experience with the old method of cutting grass. It was in the Connecticut valley and part of the meadow was bottom land cutting an average of two tons per acre. The hay cost $1.00 to $1.25 per acre and in good weather it was easy to average a ton per man. I never used a machine in my life. There were men who made a business of cutting grass by the acre and some would cut four acres of light grass in a day. The cost now seems to be as much per ton as thirty years ago. It is a fact worth noticing that those bottom lands that overflowed regularly each season several times do not overflow at all now and have to be plowed often. It is caused in part by damming back the water of the river in upper part in reservoirs for use of factories.

   Pres. Blodgett—It is said that our machines are an injury to the meadows by cutting too close.

   Mr. Goodrich—I think there is more injury caused by pasturing meadows than by cutting too close.

   Mr. Robinson—Does not our grass crop grow lighter each year?

   Mr. Goodrich—I think not as a crop. Most farmers at least are unwilling to admit that their crops are less now than ten years ago. Yet it is a fact that many farms do not produce as many barns full and stacks as in years gone by.

   Mr. Barnes—I read an article recently which pointed out close cutting and pasturing as both tending to injure meadows.

   Mr. Goodrich—I think a farm ought to be managed so as not to deteriorate but rather to improve. We are raising a better quality and more wheat than formerly.

   Pres. Blodgett—In the west the crops are far less per acre than they were. One great trouble with our meadows is lack of seed.

   Mr. Williams—Do we not put on too much grain rather than too little grass seed?

   Mr. Goodrich— Would it not be well to sow more kinds of seed?

   Mr. Williams—I have thought too much seed produces a thick mat of fine short grass. The bulk of my hay goes to market and I cannot see as crops deteriorate much. We use phosphate when we plow. Apply what manure we have.

   Mr. Smith—Do you pasture your meadows?

   Mr. Williams—Not at all. I do not think it advisable to rake the scatterings.

   Mr. Barnes—I am of the opinion we dry our hay too much. Some comes into market more like straw than hay.

   Mr. Williams—Is there any good rule to determine the right time to cut hay?

   Mr. Barnes—I prefer to have the timothy heads in blow.

   Mr. Robinson—For horses I like later cut hay.

   Mr. Williams—The early cut hay is as good for horses as cattle. I would save the first piece of clover for horses. Cut it when in blossom and dry, no water on it, and get it in with no rain on it if possible. I was brought up to feed only ripe timothy to horses and follow a method exactly the opposite.

   On motion of Mr. Goodrich it was resolved that a correspondence be opened by the secretary with secretary of state agricultural society, with a view to securing a farmers' institute at Cortland the coming winter.

   Club adjourned for their summer vacation to meet again September 10.

   CORTLAND, June 18, 1887.

   C. M. BEAN, Sec'y.

Cortland Board of Trade.

   The necessity of a Board of Trade in Cortland, to further the business interests already here, and to secure the location of other manufacturing concerns in our village, as well as to have an organized and competent body before which all matters of importance to the commercial interests of the village can be brought, has come to be recognized by many of our citizens, and in response to a wide spread feeling in favor of the project, and in compliance with the request of a considerable number of our business men, the village board have thought best to call a meeting to consider this subject.

   All who are interested in the establishment of a Board of Trade are therefore requested to meet at Fireman's Hall on Friday evening July 1st. I887 at 7:10 o'clock sharp.

   HARRISON WELLS,

   H. H. GREENMAN,

   F. H. COBB,

   FAYETTE REYNOLDS.

   The signature of trustee Gleason could not be secured to the foregoing for the reason that he was out of town.

Groceries to be Closed.

   The following is a list of the grocerymen in this place who will close their stores from Saturday night to Tuesday morning July 5th;

Price & Co.,

Sherwood Bros.,

Dowd & McSweeney,

Squires & Co.,

Garrison & Young,

C. F. Thompson,

Jones & Day,

H. B. Hubbard,

Peck Bros.,

W. B. Stoppard.

J. W. Kelly.

Howard & Co.

Cortland, June 30, 1887.

A Fish Story.

   Things turn queerly sometimes. Giler Bushby, a Toledo fishmonger, was cleaning white-fish last Monday, and in the intestines found a diamond ring. It had engraved upon the inner surface, "J. A. B., Chicago, '69." Bushby forwarded the ring to the Chief of Police of that city.

   Thursday Mrs. Julia A. Lennox identified and recovered the ring. In 1869 she, then Miss Bennett, became engaged to marry Mr. Lennox. He gave her the ring, for which he paid $450. Upon their bridal trip in 1871, Mrs. Lennox lost the ring while washing her hands in the toilet room of a Pullman car. The ring slipped from her finger and dropped through the waste pipe as the train happened to be crossing a bridge over the St. Lawrence river near Montreal.

   There are no white-fish in the St. Lawrence. The theory, then, is that a small fish seized upon the ring and that at some later time this small fish, while cruising about in the lakes, fell a prey to the white fish in which the long-lost ring was discovered.

   The Toledo fishmonger received from Mr. Lennox a check for $100 as a reward for his honesty. Taking all the circumstances, this is a most remarkable fish story. Possibly the little fish invited the big fish to swallow it, after discovering what a nice thing it had in its body, and perhaps the white-fish selected the only honest fisherman in Toledo to catch it and return the ring to its owner.—Auburn Democrat.