91 Bureau of Farmers' Institutes. 



other force power for raising a water supply for bathtub and 

 other house purposes, when the eaves of the house can be run 

 into a tank in the garret, to do the same work for $14, and be 

 practical for every farmer? 



Mr. Woodward. — There is no power so cheap for pumping 

 water as a windmill. I have several, some of them having been 

 in use a number of years, and have not cost me 15 cents a year 

 for repairs. I had much rather have the wind turning my wind- 

 mill and pumping water than to have it blowing over my head 

 while 1 work the pump handle. I don't know about the cost of 

 the tank in the garret, nor the expense of piping water from the 

 eaves into it. 



Question. — Give your method of disposing of burdocks, es- 

 pecially those of our neighbors, that grow along the line fences? 



Mr. Rice. — I can control the burdocks on my farm by cutting 

 them when the stalks are hollow and applying a little salt or 

 kerosene oil. But when it comes to my neighbor's burdocks I 

 draw the line. 



Question. — What would you do to destroy wire worms? 



Mr. Smith. — Cultivate. The man who follows a short rota- 

 tion will not have wire worms. If they are in sod, plow it in 

 the fall. Timothy sod is their home. 



Question. — Can seed corn be so treated as to prevent crows 

 from pulling it? 



Mr. Woodward. — Soak a few quarts of corn and scatter it 

 along the edge of the field. The crows will feed on it and leave 

 the planted corn untouched. They never eat a dry kernel, but 

 wait until it has become moist and swollen. 



Mr. Smith. — You will find the crow one of the best friends, 

 all things considered, to the farm. It will destroy insects and save 

 more crops than it will destroy. 



Question. — Give a good crop for the ordinary farm of mixed 

 soil with gravelly loam predominating. 



A Farmer. — Potatoes after clover or timothy; next, some grain 

 crop one year, then seed two years, making a five years' rotation. 



Question. — Why do so many of our forest trees die, especially 

 the maple ? 



Mr. Witter. — Probablv it is caused bv the borer, or the forest 

 worm caterpillar. I know no remedy. 



Question. — Where the soil is a clav mixture and gets rather 

 hard, do you recommend the sowing of oats without plowing the 

 land? 



