THE CUBA REVIEW 



29 



AGRICULTURAL NOTES (Continued) 



HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS 



[From Popular lilcc'iaiiics] 



To keep drinking water clean for 

 chickens, cut several lengths of No. 9 

 wire about 24 inches long and secure them 

 to a board in such a way as to form a 

 circle of radiating wires from a center 

 point similar to the spokes of a wheel. 

 Melt some lead and pour it into the center, 

 and when cold the wires will be fastened 

 together. Bend the wires in a shape 

 similar to the ribs of an umbrella and 

 set the device over the pan of water. The 

 wires will prevent the fowls from stepping 

 into the pan and give them plenty of room 

 for their heads. — Contributed by Otto J. 

 Kling, Youngstozini, Ohio. 



To remove a stubborn nut, heat an open- 

 end wrench that fits the nut and while hot 

 place it on the nut and allow it to re- 

 main for two or three minutes, says the 

 American Machinist. The heat will cause 

 the nut to expand and it can be taken off 

 with ease. A heated wrench gives much 

 better results than a blow torch, as the 

 torch will heat the nut and bolt at the 

 same time, where the hot wrench only 

 heats the nut. Any nut which resists the 

 hot wrench will probably have to be split 

 to take it off. 



A screw that has been in the wood for 

 some time is difficult to remove. The 

 more you try to turn it with a screw- 

 driver the worse it gets, and the head is 

 liable to be damaged. Much time and 

 trouble can be saved by heating a rod to 

 a cherry red and placing the end of it on 

 the screw head. Keep it there until the 

 screw has become heated. Allow the 

 screw to cool and then remove with a 

 screwdriver. The expansion of the metal 

 caused by the heat makes the hole larger, 

 and when the screw has cooled and con- 

 tracted to its normal size, it can be easily 

 removed. — Contributed by Horace A. 

 Person, Wasliington, D. C. 



REMOVING STUMPS BY BURNING 



Experiments made in eastern and west- 

 ern Washington in removing large stumps 

 by char-coaling or char-pitting show that 

 the work can be done by inexperienced 

 persons without costly apparatus and at a 

 low cost of 25 cents each. Describing the 

 process, one of the professors saj^s : 



"The char-coaling or char-pitting is be- 

 gun by removing the bark from the stump 

 to allow the outside of the stump to be- 

 come thoroughly dry. Then a ring of 

 wood is stood or piled closely about the 



old tree base, to a height of 2 feet, and 

 a foot in thickness, and completely cov- 

 ered with sod, or a layer of bark or brush 

 to keep the earth from sifting through, to 

 a depth of several inches, except a small 

 space on the side against which the wind 

 is blowing. The whole secret of burning 

 the stump completely is to keep the cov- 

 ering intact. If the roots are kept from 

 the air and are recovered as soon as the 

 earth caves, they will burn out completely. 

 Large stumps having been burned out to 

 a depth of 15 feet. While the process is 

 not rapid, work can be carried on by the 

 farmer in connection with his farming, 

 with little additional expense. 



In one experiment, 125 stumps, some as 

 large as 3 feet in diameter, were burned 

 out in four days. 



NO DANGER IN SPRAYED FRUIT 



Recent studies by Professor William P. 

 Headden, of Colorado, says the Country 

 Gentleman, have shown the general pres- 

 ence of arsenic in all parts of the apple 

 tree, including the fruit, and that con- 

 siderable quantities are invariably present 

 in soils where fruit or vegetable crops 

 have been systematically sprayed with an 

 arsenical preparation. This, however, is 

 very far from justifying grave fears as 

 to the likelihood of serious results accru- 

 ing to the consumer of fruit from 

 fields where an application of poison is a 

 part of the regular practice. The mere 

 fact that men have lived on farms and 

 subsisted for at least ten, and in some in- 

 stances probably over twenty years, on 

 fruit and vegetables grown in this manner, 

 would go far to show that there is very 

 little danger of poisoning from this 

 source. 



At the same time a word of warning 

 is certainly not out of place. Arsenic 

 is a deadly poison, being cumulative in 

 effect, and one that cannot be handled 

 too carefully. This caution is especially 

 applicable to those who actually handle 

 the materials while spraying. 



SHIP PINEAPPLES GREEN 



A leading Xew York commission mer- 

 chant advises shipping pineapple grass green 

 during the warm weather, as otherwise it 

 will certainly arrive in a decayed condi- 

 tion. In fact, the merchant goes still fur- 

 ther and says that pines showing the least 

 bit of color when shipped would no doubt 

 arrive at New York in a worthless condi- 

 tion. 



