1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
other succulent food also. The great value of these 
concentrated foods lies in the fact that, by mixing a 
comparatively small quantity with a bulky product 
like straw, ensilage or grass, a well-balanced ration is 
secured. It is like a hard-working man trying to “fill 
up” on potatoes and bread. A small quantity of meat 
cooked with the potatoes and flour makes a “stew’’ 
which gives him a full meal. When gluten ureal has 
been fed alone as a grain ration, there have been com¬ 
plaints that the butter was soft, but when part cotton¬ 
seed meal or corn meal has been used with the gluten 
the butter becomes hard and firm. 2 . In one ton of 
cotton dust there are 10 pounds of nitrogen, four 
pounds of potash and 4% of phosphoric acid—almost 
as much nitrogen as in many samples of stable manure, 
but probably in a very insoluble form. 
Waterproofing: Cotton Cloth. 
W. P. H., Waquoit, Mass. —1. How can I prepare cot¬ 
ton cloth so as to make a plant-protecting material of 
it ? 2 . Are the protecting cloths that seed dealers 
sell as strong and durable as good cotton cloth ? 3. 
Last spring I bought a piece and covered some frames, 
and after it had been on a little while it seemed to be 
rotten, and quite a goodly number of holes appeared 
in it. Was it because it was poor stuff or what ? I 
put it on smooth and even. 
Ans. —1. Several ways are practiced. One is to 
stretch strong cotton cloth smoothly on the frames, 
and then to coat it thoroughly with linseed oil, adding 
a second coat if desirable after the first is dry. We 
have treated frames covered with cotton cloth with 
linseed oil to each quart of which the thoroughly 
beaten yolks of two eggs had been added. Another 
coating highly recommended consists of one quart of 
linseed oil, one ounce of sugar of lead, and three 
ounces of resin. The sugar of lead is pulverized in a 
little oil, then added to the other ingredients. The 
whole is heated in an iron kettle until the resin is dis¬ 
solved and all thoroughly mixed, when it is applied 
hot. It is said that frames thus treated will last 
several years if kept under cover when not in use. A 
German formula consists of two ounces of lime water, 
four ounces «f linseed oil, one ounce of white of eggs, 
and two ounces of yolks of eggs ; mix the lime and oil 
with a very gentle heat, beat the eggs separately and 
mix with the former. Spread this mixture with a 
paint brush over cotton cloth of a close texture, allow¬ 
ing each coat to dry before applying another, until 
the cloth becomes waterproof. 2. It depends altogether 
upon the quality. There are several different quali¬ 
ties of the prepared, as there are of the unprepared 
cloth. The unprepared will probably be cheaper. 3. 
Undoubtedly the cloth was of poor quality. 
Cotton-Seed Meal for Potatoes. 
J. B., Frariklin, Tain. —1. I have a clover sod to be 
planted to potatoes. Now I can buy two tons of cotton¬ 
seed meal for one ton of Eastern fertilizer, and save 
the freight charges besides. Which would pay the 
better for use ? Our crop is generally dug about 
June 20 , and it would need a soluble fertilizer to do 
any good. 2 . Do you know anything about the Cleve¬ 
land Dryer Company and its potato fertilizer? 
Ans. —1. We cannot say. A good clover sod well 
pulverized ought to produce a fair crop of potatoes 
with 200 pounds each of fine ground bone and sulphate 
of potash. Cotton-seed meal is cheap at the price 
named. It is not a well-balanced fertilizer, weak in 
phosphoric acid, and weaker in potash. If you use 
the meal it will pay you to use with it 250 pounds each 
of boneblack superphosphate and sulphate of potash 
for each ton of meal. 2. The Cleveland Dryer Com¬ 
pany is a good house to deal with. 
Oats and Peas; Kainit for Stable Manure. 
O. E. B., Winchester, Va. —I have read a good deal 
about peas and oats as a mixed crop for milch cows, 
but have never heard of anybody about here who has 
tried the crop ; neither have I read where to procure 
the peas nor how many should be sowed to the acre. 
Can The Rural enlighten me on these points ? I am 
plowing raw stable manure under for corn; what 
effect will kainit, sowed broadcast after the ground is 
plowed, have ? 
Ans. —You will find some practical advice in the 
article on Soiling and Ensilage now being printed in 
The R. N.-Y. The small Canada pea is used by most 
of our Northern dairymen. All the leading seedsmen 
offer these peas for sale. Ordinarily about 1% bushel 
of such oats and peas are sowed per acre, putting the 
oats in first and then sowing the peas. If your ground 
needs potash the kainit will help the crop and it will 
also probably be of service in keeping cut-worms and 
other insects in check. Use the kainit on part of the 
field and leave some strips through without any. This 
will give you a chance to see whether the soil needs 
potash. We think it will also pay you to use here and 
there through the field 200 pounds to the acre of a 
good superphosphate, where the kainit is used, and 
where the manure is used alone and also where noth¬ 
ing else is spread. This will give you a chance to 
observe the effects of manure alone, manure, kainit 
and superphosphate, manure and each of these sub¬ 
stances used singly, and bare soil. You will thus have 
the basis for further experiment in supplying cheaper 
fertility. 
Bone Meal on the Farm. 
H. J. S., Wirt Center, N. Y. —What is the best way to 
reduce bones to bone meal ? What process do fertil¬ 
izer manufacturers use ? I have steam power and a 
Scientific grinding mill; could I so soften the bones 
that they could be ground in my mill ? Bones can be 
bought for $1 per load here from local butchers ? 
Ans. —The fertilizer makers first soften the bones 
by treating them with superheated steam, that is, 
steam under a powerful pressure. The bones are put 
in a very strong, steam-tight boiler, and the steam 
forced in upon them. This softens the bones and also 
cooks out the fat and flesh which can be saved as 
tankage. The bones, after cooling and drying, are 
brittle and will break up in suitable shape for grind¬ 
ing. Your mill will grind them if well steamed. The 
trouble will be to find a boiler or other receptacle 
strong enough to hold the steam. 
Hen Manure and Ashes for Potatoes. 
C. F. K., Stanwood, Mich. —1. Would a mixture of hen 
manure and wood ashes be advisable as a fertilizer for 
potatoes, to be applied in the hill ? 2. Do wood ashes, 
applied directly, have a tendency to cause potato 
scab ? 3. Could charcoal kiln refuse be profitably 
used as a filler in the above mixture ? 
Ans. —1. Applied separately and harrowed in, there 
would be little if any loss of nitrogen. We cannot ad¬ 
vise the use of the two together in the hill. An ex¬ 
cellent method would be to broadcast the hen manure 
and harrow it in and use the ashes alone in the hill. 
2 . Yes, in our experience. 3. Quite likely, to some 
extent. This refuse varies greatly in composition. 
Wood Ashes; Green Manure for Vineyards. 
O. T. H., Fredonia, N. Y. —1. What can I afford to pay 
for ashes, delivered in the vineyard, from a sawmill 
arch where half hard wood and half soft wood is 
burned ? One or two showers have fallen on about 
half the ashes. The rest were housed dry ? They are 
to be used on a thin clay ridge ? 2. Is there any crop 
that can be sown between the grape rows about 
August 1 , to be plowed under the following May, that 
will keep the ground from washing through the winter 
and answer for green manure ? 
Ans. —1. A safe estimate of the value of the abso¬ 
lutely unleached or “ housed ” ashes would be about 
$8 per ton. No estimate can be made as to the other. 
“ One or two showers” is an indefinite quantity. 2. 
Yes, Timothy, Blue grass and Red Top. Try rape in 
a few rows as an experiment. 
Bone and Potash for Apple Trees. 
C. A. C., Coilis, N. H. —1. In what proportion should 
ground bone and muriate of potash be mixed for the 
fertilization of fruit trees ? 2 . How many pounds of 
this mixture is it profitable to use on an apple tree 
capable of bearing five barrels of fruit? 3. Would it 
be profitable to use this fertilizer every year or once 
in two years, and what amount? 4. WouM atreebear- 
ing 10 barrels of apples require twice as much fertil¬ 
izer as one bearing five ? 5. What is the best way to 
apply the fertilizer ? 
Ans. —1. Our friend must bear in mind that all such 
answers on our part are guesses, and necessarily so, 
Is your land in need of both potash and phosphate? 
If so, which does it need the more ? Assuming that 
you have no knowledge as to this, we would suggest 
that you use three times as much bone as of muriate— 
that is, by weight. 2 . Use at the rate of from 500 to 
1,500 pounds to the acre, according to your means. 
You may assume that the roots of an apple tree extend 
out in the soil somewhat further than the branches. 
Estimate this area in square feet and divide it into 
14,520 square feet, which make an acre. Whatever 
portion of an acre this may be must receive its pro¬ 
portionate amount of the fertilizer. 3. That depends 
upon the amount used. If the smaller amount, every 
year; if the larger, every other or every third year, 
according to the benefits received. 4. It would need 
more, but the difference need not be considered in 
practice. 5. Broadcast necessarily, sowing less near 
the trunk and more towards the outside parts of the 
tree. It would be well to mix the fertilizer with 
twice its bulk of moist soil. 
Sprouting Potatoes in Sand. 
Several Subscribers. —In describing the great farm 
garden of Hallock & Son at Orient, L. I., last year, 
the correspondent told how they start potato sets in 
sand for transplanting. Would this practice pay 
farmers in general ? 
Ans.—A lthough the work is very simple, in 999 cases 
101 
in 1,000 it would be impracticable in ordinary farm¬ 
ing. Orient raises more potatoes than any other place 
of its size in New York State, but no one does this 
work there except the Hallocks. They do it because 
when it is time to plant potatoes they have too much 
else to do, and I am not sure but that an Aspinwall 
planter would pay them better. The potatoes are cut 
in the ordinary way and spread about two inches 
deep on the floor in a warm place—a cellar will do— 
and covered with sand and watered. In planting, the 
young plants, seed-pieces and all, are taken up care¬ 
fully and set in ordinary potato furrows, the men 
getting down on their knees to do the work. On the 
Hallock farm the sets are from seven to ten inches 
apart, and are covered by running a Planet Jr. culti¬ 
vator on the ridges between the furrows. The latter 
are 30 inches apart. This is how the work is done, 
but, remember, I don’t advise anybody to do it. It 
doesn’t increase the crop. It might pay some market 
gardeners, but no one else ; for it requires too much 
work. CHAS. L. YOUNO. 
The Ripening of Cream. 
E. K. Kramer, Butter-maker, Farmer's Creamery Co., 
Philadelphia. —As the question of the ripening of cream 
is very important, I wish to state my experience. For 
those with no great experience it is extremely neces¬ 
sary to know to what extent the cream ought to be 
ripe. If one allows it to so ripen that it becomes 
lumpy and bad-smelling, the butter will be oily and 
cheesy and will not keep well. Then again, if one 
doesn’t ripen it sufficiently, it may be sour and good, 
but too thin; in that case the butter will be as bad 
both in quality and quantity. The quantity will be 
small and the quality poor, and the butter will not 
keep. When the cream is just thick enough (even when 
one is not ready for the churning), there is one more 
matter of importance to be taken into consideration. 
It may be that the cream has been standing 12, 18 or 
20 hours for ripening; it should be thoroughly stirred 
about half an hour before churning, then it becomes 
rich and mellow and is fit to churn only after this pro¬ 
cess. One should not overlook the fact that the tem¬ 
perature ought never to fall below two degrees during 
the ripening process. I wish that some of my fellow 
workers would express their opinions on this highly 
important subject. 
R. N.-Y.—We shall be pleased to hear from other 
butter-makers. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
(drafts on Keiffa' Stock —W. B. M., Steubenville, Ohio. 
—Scions worked on Kieffer at the Rural Grounds make 
a vigorous growth. 
Early Com. —W. H., Warfel, Ohio.—For a variety of 
corn to follow strawberries, planted about June 25, we 
recommend Queen of the Prairie or Pride of the North 
(they are the same) or Longfellow for a flint. 
W. M. P., Cedar Co., Mo .—The seeds of the hardy 
orange would readily germinate if not too old and dry. 
Try again. Soak them (or a few of them) in warm 
water until you find whether they are alive or dead. 
Horticultural Books. —D L. F., Stockport, O.—These 
books are standard but you cannot become a horticul¬ 
turist by studying books alone : Gray’s Lessons on 
Botany; Johnson’s How Crops Feed and How Crops 
Grow; Gray’s Manual of Botany; Fuller’s Small Fruit 
Culturist; Thomas’s Fruit Growing; Greiner’s Prac¬ 
tical Farm Chemistry; Bailey’s Nursery Book. 
Japanese Plums. —C. D. F., Oneida County, N. Y.— 
You will have no difficulty in growing the Abundance, 
sometimes called Botan, and the Burbank in your 
locality. We do not think any of the Japanese plums 
are quite as fine in quality as the better native sorts, 
but they are vigorous growers, come into bearing early 
and are very productive. 
Fertilizers for Melons. —J. V. L., La Crosse, Wis.— 
In regard to our reports that chemical fertilizers have 
not been of great benefit to the melon crop, a word of 
explanation may be helpful. That fertilizers have not 
served us well as to melons is not evidence that they 
are not serviceable for this crop. We have used them 
liberally, but melon insect pests are so numerous that 
experiments in a small way should not count for much. 
The market gardeners about us use fertilizers with 
excellent results year after year. 
Slim Chance for Berries. —J. U. B., East Setauket, 
N. Y.—In your case, as detailed below, we think your 
chance for a crop of strawberries is slim unless the 
bed is surrounded by other varieties. Of course any 
honest dealer would at least rectify the mistake, 
though few would feel bound to pay “consequential 
damages.” You say : “ I set about two acres of straw¬ 
berries last spring. I intended to set two-thirds Cres¬ 
cents and one-third Wilsons. I bought 400 plants for 
Wilsons, but they turned out to be Crescents ; but a 
very few Wilsons are scattered all over the patch.” 
