1803 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
do so. 4. We heat our cream up to about 70 degrees 
in the winter, and it is all right if cooled down prop¬ 
erly before it is churned. 5. We have no arrange¬ 
ments for cold storage, but ship as soon as made. 
Byron, Ill. e. chadwick. 
ENSILAGE FOR HOT BEDS. 
Can ensilage which raises a good heat when thrown Into a pile be 
used to make a hot-bed? Would a covering of earth suppress the 
heat? Perhaps it can be used in connection with horse manure—a 
good quality of which is hard to get in large quantities, if ensilage 
can be combined with any chemical, or with bone dust or other matter 
useful for fertilizing, it may solve one of the difficulties in truck 
farming. C. E. L. 
Ensilage would he an expensive product to use in 
the preparation of hot-beds, or as a source of humus¬ 
forming material. Horse manure at $2 per ton—the 
prevailing price—would be cheaper and better— 
cheaper because furnishing the fertilizing elements at 
a less cost per pound, and better because more liable 
to hot fermentation under the conditions ruling in the 
formation of the beds. It would be folly to make en¬ 
silage solely for the purpose “ of supplying humus to 
go with chemical fertilizers.” Catch crops of clover or 
rye or buckwheat would supply the necessary organic 
vegetable matter much more cheaply, e b. voorhees. 
Unscientific Not to Feed It First. 
Any moist carbonaceous material may be used as 
the source of heat for a hot-bed. The earth covering 
will not suppress the heat, but moderate it and 
lengthen its continuance. The sole question is the 
matter of economy. I have never used ensilage for 
this purpose, but I have not the slightest doubt of 
its usefulness on general principles. I have used 
brewers’ grains, spent hops and damaged malt sprouts, 
alone with success, and common tan-bark waste has 
been used, and why not ensilage, which has all the req¬ 
uisite properties for heating, having in it the moisture 
and the carbon, which together, when confined, will 
heat quite as much as manure? The bone itself will 
heat, and, being of fine texture, would doubtless aid 
in the fermentation of the mixed bone and ensilage. 
Certainly the mixture would make a valuable com¬ 
post after it had served its purpose as a heating mate¬ 
rial. The cheapness of kerosene is such that it may 
be made available for this object if burned in a 
stove made for the purpose. But as ensilage is 
as easy to get as manure, I don’t see why it may not 
be used alone as a source of the required heat. It 
would be necessary to turn it over and subject it to a 
secondary fermentation, as is done with manure. My 
hot-beds the last two years have been made of horse 
manure and an equal part of wet leaves raked up in 
the woods and made into a heap until they begin to 
heat; and then packed solidly into the frames. This 
solid packing is important, as it produces a steady and 
long-continued heat. 
The use of ensilage as a material for compost is a 
new idea that, on the principle that any feeding 
matter is best used first for feeding, and the refuse of 
it for manure, strikes me as not being at all scientific, 
because wasteful, if it can be fed ; otherwise it might 
as well be grown for this purpose as economically as 
clover is, to be turned under and used with chemical 
fertilizers. It is a mere matter of availability and 
cost. The cutting of it would be well repaid in the 
more thorough spreading of it on the land, but the 
two haulings of it will be an expense that is to be 
considered. On first principles, it should be fed, and 
the manure from it used. We must not think that we 
have got past that old principle laid down by Cicero, 
that “ the feeding of cattle is the most important part 
of agriculture,” although we have invaluable chemical 
fertilizers that he knew not of ; for it is as self-evident 
a truth as that two and two make four. On this 
principle ensilage should first be fed and then go into 
manure. ' h stewart. 
To Run Up a Run Down Meadow. 
J. S., Drums, Pa .—A run-down meadow slopes to¬ 
wards the north, is mostly clay soil, wet in some 
places with surface water and grown over with nox¬ 
ious weeds. Shall I plow it north and south with a 
swivel plow to drain off the surface water, then 
smooth it over with a spring-tooth harrow and seed it 
down with some forage crop ? Probably it would be 
a good plan to burn off a’l the weeds and rubbish in 
the spring and harrow it sufficiently with a spring- 
tooth harrow, and then sow a mixture of grass seed 
with a top-dressing of some reliable fertilizer. Would 
the weeds have a tendency to smother the young and 
tender grass ? 
Ans.—T he only satisfactory method of improving 
this meadow land would be by thorough drainage, 
burning off the weeds, and employing a good summer 
fallow. Good grass will not grow on sodden land 
and surface draining is not sufficient to dry the ground. 
At first it may be sufficient to make open ditches two 
feet deep 50 feet apart, and these may be tiled after¬ 
wards at a more convenient time, or by degrees. But 
it would pay well to borrow the money, if necessary, 
to make a thorough job at once, and keep the produce 
of the land to repay the debt. The drains need not be 
finally more than 2% feet deep. Then after burning 
off the trash on a good day when the wind is right, 
turn the land and work it well with the spring-tooth 
harrow a whole summer to kill the weeds; then in the 
fall give it a dressing of 30 bushels of lime to the 
acre, and get a crop of oats in the spring and seed it 
to Timothy and clover, taking care to harrow in the 
seed lightly cr cover it with a plank drag. You will 
then probably have a meadow that will be a thing of 
beauty and a joy as long as you live, if it is fed lib¬ 
erally and well cared for, but not if it is left to 
itself. 
Years of Probation for Swamps. 
T. J. K., Nyack, N. T. —I have a piece of black 
mellow swamp land which I wish to reclaim this 
spring by draining. Would the application of lime at 
the rate of 30 bushels per acre put it in condition to 
raise a crop of cabbage and celery ? I mean to plow 
early and harrow the lime in, and then plant cabbage. 
This should have been done last fall, but I was not the 
owner of the place then. 
Ans. —While swamp land may contain a large 
amount of latent fertility, this cannot be developed 
until some time has elapsed; thus it has been found 
by the successful growers of vegetables on this kind 
of land that a large application of manure is the best 
of all methods of developing this latent fertility. 
Doubtless the lime will be useful to begin with because 
it will exert a great effect in decomposing the raw 
muck, and neutralizing the acid in the soil. But no 
crop worth the cost of growing it is likely to be made 
un’ess the well drained and thoroughly cultivated 
land is liberally manured. The full reclamation of 
such land will occupy at least three years, for 
time must be given for the improving effect of the 
atmosphere through cultivation. 
When To Manure The Clover. 
O. E. T., West Newbury, Vermont. —I shall mow eight 
acres of clover this season seeded one year ago this 
spring. I propose to draw out the manure made the 
past winter and this spring, pile it up and top-dress 
after cutting the clover. I shall cut two crops; would 
it be best to top-dress after cutting the first or the 
second crop? Will the manure need to be forked over 
to prevent fire-fanging and to fine it? It will be horse, 
cow and hog manure mixed. This is a dairy country, 
and we want to raise all the clover we can. I would 
like to try Mr. Terry’s rotation—potatoes on a clover 
sod—but it seems to me we are too far from market 
to grow potatoes—nearly 200 miles from Boston. 
Ans. —If the manure is to benefit the clover mostly, 
we should broadcast it immediately after the first cut¬ 
ting. If it is to help the corn or other crop that will 
follow the clover, we should broadcast in the fall—after 
second mowing. Forking over the manure will help 
fine it and prevent too much fermentation. Whether 
it will pay you to do it or not will depend upon the 
cost of labor and other farm work. 
Bees Cannot Harm Fruit. 
A. E., Chilliwack, B. C. —Do bees in large numbers 
take from a fruit tree blossom, any substance which, if 
left in the blossom, would help to make finer or 
healthier fruit or improve its quality ? The above 
question was suggested by the sight of a small orchard 
alongside an apiary of 100 hives, and the trees were 
so completely covered with bees in the time of blos¬ 
soming that the man pruning them had to stop for 
fear of being stung. 
Ans. —There are few questions in our agricultural 
economy better settled than that bees are very im¬ 
portant in the production of many of our most im¬ 
portant fruits, vegetables and seeds. Yet, for all this, 
there occasionally comes a man who claims that they 
injure flowers, so that when they work on buckwheat 
or other flowers in full force, the crop is said to be 
diminished. This is a grievous error. Bees come only 
for the pollen and nectar. The latter is secreted by 
the flower, to attract the bees, that they may collect 
the pollen and carry it to other plants, and thus fer¬ 
tilize or cross-fertilize them. Thus we may be assured 
that bees are always helpful and only helpful to all 
flowers they visit. They cannot be too numerous for 
the good of the plants. When our fruit trees are 
swarming with them when blossoming, we may almost 
surely expect a full crop of fruit, [prof.] a. j. cook. 
Tannery Ashes for Potash. 
T. O. L., Tunkhannock, Pa. —I live near a large tan¬ 
nery where leached bark, mostly hemlock, is used for 
fuel. There are improved furnaces which burn the 
ashes as completely and finely as a stove. I can buy 
them dry for $3 per ton one mile away. Am I right in 
thinking that they are a cheap source of potash, and 
that it will pay to drop the high-priced complete fer¬ 
tilizers and use in their stead these ashes, nitrate of 
soda and S. C. rock phosphate, and in what proportions 
205 
ought they be used on ordinary good ground for truck ? 
The rock is now cheap, say $14 a ton. 
Ans. —No, we think you are not right. At the Penn¬ 
sylvania Experiment Station in 1889, ashes from the 
spent tan of oak bark were analyzed and found to con¬ 
tain 32 pounds of potash and 15 pounds of phosphoric 
acid per ton. At the highest values for these sub¬ 
stances, this would mean but little over $2.25 per ton, 
and the hemlock bark ashes will be considerably less 
valuable. For hauling one mile, $1.50 a ton is a big 
price. At $3 a ton you will pay altogether too much. 
In order to get the potash contained in one ton of 
high-grade potash fertilizer, you must use 4% tons of 
the ashes. This will cost $13.50, while 300 pounds of 
muriate of potash, costing $6.75 in New York, will give 
more potash than all your tannery ashes. S. C. rock 
phosphate is poor stuff for truck, because it is insol¬ 
uble when vegetables need the most soluble forms of 
phosphoric acid. A superphosphate made by treating 
the rock with acid will answer. 
Lost Crimson Clover; Melon Fertilizers. 
J. M. C., Maurlcetown , N. J. —1. Last September I 
scratch-harrowed a 14-acre water-melon patch, then 
sowed Crimson clover seed and covered it with an Acme 
harrow ; the weather was very dry and I do not think 
a single seed ever came up. Is there any probability of 
its coming up this spring ? 2. What is a formula for 
home-mixed fertilizer for water-melons and nutmegs ? 
Ans. —1. Our judgment is that the Crimson clover seed 
is “gone.” You will never hear from it again. 2. The 
best we can do is to repeat the formula given by Prof. 
Voorhees on page 84 : 
Nitrate of soda. Pounds.. 50 
Dried blood. “ 150 
Bone-black superphosphate. " 500 
Sulphate of potash. “ 150 
Sulphate of ammonia. “ 150 
Total. 1,000 
You can use 800 or 1,000 pounds of this per acre. 
We doubt if it will equal well-rotted manure, but will 
answer fairly well. 
Lime, Salt, Plaster and Hen Manure. 
J. L. S., Waverly, N. Y. —What effect on peas sown 
in drills will equal parts of salt, slaked lime, plaster 
and hen manure thoroughly mixed have and what on 
potatoes and onions ? The soil is a sandy loam free 
from all stones or gravel. How can I use 25 or 30 
barrels of hen manure to the best advantage ? I tried 
sowing salt last year and found the potatoes where 
it had been applied were smoother and nicer than 
elsewhere. 
Ans. —No one can answer such questions. Trial 
alone will give you any reliable information. The 
hen manure is good enough and will help any crop to 
which it is applied. It is well to mix plaster with 
fresh hen manure to hold the nitrogen. Probably the 
lime and salt would do little if any good. Still either 
may be valuable as having an indirect action on the 
soil. 
Loss From Burning Bones. 
W. W. H., Leamington, Out. —What about burning 
bones for a fertilizer ? I can get them for about $10 
per ton, and could burn them without cost in my 
greenhouse furnaces, where I use natural gas for 
heating. What loss is there in burning, and is any¬ 
thing added ? 
Ans. —Suppose an average ton of bones conta'ns 60 
pounds of nitrogen and 400 pounds of phosphoric acid. 
By burning them you will lose all the nitrogen, which 
is a gas, and will escape with the heat of burning. 
The 400 pounds of phosphoric acid will be left with a 
large quantity of lime. At $10 a ton this would mean 
phosphoric acid at four cents a pound, but little more 
than half the usual price. The heat from the bones 
will also be considerable. Darwin tells of South 
American Indians who kill an ox and use its bones 
for roasting the meat. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
Sulphuric Add and Barrels, — G. E. K., Carey, Ohio.— 
It will be dangerous business to try to dissolve bones 
with acid in old kerosene barrels. The acid will 
destroy the wood. 
V. P. W., Leyden, N. Y .—It is our impression that 
Blue Grass on “ a run down pasture that cannot be 
plowed on account of the stones on it,” would grow 
as well as any grass. 
Saw-dust. —J. E. V , Lost Creek, Pa.—Rotten saw¬ 
dust is of little value as a fertilizer, but will make a 
good absorbent when used back of the cows or horses 
in the stable. You can also mix it through the man¬ 
ure pile. 
Winter Pears. —D. G. J., Pawnee, Ill.—The best 
keeping winter pears are Easter Beurr6, Doyenm'i d 
Alencon, Josephine de Malines, Winter Nelis and Vicar 
of Winkfield. Of these Easter Beurr6, Josephine de 
Malines, Winter Nelis and the Vicar will do best in 
Illinois, Winter Nelis thriving the best of all. There 
are no good pears that will keep as long as our best 
keeping apples. Sold by all nurserymen. 
