5o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
January 27 
One of the most popular books now 
before the public is T. B. Terry’s new 
volume “Our Farming.” This book is 
a fair and interesting statement of the 
farm trials and triumphs that befell Mr. 
Terry. We sell it for $2, or with The 
R. N.-Y. one year at $2.75. 
What They 5ay. 
What Air.s thk Ducks ?—I lost several ducks late 
last fall. Can Thk R. N.-Y. or some of its readers tell 
me what ailed them ? They lost their appetites, drank 
water constantly, in a week or so lost the use of their 
legs and in another week died. F. m. w. 
Schenectady, N. Y. 
R. N.-Y.—What say the duck experts ? 
Saving Poultky Droppings —A. T. J. asks in a 
recent Rurai. how to save droppings from his hens. 
I have found this plan to he a good one: Place the 
roosts in tiers, the lowest four feet from the ground, 
the next 18 inches to the rear and 12 to 18 inches 
higher, so continuing for whatever number of perches 
the house will hold or the number of hens require. 
Beneath the perches and about 12 inches from them, 
place a platform of light boards ; at the foot of the 
incline make a platform 18 inches wide and extend¬ 
ing the length of the perches. Put a three-inch 
edging on this platform, and leave one end open. 
Sprinkle the platforms, both the inclined beneath the 
roosts and the level one on to which it discharges, 
with plaster, road dirt or any dry material. The 
droppings fall upon the incline, roll down upon the 
level, and can be scraped into a barrel placed under 
the open end, as often as may be necessary. The 
space beneath the roosts and platform is thus kept 
clean as a dusting or feeding place, and the space be¬ 
neath the narrow level platform may be utilized for 
nest boxes. This plan is cleanly and greatly econo¬ 
mizes space. CHAs. p. augur. 
Cow Peas in South Jersey. —J. H., Bridgeport, N. 
J,, asks, on page 4, about cow peas for south Jersey. I 
live in tidewater Virginia, the home of the cow pea, 
and the soil he describes is exactly suited to it, as the 
pea loves heat and revels in dry weather. He should 
not sow earlier than June 1. I have known a crop 
here, sown in May and followed by a long, cold, rainy 
spell, to fail entirely, scarcely a pea coming up. Any 
time from June 1 to July 15 will do, about June 20 
being the best time. From 13^ to 2 bushels of seed per 
acre, put in with the drill is best; but the Acme, or 
any good harrow, especially the disc or spading har¬ 
row, will put them in nicely on freshly plowed ground. 
If the land has been plowed some time and is getting 
foul, they should be plowed in shallow with single 
plows, and the land harrowed. I had a splendid fal¬ 
low last year put in with a common, square, iron tooth 
harrow. After I had sowed the peas and before the 
man could finish harrowing, there came a very heavy 
rain, and before the ground got dry enough for the 
team, the peas had come up so that they were not har¬ 
rowed at all; this piece made quite a good fallow, 
though scarcely half so good as that harrowed. The 
trouble with peas is that they are so hard to cover with 
a harrow and likely to be washed up by rains ; fowls 
and birds are also very fond of them. He should plow 
the peas under when the first dry peas appear and the 
bulk of the crop is fit for table use, or he could let 
them ripen and run down with hogs. No other crop 
can follow peas to be plowed under the same fall; 
but J. H. might try rye that should get about two feet 
high by the first of the next May, and would do well 
for corn. I don’t know about sweet potatoes. Tell 
L B. Pierce to try peas in his orchard in a small way. 
Aylett, Va. o. o. g. 
Silo As a “Hot Box.” —I note the editorial comment 
on page 868 on the suggestions given E. G. S., page 
864 as to feeding his cows, and agree with The R. N.-Y 
that the “hot box” pays, if only it be built big enough 
to hold about 100 tons and filled with husked or 
unhusked corn stalks at a time when they contain the 
best feeding elements and ability to heat the contents 
of the box without the aid of hot water at the time of 
feeding. I do not read that Mr. Talcott advocates the 
small heating box as a substitute for the silo, but as 
an improvement on his former methods It certainly 
was a great improvement, although he wore out a new 
hired man each year during the 20 years of its use, 
and the feed, at best, made but “a poor kind of ensil¬ 
age.” As “a cheap substitute” for the silo, the small 
steaming box seems to be like a great many other 
cheap substitutes for good things. Its cheapness is 
quite expensive ; so say Mr. Talcott’s figures, which 
show that it cost him from S15 to 320 to winter a cow 
by that system, while with his modern silos the cost 
is less than 310. A difference which, on six to ten 
cows would pay for a silo in one winter. As a make¬ 
shift for present needs, however, the small hot box 
might save its price in feed, if compared with the still 
older method mentioned by Mr. Talcott; but its long 
continued use would prove a burden far greater than 
the cost of a 50 or 100-ton silo. 
To say that ensilage undoubtedly has value as a 
cattle food, is a very mild endorsement of its good 
qualities. It has a feeding value, per acre, much 
greater than anything I have ever grown, and its pos¬ 
sibilities are as yet not fully appreciated by any, while 
its good qualities are wholly unappreciated by many. 
It has been said that all farmers or dairymen cannot 
afford to build silos and feed ensilage. This may be 
true, for we know there are men who say they cannot 
affcrd to own improved breeds of stock, and to these 
the use of ensilage might prove disappointing. Feed¬ 
ing entilage to scrub stock will not result in thorough¬ 
bred profits. P. H. MUNROE. 
Blight-Proof Apple Trees. —1 see a great deal said 
of late in different papers about blight-proof apple 
trees. So ruinous has the blight been on apple or¬ 
chards,. especially in the Northwest, that a blight- 
proof apple would be esteemed a treasure, and sought 
by thousands. But unfortunately there is no such 
apple tree in existence, and the nurseryman that 
sells trees as blight-proof should be in the State prison 
instead of in the tree trade. Blight has been too 
sweeping in the Northwest for an honest nurseryman 
to claim that he has a blight-proof apple tree. I had 
at one time nearly 7,000 apple trees in orchard, com¬ 
posed of nearly all varieties of note in the United 
States, with 230 varieties of Russians, and many new 
varieties of my own growing from seeds. We got a 
late spring, and when the change came it was sudden 
and extreme, and all varieties came forward with a 
rush, the sap fiow being neaily equal when the blight 
struck in, and not a tree entirely escaped. Over 
2,000 were killed outright, and 3,000 were so badly 
damaged that they died. In the number killed were 
200 Russians. 
We have had the blight on our grounds some 10 or 12 
How TO Make an Overground Cellar. Fig. 19. 
times, and varieties that would escape one year when 
blight was all around, the next year would be taken, 
while those affected the year previous were not 
harmed, showing conclusively that the condition of 
sap flow at the time the epidemic struck in determined 
the variety each time damaged. The damage in any 
variety is always in proportion to the sap flow in the 
various trees of that variety, the most thrifty growth 
faring worst. It is evident to my mind that blight is 
an epidemic that floats in the air, and comes in con¬ 
nection with a warm rain, from the fact that its effects 
show strongest on that side of the tree whence the 
storm came. That it is a cohesive substance, and 
not visible to the naked eye, is evident from the specks 
on leaves and tender twigs, and blotches of various 
sizes and forms on leaves, twigs, large limbs and 
trunks of trees, those on large limbs and trunks are 
often as large as a man’s hand, or in long strips, per¬ 
pendicular, quartering, or a lap clear around. Let a 
blotch strike limb or tree and it’s death to that part 
sooner or later. peter m. gideon. 
Excelsior, Minn. 
What Say ? 
Baled Ensilage. —In a recent R. N.-Y. some one 
speaks of baled ensilage. A number of years ago, 
people thought that to keep ice they must have an ex¬ 
pensive ice-house, air-tight walls, double, with dead 
air space. Now a shed built of rough boards without 
even battening the cracks is considered good enough, 
with 10 inches of sawdust in the bottom, the ice placed 
in a solid cube in the middle, a space of about two feet 
left between the ice and the boards, to be filled with 
sawdust well tramped down, and about two feet of 
sawdust on top. Now why not place a hay press right 
in the corn field, bale the corn as fast as it is cut, draw 
the bales to the barn and pack them in sawdust just 
the same as ice ? I would try the experiment if I 
could afford it. No doubt there are men among the 
readers of The Rural who can. Would it not be a 
proper experiment for our experiment stations ? 
Steuben County, N. Y. m. r. w. 
R. N.-Y.—What public spirited man will try this ? 
Breast or Shoulder for Work?— What are the 
advantages and disadvantages of breast collars for 
draft harnesses in the place of hame collars ? I have 
seen those 2 or 23^ inches wide used on sore shouldered 
horses, but do not know whether it would do to use 
one all the time. subscriber. 
R. N.-Y.—Let’s have all possible facts on this point. 
Where shall we put the collar so the horse can throw 
his weight into it ? 
A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE CELLAR. 
In low, wet places, or where the surface of the soil 
is but little above the level of a stream or pond in the 
vicinity, or even on higher land too flat to admit of 
proper drainage, it is unadvisable to excavate a cellar, 
as water must gather and stand there, especially dur¬ 
ing a rainy season. In other localities, where but two 
or three feet of soil oveHay the native rock, it is im¬ 
practicable though otherwise favorably situated. As 
a place in which vegetables may be stored and kept 
from freezing through the winter is as necessary here 
as elsewhere, attempts have been made to find a ser¬ 
viceable substitute for the cellar. The old-time apple 
cave, with its earth-covered roof, has been tried and 
found defective in that it fails to keep out water in a 
time of rain. 
One of the most successful efforts in this line is that 
of a man whose buildings are on the low ground near 
a river. Finding it impossible to secure a dry cellar, 
he built a room adjoining the kitchen, making it as 
nearly frost-proof as possible by the use of double 
walls and ceiling. Its cost was little more than that 
of a cellar walled with stone, while it is drier, more 
easily kept in a sanitary condition and much easier of 
access at all times, saving many steps and much labor 
both in storing away vegetables and in daily use. 
The prime object in the construction of a building 
for this purpose, is to shut in the summer warmth and 
prevent its radiation into the outer air during a season 
of cold weather. The best non-conductors of heat, 
such as wood and paper, should he employed. Dry 
air in confinement is one of the very best of all non¬ 
conductors, and this advantage is fully secured in the 
double walls. Here are two dead-air spaces in the 
walls, entirely cut off from communication with each 
other or with the air outside. Above, there is such a 
space enclosing the joists, with the space between 
this and the roof, which is carefully closed at the 
eaves hy a cornice. The floor is double, and beneath 
it the air shut in by the foundation wall. Building 
paper may be placed in the double floor, around the 
walls next the outside and over the joists in the ceil¬ 
ing, adding much to the service of the building and 
but a trifle to its cost. 
All the essential details of construction are pre¬ 
sented in Figs. 18 and 19, showing a plan of the walls 
both in horizontal and in vertical section. Any per¬ 
son of ordinary mechanical skill may build it for him¬ 
self at but slight expense above the actual cost of 
material. All the inside lumber should be tongue-and- 
groove flooring, free from knot holes and open cracks, 
but it need not be first grade. That side of the room 
adjoining the dwelling does not need the double wall, 
as it is already sufficiently protected ; and, if it be 
built against the dwelling as a narrow lean-to with a 
length just twice its width, a given space will be en¬ 
closed at the least cost. 
That the room may be opened to the fresh air and 
warm sunshine of summer, it is desirable to have at 
least one window. The frame of this should be fin¬ 
ished as shown in Fig. 19, with two narrow ledges, 
A A, a few inches apart and faced^with strips of felt 
