1894 
TIIH RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
393 
think that in the stable it is as efficient in keeping 
down the ammonia as gypsum or land plaster, and 
this cannot injure the cattle in any way. It has been 
proved that very large losses of nitrogen take place in 
stables before the manure is packed together in the 
heap. I think, if I were going to use kainit to pre¬ 
serve my manure, and as a source of potash, I would 
still use gypsum in the stalls, but put a proper amount 
of kainit on the manure each day or two, as it was 
piled in the heap. k. h. .tenkins. 
Analyses of Apples. 
L. H. S., Sclplo, N. Y.—l. What is the analysis of 
winter apples? What amount of nitrogen, potash 
and phosphoric acid do they contain ? 2. Does the 
chlorine in muriate of potash injure apple trees ? 
A.IJS.— 1 . Apples like the Baldwin contain, in each 
ton, about 1,G00 pounds of water, 2}4 pounds of nitro¬ 
gen, four of potash and two of phosphoric acid. But 
of course this does not measure the amount of fertility 
that is taken from the soil to produce a ton of fruit, 
as the leaves and wood growth make heavy drafts. 
2. No. 
A Talk About Irrigration. 
D. H. W ., Trumbull Center, Conn —At our barn on 
the top of a hill, we have an artesian well 72 feet deep, 
with a force pump and water four feet from the top of 
the well which is in solid rock. I do not think it can 
be pumped dry by hand. At the foot of the hill, which 
is about on a level with the bottom of the well, and 
about 400 to 500 feet distant, I would like to plant 
half an acre of potatoes. As soon as these are dug, 
say, about August 1, I would like to set strawberry 
plants. Can I irrigate them profitably ? If so, how 
shall I do it at the least expense ? The hill has had 
the wash of the barnyard for more than 50 years. 
Ans.—I t seems a great pity that D. H. W. does not 
wish to do more with his water supply than the little 
he indicates. There can hardly be a question of the 
profit of irrigating his strawberry patch, and, in all 
probability, he would be well repaid by giving his 
potatoes a good soaking. If, as appears from his 
description, he has a well in which the water rises to 
within four feet of the surface of the ground, on the 
top of a hill 72 feet high, at the bottom of which lies 
the ground to be irrigated, it would seem as though 
the simplest way would be to dig a trench four or five 
feet deep from the well to where a level would come 
to the surface, and let the water flow out and down 
hill. But why not terrace the hill and irrigate crops 
all the way down the slope ? With plenty of water 
above, and a good-sized pond made for storage, he can 
utilize all the fertility left in the soil from the wash of 
the barnyard, and be, to a large extent, independent 
of the weather. 
If the plan of drawing oft the water through a 
trench be impracticable, he should put a geared wind¬ 
mill on his barn, and with it, not only pump all the 
water he wants for irrigation, but grind his corn and 
cobs, cut his fodder, saw his wood, turn his grind¬ 
stone and make it generally the most useful “ hand” 
on the farm. He will save the interest on the invest¬ 
ment over and over again if he will buy and run a 
Dick’s cutter and cut and split all his corn stalks. By 
doing this, he need use hay only at the noon 
feed. His cows will eat the corn stalks up clean 
and give more milk than if fed on hay, at less 
than half the cost, and there will be no long stalks 
in the manure to bother him all summer. But this 
has nothing to do with irrigating his strawberries, ex¬ 
cept as, by making the pumping outfit save labor in 
many other ways, he would thereby decrease the cost 
of his irrigation plant. If he does not wish to use the 
water except on his strawberries, he should locate 
his storage reservoir conveniently near the ground to 
be irrigated. It would best be circular in form, and, 
if 27 feet in diameter at the bottom, with sloping 
sides, five feet high by not less than three feet wide 
on top, it will have a capacity of about 28,000 gallons 
—sufficient to irrigate an acre thoroughly. This may 
be made water-tight by lining with clay, cement, con¬ 
crete, or a coating of coal tar and pitch. To apply 
this coating, which is perhaps as cheap as anything, 
the ground inside the reservoir should be packed as 
hard as possible, as any settling will make leaks, and 
swept with brooms to make it as smooth as may be. 
For the coating, a barrel of tar and 50 pounds of 
pitch will be needed for every 300 square feet of sur¬ 
face to be covered. The pitch and tar, in these pro¬ 
portions, should be boiled down together until they 
will harden when cold. This can be told by cooling a 
small bit from ‘ time to time. A common sprinkling 
pot, with the nose taken off and the funnel-shaped 
spout fiattened, will spread the hot tar in a thin 
sheet, which should be further spread out by the use 
of a mop or swab. Sprinkle on dry sand while the 
tar is still hot, cover the bottom and sides in this way, 
and when thoroughly dry, sweep off the sand and 
apply a second coat in the same way; a third coat 
will do no harm. Five barrels of tar and 250 pounds 
of pitch will be enough for the reservoir. here de¬ 
scribed. The prices of these items vary in different 
places, but will hardly exceed $25 to $30 anywhere. 
D. H. W. must not attempt to get along without a 
reservoir ; the ground to be irrigated must be fiooded 
quickly and as evenly as possible ; the water must be 
led over the ground in ditches, from which it should 
fiow over the whole surface quickly and quietly, so as 
not to wash the soil away. This cannot be done by 
taking the water directly from the pump. 
N. H. KGLKSTON, JB. 
Oottou-Seed Meal; Herds Qrass. 
C. W. K., Taunton, Mass. —1. How near does cotton¬ 
seed meal come to being a complete manure ? How 
does it analyze ? Is it more, or less, economical to 
use than high-grade, complete commercial fertilizers ? 
2. What can I do for a piece of Herds grass, seed sown 
last fall and topdressed then and again this spring 
with nitrate of soda, which does not grow, but stands 
still, apparently waiting for something ? 
Ans. —1. An average sample of cotton-seed meal may 
contain about six per cent of nitrogen, three of phos¬ 
phoric acid, and two of potash. It is too low in the 
last named ingredients, and is not generally used with¬ 
out adding bone or dissolved rock and muriate of pot¬ 
ash. At present prices, it is not an economical source 
of nitrogen for Northern farmers. 2. The experiment 
indicates that the soil needs potash and phosphoric 
acid—one or both. We would use ground bone and 
muriate together and separately to see whether one 
or both is wanted. 
Some (Questions About Ensilafre. 
J. E. li., Dayton, N. Y. —1. At about what time does 
Henry Talcott harvest his ensilage corn ? 2. In his 
locality, at what time is there danger of the first 
frost ? 3 In what condition as to maturity is his corn 
when harvested ? 4. Does the seed mature in Ash¬ 
tabula County, or does it come from the South ? 
Ans, —1. From October 5 to 15 has been my time for 
filling the silos for the past nine years. 2. Frosts 
usually commence here from September 20 to October 
1, but at first are so light that they do no great injury 
to our ensilage corn. 3. Almost fully matured, with 
every possible amount of nourishment which it is pos¬ 
sible for the corn plant to develop. 4 Yes, it will ma¬ 
ture here fully, and if properly cured by heat drying, 
every kernel will grow more surely than the seed 
which we buy from the South. But it deteriorates as 
it becomes acclimated, and I never have followed 
planting my own home-grown seed more than one 
year, and then buy fresh seed from the South. 
HENKY TXLCOTT. 
Water Power liOst in the Pipe. 
A. A., Kelso, Ont .—What horse power would I get 
from a spring at an elevation of 120 feet, and distant 
from the barn 1,000 feet, if I used a two-inch iron' 
pipe to convey the water to the barn ? 
Ans. —The principal element in this question is 
omitted, which is the quantity of water. The for¬ 
mula given by hydraulic tables shows that the dis¬ 
charge of water, under the circumstances mentioned, 
will be wholly inadequate to afford any power that 
will be useful for any mechanical purpose, as the 
friction throughout the long pipe will reduce the dis¬ 
charge to a mere dribble, notwithstanding the pres¬ 
sure due to the height of the cistern. By using a pipe 
having a discharge opening at the lower end, of six 
inches, and if the discharge is full, with this fall the 
power would be about 25-horse. By a simple rule, 
the discharge of a pipe with an outlet of two inches 
filled, and the same head, will be about 3}^ horse. 
But the cost of the apparatus required would be more 
than that of a good steam engine, and a windmill 
would be still cheaper. 
What to Do for Out-Worms. 
A. O. V., New York .—I have been very much an¬ 
noyed by cut-worms in the garden for the past two 
seasons, and they have also done a great deal of dam¬ 
age to young potato vines in the fields. How may I 
get rid of them ? 
Ans. —We do not know of any practicable way of les¬ 
sening their annoying work except by taking the time 
to hunt for them in the soil about the injured plant. 
We are obliged to place paper about our tomato and 
other similar plants in order to protect them. 
More About Alfalfa in Ohio. 
J. J. O., Canton, Ohio. —How does Mr. Wing, of 
Woodside Farm, Ohio, cultivate his Alfalfa ? How 
often each season does he mow it ? How many years 
will it stand and serve as a hay plant before it will 
either die or fail from other causes? When does he 
sow it ? What kind of soil is best for it, sandy and 
gravelly, or clay ? Is it an exhaustive crop, or will it 
enrich the soil as does clover ? 
Ans. —Alfalfa should be sown about April 15 on 
well prepared land. I get the soil in such a condition 
as would please me for corn planting. If slightly 
cloddy, I sow and roll or drag to cover the seed. If 
necessary to cover the seed, I harrow lightly Do cot 
cover it deep. I mow it twice the first summer, and 
cut as low as possible. I mow on the first appearance 
of stuntedness or yellowing of the leaves. It will then 
shoot out with new vigor. In California it has stood, 
I am told, for 100 years in vigorous condition. In 
Ohio I presume 12 years will be long enough. Our 
Alfalfa fiourishes on sandy and gravelly soil, and on 
strong, clay loam. It needs a dry subsoil. It will 
enrich the soil in the same manner as clover, but in 
greater degree. Mine needs cutting to-day, June 4, 
and—weather favoring—will be in the barn this week. 
Six weeks will see another crop ready for the mower, 
and a third crop may be counted on. Perhaps a 
fourth. J. K. wiNO. 
The Cost of Corrosive Sublimate. 
W. li., Troupsburg, N. Y. —An out-of-town druggist 
charged me 30 cents for two ounces of corrosive sub¬ 
limate. The price may be all right where it is wanted 
for use indoors, but it strikes me as outrageous for 
the potato scab. Will The R. N.-Y. please tell us 
what it should cost ? 
An 8^—We can buy it in three-pound lots for 80 cents 
a pound. It probably did not cost the druggist as 
much as that. . 
What to Do With Pine Needles. 
0. F., Harvard, Mass. —Are not pine needles or the 
mold under pine trees of any value as fertilizers ? 
How should they be managed, and for what crops 
used ? 
Ans. —By analysis these substances contain in one 
ton about ten pounds of nitrogen, two pounds of phos¬ 
phoric acid and one-half pound of potash. In the 
South these needles—called pine straw—are used to 
mulch strawberries in the place of manure or straw. 
They contain considerable acid when fresh, and we 
would prefer to have them mixed for some time in the 
manure before using. They may be used for bedding 
or composted through thQ manure piles. 
AsparaeruB as a Weed. 
T. H., Onekama, Mich.—The worst weed I have to 
•ontend with in asparagus culture, is young asparagus. 
Would it injure or kill the old plants to cut the tops 
off before the seed ripens ? 
Ans.—W e think that asparagus seed will grow be¬ 
fore it is ripe. It would weaken the plants to destroy 
them before they have matured their growth. 
Dime ; Action of Potash and Manures. 
J. R., Nutley, N. J. —We are told by scientific writers 
that lime is not plant food, but that it sets free plant 
food already in the soil. I wish to inquire. Do wood 
ashes which contain a large percentage of lime, not 
act in the same manner ? Does muriate of potash, 
being of a caustic nature, act somewhat in the same 
manner ? Again, we*are told that during hot weather 
there is a nitrification of the surface soil. If the min¬ 
gling of stable manure with the surface soil does not 
act in the same manner as the putting of yeast into 
dough, does it not cause fermentation in the soil and 
develop plant food already in the soil ? There is un¬ 
questionably a large amount of latent plant food in 
an ordinary soil, and we must, by thorough cultiva¬ 
tion, make it available, in order to farm profitably. 
Ans. —Lime is one of the most useful agents of the 
farmer, when properly used. It acts directly as plant 
food in soils of low natural fertility ; its chief value, 
however, lies in its indirect effect upon soils natu¬ 
rally rich in vegetable and mineral compounds. It 
hastens the decay of organic matter, and causes the 
nitrogen of humus to become more quickly available ; 
it assists in the process of nitrification ; it liberates 
potash from insoluble compounds, thus increasing the 
store of active plant food, and it promotes the forma¬ 
tion of compounds with alumina, which have the 
power of retaining ammonia, potash, etc. Any mate¬ 
rials like wood ashes, which contain large amounts of 
lime, would act in practically the same way as lime. 
Muriate of potash is less valuable than lime as an in¬ 
direct manure, its effect upon other mineral soil 
ingredients is not so marked, while it does not mate¬ 
rially hasten the decay of organic matter. The addi¬ 
tion of manure to the soil does increase the activities 
therein by promoting fermentation, which, in turn, 
renders soil constituents more active. 
[prof.] E. n. VOORUEKS 
Corrosive Sublimate for Date Planted Potatoes. 
E. A. J., Ouy, Mo.—1. Would corrosive sublimate 
be more likely to injure potatoes that had been kept 
for June planting, and are considerably sprouted, 
having sprouts about one-half to one inch long, than 
those treated early in the season ? 2. What length of 
time would it be safe to treat such potatoes? 3. What 
strength of solution would be best for them ? 
Ans. —1. Yes, we presume that the sprouts would 
not stand so strong a solution as the tubers. 2. About 
one hour. 3. We would use two ounces of corrosive 
sublimate crystals to not less than 15 gallons of water. 
The crystals should be dissolved in a few gallons of 
hot water. Use wocden vessels only in preparing the 
solution and treating the seed. 
