1894 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
679 
manure. There were no crops but apples taken from 
this orchard, and sheep or calves were fed and ffrazed 
there. The result of this treatment was that the 
trees made the most vig'orous growth, and those that 
had the dead limbs removed, no longer look like the 
same trees. They have made a large growth, larger 
than the limbs that were removed from them, and 
have borne the largest and finest fruit in our county, 
and did it when there was no other fruit, d t w. 
Ashland, Ohio. 
THE USE OF SAWDUST MANURE COMMENDED. 
I can find no way to account for W.’s experience as 
related on page 642, but I can tell something of my 
own experience. I am not a farmer, but a market 
gardener on a small scale. When I bought my place 
in the spring of 1890, it was one of the “neglectel 
farms” of Massachusetts, and so little had been done 
to it for many years that the land was pretty well 
covered with bushes, briers, etc. There is a variety 
of soil, from light sandy to gravelly loam, and some 
dark or black land, with probably a clay or hardpan 
subsoil. On all these kinds of soil I have used saw¬ 
dust manure, with gratifying results in every case. 
While I have used fertilizers quite largely, the results 
have not always been satisfactory. 
I have now about 10 acres in cultivation. In my 
own stable, I have always used sawdust bedding. 
Three or four years ago I commenced drawing from 
New Bedford what manure was made in a small stable 
where five or six horses were kept. The results were 
so satisfactory that I now draw from stables where 
an average of 40 or more horses are kept. 
Under the largest stable is a dry cellar where 
hogs are kept. No moisture whatever gets 
to the manure except from the horses and 
hogs. I aim to draw this manu.e as fast, or 
nearly as fast, as made, and apply it imme¬ 
diately to the land. No matter what the sea¬ 
son, I can always find a place to put it. Of 
course, during my busy time the manure ac¬ 
cumulates. Again and again I have manured 
parts of crops with sawdust manure, other 
parts being enriched with fertilizers, and 
have never failed to note the value of the 
manure. 
White pine sawdust is used almost ex¬ 
clusively. I prefer that it should not be 
used until it has heated in the bins, for two 
reasons : first, because the heating seems to 
destroy the acid, or whatever may be in it 
that is injurious, and second, because it is 
not so cold for horses or cattle to lie upon. 
The sawdust absorbs and seems to hold the 
valuable properties of the urine, and the 
manure is fine and in splendid condition to 
mix with the soil. 
A small piece of very poor, worn-out sandy 
soil was planted twice with heavy applica¬ 
tions of fertilizers, with exceedingly unsatis¬ 
factory results. Hast spring I put on a fair 
application of sawdust manure and got an ex¬ 
cellent crop of very early sweet corn. Another 
piece of what appeared to be very excellent 
land, I planted two or three times with fertilizers, using 
them liberally; but the land baked almost as hard as a 
brick, and of course the crops were not what I thought 
I had a right to expect. The past two years, I have 
used on the same land, sawdust manure. Result, bet¬ 
ter crops, earlier, less injury from dry weather, and 
the land is now as mellow as an ash heap. 
This year, on cabbages, tomatoes, cucumbers, tur¬ 
nips, squashes, rhubarb, sweet corn, beets, millet, 
buckwheat, etc., the results of using sawdust manure 
have been gratifying. Some good and successful 
market gardeners and farmers about here, do not ap¬ 
prove of the use of sawdust bedding, but a large ma¬ 
jority favor its use. B. t. w. 
Rochester, Mass. 
MILK FOR WHEELMEN. 
Mr. A. I. Root, impelled by characteristic irrepres¬ 
sible energy, despite his 54 years of busy, burdened, 
useful life, sometimes pushes a wheel 80 miles a day 
during his frequent bicycle tours. One late summer 
afternoon, he made 32 miles betwen 4:20 and dark 
“and greatly enjoyed it.” Experiments of his as to 
the sustaining power of different articles of diet for 
these feats of strength and endurance, resulted pri¬ 
marily to the credit of the cow, and, in lesser degree, to 
that of the wheat field and the orchard. “I still find,” 
he says, “that there is nothing equal to milk.” Once, 
as a test, he took 35 cents’ worth of porterhouse steak, 
but he had to reinforce it 15 miles further on with 
cheese. “Give me,” he says, “ plenty of crackers (of 
the kind called ‘ fiakes’) with sauce of nice apples 
rather tart, and a good s’zed pitcher of milk, and I am 
good for 30 miles or more, whether it be morning, 
noon or night.” A. b. cbaudelb. 
SMALL SILOS FOR SMALL HERDS. 
A Connecticut reader of The R.N.-Y. asks for infor¬ 
mation about two-cow silos, and the crops to raise for 
them. A cubic foot per day for each cow is the usual 
amount fed to good-sized animals ; so that to feed two 
cows, 200 days, would require 400 cubic feet. When a 
silo is rapidly filled, it will settle about one-third, so 
that a silo 4x8x20 would hold enough to feed two cows 
from October to June. 
The silo should be made where the ensilage can be 
got to the cows with the least trouble. Here they are 
generally built in the bay of the barn. The fioor 
shculd te air and rat-proo'. The studding for large 
silos is usually no smaller than 2x8, but for a small 
one 2x6 might do. Tne silo is best made of two pieces 
cf studding spiked together and lapping at the corners 
which are spiked. Vertical studding is generally pre¬ 
ferred, as horizontal boarding does not give the air a 
chance to come down in the cracks between the boards. 
Silos are now built of one thickness of matched board¬ 
ing, thoroughly seasoned, and well painted on the 
inside only. The usual plan is to use two courses, 
breaking joints, and using paper between. Some use 
matched lumber for the inside course without the 
paper. A board with beveled edges should be put 
across each corner from top to bottom, or a 4x4 or 
larger stick may be sawed in two diagonally and spiked 
into the corner. The studding should be about two 
feet apart. Keep in mind that the walls must be air¬ 
tight. Two or three doors are needed, one above an¬ 
other. Saw out a piece of the studding the height of 
the door, and where it is to be cut out. Saw it so that 
Four-Year-Old Paragon Chestnut Tree. Fig 179. 
At Grounds of T. T. Lyon, Michigan. 
it can be replaced. When you get the boarding to the 
top of the door, saw down close to the two pieces of 
studding on each side of the door, marking the pieces 
of board so that they can be put back in order. Then 
spike pieces of 2x4 to the studding on each side so 
that the boarding will rest against them when it is in 
place, putting in paper to fill the space cut out by the 
saw. The boards must be tacked on or they will 
tumble out as the silo is being filled. Each door can 
be left out until the ensilage gets to the bottom of the 
door in filling, then they must be put in place, the 
whole door at once, or the bottom boards will swell 
and bother. When the ensilage is fed down to the top 
of the door, some of the top boards can be knocked off 
and theiair cannot get to the ensilage as it would if the 
whole door were opened at once. 
The small silos here are filled with common field 
corn. The best time to cut is when the ears begin to 
get too hard to boil to eat. It should be planted more 
thickly than is ordinarily done in field planting. Do 
not husk if it can possibly be avoided. Many do here, 
but it is a foolish practice. Nine-tenths of the silos 
here are filled with whole eorn. Keep the middle 
highest in filling, so that it will press out as it settles. 
Jam the butts against one side, then shingle on, lay¬ 
ing all the corn lengthwise of the silo. When one 
layer is finished, double the tops under and tread 
firmly against the side, then put the butts of the next 
layer over the tops of the preceding layer, and lay 
back to the other side. Fill in this way alternating 
butts and tops, treading around the sides, and taking 
care to pack the corners very firmly. Green grass or 
wet hay may be used to fill into any spaces in corners 
or sides. If the corn is at all dry or frosted so that 
the leaves rattle, put a pail or two of water on to each 
load as it is packed, taking special care to wet the 
sides and corners. Fill rapidly or slowly, but do not 
let it go more than three or four days without putting 
some on. When full, cover with anything handy that 
will help exclude the air from the top. If you begin 
to feed at once, no covering is needed. I put the corn 
into my silo with a horie, using a horse hay-fork car¬ 
rier, and track and slings. The carrier and track 
answer for both hay and corn. j, w. newton. 
Lamoille County, Vt. 
HOW THE CREAMERY SHARK WORKS. 
BRIBERY IS Ills FAVORITE WEAPON. 
We have had a good deal to say about the practices 
of a certain creamery supply concern with head¬ 
quarters at Chicago. The R. N.-Y, has been almost 
alone in its fight against the business methods of this 
concern, but we are happy to say that in certain 
States, at least, we have badly crippled its ability to 
do evil. The following notes from correspondents 
who have been eye-witnesses of these proceedings will 
interest many : 
“ In a small town in Cayuga County this week there 
occurred an episode illustrative of the methods of the 
Chicago ‘creamery promoters,’ so often shown up in 
The R. N.-Y. Representatives of the ‘ promoters ’ had 
been working like beaver^, and had a lot of stock sub¬ 
scribed. In this place, as in many others, they did not 
work under the firm name that has become so widely 
known through exposures in the papers, and that has 
come to be coupled, in the minds of farmers who are 
posted, with sharp practices and high prices for in¬ 
ferior apparatus. Neither do they hail from Chicago, 
as it has also become dangerous for a cream¬ 
ery supply concern to hail from there, espe¬ 
cially when they use methods that in any 
way savor of the very questionable proceed¬ 
ings that are notorious of the agents of par¬ 
ties in that city. Instead, their headquarters 
are in Iowa, or they simply give out some 
local town or city as their address, in order 
not to awaken any suspicion in the minds 
of the farmers from this cause. As stated, 
the Western fellows had a nice little lot of 
stock subscribed, and things were moving 
swimmingly when the representative of an¬ 
other creamery supply house appeared, and 
with reasonable prices for first-class ap¬ 
paratus, rather played havoc with the plans 
of the other fellows, as the results proved. 
At a meeting which they called, the ‘ pro¬ 
moters’ invited those who had subscribed 
stock, to go upstairs to transact some busi¬ 
ness. It was not long before they were in a 
row, and the result was that they broke up 
the meeting without coming to any settle¬ 
ment, except to appoint a committee to in¬ 
vestigate the way the ‘ promoters ’ have of 
doing business and report at a meeting in 
one week. One of the subscribers, who 
with his sister had taken $2,000 worth of 
stock, in some way had aroused the sus¬ 
picion of his brother subscribers, either 
from too much zeal, or in some other man¬ 
ner, and during this meeting, so much pres¬ 
sure was brought to bear upon him that he finally ad¬ 
mitted that the agents had made him a present of a 
part of his stock. It is well known that this is one of 
their strongest cards in all their dealings of this sort, 
to buy the infiuence of some men whose favor is worth 
a^ood deal to them. 
“ In another place, they offered a man whose in¬ 
fiuence they wished to gain, $90 per month for four 
months to go on the road and travel for them. This 
gentleman was a member of one of the committees 
that they are so kind as to transport around the coun¬ 
try. In other words, they wished to buy him, and this 
was the price which they offered. He was not for 
sale.” 
In Oneonta County, another creamery is talked of, 
and a correspondent writes in reference to the way 
these fellows maneuvered with one of the leading 
men there : 
“ They have raised $2,400 of stock and are still hard 
at it. They have had one of the leading men here at 
work with them, helping them with his influence, 
but to-night he turned State’s evidence, having evi¬ 
dently had his eyes opened by the offers of an honest 
supply house who are satisfied with legitimate profits. 
He stated in the presence of several that they were to 
give him a $100 share for his work and infiaenee, and 
that he had even been out that day working with 
them and trying to influence men to subscribe and put 
their money into the scheme, but that he was now 
through with them, and would try to help in break¬ 
ing up their dishonest scheme.” 
Those who get trapped into fraudulent schemes 
generally, “ can’t afford ” to take a live agricultural 
paper. Of course, you wouldn’t be caught by such 
chaff, but how about your neighbors ? 
