THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
825 
crops ? If so, what could be used to advantage to 
make a succession ? tamanen. 
Bucks County, Pa. 
Corn Cobs and Horses.— I have a Tornado machine 
for cutting corn stalks, and I am using it to cut my 
corn for horses. I cut shuck, cob and corn, which is 
fed just as it is cut. I am told the cob will kill the 
horses eventually; they are thriving now. 
Richmond. VIRGINIA. 
R. N.-Y.—We would not care to feed such fodder to 
horses. In our opinion, there is danger of inflamma¬ 
tion of the bowels by feeding such coarse pieces of 
dry cob. Farmers near the Rural Grounds often feed 
flnely ground and sifted cob meal, but we would fear 
this coarser food. What do our readers say ? 
Rails for Ditches. —I have plenty of chestnut rails 
around my meadow, and many ditches that I would 
like to cover. Would The R. N.-Y. advise the use of 
rails for under-ground drains? If so, what is the best 
way of making the drains ? Tiles are out of th^ ques¬ 
tion, on account of expense. The bottoms of the 
ditches are soft muck. The meadow which furnishes 
me with rough hay, is covered with an aftermath that 
interferes with making hay the following year. Would 
it injure it to burn it off in the winter ? E. R. m. 
North Carolina. 
R. N.-Y.—We have had no experience with rails for 
ditches. Those who have, will please tell us about it. 
There will be no harm in burning off the meadows. 
Artichokes for Hogs. —Are they an economical 
feed for hogs to gather themselves in the fleld, water 
and some grain being supplied in addition ? Are the 
hogs fond enough of the tubers to eat sufficient for 
good growth ? Will they make a first-cla.ss quality of 
meat ? In Ontario, we pride ourselves upon our pea-fed 
bacon being the best made in America; it is superior to 
the corn-fed stock of the West, and we would not 
willingly lower the reputation of our meat. 11. m. 
Toronto, Canada. 
R. N.-Y.—Our advice is to give artichokes as wide a 
berth as pos.sible. They are worse than any weed you 
can get into the ground, while their feeding value is 
greatly ovei*rated. Better stick to the peas if you 
would “ save your bacon.” If any readers have the 
facts with which to upset our opinion, we will give 
them space to do it in. 
WHAT THEY SAY. 
‘‘ New Method ” with Celery. —About two years 
ago, a writer in The R. N.-Y. explained how he rai.sed 
celery by setting the plants about six inches apart 
each way, and the result was nice, clean, well-blanched 
celery. As my family are all celery eaters, I deter¬ 
mined to try this method ; so last year, I set one-half 
of my celery that way, and was so well pleased with 
the result that this season I raised it all that way. I 
first spade the ground well, working in hen manure 
and ashes. I keep the gi*ound well raked to keep back 
and kill any weeds that might start, as I am strongly 
in favor of killing all weeds before they get to be 
weeds in any crop. After setting the plants, all that 
is needed is to keep the ground hoed or raked between 
the plants, so that it will not bake or crust over until 
the crop gets so it will cover the ground ; it will then 
look after itself until it gets its growth. 1 have prac¬ 
ticed setting up boards around the bed, say, 20 inches 
high, and this is all the covering required. My plot 
this year was only six by eight feet, but it gave me 180 
large bunches, well blanched, tender and entirely free 
from earth in the heart. There should have been a 
few more bunches, but as I had no extra plants, I did 
not replace those that failed to stand transplanting. 
I shall try the same method altogether hereafter. 
North Mehoopany, Pa. o. v. l. 
Large Eggs or Small. —If feed does not influence 
the size of eggs, as The R. N.-Y.’s correspondents on 
page 776 aver, conditions certainly do. One of my 
breeding pens of R. C. B. Leghorns, was selected last 
spring, because they were laying such wonderfully 
large eggs. The hens were four years old, and the 
largest pure Leghorns I ever saw. They had free 
farm range, excellent care, and were doing “their 
level best.” When the breeding season arrived, I put 
them into a roomy house with a small out-of-door run, 
provided them with plenty of green food in addition 
to the same kind of ration which they had before. 
They laid as well as they did in a free range, but the 
eggs grew smaller and smaller until, before the breed¬ 
ing season was over, I could not have told them from 
the eggs from the other pen of young hens. A com¬ 
mon hen which laid a brown egg, was put with them, 
and the same result was observed in her eggs. 
Whether it was the choice tid-bits which these hens 
found for themselves in free range, or whether it was 
the change in their surroundings, I do not know; but 
the result was very evident. 
Mr. Ordway suggests infusing Plymouth Rock or 
Wyandotte blood into Southern flocks with the intent 
to increase the size of their eggs. I cannot speak for 
the Plymouth Rocks, but one of the greatest faults 
which 1 found in the Wyandottes when I bred them, 
was the small size of their eggs. They were not a bit 
larger than the average Brown Leghorn, and nothing 
like so large as the ones which I have described. 
Seneca County, N. Y. s. a. little. 
[Every qiiei’y must be accompanied by the name and address of 
the writer to insure attention. Before asking a question please 
see whether it is not answered iu our advertising columns. Ask 
only a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate 
piece of paper.1 
A “ Power Converter ” for Windmills. 
L. H. N., Friendship, IFts.—Will The R. N.-Y. reprint 
the cut of the power converter which appeared in the 
issue of April 23, 1892 ? We have a windmill with a 
40-foot tower, used solely for pumping water. Can it 
not be used to churn, shell corn, etc. ? 
Ans. —The contrivance is shown at Fig. 224. It is 
known as the Little (Bant power converter. The rod 
of the windmill is attached, as shown, to an arm that 
works on a pivot. On the other side of the pivot, are 
two arms which are attached to strong springs at one 
side, and two rods which reach to the wheel on the 
other. You can see that as the arms work up and 
down, they turn the wheels over and over and thus 
create a rotary power as well as an up-and-down force. 
A neat house is built over this device, and various ap¬ 
pliances, shown in the cut, are gi’ouped around it so 
that the wind is made to pump water, grind feed and 
fodder, shell corn, and churn. These “ converters ” 
were advertised quite extensively some years ago. We 
do not know whether they have pi’oved of real ser¬ 
vice or not. What do our readers say about it ? 
Cotton-Hull Ashes and Muck. 
W. P. T., liucTuitunna, Miss. —I am scraping out a 
pond of black, sticky muck, and would like to com¬ 
post it with something before applying it to the land. 
I wish to apply it the first of March to land on which 
I shall plant cabbage and cucumbers and, also wish to 
use it in the holes where I intend to plant 1,000 pear 
ti’ees and 5,000 grape vines. I am afraid it will get 
hard and lumpy when it gets dry enough to move. 
Ans.—O f course there is no way of telling what that 
muck analyzes. In a general way, .such substances are 
valuable only for their nitrogen, as they contain but 
little pota.sh and phosphoric acid. The nitrogen is not 
usually very available, and the muck is likely to be 
sour. To correct these faults, the rule is to compost 
the muck with lime and add substances containing 
potash and phosphoric acid. To do that here, we 
would pile the muck in layers, with lime, muriate of 
pota.sh, and ground bone scattered over the pile as 
made up. You ought to be able to obtain cotton-hull 
ashes which will answer every purpose for composting 
the muck. 
Fertility in Buckwheat Hulls. 
E. C. B., East Masonville, N. Y. —What is the approxi¬ 
mate value of buckwheat hulls to be used as bedding ? 
Have they any particular manurial value of them¬ 
selves ? 
Ans.—A ton of these hulls contains about 10 pounds 
of nitrogen, 11 of potash, and only a trace of phos¬ 
phoric acid, with a comparative value of about 32 . 25 . 
Of course, this fertility is not very available ; in fact, 
the hulls are hardly worth considering for immediate 
manuring. They make one of the best of absorbents, 
particularly for poultry floors. 
Is Outdoor Sub-Irrigation Possible ? 
H. R. H., Coventry, Conn. —Given, about 15 acres of 
land, probably .sandy loam, lying nearly level. At the 
upper end of the lot, is a small pond and never-failing 
stream. Will it pay to sub-irrigate the whole field— 
probably nearly all could be reached by laying tile— 
and yet have it so arranged that the tile will serve to 
drain it when wet, and irrigate in dry times ? How 
close should the tiles be to irrigate, and what size 
would be needed ? Probably there is not much need 
of draining, but would the irrigating pay on potatoes 
and tomatoes ? What would be the probable cost of 
such work, per acre ? 
Ans.—M y experience with sub-irrigation has been 
confined mostly to the greenhouse, although I com¬ 
menced out of doors first. I must confess not to have 
made much progress out of doors, and none at all in 
combining sub-irrigation and drainage, although the 
matter has been under consideration for some time. 
The obstacles in the way of combining the two are : 
1. Drain tile should be two feet or more underground, 
while sub-irrigating tile ought to be as near the sur¬ 
face as possible and still be out of the way. 2 . Drain 
tile require some fall, but sub-irrigating tile must be 
nearly level, or some provision made to check the too 
rapid flow of water to the lower end. 3. There are 
practical difficulties in the way of managing long runs 
of sub-irrigating tile, so as to get a uniform flow at all 
points. 
It can do no harm to name these obstacles, even 
though no way is pointed out to get around them. On 
swamps, where the water table is not far below the 
surface, sub-irrigation is sometimes practiced, by 
damming up the outlet, causing the water to back up 
in the drains ; but if one- attempt to stop the lower 
end of a drain tile, and to let the water into the upper 
end, he will find quite another condition of affairs. 
The water will run out of the joints near the lower 
end much faster than at any point above, and unequal 
watering will be the result. Pieces of tin slipped into 
the joints, at frequent intervals, will stop the flow 
sufficiently to cause an equal distribution. This plan 
works well in the greenhouse, on benches with a slope, 
but there would be difficulties in the way out of doors, 
not present in the house. On the whole, I doubt if 
the combination is practicable, except in the case 
mentioned. 
With regard to distance between the rows of tile for 
sub-irrigating, I can speak from my own experience 
only, on clay soil, where eight feet was found to be 
the extreme limit, with the tile about one foot under 
ground. Perhaps they might be laid further apart on 
sandy soil. Three-inch tile answers very well, but the 
exact size seems not to be a matter of great import¬ 
ance. In clay soil, the cost, here, would approximate 
375 per acre if 23^-inch tile were used. This would 
pay, for the crops named, provided everything worked 
well. There is no doubt as to the value of sub-irriga¬ 
tion. It is the ideal method of applying water to the 
soil, especially to clay soil, as it prevents baking, and 
has very decidedly beneficial effects mechanically. 
The problem is to find a plan which will work on a 
considerable scale. It is easy enough to irrigate 
small beds in this manner, and level fields in some 
cases, but even where everything looks favorable, 
unexpected difficulties often appear, such as porous 
subsoil and uneven watering, owing to differences in 
the texture of the soil, the manner of laying the tile, 
etc. This may not sound very helpful to those wish¬ 
ing to learn how to sub-irrigate (and there are many 
such) ; but if there is any one who can tell us how to 
do it, outside of the greenhouse and small beds in the 
garden, he will save a great many from making mis¬ 
takes, and, like myself, coming out with but little to 
show for them. w. J. green. ' 
Ohio Experiment Station. 
Ground Green Bone and Oyster Shells. 
S. H., Central Islip, L. I. —1. I can get ground green 
bone from a hotel. Will it pay to mix land plaster 
with it ? If so, how much pla.ster to a ton of bone ? 
2. I can also get ground (unburned) oyster shells at a 
cost of 32.20 per ton freight. Are they worth it ? 
Ans.— 1. We do not understand just what is meant 
by “ground green bone.” If it is fresh bones cut by a 
bone cutter into a pasty, hash-like mass, and is wanted 
for fertilizer, we would use enough land plaster to dry 
it thoroughly. Mix the plaster thoroughly with the 
bone, and spread out in a thin layer. 2. Unless you 
are pretty sure that your soil needs lime, we would 
not buy the ground shells for a fertilizer. 
Corn Cobs as Fertilizer. 
J. B., Pittsford, N. Y. —What are corn cobs worth 
for manure ? I can get them for drawing from the 
mill about two miles. 
Ans. —As compared with fertilizers, a ton of corn 
cobs will be worth not over 50 cents, and the only 
way to make such fertility available is to burn them 
and use the ashes. The question is, will they pay (as 
fuel) the cost of hauling ? 
Fertilizers for Orchards; Tuberculosis. 
M. H., Monroe County, N. Y .—1. My apple orchard is 
in good order and plowed. What fertilizer would be 
best to use for fruit, one analyzing as follows : am¬ 
monia, 1 per cent, phosphoric acid, 8 per cent, pot¬ 
ash, 18 per cent, or muriate of potash and bone ? I 
intend to use some manure for potatoes on a clover 
sod. 2. How soon in stables infested with tubercu¬ 
losis, would it show in cows placed there ? 
Ans.— 1. We doubt if you can do better than to use 
muriate of potash and a good quality of finely-ground 
bone—three parts bone to one of potash. 2. It is im¬ 
possible to tell when tuberculosis would show itself. 
It will depend largely on the general health of the 
cows—the strongest will resist it longest. 
Ashes, Chestnuts and Potato Scab. 
A. B. L., Canisteo, N. Y .—1. I wish to know the fer¬ 
tilizing value of tan-bark ashes. What is the analy¬ 
sis ? 2. Can chestnuts be grafted on any other nut 
tree ? If so, what ? 3. How is the corrosive sublimate 
solution used to prevent scab on potatoes ? 
Ans.—1 . An average sample contains 36 pounds of 
potash and 27 pounds of phosphoric acid to the ton_ 
worth about 33.25, or not far from one-third the ac¬ 
tual value of average wood ashes. 2. No. 3. The cor¬ 
rosive sublimate is dissolved in water at the rate of 
one pound to 100 gallons. Just before planting, the 
seed tubers are soaked for an hour in this liquid. 
