November  11,  1910. 
a  tiling  possible?  I  never  saw  it  and 
never  drank  any  of  this  juice,  but  from 
a  study  of  this  bulletin  such  a  thing 
seems  possible.  It  seems  that  the  fer¬ 
mentation  of  corn  silage  is  the  change  of 
sugar  into  several  acids.  The  sugar 
changes  into  lactic  acid,  alcohol  and  this 
to  acetic  acid.  Silage  juice  contains  about 
five  per  cent,  of  sugar.  If  exposed  to  the 
air  it  would  ferment  like  cider  and  make 
a  “beverage”  about  as  strong  as  beer. 
This  would  only  occur  when  the  juice  was 
drained  out  of  the  silo  and  exposed  for  a 
time.  This  would  not  happen  inside  the 
silo — away  from  the  air.  We  learn  of 
one  man  who  caught  the  juice  in  a  fruit 
jar  as  it  ran  out  between  the  silo  staves, 
let  it  ferment  and  then  actually  got 
drunk  on  it.  That  man  was  far  below 
tbe  cattle  inside  bis  barn  in  character! 
Prohibition  will  stop  him — prohibition  of 
air  in  an  airtight  silo. 
Preserving  Fruit. — There  have  been 
a  number  of  questions  like  this  one : 
What  is  tin's  I  hear  about  spraying 
apples  with  some  chemical  to  preserve 
them?  S.  F.  K. 
You  probably  refer  to  some  experi¬ 
ments  in  Vermont  which  I  mentioned  a 
few  weeks  ago.  It  is  explained  in  Bulle¬ 
tin  ISO  of  the  Vermont  Station,  They 
started  in  to  learn  how  to  keep  a  good 
supply  of  apples  over  Winter  and  into 
Summer.  Among  other  substances  used 
in  packing  were  sawdust,  cork  dust, 
leaves,  chopped  hay,  sand  and  mper 
wrappers.  Only  dry  hardwood  sawdust 
and  cork  dust  had  much  value.  Pine  saw¬ 
dust  gave  a  bad  flavor  to  the  fruit. 
In  addition  to  these  mechanical  pro¬ 
tectors  various  dips  were  used  such  as 
Bordeaux  Mixture,  copper  sulphate,  lime 
water  and  paraffin.  You  might  think  the 
latter  would  answer  well.  They  melted 
the  paraffin,  dipped  the  apple  into  it, 
cooled  the  fruit  and  packed  it  away.  The 
trouble  with  this  was  that  it  protected 
the  fruit  too  well.  There  was  no  trouble 
from  the  outside,  but  decay  started  in¬ 
side — no  doubt  due  to  preventing  the 
breathing  processes  of  tin1  fruit  Strong 
Bordeaux  mixture,  gave  best,  satisfaction. 
This  dipping  and  then  packing  in  dry  oak 
sawdust,  gives  a  good  protection.  The 
plan  of  operation  is  as  follows?  Five 
pounds  each  of  lime  and  sulphate  of  cop¬ 
per  are  dissolved  in  10  gallons  of  water. 
Remember  that  this  is  four  to  five  times 
as  strong  as  ordinary  “Bordeaux.”  Good 
sound  specimens  of  fruit  are  selected. 
There  is  no  more  use  putting  wormy  or 
bruised  fruit  into  this  packing  than  there 
is  in  putting  stale  eggs  into  water  glass. 
This  good  fruit  is  dipped  into  the  mix¬ 
ture  for  10  minutes.  You  can  put  the 
fruit  into  a  sack  and  lower  it  into  the 
liquid  to  save  time.  Let  them  dry  and 
cool  them  well.  Then  pack  in  boxes  nr 
barrels  with  dry  hardwood  sawdust  well 
firmed  around  them — keeping  the  apples 
separated.  Then  store  in  a  cool  clean 
place.  In  Vermont  apples  stored  in  this 
way  kept  until  August  1,  or  2G7  days. 
The  flavor  was  fine  and  the  texture  per¬ 
fect.  The  average  person  would  hardly 
care  to  eat  Bordeaux  mixture,  hut  care¬ 
ful  experiments  show  there  is  uo  danger 
from  such  apples.  h,  w.  c. 
HOPE  FARM  NOTES 
Make  your 
hay  fields  pay 
Suppose  we  take  up  a  few  of  the  ques¬ 
tions  which  have  come  pouring  in  upon 
us  lately.  Some  of  our  friends  think  this 
Hope  Farm  man  must  be  some  sort  of  a 
modern  Solomon  and  I  am  expected  to 
give  an  opinion  even  when  I  know  very 
little  about  it. 
Removing  Trees. — One  of  our  people 
lives  on  a  farm  which  is  mortgaged  for 
two-thirds  of  its  value.  lie  knows  he 
never  can  pay  the  mortgage  and  intends 
to  let  it  go  under  foreclosure.  Some  three 
years  ago  this  man  planted  over  50  apple 
trees  on  this  farm.  He  intends  to  dig 
them  up  and  transplant  them  on  another 
farm  before  he  quits.  Has  he  any  legal 
right  to  do  so?  When  a  tree  is  planted 
and  becomes  established  it  is  a  part  of  the 
real  estate.  While  a  man  owns  a  piece 
of  real  estate  he  may  do  what  he  likes 
with  it.  I  think  real  estate  in  trees 
would  be  the  same  as  in  a  sand  hank. 
Both  might  bo  taken  out  and  removed  by 
the  owner.  The  holder  of  the  mortgage 
could  object  to  anything  which  injured 
the  value  of  the  property.  This  farm  is, 
I  take  it,  not  worth  much,  and  the  mort¬ 
gage  seems  to  he  rather  poor  security.  If 
I  held  it  I  should  prevent  the  removal  of 
these  trees  if  I  could,  but  I  do  not  know 
any  of  the  personal  circumstances. 
A  “Groaning  Windmill.” — On  page 
1312  we  had  the  story  of  a  windmill 
which  set  up  ft  crying  or  groaning.  Va¬ 
rious  correspondents  have  attributed  it  to 
the  European  war,  the  “hot  air”  of  the 
political  campaign  and  various  other 
causes.  The  most  sensible  guess  We  have 
had  follows: 
Regarding  the  trouble  our  friend  H.  H. 
B.  lias  with  the  groaning  of  his  wind¬ 
mill,  I  want  to  make  a  long-distance 
guess.  I  think  that  the  trouble  is  in  his 
pump  cylinder  caused  by  excessive  fric¬ 
tion  inside  of  cylinder  worn  rough,  or 
leather  cups  worn  out,  or  both,  the  sound 
travelling  along  the  pipe  to  his  house.  If 
he  would  examine  his  leather  cons  in 
pump  and  if  badly  worn  replace  with  new 
ones — well  soaked  in  grease — I  think  the 
groaning  would  stop.  The  cups  may  fit 
too  tight.  If  the  groaning  was  above 
ground  in  the  mill  or  rods  he  could  easily 
discover  what  the  trouble  is.  C.  E. 
Arizona. 
Rye  Questions. — Here  are  a  few 
about  our  old  friend  rye  when  used  as  a 
cover  crop : 
Is  rye  cut  green  for  hay  of  any  value 
for  feeding?  Gan  rye  be  turned  under  for 
a  cover  crop  in  time  to  allow  for  the  sow¬ 
ing  of  corn  in  this  part  of  New  York? 
Dutchess  Co.,  N.  Y.  T.  D. 
Rye  hay  is  rather  poor  stuff.  Most  peo¬ 
ple  let  it  grow  too  long  before  cutting,  and 
the  stalks  are  tough  and  hard.  Stock 
will  eat  it  if  they  have  nothing  else,  but 
it  is  inferior  to  oats,  barley  or  wheat 
cured  in  the  same  way.  The  rye  makes 
a  fair  pasture  when  young,  but  we  would 
not  advise  curing  rye  into  hay  unless  it 
is  badly  needed.  Better  plow  it.  all  under. 
Of  course,  the  rye  can  be  plowed  under  at 
any  time.  We  should  plant  at  the  usual 
corn  planting  time,  pack  down  hard  and 
use  500  pounds  of  lime  to  the  acre. 
Wiiat  Is  Silage? — The  following 
question  just  about  puts  me  out : 
We  have  had  a  debate  about  silage.  I 
claim  it  is  more  of  the  nature  of  sauer¬ 
kraut,  while  my  neighbor  says  it  is  like 
canned  vegetables  or  fruit.  Which  is 
right?  s.  J. 
I  am  not  a  chemist  and  I  do  not  eat 
sauerkraut.  At  law  that  would  make  me 
au  ignorant  and  biased  witness  and  T 
ought  not  to  act  as  referee  in  such  a  de¬ 
bate.  The  best  I  know  is  taken  from 
Bulletin  70  of  the  Connecticut  Station. 
Prof.  Esten  has  investigated  silage  fer¬ 
mentation.  ne  says  that  German  chem¬ 
ists  thoroughly  studied  the  fermentation 
of  sauerkraut.  Then  be  says :  “This  an¬ 
alogy  is  so  nearly  parallel  to  the  results 
of  our  study  of  silage  fermentation  that  apples, 
the  processes  are  evidently  identical,  pro-  Otsego 
dueed  by  slightly  different  varieties  of  or-  jj.- 
ganisms.”  lie  says  that  the  fermentation  Soil  and 
of  apple  juice  and  corn  juice  are  quite  question, 
different.  The  manufacture  of  silage  in  Wealthy, 
the  silo  is  like  the  souring  of  milk,  has  a  th 
“Soured  milk  is  pickled  milk — silage  is  interfere 
pickled  corn!”  I  think  therefore  that  Gravcnsf 
sauerkraut  would  win  the  decision  over  with  us. 
canned  goods !  in  the  m 
Is  Corn  Juice  Intoxicating? — Every  for  fillet 
year  I  have  letters  from  people  who  hear  broader  J 
of  cases  where  the  hired  man  (and  the  experiem 
boss,  too)  drank  juice  from  the  bottom  with  the 
of  the  silo  and  gut  drunk  un  it.  Is  such  iug. 
Your  eyes  don’t  tire  so 
easily  when  you  use 
Its  steady,  generous 
light  makes  reading 
more  enjoyable. 
For  best  results  use  Socony 
Kerosene,  the  cleanest,  clear¬ 
est-burning  fuel. 
STANDARD  OIL  COMPANY  N.Y. 
56  New  Street,  New  York 
SOCONY 
KfROSfNE 
OIL  _ 
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