664 
Iht RURAL. N E * - YORKER 
May 13, 1922 
lows: Move evergreen trees only during April and 
August, for tlien new growth is mere active and the 
capillary action of the sap is greatest. The hole 
should be large enough to permit of the roots being 
spread out in as natural a position as possible, well 
tamped in with earth in which a reasonable amount 
of top soil bas been mixed. Settle the earth well 
around the roots, first by tamping and then by wa¬ 
tering heavily to exclude the air. It. is best to guy 
reasonably large trees, in order to prevent the roots 
from being disturbed by the swaying of the tree. 
Frequent spraying of the foliage with water during 
the dry season will save many of the needles. 
Where the tree i< exceptionally large and in a more 
or less dry situation, we have found it a good plan 
to place a barrel with the top knocked out and a 
spigot at the bottom, close to the trunk of the tree. 
Fill the barrel with water, open the spigot so that 
there will In* a continual dropping of water. This 
causes the water to sink deeper down in the shape 
ot a pyramid, the base Of which will he near the 
deep roots, and the apex al the surface, thus 
preventing evaporation of the water from the sur¬ 
face. The dry winds of March and during the Sum¬ 
mer are always a menace to the foliage of trans¬ 
planted trees, because the dry wind causes a rapid 
evaporation, and unless there is plenty of root action 
to supply the sap the foliage will wither. To over¬ 
come this, frequent spraying of the foliage at night 
will greatly help. d. h. m. 
New Jersey. 
Rye the Hardiest of Grains 
Y OUR remarks about rye on page *506 remind me 
of an experiment a few years ago. We had a 
piece of about 10 acres ready to sow with rye and 
Timothy except smoothing with plant smoother, and 
had smoothed »half of it. This was late in the Fall. 
During the night it froze hard and continued freez¬ 
ing and thawing, hut did not thaw enough so we 
could work the ground. This freezing and thawing 
continued, until during Christmas week there was 
about half an inch of dust on the smooth half of the 
piece, and we took off the hoes from the drill and 
sowed the rye and Timothy with 200 lbs. of fertil¬ 
izer per acre. The seed dropped into the dust out 
of sight. The following Spring the rye came up 
and we had a fair to good crop. The grass seed 
made a good catch and we cut three or four crops of 
hay before we had to plow again. I have sowed rye 
when it froze up and remained so until Spring; also 
when it started and was only a couple of inches 
high, and then froze up for the Winter, but have 
never failed to get a good stand of grain of the best 
quality. I have never sown any Spring rye. I have 
Lad practically the same experience with Winter 
wheat, except as to sowing it as we did the rye. 
Christmas week. c. a. chatman. 
V errnont. 
R. N.-Y.—With us rye has proved the hardiest 
crop we can seed. We have never known rye to fail 
in giving some sort of a stand, no matter how late it 
is seeded. Many farmers fail to realize the value of 
This crop in protecting the soil during Winter, and 
giving a good green growth for plowing under in 
Spring. In many i*>tato growing sections farmers 
know about this, and it bas become a general prac¬ 
tice to seed rye after the late crop has been dug. 
The growth above ground may seem very poor dur¬ 
ing the Fall, but when you dig into the soil you will 
find an astonishing growth <>f roots. Rye and vetch 
make a good combination for early Fall seeding, but 
after September To in the latitude of New York 
vetch can hardly be expected to get through. Then 
rye alone will pay. Mr. Fhapman lives up in Ver¬ 
mont in the Lake Champlain country, and his ex¬ 
perience shows a good test for rye. 
Pine Needles for Bedding 
About this time of the year our bedding for the horses 
runs out, and we resort to the use of pine needles, 
leaves and dried ferns. of which we have a plentiful sup¬ 
ply always at hand in our woods. I have been advised both 
to use this mixture, and also not to use it. One person 
claims that it has an available supply of potash (when 
mixed with manure and spread on the soil), therefore 
beneficial, and another claiming that ir has a tendency 
to make the soil acid. Now, which of these claims is 
right? IT this mixture contains anything detrimental, 
would the application of hydrated lime applied (say 
spread in layers through the manure pile) help offset 
the acidity? w. w. t. 
New Jersey. 
T HERE is truth in both claims. The pine needles 
or “brush” and the ferns certainly contain con¬ 
siderable plant food. The pine needles also contain 
quite an amount of acid, and if used freely just as 
they are would have a bad effect upon some soils 
and crops. In some parts of the country the pine 
needles are nsed to mulch strawberries. They ser,ve 
well for this purpose—covering the plants well and 
still supplying air. If. however, they were plowed 
under for peas or cabbage without lime such crops 
would not grow well. They need lime or an alkaline 
s< il, while the strawberries do their best on a mildly 
acid soil. When the pine needles absorb the stable 
liquids and are fermented in the manure much of 
their acid character is overcome, and they can then 
be safely used for most crops. We would not put 
the lime in layers through the manure. That might 
make chemical changes which would drive away too 
much of the ammonia. We should let the pine 
needles soak up the stable liquids, and then mix 
them thoroughly with the manure. After this 
manure is finally spread and plowed under give a 
good dressing of lime and harrow it in. That will 
overcome most of the acid effect. The recent articles 
on composting muck indicate a way of preparing 
many farm substances into available fertilizer. This 
is in a way a fair imitation of the work done by- man¬ 
ufacturers in making fertilizers. With lime and the 
ferments in a good compost heap wc may take the 
acids out of pine needles, sawdust and ferns and 
make them give up their plant food. 
What Silo Shall I Build? 
I am considering the erection of n silo bn my farm 
this Summer, and do not feel that 1 am competent to 
judge as to size mid kind of silo suitable for my pur¬ 
pose. and therefore appeal to you for advice. I have 
a small farm of 21 acres and small pasture, on which 
1 hope to keep eight cows and two or three head of 
young stock. T shall want to feed silage from November 
1 to May Id or longer. Ilow large a silo will I need, 
and about how many acres of silage must I have to till 
same? The place where I want the silo is at the west 
end of the barn. My neighbors tell me with a silo so 
exposed to cold winds my silage would freeze solid, 
but I want the silo in that place. Can you name any 
special make of silo in which silage will not freeze? 
Will frozen silage injure stock? Your especial advice 
as to what make of silo I should build would be greatly 
appreciated. M. 
t tneida Co.. N. Y. 
I Like a Tile Silo 
I THINK that if I were going to build another 
silo 1 would use the hollow vitrified tile. This 
type of silo seems to be about indestructible, and 
tlie silage freezes less than it does in other silos. 1 
do not like to feed frozen silage to cattle, but one 
can throw the silage down into the stable and feed 
it as soon as the frost is out of it. If the silage is 
left frozen to the sides of the silo, and is left, for 
long after it thaws, it will deteriorate quickly, but 
1 have never seen any ill effects from feeding silage 
soon after it is thawed out. 
I believe that I would build a silo 11 ft. in diam¬ 
eter and 30 ft. tall. Such a silo will hold around 50 
tons of silage, and I feel sure that M. will lie glad 
that he lias this much to fall back on. Euless the 
farm is an unusually good one. 1 should think that 
eight, cows and two or three head of young cattle 
would make a pretty heavy stock for it, and the 
silage will come in handy to help out a short pas¬ 
ture. Four or five acres of good corn should fill 
the silo. J. GRANT MORSE. 
New York. 
A General Silo Discussion 
I would say never build anything smaller than a 
12x24 ft silo. It will Stand without warping and 
twisting much better than a 10 ft., and will not 
freeze as much as a smaller size, and at the same 
time it will hold 54 tons. After about 35 years of 
experience with silage will say I never had silage 
spoil in Summer, no matter how small amount 1 
fed each day. Some will tell yon you must feed 3 
or 4 in. each day or if will spoil, hut jup a little 
raked off each day will keep it in fine shape. 
This inquirer does not fell us anything about the 
soil on bis farm, so it is hard to estimate on number 
of acres to fill silo. If lie has soil well adapted to 
corn, with good season, four or live acres ought to 
fill a 12x24. and if land that is a little wet and 
heavy for corn. T would mix in a few sunflower 
seeds, say four or live quarts, with one bushel of 
corn. You know I am the sunflower man. and have 
asked the readers of The R. X.-Y. to give us their 
experience with sunflowers as silage, but have heard 
nothing as yet. If this man could fill this silo each 
year he could feed bis eight or 10 cows irom Novem¬ 
ber to August. Fill this silo with something; if you 
have two or three acres of new seeding clover, or 
if mixed clover and Timothy, cut when clover blos¬ 
soms first commence to turn brown, best cut when 
wet or raining. Run through cutter into silo, and 
you will have some silage that will make milk. 
Every year I run in about 25 or 30 loads of Alsike 
clover in the bottom of the silo to make sure of 
having a full silo. I am feeding clover silage now, 
and will have enough to feed until time to cut clover 
again. We cut clover for silo about June 20: never 
let it stand after it is in full bloom or it soon goes 
back. After we get it into silo we wet it down with 
plenty of water and cover with about 2 ft. of ehaff 
or cut straw, and tramp well, using plenty of water 
on cover, and when ready to put in corn throw off 
the cover and your clover should be as bright, as 
when put in. 
Silage freezing depends largely on the corn when 
put in silo. If put in while very green it. will freeze 
much worse than corn that is well matured, but 1 
would never let corn stand after it is right for cook¬ 
ing. for corn that is glazed fed to cows will go 
through tlie cow undigested. I would buy nothing 
but a wood silo; almost any make is good. Silage 
will freeze more Or less in any silo in coldest 
weather. If one could board around the silo, leav¬ 
ing an air space of about 1 ft. between silo and 
boards. I do not believe there would lie much trouble 
with freezing. I have found it a great help to throw 
about, 2 ft. of straw on top of silage in cold weather 
and throw it one side when feeding, then cover 
again. I have never seen any had results from feed¬ 
ing frozen silage, although I would not want to feed 
too much of it. My advice to this inquirer is build 
a silo by all means; use about one ton of lime per 
acre when seeding, and he will soon be keeping 
more stock, with plenty to feed them. 
One thing to look at in building a silo is to get 
it where it can be tilled cheapest. If this man can 
build where he can fill from floor above so he can 
run a short carrier lie can fill with one-half the 
power. When I first commenced filling a silo I used 
to change off with the neighbors, hiring an engine 
and cutter, and also 10 or 12 men. and perhaps the 
engine would bother and all hands stop, and by tlie 
time I got my silo filled it cost to beat all. Then I 
bought a 3V&-horsepower engine: run about 12-ff. 
carrier, and fill from upper floor of barn. I hire n<» 
extra help, but my hired man and myself fill a 
12x30-ft. silo alone; have a low-down wagon, fiat 
rack, so we can lay the corn on from the ground. 
We get the silo filled and it has a chance to settle, 
and we keep running in as fast as it settles. All it 
costs is a little gasoline and oil. 1 think it would 
pay a man to own his own rig; then be can use it 
w hen his crop is ready to cut. guy blowers. 
Broome Co.. N. Y. 
Handling the Frozen Silage 
T find from experience that any kind will freeze 
in cold climate and exposed places. Frozen silage 
is not good to feed. We remove all the frozen silage 
in the morning ami place same in alley-way in front 
of cows, where it will thaw and be ready to feed 
uext day. At this time we also throw down all that 
will lie required for two feedings, only opening up 
the silo once each day. Otherwise we would be 
feeding frozen silage all the time. I would suggest 
a silo 10x25 ft., with G-ft. pit. My reason for tin* 
pit is that when there is a surplus of moisture the 
pit will bold same; otherwise this liquid would seep 
through the joints around doors, and it draws flies 
and has a disagreeable smell. This also adds G ft. 
to its capacity without going too high in the air in 
building. Tlie hollow tile silos have many things 
in their favor if properly* erected. They cannot 
rust, do not have hoops to got loose, cannot be blown 
down, do not require painting and cannot burn. The 
acres required to till this size silo will depend on 
the season, kind of seed planted, condition of the 
soil and tillage. With these things favorable five 
acres should meet your needs. Should you have 
silage left over, which is far better than running 
short just when pasture is short, leave it alone until 
you get ready to till again, and then take off all that 
is spoiled and till on top of it. and in this way you 
are sure of taking care of a lean year. I have fed 
silage that was six years old with good results. 
Columbia Co., N. Y. paui. c. woounutt. 
Danger from Nails in Old Lumber 
Please permit me to call the attention of your readers 
, the dangerous practice of throwing boards down with 
ails sticking front them, and leaving them lying around, 
constant danger to barefoot children or anyone with 
m-n. thin-sole shoes. This is a very common habit, 
ml causes many deaths from tetanus, m- lockjaw, unless 
ttended to promptly and skillfully. Better be safe than 
Jrrv A. I,. POTTER. 
R IGHT! While this is not the barefoot season, it 
is the season when most boards and shingles 
are.I brown on the ground. The sharp nails art* gath¬ 
ering rust, ready to puncture some careless foot in 
Summer. Knock the nails out before you throw the 
boards down. Complete safety lies in piling the 
boards neatly in some out-of-the-way place. This D 
one serious matter over which we may have control. 
