for about 11 months and 10 days in the year. 
The balance of the year—well, I wish they 
would let the young com alone. j. h. g. 
Queens Co., N. Y. 
We send milk into the city. The greatest 
trouble we have is to keep the milk in hot 
weather. I put it down the well but it would 
not keep unless the can was plunged beneath 
the water. The foul gas just at the surface of 
the water caused the trouble. I had irons 
made to hook into the handles of a large milk 
can, put a windlass at one side of the pump 
house, ran a rope up to the roof, over two 
pulleys, then down to the well, 
means of an instrument made for the pur¬ 
pose, which secured equality in depth, dis¬ 
tance from each other, and from the sides 
of the tub. The plants were allowed to grow 
through the season, and when the tops were 
dead the tubers ui each tub were weighed, 
with the following result: First tub, three 
pounds five-and-thirteen-sixteentlis ounces; 
second, two pounds fourteen -and-eleven-six- 
teenths ounces; third, five pounds one-and 
seven-sixteenths ounces; fourth, three pounds 
nine-and-nine-sixteenths ounces; fifth, four 
pouuds tliirteen-ar id-fourteen-six teen tlis ounc¬ 
es; giving a difference in the yield in differ¬ 
ent tubs of nearly a hundred per cent. 
The difference was so striking that I deter¬ 
mined to search for the reason. On lifting 
the tub that gave the heaviest yield. I dis¬ 
covered that two strong roots had penetrated 
through the drainage holes into the sub-soil. 
The one giving the next, heaviest yield had put 
down a single rather slender root in the same 
manner. The roots in the other tubs remain¬ 
ed inside, but it appears above that the yields 
from these were not similar. 
I have given the details of this experiment 
to show how Little we really know about the 
conditions that influence the growth of our 
crops. E. s. GOFF. 
Geneva, N. Y. 
pend upon it more for Winter protection than 
for the manurial value that is received from it. 
This failure of mine led me to investigate 
into the causes which blasted such great ex¬ 
pectations. I was satisfied that the benefit to 
be derived from green manuring must be 
sought in something beyond the bulk of plant 
growth thus furnished to the soil. There 
must be some affinity in the plant with the 
forces that nourish crops, to make It valuable 
as a fertilizer. This affinity clover posseses, 
while rye does not. Let us look at its value as 
compared with clover as a manural product. 
By actual test it has been found that the ratio 
of root to top in mature rye is as ID to loo, 
and in mature clover it is as ID to 15—the 
stubble in both cases is counted as part of the 
root. Here we have two-thirds as much root 
as top in the clover, and nearly 14 time as 
much top as root m the rye. As to the chemi¬ 
cal composition of the roots of the two, this 
difference occurs. In an acre of the roots of 
rye, there are 02 pounds of nitrogen, and in 
clover 180 pounds. Of lime there are 60 pounds 
in the rye and 246 m the clover. Of potash there 
are 30 pounds in the rye, and 77 pounds in the 
clover roots. Of dry vegetable matter in an 
acre of roots of rye there are 3,400 pounds, 
and in clover 6,580 pounds. This from soil 
only 10 inches in depth. Where the rye roots 
extended only eight inches in the soil, clover 
roots were 16 iuehes long, so that in the com¬ 
putations, all the rye roots are included, and 
not all the roots for the clover plant. Now 
supposing both lie turned under for a wheat 
crop, the rye will furnish 40 pounds more of 
nitrogen to the acre than is required by the 
wheat, but clover will give a surplus of 140 
pouuds. Of lime the rye fails to give enough 
within three pounds, w hile the clover leaves 174 
pounds stored up after the wheat is grown. 
Rye, in my opinion, only pays back to mother 
earth, when it is returned as a green manure, 
its indebtedness for the pabulum required in 
its growth. I do not believe it adds anything 
to the fertility of a soil. A hard clay soil may 
vator was drawn by one man with less work 
than two men would expend in carrying a reel 
between them on a stick. 
HANDY DOOR LATCH. 
ooors must be hinged and swing out. In such 
cases this latch will be found strong and con¬ 
venient. A rod of five-eighths inch iron 
is bent at right angles at each end; the sliding 
end three-fourths of an inch, and the fixed end 
* | inch. The fixed 
-E end is dropped into 
an eye bolted to the 
studding, as shown 
at Fig. 206, F, with 
the bent wire at E. 
@*=0 The length of the rod 
y varies, being the hy- 
Fig. 296. pothenuse of a right- 
angled triangle, of 
which the door is one side. The free end 
slides in a groove or guide on the middle arm 
tlie door. This is 
shown at Fig. 297. 
Boards are nailed on 
*Z the arm ' A ’ Project 
mWJr"* r/ three-fourths of 
an inch above it and 
raised at the top so 
p^—/-S ji l $ as to form the guide. 
IggEg gily 1 __ yx B is a notch into 
jalggg=5§ f which the rod falls 
^ when at rest, thus 
Fig. 297. holding the door. 
When the door is op¬ 
ened, the rod is raised out of its notch, and as 
the door opens the rod slides in the guide till 
the door is in line with the wall, when the rod 
is entirely out of the way, as shown at Fig. 298. 
I cut a hole 
in the side of the trap door so the hole can be 
closed when the milk is down the well. The 
milk now keeps well and the water is not in¬ 
jured. A good creamer would be fine for 
keeping milk. r. crane, jr. 
Bucks Co., Pa. 
I NOTICED 
an 
t Rural. Out 
circumstances. 
Oftentimes pulleys and stout mules are far 
away from the scene of action. Then we use 
what wo call a Spanish windlass. Take a 
stout piece of timber, a rouud pole generally, 
bore two holes in each end and insert stout 
pins about four feet long. Crossed stakes are 
i'orin (£1.01101111 
RYE AS A GREEN MANURE. 
Experience with rye turned under; an un¬ 
manured piece gives results just as good; 
rye turned under, a fair mulch, but not a 
fertilizer; comparison of rye and clover 
roots and tops; chemical composition of 
both; rye returns only what it has taken; 
mechanical effects. 
Noticing the inquiry of M. B. in a late 
Rural regarding the experience of others in 
Mr. Emery on plowing pints at Houghton 
Farm. Mi-. Emery seas very clearly part 
wav; but it seems to me that he does not see 
clear through the case. He says, “Onall plots 
of ground which are to be differently fertil¬ 
ized. every possible condition, except that of 
fertilization, is made identical.” This is first- 
rate. But docs it follow that because we eu- 
deavor to make the conditions that are under 
control identical, all other conditions are 
thereby identical? Until by similar treat¬ 
ment we can secure dunlicate results nn Hif. 
iWHuvpmis (arm tuis nas rarely been accom¬ 
plished), it Is evident that plat experiments 
are at best uncertain, and may be positively 
delusive. What the uuknown conditions are, 
the wisest cannot always guess. It is rarely 
tliat we know the history of a piece of ground 
f ir more than a few seasons; while we know 
perfectly well that soil often shows the effect 
of particular treatment through many years. 
A ditch dug across a niece of around, t he site 
USE FOR OLD WAGON WHEELS. 
At Fig. 300 is shown how an old wagon 
wheel can be turned into a revolving stand 
_^ for dr F in S milk pans, etc. 
The spokes * hut ' rim are 
all painted red, while the 
tire is painted white. The 
axle is then buried in the 
ground so deep that the 
wheel comes to about the 
Fig. 300. bight of a common table. 
Pans, jars and pails can be 
placed upon this in the sun. It can be readily 
turned about so that any article can be reach¬ 
ed without moving. 
HANDY DOOR LATCH 
ilueucc upon the soil that a generation of 
cropping is soarely ubie to obliterate. Even 
if we know the history and character of the 
tillable soil, we cannot olten know much of 
the sub-soil, and there are reasons for believ¬ 
ing t hat this often exerts a considerable influ¬ 
ence ii|M>n the crop. The fact should be more 
generally recognized by experimenters, that 
in plat experiments we must necessarily start 
with an unknown quantity. It is only through 
the use of a auflicient number of duplicates so 
that the variations may be assumed to balance 
each other, that results are to be depended up¬ 
on at all. 
Indeed, it is not so easy a matter to secure 
duplicate yields, under artificial conditions, 
which are, to all appearances, entirely alike. 
In the Spring of 1385* I had a quantity of 
garden soil, Band and muck thoroughly 
mixed, by repeated shoveling*. 1 then sawed 
three 45-gallon barrels in two, in the center 
to relate an experiment of mine some years 
since with much the same result. I was in¬ 
clined to the belief that rye was valuable from 
that superficial kind of reasoning which we 
find in every agricultural paper at some time 
during the year, to the effect that no other plant 
will furnish so large a bulk to be turned under 
in so short a time, so surely and with so little 
was 
rve, buckwheat, or corn. I know this is rank 
heresy, but M. B‘s experience is not an iso¬ 
lated ease of damage. I know a field of 10 
acres which was sown to corn, plowed under 
w-hen it had begun to tassel and sowed to 
wheat. The owner believes that- it actually 
injured the land, as the following crops were 
unusually poor for several years. There are 
plenty of such traditionary practices continu¬ 
ally coming to the front, to wheedle the inex¬ 
perienced. There is really no short cut to 
prosperity on n poor soil, and he who pins his 
faith to rye as a renovator will be sadly disap¬ 
pointed in not seeing waving wheat and corn 
following waviug rye. a. c. g. 
expense. 
growing poor from 
the effect of several dry seasons and the con¬ 
sequent killing out of the clover, and, like 
M. B., I sowed rye in the Fall in my coru the 
last time I went through. One field of 10 acres 
was all sown, so strong w as my faith, but in 
another of 12 acres I only sowed eight acres, 
leaving four acres for the lesson 
would give me. Thei 
next year for wheat. 
SMOKE-HOUSE. 
The smoke-house shown at Fig. 299 does not 
cost much and is easily made. Common bam 
siding, six feet long, will answer. The sides 
a contrast 
•se fields I plowed the 
The rye w-as turned 
neatly under the first of J uue, just as it was 
fairly headed out, but lief ore the grains had 
termed. All the field of 12 acres was plowed 
at the same time and treated alike in every 
respect. My faith was so strong that I could 
not help feeling sorry all the season for the 
poor four acres that had not been enriched by 
“green manure.” The fields were sown to 
wheat iu due season in the Fall, and to clover 
seed in the Spring, but 1 could never find 
where the “green manure” eudod and naked 
fallow began by any perceptible difference 
either iu color of leaf or size of plant. The 
clover made a good growth fortunately on 
both fields, but never was any better on the 
“ manured” part than on the four acres that 
had received no rye treatment. I have plowed 
the fields several times since, but could never 
find any indication of any results from that 
application of green manure. The soil was 
sandy loam—just the character to be bene¬ 
fited, if we may trust the theories so often 
presented. This is not an individual failure 
here. I have never known any permanent 
benefit to come from the use of rye plowed 
under, except in the peach orchards along the 
shore of Lake Michigan. There the peoole de- 
handling fence wire. 
• ■- 
Mr. W. S. Smith, of Pleasant Valley, Ills., 
sends us the idea illustrated at Fig. 301. He 
found it very awkward for oue person to uu- 
tho greatest care to have them equi-distaut 
from each other, and from the outside of the 
tub, the distances being made the same in all 
the tubs. I next filled the tubs with the 
mixed soil, striking the top as we strike a 
measure of grain, and set them into the 
ground at such a depth that the staves 
reached about an inch above the surface of 
the soil. This w-as to prevent surface water 
from getting into the tubs. I then took five 
White Star Potatoes of very nearly equal 
size and shnpo, and cut off six single eye 
cuttings from the stem end of each, the first 
ol which 1 rejected. The remaining five 
cuttings 1 made exactly of the same weight 
by pariug off the heavier ones until all 
balauced with the lightest one, usiug a 
seule graduated to grains. I then planted 
live of these cuttings in each tub, so placing 
them that, while each tub coutoiuod one 
cutting from each tuber, each tub also cou- 
Fig. 301. 
wind the wire from a reel w-hou no team is at 
liberty to draw it. He had a two-horse culti¬ 
vator, with hooks on the back ends of the 
double tongue to hold up the plow beams and 
shovels. He removed the beams, and, putting 
a strong round stick through the reel of w ire, 
placed little blocks on each side of the reel to 
keep it from interfering with the tongue in 
turning over. The stick was then placed 
across the hooks, aud one end of the wire fas¬ 
tened to the end post of the fence. The culti- 
are made of any length desired. The siding 
can be nailed to stout cleats. They are then 
fastened at top and bottom with staples and 
hooks, as shown in the illustration. The top 
is formed of two pieces, and is hooked together 
iu the same way. A small door at one side 
can be hung Ou leather hinges. A pan or small 
tained one second, one third, one fourth, oue 
fifth and one sixth eye from the stem end of 
the tubers. The cuttings were pluuted by 
