498 
July H 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
of lack of bedding the floors became so filthy that 
this plan had to be abandoned. But the rains forced 
the Blue grass so rapidly that the field will carry all 
the stock till the rye is ripe. There was about one 
month, mainly February, that the weather was so bad 
that 1 could not turn the feeding lambs out on the 
rye fields. 
March 2 I bought 60 ewes, due to lamb about the 
middle of April, 50 of them were very thin. The feed¬ 
ing lambs all left the farm March 12. At that time 
I had about 10 tons of Alfalfa hay in the barn. The 
ewes were out nearly every day from the time pur¬ 
chased, till about the third week of April, on the 10 
acres of rye sown to make a crop. The rye was so 
forward that I feared to pasture longer. Part of the 
field they grazed more closely than desirable, and 
part they let grow rank. As it now appears the part 
grazed close will not make as good a crop as the rank 
part, but the rains have helped the former very much, 
and there will be a good crop. Clover was sown on 
this field March 27, three weeks too late. It had a 
hard time during the May drought, but now it looks 
fine, and will be all right; but if the field was In 
wheat that would have to be cut when ripe, how about 
this young clover if harvest was followed by dry hot 
weather? As it is I have no fear but that it will be 
all right. 
Five brood sows are to farrow this month. As soon 
as the rye is ripe they and their young pigs will be 
turned on this rye field. Judging from my experience 
last year I do not expect to have much slopping or 
grain feeding to do, to carry these sows and their lit¬ 
ters along. If the 12 acres of volunteer rye with the 
rank growth of clover in It will not carry the sheep, 
lambs and feeding hogs by the time it gets short, 
there will be a fine growth of clover, and maybe vol¬ 
unteer rye on the 10 acres of first crop rye, and the 
ewes and lambs can go on that field. The feeding 
hogs I expect to put off In August, the rye and clover 
are expected to cut down the corn ration about one- 
half. The corn will be soaked and fed to the hogs. 
Being soaked I do not think the sheep will care for 
it, and will not bother the hogs while feeding. As 
farm work now stands, I am exceedingly well satis¬ 
fied that my small grain crop is rye, instead of wheat. 
The wheat crop in the main in this section does not 
promise much. There is complaint of rust, fiy and 
chinch bug working on it. Much of it will not pay 
for harvesting. While this is true of wheat the rye 
has been coming on all right, excepting possibly a lit¬ 
tle rust. 
Twelve acres of rye, sown to pasture and plowed 
down, was pastured very little this Spring because in¬ 
convenient to get the sheep to it and on account of 
the extremely wet condition of the soil. The plowing 
of this field was finished May 6. Some places too wet 
and some too dry. But the rye was too rank to leave 
longer, and then I thought the amount of fibrous 
roots in the soil would prevent it baking. This field 
was planted in corn June 4, most of the land being in 
fine condition, some too wet, but rain since will prob¬ 
ably prevent damage to that planted too wet. One 
thing is certain, the rye plowed under is thoroughly 
soaked and mostly decayed, and will not dry out this 
Summer. 
Regarding the clover in the volunteer rye I feared 
that at one time last August it was pastured too close 
with the sheep and injured, but now it shows up very 
fine and a fine lot of young clover is starting. This 
field last year had a heavy crop of rye “hogged down” 
on it; hogs were helped by a lot of sheep and lambs. 
It also had a heavy Fall growth eaten off; also 13 
loads of manure were put on the field. This Summer 
a good half crop of rye will be fed down on it, and a 
heavy growth of clover besides what volunteer rye 
may grow on it this Fall. More than this, the hogs 
will have what corn is needed to finish them for 
market. If any farmer in the country can point out 
a way that will put the land in better shape for a 
corn crop, with as little labor and expense ,and at the 
same time get a good return from the land I shall be 
glad to hear from him. The return last year was 
$13.75 per acre. This year should also give as good 
a return if the clover growth can be well utilized. The 
small farmer can certainly make a profitable use of 
rye, and If sheep and lambs can be used with hogs to 
harvest the grain the desired area on any farm can be 
put out and utilized without harvesting machinery 
and all the labor connected therewith. 
Robs Co., O. johtt m. jamison. 
DUST SPRAY.—We have been trying the dust spray 
on our apple trees for Codling moth. I like the way the 
dust spreads through the trees and believe it must dis¬ 
tribute the poison more evenly over the fruit than the 
water spray, but results will decide that point when the 
apples are ready to pick. I find that the foliage on the 
Jonathan Is hurt somewhat with the poison about the 
same as when put on with water. We hope to get some 
information that will be of use to us from the experi¬ 
ments that are going on in the apple orchards about 
Watsonville. Distillate Paris-green in water and Paris- 
green In lime are being put on side by side. X. o. K. 
California. 
LAYING A CONCRETE FOUNDATION. 
In laying a concrete foundation for a basement barn, 
how deep should the trench be dug below the basement 
floor? Should you start at the bottom of this trench to 
lay cement, or simply fill with broken stone? I have a 
large number of flat rough stones. How could they be 
used to advantage? Does it make any difference how 
much one shovels in at one time? In short, give a full 
description from start to finish. I want it to extend 
about 20 inches above ground; how thick should it be, 
and should it have a finishing coat? J. J- 
Brooklyn. O. 
Dig the trench below frost line or deeper if the soil 
is not firm and solid. Use the largest stones at hand 
for bottom, or if not large then lay a row or wall on 
each side of the trench with a six to eight-inch space 
between, and about the same depth; then cover with 
large fiat stones, carefully breaking joints to prevent 
.'dirt working in. This will make a drainage better 
than tile. Then fill up to within four inches of the 
surface of the ground. Now with a large number of 
flat stones lay by all means a regular stone wall, using 
sand and quicklime with two quarts of Portland ce¬ 
ment to each bushel of mortar for pointing up after 
the wall is done. I wmuld use one-half each of quick¬ 
lime and Portland; then mix with sand. If you un¬ 
dertake to make a concrete foundation these stones 
will have to be crushed fine, or of the size for making 
macadam road, and this would cost more than to lay 
the w^all. If you must have concrete, then upon the 
loose stone in the trench make a form. If the barn is 
to have great weight upon it build the wmll or form 
two feet wide (dig the trench six inches wider upon 
each side than the finished wall will be). If the 
weight is light make it 20 inches wide. Then build a 
box six feet long, three feet wide, one foot deep, let- 
•ting the sides project for handles. Put three parts 
clean sharp sand and one part Portland cement. Mix 
before wetting; then add water, after which shovel in 
A CH.4RACTERISTIC HEREFORD. Fig. 185. See Page 511. 
three parts crushed stone and mix thoroughly to¬ 
gether. Shovel this into the form and make another 
batch. The form can be raised as soon as the con¬ 
crete hardens. You will need no finishing coat. 
H. E. c. 
ELECTRIC RAILROADS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
I am not prepared with statistics to prove the value 
of electric railways, but my impression is, from what I 
see, that they are a great benefit to the section 
through which they pass, and I do not see how they 
can be detrimental to those properties lying out of 
their immediate reach, except by comparative increase 
in value of the others. We have a number in this 
section, and they are rapidly increasing. They are 
used largely where farmers wish to come to town on 
business, and for the transportation of milk in some 
cases, although this is done on sufferance, as the State 
of Pennsylvania has long been owned by a corporation 
which disapproves of competition. Many of us are 
hoping for a change in this respect, but it Is not yet 
in sight. I do not see how they can be otherwise than 
beneficial, as parties in reach of the line can in a few 
minutes go several miles to transact business and for 
a merely nominal sum, when otherwise hours would 
be required and at the season of bad roads the wear 
and tear would be considerable. t. h. 
Pennsylvania. 
Doylestown is the county seat of Bucks Co., Pa., 
having about 3,000 inhabitants, and is unusually fa¬ 
vorably provided with trolley lines, a through line, 25 
miles, and 25-cent fare to Philadelphia. This line 
passes through a portion of our best farming country 
where values are high and constantly increasing. A 
second line of 25 miles in length to Bristol, Pa., passes 
through a purely farming district its entire length, 
opening what was previously an isolated section with 
poor railroad facilities, and while there Is not yet any 
uoticeable improveroept in values the farmers livipi 
along this and similar lines have an opportunity for 
a more varied and pleasant life than formerly, and 
at a low cost. Two important features are that the 
larger children attend the high schools in the larger 
towns without having to board away from home, and 
the entire family can in Summer time have enjoyable 
recreation at the cost of simply the trolley fares, as 
(our Willow Grove Park and its music, where the 
finest orchestras play the best music daily for the en¬ 
tertainment of trolley riders, is free to all, and this is 
a great feature with all trolley traffic in our vicinity. 
Two other lines are building with a prospect of a 
fifth and sixth, which will give a network of lines 
connecting all parts of the county with the county 
seat, which will be of great convenience to all resi¬ 
dents of the county in the way of public business. 
None of our roads carries freight, but two lines will 
carry the smaller express business and the mail and 
news service have been greatly expedited. Personally, 
I should think the greatest benefit to the farmer so 
far is the bringing him into closer touch with the 
busy centers and making farm life much less isolated; 
quite a number of farmers living along these lines 
have told me that they can get along with one or two 
less horses since the line came past their farms, a 
saving both in time and expense. This was quite no¬ 
ticeable in harvest time last Summer, when farmers 
frequently used the trolley lines to get quick repairs 
for harvesting machinery. All of our trolley lines 
carry a great many riders from the city who come out 
for the day and create quite a little demand for ac¬ 
commodations in the small towns, and others take 
board on farms for a week or two or for the Summer. 
So that the trolley works both ways in bringing the 
country and city nearer together which, I think, so 
far has been its greatest benefit to the dwellers on 
farms. e. d. d. 
Doylestown, Pa. 
TALKS ABOUT GROUND BONE. 
What do the following fertilizer analyses mean: Am- 
moniated bone; nitrogen, available, five per cent; phos¬ 
phoric acid, 17 per cent? How do they get their per cent? 
Is it the part of a hundred or thousand, or ton? What 
proce.ss do they use to get the raw material in this con¬ 
dition? Is this grade of fertilizer pure bone meal, or do 
they use a filler to make up the weight? Raw bone meal, 
nitrogen, available, four per cent; phosphoric acid, 25 per 
cent. Is this a pure ground raw bone, or do they use 
some chemical process to get it in condition for a fer¬ 
tilizer? I have a small power grinder that I use to grind 
raw bones to feed to my chickens. Would this kind of 
bone meal be as good as that w'hich these fertilizer com¬ 
panies sell to use on grain crops? If not, where is the 
difference? j b o 
Michigan. 
^^6 can understand this better if we see how the 
various animal fertilizers compare: 
Pounds 
In One Ton. 
Nltro- 
Phos. 
Pot- 
Raw bone . 
&en. 
acid. 
AQCt 
ash. 
Di.ssolved bone . 
359 
340 
000 
Ammonlated bone . 
Tankage . 
Dried bone . 
Blood and bone. 
243 
400 
Steamed bone . 
You will notice first that all these materials con¬ 
tain no potash. “Raw” bone is the dry hone crushed 
or ground into a fine powder. Most bone is cooked 
before grinding in order to take out the grease. 
Steamed” bone is heated by steam under powerful 
pressure before grinding. This steaming softens the 
bone and makes it somewhat more available. “Dis¬ 
solved” bone is treated with sulphuric acid. Tankage 
is the refuse left from the rendering vats where grease 
is cooked out of bones and waste meat. The “am- 
moniated” bone is so called because tankage or blood 
is added to it to increase the per cent of nitrogen. 
When the manufacturer says he guarantees five per 
cent of nitrogen he means that each 100 pounds of his 
fertilizer will contain five pounds of nitrogen and 17 
pounds of phosphoric acid. In order to supply the 100 
pounds of nitrogen and 340 pounds of phosphoric acid 
which he claims for a ton of his goods he must add 
dried blood or tankage enough to furnish this plant 
food. You will see that 1,000 pounds each of bone and 
tankage would give what the analysis calls for, and so 
would other combinations of blood, bone and tank¬ 
age. You must understand that the figures given 
above represent the average of many samples. For ex¬ 
ample, out of 135 samples of ground bone the average 
amount of nitrogen to the ton was 62 pounds—the 
highest 200 pounds and the lowest 25. In some cases an 
extra good sample of ground bone, containing consid¬ 
erable iean meat, will run as high as seven per cent of 
nitrogen! You cannot hope to prepare a first-class 
bone meal In a small grinder. The chief value of such 
meal depends on its fineness, and in order to powder 
it very powerful machinery is required or steaming 
under heavy pressure. In your small grinder you 
could crush or crack the bone t^qt it vVQqld not be so 
i^vailable as the finer ground^ _ 
