J903 
53i 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
TALKS ABOUT FARM MACHINERY. 
The Farm Wagon and Its Load. 
Part II. 
The construction of heavy city trucks provides for 
these principles by placing two-thirds of the load 
over the rear axle. Frequent turning and ease of 
movement of the front axle are also provided for. I 
have used heavy wagons with springs greatly reduc¬ 
ing the wear and strain over the rigid load. The 
trouble, however, in farm practice is that the load is 
raised about six inches higher, and we thereby lose 
the ease of handling upon low wheels. There would 
seem to be no reason why a drop axle could not be 
built which would provide for springs and not raise 
the working surface of the wagon. The strain is not 
only less upon the wagon, but the draft is lessened 
for the team in passing over obstructions. The ques¬ 
tion of wide or narrow tire has so frequently been 
discussed that we can eliminate that feature. It goes 
without dispute that farm machinery has 
less durability than any other. This 
must necessarily be so in a measure. Any 
portable tool or machine is shorter lived 
than its stationary brother. 
The life of farm wagons can be greatly 
prolonged by careful housing, which I 
feel is quite largely a matter of habit. If 
one drives up to the door, unhitches and 
puts away the team, he soon feels it to be 
an extra burden to drive under cover. On 
the other hand, if one accustom himself 
to protection he soon finds the task no 
greater to put the wagon under cover. 
A free use of paint is advised; nothing 
superior to red lead and oil ground to¬ 
gether, especially upon the felloes. If 
these parts are kept full of oil and cov¬ 
ered with paint, tire-setting will be only 
an occasional job, and how many wheels 
are injured by careless tire setting! A 
good blacksmith will use oil on the 
felloes when setting; insist that the 
others do the same. 
People cannot understand why the ma¬ 
chine-made wagons of to-day, that are better made, 
do not wear as did the handmade gear of a generation 
ago. There Is no doubt that the joints are more close- 
fitted, spokes driven with greater force, and every¬ 
thing bolted as firmly as by the wagon maker in the 
little shop who made every part himself, and not in¬ 
frequently put on the irons and paint. To-day a 
dozen men make a wagon, and no one could do it 
alone. The vital point, however, is found in the fact 
that a turning lathe will do its work upon the ma¬ 
terial in it, straight-grained or cross-grained, dead 
timber or live wood. The hand worker found himself 
handicapped when he tried to shave anything but 
straight-grained solid live wood. There was no 
dearth of the best, so he used the cross-grained stuff 
for fuel, and made the good into wagons, and the 
second generation wore them out. Loads are heavier 
to-day, no doubt, with the consequent strain. The 
medium wheels for nearly all farm work suit me. 
The draft is not unusual. The road work 
of the ordinary farm can be done upon 
them with a three or S^/^-inch tire. 
They are preferable in my experience to 
the specially-made low-down frames for 
handling silage corn. The top of the rack 
comes about level or a few inches higher 
than the feeding table of the cutter, 
which makes for ease of unloading, and 
the labor in the field is not greater. For 
handling and moving all heavy stuff have 
a low-down wagon that is low down. We 
call them here stone-boat wagons. A 
heavy three-inch hardwood plank bottom 
secured to hind axle about four inches 
from the ground. The center plank is 
wide and strong, and reaches directly 
under the front axle. The remainder of 
this bottom is shorter, so the front wheels 
can turn in front of it. This is a useful arrangement, 
saving much heavy lifting. ii. e. cook. 
Markets in Hagerstown, Md. 
Our city of Hagerstown has a population of about 15,000 
and Is not considered a manufacturing place; most of 
the people are merchants, so if you want to be successful 
as a gardener you must have flrst-class goods as a rule. 
We have a large market house, and market Is held on 
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings. People are 
allowed to peddle their goods on the streets by paying 
for a permit, but not allowed to peddle during market 
hours or after 12 o’clock the day before market. This is 
done to protect the market. There are several green 
grocers in the city who have goods shipped to them from 
the South, but their stuff will not sell with our home 
product. There are several greenhouses in this city that 
00 a flourishing business. I do not sell my vegetables at 
the wholesale houses as I would rather sell them to con¬ 
sumer myself thereby getting much more out of the 
product. w. 8. C, 
“SHA WV£R” BARN IN SULLIVAN CO., N. Y. 
PLANK vs. HEAVY TIMBER. 
Strong and Quickiy Made. 
Figs. 199 and 200 show our plank-frame barn, built 
on the Shawver system. The dimensions are as fol¬ 
lows: Total size of structure 40x120, posts 20 feet 
high, curb roof three-fourths and one-third pitch. 
On the west end there will be a wagon house 40x40 
with 10-foot ceiling and hay bay above. This end will 
connect directly with horse barn when building is 
completed. Next comes the drive floor, opening from 
which will be double doors 13x16 feet. Next towards 
the east is an implement room 25x40 with ceiling 11 
feet high. This has an intermediate floor 15x40 feet, 
with six-foot ceiling, giving a total space for the 
storage of implements and machinery of 40x40 feet, 
and above this space is a loft for putting in our crops 
of oats and rye previous to thrashing. (In the east 
end is a hay bay 39x40 that will extend from floor to 
peak, having a total capacity of about 45,000 cubic 
feet. Under the drive floor is the main cow stable 
with 10-foot ceiling and the full size of the building; 
this is in the bank at the west end and runs out 
overground nine feet at the east end. This stable 
will have a cement floor throughout, with driveway 
through the center for cart in w’hich the refuse will 
be removed. The entrance will be on the east end 
by means of an inclined bridge and the exit on south 
side next the west end. The drops will be on each 
side of the driveway. The cows will face towards a 
feeding alley about seven feet wide, and water will 
be supplied by means of a trough on wheels into 
which the water will be run by a system of pipes 
running along the top of the stanchions. This floor 
will stable 60 cows. Hay and grain will be supplied 
by means of chutes from above and silage from two 
300-ton silos to be erected later. 
The sub-stable is 40x45 feet and will contain nine 
box stalls and stanchions for 24 head of young stock, 
and have all the conveniences of the upper stable, 
and the floor will also be of concrete. The floor of 
the main cow stable over sub-stable is supported by 
floor beams 4x12 inches, set 12 inches center to center, 
with a 2x4 spiked on each side four inches from the 
top of the beam. The spaces between the beams will 
be filled in with pieces of matched flooring and con¬ 
crete filled into this three-inch space to the top of 
the beam to steady the floor, and then five inches of 
concrete will be laid on top of the beams and be top- 
dressed with one inch of cement, made rough with 
broom or rake. 
The idea of building this structure was conceived 
by the writer, who could come to no settled plan of 
building a barn of this size with safety, uiitil he saw 
a picture of a plank-frame barn in a copy of The R. 
N.-Y., which led to a correspondence with John L. 
Shawver. As a plank-frame barn was a novel feature 
in Sullivan County we considered it advisable to get 
a foreman from Ohio to supervise the erection of the 
building. After framing the sub-basement and base¬ 
ment and raising them, it took him five days with 
seven assistants to frame and raise the superstructure 
and brace it thoroughly throughout. The 10 bents 
were raised by means of a gin pole 62 feet long, rigged 
at the east end of the barn. The total height of the 
building when completed will be about 60 feet at the 
east end and about 41 feet at the west end, and thanks 
to the lay of the land, will possess the novel feature 
of having the three floors all having exits from the 
ground. We shall install the King system of venti¬ 
lation. As for the Shawver system of building plank 
frame barns, we would advise those intending to 
build a barn, to look carefully into it, as they make 
a far stiffer frame than the timber frame 
barns and admit of all manner of bracing 
that could not be used in the ordinary 
frame. The amount of lumber used is 
very much less and the cost of construc¬ 
tion is cheaper. sloane brothers. 
EFFECTS OF THE DROUGHT. 
So large and so fine a crop of cherries 
as the one harvested in 1903 has not been 
known in Seneca and Wayne counties in 
years. Drought is wonderfully favorable 
to cherries. No doubt that is one reason 
why the cherries on the Pacific coast are 
wonderfully fine. There are perfect 
cherries free from rot on trees from 
which the crop was removed over a week 
ago. In California I saw an orchard in 
which the cherry harvest was in process 
for three weeks or more, with no trouble 
from decaying fruit. The late frosts killed 
the fruit on low-lying land, but where trees 
were at a fair elevation the fruit was 
abundant, large and very free from imper¬ 
fections. The plum crop is so very abundant, and the 
fruit looks large and fair. If the whole country is as 
blessed as we the price will be very small. This is 
not the case with cherries. The price is fair, if not 
large, giving a reasonable return for the expense of 
harvesting. The demand for sour cherries is great, 
though the price is lower than for large black cher¬ 
ries like the Tartarian. My orchard is old-fashioned, 
planted when the Oneida Community flourished and 
did a large canning business. They required a white 
sweet cherry for their use, and such old sorts as 
Yellow Spanish, Napoleon Bigarreau, Gov. Wood and 
Elton met their requirements. The Napoleon trees 
here are very large for their age, much larger than 
any of the other varieties of the same age and in 
similar conditions. The fruit is very handsome, 
white with a red cheek, hard and Arm aad very large. 
When the cherries are cut in halves and the pit re¬ 
moved carefully, as is done with peaches, they make 
ideal canned fruit in appearance as well 
as in flavor. The Elton, though flne in 
flavor, being more acid than most sweet 
cherries, is more perishable than many 
other varieties. Yellow Spanish and 
Gov. Wood are delightful to eat fresh and 
excellent for canning. They are softer 
than Napoleon and Elton. Soon after 
my grandfather bought this farm, in 1808, 
I think, he planted a double row of cherry 
trees around a central tree on the highest 
point on the farm and called the home¬ 
stead “Cherry Mount.” A row of big 
cherry trees defined the long lane between 
the house and the highway during my 
childhood. After my father took posses¬ 
sion here he planted numbers of cherry 
trees. Only one or two of the original trees 
are in existence, and they are scar.cely 
alive, but the trees of my father’s planting are hale 
and vigorous, except a block which suffered from too 
much cultivation when they were young. It is not 
wise to plow deep around a cherry tree. 
Wayne Co., N. Y. saua a. little. 
NOVA SCOTIA NOTES.—This county has been hard hit 
by frost and drought, and as a result many crops suffered 
to a large extent. Seasonable rain toward the latter 
part of June has wrought a marked improvement in all 
farm crops. Apples have set well in this part of the 
county, and so far do not show any indication of spot or 
crack. We would estimate quantity for export, barring 
accident, at least three times greater than last year, or 
about equal to crop of 1901. Trees healthy and making 
vigoroits growth Strawberries not over half a crop. 
Pears and plums fair. Potatoes are not more than half 
a crop on .account of seed rotting. Grass about half a 
crop; hay high. Oats promising w'ell, especially on good 
land; we think they will be fully up to the average. 
Kingsport, N. S. B. J- P. 
HOW THE PLANK FRAME BARN IS CONSTRUCTED. Fig. 199. 
VIEW SHOWING BENTS OF PLANK FRAME BARN. Fig. 200. 
