786 
November 14 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
REMARKABLE CROP STORIES. 
DYNAMITE FOR DIGGING.—I find in digging 
holes for my trees out in my old wood lot that about 
one-eighth .of a pound of dynamite put down two 
feet with a crowbar does a mighty good job at dig¬ 
ging a hole and at the same time does a lot of plow¬ 
ing or breaking up of the land and tearing out roots 
and stones that is quite a bit of culitivation. I am 
almost inclined to think that perhaps dynamite may 
prove to be the thing for the tillage of some of our 
roughest land! J- n. hale. 
Connecticut. 
CLEARING OUT STUMPS.—I have about five acres 
of land to clear of green stumps. They are maple, 
beech, birch, elm and hemlock, and of ordinary size. 
The ground is clay loam and rather loose. It will 
also be necessary to take out all the surface roots, 
so that the ground may be entirely clear, at least 
six inches deep. Is there any stump puller that will 
take them out well and at reasonable cost? Or is it 
better to dig the stumps or blow them out with dyna¬ 
mite or powder? Those who have had experience 
please give advice. f- t. 
Apulia, N. Y. 
STONES AROUND TREES.—1 know nothing about 
fruit raising, but a few years ago I heard a Method¬ 
ist preacher say that he had seen an orchard of the 
most wonderful vitality and growth and that around 
each tree there had been piled a heap of stones. Last 
Spring we had an apple tree and a peach tree each 
grown upon the top of a stony dry knoll, each mak¬ 
ing a sickly, feeble growth. The peach tree seemed 
to have an advanced case of yellows, which had killed 
most of my nearest neighbors’ bearing trees, and part 
of our own. We had a few loads of broken limestone. 
1 had them placed around the two diseased trees, 
about three or four loads around each, not caring 
if it killed or cured them. As to the result, 1 never 
saw two trees make a stronger, healthier growth than 
they have done this year. I think the stones must 
have caused it. m. a. d. 
West Virginia. 
VALUE OF CLOVER.—You will remember that 1 
w'rote you about a field of rye and Crimson clover 
which I had cut for hay on May 18. Rye six feet tall 
and clover two feet and in full bloom. That being 
the hot week in May, the hay was nicely cured and 
yielded over seven tons from 2^4 acres. This ground 
was plowed on May 28, and about two acres of it 
planted with Evergreen sweet corn June 2 and S. 
The rest of the field was planted with potatoes, which 
grew finely, but blight ruined the crop. The corn 
came up badly because of poor seed, but it is the 
outcome that I would call your attention to. No 
fertilizer was used with the corn planting, but not¬ 
withstanding the poor seeding, many hills with only 
one stalk, I have realized in sales of corn $121.21 and 
have sold the stalks for $18, making $139.21; value 
of hay crop $75; corn, $139.21—$214.21, from less 
than two acres and grown on the Crimson clover sod 
without other fertilizer, and the ground now is well 
covered Wiih another growth of Crimson clover for 
another corn crop next year. Walter f. taber. 
Dutchess Co., N. Y. 
SHALL WE CROW MUSHROOMS ? 
Not Under These Conditions. 
Several of our readers have received circular let¬ 
ters from a so-called “company” located in this city. 
Two different addi-esses are given, but the circular 
is the same. Here is a sample: 
In reply to your application, we are pleased to offer 
you the position of raising mushrooms at your home, 
with prompt cash payment for all you can raise. 
It requires a very little space in garden, shed or cellar 
to make an income of $12 per week. 
An hour in the morning and one in the evening will 
do all the work we ask of you. 
All expense of shipping paid by us. as per circular 
which we enclose, and which we ask you to read. The 
work can be done by young or old, robust or delicate, 
male or female. Remember, it Is not like raising live 
stock: there are no feed bills to pay, no dirt and no smell. 
When the young man in the village gets a job at 
sweeping out a store the local paper is apt to remark 
that “our distinguished young friend has accepted a 
position, etc.” Think of offering a “position of rais¬ 
ing mushrooms!” We are asked what we think of 
this scheme. Here are a couple of questions: “Are 
the statements of fact correct or reasonable? Can 
these people probably do what they promise?” Here 
is Dr. Van Fleet’s statement: 
"We have repeatedly grown cellar mushrooms in 
the regulation way, and regard their culture, consid¬ 
ering the average commercial value of the product, 
as about the worst paid and least agreeable work we 
undertake. We grow them solely for culinary use 
as a most gratifying esculent, but feel that everv 
pound costs us as much in labor as it is really worth. 
There is nothing light nor pleasant about mushroom 
culture as an occupation. Tons of fresh manure must 
be carried into difficult places, and later moved out 
again. The preparation, spawning and care of the 
beds requires close attention, but does not greatly 
tax the strength. The spawn is not particularly ex¬ 
pensive; a single brick sufficient to plant a bed four 
by six feet costs by mail about 25 cents, and by ex¬ 
press or freight in moderate quantity comes much 
less, but with the best of success the product is light 
in wei.ght, extremely perishable and difficult to get 
to market in good condition. In a small way we 
should consider an average price of 50 cents a pound 
would be needed to compensate the grower for his 
outlay and trouble, and that is far above the usual 
market price for mushrooms grown and packed by 
amateurs. Experienced growers, having special facil¬ 
ities, occasionally get good returns for mushrooms, 
but it must be regarded as one of the most precarious 
of cultures. Any firm promising beginners an income 
of $12 a week from mushrooms grown with an ordi¬ 
nary home equipment should be regarded with much 
distrust.” 
A well-known Philadelphia grower says: 
“I do not know anything about the company, but 
although it seems plausible to outsiders, I would point 
out, first, that they do not state how much spawn 
they are going to give you for $1. They do say that 
a dollar’s worth will cover 3x5 feet. Usually two 
pounds of spawn are considered enough for that 
space, and in quantity would be w'orth 12 cents. Sec¬ 
ond, they advise not to use brick spawn. Brick 
spawn is the kind used by all the largest growers in 
the United States. Men who are in the business and 
are making money at it, and who are thoroughly 
conversant with it, ought to know what they are 
doing. The French spawn comes in loose flakes, and 
is lighter and more bulky than brick spawn; it costs 
more money than brick spawn, and as it does not 
produce more mushrooms, nor mushrooms of any 
different kind, there does not seem to be any advant¬ 
age in using same. Then again the price as stated in 
circular for fresh mushrooms is to be $2 per pound. 
No such price as $2 per pound can be got for fresh 
mushrooms. We have handled the crops of a number 
of our growers in nearby localities, and know what 
we are talking about. At periods when they are 
rather scarce, they will bring as high as 75 or 80 
cents per pound wholesale; ordinarily they run about 
50 cents per pound, and at times when there are a 
lot on the market they will drop as low as 25 and 30 
cents per pound wholesale. How all these people in 
the backwoods are ever going to get their mushrooms 
to market, even should they by any chance succeed 
in raising some is a question. Mushrooms have to 
be handled just so, and very carefully packed, and 
promptly shipped, as they soon spoil if delayed.” 
A TALK ABOUT SMOKING STOVES. 
I would like to know what causes a stove with a chim¬ 
ney 20 feet high to smoke. Stove was new 15 years ago, 
and did not smoke. It is now neither broken nor warped 
out of shape, but smokes. Some manufacturers claim 
that the chimney furnishes the draft. Some stoves have 
better draft, and smoke less with the same pipe and 
chimney than others. 
Bast Berne. N. Y. 
“What makes my stove smoke?” is a frequent and 
perplexing question. In a general way it may be an¬ 
swered by saying that a proper draft is not main¬ 
lined from the fire through the outlet up the chim¬ 
ney. What is the particular cause of the defective 
draft in your correspondent’s case, and hence his 
smoky stove, is as impossible to say as it would 
be to answer the question, “My horse is sick; what 
shall I do for him?” Still, something may be said 
in explaining the, matter which will enable those 
having trouble with their stoves to examine and dis¬ 
cover for themselves the cause of the difficulty. Warm 
air is lighter than cold air, and the lighted fire heats 
the air in the stove passages and in the pipe, causing 
it to rise. The colder air of the room rushes into the 
stove to supply the place of the ascending air. and 
causes the draft. If there are no obstacles to this 
heated air upward through the chimney, the stove 
must “draw” just as surely as water must run down 
hill. The local causes of a poor draft may be men¬ 
tioned as follows: 
1. Filling of the stove passages with soot or ashes. 
Stoves need cleaning more or less frequently accord¬ 
ing to the fuel burned, pine wood being the worst to 
clog and hard coal the least. 2. A crack or hole in 
the stove box or a missing piece of mica in a door, 
allowing the supplying air to pass Into the stove 
without being heated. 3. The filling of the pipe or 
chimney with soot. 4. Pipe getting shoved into the 
chimney too far. 5. Other and shorter pipes enter¬ 
ing the same chimney. A cut-off fixed in the other 
pipe near the chimney is sometimes necessary, tl. 
The shape of the orifice of the chimney or its posi¬ 
tion in relation to any surrounding objects has been 
known to be the cause of a defective draft. If it is 
thought that whirling wind causes a reversed draft s 
cowl can be put on the chimney, which is simply a 
cone of metal surrounding the flue, over whose vent, 
and a short distance above it, is sustained a disk of 
metal. If the wind blows from any point its effect 
on striking this conical surface is to strike upward 
and solicit an upward air current in the flue. 
It is true, as your correspondent says, that differ¬ 
ent stoves have different powers of draft when at¬ 
tached to the same pipe and chimney. The old-fash¬ 
ioned wood heater, where the air passes through 
the fire box directly up the pipe, has a forcible draft, 
but a larger percentage of the heat is Ipst. In stoves 
where the heated air is made to pass by winding 
passages for heating ovens, etc., much of the force of 
the draft is lost by friction; indeed, this feature of 
stoves may be so pronounced in some instances as to 
be a defect when the chimney is low, and cause 
trouble with smoke when everything is open. A 
chimney 20 feet high, however, with clear passage 
ought to furnish a good draft for any stove when 
things are all right g. davis. 
A NEW ENGLAND APPLE CROP. 
The Mirror and Farmer of Manchester, N. H., re¬ 
cently took The R. N.-Y.’s article describing J. H. 
Hale’s new peach orchard, added a few lines here and 
there and printed it as an original editorial! We 
desire to give the Mirror and Farmer credit for the 
following facts about the apple orchard of Gov. N. J. 
Bachelder: 
This orchard contains less than two acres of land and 
less than 75 trees in number. These trees yielded this 
year 340 barrels of mixed apples that sold on the trees 
for $1 a barrel or $340. The crop upon these trees has 
been sold on the trees for nine successive years for $950, 
or over $100 a year for the entire period. The trees are 
now about in their prime, having been set 25 years. The 
outlay during this period of nine years has not exceeded 
$100, which leaves a good income from less than two 
acres of land, with the orchard in better condition than 
before. 
It seems that this orchard is 25 years old. During 
the past nine years it has been manured with stable 
manure twice and has been well pruned. It has not 
been sprayed or cultivated. As the Mirror and Farmer 
well says: 
If a net profit of about $50 an acre for a series of nine 
years had been realized in the orange business of Florida 
it would have been so prominently advertised by the 
owners of orchards for sale that New England capital 
would have gone there as freely as it has been sent 
away on invitations to far less inviting fields for invest¬ 
ment in the past. Such advertising well placed would 
have sold thousands of acres of land in any section of 
the country that could be recommended as similar in 
condition. 
Few if anj" good bearing apple orchards are offered 
for sale, because they pay too well. We fully believe 
that many acres of rough northern mountain land 
can be planted in apple and peach so as to yield a 
good income and make a permanent investment. That 
is what we are trying to do on our farm. 
SPRING VETCH IN OREGON. 
I was much interested in the vetch article on page 
C91. Our common vetch, Vicia sativa, was introduced 
to me by the officers of our experiment station about 
12 years ago. I believe Prof. George Coote was almost 
the introducer in this region, although a number of 
our Grangers took up its cultivation before I came to 
the State. I have grown it in increasing quantity ever 
since beginning, and have also grown the Hairy vetch. 
Whatever the Hairy vetch will do in any respect, the 
Spring vetch will do in a greater degree here. Horses, 
cattle, hogs and poultry will leave any other feed for 
it. It will loosen and enrich land like a coat of ma¬ 
nure. It is a sure crop, everywhere, and a heavy 
yielder, both of hay and seed. While it requires more 
careful management than most crops, it does not re¬ 
quire more work. It cannot be pastured to advantage 
until after haying. From a little over two acres I cut 
and fed about 600 pounds a day for 70 days, and then 
had about one ton to the acre of hay. It was sown early 
on rich ground, and cutting began the second week in 
April. On the same piece, another year, when not 
cut green, I have measured separate vetch plants 12 
feet long and the average of the field was probably 
eight feet. This year, a very dry year for Oregon, 
40 acres of poor hill land yielded two good loads 
per acre on a 16-foot rack. Dr. James Withycombe, 
director of our experiment station, tells me that cut 
early and well cured, it is about equal, pound for 
pound, to the poorer grades of bran. Two or three 
years of vetch growing will double the wheat yield. 
But the last year must be a hay crop and be followed 
by a month of pasturing, or the aftermath will seed 
the land, and millers know of no successful means: of 
separating wheat and vetches. h. l. f. 
Corvallis, Oregon. 
