8o2 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
going till the potatoes were up nicely. Then the 
weeder, first lengthways and then across the rows. 
In the six weeks from May 1 to June 15, we went 
through five times with the cultivator and six times 
with the weeder. The last time w'e used a Planet, 
Jr., one-horse cultivator with two wide sweeps on and 
thoroughly cleaned the middles. Soon after, the 
vines went down, so we could not see the rows, and 
we had to let them go. We did not do any spraying, 
as there were no signs of bugs, and the blight does 
not bother us here. It seemed from the start that the 
weather had been made to order, and as we had done 
our part, I decided that if I was ever to get the 
coveted 300 bushels this was the time. We began to 
dig and throw on the local market about June 20, and 
from then on we dug and sold steadily till Winter, 
^bout five acres was lost by an overfiow from the 
creek, and the 35 acres remaining made, as near as 
we could figure, 11,000 bu.=hels; eight acres of White 
Chios made 3,400 bushels, and one acre which we had 
picked out as the best one made 577. We were ship¬ 
ping to Chicago at the time, and as they were weighed 
into the car we had a good chance to get the exact 
yield. We marked off the acre and went for them. 
I saw from the first that we were in for a big yield, 
for the track behind the digger Looked as though the 
end gate had fallen out of a load of potatoes, but I 
was a little surprised at night when the scale tickets 
/showed the 577 bushels. They were shipped to Chi¬ 
cago and sol<d for 45 cents, topping the market by 
three cents; netted me 27 cents; cost of digging and 
loading about three cents per bushel. 
This was the third consecutive crop of potatoes on 
the land, and preVious to that it had grown six crops 
of corn. Before that it was in pasture. After the 
potatoes were off I sowed turnips and let them lie on 
the ground all last Winter. I plowed for potatoes 
last Spring, and got a yield of about 200 bushels on 
that particular strip. Rest of the field made from 
that down to 100. This is something of a come-down 
after last year, but we are consoled by the fact that 
we are getting 80 cents for them. Why were they 
not as good as last year? Well, the weather clerk 
was to blame. It rained for a month steady just after 
they came up, and they got so weedy we could hardly 
see the rows. Then it turned so dry the ground 
baked hard. We were lucky to come off as well. 
Will the 500 bushels ever come again? I hope so. 
What has been done once can be done again. The 
land is as good as it ever was, and I have a nice 
green cover of rye on it now getting ready to be 
plowed under in the Spring. I am laying in a car¬ 
load of Red River seed again, and will be ready for 
business as soon as the frost is out. 
Why not a late potato like the Carman instead of 
all early ones? Too dry in July and August. There 
is always plenty of rain up till the last of June, and 
the extra earlles like White Ohio, make their crop 
by then. Carman would be filling in August and get 
caught three times out of four. Why not sow Crim¬ 
son clover to be plowed under instead of rye? Well, 
I am trying five acres of it, but I fear it will not 
stand our dry cold Winters. I failed once with it. 
Why iis the Red River grown seed better than what 
I grow? I don’t know. It certainly is. It doesn’t 
look any better than mine, but it keeps better, comes 
quicker and grows stronger. Makes less potatoes to 
the hilj, but all big ones. 
What about scab? I dip all the seed before cut¬ 
ting, whether it looks scabby or not. It costs about a 
cent a bushel and pays big dividends. They are 
dumped into a big long tank containing the solution 
and shoveled out with a wire scoop. How long can 
potatoes be grown on the same ground? I do not 
know. Part of mine has been in potatoes steadily 
for seven years, and seems to be as good as ever. 
Does any other crop pay as well? Yes, late cabbage 
paid me better this year. I will telJ about it next 
HENRY FIELD. 
Page Co., Iowa._ 
THAT “NOVEL POWER WINDMILL." 
On page 738 we printed a picture of a power mill on a 
barn at Scipio, N. Y. There have been a number of 
questions about this mill, and the owner answers some 
of them here: 
One of these mills properly built and kept painted 
wiil do heavy work and last as long as the barn that 
it is on, with only an expense for oil. I am speak¬ 
ing of windmills from actual experience. I have had 
one wooden-face 10-foot wheel and two 14-f; ot power 
steel mills wrecked on this farm. There are no 
patents on the mill I describe, and after the upright 
shafting, boxes, spiders and a few smail irons any 
good carpenter could built it, as it is nearly all, wood. 
Standing on end like a top it has no heavy friction 
to overcome, and will run in the lightest wind. It 
could be built any width or height to suit. The one 
we had would easily develop eight horse power, and 
I think with heavier springs to hold it in the wind 
it would have been equal to 10-horse power or more. 
There used to be a mill made in the West a little 
like this, except that the inner wheel was solid. 
Cups did not open or shut. The deflecting boards 
opened and shut, which I do not think would be as 
good, as the sleet and snow must bother sometimes. 
Besides the other good qualities of this mill it was 
much more ornamental than any modern millp. Few 
people who saw this mill knew at first that it was 
anything more than a cupola or ventilator, and when 
it was doing heavy work it was noiseless. 
E. s. A. 
THE BOX PACKAGE FOR APPLES. 
Our apple crop In this section is about an average one, 
but the question confronts us what to do with it. Bar¬ 
rels for packing are not to be had at any price, and our 
coopers tell us they cannot get stock to make them 
from any place, and boxes have not yet come into use 
“.SOUTH SIDE” APPLE BOX. Fig. 300. 
for that purpose. Some buyers are paying 50 cents per 
100 and shipping in refrigerator cars to cold storage 
houses, taking nothing in size under 2^ inches in diameter. 
Heretofore two inches has been the limit. Drops and 
seconds arc bringing 20 cents per 100 for drying, etc. The 
situation seems to be a strange and unusual one. Here¬ 
tofore the apple crop has been an easy one to handle 
and a money maker; this year quite the reverse. We 
think of putting ours in the cellar and holding for a 
better market later on and perhaps shipping in boxes. 
We have material and machinery to cut out the stuff, but 
do not know the right size to sell best. Could you give 
us any light on the subject, and thus help us out? 
Erie Co., O. E. M. a. 
A number of apple boxes of various sizes and shapes 
are on the market. The Oregon box shown at bottom 
of thi's page has been previously described. It is 2014- 
xllx9% Inches inside. The ends are three-fourths inch 
and the sides one-fourth inch material. A box in 
which apples come from Colorado and New Mexico is 
a little shorter and deeper, but of about the .same 
capacity. The South Side Manufacturing Co., of Pet¬ 
ersburg, Va., is making a new box, shown at Pig. 300. 
It holds a little more than a bushelk A special feat¬ 
ure is the panel ends. These make the package 
lighter and stronger than if the ends were of one 
solid thick piece, the panels acting as braces and 
making convenient handles. The best way to get these 
boxes is in the form of shcoks. They a e easily pu: 
together by anyone who can handle hammer and 
nails. Making boxes is entirely different from put¬ 
ting barrels together. We never recommend anyone 
to attempt this unless he has had some experience 
at cooperage business, as barrel staves are as con¬ 
trary things as one can imagine. Box shocks may 
be stored in some clean place and take but little room. 
Now that eastern manufacturers are getting into the 
apple-box business we expect to se the odd-size mon¬ 
grel boxes displaced by something nearer uniform, 
though it may take several seasons to learn just what 
size and form are best adapted to our needs. The 
form must be governed by convenience in storage, 
handling and shipment, and the size by the demand 
November 21 tj 
of the trade, which we believe is best satisfied by a 
buishel or a little over. The chances at present are 
that it win pay to hold the best of the apples and 
box them for Winter shipment. It will never do to 
put inferior apples in boxes. This is a new package 
in most markets, and more than one season may be 
required to make buyers familiar with it. The “bulk” 
shipment of fruit iis rarely satisfactory in the long 
run. If a man has a good lot of choice apples we 
would advise him to try the box shipment. There ^ 
may not be much in it the first season', but this pack¬ 
age is sure to come into use. 
SPRAYING TREES WITH KEROSENE. | 
Referring to the article by Prof. W. B. Alwood on 
page 707, I wish to ask if he deems it advisable to spray 
with kerosene alone this Fall as soon as most of the 
leaves have dropped, and then again next Spring before 
the buds push, so as to be sure of killing all the scale 
if possible? I Intend to spray the tops only with oil, and ! 
to scrape off the loose bark of the trunks and wash with I 
the lime, sulphur and potash mixture. Will it be safe ; 
to use kerosene on sweet and sour cherries and grapes ! 
in Spring before buds push if done carefully with a good 
pump and a nozzle? ' h. s. 
Germantown, N. Y. 
I do not advise spraying trees, either apple, sour 
or sweet cherries, with kerosene in the Autumn. In 
my opinion it is better to wash these trees with a 
solution of concentrated lye in the Autumn or eariy 
Winter, then follow with the kerosene spray just be¬ 
fore the buds push. The lye wash is made by dissolv¬ 
ing any good brand of concentrated lye in water until 
the same registers three degrees on the common 
Beaume acid spindle. This observation should be 
made when the solution is cold. Usually it requires 
six to eight pounds of lye to each 50 gallons of water 
to make the required strength. This solution should 
be applied to the trees so as thoroughly to drench 
them, and they will be thereby greatly cleansed of 
fungous growths, and the scale covering of the insect 
will be softened and corroded; then as stated above. 
I would apply the kerosene spray on still, bright days 
so as to moisten the entire tree from the tips of the 
twigs to the ground, but I would not use kerosene 
enough so that the same will fiow on the trunk or 
limbs. On apple trees we have been able to apply 
this treatment with perfect safety, and after seven 
years I am able to say that I have never injured trees 
when the application has been made in accordance 
with the above directions. 
As stated in my previous communication, we are 
experimenting quite largely in the preparation and 
application of the lime-sulphur wash, and I believe 
that we shall soon be abl^ to publish a method of 
preparing and handling this wash which will be prac¬ 
ticable even on small farms. There is no question 
in my mind but than I can more nearly eradicate the 
San Josd scale with the kerosene treatment as above 
outlined, than by any other treatment I have ever 
used; but on the other hand, the lime-sulphur wash 
will prove much safer in the hands of ordinary labor¬ 
ers. I have never used kerosene spray on grape¬ 
vines, and do not know what the result of such ap¬ 
plication would be. Not having had experience 1 
would advise against its use except in the most ten¬ 
tative manner until one has had the chance to ob¬ 
serve the results. w. b. alwood. 
DIGGING TREE HOLES WITH DYNAMITE. 
Will J. H. Hale tell us more about his plan of digging 
holes for tree planting with dynamite? Why does he 
want a big deep hole? 
Where it is soft, easy digging there is no necessity 
for it, and it can be done as cheaply by hand, but in 
a good many places a tree would come right along 
side of a stump or in among a lot of rocks, or in 
tough places where there is a lot of tree roots, and it 
was much easier to make the holes with dynamite. 
Just drive down a crowbar 18 or 20 inches, then with 
two or four ounces of dynamite, a cap and a little 
piece of fuse the whole tning i/s done in a minute; 
plenty of room to put in the tree and the earth thor¬ 
oughly pulverized all about underground. You ask 
what is the use of all this; I think the more mellow 
the ground can be underneath, the faster and better 
the new roots will spread and get hold of the food 
that is there available for them. 
Down in Georgia where there is a hard subsoil, I 
put out 35,000 peach trees laist Winter, and broke the 
land all up ’way down deep with a subsoil plow, and 
I purix)se to do the same on about 20,000 trees going 
out there this Fall. In California, in places where the 
soil is very hard, yet altogether free from rocks and 
stones, they have found it a decided advantage in 
putting in their orchard treos to break up the ground 
with dynamite before planting, and I am sure from 
long experience that I would rather pi,ant a tree in 
a hole much too large for it, ard :hen fill in with 
mellow earth, than a hole dug just large enough to 
let through the roots. That is why I like this dyna¬ 
mite idea, for there is a lot of earth that gets a pretty 
good shaking up, even though it is not thrown out, 
and it opens the way for tne roots to travel quickly 
all through their natural feeding ground. 
J, H. HALE. 
