866 
December 19 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
I 
be nailed together, which is done rapidly by expert 
hands. One must see a place of this sort in order to 
realize the skill and energy requii'ed to dig, clean and 
pack a carload of celery. To get an idea of what a 
carload means I may state that on one Monday Mr. 
Niles sent one carload of 111 cases—the product of 
one acre of land. This carload brought $521 net cash! 
It was of fine quality and the market happened to be 
bare. _ u. w. c. 
A BACKWOODS CARDEN. 
Our house is made of unhewn logs. We live in the 
backwoods; we have to go 20 miles for a spool of 
thread. In Fig. 318, first page, the fiowers by the cat 
are a miscellaneous lot, poppies. Salvias, nasturtiums 
and morning-glories. The flowers in front of the 
Gladioli are Dianthus or pinks. By the window is a 
matrimony vine, with a row of sweet peas in front; 
hardy Phlox at end of Gladioli. The picture only 
shows a part of the garden; Dahlias, hollyhocks. Pe¬ 
tunias, foxgloves and such flowers are at end of house. 
Washington, mrs. a. a. piper. 
AUTOMATIC WATER BUCKETS FOR 
CATTLE. 
A friend told us to get white enamel basins for 
'equipping an automatic stable watering device, for 
the reason that we could see when the inside of the 
■basin was dirty. However, we had already put in 
the pljain cast-iron basin and the advice was too late 
whatever its merit. The term “automatic,” as ap¬ 
plied to human contrivances, does not mean absolute 
self-care. Self-watering devices will foul with drib¬ 
lets of fodder and the natural slime accumulation of 
water. This call,s for periodical cleaning. Cleaning 
is easy. Like many other reluctant small jobs, it is 
the getting at it or remembering it at a convenient 
season that tries the one responsible. 
Last week I took a scrubbing brush, a quart cup 
and a pail, for the purpose of cleaning out 10 basins. 
The scrubbing brush was all right, but the quart cup 
was too big for its business and wouldn’t condescend 
to lower itself into the bottom of the basin where it 
was most needed. A rubber hose was substituted 
which woul(d siphon the dirty water into a pail after 
a vigorous use of the brush. The chief drawback to 
manipulating the siphon lay in the difficulty of suck¬ 
ing through the hose and then dodging the flow. A 
later discussion with my wife about certain hygienic 
and sanitary aspects of the operation showed me the 
advisability of doing first and asking afterwards. This 
trouble can all be obviated where there is an emptying 
plug in the basin or bottom connection in the pipe 
system where all can be drained. This latter should 
be arranged in either case then by unscrewing the 
valves the whole system can be drawn off. We put in 
10 basins at a total cash outlay of $26.18, as follows, 
doing the work ourselves: 
10 basins . $12.00 
124V2 feet %-inch galvanized iron pipe at cents. 9.34 
Float valve . 1.50 
11 tees at 10 cents. 1.10 
8 % elbows at eight cents. 04 
1 union . 25 
1 pair lock nuts. .10 
1 oil barrel used as tank..50 
Freight, etc.75 
Total .$26.18 
The water was already in the barn ready for con¬ 
nection. 
Does it pay? The rash statement is sometimes 
made that such and such an investment pays for it¬ 
self in a year. Now I should not like to put in new 
buckets and piping every year. But as far as the cash 
outlay is concerned I believe we have got it back in 
a year’s time. Although we weigh our millT every day 
in order to keep a finger on the pulse of the dairy, I 
should not like to attempt to figure out just what in¬ 
crease a year’s use of buckets gives us over any pre¬ 
vious year when we did not use them, as is so ac¬ 
curately or precisely rather, figured out in the water- 
bucket circulars. But after all the discounts the 
water bucket is a good thing. For one thing it elimi¬ 
nates the watering question from the regular chores. 
Every dairyman knows what that means. It does not, 
of course, eliminate the care of the watering system 
from the general oversight of the stable management, 
but the twice-a-day care, in this way or that way, that 
each cow gets what water she wants at a suitable 
time and temperature is off the mind and out of the 
routine. 
We value the system nearly as much for Summer 
V' as for Winter, as the cows stay in the stable all 
night and during a hot Summer night can drink at 
will. It has been instructive to note that the cows 
are most thirsty after a grain feed and then drink 
freely, more so, as it seems, than after eating hay, 
although this may be a mistake of observation on ac¬ 
count of the longer time taken in eating the hay. Our 
cattle go out nearly every pleasant day in Winter in 
a field back of the barn where there is a running 
stream of pure water, but when turned out they do 
not rush down to the brook and distend their 
paunches with ice water, leaving their liquid and solid 
droppings where they are least needed in return. We 
are satisfied that the basins are a good investment. 
E. C. BIRGE. 
CHARCOAL BURNING. 
I was much interested last Summer in visiting the 
charcoal camps of southern New Hampshire, and in 
listening to the description of the old-fashioned way 
in which this industry is there carried on. In fact, 
the camp oftenest visited was one in which my great¬ 
grandfather had “coaled” for many years, and which 
is now used by my father’s cousin. The method of 
CHARCOAL PITS. Fio. 319. 
“setting up” a pit was first described. Sticks of pine, 
oak, birch, alder or hemlock are cut into pieces of 
about seven feet in length and set up, as in Fig. 320. 
Upon these sticks are placed shorter ones, while at 
the top is a cylindrical opening. The whole structure 
is then covered with layers of sweet fern, or a similar 
wrapping, in order to prevent the dirt, which is after¬ 
wards put on, from sifting through. This process bf 
“dusting” is followed as far as the ‘‘shoulder’’ of the 
pit, and from there up the structure is tilrfed. Vent 
holes are made in the sides of the pit to act as drafts. 
They are made in two rows, a foot or two apart, and 
are opened or closed according to the direction of the 
wind. Birch bark, or some other inflammable ma¬ 
terial is thrust into the opening at the top, and the 
whole pit will gradually be on fire. The opening is 
covered and the pit must be watched day and night to 
jireveni an outbreak. If blue smoke is seen it is an 
indication that at that point danger must be looked 
for. If not attended to, a hole will be made, and the 
whole structure will burn rapidly. For this purpose 
shorter pieces of wood are kept on hand and thrust 
into the aperture, then the whole covered as before. 
The boy in Fig. 319 is evidently chopping these pieces 
of wood. Behind him is a pit which has been burning 
for some time. 
After the pit has been burning for a week or 10 days 
(hard wood requires a longer time than does pine), 
the process of “drawing” the coal begins. Of course 
the pit has settled, so that it now is nowhere near its 
former size. The “coalers” with large rakes, draw the 
coal into concentric circles, a foot or two apart. The 
object of this is to allow the fire to burn entirely out 
of the coal, and it must be watched as closely as 
c:ELERV cutting attachment. Fig. 321. See First Page 
before; in fact, it must be watched all night. Buckets 
of water are kept on hand and from time to time the 
liquid is used to extinguish fire. After the coal is 
cooled thoroughly it is placed in a rough shelter 
made of logs or other coarse material. For this 
purpose a utensil in shape like a huge dust¬ 
pan is employed. Now the coal Is ready to 
be marketed. In olden times it used to be cried 
through the streets, and sold from house to house, or 
carried directly in large wagonloads to Newburyport 
or Portsmouth. Now it is more frequently sent by 
carloads. “Coaling” is quite a profitable business. The 
average pit yields about 1,000 bushels, and this is sold 
for from 15 to 20 cents per bushel, according to the 
quality of the coal. Sometimes it is sold by the cord. 
Alder makes the best coal for forging as it gives an 
even heat. Hemlock is liked the least, because of its 
tendency to snap. Charcoal burners are a very happy 
set of men. At night the camp rings with mirth and 
jollity. Stories are told, songs sung, and when one is 
hungry eggs are boiled, potatoes and coim roasted, and 
occasionally in the day time the woods are foraged for 
toothsome gray squirrels or partridges. 
Massachusetts. .m. o. x’Oore. 
BORDEAUX MIXTURE FOR MELON BLIGHT 
Prof. E. R. Bennett, of the Connecticut Experiment 
Station, reports an experiment which goes to show 
that Melon blight can be controlled. 
“Of two equal plots of cucumbers, the one sprayed 
with Bordeaux yielded more than twice as many fruits 
as the one unsprayed. By September 15 the unsprayed 
plot had turned yellow and stopped bearing, while a 
month later, when the frost killed all plants, the 
sprayed plants were in good foliage, and were still 
blossoming and bearing fruit. Unquestionably, tho 
matter of controlling the blight is simply a question 
of thorough and early spraying.” 
When asked how the work was done Prof. Bennett 
replies: 
“We used the common knapsack spray pump and 
the Vermorel nozzle. We made no attempt to spray the 
underside of the vines. We thought of attempting 
this, but decided that an experiment of that kind, even 
though successful, would not be practical as in work 
on a large scale it would be practically Impossible to 
do the work in that way. We simply sprayed from 
above with the formula 4-4-40, making sure each time 
that oUr mixture was neutral, it doeis not seem from 
our expehiments that spraying the underside is es¬ 
sential. 'To be sure, we found traces of the bljght on 
the sprayed plants, but at the time the frost killed 
the vines, October 15, it had done no practical dam¬ 
age. we think that thorough spraying from above, 
with any good spraying outfit and Vermorel nozzles, 
will do the work for either a small gardener or the 
iarge grower. We had a few vines affected with a 
bacterial blight. Spraying can do no possible good 
with this blight. As soon as this appeared we de¬ 
stroyed the vines. Whether this bacterial blight Is 
causing trouble in other places we do not know, al¬ 
though from our investigations in this State we find 
that all trouble comes from the fungous blight. In 
our investigations we have found quite a number of 
men who have tried Bordeaux, and claim that it did 
not do their work; but in nearly every case we found 
that they did not begin until the blight appeared, and 
then went at it in a half-hearted way. This kind of 
spraying is of no possible use. If blight is to be con¬ 
trolled, spraying must be done thoroughly as soon 
as the first leaves of the plants appear, and must be 
followed up for at least six or seven weeks,” 
FEEDING FAT INTO MILK. 
In spite of all that our good scientific men have said 
and WTitten on our inability to feed fat into milk the 
great majority of farmers don’t believe it, as is shown 
by the fact that almost every institute we attend this 
question is sure to pop up before the close of the meet¬ 
ing. We think this question is asked by persons who 
confuse the real facts with something else. One man 
gets up and the crowd sides with him: 
“Do you suppose I’ll get the same milk whether I 
feed turnips or cornmeal?’* . 
That’s a “sticker” he thinks. He knows that the 
milk will be of a different color and taste, and color 
and taste to him mean percentage of fat. Another man 
will say that “You don’t think bran will throw cream 
like gluten meal do you?” This man depends upon 
quantity of cream rather than percentage of fat. Only 
to-day we were asked: 
“You don’t think gluten will make cream like cot¬ 
ton-seed meal?” 
Milk may turn out 15 per cent cream or 30 per cent 
cream but that doesn’t tell how much fat there is 
in it. Milk may be white as chalk and yet have more 
butter fat in it than some that is yellow as gold. Too 
many farmers have been fooled by the cow that gave 
gplden-colored milk with precious little butter fat in 
iti Color and taste are no sure indications of butter 
■fat, but to a great many men quality (they imagine 
they are thinking of butter fat at the time) as evi¬ 
denced by taste and color determines the value of 
milk. There are other men who think that feed does 
change it because when they feed certain feeds they 
get more butter. The reason was the feeds were of 
better quality and out of them the cows were able to 
produce more milk containing the same per cent of 
fat, therefore more butter; but they didn’t as they 
suppose feed fat into milk. 
Certain feeds will produce a high colored cream and 
these feeds find favor with many farmers because they 
think this high color indicates butter fat. Feed the 
cow food that is palatable and healthful and at the 
tsame time produces the largest amount of milk at 
least expense, and never mind the color or ta£t,e as far 
^as fat is concerned. If the cow is a five per cent cow 
she will give that kind of milk, and if she was born a 
three pei cent cow you will have to work unusually 
hard to get her in the five per cent list. 
H. G. MAJ*C11ES1ER. 
