34 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 20 
HOW CHARCOAL IS MADE. 
Will you describe the process of making charcoal? 
About how fine should the wood be chopped, and what 
kinds ot wood are best? Should It be dry or green? 
Warsaw. Mo. r. c. s 
The easiest method of making charcoal is in pits, 
that is, heaps of the wood made 12 or 15 feet in diam¬ 
eter and 10 feet higa. A stout role is set upright in 
tae ground to mark the center of the pit or heap of 
wood. Generally cord wood four feet long, and part 
of it split so as to fill in between the larger pieces to 
make the heap compact, is used, and a common size 
of pit is 40 cords, which will make 1,500 bushels of 
coal. The wood is set up, beginning in the center, 
and standing on end, sloping a little to the center, 
so as to stand firmly. The first layer being laid, and 
firmly built, the second is put on top of it, still pre¬ 
serving the chimney in the center, which is filled with 
dry wood, and sloping more to the center. The slope 
is made by placing the butt ends of the wood to the 
bottom, and thus the least vacancies are made, and 
the wood is kept compact. The third layer is laid 
almost flat, yet keeping up the rounded form of a 
flat cone. Some kindling is mixed in with the heap, 
to draw the fire all through equally. When the heap 
is laid the top is finished off with small stuff and 
chips, and made as close and even as possible. Then 
the whole heap is covered with damp leaves, raked up 
in the woods, or moss or sods, or damp straw, several 
inches thick, and this is covered with loamy soil, 
beaten firmly with the back of the shovel. Then holes 
are made all round the heap, six feet or so apart, in 
three rows, from the bottom to the top nearly, to 
supply air. The center pole is then drawn out, thus 
leaving a chimney, down which red-hot live coals 
are dropped in sufficient quantity to set the kindling 
on fire. As soon as the fire is started sufficiently, the 
top is closed, and this draws the fire towards the 
outer part of the heap, where the air holes are made 
in the covering. 
The fire gradually works it way, smouldering, only 
charring, but not burning the wood, until the 
red heat approaches the circumference, which 
is noted by the appearance of the redness as 
seen at night and the escape of smoke from 
the air holes. When the fire has completely taken 
hold of the wood, the air holes are closed one by 
one, as may be found necessary. They need clos¬ 
ing first on the windward side, to which the air in 
fullest supply draws the fire, and just here comes in 
the skill of the burner to avoid wasting wood by burn- 
it and making ashes instead of coal. As soon as the 
pit is all on fire, the draft-holes are closed, and the 
wood slowly chars, shrinking as it does so, and this 
causes the pit to settle in places. The burner, with a 
slender iron rod, feels the pit, and notices how 
the coal is making, and if the wood is not charring 
aright small air-holes are made to draw the fire, 
which spreads the air supply. The wood, being 
charred, shrinks, and the burner takes care to beat 
down the covering wherever hollows are making, with 
the back of the shovel, to keep the pit from caving in 
and burning up. By and by the pit begins to look 
like an old battered wool hat, no longer a smooth 
cone, but with hollows in the sides, and the top sunk 
in. This is the critical part of the work, to avoid ir¬ 
regular settling, and burning up of the coal. By and 
by the pit has settled down m half the size, and the 
burner with his sharp iron prod, feels that the coal 
is made. When the pit is beaten down closely, fresh 
earth is thrown on, and every oreath of air that might 
reach the fire is stopped. By and by the coal is 
cooled, and is raked out around the bottom with long- 
tooth iron rakes with great care, to avoid starting up 
the fire again. Water is kept close at hand to quench 
any fire that might rekindle, and ao the coal is raked 
out it is left, to be sure there is no fire in it, when it 
is removed to the storage place, or the pu may be 
left until the coal is wanted for use. 
Charcoal, just the same as stone coal, is liable to 
ferment or oxidize by absorption of oxygen from the 
air, and the chemical union of tue carbon and oxygen 
produces heat sufficient to start combustion in the 
mass of charcoal. Many kilns might thus take fire in 
this way, or indeed the large sheds in which charcoal 
is stored might, with disastrous results, so that when 
the coal is made great care is needed to keep u. until 
it has absorbed slowly ana safely all the oxygen it 
will. Charcoal is also made in iron kilns of the 
shape of a bee-hive, and holding 70 or 100 cords of 
four-foot wood. Other kilns of still larger size are 
made of brick in the form of a rectangle, twice as 
long as wide, and 20 feet high, in each of which 10,000 
bushels of coal may be made at once. The top of this 
kind of kiln is arched over, and strengthened by iron 
cross bars. 
Charcoal may be made of any kind of wood; the 
hard woods make the best. Tamarack is the best of 
the soft woods, hemlock comes next, and pine last of 
all. Willow makes the finest of all charcoal, which 
is used for making gunpowder. Charcoal is exceed¬ 
ingly greedy for oxygen, and this property makes it 
of great value for various uses, especially as a de¬ 
odorizing agent, this effect depending on its greedi¬ 
ness for oxygen, of which it will absorb nine times 
its bulk. Of ammonia it absorbs 90 times its bulk, 
and 35 times its bulk of carbonic acid. This won¬ 
derful absorptive energy gives it great value as an 
antiseptic, and for removing foul gases, carbonic acid, 
chiefly from deep wells, and also for use in surgery in 
cleansing foul ulcers and aiding in the curing of 
wounds. Its absorptive energy is due to the fact that 
it is the most porous of all substances, one cubic inch 
of it having been computed by Liebig to have a super¬ 
ficial area of its pores of 100 square feet. This abil¬ 
ity to absorb and condense gases and thus accumu¬ 
late heat makes it a dangerous material to keep in 
any place where it will lie in close bulk in large 
quantity. At the same time, it is one of the most use¬ 
ful things to have about a house for deodorizing cess¬ 
pools, purifying cisterns of rain water or wells, or for 
preserving meat, or sweetening frowsy refrigerators 
or dairy utensils. Even tainted meat of any kind will 
be sweetened and restored to usefulness by covering it 
with finely broken charcoal for an hour or two. 
_ h. s. 
MORE ABOUT KNOTTY FRUIT. 
CURCULIO AND OTHER ENEMIES.—I am in¬ 
clined to think that the common answer in regard 
to the cause of knotty fruit is, in the main, correct. 
Of course, there are other injuries beside that of cur- 
culio, which may bring this aoout, but so far 
HOW THE BOX IS OPERATED. Flo. 13. 
as I have observed, the work of the curculio 
seems to be by far the most common cause. I 
have have found it very troublesome both in Ne¬ 
braska and in Rhode Island, though in Nebraska the 
injury is the w -rk of the Apple curculio, while in 
Rhode Island it is the work of the Plum curculio. I 
have not observed closely on pears, but with apples 
the injury often seems to produce a thread of hard 
tissue extending into the fruit; although in very many 
cases the egg apparently fails to develop. The fol¬ 
lowing words -re quoted from the forthcoming report 
of the Rhode Island Experiment Station; the state¬ 
ment having been made with reference to a neglected 
apple orchard under treatment: “The curculio is 
everywhere in evidence. This is one of the most 
troublesome enemies of the apple grower, and one 
which as yet we do not know very well how to com¬ 
bat. Its ravages merit careful study and experi¬ 
ment.” f. w. CARD. 
Rhode Island Exp. Station. 
OPEN UP THE HEADS.—It has been my observa¬ 
tion that the principal causes of knotty apples are 
the Apple and the Plum curculio. Both of thesa pests 
are of serious economic importance in Delaware, in 
orchards that are not thoroughly pruned and sprayed. 
It is the experience of the growers who begin to spray 
with arsenites and Bordeaux Mixture before the buds 
expand, and continue the treatment until after the 
blossoms fall, that knotty fruit is of comparatively 
little importance. It has been my observation that 
there is a larger proportion of knotty fruit in trees 
with dense tops, in which light, air, or Paris-green 
cannot have free access. Another type of knotty fruit 
that I have noticed is confined to some varieties more 
than to others. It is characterized by hard, usually 
dark-colored spots, which extend from the skin to the 
core, but which do not seriously distort the fruit; or 
the hard spots may be localized in the flesh, or just 
beneath the skin. The affected fruit is usually in¬ 
sipid, or even bitterish. This latter trouble is com¬ 
mon to the Northern Spy, Lankford, sometimes Bald¬ 
win and others. I do not know the cause of these lat¬ 
ter troubles. They do not seem to be associated with 
parasitical organisms, but appear to have an origin 
in a mechanical irritation, which, like frost injury in 
small apples and pears, is progressive as the fruit de¬ 
velops. G. HAROLD POWELL. 
Delaware Exp. Station. 
STORING CELERY FOR HOME USE. 
Ruralisms has repeatedly protested in past years 
against the custom of cutting asparagus below the 
soil surface, claiming that the bleached portion is 
tough and inferior in quality, only the growth above 
ground being really desirable. As we all know, as¬ 
paragus, as found in our markets, will average five or 
six inches of almost inedible underground growth to 
one of well-flavored tip. The remedy is, of course, 
to cut or break the stalks above the surface, when 
about six inches high, and the whole will then cook 
tender and of excellent flavor. Desirable as this prac¬ 
tice is to those who grow their own asparagus, the 
markets will have none of it, as buyers are accus¬ 
tomed to the leathery white bunches with their 
skimpy edible tips, and refuse to consider any de¬ 
parture from the standard. 
On the Rural Grounds we have a growing dislike to 
celery bleached in contact with the soil, though it is 
less objectionable than underground asparagus. For 
a number of years our celery has been grown with 
cultivation as level as cabbage or lettuce, the leaves 
being allowed to sprawl at will until severe frost is 
feared, when it is slightly “handled,” or drawn to¬ 
gether, and enough soil hoed around the plants to 
keep the stems in place. When taken up we lift with 
as much earth as will adhere to the roots, and pack 
closely on the earth floor in the coolest place in the 
cellar, in beds four or five feet wide. This cellar is 
too light and warm for the best results, as it con¬ 
tains a hot-water furnace, and is also used for the 
storage of dry bulbs, yet we never fail to secure a 
crisp and succulent new growth from the center, per¬ 
fectly clean and daintily bleached, within a few 
weeks from the time the green and stocky clumps are 
lifted. The outdoor leaves are absorbed, and shrivel 
into yellow and brown shreds in the effort to supply 
the new growth with nourishment. It is necessary 
to water the soil from time to time, as it is evapo¬ 
rated. This should be done without wetting the 
foliage, if possible, as decay will result if the 
“hearts” or growing centers are soaked. The celery 
is thus accessible at all times, and a few hours before 
being served it may be taken out, trimmed, and par¬ 
tially covered with cold water. All who try it in this 
way agree that it is much superior to the earthy- 
flavored and often rusty and defective stalks that are 
bleached by banking up or covering in trenches. 
The high grade celery from Michigan and California 
is prepared for market in a somewhat similar man¬ 
ner, by being packed on the earthen floor of sheds or 
buildings constructed for the purpose. Many failures 
in the domestic storing of celery in cellars result from 
the practice of banking the celery as it grows, thus 
causing a weak and spindling growth that is unable 
to store enough vitality in the rootstock to support a 
vigorous new development when moved into partial 
darkness. By picking out the most advanced heads 
and keeping the remainder as backward as possible, 
we have celery from January to the middle of March, 
of better quality than can generally be found in the 
markets. We find Giant Pascal, New Rose, and Win¬ 
ter Queen the best varieties for cellar storage. There 
is nothing essentially new in this method, except pos¬ 
sibly the absolutely level culture, by which a great 
reserve of vitality is developed in the thick root¬ 
stocks. W V T,- 
Prof. Shepard, of the Dakota Experiment Station, says 
that a two-per-cent solution of bluestone or copper sul¬ 
phate will destroy mustard without injuring the grain. 
Wheatfields in the Northwest are largely infested with 
mustard, and if some scheme for applying the blue vitrol 
cheaply can be devised, it will undoubtedly prove helpful 
to wheat farmers. 
Rhubarb Forcing.— Having watched the reports of 
rhubarb forcing, I proposed to try my luck with it. I 
built a cellar 14x32 feet, with pitch roof of chestnut poles, 
on which I put six inches of coarse horse manure with 
from six to eight Inches soil on that, turfed over with 
stiff sod to keep from washing. The roots were plowed 
out December 5, frozen solid, and placed in the cellar 
from eight to 10 inches apart each way. I have a small 
wood stove in the cellar, and keep a fire going steadily. 
The stalks have made a fine growth, having them at this 
writing (January 2) eight inches high. The cellar holds 
450 roots. A> H> 
Long Island. 
Orchards in Sod.— Prof. Green’s report to the Ohio 
Horticultural Society, concerning the success of growing 
trees in sod, Is certainly encouraging for this steep coun¬ 
try, where it is not safe to plow on account of washing. 
Trees hoed around, as Prof. Green’s, have certainly made 
a fine growth the past dry season on these mountains 
We have clover in the orchard, and the question now 
comes as to how soon we dare put sheep in there to turn 
that clover into what Prof. Roberts would call tender 
nitrogen, so that the trees may use it. The apple trees 
are one and two years planted. r. l. mulford. 
Blowing Rock, N. C. 
