1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER: 
Bone Ash for Fertilizer. 
H. TP. 8., Worcester, Mass.— I can get con¬ 
siderable quantities of burnt bone at a 
nominal price. Will it pay me to use it as 
a fertilizer, and for what crops is it best 
adapted? 
Ans. —Burnt bones or bone ash con¬ 
tain phosphoric acid and lime. The ni¬ 
trogen in the bone is lost in burning, 
and there is no potash. A ton of bone 
ash will average 700 pounds of phos¬ 
phoric acid and 900 pe-unds of lime. If 
used alone it will do most good on heavy 
clay soils inclined to be damp, and on 
grass or grain crops. We do not ad¬ 
vise the use of these one-sided fertilizers 
unless the farmer knows that the soil 
is in special need of the one or two ele¬ 
ments which they contain. Muriate of 
potash and nitrate of soda used with the 
bone ash would make a good mixture. 
Discouraged Apple Trees. 
J. J. B., Allentown, Pa .—In 1897, 1898 and 
1899, I planted fine, healthy, two-year-old 
apple trees on rich and naturally-drained 
soil. They start out nicely in Spring but 
most of them do not grow more than two 
to five inches of new wood in a season. I 
conclude to apply phosphoric acid and 
potash in the shape of muriate, to the roots 
of those of poor growth. When would you 
advise me to apply it, this Fall or next 
Spring? 
Ans. —There is surely something wrong 
with those apple trees, or the soil they 
are in. They should be making two feet 
or more of new growth on the leading 
branches. Muriate of potash and phos¬ 
phate of some kind will probably do 
them good. It would be my plan to put 
on these fertilizers this Fall and as soon 
as growth starts next Spring apply one 
pound of nitrate of soda aud as much of 
quick lime to each tree, scattering it 
well and working it in w>'th a cultivator 
or plow. H. e. v. D. 
Ashes from Acetylene Gas. 
T. C., Cayuga, Ind .—What is the value of 
carbide ashes made by lighting machines 
used by merchants? What fruit and vege¬ 
tables are they best suited for, and when 
should they be applied? 
Ans. —We have never examined the 
ashes derived as a waste in the manu¬ 
facture of acetylene gas, and can only 
give you the theoretical statement as to 
its value. The ashes should consist 
chiefly and practically wholly of calcium 
hydrate, or slaked lime. Lt is more than 
likely mixed with particles of carbon, 
as it has a grayish color. You know 
that in the manufacture of acetylene 
gas the calcium carbide is made first, 
namely, a combination of calcium and 
carbon, water is then added, and the 
gas consists of carbon, with a part of the 
water, whereas the remainder of the 
water combines with the lime, making 
the hydrate. I can see no good rea¬ 
son why it should not be as good as 
other slaked lime, provided it is used 
soon after being drawn from the tanks. 
E. B. VOOBHEES. 
Corn for Northern New England. 
J. n. R., Portland, Me.—Just after cutting 
silage corn last year I wrote The R. N.-Y. 
asking what variety of corn would be best 
for this latitude. The answer came that 
Sibley’s Pride of the North ought to be 
satisfactory here. Last Spring I wrote 
several dealers in seeds, and various other 
kinds were recommended. I planted under 
good conditions, Learning, Blount’s Mam¬ 
moth, Sibley’s Pride of the North, 40-ton 
Silo, Stowell’s Evergreen and a variety 
recommended by a neighbor. At the pres¬ 
ent time the Learning seems to have a 
good growth of stalk, and is nearer ma¬ 
turity than any except Pride of the North. 
This latter has about the appearance of 
Sanford, which we discarded last year for 
want of sufficient quantity to the acre. 
Blount’s Mammoth seems like Red Cob 
which, though yielding a large amount, is 
too late maturing here. We would like 
very much the experience of others, and 
will give our own report at cutting time 
if desired. We have over 20 acres in one 
field, and it is very cheering after so dry a 
Summer and such a light hay crop to walk 
through a lot of thrifty corn tasseling out 
10 to 14 feet tall. 
Ans. —Rural Thoroughbred Flint has 
proved very satisfactory with us this 
year. We shall be glad to hear from 
other New England readers as to varie¬ 
ties. 
Why Muskmelons Crack. 
C. C., Olens Falls, O .—What is the cause 
of the Hackensack muskmelons cracking 
open and rotting before they are ripe? Is 
there any way to stop it? 
Ans. —The cracking of muskmelons is 
usually ascribed to too much rain after 
the development of the melons has been 
checked by previous drought. It usual¬ 
ly affects thick-fleshed melons with a 
somewhat tender rind. The spongy 
flesh absorbs water rapidly, and the 
rind, being unable to expand sufficiently, 
cracks open. The only means of preven¬ 
tion would be to plant varieties not 
subject to this trouble, and to maintain 
a vigorous growth by as frequent cul¬ 
tivation during dry weather as the 
growth of the vines will permit. 
AN OLD MAN'S VIEW OF LIFE. 
Our readers will doubtless be Interested 
in the following exchange of views between 
two R. N.-Y. subscribers in the Northwest. 
Elderly men are quite apt to take extreme 
views of life as the result of disappoint¬ 
ment or reverses. 
7 he Views of a Radical. 
Man is still an animal, no matter what 
his ethical ideas are, and in order to 
live he must conform to great Nature’s 
laws. In looking over my neighbors I 
find some whom I consider are but just 
above the brute creation, yet they live as 
well as they want to live. I am at 
peace with them, and they give me no 
trouble, while I have other neighbors 
who are very intelligent, but nervous 
and excitable; they are really too good, 
and they keep me and my family in a 
constant worry. I don’t know but that 
we belong to that class ourselves, and I, 
as I am getting old, want to sink down 
to a merely animal life. Admitting that 
this is so, what right has the child verg¬ 
ing into manhood to burden me with 
taxes and trouble in order that he may 
keep up with a high state of civiliza¬ 
tion? 
Last year in The R. N.-Y. I notice an 
article headed An American Farmers’ 
Federation, which induces me to write 
these few lines. I would suggest that 
an insurance company be formed, giving 
to each member the use of five acres of 
land during his life, and giving to those 
landlords who wish to retire an annuity 
during their lives for the lands they 
hold. This idea is based on the fact that 
the product of five acres of land will 
support a family. This working for 
wages and farming for profit I am get¬ 
ting tired of. Any man can fish for a 
mess of fish and have lots of fun, and 
have something to eat; but when he 
must sell the fish in order to live, it is 
hard scratching; so it is with working 
on the land. We can easily live on the 
products of a small piece of land, but 
what are the profits of farming? 
I believe that we are now living, as a 
people, or trying to live, up to a bad 
set of conventional lies; and when I 
look back over my 67 years of worry and 
discontent, and now see no improvement 
in the times, I do not know whether l 
shall curse God and die, or take a good 
hearty laugh at the antics of the gen¬ 
eration that is now crowding me off the 
stage. It makes me nervous to read 
The R. N.-Y., week after week, and see 
that toadying to the rich and lucky; 
while the old, the poor, the incompe¬ 
tent are praying for their just rights. 
How much of a job would it be in these 
United States to give every living soul, 
within its jurisdiction, a place on God's 
footstool big enough to live and die on? 
See to these things, and ease your con¬ 
science, Stoic. w - T * 
Cannon Falls, Minn. 
As a Philosopher Sees It. 
The suggestion of W. T. of an insur¬ 
ance company to give to each member 
the use of five acres of land, an annuity 
for life to landlords who wish to retire, 
for the lands they hold, appears to be 
open to serious objection. While five 
acres of good land intelligently culti¬ 
vated, or a less amount, may produce 
6o9 
food enough for a family, something to 
eat is only one expense. Clothing, fuel, 
and many other things must be pro¬ 
vided, which would scarcely come from 
the five acres, under usual conditions. 
It is not readily seen where the annuity 
to retiring landlords is to come from, 
nor how the rate could be fixed upon, if 
any were found wishing to accept. If, 
as is intimated, the profits of farming 
are little or nothing on 100 acres, how 
shall a family live in comfort on five? 
It is, perhaps, true that “man is still 
an animal” in part, but it is only a small 
part, let us hope. It is possible that the 
nervous and excitable condition of those 
very intelligent neighbors is partly, at 
least, but a reflection; it seems con¬ 
ceded to some extent, which is a step in 
the right direction. 
O, wad some Pow’r the giftle gie us, 
To see oursels as ithers see us! 
It wad frae mony a blunder free us. 
And foolish notion. 
The right of taxation, for any purpose, 
referred to, seems to be largely one of 
might; that it is frequently shamefully 
abused, admits of no question, but then, 
it is one of the evil conditions, which 
may some time be remedied, though 
present indications are not favorable. 
To most men who look back from a 
standpoint of 67 years, I fear the picture 
is not satisfactory; the contrast between 
the radiant anticipations of youth, and 
the “pismire of performance” of ma¬ 
turity is much too great. Very few are 
able to see the opportunities as they 
offer; still fewer are able or ready to 
seize them. Is that a valid reason for 
discontent? That there are many evil 
conditions under which we still live, 1 
think, must be admitted; but by no 
means the statement that there has been 
no improvement. We old men get rheu¬ 
matic and stiff in the joints; our minds 
are too apt to be a reflex of bodily con¬ 
ditions; we are hardly able to “keep up 
with the procession;” we are apt to 
growl; to forget when we were young 
ourselves; to gibe and jeer at the antics 
of the young, when very likely we cut 
just as many ridiculous capers, and went 
through as many absurd antics as any 
young people do now. As we get old, we 
sometimes need tonics, both physical 
and mental. With that view, I present 
the following: 
Laugh, and the world laughs with you; 
Weep, and you weep alone. 
A great writer said that the inhabi¬ 
tants of Great Britain were “mostly 
fools,” and a cynical philosopher is 
quoted by another as saying “mankind 
is a damned rascal.” A healthy mental 
condition never formulated such utter¬ 
ances as those two. They are not true; 
but these, I believe, are: “The lesson of 
life is practically to generalize: to be¬ 
lieve what the years and the centuries 
say against the hours. Things seem to 
say one thing, and say the reverse. 
Things seem to tend downward, to jus¬ 
tify despondency, to promote rogues, to 
defeat the just; and, by knaves, as by 
martyrs, the just catise is carried for¬ 
ward. Although knaves win in every 
political struggle, although society 
seems to be delivered over from the 
hands of one set of criminals into the 
hands of another set of criminals as fast 
as the government is changed, and the 
march of civilization is a train of 
felonies, yet general ends are somehow 
answered. Through the years, and the 
centuries, through evil agents, through 
toys and atoms, a great and beneficent 
tendency irresistibly streams.” w. 
Green Co., Wis. 
One Layer 
OF 
Cabot’s Sheathing 
PaLlSSOl 
is as warm as 
SIX LAYERS 
of common sheathing paper. Makes 
houses, stables, barns, poultry houses, 
etc., wind and frost proof, and costs 
less than ic. a foot. Send for a sample. 
SAMUEL CABOT, Sole Manufacturer, 
81 Kilby Street, - - Boston, Mass. 
Agents at all Central Points. 
For Pumping or Driving 
Cream Separa¬ 
tors or other 
machines re¬ 
quiring light 
power but ab¬ 
solutely steady 
motion, 
BUY A 
“SUCCESS” t°rea e d h p°d r w s e e r. 
It has a governor which regulates the walk of the horses to a nice¬ 
ty and delivers an absolutely steady and even motion to the ma¬ 
chine driven. With our Hack Geared Pump Jack it makes a splen¬ 
did pumping outfit. If you want a tread power for any purpose, 
buy a **»u 1, 2 or 3-horse. They will deliver more power 
than any other because they run light, are roorny and strong enough 
for largest horses, etc. More about them in our large illustrated 
catalogue, and about our sweep powers, gasoline engines,windmills, 
fodder and ensilage cutters,wood eaws. hunkers,steel tanks,etc. If re© 
APPLETON MFd. CO.. 27 FARGO ST., BATAVIA, ILL. 
DEDERICK’S HAY PRESSES 
bale nearly all the hay baled in the 
world.Send for free Illustrated catalog. 
Address P. K. DEDKRICK’S SONS’, 
p. „ jl 45 Tivoli Street, 
KaVi’d, #V Albany, N. V. 
Strong, JH The Ploneer-lt still 
leads all others. 
AHAYCRO 
and its value depends upon how 
it is marketed. Haled Huy 
finds a ready market anywhere. 
“ELI” 
Baling 
make the most even, com- „ 
pact bales. Save freight iu loading tall O *o*** n<1 
cars. Kaslest and safest to feed* " " ower * 
Feed hole S3x30 inches. They are built to last. Require the min¬ 
imum of power. Write for FREE illustrated catalogue. # 
COLLINS PLOW CO,. 1111 Hampshire St., QUINCY, ILL. 
30 
Styles 
Sites. 
B ushel crates t cents each 
In Bundles Ready to Nail Together. 
For handling and storing onions, potatoes, 
orn. Send postal for illustrated description. 
n nnnf Hnnni*nnnt> Hn A nstinhil rn Ohm . 
A S much cpOTcASH should be given back 
to the land as the crop takes from it. 
Thirty bushels of wheat remove thirty 
pounds of a.ctua.1 POTcASHx therefore 500 
pounds of a. fertilizer with 6 per cent. 
actual c POTcASH would be 
needed to feed the 
crop and keep the 
soil productive. 
We have books giving full in¬ 
formation about the use of 
fertilizers and Potash, and 
will mail them FREE to any 
farmer who asks for them. 
GERMAN KALI WORKS, 
93 Nassau Street, New York. 
