1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
575 
MAPES, THE HEN MAN. 
CLARK GRASS CULTURE—A friend writes as fol¬ 
lows regarding the Clark system of raising grass: 
I think that you have overlooked one point in the 
Clark system. He does not pretend that this constant 
stirring up of the soil feeds those grass plants. What 
he does claim is that by doing this, he kills out millions 
of weeds and gives a better stand for the grass. It takes 
a good many plants to make three tons of hay to the 
acre, and Mr. Clark, by thoroughly killing out the weeds 
and foul grasses, succeeds in getting a great deal better 
stand than you ever could by ordinary culture. 
I referred this to the Deacon, but he shook his head. 
“Do you suppose,” said he, “that all the weed seeds 
in the soil can be destroyed in two months by stirring 
it 40 times a day?” 
“Hardly. I look at it this way. While it is true 
that nature abhors a vacuum, it is also true that two 
objects cannot occupy the same space at the same 
time. In the vegetable world, as in the animal world, 
the weak must give place to tue strong. In an old sod 
the soil is occupied by living roots of strong plants. 
Turn this sod over and sow the raw surface at once 
with grass seed, and when the tiny rootlets put down 
for food they find the soil already occupied with 
stronger roots, still striving for existence. Obeying 
one of the laws of nature, the weak give place to the 
strong, and the young seedlings are forced to the 
wall. I take it that this is one of the reasons why it 
is so difficult to secure a good stand of grass on a 
newly inverted sod. Mr. Clark, by his system, has¬ 
tens the death and decay of all roots and plants in 
the old sod, thus giving his young seedling plants full 
sway in their effort to occupy the ground. The same 
results would be accomplished by bacteria, if he 
would allow sufficient time. While this process is 
going on the soil need not lie idle, but can be planted 
to some crop of stronger growing plants like corn 
or potatoes.” 
“But,” said the Deacon, “if he did not destroy all 
the weed seeds in his soil, why is it that none has 
grown in 13 years?” 
“For the same reason that grass seedlings will not 
grow well on an old sod. He keeps his grass plants 
strong and vigorous by frequent and intelligent ap¬ 
plications of plant food, and when a weed seed germi¬ 
nates, it finds itself a weakling in comparison with 
the mature grass plants, and is compelled to give way. 
I venture the assertion, that if Mr. Clark will simply 
neglect to sow his seed, after his land is in perfect 
preparation, with all weed seeds destroyed as he 
claims, the land will be as fully occupied with weeds 
in a year’s time, if not indeed in a month, as if no in¬ 
tensive cultivation had been given.” 
I see an excellent illustration of this idea every 
day, in my ride to and from town. Between our farm 
and the railroad station is a large field belonging to 
one of the New York State insane asylums. Half of 
this field is planted to corn for silage, and the re¬ 
mainder is in cabbage. At the beginning of July, the 
whole field was literally free from weeds. On the half 
devoted to silage corn, the soil is fully occupied with 
the corn plants. It now stands 12 to 15 feet high, and 
is very dark colored and vigorous. You might sow 
weed seeds at the rate of 10 bushels to the acre and 
not a weed would grow. The other side of the field 
was put in perfect preparation for cabbage, by cross 
plowing, and the use of the Cutaway harrow, and set 
with cabbage plants. These did not yet occupy the 
soil, and constant rains have made it impossible to 
give them needed cultivation. As a result, this por¬ 
tion of the field is so overrun with weeds that the 
crop of cabbage might as well be abandoned, while 
the half occupied with the corn plants is still free 
from weeds. This is no fancy picture, but is drawn 
from actual life. The moral of all this is, that R. 
N.-Y. readers can raise grass by the Clark system 
without his constant stirring of the soil, by taking 
more time to rot the old sod, and thus secure a per¬ 
fect seedbed. Do not fail, however, to supply the 
plants liberally and intelligently with food in an 
available form. 
PURCHASED PULLETS.—The pullets purchased 
in the New York live poultry market seem likely to 
be satisfactory. No diseased ones have yet been no¬ 
ticed, and they have been released from quarantine. 
They were all placed in one of our small !0xl2-foot 
houses, with the hope that after sorting out those that 
turn out to be roosters, and those undesirable for 
layers, there will be 60 good ones left. They prove 
to be great roamers, and 1 was afraid they would not 
all find their way home to roost. Chicken instinct 
must be the same however in Indiana, as in New York 
State. Every chicken was found to be in its place 
when night came, although I saw some of them dur¬ 
ing the day at least four houses (32 rods) from home. 
TuAINING RASPBERRIES.—I am told that the 
large growers of raspberries will object to my method 
Qt training, as being too much work. The Deacon 
would like to know which is the larger grower, the 
man who cultivates three acres and gets 50 bushels 
to the acre, or he who cultivates one acre and gets 
150 bushels to the acre. The only extra work about 
our method, over the ordinary method, is the tying 
of the bearing canes to the telephone wire each 
Spring. A man and boy can do this in three or four 
days on an acre. Ten dollars is a liberal allowance 
for the work. Against this, the Deacon sees several 
advantages, where the $10 can be saved. First comes 
the satisfaction of having your plants and fruit in a 
neat compact hedge, which heavy winds or rains can¬ 
not beat down under foot. A horse and cultivator 
can be driven close up to the row during the whole 
r™-, 
fir* 
A NEW HYBRID CUCUMBER. See Rubalisms, Page 578. 
season. In a dry season this often means a dust 
mulch which secures abundant moisture and first- 
class fruit, rather than dried-up specimens, which 
must be sold at a low price, instead of at a premium 
above the market. Berries picked from bushes that 
stand erect are always clean, while a shower will 
often beat the berries of untied canes down in the 
dirt. The difference between the value of a single 
picking of clean berries, and sandy berries, is often 
much more than $10. Large growers should be the 
first to see that by raising a maximum crop on a 
smaller acreage, enough can be saved in rental value 
of .the extra land to pay for the Increased cost of tying 
up the canes. The Deacon whispers in my ear: “Don’t 
forget the fertilizer bill.” Sure euough! It costs a 
good deal more to fertilize three acres than it does 
one. It is a good deal of extra work and expense to 
thin the fruit in a peach orchard, yet I notice that 
the large growers are the ones most likely to practice 
it. o. w. MAPES. 
QUINCES AND SALT.—I do not believe that the 
addition of salt to the correspondent’s quince orchard, 
page 529, would have any appreciable effect in caus¬ 
ing it to set fruit. It is a common notion that quince 
trees require much salt. My own observation and 
experience have led me to think, however, that they 
will stand much, but to doubt whether heavy applica¬ 
tions of salt are really any more beneficial to quinces 
than to other fruits. l. u. jjailey. 
LIGHTNING RODS. 
Proper Adjustment to Secure Utility. 
While the danger of damage from lightning is no 
more than from many other sources still there is 
much injury done by lightning each year, and its ef¬ 
fects are so sudden, and accompanied with such a 
demonstration, as to offer a promising field for a class 
of swindlers to prey upon the people. A lot of fellows 
have just been through this county and it seems 
strange that in many cases they have caught the 
brightest people. The following shows how they work: 
A smooth-talking man called upon a neighbor and 
remarked that as he had a fine place he ought to have 
his buildings protected from lightning. The neighbor 
said he could hardly afford the expense. The agent, 
after figuring a while, said they could he suitably pro¬ 
tected for about $16. The farmer said he could afford 
that, and if it would cost no more he would have it 
done. Whereupon the agent made a memorandum 
and asked the farmer to sign it as a guide for the men 
who would be along in a day or two to work from. 
The farmer very foolishly signed it. In a couple of 
days two men appeared and put about 14 points on a 
moderate-sized barn, six on the house and went away. 
Two days later a third party appeared with an ac¬ 
count for the rods aggregating $222.49. In another 
case but a little distance away, the first swindler said 
the cost would be only $15, and a bill for over $500 was 
presented. A number of others have been similarly 
swindled. In every case there is a little joker hidden 
in the innocent looking memorandum which, in very 
small type, says “the lightning rod company shall not 
be held by any verbal representations made by the 
agent.” Naturally the victims are a very sore lot, 
and have not settled, but it looks as if they would 
have to pay. 
I have pretty fully studied this subject and have 
full confidence in a good lightning rod to protect a 
certain area surrounding it, and this depends upon 
the height of the point above the highest point of 
building to be protected. The protective power of the 
lightning rod does not depend upon the ability of the 
rod to carry away a discharge in the form of a bolt 
as much as in its power to carry the electricity to or 
from the cloud rapidly, silently and harmlessly. It 
is a principle in electricity that it is taken on or 
given off from sharp, bright points very rapidly and 
silently; hence the rods snould terminate at the top 
in numerous sharp, bright points, and as a guarantee 
that these points should stay sharp and bright they 
should be made of some metal not easily corroded 
and then plated with either gold or silver. Different 
metals have very different conducting capacity for 
electricity, as for instance, copper has at least six 
times the conducting power of iron, and while other 
metals have greater conductivity the cost is so much 
greater that copper is to be recommended for use as 
lightning rods. It was formerly thought that light¬ 
ning rods ought to be insulated and consequently 
were run through or over glass insulators, but ex¬ 
periments have shown that as soon as the glass be¬ 
comes wet it is no longer a non-conductor, and that 
it is better to fasten the rod in contact with the 
building, especially if the roof be tin or iron. 
Any person can at a moderate cost put up lightning 
rods. As* the protected circle has a radius twice the 
height of point above the plane as many points should 
be erected as are necessary to comply with this law. 
The part going above the building should consist of a 
hollow tube an inch in diameter, of copper. Inserted 
in this should be a rod of tough wood to stiffen and 
hold it erect. At the top it should be finished with a 
copper “point,” having as many snarp points as pos¬ 
sible, and this should be heavily plated with silver. 
To the lower end of this should be riveted and sol¬ 
dered a strip of copper three or four inches wide and 
need only be thick enough to render it durable, and 
this strip should be securely fastened to the roof and 
side of building, going continuously to the ground 
and into a well or cistern to permanent water, or if 
this is not practicable, a hole should be dug deep 
enough to reach permanently damp ground. The 
lower end of the strip should be cut into narrow 
strips or strings, these separated and the ends buried 
in charcoal, or what would be better, these strips or 
strings can be put through holes made in a copper 
plate two feet square; part of an old copper boiler 
will answer every purpose. If one cannot procure 
the copper strip No. 12 copper wire will answer every 
purpose; use 15 or 20 strands, give them a slign.. twist 
and fasten in every way as described for the strip. 
As the weight of copper would be so much less the 
cost will be very little if any more than an iron rod, 
and the fact that the iron rod’s conductivity is so 
rapidly reduced by rust and it is so subject to rusting, 
especially that part going into the ground, that no 
one should think of using an iron rod. 
j. a. wqodwa&d, A 
