638 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 20 
using one or more rings in one or both ears, a good- 
sized herd can be recorded in this way, on the same 
plan that chickens are marked in the web of the foot. 
Another mistake which serves as a means of edu¬ 
cation at Maple Dale Farm is in connection with the 
roofs on our henhouses. The roof is rather flat, ris¬ 
ing only two feet eight inches on a building 10 feet 
wide. Matched boards were used for sheathing, and 
these covered with three-ply roofing felt. The felt is 
rather short lived, and as it began to give out, we 
planned to shingle the roofs. A few houses were 
shingled three years ago, right on top of the felt. We 
now find that the shingles are also short-lived in such 
a situation. Those placed three years ago are al¬ 
ready badly rotted, and practically worthless. Ex¬ 
perienced builders tell me that shingles will last much 
longer laid on two-inch lath, with a wide space be¬ 
tween each lath, than they will when laid on solid 
sheathing. The theory is that the open lath allows 
the moisture to dry out of the shingles quicker after 
a rain. In this case, the old felt (or tarred paper) 
probably augmented the difficulty. \ve shall now be 
obliged to abandon the iuea of shingling the roofs, 
and replace the old felt with new as fast as it needs 
replacing. It seems to be longer-lived than shingles, 
on our flat roofs. Asphalt roofing paint makes the 
best paint we have tried on these felt roofs. Some of 
our roofs are still in good order after eight or nine 
years’ use. By using the liquid asphalt coating fre¬ 
quently they could doubtless be kept in good order 
much longer. 
Since writing the above I have added another to 
my list of educational mistakes. The lesson taught 
this time is this: Never allow very young pigs to 
enter the pen of an old boar. The mother of Billy 
Gormand presented us with another family of 12 fine 
pigs last night, this being her fourth litter, and she 
not yet two years old. During the day we heard one 
of the little chaps squealing in mortal agony. Hasten¬ 
ing to the scene, we found tnat one had crawled 
through a hole into the pen of the boar adjoining, 
and was being literally eaten alive. This cleared up 
a mystery. We have lately missed several young 
pigs, no trace of which could be found, either dead 
or alive. I was inclined to suspect that Lion, our St. 
Bernard dog, was the guilty party. This cleared his 
skirts, and taught us a lesson not likely to be for¬ 
gotten. Billy Gormand himself came near meeting 
an untimely end a few weeks ago. He got the door 
of his pen open and got into a pen of about a dozen 
shotes about the same size. The whole bunch pitched 
into him and made it lively for him. The weather 
was hot, and he was very fat, and not able to fight 
against such odds. When the scrap was discovered. 
Billy was gasping for breath, and would soon have 
been dead, if help had not arrived. He was very 
lame from the effects for some time, but has now 
fully recovered. At the State Hospital c arm, near 
me, a herd of about 200 is usually kept, and the su¬ 
perintendent tells me that the greatest caution has 
to be exercised in filling their fattening pens from 
different droves. The whole bunch will often attack 
one pig until it is killed, and then turn to another, 
seeming to get a perfect mania for slaughter. Happy 
are we if we can appropriate these lessons from the 
mistakes of others without going through the mill 
ourselves. o. w. mapek. 
CLARK CRASS SEEDING IN MICHIGAN. 
I have been much interested in your reports from 
time to time of Geo. M. Clark’s success in grass cul¬ 
ture, and also his method as applied by others, and 
wish to say that in seeding to grass and grass alone 
is the only way I am able to get satisfactory results 
In August, 1897, after taking off a heavy crop of 
wheat, I plowed and thoroughly worked a nine-acre 
field of quite high river bottom land, and seeded same 
with a wheelbarrow seeder, using 10 quarts each of 
Red clover, Timothy and Red-top per acre, harrow¬ 
ing it lightly. The catch was excellent, but so thick 
that my neighbors gave me the laugh, and predicted 
a failure. The following Spring found the young 
plants in fine condition, covering the ground as thick 
as a mat, but as the season advanced I found the 
growth was short, and at cutting time we put into 
the barn about 24 tons of very nice fine hay. The 
following season the same field gave us 35 tons in two 
cuttings, and last season 45 tons in two cuttings. No 
fertilizer of any kind was used on this field after the 
corn crop previous to the wheat, except one light 
dressing each of land plaster and lime, until this 
Spring, when I applied iy 2 ton of fertilizer. The con¬ 
tinued heavy rains were a damage to this crop, an l 
about one acre was several times under water, but 
notwithstanding this drawback we have cut, com¬ 
mencing June 23, and housed 40 tons of first-class 
mixed hay for the first cutting, and the indications 
are favorable for a heavy seconu cut. I have applied 
2^4 tons of land plaster and the new growth now 
stands 16 to 30 inches high, and is growing rapidly. 
I predict this year’s crop will reach nearly 55 tons 
for the nine acres. The Clark method of thorough 
cultivation, liberal seeding and fertilizing is a suc¬ 
cess with me. b. w. putnam. 
Hent Co., Mich._ 
OLD ROGUES WITH NEW STORIES. 
There is an agent about here selling for a nursery at 
Silver Lake, Ohio, which he says covers 1,700 acres. He 
is selling the Rogers grape at $5 per dozen. He claims 
that the plants are made by budding on the wild Fox 
grape, and that if they once get a start they will never 
kill out or die. He is also selling cherry trees that he 
claims were budded on stocks imported from Scotland 
and France, and plum trees budded on imported stocks. 
He also claims to sell a hard-wood peach that has stood 
the test of 1895 when so many killed out. w. s. 
Union Grove, Ill. 
The year 1902 seems to be a remarkable one in sev¬ 
eral respects for strikes, frosts, floods and frauds, and 
especially for raids upon the farmers by rascally tree 
agents. They must have a tree fraud trust in western 
Ohio, for here is another agent of this kind working 
in Illinois from that region, and representing a firm 
not before complained of. He must have backing at 
home, or he would not refer to 1,700 acres devoted to 
the production of these marvelous things. I think 17 
square feet would be better suited to the work, for 
about all the kind of stuff that he represents one 
“could put in his eye.” There are many kinds of 
grapes that were originated by a noted hybridizer of 
grapes, E. S. Rogers, of Salem, Mass., many years 
ago. At first they went under numbers, but more 
recently some of the varieties have been given names, 
of which Salem, Agawam and Lindley are among the 
best. None of them is very popular because of their 
tenderness or the ease with which they take the rot 
and mildew. They have too much foreign blood. But, 
THE BEST FARM POWER. Fie. 256. 
the idea of budding on the wild Fox grape is altogeth¬ 
er too foxy. In fact, it smells very strong. It is a lie. 
Grapes cannot be budded, and grafting them is diffi¬ 
cult. There are French cherry stocks, the Mahaleb, 
imported by the million and all the nurseries bud the 
sour cherries on them, because they do not sprout, 
but none ever came from Scotland, so far as I have 
heard, nor do I believe it. Some plum trees are grown 
by budding on the Myrobalan stock, which is also 
French, but all the nurseries have them. A “hard¬ 
wood” peach that lives when other kinds are killed 
may be some relation to the oak or hickory. The fact 
that this man sells his things so high is evidence of 
fraud, for the Rogers grapes are no higher than most 
other kinds, nor have they been so for the last 25 
years or more. Let his things alone and warn others 
to do the same. n. e. van deman. 
A DAM DESTROYED BY DYNAMITE. 
Last May the daily papers contained the following 
note from Fergus Falls, Minn.: 
Twenty-five farmers living in the vicinity of Otter Tail 
Lake gathered shortly after midnight May 12 and blew 
up the dam at the outlet of the lake. At points where the 
dynamite did not do its work thoroughly they used saws 
and axes. 
We understand that the farmers claimed that the 
dam was an injury to their land because it caused the 
water to back up. Not being able to obtain legal re¬ 
dress for what they considered serious wrong, they 
took the matter into their own hands. There have 
been a number of cases where such work has been 
done and we are always interested to know what the 
law does to a farmer when he takes hold of it as 
these farmers did. A correspondent at Fergus Falls 
sends us the following sensible statement: 
“The facts were correctly stated by the newspaper. 
The matter was brought to the knowledge of the city 
council and later on one of the aldermen brought in 
a report stating that the dam could be repaired for 
$150. No action was taken by the council at that time 
as to the prosecution of the guilty parties; I do not 
think even the question of prosecuting was raised. 
Encouraged by this inaction of the city council the 
same farmers made a seoond attempt to destroy what 
was left of the dam before any repairs were made and 
succeeded to a certain extent. This naturally stirred 
up the city council and the city attorney was now in¬ 
structed to look up the matter and report on the legal 
status of the case. He advised that the perpetrators 
were liable both civilly and criminally, and the coun¬ 
cil authorized the electric light committee to take 
steps to prosecute. No arrests have been made so 
far and it is my impression that nothing further will 
be done. It is my private opinion that it will be a 
hard matter to find a jury that will bring in a verdict 
of guilty even if in the eyes of the law the act was 
criminal. In regard to the question whether the 
farmers had any reasonable excuse for destroying or 
tearing up the dam opinions will always differ. For 
my own part I am in sympathy with every movement, 
having for its object the improvement of the condi¬ 
tions of the farmer, and this is one of the reasons 
why 1 consider The R. N.-Y. one of my best papers. 
Yet in the case under consideration, I am obliged to 
admit that the farmers made a serious mistake. The 
injury, if any, sustained by owners of lands bordering 
on the lake by flowage caused by the dam must in any 
event be so insignificant that no reasonable man on 
that account would commit an unlawful act.” 
STRINGFELLOW TREES IN RHODE ISLAND 
Mr. Stringfellow Gives an Opinion. 
Referring to W. B. W.’s bad luck with his trees and 
vines, planted last Fall in crowbar holes on sod 
ground, an account of which appears on page 606, l 
will say that the cause of his comparative failure was 
plainly due to mistaken kindness in ramming a 
shovelful of that black, rich, manure-saturated soil 
into the bottom of the holes, followed by a season or 
flooding rains that kept the fresh-cut surface of the 
stub roots in a manure hath and prevented them 
from callusing and striking roots. The wonder is 
that any lived. Had the season been reasonably dry 
all or nearly all would probably have grown. I have 
invariably and at every time advised strongly against 
putting any kind of fertilizer in the ground for root- 
pruned trees, but always on the surface. W. B. W. 
is plainly an unprejudiced man and after the truth, 
and I have no fear but that next year’s growth will 
satisfy him that short roots and crowbar holes are 
all right. The ground is well leached now, and I hope 
he will replant a part of the trees just as he did last 
Spring, root-pruning as before. 
Texas. il if. stringfellow. 
Another Report from Rhode Island. 
I have been looking the trees all over again, and 
will say in a general way as to 120 or more apples, I 
am much encouraged and intend to follow the matter 
further. I think good apple trees can be made this 
way with some replanting. One-year apple trees 
planted with crowbar can stand some loss and still 
pay. As to the grapes the results are not encourag¬ 
ing, but having the land, I intend to replant and try 
it further. With peach trees I consider it waste of 
time and money here to try this system. The results 
I obtain are probably far below what would be the 
average, as I am not a horticulturist, nor farmer, and 
never had either education or training in these 
branches, nor do I employ a man who has had. This 
farm is run as a stock farm by a practical stock and 
dairy farmer, and any fruit is purely incidental. J 
am here a few weeks in Summer, perhaps also a week 
in November to plant, and often not again until Au¬ 
gust. Therefore my results are far below what any 
practical owner on the spot should expect, w. b. *w. 
RESULTS FROM FERTILIZING WHEAT. 
Two weeks ago we gave an account of a fertilizer ex¬ 
periment conducted on an Ohio wheatfield. Mr. Gill 
now sends us the figures showing the results on this 
year’s hay crop: 
The hay on the acre plot of the experiment de¬ 
scribed on page 605 was harvested early in July, 1902. 
They all showed more hay than plot No. 4, which had 
no commercial fertilizer on the wheat, Fall of 1899. 
The hay was weighed from plots Nos. 3 and 4, when 
rain came and destroyed it on the others. Weight 
of hay in 1901 on plot No. 3, 2,435 pounds; No. 4, 1,850 
pounds. In 1902, plot No. 3, 2,280 pounds, No. 4, 1,830 
pounds. On plot No. 4, that did not receive any ferti¬ 
lizer, the amount of hay for each year was about the 
same, while from plot No. 3 the amount of hay fell 
off 155 pounds the year before, yet a gain over No. 
4 of 450 pounds, making for the two years a gain of 
1,035 pounds at a cost for fertilizer of about $1.75. 
The Fall and AVinter of 1901 and 1902 were very dry. 
The ground was frozen December 14, and remained 
frozen all AVinter, an ideal Winter for grain and hay. 
From January 1, 1902, to June 1, 1902, it was the driest 
Winter and Spring we ever knew; the rain was short 
of the normal amount 10.75 inches. It continued dry 
the first week in June, when it began raining, and 
made up by July 1 4.5 inches. We had bad weather 
for hay and grain harvesting. Had we had the nor¬ 
mal amount of rain in March, April and May, we un¬ 
doubtedly would have had more hay than we got 
from these plots, and a bigger grain crop. 
geo. w. GILL. 
