4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
January 1 
Prof. L. R. Taft, of the Michigan Agricultural College. 
Let us as orchardists be wise in selecting clean, healthy 
grown stock from a section where yellows never was 
known, and our chances for success will be largely in¬ 
creased. Keep the trees growing, give clean culture, 
judicious pruning: every Spring, at least, look out 
sharply for borers and the yellows, and do not neglect 
careful thinning of fruit. Fine fruit and the best 
going prices will result. A. w. clement. 
Massachusetts. 
NEW FORMS OF HOMEMADE WINDMILLS. 
Having read with great interest the articles on the 
Go-devil and other curious wind motors used in some 
parts of the West, I am moved to add my mite to the 
album of windmill literature. Before investing in a 
steel mill, towers and tank, for farm uses, I had 
studied at length a number of contrivances—expedi¬ 
ents, I might term them—for harnessing the free 
winds of heaven. The weak point of the Go-devil 
and kindred devices is found in its inability to meet 
winds from varying points. Although some districts 
have more or less “ prevailing winds,” yet I fancy that 
there are few localities in the United States where the 
stationary Go-devil would not be at a disadvantage 
with motors always facing the breeze. In most local¬ 
ities, much time is lost by calm weather without hav¬ 
ing to -wait for favorable winds. 
I concluded to adopt the following modification of a 
child’s toy, as combining the cheapness with power, 
with extreme simplicity of construction. It is made 
as follows : A vertical axis of any suitable dimensioh, 
is provided with four horizontal arms crossing at right 
angles, at the ends of which are vertical crossbars, 
for the support of the vanes. Upon these crossbars, 
should be hinged frames covered with canvas or other 
light material, as in Fig. 4. 
As the arms are revolved, the wind forces each vane 
in turn against the horizontal arm, until on reaching 
the farthest point to leeward, the wind striking the 
back of the vane causes it to unfold and swing freely 
in the wind till it completes a revolution. Two of the 
four vanes are thus always under wind pressure, and 
two drawing into position. 
The principal expense in a motor of this form is the 
cost of the canvas, if that material should be used, 
while if old lumber be substituted, it could be con¬ 
structed perhaps more cheaply than the Go-devil. This 
is the simplest form of the device, and could only be 
stopped by means of a brake and afterward backing 
until all the vanes are free from pressure on the arms. 
It would revolve either way, as it might be started. 
There are a number of modifications of this motor, 
varying in the manner of hinging the vanes, as also in 
adapting it to be thrown out of gear, etc. Fig. 5 shows 
the same with the vanes swinging directly from the 
arms, and held against the wind by ropes. This form 
would revolve only one way, according as the restrain¬ 
ing cords are connected, and could be thrown out of 
gear by having the ropes run over pulleys and slacken¬ 
ing them as required. In Fig. 6 the vanes swing be¬ 
tween parallel arms, being held against the wind 
pressure by a movable bar or lever, which will, in one 
position, allow the vane to swing through the whole 
circle, and in another, stop the vane on coming into 
the wind. The size and power of these motors is 
limited only by the length of arms and axis, and the 
area of the vanes, which will depend, in turn, upon 
the use to which it is to be put, and the pocketbook 
of the owner. 
The power will be considerable with very little ex¬ 
pense, as an arm of 10 feet in length will support a 
vane of 10 feet square, that is to say, a surface of 100 
square feet to be opposed to the wind. With a fair 
wind, this would be equal to several horse power. 
Probably vanes one-fourth that size, 5x5 feet, would 
suffice for ordinary pumping, especially if placed on 
arms of 10 feet in length. The vertical axis must be 
high enough to reach above wind obstructions, yet in 
case of the motor being placed on a barn, or on a tank 
with a tower, the axis could be considerably reduced. 
The manner of supporting the axis, as well as the 
means of transferring its slow rotary motion to ma¬ 
chinery, is left to the judgment of the reader in each 
particular case. For most purposes, a large sprocket- 
wheel with the usual linked chain would seem to be 
most suitable. See Fig. 7. a. b. 
Federalsburg, Md. 
WHAT THEY SAY. 
Middlemen and Potatoes. —Ellenburgh, N. Y., is a 
small station on the O. & L. C. R. R. Its principal 
crop is potatoes, of which large quantities are raised 
and sold to the produce dealers at the station. There 
are two buyers here, but as the scales are owned by 
one of them, he controls the whole business. A few days 
ago, a stranger came here to buy potatoes. The com¬ 
bine at that time were paying 55 cents for 62 pounds. 
He said that he wanted to deal directly with the farm¬ 
ers. He hired a rig and drove to Ellenburg Corners ; 
there he found two parties that had 500 bushels. He 
bought them, agreeing to pay 58 cents for 62 pounds, 
and was to be at the station the next morning to re¬ 
ceive them. The next morning, the parties sent down 
five loads, but no one was there to receive the pota¬ 
toes. The men that drew them telephoned to the 
owners asking what they should do. One of the par¬ 
ties went down, but could not find his man, so he was 
forced to sell to the head of the combine for 55 cents. 
All this time, the stranger was hiding in his bedroom 
at the hotel. When asked why he did not come to 
the front and take his potatoes as he agreed, he said 
that the leader of the combine told him that if he 
bought any potatoes of the farmers, he would make 
every bushel cost him 75 cents. So the combine loaded 
him a car at 60 cents per bushel, and sent him away. 
Fig. 6. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH HOMEMADE WINDMILLS. 
This is only one of many instances that occur here 
every year. How much longer will the farmers stand 
such treatment ? farmer. 
Protection for Orchard Trees. 
I have no doubt that some benefit would be derived 
by a good coating of whitewash over the peach tree, 
but I doubt whether it will ever be practiced to any 
extent. I will suggest what I consider a much better 
method of retarding buds, and one that has been tried 
here in Kentucky with marked success. About March 
1, dig the earth from around the tree down to the first 
root, and about thi*ee feet in diameter; wait for a 
good freeze, and still better, if the freeze is after a 
rain. When the ground is frozen hard, with a pick or 
grubbing hoe, replace the frozen earth, covering well 
with straw about six inches deep. If there be ice in 
the hole, so much the better. A north slope will re¬ 
tain the frost later, and more benefit will be found 
from the use of this method on this slope than any 
other. Almost 10 days’ difference in the blooming 
can be secured if the work be done properly. 
A word about protecting young trees from rabbits, 
which are extremely destructive here, notwithstand¬ 
ing Mr. Hoyt’s idea to the contrary. I first used a 
bunch of rye thatched around the tree and tied at top 
and bottom, and found that, aside from keeping the 
Shaft Through Tank. Shaft Through Upper Floor. 
CONNECTING WINDMILL WITH CHAIN AND SPROCKET 
WHEEL. Fig. 7. 
rabbits away, it protected the tree from the borer if 
butted well against the ground. The borers had, in 
every case, climbed the straw to the top and there set 
to work, but the stem was too tough, and very little 
damage was done. But rye attracted mice, and I be¬ 
gan the use of tobacco stalks, standing them around 
the tree and tying well. They served a third pur¬ 
pose, for they are rich in the plant food that the young 
trees need, and it is leached down by the rains. Mice 
do not stay around tobacco stalks, but in a deep snow 
rabbits can reach above the stalks and girdle the 
trees, so that now I am using short hemp. Flax will 
do as well in localities where hemp is not raised; it 
will last two or three years if properly put on, the 
borers being kept out, and the stems protected from 
sun in the hot summer weather. The latter, I think, 
is so important that I would tie my trees up, or pro¬ 
tect them by a lath screen, even though there were no 
rabbits. The loss of young cherry trees is, I think, 
due almost entirely (especially in rich soil) to the ex¬ 
cessive heat on the bursting bark of young cherry 
trees. Last season. I set 50 cherry trees, one-half of 
which I protected from the sun. and lost none ; of the 
other half unprotected, I lost five. I have had sim¬ 
ilar experience in other years. By all means, protect 
the young trees from the rabbits, and let the protec¬ 
tion remain on for, at least, two summers, or until the 
tree has made head enough to protect it from the heat 
of the midday sun. j. m. g. 
Kentucky. 
BALANCED RATION FROM HOME-GROWN 
FODDERS. 
A CONNECTICUT DAIRYMAN WANTS HELP. 
The following questions are sent ns by one of our subscribers in 
Connecticut : 
“ How can I utilize the following fodder crops to best advantage 
in feeding milch cows ? I have 10 cows in all ; eight now giving 
milk, one due to calve soon, and one not due until spring or early 
summer. I have a large supply of hay, but owing to the wet 
weather during haying, the quality is not as good as usual. Then 
I have excellent cured corn stalks from two acres of land—part 
field corn and part fodder corn ; Japanese millet from one-half 
acre; Soja beans from one-quarter acre,and mowed oats, or oat hay 
from about one acre. From the field corn, we husked 50 bushels of 
good hard corn—measured on the ear—besides the soft corn and 
nubbins. I have no other grain of any sort. I have a fodder cut¬ 
ter, but no silo. This is my second season, but last year, my cat¬ 
tle were all young excepting one. So the feeding problem was 
simpler, as there was no milking to speak of.” 
Will you tell us what you would do with the fodder that this man 
has on hand ? 
Better Buy Some Flesh-Formers. 
It would be impossible to compound a ration from 
the food stuffs given by your correspondent, that 
would be especially valuable for milk production. 
There is too great a lack of flesh-formers or protein in 
all of the materials except the Soja beans. If the lat¬ 
ter are the seed, they are high ly valuable, standing 
next to cotton-seed and new process linseed meals, in 
percentage of protein. We are coming more and more 
to believe, in this country, that protein is the all- 
important ingredient in milk production, and that the 
relative proportion of the two classes of heat pro¬ 
ducers (fat and carbohydrates) is of very little conse¬ 
quence, provided we have a sufficient quantity of both 
to give needed bulk, and to satisfy the appetite of the 
animal. With coarse fodders, made up largely of 
grasses and corn, the danger is of feeding too heavily 
of these, with relatively too little of such foods as 
cotton-seed, gluten and linseed meals, wheat bran, 
etc. The following rations will supply about the 
proper amount of protein for cows of 700 to 900 pounds, 
live weight: 
Pounds. Protein. Pounds. Protein. 
10 
Corn stover. 
.30 
10 
Hay fair quality.. .45 
5 
Mowed oats. 
.30 
5 
Millet hay.22 
4 
Wheat bran. 
.48 
4 
Wheat bran.48 
o 
Soy bean meal.... 
.66 
2 
Cotton-seed meal.. .75 
4 Corn-and-cob meal. 
.30 
2 
Corn-and-cob meal .15 
2.04 
2.05 
In feeding these materials, the corn stover and the 
millet should be cut and, if possible, should be wet up 
with hot water, with a part or all of the grain added, 
and be allowed to heat and soften for 24 hours. 
C. 8. PHELPS. 
Storrs (Conn.) Experiment Station. 
Several Rations to Choose From. 
The subscriber presents a difficult problem if he 
wishes to use only the foods he has grown upon his 
farm. It will be better economy, to my mind, to pur¬ 
chase some grains or feeds that are rich in flesh-form¬ 
ing elements to use in connection with his home-grown 
fodder crops, as the latter contain too large a per cent 
of fat-formers to make up a well-balanced ration. I 
would suggest the following rations : 
No. 1. 
Flesh- 
Fat- 
Pounds. 
formers. 
formers 
Fat. 
10 
Corn stover. 
. .20 
3.34 
.06 
10 
Hay. 
.36 
4.27 
.10 
5 
Millet hay. 
.23 
2.32 
.05 
3 
Corn meal. 
. .19 
1.94 
.15 
3 
Gluten meal. 
.56 
1.45 
.33 
Cotton-seed meal.. 
. .74 
.36 
.24 
Total. 
No. 2. 
. 2.28 
13.68 
.93 
Flesh- 
Fat- 
Pounds. 
formers. 
formers 
Fat. 
10 
Oat hay. 
.43 
4.64 
. 15 
10 
Hay. 
.36 
4.27 
.10 
5 
Soja bean. 
. .54 
1.93 
.07 
3 
Corn meal. 
. .19 
1.94 
.15 
3 
Cotton-seed meal.. 
. 1.11 
.54 
.37 
Total. 
. 2.63 
13.32 
.84 
In ration No. 1, feeding half the grain at night and 
half in the morning, 1 would feed the hay at night, 
stover in the morning, and millet about noon ; or if 
the cows are driven out to drink in the forenoon, as 
soon as they return to the stable. As the hay is not 
extra good. I would, perhaps, g-ive a little more of it, 
or all they will eat clean. If the corn stover is nice 
and bright, I would cut it up fine, and if convenient, 
would keep it in a box where I could throw on two or 
three pails of warm water the night before, cover it 
and let it soften until morning. Don’t do it unless it’s 
good corn fodder. 
