1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
24i 
crease its capacity for producing crops. By careful 
and persistent culture, and the use of leguminous 
crops like clover and cow peas, soils may, undoubtedly, 
be greatly improved without much expense for manure 
and fertilizers. The Eel grass fovind along the salt 
marshes has very little fertilizing value until it has 
been decomposed and thoroughly rotted. It may be 
used as bedding, in which case it absorbs a good deal 
of the liquid manure, or it will make a good mulch 
for most crops. Until it has been rotted, however, it 
is not of much direct value as a fertilizer. 
Wood Ashes and Salt for Potatoes. 
F. G. It., River Point, R. /.—Some time ago, I saw it advised, I 
think in The R. N.-Y., to mix one bushel of ashes and four quarts 
of fine salt, and put a tablespoonful in each hill of potatoes with 
no other fertilizer of any kind, and that it would give better re¬ 
sults than to use manure or other fertilizer. Do you know whether 
there is anything in it or not? I have about three acres on which, 
last year, I raised field corn, with a good quantity of corn fer¬ 
tilizer. Would you advise putting potatoes in with the above 
mixture ? 
Ans. —Our friend never saw any such advice in The 
R.N.-Y. We would never use either wood ashes or salt 
on potatoes. The ashes are likely to cause scab, and 
the salt will give a poor quality. There is no sense in 
using this mixture. 
Slaughterhouse Refuse for Manure. 
I. J. R.. Boyerstown, Pa. —Does it pay to haul slaughterhouse 
refuse a distance of a mile if it can be had for the hauling? IIow 
should it be treated ? 
Ans. —Yes, it pays. Our choice would be to put it 
right on the manure pile, and mix it well with the 
manure. The next best thing would be to spread it 
out under shelter, and scatter plaster over it—at least 
200 pounds of plaster to the wagon-load of refuse. 
This will dry and preserve it. You can, also, use it in 
muck or sods to make a compost. It contains mostly 
nitrogen, and some phosphoric acid and potash should 
be used with it to give best results. The easiest way 
to handle it in Winter or Spring would be to broad¬ 
cast it directly on grain or grass. 
Subsoiling a Stiff Clay Soil. 
II. II. T., Virginia. —I have stiff clay limestone land, am plow¬ 
ing six Inches deep with a turning plow, and eight inches with 
the subsoil. Am I right ? What, In your opinion, will be the re¬ 
sult over and above the turning plow alone ? 
Ans. —We consider it wise to break open a stiff clay 
subsoil with a subsoil plow. It opens a new feeding 
ground for the roots of plants, and nearly doubles the 
water storage capacity of the soil. In time of drought, 
more water will be available. In wet seasons, the 
water will drain away quicker. 
Breeding and Feeding Geese. 
A. W. S., Mu nith, Mich .—Will you give some points on the rais¬ 
ing and keeping of geese ? How should the goslings be fed and 
cared for to grow most rapidly ? How should geese be wintered ? 
How mated ? 
Ans. —The first feed for goslings should be a fresh- 
cut sod of grass ; they will thrive better on this than 
on anything else. In connection with this feed, give 
rolled oats four times a day, and after five days, change 
to equal proportions of crushed oats, middlings, bran 
and corn meal twice per day; at night, feed fine 
cracked corn. When ready to fatten, gradually with¬ 
draw the oats and bran until 14 days before killing, 
then feed corn meal with one-fifth beef scraps. One 
person should feed and care for them, and be very 
gentle, as they are timid, and any excitement will 
cause them to lose in flesh. 
The old geese, after the season is over, should be 
turned out to pasture. If one have good grass, they 
do not need any other feed until cold weather, when 
they should have cracked or whole corn, keeping 
them in fair condition. They need very little shelter 
in Winter ; an open shed will do, as they stand very 
severe weather before seeking shelter. In buying 
geese, get them two years old ; if they are not mated, 
get them early in the Fall, so that the gander can get 
over his grief and choose a new mate before the sea¬ 
son commences. The best success is achieved by pair¬ 
ing them ; some ganders will mate with but one goose. 
I sometimes put two geese with one gander with good 
results, but one must determine that by observation. 
The best way to obtain the greatest number of eggs 
from a goose is to let her lay the first litter, which 
will be from 12 to 20 eggs. As soon as the first signs 
of broodiness are noticed, put her in a small pen 
alone for three days, and she will go to laying in a 
few days. Do the same on the second litter, and let 
her sit on the third litter. By so doing, one can get 
40 to 50 eggs from each goose. Set the eggs under 
hens, five to each hen On the twenty-fifth day, have 
a bucket of water at 104 degrees, take the eggs from 
the hen, put in the water one minute, and return to 
the nest. If one have a hen to care for them, they 
should be confined in small runs on grass, and changed 
daily ; if not confined, the hen will run them off their 
feet. 
For laying geese, I feed equal parts bran, corn meal 
and middlings, with one-eighth beef scraps added. Of 
the different breeds of geese, I think the African the 
best, Embden second, Toulouse third, Brown China 
fourth, White China fifth. The best cross is an Emb¬ 
den gander on an African goose ; the second best, an 
Embden gander on a Toulouse goose, w. J. SALTER. 
Rhode Island Agricultural College. 
This, That and the Other. 
F. A. II., Weslborough, Maes.—1 . A little over a year ago, I received 
a small Sir Walter Raleigh potato. The box containing the 
potato was placed on a shelf in the cellar for safe keeping until 
planting time. About that time, I left town to be gone .a year, 
and the potato was forgotten. Upon returning a few weeks ago, 
I accidentally came upon the box, and an examination showed 
that the potato was still there but not alone. Though dried and 
shriveled, it had not been idle. Clinging to it and partially cov¬ 
ering it, were six potatoes varying in size from a pea to a fair¬ 
sized walnut. There appears to be a spark of life in them, and 
I think of giving them a little boost by and by. Will they amount 
to anything? 2. I have a field completely overrun with Witch 
grass. How shall I eradicate it ? Shall I plow and harrow and 
fertilize as well as I can, and sow to Hungarian grass or millet? 
How early should the millet be sown, and what variety is best ? 
3. Several months ago, I was in New Brunswick, and the pota¬ 
toes served at my boarding place were about as fine as any I 
ever ate. Upon inquiry, I was told that they were Delawares. I 
have several catalogues, but they are not listed. Why is it ? I 
have tried the R. N.-Y. No. 2, the Freeman, and the Carman, but 
they are a disax^pointment. I am inclined to think that, after 
all, the old Early Rose and Beauty of Hebron are the best all- 
’round xrotatoes for general cultivation. Quality is more to be 
desired than a big yield. 4. I have several varieties of Japan 
plums. The first year they bore, the fruit was magnificent, both 
as to quality and size. But I find that they are subject to the 
ills of other plums, the curculio and black-knot. Last year, the 
fruit was small, and the quality indifferent. One of the trees 
started with a big crop, but before the Summer was over, it with¬ 
ered and died. The trees are very rank growers; one which I 
grafted in the Spring of 18915, made a growth of 12 feet, and at 
its union with the stock, was an inch through. 5. It is not always 
that a plant will thrive by abuse and neglect, but I find that 
this is the case with the Japanese Wineberry. When cared for 
in my garden, it became a nuisance—a big vine with poor and 
little fruit; but when I set it in poor soil against the wall, and 
allowed it to care for itself, it rewarded me with a plentiful simply 
of luscious berries. 6 . Is the growing of strawberries in a barrel 
a success? 7. Wherein do the so-called climbing cucumbers 
differ from others? 8 . Will not any vine having tendrils climb 
if given a chance? 
Ans. —1. These litt'e tubers—the last effort of the 
parent tuber to preserve the variety—will grow anti 
yield as well as any other weakened tubers. If there 
is still life, the live buds will start, but the vines will 
be feeble. 2. This grass, as the writer knows from 
long experience, cannot stand shallow cultivation dur¬ 
ing the hottest part of Summer. Any crop may be 
raised in a field of Quitch or Couch grass (Agropyrum 
or Triticum repens). The Couch sod plowed under 
gives just what corn needs. If the corn be cultivated 
shallow during July and August, the Couch grass will 
be exterminated. We have not found it desirable to 
sow any kind of millet before warm weather—say late 
May. Hungarian is our preference. 3. About 10 years 
ago, we tried the Delaware. Our seed tubers came 
from J. J. II. Gregory, of Marblehead, Mass. He offers 
it still. 4. We want all the information we can get 
regarding the Japan plums. 5. The Wineberry has 
its merits, certainly. The especial merit set forth by 
F. A. H. is new to us. 6. No ; it is merely for ama¬ 
teurs that care to interest themselves with odd meth¬ 
ods. 7. We have tried them and find no special differ¬ 
ence except, perhaps, the vines are more vigorous. 
8. Yes. 
Pumping Water for Irrigation. 
J. II. L., Benton Harbor, Mich.—I am about to pump irrigating 
water from a pond to my peach orchard, elevation 854 feet, dis¬ 
tance 1,000 feet, grade one inch to 10 feet. With .a pump at the 
X>ond, can I use vitrified sewer pipe to force the water up this 
grade, if the pipe is twice the diameter of the pump nozzle ? 
Ans. —There is little question to-day that some form 
of engine and pump is one of the cheapest appliances 
for irrigating where the water docs not have to be 
lifted over 50 feet. Pumps are particularly valuable 
where irrigation is required only for a short time dur¬ 
ing the season, as is the case with most fruit crops. 
Steam or gasoline engines may be used, their economy 
depending mainly on the relative cost of fuel. At the 
Wisconsin Experiment Station, where coal cost $4 per 
ton, the cost of fuel was 16% cents for each inch of 
water per acre, where the water was lifted 26 feet. 
Or, charging 15 cents per hour each for the use of the 
engine, and for two men to operate the engine and 
apply the water, the cost was 66% cents per acre one 
inch deep. It required about one hour to water an 
acre with an inch of water. Under many conditions, 
a gasoline engine would be fully as, or perhaps more, 
economical than this. A rotary pump is, probably, 
the best style where a large amount of water is to be 
lifted. A lifting pump has been found very effectual 
where a relatively small quantity of water is needed 
for a few acres. In Connecticut, large-sized rams have 
been used with very good results. The water may be 
pumped through any style of pipe that is not porous 
and that has tight joints. Vitrified sewer pipe with 
cemented joints ought to make a good conductor. If 
the pipe is larger than the pump nozzle, there will be 
no gain in the amount of water that can be lifted in 
a given time ; yet if one had the larger-sized pipe on 
hand, it would be perfectly serviceable. In buying, 
the cost of the pipe increased rapidly with the increase 
in size. c. s. phelps. 
Storrs (Connecticut) Experiment Station. 
Wanted! Plants to Fatten on Sand. 
F. G., Wilmington, Maes. —It seems to me that the need of this poor 
sandy leachy soil is something like the cow pea that will feed on 
anything, grow quicker than weeds, and form a great mass of 
nitrogenous green manure. Clover is too slow to catch—land too 
poor. Is there no xiea, bean or other leguminous plant that we 
can use here and get cow-pea results? If another similar plant 
can be found that will cover the ground during Winter, and keep 
alive like wheat or rye, it will be a great heli), too. 
Ans. —The best plant to give cow-pea results is the 
cow pea. We would try the Early Black variety on 
such soil. We would, also, try a small quantity of the 
Velvet bean as an experiment. If the cow pea will 
thrive, you will soon have the soil in fair condition 
for Crimson clover. Try the Sand vetch. A bulletin is¬ 
sued by the Cornell Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y., 
will help you. 
7 he Chufa for Hog Food. 
II. E. II., Toguin, Mich .—What is tin; value of Chufas for feed¬ 
ing hogs ? What is considered an average yield per acre, and 
can they be depended on for a crop in the latitude of lower 
Michigan ? 
Ans. —Undoubtedly, the Chufa is a valuable crop for 
hogs. It is nutritious and palatable. I think its yield 
has been generally overrated. The usual j’ield may 
be safely taken as less than the yield of sweet pota¬ 
toes. Indeed, in two different years, Chufas on the 
sandy soil of the Alabama Experiment Station farm, 
have yielded less than Spanish peanuts. In this ex¬ 
periment, only acid phosphate and muriate of potash 
were used, so that Chufas were at a disadvantage as 
compared with peanuts, the latter being able to obtain 
a supply of nitrogen from the atmosphere, while 
Chufas were not able to do so. Although reports of 
immense yields—some writers estimating ” the yield 
as high as 500 bushels per acre under favorable condi¬ 
tions—are to be found in some agricultural papers, I 
can find no authentic records of a remarkable yield. 
The highest yield on this farm was 172 bushels per 
acre of fresh Chufas, which was assumed as equivalent 
to 115% bushels of dry Chufas. A bushel of dry 
Chufas weighs 33 to 40 pounds. When only mineral 
fertilizers were used, the yield fell considerably below 
the above figure. The one advantage which Chufas 
have over Spanish peanuts consists in their ability to 
lie uninjured in the ground during the entire Winter. 
This would not be any advantage where the ground 
freezes deeply and thus prevents rooting by hogs during 
Winter. Chufas planted here as late as the first of 
July, mature by November, which fact suggests that 
they might mature in Michigan. The correspondent 
would do better to plant Spanish peanuts, instead of 
Chufas, as they mature in less time, are more nutri¬ 
tious, and make good yields without the aid of the 
expensive nitrogenous fertilizers, which are necessary 
to a large jield of Chufas on poor soil. j. f. duggar. 
Alabama Experiment Station. 
Damage to an Apple Tree. 
E. P., Westborough, Mass .—In my back yard, I have four applfe 
trees; one, a Baldwin, lias a circumference of three feet eight 
inches, three feet from the ground, where it has four branches. 
A year ago the past Summer, a man moving a building fastened 
his tackle to the largest branch, unknown to me, and stripped 
the bark off. The scar now measures 21 inches long and 16 
wide, leaving only nine inches of bark on one side. The tree 
would bear 2*4 or 3 barrels of merchantable apples the bearing 
year, and this branch yields more than one-third of them. Not 
being able to settle the matter yet, I would like to get the 
opinion of two or three xjractical growers as to the amount of 
damage I ought to receive. 
Ans. —It is difficult to state what the damage to 
this tree is. The wound should be coated over with 
grafting wax or gum shellac such as painters use to 
coat over knots before painting. The nine inches of 
bark will carry the sap to the limb, and mature the 
fruit about as well as though the bark had not been 
broken. If the bark is peeled from the topside, the limb 
will weaken and be likely to break unless a prop be 
put under it at a distance from the body of the tree. 
I do not think the damage should be placed very 
high, say not to exceed $5, and perhaps not that. I 
could not make a fair estimate without seeing the tree. 
A tree will, many times, recuperate from an injury of 
this kind without any apparent damage, edwin hoyt. 
The Strawberry Barrel; Planting Sweet Peas. 
M. C., De Kalb, 111 .—How should a strawberry barrel be pro¬ 
tected to withstand the Winters of northern Illinois? Would it 
be practicable to put tile in the barrel to facilitate drainage ? If 
so, how and what sized tile ? How deep would you advise to 
Xtlant sweet peas? 
Ans. —The strawberry barrel seems to have been a 
failure. Our own barrel, after two years’ exposure 
without protection, has 18 plants left on it. The best de¬ 
vice for giving Winter protection seems to be a square 
frame giving several inches space around the barrel 
stuffed full of straw or hay. We shall be glad to hear 
from others who have tried these barrels. In plant¬ 
ing sweet peas, the ground should be made firm and a 
rounded depression scooped out the length of the row, 
and two inches deep. The peas should be sown in 
this depression one inch deep, the ground made firm 
over them. In about six weeks, another inch of soil 
should be drawn up around the little plants, and this 
process repeated a little later, 
