1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
625 
ing at the end of the two forcing-houses contains 
the furnace in the cellar and two incubators; a 
brooder for the young chicks is overhead, a place for 
washing, bunching and packing vegetables and fruits; 
it is, also, used as a shop, and is, apparently, indispen¬ 
sable. All work possible is done by home labor. The 
rule is to buy nothing that can be produced at home. 
This saves the extra expense of marketing, freight, 
danger of loss, etc. It seems a wise thing to do. I 
will try to tell a little something about the hen busi¬ 
ness next. F. H. v. 
The Farmers’ Club 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address of 
the writer to insure attention. Before asking a question please 
see whether it is not answered in our advertising columns. Ask 
only a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate 
piece of paper.l 
Crimson Clover on Grass. 
S. P. S., Higdon, Ala.— Last Fall, I sowed Crimson clover seed 
in the chaff on a grass plot which was rather thinly set with 
grass. I did not work the ground any, and the clover made a 
good stand. Would it not be a good plan to sow Crimson clover 
on sod to be turned in the Spring ? 
Ans. —Such a plan might work in Alabama if the 
seed were sown in a wet time. It would, doubtless, 
sprout and grow. We rotice that the seed which falls 
between the hills of corn and is not cultivated in 
sprouts about as well as that which is worked in by 
the cultivator. It is in the shade, however. If out in 
the hot sun, the seed would be killed as it sprouted 
without shelter. The grass might give enough shade, 
but it would depend largely on the season. 
Plan for Hoghouse; Ailing Pigs. 
O. S., Huron County, Mich. —1. I wish to build a hogpen so I 
can keep three or four brood sows during Winter. I also wish to 
feed hogs that come in the Fall in the same building. I wish at 
one side a place or room to cook feed, etc. My plan is to build of 
stone. 2. I have lost many little pigs these last few years when 
they are 8 to 15 days old, and some older ones. A neighbor claims 
that the trouble is black teeth. If so, is there any remedy for it ? 
3. My Poland-China sow had a litter of pigs the latter part of 
June. When they were about 12 days old, I noticed that one of 
them was losing instead of gaining. The pig was all scabby. 
If we washed and cleaned it, in a few days the scab was there 
again. Is there any remedy ? 
ANSWERED BY JOHN M. JAMISON. 
1. In devising a plan for a boghouse, several points 
come up for consideration that must not be ignored. 
It must be warm and dry as the most important points; 
there must, also, be plenty of room and perfect 
ventilation. O. S. docs not intimate how much he 
wants to expend on such a building, or whether he 
wants it to be one or two stories high. I submit a 
plan for the ground floor above which, if it suit, he 
can put as much as he desires. If the walls are stone, 
they should be double, or in other words, have an air- 
chamber through them. This is necessary to keep 
them dry and prevent moisture congealing on them. 
The floor to such a building should be cement, and 
slope slightly from the center to the outer walls. 
As I have the plan, the building is 48 x 26 feet, and 
should stand east and west the long way. In the 
south wall fronting the nests and feeding pens for the 
sows and their litters, there should be as many and as 
large windows as are possible, and for extremely cold 
weather, these should have blinds. The feeding alley 
is three feet wide, full length of the building. The 
manure alley next the south wall is four feet wide. 
The next pens are 6x7 feet, and the feeding pens the 
same size. If the manure alley is a few inches below 
the floor, it will be that much better, and if the floors 
slope a little towards this trench, the nests and feed¬ 
ing floors can always be kept dry. As a further help 
to keep them dry, the sows should always pass from 
the nest room around into this alley to enter the feed¬ 
ing-room, giving them the opportunity to leave their 
voidings in the alley, which they will soon learn to do. 
There should be outside pens adjoining the south 
side for the sows and pigs to take exercise in. A 
6x 7-foot stall is plenty large for a sow to farrow in 
and care for her pigs till weaning time. When the 
pigs begin to eat, it will be an easy matter to arrange 
the doors so that they can have their feed first, and 
let the sows clean up after them when they have their 
feed. I have planned for four sows and their litters ; 
they should produce 60 pigs a year at two farrowings. 
He will, doubtless, often have all on hand at the same 
time in the house, but the first or older lot should al¬ 
ways be ready for market by the time the young 
things are a month old. I have placed doors or gate¬ 
ways as I would have them were I building them, and 
would, probably, want more of them. When putting 
in the cement floor, post holes should be left in the 
floor two inches deep, or else iron pins should be set 
in the floor to set the posts on. I would advise mak¬ 
ing all partitions movable and interchangeable as 
much as possible. Then, if necessary to give the 
floor a complete scrubbing and cleansing, it can be 
done. For the destruction of disease germs, nothing 
equals pure air and sunlight, and if the partition can 
be moved outdoors, so much the better. 
The feed-room or floor and sleeping quarters are suf¬ 
ficiently large for 30 hogs till they weigh upwards of 
200 pounds each. The partition between the feeding 
floor and sleeping-room should be movable, and the 
sleeping-room just large enough for them to lie singly 
on the floor. This will prevent overlaying if there is 
no wind that can strike them. The feeding hogs 
must also have an outside yard for them to take exer¬ 
cise in, as it will not do to confine either the sows, 
pigs or fat hogs on the cement floor long at a time. 
If putting- up such a building for my own use, I would 
make the lower story at least seven feet high, and the 
upper large enough to contain a goodly store of feed. 
The well and heating apparatus are a necessity for 
such a house, but I would advise O. S. to give the 
matter of cooking careful study before he puts in ex¬ 
pensive arrangements for this purpose, as careful ex¬ 
periments in their results do not encourage cooking 
feed for hogs. 
2 and 3. Pigs may have black teeth, but they are 
not the cause of the pig’s death, consequently O. S. 
must look for some other cause. My judgment is that 
the sows are fed too rich food and that their milk is 
not right for the pigs ; at the same time, I take it 
that the sows and pigs do not have the exercise they 
need. In years gone by, I have lost many pigs as the 
Poland-China sow lost hers, and I know now that the 
sows were fed too rich and too much food, more than 
the systems of the pigs could assimilate. I can keep 
the sows in fine condition, but govern the amount fed 
to some extent by the number of pigs in the litter. I 
have cured pigs afflicted in this way by reducing the 
feed in quantity and heating nature, and washing the 
pigs with buttermilk in which was put a quantity of 
sulphur. But when once out of condition in that 
A, Feeding alley; B, Furnace; S, Slaughter room; W, Well; 
P, Sleeping room for feeding hogs; O, Feeding room for feed¬ 
ing hogs; D, Doors; N, Nests for brood sows; F, Feed room 
for brood sows; M, Manure alley. 
way, it requires a long time to get them back to a 
healthy, growing condition again. From past ex¬ 
perience in this direction, I find it much more profit¬ 
able to avoid the cause. 
Another Talk About Rams. 
J. G. H., Valley Springs, Ark. —I, too, am in the ram business. I 
put in a No. 5 two years ago, had to use 300 feet of 2-inch drive 
pipe, one-inch discharge, five feet fall, water to be carried 300 
feet and raised 25. The ram is level but works spasmodically, 
runs a few hours, then sticks. I have a spring affording 75 gallons 
of water per minute. No lack of water. I fear that I have my 
ram too far from the spring, and have too much water in the dis¬ 
charge pipe—too much weight to lift. The firm of whom I bought 
refuse to give the address of any manufacturers, and try to tell 
me how to arrange my ram; but I have worked at it two years, 
and it will not work. It has cost me more than $100, and of course, 
I am anxious to get the thing going. 
ANSWERED BY J. C. SENDER. 
It can scarcely be possible that the inquirer’s ram is 
so poor that the manufacturers were ashamed to put 
their name on it. If J. G. H. will look carefully, he 
will likely find the name of the maker together with 
his address cast on it, probably on the air chamber. 
It would appear that his ram is not as good as some 
others, the number being rather high for the different 
sizes of pipe used. At the same time, he has not done 
his part, or, rather, he has overdone it. That ram 
ought to elevate between 75 and 100 gallons of water 
every hour to the small elevation of 25 feet. He need 
not be uneasy about the weight of the water in his 
discharge pipe. Possibly, if the elevation were twice 
as great, consequently the weight of water in the dis¬ 
charge pipe much greater, this particular ram might 
give better satisfaction. The pressure (a different 
thing from weight) of the water in the discharge pipe 
must be greater than the pressure exerted by the 
water at flow in the supply pipe, or the valve under 
the air-chamber will not close properly and the ram 
will stop running. Millions of pounds of water in the 
supply pipe cannot budge the few pounds of water in 
the minutest discharge pipe beyond the level of the 
source, except when the two valves are alternately 
opened and closed. When the splash valve is open, 
the water in the supply pipe rushes out with a velocity 
in proportion to its fall, and in so doing, attains a cer¬ 
tain proportionate momentum. When this valve closes, 
the acquired momentum and not the weight of the 
water forces the other valve open and causes the water 
to rise in the discharge pipe. This is the foundation 
principle of the hydraulic ram, and when not properly 
understood may lead to trouble. One thing is certain, 
and that is that he will have to make a break in his 
supply pipe, but without knowing the environments 
I can only suggest possible ways. 
He can lead the water in a large pipe (tile will do) 
on a level so as not to decrease the fall to within 40 to 
50 feet of the ram into a reservoir, cistern, tank or 
cask, the top of either to be on a level with the spring, 
and use this point as the base of supply. Or he may 
lead the water to any distance down grade to some 
sort of reservoir within 50 feet of which he can get a 
fall of five feet or more. As the efficiency of a ram 
increases rapidly with an increase of fall, the attempt 
should always be made to gain it, but information 
should be obtained, if not possessed, as to the ap¬ 
proximate length of supply pipe. It will not do to go 
below, neither above certain limits, as J. G. H. has 
done. But even a ram very properly placed may often 
have occasion to “stick”, i. e., the impetus valve may 
not descend, thereby putting an end to the momentum 
and flow of water at the same time. 
Among the different causes, which must be sought 
and remedied, the following are the most common : 
A defective washer anywhere about the ram, or the 
same not being screwed tight, causing a leak and in¬ 
gress of air ; a leak from any cause in the supply pipe ; 
also, the discharge of too much water by the “ air 
sniff.” Even aleak in the delivery pipe will cause the 
same trouble. But it is just as easy to have all these 
things right as to have them wrong. Is there “always’’ 
a sufficient supply of water? If so, then the spring 
must have water running to waste besides keeping 
the two-inch pipe full. Because there is enough water 
to run a ram for a time, some persons think they have 
enough for always. But in some cases, after a while 
the water runs low, air enters at the end of the supply 
pipe, and the ram stops with the impetus valve closed. 
By the time the owner looks into the matter, there 
being no farther escape through the ram, the water 
rises again in the spring, covers the pipe completely, 
and he believes himself justified in swearing that the 
stoppage was not due to lack of water. Sometimes 
the air in the air-chamber becomes exhausted. See 
that a fresh supply gets in occasionally. 
Pears and Potatoes in Texas. 
G. S. E., Ennis, Texas. —I have a pear orchard just comiug into 
bearing, which I have kept well cultivated since planting, but I 
have been told by several that, if I keep cultivating it after it 
comes into bearing, it will die. I have been informed that the 
proper way to treat it is to let the weeds and grass grow and 
keep them mowed. Which is the proper treatment? Which is 
the best early Irish potato for this country ? I don’t like the 
Triumph. Which is the best late potato, and where can good 
seed be had next Spring? My laud is sandy, with clay subsoil. 
We plant potatoes here in February and March. 
ANSWERED BY JAMES NIMON. 
G. S. E. may continue the cultivation of bis pear 
orchard without the least fear of doing it any harm. 
Indeed, I am sure that if the work be done with 
proper care and judgment, the trees will be greatly 
benefited. Especially is this the case if the land is 
sandy and thin, and inclined to suffer from drought 
as indicated. If the orchard were located on very rich, 
moist soil, and inclined to make too rank a growth at 
the expense of fruitfulness, it would be advisable to 
cease cultivation until the growth of the trees be¬ 
came normal. It is with trees and plants as with men 
and animals—whatever is most conducive to a good, 
healthy development is best, either extreme is danger¬ 
ous. In the cultivation of an orchard, as in the cul¬ 
tivation of any crop, there is plenty of room for the 
display of good judgment. 
The most popular as well as the most profitable po¬ 
tato in Texas to-day is the Triumph, bringing in the 
northern markets, when shipped as an early potato, 
from five to ten cents a bushel more than any other 
kind. This is owing more to its uniform size and 
good shipping qualities. The table or eating quality 
of the Triumph is inferior to that of the Ohio, Rose, 
Michigan and other varieties of that class, all of 
which do well here, and seed of which can usually be 
secured from any of our seedsmen. Late maturing 
varieties are seldom a success here. Instead of grow¬ 
ing late potatoes, we grow two crops of the early 
kinds. The first crop is planted in February or March 
and harvested about June 1. The second crop is 
planted from the middle to the last of August and 
harvested in December, using for seed the unmarket¬ 
able part of the first crop. 
Peat for Bedding.—F. H., Ludlow, Vt —Peat moss is imported 
into this country for bedding, and was formerly used in large 
quantities. The kind that is imported, we believe, is not found 
in this country. This peat moss is usually sold by dealers in hay 
and grain. Many who formerly used it now use baled shavings 
instead. 
