1898 
8i5 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
to walk about and graze as is the sheep or calf. By- 
growing catch crops so as to give a succession of graz¬ 
ing through the season, the goose can make its rough 
tongue and bill very useful, and there will not be 
much need for grain except in “ finishing off ” and 
keeping them thriving. 
What the Grange Did. —Up to the present season 
of shipping potatoes the produce buyers of Genesee 
County, N. Y., have been taking 62 pounds for a bushel 
of potatoes, and no appeal by individual farmers 
was of any avail. The subject was brought before 
Stafford Grange in February last. After considerable 
discussion, a resolution was passed, appointing a com¬ 
mittee to bring the subject before the Genesee County 
Council of Granges, which met in March. A 
thorough discussion showed that dealers 
were paying no more for potatoes at 62 
pounds weight than dealers in adjoining 
counties were paying for 60 pounds. The 
practice of the dealers was condemned as 
wrong and against the law. Resolutions were 
passed asking them to accept the legal-stand¬ 
ard weight of 60 pounds, and appointing com¬ 
mittees to bring it before each subordinate 
Grange in the county, and asking such 
Granges to appoint a committee to pledge 
individual dealers to accept 60 pounds for a 
bushel of potatoes. The movement met with 
a good deal of opposition from the dealers. 
They tried to form a combination to check 
it, but by persistent and united effort, the 
victory has been won, and it is believed that 
now all dealers in the county are accepting 
60 pounds for a bushel of potatoes, at the 
same prices as are paid in the adjoining 
counties. The dealers who first pledged 
themselves to take potatoes at 60 pounds 
weight are getting the potatoes, while those 
who held out against the movement are getting left 
out. GENESEE COUNTY GRANGER. 
New “ Cure ” for Drunkenness. —The latest an¬ 
nounced cure for drunkenness is “ equisine ”, which 
is said to be alcoholized horses’ blood. Dr. F. W. 
D'Evalyn’s theory is, that by inoculating children 
with a preparation made from the blood of a horse 
which has been fed on alcohol, he can destroy the 
craving for that stimulant. He gives alcohol to the 
horse until it becomes a regular toper, and in this 
condition he claims that the blood becomes changed. 
“ Dehydration ” is the name he gives to this condition 
of the blood. He secures his inoculating principle, 
as we understand it, in much the same 
way that the anti-tc.xine diphtheria 
remedy is obtained. The doctor goes so 
far as to argue that all children should 
be vaccinated with his alcoholized 
blood. This, he claims, will render 
most of them immune to the craving 
for alcohol, as well as to its demoraliz¬ 
ing effect. He says that, in treating 
children, the arm is first scratched as 
in vaccination ; then a disk of prepared 
paper, called “bibulous” paper, is 
saturated with “equisine” and placed 
over the scratch. In time the paper 
becomes white, which, the doctor 
claims, shows that the “ equisine ” has 
been absorbed. He does not pretend 
to know how this prepared blood acts 
upon the child, or how it changes his 
nature, so that he will not wish for or 
drink alcohol. He might as well make 
up his mind first as last, that until he 
does find out something of the operation 
of this stuff, he will get very few re¬ 
spectable people to give it a trial. The 
idea of introducing into the human 
system germs to cure this, that, or the 
other disease, is obnoxious to a good 
many people, and in fact, as the years 
go by, there are more opponents to 
vaccination, even for smallpox, than ever before. It 
would certainly prove a Godsend to humanity, if a sub¬ 
stance like “equisine”could be found that would render 
men immune to the craving for intoxicating liquor. 
But it is not likely that those of us who are here to¬ 
day will live to see this wonderful thing wrought out. 
The Girl and the Cow. —At Fig. 371 is shown a 
picture of an Ayrshire cow on her native heath. She 
is owned by John Gilmour, of Gree Farm, Ayrshire, 
Scotland. This breed, as it is known to-day, is not 
an old one, but bred and raised in Scotland, it is one 
of the hardiest, and possesses many good dairy quali¬ 
ties. If its breeders here possessed half the business 
push evident in the girl holding the cow, the breed 
would be much better known. She has her sleeves 
rolled up all ready to hustle. There is no doubt of 
her ability to persuade the milk from the udder of her 
willing captive. The Scotch lassie and the Ayrshire 
cow make a winning team. 
USE OF THE DISK HARROW IN KANSAS. 
NOTHING LIKE IT ON STUBBLE. 
The disk harrow is largely used in the West as a 
pulverizer. In the preparation of land for Spring 
crops, it is an excellent tool. For oats, barley and 
grass seed, they disk lengthways of the rows first, 
which knocks down the corn stalks, and levels the 
ground (see Fig. 372), and then crossways, doubling 
back half the width of the disk ; this cuts the stalks 
in short pieces and thoroughly pulverizes the ground, 
to the depth of four to six inches, depending on the 
slant of the disks and the hardness of the ground. We 
prepare corn land by disking once or twice over before 
the lister. In the Fall, th e disk is used to kill out weeds 
and volunteer grain that may grow on wheat land 
after it is plowed. Once over is generally sufficient 
to make a fine seed-bed for wheat. 
In western and southwestern Kansas, where the soil 
is sandy, the wheat farmers use a disk altogether to 
prepare the stubble land. Three times over cuts up 
the stubble and weeds nicely. Our experience teaches 
us that the disks should be 20 inches in diameter, so 
as not to clog easily, and that one-half of the harrow 
should push against the other half so as to balance 
the side pressure, to avoid cutting the boxes out, on 
the shafts of the disks. Fourteen and sixteen disks 
are the sizes used here. The larger size is a big four- 
horse load. 
Never weight a disk (the draught seems to increase 
by the square of the weight). Set right and, if dull, 
get the disks sharpened (which by the way should be 
once a year at least), and they will cut all right, ex¬ 
cept where the ground is as hard as a road. If in this 
condition use a stubble plow, and use the disk to pul¬ 
verize. Fifteen acres are considered a fair day’s work, 
once over of deep disking, and 25 acres if shallow. The 
disk is a dry-ground implement, so don’t expect it to 
work in muck or on stony land. It is the best tool 
made for Morning-glory, Running-briar patches, wild 
pea vines, etc. w. z. 
Moray, Kan. 
R. N.-Y.—Farmers are coming more and more to see 
that this shallow, thorough working of the soil is bet¬ 
ter than deeper plowing for small grain crops. The 
work can be much more rapidly done, also. 
A QUESTION OF TILE DRAINAGE. 
HOW TO COVER THE JOINTS. 
One of our readers, who wishes to do some tile draining, and 
has bad little experience, has become mixed up over the advice 
given him by various authorities. One man tells him to pack the 
tile with clay as compactly as possible; another says that the 
tile should be covered with about six inches of small stone, and 
on top of that six inches of gravel. Between these two advices, 
this man hardly knows what to do, and he wants to know what 
practical men think about it. What would you advise in the way 
of covering tile, and if possible, give us reasons for such prac¬ 
tice, and also state the conditions under which your tile is laid 
down ? 
Clay Is the Best Covering. 
Clay is the best covering, but do not compact it. By 
compacting- the clay when it is damp or 
wet, it is likely to become puddled, and inter¬ 
fere with the working of the drain for a time. 
We have usually shoveled in the clay, cover¬ 
ing the tile six or eight inches first. By so 
doing, we can secure the tile in the right po¬ 
sition ; afterward with a long doubletree 
and two horses, we plow the dirt into the 
ditch. In laying the tile, secure a uniform 
grade, and join the tiles evenly and as close 
together as possible, setting them firmly on 
the grade, then cover with clay, as before 
described. The clay will settle around the 
tile close enough to keep out quicksand and 
still allow the water to filter through the 
joints of the tile into the drain, so as to fill 
the tile full in two or three rods’ length 
if the soil above is fully saturated. We have 
never used gravel or broken stone as a cov¬ 
ering for tile, for the reason that we have 
found it unnecessary to do so. Where clay can¬ 
not be had conveniently, and there is trouble 
from quicksand, use strips of tar paper about 
three inches wide to cover the joints closely, 
and afterwards fill the drain with whatever earth may 
be convenient. By the time the paper decays, the earth 
will have settled so closely about the tile, and the 
thousands of tiny waterways leading to the joints of 
the tile will have been so formed, that the quicksand 
will give no trouble. Again, I wish to emphasize the 
importance of an even regular grade, and the joining 
of the tile closely together, even turning the tile, if 
necessary, to form a close, even joint. A little uneven¬ 
ness of the joiDts or shouldering of the tile, as it is 
called, will diminish very rapidly the capacity of the 
drain. In the laying of tile drains, one can well afford 
to take time and pains to do the work well, for if well 
done, there will not likely be any need 
for repairs for generations to come. 
Indiana. j. j. w. Billingsley. 
The Whole Story m Brief. 
We have found by experience on 
the University farm, that on very heavy 
clay lands, the tile should not be placed 
over three feet deep, or the water will 
not reach it as rapidly as desired. We 
have also found that, on lands which are 
too wet, because of water that has 
fallen on higher levels and found its 
way through a stratum of some loose 
material to the foot or side of the hill, 
sometimes to the plain where it oozes 
out under pressure, a deep drain, if 
properly located, is most effective. The 
latter conditions are rare. Only an 
expert should make the attempt to 
drain off ooze water which is under 
pressure from the side of a hill, as the 
geological formation and many other 
factors must be studied most carefully, 
or the drainage will not accomplish 
its purpose. 
Wherever there is danger of silt get¬ 
ting into the tiles and obstructing them, 
some means should be taken to make 
the joints somewhat less impervious to 
water than they are when the tiles are simply laid 
end to end. To accomplish this, we have practiced 
placing a piece of tarred building paper, about two 
inches wide and long enough to encompass the upper 
two-thirds of the tile, around the joints, thereby aim¬ 
ing to force all of the water into the tile from the 
bottom. If the tarred paper is not put on, and a heavy 
rain follows soon after the tiles are laid, the silt may 
enter the joints, and obstruct them almost imme¬ 
diately. On clay lands, wherever there is little danger 
of silt getting into the tiles, and where the water has 
great difficulty in getting to the tiles because of the 
tenacity of the soil, it is a most excellent practice to 
cover them six inches deep, with small stones and 
gravel. These assist the water in reaching the drain 
quickly, which is very desirable in heavy clay soils. 
Much pains should be taken to lay the tile so that 
there will be no sharp turns either horizontally or 
perpendicularly. An easy gradual bend or slope 
A SCOTCH GIRL AND AYRSHIRE COW. Fig. 371. 
