2 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
January 2 
With the gas as pewer yo n buy your cylinders already 
charged, an<l ran buy afTmueh puwer as needed for 
a season’s work. With compressed air you buy a 
compressor and make your power. If either of these 
plans proves effective, as claimed, spraying will he 
much simplified. gra^xt e. kitohings. 
Onondaga Co., N. Y. 
Gasoline Power is Good. 
This question is not an easy one to answer without 
knowing something of the labor conditions and gen¬ 
eral surroundings of the farmer. From my own point 
of view I would say that it would pay me to have a 
power sprayer if I had but 10 acres in orchard. In 
the first place, it is not an easy matter to secure effi¬ 
cient and reliable labor to do this work, as it comes 
at the beginning of the busy season, when surplus 
laborers are hard to find. It requires a man, or rath¬ 
er two men, who are not afraid of work to operate a 
pump properly. Good spraying cannot be done with¬ 
out plenty of power behind the pump. With us we 
have other uses for our engine, besides spraying, such 
as grinding and cutting feed, so that only a part of its 
cost is to be charged up with the spraying outfit. 
With a power" sprayer you are ready at any time to 
go out with the regular force and do the spraying. I 
would greatly prefer a gasoline engine to steam 
power. It is much lighter to haul around, there being 
very little water or fuel to carry along. It is ready for 
business at any moment, no waiting or delay in 
“steaming up,” and no danger of explosion from neg¬ 
lect. The gasoline power needs no looking after, 
other than to oil occasionally and keep the gasoline 
tank filled. It is no more difficult to keep a gasoline 
engine in running order than steam. We have been 
operating a gasoline engine for eight years, and must 
say that it is the most convenient and economical 
power the farmer can have. We have 
had experience with steam and several 
kinds of horse powers, and know where¬ 
of we speak. Many small orchardists 
are having their spraying done satis¬ 
factorily by men who have power spray¬ 
ers and go about from one orchard to 
another doing this work. 
Indiana. w. w. stevttns. 
VARIOUS COW NOTES. 
Care of Mangers. 
After feeding dry coarse fodder that 
may contain any orts we always clean 
out the mangers before feeding grain, 
and this is done once or twice each day 
depending on what we are feeding. For 
thus cleansing them we use a wide shin¬ 
gle with a little of the slim end sawed 
off, and one can work rapidly and well 
with it, as we clean out 60 or more man¬ 
gers in 10 to 15 minutes, depending 
upon their condition. We never like 
to make a cow pick grain from 
coarse fodder. A good deal is wasted in feeding that 
way, yet we have seen mangers where apparently the 
cow didn’t get a clean meal once a month. We re¬ 
member looking in at one barn owned by the man 
who entertained the institute speakers and there was 
hardly a sound manger in the barn. Plenty of holes 
where the grain dropped through to the ground be¬ 
neath and the cow made frantic efforts to recover it. 
No wonder dairying didn’t pay on the host’s farm, am 
he was anxious to try some new line. Once in a while 
we see a dairyman who feeds wet feed, but we do not 
like this practice. The mangers are apt to be wet all 
’the time. Wet, pasty grain accumulates in the cor¬ 
ners and the manger often become very repulsive and 
unsanitary. Mangers are often made much too 
large at the bottom and the cow makes desperate ef¬ 
forts to reach the feed in the corners. She strains this 
way and that and often slips and falls heavily to the 
floor and then we wonder why she has big knees or 
even why abortion strikes our herd. 
Cows and a Sink Drain. 
Would you consider it safe for cows to drink from a 
diteh 100 yards from the place a laundry empties Its 
waste water on the hillside, finding Its way into the 
ditch? The laundry washes all kinds of linen. J. l. h. 
Freehold, N. J. 
We should not want to have our cows drink water 
from the ditch in question, and one could hardly ex¬ 
pect to make sanitary milk when such water was used 
for drinking purposes. When the ground was frozen 
this water with scarcely any change would enter the 
ditch and contaminate the water. One can hardly im¬ 
agine water more filthy than the waste from a laun¬ 
dry. In addition to this, soap, washing and bleaching 
powders, lime, soda, potash and sometimes even acid 
are used for cleansing purposes. We should expeet 
that these would have a deleterious effect upon the 
animals' systems, and serious financial loss might fol¬ 
low from drinking such water. We know of two 
farmers who have had heavy losses from hotel swill 
that had had washing powders therein, causing a loss 
of nearly all their swine, so that such waste is now at 
a discount. Cows consume about 100 pounds of water 
daily, and would thus take in a good deal of foreign 
matter. The effect of this water might not appear 
in the milk, but whatever we give an animal that is 
not wholesome has an effect which in time weakens 
the system and makes way for other troubles. We 
have troubles enough that are unavoidable, without 
taking unnecessary chances. We do not think, as a 
rule, dairymen are particular enough with the water 
their cattle drink. We have seen them drinking from 
stagnant pools in the barnyard, and filthy holes in the 
pastures, when a little work would have given them a 
chance to drink from running streams or water fresh¬ 
ly pumped from wells. 
A Balanced Ration Suggested. 
How can I make up a balanced ration for milch cows 
from what I have on hand, mixed hay, clover, Timothy 
and Red-top, millet, corn fodder, dried grains, sprouts, 
Globe gluten meal? j. w. d. g. 
Meadow Brook, N. Y. 
If the hay in question is early-cut we would suggest 
a trial of this ration: 
Pro- 
Carbo- 
teln. 
hydrates. 
Fat. 
8 lbs. 
hay . 
.40 
2.66 
.12 
S “ 
millet 
3.71 
.08 
10 “ 
corn fodder . 
.25 
3.50 
.12 
4 “ 
Globe 
gluten feed. 
... .95 
2.06 
.11 
3 “ 
dried 
brewers' grains... 
... .47 
1.08 
.15 
Total . 
13d)I 
.58 
This furnishes practically a balanced ration for 
1,000-pound cows and seven pounds of grain would 
not be an expensive ration. Most cows weigh less 
than 1,000 pounds, so probably a little less of all 
would be required. Of the coarse fodder give whac 
they will eat up fairly clean, and if cows are in full 
flow of milk a full grain ration. Some may handle 
more at a good profit, while others will need less, and 
as they work further along in the milking period de¬ 
crease the amount of grain. If we could get bran at 
the same price as the dried brewers’ grains we should 
drop them in favor of bran. Malt sprouts analyze well, 
but are not very palatable, and we do not like them. 
We note that you mention Globe gluten meal. Globe 
gluten is not a meal hut a feed. It contains about 27 
per cent crude protein, while gluten meals contain 34 
to 38 per cent protein. They are a heavier and more 
concentrated feed, weighing 1.7 pound per quart, 
while the feed weighs 1.2 to 1.4 pound per quart. The 
meal does not contain any of the husk or shell of the 
corn kernel, and while usually the meal furnishes pro¬ 
tein a little cheaper, in the average man’s hands the 
feed is a safer one to use. h. o. Manchester. 
CLOVER SUBSOILS FOR ALFALFA. 
In Hope Farm Notes, page 855, last volume, the 
question of subsoiling liardpan to prepare it for Al¬ 
falfa is discussed. One of the best subsoilers to use 
in fitting land for Alfalfa Is Red clover. Young clover 
is much more vigorous than young Alfalfa, while the 
reverse is true of the older plants. Several farmers 
of my acquaintance have had good success in growing 
Alfalfa on soils underlaid by hardpan by growing 
clover on the field for two years before seeding to 
Alfalfa. The plan is to handle the clover in such a 
way as to get the most vigorous growth possible. 
Under such treatment the roots will grow well down 
into tough subsoil, often subsoiling pretty thoroughly 
to a depth of four or five feet. At the end of two 
years the slover sod is broken up and the ground pre¬ 
pared for and seeded to Alfalfa. The clover puts the 
soil in good condition for the easy growth of the 
young Alfalfa, and the decaying clover roots keep the 
subsoil open and drained. By the time the Alfalfa 
roots have reached to the full depth to which the sub¬ 
soil has been worked up by the clover the Alfalfa has 
become strong and vigorous, ready to bore its way 
through almost any subsoil but rock. Red clover has 
another advantage in preparing the way for Alfalfa. 
Young Alfalfa is the weakest feeder among farm 
plants, and particularly needs an easily available sup¬ 
ply of nitrogen. The clover sod furnishes this until 
the Alfalfa reaches full growth, when it becomes one 
of our strongest nitrogen gathering plants. Many 
farmers will think this method of fitting land for Al¬ 
falfa too expensive, but when they consider that when 
they have secured a permanent stand of Alfalfa they 
will have a crop that will give them yearly per acre 
the equivalent of four to six tons of bran they will 
find the expense justified. h. m. cottbell. 
Iowa. 
TURF CULTURE FOR AN ORCHARD. 
I would like to ask what your readers would do about 
an apple orchard which I intend setting out this Spring 
under the following conditions: The land has been in 
past years the best corn land In this section, but the 
Witch grass is in so thickly now thut it is almost im¬ 
possible for anything else to grow. It Is on a side hill 
and somewhat rocky. Will it pay me to cultivate this 
piece after setting the orchard in spite of the Witch 
grass, or is there a way I can sow it down at once and 
get results that would pay, all things considered? There 
are about six acres in all. A. d. gile. 
New Hampshire. 
If the land in question were level or nearly so, and 
comparatively free from stone, I should advise thor¬ 
ough cultivation for the first season at least. This 
can be done very cheaply with the wheel harrow, or 
better still, the spring-tooth harrow. The Acme 
harrow is now made with spring-tooth attachment, 
and a spreading arm, so that the horses can walk 
clear of the trees even when hitched 
with a long evener, and the land may be 
harrowed over five or six times at very 
little expense. If it is stony and with a 
sloping surface that will wash with 
heavy rains, I would dig over a circle of 
at least four feet wide, apply stable ma¬ 
nure or a liberal amount of fruit-tree 
fertilizer, and hoe over this space five or 
six times during the Summer, or cover 
it with two or three inches of mulch of 
hay, straw or other similar organic mat¬ 
ter. During the Summer I would run the 
mowing machine over the remaining 
surface two or three times and let the 
hay lie where cut. This is what the late 
Thomas Meehan often referred to as 
“the perfection of cultivation,” where 
everything grown on the land is return¬ 
ed to it. The main question in turf cul¬ 
ture is how to secure moisture and fer¬ 
tilizer in the soil in dry weather, but on 
any good apple land this can be easily 
and cheaply obtained by the mulch dur¬ 
ing the Summer and quick-acting ferti¬ 
lizers, applied In the Spring just before growth be¬ 
gins. If stable manure is used I would apply it in the 
Fall, or at any time during the Winter unless the land 
washes badly. It will pay your correspondent to re¬ 
move the rocks from the surface, if not too many, so 
that the mowing may be done with the machine, as 
hand labor is expensive and very unsatisfactory. 
Mice will often do much injury to the trees during 
the Winter unless they are protected in some way. I 
have found nothing so satisfactory as freshly-made 
lime wash and Paris-green. I slake enough fresh 
lime to make a gallon of the whitewash, using hot 
water to slake it and use from one-fourth to one-half 
pound of Paris-green for this amount. The trunks 
are painted up to the branches with a common paint 
brush and if properly made the wash will remain on 
the trees all Winter, and 1 have never known a tree 
injured by mice where this was used. I believe that 
there are thousands of acres of good strong apple or 
grass land of little value for anything else too full of 
rock to admit of cultivation, where choice apples can 
be grown more cheaply than upon cultivated land, bur. 
the grower must treat his trees as to fertilizing, thin¬ 
ning, spraying, harvesting, etc., just as well as if un¬ 
der cultivation. _s. t. maynarp. 
"WATER GLASS” EGGS.—In regard to water glass 
for keeping eggs, I would say 1 put eggs away in May, 
1903, and testing them this week found them nearly as 
good as fresh laid eggs, good for any purpose but boiling 
soft, and better for that than most of the strictly fresh 
eggs in market. A bulletin of the R. I. Experiment Sta¬ 
tion (Kingston) gives full account of these tests, 100 per 
cent good. a. k. t. 
Bristol, R. I. 
ILLINOIS ORCHARD PESTS.—More grass and weeds 
this year than usual, and mice and rabbits are swarming. 
1 am putting out strychnine by the ounce in runs and 
holes of the mice. I mix it with cornmeal, wet it with 
boiling water and go over the field in rod strips and put 
a small amount in each hole. As to rabbits, I have 40 
box traps and have had them run every morning since 
October 1 and have caught 265 rabbits since above date. 
Big story? Yet the rabbits continue to come in from the 
neighboring cornfields. This from 120 acres. The plague 
of mice is general about here, and thousands of bushels 
of down corn has been eaten In the fields by them. Farm 
help fecareer than any time since the Civil War. 
Illinois, BENJ. BUCKMAN. 
WELL-CARED-FOR STIEEP. Fig. 2. 
