586 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
August 6, 
240 pounds per acre. Next the ground was furrowed 
off with a two-horse corn planter, with furrower attach¬ 
ment, set for rows three feet 10 inches apart. With the 
corn planter a fertilizer made by mixing 100 pounds 
muriate of potash, 200 pounds nitrate of soda and 400 
pounds acid phosphate was applied in the furrow at the 
rate of 65 pounds per acre, and the field was then ready 
for setting the plants. 
PREPARING THE PLANTS.—As the injunction 
is given in the famous recipe for rabbit pie, “First catch 
your rabbit,” so in this case, first get your plants, and 
-this is by no means easier nor any less essential to the 
success of the undertaking than the catching of the 
rabbit is essential to the success of the rabbit pie. In 
this section most plants are grown in the open ground 
in preference to starting them in hotbeds or green¬ 
houses, and transplanting them to cold frames, as is 
practiced farther north. It is thought that these plants 
are just as good or even better than the hothouse plants, 
while the cost of producing them is much less. Living¬ 
ston’s Stone is the variety usually grown for canning, 
and my first seed was sown April 20. A hard rain 
came soon after, packing the ground so that it remained 
cold, and the seed did not germinate properly, only a 
few good plants being obtained from this sowing. May 
3 one pound of seed was sown in a garden where a 
heavy coat of stable manure had been turned under, and 
this produced about 35,000 good plants, although I 
would rather have had them ready to set a week or two 
sooner. I think, however, that I shall remember this 
lesson—that moisture and fertility are not the only 
requisites to seed germination. Heat must be obtained 
in some way, and the manure turned under helped in 
this, while a heavy application of commercial fertilizer, 
as on my first plot, did not produce this result. 
the tomato crop for 1903, my own labor being counted 
at $1 per day, the use of team at $1 per day and other 
work at actual cost, while rent is charged for the use 
of the land. 
May 1 to 30, Preparing ground. $16.20 
May 30, Fertilizer. 28.75 
.Tune 3 to 24, Setting plants. 14.50 
June 5 to July 20, Cultivating. 9.70 
Aug. 25 to Oct. 10, Picking. 32.58 
Aug. 25 to Oct. 10, Hauling. 13.85 
Kent 9 acres. 22.50 
Aug. 31, Ry 8484 lbs. @ $6 per ton. $25.45 
Sept. 30, By 43604 lbs. @ $6 per ton. 130.81 
Oct. 31, By 34137 lbs. @ $6 per ton. 102.41 
Oct. 31, Net gain. 120.59 
$258.67 $258.67 
Total cost per acre $15.34 ; income per acre $28.74 ; total 
gain per acre $13.40. 
Washington Co., Ind._ F. j. heacock. 
HEATING THE COUNTRY HOUSE. 
The articles on house heating printed last Winter were 
so interesting to many readers that we have decided to give 
JUNE BI D EIGHTY DAYS PLANTED. Fig. 259 
See Hope Farm Notes, Page 591. 
more of them in time for use before cold weather. In 
the following article Mr. Sweet gives some rules for in¬ 
stalling tho hot water system. lie will tell how this house 
was heated later. 
In order to give a practical illustration of the rules 
for house heating to R. N.-Y. readers I have made 
drawings of the floor plans of my house, as shown in 
Figs. 258 and 259. Where the mercury falls to 20 
degrees below zero and hot water under 10 pounds pres 
sure with indirect radiation and air changed twice per 
hour is the system chosen, as J have advocated in my 
previous articles, use this rule for determining the 
radiation required: Divide the cubic contents of each 
room (or floor where all are heated) by 56, the solid 
wall surface (or outside walls only where all are heated) 
and 290 feet of glass, which would by the above rule 
require 423 feet of indirect radiation to heat it and a 
cold air duct 20x36 and capable of reduction in size to 
supply the inflow. Now, as my boiler has a radiating 
surface of 120 square feet, and is jacketed in with the 
pipes, we may at once deduct that amount from the 
pipe surface required. Again, the conservatory being 
hearted by direct radiation of pipes under the bench 
96 feet more may be deducted from pipes to be jacketed. 
This leaves 207 square feet of radiation to be supplied 
by pipes for which I use V/a, inch, not because any better 
size, but because I happen to have it from recent green¬ 
house work. The runs are tiered up and over the 
boiler—40 runs of 1% inch pipe, each 12 feet long. 
The jacket and conductors must be practically airtight, 
and the latter determined by the above rule. R., R., R. 
in the diagram indicate the location of registers. Be¬ 
tween the hall and sitting room is an air duct with wall 
registers; these could be used throughout if preferred. 
My article in The R. N.-Y. of February 27 and one 
to follow will I think make all sufficiently plain so any 
one can install such a plant. While the 'pictures are 
before the reader allow a brief word about the house 
itself, and some things not shown by them. It is situ¬ 
ated among hills and mountain streams, and backed by 
spicy evergreens. The first story is finished with a 
veneer of natural stone random laid; the second with 
round dimension shingles painted cream color. Posts 
are 17 feet except southeast corner, which is 11 feet. 
Roof has Gothic pilch except on northeast. Gables to 
east, north and south, and ornamented with tall finials; 
roof projections with depending points. Spire over 
aerial window on northwest. A basement stove and 
back hall with good pantry and gasoline stove in corner 
of dining room make a regular kitchen superfluous for a 
small family doing their own work. A four-foot piece 
of six-inch gas pipe is built into the chimney under the 
stairway so that the dining room can be used for a 
kitchen if desired. The steep roof gives plenty of attic 
room. 
Pure moist warm air in Winter, free from the dust 
and dirt of stoves, thick cool walls in Summer up 
among the Alleghenies, pine-laden breezes, are ideal con¬ 
ditions for long life; add as outside features beautiful 
exotic trees, shrubbery and flowers to Nature’s already 
prodigal profusion in this section, and long life is a 
luxury indeed. chas. t. sweet. 
Maryland. 
THE PRINCIPLES OF WEED KILLING. 
In your issue of July 9 are two articles on page 522 
on killing Canada thistles and Quack grass. Reading 
those articles gives me a desire lo make some remarks 
upon killing weeds. Mr. Woodward points out the way 
lo make war upon the thistle by telling its habit of 
growth. As he says, all the early growth is at the ex¬ 
pense of food stored in the roots the previous season. 
This order continues until about blossoming time, when 
the roots begin to receive nourishment again 
from the tops. If at this time all tops are re¬ 
moved and cultivation begun it will not be diffi¬ 
cult to destroy the thistle. Quack grass grows 
with like habits, and the way to destroy it is to 
let it grow until blossoms appear, then cut it and 
begin cultivation. At this time the last season’s 
rhizomes are about exhausted and the new ones 
are just beginning to form. Work the ground 
thoroughly and plant some crop which needs fre¬ 
quent cultivation, like cabbage, and the Quack 
grass will be very scarce the next year. A little 
thought will show that the principle upon which 
the practice for exterminating Quack grass and 
thistles is founded will apply for the destruction 
of all plants which live more than one year. 
1 hey all store food in Summer for next season’s 
Spring growth. In cases of plants which seed 
the second year, let the growth continue until 
blossoms appear, then cut and begin warfare. In 
destroying bushes let the growth be until about 
July, then cut and keep off sprouts remainder of 
season. 
I once killed some blackberries by letting them 
grow until in full bloom, then cut close and 
very few sprouts showed after. I have destroyed 
trees, like elms, which are free to send up sprouts 
by girdling them early in July and leaving them 
to exhaust themselves. They will continue 
to grow during most - of the season, but 
next Spring will be dead, root and branch. I was 
taught this by having a calf get loose with a chain at¬ 
tached. which he, in running, dragged around a pear 
tree and girdled it. The tree continued to grow until 
August, and retained green bark until the next Spring, 
but the roots were dead and rotten in the Spring. I 
think the girdling was done in June. It was evident 
the roots got no nourishment from the top that season 
and died even before the top died. It appears the roots 
must make an annual growth as surely as the tops of 
trees, or they will die as surely as the tops without 
such growth. m. morse, 
Massachusetts, 
SETTING.—When these plants had reached a height 
of six to eight inches setting was begun on June 7, the 
larger size giving the best results. Setting was done 
with a two-horse transplanter—a machine which re¬ 
quires a driver and one man or two boys to operate. 
This machine consists of a frame supported upon two 
broad wheels similar to those of a corn planter, and a 
third, or roller wheel, in front, which crushes all clods 
and is followed by a shoe which cuts a narrow furrow 
to receive the plants. A water barrel is carried on the 
frame and at regular intervals a valve is tripped, pouring 
a certain amount of water into this furrow. Each plant 
is set by the operator (or operators working alternately) 
directly in a pool of water, and two pressure plates pull 
the earth about the plant, the driver's weight on these 
plates acting to press it down firmly. With this ma¬ 
chine five or six acres can be set in a day, a good hand 
being required to keep the operator in plants. My 
plants were mostly set in the afternoon, as it was found 
that those set early in the morning in hot, dry weather 
did not live well, the sun drying them up before new 
roots began to form. It is perhaps almost universally 
thought that the best time to set plants in dry 
weather is late in the evening, and with that 
thought in mind we worked until near sunset 
each evening, but now I observe that in each 
day’s work the last few rows show a much 
larger per cent of plants missing than is shown 
in those set in the middle of the afternoon. 
With the exception of a few rows set early in 
the morning and several rows set on a cool and 
cloudy afternoon, followed by two or three very 
hot days, I have secured a good stand of plants, 
and no doubt the greater part of the loss in these 
rows could have been prevented by the use of 
more water, as the amount was increased on the 
last half of field, from about 25 gallons to nearly 
50 gallons per acre, and but few plants were 
missing after this change was made. 
AFTER CULTIVATION.—Shallow cultiva¬ 
tion was begun at once, and will be continued at 
frequent intervals as long as a cultivator can get 
between the rows without injuring the fruit. 
About 10 days after setting nitrate of soda was 
scattered about the plants at the rate of 80 
pounds per acre on the stalk ground, and a por¬ 
tion of the clover sod, the remainder not receiv¬ 
ing this extra nitrate. Picking is done in bas¬ 
kets, which are emptied into boxes holding about 
50 pounds. These are hauled in wagon beds or 
on platform racks, weighed at the factory, un¬ 
loaded and left to be emptied in turn. The 
tomatoes must be ripe to within three-fourths of an inch 
of the stem, not less than two inches in diameter, not 
soft, bruised or sunburned. 
CROP RETURNS.—It may be of interest to those 
raising other special crops to see an itemized account 
of expenses and returns from this field of tomatoes. 
Comparison will probably show that the labor item in 
tomato culture is somewhat in excess of that of many 
other crops. These cannery prices will no doubt seem 
low to gardeners near enough to large cities to haul 
their crop to market by wagons and dispose of them 
direct. I give below a statement of my account with 
> .A 
MULCHED APPLE TREE. TWO YEARS PLANTED. Fig. 
See Hope Farm Notes, Page 591. 
by eight, the glass surface by four and add these 
quotients together. Hot air ducts should have an area 
of two square inches for each square foot of radiating 
surface required for a given room, registers 50 per cent 
more on account of the fret work and cold air supply; 
15 to 30 per cent less according to outside temperature. 
In moderate weather open wide, in cold close down. To 
give one square foot of radiating surface it requires 2.9 
lineal feet of one-inch pipe, 2.3 of 1*4, 3 of V /2 and 1.6 
foot of two-inch pipe. 
The ground floor of my house has approximately a 
cubic content of 12,200 feet, 1,060 feet of solid siding 
