1904 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
279 
For hogs and dairy cows I like sweet corn, planting 
a sufficient quantity in field-corn style, and feeding 
when ears are in table-corn condition. Young hogs 
on pasture will make wonderful growth on such green 
food, and be in prime condition to top off on cornmeal. 
Dairy cows like it, and prove its value in the milkpail. 
A field of this corn planted as early as safe to plant, 
with three varieties, very early, medium early and 
late, and carefully cultivated, will prove of great 
value, especially in a dry season. The writer has han¬ 
dled the pigs of 150 brood sows in that way, the pigs 
running on pasture and having access to running wa¬ 
ter. Further than this, at the last working of the 
corn some cover or permanent crop can be sown; Red 
or Crimson clover should do well. The crop should 
not be planted too thickly, or the results will not be 
good. Give the corn ample room in and between the 
rows, or in the hills, and plant as you do field corn. 
Millet, Alfalfa, rape and such crops are good; so is 
early green fodder corn, but I could not get on with¬ 
out the big supply of rich eatable sweet corn fodder, 
with the ears on. In regard to the latter, I have seen 
growers who live near good markets pull off the large, 
first-class marketable corn and sell for table use, and 
if the top price can be had it is a wise thing to do. 
Volunteer rye for pasture, sweet corn in the milk for 
soiling, what you like, but grow something of the 
kind, the more the better. Get out of the rut of de¬ 
pending on or having only the pasture field, the mixed 
hay bay, the cornstalk rick and the corncrib from 
which to feed your stock. d. e. h. 
Cleveland, 0. _ 
CLASS FOR TRUCK CROPS. 
A Fire Hotbed. 
We have been thinking of building a fire hotbed. 
Would you give a full description, with drawing, and cost 
of operating of the most successful one In use? Joseph 
Barton mentions one on page 175. J. s. 
Gervais, O. 
Fig. 121 represents fireplace, flues and smoke pipes. 
The fireplace A is 2Msx2%x5 feet, made of four-inch 
brick walls and covered by brick arch. The flues 
BB are 8x10 inches by seven feet, made of four-inch 
brick walls and covered with thin iron plates. The 
smoke pipes CCC are five-inch drain tile. They have 
a rise of one inch in one foot. The top of A is two 
feet below the level of the top of B. Center repre¬ 
sents hot-air chamber and hot-air pipes. The hot-air 
chamber G directly over the fireplace and separated 
from it by 10 inches of earth is 7x9 feet by 10 inches 
deep and is covered with heavy chestnut boards. The 
hot-air pipes HH are three-inch drain tile with rise 
of one-half inch to one foot, and come to the surface 
by vertical tile six feet from ends of bed. Lower cut is 
the frame, exactly the same as used in cold frame con¬ 
struction. The brick front of the fireplaces extends 
to the top level of the frame. D D is the chimney 
connecting with BB in top diagram. These are simply 
four boards nailed together. 
We have experimented with various kinds of fire 
hotbeds, both hollow and solid beds, and are convinced 
after several years’ experience that the bed figured, a 
combination of the two, is the most practical. The 
chief feature of this bed is the economical preserva¬ 
tion of heat, acquired by the hot-air chamber being di¬ 
rectly over the fireplace and distributing to the cooler 
portions of the bed, by means of the hot-air pipes HH. 
Fig. 121, the excess of heat which otherwise would 
render the surface over the fireplace too hot. The best 
situation for a bed of this description is the south¬ 
eastern slope of a hill. This renders the construction 
easier and gains the fullest advantage of the morning 
sun. The smoke pipes CCC, top, lead from the fire¬ 
place A to the flues BB and chimney DD, bottom, 
is connected with the flues BB, center. The draw¬ 
ings are, I think, sufficiently full to make any further 
description unnecessary. Joseph barton. 
New Jersey. 
An Inexpensive Greenhouse. 
For the purpose of growing our own tomato, cab¬ 
bage, and other plants, we found a small greenhouse 
necessary, and not feeling able to invest in a modern 
equipment, we selected a sheltered hillside that was 
available, and put up a small house that has given us 
most excellent service at a very trifling expense. Aside 
from the cost of 24 hotbed sash which cost about $1.25 
each, and about $3 worth of fire-clay tile and sewer 
pipe, and an old box stove, there was little expense, 
except about three days work for two men. As the 
boards, posts and timbers were picked up among 
waste material on the premises we can hardly make 
a close estimate of the cost, but even if all this had 
to be purchased the service is out of all proportion 
to the trifling cost. 
As the sash are 3x6 feet and 18 sash, lapping three 
inches where they meet, cover the southern slope, we 
made a frame of 2x4 scantlings, nailing three of these, 
17 feet eight inches long, and one sill, 4x4 inches, same 
length, at the correct distance so the sash placed on 
the frame will rest on the sill, and crosspieces between 
two 2x4 scantlings 17 feet six inches long. When the 
frame is all ready for the sash the sill is put in place 
on such supports as are necessary on account of the 
lay of the ground, and the upper end raised to the 
proper height to shed water nicely, and supported 
by four posts along the upper crosspiece, which will 
serve as ridge pole. Four posts are then placed under 
each of the other two crosspieces. The outside posts 
are placed two inches in from the end, so as to allow 
of a 2x4 being spiked on the posts to nail on the siding 
that may be necessary. There is also a sill placed on 
the north side, and one tier of sash rest on the ridge 
pole with the upper end, and on this sill with the 
lower end sloping to the north. In our case these 
north and south sills rest nearly on the ground, so 
that with banking up some dirt very little siding Is 
necessary. When the sash are in position they must 
be fastened down with hooks or wood screws to pre¬ 
vent blowing off. The heating arrangement consists 
of a stove under one end of the next to lowest bench, 
under which a considerable space is dug out, and a 
few lengths of pipe enter some eight-inch fire-clay 
pipe to the farther end of the bench, where we start 
with sewer pipe of the same size, as they are cheaper. 
We continue the flue around the inside to the upper 
bed and under this to the other end again, where 
it enters a chimney, of sewer pipe also. As most of 
our plants are grown in boxes the beds are raised and 
WIKER SUAuBaRIi HICKORYNUT. u Natural Size. Fig..120. 
See Kuralisms, Page 288. 
arranged something as In Fig. 119. The first is nearly 
on the ground; in fact, most of the time we have used 
it entirely on the ground, to grow a crop of lettuce. 
No. 2 is raised so that the stovepipe and flues pass un¬ 
der the length of the bed without coming in contact 
with any wood, and that part where the stove is, is 
dug down and the bed raised as high as possible to 
allow one to stand upright for firing, etc. This space 
directly above the stove is used for starting seeds 
quickly. No. 3 is raised quite high, allowing storage 
space for wood, dirt, boxes, etc. No. 4 is raised just 
enough to allow the flue B to pass under, while at A 
boxes are often set across the passage when crowded 
for room, projecting under the bed No. 3, which does 
not extend quite to the end, to allow of a passage, 
the door being at C. We have no trouble keeping it 
warm in coldest weather. Some good big chunks keep 
a nice fire all night, and it requires very little at¬ 
tention. C. WECKESSER. 
Ohio. _ 
ALARM CLOCK AND HEATER; AGRICUL¬ 
TURAL SCHOOL. 
HOT WATER HEATING.—After having had ex¬ 
perience with wood stoves, coal stoves, steam and 
hot-air heaters in dwelling-houses, I concluded to try 
hot water in the house which I built three years ago. 
The house is a small one (24x28 feet) with six rooms 
and a bathroom, cellar under whole. The cost of the 
heating plant put in complete except covering pipes 
in cellar, which I did myself, was $257. The first 
Winter we burned eight tons of hard coal. Believing 
that a good deal of heat was wasted by going up the 
chimney I put in two horizontal drums in a big box 
near the ceiling of the basement and ran the smoke 
through these drums; then arranged to run air 
through the box and up through a register into the 
dining room, thus making a sort of combination hot¬ 
air and hot-water system. This I found a great sav¬ 
ing of fuel, as six tons were enough to keep us warm 
the second Winter. Thus far this Winter we have 
used about five tons. We keep the whole house warm 
(about 70 to 72 degrees) all day. At night the fire is 
banked with coal and the cheek damper opened and 
so arranged that at three o’clock in the morning it 
will be closed by the alarm clock. This arrangement 
insures a warm house when it is time to get up. We 
would not exchange our hot-water plant for any other 
known method of heating. The advantages are al¬ 
most perfectly even heat; less fuel needed; even cir¬ 
culation of heat with a very low fire in moderate 
weather. The only disadvantage is the slowness in 
heating after the fire goes out or gets low. This disad¬ 
vantage has been overcome in our case by having the 
alarm clock start the furnace in the morning. If any 
of your readers are interested I will show you just 
how this arrangement works. 
SHINGLE ROOFS.—In 1892 I reshingled a house, 
a part of which had been built in 1867 and another 
part in 1879. On the old part of the house sawed pine 
shingles of the best quality, which cost $3 per 1,000, 
had been used. After 25 years many of them were 
in excellent condition; in fact, I would not have re¬ 
shingled this part of the house for a few years only 
that the roof which had been built in 1879 needed 
immediate attention, and it was convenient to do the 
whole job at once. The roof of the addition which 
had been built but 15 years was leaking badly, owing 
to the fact that a poor quality of shingles had been 
used. I once helped reshingle a barn on which shaved 
shingles had been in use for 32 years. On the north 
side of the roof they were in bad condition, but on 
the south side many of them were still good though 
some were worn through by the action of the water. 
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.—Keep at your 
New York readers to urge their legislators to do some¬ 
thing for agricultural education. What you need at 
Cornell is an agricultural school rather than any 
more help for the college. The college is all right. I 
speak from experience, for I was permitted to attend 
there two years. But what the farmer boys of New 
York need and ought to have is a school of agricul¬ 
ture connecting the district school and college. The 
average farmer boy cannot prepare for college with¬ 
out great inconvenience and often hardship. An agri¬ 
cultural school which would admit students directly 
from the district schools would solve the problem for 
New York boys the same as our Minnesota school has 
for our boys. The Minnesota School of Agriculture 
has an attendance this year of 522 boys and girls (the 
girls number 147), who are getting practically a high- 
school course with higher mathematics and languages 
left out, and practical agricultural studies substituted. 
Our students are at school only six months in the 
year (October 5 to March 23 this year), and are on 
their home farms the remainder of the year. This 
plan proves successful, as almost all our students re¬ 
turn to the farm. They are at home during the sea¬ 
son of active farm work, and do not lose their in¬ 
terest in the home life, as college students often do. 
Minnesota. james ir. drew. 
A SUMMER FLOWER BED. 
Second Prize Picture in Garden Competition. 
This bed is in the form of a circle 16 feet in diam¬ 
eter. It has a stone center made by setting three rough 
slim granite bowlders 2 y 2 feet long in a stone founda¬ 
tion 2% feet in diameter; on top of these a flat square 
stone a little larger than the base forms the platform. 
From it there spring two half-inch iron rods bent 
in the shape of the sides of a harp with their tops 
bent down in a half circle, each having a hook to hold 
hanging basket. This center is not shown in Fig. 115; 
it is hidden by the foliage. The water pipe that con¬ 
veys the water from the elevated tank to the water 
tank that is in the fence dividing two fields passes by 
this bed; a three-fourths-inch pipe connects with it 
and passes to the center at the stone platform up 
through it and about 16 inches above it. On top of 
this pipe is a nozzle that throws a spray about three 
feet above it, and spreads in the form of an umbrella, 
reaching the outer edges of the bed. 
The bed is planted in rows; commencing at the cen¬ 
ter, first row is Henderson’s Saucer Cosmos, next row 
is Italian Orchid-flowering Canna, four varieties. They 
are too much shaded to bring out the full size of their 
bloom. Next row Scarlet sage, three varieties; their 
bloom does not show well. A few Rainbow Coleus are 
between the Scarlet sage; they are almost crowded 
out. Next row is of Asters, four varieties, Semple’s 
PLAN Oil' FIRE HOTBED. Pig. 121 
Branching and Ostrich Feather. The center blooms 
of these are 3% inches in diameter. Next two rows are 
Henderson’s new annual pinks, Crown of Perfection 
and Giant Ruffled and Frilled pinks. They are not 
at their best; the bloom has not been kept pulled off 
enough, and they have ripened too much seed. 
Ohio. H. A. M’QmSTON. 
