1904 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
395 
A DAMP HOGHOUSE. 
I have one hogpen that is 20 x 30, basement, with north 
side and both ends stone wall, south side boards. This 
pen has one door in each end, and five windows with six 
8 x 10 glass in each window. I have one ventilator in 
center, 10 inches square, but the pen is damp and cold. 
I would like to know how I can make the pen dry and 
warm. w. s. 
Lyndonville, N. Y. 
W. S. is fortunate in having a southern exposure, 
with the stone wall on north side and ends. 1 infer 
that the doors in the ends are such as are needed 
to pass in and out. What we want is to get more 
sunlight and air into the pen, and at the same time 
prevent drafts of air that will strike the hogs. I 
would cut these doors in half, making a top and 
bottom door of each one. Then if the tops are left 
open and there is a draft it will not strike the hog. 
With the doors arranged this way it will often be 
found desirable to have one top door open and the 
others closed. The windows are too small to be of 
very great practical value in letting in sunlight. If 
they are made larger and hinged at top so that they 
can be raised up pleasant days when the sun shines 
their usefulness would be very much increased, in 
that they would add comfort to the hogs. In cold 
weather there is nothing a hog enjoys so much as 
to lie in the sunshine where the wind does not strike. 
The stone wall is the hardest part to make com¬ 
fortable; to make it have an inviting rather than 
repelling appearance. If we are not able wholly to 
prevent the congealing of moisture, we can at least 
put it out of sight and touch. This can he done by 
fastening 2x4 inch scantling on the wall, at con¬ 
venient distances apart, covering them with building 
paper and planking up with well-matched or better 
tongued and grooved plank. This will leave an air 
space between the plank and the stone wall, that will 
to a great extent counteract the tendency of the walls 
to congeal moisture. The plank will be comfortable 
for the swine to nest against and will not cause 
chilliness or cold. A hoghouse is the most difficult 
of all houses that shelter stock to be kept comfortable, 
In handling the doors at the ends, it will be found 
that if all are opened and the wind allowed to blow 
through the hogs will pile up, but if only the top 
halves of them are left open and a draft draws 
through, they will lie evenly over the floor, without 
piling up unless the weather is excessively cold and 
the bedding scant. John m. jamison. 
Ohio. 
SHORT STORIES. 
ROOF PRESERVERS.—I am surprised that no one 
has questioned in The R. N.-Y the wisdom of satur¬ 
ating a shingle roof with petroleum, on account of 
the increased liability of loss from fire. The ordinary 
roof of wood is inflammable enough certainly, without 
adding anything to help it burn. I have about 2,000 
feet of roof now covered with corrugated iron and 
steel, and what to use to make a tight roof in place 
of it, is a question provoking considerable thought. 
Certainly no more of the same sort—not if it were 
given to me. It cannot have escaped the observation 
of those who have had occasion to remove an old 
shingle roof, that from the chimney down, the shin¬ 
gles are in a good state of preservation from the 
wash of the mortar, when the rest is all decayed. 
Now if shingles were coated with a lime wash which 
had penetrated the pores of the wood, the roof would 
be thereby preserved, and at the same time made 
less combustible. I have had a chestnut shingle roof 
that served 23 years, without any treatment, and 
having plenty of chestnut timber suitable, I am 
thinking of cutting the needed shingles, and trying 
a solution of hot lime before laying them. c. G. p. 
Stratford Co., Conn. 
OATS ON CORN STUBBLE.—On page 344, B. T., 
St. Catharines, Out., asks about the preparation of 
corn stubble for oats. I would not like to plow in 
the Fall, as the bare ground would be exposed all 
Winter, and certainly would lose quite a quantity 
of the fertility through leaching, and would be very 
solid in the Spring. Why not sow Crimson clover 
or cow peas at the last working of the corn, as cover 
crop; then in the Spring plow or go over it several 
times with the disk and work the clover or cow- 
pea vines in the soil as a fertilizer, which would very 
much improve the oat crop? We use double Cuta¬ 
way harrow, go over the ground about four times, and 
it is in first-class order; then roll after sowing, also 
before. t. j. b. 
Whiteford, Md. 
I notice an inquiry in regard to sowing oats on 
corn stubble. We have sown for many years with 
disk, seeding with broadcast seeder attached to disk, 
going over ground twice, sowing seed first time over; 
afterwards harrow once or twice with common har¬ 
row. Many sow broadcast and cultivate in with four 
or six-shovel cultivators, afterwards harrowing with 
common harrow. The disk is better and more rapid 
we think. g. w. b. 
Pana, Ill. 
WORK OF THE HAY LOADER.—I notice on page 
344, an inquiry regarding hay loaders. I have used 
a hay loader for eight years—the Rock Island—it 
takes it from the swath, and know as to its practical 
worth. The way labor is, I would not make hay 
without One. I do not need a horse rake. 
Clyde, N. Y. w. m. m. 
We have used a hay loader for 10 years, the only 
one in this section, but the hands do not like it. Our 
hay carriage is 20 feet long. We put three men on 
the wagon, and I have to drive very slowly; then if 
the hay is heavy it is very hard on the men. We 
rake in very small windrows; if you take the four 
A BIG CRINUM BULB. Fig. 170.dSke Ruralisms. Page 398. 
men, you can load about as fast with the forks and 
more satisfactorily. A side delivery rake is very nice, 
but you cannot do without the dump rake. I 
would not buy a side delivery rake, as one could only 
use it a few days in the year. The dump rake is 
used for many things; rake stubble, and any trash 
on the farm, and too much extra machinery is ex¬ 
pensive to house. i. 
Whiteford, Md. 
Regarding hay loaders, we have used one for 25 
years, and find it a great labor saver. We are about 
to buy our third loader this year, not because the 
old one is worn out so much as because recent im¬ 
provements have produced a loader that will rake 
clean out of either swath or windrow, which our 
present machine will not do. A side delivery rake 
is not at all necessary, but is an advantage in curing 
the hay rapidly and well. We used one for a few 
years, but it was not durable; shall try another one 
soon. g. w. B. 
Pana, 111. 
LOGS IN A DRAIN.—As I have had some experi¬ 
ence, I will give it. If reasonably straight poles or 
logs, from four to six inches in diameter, are used, 
two side by side and one on top, they will work well 
for five or six years. But it is a mistake to suppose 
the logs will be protected because the land is very 
wet. Air will ascend the drain as long as the water 
runs, and probably all the time, Summer and Win¬ 
ter, and in a few years the last traces of a drain will 
disappear. It certainly will not pay if the tile can be 
bought for anything near ?1 per 100 feet. n. l. e. 
Corvallis, Ore. 
STEEL ROOFING.—On page 327 H. H. B. asks sev¬ 
eral questions about steel roofing which are well an¬ 
swered by Grant Davis, except as to its liability to 
lightning. I have three neighbors, all within half a 
mile, who have steel roofs, and all three roofs have 
been struck by lightning within the last four years. 
In one case the bolt passed through and killed a cow; 
another set the house afire, and the third shocked 
some members of the family. If H. H. B. wants 
the best and only good roof he should put on slate, 
as I have learned, after years of bitter experience 
with other kinds. I can give him and others a plan, 
if desired, whereby he can lay slate about as cheap 
as best shingles and save one-third cost of the regu¬ 
lar way of laying slate. I have all my roofs slated 
in this way, and they give entire satisfaction, and I 
think I can say we have done roofing. j. n. H. 
Steubenville, O. 
CORN STUBBLE FOR OATS—A field devoted 
to the growth of hoed crops, such as corn or po¬ 
tatoes, and thoroughly cultivated, is in the best pos¬ 
sible condition without additional work for a seed 
bed for any small grain that may be grown the fol¬ 
lowing year, whetner it be sown in the Fall or 
Spring. Simply sow the seed on the surface, and 
cover with disk or cultivator, cutting and pulverizing 
the soil three or four inches deep. If cultivated in 
it would need harrowing to level the ground, and 
possibly if disked. If drilling is preferred, loosen and 
pulverize the surface as above and follow with drill, 
but keep the roller off, or, if used, harrow after roll¬ 
ing. Never leave the surface smooth and packed, 
particularly in heavy clay soils, as it more readily 
forms a crust, and a packed surface is an evaporator 
of moisture and a weed starter. When and how to 
use a roller is but little understood, and much damage 
results from this ignorance. An ideal seed bed is 
one where the seed is placed in a fine firm moist soil, 
where the roots will find no air spaces, and can read¬ 
ily attach themselves to the soil and utilize the food 
it contains. As plants require light, heat and moist¬ 
ure, this fine loose surface is essential, as it admits 
the warmth to penetrate among the soil particles, 
retains the lower soil moisture in dry periods, and 
in times of excessive moisture hastens evaporation. 
It is useless, expensive and many times a positive 
injury to plow such fields for small grains. Most 
eastern and southern farmers are under the im¬ 
pression that a field sown unplowed lacks tillage, 
and is a sure indication of slovenly and inefficient 
work, particularly if corn stubs or trash lie on the 
surface, and so wait for the excessive moisture of 
Spring to leave the ground, then laboriously and 
slowly destroy a perfect seed bed, 12 inches at a time, 
with a plow. They leave the furrows to dry and 
bake in clods, until the whole field is plowed, possibly 
two or three weeks, then try with harrow and roller 
to create a condition similar to what was before 
commencing operations. Wasted energy, for only 
the surface needed loosening and pulverizing, and 
a disk will do this better than can be done with plow 
and harrow, as well as quicker and cheaper, and it 
can be used without injury to the soil, when far too 
wet for plowing. Not many years ago in southern 
New York, wishing to get in some early garden and 
about half of it being very wet, as it was too small 
to make two jobs of it, I plowed it, the horses sink¬ 
ing in the mud half way to their knees. Immediately 
after plowing I double-disked it twice with an eight- 
foot Cutaway, drawn by four horses, thoroughly loos¬ 
ening, pulverizing and aerating the soil to the bot¬ 
tom of furrow. Although it was a clay soil, it did 
not run together or bake, being left fine and loose, 
and two months after the subsoil was full of moisture, 
although the weather was unusually dry. All small 
grains require cool weather for best results, and 
many times by delaying Spring seeding until the 
ground can be plowed and prepared the hot weather 
of July and August injures the grain at earing time. 
If the surface is left fine and loose the grain can be 
cultivated with smoothing harrow or weeder after 
it attains a height of three to six inches to its great 
benefit. The Fall-sown grains should have this cul¬ 
tivation, if not seeded to grass or clover; these would 
be torn out, being rooted so near the surface. Every 
farm should be an experiment station trying differ¬ 
ent methods on a scale commensurate with our faith 
in them. f. c. j. 
Winfield, Kan. 
