1904 
T H E 
443 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
A RECORD OF HORSE TRADES. 
My experience differs from that of your recent cor¬ 
respondent who had such bad luck in New York City. 
I often have occasion to buy horses, and while I do 
not claim to be much of a horseman, I generally have 
what 1 call good luck in buying. Five years ago I 
visited the Rochester sale stable, where a carload of 
western horses was offered at auction. I bought the 
first likely bay team offered, which was all I wanted 
at that time. The next team put up was a gray team, 
one five and the other six years old, which pleased me 
in every way. The bids were so small I proposed to 
help the auctioneer; therefore I bid $130, though I did 
not need the team, but to my astonishment the team 
was knocked down to me at that price. One of the bay 
horses proved unsound after using several days; there¬ 
fore I returned it to the dealers and they sold it to 
another man, refunding my money in full. 'The gray 
team proved to be one of the kindest, truest and best 
we have ever had on our farm, where we always keep 
from 12 to 16 horses. This Spring we wanted to buy 
another team; therefore I advertised for one, and was 
offered teams from various parts of the 
country at prices varying from $350 to 
$500. These prices were for simply 
good, sound, young work horses for the 
farm. 1 finally purchased a gray team 
very closely resembling the gray team 1 
bought five years ago for $130, but 1 
had to pay $350 for this team 1 bought 
recently, which indicates the advance 
that has taken place recently in horse¬ 
flesh. 
Last year a good horse was wanted 
for our fruit farm. I advertised in local 
papers, and the next day a farmer came 
in with a fine-looking animal which I 
bought for $175. This horse proved sat¬ 
isfactory. Later on the same day a man 
from our city drove into the yard, saying 
he heard we wanted to buy a horse. I 
replied: “We have just bought one.” 
He said he was very much disappointed, 
as he was compelled to sell the horse 
he was driving. It was a large strong 
black horse. I asked his price; he said 
it was $65. It seemed like a low price. 
He said the horse was sound and right 
in every way. I told my men that I had 
no time to bother with it, that they 
might get in the buggy and test the 
horse thoroughly, and if they found he 
was a bargain I would buy him. In an 
hour or so I made out my check for 
$60, and the horse was put in my city 
barn. He was ravenously hungry and 
almost ate the mangers. The next day 
a man came from the farm to take the 
horse out into the country, where he 
was to be used. It was then discovered 
that it was almost impossible to get the 
horse out of the stall, since he was so 
stiff he could hardly move. After 
spending an hour in getting him out of 
the stall I saw him move up the street 
in such an awkward fashion as to cause 
me to suspect -that my man might never 
be able to get him to the farm. Soon 
complaint came from the farm that the 
horse was of no use, and I told them if 
they could do no better to shoot him 
and bury him in the orchard. A few 
months later I saw this horse at the 
farm, and the driver said he was one of 
the best horses on the place. He had 
entirely recovered from his stiffness, and seemed to be 
sound, true and kind, and an animal of great strength 
and endurance. Years ago I had a similar experience 
buying a horse that did valuable service for many 
years. She was one of the kindest and truest beasts I 
ever owned, but the jockey who sold me the horse 
thought at the time that the animal was not sound. 
CHARLES A. GREEN. 
ought to be much safer upon a new first-class silo wall 
as mentioned than otherwise. I know of some old walls 
that have been plastered without lath or narrow boards, 
the small cracks between the boards serving as a holder. 
I am doubtful in this case whether the half-inch back 
boarding would be stiff enough. We must remember 
that in all kinds of concrete construction there must pos¬ 
itively be no chance for the foundation to spring. If 
the studs were one foot apart and half-inch stuff put 
over, it would be a weak background. The cement itself 
will have some body and stiffness, but I would not care 
to depend upon this very thin coating, and should 
therefore build the wall strong enough, independent of 
the cement, to withstand the lateral pressure. One 
should certainly be very careful about giving advice 
upon mere conjecture. It is so easy for one to give pen 
advice when some one else foots the bill and does the 
experimenting. The cement plastering of silos is, how¬ 
ever, no new thing, and the principle is right. Tn 
the first place, it is airtight and non-communicative 
of moisture, and so protects the silage and the board 
wall as well. We must, however, keep in mind a solid 
THE WHITE WATSONIA, ONE-HALF NATURAL SIZE. 
See Uuralisms, Page 44(5. 
A SILO PLASTERED WITH CONCRETE . 
I would like to know whether any of your readers have 
seen or had any experience with a round silo built with stud¬ 
ding set perpendicularly about one foot apart; then boarded 
up inside with half-inch boards, two-incli strips slanted at an 
angle of about 45 degrees put on about half an inch apart; 
then plastered with Portland cement? Would such a silo be 
all right for a farmer to build? X. l . w. 
Wayne Co., N. Y. 
I am unable to think of a silo built in this way. The 
form mentioned is surely right. I feel quite safe in 
advising cement-plastered walls, although I have not 
used them. My judgment comes entirely from observa¬ 
tion, and that upon silo walls not so cemented when 
first built, but put on after the boards had shrunk, so 
that air was admitted. It seems to me that the plan. 
stiff back wall. Be sure that only the cleanest and 
sharpest coarse sand is used; even more .care should 
be exercised than in ordinary floor work, because of 
the thinness of the coating, and the danger of crack¬ 
ing. If the weather is very dry when it is done it 
should be wetted each day for three or four days to pre¬ 
vent too rapid drying; both sides being exposed or par¬ 
tially so would make it too rapid. I have never known 
of an instance where freezing cracked the wall, because 
dry concrete is practically impervious to absorption. 
H. E. C. 
question it you could return plant food to the orchard 
to take the place of that removed without a loss. The 
time you would consume in doing this could be em¬ 
ployed at a much larger profit in growing onions, straw¬ 
berries, green peas or some market garden crop your 
farm is adapted to. I have settled on the following 
rotation outside of the orchard: Six acres wheat, six 
acres clover, six acres potatoes, six acres green peas, 
two acres strawberries, one acre red raspberries. 1 have 
same acreage of each every year. Our live stock is two 
cows and four horses and 150 hens. The hens we feel 
sure can make much more net profit in a year by forcing 
egg production during the Summer. I have been all 
through the Winter egg business, and am satisfied to let 
others experiment in that line. Now I am completely 
satisfied that I can make a good deal more money out 
of my time applied to these garden crops than I could 
by drawing the hay out of tne orchards. 
GRANT G. HITCHINGS. 
APPLE TREES IN DYNAMITE HOLES. 
We have been setting out an apple orchard of about 
eight acres, using Baldwins and Green¬ 
ings 40 feet apart, and Wagener, Wealthy 
and Duchess as fillers 20 feet apart. The 
ground was formerly mowing land, but 
the old man from •whom we bought the 
farm had so much land that it rather 
ran away from him, and there were quite 
a good many alders, birches and hard¬ 
backs on the piece. These we had cut 
and burned. We expect to cultivate 
close around the trees with plenty of 
fertilizer for two or three years; then 
follow the Hitchings plan. We wanted 
good holes, and three of us dug 80 holes 
the first day, but the roots and stub¬ 
ble made slow work and the holes were 
not satisfactory, so we tried digging 
by power, and found it both satisfac¬ 
tory, as it dug a much better hole, and 
did it cheaper. Dynamite was the power, 
and it makes digging sport, rather than 
hard, tiresome labor, as it was before. 
We experimented with varying quanti¬ 
ties and degrees, and found that one- 
fourth of a stick of 50 or 60 per cent, 
that is, B or C grade, gave best results. 
The cartridges weigh one-half to three- 
fourths pound, and it costs 20 to 22 cents 
per pound, so that covering cost of cap 
and fuse holes did not cost over five 
cents apiece. We inserted the crowbar 
about 14 inches and into this we put the 
one-fourth cartridge with cap and about 
18-inch fuse. Then with the heel kick 
the dirt tight at top of crowbar hole 
and it is ready to light. One man can 
easily prepare, load and fire 20 holes in 
an hour. If the ground is very wet the 
dirt will be scattered far and wide, but 
with the ground in fair condition you 
will loosen the earth for from three to 
five feet in* diameter one to two feet in 
depth, making a perfect bed for the 
roots to grow in, and making the setting 
a much easier job than the hole dug in 
the ordinary way. Some people are 
afraid of the stuff, but we have used it 
for several years*for blowing rocks. We 
are careful in handling it, and believe 
anyone who is not naturally careless can 
soon learn to handle it with compari- 
tively perfect safety. If you are afraid 
of it there is usually some one in the 
neighborhood who understands it and will use it, but 
such men are rather prodigal in using it, and we find 
we can do as good work ourselves, and save lots of 
dynamite. h. g. Manchester. 
Fig. 193. 
CROPS WITH MULCHED ORCHARDS. 
The following note from Grant G. Hitchings will interest 
old readers who have read about the “mulch method" of 
handling an orchard. Newer readers should understand that 
Mr. Hitchings does not plow or cultivate his orchards, but cuts 
the grass with a mower and lets it rot on the ground. It is 
hard for most farmers to see this good grass “going to waste.” 
I note you say it takes “nerve” to cut the grass and 
leave it in the orchard. 1 used to think so, too, but 1 
have got over it, and feel now that 1 am making 
money by leaving it. 1 have figured it out this way: 
After paying lor the labor of handling the hay, either 
sold or fed oujt. the margin of profit is not large, and 1 
KILLING WITCH GRASS—J. F. B., Vermont, asks 
about killing Witch grass. I suppose I have never had 
any quite so sturdy as he describes, but my theory of 
its destruction varies from yours. All that I consider 
necessary is to cut off the leaves under ground often 
and thoroughly. Several years ago l had a patch that 
I plowed in the Spring for garden. It was too much 
for my courage to plant, but I could use the Planet 
Jr. horse hoe with 15-incn steel behind. I would ridge 
that land up in rows and then in three or four; days 
split those ridges and thus form new ridges half way 
between. This constant planing off of the blades of 
grass smothers the roots and they die and rot where 
they are. Later in the season 1 put on cabbage and 
had no trouble with Witch grass. Earlier, one year in 
planting potatoes three rows on one edge were so in¬ 
fested that 1 would not put in the potatoes. By haying 
time the grass was well subdued and I planted bush 
beans with good results. 1 would suggest J. F. B. that 
he use any tool that will give him two inches of mellow 
soil after laying down with plow. Then proceed as 
above. E - L - s - 
North Truro, Mass. 
