1897 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
599 
The Mysterious Origin of Fires. 
T., New Berlin, N. Y.—It may not be 
amiss to add to the list an instance of 
spontaneous combustion. Mr. Samuel 
Hoxie, of Leonardsville, N. Y., has 
a well-built, two-story barn on his 
dairy farm. He believes thoroughly in 
the value of early-cut hay for milk pro¬ 
duction. About the middle of June, 
haying was begun, and about 20 tons 
were put into one bay. For several days 
in the early part of August, a peculiar 
odor was noticeable about the barn, and 
on the eve of August 7, while milk¬ 
ing, some one noticed ashes dropping 
through the floor over the cows. The 
alarm of fire was at once sounded, and 
operations to extinguish it at once began. 
A hole was cut through the floor in the 
bottom of the hay over the cow stable, 
and with various tools bushels of ashes 
and charred hay were hauled down. This 
let in air with its supply of oxygen, and 
soon the concave surface overhead light¬ 
ened up into an immense live coal. Water 
was forced up, and it darkened down, 
but would soon brighten up again. 
Chemical fire extinguishers were broken 
in there, and the sulphurous gas would 
keep out the oxygen for a little time, 
but the hay would soon be all aglow 
again, and it became evident that the 
whole center of the mow was in a state 
of combustion. 
A portion of the siding was forthwith 
torn from the barn, a number of hay 
knives procured, and a large gang of 
men enlisted and operations were begun 
to remove the hay. Without going into 
detail, suffice it to say that the heat 
was so intense that men could stand it 
but a few minutes at a time on top of 
the mow ; but by using plenty of water 
to keep the surface from burning, and 
changing hands often, the men in about 
18 hours succeeded in cutting and pitch¬ 
ing out about 10 or 12 tons of charred 
hay from the center of the mow, and 
saved the barn. The heat was so in¬ 
tense that it took the temper out of the 
hayknives when cutting it down. Some 
of the charred hay blazed when thrown 
out and exposed freely to the air. This 
goes on record as an authentic and un¬ 
questioned case of spontaneous combus¬ 
tion. 
More Curious Windmills. 
F. H., Ludlow, Vt.— The article on 
windmills calls to mind that, in the mar¬ 
ket gardens near San Francisco, Cal., 
where the winds during the dry season 
are usually constant in one direction, 
the mills are rigged with a chain and 
buckets running over a sprocket at¬ 
tached to the main axle. The chain 
runs through a wooden tube, and the 
water can be discharged at any eleva¬ 
tion below the sprocket. These mills 
are, probably, built like the old Dutch 
mills. For variable winds, these mills 
could, probably, be built so that the 
chain and mill could revolve on a central 
axis. This would require a larger well, 
but would not do for a deep one. An 
improvement on the chain would be a 
canvas belt running on a pulley at¬ 
tached to the shaft, and one in the water 
with enough galvanized iron buckets to 
carry the water necessary. 
By stopping at Wadsworth in Nevada 
on the Central Pacific Railroad, one can 
see three current wheels, each 25 feet 
in diameter, one below the other, with 
tin cans on the outside rims. These are 
cheap wooden wheels put together with 
nails and bolts. The buckets are set at 
To 
Jan. I 
Next 
for 
25 cts. 
You must have just one neigh¬ 
bor or friend who wants 
The Rural New-Yorker. 
Then just call his attention to this 
suggestion: We will send him the 
paper for the rest of thiB year for 
25 cents. 
an angle, and the water begins to empty 
into a flume before the buckets reach 
their greatest height. These wheels 
irrigate a large tract. The idea is bor¬ 
rowed from the Orient. 
Tomatoes and Blight ; Japan Plums. 
L F. Kinney, Rhode Island Experi¬ 
ment Station —I have just read your 
note in The R N.-Y. of August 14 about 
the potato-leaved tomatoes being more 
subject to blight than other kinds. In 
connection with this, I will say that the 
Dwarf Champion has become a general 
favorite about here, so that plants of 
other kinds are a drug in the market at 
setting time; but the Champion plants 
have not been able to stand the wet 
weather this year, and so far as I am 
aware, not a single lot of this variety in 
the vicinity immediately about the ex¬ 
periment station can yield even a fair 
crop. In most cases, the leaves on the 
lower half of the stalks are all dead, 
and but little fruit is set. So far as I 
have observed, none of the varieties 
with foliage of the common type have 
blighted nearly so badly as the Champion, 
although these have not set fruit very 
freely. I do not remember having noted 
in my former experience such a decided 
difference in the varieties in this partic¬ 
ular respect. 
There is one other note in the same 
issue that I must refer to, and that is 
the one in which you speak of the 
Abundance plum being curculio-proof. 
I do not quite understand what you 
mean by this, unless the curculios are 
more discriminating in their tastes in 
the Rural Grounds than they are in 
Kingston. Certainly the curculios de¬ 
posit their eggs in this fruit freely here, 
the worms grow, and the plums drop, 
and I have not observed any indications 
that the curculio prefers the European 
varieties instead of the Abundance. The 
Burbank is fruiting at the Experiment 
Station this season for the first time, and 
at this stage, when the fruit is j ust begin¬ 
ning to color, it promises well. 
Hot Shot for “Novelties.” 
M. O. Waggoner Toledo. O. —I hope 
that you will give the many patrons of 
The R. N.-Y. a word of warning regard¬ 
ing some of the “fakes” shoved out 
through nurserymen, through ignorance 
from not testing in their experiment 
gardens the real merits of some new 
hybrid, such, for instance, as “ the 
Strawberry-raspberry.” This is a worth¬ 
less, weedy humbug, and will strangle 
and overrun any and everything within 
its reach, and can outdo in the way of a 
weed any weed known in garden or 
field. Another useless and outrageous 
pest and humbug is what is known as 
the “Japanese Wineberry,” one of the 
worst swindles ever palmed off upon a 
confiding community. I have had my 
turn at both of these swindles, and paid 
in money for the plants, and trellises for 
the Wineberry fraud first and after¬ 
wards for the Strawberry-raspberry. I 
can give the names of many large as 
well as small concerns which have fitted 
up their grounds and spent time and 
money in the fond hope that close atten¬ 
tion and well-directed money and in¬ 
dustry would finally show something in 
the contemptible swindles, while two or 
three years’ time, use of ground and 
cash, unqualifiedly pronounce them 
frauds. 
R. N.-Y.—We regard Mr. Waggoner’s 
criticisms as unnecessarily severe. Still, 
his opinion of the novelties he denounces 
is essentially our own opinion. 
Mysterious Barn Fires. 
A. R. P., Chagrin Falls, O. —The fol¬ 
lowing clipping is from the Chagrin 
Falls Exponent of August 12. It is 
another startling instance of those 
mysterious barn fires referred to in my 
recent article in The R. N.-Y. In this 
instance the fire breaks out in the pres¬ 
ence of the owner, a most worthy and 
honorable man. How or why should 
this fire start in straw that had re¬ 
mained undisturbed for a year ? I am 
strongly suspicious that the men who 
work in the straw at thrashing time 
may lose matches from their pockets, or 
in the heat of work lay aside a vest or 
coat that contains matches. This gar¬ 
ment may become covered in the straw 
and lost, or possibly forgotten. A year 
later, the fatal fire occurs. I am anx¬ 
ious that the readers of The R. N.-Y. 
take this matter up and let us know, if 
possible, the cause of so many disastrous 
as well as mysterious barn fires : 
Last weak there occurred in this vicinity one 
of the most unexplainable fires we ever heard 
of. * * * A valuable bank barn and contents 
were destroyed by fire. The owner was in the 
barn when the fire started. He * * * had just 
laid aside his vest, when he heard a cracking 
sound, and turning, discovered a blaze in a mow 
of straw about 10 feet above the barn floor. He 
ran to the house for a pail of water, at the same 
time sounding the alarm. By the time he reached 
the barn again the whole mow of straw was 
ablaze. A number of friends, who were at his 
residence, responded immediately to the cry of 
fire, and in a few minutes the yard was full of 
citizens who came from both directions. The 
straw in which the blaze originated had been 
stored in the barn for a year, and what caused 
the combustion must always remain a mystery. 
The theory of spontaneous combustion seems 
untenable from the fact that the straw was per¬ 
fectly dry. Another theory which may account 
for the disaster is that some of the men might 
have dropped a match at thrashing time when 
storing the straw, and that a mouse might have 
gnawed the match and caused the blaze. So 
rapidly did the fire spread that it was impossible 
to save anything from the building except two 
horses which were in their stalls at the time, and 
one heavy wagon. 
Cultivation In Wet Weather. 
S. E. H., CherryValley, III—“Have 
you bad, in your experience, any in¬ 
stances where constant and thorough cul¬ 
ture of corn has increased the yield ?” 
Personally, no. Once, I persuaded a 
neighbor to hire four boys, and loaned 
him three five-tooth cultivators to go 
through half of his 80 acre corn field as an 
experiment. He was busy haying and 
harvesting, the corn was tasseled and 
silked, the boys were boys, and the 
neighbor thought that they did more in¬ 
jury than good. I was discouraged in 
my missionary work to such an extent 
that labor of that character has never 
been renewed. After harvest, he told 
me that the extra labor had increased 
the crop easily one-fourth. I examined 
the field, and found that the ears were 
much larger on the part which received 
the extra culture. 
My main farm crop is potatoes, be¬ 
cause, usually, they make me more 
money per acre than any other farm 
crop. I grow corn only as a catch crop 
about one year in five. My rotation is 
potatoes, rye and clover. This is varied 
as an experiment occasionally. Were 
my ground “ wet and soggy”, I would 
stir the surface soil with a 14 tooth cul¬ 
tivator as soon as it was dry enough so 
that the soil would not stick to the 
teeth. In the spring, when the above- 
mentioned conditions prevail, we have 
found that this treatment will dry off 
the surface in a few hours so that we 
can sow seeds with a drill in a satisfac¬ 
tory manner, where otherwise it would 
be delayed a week or more. Conditions 
vary so in different locations, soils and 
circumstances, that ironclad rules are 
usually extremely vexatious and disap¬ 
pointing 
Tbe rule is, fine dry soil is a mulch ; 
wet soil then is a mulch. If the former 
be kept fine and dry, it retains its prop¬ 
erties, and it is the same with wet soil 
if kept wet. I find that it is just as 
necessary to have a finely pulverized 
surface in wet weather as in dry, to 
produce a rapid and satisfactory growth 
of vegetation. Therefore, breaking up 
capillary attraction and retaining the 
moisture is not the only or greatest 
benefit obtained by the use of a dry 
mulch. Will some scientist please ex¬ 
plain why stirring the soil in wet 
weather is equally beneficial to growing 
crops, as in dry weather ? 
Free Rural Mail Delivery. 
T. S , Unionville, Conn —In The R. 
N.-Y. of August 21, Mr. F.Hodgman gives 
it as his opinion that the rural districts 
should pay for free delivery of mail if 
they want it. I must say that I differ on 
that point. This is what I would do, sell 
two stamps for five cents, and have free 
delivery all over the country. The 
townspeople are not entitled to any 
more favors than those living in the 
country. I have lived in large cities 
most of my life, but for the last few 
years have spent my time in the coun¬ 
try, and understand what all parts of 
the country need. Give us free delivery 
all over the land. 
Ventilation in the Incubator. 
J. E. S., Columbus, N. J.—When chicks 
die in the shell from the fault of incuba¬ 
tion, I think it is nearly always caused 
by lack of ventilation, especially in 
warm weather. I find that a machine 
that will give good hatches in cold 
weather without cooling or airing the 
eggs at all except while turning, will 
give better hatches in warm weather, if 
the eggs are left out of the machines 
one hour or more each day. In many 
instances, where chicks die in the shell, 
the cause may be traced to a weakness 
in the breeding stock or the method of 
feeding. I have used six or seven of the 
leading machines, and have had but one 
that would not start the eggs as well as 
the hens, the most difficult part seeming 
to be the latter part of the hatch. With 
one good machine I had, the only way 
I couLd get a satisfactory hatch of duck 
eggs was to take them from the machine 
after 10 days or two weeks, and put 
them under hens. This I have since 
concluded was caused by lack of venti¬ 
lation. The same machine would hatch 
hens’ eggs all right. The ventilation of 
this machine was from four %-inch holes 
in the bottom, which I do not think 
enough for 250 eggs, the size of the ma a 
chine. The method of ventilation which 
has given the best results for me is that 
employed in the Cyphers incubator, 
which is a slow, forced ventilation, the 
warm air being forced from the heat 
chamber down through the egg cham¬ 
ber and out under the egg3. Since 
adopting these machines, I have had 
better hatches of stronger chicks and 
ducks, and fewer dead in the shell. 
ARMSTRONG & McKELVY 
Pittsburgh. 
BEVMER-BAUMAN 
Pittsburgh. 
DAVIS-CHAMBERS 
Pittsburgh. 
FAHNESTOCK 
Pittsburgh. 
ANCHOR 
ECKSTEIN > 
ATLANTIC 
BRADLEY 
BROOKLYN 
JEWETT 
ULSTER 
- Cincinnati. 
Nuw York. 
W HAT has been your ex¬ 
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kinds are the most expensive ? 
That the best, or standard, in all 
j- Chicago. 
St. Louis. 
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MISSOURI 
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Philadelphia. 
M0RLEY 
Cleveland. 
SALEM 
Salem. Mass. 
CORNELL 
Buffalo. 
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Louisville. 
lines is the cheapest ? The best 
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Linseed Oil. (See list of the 
genuine brands.) 
J-V rj By I'sing National Lead Co.’s Pure White Lead Tinting Col- 
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