. 
( l.'lAi! r'A 1901; ■ 
VoL. LX. No. 2670. 
NEW YORK, MARCH 30, 1901. 
$1 PER YEAR 
A BATCH OF HARD QUESTIONS. 
AlfalTa in an Orchard. 
A reader expects to sow beardless barley in an old 
orchard near his bai-n. Should he sow Alfalfa with 
the barley? D. R. Pease answers: 
Alfalfa would not be likely to do well in an apple 
orchard on account of the shade, and because the 
trees would rob it of moisture. My advice would be 
to sow the barley in the orchard this season, which 
would get the ground in good shape; then this Fall, 
after the‘pressure of work is over, take those apple 
trees out by the roots and clear the land, so that 
next Spring you would have it in good shape for 
Alfalfa. If the apple trees are sound 
you can dispose of the wood at a good 
price to some of the large tool-manufac¬ 
turing concerns. It is my opinion that 
the barley and Alfalfa would not work 
well together, because the barley 
should be sown early in April and the 
Alfalfa not before May 15, and perhaps _ 
June 1, according to the season. The 
barley would ripen before the Alfalfa 
had made sufficient growth. 
R. N.-Y.—We have not been able to 
find a profitable market for apple wood. 
New Cement Over Old. 
We are asked whether it is desirable 
to put a new layer of Portland cement 
over an old floor in a dairy house. S. 
E. Barney, of Indiana, says; 
“It all depends on the condition of 
the old floor. Cement will not adhere 
properly to any smooth, hard surface. 
When a cement floor proves to be bad 
it breaks and crumbles in spots, leav¬ 
ing places hard and smooth. These 
spots might remain, and patch up the 
broken ones, making a floor as good 
as new. To do this, the edges of the 
solid parts must be cut down square at 
least a half inch. Remember that you 
cannot overlap one coat of cement on 
another after the first has ‘set’; the 
new and the old must come together 
squarely. If an old floor is so badly 
broken that you wish to make an en¬ 
tirely new one, then rough .up the best 
places nearly to correspond with the 
worst. If some of the broken places 
have gone clearly through, it would be 
w'ell to put grout in them so that your 
top coat will be of nearly equal thick¬ 
ness. Sweep the broken floor well to 
remove as much as possible of the 
loose particles, then wet it thoroughly, 
and after it has stood a few minutes, 
wet it thoroughly again, and immediately apply the 
top coat as directed in building sidewalks, leaving out 
the cutting into sections. You can use the sweepings 
■of the old cement as sand or gravel in the new work.” 
lloot.s lor Hor.se Feeding'. 
We are asked by a fruit grower who has seven 
horses what root crops besides carrots can be grown 
for Winter feeding. Carrots are best, but are hard to 
start and hard to grow, and he wants a crop to follow 
strawberries. Will any other root answer? It seems 
to be settled that no root is better than the carrot for 
horse feeding. The following note is from Long 
Island, where great crops of carrots are grown: 
Carrots, it is true, are a little troublesome in the 
starting, but if the land is in good condition the seed 
may be soaked for a couple of days, then dried by 
rubbing in dry sand or land plaster until all moisture 
is absorbed, so the seed can be sown in a machine. 
It thus comes up quicker, before the weeds get a 
start. With a Planet cultivator it is easily possible to 
keep them in order. Our gardeners here usualiy plant 
on a slight ridge feet apart, though that is not the 
way to get the greatest yields. Beets and mangels 
are the best substitutes for carrots, but horses do not 
care for them as they do for carrots. As many can be 
grown per acre as carrots and they come a little easier. 
After strawberries would be too late for best results; 
turnips are then the only crop, and they are not rel¬ 
ished by horses, though they will take them sparingly. 
Better stick to carrots. I send you a list of a 78-acre 
THE AMERICAN FARMER HAS GROWN IN INFLUENCE.” Fig. 93. 
crop for 1900, grown on that sand bank, Long Island; 
beat it if you can: Early cabbage, 4,700 barrels; early 
potatoes, 9,600 bushels; early potatoes, culls, 1,200 
bushels; onions, from sets, 3,540 bushels; cucumbers, 
1,550 barrels; Hubbard squash, 915 barrels; carrots, 
17,000 bushels; onions, from seed, 8,000 bushels; late 
potatoes, 825 bushels; corn, ears, 1,300 bushels; onion 
sets, 75 bushels; onion seed, 250 barrels; carrot seed, 
100 barrels; apples, 100 barrels; cabbage plants to 
carry over, 250,000. g. w. iiallock & sox. 
Orient, L. 1. 
The “Seed En<l” ol‘Potatoes. 
A subsci’iber asks will it pay to take off the “seed 
ends” when cutting potato seed? If he will consider 
the fact that the potato tuber is simply a short, fleshy 
stem, and that the “eyes” are so many buds, capable 
of producing branches, he will see that clipping off 
the seed end is simply one method of pruning. Natu¬ 
rally, if number of stalks or stems in each hill is 
reduced the individual stems will have a better op¬ 
portunity for development, in the same way that corn 
is better if not planted too thickly. Since the faculty 
of the seed piece is simply to furnish nourishment to 
the developing plants until they are capable of deriv¬ 
ing food from soil and air, reducing the size of this 
seed piece without removing eyes (or buds) would 
naturally have no effect on the developing crop unless 
carried to extremes. Repeated experiments have 
demonstrated that these theoretical considerations 
hold good in practice. Our own custom is to use me¬ 
dium-sized tubers cut to about two eyes, and plant 10 
inches to one foot apart in drills. I have 
no doubt that the size of the seed piece 
best suited for planting may vary with 
the variety and with the degree of ripe¬ 
ness of the seed potato; but I do not be¬ 
lieve that the difference is sufficient to 
warrant much expenditure of time in 
extra preparation for planting. 
Maine Exp. Sta. w. m. muxsox. 
Fruit in Keirigerator Cars. 
We are asked to obtain the experience 
of southern shippers who have used re¬ 
frigerator cars for fruits or vegetables. 
The first reply comes from W. F. Allen, 
of Maryland. 
Shipping in refrigerator cars is a great 
improvement on the old way. Some of 
the advantages are that when fruits are 
put in refrigerator cars they are cooled 
off, and go into market in much better 
condition, almost invariably bringing 
better prices. If they should arrive late, 
or if market should be overstocked, and 
prospect better for the next day, the 
consignor can have the car re-iced and 
held over. This is a big advantage. The 
cost from here is three-fourths of one 
cent per quart and one cent per quart 
from Norfolk. This is over and above 
regular freight. On melons and vege¬ 
tables the extra cost is $50 per car. I 
pay this and use refrigerator cars al¬ 
most entirely for cantaloupes, and be¬ 
lieve it pays me to do so. Do not make 
the mistake of overloading a refriger¬ 
ator car, for if you do it will be a dis¬ 
advantage. The hot air is driven to the 
top of the car, and a space of lYz to two 
feet at the top should be left open. 
Many shippers would fill the car full, 
thinking it economy, because they have 
to pay for the car anyhow, but this is a 
mistake. Don’t overload a refrigerator 
ear. Leave a space of lYi to two inches 
between every package, and tack strips across each 
layer to hold packages steady, and to give air passage 
between. Of course it does not pay to refrigerate 
culls, and it does not pay to ship culls anyway. The 
service could be greatly cheapened if the railroad 
companies would furnish the cars and let shippers 
furnish their own ice and ice the cars themselves. It 
takes about six tons of ice to each car, which can 
usually be had at $3 per ton. 
There are numerous rumors of combinations among 
southern truck farmers, in order that their produce may 
be handled and marketed to better advantage. There 
is no doubt about the benefits of organization if carried 
out on busines.s-like iines. Transportation companies and 
receivers in distant markets are much more iikely to re¬ 
spect the rights of pi’oducers belonging to such associa¬ 
tions, than of individuals who are trying to handle the 
selling end of their business on their O'wn hook. 
