1901 
THK RURAL NEW-YORKER 
7o9 
Reducing Bones ; Warming the Henhouse. 
D. It., Hardy, Bcl.—l. How much sulphuric 
acid is required to dissolve 100 pounds dry 
animal bone, and can it be done in ordi¬ 
nary wooden barrels? How long would it 
require? 2. Is it considered profitable to 
lieat a henhouse with stove, using wood 
as fuel, and thus keep hens warm in cold 
weather? Wood as fuel on the stump is 
worth about 40 cents per cord here. 
Ans.— 1. We do not advise the use of 
sulphuric acid on the farm. It is very 
dangerous to handle, and unless the 
bones are first crushed quite fine 40 
pounds oi the acid will be required for 
100 pounds of bones. The manufactur¬ 
ers have expensive machinery for steam¬ 
ing and grinding bones, and can do such 
work far better than the farmer can. 
2. We doubt whether it would pay to 
warm a Delaware henhouse with stoves. 
In Canada this is sometimes done, but 
even in that cold country there is some 
question about the profit. 
The Use of Hydrocyanic Acid Gas. 
G. E. S., East Prospect, Pa.—I intend to 
fumigate my nursery stock. My room is 
7 X 11 X 18 feet. Will you give me the 
amount of chemicals required? 
If. li., Paterson, N. J. —I notice your ar¬ 
ticle on hydrocyanic gas for rats in the 
issue of October 5. Have you any experi¬ 
ence in the effectiveness of this gas, simi¬ 
larly used to clear a building that is alive 
with water bugs; that is, to kill the eggs 
and young bugs? 1 do not know how long 
it takes to hatch their eggs, but the build¬ 
ing could remain closed up. 
Ans. —The article on page 677 tells 
how to use the cyanide of potash. Your 
building contains 1,386 cubic feet. With 
one ounce of cyanide for each 200 feet 
you will need seven ounces. This will 
call for 10^4 ounces of sulphuric acid 
and 14 ounces of water. The gas will 
probably not destroy the eggs, but it 
will kill all the insects that it reaches. 
As the water bugs stay or crawl into 
small cracks and crevices it is doubtful 
whether the gas will kill them all. 
The English Lime Tree; Apples. 
J. U., Los Gatos, Cal.—Give a description 
of the iime tree of England. Is there a 
tree in this country of the same kind but 
having another name? Aiso give me a 
short list of apple trees with low wide 
spreading tops. 
Ans. —The lime tree of England is the 
common European linden, which is 
closely allied to our native linden tree, 
which is also called basswood, and is 
found in most of the Central and North¬ 
ern States in the native forests. The 
European linden is a smaller leaf and 
has a more dense top, making it very 
nice as a shade tree. It is not so robust 
in its habit of growth as our native 
species. Among the varieties of the 
apple that have very widespreading and 
rather drooping branches are the Wine- 
sap, Minkler, Willow and Tolman Sweet. 
These varieties will all do very well in 
the Central and Western States. 
n. E. V. D. 
Making Manure from Muck. 
T. B., Toronto, Canada.—1 send a sample 
of soil taken from the bed of a pond near 
a wood, and would like to know whether 
it would be suitable as a fertilizer and 
under what conditions. Should it be mixed 
with any manure, and if so, would you 
give directions for composting? 
Ans. —^We have no facilities for mak¬ 
ing an analysis of the muck. The Cana¬ 
dian Experiment Station at Guelph will 
doubtless analyze it for you. The sam¬ 
ple looks like a good one, and we should 
use it freely. Bulletin 74 of the Maine 
Station (Orono) contains much infor¬ 
mation about muck. Mucks or peaty 
soils result from the slow and imperfect 
decay of vegetable matter—water plants 
and forest leaves. As they are but part¬ 
ly decayed they are sour, and the plant 
food is mostly insoluble. Prof. Woods, 
0 / Maine, examined 22 samples of muck 
taken ^in various parts of the State. 
When taken from the swamps or ponds 
some of them contained 86% per cent 
of water, which is within one per cent 
of the water in milk! When thoroughly 
dried out these mucks varied all the way 
from one-half of one per cent of nitro¬ 
gen to 2.85 per cent. The phosphoric 
acid varied fi-om a mere trace to nearly 
two per cent, and the potash from a 
trace to nearly one per cent. This will 
show that the safest thing to do with 
muck when any large quantity is to be 
used is to send a sample to the experi¬ 
ment station and have it analyzed. The 
chief value of muck lies in the nitrogen 
it contains. This nitrogen is usually 
not available as plant food, and must ba 
“cooked” or fermented before using as 
manure. In the bulletin already men¬ 
tioned the following good advice is 
given: 
Some mucks ferment of themselves when 
thrown into heaps, and such kinds serve 
well as manures without weathering, fer¬ 
mentation or any kind of preparation. 
But the kinds most common in Maine are 
well-nigh useless as manures unless they 
have been rotted or fermented. In view of 
these differences it is not strange that 
farmers frequently deem mere exposure of 
muck to the air to be a sufflcient prepara¬ 
tion of this material. While this is the 
Case with some .mucks, the safest and 
surest way of obtaining good results with 
muck is to ferment artificially in the com¬ 
post heap. Experience teaches that in 
many situations, a large proportion of 
the useful ingredients of dung and urine 
can be saved by composting with muck. 
It is equally certain through such com¬ 
posting the unavailable plant food of the 
muck is made available. The ferments are 
present in such amounts in farm manures 
that left to themselves they suffer by the 
fermentation, and most mucks are so de¬ 
ficient in ferments that by themselves the 
fermentation necessary to render their 
inert organic matter available will not 
take place. 
In the preparation of muck composts, 
dung or fish are the materials commonly 
used to excite fermentation. Most farmers 
prefer to make composts in heaps. A 
common plan is to lay down a bed of muck 
six to eight feet wide and a foot or so 
thick, and cover it with a layer of dung 
of somewhat less thickness, followed by 
another layer of muck and so on. Differ¬ 
ent farmers use very different proportions 
of muck. The ordinary practice seems to 
vary from one to five parts of muck to 
one part of dung. Rich dung from sta]l- 
fed cattle will ferment more muck than 
that from animals less highly fed. The 
practical ri>le is to use no more muck than 
can be thoroughly fermented by the ma¬ 
nure. In the case of sour muck the ad¬ 
dition of small amounts of lime or wood 
ashes will correct the acidity and hasten 
fermentation. 
EVERYBODY’S GARDEN. 
Possibilities of the Sm.\ll Gauden. 
—It is often very rtifficult for the own¬ 
ers or occupants of small grounds to 
see that anything in the way of flower 
or vegetable growing can be accom¬ 
plished, and chiefly for the reason that 
their grounds are small. Hence it is 
that the back yards of so many subur¬ 
ban and village homes are merely grass 
plots, or worse still, only weed and rub¬ 
bish patches. If these idle yards and 
vacant spaces were only devoted to the 
useful and beautiful, if the boys and 
girls were encouraged and carefully 
taught how to make them thus, the 
parents would be spared many heart¬ 
aches. Heartaches over the wayward¬ 
ness or vicious habits of their children 
who are thus, simply because they are 
actually starving for something to do. 
Now what can be done with the small 
yards? One instance of what has been 
done may perhaps solve the problem for 
many others. In 1892 our home was a 
six-room cottage on a lot 32x105 feet 
with shed 16x20 feet occupying the 
rear end of the lot. The entire 
space between the house and shed 
was 32x45 feet, with a brick walk 2% 
feet extending the whole length, and a 
grass plot 14x20 feet, which must be de¬ 
ducted. Exclusive of potatoes and sweet 
corn, that space, what little there was, 
furnished the entire vegetable supply 
for a family of three adults and consid¬ 
erable company as well, for the entire 
Summer, besides much given away and 
considerable more put up for Winter. 
Did we eat anything? Well, the male 
gardener always managed to tip the 
beam at over 200 pounds, while the fe¬ 
male florists never went hungry longer 
than to prepare a meal, and as to visi¬ 
tors, they ate and returned, and “fur¬ 
ther, deponent sayeth not.” 
What Was Grown. —In vegetables, 
we had onions, radishes and lettuce to 
eat and give away; beets and cabbage, 
peas, two varieties, both to eat and 
cheer our neighbors with; Lima beans, 
a plentiful supply for use while green, 
and some to store for Winter; sage and 
parsley in abundance; Fordhook 
squashes, and tomatoes for the Sum¬ 
mer, and the entire Winter supply for 
canning. Upon taking possession of the 
place, we found already growing one 
large clump of lilacs, one two-year-old 
peach tree, six currant bushes just com¬ 
ing into bearing, and a strawberry 
patch from which 12 quarts of berries 
were picked. In vines, we had cinna¬ 
mon, wild cucumber and morning 
glories in profusion. In flowers (per¬ 
ennials) were ferns and wild flowers. 
Sweet William, larkspur and hollyhocks. 
In annuals. Phlox, Petunias, Salvia, 
mignonette. Asters, balsams, nastur¬ 
tiums, pansies, Ageratum, sweet peas, 
candytuft and pinks. 
The shed, with runway on the com¬ 
mon, was used for the hens, from 
which came the egg supply, and two 
sittings sold at $2 per sitting, and 13 
finely-bred chicks. This may seem a 
fairy tale, but it was actual experience, 
and not theories figured out on paper as 
possibilities. Much of the work was 
done in a hap-hazard sort of way, with 
hardly a thought as to what might be 
accomplished. Much more migut have 
been done, with careful attention to ro¬ 
tation, the help of a hotbed, and the 
idea of keeping every foot of ground 
constantly occupied and at work. The 
results are given not boastingly, but 
simply to encourage and help others to 
do as well or even better than we did. 
I was a man, at least, in years and sta¬ 
ture. My wife and sister, though neither 
of them very large, were nevertheless 
women. The boys and girls with 
proper encouragement and a little prac¬ 
tice can do equally as well. They are 
the ones I am after, and I want the help 
OI the fathers and mothers to get hold 
of them. 
The Home School. —Just here I must 
be pardoned for referring to the little 
school at Hope Farm, mentioned on 
page 679. As I write I wonder whether 
the parents of the other “little folks” 
fully appreciate their privilege? I hope 
so. While reading of the little school, 
my wife remarked that she fairly cov¬ 
eted a home down by Hope Farm that 
our two little girls might bring the 
number up to nine. She saiu she would 
go down on her knees to the Madame 
for the privilege of placing our little 
ones under the careful eye of a Chris¬ 
tian mother and teacher during the 
hours they were absent from us. I said 
“Amen ' with a very strong accent, for 
such schools and such teachers are rare 
and hard to find. The baby’s first steps 
—^whither do they tend? The seed sow¬ 
ing in the first few years—what shall 
the harvest be? j. e. morse. 
NOW IS THE TIME. 
Seasons change. We can’t 
change them. We can’t pre¬ 
vent the coming of cold and 
damp airs. 
But we can prevent the sore 
throats, the coughs, colds and 
lung troubles by taking Scott’s 
Emulsion. Nothing does more 
to make the tender throat 
tough. Nothing gives such 
strength to weak lungs. 
Don’t take risks—when it’s 
easy to be safe. Now is the 
season for taking Scott’s 
Emulsion in season. 
WeTI send you a little to try, if you like 
SCOTT & BOWNE, 409 Pearl Street, New York. 
The Past GUARANTEES 
The Future 
The Fact That 
St. Jacobs Oil 
Has cured thousands of cases of 
Rheumatism, Gout, Lumbago, 
Neuralgia, Sciatica. Sprains. 
Bruises and other bodily aches 
and pains is a guarantee that It 
will cure other cases. It is safe, 
sure and never failing Acts like 
magic. 
Conquers Pain 
Price, 25c and 50c. 
SOLD BY ALL DEALERS IN MEDICINK. 
You can hurry 
all kinds of feed cutting by the 
use of our 
Keystone Tony^^ 
GUTTER, 
Two knives, double eccentrics, fast feed, and cuts a 
lot of leuKths from In. up, 
turns easy, hi^th speed, icuar- 
aiueed satis'actory all round. 
Ideal for the small stockman 
and dairyman. .Saves itscost in 
.saving of feed the first winter. 
Send for Illustrated catalog 
and prices. 
KEYSTONE FARM MACHINE CO., 
1547 N. Beavar St., YORK, PA. 
Cutaway Harrow will easi 
move 18.000 tons of earth 01 
foot in a day. 
SAMPSON 
TOBACCO PRESS 
Clark’s 
CIDER 
MILLS 
1 to 8 Bbls. 
CLARK S DOUBLE-ACTION. 
Clark’s Sulky 
Gang Disk Plow. 
From 3 to 8 feet. 
For horse or 
Steam Power. 
CUTAWAY HARROW CO., HI66ARUM, CONH. 
Vr Send for Circulars. 
WROUGHT IRON PIPE 
Good condition, used short time only; new threads 
and couplings; tor Steam, Gas or Water; sizes from 
to ta inch diameter. Our price per foot on ¥ Inch is 
3c; on 1 inch 31<;c. AVrlte for free catalogue No. 57 
CHICAGO HOUSE WRECKING CO., 
Vi. 35th ami Iron Sts., nilC.tdO. 
A Great Railway. 
The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul 
Railway Co. owns and operates 6,600 
miles of thoroughly equipped railway. 
It operates its own Sleeping Cars and 
Dining Cars, and the service is first-class 
in every respect. 
It traverses the best portion of the 
states of Illinois, Wisconsin, the Upper 
Penin.sula of Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, 
Minnesota, South and North Dakota. 
It runs electric lighted, steam-heated 
trains. 
It has the absolute block system. 
It uses all modern appliances for the 
comfort and safety of its patrons. 
Its train employes are civil and oblig¬ 
ing. 
It tries to give each passenger “value 
received” for his money, and 
It asks every man, woman and child 
to buy tickets over the Chicago, Mil¬ 
waukee & St. Paul Railway—for it is A 
Great Railway. 
Time tables, maps and information 
furnished on application to P. A. Miller 
General Passenger Agent, Chicago— Adv. 
