i89o 
3i9 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Farmers Club. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address 
of the writer to insure attention. Before asking a question, please 
see if it is not answered in our advertising columns. Ask only 
a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate piece 
of paper.] 
Muriate3 and Sulphates of Potash. 
F. Bros., West Hanover, Mass. —Have the muriates of 
potash any more injurious effects on such crops as tobacco, 
fruits and potatoes than the sulphates ? 
Ans. —From our own experiments we have no knowledge 
which is more desirable for certain, muriate or sulphate 
of potash. It is said that an objection to muriate used 
upon tobacco is that the leaves will not burn so readily ; 
that is, it diminishes their combustibility. The sulphate 
is preferred also for beets, potatoes and possibly in fruit 
culture. It is said, in favor of the chloride, that it diffuses 
more readily in the soil than the sulphate. 
A. S. A., Pittsfield, III. —1. What is the best way of pul¬ 
verizing the soil between young apple trees in a nursery 
row ? Would a disk or Cutaway harrow be the best tool T 
Who makes the better kind ? 2. Would the use of 
commercial fertilizers be advisable ? 3. Would Mapes’s 
Potato Fertilizer do for strawberries, and how should it be 
applied ? 4. Are the perforated paste-board berry boxes 
made by the Detroit Novelty Company a success ? 
Ans. —We should prefer a Cutaway. This is easily regu¬ 
lated to cut shallow or deep, according to the age of the 
trees and the extension of the roots. It is made by the 
Higganum Manufacturing Co., Higganum, Conn. Price 
$25. 2. Yes. We should use raw-bone flour and potash— 
say 1,000 pounds of the former to 400 pounds of the latter 
(muriate). 3. Yes, but the fertilizer prepared for fruits 
and vines would be preferable. It should be applied in 
very early spring. 4. We have not tried them. See what 
was said about such boxes la c t week. 
Farming 64 per cent, of his Farm. 
IF. K. S., Parhesburg, Pa. —It has been stated that Mr. 
Terry has 55 acres; but his profits are always given for 35. 
What does he do with the other 20 ? 
ANSWERED BY T. B. TERRY. 
When we bought the farm there were about 125 acres in 
it. After trying to run it all with no capital, for a few 
years, 1 rented and finally sold about 70 acres from one 
end. This was about all bottom land ; only suitable for 
pasture. I divided the farm in such a way as to keep all 
the upland good for tillage that was possible, and the rest 
went into the 70-acre field. This left me 55 acres; but 
not all good land by any means. Out of this I selected 
about 35 acres that were fairly good for tillage, and laid 
them out In fields or strips that were as long and rectang¬ 
ular as the lay of the land would permit. In getting the 
strips in this shape (for fast tillage) I necessarily took in 
some spots that I would be glad to giveaway—two or three 
acres in all. The door-yard, barn grounds, orchard, fruit 
garden, road,etc., occnpy about three acres. Then at the back 
end of the farm there are about three acres of muck swamp 
(drained) which I have not yet made any use of. It would 
bring in a pretty large income in onions and celery: buc I 
have enough else to do. The above swamp is solid muck ; 
but in the center of the farm I found a swamp of about 
three acres with a floating sod, lying on water or thin 
mud. I managed to get outlet enough to drain this with 
an open ditch about 18 inches deep. It was fenced by itself 
and we keep our family cow there. The most severe 
drought has no effect on it. We could keep two or three 
cows as well as one, and make our butter and perhaps 
some to sell; but I am not willing to put the daily drudg¬ 
ery on my wife and daughters, for the small income there 
would be from this source; so we buy about $50 worth of 
butter a year at the creamery and let the grass go to 
waste. To show how deep is the foundation (?) of this lot, 
I might say that when the ditch was first dug a horse got 
in it, and when found his back was two feet below the sur¬ 
face. After drawing out two or three horses I fenced the 
field off for cattle only. I have now accounted for all the 
land except 11 acres. These are fenced by themselves and 
on them I turn the horses during nights during warm 
weather, just for their comfort—not to get their living— 
for we feed them in the barn three times a day. One 
might think these horses were “ in clover.” But they are 
not, particularly when in the pasture, as it is very poor 
land. Some is a thin, poor clay soil, some gravel hills and 
the rest muck swamps that it would cost a good deal to 
drain thoroughly. I have drained them partially by open 
ditches. I put these 14 acres into shape, to answer my 
purpose, as cheaply as possible, and then gave all my time 
and attention to making all I could out of the 35 acres. 
Most of the spare time I have had for the last 20 years has 
been put in trying to improve them. Stones were picked 
up and sunk, every tree and root was got out and many 
tile drains were laid. It cost me $50 to drain one basin 
containing only a quarter of an acre; but it was a grand 
investment. I am now running a four-inch tile drain 
through a bank 10 feet deep to get an outlet to drain an¬ 
other quarter of an acre more thoroughly. The fertility of 
these hollows is amazing, when they are thoroughly 
drained. We have money in the savings’ bank that brings 
us five per cent, interest; but this drain I am putting in, 
if successful, although quite costly, will bring us some¬ 
times, when the field is in potatoes, 100 per cent, on the in¬ 
vestment. I have just received a letter from my friend J. 
M. Smith, the noted gardener of Wisconsin. He tells of 
his plans to do a little better this year than ever before. I 
like this way. I would not care to put a place in perfeot 
order all at once, if I had the money and knew how. I 
would rather improve little by little yearly=-let the place 
grow with the man. Would one not thus get more pleas¬ 
ure out of life? But the question was: “ What does he 
do with the other 20 ? ” And here I am telling about the 
35 again ! But I cannot help it. 11 Where your treasure is, 
there will vour heart be also.” 
Artificial Refrigeration—Important to Butter- 
Makers. 
J. C., Cambridge, Maryland.— Can I reduce the tem¬ 
perature of water by chemicals to 40 degrees ? and how 
much would it cost in comparison with the cost of ice, and 
how much should there be in a gallon of water ? 
ANSWERED BY HENRY STEWART. 
The cost of the refrigerant chemical substances is proba¬ 
bly too great to render their use profitable In competition 
with ice at even the high prices which will prevail the 
present season on account of its scarcity. But it is quite 
possible that much economy in the use of ice may be 
secured by the use of some of the cheapest crystalline sub¬ 
stances in the market. Before describing these, however, 
it may be useful to explain how certain substances behave 
in regard to the production of cold, or the absorption of 
heat, during their transformation from a crystalline to a 
liquid form. All crystalline substances in their formation 
from liquids give out more or less heat. Water in the slow 
process of freezing gives out 142 units of heat, that is, one 
pound of water at 32 degrees, in its change into ice, gives 
out sufficient heat to warm one pound of water to 174 
degrees. Conversely, if one pound of ice at 32 degrees is 
placed in one pound of water at 174 degrees, this water 
will be reduced to 32 degrees merely by the melting of the 
ice—by its change from a solid to a liquid in fact, and this 
reduction of temperature is due to the mechanical effect of 
the reduction of a solid to a liquid. As the ice in melting 
absorbs this heat,which is equal to the difference between 
174 and 32 degrees, equal to 142 degrees, it is said that in 
melting it absorbs 142 units of heat, and in the liquefaction 
it merely gets back the heat which the water gave out in 
the act of freezing. This law applies to all crystalline sub¬ 
stances, and also to all solid and liquid substances; for it 
also applies to the process of evaporation, as it is well known 
in common practice that water absorbs heat in the change 
into steam and that steam gives out heat in the process of 
condensation. These facts should be well understood in 
considering the question proposed. 
This property is an attribute of all substances, but espe¬ 
cially of those which form crystals, and are reduced to a 
liquid form by melting. But various substances differ con¬ 
siderably in this respect, and certain combinations differ 
from each other. Thus, if two crystallized substances 
are mixed, as ice and common salt, the resulting cold pro¬ 
duced is increased by their mutual action upon each other; 
the salt melts the ice, which absorbs 142 units of heat, 
while the salt in melting absorbs 72 units, thus producing 
a cold equal to 40 degrees below zero. So a mixture of equal 
parts of sal-ammoniac and saltpeter dissolved In the whole 
weight of water reduces the temperature of the latter 40 
degrees. The greatest reduction of temperature is pro¬ 
duced by means of chloride of lime with powdered ice, as 
is shown by the following table: 
Mixture 
In 
Parts. 
Ice. 
Chloride of lime. 
Ice. 
Crystallized chloride of lime .. 
Ice. 
Chloride of lime. 
Ice. 
Dilute nitric acid. 
Ice. 
Dilute sulphuric acid. 
Degrees of 
Cold 
Produced. 
.... 66 
.... 66 
_ 53 
.... 46 
.... 40 
thoughts are worth paying for. The writer has proved 
this to his entire satisfaction. If any of our young friends 
doubt it, they are at liberty to test the matter by writing 
a book and trying to dispose of it for cash. Story-writing 
as a recreation is a good thing. It trains the mind, culti¬ 
vates habits of thought and correct statement, and if con¬ 
fined to describing actual scenes and sketching actual 
characters will give one a broader and clearer view of life. 
Any man, however, who permits story-writing to interfere 
with the business upon which he depends for his bread and 
butter makes a great mistake. If our friend wants to see 
what others think about his story, let him write a brief 
noie to the publishers who advertise in a paper like the 
Christian Union, stating the strongest facts about his 
manuscript and requesting them to examine it with a 
view of publishing it. He will be much surer to command 
attention than if he sent his manuscript without warning. 
A Silo on a 50-acre Farm. 
O. L. F., Five Corners, N. Y. —1. Should cattle that are 
fed on silage be kept in a warmer stable than those fed 
on dry feed ? 2. Would it injure such cows to let them out 
in a yard to drink water pumped from a well, and do they 
require drink more than once a day ? 3. Will it pay to 
build a silo on a 50-acre farm where four cows, three year¬ 
lings and three horses are kept, with a view to improve the 
land as fast as possible ? 4. How large a silo, not over 18 
feet deep, would be needed to winter that number of 
stock ? 5. What is the best kind of corn for ensilage, and 
how much should be drilled in per acre, 3% feet apart in 
the row ? 
ANSWERED BY PROF. I. P. ROBERTS. 
1. No. 2. No more injury would result from watering 
silage-fed cattle in the way you describe than dry-fed 
ones. They should be offered water twice daily. Remem¬ 
ber silage should not be the exclusive food. 3. It is 
doubtful if it would be best to build a silo for so few ani¬ 
mals. You would better raise mangels and carrots, the 
former for the cows, the latter for the horses. About twice 
as many tons per acre can be secured as of silage. 4. A 
cubic foot of silage per day per grown animal. Allow one 
quarter for settling. 5. The largest variety that will 
matnre in your locality. Do not drill it in but plant in 
hills and aim to raise the greatest amount of corn per acre. 
Then chop ears and stalks and ensilo, and you will have 
something that will make the cows laugh. 
Handling Mammoth Clover for Seeds. 
IF. P. M.. Alamo, Michigan. —How should Mammoth 
Clover be handled for seed production ? Would mowing 
it early in the season or pasturing it be of any benefit ? 
Would rolling it with a light roller just before it falls, 
and then running the machine “the opposite way,” lessen 
the amount and especially the length of the straw ? 
Ans. —If stock enough is at hand to keep the clover pas¬ 
tured quite closely till May 20, it materially diminishes 
the growth of straw. It would not be practicable to mow 
it for two reasons: first, it would throw the seeding period 
so late as to endanger the seed by the second brood of the 
clover midge; second, as this clover seeds best on the first 
blooming, if this bloom is cut off for hay, the yield of seed 
will be materially reduced. The rolling would not work 
well because if the mowing machine were run “the oppo¬ 
site way,” more straw would be secured than in the ordi¬ 
nary way. If run the same way as the roller, much of the 
seed would not be secured. Then, too, it is probable that 
the rolling at the time spoken of would diminish the 
yield of seed. 
There aie several others which are too costly for ordinary 
use; but any of the common acids diluted and mixed with 
the powdered ice will very much increase its cooling prop¬ 
erty. The cheapest refrigerant, however, is evaporation. 
By wrapping any porous substance, as flannel or felt, 
around the deep pails in which milk is set, and causing 
water to drip upon the cloth, and exposing the pails to a 
current of air, the temperature mav be reduced 20 or 30 deg., 
and in some cases where the evaporation has been very 
active ice has been formed in this way. A recent discovery 
applicable to this subject will be interesting. If the milk 
brought from the barn is immediately strained into deep 
pails, and one-third the quantity of water, at 135 degrees, 
is poured; into it, so as to raise the temperature to 100 
degrees, and the pails are set in water at 60 degrees, the 
cream may all be raised in 24 hours as well as if the pails 
were set in water at 45 degrees. The rising of the cream is 
accelerated bv the thinning of the milk and its decreased 
viscosity, while the sudden reduction of 40 degrees in tem¬ 
perature has, in effect, the same result as that produced 
when the milk is set at a lower temperature. I am in¬ 
debted for this information to a private communication 
kindly sent me by the Secretary of the Vermont Farm 
Machine Company, in whose Cooley creameries this prac¬ 
tice has been found to operate with perfect success. Some 
tests which I have made fully corroborate this infor¬ 
mation. 
Disposing of a Serial Story. 
J. M. H., Ridge Farm, III .—I have committed the un¬ 
pardonable sin of writing a story, and, greenhorn-like, 
don’t know the best way to spring it upon the unsuspect¬ 
ing public. My story is in the form of a serial of 12 
divisions, and contains about 40,000 words. It deals with 
country school-teaching and, while avoiding personalities, 
smacks loudly at times of things which I have seen. The 
manuscript is now ready, and I wish to place it in good 
hands at once and avoid mistakes. 
Ans.— We do not know whether you want to print your 
story for the fun of the thing or for the money to be de¬ 
rived from its sale. We hope you have the former motive 
in view; for there is every chance that you will be disap¬ 
pointed if you pin your faith to the latter. The average 
man will be compelled to write just about his own weight 
ia ink before he can make the public believe that his 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
T. K., Peterboro, Ontario, Canada.— What is the in¬ 
closed substance which was found in the inside of a hen’s 
egg? 
Ans.—T he specimen was rather too dry to allow us to form 
an opinion. The cause of its existence in the egg is the 
rupture of a minute blood vessel, the egg being thereby 
clotted on its passage, previous to being overlaid with the 
shell. It indicates that the hen is too highly fed and is in 
a rather fat condition. Such cases are not uncommon. 
IF. F. K., Clinton, Pa. —1. Which variety of the Irish 
potato is the most productive ? 2. Which of the 
“ Earlies ” is the best, all points considered ? 3. Which 
is the best flavored potato ? 4. What is the best way to 
pack cut flowers for long shipment ? 
Ans.— 1. The Green Mountain and Brownell’s Winner 
have yielded most heavily at the Rural Grounds. 2. We 
are not prepared to say that we know of a better early po¬ 
tato than the Beauty of Hebron, “all points considered.” 
3. Snowflake. 4. We know of no better way than to 
pack them in boxes of damp, fine moss. 
C. C. IF., Morencia, Mich. —1. Where can the Parker 
Earle Strawberry and the Early Surprise, Reliable, 
Giant, Paragon, Miller, Bertram’s Early and Ingram 
Chestnuts be obtained ? What other variety of straw¬ 
berries would the Rural recommend for family use ? 
Ans. —1. For the Parker Earle Strawberry apply to M. 
Crawford, Cuyahoga Falls, O., or J. T. Lovett Co., Little 
Silver, New Jersey. We think that T. T. Lyon, South 
Haven, Mich., can supply it also. 3. For the chestnuts, 
apply toH. M. Engle, Marietta, Pa. Try also Charles 
Downing, Cumberland and Prince Strawberries. 
“ Inquirer ,” Africa. Ohio. — 1. When can Clematis 
Jackmanni be budded? 2. Would scabby potatoes be as 
good for seed as smooth ones ? 
Ans. —L You cannot bud the clematis. The young shoots 
may be layered in summer and transplanted next spring. 
They may also be propagated by root-grafting. The shoots 
of the half-ripened wood may also be rooted by cuttings 
during the summer months. 2. Yes. So far as is known 
scabby potatoes will not increase scab in the crop. They 
are just as good for seed except, of course, that the eyes 
;.may be Injured, 
