367 
80o 
TUB rural nfW-yorkf.r. 
as nearly as possible the size of the sills, and when they are 
in their places fill in the spaces between them and the soil 
with hydraulic cement. To facilitate the escape of sur¬ 
face water I would put a two-inch tile in the trench, before 
laying the sills. I would lay the tile in a little depression 
close to the outside angle of the trench. When the silo is 
completed, and painted inside, I would pound down the 
clay and fill up along the walls, so that the dirt would 
come up at least eight inches above the sills. 
3. Sound, fS-per-t’nousand hemlock, oak, beech, or poplar 
will make as good a wall as $25 to $30 per-thousand double¬ 
surfaced and matched lumber. Such lumber need only be 
single-surfaced, so that when put on, the wall will be free 
from inequalities of thickness, and not present “shoulders” 
that prevent the free settling of the silage. The lumber 
should be doubled for the inside walls, the boards half lap¬ 
ping each other. If there is a lining of strong, tarred 
building paper between these boards, and well nailed to the 
studding 18 inches apart from center to center, the walls 
will be absolutely air-proof. The boards will do as well if 
fairly straight-edged, as matched lumber—yes, better—as 
the matched edges swell and shrink, and break out, while 
the true edges come together, and make as close a joint in 
a few days, and there is no danger of swelling, huffing, or 
bursting the matching. I would make this wooden silo 
durable by the liberal use of gas-tar paint. Cheap, sound 
lumber is as strong and lasting as high-priced stuff. I find 
that $8 lumber is doing just as good “work,” and has 
lasting qualities just as great as that used in one of my 
silos lined with $28 stuff. Hemlock with a coat of gas-tar 
is as valuable as No. 1 pine, and oak seems to be more 
durable than either. Hard maple is said to be excellent, if 
painted on both sides with this water-proof stuff. Use 
cheap, sound, and fairly well seasoned lumber. A cheap 
silo is not necessarily a poor, ill constructed one, or one 
that has no lasting quality. 
4. In filling my silos, I use a 34-foot carrier that crosses 
over one silo and discharges into the other. In the car¬ 
rier over the first silo is a trap, 24 inches long, in the floor. 
When I wish to fill into this silo, the trap door is taken 
out, and the silage falls into the center of the pit. By 
closing it the silage is thrown into No. 2. Just under the 
upper end of the carrier, where the silage begins to descend 
perpendicularly, a pyramid three feet square at the base 
and three feet high—made of thin lumber—is suspended 
by a rope from the rafter overhead. The slope of the 
sides of this “ peak” sends the cut silage nearly ail over 
the silo, leaving it notably lowest in the center, which 
is the right condition, so that for two-thirds of the filling 
of this pit “ pitching ” of the silage by hand is hardly 
necessary. Once in a while the engineer leaves the engine, 
and walks a few times around the silo walls, so that the 
dragging of the silage on the walls will be overcome. We 
put the fodder into one pit for half a day, then change to 
the other, and so filling and settling are going on all 
the time, and treading is not necessary, except in a very 
limited way. To tread silage too solid is to force out nearly 
all the air, so that oxygen enough will not be left to com¬ 
plete the full development of the “ microbes of ferment,” 
and these never swarm as they do in the center, but as the 
“ cooking ” is not complete, other organisms, chiefly mold, 
take their place, and spoiled, moldy silage in the corners, 
or along the walls results. The preventive of spoiled 
silage in the corners is not more treading, but mature 
fodder and less treading. 
5. The paint I now think best, and which has proved 
superior to any I have knowledge of, is composed of gas 
tar, two gallons, and gasoline, one gallon, mixed and ap¬ 
plied immediately before the gasoline evaporates. It is 
very cheap, costing here at the gas-works—not coal-tar re¬ 
finery refuse—four cents per gallon, making two gallons 
of the paint cost 14 cents. Apply with a whitewash 
brush. Do not use any fire about it, or drop cigar stubs 
into the paint pail. It quickly strikes in, dries off, leaves 
a hard finish, does not peel or flake off, is not affected by 
the silage, nor is the silage by it. Now that my silos are 
empty, the paint presents as glossy an appearance as it 
did first, and is, I think, thoroughly moisture and water¬ 
proof, and far superior to gas tar and resin put on hot. 
6. I use white Virginia corn from near Richmond. I use 
barnyard manure on clover sod as far as it will go, and 
rye sod for the remainder. I sow two bushels of rye per 
acre in September, let it grow undisturbed until ready to 
be plowed under in May for the corn. I plant eight quarts 
per acre. The rows are three feet eight inches apart, and 
one kernel is put in each hill eight inches apart in the row. 
I drag four or five times with a Thomas harrow. I shall 
use a Breed’s weeder this year. I cultivate very shallow— 
an inch is the rule—so as not to disturb the roots, as root- 
pruning delays growth, and often prevents earing alto¬ 
gether. I let the corn stand until it is going out of the 
milk stage—almost too hard for cooking—and cut it into 
the silo as fast as possible. 
7. The mass of testimony is that the work of planking 
and weighting a silo is substantially labor thrown away. 
There is as much good testimony that no cover is as good a 
protection as a solid, weighted one. The best method I 
know of, or have had any experience with, is to let the silo 
remain uncovered for about four days, doing some treading 
to get the bank of silage aloug the walls to settle level with 
the center. Then throw evenly over the surface, a foot of 
green hay, swamp, swale, or other green cheap material, 
and then tuck it down along the walls with an old spade, 
and then add a layer of straw, and a dozen rails. This has 
so far proved superior to any other protector for a pit of 
silage. When ready to feed, throw all this litter off, and 
feed the silage uniformly from the surface, and always 
have it fresh. By this plan, my silage keeps to perfection, 
and is wholly satisfactory. There is no wastage from 
either exposure from one feeding to another, or from 
air going down along the sides or corners in advance of 
feeding it down. JOHN GOULD. 
WEEDING OUT WASTE FRUIT. 
1. Do orchardists practice thinning fruit on the tree ? 
2. When should it he done ? 
3. Does it pay ? In what way ? 
4. What rules should guide one in the practice ? 
Improves Size, Flavor and Appearance. 
The practice of thinning fruit—more especially the peach 
—is very general among the better class of fruit growers 
in the Michigan Lake Shore fruit belt. It is deemed highly 
profitable, since it improves the size and appearance, and 
even the flavor, of the remaining specimens ; and, if prop¬ 
erly done, does not even diminish the quantity; while it 
saves the exhaustion ot the tree in the effort to mature an 
excessive crop of fruit. The sooner it is done the better 
after the danger of loss from the dropping of the fruit is 
past. It is usual to commence with a partial thinning, and 
to repeat the process later, by removing imperfect and in¬ 
sect-marked specimens. The extent to which it should be 
carried depends upon the vigor of the tree, and the condi¬ 
tion and cultivation of the soil. A portion of this work is 
usually accomplished in the process of pruning. 
Van Buren County, Mich. T. T. LYON. 
It Pays for Bartlett and Keiffer Pears. 
Thinning the fruit of some varieties is quite essential 
for the production of a good crop. For instance, Bartlett 
Pear trees bear full crops on alternate years, and on the 
bearing year they bear so profusely that the fruit, unless 
thinned—often one-half—would be small and poor and the 
tree would sustain injury. The same is the case with the 
Keiffer. We sometimes pick off three-fourths of its fruit. 
As the trees generally bear too full, if the fruit is not 
thinned the crop will be worthless. The pears should be 
thinned before they are one-third grown—say when the 
size of walnuts. We also thin the bunches of all the varie¬ 
ties of grapes we cultivate; for if the vines were allowed 
to bear all the bunches set, the latter would generally fail 
to ripen and the vigor of the vines would be impaired the 
following year. We do not thin apples except those on 
young Wealthy and Yellow Transparent trees, which bear 
too young and too profusely, and will, if not attended to, 
die from exhaustion. Isaac hicks. 
Queens County, N. Y. 
Thinning Apples. 
To the first question I shall, from my own observation, 
be obliged to reply in the negative. I know of but few- 
very few—who do it. I am not a systematic thinner my¬ 
self, and what work I have done in this line has not 
brought me to a positive conclusion on this point. It has 
brought me, however, to the belief that where we have 
only a local country-village market, the codling worm 
does the work cheaper than hired help; and that the 
current low prices, in a locality where but a few purchasers 
can afford to pay a fancy price for fancy fruit, do not jus¬ 
tify a great expenditure in growing it. Though I grow a 
good many trees, in the search for the best iron-clads, 
(which alone will bear our winters) my orchards are too 
mixed and miscellaneous, with very few kinds well enough 
known elsewhere to command a sale, however nice the 
fruit. Really, the only apples I yet have in quantity to 
ship away, that can be easily sold in a large market, are 
Yellow Transparent, Oldenburgh and Wealthy. Among 
the newer Russians, and other iron-clads, there are sorts 
which promise much as market apples; but all these new 
kinds have to meet and contend with better known stand, 
ard sorts at a decided disadvantage. 
I have now and again, for many years, experimented in 
thinning, and have found it convenient to do so when the 
apples are about one-quarter grown. At that time the 
codling worm has made itself manifest, and the fruit not 
attacked by worms is large enough to enable one to make 
selection of the better specimens. Then I would remove 
all wormy and badly developed apples, feeding them at 
once to such stock as will eat them without harm, of 
otherwise disposing of them in the cheapest way to destroy 
the worms—by burying, burning or drowning. When the 
work is done there should not remain on the tree two 
apples in contact. As the fruit increases in size a second 
thinning is necessary, guided by the same rules. In my 
experience the codling moth does not seem disposed to fly 
high, at least in fruitful years, and this is a great advan¬ 
tage to an orchardist who thins his fruit, for it is much 
easier and cheaper to thin out the low than the high crop. 
As to the question whether thinning pays, I should say 
not, unless the thinned fruit will bring an average of $3. a 
barrel in the orchard. But it ought to do that if the work 
is successfully done—the fruit being of popular kinds and 
properly grown. 
Here comes in the question of spraying with insecticides 
for. the codling worm. If this can be done successfully the 
result, with all productive varieties in a bearing year, will 
be that thinning is imperative, since a full crop means de¬ 
struction to the orchard from breakage and exhaustion. I 
am waiting with much interest the outcome of current 
tests of the spraying practice. I have this spring bought a 
spraying outfit to experiment with. 
As indicated above, I do not think that thinning can 
best be done at one time. The orchard must be gone over 
at least twice, and with productive trees in their prime 
this work (which is expert work, not to be trusted to “ scrub 
help,”) will hardly cost less than $10 a" tree for the two 
thinnings. This is a heavy expense in a large orchard. 
The true place to practice expert and systematic thinning 
with profit is near a good market for high-priced fruit, 
growing only choice varieties, and I think on low-branched 
half-dwarf trees. t. h. HOSKINS. 
Orleans County, Vt. 
Pays to Thin Peaches. 
Thinning fruit in this part of the State has not been 
practiced very extensively. I have been in the habit of 
thinning peaches in my own orchard for upwards of 15 
years, and have found it to pay largely every year. It 
doubles the value of the fruit of many varieties. If 
properly thinned the fruit will be much nicer and will 
grow much larger, and consequently the work in picking 
will be lessened very much. I believe that the time spent 
in thinning peaches will be nearly, if not fully made good 
by the time saved in gathering and packing the fruit. It 
is evident to any one that much less work is needed to 
gather a crop of large than one of small peaches. My rule 
in thinning is to leave the peaches not less than three 
inches apart, and to do the thinning before the pits become 
hard. I grow apples and peaches, but peaches being my 
specialty, I have somewhat neglected thinning the apples; 
but I believe it would pay to thin them also when the trees 
are overloaded. JULIUS HARRIS. 
Genesee County, N. Y. 
Better Fruit and Healthier Trees. 
I have made it a practice to thin fruits for several years. 
It not only makes the fruits finer in quality but is bene¬ 
ficial to the trees, which do not become weakened and ex¬ 
hausted by overbearing. In thinuing peaches, when they 
are about the size of hickory nuts, boys with step-ladders 
go through the orchard, and the rule is to leave no fruit 
on the branches nearer than six inches apart. The ground 
will be thickly covered with peaches, while the fruit on 
the trees will look very light for a time; but the large¬ 
sized fruit later makes a fine show on the trees, and fills 
up as many baskets as though the whole quantity had 
been left on, and the value will be more than double. 
In grapes, when the bunches are well formed, the rule is 
to cut out every imperfect bunch, and if there is a very 
heavy set of fruit, to reduce it one-quarter. The bunches 
left will be large and well-formed, and the crop will ripen 
several days earlier, and will stand mildew and rot better 
in unfavorable seasons. 
The past season pears were thinned trom 1,500 young 
trees, all of which were overloaded. Ladders were set in 
the trees when the fruit was the size of butternuts,and with 
pruning-shears boys would cut off all imperfect fruit, then 
nearly one-third of what was left. One thousand plum 
trees were worked over in the same manner. There are 
two reasons why this work is not more generally done— 
the expense involved early in the season, and the difficulty 
m getting men to do it. But few men can be employed 
who will reduce the fruit sufficiently; they think it is 
wasteful, and but few owners of orchards will do it, for 
they dislike to cut off much fruit, especially the perfect 
specimens; hence boys are the best for this work, for they 
will do as directed. Many advantages are derived from 
this practice, and not the least is the drain saved upon the 
soil by the maturing of the large quantity of seed cut off 
in the imperfect and surplus fruit. geo. t. POWELL. 
Columbia County, N. Y. 
A heavy dressing of powdered tobacco (not so fine as 
snuff) was strewn over our asparagus bed about a month 
ago—probably as much as at the rate of 30 bushels to the 
acre. This has thus far had no appreciable effect on earth 
worms, wire-worms or asparagus beetles. The latter are 
depositing their eggs in larger quantities than usual upon 
the young shoots. 
