68 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 1 
My boy, at the age of six years, helped me pull a 
erop, pulling- one row while I pulled two. We lay 
them in bunches, two or four rows tog-ether, draw 
them into the root cellar, or slide«them down a chute 
through a window, tops and all. They are topped on 
stormy days, evenings, and by the children. The 
necks are so light that they are snapped off as one 
would break a stick of candy. The children get from 
one to two cents per bushel crate for topping. 
They are fed to all farm animals, poultry included. 
In the fall, we feed them to horses and cows with the 
tops on. Cattle can eat them handier if cut ; horses 
and colts take them whole. Six hundred bushels is a 
fair crop per acre, in field culture. The Chantenay 
yielded at the rate of 700 bushels on rich bottom land, 
sown dune 27, with garden culture. Crimson clover 
sown among carrots, August 20, and worked in with a 
board scraper on the cultivator, came well, but made 
no growth, as we had only one rain in six weeks fol¬ 
lowing August. AV. BENTZIEN. 
Steuben County, N. Y. 
EARLY-SOWN RYE A FAILURE. 
Nearly all writers recommend sowing rye early. I 
favor early sowing where it succeeds, but my experi¬ 
ence impels me to be cautious about recommending 
the practice. Success depends entirely upon the con¬ 
dition of the weather. It is often recommended to 
sow in corn at the last plowing. I did it once, and 
lost the seed and labor. A neighbor last summer 
tried it with the same result. The rye that survived 
till the corn was up, perished soon after the shade of 
the corn was taken from it. 
Last year I sowed about the middle of July by drill¬ 
ing it in the standing corn ; it was nearly a total 
failure. What withstood the drought and corn cut¬ 
ting, perished when re-seeding was done with the 
drill. Of all small grains, rye is the easiest 
destroyed by working over it with a harrow 
or other tools in the fall season ; especially 
is this true if the weather is dry. Several 
years ago, I plowed a field of wheat stubble 
in July, put the land in the finest order, and 
sowed a heavy seeding of rye the first week in 
August. I had great expectations for the 
amount of fall and winter pasture I would 
get, but was disappointed ; the rye came 
up well, but on account of the dry weather, 
made a poor growth. What appeared strange, 
it rusted badly before cold weather came on, 
so badly that, in walking over the field, one's 
shoes would be colored. 
This year, August 0, 1 sowed a potato 
patch of thi-ee-fourtlis acre to rye, and se¬ 
cured a fair stand ; but during the extremely 
dry weather, it made very little growth, and was 
badly injured by the rust. Two years ago we sowed 
in corn the first of August, at the rate of two bushels 
per acre ; after the corn was all cut we sowed it 
over with the exception of about one-quarter of 
an acre, and this would better have been reseeded. 
These are my experiences with early sowing, without 
a single success. I have about concluded to take no 
risks in this direction in the future. These hard 
times, double sowing costs too much. 
Ross County, Ohio. joun m. jamison. 
wood work. The ends of the posts to be set in the 
ground should be thoroughly saturated. A mixture 
of equal parts of coal tar and kerosene oil or crude 
petroleum, will give the best results. The posts 
should be thoroughly seasoned and dry. Stand them 
in an oil barrel and soak in the tar and oil 24 to 36 
hours. When taken out and allowed to drip a short 
time, spread with a brush on the unpainted surface, 
any surplus adhering to the post. When dry, give a 
coat of clear tar. After setting, paint the entire post, 
and once a year thereafter with clear tar. Good sound 
cedar, chestnut, or butternut posts treated in this 
way will last as long as any one man can live to 
keep them painted. Coal tar will not flow freely 
in cold weather ; in warm sunshine it works all right, 
or in a warm room ; it is not desirable to heat it, as it 
makes it gummy after a little ; but if it must be 
heated to use in cold weather, it should be done with 
hot water in a dish like a glue pot. A brush may be 
left in or out of the tar for six months or a year, and 
be ready to use in 10 minutes after it is placed in 
fresh tar. G. 8. 
Summit Station, N. Y. 
Coal tar is used extensively on ships for painting 
chain cables, chain plates, etc. During the war, 
when the prices of paints were high, it was used to 
some extent for painting ships’ sides. Rut it is not 
good to paint wood, as it blisters and makes the wood 
punky. There are several grades ; British luster is 
best. One will need a long-handled brush made for 
the purpose, as an ordinary brush is not fit; the tar 
would not spread, «s it would fill the bristles. 
Marshfield Hills, Mass. G. a. d. 
SOWING FLOWER SEEDS. 
There is a great deal of interest in watching the 
growth of seedlings, and the one who has room for a 
THE MONEY MAKER POTATO. 
Fig. 30. (See Catalogue Reviews, Page 71.) 
COAL TAR FOR A TIN ROOF. 
THE QUESTION. 
How would coal tar answer in the place of red paint for paint¬ 
ing a tin roof? H. B. T., Beverley, W. Va., R. N.-Y., page 20. 
THE ANSWERS. 
Move North or Stick to Red Paint. 
If II. B. T. will move about 1,000 miles further 
North, coal tar might do for his tin roof. The tem¬ 
perature of such a roof in his latitude, is often in the 
neighborhood of 150 degrees and over during summer. 
The smell would not let him forget the nature of the 
covering, and he might utterly ruin his Sunday-go-to- 
meeting suit by having some of it drip on him on 
such a day. The dark color of the tar would greatly 
iutensifjr the heat under the roof. Unless he is in¬ 
clined to be wicked, and needs the heat and smell as 
a constant warning, he would do better to stick to 
red paint instead of having black tar sticking to him. 
Virginia. j. c. s. 
Various Values for Coal Tar. 
Coal tar makes a good, cheap paint for tin roofs 
with two objections : 1, It is liable to contaminate 
rain water used for domestic purposes, as for water¬ 
ing stock. 2. Black absorbs heat, causing undue ex¬ 
pansion of the metal. But it will protect from rust 
as well as any paint that can be used, and may be 
used to advantage on all iron exposed to the weather. 
I always use it on smoke stacks, sheet iron chimneys, 
and such work. 
Coal tar is also a valuable wood preservative, and 
an excellent paint for fence posts, and^all rough 
few pots or small boxes, will find pleasure in sowing 
a few seeds of flowering plants for the purpose of 
stocking the flower beds in spring. This work should 
be got in hand by the time February is here. Petunias, 
phlox, verbenas, nasturtiums, asters, lobelias, mari¬ 
golds, zinnias, alyssum and many other sorts may be 
started in this way. Soil for seeds should be light, 
always. It is not that the plants to be raised prefer 
it—they may or may not do this—but when heavy soil 
is used instead of light, it becomes hard in time, pre¬ 
venting the seeds from pushing their way through it 
readily. 
If the conveniences permit of the use of a box, a 
shallow one to fit the table or stand should be pro¬ 
cured. It need be no more than three to four inches 
deep. As its use will be but temporary, there will be 
no need to have holes in the bottom to let out water ; 
indeed seeds do not require such copious watering 
that there would be water to run from the box. To 
have the light soil spoken of, procure any good garden 
soil, mixing a little sand and well-rotted manure with 
it. Fine seeds require fine soil, and it may be neces¬ 
sary to sieve it to get it fine enough for the top layer. 
It is best to have it tolerably fine all through the 
mass, for the seeds are better covered then, and it is 
easier to transplant the seedlings when this becomes 
necessary. 
Very fine seeds require but little more covering than 
they would get if pressed in the soil with a flat piece 
of wood. It is a pretty safe rule to cover them to 
about their own depth. Thus while the fine seeds of 
the petunia and lobelia would do if but pressed into 
the soil, the nasturtium and sweet pea would need a 
covering of about one-eighth of an inch. Seeds, 
wherever they are, are the better for being in the 
dark, and this applies with more force to those in a 
dwelling room than elsewhere, because with darkness 
there is less evaporation and the drying out so rapidly 
of the soil, is one of the drawbacks of gardening in 
rooms. The boxes could, therefore, be placed in any 
dark place for a little while until the seeds show 
signs of sprouting. The aim should be to keep the 
soil moist enough so that the seeds will germinate 
without having to water it. This is sometimes 
effected by placing a sheet of paper on the soil, and 
on the paper a layer of damp moss. As soon as the 
seeds sprout, take the covering off, and bring the 
boxes to the light. 
When the plants are an inch or two high, they 
should be transplanted to other boxes, setting them 
far enough apart to allow of their growing large 
enough that they may be transplanted with little 
balls of earth to the flower garden when the time 
comes. josepii meehan. 
Pennsylvania. 
BLASTING STUMPS WITH DYNAMITE. 
“ Do you think that it pays to dynamite stumps ? ” 
I asked a man who had done considerable of that 
work lately. 
“ I don’t know, - ’ was the reply ; “ but I can give you 
a few figures, and you can judge for yourself. I dyna¬ 
mited about three acres of ray own last spring, and 
did it so economically that my services were in de¬ 
mand by several other stump-ridden farmers. But as 
to the question of paying, I hardly think that it would 
pay to spend money for dynamiting green stumps, 
especially of maple and gum. If they are allowed to 
remain in the ground two or three years after cutting 
dynamite will lift them out nicely ; the seasons make 
the roots more brash, and the power of the explosive 
finds less resistance. Another consideration that enters 
into the question of paying, is the value of the ground 
to be cleared. It wouldn’t pay to blast stumps in pas¬ 
ture land, but land that will produce good, paying 
crops, I think could be improved by blasting at a 
figure that will bring good returns.” 
“ What was your experience with the three acres 
you mentioned ? ” 
“ I blew out over 100 stumps with a case and a half 
of blasting powder. There are two or three grades of 
this powder. The best, marked 40 degrees N. G., 
comes at $0.50 per case of 50 pounds ; the 
next grade at $7.50, with the per cent of 
N. G. a little lower. I used the weaker 
on old stumps that were badly rotted ; the 
other on solid stumps. The best fuse costs 
60 cents per 100 feet, and caps 90 cents per 
100. 1 blew out stumps, hard and solid, that 
were 234 to 3 feet through, with three sticks, 
or 134 pound of the stuff.” 
“ How is it handled for blasting ? ” 
“ When the ground is soft in the winter or 
spring, drive a piece of two-inch tubing 
about four feet long, under the stump to 
about the center ; a long auger of the same 
size will be handy if a root is struck with 
the tubing before it reaches the center of 
the stump. If you can get the hole partly 
through the center root, if there be one, 
so much the better. You then fix a piece of fuse 
long enough to reach to the bottom of the hole, 
to the cap. Be careful how you handle the cap ; 
it is always dangerous to fool with, and if it goes 
off, will blow your fingers off. Then you punch a 
hole in the cartridge with a wooden stick, deep enough 
to cover the cap. You then let down your charge to 
the bottom of the hole, tamp up with dirt, mud or any 
other substance, light the fuse, and take a run for 
your health. I’ve seen a pound of the stuff throw 
half of a stump that would weigh 300 or 400 pounds, 
more than 100 yards. A little practice will enable 
anybody to blast, and as he gets experience, he will 
understand how to adapt the charge to the size, 
solidity and position of the stump.” j. d. 
Ohio. 
LET THE FARMER PAY MILK RATES. 
With reference to the hearing before the Inter- 
State Commerce Commission as to milk rates, permit 
me to add some practical evidence of the value of a 
system of rate paying by the farmer instead of by the 
milk dealer. Some years ago, I was sending milk 
daily to a dealer. By agreement, he paid me a price 
equal to that paid by dealers for milk received from 
the Erie and the Harlem Railroads. The freight at 
that time on those two roads was 45 cents per 40-quart 
can. The farmers on those roads were paid a net 
price without reference to freight, so that if the 
farmer received 234 cents per quart, the cost to the 
dealer was 234 cents plus the freight of 134 cent, or 
334 cents per quart. This was the sum I was to re¬ 
ceive, and pay my own freight. I was shipping over 
the Pennsylvania Railroad from a station south of 
New Brunswick, N. J. The rates on that road wei-e 
all graded according to distance, varying from 15 
cents per can to 30 cents, which I think was the 
highest, none coming from south of Trenton. My 
freight was 25 cents per can of 40 quarts. I thus re¬ 
ceived a price of 334 cents minus five-eighth cent for 
freight, or a net price of three cents per quart. This 
was one-lialf cent per quart better than Erie or 
Harlem shippers wei’e receiving for the same distance, 
and cost^the dealer no^more_than_he would have paid 
