134 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
February 2& 
aphis. If cabbage lettuces are in demand, grow Tennis 
Ball or Rawson’s Hothouse ; if open-head sorts are 
wanted, try Grand Rapids or Curled Simpson. Above 
all, use “directions” from whatever source, with a 
liberal supply of native common sense. 
Maine State College. w. m. munson. 
ACID PHOSPHATE vs. BONE FOR FRUIT. 
Will Rock Replace the Bone ? 
THE QUESTION. 
Is acid phosphate as good to furnish phosphoric acid for peach 
trees and other fruits, as ground bones ? I would like the opinion 
of experts in fruit growing. 
THE ANSWERS. 
From a Maryland Standpoint. 
Conditionally—yes. Acid phosphate, popularly 
known as “dissolved S. C. rock,” contains little, if any¬ 
thing else but phosphoric acid that is conducive to 
vegetable life; hence, if supplemented from other 
sources, or by other means, with nitrogen and pot¬ 
ash, the soil is supplied with phosphoric acid by the 
use of S. C. rock at a less cost than by the use of 
ground animal bones for the same purpose. Of course, 
every one at all familiar with commercial fertilizers, 
need not be told that neither dissolved rock nor ground 
animal bones, alone, would produce results propor¬ 
tionately as to cost, as would the combination of 
either, with nitrogen and potash. The most economi¬ 
cal way I have yet discovered to keep up a safe pro¬ 
portion of this “ Agricultural Trinity,” is by the use 
of Crimson clover for a green manure to supply nitro¬ 
gen, S. C. rock for phosphoric acid, and muriate of 
potash. This combination tested, in comparison with 
special formulas, for special purposes, at special 
prices, has proved the winner every time. I never 
had any desire to look or hunt for a better reason for 
continued adherence to such practice than is afforded 
by better results attained thereby as relates to trees 
and plants, than by the use of the special formulas 
with animal bone base—and at a much less cost. 
j. w. KERR. 
Nothing Like Bone Here. 
No, decidedly not. We have found that, for making 
the trees gi-ow, there is nothing in the nursery so 
good as the following formula : 600 pounds of pure 
steamed bone, and 100 pounds of nitrate of soda 
applied as soon as they are ready to start, and then 
later in the season apply 200 pounds of muriate of 
potash. For orchards, we have found a liberal appli¬ 
cation of stable manure to be good, but without this 
it will do well, especially if far enough south to grow 
Crimson clover in the orchard. Our plan for an 
orchard is this : Apply when the trees have started to 
grow in the spring, and work in w'th a wheel- 
harrow not too deep, 600 pounds of steamed bone, 200 
pounds muriate and 100 nitrate of soda. We have 
tried both of these methods, and we find that, for the 
nurseries, the former is best, and where there are two 
applications, as the nitrate takes hold at once and 
with the assistance of the bone makes a strong 
upright growth; with the muriate, there comes a 
change whereby the wood is immediately hardened. 
With the orchards, we find that we do not want too 
much growth, but just enough to start the trees well, 
and then to harden them carefully all the time, so 
that they are prepared for any kind of weather, wet 
or dry. The fruit then gets the benefit of all the 
material it is able to use, and the tree makes suffic¬ 
ient growth. In the nursery, we, of course, desire 
growth, and also we wish the trees to be perfectly 
hard when the winter sets in. We have this year 
proved our method to be true, and never a lot of trees 
showed finer growth, or ripened up better than ours 
did. In the orchard, the trees did not make much 
growth, but they are full of buds, enough and to 
spare, and the wood is in good shape to protect them 
from winterkilling. We have tried all kinds of sub¬ 
stitutes for bone, and not one of them did the work 
so perfectly and so satisfactorily as the above com¬ 
binations. We use more bone, and are better satisfied 
with it than with anything else we have used. 
New Jersey. jos. h. black, son & co. 
Three Bone Men Talk. 
I use only bone as a source of phosphoric acid, be¬ 
cause I get more growth for a dollar out of it than 
from the same value in any other form, Wagner, 
Steffek, and Maercker to the contrary notwithstand¬ 
ing. «• s. BUTLER. 
We much prefer to use bone on all kinds of fruits, 
rather than supply the needed phosphoric acid by 
means of dissolved S. C. rock or acid phosphate. 
Here, in Delaware, the rock is much the cheaper 
source of supply, and in the case of wheat, corn, toma¬ 
toes, and such annual crops, we use it with satisfac¬ 
tory results. But with berries and other fruits, we 
think that we get better results from ground bone, 
as the decaying animal matter in the bone keeps the 
ground loose and in good, moist condition. The main 
point, however, is to use a sufficient supply of phos¬ 
phoric acid and potash to keep the plants or trees in 
good condition. No half-starved tree or plant can 
long continue to yield good fruit. A. w. slaymaker. 
Delaware. 
I have always preferred fine ground bone to acid 
phosphate as upon the whole being the cheapest and 
most satisfactory in results. I know of no good rea¬ 
son for substituting the rock for the bone. J. h. hale. 
A DISCUSSION ON SWILL BARRELS. 
The Sanitary Barrel. — I wish to enter my protest 
against the “handy swill barrow” that was illustrated 
and described on page 82 in The R. N.-Y. of February 8. 
With my protest, I send a substitute swill barrow that 
is shown at Fig. 46. I earnestly protest against 
the one described on page 82, because a swill barrel 
should never be of wood. I do not doubt that the 
owner of the barrel in question keeps it as sweet and 
clean as it is possible to keep a wooden swill barrel ; 
but I contend that it is not possible without a great 
amount of work, to keep a wooden barrel sweet under 
such cii-cumstances, and this attention the ordinary 
farmer has not the time to give in the hot weather, 
when such care is especially needed. The wood ab¬ 
sorbs the liquids, souring and decomposition take 
place, and the swill barrel becomes a menace to 
health. 
A much neater, more convenient, and a thoroughly 
sanitary arrangement is shown in the substitute men¬ 
tioned. It is a galvanized iron tank, such as is sold 
for the holding of ashes, and holds a half barrel or 
more. This is swung in a light iron-and-wood frame 
that any blacksmith can make, the handles only being 
of wood. The wheel is either an old wheelbarrow 
wheel, or one of the light iron wheels sold at hard¬ 
ware stores for use on barrows. As the tank is piv¬ 
oted at the middle, or a little above, it can be dumped 
much more easily than the one shown on page 82, the 
spout of the trough being placed at just the right 
height, as shown. An iron receptacle for swill can 
be washed out thoroughly in a few minutes—some¬ 
thing of the greatest importance in the hot weather 
of summer. The arrangement figured here costs 
more than the wooden barrel, but there are some 
things in which “ cheapness ” becomes very dear in 
the end. w. D. 
Two ok A Kind. —Fig. 47 is supposed to represent a 
handy swill barrel which is used on my farm. To two 
old wagon wheels, fit a wooden axle about three 
inches in diameter ; two oak sticks five feet long, are 
bolted to the axle, letting them run far enough ahead 
of the axle to come to the center of the barrel used. 
One brace back of the axle is sufficient besides a cross 
piece for the handles. We have two barrels, one 
which we leave empty at the house at meal time, the 
other one goes to the hog house at least twice a day. 
Any one using one of these will see the advantage 
of large wheels in muddy weather. j. b. h. 
Waverly, N. Y. 
HOW / GREW A BIG CROP OF TOMATOES. 
ONE BUSHEL AND A HALF TO THE PLANT. 
Since I reported my great yield of tomatoes last 
fall, I have been asked to tell how the crop was 
grown. Here is a short story about it—probably not 
much different from the methods of other growers i 
I sow the seed in a greenhouse from March 15 to 20, in 
flats or boxes, in rich soil; I check off the boxes of 
earth in squares of about 1% inch, and drop one seed 
at each point where the lines cross. This is some work, 
bnt I never have drawn or spindling plants in this 
way, and one would be surprised to see how short a 
time it takes to put in 20,000 or 30,000 seeds, one at a 
time. When these plants are about two inches high, 
they are carefully pricked out into flats about three 
inches apart each way. Again, as soon as the weather 
will permit, they are put out into hotbeds, this time 
six inches apart. We give them at all times, and 
especially after they go into the hotbeds, all the air 
that is safe, often leaving the sashes off all night if 
there is no danger of freezing, as it is very essential 
to have them well hardened off, and, also, to keep 
them as short or low down as possible. A good, ro¬ 
bust, stocky plant, six inches high, is worth a dozen 
of the long-drawn plants which many people like. 
My land last season was of various kinds, from 
rather poor and gravelly, to rich clay loam, some dry, 
and some moist. Moot of it had a rather light dress¬ 
ing of barnyard manure plowed under in the spring, 
and some had the same applied in the fall. I marked 
off the fields in squares, 4x4 feet, opened the holes 
with hoes, and dropped into each one about a large 
tablespoonful of a complete potato manure, and 
nearly the same of nitrate of soda. These were well 
mixed with the soil, and about June 5, we commenced 
setting the plants. I would never apply the complete 
manure and nitrate again in this way. I would put 
it on after the plants are set. If it rain very soon 
after the plants are put out, it is all well; but last 
season we had no rain for several days, and the roots 
were burned up on quite a number of the plants be¬ 
fore the rains came. The cutworms and potato beetles 
destroyed many of my plants, which were replaced as 
fast as destroyed, but of course, made the plants thus 
replaced later in ripening. We gave all our plants 
thorough cultivation as long as we could work among 
them, but did not rack them up in any way, or mulch 
them to hold the fruit up from the ground ; neither 
did we trim the plants 
We commenced picking ripe fruit from these vines 
on July 22. This was from the plants on the poorest 
land ; those on the richest land were the latest in 
ripening by, at least, two weeks, but the vines on the 
latter gave me nearly double the number of pounds 
of fruit, being much larger and finer. Always put 
the tomatoes for early use, on rather poor land, and 
use a good supply of commercial fertilizers. I was 
offered 10 cents a pound for them early, by a local 
marketman, and many people came here to try to 
buy some of them. I did not sell any as they were 
grown for the seed, but gave them to any one who 
would come here and take out the seeds, which was 
easily done by cutting them open and with a blunt- 
end knife slipping out the pulp and seed, and leaving 
the tomato in fine shape for slicing or canning. In 
this way, hundreds of bushels were carried away, 
people coming in two-horse loads 25 miles for them. 
One should never eat the seeds of tomatoes ; try 
taking them out and see how much nicer the tomato 
is. Those who cannot eat tomatoes with the seeds 
in, will find that they will like them without the 
seeds. The seeds and pulp contain the acid which is 
disliked by many people ; it is so strong as to eat the 
galvanizing off of iron; it will eat leather and woolen 
or cotton goods. But the real meat of the tomato is 
more like a plum, and can be eaten by those who 
cannot eat the entire tomato. A. A. halladay. 
Vermont. 
TIME LOST OVER THE HARNESS. 
FIRE HORSE DRILL ON THE FARM. 
A short time ago, I stood in a fire station in a small 
New England city, and watched the horses go through 
their nine o’clock drill. When the alarm sounded, 
every horse burst from his stall and trotted to his 
place in front of the engine, or ladder and hose truck. 
The harness was down on their backs in a twinkling, 
two or three snaps fastened, and all was ready. The 
idea came to my mind, Why do not farmers have 
similar arrangements for harnessing ? and 1 decided 
then and there that too much time is spent in harness¬ 
ing and unharnessing horses. Fifteen minutes a day 
saved amount to 5,475 minutes, or 91 hours in a year— 
time enough for quite a vacation. 
Of course, one would not expect to have his wagon- 
house fitted up like a fire station ; but certain im¬ 
provements could be made that would lessen the time 
required to harness in the ordinary way, one-half or 
more. Nearly every farmer has one wagon, a milk 
