1896 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
2l5 
heard what I wanted them for, they all wanted to 
build rollers. 
Fig. 68 shows a wheel that came out of my head, 
and it suits me better than mower wheels. It is easily 
made, and does away with the laborious task of drill¬ 
ing about 130 bolt holes through the rims of the 
wheels, besides a saving in bolts of nearly $ 3 . One 
White Ash tree, 20 inches across the stump, furnished 
material for roller and frame. The staves are sawed 
beveling, from three inch plank, at the mill. I used 
three-foot heads which makes a three-and-a- 
half-foot roller. The staves are spiked to 
the heads with No. 30 wire spikes, and an 
old wagon tire is shrunk on the ends, which 
may be fitted by the blacksmith and set at 
home. 
The frame, Fig. 66 , is held together by 
bolts. The axle or shaft is a piece of ordinary 
water pipe inch outside measure, sup¬ 
ported by a strong piece of iron or steel 
between the two sections. The cutter bar 
of an old mower is just about right for the 
support. The frame will balance with a man 
standing on the rear plank. I built a hopper 
directly over the shaft, to weight with 
stones, when desired. My roller was in 
use two months from the date of cutting 
the green tree. The only expenses were for 
sawing, blacksmithing, bolts and spikes, all of which 
did not exceed $3. w. bentzien. 
Steuben County, N. Y. 
WHAT THEY SAY 
How Pox Hunters are Handled. —I think that, if 
all the farmers will do as we in this part of Massa¬ 
chusetts do (and we are afflicted with game laws), ic 
will make the city sporting men sick. We post every 
farm where there is a brook, river bank, or woods to 
fish or hunt in, or on, with the sign “ No Trespassing 
turer. I always put nitrate of soda through the ma¬ 
chine before putting it in the mixture. I spread the 
different ingredients on the floor and turn them over 
twice before putting through the machine, breaking 
all lumps larger than an egg if possible. R. f. 
Bound Brook, N. J. 
Lime for Peacii Yellows. —In the symposium of 
March 7, on this subject, one most important point 
was missed. This was the feeding of the trees. Some¬ 
thing was said of manure ; but it has been learned 
COLUMBUS. Fig. 69. 
See Notes from tbe Rural Grounds. Page 230. 
that, as man lives not by bread alone, so plants do not 
live healthily by insufficient or unbalanced rations. 
It is a fact that the tree is the most important part of 
the business of growing peaches, and if the tree be 
not adequately nourished, supplied, in fact, with a 
perfectly balanced food, it cannot be healthy, and will 
be subject to the first of the whole crowd of injurious 
germs that lie in wait to effect their purpose in nature, 
which is to remove the weak and helpless of all living 
things from the face of the earth. Lime is the most 
important part of the food of a peach tree, for it makes 
lime, and some old trees that had been diseased, 
were entirely cured by the same treatment. I well 
remember a fine orchard near Dover, in Delaware, 
owned by an ex-Governor of the State, who said to 
me, “We cannot grow healthy trees here without 
applying lime every four years as we do to our other 
crops. ” H. STEWART. 
Tar on the Corn. — I used to see whole fields of 
corn destroyed by crows, and cut-worms : somehow I 
learned to use coal tar, and for 15 year!, nothing has 
disturbed my corn to any extent. Birds that 
are used to it, will pull a few hills ; but they 
soon get tired of it. To prepare it, fill a 
bucket about two-thirds full of corn, then 
cover the corn with water ; pour slowly over 
it, two to four spoonfuls of coal tar, and 
with a small stick stir the corn till all is tar¬ 
red alike. If the grains are not all well 
covered, put in a little more tar and stir 
again ; if too much tar, put in a little more 
corn. When properly tarred, turn off the 
water, pour the corn on to something, then 
stir coal ashes, road dust, or better, good 
bone dust, into the corn till well dried ; finish 
by spreading in the sun. e. w. 
Bel bend, Pa. 
Potash for Borers. —I have had some ex¬ 
perience in destroying the root lice on fruit 
trees, as well as borers. I have used for some years, 
washes to protect the trunks ; two years ago, through 
carelessness in application, I found that the borers had 
got into 20 or more trees ; several, especially young 
cherry, were so weakened by root lice that the trunks 
were loose in the ground, the trees could be almost 
laid fiat on the ground, and looked nearly dead. I 
had a quantity of potash salts, and instead of apply¬ 
ing it in the ordinary way, I simply put on my cherry 
/ trees between two and three inches in diameter, a 
quart, of potash salts directly around the trunk, rarn- 
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PROLIFIC ALEXANDER. Fig. 70. 
See Notes from the Rural Grounds. Page 230. 
on These Premises Under Penalty of the Law.” Then 
when we catch a trespasser, we prosecute him to the 
full extent of the law. This thing has been followed 
up so long, that the city sports let us alone. We not 
only prosecute for criminal trespass, but wherever 
possible, also civilly for damages, and it is a damage 
to kill off game or catch fish, to a certain extent. 
Three Rivers, Mass. A. b. c. 
Failure of Parker Earle Strawberry.— On page 
174 is an article by T. J. Dwyer, which seems to me 
somewhat misleading as regards the virtues of the 
Parker Earle strawberry. I feel justified in say¬ 
ing, that in our vicinity (eastern Pennsylvania) it is 
utterly worthless. I had heard of its merits, and 
tried for three years to fruit it, but without suc¬ 
cess. First, it does not put out runners, rarely 
more than one to a plant. Second, it rusts so very 
badly that not 10 per cent of the fruit comes to 
perfection. I have tried ashes, phosphate, manure 
and spraying with Bordeaux Mixture ; nothing did 
it any good. The Sharpless, Bubach, Gandy, Green¬ 
ville, Dayton and Enhance matted and fruited to 
perfection, any one of them producing 20 quarts to 
Parker Earle’s one. E - P* c * 
Bridge Valley, Pa. 
Thrashing Machine for Mixing Fertilizers.— 
In The R. N.-Y. of March 14, I saw a cut of a ferti¬ 
lizer mixer which seems to be a good thing, but has 
one objection. How can one sieve the fertilizer 
without getting any dust ? To me it seems rather a 
slow way of mixing. I have mixed several hundred 
tons of fertilizer, and the best and quickest way I 
can get it done, is to get an old undershot thrash¬ 
ing machine, make a shaker or sieve 2^3 feet long (I 
use five or six-mesh sieve) and box it all in excepting 
one side under the sieve, leaving that to take out the 
mixed fertilizer. Myself and two men with one horse 
and a machine of this kind, have mixed and bagged 10 
tons of fertilizer a day, and mixed it as well as any one 
could do it; I do not except any fertilizer manufac- 
up 16 per cent of the ash of the wood. Of course, it 
is the healthy tree that has healthy foliage, and if this 
essential part of the tree be not supplied, we may ex¬ 
pect disease to occur. In those very useful, but all 
too short experiments made at Houghton Farm some 
few years ago, it was found that this disease was ac¬ 
companied—I will not say caused, for it is not to be 
wholly believed—by a special germ existing in the 
tree and, doubtless, derived from the soil. We may 
expect these germs to appear in the weak and ill-fed 
trees, as they appear in ill-fed and weak animals, 
LIVINGSTON’S BANNER. Fig. 72. 
See Notes from the Rural Grounds. Page 231. 
persons included. In my own experience in growing 
peaches, I have found that in the vacant places left by 
dead trees, fresh ones may be grown successfully if 
the ground be well dosed with lime, and that sick 
trees may be recovered by the same treatment. The 
finest orchards in Delaware and Maryland, I have seen, 
were those thatqhad been regularly supplied with 
QUAKER CITY. Fig. 71. 
See Notes from the Rural Grounds. Page 230. 
ming it into the ground where the trunk was loosened. 
For my peach trees, from four to six inches in 
diameter, I used about \)4 to 2 quarts in the same 
way, applying it close to the trunks. This was early 
in the spring, and with the first rains, an improve¬ 
ment was noticed ; out of 24 trees, all lived but one, 
and are now doing well. The cherry trees which 
were shaking about in the ground, were firm and 
solid, and last year bore abundantly. The borers 
disappeared. The gum stopped appearing, and the 
trees have been perfectly well ever since. This was 
two years ago. Last year I went through the 
orchard in the same way, and wherever there was 
a sign of borers and root lice, I applied the potash 
salts directly to the root of the trees. Two of 
these trees died on account of the very dry sum¬ 
mer ; the others are all doing well. Potash applied 
in the ordinary way, scattered lightly over the 
ground for some distance about the tree, while 
improving the general growth and appearance, 
does not have this specific action on borers and 
root lice. c. chauncy parsons. 
The Improved Plank Frame. —The recent illus¬ 
tration of the improved plank frame in The R.N.-Y., 
led some readers to believe that it represented a 
barn complete; but in fact, it was only an illustra¬ 
tion of two bents. At Fig. 65, is an engraving made 
from a photograph showing a complete barn, 40x60 
feet, with 20 -foot posts on a 9-foot basement. Note 
how thoroughly it is braced ; and in the perfect 
system of bracing, lies the strength of any frame. 
Evidently, the plank frame will supersede the 
mortise and tenon frame for barns, just as surely 
as the balloon frame superseded the solid frame house 
a quarter of a century ago. The cheapness of the sys¬ 
tem, combined with its superior strength and conveni¬ 
ence, commends it to every farmer. The basement may 
also be made of plank at a great saving in time and 
labor, though there is not the same saving in timber. 
The illustration shows an elevated hay bay at the 
