1890 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
235 
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r 
esculent by sowing the seeds at the beginning of 
April, in a hotbed, and planting out as soon as they 
had made a few rough leaves. They were given the 
same soil and treatment as early cabbages, and grew 
rapidly, not being troubled with insects, as the leaves 
are somewhat hairy like a turnip, and do not appear 
to invite the cabbage worm. By the first week in 
June, they formed an immense mass of herbage, large 
enough to fill a bushel ; one plant made a mess of 
“greens” for a large family. They cook quickly and 
tender, and are little diminished by boiling. Coming 
in just after spinach and kale have disappeared, the 
Pe-tsai will form a very substantial addition to the 
farmer’s bill of fare, as a few well-grown plants af¬ 
ford provender for a large number of persons, and 
the quality and ease of preparation are all that may 
be wished. The plant is robust and easily managed 
from the start, but as with all members of the cab¬ 
bage family, hot and dry weather will diminish the 
tendency to form heads, and in midsummer the Pe- 
tsai will run rapidly to seed. I found that a fair 
succession could be kept up by allowing the plants to 
crowd and starve in the seed-bed, and transplanting 
from time to time. Taken altogether, I believe that 
we have in the Chinese cabbage, a decided acquisition 
to our list of practical farm vegetables. 
Saintpaulia Ionantha (Usambara Violet). —Addi 
tions to the list of plants adapted to dwelling-house 
culture, are few and far between. Genuine interest 
has, therefore, been aroused in the announcement 
that this pretty, little, recently-discovered plant had 
proved entirely suitable for the window garden. Like 
many of the plants available for this purpose, it was 
discovered at a considerable elevation, growing on the 
mountains of a tropical country, and is, therefore, 
suited to a comparatively low, even temperature. 
The Saintpaulia is related to the gloxinia, and has 
similar fleshy leaves, somewhat hairy, dark green 
above and reddish brown beneath, but has fibrous 
roots instead of a tuber. The plant forms a low, com¬ 
pact tuft of handsome foliage from which are con¬ 
stantly arising numerous branched stems, bearing a 
profusion of deep, violet blue flowers, looking not un¬ 
like a single violet, but having no fragrance. The 
clear violet color becomes deeper towards the center, 
where it contrasts finely with the deep, golden yellow 
stamens. It is seldom out of bloom, but produces its 
charming flowers most freely during the winter 
months. It seems best suited in a shaded window, in 
company with the primrose and cyclamen, as much 
sunlight bleaches the foliage in irregular blotches. It 
grows well in ordinary soil, and is content with a 
small pot, seldom requiring one more than four inches 
in diameter. It is likely to prove a general favorite, 
and may be increased from leaf cuttings like a glox¬ 
inia or Rex begonia. The seed is very fine and rather 
difficult to grow. _ Fairfax. 
A FIVE-DOLLAR HENHOUSE. 
The house outlined at Fig. 74, has the following 
proportions : Sills 3x4, 8 feet long ; posts 2x3, 2 feet 
long ; rafters 2x3, 6 feet long. The amount of lumber 
used was, for sills, 32 feet ; posts, 8 feet ; rafters, 24 
feet; boards, 190 feet; in all, 224 feet. The house is 
eight feet square, and has a sand bottom. 
COST OF HOUSE. 
Lumber, 254 feet.$2.00 
Building- paper, 1C pounds at 2‘/i cents.25 
Shingles, 700 at $1.50 per M. 1.05 
Two bunehes cheapest clapboards. 1.00 
Nails.50 
Cost of materials.$4.80 
A manure platform two feet wide extends the entire 
length. There is one roost at the back side of the 
house. The nest platform is in the front left hand 
corner two feet from the floor. Two cheese boxes are 
used for nests. It is papered on the sides, back and 
roof, under the shingles and clapboards. It may do 
with just paper if one wish, and that will make it 
cheaper. I don’t think that it pays, however. 
Now let us see what we have. A tight, warm house 
that looks neat and tidy, and will hold 10 to 20 hens 
according to the season and the care they have ; an 
ideal place to put a dozen hens and a rooster, to get 
some eggs that will hatch. No better place to set 
hens, from one to six in a house, according to the care 
they have. Do you let biddy take care of her chicks 
when they are hatched? All right, don’t carry them 
off somewhere; throw out the nests, etc., and put 
biddy and the chicks on the ground ; they are safe, 
and you don’t need to spend much time over that 
problem. With some poultry netting (small mesh), 
you can fix a little yard for the chicks outside, when 
it is time ; this will be a good thing till they are big 
enough to have free range, also in wet weather. A 
brooder and 50 chicks will just fit one of these houses, 
too. When fall comes, if you have marketed the male 
birds, there will be pullets enough left to stock the 
house for the winter all wonted to their quarters, a 
point often overlooked by those who want early eggs 
and many of them. If you have sitters to break up, 
put them in one of these houses, put in a lively 
rooster (no nests) and the thing is soon done. No 
time is spent in making a place to break them up, and 
their health doesn’t suffer during the process. If you 
wish eggs, you will get about as many from one of 
these houses, as from one twice as big with twice as 
many hens in it ! Did you ever hear a man say, in 
substance, “ Last year, I had 20 hens and they laid 
tiptop ; this winter I have 50 hens and they don’t lay 
worth a cent” ? Don’t put too many hens together. 
This house will stand the weather all right for 
years. You can stand up straight in it. It is quickly 
cleaned. It is easy to catch a hen in it. A man with 
brains enough to make poultry pay, can build it him¬ 
self, and can change the size, or shape, a little. It 
can be built cheaper, if desired. The man from 
whom I got the idea, had simply two planks, eight 
inches wide for sides at the bottom, and the roof was 
boarded up and down—no rafters or cross pieces, 
except one at the top. He had no window, summer 
or winter, just a door covered with netting, not tight; 
but hens stay in there all winter, and lay, too. He 
had over 100 of these houses, set in his orchard. He 
sold about 1,600 barrels of apples the year before I 
visited him. I do not think that any one gains any¬ 
thing in the end by building too cheap to begin with ; 
shingles and clapboards outlast paper. a. R j. 
Ashby, Mass. 
THAT “TEST CASE” SILO WELL TESTED. 
WELL-CURED CORN FODDER FOR ENSILAGE. 
On page 791 of last year’s R. N.-Y., Mr. L. D. Gale, 
of Stedman, N. Y., described quite a remarkable ex¬ 
periment with ensilage. The silo was filled at “odd 
spells,” beginning October 12 and ending in one day 
less than four weeks. The corn was cut at the time 
of ripening, with a corn harvester, and shocked as is 
usual with field corn. Part of the ears were broken 
off and husked. The stalks were taken from the 
field at the farmer’s convenience, cut in the usual way, 
and elevated into the silo—a stream of water running 
on the elevator so as to moisten the corn. Several 
days intervened between the periods of cutting. In 
fact, this “ ensilage ” was nothing but corn stover cut 
into the silo and moistened. Mr. Gale now sends us 
a report as to the condition of the ensilage. 
“ I found the contents of the silo in perfect condi¬ 
tion—not a particle of mold in any part of the silo. 
The ensilage does not contain an excess of moisture ; 
on the contrary, it is rather too dry. It has no acid 
taste or smell, as usually found in ensilage. We used 
water very sparingly, as it had to be hauled some dis¬ 
tance, on account of the prevailing drought at the 
time of filling. I never saw better preserved ensilage 
in any of the many silos I have visited. I concede 
that much of the success is due to the silo. It is simply 
perfect, both as to design, workmanship and material. 
A picture of it is shown at Fig. 75. The frame is 
mitered together at the corners, and held in place by 
bolts. Inside the corners, are curved pieces to which 
to nail the boarding as shown in the picture, with 
pieces of 2x8 joist spiked across to strengthen the 
frame. The boarding is nailed on all around to all 
the frames, so that there are no corners in the silo. 
The first timbers at the bottom are 8x10 hard wood, 
the second frame two feet above, the third spaced a 
little farther, and so on until the top is reached, 
lighter timbers being used towards the top and spaced 
three feet apart. 
“ The best of southern pine flooring, three inches 
wide, was used. At the bottom a heavy wall of 
masonry was built to correspond with the rounded 
corners of the frame work, the boarding extending 
down inside of the wall. The bottom of the silo was 
thoroughly grouted and cemented, extending up the 
sides of the stone work to meet the ends of the board¬ 
ing. It is so strong and well made, I almost believe 
that it might be used for a cistern. So perfect has 
the ensilage kept, that the sides of the silo are not 
stained ; the boards are nearly as clean and bright 
as before filling. The dimensions of the silo are 
about 16x16 feet, and 30 feet deep. No paper, paint 
or tar was used in its construction. 
“ The silo referred to as being filled at the rate of 
60 loads a day, was equally as well built, of studding, 
boarded horizontally with rough lumber, then tarred 
paper, and inside of that matched flooring was used 
put on perpendicularly. The corners were square, in 
each of which moldy ensilage was found ; otherwise, 
it was well preserved, but had a decidedly acid smell 
and taste. The inside of the silo had a wet, water- 
soaked appearance, some of the boards showing a 
tendency to huff up.” l. d. gale. 
Mr. Gale sent Tiie R. N.-Y. a sample of this stover 
ensilage by mail. It reached us in perfect condition 
-sweet and fragrant—with no suggestion of acidity. 
WOOD ASHES VS. POTASH SALTS. 
In The R. N.-Y. of March 21, comparison is made be¬ 
tween wood ashes and muriate of potash, and a state¬ 
ment is made to the effect that wood ashes at $9 per 
ton, and with a guarantee of five per cent of potash, 
would be preferab'e to muriate of potash. A thor¬ 
ough examination of the matter reveals the following 
facts : 
One pound of actual potash, in the form of muriate 
(selling at $45 per ton), will cost in the New England 
markets, 4>£ cents, while in wood ashes at $9 per ton, 
the cost of a pound of actual potash will be 7.45 cents 
—this after deducting for the value of 1.55 per cent 
of phosphoric acid which wood ashes contain on an 
average. In other words, the price of potash in the 
ashes is 65 per cent more than in the form of muriate 
of potash. 
If sulphate of potash be taken in place of wood 
ashes, the comparison is likewise much in favor of 
the sulphate. The average price for sulphate of pot¬ 
ash is $53.25 per ton ; at this figure, one pound of 
actual potash costs 5 % cent3, while in the ashes, it is, 
as stated, 7.45 cents. Of course, it is not necessary to 
purchase sulphate of potash except for tobacco, pota¬ 
toes, and, perhaps, a few other crops. Muriate of pot¬ 
ash can mostly take its place. The value of lime in 
the wood ashes was not considered in the above 
calculation, but it would not change the results mate¬ 
rially, and on many soils lime would not be necessary. 
Wood ashes (with the guaranteed amount of five per 
cent potash) would have to be sold at $6.05 per ton 
before they could be compared in price with muriate 
of potash ; but it is a fact that wood ashes are often 
sold for more that $9 per ton, and in many instances, 
the content of potash is much less than five per cent, 
and the farmer never knows what he gets. 
Wood ashes are largely bought and used by farmers 
who are not able to make these calculations, and thus 
they pay a double price for their fertilizer. This has 
frequently been called to the attention of farmers by 
experiment stations, as will be seen from the follow¬ 
ing in Bulletin No. 104 of the New Jersey Station : 
On the basis of guarantee and selling price given, the charge 
for potash was 9.24 cents per pound, and for phosphoric acid 8.8 
cents per pound, or 76 per cent greater than on the average is 
charged for the same elements in high-grade sulphate of potash 
and in superphosphates. 
The cost of hauling has not been taken into consid¬ 
eration in the above calculations, but this is quite an 
item since ashes, with a fair average of potash, con¬ 
tain only five per cent, while in the concentrated pot¬ 
ash salts, as much as 50 per cent of potash is present; 
therefore, the farmer has to haul 10 times as much 
weight in case of ashes as he does in case of these con¬ 
centrated materials. The evidence produced above 
will make it clear to every consumer and intelligent 
farmer, that it is a gross waste to purchase wood ashes 
at prevailing prices. b. von hekff. 
Carrots or Mangels for Hogs ?—I wish informa¬ 
tion concerning carrots and mangels as a food for 
brood sows and growing pigs, fed in connection with 
wheat middlings, bran, etc. Which is the better of 
the two? What variety is best? Should they be 
cooked before feeding ? k. j. s. 
Hanover, Wis 
R. N.-Y.—Will our readers tell us which is the bet¬ 
ter to make a ease of “ Root hog aud live ! ” ? 
