56o 
August 22 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
a huge tub, staves about six inches wide and 22 feet 
long, of hemlock lumber, matched, all held in place 
with round, iron hoops, each one so arranged that, 
by turning a nut, the hoop can be adjusted as desired. 
The ends of the staves which rest on the foundation, 
are merely cemented outside and in, thus affording 
all needed support; also a barrier against rats, etc. 
Openings may be made on the sides for removing 
ensilage as desired, between the portions securely 
held in place by the hoops. 
In reply to the question relative to the quality of 
the ensilage, Mr. A said that he was well pleased with 
the excellent condition in which he had always 
found it; there are no corners for spoiled ensilage, 
and then the arrangement of the hoops is such that a 
perfectly air-tight silo is possible. 
“ Have you experienced any trouble with freezing, 
with only one thickness of two-inch plank for pro¬ 
tection ?” I asked. 
“ No, not in the least; and during the cold of un¬ 
usual severity, the past winter, I found it an excel¬ 
lent food for sheep. With no hay after the first of 
last November, they were carried through the winter 
in fine condition, and with much less expense than 
usual. Of course, it was supplemented with other 
foods—straw, bean fodder, turnips, etc., were fed as 
the conditions required.” 
Being aware of the prejudice existing in the minds 
of many against the tub silo, it was learned that there 
were several in that immediate vicinity, and that all, 
without exception, were giving satisfaction. Mr. 
A was recently informed by the dealer that fur¬ 
nished the lumber for his silo, that he had sold ma¬ 
terial to nearly 40 farmers, all for the purpose of 
building round silos. The expense of this silo, not 
counting the labor, was as follows : 
2,150 feet hemlock lumber, at $14.25 per M.$30.62 
380 pounds round iron, at 2 l / 2 c. per pound. 9.50 
Nuts and washers. 66 
Blacksmith’s work. 5.00 
Water lime. 1-60 
Total cost.$47.58 
Of course, if the silo is to stand outside in the open 
air, a suitable roof, painting, etc., would add ma¬ 
terially to the expense. Another farmer engaged in 
the dairy business, also expressed himself in terms of 
highest praise of the round silo. All admit, however, 
that a silo built 12 feet in diameter, and 30 feet high, 
would afford a capacity that would give still better 
results, and where the circumstances allow it, it 
would be economy to do so. irving d. cook. 
A DERRICK FOR LIFTING STONE. 
A friend came into a field where we were drilling, 
blasting with powder, and digging out rocks with 
iron bars and wooden levers. “I have learned a better 
way,” he said, “ though I used to drill and blast the 
way you are doing. If I had only built my derrick 
when I began, I would have saved myself lots of work 
and lots of expense.” 
It seems that he had built a derrick to lessen the 
work of handling bowlders. Three 3x4-inch spruce 
sticks, 14 feet long, were fastened together at the 
top. Upon two of these sticks, at the proper height, 
the reel with ratchets and crank handles was fastened. 
About 1%-inch rope with a double and treble block 
were used with a stout log chain which would 
tightly hug the rock. Perhaps hooks fastened into 
shallow holes drilled in the rock might have been 
better. On some rocks, one hitch would be handiest, 
on other rocks the other would be. With this rig 
and very little loosening of the earth, he could easily 
raise rocks as large at least as two yoke of oxen 
could draw on a stone-boat. The lift being a direct 
upward pull, little resistance was encountered by 
pressure against the bank, while there was much 
such pressure to be overcome where levers and bars 
were used. 
With the derrick, he raised the stone high enough 
to back under a cart. This kind of rock would soon 
smash an ordinary cart body. He built a three-inch 
plank platform without sides to use instead of his 
regular cart body. There was more danger of breaking 
the chain than of breaking the rope, unless the rope 
had become worn. Indeed, I saw in this morning’s 
paper that, when the dry dock collapsed at the 
Brooklyn Navy Yard, several vessels parted their 
chains, but were held by their hemp hawsers. 
“ Were 3x4 legs big enough ? ” 
“ Yes, a neighbor borrowed the derrick, and by mis¬ 
management of men, broke one leg and replaced it 
with a 4 x 4. But the latter stick made the derrick 
too heavy, and the extra strength was unnecessary.” 
lie has changed this derrick from three-legged to 
four-legged—not for more strength, but for greater 
convenience. It often happens that the derrick can¬ 
not be set directly over the work, and a side pull is 
required. The derrick must be set so that the two 
legs holding the reel are opposite the stone to be 
pulled. If the derrick has but three legs, the third 
leg will come in the way of the stone, but with a 
four-legged derrick, it may be straddled. 
To show another convenient use of the derrick, he 
was once flagging a hog pen with large, flat stones off 
the farm. The space was too small in which to work 
a team, and the stones too large to be handled easily 
by hand. By setting the derrick in the pen, he could 
drive the team alongside the opening, and with a side 
haul of the derrick, they were easily lifted and pulled 
into position. 
Such a tool is simple enough, but requires judgment 
in using. Inexperienced men will sometimes set up a 
derrick in such a way that, when the load is half up, 
derrick, stone, and all gc over in a heap. This means, 
perhaps, a broken derrick and, sometimes, broken 
bones. e. c. birge. 
Connecticut. _ 
WHAT THEY SAY. 
Winter Soil Cover. —The best winter cover we 
know to use as a protection from winter wash, that 
will also die down in winter, is a mixture of barley 
and peas. The small Canada field peas are cheap, 
costing $ 1-50 per bushel in Boston. The peas should 
be plowed under four to five inches deep at the rate of 
1 % bushel per acre, and the barley should be sown 
a few days later at the same rate, and harrowed in. 
If the land be rolled, the seed will be likely to ger¬ 
minate better than if it be left loose after the harrow. 
This crop may be sown at any time from August 1 to 
20. If it become too large for plowing under easily, 
the crop may be pastured lightly during November. 
Barley and peas will not “die down” till after the 
ground begins to freeze an inch or more in depth. 
Storrs (Conn.) Exp. Station. c. s. phelps. 
Keynote to Grass Culture. — H. W. C , in The 
R. N.-Y., of August 8, has struck the keynote of suc¬ 
cessful grass growing, when he speaks of sowing 
grass seed alone. I have been experimenting along 
this line for three years, and am so well pleased that 
I expect to sow a large area in that way next spring. 
I have found it much better for me to sow in spring 
than in summer or fall. I would like to begin the 
preparation of the land in the fall, and would really 
begin plowing in August if possible ; then harrow 
repeatedly until the middle of October, when I would 
plow and leave until spring. Then I would harrow 
as soon as the soil was in good order to work, and 
once a week until about the middle of May; then sow 
from 300 to 500 pounds of seeding-down phosphate 
that had a high per cent of potash, sowing more or 
less, according as the soil was poor or rich. Then sow 
Timothy and Red-top seed, and harrow with a 
smoothing harrow. I have had Timothy sown in 
May, that was headed out early in August, and 
standing from 2% to 3 feet high. I have now, 
August 10, Timothy three feet high, from seed sown 
in March on a buckwheat stubble, which was seeded 
last year with clover, with the buckwheat, but the 
clover was killed by extremely dry weather last fall. 
Bullville, N. Y. D. P. A. 
Various Farm Notes. —Four hundx-ed bushels of 
old potatoes were spread upon one-sixth of an acre of 
strawberries. The piece then presented about the 
appearance of some seedsmen’s catalogues when ad¬ 
vertising a new variety. Potatoes, vines and mulch 
were all plowed under. This should be manure 
enough for another crop of berries. 
Rye sown thinly after potatoes, last fall, was a light 
crop. The grass seed was sown this spring as soon as 
the snow went off, and the grass made a good growth. 
It, with the rye, was cut with the mowing machine, 
and some excellent hay was secured. Some of the 
Timothy was waist high when cut. 
Two pieces, one of three, and the other of six rows 
of potatoes, were not fertilized. The rest of the field 
had special potato fertilizer applied at the rate of 
1,500 pounds per acre. The unfertilized plots yielded 
less than one-fourth as much rye and grass as the 
land alongside. The soil is now thoroughly wet, and 
everything is favorable for an excellent crop of hay 
next year. 
A neighbor has a small piece of Alfalfa, sown one 
year ago upon a low, rich piece near his barn, which 
he has just cut the second time—it should have been 
cut sooner. Each cutting was about 30 inches high, 
and a good stand. If it will do as well generally—of 
course, one could not expect so heavy growth unless 
heavily manured—it is a desirable acquisition. An¬ 
other neighbor sowed some at the same time, but 
failed to get a good catch, and what came through 
the winter was of little value. 
Leggett’s Paris-green gun is a decided improvement 
upon the Knapsack sprayer for killing bugs. I have 
not tried it for blight. Perhaps one can kill the bugs 
with one-half or three-quarter pound of poison, and 
dust “one acre per hour,” but it takes too long, two or 
three days at least. One pound of Paris-green applied 
to one-half acre of heavy tops in 1% hour, removed 
fully three-quarters of the bugs in six hours, and, 
though a heavy shower then fell, all bugs were de¬ 
stroyed. It pays to use plenty of poison, and time 
enough to dust thoroughly the vines. 
Pennsylvania. G. A. parcell. 
Some Hedge Plants. —The honey locust (Gleditschia) 
was lately spoken of as being, probably, as good a 
plant for hedges as any. Since the introduction of 
barbed wire, thorns on hedge plants are a superfluous 
nuisance, and the thorns of the thorny honey locust 
are dangerous in the extreme—not while on the grow¬ 
ing plant, but on the drying trimmings as they lie 
underfoot. The plant is also very hard to prune, its 
shoots being very hard and firm and issuing squarely 
out (horizontally). If pruned, however, every June 
and September, the beauty of the young foliage 
issuing thickly and appearing imbricated, like feathers 
on a fowl’s breast, is beautiful. If a honey locust 
hedge has gone wild with its vigorous natural tree- 
growth, the only way to correct it is to cut it off close 
to the ground while not in leaf, and then attend faith¬ 
fully to the early and late clipping, annually. But 
for planting anew hedge, choose some plant of natur¬ 
ally hedgy form as the barberry or the briar rose, if 
some thorns are wanted, and if to be exempt from 
browsing by cattle, or the buckthorn or privet, if 
cattle are kept off. The privet is an ideal hedge 
plant, only that it, sometimes, and in some places 
suffers from a fire blight like the pear tree. If the 
California privet is free from this, it will make a 
beautiful hedge in drained soil. It is not quite so 
hardy far north as the common sort, which is beau¬ 
tiful enough and almost evergreen. Arbor vitas, 
hemlock, and Norway spruce make perfect hedges 
with a wire or two interiorly, and an annual clipping 
when they pass the limit of hedge size. None of the 
plants named suckers from the root at a distance off 
from the collar, excepting the honey locust, which 
will push up growth from the roots occasionally, 
when the top is severely repressed. w. 
Peach Borers in Virginia. —I have been making 
a study of this insect for several years, and this 
season, have personally wormed 1,200 or more trees 
during repeated intervals of a few days from the be¬ 
ginning of the year until August 10. Up to June 15, 
I found the borers actively cutting ; after that date, 
they became more or less sluggish. The first 
chi-ysalis was found July 1. On July 25, not more 
than 20 per cent of the larvae had entered this state, 
but eggs laid by the first moths out had commenced 
to hatch. Observation since this date, and from 
former experience, leads me to believe that egg lay¬ 
ing will continue until cold weather. I have tried a 
number of washes applied in spring, and found it a 
waste of time and material to apply them. I believe 
that August 1 is as soon as such washes should be ap¬ 
plied in this locality, as eggs and freshly hatched 
borers that have found lodgment near the collar of 
the tree, will be destroyed by contact, and the wash 
will remain sufficiently effective during the remainder 
of the season to prove of great benefit as a preventive. 
I agx-ee with R. S. Cole, page 533, as to Hale Bros, 
wash being as good as any ; but my recipe as copied 
from one of our farm papers gives only half the 
amount of water to the same proportion of other 
materials as quoted by Mr. Cole, so I am at a loss to 
know which is the correct formula. I am led to sup¬ 
pose that the date of applying as given by Hale Bros., 
is based on their Georgia orchard, which would, 
doubtless, require a much earlier application than 
those in Virginia. 
I find that my Myrobolan or Marianna plum stocks, 
when budded to Japanese varieties, are as badly in¬ 
fested with borers as the peach, whereas when budded 
to Chickasaw or other native varieties they are en¬ 
tirely exempt. I would like to know of other plum 
raisers, if this is their experience, and whether bud¬ 
ding high will secure exemption for the Japans. 
Coleman’s Falls, Va. G. E. m. 
Figuring the Cost of a Crop. 
I am convinced that there is not one fai-mer in ten, 
in this town, who keeps any kind of a record as to the 
cost of producing his products and their selling price, 
together with other regular, systematic farm accounts; 
consequently the farmers still continue to grow 
crops, keep cows, poultry, etc., at a loss or profit, 
they know not which. We keep a cash account, also 
record of grain fed to each kind of stock, but we can¬ 
not tell how much each crop has cost us, because we 
do not know of any good method which is both quick 
and accurate for so doing. I have in mind now one 
farmer in this town whose cows, I am certain, cost 
him, at least, three times as much for feed alone, to 
say nothing of labor, as the total avails from them ; 
but he does not know it, and never will unless he sees 
it in black and white. I do not think that this man’s 
case is an exceptional one, by any means ; on the con¬ 
trary, he is, in many ways, a progressive farmer, and 
has to depend on his farm for a living. 
If farmers could only be induced to keep a record 
