34 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
January 21, 
have them quarried out on the farm or nearby. The 
eement post comes nearer filling the bill and supplanting 
the wood post than anything else. We have tried them, 
and have seen quite a number of them used, and they 
seem to be very satisfactory. They arc not expensive, 
and are easily made. 
The first step is to make a mold in which the post is 
to he cast. 'This mold is nothing more than a wooden 
box wi'hout lid, and made in the shape you want your 
PALMER GREEN I NO ON BALDWIN STOCK. Em. 18. 
post. A common form is that of the old-time sawed 
post, tapering from the bottom to top. The sides of 
the mold should he on hinges, so that when the post is 
made they can he dropped down in order to facilitate the 
removal of the post. The mold can he held together 
by means of clamps or hooks. To prepare the cement 
have a good strong mixing box, and into this put cement 
and a sharp sand in the proportion of one part of cement 
to five of sand. Some finely crushed stone may be used 
with the sand. Some use one part cement to six of sand, 
but the less sand you use the stronger your post will 
be up to about half and half. Mix cement and sand 
thoroughly dry, and then add water until you have the 
mixture in the shape of soft mortar. Lay mold down on 
a couple of blocks near mortar box, and in it place three 
or four strands of barbed wire, bent and curved so they 
will run all through the post. Then fill up mold with 
“grout” (or sand and cement), smoothing off the top with 
a trowel. If you want eyes in posts to fasten fence to, 
take a heavy wire or small rod and make some staples 
which may be inserted in the post while the cement is 
still soft. If you do not care to wait for the cement to 
set it is not a bad plan to have two molds, so that one 
post will set or harden while the other is being made. 
Cement posts will break off sometimes unless there is 
a rod or wire cast inside to give it strength. An ordi¬ 
nary-sized cement post will cost from 30 to 40 cents, 
according to price of material used in its construction. 
Indiana. _ w. w. stevens. 
POTATO GROWING IN FLORIDA. 
There are generally two plantings of Irish potatoes 
in southern Florida; this in relation to locations south 
of 28 degrees latitude. The first planting may he made 
the last week in September, the second the last week 
in January. Very little variation may be made in date, 
as if planted early in September it may prove too warm 
for them, and they may rot; if too late planted they 
may not mature early enough to escape a possible frost, 
for be it known that the best potato soil in south Florida 
generally lies low, and our climate makes the tops so 
tender that the slightest frost will damage them. The 
September planting is dug by Christmas. The seed used 
is generally second growth or January planted, held over 
from previous year. The whole system of fertilizing 
and cultivating the September planting is very much the 
same as when planted North. 
On the contrary, the January planting has to be treated 
with great caution. The seed should be exposed two 
weeks to light to develop the eyes, and it is better not 
to cut the tubers, though many do so for the sake of 
economy. Mr. Carman’s method, promulgated years 
ago in The R. N.-Y., makes a good stand almost cer¬ 
tain. If plowed under or covered deeply with hoe the 
seed is very apt to rot. A broad tteneb well fertilized 
with special potato fertilizer and thoroughly mixed with 
the soil makes a good basis. Then plant very shallow, 
barely covering the tuber, and draw in the soil very 
slowly, so that by March 1 you still have considerable 
to draw in. The last possible frost seldom comes after 
March 10. If it does come you can plow up to the pota¬ 
toes, which will probably be 14 incites high, and can 
bank up as high as you are able. Then the second day 
thereafter the cultivator can draw the banks down in a 
measure with pronged hoe, and finger out the leaves. 
There is much work about this, but it pays. Potatoes 
never sell here for less than $t.f>0 to $1.80 per bushel. 
There are no Potato bugs to bother us, and the crop makes 
here in less time than it docs on Long Island, probably 
two weeks. For this reason cultivation should be more 
frequent, say once a week. We have found 1,000 pounds 
of fertilizer would make 175 bushels on good soil. 
About March 15 200 pounds of high-grade sulphate of 
potash will increase the size of the potatoes very mate¬ 
rially. Drained bay heads and moist flat woodland are 
best for potatoes. When fairly developed, or if rot 
shows, they should be dug at once, and marketed or 
stored for the September planting. In storing they 
have to be spread out thinly under a roof where the 
Summer rains cannot moisten them. e. d. r. 
Avon Park, Fla._ 
BARN MANURE IN WEST VIRGINIA. 
Perhaps there is no product of the farm more care¬ 
lessly handled than the barn manure. A great many 
farmers believe that if they do not throw it out under 
the eaves they are giving it the best of care. The writer 
thought so a few years ago, but he has changed his 
mind in recent years. 1 have on my farm two barns. 
One was built several years ago, before so much had 
been said about saving the liquid manure; hence a dirt 
floor composed of clay was considered good enough. 
Five years ago a new bank barn was built and a cement 
floor was laid in the basement. Cattle are allowed to 
run loose in each barn, and about the same amount of 
bedding used in each. The manure is taken from these 
barns as it is made up to February 1. after which time 
it is allowed to lie in each until August, when it is 
hauled out and spread with a spreader upon the wheat 
stubble which had been sown to clover in the Spring. 
The hired men, as a rule, arc not close observers, but 
they never fail to see the difference betwen the manure 
from the old and new barn. The manure from the 
WILLIAMS FAVORITE APPLE OFF SHAPE. Fig. 10. 
former is dry and hard to fork up, while from the latter 
it is moist and thoroughly decayed. Heavy teams some¬ 
times sink down in the new barn to such an extent that 
they have to be unhitched, while in the old barn they 
go over the manure as though they were walking on a 
plank floor. Farmers are slow to believe the scientist 
who argues that the liquid manure cannot be saved with¬ 
out cement floors, but they would not question it were 
they to visit my two barns just before the manure is 
hauled out to the clover field. If more than half the 
plant food of the whole manure is contained in the urine 
of the animal, we cannot afford to be without cement 
floors. W. D. z. 
NOTES FROM MINNES0TTA. 
OLD STRAWBERRY BEDS—The Hope Farm man 
tells about renewing the old strawberry beds. We have 
done this same thing for several years in our little home 
garden, but are about ready to say that the new beds 
are so much less trouble, and yield so well, that the re¬ 
newing business hardly pays. From a bed which meas¬ 
ures 20 by 22 feet, one-half of which was old and the 
other new, we last season picked a little over 100 quarts 
by actual count. The largest day’s picking was 17 
quarts. For several years we have made a practice of 
setting out about 100 plants every Spring, and having this 
new bed and another of the same size a year older for the 
crop of the following year. The old bed requires a lot 
of weeding and hoeing, and we have about concluded 
to set out twice as much ground to new plants each year 
hereafter, and put the old bed to some other use. Of 
108 plants set out last Spring 107 were alive and healthy 
when they were covered after the ground froze. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH WIRE.—In speaking of the 
fence wire question, you say (page 912) that “the sta¬ 
tions will come to it in due time. Farmers have in¬ 
duced unwilling horses to pull their share before now.” 
1 don’t see why there should be any unwillingness on 
the part of the station workers. Some experiments are 
under way at this station now in this line, and several 
men “have their heads a-working” on the problem. It 
is a very puzzling problem, and one which seems to 
have many interesting sides. We have just taken up a 
steam pipe which burst. It is a steel pipe which was 
laid only three years ago under about three feet of 
earth. It seems to have been eaten into by rust from 
the outside. 1 will send you a picture of the rusted sec¬ 
tion. Analysis of this steel will be made and compared 
with iron pipe. Experiments are being conducted with 
steel and iron nails, wire and wire cloth. Old-fashioned 
cut iron shingle nails have been found in roofs where 
they have done duty for 25 years, perfectly sound. Wire 
nails last only a few years in similar roots. Why? No 
one seems to know. We arc trying to find out. 
A FIREPLACE.— The Hope Farm man says: “No 
family is complete without a fireplace and andirons 
with a history.” He is right about the fireplace. In our 
house, which is warmed by a hot-water system, there 
are many mornings and evenings in Spring and Fall 
when we do not want to run the heater, that are made 
comfortable by a fire in the fireplace, and in the coldest 
weather we help the hot water plant by a good fire on 
the hearth. We had no historical andirons, so we had 
an old blacksmith make some for us, which answer the 
purpose very well. The fireplace has become the central 
point in the house, around which all interests center. 
My advice to those about to build a house is to have a 
fireplace, no matter how the house is to be heated. A 
very plain fireplace which you will not be afraid to use 
every day is what you will enjoy most. j. m. drew. 
Minnesota Exp. Station. _ 
HOW TO CLEAN BUSH LAND. 
THE KENTUCKY WAY.—We western people can¬ 
not understand why city farmers, page 909, should talk 
about its costing $75 per acre to clear brush land. We 
are making gradual approaches on some brush land here 
for orchard purposes, and we lay a little money on the 
shelf until July 20, then arm two good men with a brush 
scythe and two double-bladed axes, one blade for use 
when there is gravel or stone in sight, the other to be 
kept sharp. They cut the brush down and leave it lying 
on the ground until Winter, when everything has been 
saturated with moisture; then just as the brush gets 
dry enough to burn we pile it on the thickest patches 
of stumps and burn; plow and cross-plow with a steady 
strong team and a heavy cutter plow made to go into 
the ground. A strong resolute man with this outfit will 
keep his plow and cutter sharp, and plow out most of 
the smaller stuff, and put the land in shape so it can 
be furrowed and planted to corn or sorghum, when a 
hand hoeing and chopping out the middle of June is 
about all that is required. The result is a crop that 
will wellnigh pay all expenses, and there is little more 
trouble with that land. The Winter burning is to save 
the humus in the ground. j. A. M. K. 
A LONG ISLAND FARMER.—The fact that im¬ 
proved farm lands on the island have increased in sell¬ 
ing price from 30 to 100 per cent in the last two or 
three years shows that the subject is a timely one for 
discussion. An observation of about 20 years, and the 
experience of clearing about 50 acres of scrubs, would 
lead me to say that the only way to clear the land of 
scrubs is to get them out of it. No method of treat¬ 
ment that I ever heard of was known to kill one that 
did not cost more than to get them out. The best 
method would depend on the means at hand to do the 
work. Plowing them out would get over the ground 
faster, but would require an expensive outfit, and 
would not be well done, as many would be 
still left after plowing. Even a single root that has 
a bit of the crown left will sprout and grow again. To 
dig them out by hand would take an able man from eight 
to 15 days to an acre, and the cost would depend on 
what his wages were. That for the scrub oaks; the 
other stumps of course are another matter. The pine 
SHETLAND COLT AND GREAT DANE DOG. Fig. 20. 
Prize Picture from Geo. II. Lambersou. 
stumps would lie soft enough to plow out in about three 
or four years, and the hard wood stumps could lie killed 
in about that time, and thus pulled or left to decay. 
The success of this whole matter depends on prompt and 
thorough work, and unless a man can do the work him¬ 
self or be on hand to see that it is done right he would 
better let it alone. I do not wish anyone to get the idea 
that he can kill scrubs or any other kind of stumps with 
a brush scythe or a few hens, as some of your corre¬ 
spondents would infer. d. m' havens. 
