334 
April 22, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
SPRHYING HIGH TREES. 
I note with interest what is said about spraying high 
trees, page 279. I enclose sketch, shown in Fig. 140, of 
plan which I use, and find it a very good thing where 
trees are high and near together. It looks somewhat 
unwieldy, but in practice it is all right. I use this to 
go over the orchard, following with shorter rod soon as 
mixture shows by drying where missed spots need 
touching up. The highest trees can be easily and 
quickly covered, and trees on hillsides, or that are too 
close for convenience of derrick rigs, can be handled as 
well as if they were separated by considerable space. 
The weight of the rod forces the lower end into the 
ground a short distance, relieving the nozzle man of 
most of the strain of holding the rod, and gives him a 
chance to cover a large surface with one setting of the 
rod. I work inside the trees by resting rod across the 
large limbs. If the air is still the trees can be finished 
in one operation. I like, however, to work best when 
we have a light breeze, just enough to drift the spray 
through the trees. This device will have to be tried 
to be appreciated. 
The device may be made clearer by the following de¬ 
scription : Rod should be within six or eight feet of 
height of trees; A is cap; B, six-inch piece of one- 
fourth-inch pipe; C, six-inch piece of three-fourths-inch 
pipe; D. three-fourths-inch T; E, hose; F, shut-off 
valve; G, length of one-half-inch pipe (about one-half 
total length of rod) ; H, length of three-eighths-inch 
pipe (about one-half total length of rod); I, nozzles. 
The dotted lines show sweep of rod at one setting. 
Pennsylvania. _ A. I. loop. 
COST OF SPRAYING MIXTURES. 
What it costs per gallon to make a spraying mixture 
is easy to answer; what it costs to spray an acre of trees 
is not so easy a matter. I use the lime, sulphur and 
salt mixture for San Jose scale, and find it very effec¬ 
tive ; it has proven so efficacious I continue the use of it; 
I always dislike to part with an old, tried and true 
friend. It makes me smile to see and hear men claim 
that the above solution is not so effective on apple and 
pear trees as on the plum and peach. I am positively 
certain that the above mixture, if properly made and 
applied, will kill the scale on one tree as quickly as an¬ 
other, but on account of the habit of growth of the 
apple tree its surface is not so easily covered with the 
HANDLING TIIR .$20 HAY. Fig. 130. 
mixture as some other trees. When a tree is badly 
infested with the scale it needs to be drenched, as a 
slight covering will only kill the outside scales and 
leave those underneath untouched. The cost of the lime, 
sulphur and salt mixture as 1 use it is as follows: 
30 pounds sulphur, three cents per pound, 90 cents; 
30 pounds lime, two-thirds cent per pound, 20 cents; 
20 pounds salt, one-half cent per pound, 10 cents; total, 
$1.20. This makes 100 gallons of solution at 11-5 cent 
per gallon. 
As to the amount used per tree, this depends entirely 
on the size of the tree and how badly infested it is; 
the wind also affects the quantity used. I would think- 
two or three quarts would spray a three or four-year- 
old peach tree, while it would require from four to eight 
gallons properly to spray an average apple tree 14 years 
old. Much would depend upon how the tree had been 
shaped, and some varieties would require more than 
others on account of their habit of growth. The quan¬ 
tity would also depend upon how many nozzles were 
used. 
As to the cost of the limoid and kerosene mixture, it 
would be about like this, if oil was obtained at whole¬ 
sale prices; 20 gallons oil, 10 cents per gallon, $2.20; 80 
pounds limoid, one-half cent per pound, 40 cents; total, 
$2.60. This amount is for 100 gallons at a 20-per-cent 
mixture of oil, a trifle over 2J4 cents per gallon. Tf re¬ 
tail price was paid for the oil, or a 25-per-cent mixture 
made, the cost would be materially increased. I have 
figured at the lowest price for the oil, and the weakest 
mixture it is safe to use. In this mixture a small item 
is saved on fuel, as it requires no heat, and something 
on the time in making the mixture is saved. This is 
quite an item where help is scarce and high priced. It 
is claimed that the K.-L. will go further than the lime 
and sulphur wash, but as a large per cent of any mixture 
is wasted in spraying I don't think there is a great deal 
in this idea, but perhaps enough in it to be considered 
in making a close calculation. The above figures are 
correct as to the cost of the lime and sulphur mix¬ 
ture, as 1 use it. This of course does not include the 
cost of the labor. Two men with a good pump will 
average 500 or 600 gallons a day. The K.-L. is much the 
quickest and easiest to prepare and spray, and will prob¬ 
ably very largely take the place of all other mixtures, 
NEAR VIEW OF CONNECTICUT TIMOTHY. Fig. 137. 
but the cost must be considerably greater, and it remains 
to be seen ■> whether it proves as effective for general 
use without damage to the tree. wm. h. skillman. 
New Jersey.. _ 
THE EXCLUSIVE USE OF FERTILIZERS. 
Will the exclusive use of commercial fertilizer tend to im¬ 
poverish the land when used continuously? reader. 
Franklin Co., N. Y. 
If you use a well-balanced fertilizer year after year 
so that you add plenty of available nitrogen, potash and 
phosphoric acid, the soil will not become impoverished 
—yet such soil may refuse to produce good crops. There 
may be plenty of plant food in the soil, yet crops cannot 
utilize it. Why? Because the physical condition of the 
soil is wrong. The most common fault with such soils is 
that they lack humus or organic matter. This humus 
warms the soil, lets in air, aids drainage, and also holds 
moisture. When there is too little humus present the 
soil becomes soggy and cold in a wet season, and either 
bakes hard or becomes too hot in dry seasons. Any of 
these conditions make it harder for plants to grow and 
take food from the soil. Take a piece of brick. No 
one would expect to put a seed on top of it and have 
the seed grow even if well watered ar.d fed. Grind 
the brick to a fine powder, put it in a flower pot, and 
again plant the seed. It would make only a poor 
growth, because when the brickdust was watered and 
dried it would bake hard. Take the brickdust and mix 
thoroughly all through it from 10 to 15 per cent of its 
weight in dried clover leaves or even ground straw, 
and the seeds would grow and make good plants. The 
clover or the straw furnish the humus which improves 
the character of the brickdust and makes it “soil.” The 
use of chemicals alone, without manure or green crops 
would have a tendency to remove the humus and thus 
hurt the soil. While the illustration is not exact, we 
might compare such farming to feeding a cow on grain 
alone. We might give her all she needs of actual food 
in bran and cornmeal, yet she would not thrive because 
Nature has provided her with a digestive system which 
requires bulky food like hay or other roughage to keep 
it extended and open. 
In some parts of the country, as in Long Island, 
Florida, and parts of New Jersey and Delaware, fer¬ 
tilizers are used exclusively—even hay being sold from 
the farm. Under this system, instead of becoming 
impoverished, the soil grows steadily more productive. 
Such soils are usually light or sandy. The fertilizers 
used are soluble, and do not as a rule contain much 
acid. The rotation usually, contains a good crop of 
grass and clover—the stubble and roots of which pro¬ 
vide considerable humus to be plowed under. Special 
“catch” crops of rye, clover, buckwheat or turnips are 
grown between two regular crops in the rotation, and 
plowed under to provide humus. For example, it would 
b~ possible to grow potatoes year after year, using fer¬ 
tilizers alone, if as soon as the potatoes were dug rye 
could be seeded and the Winter’s growth plowed under 
before the potatoes were planted in the following 
Spring. It is possible, therefore, to supply humus even 
with “the exclusive use of fertilizers.” 
HAY PROFITABLE IN CONNECTICUT. 
We carried off a load of hay yesterday weighing 2,650 
pounds, and it brought $26.50. Another load goes to¬ 
day ; in the course of the year we sell a good deal of 
hay and we find it one of the best paying items of the 
farm. We are unable to supply the demand for this 
grade of hay that brings $20 per ton, yet is the poorest 
hay we raise for milk production. Not all hay will 
bring this price, as it must be bright, clean Timothy, and 
of good length. We do all our seeding in the Spring 
with oats. The oats are cut early for oat hay, and this 
is followed by a good top-dressing of manure. In fact,' 
we aim to top-dress all our mowing land within two 
miles of the home place every year. For two or three 
years following the oats we get fine crops of clean 
Timothy and then other grasses work in, but we are 
able to have market hay out of it for five to six years. 
We have one field of seven acres seeded in 1902 that 
in 1903 gave us $400 worth of hay from first crop, and 
a fine crop of rowen. The same piece last season did 
a little better, getting about three tons more than in 
1903. This new seeded land we top-dress just as soon 
as possible after first cutting, which helps out rowen 
crop, which we feed out to our cows. F'igs. 136 and 137 
show our hay; Fig. 138 silage corn. One must watch 
weather very closely in handling this kind of hay, as a 
heavy shower changes $20 hay to a $15 or $16 grade in 
short order. Cut in morning, teddered at noon, heaped 
at night, and it is ready to get in the next day from 
10 A. M. on. 
The hay looks very bright and clean and a load makes 
a handsome sight. It is sold largely to people who keep 
a horse or two in town, and want the best hay they can 
get. Many of these people do not like baled hay, and 
are glad to pay a premium for loose hay. It is useless 
to seed down land overloaded with weed seed and ex¬ 
pect to get this class of hay. The best plan we have 
found is to plow in Fall or Spring for corn, using heavy 
crops of stable manure. Sow rye in Fall for cover crop 
'and plow under in Spring, anil plant potatoes, using only 
commercial fertilizer. Sow rye again for corn, plowing 
under in Spring for oats and seeding. If land will not 
wash it may be left bare after potatoes through the 
CROP OF CONNECTICUT SILAGE CORN. Fig. 138, 
Winter, but we dislike to have any fields uncovered 
through the Winter. h. G. Manchester. 
Connecticut. _ 
STEEL TANK PREFERRED. 
Z. C. B., of Waterbury, Conn., asks information con¬ 
cerning water storage tanks for farm use. In 1896 
the time seemed to have come to do something about a 
water supply for the farm; heretofore we had depended 
on shallow wells, and they were failing, so had a three- 
inch well drilled, and got a good supply of water at 
129 feet. I wished to pipe the water to the house, the 
barnyard and the hoghouse. With the ell on the 
highest point, and but little fall, by locating the stor¬ 
age tank three feet above ground I could run the 
water where I wanted it. The dealer recommended a 
hard pine tank. That was all well enough for a time, 
but the second Spring when the weather warmed the 
water got foul in the tank. 1 cleaned it out, and it was 
the same thing again in a week. We quit using it at 
the house; the stock had to put up with it for a time 
till I could get another; then I got a galvanized steel 
tank, 30-barrel size, and we have had good water ever 
since. I used a gasoline engine to pump the water, 
and then one does not need a large supply tank, for the 
oftener one pumps the cooler the water will be in the 
Summer, and the warmer it will be in the Winter. 
The wood tank being thicker is not affected so quickly 
by the changes of the weather as the steel tank. I 
put a cellar under the tank as deep as the pipes were 
laid; this is very handy when one wants to shut the 
water off from any of the pipes. L. c. G. 
West Branch, Iowa. 
