1905. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
335 
THE FENCE WIRE QUESTION. 
A Test for “Galvanizing.” 
In connection with the fence-wire question, you may 
be interested in the following specification for galvaniz¬ 
ing which is said to be in use by the Western Union 
Telegraph Co. and the American Telephone and Tele¬ 
graph Co. for galvanized wire. (See Engineering 
News for March 25, page 321.) 
The wire shall be of the specified size, made of steel, gal¬ 
vanized with a coating of zinc, evenly and uniformly ap¬ 
plied, so that it will adhere firmly to the surface of the 
steel. Any specimen shall be capable of withstanding the 
following test: The sample shall be immersed in a standard 
solution of copper sulphate for one minute and then removed, 
immediately washed in water thoroughly and wiped dry. 
This process shall be repeated. If, after the fourth immer¬ 
sion there is a copper-colored deposit on the sample or the 
zinc has been removed, the lot from which the sample was 
taken shall be rejected. The standard solution of copper 
sulphate shall consist of a solution of commercial copper- 
sulphate crystals in water. This solution shall have a spec¬ 
ified gravity of 1.185 at 70 degrees F. While a sample is 
being tested the temperature of the standard solution shall 
at no time be less than 60 degrees nor more than 70 
degrees F. 
This may not be the best possible specification for 
fence wire, but at least it gives a standard which is in 
use and known to the manufacturers, and which can 
be tested by any intelligent man. If there is a per¬ 
sistent call for wire which will fulfill the American 
Telephone and Telegraph Co.’s specification I think it 
can be procured. e. b. harger. 
Connecticut. 
Tin Plates from Charcoal Iron. 
We have been interested in reading the article ap¬ 
pearing on page 217, entitled a “Talk About Iron and 
Steel.” We regret, however, to find that your corre¬ 
spondent has fallen into the popular error of thinking 
that better roofing-tin can be made from “charcoal iron” 
black plate than from soft Siemens-Martin steel, es¬ 
pecially made for this purpose. It may be true that 
black sheets of “charcoal iron” last longer upon ex¬ 
posure to the weather than black sheets of soft steel, 
because steel is very pure in its nature, and the surface 
is very sensitive to any outside action. All “charcoal 
iron” contains a considerable proportion of slag, which 
serves as a slight protection to the fibers of the iron— 
to quote from the circular of a “charcoal iron” manu¬ 
facturer. With tinplate we face an entirely different 
condition, since the black sheets are completely covered 
with the coating, and the value of roofing-tin lies in 
the integrity of the coating. It is hardly an exaggera¬ 
tion to say that if the coating is perfect it makes little 
difference what is used as a base, provided it is a neu¬ 
tral substance that will not set up any 
action whatever from within. We speak 
from the standpoint of manufacturers, as 
we have had probably a longer experience 
than any other maker in this country. 
We ourselves make tinplates from 
“charcoal iron” for those who want them, 
but we sell them without recourse and 
without guarantee, and entirely at the 
buyer’s risk. It is a fact that the stan¬ 
dard for modern tinplate is very low, but 
this is due more to improper methods of 
making the tin rather than to improper 
materials—although a great deal of dis¬ 
satisfaction has no doubt been experi¬ 
enced from roofing-tin made from cheap 
Bessemer steel with its irregular na¬ 
ture. N. & G. TAYLOR CO. 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
a foot long below the bars to which they are bolted. 
We use it just as a weeder is used to rake rubbish, or 
as a hayrake is used to make windrows. When the 
rake fills with rocks we lift the handles and leave the 
rocks. The next time around we lift at the same place. 
When all the field is gone over in this way and the 
rocks left in windrows, with good oyster rakes on 
stout handles we shovel the rocks in a cart and haul 
them off, either to surface roads or dump them in 
piles to lie and be washed off by rains until free from 
earth and fit to be used as filler in concrete. One such 
raking clears my land splendidly, but to make it ideal 
I shall when I qan give it a “second coat,” which would 
make it nearly as good as the western prairies where as 
A BORDER OF HARDY PHLOX. Fig. 139. 
a boy I used to “cuss” because there was never a stone 
to throw at the cows when they got in the corn. 
A cart is the thing for rock clearing, just as it is 
for hauling manure or anything else that must be han¬ 
dled cheaply with the least consumption of time. To 
unload by dumping is making money by saving time. 
When I haul rocks as a business I use two carts and 
four men to pick up and load. A stout boy leads the 
cart horse and dumps, the men being kept at work all 
the time loading. j. a. t. 
IS SEED FROM BLIGHTED POTATOES SAFE? 
What do the scientific men say about seed from potatoes 
where the vines have blighted? Would the disease he car¬ 
ried by such tubers to the next crop? 
I would not take chances with potato seed from an 
infested field, if the seed can be obtained from non- 
infested fields. byron d. halsted. 
MACHINE PICKING STONES. 
In Hope Farm Notes, page 149, ac¬ 
count is given of various ways to clean 
land of small stones, none of them be¬ 
ing satisfactory. I have a farm on a 
fine level mountain bench in the Blue 
Ridge in Loudoun County, Virginia. It 
was entirely covered with rocks when 
I bought it in 1892. I ' have now 40 
acres cleared. We picked up and carted 
off all rocks big enough to dispose of 
in this way. I have now found that in time and money 
it is cheaper to blow holes in the ground with dyna¬ 
mite, shovel out to a depth of four or five feet, and 
then bury the rocks. They go down deep enough for 
the plow to clear and crops grow quite well over 
them as anywhere else. For the small rocks the size 
of your fist and less I have a method that I had never 
seen used until I tried it. I got at a junk shop six 
old oyster forks. I had the blacksmith straighten four 
of them out flat and bolt and rivet them on two bars 
of iron. To these bars I bolted two shafts, poles I 
cut in the woods, in which to hitch a horse. Two han¬ 
dles were also bolted on the way handles are put on a 
common weeder. In short, the implement is much 
like a weeder, only there is almost no vibration of the 
teeth. The thing is feet wide, and the tines are 
* 8 C p —> 
,BssB ====<rzri-D=^fc 
ZJ 
PLAN FOR SPRAYING HIGH TREES. Fig. 140. 
It is certain, with the late blight at least, that the 
disease passes the Winter in affected potatoes, and that 
the blight is passed from crop to crop through the use 
of potatoes showing rot. In this case seed from a 
healthy crop is certainly preferable. Early blight is 
not supposed to affect the tubers, hence inoculation 
could hardly take place through seed, but inasmuch as 
plants with reduced vigor suffer most from its attacks, 
it is certainly best to plant tubers from a healthy, vig¬ 
orous crop, thereby increasing or at least sustaining the 
general health of the resulting crop. u. P. hedrick. 
Michigan Station. 
I am unable to state positively whether Potato blight 
is carried over by the tubers from infested crops or not. 
However, I do not think it is advisable to plant tubers 
from an infested crop. In cases of disagreement be¬ 
tween the “doctors” the safest way is to use only the 
seed from a healthy crop. In my judgment it is not 
advisable to advocate the seed of any crop that has 
been infested by diseases. e. p. sandsten. 
Wisconsin Station. 
I am not satisfied with our present knowledge con¬ 
cerning the blight-fungus, and so have been making a 
special study of it the past season, but as yet I have 
little to add concerning it that is new. So far as we 
know now the fungus is carried over the Winter only 
in the infected tubers of the previous year’s crop. The¬ 
oretically, then, the more care used in the selection of 
the tubers the better. But it is also generally believed 
that after the blight appears it is carried from one field 
to another. Just how often fields are infected from the 
diseased tubers planted in them, or how often from 
spores carried from another field, I do not believe any 
one knows. If the trouble is only carried from one 
field to another very near it then care in selection of 
the tubers, combined with isolation of the field from 
other fields, would be of advantage. But if the trouble 
is generally carried from one field to another, even re¬ 
mote, one can readily see that the advantage gained 
from selection t f good seed would largely be lost. 
Season, in large, measure, determines whether the blight- 
fungus will do little or considerable injury. Moist 
weather in July, August or September determines how 
early and how serious the trouble will be. The rot of 
the tubers, too, is not always due to blight-fungus, 
though the past season it seems to have been at least 
the starting agent of rot. The severity of blight to the 
vines does not necessarily indicate a similar severity of 
rot to follow in the tubers. In 1902 the vines blighted 
early (the last of July and early in August) suddenly 
and severely in this State, but there was little trouble 
from rot. In 1904 the blight was very late (working 
slowly through August and September), and did but 
comparatively small injury to the foliage as a rule. The 
injury from the rotting of the tubers, however, was 
very severe. As the fungus infects the tubers by the 
short-lived spores that fall from the infected foliage to 
the ground, a sudden and complete blight of the vines, 
especially if followed by dry weather, may secure fewer 
infections of the tubers than a slow spread of the 
trouble on the foliage over a longer time with moist 
weather now and then to aid in the infection of the 
tubers. 
I believe, besides the moisture of the season, the 
moisture capacity of the soil of each field determines 
in a measure the amount of rot in the field. At least 
we know without question that the same seed planted 
in different fields often gives quite different results in 
the amount of rot. The moisture of the 
soil, aside from elevation, drainage, etc., 
depends largely on its humus content. 
Manure adds to the humus of the soil, 
besides being a carrier of certain fungus 
diseases. I suggest the following meth¬ 
ods as the most likely to exempt the po¬ 
tato from rot: 
1. Select the best seed, as free as 
practical from all disease; if desired, treat 
the seed with formalin or corrosive sub¬ 
limate. 2. Practice systematic rotation 
and never plant potatoes two years in 
succession on the same soil. 3. Select, 
when possible, the lighter, sandier soils 
rather than heavier soils, or those 
rich in humus especially, if in low 
places. 4. Use artificial fertilizers, as 
far as possible, in place of manure, to 
enrich the soil the year it is in potatoes. 
5. Give thorough cultivation to conserve 
the moisture in the dry season and in the 
wet season as far as possible to prevent 
the soil from being too wet and water 
soaked. 6. As late as possible in July, 
and before appearance of blight, ridge up 
f the rows to prevent the vines from mat¬ 
ting the ground, and at the same .time to 
cover the tubers with a deeper layer of 
earth to protect them from the blight 
spores. 7. If spraying is practiced it 
should be done thoroughly and at the proper sea¬ 
son. I think the most practical use of Bor¬ 
deaux Mixture for blight requires three or four thor¬ 
ough sprayings. For Connecticut the first should be 
made July 5 to 15, according to the weather, and the 
last should be made the latter part of August or the 
first of September. The other sprayings should be 
made as the weather demands, but aim especially to 
have the foliage well covered with the spray when the 
blight weather appears. g. p. Clinton. 
Connecticut Station. 
R. N.-Y.—Some of the Long Island growers were 
reported last season as spraying their fields from eight 
to 10 times. These fields were green and growing 
August 20, while upsprayed fields had been dead two 
weeks. Yield was good, with little rot. 
