1905. 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
439 
A WOMAN'S FARM NOTES. 
The Use of Dynamite 
Our potato patch this year we selected as being good 
land for the purpose and free from rocks. To be sure, 
there were a few in sight, and these we decided to have 
dug around and pulled out. If the piece yields potatoes 
as well as it yielded rocks in proportion to our expecta¬ 
tions, we shall be well pleased. In a piece 20 by 200 
feet there were 25 stones, 23 of which a two-horse team 
can handle. The other two had to be blasted. To blast 
them it cost just 19 cents for the dynamite, fuse and 
caps. The rocks were drilled from four to six inches 
deep, and the holes were about an inch in diameter. 
It needs good judgment to place the holes to the best 
advantage. One must remember that the force of the 
explosive is expended more sidewise than downward, so 
the hole should come as near the center of the rock as 
possible. It is better to have some one of experience 
to handle dynamite, but if the novice must do it, let 
him be sure to remember certain things in order to avoid 
accidents. The dynamite is exploded by concussion, so 
care must be used in handling it. In pressing it into 
the hole use a wooden stick, not metal, and work it in 
gently. Freezing spoils it, and it works better in warm 
weather, so when possible select a warm day in which 
to use it. The caps, or detonators, are fully as dan¬ 
gerous to handle as the dynamite. We read in the 
paper to-night of a boy who had several in his pocket 
and happened to slap his hand against it, when they 
exploded, injuring him severely. If they must be kept 
on hand, let them be packed in sawdust or tissue paper 
and kept well out of reach of children. 
Be sure to have good fuse. We had some once that 
was “kinked” and twisted, and it made a great deal of 
trouble. To have a blast fail 
to go off gives one a sicken¬ 
ing feeling. It is far from 
pleasant to go back to it and 
have to dig out the charge 
and begin over again. The 
fuse must be kept dry, and if 
the hole in the rock has been 
drilled some time it should be 
wiped out with rags so as to 
have it perfectly free from 
all moisture. A foot and 
a half of fuse is a good length 
to use. The end of it is put 
into the cap, reaching to the 
bottom of it, then the upper 
edge of the cap is dented 
carefully with a knife, laying 
the cap on the stone or a 
piece of wood and pressing 
the edges of the cap to¬ 
gether, so it will not dn p 
off the fuse. This is put in 
the hole, the cap resting on 
the bottom. Then the paper 
is peeled off the dynamite and 
it is cut in small pieces, and 
these are pressed in around 
the fuse, which should be 
against one side of the hole 
and not come out of the middle of the dynamite. Some¬ 
times a little dynamite is put in the bottom of the hole 
before the cap and fuse are put in. One can try both 
ways and decide for himself which is the better. 
for a six-inch hole we used about a fourth of a half- 
pound of GO-per-cent dynamite. After it is pressed 
down firmly, tamp the hole with bits of sod or dry 
grass, lay a stone - over the hole, and light the fuse, then 
run to the nearest shelter. If it is important to keep the 
pieces from flying, cover with brush or logs. Snarled- 
up wire is good, but should be weighted down. The 
heavier the charge the more the pieces are apt to fly. 
The rocks we blasted in the potato patch broke cleanly 
in three pieces with hardly any small fragments, while 
a charge in a rock in another field broke the top into 
hundreds of pieces and did not split the main part at all. 
This difference, however, was not caused by a differ¬ 
ence in the charge, but in the placing of the holes, and 
in the hard, close grain of the rock in one case, and the 
coarse, crumbly texture of the other. It is a good plan 
to dig the earth away about the rock that is to be 
blasted. Not only will this simplify the labor of getting 
the pieces out afterward, but the blast will be more 
effective if the resistance of the surrounding earth is 
removed. With some people, the use of d. namite inva¬ 
riably brings on severe headache. Some think this is 
caused by handling the stuff, and some think it is the 
smell of the smoke. In any case, it is a good plan not 
to touch the dynamite except with gloves on the hands, 
and not to go to examine the result >f the blast till the 
smoke has cleared away. Those who are accustomed 
to using dynamite, handle it without fear and with what 
seems like recklessness, but it is well that the novice 
should have a wholesome fear of its terrible power, 
that he may handle it with the greatest care. 
SUSAN BROWN ROBBINS. 
WATER TANK FOR A SILO. 
I have a small place keeping three or four cows, and 
do not wish to go to the expense of a silo and of buying 
a gas engine and silage cutter. 1 keep two men, an.d 
they have the time, so labor is no consideration. I can 
buy here in Baltimore at a very moderate price a water 
tank 6 x 12 feet. Could I buy this tank and use a hand 
power cutter that costs about $20 and cut up my regular 
field corn and put it green in the tank? Would it keep, 
and would a hand cutter cut the corn line enough? How 
many tons would the tank hold? u. g. h. 
Baltimore, Md. 
The Silage Will Keep. 
By hard packing this tank would hold about V/ 2 tons. 
There is no doubt that the corn would keep as well as 
in a larger silo. The hand cutter would cut it fine, and 
if the labor is of no account go ahead. Use the finest 
cut; pack tight. I want to congratulate this man; with 
surplus labor he should make things hum. h. e. cook. 
It Will Be a Plaything. 
If cost of labor is no consideration a silo 12 feet high 
and six feet in diameter will be practical. If the silage 
is cut by a man power cutter charge the labor required 
against the silage, and it will be a high-priced feed. 
This tank will hold a little over 600 bushels, enough to 
feed four cows 2'/ months. Silage will keep cut at 
almost any length, but the finer it is cut the more the 
silo will hold. You can keep silage in a gallon jar if 
you put pressure enough on it to keep out the air. No 
silo less than 20 feet deep will keep without great loss 
unless pressure of some kind is put on the top. A 
6 x 12 silo should have a board cover made to slip 
inside the tank, and at least two tons of earth or stone 
placed on it, or should be weighted with a log as the 
old-time cider presses were made (see Fig. 182). The 
principle of keeping silage and canning corn is the 
same. The green corn cut into the silo heats up and 
drives out the air. The weight of silage in a silo 20 or 
more feet high pressing down fills up all space taken 
by the air, and makes the mass airtight. It is much 
cheaper to build a silo high enough to supply its own 
pressure, and employ a 12-horse-power engine to ele¬ 
vate the silage, than to use any other weight. There¬ 
fore your correspondent’s silo 6 x 12 filled by man 
power will be a plaything and not a paying investment. 
Maryland. john h. janney. 
A Hillside Pit Better. 
If the tank is six feet high and 12 feet across it cer¬ 
tainly will be unsuitable. Presuming that it is 12 feet 
high and six feet across it would contain 339 cubic feet. 
Ordinarily a cubic foot of silage weighs 40 pounds. In 
so small a silo it might not weigh over 35 pounds. 
Such a tank would hold about six tons of silage. This 
would keep three cows 100 days, they eating 40 pounds 
daily, which is as much as is generally fed. The silo 
could be refilled as it settled, so that when finished it 
would be full to the top. Then it might hold a ton 
more. This tank can be sunk in the ground, and keep 
the contents as well as a larger silo. If left above 
ground, unless it is absolutely airtight and well sealed 
on top, there would be a large proportion of loss. In 
any case, it would lie unhandy to get the last half of 
the silage out. Tf the questioner will dig a four-sided 
pit on a hillside large enough to hold what silage he 
will need, as computed above, he can then gain access 
to it from the end, and take out all the contents with 
ease. Line this pit up with rough lumber. The earth 
will do the rest. Unless he can buy the tank very cheap 
this will be much better, and he can afford to renew 
the boards every four or five years if need be. It will 
be necessary to brace it across when empty in the 
Summer, so that it will not cave in. This pit must 
be in porous soil, where the water does not stand. 
When full, grass or weeds can be put on the top, and 
the earth from the pit piled on top, which will both 
press it down and seal it. I know whereof I speak, for 
I have kept wet brewers’ grains in such pits many 
times. My first experimental silo was just such a one, 
and I have never had silage keep better than in that. 
A hogshead sunk in the ground is the smallest in 
actual use I know of. If time and expense of 
hand filling is no object (and I am not sure that hand 
labor for the writer, all things considered, would be an 
extra expense) it will be perfectly practical to cut by 
hand as suggested. By having the silo in the earth 
the cutter can be on the top, and the corn will drop in 
without effort. It should then be thoroughly tramped. 
Let the corn come almost to the glazing state before 
cutting. There is n^ particular necessity of cutting the 
corn so fine, except to have it pack tighter. An inch is 
a good length, and a good $20 machine will cut that. 
EDWARD VAN ALSTYNE. 
The proposition as to silaging by hand-power cutter 
in tank six feet in diameter and 12 feet in depth is 
feasible, though it would not prove profitable. The tank 
would hold approximately four tons, and if well packed 
the silage should keep. A silo 10 x 25 is as small as 
would be likely to be profitable, and it must be filled 
by engine or horse power. e. h. Bancroft. 
NEW PROCESS ” LIME FOR BORDEAUX. 
I was much interested in Prof. Slingerlar.d’s article, 
page 391, upon the new process limes for making Bor¬ 
deaux Mixtures. A reading of his article might lead one 
to think that Prof. Slinger- 
land would recommend the 
new process limes for general 
use above the best brands of 
stone lime. I believe that it 
is a mistake to recommend 
these limes for Bordeaux 
spraying; it is harder to tell if 
the lime is fresh when in the 
ground or “water-slaked dry” 
state except by test that most 
fruit growers will not take 
the trouble to make, whereas 
the stone lime is always fresh 
enough for practical purposes 
if a lalge proportion is in the 
lump and not air-slaked, and 
will keep indefinitely if slaked 
and kept under water. The 
hydrated or “water-slaked 
dry” referred to cannot be 
more than about two-thirds 
as effective (pound for 
pound) as good stone lime 
for the work of neutralizing 
the copper sulphate when 
making Bordeaux Mixture. 
I have seen these new 
process limes as sold com¬ 
mercially used for lime-sul¬ 
phur washes and Bordeaux Mixtures, and have seen only 
a small proportion of what I would call good mixtures 
made where said limes were used. Good brands of stone 
limes gave uniformly good results. There is, however, a 
great difference in lime stones. The Ohio white limes 
and Massachusetts white limes are among the best for 
spraying purposes; local limes of Erie and Niagara 
Counties are poor, having a large proportion of grit 
or foreign matter. 
Prof. Slingerland also says that a good Bordeaux 
Mixture cannot be made unless the lime,and copper 
sulphate are both very much diluted before they are 
combined. It is not always convenient to dilute both; 
a mixture nearly if not quite as good can be made if 
the lime is very much diluted and a concentrated solu¬ 
tion of copper sulphate added, mixture being stirred 
when addition is made. Reverse the operation and add 
concentrated lime to dilute copper sulphate and a very 
poor mixture results. I also notice that the most 
practical and most observant fruit growers are gener¬ 
ally using an ekeess of lime. Too much reliance on 
the ferro-cyanide test has often resulted in the russet- 
ing fruit, and an excess of lime rather than a mini¬ 
mum quantity is wanted. b. D. van buren. 
WASHING AWAY OF FERTILIZER. 
I broadcast high-grade fertilizer on freshly plowed, 
nearly level loamy land. A heavy rainstorm came be¬ 
fore I could harrow. What is the probable loss of fer¬ 
tilizing material through exposure to air and moisture? 
Arlington Heights, Mass. l. f. s. 
There will be little, if any, loss if the soil was har¬ 
rowed and planted as soon as possible after the rain. 
On hilly land some of the plant food might have been 
washed away, but on such soil as you mention the loss 
is very slight. 
A NORTHERN MICHIGAN CORNFIELD. Fig. 185. 
