1905. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
455 
HOW THE FARM WOMEN HELP. 
The pictures on the first page show what happens 
during harvest on some farms. One shows a West 
Virginia family stacking oats. This is a job that must 
be clone just when the work is ready, and all hands 
have turned out prepared to do their share. The other 
scheme is described by our friend, H. L. Detweiler, of 
Chester Co., Pa. 
“The Madame in the picture does not object to lead¬ 
ing the trusty horse in haying time, and it helps us 
very much. It can readily be seen the picture is a ‘snap 
exposure’ by my own camera. The building in the 
foreground shows one side of our double corn crib, 
and shows what two young farmers with necessary in¬ 
genuity and proper tools may build. We built it en¬ 
tirely ourselves, including the masonry walls beneath. 
Much of the lumber we had seasoning for two years. 
We can unload cither outside, or by driving in. At the 
time this was taken, it was not finished. This will be 
the Winter quarters of our 12 horse-power gasoline en¬ 
gine, and our feed grinder will be under the adjoining 
building, hence all our grinding will be handily done.” 
EXTRA HAND POWER ON A PUMP. 
In answer to N. J. IT., New York, who, in your col¬ 
umn headed “Want to Know,” page 416, asks for sug¬ 
gestions on rigging a hand attachment for a pump, I 
send the following: He states that his pump has a 
six-inch cylinder which allows for a movement of six 
inches up and down on the pump rod. T have assumed 
that he means six inches total movement, or three 
inches up and three inches down from a normal position. 
In other words, a six-inch stroke. If this is not the 
case, the sketch I send will not do, as it is dimensioned 
for a six-inch stroke pump, and a movement of a 
foot either way from the vertical on the top of the 
lever where you grasp it to pump. Now, by way of ex¬ 
planation of the sketch, Fig. 191, it illustrates my sug¬ 
gestion of building a small platfown (say 5x3 feet) 
over the pump, on which to stand when working it, and 
to push and pull on the vertical lever, which moves 
through an arc of two feet. It is possible to get much 
more power this way without getting so tired, especially 
as the pump is double action, and would, with an up 
and down motion soon put a “crook in the back.” If 
your correspondent feels that he would like to rig up a 
hbrse-power pump, I would gladly sketch him out a 
suggestion. j. w. j. 
Roxborough, Pa;_ 
THE VALUE OF AN ORCHARD TREE. 
A few years ago a prominent fruit grower of Mis¬ 
souri told me that he had adjusted a good many claims 
against the K. C., Fort Scott and Memphis Railroad 
for fruit trees destroyed by fire. They had adopted a 
schedule of values which seemed to be fair, and which 
was acceptable to both the growers and the railway 
company. It was $1 for a tree one year planted, $2 
for a two-year-old, $3 for a three-year-old, and so on 
up to 10 years, when a tree was assumed to have 
reached full bearing. Trees 10 years or over were 
valued at $10. At this valuation, orchards of 60 to 
100 trees to the acre, as they are planted here, would 
be worth $600 to $1,000 per acre, a price very much 
above what the best of them would bring. There are 
values, however, aside from the commercial value, which 
most property possesses. No one wants a ragged or¬ 
chard, and while most growers would be glad to sell their 
orchards at the rate of $10 per tree, I think very few 
would be willing to have trees destroyed here and 
there, even at that price. But viewed from a commer¬ 
cial standpoint, $10 is not such a large price for a 
thrifty tree in full bearing. It need produce only an 
average of two bushels annually to pay an interest of 
from eight to 20 per cent on that valuation, so I think 
my Missouri friend’s schedule is not too high, and is 
probably as near justice to both parties as can be ob¬ 
tained. w. D. CELLAR. 
Kansas. _ 
AN EXCELLENT CONNECTICUT SILO. 
After all that has been said and written in favor of 
silos and how to build them, at almost every farmers’ 
institute there are inquiries about them. I am still of 
the opinion, after 14 or 15 years with them, that a dairy¬ 
man who keeps 10 or more cows cannot afford to be 
without one silo or more. Its advantages, in short, are 
Summer pasturage in Winter, which is the ideal feed 
for a cow; a large amount of food from a small acre¬ 
age; comparative ease in handling the bulky, heavy corn 
crop without waste or loss; a steady, even feed that you 
can depend on for results right along. The ups and 
downs of different kinds of hay and other roughage 
are avoided. Small space stores a vast amount of food, 
and nowhere near so large a territory needs to be 
farmed to handle a given amount of stock as on the old 
hay and corn fodder plan. This last has been quite an 
item with us, as before the silo we had to cut hay on a 
lot of farms to carry our stock. Now it is all cut on 
our own farm, and we sell lots of hay besides. I know 
a good many who by the use of the silo now sell hay 
annually who before could scarce raise enough to sup¬ 
ply their own wants. Usually the silo means more 
stock, which means more fertility Returned to the farm 
annually. 
What kind of corn should wc raise? That would de¬ 
pend. If I had plenty of good tillable land I should 
raise a large-eared, large-stalked kind that would ma¬ 
ture a crop in our locality. If rough, hilly country 
where it was hard to get good plow land 1 should raise 
a variety that would grow the largest amount of fodder 
that would nearly approach maturity regardless of 
whether it had ears or not. The kind of silo I would 
build would depend on circumstances. If where brick is 
cheap 1 should build a brick silo of seconds or swelled 
brick, otherwise probably a wooden silo. 1 should 
not buy a patent or readymade silo, as l could hardly 
afford it. Usually there are several profits from the 
producer to the purchaser, and these add no value but 
only expense. We have an octagonal silo similar to 
that shown in Fig. 193 that we like very much. It is 
good, durable and economical. The framework is 2 x 6 
stuff 18 inches apart at the bottom and gradually wider 
towards the top, until about three feet there. Fig. 192 
shows how these are laid, and on the inside up and 
down is one thickness matched stuff, nothing else. Prac¬ 
tically no corners; strain equal at all points, and very 
little material required, and anyone handy with tools 
can do the job. An outside covering can be put on if 
desired for looks and durability, but is not necessary. 
MANCHESTER’S EIGHT-SIDED SILO. Em. 193. 
If I wanted a round silo I should go to a large lumber 
yard and get 2x4 or 2 x 6 stuff, and if necessary 
pay a little more to get straight, good lumber of long 
lengths. Patent doors are not necessary. Get four 
4 x 4 to put up at equal distances apart, and bore holes 
through these to hold the rods in place, and toe-nail 
each stick several times as you are building. Before 
building any kind of a silo dig down two feet deep all 
round, a ditch two feet wide, where the silo is to rest, 
and fill in with small stones or coal ashes, or sand 
and cement, so that the structure will be level and stay 
level. Get a silo anyway, and get at it early. Plant 
early and cut before frosts are expected. Don’t put it 
off another season, as you cannot afford to be without 
it. H. G. MANCHESTER. 
BEEHIVES AND OTHER INCUBATORS. 
I send you an article from the Detroit Free Press, “The 
Beehive as an Incubator.'' Have you ever heard of their 
being used for that purpose? e. o. 
Michigan. 
This article seems to have gone the rounds of the 
press. It gives a picture of an old man standing before 
an '’open beehive. Inside the hive are seen a dozen eggs 
with a cloth wrapped around them. The story tells of 
a farmer named Plenry Decker, who uses his beehive 
as an incubator. He claims that the hive hatches the 
eggs in 19 days instead of the ordinary 21. The eggs 
are said to be placed on cotton cloth, thus separating 
them from the bees. Around the sides a cushion was 
made from a quilt, or placed with another cushion over 
the edge. It is said 18 chicks were hatched out of 20 
eggs, and that this is a fair proportion of a hatch by 
this sweet incubator. This article has been sent us by 
a number of people, asking if there is really any truth 
in it, and on submitting it to the best authorities on bee 
culture, we are told that a hive of bees would certainly 
generate heat enough to hatch eggs, but that it is not 
probable that the scheme would ever be more than a 
novel experiment. The loss of this heat would injure 
the bees, and there is nothing in it to warrant serious 
thought. 
Somehow every Spring a variety of old stories come 
floating through the press. Not long ago a reader sent 
us the story of an old man with a long gray beard 
who was walking along the road when a swarm of bees 
mistook his beard for a hive. They gathered in his 
beard, but the old man walked half a mile, combed 
the bees out of his beard into a hive with his fingers, 
and thus obtained a fine swarm of bees. We are not 
prepared to say that this could not be done, although 
we do not intend to try the experiment. 
Another story generally told at this season of the 
year is the fact of an economical woman with a con¬ 
sumptive husband. This gentleman was so far gone 
with the disease that he was unable to leave his bed. 
His wife was a hard-working woman who found it 
necessary to make every edge cut. Therefore she 
packed a large number of eggs in bed around her hus¬ 
band and used him for an incubator, it being said that 
he gave an excellent hatch of 70 or 80 per cent of fer¬ 
tile eggs. The beauty of this incubator was that it 
seems in itself an ideal one by testing the eggs and 
caring for the chicks as fast as they were hatched. It 
is not likely that anyone will deny the possibility of 
hatching chicks in this way. At the same time it is 
doubtful if many of our readers care to use this form 
of incubator. _ 
FERTILITY OF THE LAND. 
Prof. Roberts in his valuable book, “The Fertility 
of the Land,” excludes lime from the list of plant foods, 
and limits its effect tov improvement of chemical and 
mechanical conditions of the soil. I notice that intelli¬ 
gent writers on the subject hasten to assure their read¬ 
ers to the same effect, apparently fearing to be regarded 
as not orthodox unless they thus clearly define their 
position in the line of authority. All agree that pot¬ 
ash, nitrogen and phosphoric acid are indispensable in¬ 
gredients of plant food, and if asked for proof of this ‘ 
would answer rightly, that analysis of plants results in 
finding these substances in their structure, and that 
plant growth is visibly increased when we supply them 
in proper condition to the soil in which the plants are 
grown. And this answer is conclusive to every un¬ 
biased mind as an absolute demonstration that each of 
these three is a plant food, though not in itself com¬ 
plete as such. Potash, phosphoric acid and lime, being 
mineral elements, are not dissipated by fire, and as to 
them, reduction of plants by fire is a sure process of 
analysis in its results, while nitrogen, being evanescent, 
: s driven off into the atmosphere. 
Prof. Roberts, on page 333 of his book referred to, 
f'ives the average of 15 analyses of wood ashes made 
by various agricultural stations to be potash 6.17 and 
phosphoric acid 1.8S, making no mention of lime, not 
because no lime was found, but leaving lime out of con¬ 
sideration in accordance with the idea that lime is not 
a plant food. But there were in all these lo f s of 
ashes thus analyzed very large quantities of lime, prob¬ 
ably not less than 33. as against the above 6.17 of pot¬ 
ash and 1.88 of phosphoric acid. An analysis of wood 
ashes made by the Massachusetts Experiment Station, 
and which is even less than a fair average sample, gives 
potash 5.46, phosphoric acid 1.36 and lime 34.10. If 
then the presence of potash and phosphoric acid in the 
ashes of plants proves these substances to be plant 
food, and it certainly does, the presence there of lime 
proves it also to be plant food, and by its much greater 
amount the most essential of the three. It ought to 
be clear, one would think, to everybody that the trees 
from which these ashes were made fed sparingly on 
potash, even less on phosphoric acid, and fairly gorged 
themselves on lime. And the conclusion seems irre¬ 
sistible that there is more of a call upon us for lime 
than for potash or phosphoric acid, in providing plant 
food for crops. woodbridge strong. 
Middlesex County, N, J. 
