758 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 31, 
as any of the others, and bears every season. But the 
apples are inferior in size, and would have to be heavily 
thinned to produce fruit of No. 1 quality as we put it 
up; yet the tree has proved very profitable. Either 
from the large setting of fruit or effect of stock many 
have a crab appie look, and ripen up fruit from ]'/ to 
2 / inches in diameter, fair and fine color. Perhaps 
one-quarter of the fruit might exceed 2/‘ inches, but 
they will average only medium in size. The Gravenstein 
limbs at present are from one to two inches larger in 
diameter than the crab limbs below the grafts. How 
long it will continue to bear the immense crop it has 
for the last four ‘■easons I cannot say, but I am certain 
it will prove shorter-lived than the others. It would 
be interesting to try a shy bearer under the same con¬ 
ditions. For the man who wishes fruit as soon as 
possible and on small or medium-sized trees, there are 
possibilities in top-working at present little understood. 
Possibly some experiment station may take it up after 
some practical grower has proved its possibilities. 
Massachusetts. _ h. o. mead. 
DODDER IN A CLOVER FIELD. 
In going through my clover (which was sown last Spring) 
I noticed a very yellow, fast-growing plant. It is a vine 
without leaves; it has clusters of whitish flowers, which 
are, 1 suppose, its seed-producing places. Patches are 10 
feet in diameter in places. Is it dodder? Would 1 better 
plow under my splendid stand of clover to try to kill this 
plant, or let it stand as it is? I suppose I got it last 
Spring, as it is only to be found, on the land that I sowed 
to clover last Spring: I have never seen anything like it 
before. Is it harmful to stock? I was calculating to turn 
into the clover this week ; the clover is rank in growth, a 
great deal of it out in blossom, and about 16 acres of it. 
I hate to plow it under, as I need the prospective hay: 
neither have we the time to spend in plowing it under. The 
vine grows thick and fast around the clover stalks. Can 
you tell me if I let it go to seed will its seeds lie dormant 
in the land from one year to another, or when the land 
is plowed will that he the last of it? j. a. u. 
Skaneateles. N. Y. 
Without doubt this is dodder. If the field is quite 
thoroughly infested probably the best way to get rid of 
the pest is to plow' and work the land, but if the dodder 
patches occur only at intervals, and are not so numerous 
but that attention may be given to them individually, 
they may be exterminated without sacrificing the stand 
of clover. Any method by which these plants will be 
prevented from producing seed will work their destruc¬ 
tion at that point, as the vines do not live through the 
Winter. '1 bis may be accomplished by frequent, very 
close mowing and the raking off and destroying of the 
cuttings if the plants were approaching seed time. As 
dodder does not usually seed till rather late in 
the season, ordinarily no seeds are produced before 
the first cutting of the clover in the case of meadow lan ’, 
but if the second cutting is delayed frequently seed will 
be matured. Effort has been made to destroy the dod¬ 
der in these patches by some sort of chemical spray, but 
without great success. Often the parts of dodder that 
are touched by the spray will be destroyed, but almost 
invariably little coils of dodder about the clover or 
Alfalfa plant will remain, and these are sufficient for a 
new grow'th to be started, so that the result of the spray¬ 
ing is not a complete destruction of the pest. About 
the most satisfactory method for handling these patches 
is to mow close to the ground, and when the cutting is 
dry pile on to this patch six or 12 inches of straw and 
burn it over. The heat will be sufficient to kill all the 
dodder that may not have been cut off in the mowing, 
and also any seed that may have matured and fallen on 
the surface of the ground. Usually this burning will 
result in the destruction of the clover or Alfalfa on this 
area. As it prevents the further spread of the dodder 
and the clover can be reseeded at these spots it is a 
fairly satisfactory method of getting rid of the pest. 
There probably is no danger to stock from pasturing 
on dodder affected fields, nor is there any published data 
as to the vitality of the dodder seeds when retained in 
the soil. It is probable that a rotation of tilled crops 
will result in the destruction of the dodder seeds that 
may chance to have matured on the land. 
[Prof.] j. L. STONE. 
INFORMATION ABOUT GREENHOUSES. 
I desire a little information in regard to heating a green¬ 
house by hot water. I wish to use two flow' pipes, one 
three-inch and the other two-inch. IIow many lines of two- 
inch return pipe, each line 100 feet long, would supply the 
three-inch flow? IIow many lines of two-incli pipe same 
length as above would the two-inch flow supply? How 
much fall in 100 feet should the flow' pipes have to work 
well? Should each flow' be connected with the expansion 
tank? Would it do to connect one flow' with tank, and place 
a small pipe at highest point of other flow for escape of 
air? Would it do to connect the returns from both flow 
pipes and return to boiler in one three-inch pipe? 
Dongola. Ill. M. L. b. 
One three-inch main flow pipe would supply three 
lines of two-inch pipe satisfactorily, provided that a 
boiler of sufficient heating capacity be used. A two- 
inch main ought not to be depended upon to supply 
more than two lines of two-inch pipe. It is under¬ 
stood from the following question that the open circu¬ 
lation system of heating is contemplated, and in that 
case it is best to allow a fall of one foot to 100, but 
where the pressure system is used, a fall of eight inches 
lo 100 feet is ample. The best location for the expan¬ 
sion tank would be on ihe main near to the boiler, and 
then to place a small pipe at the highest point on each 
run of piping for the escape of air. If the boiler has a 
return inlet on each side it would be better to connect 
STRAWBERRY BREEDING PEN AT HOPE' FARM. Fig. 
322. See Hope Farm Notes, Page 763. 
the two returns independently to the opposite sides of 
the boiler, from tbe fact that if both lines of piping run 
into one three-inch pipe, and thence into the boiler, it 
would have a tendency to choke the circulation at the 
point where the least friction is desired, the rapidity of 
the circulation depending largely upon the freedom with 
which the heavier cold water may pass into the boiler 
at the bottom, and thus force out the hot water from 
the top. 
I have a greenhouse 22 x 100. I have run it three years, 
and the benches are rotten and tumbling down. IIow would 
it do if I take out the benches and plant crop on ground, 
and have no benches? 1 grow lettuce, cauliflower and cu¬ 
cumbers. Lettuce has always done well, and cauliflower 
fairly well; cucumbers never did well. Sides of house art 
four feet from the ground ; gable about 10 feet. Roof lias 
about five feet pitch. . it. m. 
Three years is the average limit of usefulness for a 
wooden bench in a greenhouse, and it would doubtless 
be more satisfactory and economical in the long run to 
use solid beds on the ground for these crops, with the 
possible exception of the cucumbers, though these are 
grown in the solid beds, following lettuce, by the big 
New England growers, who give hotbed conditions at 
NEW ENGLAND OXEN ON THE ROLLER. Fig. 323. 
the roots, and a tropical temperature overhead. I f 
there is no glass in the sides of the greenhouse, it may 
not be the best method for the cucumbers to be grown 
in solid beds so far from the roof, but lettuce and cauli¬ 
flower ought to grow better upon the solid bed than 
on the benches. The solid beds may be raised above the 
floor level by surrounding them with a concrete wall 
to the required height, for example, a wall one foot high 
above the ground, and four inches thick, would make 
a permanent job and be comparatively inexpensive. 
W. H. TAPLIN. £ 
Sst. 
HANDLING QUACK ROOTS. 
There is just one best way to dispose of them. It is 
to take them all out of the ground the easiest way that 
you c?n with plow, cultivators, and harrows, with a team 
to"handle them; bring the roots to the top of the ground 
in dry weather, draw them off and rot them or burn 
them when dry, as they will make good ashes. Quack 
roots arc found within four inches from the top of the 
ground, so you need to plow but four of five inches 
deep, having but little dirt to handle; then cultivate to 
loosen the roots in dry weather, harrow and haul them 
together in rows or heaps, then haul them off. Do this 
several times during the Summer, and the roots will not 
bother you again for years until you draw more quack 
seed from the manure pile or with hay or grain. You 
will lose the use of the land one season beside some 
labor, but your land is now ready for a crop of wheat 
or rye, or Spring grain, potatoes, cabbage or corn. Hav¬ 
ing practiced this kind of treatment for a long lifetime 
I know it to be a sure remedy, and much better than 
to keep along raising from one-half to one-quarter of 
a crop each year, and perhaps much hand hoeing thrown 
in for beans, potatoes and corn. Some advocate deep 
covering with the plow to get rid of quack roots; I have 
never known the roots covered so deep and thoroughly 
that multitudes of ends would not be left near the top 
of the ground to live and prosper, as must be the case 
by any common method of plowing; as a rule, the more 
the ground is plowed the more they multiply and thrive 
unless taken out. Quack can be killed when not too 
heavily stocked with roots by planting early potatoes. 
If sod ground plow in the Fall,'to get the sod more 
thoroughly decayed before Spring, plow not more than 
five inches deep, cultivate all the roots out you can be¬ 
fore planting; row the potatoes both ways, cultivate 
and hoe all Summer, don't let the quack-grass grow at 
all or any weeds. Dig with a potato digger; don’t plow 
the ground after digging, but cultivate and drag all the 
remaining roots out and take them off; your land will be 
in fine condition for sowing to wheat or rye or to use 
for Spring crops. Nothing better than potatoes to pre¬ 
cede wheat. R. C. TROWBRIDGE. 
Onondaga Co., N. Y. 
WORKING OUT A ROTATION. 
A reader in Wisconsin has sent us the following- question 
in regard to figuring out a crop rotation for an 80-acre 
farm : “Will some of your practical farmers figure out a 
proper crop rotation for a series of years, say five years, on 
new land, the first crop to he as follows and the average 
80 acres? Clover, 30 acres: potatoes, 20 acres; wheat, 20 
acres; corn, 10 acres: the same average of crops to he 
planted each year." How would you arrange a farm of this 
kind? 
I would turn under the clover either in the Fall, and 
disk thoroughly in the Spring, or turn it under in the 
Spring near the first of June, after it has made consid¬ 
erable growth, and plant immediately to corn and pota¬ 
toes; then follow these crops with wheat and seed to 
clover, always putting all the manure possible on the 
clover before turning under. The more clover you turn 
under with it the better. daniel porter. 
Sauk Co., Wis. 
The unknown quantities in this proposition are numer¬ 
ous. As nothing is said about live stock or pasture we 
will have to guess there isn’t any. The arrange¬ 
ment as presented for the first year stands 30 acres 
mowed; 30 acres hoed; 20 acres sowed. Now, if in¬ 
quirer means that lie wishes to maintain a somewhat 
similar division, without live stock, let him cut the farm 
into three equal parts; then, following the same ar¬ 
rangement, and sowing clover in the wheat, w,e have 
this three-year rotation: 26 acres clover; 26 acres corn 
and potatoes; 26 acres wheat. But if he wants a 
longer rotation without live stock 20 acres each of 
clover, corn, potatoes and wheat give a four-year rota¬ 
tion that ought to be satisfactory for a few years on 
new land. In this, the southern part of the State, it is 
customary to sow Timothy with the clover, making a 
longer-lived meadow, and one which may be pastured 
for several years if desirable. I would keep some live 
stock and pasture 15 acres of the meadow. Then the 
clover hay, cornstalks and wheat straw would be turned 
into dollars and manure, the latter to be turned under 
with the clover sod when plowing for corn. After sev¬ 
eral years’ experience in growing potatoes on a large 
scale, I can say that on the average soil in this, Wal¬ 
worth County, the potatoes should follow the corn. 
With the disk or cultivator a very good seed bed can 
be made for the wheat on the potato ground without 
plowing. By seeding to Timothy and clover in the 
wheat a very good meadow for either mowing or pas¬ 
ture would be secured. I would want to seed down, 
fence and pasture for a few years a field convenient to 
the buildings and water supply, during which time it 
would be cut out of the rotation. Then it should be 
plowed up and cropped in rotation, the pasture being 
shifted to another nearby field. After allowing about 
five acres for buildings, yards, feed lots, etc., we have 
five 15-acre tracts, one of which is pastured and the 
other four cropped in rotation. This makes a four-year 
arrangement with very nice-sized fields for the crops 
stated. Such a plan, in general, is what I would recom¬ 
mend, and it is what I would try to follow if I were 
raising potatoes so largely. c. M. topping, 
Wisconsin, 
