i8 
Tilli RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Jan iiarj' 13, 
ings, to the other. This about equally divides the 
loose soil on each side of the ditch. I he edge of this 
thrown-out soil should be within about six inches of 
the sides of the ditch. Then by using one horse and 
plow, with clevis thrown to side of beam next to ditch, 
and walking the horse on the ridge of soil thrown out 
by one or two rounds, the ditch can be filled up so 
that two horses can be used to finish. The trouble in 
using two horses and a long doubletree at the start, 
lies in the fact that one of them is almost sure to be a 
fool about an open ditch. One of a team can usually 
be used without trouble with the plow at the start, and 
will not scare and flounder about, if a slip or fall is 
made into the ditch. This way two men can do the 
work, one to lead the horse, and the other to hold the 
plow, while with two horses, one of them scary, it 
will require three men to handle them or else a lot of 
trouble to spread the lines or make a long jockey-stick. 
A most necessary point to make all this work a suc¬ 
cess is to have a good outlet, and then keep it open and 
clean, and in laying out a system of tile drains, always 
plan to have as few outlets as possible. An increased 
amount of tile to secure this, is often cheaper than to 
have more numerous outlets. John m. jamison. 
AN ORCHARD BRUSH BURNER. 
When 1 was in southern Oregon not long ago I saw 
what was to me a new implement. It was a home¬ 
made affair that was the outgrowth of the necessity for 
getting rid of orchard primings. 11. F. Meader, of 
Jackson C’o.. Oregon, who is an up-to-date orchardist, 
conceived the plan of building a portable brush burner, 
in which the refuse left after pruning could be got rid 
- of without the trouble of hauling it out of the orchards, 
lie made a frame or running gear of four poles about 
six inches in diameter, using two for axletrees, about 
seven feet long and on top of these two others about 
ten feet long were bolted near the ends, forming a 
rectangle. To the under side of one was fastened 
a round iron rod, whose projecting ends were used as 
spindles for two old farm implement wheels about a 
foot in diameter. These wheels were held in place by 
linchpins that were put through holes made in the ends 
of the spindles, at the blacksmith shop on the farm. 
The burner proper was a huge iron basket or crate, 
about six by 10 feet on the bottom by two feet deep, 
made of old wagon tires riveted together. The meshes 
of this crate were nearly a foot in diameter, which was 
sufficiently close to hold the brush. The bottom was 
covered with old sheet iron scraps to keep the coals 
from falling through and thus hold the fire. On one 
end, which was the front, and next where the team was 
to be hitched, it was sided up to the top with sheet 
iron, to prevent too much radiation of heat in that di¬ 
rection. Chains or iron rods were fastened to the 
front end and extended about 10 feet forward to put 
the team a proper distance from the fire. This crude 
apparatus, made on the farm out of old scraps, served 
a most excellent purpose. It was taken into the orchard 
where the brush was on the ground; a fire kindled in 
it. and as the brush was piled on and consumed it was 
dragged forward and more brush added, until one row 
after the other was burnt and out of the way. Mr. 
Meader told me that some of his neighbors made fun 
of it. and thought it was not practical, but a few bor¬ 
rowed it of him, and now there are several in the 
vicinity. 
When 1 first saw the burner near a tool shed T did 
not instantly catch the idea of its use, but only a word 
was necessary to convey the thought of its saving of 
time and labor. It is inexpensive to make and thor¬ 
oughly practical in use. It may be that other brush 
burners have been made, but Mr. Meader said he had 
never heard of one and invented his as an expedient to 
save time and trouble. I he idea is one of the best that 
1 have met in many years, and deserves to be put into 
practice all over the country, where orchards exist. To 
get rid of the primings in such an easy way is a great 
saving, for they are troublesome and bulky. It costs a 
good deal to handle them once, especially to load them 
on a wagon or sled, haul them to some distant place 
and then make a bonfire of them; but when they can 
be put on a movable fire, little by little and got rid of 
in a short time, once for all, it is a great economy of 
time and labor. 
I here might be some improvements added to the 
crude implement, as described, such as an iron running 
gear, although this is not important, for the fire had 
not burnt the wooden frame. However, if there was 
an iron frame the bottom could be left partially open, 
that there might be better access of air from below, 
to cause quicker burning and allow the ashes to drop 
through readily. I he top should be larger than the 
bottom, so the brush would go in easily. Four wheels 
would be better than two; for they would lessen the 
draft on the team. It is not desirable to build a very 
large fire, for fear of scorching the trees on either side 
and making it uncomfortable for the men and team in 
attendance. Two men, or perhaps one. would be enough 
to gather and burn the brush, and one horse might pull 
the burner on four wheels. There is lying about almost 
every farm some material, such as old iron wheels, 
axles, wagon and buggy tires, that might be made into 
one of these handy brush burners, with the aid of a 
blacksmith and at little expense, provided there is no 
forge on the farm to lessen the cost still more. The 
frame should not be weak, or it might heat and sag to 
A GROUP OF TRIPLET SILOS. Fig. 10. 
the ground. Let there be hundreds of these brush 
burners made without delay by our orchardists and put 
to use. Several neighbors might own and use one to¬ 
gether. I his will turn the brush into ashes and spread 
them in the orchards, where they should be. and save 
about half the expense of getting rid of the brush. 
'1 his convenient vehicle is shown in Fig. 12. 
H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
EXPERIENCE WITH ALFALFA IN INDIANA. 
The past season here seems to have been quite to the 
liking of Alfalfa, as well as of most other farm crops. 
In fact, as this crop becomes better understood, the 
conditions essential to its success do not appear to be 
more mysterious than those we find necessary to prod¬ 
uce a good crop of corn or potatoes. During the past 
Season 1 have taken five crops of hay from a field 
of Alfalfa that has stood for six years. A field near 
by, sown in May, 1904, also yielded five cuttings, and 
made as fine a growth as 1 have ever seen in the irri¬ 
gated sections of the West. Neither of these pieces 
mentioned has been inoculated. While some evidence 
of the bacteria is present, the nodules are found only 
in a very small per cent of the plants. It would seem 
that inoculation could not have been any advantage on 
these soils. Another field, sown in August, 1904, seed 
inoculated with Government bacteria, yielded three 
cuttings the past season. Part of this field consists 
of loose black loam. Here the growth has been strong¬ 
est, but it shows little evidence of inoculation. Other 
“THEY LICKED THE PLATTER CLEAN.” Fig. 11. 
parts of this field are composed of a thin clay soil. 
Here the nodules on the roots are more in evidence, but 
the growth of hay was very light. In fact, I believe 
the difference in the hay crop between the stronger and 
the poorer soils is more marked than was the case 
in the preceding corn crop. 
Last Spring the writer plowed under one-half acre 
of five-vear-old Alfalfa sod, and planted the ground 
to sweet corn. Where manure was applied to this at 
the rate of 10 loads per acre it yielded a fair crop of 
corn, but not better than it usually produced before 
being seeded to Alfalfa. Where no manure was used 
the corn made quite a dwarf growth, and the blades 
w'ere of a paler color, indicating that the soil was in 
a poorer condition for a corn crop than before the Al¬ 
falfa was grown on it. That the hay crop has shown 
no need of a surface application of manure was doubt¬ 
less due to its habit of digging down and taking up 
the plant food from the first 10 feet of soil, instead of 
confining itself to the upper 10 inches of surface soil, 
as is the case with the corn roots. Surely a field where 
Alfalfa has long been grown would be a sterile soil for 
any other crop to root for a living. Another, difficulty 
1 had the past season was in getting the Alfalfa killed 
out after being plowed under, as it sprouts badly from 
the crown, even when covered with three or four inches 
of dirt. After working this patch over a half-dozen or 
more times with an Acme harrow, then cultivating the 
corn till August with a plow and hoc, there is still 
enough Alfalfa left to make a pretty fair Winter cov¬ 
ering for the ground. f. m. 
Indiana. ■ _ 
COLD STORAGE ROOM IN ICEHOUSE. 
I noticed on page 894 an inquiry as to the advisability 
of building a cold storage room in the corner of an ice¬ 
house. To build as proposed by J. A. N. will prove 
very unsatisfactory; if cemented it may work all right, 
as long as the ice remains on top. The ice will melt 
away from the sides early in the season, and unless pro¬ 
tected will cause unnecessary waste. When it has melted 
from the top it will have to be replenished and pro¬ 
tected. To get the best results from a refrigerator the 
air must circulate through the ice. To get the best 
results from an icehouse the air must be excluded from 
the ice: there should be a ventilator in the roof of the 
icehouse, but none in the refrigerator. I think J. A. N. 
wil find it more satisfactory to build an ice box in the 
storage room; use about one-third of the room for the 
box, either across the uppep part of the back end or have 
it on top of the room. Have the air space at top of 
icebox 10 inches wide, the length of box and six-inch 
space at the bottom. This refers to the box inside a 
tight sealed room. By keeping it well filled it will in¬ 
sure an even temperature. s. c. B. 
Massachusetts. _ 
“COLD STORAGE” FOR BEES. 
Last year we found the following note going the 
rounds of the papers: 
A new use has Been found for cold storage on Hie 
farm, which Is of inlerest: to nil those who raise lines. 
About December 1 1*. 1). Jones, of Mt. Morris, N. Y„ puts 
his bees in cold storage to prevent loss by Winter swarm¬ 
ing. The hives are placed in tiers, one above (lie other 
in ills cold store, and lie says that tills method has given 
better results than lie ever had before attained in 50 years 
of the keeping of bees. Mr. .Tones obtains about 5,000 
pounds of honey every year on an average, the highest 
figure having been 15.000 pounds, lie also has a large 
quantity of beeswax from his apiary. 
This was such a remarkable statement that we wrote 
Mr. Jones about it. Mr. Jones says that the item 
started in his local paper correctly, and has gone to 
England and back. Each time it has been printed some 
sense has been cut out “until there is not much left." 
Mr. Jones gives the facts about his method, and says: 
“If I should go to my bee yard and find my bees 
swarming with snow on the ground, I should expect 
the last day was near at hand. The building I use for 
wintering bees was built for storing grapes late in the 
season. I planned it so that the grapes would not freeze, 
and have an even temperature. Some of my help gave 
it the name of cold storage. My bees consume the 
least food of any way that I have ever tried, and I have 
tried a good many in the 58 years that I have handled 
bees. My building is 16 x 24 feet, eight feet to ceiling. 
It is built on dry ground, no standing water anywhere 
near. I dug a trench about 8 or 10 inches deep and 
filled with flat stone even with the surface of the 
ground. The sills were 10 by 12 inches, then studding 
2 x 4 set even with outside of sill, boarded and bat¬ 
tened; on inside ceiled up and papered with building 
paper; another set of studding 4 inches thick, ceiled 
with matched flooring and filled in with sawdust as fast 
as ceiled; 2x8 joist overhead and ceiled the same 
as sides. Sawdust was put on top as high as thick¬ 
ness of joists, a good shingled roof and paint; entrance 
closed with two doors, one opens in and the other out, 
no windows; a small ventilator near ceiling at one end. 
Dry dirt was drawn for floor, filled to top of sills, 
carefully put in and made smooth. It has never been 
the least bit damp. The coldest that T ever observed 
inside was 30 above zero, and then it was about 20 
below outside, and 1 never knew it that low but once. 
With 200 colonies inside the thermometer indicates 
from 40 to 50 degrees. I put my bees in the first 
of December and take out the first of April (if late 
Spring) ; if warm, sooner. There are no losses in 
Winter unless queenless when taken out. 
Keep the granary door closed and look sharp for mouse 
holes. It is a had job to catch one of these little pests 
when he gets in. 
