38 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 20, 
produce as much milk as some seem capable of produc¬ 
ing, upon a little grain and roughage, consisting almost 
entirely of corn stover? j. i>. prickett. 
Arizona. 
UTTER AND MANURE CARRIERS. 
Devices are now made for carrying manure out of stables 
or carrying bedding, silage or feed. A steel track is put 
where desired, and a car runs on wheels over the track. 
This system is in use in many large barns. 
I put a carrier in my farm barn November, 1904, and 
have used it with entire satisfaction. The tenant will 
“THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME.” Fig. 19. 
take out the droppings from 45 cows with perfect ease 
in two pans full each day during the Winter period. 
During the Summer months it is very convenient when 
the litter is thin; you can lower your pan and no slop¬ 
ping of the soft litter. I carried the track out 200 feet 
from stable, and track is at a height at and near the 
outer end, so the litter can be dumped into a wagon or 
sleigh. My barn was arranged to drive through the sta¬ 
ble and shovel the droppings on wagon or sleigh. A 
boy can push the carrier full of litter easier than a man 
can push a wheelbarrow. The carrier can be put up by 
any ordinary man. My stable being only six feet three 
inches in the clear shows that it can be used in any 
ordinary stable. c. A. case. 
New York. 
We have had the Climax carrier in practical use for 
two years, and its work is very satisfactory. We can 
clean our stables in one-half the time and with much 
less than half the hard drudgery with wheelbarrow, and 
carry the manure to covered barnyard and dump it either 
in the manure spreader or on the ground, as we may 
desire. As to the system, it is very simple, and the car¬ 
rier and its parts are very strong. There is an overhead 
steel truck hung up to the sleepers of the floor with 
heavy hanger hooks. The car is placed on this track 
and a galvanized box or pan (that holds about 20 
bushels) is attached to the car by chains, sufficiently 
long to let the pan down to stable floor or as low as 
you may desire. The car is pushed along on track as 
the manure is shoveled into pan from the manure 
trenches (this pan is water-tight and will not soil the 
floor by leaking). When pan is full it is raised to any 
desired height by an endless winding chain, and the car 
is run to wherever the track may lead, and by pulling 
the trip by small rope or hand the pan will turn upside 
down and empty >’ts contents as stated, either into 
spreader, wagon, sled or on the ground. 
Ohio. T. L. MILLER. 
We have used a litter carrier for about 18 months. 
We use it solely for carrying out the manure from our 
stable of GO cows. With us it is an unqualified success, 
and we would not think of getting along without some¬ 
thing of its kind in our work. About 40 head of our 
cows face each other in one barn, and 20 more stand in 
a wing at right angles to the main barn. This neces¬ 
sitates a number of curves and a switch. These are 
very satisfactorily arranged and cause little delay and no 
trouble. The manure is carried about 12 rods to the 
manure pile for storing. We run about five rods from 
one building to another on a bridge of two iron rods 
that are braced with upright timbers. The other seven 
rods of track is fastened on brackets on the side of a 
building. In our school most of the work on the 1,000- 
acre farm is done by the students, of whom we have 
400. Two boys are assigned the work of keeping the 
stables clean. These two men, with the litter carrier, 
clean out all the manure in just about 45 minutes. 
When it is considered that the stable is clean and the 
manure is 12 rods from the cow stable, we realize the 
advantage of the litter carrier. There is no doubt 
but the litter carrier has come to stay, and anyone 
who has once used it will not be without it if conditions 
are such that it can be used. h. hayward. 
Massachusetts. 
We are now using the litter carrier to take the manure 
from the stables and carry it out into the yard, 25 feet 
from the door. We are able to take the manure from 
10 cows for one day out at a load, and as the track 
passes near our straw, bring back sufficient bedding to 
bed the 10 cows for one day. To do the same work with 
a wheelbarrow and fork would require three trips out 
with the load and four or five back with the bedding for 
every 10 cows in stable. Our stables are cleaned and 
the litter dumped directly on to the wagon and taken to 
the field, thus relieving the most disagreeable part of 
the dairy work. Our stableman does not look upon im¬ 
provements with a favorable eye, and. did not think “the 
thing would be ahead of wheeling out the manure,” and 
“would bring in straw as quick by hand.” The first 
morning he used it he said it would pay for itself in 
one Winter, and later the “neatest thing on the farm,” 
dropping the litter just where needed.” I think he was 
right about its paying for itself in one Winter, as the 
work could be done with one less man if desired to dis¬ 
pense with him, or he could be employed at something 
else. Our 14-year-old boy cleaned the stables with it 
one morning when we were hurried for time, and 
thought it was only fun. As to the disadvantages, we 
have not found any in our machine. I have not used 
it for carrying feed, as our stables at present are not 
conveniently arranged’ for that, but where it could be 
used it would be a great labor saver in handling silage. 
Union Springs, N. Y. w. a. a. 
TREATMENT FOR PEAR ORCHARD. 
We have a Kieffer pear orchard just beginning to bear, 
and the trees have made so much growth that profitable 
cropping is about at an end. The soil is a light, sandy loam. 
It has been regularly manured broadcast with horse manure 
and planted to corn and kept well cultivated, except about 
two years, when it was planted to potatoes, and then it was 
treated with a phosphate composed of nitrate of soda, 
muriate of potash, bone and phosphate rock, about 1,800 
pounds to the acre. I now wish to know the best course to 
follow in order to do best by the orchard and get a large 
crop of fruit. It was in corn this last year, and manured 
broadcast with horse manure. Would it do to plow in 
Spring and sow to Soy beans, and cut beans for hay: then 
plow stubble and keep worked till last of August, and sow 
clover to remain over Winter? Can I do this with any 
profit and not hurt the crop of fruit? What fertilizer shall 
I use, and how much per acre? We board horses, and 1 
notice you recommended Soy beans as making good horse 
hay. If so, when do you sow them and how and when are 
they ready to cut for hay? c. w. 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
flhe orchard has had too much nitrogenous manure. 
I would give it clean culture until August, then sow 
Crimson clover for a Winter cover. No manure what¬ 
ever this season. If tops are thick, thin them out, and 
also cut back the ranker growth. Soy beans make good 
hay—but I would not grow them in a bearing orchard. 
Delaware. e. g. p. 
1 he Kieffer orchard of C. W. is being pampered to 
destruction. Blight will soon appear; Kieffer and Le 
Conte are the lazy, poor man’s pears, as they will not 
stand good manuring and much cultivation. Let C. W. 
seed down to clover and get his orchard in grass as 
soon as possible, and he may be thankful if it is not too 
late, and he avoids the blight. e. p.eekman. 
New Jersey. 
We think for a profitable Kieffer pear orchard your 
reader has done too much phosphating and manuring. 
He has put too much growth on his trees, making them 
tall and weeping. We find a Kieffer tree wants but 
little manuring and cultivating. They do well planted 
down a fence or hedgerow or around a poultry yard. 
We would advise plowing in Spring and harrowing 
once or twice, just enough to keep weeds and grass 
under, or else sow Red clover and allow to remain for 
two or three years. We know but little of Soy Beans. 
Our experience in growing for hay is that it made it too 
coarse. We always sow the cow pea. 
Delaware. j. j. Ross & son. 
I think the ground this orchard is planted on is rich 
enough without any further manuring of any kind to 
grow at least three crops of Kieffer pears. The owner of 
this orchard should certainly know that he cannot expect 
to get a crop of grain, potatoes or hay, and a crop of pears 
too. I would plow it in the Spring as soon as the 
ground settled, and before the buds put out. I would 
harrow it over, working both ways between the trees 
about the first of May, and then sow Red clover seed, 
about four to five quarts to the acre. The next Spring 
I would plow the clover under. I have one Kieffer 
pear orchard 18 years old; this is all the fertilizer it has 
had, with the exception that I let the sheep run in the 
orchard after the pears are picked all through the Win¬ 
ter. I know by experience very little about cow peas 
and Scarlet clover. Our Kieffers bore pears last year; 
we picked 25,188 five-eighths baskets. Yet we use no 
fertilizer of any kind except what I have stated. As to 
the Soy bean, I sowed some a few years ago with a 
grain drill; stopped up the spouts so as to let every 
third spout sow the beans. I had five or six acres; 
they did finely. I cut them for hay. They were sown 
the last of May, cut the latter part of August; they 
made a fine lot; hogs, cattle and sheep were very fond 
of it. Horses eat it very well, but not so greedily as 
the cattle and sheep. A great many people visit our 
State who never stop in our part of Delaware. No man 
has ever seen Delaware who has not ridden over and 
passe'd through Saint George’s Hundred, not merely on 
the train. We have plenty of farmers who raise from 
2,000 to 5,000 bushels of wheat, from 3,000 to 7,000 
bushels corn, besides hay, potatoes, asparagus and other 
crops. We liaVe many large dairies, a number of cream¬ 
eries, three corn canneries that contract for 1,200 to 
1,500 acres of sweet corn per year. 
Delaware. james t. shallcross. 
ADVERTISING THE BUSINESS HEN . 
The picture at Fig. 21 shows the signboard of F. W. 
Humphrey, a Connecticut farmer who helps the business 
hen do business. He keeps about 350 White Leghorns, 
of which 200 are pullets, the remainder one and two 
years old. Last year, even with grain at high prices, 
these Leghorns cleared $1.25 per hen above expenses. 
Mr. Humphreys put up his roadside sign, and it has 
proved quite a novelty. This is what he says: 
“Yes, it has helped me sell a good many eggs, both 
for hatching and for household use. It is in a very 
favorable position to catch the public eye. The Bridge¬ 
port and Shelton trolley line passes within a few feet 
of it, and as the cars slow down for a switch the pas¬ 
sengers get a chance to read it. The road on which I 
live follows the Housatonic River, and is a favorite 
carriage and automobile drive. This gives the “business 
hen” a further chance to advertise her product. The 
sign does more than sell eggs, for those who come to 
the house see my beehives and usually ask for honey. 
If in need of vegetables they take along some sweet 
corn, beans, onions, squash, cabbage and often some 
fruit. A good many who come for eggs for hatching 
are men who work in the factories. They have a small 
yard and like to keep a few hens to lay eggs for home 
use. I have been able to furnish eggs with a high aver¬ 
age of fertility this last season, one customer reporting 
15 live chicks from 15 eggs. My last hatch with the 
incubator gave 9G per cent of fertile eggs. There has 
been a large demand for pullets and laying hens this 
Fall. It would seem as though a great many were go¬ 
ing into the business. But the majority of those who 
expect to make a fortune producing eggs fall by the 
wayside. To be successful one must have a love for 
A nEN PARTNER MAKES GOOD. Fig. 21. 
poultry, a little more than the patience of Job, and a 
favorable location.”_ 
GATHERING LEAVES.—Remove alt the stitches from a 
bran sack; tack two strips of board about two inches wide on 
two parallel sides of the piece of bagging; rake up a pile 
of leaves large enough, at least, to fill a sack of the size 
used; spread the bagging over the pile of leaves with one 
strip on the right-hand side and the other strip on the left- 
hand side; press the strips down and under the pile of leaves 
until they meet; nearly the entire pile can thus be secured 
at one time. If loops or hooks are fastened to the ends 
of the strips, they can be fastened together and the leaves 
can then be carried nearly as well as in a bag. s. n. c. 
