TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
February 24 , 
146 
we had for dinner to-day had more than a pound of 
surplus fat that we could not use in cooking her. I 
must cut corn out of their ration for a while, except on 
very cold nights, and feed barley, oats and wheat. I 
am trying a dry feed on one lot of pullets: Two 
quarts bran, one quart cornmeal, one quart beef scraps. 
I put it in a self-feeding box and let them help them¬ 
selves ; nut enough in to have it last until about 2 P. M.; 
then by 4 :30 they are ready for the last feed of cracked 
corn and barley or wheat. So far I do not see that re¬ 
sults are much—if any—better than from those fed a 
mash, although there is more meat in the dry ration, 
January 31 ; in the three days since January 28 408 
eggs have been laid, making a total for the month of 
3,072. Prices for eg^s have ruled lower than last year, 
ranging from 37 cents January 2 to 25 cents on Janu¬ 
ary 23. Last year January 23 they were 33 cents and 
were 32 cents January 30. Total receipts for eggs, 
$75.60; for live stock, $17; total, $92.60. Paid for grain, 
$46.79; cash profit, $45.81; 639 eggs laid since the last 
check included above was received, would add $13.30 
to the credit side of the above account at price of last 
lot, but I cannot tell until check is received what the 
price will be. They will have to appear in next month’s 
account. The grain bill also laps over on to next 
month. It would be altogether too much labor to 
empty all the grain bins and weigh it all the first of 
each month, to determine the exact amount used. At 
the end of the ,r ear the result attained will be the same 
as if each month had been exactly accounted for by 
itself. GEO. A. COSGROVE. 
Connecticut. 
AN OREGON GLASS-COVERED HOUSE. 
Nearly a year ago I asked several questions in regard 
to building a glasshouse. During the last Summer I 
have taken down my old houses and built a new one, 
and 1 told you that when I had done this I would 
tell you about it and how it worked. My old houses 
stood side by side, so one wall only was between 
them. Eoch house was 30 feet wide, making the two 
buildings 60 feet wide. The walls on which the houses 
rested were simply rough stones, as they were 
picked up in the field and put in a trench one foot 
deep, coming up level with the ground. On the out¬ 
side walls I made a concrete wall four inches high and 
six inches wide. On these walls I have built my 
house, making it 60 feet wide and 150 feet long; gable 
roof with sash-bars on each side of the roof 32 feel 
long. Roof about one-fifth pitch, making the ridge 
15 feet above the beds. The side walls are three feet 
from the wall to top of the plate. Side walls are glass; 
the south end is glass five feet high and the north end 
glass two feet high; the rest of the gables are covered 
with lumber. Four purlins run the whole length of 
die house, two on each side; each purlin is supported 
by 17 posts. The purlin posts are tied and braced side- 
wise (see Fig. 59), two braces near the south end 
bracing the house lengthwise. In building the roof I 
put on eight courses of glass, then a board eight inches 
wide. One purpose of the board is for a walk up 
over the house whenever I want to repair it or go on 
the roof for any purpose. My old glass was 10 x 12 
inches, and I had to buy only 16 boxes of new; I got 
the same size and 26-ounce weight. If I were getting 
glass for another house I would get about 14 x 14 
inches. The sash-bars are 1)4 x 2)4, and the upper 
corners rabbeted )4 x )4- I lapped the glass 1-16 inch, 
imbedded in putty, and fastened by nailing a strip 
Yf, x and 10 inches long above each end of each 
glass; this holds each glass so there is no slipping down 
or getting loose in any way. The roof leaks but very 
little, and where it does leak is where the putty did 
not fill the rabbet under the glass. By going over it 
and filling these places I could make it so it would not 
leak any, but the little dripping there is does no harm. 
It cost me to build $150 for the lumber. $17 for putt}’, 
$S for concrete wall, $10 for nails and bolts, $8 for coal- 
tar, with which I painted all the woodwork. My son 
and I did all the taking down of the old building and 
putting up the new one from the first of June to the last 
of August, besides helping in haying and taking care 
of the other farm work. There are four doors in the 
south end. each three feet wide. In the north end 
there are three doors, each three feet, and one door 10 
feet wide; I use this large one for driving my team and 
wagon through when I manure the beds. 
My only ventilation is by the doors. I open as many 
as are needed whenever the temperature gets too high. 
There are three paths running lengthwise of the house, 
dividing it into four beds. The outside beds are each 
about six feet wide; one of the others is 13 feet and 
the other about 30 feet wide. I use the outside beds 
for seed-beds and for pricking out the small plants, so 
when I set the lettuce plants in the bed to mature they 
are already one-third or more grown. We commenced 
setting lettuce in the beds the last week in September, 
and commenced marketing lettuce the first week in 
November. We did not set the whole out. at once, but 
so as to have it come off as fast as the market here 
would take it. We get the first crop about all mar¬ 
keted by the first of the new year. As fast as we take 
a crop off we put another on, so as to keep the house 
full of lettuce all the time. We shall get four crops of 
lettuce off by the first of June. Through the Sum¬ 
mer we usually grow cucumbers. I think our lettuce 
is doing the best we ever had it for this time of year. 
Some of the ground has been under glass for more 
than 20 years, and we have never changed the soil. 
For a number of years I have used the larger part of 
my house for raising plants, such as cabbage, cauli¬ 
flower, tomato and celery, commencing in March. In 
the Spring of 1905 I started a new way of growing my 
plants. I start them under glass and finish them un¬ 
der cloth. I will send you a sketch of my plant house 
and tell how I manage it. Fig. 60 shows exterior of 
the house when finished, and Fig. 61 the interior, with 
crop. DEXTER FIELD, 
Oregon. 
ADULTERATION OF BLUE VITRIOL 
Much Inferior Stuff Sold. 
I believe much of the copper sulphate employed for 
agricultural purposes to be very impure. Most of your 
correspondents seem to think that if they get a crystal¬ 
lized product they are safe. This is certainly a mistaken 
idea, for ferrous sulphate crystallizes isomorphously 
with copper sulphate, and unless the former salt is pres¬ 
ent in very large proportion the slight tinge of green in 
the crystals would hardly be observed except by an ex¬ 
pert. Copper ores and mattes, in some sections, are con¬ 
verted directly into blue vitriol without refining, “but 
IRIS ATROPURPUREA. NATURAL SIZE. Fig. 58. 
See Ruralisms, Page 156. 
the ferrous sulphate formed crystallizes with the cop¬ 
per sulphate. Such blue vitriol is much used where 
iron is not injurious” (Thorp’s Outlines of Industrial 
Chemistry, pp. 254). Also note the following from the 
Mineral Industry, Vol. 9, pp. 277: “For agricultural 
purposes blue vitriol is used for making insecticides, 
Bordeaux Mixture, etc., and for this purpose the im¬ 
purities may be large in amount, as they have practi¬ 
cally no effect on the products.” The foregoing opinion 
is taken from an article on the manufacture of blue 
vitriol by a well-known expert. There seems to be 
a rather general opinion among makers of blue vitriol 
that a pure product is not required for agricultural 
purposes, and if you think otherwise you will need to 
inaugurate the usual missionary work. A. cochran. 
Dr. Wiley’s Experience. 
I have read with much interest the symposium on the 
adulteration of sulphate of copper on page 62. We 
have had a large experience here in examining commer¬ 
cial sulphate of copper offered to this bureau for 
chemical purposes. We find that it is commonly adul¬ 
terated with many foreign substances. Among the most 
common of these are iron, arsenic, zinc and lead. Usu¬ 
ally, these bodies are present, however, only in small 
quantities. One sample of copper sulphate which we 
examined here contained eight milligrams of arsenic 
in one pound of the material. Iron is always present in 
the commercial article in varying quantities, and lead 
and zinc occasionally. We also found arsenic in the 
lime which is one of the constituents of the Bordeaux 
Mixture. Our experience is that in the ordinary com¬ 
mercial sulphate there are not enough impurities to 
cause the damage referred to by many of your corre¬ 
spondents. It is, of course, quite possible that com¬ 
mercial articles sent to this bureau are selected with 
some care on account of the fact that it is known that 
they are submitted to examination. If this is the case, 
it would not be surprising if commercial articles very 
excessively adulterated were sold to other parties, as is 
indicated by some of those who write on this subject. 
It is evident that arsenic, especially, when present in 
any considerable quantities, might have a very detri¬ 
mental effect on the plant foliage. h. w. wiley. 
Chemist U. S. Dept, of Agriculture. 
TOP-WORKING OLD TREES. 
In top-grafting trees the best success will be obtained 
where scions are set in branches one-half to one inch 
in diameter, as the union will be more perfect than if 
larger ones are used. Where old trees are grafted with 
the object of changing entire top it will be necessary 
to use larger branches, but two inches in diameter 
should be the limit. In stock one inch and larger use 
two scions, and if both grow cut one out the following 
season. Where all the top is grafted, set a part each 
season, making the change gradual, the older and larger 
the trees the more time required. Be careful in graft¬ 
ing that the bark of scion and stock are in perfect line, 
to allow free flow of sap. Cover wound airtight with 
grafting wax. Apple trees from piece root grafts are 
partly on their own roots, as many varieties root freely 
on the scion as well as the seedling root. Budded 
trees are wholly on seedling root and are not as hardy. 
Nearly all varieties of apple can be maintained 25 
years or longer in a healthy condition by proper care 
and pruning. Neglect is the prime cause of the failure 
of many trees. l. l. Kellogg. 
Wisconsin. _______________ 
A SUGGESTION FOR DOG TAX. 
I am glad you are looking into the dog question. We 
pay 50 cents per year dog tax, and the assessors get 
practically all the dogs on the list. When sheep are 
killed the owner cannot afford to trace the dogs to find 
an irresponsible owner, or a lawsuit at the end, but goes 
to the assessors, who judge the damages, and give the 
owner an order on the town treasurer for the dam¬ 
ages plus $3 for each assessor. Then he waits about 
a year-for his money. In the meantime, the dogs are 
doing business elsewhere, and nobody is very much in¬ 
terested. As an improvement I would suggest that all 
do£ be taxed 50 cents as at present, this money to go 
into the town funds to pay assessors and other ex¬ 
penses; all irresponsible owners to give bond signed by 
some one who is responsible to the amount of $100. In 
addition to this, all damages to sheep or other property 
occurring during the year shall be equally assessed upon 
the owners of dogs taxed for the year; all dogs not 
taxed to be killed at once. This is only a suggestion, 
but I think it would get more people interested in catch¬ 
ing the guilty dogs than at present. vv. R. p. 
Onondaga Co., N. Y. 
DAMAGE FROM SPRAYING. 
Does Bordeaux Mixture hurt fruit trees? I have 
never known of an orchard in which the trees were 
known to be injured in this way. While making or- 
:hard surveys of 9,000 acres of apples in western New 
York in 1903 and 1904 cases of injury to trees were 
occasionally mentioned by farmers, but in no case was 
such injury proved to be due to spraying. One noted 
orchard in Monroe County was cited by a number of 
men as proof that Bordeaux would kill the limbs. On 
examination I found that the orchard had been severely 
.ttacked by the lice in the Summer of 1903 and that 
the dying branches had been all right till that time. 
Those that were dying were the lower limbs where the 
lice had been worst, and their death was undoubtedly 
due to the lice. Other cases were seen, but in no case 
did I find any evidence to support the theory that Bor¬ 
deaux had hurt the branches. That Bordeaux may hurt 
the leaves and cause russeting of the apples is well 
known, but I have not seen any case in which either of 
these injuries has resulted in appreciable injury to the 
tree itself. Of course, if the leaves are severely burned 
they will be prevented from performing their function 
to the best advantage. But while severe injury of the 
leaves is sometimes due to Bordeaux, not all that is 
charged against the spray belongs there. 1 found that 
the injuries from the Phyllosticta fungus were com¬ 
monly charged to spraying and that in some years they 
constituted the chief so-called injury from Bordeaux. 
Likewise, the russeting of the fruit is not always due 
to the spray; sometimes it occurs in unsprayed or¬ 
chards, usually as a result of frosts. 
If growers would use the potassium ferrocyanide test 
of the Bordeaux and then use half as much more li 'e 
than this calls for. a considerable portion of the injury 
to fruit and leaves would be avoided. I am also of the 
opinion that spraying after blossoming should be done 
with about four pounds each of copper sulphate and 
lime for 50 gallons of water. In neighborhoods where 
the six pounds of copper sulphate has always been 
used I would not recommend its immediate displace 
ment by four pounds, but would suggest the use of 
the latter strength on part of the orchard. 
G. F. WARREN. 
