1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
759 
TROUBLE ON SAND MOUNTAIN. 
A City Man's Experience on Light Soil. 
The die was cast. We moved into the woods on 
Sand Mountain. Alabama, tore up the bridges behind 
us, and now we must make our living from this 80- 
acre farm or—well, we must, that’s all. The strong red 
clay of the valleys would have been richer, but harder 
to work, not so well adapted to fruit and, the climate 
being hotter and more malarial, and the water hard, 
not so healthful as the Mountain. But had the valley 
land been better in every way we were too poor to buy 
there! So ill health and poverty sent us to this wil¬ 
derness mountain plateau, where we began at the very 
foundation. It happened that Joe, our son, owned 
this 80 acres, having acquired it in a trade some years 
before, and had moved upon it, with Nannie, his faith¬ 
ful wife, determined to “be his own boss” thereafter, 
and hither we too (Mother and I), warned by failing 
health that office work and city life must soon stop, 
came a few months later. Joe had already cut trees, 
hauled the logs to mill, had them sawed into lumber 
and with it built a rough board shack or shanty con¬ 
taining two rooms and an attic, and in this shanty we 
four crowded until another dwelling could be put up. 
To move into the forest intending to cut down the 
trees, tear out the stumps and wrest a living out of a 
poor sandy soil very deficient in humus, is a hard prop¬ 
osition for an experienced pioneer, but for two men, 
neither of whom was able to stand real hard, heavy' 
work continuously, and with little experience in such 
work, it was almost foolhardy! But the bridges were 
burned behind us, and the forest was before us. We 
had put our hand to the plow, and could not look back. 
About this time Mother had a few hundred dollars come 
to her very unexpectedly. It was a veritable Godsend. 
With it we were able to buy lumber for a rough cot¬ 
tage for Mother and me, and for a barn and henhouse, 
also wire for a fence and a few necessary farm tools. 
That is how we started. 
Our soil is a fine sand with just a little clay mixed 
through it in streaks. It is inclined to be “leachy,” I 
think, contains very little humus even when new, and is 
“too poor to grow white beans.” At a depth of two 
to six feet comes the solid sandstone. The surface is 
rolling, and except for occasional ledges of sandstone, 
nearly every foot of it can be plowed—• 
when the stumps and roots are out. The 
timber is oak. pine and hickory; not very 
large—six inches to two feet in diameter 
—but well rooted. Besides the trees there 
are innumerable grubs (scrubby oak and 
hickory bushes) with roots that cling to 
the soil tenaciously. The leaves have 
been burned from the land every Spring 
for generations, hpnce the deficiency 
of humus. Not a foot of this 80 
acres was cleared. We two men, with the help of the 
mules, must do everything. The mules—yes, they must 
do all the hardest of the work so far as possible. We 
had not the capital to buy all kinds of implements and 
machines, but on account of the tremendous job we 
had tackled we decided it was necessary to save our¬ 
selves as much as practicable by using mule power. It 
is short-sighted management for two men to work one 
hour digging out a stump when two mules with a good 
machine will pull it out in one minute! So we bought 
a stump puller, a windlass with a lot of wire rope, 
pulley blocks, etc. Then when we raised our barn (we 
did our own carpenter work) we hitch-d one mule to 
the machine and raised eight heavy bents without the 
aid of a living soul and without lifting. The mule did 
it all. The barn timber was mostly oak, green and 
heavy, but with the mule, stump puller and rope and 
tackle every beam that could not be lifted conveniently 
by hand was elevated and put in place, and so stick by 
slick—braces, joists, girths, rafters, went up, and then 
roofing and siding were put on and our farm animals 
and tools were comfortably housed. It took time and 
many a backache, but it is done, and we have a good 
barn. Then we built about a mile of fence, of which 
I may tell you later. 
And now after all this work had been done we found 
Spring was hastening on and not an acre of ground 
cleared and we expecting to get our living from the 
soil. Did we do it? We shall see. What we actually 
did and how we did it will appear in these papers from 
time to time. I Jo not expect to teach agricultural the¬ 
ories, but to tell agricultural experiences. 
_ UNCLE FRED. 
RAISING VIOLETS; TRANSPLANTING 
PAEONIES. 
Can you tell me Tiow to raise violets for tlic Spring 
market, to have the blossoms to sell? I would like to 
know where to get the seed or plants, and when to plant, 
and also when to transplant pseonies. e. ,t. w. 
Bladensburg, Md. 
Violets are propagated by means of either one of two 
methods by those who grow them for the market, 
namely, by cuttings formed from the runners, and rooted 
in a sand bed, or by division of the old crowns, and in 
either case the operation is performed in the Spring. 
The young plants are then planted out in the open 
ground in rows, and carefully weeded and cultivated 
throughout the Summer, being lifted in September and 
October and replanted in beds of good soil in either 
greenhouses or cold frames. 
If one wishes to have the flowers during the Winter, 
when they are most valuable, it is necessary to grow tin- 
plants in a greenhouse in which a temperature of 40 to 
4.1 degrees can be maintained during the night, but giv¬ 
ing them the benefit of plenty of fresh air during the 
September, at which time the roots may be divided if 
it is desirable to propagate them, replanting the crowns 
fully two inches under ground, and giving them a 
mulching of leaves or litter during the Winter. When 
transplanted during the early Fall, the pseonies will 
make some new roots before Winter sets in, and thus 
make a stronger start the following Spring, w. h. t. 
A FAVEItOLLE HEN. Fig. 323. 
day, for violets do not enjoy too high a temperature at 
any time. If only a Spring crop of flowers is desired, 
the violets may readily be grown in cold frames, giving 
them ventilation whenever the weather is mild enough, 
and covering the sashes with mats during severe weath¬ 
er. The beds in which the violets are planted for the 
Winter should have at least six inches of good soil, that 
formed from rotted sod from a rather heavy pasture 
land being most suitable, and to this may be added about 
one part of cow manure to five parts of the soil. Small 
quantities of bone dust and wood ashes are also given 
as special fertilizers by some growers, these being lightly 
sprinkled on the soil of the beds in the greenhouse dur¬ 
CEMENT BENCHES IN GREENHOUSES. 
Are florists making any extended use of cement in build¬ 
ing greenhouse benches? How are such benches constructed, 
with prepared blocks, or on frames where they are to 
remain? I low is the cement reenforced, and what supports 
are used? Is any sort of solid masonry bed now used for 
holding potted plants, and if so how is the piping arranged? 
What are the advantages of concrete over wooden benches? 
The use of cement benches in greenhouses has been 
taken up quite extensively by florists in various parts of 
this country, some of the florists manufacturing their 
own cement slabs for this purpose, while others are pur¬ 
chasing the complete bench in sections from the manu¬ 
facturers, and then erecting the structure themselves. 
A complete bench, including posts, bars or girders for 
supporting the bottom, and the slabs for the latter, ail 
made of cement concrete, is manufactured by a firm in 
Buffalo, and the practice is to make the benches for a 
small job at the factory, and then to ship the material 
all ready for erecting, but when called upon to fulfill a 
large contract for work of this character the firm in 
question will forward the necessary machinery with the 
men to operate it and then make the concrete sections 
on the ground where they are to be used. The posts 
for this bench are neatly molded, and have a vertical 
slot through the center to admit an iron tie-rod that 
keeps the front and back posts in position. This iron 
tie-rod may also be utilized as a support for the steam 
pipes beneath the bench, the slot construction of the 
posts permitting the tie-rod to be adjusted at varying 
heights from the ground in order to give the proper 
grade to the pipes. 
The slabs used for the bottom of the bench are about 
V/ inch thick and one foot wide, and made in lengths 
to suit the width of the bench, while the side sections 
of the bench are made about six inches high, in order 
to give depth enough for the planting of roses, carna¬ 
tions and other crops. The cost of such a bench com¬ 
plete is about' 12 pents per square foot, or, in other 
words, a bench 100 feet long by four feet 
wide would cost $4S at the factory. 
Some florists have been using a frame¬ 
work of iron pipe for the support of 
wooden benches, and these iron frames 
are now being used to carry concrete 
slabs in place of the wooden bbards, a 
cement edging being formed on the top 
of the slabs after they are in place. This 
work is done quite readily by ordinary 
laborers with a little practice and oversight, 
the manufacture of the slabs being as follows: 
A sufficient space of hard ground is leveled off, and 
on this is laid a series of molds of the size for the re¬ 
quired slabs, a framework of scantling answering for 
the molds. A piece of heavy paper is then laid upon the 
ground in each mold, this giving a smooth face to the 
bottom of the slab. The mold is then half filled with 
the prepared concrete, and before the latter sets a piece 
of strong screen wire of either inch or half-inch mesh 
is laid upon the concrete, and the mold then filled to the 
required thickness, thus giving a reenforcement of wire 
in the center of the slab. Such slabs soon dry enough 
to stand handling, and may then be removed froni the 
molds and the latter used over again. 
Solid beds are frequently used in greenhouses, the 
simplest form being that of a containing wall of brick 
or concrete of the height required, the bed being then 
filled in with ashes or soil, as may be most convenient. 
A better construction is that used in the houses of some 
of the best rose and carnation growers, in which the 
bottom of the bed is floored with square drain tile 
laid close together, and on this is constructed a wall 
or edging about six inches high of concrete, this method 
giving a permanent structure to the bed, and the best 
possible drainage to the soil, and on such beds are 
grown some of the finest carnations that come into 
New York City. In such greenhouses as these the heat¬ 
ing pipes are arranged around the sides of the house, or 
in vertical coils along the walks, or both, according to 
the temperature required and the size of the houses. 
The greatest advantage in the use of concrete over 
wooden benches is found in its permanent character, for 
while the concrete bench may cost fully twice as much 
as the wooden structure, and in some localities even 
more than that, yet it is a permanent improvement, while 
the life of a wooden bench seldom exceeds four years. 
The only exception to this period of usefulness of the 
wooden bench is found where Gulf cypress is the wood 
used, and in the latter case such a bench may last 10 
ably cost about $.'> per hundred. From these an abund- years, but Gulf cypress is not readilv obtainable in all 
ance of young stock could be secured next Spring in parts of the country, and also commands a lathei high 
readiness for the following season. price, though admittedly the best for greenhouse con- 
Paeonies are best transplanted (luring the month of st ruction. w. H. taplin. 
HOUSE FOR TWO THOUSAND HENS. Fig. 324. See Page 760. 
ing the Winter, and then stirred into the soil with a 
weeder. Violets require careful watering during the 
Winter to avoid getting the soil too wet, though needing 
a little more water than lettuce would take under similar 
conditions, and throughout the Winter months the vio¬ 
lets seldom need any sprinkling over the foliage. Un¬ 
fortunately there are seven or eight distinct fungoid 
diseases that violet growers have had experience with 
of late years, so that it will readily be understood that 
A FAVEROLLE COCK. Fig. 325. 
this is not a crop that is entirely without risk. The 
only satisfactory way in which to start in the violet 
business at this late date, would be to purchase some 
plants of the blooming size from one of the many large 
growers in the vicinity of New York or Philadelphia, 
Baltimore or Washington, and such plants wbuld prob- 
