5o6 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
June 29, 
fectively prevented by suitable appliances, but it seems 
to be also true that it has thus far been impossible to 
install any appliance which will completely ward off 
every stroke. It is probably true that in those cases 
where injury has resulted under conditions which were 
thought to be complete protection, the damage which 
was done was very much less than it would otherwise 
have been. 
To utilize the metal roof of a building in its pro¬ 
tection against lightning it is necessary to have the metal 
roof adequately connected with the ground, and there 
is probably no better way of making this connection 
than that of riveting to the metal of the roof, at the 
eaves, strips of galvanized iron sufficiently long 
to be turned under the eaves and carried down 
the side of the barn to and into the ground 
far enough to end in soil permanently moist. 
To accomplish this result the ordinary No. 28 
galvanized iron in sheets S or 10 feet long can be cut 
into strips two to three inches wide and riveted together 
at the ends, and rolled up until a sufficient length has 
been provided. A hole should be dug in the ground at 
least 30 inches square to a' depth where the soil is 
permanently moist, and usually not less than three or 
four feet. The strip of galvanized iron should be 
riveted to a square sheet of the same metal 28 x 28 
inches and laid flat on the bottom of the hole, so as 
to give ample connection between the roof of the build¬ 
ing and permanently moist soil in the ground. The 
strip of metal between this and the roof should rise 
out of the ground close to the barn, and may be nailed 
flat against the side and' painted with the rest of the 
barn, if desired, to render it less conspicuous. Four 
such strips tunning down the four corners of a large 
barn, and thoroughly grounded as described, would be 
adequate. Smaller buildings would need three, two 
or one, according to their size. 
Ordinarily galvanized fence wire may be used for 
connecting the roof with the ground, using the sheet 
of galvanized iron in the same way, but for the same 
amount of metal the sheet form is most effective ac¬ 
cording to present conceptions. To understand the rea¬ 
son for this it needs to be said that in lightning dis¬ 
charges over a conductor only the surface takes part 
in the conduction. It is believed that the discharges 
alternate and surge up and down with great frequency, 
passing only along the surface of the metal. If this is 
true, and so far as I know we need not doubt the state¬ 
ment, a strip of galvanized iron one inch wide has 
the same amount of surface, for both sides are effective, 
as eight strands of No—14 wire; seven strands of No. 
13; six strands of No. 12 and five strands of No. 11 
wire. A strip of galvanized iron, therefore, three 
inches wide is equivalent in surface to 24, 21, 18 or 15 
strands of the sizes of wire named above, and it must 
be remembered that when wires are used, in order to 
give them their greatest efficiency, they must run sep¬ 
arate and not be twisted or bundled together The 
reason for not twisting or bundling is to be found 
in the fact that only the surface layer of a many- 
stranded cable takes full part in transmitting the 
charges, the surfaces of wires in the interior of the 
cable are regarded as only feebly, if at all, taking part 
in the transmission of lightning charges. 
Good discharge points rising above the ridge of the 
barn and above the cupola, if there be one, well con¬ 
nected with the metal of the roof, help materially to 
lessen the danger of stroke for the reason that points 
cause silent discharges of a less intense character to 
dissipate into the air above the roof of the building 
the charge which a passing electric storm tends to 
induce upon the roof. In the case of metal roofs it 
would only be essential that these points be well con¬ 
nected with the roof at the nearest point, no metal 
strips being necessary to connect them with the con¬ 
ductors leading down from the roof, the general sheet 
metal of the roof making the best connection. 
F. H. KING. 
CORN AND SUNFLOWERS IN VERMONT. 
Noticing recently an editorial comment on growing 
corn on inaccessible or semi-neglected fields by use of 
suitable commercial fertilizers, it occurs to me that some 
of my last year’s experience in doing that very thing 
may be of interest to some readers. The land was a 
typical New England pasture, with occasional bowlders 
and many small cedar and hardhack trees. The first 
proposition was to remove trees, rocks, etc. The trees 
being still small and somewhat easily pulled, I had a 
high-school boy, who was working through vacation, pull 
them out by a chain attached to front axle and wheels 
of one-horse farm wagon. The boy fixed a board for 
seat and a quick-moving horse was placed in shafts, 
and those bushes came out in short order. Best of all, 
the boy thought it fun as compared with the drudgery 
of using ax or bush hook. Next a sturdy team re¬ 
moved most of the rocks, with the help occasionally of 
a judiciously-administered stick of dynamite. The land 
was well plowed and harrowed, and planted May 31 to 
Sanford corn, a white flint variety, and sunflower seed; 
one quart of the latter to a bushel of corn, planted in 
drills. The fertility used was 50 bushels per acre of 
hard wood ashes, purchased from our local bobbin 
factory, applied broadcast, and 400 pounds per acre of a 
good fertilizer containing rather a preponderance of 
nitrogen and phosphoric acid, and later, thinking the 
AN EDUCATION IN DAIRYING. Fig. 242. 
soil deficient in nitrogen, we applied broadcast 100 
pounds per acre of dried blood, 15 per cent ammonia. 
July 9 we applied broadcast, by hand, a rather heavy 
seeding of grass and clover, applying just after culti¬ 
vating and before a heavy thunder shower. The result, 
as the picture shows (Fig. 244), was a heavy yield of 
forage well loaded with grain, much of the corn being 
nearly ripe enough for seed, and many sunflower heads 
EARLY FRENCH BREAKFAST RADISH. Fig 243. 
measuring 15 to 18 inches across and well filled, while 
the stalks were fully eight feet high and leaves inter¬ 
locking across the spaces between rows. Although this 
field was quite a distance from the barn, it was decided 
to draw it and cut into silo, and a cheap hemlock struc¬ 
ture was built for that purpose and filled September 23 
and 24. The resulting silage was of excellent quality, 
and was fed to milch cows with very gratifying results, 
CORN AND SUNFLOWERS IN VERMONT. Fig. 244. 
the manure being drawn daily.and lightly spread on the 
young grass and clover in the field from which the corn 
was taken. This plan was so successful and profitable 
that I am carrying out a similar one this year on an¬ 
other pasture of 12 acres, except that as potatoes are to 
form one of our “side issues,” we have put in three 
acres of the best of the piece to the last-named crop 
with, of course, different fertilizing. L. c. litchfielp, 
Orleans Co., Vt. 
FARMING FOR CITY WORKMEN. 
That proposition of city workmen doing a little co¬ 
operative farming is mighty interesting, and if I had 
the inquirer here I would like to have a good, long 
talk with him over the situation. Off-hand, without 
giving it much thought, I do not see how any body of 
men would slide out into the country just in Summer, 
when they were not busy at their own trade, and do 
much at agriculture, unless there was an organization 
back of it with a head manager and some workmen 
living on the place throughout the year, and taking in 
these others just as extra helpers and sharers in the 
losses or profits at the end of the year. Each individual 
managing his own private tract of land I am sure would 
make a failure of it. Agriculture, like any other busi¬ 
ness, needs a head, a manager, boss, or whatever you 
may call him, and others must work under him. If 
your friend and his fellow-workmen hope to succeed 
agriculturally in their plans, they want to get some 
capital together, elect their most pushing and broad¬ 
minded associate as manager, and then turn him loose. 
They want to throw overboard any ideas of six or eight 
hours a day labor, plan to work some days eight hours 
in the morning and eight hours in the afternoon, and 
go fishing when the weeds and the condition of the 
crops will let them, but regular hours and uniform scale 
of wages will not make crops or profits in the country; 
too much is dependent upon the weather and the 
Almighty. J. h. hale. 
Connecticut. _ 
PLOWING UNDER MANURE . 
Is the plowing under of a heavy coat of manure, or 
dead grass, or trash of any kind, any advantage for a 
corn crop? Last August I plowed under a heavy crop 
of cow peas, so much that a heavy ox chain was neces¬ 
sary to drag them under to cover them; sowed the field 
to grass, clover, Alsike and Timothy. Part of the field 
had no peas on it. The five acres where the peas were 
plowed under show a rather yellow color, do not 
look so strong and vigorous as the two acres where 
there were no peas. Has the land been benefited by 
the burying of the peas, or is it yet too soon to decide? 
Regarding burying fertilizers or surface application, 30 
years ago, I made some careful experiments measuring 
the land (acre plots), and weighing the corn, with 
decided results in favor of plowing it under, which 
has been my practice since; either to plow under or 
drill deeply. My theory is to bury phosphate where 
it will get moisture to dissolve it, but keep manure near 
the surface. T. s. 
Pennsylvania. 
R. N.-Y.—A large portion of our eastern farmers who 
follow a regular crop rotation seem to agree that it is 
best to put most of the manure on the corn crop. The 
favorite plan is to spread the manure on the sod and 
plow it all under. R is argued that corn is better suited 
to utilizing a sod or coat of manure than most other 
crops. It does best in an open, mellow soil, and its 
feeding system and habits of growth fit it specially for 
utilizing decaying organic matter. It makes its best 
growth late in the season, just at the time when, in the 
warm, moist soil the plant food in this organic matter 
is most likely to be available. We like to plow manure 
and other organic matter under for what seem to us 
several good reasons. This manure or trash put under 
ground and well packed down holds moisture somewhat 
like a sponge. If it were turned under and left open 
and loose so that the air could easily work through 
the soil would dry out too fast. The manure adds 
bacteria to the soil, which help break up its organic 
matter. The decay of the manure in the ground has a 
useful effect. For its mechanical and chemical effect 
upon the soil we think the manure is much better 
plowed under. From our experience we consider It 
quite likely that the heavy crop of green cow-pea vines 
plowed under in August soured the ground. That 
sometimes happens in hot weather. Fermentation sets 
in and acids develop. We feel quite sure that a coat 
of lime would correct the trouble and greatly improve 
the grass and clover. Without question the land has 
been helped by the cow peas. A certain amount of 
nitrogen which the peas gathered has been added to 
the soil, and the organic matter will improve its texture. 
If, as we think, the trouble in this case is due to an 
acid soil, lime will make a surprising showing. We 
know that good farmers differ in opinion about plowing 
under fertilizers and manure. Most of our fertilizers 
are soluble, and will naturally work down into the soil. 
Most of the feeding roots of plants are near the sur¬ 
face. The young plant in particular needs its food close 
at hand. We like to put fertilizers on the surface and 
harrow or cultivate them. There is a more even dis¬ 
tribution of them in this way. If we plowed under 
such chemicals as nitrate of soda we should expect to 
have a good share of it leached away in the drain 
water. On the other hand, we think the manure is 
better put down deeper, where it will hold moisture and 
induce a little deeper rooting of the crop. 
