556 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July 20, 
FARMERS’ CLUB 
T Every query must be accompanied by 
the name and address of the writer to in¬ 
sure attention. Before asking a question, 
please see whether it is not answered in 
our advertising columns. Ask only a few 
questions at one time. But questions on a 
separate piece of paper.] 
THE SHAPE OF A ROAD. 
A man writing from Penn Yan, N. Y., 
sends diagram of highway, showing 
method of scraping with the road ma¬ 
chine, and asks what others think of it. 
Twenty years ago and upwards we had 
highways such as he describes, of ample 
width and solidity to support an im¬ 
mense traffic from Portland to the back 
towns, even to the Mt. Washington range 
in New Hampshire. The road machine 
was then brought to town, and our broad, 
firm roads began to disappear; slice after 
slice of the outer edge of the road on 
each side has been taken off and heaped 
up, a soft and pulpy mass, on a too 
crowniner roadway, only to be washed 
off into the adjacent lands. This process 
has gone on until our roads have become 
reduced in width in many places nearly 
or quite one half, inconvenient at all 
times for light vehicles to pass one an¬ 
other, and impossible for laden teams 
with any reasonable degree of comfort or 
safety. Our highways under the blight¬ 
ing work of the road machine have be¬ 
come narrow and conical ridges of loose 
and pulpy earth, rough, gouged and 
rutted, and kept so by frequent doses of 
road machine, as our officials in the town 
work on the principle that “the hair of 
the dog is a cure for the bite.” 
Let your correspondent bestir himself 
or the roads there will become as they 
are here. This is as sure as fate, unless 
the process he names is stopped. I may 
add that we have commenced to use the 
King road drag with excellent results, 
secured at very little expense. The road 
machine must go. F. p. s. 
Standish, Me. 
Referring to road question on page 492, 
in the Road Red Book of New York, 
is the following on that subject: “Atten¬ 
tion is directed to the points A. A., known 
as shoulders of the road. The inspectors 
of this department find that those high¬ 
way commissioners who are most success¬ 
ful in their road work maintain for all 
roads except sand roads hard points at 
A. A., which are never loosened up if it 
can be avoided when working the road.” 
I suppose the road workers at Penn Yan 
have put a second ditch or shoulder at 
the points A. A. It seems some other 
word than shoulder should be used for 
the points A. A.; the very common error 
of a false ditch at the points A. A. might 
then be avoided. The State advises not 
to scrape the worn-out soil from the 
ditches into the road again. If you do 
not scrape too much at a time I find it 
is the best place for it in the middle of 
the road in Summer. The great¬ 
est wear on a well-kept, well-scraped 
dirt road is the one-horse track. 
There are very few people who really 
drive a one-horse rig properly (I don’t) ; 
the horse picks out the softest spot in the 
road, and in a week or so after scraping 
there is a small depression in the middle 
of the road from the ons-horse travel. 
Sand scraped into this in dry weather is 
as good almost as dry loam, as the horse 
will soon wear a track there again, and 
most of it will blow away. Some road 
workers seem afraid to scrape the sand 
from the sides on to a hard loamed cen¬ 
ter, thinking the two materials will mix, 
and so spoil the road. After the ground 
has settled in the Spring the sand and 
loam will not mix enough to hurt It. 
It is better for the sand to blow away than 
the loam, which has been put there to 
stay. It is almost forbidden to scrape sod 
into the road. It seems the cheapest 
way to get rid of it to scrape a little into 
the road at a time. Within a week scrape 
that sod into another position; in most 
cases it will dry up and disappear. There 
is such a thing as getting the middle of 
the road too high; occasionally reverse the 
scraper and scrape from the center out. 
GEO. PROSSER. 
“ Land Plaster ” and Lime. 
II. D. J., Summit, N. J .—Will land plaster 
take the place of lime to sweeten the soil? 
Ans.— No. The land plaster is sulphate 
of lime while what we call “lime” is a 
carbonate. This “sweetening” results 
from a chemical action in the soil which 
the lime carries on quickly but which 
plaster does slowly, if at all. 
Soap Material as Fertilizer. 
J. C. L., Louisville, Oa .—I have consider¬ 
able potash, such as Is used in the commer¬ 
cial world for making soap. Can this he 
used as a fertilizer? If so, how can it he 
used? 
Ans. —Be sure this “potash” is not 
caustic soda. The latter will be of no 
use to plants. The best way to use the 
potash lye is to dissolve it in water and 
sprinkle the liquid over coal ashes or 
coarse dry dirt. When this has absorbed 
the liquid and dried it can be applied 
like any fertilizer. 
Cement on a Tar Walk. 
E. J. L., Hazardville, Conn .—What Is the 
advisability of putting two inches of cement 
on top of a tar walk? It is somewhat cracked 
but the foundation is all right. Would It be 
put on in small blocks, say about one-fourth 
inch between blocks? Would the frost heave 
It up? 
Ans. —If the foundation is sound you 
could cover this walk with a coating of 
cemc-nt by blocking or checking as the 
question suggests. The danger, however, 
would be more or less lifting by frost of 
the old tar walk, and there being no 
checks in the old walk the lift in the walk 
would not correspond, or might not corre¬ 
spond, to the cljeck in the cement. In 
such a case these two-inch cement blocks 
would most certainly break anew, the two 
inches of cement would last and be per¬ 
manent if this foundation did not move. 
It seems to me it would be much safer 
to run less risk and put down at least 
three inches of cement and sand on this 
tar walk, checking as suggested. A little 
clear, dry cement scattered over the walk 
and then moistened with a sprinkling pot 
just before putting on the finish coat 
would help to make a better union, al¬ 
though, of course, it will not be complete, 
as between cement foundation work and 
a surface of this sort. In using cement 
in this way if one will just stop to con¬ 
sider and understand that this two inches 
in thickness, more or less, is nothing but 
a slab of stone, and then mentally figure 
out in his mind how much such a thin 
slab would stand laid independent he will 
pretty nearly have this whole question 
solved. H - E - C00K - 
THE VAN DEMAN QUINCE. 
In his comments on the Van Deman and 
Borgeat quinces, page 508, Mr. Van Deman 
hardly does justice to his namesake. I have 
both these varieties on my place. The fruit 
of the Borgeat is of good size, and in shape 
considerably like a Bartlett pear. The Van 
Deman is large (one of my specimens last 
year weighed 18 ounces), almost perfectly 
round, and of a fine rich color. In beauty of 
form, it seems to me, the Borgeat is not com¬ 
parable to it. My Van Deman tree last sea¬ 
son, with its fruit hanging from the branches 
like immense oranges, was indeed a superb 
sight. In fruit trees I have seen nothing 
handsomer. . d. 
Madisonville, 0. 
“Sam, what would you do if you had 
a million dollars?” “Fo’ de Lawd’s 
sake! I’m sho’ I dunno wot I’d do ef 
I had a million dollars; but I know wot I 
do ef I had two dollars. I’ve bin waitin’ 
two yeahs ter git married.”—Judge. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply and 
“a square deal.” See guarantee, page 8. 
ALFALFA 
—Best seed for sale. Write 
forsamples, prices, andFRKE 
directions “23” on growing. 
J, E, Wing & Bros., Box 23, 
Meehnniesburg, 0. 
or Eutaw, Ala* 
BASIC SLAG PHOSPHATE. 
(THOMAS PHOSPHATE POWDER.) 
Take Advantage of the High Price of 
Wheat, and Insure a Bountiful Crop 
by Using Basic Slag Phosphate. 
The Best Phosphate for Seeding Down to Grass, Wheat, 
Buckwheat, and All Fall Sown Grains. 
Unequalled for Fruit Trees, Clover, Alfalfa, and Pasture 
Lands. 
BASIC SLAG PHOSPHATE does not revert or go back to insoluble forms. 
BASIC SLAG PHOSPHATE is not washed out of the soil by heavy rains. 
It sweetens sour soils and makes them productive. 
It is very available. The plants can use it all. 
It makes plump Wheat, and an abundance of Straw. 
It permanently enriches the Land. It produces delicious Fruits. 
It makes available the Plant Food already in the Soil. Drills Perfectly. 
THE PRICE IS LOW. 
Says Bulletin 68 of the Maryland Experiment Station, (pages 28 and 29): 
“SLAG PHOSPHATE produced A GREATER YIELD and at LESS COST 
than the average of the soluble phosphoric acid plots and hone meal plots.” 
This test included THREE CORN CROPS, ONE WHEAT CROP, and ONE 
GRASS CROP. 
Says DR. H. J. WHEELER, Director of the Rhode Island Experiment 
Station, in Bulletin No. 114 : “BASIC SLAG MEAL has proved THROUGH¬ 
OUT TO BE A HIGHLY EFFICIENT PHOSPHATIC MANURE. Its relative 
efficiency has been particularly high where those plants have been grown 
which are helped by liming. This is doubtless due in part to the fact that 
it CONTAINS FAR MORE LIME THAN BONE MEAL AND FLOATS.” 
Our Booklet, “A Remarkable Fertilizer, Basic Slag and Its Uses,” is sent free If you 
mention The Rural New-Yorker. 
THE COE-MOHTIMEH OO. 
Special Importers of Basic Slag, Nitrate of Soda aud Potash Salts. 
Sole United States Agents for Genuine Peruvian Guano, Manufacturers of 
E. FRANK COE Fertilizers and Peruvian Brands. 
24 Stone Street, IXTow Yorlt City. 
Peach 
Baskets 
2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12,14 and 
16-quart sizes. 
Peach Covers. 
Wooden, Burlap and 
Cotton. 
Berry, Peach and 
Grape Crates, etc. 
Write for PRICES and CATALOGUE. 
COLES & COMPANY 
109 & 111 Warren Street, New York. 
ESTABLISHED 1884. 
PORTO RICAN STRAW HATS 
Equal Panamas usually sold for $5 j AQ ftH 
aud $10. May be fashioned in any y JJ 
shape. No duty or extra charge. _ ) ^ 
Send P. O. Money Order, with size wanted to 
P. R. STRAW HAT CO ■ uokto Yucb. 
References—Mayor and Postmaster of Mayaguez. 
I nnn nnn celery and cabhage 
■ UUUiUUU PLANTS only $5.00 for 5,000. 
List Free. SLAYMAKER & SON, Dover, Delaware. 
CELERY and CABBAGE 
PLANTS, $1 per 1,000; 500, 70c.—Four million stalky 
plants. Fine large roots. Plants taken up with forks 
to preserve all the roots on each plant. A customer 
who ordered 40,000 plants last year wrote: “The 
plants you sent me were the finest I ever saw come 
into this place.” Celery—Golden Self-Bleaching 
(French Seed), White Plume, Winter Queen, Giant 
Pascal, and Golden Heart. Cabbage—Danish Ballhead. 
Surehead, Flat Dutch. F. W. Rochelle, Chester, N. J. 
CABBAGE PLANTSiS”’dSKSS " p " 
F. M. FATTINGTON, Scipioville, New York. 
I nnn nnn Cabbage and Celery Plants. 
■ UUUiUUU Send for Price List. 
CALEB HOGGS & SON, Cheswold, Delaware 
rno C A| C— 3.000 bushels Crimson Clover 
rUlf vALC Seed, $4.50 bushel. Address 
JOSEPH E. HOLLAND, Milford, Delaware. 
Clll I PROD 1908 FROM OUR MID-SUMMER 
TULL bnur STRAWBERRY PLANTS. Send 
for List. Kevitt’s Plant Farm, Athenia, N. J. 
new and old, and the best 
methods of plinting to raise a 
full crop of strawberries next 
year, are fully particularized in 
Dreer’s 
Mid-Summer Catalog 
Also describes and prices the best 
strains of Celery, Cabbage and other 
vegetable plants. 
A select list of the best Palms, 
Ferns, and decorative plants. 
Seeds of old-fashioned Hardy 
Perennials and other flowers for 
summer sowing. 
Write today for a copy and please 
mention this magazine— FREE. 
HENRY A. DREER, - Philadelphia. 
Dwyer’s Pot Grown Strawberry Plants 
Strong, healthy plants from selected stock of choicest fruiting varieties sure to give 
satisfaction and PRODUCE A FULL CROP IN 1908. 
We also have a full line of Fruits and Ornamental Trees, Plants, Vines, etc., for 
Fall Planting. We do Landscape Gardening in all its branches. Catalogue Free. 
T. J. DWYER & CO., P. O. Box I, Cornwall, New York. 
APPLE TREES 
JXrOTHING BUT APPLES 
ROGERS ON THE HILL, Dansville, N. Y. 
