87o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
November 30, 
ingly smoothes their glossy backs—it makes him swal¬ 
low a little hard to think what comes then. Poor Billy, 
what would he think if he knew that the one whom he 
believes to be his best friend was but using to the ut¬ 
most what skill he happens to possess to hasten the 
day of his undoing? Would the fresh corn, the oil 
meal and the molasses taste quite so good if he knew 
t hat it was but the means used to bring about the day 
when he should be gathered to his fathers—not in 
peace—and another should reign in his stead? 
Illinois. _ A. E. PRICE. 
KEEPING CELERY OVER WINTER. 
Can celery be kept over Winter in a similar manner to 
cabbage, as described on page 782? c. f. w. 
Massachusetts ? 
No; cabbage keeps best turned upside down, celery 
would not keep at all stored in that way. Cabbage is 
not harmed by freezing after being buried, while celery 
would be totally destroyed. Water around and among 
cabbage does little harm, provided it is not allowed to 
lie there, but water among stored celery is almost sure 
to cause decay. 
There are two ways of storing celery; one is to pack 
in wet sand in a cool dark cellar, placing each root on 
a dampened surface and covering the whole root with 
damp sand, packing tight and firm. When this method 
is employed care should be taken to see that ample 
ventilation is given, and in case plants become dry, 
more water must be given to the roots, being careful 
not to get the stalks wet. This can be done by using 
a short piece of wood or iron pipe, inserting it down 
to the soil around the roots, and pouring water through 
the pipe, or connecting a hose to it. This can be moved 
from place to place among the celery till all is wet. 
Another method that is popular among commercial 
celery growers, particularly those who cater to a late 
market, is to take their celery up carefully, avoid 
bruising and breaking. Be sure this is done when tops 
and stalks are dry, because any water settling down 
near the crown between the stalks is almost sure to 
cause rot. Have a trench dug 12 to 14 inches wide 
on well-drained soil, and deep enough to hold the 
celery all but top leaves. Pack in the celery, covering 
the roots same as described for cellar storage. When 
full place a board on each side of trench, nail cleat 
across top, and bank up against board, providing for 
drainage of all surface water. Water in these trenches 
is disastrous to the crop. These trenches may be made 
quite long if crop is not put in them till weather is 
quite cold, and it should not be stored until such is the 
case. Warm weather after storing is apt to cause rot. 
To cover trench nail boards together at right angles, 
or an inverted trough, of sufficient width to cover 
trench and carry water off. This will be all the cov¬ 
ering needed for the first, unless very cold. When 
there is danger of freezing cover with straw, marsh 
hay or anything that will protect from freezing. Begin 
at first with small amount, and increase according to 
the weather. Ends of trench should be left open till 
danger of freezing inside occurs, and that will be quite 
late, provided the side boards and board covering ex¬ 
tend well ov^r end of trench. When trenches are made 
of considerable length they should have a ventilator 
pipe about every 50 feet to carry off dampness and foul 
gases, and help keep up a circulation of air over the 
celery. Now, having described two methods of keeping 
this crop, both of which are in daily use by growers, 
let me say, no one can keep blanched celery any length 
of time. When celery is once blanched and ready for 
the table or market, its keeping qualities are gone. 
The keynote to the whole procedure is to grow green 
celery and put it away green, and keep it green as long 
as possible. As long as it is green there is not much 
danger from rot when all else is favorable, but once 
the whole plant is ready for use, don’t try to keep it 
longer, but either use or market it at once. Some one 
may have a better method than either of these, but 
those are mine, and what I see other successful grow¬ 
ers Using. C. C. HULSART. 
MANURE PIT IN SANDY SOIL 
TVhat is the best way to construct a cement manure pit, 
in sandy soil? What material to use for a form, and which 
is the most desirable shape, round or square? What thick¬ 
ness should the walls be, and what depth is sufficient below 
the outlet pipe from barn? r. c. 
I judge that what is wanted is a cistern for liquid 
manure; however, I will describe both a cistern and a 
pit, and he can take his choice. For a cement or 
masonry pit to store manure from a stable the location 
should be such that the manure could be carried out 
with a litter carrier and dumped into it, and for that 
reason it should be located a few feet lower than the 
stable floor, so as to get a good depth of storage. 
Also, it should be located so that the manure can be 
easily loaded to a wagon or spreader. I built one the 
past season as follows: The pit was 22 feet square 
inside. On three sides there were walls one foot thick 
reinforced with old iron, and built of concrete and 
field stone to a height of about three feet above the 
ground. The fourth or uphill side was left open, 
so that a spreader could be run in and loaded, also 
loads could be pitched on over the sides at any place. 
The cement floor was laid on a slant; that is, it was 
more than a foot higher at the open end than at the 
low end, which prevents the manure spreading out that 
THE ARMY ON REVIEW. Fig. 437. 
way to any extent. On one side we built out 10 feet 
farther and put up another six-inch concrete wall, mak¬ 
ing a driveway 10x24 feet for the manure spreader, 
and that is where it is kept. To cover this pit and 
the spreader the following plan was used, which has 
these facts in its favor: it is satisfactory, permanent 
and economical. 
At the corners of the walls and at equal points 
between the corners flat irons with holes in them were 
set in the concrete and left setting up about eight 
inches. To these a set of nosts were bolted to form 
the support for the roof, except on the outside next 
to the spreader room and that was studded up and 
- TWO LITTLE ILLINOIS COWBOYS. Fig. 438. 
sided to keep the sun and weather off the spreader. 
Three sides of the pit were not sided up at all, nor do 
they need to be. On the top of the posts a good 
strong plate was nailed, and then the rafters put on for 
a hip roof. A hip roof is the most economical roof 
to put on where it can be used. For roof boards we 
used old stuff left from a barn, and put it on about a 
foot apart and then covered the whole with cor¬ 
rugated galvanized iron nailed on with heavy galvan¬ 
ized nails, and it does not leak and makes a good light 
roof. 
A litter carrier track comes in over the spreader and 
for the most part the manure is dumped into it and 
carried direct to the field, which has proved by far 
the most profitable way on the farm mentioned. The 
•carrier track has an extension crossing the manure 
pit, and when needed can be used to dump into the 
pit. For a cistorn, of which I do not have a very good 
opinion, and which I doubt if anyone continues to 
use for any length of time, I should proceed as fol¬ 
lows: I should dig a pit of a size to hold the liquid 
from the number of cattle I was keeping, and should 
get it in such a location that the outlet from the stable 
would have a fall of one-half inch to the foot, and 
the outlet to be six-inch tile if there were more than 
six cattle. Then the cistern should be low enough so 
that this inlet emptied in at the top. If the soil would 
stand up firmly as good a way as any is to arch over 
the top with brick and then plaster direct on to the 
earth with cement mortar till you get a coat half an 
inch thick everywhere; then wash it over with thick 
cement wash. A cistern up to 12 feet in diameter can 
be arched successfully. If the earth will not admit of 
plastering the cheapest way would be to brick or stone it 
with cobble stone and plaster. Forms for a round cistern 
are expensive, and a square one will give trouble from 
the earth crowding in unless the wall is 12 or more 
inches thick. The outlet from a manure cistern should 
be from the bottom, and of good-sized sewer tile laid 
with cement, and the outlet end be low enough so 
that it could be loaded by gravity, so as to do away 
with pumping. R. c. angevine. 
Ionia Co., Mich . 
WHAT*ABOUT ACETYLENE GAS ? 
What are the good and bad qualities of the acetylene gas 
plants and lamps? What is carbide made from? Is it some¬ 
thing that can be cornered by a few firms and price raised 
after everyone has put in these gas plants? c. w. w. 
Michigan. 
The merits of acetylene are attested by the fact that 
in the comparatively short time since it was commer¬ 
cially introduced it has come to be used by 2,000,000 
people, counting about 250 town plants and more than 
250,000 individual house systems. To produce this 
gas there have been invented nearly?* 500 different 
varieties of generators, 65 of which have been passed 
by the insurance companies as safe, and not against 
the interests of insurance. So the inquirer has a large 
range to choose from. 
Generators are of two kinds, carbide feed and water 
feed. The difference between these two is one of con¬ 
venience principally. In the carbide feed, the carbide 
is fed, or dropped from a sealed can, by a feed mechan¬ 
ism, down into a tank filled with water, this contact 
being all that is required to produce the gas. The 
water feed reverses this process, the carbide being 
contained in pahs at one side of and detached from 
the generator proper, and water being fed upon it in a 
copious stream from the water tank through a pipe. 
Each works automatically. The gas in each instance 
is conveyed into a gasometer, which is always in readi¬ 
ness to supply the house service, and the light is pre¬ 
cisely the same by either process. Independent table 
lamps are on the same principle, only smaller. The 
carbide feed requires water under pressure and large 
drainage facilities, as, in the case of a 25-light size, at 
least 35 gallons of residuum and water must be dis¬ 
posed of at the time of recharging, and fresh water of 
the same quantity renewed. With ample water and good 
drainage this is the more convenient type of generator. 
If water is not piped and drainage is lacking then the 
water feed is the more convenient, as only a single 
bucket of water is needed, and a single pan of resi¬ 
duum, mostly dry, is to be disposed of. Recharging is 
about five minutes’ work, once a week, on the average. 
All generators which have been passed upon by the 
National Board of Underwriters are safe, but it is 
better in every case to install outside of the dwelling, 
in a frost-proof outbuilding, or cave, for the reason 
that then carelessness or forgetfulness of the few sim¬ 
ple requirements of the generator cannot cause gas to 
issue into the cellar, this being about the only possible 
source of accidents in connection with the use of 
acetylene. 
Carbide is composed of coke and lime, fused in an 
electrical furnace. The Union Carbide Company con¬ 
trol the patents, and operate mammoth plants at 
Niagara Falls and Sault Ste. Marie. They maintain 
warehouses in 50 or more of the principal cities of the 
United States. Carbide, is furnished in 100-pound iron 
drums at four cents a pound, freight paid. A pound 
of carbide makes five cubic feet of gas, which therefore' 
costs to produce four-fifths of a cent per foot. A 
24-candle-power burner consumes one-half foot per 
hour and therefore costs exactly two-fifths of a cent 
per hour. There is no prospect of the price of car¬ 
bide being raised. On the contrary, it is possible that 
competition, which is already seeking a foothold, will 
cause the price to become lower. w. g. nyce. 
An English farmer who let a diseased hog run at large 
was fined $210 ! An American “gentleman farmer” has just 
closed out because pork cost him $118 a pound! 
We have a good many statements like the following: “My 
farm bridges are getting old and unsafe. We cannot afford 
to use lumber at the high prices, and pipe 24 inches in 
diameter is very heavy to have shipped in. and difficult to 
handle. We can make our cement pipe Inside this Winter 
and shve the freight, and we have to keep a few men any-, 
how with little to do.” 
