166 
ELECTRIC LIGHT ON FARMS. 
Among the remarkable stories of farm 
prosperity told of the Pacific coast apple 
section we find the following from The 
Spokane Spokesman : 
“Recently the Artesian Hotel of this 
place installed an electric light plant, 
operated with a gasoline engine. The en¬ 
gine has six horse power and the dynamo 
has 3% kilowatt power, which will furnish 
60 lamps of 16 candle power each. The 
plant worked so successfully that a num¬ 
ber of business men ace contemplating in¬ 
stalling them. Scores of people, both in 
town, and in the country, have visited the 
plant and watched its operation with a 
view to installing similar plants. 
“Fred. S. l 7 oung r a farmer west of town, 
has installed one on his farm and is so 
well* pleased with its operation that a 
number of his neighbors contemplate put¬ 
ting in similar plants. ‘I believe that at 
least 25 of these plants will be in use 
within a few miles of Pullman within 
a year,’ said Mr. Young. The plant 
installed by Mr. Young has a two horse 
power engine, which pumps water for the 
house and stock, runs a chop mill and sup¬ 
plies electric light for the house and barn 
at night. A small storage battery, which 
is charged while the machine is running 
in the evening, supplies light all night, 
if desired, after the machine is shut 
down.” 
We have been led to believe from a care¬ 
ful investigation that electric supply from 
a gasoline engine through a storage bat¬ 
tery would not prove very practical on a 
farm. A water power is best, since it 
supplies a steady power. Regarding the 
above news note we have this reporf from 
a Washington correspondent: 
Pullman is where our State College 
is situated, and is in about the best 
farming section in eastern Washington, 
and the dwellers in the rural districts 
there are well advanced as far as the 
comforts of life are concerned. They 
may be making experiments in the way 
of lighting by electricity. If so, all 
their appliances and machinery are from 
the East. In our district here on Puget 
Sound, in Skagit Co., said by the 
faculty of the agricultural college to be 
on the whole the best and most pros¬ 
perous farming region in the State, 
and noted for its well-appointed and 
beautiful farm homes, etc., the acetylene 
lighting plant is quite commonly an 
adjunct to the farm home, but we have 
heard of no one using the electric sys¬ 
tem. In the rich White River Valley, 
near to Seattle, the electric light is 
common, the Interurban Electric Road 
furnishing three lights to a home at 
the rate of 60 cents oer month. We 
expect the same facilities here in a 
short time from the building of an elec¬ 
tric road, to be begun the present sea¬ 
son. Our mountain streams furnish 
unlimited power, and but 40 or 50 miles 
distant, and which will, of course, be 
brought to us through the medium of 
electricity. 
As to those statements from our 
newspapers, no one here takes much 
stock in them. They are a part of the 
vast booming and promoting methods 
common in the State by the various 
interests profiting therefrom, and in 
general contain but a few grains of 
truth. Take the one story of the vast 
profits of fruit growing here. One 
newspaper story has it that a certain 
party had realized $5,000 from less 
than an acre of his 20-acre orchard; 
afterwards corrected it to say that it 
counted up to that if the whole acre 
had been covered with trees that yielded 
as some of them did. Then the story 
was printed all over the State that this 
orchard of 20 acres had given a return 
of $5,000 per acre. And it was even 
repeated in Congress at Washington by 
our State Senator, as an orchard that 
had given a crop from which had been 
realized a return in 1907 of $100,000 in 
gold coin! J- F - c * 
W ashingto n. 
Chickweed in the Strawberries. 
A. E. R., State Road, Del .—A report that 
I watched for but never saw was when T. 
Greiner’s strawberry patch came up so full 
of chickweed as to make him a good mulch 
for Winter. I would like to know how the 
race came out. 
Ans. —In reply to the inquiry about 
chickweed as a mulch for strawberries 
THE RURAIi NEW-YORKER 
I have to disclaim all preferences for 
that kind of Winter mulch, or Summer 
mulch, either. Chickweed is not a 
pleasant thing to have in a garden, and 
least of all in a strawberry patch, al¬ 
though it may do little or no harm in 
a potato patch or cornfield. I have 
seen strawberry plants and rows, espe¬ 
cially of the earlier varieties,, so com¬ 
pletely covered with the excessive 
growth of that weed that it was almost 
impossible to gather fruit. Yet in my 
later sorts, especially the Gandy last 
Summer, while the plants were often 
almost hidden from sight by the tre¬ 
mendous growth of chickweed during 
the blooming stage, the weather condi¬ 
tions happened to be such that the weed 
plants ripened and dried away, form¬ 
ing a good carpet-like mulch betwen 
the rows, but leaving those thrifty 
strawberry vines exposed and giving us 
a most excellent chance to pick the ber¬ 
ries until the end of the season. Since 
then, of course, a new growth of chick- 
weed has appeared, and I believe at 
this writing covers the old bed almost 
completely. At the beginning of Spring 
I shall run over it with a smoothing 
harrow and see what the outcome will 
be. T. GREINER. 
A Neglected Orchard. 
G. W. B., Sterling, Va ,—We have here 
in Loudon county an orchard of Ben 
Davis on a red shale ridge that needs help 
of some sort. The trees, while looking 
healthy are apparently stunted. They are 
quite small, though they seem to have 
been set a good while. In 1907 they bore 
very full and there were a good many 
apples in 1908. The farm has recently 
come into our possession, and we know 
nothing more than this of its past history. 
There are no signs of any recent culti¬ 
vation in the orchard, and it is grown up 
to weeds wherever the soil will grow them, 
also there is more or less Japan clover, 
and in the few richer spots Red clover. 
We find Ben Davis a whole lot better 
than no apples at all. and would like to 
know the best way to treat this orchard 
to give it the best possible chance. Would 
cow peas or Soy beans be a good crop 
for it? 
Ans. —There seems little doubt that 
what this apple orchard needs is plenty 
of good tillage and some feeding. I 
would suggest a liberal coating of muri¬ 
ate or sulphate of potash, 200 pounds 
per acre, and 800 pounds of dissolved 
phosphate rock. These may be mixed 
and sown broadcast together over the 
area covered by the tree roots, which is 
about as far from the trees as they are 
tall. Then I would plow the whole sur¬ 
face shallow and keep the top loose by 
frequent use of cultivators, harrows or 
anything that will do the work well. 
Sow cow peas in drills in Summer and 
cultivate them at least twice. About 
September 1 or a little sooner I would 
sow Crimson clover, which should be 
plowed under the next May. This will 
furnish nitrogen. It is not probable that 
any pruning of consequence is necessary, 
for Ben Davis naturally makes a very 
shapely tree. h. e. van deman. 
Cedar Oil as a Farm Crop. 
F. E. R., Fair Haven, Vt .—I own a farm 
that is overrun with cedars; they spread 
so much over the pasture that if nothing is 
done there will be no pasture at all. 1 
have li-aid of making cedar oil out of 
them. Is it practical? Can anyone do it, 
and is there a ready sale of this cedar oil? 
Most of the cedars are too small for posts. 
Ans. —We would not encourage the 
plan. We do not believe it would be 
practical to try to distill that quantity 
of cedars. There is a fair demand for 
cedar oil, as well as for many other 
oils and extracts, but prices are not 
such as to encourage small operations. 
We sometimes hear of cases where 
great profits are said to be made in dis¬ 
tilling these oils, but we have not yet 
been able to find o-i. In southern 
Connecticut some farmers cut hazel 
brush as a Winter job and haul it to a 
distillery, but there seems to be but 
little money in it. 
Bush Fruits ; by F. W. Card; 535 
pages, many illustrations. Of service to 
all who raise small fruits commercially or 
for home use: planting, cultivation, fer¬ 
tilizing, etc., well covered; price $1.50; 
for sale by The Rural New-Yorker. 
The Book of Alfalfa, by F. D. Coburn; 
336 pages; illustrated. There is no for¬ 
age plants in which more people are in¬ 
terested now than Alfalfa, and Secretary 
Coburn’s wide knowledge of the subject 
makes this book of especial value. For 
sale by The Rural New-Yorker ; price $2. 
February 20, 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply and 
“a square deal.” See guarantee, page 10. 
Where Grapefruit Nets 
$2,500 per Acre. 
Small farms are making: Florida 
planters wealthy. Fruit crops net 
$500 to $2,500 per acre—Veg¬ 
etables, $1,000. Delightful cli¬ 
mate, no droughts. Write for 
booklet written by a western 
man which shows profits derived 
from various crops, and tells of 
rich lands procured reasonably. 
Sent free while edition lasts. 
J. W. WHITE, 
General Industrial Agent, 
SEABOARD AIR-LINE, 
Dept, 18 . Portsmouth. Va. 
THE FARMER’S WEALTH 
comes from the soil; the richer the soil the more 
money made. No better land anywhere than 
Tidewater Virginia and Carolina. Fine climate, 
with long growing-seasons; three crops a year 
from same field. Yet lands are cheap and can 
be bought on easy terms—a gold mine for an 
Industrious man. Write for booklet. 
F. L. MERRITT, Land & Indusf’l Agent, Norfolk and Southern 
Railway, 36 Citizens Bank Building, Norfolk, Va. 
Make Plowing Easy 
p-The 
I Wonder 
Plow 
Trucks 
Attach to 
ahy walking 
plow — one 
or two-horse, right or left hand, wood or 
steel beam. They regulate depth and width 
of furrow, and lighten the draft on horses at 
least one-third. The furrow wheel acts like 
a pivot, just like wheel of wheelbarrow. You 
do not touch your hands to the plow, except 
in turning at end of furrow. Your twelve- 
year-old boy can plowwith the Trucks as well 
as a man. You don’t need to take our word 
for this — test them yourself at our risk. 
Greatest money-maker for agents ever put 
on the market. They sell on sight. Big 
profits and good territory still open. We give 
a sample set of Trucks free to all new agents. 
Retail price only $5.00. Write at once for 
full particulars. 
WONDER PLOW COMPANY. 
327 Factory St., St. Clair, Mich. 
Hume Saw Mill, 
Fairfield, Me. 
Why Use Paint to Protect Your Roof? 
)t get a roofing in the begin- Its real mineral surface makes this possible, 
that will protect itself—that What you spend merely for paint and 
lt j n g ? repairs on other roofs will in a few years 
h surfaced ready roofings re- P a y en tirely for an Amatite roof. 
>f paint or some liquid every r For Farm Buildin g s i,: is especially satis- 
, . r • i r i _ factory and economical. 
1 he roofing itself merely acts J 
.1 • T r r -i . . Anyone can lay Amatite. It requires no 
the paint. If you fail to put 3 J M 
roof doesn t last very long. * 
T) r ■ . cement for laps are furnished free ■ L"Ijl 
Roofing requires no paint r ap- II 
i • j r ^ . with each roll. 
kind. It gives protection j wfUUM*' 
e moment you lay it until it Write for Free Sample and i 
irn out, without spending Booklet and investigate its J ROOFlNI 
•ther cent for extras. merits for yourselfi J® 
mm 
Barrett Manufacturing Company 
New York Chicago Philadelphia Boston # 
St. Louis Cleveland Pittsburg Cincinnati KiNFPAI OiRFiD 
New Orleans 
Kansas City 
Minneapolis 
London, Eng. 
