302 
qrirltC RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 20, 
TOOLS FOR 100-ACRE FARM. 
On page 159 I note a question by 
O. G. R.—Tools for Eighty-Acre 
Farm.” My place consists of 60 acres, 
purchased a little over two years ago. 
I spent considerable time in making my 
list, and find now I would not make 
a change in a single item. A copy 
taken from my expense account fol¬ 
lows. I want to take exceptions to 
answer of J. D. Prickett in reference to 
the plows. No sane man would walk 
behind a plow in this age. I spent six 
months looking into the plow question; 
traveled many miles; visited many of 
the plow factories, and my sulky plow 
cannot be beaten. I use a light driving 
team on mine, and a lightweight boy, 
17 years old, uses it. It does wonder¬ 
fully good work, and is the talk of 
the town. I have plowed all day and 
was not the least tired when the day’s 
work was done, and I have talked with 
a few who have walked all day. Cut 
out the roller and spring-tooth har¬ 
row and get an Acme, and do it all 
at once, and ride while you do it. \V e 
all must build wire fences and the Sim¬ 
plex steel post-hole digger makes fence 
building a pleasure. 
FARM IMPLEMENTS. 
1 1%-inch axle Auburn farm 
wagon, seat, shafts and pole 
1 set eveners and pole yoke. 
1 wood hay rack (my design).... 
1 wood wagon rack. 
1 Wiard power lift sulky plow. 
No. 55-44 . 
1 Syracuse single horse plow, No. 
52-L, with knife coulter- 
1 Acme harrow . 
1 tooth harrow or drag. 
1 adjustable steel cultivator. 
1 adjustable steel cultivator for 
hilling . 
1 adjustable marker . 
1 McCormick mowing machine, 
new. No. 4 . 
1 McCormick hay tedder . 
1 Yankee wood hay rake. 
1 wood stone boat, (my design).. 
1 wood snow plow (my design).. 
1 Brownie duster for Paris-green, 
etc. 
1 lawn roller, with seat. 
$273.80 
TOTALS. 
Farm Implements . $273.80 
Small farm tools . 57.85 
Harness, etc. 13p-7o 
Wagons and horses . 655.00 
Carpenter and work tools. 23.47 
Grand total .$1,148.87 
Connecticut. the argyle farm. 
Forcing Asparagus in Hotbeds. 
W. E. 1 Wcstboro, Mass. —Can you give 
me any information as to growing asparagus 
in a hothouse or in a cement bed, that 
might be 6x9 feet and four feet deep, or 
larger, producing for six months or so? 
Ans. —I know of no such method be¬ 
ing used as inquirer mentions. I have 
known a few greenhouse men to try 
growing asparagus in greenhouses in 
the usual way; that is, take up well- 
matured crowns and plant them thickly 
in the greenhouse much the same as 
rhubarb is planted for forcing. I never 
knew asparagus to produce for six 
months with this method. In fact, after 
a short period of cutting the shoots 
become small, and as time goes on, still 
smaller. Forcing asparagus in this sec¬ 
tion has only been done in an experi¬ 
mental way, and those who tried it have 
discontinued it, showing, I think, that 
it was not a success. 
C. C. HULSART. 
Stunted Pear Tree. 
L. G„ Brid-sjewater. Mass .—I have a Shel¬ 
don pear tree that was as large when I 
came here, nine years ago, as it is to-day. 
It was all sod-bound when I came here, but 
I have dug out that sod and manured it 
with stable manure and hen droppings; but 
there it stands and does not grow. It bears 
three to six or eight pears each year, but 
they are mostly small. Tree about four 
inches through. Can anything be done for 
it 2 
Ans. —Stunted pear trees are often 
difficult to start into renewed growth. 
Probably your Sheldon ti»ee will begin 
to move in a season or two. Digging 
away the sod and dressing with stable 
manure is all right as far as it goes, but 
you can probably assist the matter by 
scattering 10 or 12 pounds of some good 
chemical potato fertilizer under the trees 
and working it into the ground. The 
rain will dissolve it and carry it down 
to the roots, and sooner or later the 
tree will respond to this stimulent. 
$50.00 
7.00 
10.00 
35.80 
8.25 
10.00 
6.00 
5.50 
5.00 
5.00 
45.00 
34.00 
23.00 
5.00 
5.00 
3.50 
15.00 
THE MIXING OF CRUDE FERTILIZERS. 
There is an opinion prevailing among 
many who have never tried the home 
mixing of fertilizers that it is a diffi¬ 
cult operation to mix the crude ma¬ 
terials properly, so that the mixture 
will have a uniform composition. This 
opinion is all wrong. It is a little dif¬ 
ficult to decide upon just what ma¬ 
terials to buy, just which ones will give 
the most plant food for the dollar in¬ 
vested in forms best suited to the needs 
of the plant we are going to feed, but 
having purchased our materials it is 
just as easy to mix them together as 
it is to mix three or four kinds of 
grain. 
Spread the materials out in layers 
upon a tight barn floor. For instance, 
if our fertilizer contains fine ground 
bone, spread that material out on the 
floor in a layer two to three inches 
thick. Then spread over this in an¬ 
other layer the muriate of potash, 
and so on until we have all the 
materials that enter into our fer¬ 
tilizer. Then beginning on one 
side shovel the mass over, working 
back and forth, taking each time a 
strip as wide as the shovel. After 
this operation shovel .the materials into 
two piles. Then shovel into one large 
pile, taking a shovelful alternately from 
each of the piles, and raising the shovel 
so that the material will strike the apex 
of the new pile as it falls from the 
shovel and slide down the sides in even 
layers. It is then well to run the ma¬ 
terial through a coarse sieve, which takes 
out any lumps and makes the mixing 
more complete. A yard of coarse 
meshed screen may be bought at the 
hardware store for a few cents, and 
the sieve made at home. We generally 
mix one ton at a time. Two men can 
mix and bag three to four tons in 
10 hours, and the work may be done 
on rainy days when the time can be 
spared. e. s. brigham. 
FARM TOOLS AND IMPLEMENTS. 
After reading O. C. R.’s inquiry and 
Mr. Prickett’s response, I wish to sug¬ 
gest to the inquirer that if he wants to 
have comfort with his 80 acres he 
should adopt my list. I have only 100 
acres that can be plowed, and work 
them principally with hay and rye; 
raise other things enough for our own 
use; keep six horses and one cow. I 
have a 12 horse-power gasoline engine 
that runs the following implements, and 
can run them all at the same time by 
using six men, and can be using nine 
more men outside at the same time. 
This is during harvesting: Grindstone, 
friction windlass for hoisting hay and 
grain; rye beater; straw binder; hay 
and straw baler; fanning mill; feed 
grinder; root cutter; woodsaw. Out¬ 
doors we have a walking plow, with an 
attachment that saves 100 per cent of 
labor; two disk harrows; one smoothing 
harrow; one roller; two binders; one 
mowing machine; two hay wagons; one 
horse corn planter; one spraying outfit; 
one grain drill with fertilizer attach¬ 
ment; one fertilizer distributer; hay 
rake, and all the usual small tools found 
on all farms. I think the total outfit 
cost about $3,000. In July and 
August I hire from two to five out¬ 
side teams with drivers; all the rest 
of the year one hired man suffices. 
When I first worked on a farm, we cut 
grain with a sickle, and the entire im¬ 
plement outfit was a yoke of oxen and 
cart with the usual small tools, plow, 
wooden tooth harrow (homemade), etc. 
Fewer farms had mortgage attachments 
then than now. F. H. 
“For the Land’s Sake use Bowker’s 
Fertilizers; they enrich the earth and 
those who till it. Write Bowker Fer¬ 
tilizer Co., Boston, New York, or Buf¬ 
falo, who make attractive propositions 
to farmers who will act as agents. 
Illustrated catalogue free.”— Adv. 
Genuine 
Thomas Phosphate Powder 
( Basic Slag Phosphate ) 
WARNING 
As several low grade raw phosphates are now being offered under 
various names, our friends and customers are herewith warned 
against accepting them under the supposition that they are similar to 
Genuine Thomas Phosphate Powder 
( Basic Slag’ Phosphate ) 
or in any way a substitute for it in agricultural value. 
Availability of Phosphoric Acid 
In Reply to Inquiries Concerning the Availability of the Phosphoric Acid in 
Thomas Phosphate Powder, We Are Pleased to Refer to 
the Following Excellent Authorities. 
MASSACHUSETTS EXPERIMENT STATION 
Bulletin 127, Pages 16 and 68 
No. of 
Total 
Available 
Analyses 
Phot. Acid 
Phos. Acid 
Basic Slag. 
9 
17.73 
15.48$ 
*By Wagner’s method. Basic Slag p hoS phate 
Total Phos. 
Acid 
Found 
Total Phos. 
Acid 
Gun ran teed 
Avail 
Phos. Acid 
Found 
Avail 
Phos. Acid 
Guaranteed 
Coe-Mortimer Co., 24-26Stone St., N. Y. City 
Coe-Mortimer Co., 24-26 Stone St., N. Y. City 
17.45 
17.96 
17.00 
17.00 
15.38 
15.59 
*15.00 
*15.00 
♦Guarantee based on Wagner’s method of analysis. 
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 phospheiic acid plots and bone 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 Experi¬ 
ment Station, in Bulletin No. 114: “BASIC SLAG MEAL has proved 
THROUGHOUT 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.” 
MR. H. W. COLLINGWOOD, (Editor The Rural, New Yorker) says: 
“ Ail that I put on in the way of fertilizer is IRON SLAG (BASIC SLAG) crushed up 
into a powder. And if you could see how those TREES HAVE IMPROVED 
YOU WOULD BE ASTONISHED.”— t Address before the Massachusetts Fruit 
Growers’ Association : “The Care of Apple Orchards,” March 9, 1905). 
MR. MONROE MORSE, of Medway, Mass., one of the best known and 
most successful farmers in the State of Massachusetts, in the American Cultivator, 
date of November 16th, 1907, writes as follows : “The cheapest way to supply lime to 
the soil is to use BASIC SLAG (THOMAS PHOSPHATE POWDER) as a source 
of phosphoric acid for the fertilizers. SLAG (THOMAS PHOSPHATE POWDER) 
carries from 30 to 50 per cent, of lime, and the value of the phosphoric acid it carries 
will cover its whole cost.” 
Says Bulletin IOO, page 137, of the Ohio State Agricultural Ex¬ 
periment Station: “Experiments at this Station indicate that the Total 
Phosphoric Acid of BASIC SLAG IS PRACTICALLY AS EFFECTIVE as the 
AVAILABLE PHOSPHORIC Acid of Acid Phosphate.” 
Prof. ALVA AGEE, of the Pennsylvania Agricultural College, 
says: “Careful experiment station tests show that a pound of plant food in BASIC 
SLAG (sometimes called THOMAS SLAG), is just as effective as a pound of so- 
called available phosphoric acid in the acid phosphate that is the source of most of 
this element found in commercial fertilizers.” 
Our booklet “Thomas Phosphate Powder and Its Uses ” 
is sent free if you mention The Rural New-Yorker. 
THE COE-MORTIMER COMPANY, 
Special Importers of THOMAS PHOSPHATE POWDER 
Sole Manufacturers of E. FRANK COE FERTILIZERS AND PERUVIAN BRANDS 
24 STONE STREET, NEW YORK CITY. 
Let Us Tell You How 
You Can Paint Your 
Home 
Without 
Its 
Costing 
You 
a Cent 
HOBS 
In order to introduce “Unito” Paint everywhere, 
we have adopted a Co-operative plan for getting 
our paints into every community which will pay 
our patrons for their help. You can have all the 
Unito Paint you want—either House or Barn Paint 
—In any color without sending us one cent of money. 
You not only can paint your own buildings without 
cost to you, but, without effort on your part can 
make them bring you actual cash— 
Need Send No Money 
YVe mean just what we say—this is onr own ex¬ 
clusive plan and is the greatest paint offer ever 
made. It is not a plan to give away Unito Paint. 
Our co-operative plan enables you to see the paint 
—to use the paint—and yet you don’t have to pay a 
cent for it—not even when the job is done and you 
are fully satisfied. If you need any paint, don't pay 
out your own good money—but write and get our 
1908 Co-operative Plan. It will actually pay you 
cash to use Unito Paint. Every gallon of Unito 
Paint is backed by a 5-year guarantee. 
Big 224-page Catalog free for the asking. Write 
today—now—don’t put it off. 
The United Factories Company 
Dept. P31 , Cleveland, Ohio 
Is the most effective and 
cheapest liquid fertilizer 
for ALFALFA, CLOVER 
and all legumes. 
Knriches the soil in NI¬ 
TROGEN, benefits other 
crops, corn, wheat, vege- 
tables, potatoes, cotton, 
tobacco, etc. 
Success Guaranteed 
Send 20 cts, for small trial bottle and test 
it in your home. Price $2.00 per acre. 
Write for particulars to 
Dr. Reiche Nitragin Go. 
Dept. 109. 
MILWAUKEE, WIS. 
SOUTHERN CROPS PAY 
Come to the South where they raise three and 
four healthy crops a year. Tidewater Virginia and 
Carolina—land of opportunity. Rich loam and per- 
fectclimate. Best corn, hay, potato and truck lands. 
Market weeks ahead of others. Zero winters un¬ 
known. Dry summers unheard of. Twenty acres 
equal sixty northern acres. Lands are cheap and 
can be bought on easy terms. Write for booklet. 
F. L. MERRITT, Land & Indust’l Agent, Norfolk and Southern 
Railway, 36 Citizens Bank Building, Norfolk, Va. 
PORTABLE HURDLE FENCE 
Mude of Bplit Chestnut. 
Hurdles are 8}^ ft. long and 4 ft. 
high when set. Four Bar Hurdles 
80c. ea.; Five Bar $1; Six Bar $1.20. 
Write for Catalogue. 
R. c. REEVES CO., 
187 Water St, New York City. 
