628 
ings of peach was put in an old field at the back 
of the farm. The soil is a light sandy loam, quite 
rocky, and was covered with brush and small trees. 
Wc did not clear the field before planting, but 
this plan was a mistake, for wc have found it 
much harder to fit the field after the trees were planted. 
In this respect we did not follow out the sugges¬ 
tions made by Mr. Stringfellow. He wanted us to 
plow the field after planting and sow cow peas in 
drills, giving good cultivation and fertilizing until 
the trees came in bearing. We were then to seed 
down the entire field and cut the grass for mulch. 
We were unable to carry out this plan, and for sev¬ 
eral years the little peach trees grew among the brush 
without much care. 
In planting, however, Stringfellow’s plan was car¬ 
ried out to the letter. This field was measured and laid 
out so that stakes were driven 18 feet apart. We bought 
little June-bud peaches, and cut them back as shown 
i t the upper right-hand corner of the picture, Fig. 
..11. The tree there shown is a yearling, but the 
root shows just how these June-buds were prepared. 
In planting one man went ahead with a medium¬ 
sized crowbar and punched a hole at each stake— 
deep enough to receive the tree root. The little tree 
was then put into the hole and pushed down hard 
enough to force the end into the ground. Then 
fine sand was poured into the hole around the tree 
and water put with it so as to pack it hard around 
the root. Earth was thrown around the tree and 
firmly stamped down. That is all there \Vas to it, and 
the trees had little or no more care that season. By 
rights they should have been plowed, thoroughly 
cultivated and fertilized. They simply stood alone 
among the brush and briers. While at times I re¬ 
gretted this treatment, I am now glad it was given, 
for no harder test was possible. 
It was the general belief that such trees at once 
would die or dwindle on for a few years. String- 
fellow claimed that this treatment would compel 
them to root like a cutting. He said the packed sand 
at the side of the root would prevent their starting 
except at the lower end. The picture at Fig. 377 
seems to show that he was right. This root was 
dug out about the middle of May this year. Origi¬ 
nally planted in a crowbar hole, we can readily see 
what has happened. As Stringfellow claimed, the 
new roots started like those from a cutting at the 
lower end, and the great majority of them made 
their way downward. By hard digging we traced 
those lower roots far into the soil and found them 
still going down—apparently headed for the water 
level. We have dug up many fruit trees—many of 
them planted in large holes with long roots, but never 
saw anything like these pictures except from root 
pruned trees in small holes. We will leave it to any 
fruit grower to determine whether such a root sys¬ 
tem would be an improvement or not. It does not 
seem to us that these deep tap-roots can be of much 
assistance to the tree in obtaining plant food—for 
most of the available plant food is in the surface soil. 
These deep roots undoubtedly increase the tree’s 
power to obtain water from the lower soil—much 
as clover or Alfalfa, with their long, deep roots, 
can grow right along through weather that will burn 
up Timothy and Red-top. The appearance of this 
tree will explain why we argue that this method of 
planting will prove an essential part of the mulch 
method of growing an orchard. These deep tap¬ 
roots- supply the tree with moisture, whereas a sys¬ 
tem of surface roots would have a constant struggle 
with the grass to obtain a water supply, particularly 
in a dry time. 
While we regard these roots as very much superior 
to those on a surface-rooted tree, we do not claim 
that this crowbar method is best. A somewhat larger 
hole gives us a better chance to pack the dirt around 
the roots. We have learned to leave short side roots 
on the tree so as to anchor it securely in the ground. 
In a later issue we shall give some experience with 
planting apples and discuss what seem to us the 
merits and demerits of this method. We have de¬ 
monstrated to our own satisfaction that on our soil 
and rough, hilly land this method gives us a good 
tree. We are not urging it upon others, or finding 
fault with those who oppose the method, but simply, 
stating facts and inviting discussion. h. w. c. 
GIVE THE HORSE A DRINK. 
When you go to the field on a hot day—in fact, 
almost any day—how careful you are to take along 
plenty of good drinking water, and how you suffer 
unless you take a good drink every little while. Did 
you ever think of making any provision for water¬ 
ing your team during the half day, no matter how 
hot the day or how hard the plowing? 
The fact is the comparative size of your stomach 
to your weight is greater than that of your horse, 
and your horses use up water in drawing the plow 
faster than you do in holding it, and it is simply 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July 
3, 
barbarous to compel them to go the whole half day 
with no water. It is an easy matter to place a bar¬ 
rel on a wagon or log-boat and take to the field 
w r ater and a pail, and every time you feel the need 
of a drink, offer the team a sip. Just try the ex¬ 
periment and be surprised to see how quickly the 
team will learn to look for the water. And then 
why not fit your stables with conveniences so that the 
horses can drink as often as they like when in them? 
Oh ! but you say it won’t do to put the horse hot 
and sweaty from work or driving into the stable 
where it can get water. That depends upon the con¬ 
ditions; if you allow the horse to fill its stomach 
with cold water when over hot, it would most likely 
be injured. But when there is a watering dish with 
only a little water accessible and that at the tempera¬ 
ture of the stable, I will pay double damage for 
all the horse will sustain. If he has no more than 
two or three quarts accessible, he will drink that, 
then go to eating; presently a little more has come 
into the dish, and that will be taken, and thus the 
horse will get all it wants with no harm. And fur¬ 
ther than this, if you want the horse at any time 
quickly, you will not need to stop for watering. Re¬ 
member that “A merciful man is merciful to his 
beast,” and see that you provide drink for your team 
these boiling hot days. j. s. woodward. 
STAVE SILO WITH A CONTINUOUS DOOR. 
Some years ago, when building our second silo, I 
cast about for a design that should unite the good 
points of the circular silo with the conveniences of 
the continuous door of the square silo. I finally hit 
upon a plan which works admirably, and by which the 
acme of silo convenience and durability is secured. 
Fig. 378 explains the plan quite well. The material 
used may be any good lumber, fairly free from knots. 
Mine is made of hemlock, others nearby are made of 
pine. Staves the desired length are sawed two by four 
inches, and for inside silos they need be neither 
planed nor bevelled. Two door-posts, six by six 
inches, are framed together by being dropped on to a 
1 °.. ° ) 
MAINE SILO WITH CONTINUOUS DOOR. Fig. 378. 
short sill and by dropping a plate on top. Additional 
strength is given by putting bolts through just above 
the sill and just below the plates, and in silos more 
than 20 feet high an additional rod may be put 
through the middle of the posts. Another similar 
post, called binding-post, is prepared to stand on op¬ 
posite side of silo. The door-posts have 54-inch 
holes bored through them, leaving just two inches 
space between edge of hole and inside of post. These 
holes are for the hooks, the first ones being as near 
the bottom as possible, the second 18 inches above, 
and the third one 24 inches above the second, so on 
extending the distance as the top is approached, using 
ten hoops on a 20-foot silo. Fig. 378 shows 20, but 
this is a mistake. The hoops are made of inch 
round iron in half lengths with large head on one 
end and thread nut and broad washer on the other. 
A solid, level foundation is first built, on which 
a circle the size of the silo is drawn. The door¬ 
posts, or frame, is then stood up at the proper place 
and securely stayed. Staves are then placed on 
around the circle, staying each one temporarily by 
tacking old barrel staves horizontally across it. When 
one-half around the circle, the binding-post, which has 
previously had as many 54-inch holes bored in it as 
both door-posts, is stood up in place of a stave, then 
on around until the opposite door-post is reached. 
Hoops are then thrust through the holes in the right 
door-post, on around to the binding-post, through it 
and turned up tightly. The left side is treated the 
same until all the hoops are in place. As a finishing 
touch, the inside of silo is banked up with cement, 
making the bottom somewhat kettle-shaped and in¬ 
suring an absolutely tight joint between the cement 
and the ends of the staves. The door-posts have 
grooves, two by two inches, rabbeted out of the in¬ 
side corners, into which the ends of the boards used 
for doors fit. These doors may be made of any 
straight-edge boards of even thickness, laid double 
with paper between them, the edges breaking joints. 
This silo can be well built without skilled labor, and 
for about one dollar per ton capacity. This plan has 
been followed by all who have seen them in use, and 
in various States, and always gives satisfaction. 
Maine. b. walker mc keen. 
PRIMER TALKS ABOUT ALFALFA AND LIME. 
I have followed as far as I could the suggestions of 
Thu R. N.-Y. and the other correspondents in regard 
to getting a seeding this Summer of Alfalfa upon my 
half acre of sod ground, upon which a good crop of hay, 
Timothy on one half and clover on the other, went back 
last year. I have well plowed and worked the field, after 
putting on three tons of stable manure, and sowed a 
bushel each of peas and oats which I will cut for early 
hay, and have also put on ICO pounds of 2-8-10 com¬ 
mercial fertilizer. I expect to work up the ground well 
and sow to Alfalfa about the first of August next, and 
to apply about half a ton of lime, as the ground, which 
is a sandy loam, has a slight acid reaction, and also sow 
broadcast about 320 pounds or more of commercial fer¬ 
tilizer and 100 pounds or more of bacteria soil. Is there 
any practicable way of getting the bacteria lietter than 
by using Sweet clover soil, and if so where can it be 
reasonably found? Would the 2-8-10 fertilizer be the 
best to use. or should it have less nitrogen? Would 320 
pounds be enough? Will the unburned ground marl be 
the proper lime to use, and if not, how otherwise? 1 
also ask for any further suggestions. e. e. n. 
1 would suggest that as E. E. N. finds his soil is 
acid, it would be better to apply air-slaked lime, and to 
use quite a little larger amount, say one ton to the 
half acre, instead of a half ton. If he expects to use 
quicklime or freshly burned lime, the half ton will be 
sufficient, but there is so much injury to the soil from 
using this quicklime that I do not like to see any of 
the farmers use it. Put this lime on two or three 
weeks before trying to sow the Alfalfa; this is much 
better than sowing it at just the same time that the 
Alfalfa is seeded, because it has a chance to correct 
the acidity of the soil, and also because the lime seems, 
at least sometimes, to injure the young Alfalfa plants 
unless it has been in the soil for some weeks, and has 
lost some of its strength thereby. 
Unburned limestone or marl or ground oyster shells 
are all right, and the proper thing to use. In brief, 
the freshly burned lime, while very strong, attacks 
the humus in the soil and in this way impoverishes it. 
One ton of quicklime will do the work of two tons 
of air-slaked lime, but as it is in the long run in¬ 
jurious to the soil, 1 cannot but feel that the other 
forms are much preferable. Air-slaked lime is very 
much safer, and when the ground limestone rock can¬ 
not be purchased cheaply, it is the best thing to use. 
It can sometimes be secured for almost nothing, espe¬ 
cially near manufacturing plants that have large 
amounts of it as waste. The unburned limestone will 
accomplish still less than the air-slaked lime, but it 
works absolutely no injury to the soil, and when it can 
be bought for a reasonable price I consider it the best 
thing to use. This unburned rock can be purchased 
at $1 to $1.25 per ton f.o.b. cars at some of the points 
where it is manufactured. 1 have even been informed 
of one institution that sells it for 75 cents. I think 
that where the unburned rock can be bought for $2.50 
to $3 per ton delivered at the purchaser’s station, it 
will be found to be the best and cheapest form of 
lime. Where the freight charges or the original cost 
runs the price up to $4 or $5 or $6 per ton for the 
unburned rock, and the air-slaked lime can be pur¬ 
chased for $6 or $7, as sometimes happens, the air- 
slaked would probably be better. There are many 
brands of prepared limes or agricultural limes offered 
for sale. Probably many of these are all right, but 
as they are usually just ordinary lime ground fine, it 
is questionable whether they are worth the extra price 
or not. 
To summarize the matter: Avoid fresh-burned lime 
altogether, and if the unburned lime can be bought for 
less than $4 per ton delivered, use it instead. If the 
unburned lime is used, I would apply two to four 
tons per acre. If air-slaked lime is used, apply two 
tons per acre. There is no practicable way that I can 
recommend better than getting the bacteria from using 
Sweet clover soil or from using soil from other Al¬ 
falfa fields. The Government furnishes inoculation 
free of charge, which very frequently succeeds, but 
it is not as sure as the soil. 
In regard to fertilizer, I think that as this is sod 
ground, the inquirer would get better results by using 
the acid phosphate and leaving out the nitrogen al¬ 
together. We find in Ohio that while nitrogen is a 
help, the phosphate is better, working more quickly 
and seeming to stimulate the Alfalfa into more rapid 
growth than the nitrogen does. In fact, I think barn¬ 
yard manure with acid phosphate makes an ideal com¬ 
bination, the manure not only furnishing the nitro¬ 
gen, but humus as well. With a 2-8-10 fertilizer, 320 
pounds would be the proper amount; with acid phos¬ 
phate, 200 pounds would be enough. Bone meal would 
probably be a little better on the acid soil than acid 
phosphate, because acid phosphate has a tendency to 
make soil still more acid. If I were using bone meal, 
I would prefer a good steamed article, and would 
use 300 to 400 pounds per acre, sowing it either at 
the same time as the Alfalfa or a little sooner. I 
would try to sow the Alfalfa the last of July rather 
than the first of August, or if you can manage it, 
even the first of July would be still better. 
Ohio. CHAS. B. WING. 
