802 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 17, 
get as much heat out of the burning gases as possible. 
See to it that the hot-air pipes are ample in size and 
all well covered where radiation is not desired, by a 
thick asbestos coating. If you have a room very hard 
to heat, put a small register in the coldest corner, and 
from this return a small pipe to the furnace jacket; 
this will take the cold air from the room and deliver 
it to the furnace and quickly warm the room. Of 
course a cold-air trunk should be brought from out¬ 
doors to the furnace jacket. It will pay to double 
jacket any furnace and take the cold air in between 
the two at top of outer and bottom of inner jacket. 
With steam or hot-water heating the same princi¬ 
ples hold good. So be sure to have a large boiler 
capacity, one that will never require a hot fire to 
furnish the requisite heat. The principal difference 
between steam and hot water is that fire enough must 
be used with steam to generate steam before heat is 
furnished to the rooms, while with hot water circu¬ 
lation begins the moment the fire is started. On the 
other hand, much larger pipes should be used with 
hot water, as steam circulates much more rapidly 
than water. In either case ample radiating surface 
should be furnished so as to give plenty of heat with¬ 
out crowding. No system of steam or hot water is 
perfect unless provided with a system of ventilation. 
This is easily combined with either by putting a 
jacket or room about the boiler, with, if necessary, a 
radiator in the top and into this room lead a cold- 
air pipe from the outer air, and lead one or more 
hot-air pipes from this into the hall of the house and 
to other rooms if desired. j. s. woodward. 
AN ILLINOIS PLOWING MATCH. 
Excellent Work by Experts. 
A plowed land plowed at the thirty-first annual 
match of the Wheatland Plowing Match Associa¬ 
tion in Wheatland Township, Ill., September 19, when 
measured across at each end and in the middle did not 
vary more than a half inch. This was the report 
of the judges who judged the land. The contest 
was participated in by 20 plowmen using walking and 
gang plows, and by two different makes of steam 
plows. It was watched by not less than five thousand 
people from distances as far as 42 miles. The aggre¬ 
gate of the cash prizes offered was $228, and in addi¬ 
tion there were two silver cups and a gold medal, 
besides a number of prizes in the shape of articles 
useful on the farm. In the opinion of the judges and 
of the men who have been attending these unique con¬ 
tests for more than 30 years, some of the finest plow¬ 
ing ever seen in Illinois or elsewhere was done, des¬ 
pite the fact that the land was not altogether in good 
condition Scores ran very close and it was an ex¬ 
ceedingly difficult task for the judges to make the 
awards. The land which measured so evenly was 
plowed by a double gang plow. 
The championship changed hands at the match. 
Some years ago this additional prize was offered and 
thrown open to any prize-winning plowman in the 
world. For several years it was won successively 
by Cyrus I. Stark. Last year he lost it to William 
Fairweather by an exceedingly narrow margin. This 
year three plowmen contested for the prize: Alvin 
Stark, who scored 97^4; William Fairweather, 96^4, 
and Cyrus Stark, 96, all using single sulky or double 
gang plows. It is thus seen that the three plowmen 
were close together in one of the keenest contests on 
record. Contestants plowing with walking plows 
scored up to 93. There were some close scores in the 
prize-winners’ class in which a boy of 13 years made 
a very creditable showing. 
This year there was a diversion in the matter of 
steam plows. Heretofore only one plow of this type 
has given demonstrations on the grounds. This year 
a silver cup was offered for the best work, and the 
Reeves machine, built in Columbus, Ind., turning 12 
furrows at a sweep, and the Peoria machine known 
as the Avery, turning 10 furrows, participated. The 
former got the best score and took the prize. The 
use of the steam plow in the big district from which 
the matches draw plowers has not been adopted to 
any great extent. It is known that one farmer in 
Will County who owns a thousand acres of land 
recently purchased one of the big steam plowing ma¬ 
chines. Up to^this time this is the only one in the 
county. Farmers are waiting for a gasoline machine 
that will plow several furrows and may be managed 
by one man. It is claimed that the big steam ma¬ 
chine in the general Illinois field is impracticable. 
In connection with the match there was a fairly good 
corn show, and some excellent samples of this year’s 
crop were shown and won prizes. 
The Wheatland Plowing Match Association after 
31 years of life is to-day stronger than it ever was, 
and creates more interest. It pays all of its obliga¬ 
tions from the proceeds of a dinner served on the 
grounds. To-day it has $400 in its treasury un¬ 
touched, and frequently is the object of a donation 
made by prominent business men who recognize in 
it an object of great good to the community and to 
all parts of the plowing world. j. l. graff. 
Illinois. 
PATENTED FERTILIZERS. 
At the Patent Office in Washington many processes 
for making fertilizers have been entered. The usual 
plan seems to be for the '“inventor” to obtain his 
patent and then offer to sell his secret or the right 
to use it for $5 or more. In the course of the year 
we have many questions from readers who ask if they 
should pay the $5. To show how plausible these 
“inventors” are we give extracts from a circular 
letter sent by one of them to a reader of The R. N.-Y.: 
I have one of the greatest inventions of the age. and 
you will acknowledge the same to be true, when I tell you 
I have been successful ia combining certain chemicals with 
home materials in such a manner that the change wrought 
in the combination by chemical influence is such that at 
the small cost of only $5 per ton any farmer can prepare 
for himself this fertilizer, which is equal in plant food 
value to commercial guanos that cost from $25 to $40 per 
ton. The materials and chemicals are so arranged in this 
process that nature’s laws are brought in harmony, and 
they work the wonderful changes that are made in the 
combination, and the result is nature’s own plant nourish¬ 
ment. 
He goes on to say that he is teaching farmers how 
to prepare “the best fertilizer in the world” at not 
BOUSSOCK PEAR, NATURAL SIZE. Fig. 375. 
See Ruralisms, Page 806. 
to exceed $5 per ton. A copy of the patent cost five 
cents. The process given is this: 
In the manufacture of a ton of this fertilizer about two 
parts of manure and about one part of dirt, together with 
chemicals in about the following proportions are employed; 
Fourteen per cent acid phosphate, 200 pounds; lime, 100 
pounds; muriate of potash, 50 pounds; nitrate of soda (salt¬ 
petre), 25 pounds; chloride of sodium (salt), 25 pounds; 
sulphate of ammonia, five pounds. In carrying out the pro¬ 
cess a box or vat seven feet long, three feet wide, and two 
feet in depth, containing about 42 cubic feet, is employed. 
By experiment it has been found that this box will hold 
about one ton of the compost made by my process. A 
quantity of manure is taken and reduced to a well-chopped 
condition, free from lumps. A sufficient quantity of this 
finely-chopped material is then placed in a layer in the 
box or vat to the depth of about two inches. On top of 
this layer of manure is sprinkled or sifted about one-half 
of a pound of sulphate of ammonia, this ammonia being 
used for its plant food value and to assist in balancing the 
fertilizer. On top of this layer or sprinkling of ammonia, 
there is sifted or otherwise spread about 2% pounds of 
chloride of sodium. This chloride of sodium is employed 
for the purpose of drawing to and concentrating the 
moisture in the mixture to aid in its decomposition. 
Furthermore, the chlorine contained therein is beneficial in 
preventing the grubs or other insects which attack the 
roots of young plants. On the chloride of sodium is then 
sprinkled or spread a layer containing about 10 pounds of 
acid phosphate. This phosphate is used for its phosphoric 
acid, that is a well-known plant food, and also for the sul¬ 
phuric acid, which decomposes and disintegrates the woody 
or vegetable fibre of the manure, thus releasing the plant 
food it contains, which is made immediately available. 
About five pounds of lime is sprinkled or sifted on top of 
the acid phosphate in the box or vat. 
Thus this wonderful fertilizer consists of 100 pounds 
acid phosphate, 100 pounds lime, 50 pounds muriate 
of potash, 25 pounds nitrate of soda, 25 pounds salt, 
five pounds sulphate of ammonia, 1,118 pounds of 
manure and 559 pounds of dirt. The lime, salt and 
dirt add little actual plant food. When the ton is 
made up we have, at a very liberal estimate, 11 pounds 
of nitrogen, 32 pounds of potash and 18 pounds of 
phosphoric acid. In most parts of the country this 
amount of plant food could be bought for about $4.50 
in chemicals. Let any farmer figure for himself what 
it will cost him to chop up manure and mix a ton in 
this way. This process will break up the manure and 
make it fine—and so will an old-fashioned compost 
heap. It will not add any plant food to the manure 
or dirt except what is added in the chemicals. To 
say that this mixture is equal to fertilizers which sell 
at $40 a ton is as great nonsense as the claim that 
salt aids in decomposition or that lime holds ammonia. 
Every man who will think for a moment will see that 
we use salt to prevent decomposition. The standard 
advice is never to use lime or wood ashes on manure, 
because the lime sets the ammonia free. This “process” 
is a fair sample of dozens of others in the Patent 
Office. It is sound advice to add potash and phos¬ 
phoric acid to manure, but none need pay $5 for it. 
PREPARING FOR WHEAT. 
On page 694 J. D. Prickett says in preparation for 
wheat sowing, “If it is a little dry we harrow and roll the 
second time.” I had supposed it better to roll and then 
harrow to conserve the moisture, and that this was lhe 
theoretical method. j„ c. a. 
Auburn, N. Y. 
It is a rule with me to adopt but few if any cast- 
iron rules in regard to my farm work. I consider 
the ability of a farmer to adapt his methods to his 
conditions one of his most valuable assets. I seldom 
prepare my land for a crop twice the same way in 
succession. This year I plowed the land, which was 
dry and very lumpy. I then rolled it, crushing mil¬ 
lions of those lumps, and leaving surface level but 
very open and lumpy a little way below the surface. 
Left in this condition I reasoned that the air which 
had access to the lumps or clods would soon dry 
them out, so this year I harrowed the ground with 
the disk lapping a half. This cut the ground up and 
threw more clods to the surface, which the second 
rolling crushed. The rolling not only crushed many 
clods, but pressed the finer soil and remaining clods 
into a more or less compact mass, capable of retain¬ 
ing much of the moisture. Had the ground been wet 
I should have used the float or clod-masher as some 
call it instead of the roller, omitting the use of it 
the second time. My observation may have misled 
me, but I have always held that many clods lying 
uncrushed upon the surface are conducive to the 
rapid evaporation of moisture. We have had no rain 
since rolling the ground to form a crust. Had we 
had rain I should have harrowed as soon as the 
ground was in condition, thus breaking off, so to 
speak, the upper end of the little capillaries which 
carry the moisture very rapidly to the surface after a 
rain. Many shudder at the word “scientific,” but I 
might if I have failed to make this matter clear to 
J. C. A. give the “scientific” reasons some soils will 
store up and make available for growing crops more 
moisture than others. It u'ould not be so much a 
lengthy discussion as a suggestion of a very simple 
and quite inexpensive experiment one might perform, 
and by a little thought the matter would seem so sim¬ 
ple that it would lose all semblance of science. 
Ohi°. __ J. D. PRICKETT. 
PENNSYLVANIA FRUIT GROWING.—Near Waynes¬ 
boro, Pa., a few enterprising fruit growers have developed 
a great business on the rough mountain land. The Blue 
Ridge Zephyr states: 
“It is believed to be easily within accuracy to say that 
the peach crop alone in the small portion of Quincy 
township that circles around the mountain to the north 
of Waynesboro, has brought to the growers the sum of 
$78,000. And this is not all. From the south of Waynes¬ 
boro, along the Mason and Dixon line, there have gone out 
to the markets probably $50,000 worth of peaches. And 
even this is not all. There is the apple crop unaccounted 
for. It will add not less than $15,000—and maybe much 
more—to the sum earned by the fruit trees this year. 
“The largest fruit-grower in this section is D. M. 
Wertz. He has shipped over 1.30 carloads of peaches. 
Each carload, it may be stated here, consists of from 
600 to 800 baskets, and a basket is counted a half-bushel. 
That much for the purpose of showing more plainly the 
immensity of the yield from his orchards. At the begin¬ 
ning of the season prices were very good. Then there 
came a slump. For the last week or more prices have 
been satisfactory to the grower. The quality of the fruit 
and the condition of the market regulated the prices. 
Some growers received more than others and more at one 
time than another, so that it is diflicult to fix a general 
average of prices. Mr. Wertz, who made the largest ship¬ 
ments and who always follows method in his business, 
estimates his average price throughout the season at about 
55 cents per basket. If this will not hold good as to 
other growers, it, at least, represents the money received 
for the largest shipments. Mr. Wertz’s peaches filled 
about 100,000 baskets. The reward of his 18 years of 
labor, of scientific study and of the application of scientific 
methods can easily be calculated. One hundred thousand 
baskets, at 55 cents a basket, means a gross return of 
$55,000. from his crop. Mr. Wertz sprayed four times, 
using 70,000 to 90,000 gallons of Bordeaux. His first or¬ 
chard was planted 18 years ago and the older ones are now 
being set with apples. 
