804 
November 21 
DENATURED ALCOHOL ON FARMS. 
I read your article on denatured al¬ 
cohol in a late number of The R. 
N.-Y., but cannot agree with your con¬ 
clusions that this industry is destined 
to be done on a large scale only. The 
general impression in this country is 
that the only reason thousands of these 
stills are not already in operation is that 
no manufacturer has as yet put a still 
on the market. The reason advanced 
for this is that Standard Oil, in con¬ 
junction with Steel Trust, have dropped 
a hint that they are not to be put on 
the market. If small stills are put on 
the market at prices from $60 to $100, 
I have been told by nearly 100 different 
people that they would get one to work 
up the wastes, culled apples, beets, po¬ 
tatoes, spoiled grain, etc., into a very 
valuable commodity that costs every¬ 
body lots of hard cash. I know one 
orchard man who uses fiom $100 to 
$150 worth of gasoline every season 
to half irrigate his orchard. If he 
could use up his culled fruit and even 
grow an acre or two of beets in addi¬ 
tion, he would get enough alcohol to 
do twice the amount of irrigating for 
practically nothing, for when one has 
to advance $200 in irrigating a crop 
that one may possibly no + get a cent 
of actual cash money out of, it is a 
risky proceeding for a man with a large 
family. It v/ould be safer to use up 
twice that amount in one’s own labor, 
which in certain circumstances, that we 
all know, is often worth nothing at all 
in ready money value. Apple packing 
and shipping associations would use the 
system as a convenient way of return¬ 
ing culls to the owner. There is a 
tendency nowadays to keep as much 
cash at home, a reaction oerhaps from 
the “raise one crop and buy every¬ 
thing,” take store price and give store 
price. Or to put it another way, sell 
your one crop at wholesale, and buy 
your necessaries at retail, paying the 
railroad all the balance for hauling, 
both ways. As for the uses this prod¬ 
uct would be put to, I might mention that 
there is a store in this town that lately 
displayed a window full of stoves burn¬ 
ing the refined alcohol, neat little af¬ 
fairs, nicely plated. I have noticed 
them going like hot cakes. 
Personally I know it is untrue with 
The R. N.-Y., but I have heard several 
different persons claim that the farm 
and other papers have been subsidized 
to talk the alcohol business down in the 
interest of the Standard Oil. The Min¬ 
nesota Experiment Station is getting 
lots of credit for taking the other view 
of the case. We are likely to hear 
from them, for they have imported a 
foreign-made cheap still at a cost for 
still I believe of $60, to see what they 
can do with it. Let down the duty bars 
and I fancy there would be a lot of 
foreign-made stills imported, and far¬ 
mers would be experimenting on their 
own account. The culled apple situa¬ 
tion has become more acute since the 
passage of the pure food law, which 
prevents the sale of apple vinegar to 
a very large extent. Stores refuse al¬ 
most altogether to buy the cider vine¬ 
gar product. Not much has been done 
with evaporating even for home use, as 
those who have fruit can keep it fresh 
for home use without evaporating. 
Montana. h. c. b. colville. 
Sulphuric Acid on the Farm. 
G. G. G., Southern New Jersey .—If dry 
swamp muck were treated with sulphuric 
acid would it render the ingredients it con¬ 
tains in a soluble state so they would 
become immediately available for plant 
food? M'uck in its natural state seems to he 
in a neutral mineralized condition, hence 
of little value as plant food. Treating 
muck with lime is not satisfactory, neither 
is making a compost of raw muck mixed 
with other fertilizing materials satisfac¬ 
tory. 
Ans. —We would not advise you to 
use sulphuric acid with fhe muck. This 
acid is dangerous stuff to handle. A 
drop of it in the- eye would prove a 
THE REJRAX NEW-YORKER 
serious thing. Some fertilizer manufac¬ 
turers use dried muck or peat in making 
up low-grade goods, but it is seldom or 
never mixed with acid. These manu¬ 
facturers, even with complete acid 
works and all the facilities for doing 
the work, have not found it practical 
to use the acid on muck. It would be 
even less practical for a f-.rmer to at¬ 
tempt it on a small scale and with a 
farm equipment. We do not know why 
G. G. G. finds it unsatisfactory to mix 
the muck with lime. We believe that 
is the best way to handle it. The muck 
is hauled out of the swamp and piled 
in a dry place. Our plan is to make a 
long narrow pile and as each wagon 
load is put on to throw in about 150 
pounds of lime scattered over the sur¬ 
face. If you can spare stable manure 
or hen manure, scatter it through the 
muck—the object being to start fermen¬ 
tation as rapidly as possible. After 
four months begin at one end of the 
pile and fork it over—taking a fork¬ 
ful from the pile and throwing it 
behind you so as to follow with a new 
pile. If this is done, muck hauled out 
this Fall will be in fair condition to 
use for corn next year. It will con¬ 
tain a fair amount of available nitrogen 
and it will be necessary to add potash 
and phosphoric acid in some form. This 
is sometimes done by putting wood ashes 
or muriate of potash and acid phosphate 
in the muck with the lime. We do not 
believe there is any more satisfactory 
way for a farmer to handle swamp 
muck. We would not advise the use of 
acid. 
Tolman Sweet as a Pollenizer. 
B. C. F., Willsboro, N. Y.—I expect to 
set about three acres of apple trees next 
Spring, mostly McIntosh. While talking 
with a fruit grower and shipper of this 
section who has set a young commercial 
orchard he told me he had set among his 
trees Tolman Sweet, as it is the best known 
variety to fertilize the blossoms of other 
varieties. Now a Tolman Sweet for this 
section is about the poorest commercial 
apple that can be grown, and unless it has 
some very good qualities I would not care 
to set the trees. Can you give me any 
information on the subject? 
Ans. —With all respect to the gentle¬ 
man who advised you, I would say by 
no means follow his advice. It is not 
necessary to cross-pollenize apples un¬ 
less it be the Baldwin, and then it is 
better to get a variety worth while, and 
not one of as little value as the Tolman, 
and without its serious defects. It is 
true it has a perfect flower, and one 
of which pollen-carrying insects seem 
very fond; but I doubt if you would 
ever seee any material difference in the 
fruitfulness of your orchard as be¬ 
tween this variety set among McIn¬ 
tosh and almost any other sort. The 
Tolman is a poor seller, of a very 1 
delicate skin, easily bruised, and there¬ 
fore a poor shipper; above all, it has 
this defect, that makes it undesirable 
in any orchard: It is subject to at¬ 
tack by the Apple maggot, or Railroad 
worm, a little insect which burrows 
under the skin, and for which there is 
no known remedy, except to destroy 
the infested fruit. Breeding from this 
congenial variety, they are sure to mul¬ 
tiply in others. I grafted all my trees 
over, largely on this account. 
EDWARD VAN ALSTYNE. 
Spring and Winter Wheat. 
J. L., North Carolina .—What is the dif¬ 
ference between Spring and Winter wheats? 
Ans. —Most Spring wheats are un¬ 
doubtedly classed as hard and yield 
grain having relatively higher percen¬ 
tages of gluten than Winter wheats. 
Spring wheats are merely modified va¬ 
rieties of the ordinary wheat grown in 
northern latitudes where the Winters 
are too severe for Fall sowing, and 
where the great amount of sunlight 
due to the long days of the growing 
season has a tendency to increase the 
storage of gluten and the corresponding 
reformation of starch. Winter wheats 
planted in Spring in the extreme North 
THEY know why—ask them 
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THERE ARE NONE “JUST AS GOOD” 
WHEN YOU BUT A LANTERN INSIST ON A “ DI ETZ'' 
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Largest Makers of Lanterns In the World 
Esta blished 1840 
PIONEERS AND LEADERS 
AERM0T0R GASOLINE PUMP 
? | Engine complete ready to 
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take on the characters of Spring wheats, 
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DUOKEN CRACKERS are as fresh as whole 
u ones and can be bought at $2 per barrel f. o. b. 
(Worcester (about 50 pounds to the barrel) from the 
factory of NEW ENGLAND BISCUIT CO., 
Worcester, Mass., manufacturers of the famous 
“Toasted Bntter Crackers,” “Little Brothers Lunch Biscuit,” 
etc. Check or money order must accompany order. Write us. 
48IN.T?o c „ E 29c 
Best high carbon coiled steel 
wire. Easy to stretch over 
hills and hollows. FREE 
Catalog—fences, tools. Buy 
from factory at wholesale 
prices. Write today to Box 67 
MA80N FENCE CO., LEE8BUKG, O. 
DON’T RUST FARM FENCE 
Bold direct to farmers at man- 
Fufaotnrers’ prices. Catalogue 
I free. Freight prepaid. 
__I THE WARD FENCE CO. 
gtaaaiBox 885 Decatur, Ind. 
»A*4»A*AY 
*A»A»i;rA» 
EXCELSIOR SWING STANCHION 
Warranted the Best. 
30 Days Trial. 
Unlike all others. Stationary when 
Open. Noiseless. 
THE WASSON STANCHION CO. 
Box 60, Cuba, New York. 
VIRGINIA FARMS 
fow as $5 per Acre 
^rlth improvements. Much land now being worked has paid ft 
profit greater than the purchase price the first year. Long Sum- 
mere, mild Winters. Best shipping facilities to great eastern 
markets at lowest rates. Best church, school and social advan¬ 
tages. For list of farms, excursion rates, and what others have 
accomplished, write to-day to F. H. LaBAUME, Agr. and Ind 
Norfolk and Western By., BcxE£r,Iioanoke, Va. 
Write far GRAND FREE 
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GORDON'VAN TINE 
Gordon-Van Tine 
DOORS 
Immense stock of HI 
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Joints made with 
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pins, glued and 
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For example this 
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Retailer’s price,$2.00 
77c 
Gordon-Van Tine 
Windows 
Thousands ready to 
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STORM 
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Made to fit over 
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Ordernowat cut 
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Storm Sash, Our Price 70c 
1 
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W’e sell material 
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NEWELS 
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Retailer s Price, $1.75 
We Ship to Any Railroad Station in the United States 
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