418 
May 0, 
labor. Heavy rains in May have the same effect, 
and the yield on sod land is usually much improved 
thereby. If we must plow late, the disk harrow, roller, 
drag, etc., will assist us in making an ideal seed bed 
for the corn. A good drag levels up the many small 
inequalities of the surface and makes corn planting 
much more satisfactory. Where a large acreage is to 
be planted, replanting and thinning are out of the 
question; therefore we must plant just the right num¬ 
ber of live, vigorous grains to each hill or in the drill. 
To secure this condition the seed corn must be graded 
before or after shelling, and then the planter adjusted 
to suit that particular batch of seed. There are some 
windmills and corn graders on the market that will 
grade the seed corn very well, but a careful man 
can sort the ears so that those having grains of 
similar size or shape may be shelled together. This is 
important, for two small grains may be dropped to¬ 
gether when a plate is used with holes large enough 
to pass the larger grains. On the other hand very 
large grains may cause a few misses. Planters with 
plates having circular holes will drop large broad 
grains accurately, but two slimmer grains may get 
crowded into the same holes that barely accommodate 
the single grain. See Figs. 1-2, cut 177. However, if we 
plant but few acres of corn, and can spare the extra 
time required, planting the corn thickly and thinning 
out to an even stand will give very satisfactory re¬ 
sults. With a tool such as is shown in Figs. 3-4, cut 178, 
thinning is not a laborious task, and the work may 
be performed swiftly and easily. Fig. 3 is a top view 
and Fig. 4 is a side view. This tool should be made 
of steel about l l A inch wide and be fitted to a handle 
about four feet long. The inside of the V-shaped 
edge should be kept sharp. 
Depth of planting, I find, is an important factor in 
securing a good stand of corn. From one half to 
VARIATION IN CORN KERNELS. Fig. 177. 
one inch deep and the soil firmed down is about right. 
If all conditions are not right, some corn may not be 
covered at all while some may be covered three or 
four inches deep, and both conditions are fatal to 
germination. If a single drill be used it should have 
a small press wheel behind the shoe to regulate the 
depth of planting, as well as to firm the soil over 
the seed. Of course most double planters have the 
wheels following the shoes, but owing to varying soil 
conditions the shoes may run at almost any depth. A 
year or two ago a neighbor fitted wooden floats to the 
shoes of his planter and so could exactly regulate the 
depth of planting. These floats were about one foot 
long and five inches wide, and. in use. followed the 
F/ $ 3 
TOOL FOR THINNING CORN. Fig. 178. 
surface of the field at all times, so that all the corn 
was put in at the same depth. The planter frame 
must not be locked down, but must be left free to 
follow the surface. See Fig. 181. I now notice that 
there is a similar device, but made of iron, upon the 
market, and judging from my own experience such a 
contrivance is a valuable addition to any planter. In 
cloddy ground these floats work all right; the big clods 
are either crushed or pushed aside, and the corn is cov¬ 
ered with well-pulverized soil. After the corn comes 
up and you notice a few missing hills, let them go; do 
not replant. The surrounding hills have the start of 
the replants, and beaten in the race for moisture and 
fertility, the replants will make but a few weak stalks 
of fodder. If you do not replant the surrounding 
stalks will produce larger ears and thus make up for 
the loss of the missing hill. Finally, we may have to 
shoot a few crows, for a sprouted grain of corn is a 
temptation that is hard for a crow to resist. A dead 
crow, hung up by one wing to a tall pole, with a cord 
three or four feet long so that the wind will move 
the crow easily, is usually an effective scarecrow. 
Ohio. _ W. E. DUCKWALL. 
THE NAME ON THE PACKAGE. 
I am a trucker and fruit grower myself and have 
read with great interest your articles about the way 
apples have been packed in New York and shipped 
South. Being a consumer of apples, and especially 
northern apples in the Winter, I write to offer a few 
suggestions to your northern growers. I have a 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
friend who sells a great many northern apples dur¬ 
ing the Winter. He says that they are poorly packed; 
a great many small ones in the bottom and middle of 
barrel. He recently bought some apples that came 
from West Virginia which highly delighted him. He 
says they are the finest apples he has handled this 
HUNTINGTON 
^' s > VIR° N 
A PACKER WHO SIGNS HIS WORK. Fig. 179. 
Winter and that in future he will order from there. 
I enclose a circular that was found on top of the 
barrel that explains itself, and why he will order 
from West Virginia. A word to the wise is suffi¬ 
cient. “A fellow feeling makes us wondrous kind.” 
If your growers only knew what a demand there is 
for nice apples in the Fall and Winter, in the South, 
and what prices they bring, if they are nice ones, they 
would certainly be more careful in packing, and find 
a big market for them. I have had to pay, this Win¬ 
ter, 15 cents per dozen for small inferior apples, not 
much larger than a duck egg. 
North Carolina. a. broadfoot. 
R. N.-Y. —We have had an engraving made from 
this “circular” and' print it at Fig. 179. This is just 
large enough to cover the apples, and is the first thing 
you see when you open the barrel. We do not know 
Mr. McCoach, but we like his business principles and 
therefore print his circular here. Any man who is 
willing to put his name on his job and stand by his 
packing deserves success. By helping him attain it in 
this way we help all honest growers. This is what 
the New York growers must come to if they expect 
to hold the trade. We get after the manufacturer 
who falls below his guarantee and by doing so we get 
into a place where we cannot defend fraudulent pack¬ 
ing of produce. A favorite sign in some of the New 
York restaurants is this: “If unsatisfactory tell us— 
if satisfactory tell others.” Put your name on the 
goods and get this treatment! 
HOW WE DIPPED THE SHEEP. 
At shearing time last season it was noticed that 
the sheep were quite full of ticks. After shearing 
most of the ticks collected on the lambs, so that they 
became quite lousy. Something had to be done to 
destroy them. We had our local tinsmith build a 
galvanized iron tank, four feet long by 10 inches wide 
DIPPING SHEEP IN PENNSYLVANIA. Fig. 180. 
at the bottom, and seven feet long by 18 inches wide 
at the top. The one end was straight, while the other 
end was sloped from top to bottom to form an incline. 
The tank was sunk into the ground so the sheep 
could easily be put into it. The tank cost us about 
$13. We used the Chloro-naptholcum dip according 
to the instructions given by the manufacturer. The 
sheep were caught one by one and completely sub¬ 
merged and held in the dip two or three minutes. 
Fig. ISO shows the men assisting a sheep out of the 
tank. PARAGON NUT AND FRUIT CO. 
Pennsylvania. _ 
DO “GOOD ROADS”PAY? 
L. H. S., Union City, Pa., asks if anybody can tell 
anything of macadamized roads. Have they proved a 
success? Have they increased taxes? One might 
answer the last question with his eyes shut. We 
do not get luxuries like macadamized roads without 
increased expenses, and unless there is a rich philan¬ 
thropist in the region who will pay the bills, the peo¬ 
ple will have to pay them by increased tax rates. But 
a consideration of the question may make it appear 
that a larger tax rate is a cheap way to obtain the 
advantages of macadamized roads. Fifteen or more 
years ago the farmers were wheeling their products 
to market, in this section, over dirt roads that in 
the Spring or at intervals in the Winter were six or 
eight inches deep with mud, requiring teams to walk 
all the way, and labor through the heavy roads. In 
Winter when the rough roads were frozen they had 
to walk for another reason. Since we have had 
macadamized roads teams trot along wherever it is 
level, and they mount the hills with comparative ease. 
But it has cost money. This town has paid one 
hundred and twenty thousand dollars for macadamized 
roads, and the tax rate is higher than it would be if 
we had the old dirt roads. The cost of maintenance 
is higher than it was. Yet, even so, no one would 
go back to the deep mud of Spring. The increased 
tax rate is somewhat, if not entirely, offset by the 
increased frequency of sales of farm products and 
saving of wear and tear of material. The country 
FLOAT FOLLOWING CORN PLANTER. Fig. 181. 
has been brought nearer to the market. A horse with 
a good load can take it five miles to market and re¬ 
turn home now in less time and less wear than he 
could go to market over the dirt roads when they 
were heavy. The cost of macadamizing has been 
about $5,000 a mile. The cost of maintaining the 
roads of town, 25 miles of road, at a rough estimate, 
is about $5,000 annually. With a grand list of $2,300,- 
000 the tax rate is 12 mills; so that a farm which 
goes in at $4,000 would pay $48 tax. The roads 
have proved a success. But one thing may be said: 
There is no need of going to extremes in the matter. 
More satisfaction will be had if a town undertakes a 
piece of road two miles or three miles long one year, 
and two miles more another year, and so on, than to 
saddle a debt on itself by attempting to build ten 
miles at first. A good business way of conducting the 
enterprise might obtain for a town all the advantages, 
gradually, and keep the debt down to a minimum, or 
keep out of debt altogether by voting a tax to pay for 
each piece of road built, which would be the better 
way. w. u. c. 
Windsor, Conn. 
RAMBLER ROSE TRELLIS. 
How does F. P. Briggs of Massachusetts, fasten the 
wagon tires on top of the post for the Rambler rose, and 
how far apart does he set the roses? a. f. w. 
Massachusetts. 
Set a post in the ground so that it will be five feet 
above the ground. Take three wagon tires, cut them 
once; then bend the ends down and drill so to fasten 
to post with wood screws, bolting the tires together 
at the top so that they will be equal distances from 
each other. Now take wire and run around the ball 
so formed from rivet hole to rivet hole in the tires. 
This will give something to tie to. Train a cane to 
each half or section of tire and one cane between each 
section. For quick results I used five bushes, each 
equally distant from each other, and trained and fas¬ 
tened to post. F. P. BRIGGS. 
Massachusetts. 
We do hate to see a farmer biting at a fraud with a 
bare hook. 
