1908. 
eis 
BLOOMS OF PERENNIAL PEAS. REDUCED IN SIZE. Fig. 271. See Ruralisms, Page 618 
IMPROVEMENT IN FENCE WIRE. 
Prof. A. S'. Cushman, of the Department of 
Agriculture, has been working for some years on 
the fence wire problem. He has demonstrated that 
the rusting of wire is most commonly due to an 
electric action. To overcome the effect of this he 
proposes an improved quality of wire and also a 
paint composed of materials which will prove a 
better protection than the ordinary “galvanizing.” 
Knowing howi interested our readers are in this 
question we have asked Prof. Cushman to tell us 
just how the case stands. 
“Are we likely to have more durable wire?” 
“One of the largest manufactories in the country 
has agreed to make a number of different kinds of 
VALUE OF TREE. 
—What is the value of 
a tree? When a rail¬ 
road sets fire to an 
orchard you would 
think the trees were 
about like cord wood. 
When a real estate 
agent tries to sell you 
an orchard you get the 
other extreme. We 
have a neighbor who 
says that hi? 30-year- 
old Baldwins are 
worth $100 each! That 
is because they pay six per cent profit on that sum 
year after year. 1 his man gives his trees good care, 
and sells his fruit at retail. Another man in the same 
locality had 500 trees of apple and peach—the latter 
just coming in bearing. They were badly afflicted 
with scale. He found it would cost him 10 cents a 
tree or $50 a year to have them sprayed. He figured 
that in 10 years this would mean $500—and he let the 
trees die rather than pay it. This man was in an¬ 
other business, and could not have handled the fruit 
himself. So the price depends on the man as well as 
the tree. Well cared-for trees are certainly worth 
more than where they have been neglected or abused, 
and location is also a factor. 
wire which are to be strung side by side at a place 
where the corrosive influences are particularly 
severe. I have no doubt that the results of these 
tests when published will be highly instructive to 
manufacturer and consumer alike, and that an im¬ 
provement in the quality of wire used for fencing 
will follow.” 
“What about a paint for protecting fence at low 
cost, which farmers or their help can put on their 
wire fence?” 
“I have already suggested a formula for this pur¬ 
pose, which is the result of a great many tests, and 
which is based upon facts which have been observed 
during the progress of an investigation which I 
have been carrying on in Washington for a number 
of years. A committee of a large engineering so¬ 
ciety working in co¬ 
operation with a sec¬ 
tion of the Paint 
Manufacturers’ Asso¬ 
ciation of the United 
States are preparing to 
test theste principles 
which I have been de¬ 
veloping.” 
“What will the test 
be?” 
“A steel fence will 
be erected at Atlantic 
City, N. J., facing the 
sea. This fence will 
consist of a large num¬ 
ber of steel panels 
placed side by side, 
which will be painted 
under strict test condi¬ 
tions with paints made 
up in different ways. 
Some of these paints 
will be those which 
have been in common 
use for the protection 
of steel with the more 
or less unsatisfactory 
results which are so 
well known. T h e 
formulae that I have 
suggested will also be 
tried, but no p r o- 
prietary, secret or 
patented composition 
will be considered by 
the committee.” 
“Will the result be 
made public?” 
“I am the chairman 
of the committee, and 
upon any ground for very long unless that soil be 
exceptionally fertile. Crops should be changed about 
on the land, although not necessarily “rotated.” This 
plan will give better returns with all crops, keep the 
soil more fertile, and keep it in better physical con¬ 
dition. I have noticed farmers who crop an orchard 
just as they do ordinary land. Last season one of 
these same farmers raised sweet corn and sweet 
potatoes on the same ground at the same time. Now, 
I do not know that I am right, but I believe that in 
these cases what is gained on the one crop is lost 
on the other. Consider now the increased difficulty 
of cultivation—and where does the profit come in? 
I would not have it understood that I think it is 
I am in a position to state that the fullest publicity 
will be given to the result of the tests, to the end 
that farmers and others may avail themselves if they 
wish to of information which it is hoped will enable 
them to purchase a paint that will really protect their 
steel from rapid decay.” 
“Can anyone use these paints?” 
“ There is no secret about the paint formulae that I 
am recommending, and I intend them to be, if suc¬ 
cessful, for the free use of everybody.” 
“Why not name the paints now ?” 
“I think you will agree with me that for the present 
no good purpose would be served by recommending 
these paint formulae to farmers before they have 
"THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
been tested in a practical manner. In the first place 
farmers could not buy these special paints at the 
present time, even if they knew what to ask for, and 
in the second p'ace a number of people would tell 
them that they were wasting their money if they 
could buy them. The fact of the matter is that a 
great deal is being done in various ways to solve this 
important problem, but a little more time is required 
to work on it. I must therefore once more bespeak 
the patience of the farmers and others who are in¬ 
terested.” 
There is no doubt that these experiments will prove 
valuable, and Prof. Cushman’s final report will be 
awaited with much interest. 
never wise to raise more than one crop on the ground 
at the same time. What I think is that, as a general 
rule, it is not wise. 
A third practice which I regard as a mistaken one 
is in connection with feeding stock. Recently I 
passed a place'where little pigs, big' pigs, shotes, hogs, 
and colts were all feeding from a common supply of 
corn. At other times, I have seen the chickens in 
A FEW FARM LOSSES. 
In traveling a little around this part of the country 
I have noticed a few practices among farmers which 
have appealed to me as mistakes. In this article, at 
the risk of repeating something already said, I pur¬ 
pose to call attention to a few of these mistakes. 
The land around here is more or less rough and hilly, 
the soil is clay, and inclined to wash badly; yet I 
have seen knobs and hills left all Winter without a 
growing thing on them. The Winter rains carried 
away plant .food as fast as it became soluble, and 
removed bodily portions of the upper stratum of 
soil, the best in the field. Now, in hilly land, washing 
cannot be prevented altogether, but it can be very 
materially reduced by having some growing crop on 
the land. Moreover, a growing crop is a fine agency 
in preventing soluble plant food from being carried 
away. Often it is no bad plan, it is advisable even, 
with level land, to leave it exposed without any crop 
on it throughout the Winter. With rolling or hilly 
land, however, it should be made a rule with very 
few exceptions to have a living crop of some kind 
on it in the Winter. 
Another tendency I have noticed is one to work 
the ground to its utmost, to take off crop after crop, 
year after year, without manuring adequately in any 
way. Some farmers take many crops of corn in suc¬ 
cession from a field without putting back the fertility. 
Corn impoverishes the soil more than the average 
crop; moreover, no crop can be raised continuously 
DODDER ON A CLOVER PLANT. Fig. 272. 
the assemblage. Aside from the danger of the colts 
injuring the swine and chickens, and of the hogs in¬ 
juring the pigs and poultry, there is in this method 
of feeding that danger most important of all, the 
danger of an improper distribution of feed; for this 
is a case of communism, to a finish, where “he gets 
who can and holds who may.” The hogs usually get 
and hold the most. At the place I have mentioned 
the pigs were lean and 
stunted-looking, while 
the shotes and larger 
swine were fat a n d 
sleek. Such are a few 
of the things which 
are causing loss to 
farmers. We cannot all 
be educated specially 
for farming and thus 
know the business as 
thoroughly as we 
would like, but we can 
all be careful about the 
little wastes and wrong 
practices in farming. 
I have pointed out 
these things because to 
me they seemed to be 
mistakes, and I 
thought that probably 
they might appeal to 
others in the same 
light. c. A. LUDWIG. 
Indiana. 
« m 
RED CLOVER SEED—BLACK MEDIC SEED. Fig. 270. 
