1908. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
749 
Excess of Lime. 
L. D. F., Princess Anne Go., Va .—I have 
a piece of land that has too much lime. I 
would like to know what would he good for 
It. It burns the crop that is put upon it. I 
put about 75 bushels of oyster shells to the 
acre about 15 years ago. 
Ans. —You have applied lime to land 
that was naturally devoid of vegetable 
decay probably, and it has hastened the 
using up of what was left. Seventy- 
five bushels of oyster shell lime should 
not have done any injury to the black 
swamp land in your section, but would 
have been of decided benefit, for the 
black soil is rich in humus or vegetable 
decay. But that amount applied to the 
Norfolk sandy soil, with the notion 
that lime is a manure, would probably 
bring about the conditions you mention. 
To remedy the excess of alkali in the 
soil you have got to restore the humus. 
You can do this of course by hauling 
swamp muck on it, but this will be a 
costly method. The best way will be to 
sow on it some of the lime-loving 
legume crops like the annual Crimson 
clover, Hairy vetch or Burr clover, 
and turn these in in the Spring, and 
if you get a good growth during the 
Winter you will have a mass that will 
cure the conditions you name, and then, 
practicing a good short rotation of 
crops you can bring that land up to a 
very productive condition. I would pre¬ 
pare the land well and sow as soon as 
practicable two bushels of Winter oats 
per acre, say about the last of this 
month or early September. After drill¬ 
ing in the oats sow 16 pounds per acre 
of Crimson clover seed, and brush it in 
lightly with a smoothing harrow. Har¬ 
row in in the preparation of the land 
300 pounds of acid phosphate and 25 
pounds of the muriate of potash per 
acre, and I believe that you will be 
able to get a fine crop of forage in the 
Spring, if cut when the clover is in 
bloom, and then by returning the 
manure made from feeding this to the 
land that grew it you will have cured 
the present state of affairs and will have 
the land in shape for permanent im¬ 
provement. The liming of 15 years ago 
has less to do with its present unpro¬ 
ductiveness than the lack of plant food 
and organic decay in the soil. Heavy 
liming on poor land is not a good prac¬ 
tice, and heavy liming is not needed 
anywhere if a good rotation is prac¬ 
ticed, and plenty of humus-making 
crops are grown. Your land is simply 
run down to the old dead skeleton of 
sand and clay, and a soil in that con¬ 
dition is a dead soil, and to get life 
into it you must put the vegetable mat¬ 
ter there either in manure or legume 
crops grown on it. Lime is not a 
manure, but a reagent for bringing 
about improved mechanical conditions 
in the soil, sweetening an acid soil and 
hastening the nitrification of organic 
matter, but the organic matter must be 
there first. w. f. massey. 
Power for Pumping Water. 
L. L. L., Brooklyn, N. Y .—On page 602 
is Jared Van Wagenen, Jr.’s answer to 
query under caption “Windmill for Elec¬ 
tric Power.” Will he assist me to decide 
which will be at once the cheaper and 
more efficient, a windmill with elevated 
tank, or a hot-air (Ericsson) engine at well 
in cellar to pump water into the elevated 
tank? I want a tank of 5,000 gallons 
capacity. I have only one well, and that 
in the cellar of residence. To use the 
windmill, I must first bore or dig a well 
at least 40 feet deep, as I cannot use 
the windmill, as I believe, with the pres¬ 
ent well located as stated. A convenient 
water supply for domestic use and irriga¬ 
tion is a serious problem with me, and I 
should appreciate greatly unbiased advice 
in the matter. 
Ans. —I think I ought to say frankly 
that my experience is so little that I 
have no right to judge between the 
merits of the windmill and the hot-air 
engine. I would like to suggest, how¬ 
ever, that if a windmill tower close to 
the house is not architecturally objec¬ 
tionable, it will be an easy matter to 
connect the wheel with the pump with¬ 
out serious expense or loss of efficiency. 
There are various methods of making 
the connection. I am just wondering 
if a direct current would be available 
from the city electric system. If so, a 
small motor in the cellar might be the 
easiest solution of the difficulty. It 
would be entirely dependable, noiseless 
and not very expensive in operation. 
For example, a one horse-power motor 
will cost from 8 to 15 cents per hour 
to operate, according to the price at 
which current is sold, and to elevate 
5,000 gallons of water to the height of 
50 feet would theoretically require about 
one and one-eighth horse power acting 
through the space of one hour. Of 
course, in practice this figure will not 
be equaled owing to friction and other 
losses. If the house is already wired 
for electricity, a little motor can be in¬ 
stalled for less than any other mechani¬ 
cal device, and it can almost be guar¬ 
anteed not to get out of order. 
JARED VAN WAGENEN, JR. 
R. N. Y.—We understand the house 
is located in the country. We use a 
windmill. It is a cheap and reliable 
power when the wind blows, but for 
the past week we have had nearly a dead 
calm—and no water. A neighbor has a 
hot-air pumping outfit which is very 
satisfactory. Can anyone who has used 
both kinds of power give experience? 
“Grandfather,” began Jimmy, as he 
gazed thoughtfully at the aged man’s 
shining head, “why don’t you tell your¬ 
self a hair-raising story?”—Judge. 
Conductor: “This here transfer ex¬ 
pired an hour ago, lady.” The lady 
(digging in her purse, snappishly) : “No 
wonder!—with not a single ventilator 
open in the whole car!”—Puck. 
Read His Letter 
Read of the economy 
and profit in this farm¬ 
er’s potato-digging,— 
how he gets every 
potato in the field,— 
how he avoids loss from 
scarred and crushed 
potatoes,—how he has 
made the work easy 
and fast. 
It Tells You 
how the 
Acme Hand Digger 
ATTACHMENT 
proved out under hard, practical actual field use: 
Potato Implement Co., Traverse City, Mich. 
Gentlemen:—Two yearsago I bought one of 
your Acme Hand Potato Diggers and after 
giving ita short trial in the field, my sons, 
■who were digging the potatoes, were so 
pleased with the Acme Digger that 1 now 
have live In use on my farm. 
The Acme Is just thedlgger we needed. Un¬ 
like the machine diggers it digs clean, geta 
every potato In every hill, doesn’t scar the 
etock, and Is not bothered by the vines. Tha 
men work easily, yet quickly,and don’t getso 
tired as with ordinary fork or hook digging. 
I know from my own experience that the 
Acme Digger does better, easier and cheaper 
work than any other digger I haveseen, and 
the best recommendation I can give anyona 
Is that 1 continue to use It on my own farm. 
I am, yours truly, 
F. LAUTNER, Leelanau County. 
Send $1.00 Today. Let the Acme 
Attachment prove itself to you . Let it 
prove that your dollar is better thac. $100 in¬ 
vestment in other diggers—that it will dig 
potatoes better and more economically—that 
it is the digger you have been waiting for. 
Sent prepaid by express. Money returned if 
you had rather have it than keep the digger. 
Pamphlet and Potato Book free on request. 
Send now. Address Box 525, 
Potato Implement Co., Traversa City, Mich. 
One Man Alone 
Builds Fence Using 
“O M” Wire Stretcher 
A strong, durable tool, simple and 
efficient in operation, and economi¬ 
cal because it saves time, money, 
labor and repairs. Holds wire taut 
as desired while operator staples. 
Positively cannot fail. Should be 
used on every farm. Send for the 
“ O-M ” to-day. Price $3.00 with 
order. Transportation paid, Booklet Free. 
“O-M” WIRE STRETCHER AGENCY, 
Dept. R, Parnassus, Penna, 
- > 
No More Hay Jumping 
Spencer’s Hercules Larue Bale Press 
bales rapidly, easily, requiring no jumping 
and no waiting by men on mow for it takes 
feed while tying and pressing, something an 
upright press won’t do. Guaranteed capacity 
4 tons per hour or no sale. Greater speed 
means less board, farmers furnishing tabling 
and board should talk 
this press. 
J. A. SPENCER, /fe gaf Oatolog 
Dwight, III, //£****« free 
"Jo a 
^clchikt) ivc, 
The farmer who depends upon 
roundabout rumor for his knowl¬ 
edge of prices current on cattle, 
grain and hay, stands to lose 
money; for while the word of a 
price is reaching him, the market is likely to drop. 
The farmer who has a telephone can get the latest up-to-the 
minute quotation at any time—and can sell his products when 
prices are highest. 
That is one of the times and one of the ways in which it pays to have a tele¬ 
phone—that is, a reliable telephone. The sort of telephone that balks or goes 
off duty when you are depending upon it most, never pays anybody to own at 
any time. Buy and use only 
Western Electric 
Apparatus and Equipment 
—the sort that daily carries the most important business of the country—and 
you will have a telephone that will pay you in a hundred ways. 
Booklet 48 ’’Rural Telephone Equipments,” Sent Free 
Eastern 
New York 
Philadelphia 
Boston 
Pittsburg 
Atlanta 
Central 
Chicago 
Indianapolis 
Cincinnati 
Saint Paul 
Manufacturers and Suppliers 
of all Apparatus and Equip¬ 
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Northern Electric & Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Montreal and Winnipeg 
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fac-simile 
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