180 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 18, 
opening is a cast-iron trapdoor or tide gate, which 
was made by the local foundry. This is hung on an 
angle so that the water from the tile opens it easily, 
but so that when the river gets high the door shuts 
down, and the harder the river presses on the gate, 
the tighter it closes. This is to prevent the river 
water from backing up the tile, thus carrying in mud 
and obstructing the flow of water in the tile. The 
tile is so deep that it will not freeze, and the opening 
is where it gets the benefit of the sun, the exposure 
being south, and a bank and trees for protection from 
the north. The main tile is straight almost due 
north and south and about 3,300 feet long. Last Fall 
several branches or laterals were cut in, to drain 
smaller ponds mostly to the east, and the large tile 
was found perfectly clean. The 12-inch tile runs into 
the 20-acre pond, which at that time stood about 2J4 
feet deep, and allowing only a half to a third tile 
full, the water was drained off in less than two days. 
Immediately grass began to grow around the edges 
of the drained pond, working towards the center. In 
the smaller ponds White clover sprang up. It is 
strange where the seed came from, and how long had 
it lain there? 
The cost of the 3,300 feet of 12-inch outlet or main 
tile was as follows: Preliminary survey, $16.50; final 
survey, $28.00; 3,000 feet 12-inch vitrified tile, two feet 
long, three carloads, $405; 42 feet extra tile at five 
cents, $3.36; labor, $390; iron pipe for outlet and mak¬ 
ing, 16 feet long, 12 inches in diameter, $3.20; seven 
sacks cement at 45 cents, $3.15; advertising for letting 
contract, $2.30 livery hire, $4.50; tide gate, including 
making pattern for same, $20; extra covering across 
large pond on large tile outlet, sand and earth, $19.75; 
total, $894.26. 
Figuring that there are about 270 acres directly 
benefited, the total cost per acre is about $2.65 for 
the 12-inch outlet. Into this outlet the large pond 
which had been keeping things wet, is drained, and 
into it also small‘branches or laterals are connected. 
Not every acre of land has to be tiled out, except in 
some places. Thus the average cost per acre for the 
small tile is reduced. The value to the land is shown 
by an offer of over 40 per cent increase in the cost of 
the land and tiling, made after the large output 
demonstrated that the 20-acre pond could be drained, 
by carrying off that water at mill race speed, al¬ 
though the fall is cnly one-half inch per 100 feet, but 
the tile is carefully and truly laid. It has been gen¬ 
erally believed that this land could not be reclaimed, 
because attempts at open ditches were not successful 
when made without the guidance of a surveyor. Tile 
are much better than open ditches wherever the com¬ 
parative cost is within reason, for the reasons stated 
above. 
In putting in the branches of smaller tile, six-inch, 
five-inch and four-inch tile were used. On flat, level 
land four-inch is the smallest tile to use. In this 
smaller tile both clay and cement tile were used. It 
seems admitted that in the smaller sizes cement tile 
can be made at a lower cost than clay tile. It is 
more accurate and can be laid better. Many careful 
farmers prefer cement tile. If they are carefully made 
with the proper proportions of sand and cement and 
then kept well wet down for several days after being 
made, cement tile in the smaller sizes are probably as 
good as any tile. In the larger sizes, cement tile 
should be reinforced with metal imbedded in the 
cement. The best clay tile are vitrified, like paving 
brick, even to a glaze. The harder the tile the better. 
The water does not go through the tile itself but 
through joints between the tile, and the more closely 
these are laid the better, so that dirt cannot get into 
the tile. Even then the water will find its way in. It 
takes several years for wet land like this drained to 
get the full benefit of the tile, as it is soggy, sour and 
cold. In time and with cultivation, and the mixing 
of humus into the soil, this land even in the bottoms 
of the old ponds, becomes warm, loamy and mellow. 
Thus several hills of corn will grow where was a 
muskrat house before, and more fertile land is added 
to Iowa’s productive fields. H. R. mosnat. 
NON-TWISTING FENCE POST. 
Realizing that the beauty of a fence post is gone 
when the gate posts twist or lean, or sometimes pull 
out of ground, I tried the method as here illustrated, 
Fig. 60, and after this had passed through freezing 
and thawing, contracting and relaxing, I find the 
posts are not one-fourth inch out of place. The 
fence is a steel spring wire. The brace between the 
bottom of post may be any size above three inches in 
diameter; the one used was 3x3 locust. There is a 
five-eighth inch round bolt at top of ground through 
each gate post, screwed up tight before wire is 
stretched, as shown in Fig. 60. The posts are thus 
braced securely, and stay straight. 
IMcw Jersey. vviLUAM kinsley. 
A DISCUSSION OF LIME. 
Is it true that we would get better results by using 
800 pounds of ground limestone a year for a period, say 
of three years, than we would by putting on a ton of 
gi'ound lime in one year? In other words, by using a. 
ton of ground limestone would it not have the same effect 
on the land as a person having an attack of indigestion 
after having eaten enough dinner in one meal to last him 
for several? The land in question had never bad any lime 
and shows that it needs it. Another problem which is 
bothering us is this: We produce a great deal of nitro¬ 
gen and ammonia by clover; in addition to this we add 
some by using commercial fertilizer, and would you not 
think, even though our land is what you might term 
clay loam, that it would be preferable for us to put on 
the ground limestone rather than the burnt lime, inas¬ 
much as the heating process which the burnt lime creates 
after getting into the soil destroys the ammonia in a 
short time and does not have the lasting properties that 
the ground limestone has? Our experience has been that 
the ground limestone produces a chemical in the soil just 
as valuable for plant food as burnt lime, besides there is 
the added danger or the burnt lime destroying the organic 
properties of the soil. We are also using rock phosphate 
in our cow stables. Would you consider ground limestone 
just as good or better for this purpose? w. p. o. 
Oneida, N. Y. 
In a general way we think it is true that you will 
obtain satisfactory results by using 800 pounds of 
ground lime each year. We do not know that such 
results would be better than where a ton of burned 
lime is used every third year. In the three years you 
would use 2,400 pounds of ground limestone, or about 
1,300 pounds of actual lime. In the ton of burned 
lime you will have about 1,500 pounds of lime. If 
your soil is really in need of lime you would do bet¬ 
ter to use 1,000 pounds of limestone instead of 800. 
If the soil is very hard and sour we should start by 
MAKING STONE DRAINS IN NEW YORK. Fig. 59. 
using the burned lime and follow with annual dress¬ 
ings of limestone. 
Much will depend on the crops you grow. If it be 
potatoes the annual use of lime will not answer. You 
will have too much scab. A few other crops, like 
corn, strawberries and rye, do not respond to lime as 
clover, cabbage and garden crops do. If the latter 
are being grown the annual use is best. Your illus¬ 
tration of the use of lime is not a good one. Instead 
of causing indigestion and holding up plant food, the 
lime has the opposite effect of making the plant food 
—that is, the nitrogen—more available, and causing 
the soil to give it up more freely. You might use 
excessive amounts of lime and hurt the physical con¬ 
dition of the soil, but in such amounts as you mention 
the action would be to supply extra plant food to the 
crops. 
The lime does not “destroy ammonia.” What it 
does is to hasten the decay of organic matter in the 
soil. This, of course, sets the ammonia free, but it 
is not “destroyed” in any way, but simply put in such 
form that crops can use it—whereas before the lime 
hastened the decay this ammonia was not available. 
If you keep the soil covered wi|h growing crops and 
give good culture this ammonia will not be destroyed 
or lost, but will be used by your crops. They may 
take too much of it, and thus run to leaf and stem, 
like beans without good pods, corn all stalk, and cab¬ 
bage with soft heads. The objection to burned lime 
is that it acts too rapidly in some soils, setting too 
much ammonia free and thus pushing the crops too 
hard. We have had conditions on our own farm 
where the burned lime was most desirable because the 
crops needed ammonia and the cold and sour soil 
would not give it up freely without lime. On our 
own farm we should start with the burned lime and 
follow with the yearly use of the ground limestone 
if needed—except where potatoes were planted. 
The limestone will be as good as the rock phos¬ 
phate for use in the stable—that is, absorbing the 
liquids and holding the ammonia. The limestone adds 
nothing to the soil except lime, while the rock phos¬ 
phate adds considerable phosphoric acid. This is in 
an unavailable form for most crops, yet clover, buck¬ 
wheat and probably corn can make more or less use 
of this rock phosphate when it is mixed with manure 
and applied to them. Why not figure on it? What 
do you pay for ground limestone? What does the 
rock phosphate cost you and how much phosphoric 
acid do they guarantee in it? From these figures 
you can see what the phosphoric acid costs you per 
pound. You must have it anyway, and in your kind 
of farming no doubt the manure and the clover make 
part of it available. 
A RURAL CARRIER ON PARCELS POST. 
I have been reading the articles that appear in your 
paper from time to time favoring parcels post, and as 
a rural delivery carrier for more than three years, 
from what I see I feel sure it would be one of the 
greatest helps to our people, and quite an item of in¬ 
come to our Uncle Samuel. What we want is a gen¬ 
eral parcels post, and we are going to have it sooner 
or later, and I think much sooner than is healthy for 
some of our strongest opponents. Some of the things 
we are asked to carry might be a little inconvenient, 
but I think most of us could handle packages up to 
11 pounds. During January, 1910, I was requested 
to carry 10 different packages of various weights and 
kinds on my route of only 16^ miles, and I think this 
number would increase rapidly as the people would 
learn that they could have packages collected and 
delivered same as other mail. Below I give a partial 
list of the things I have been requested to carry: 100 
egg incubator, live chickens, live sheep, piece of bacon, 
plow points, nails, paints, binder twine, wool twine, 
fruit, groceries, tobacco, shoes and clothing, and other 
things that I do not recall just now. e. p. greer.' 
Ohio. 
DOGS THAT LEAD.— Mr. Geo. H. Lavender, of 
Kansas, sends us the picture shown at Fig. 61 with this 
remark: 
“Enclosed find picture of how we raise calves and 
dogs together in Kansas, the way we have of ex¬ 
ercising our calves. The dog will go out and catch 
a calf, cow or horse that has rope hanging to it.” 
That beats running a cow down or driving her in 
the ordinary way of “dogging.” Such a dog as that is 
worth while. He beats the average herdsman by a 
mile. 
STONE DRAINS.—As an offset to the big drainage 
operations described by Mr. Mosnat, on the first page, 
we show a picture of a stone drain as laid on a New 
York farm, Fig. 59. The stone drain when properly 
put down is useful and in many places is most eco¬ 
nomical. It depends much upon the laying—that is, 
leaving a clear open throat for the water to follow. 
The plan of digging a ditch and filling it with an 
assortment of stones of all shapes and sizes will surely 
fail. When the bottom stones are laid so as to leave 
a fiee and open throat for the water to run in, such 
drains often prove satisfactory for years. As a rule 
we prefer a sharper fall for stone drains than for tile, 
and we would certainly use them in cases where capi¬ 
tal for tile drainage was lacking. 
Down in West Virginia we heard of a man who 
planted an orchard. He was a town man, and under¬ 
took to grow fruit by proxy. As usual the scheme did 
not progress, and the trees were not satisfactory. This 
man hired an expert to come and look at the trees. 
The expert gave him sound and definite advice which, 
of course, involved spending some money. Among 
other things the expert told him not to sow wheat in 
the orchard for, as all fruit growers know, you cannot 
get proper growth on young trees growing in a grain 
field. It may be that this fruit grower felt that all 
experts are like the prophets of the Weather Bureau. 
When they say “fair weather” most of ur hunt an 
umbrella! At any rate this man did just what the ex¬ 
pert told him not to do, and seeded the orchard to 
wheat. Of course these trees are inferior. That man 
probably lost bis courage and could not bring himself 
to put money into the orchard without trying to get it 
back in the grain. He would not run a business in 
town that way, but would expect to invest money be¬ 
fore taking any out. You cannot eat your cake and 
have it in an orchard any more than in a baker's shop. 
Work is under way at the Connecticut Agricultural 
College to develop what may be called a fur-coated 
hen which lays a white egg. By “fur-coated” we mean 
a bird with small comb and thick warm feathering. 
The American and Asiatic breeds are well dressed for 
Winter. Let a Wyandotte or P. Rock or a Brahma 
squat down on a roost and put her head under hei 
wing and she is just about frost-proof. But her eggs 
will run from light to dark brown in color. The Leg¬ 
horn’s eggs are white, but her comb is too large to go 
well into her pocket, and no hen lays well with a frozen 
comb. Of course many ben men keep the Leghorn in 
comfortable houses' with never a frosted comb, but 
there are others who practice what we may call a 
rough and ready system. These want a frost-proof 
lien and a white egg. The combination is coming. It 
will be a mixture of several breeds, and will play a 
successful part in working out the new r er plans of 
poultry culture. 
