1911. 
THE RURAL R R W-YORKER 
605 
RAT-PROOF CORNCRIB DOOR. 
You will find below, Fig. 235, a sketch 
of a rat-proof corncrib door that I be¬ 
lieve will be found useful. It is my 
own idea, and I have never seen one, 
but I don’t see why it shouldn’t be 
all right. The trouble with movable 
steps is that some one will leave them 
against the house and the damage is 
done. Rats once in will never come 
out. They depend upon rain for water 
and will go for weeks without any. I 
have seen them thick on the roof of a 
ratproof granary drinking rain water 
when they were bound to have been 
without water for at least three weeks, 
as there had been no rain and they 
had had no chance to get in within that 
period. 
The door if built six feet high and 
RAT-PROOF CORNCRIB DOOR. Fig. 235. 
the building on three-foot posts will 
give easy descent. The pulley swings 
loose so as to follow the motion of door 
and weight just balances out of door. 
A cleat is put on outside of door at 
top of hook over side of wagon body. 
By letting down door on a block about 
eight inches high this will give a very 
easy descent. Drive just inside the 
block when loading a wagon. A cleat 
must be fastened against house at bot¬ 
tom of door so that door will rest on 
it when open, as hinges will not be 
strong enough. A sheet of tin should 
be fastened against house and door 
where the weight hangs when door is 
closed, and next the weight should be 
a piece of wire that rats could not 
climb. The pulley would have to be 
put higher than shown in this cut in 
order to give sufficient length of rope 
to open the door clear down. The door 
is locked with a bar across it. L c. P. 
Yancey Mills, Va. 
VAN DEMAN’S NOTES. 
Dishorning Peach Trees; Black Cherries. 
C. E. D., Notch, Mo. —1. I have some 
quite large peach trees which on account of 
the frost have no fruit on them, and I wish 
to dishorn them. When is the best time 
to do it, and if I dishorn them severely 
will they set any fruit for next year? 2. I 
was raised in Southern New Jersey, and 
around the farmhouses there they had very 
large cherry trees which bore a large sweet 
black cherry. I believe they called them 
Black Oxhearts. Can you tell me if this'is 
the correct name and also if they will come 
true from the seed? From their location 
there in the yards and fence corners 1 
should judge they were seedlings. I would 
like to get some of them to try here in the 
Ozarks. 
Ans. — 1 . The proper time to cut 
back peach trees to form new tops on 
them is when they are in the dormant 
stage. To cut them back into the large 
branches now, when they are in full 
leaf, would be a very severe check to 
them and the new growth would not ma¬ 
ture early nor set vigorous fruit buds as 
there should be for next year’s bearing. 
When the fruit crop of this year was 
first known to be a failure was the time 
the cutting back should have been done. 
It is too late now and next Winter is the 
earliest date at which it can be done 
safely and wisely. 
2. There are various types of the 
Mazzard cherry, and the one mentioned 
is'probably one of the better class. Ox- 
heart, Blackheart, Redheart and other 
names have been applied to these types, 
according to their character and the cus¬ 
tom of the localities where they have 
grown. The seedlings come fairly true 
to the types, but not strictly so. The 
Mazzard is not so well adapted to the 
central parts of the country, including 
the Ozark region, as to the eastern and 
far western countries, but it would be 
well to try some of the trees there. 
Good budded varieties would be better, 
however. h. e. van deman. 
Persian Walnut in Illinois. 
J. W. N., Girard, III .—I am very much 
interested in the hardy English walnuts and 
would like to get a start of them, enough 
to set out a small grove. There are none 
around here, but if they do well in New 
York and Pennsylvania, why not here? 
Ans. —It may seem entirely reason¬ 
able to many that the Persian (English) 
walnuts and other trees and plants that 
are hardy in New York and Pennsyl¬ 
vania would be equally hardy in Illinois 
and other prairie States. But this is 
not always true. The climate of the 
Central States is different from that of 
the seaboard and there is a marked dif¬ 
ference in the behavior of many trees 
and plants and among them the Persian 
(or English) walnuts. The changes in 
Winter are far more sudden and severe, 
and this seems to injure them by evap¬ 
orating the moisture within their sap to 
a damaging degree. Plowever, it may 
be that there are or will be varieties of 
this nut tree that may prove hardy and 
it would be well to try a very few of 
the trees. Perhaps there will be grafted 
trees of a few varieties offered for sale 
within a year. h. e. van deman. 
Apple Trees Drop Fruit. 
W. E. 8., Lake Shore, Md .—I have a 
young apple orchard in which two trees 
blossomed last year and as soon as the 
fruit was about the size of a small marble 
they almost all dropped off. This year the 
whole orchard is full of blooms, and those 
two trees, although full of blossoms, have 
shown no signs of putting out any foliage. 
Is it too late this year to remedy the evil, 
or would I better cut down the two trees to 
keep from spreading the disease to the 
others? 
Ans. —It is probable that the two 
apple trees referred to have been seri¬ 
ously injured by borers or mice at or 
near the surface of the ground. Or it 
may be “root rot” or some such trouble. 
They .will surely die this year if they 
do not come into leaf very soon. In 
case they die the soil from the holes 
made in digging out the roots should 
be thrown away, provided there was a 
disease attacking them, and other soil 
put next the roots of the new trees 
that will be set in the same places. 
The greatest care should be used in ex¬ 
amining the condition of the collar of 
these two trees and if no signs of borers 
are found it might be well to send some 
of the diseased bark and wood to the 
Experiment Station at College Park for 
examination and an expert opinion. 
Covering Trunks of Trees. 
IF. P. It., Milford, Mass .—We have iu our 
town park some maple, elm, birch and lin¬ 
den trees, and some one is piling loam 
around them anywhere from six to 15 
inches up the tree. I am under the im¬ 
pression that this is harmful rather than 
beneficial, that the loam will, in time, rot 
the bark and kill the tree. Will you let 
me know what you think about this? 
Ans. —All trees flourish best under 
as near natural conditions as possible 
and this would not admit of covering 
the surface about their bases with loam 
or anything of a nature that would ex¬ 
clude the light and air. If the loam 
mentioned is only piled up around the 
trees in small mounds, it will not hurt 
them, but if it covers the entire sur¬ 
face of the ground over the roots, it 
will seriously injure them. This is done 
occasionally in grading where trees are 
growing and desired to remain and if 
the earth is deep over the roots and 
comes close around their trunks they 
will gradually fail and finally die. This 
I have often seen. But if there is a 
wall built up around the base of each 
tree, allowing the bark to be exposed to 
the air and light, as it was before, the 
trees are likely to live and flourish 
about as usual. I have seen trees stand¬ 
ing in little stone or cement enclosures 
of this kind that were two feet or more 
deep and their roots covered as deep 
that seemed to be in their usual vigor. 
Why they die when the earth is put 
next to the bodies I do not know, 
positively, but think it is because the 
light and air is kept from the bark. 
There are differences in the ability of 
various species to endure this banking 
up over the roots and next to the 
trunks, but it is harmful to about all 
of them that I have noticed, except the 
willows. H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
“Not the hand ot fate 
but lack ot prudence” 
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437 6th Avenue 
Des Moines 
Iowa 
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60 c 
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WILLIAMS BROS., Ithaca. N. Y. 
Get a High Class 
DELIVERY CAR 
AT A 
Special Price 
Rambler Model 147. Original Price $1750. 
SPECIAL OFFER 
FOR THIS WEEK 
Heroes a Rambler car which originally sold 
for §1750, which has been taken in exchange 
from a satisfied Rambler owner who purchased 
one of the 1911 models. 
If you need this car remember you get the 
same guarantee of servico and satisfaction 
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Name 
Address 
Canadian Pacific 
Offers YOU Farm 
in Sunny Alberta, Near 
Existing Railway Lines 
The last chance for a first selection of 
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seekers and shrewd investors have snapped 
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CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY 
342 9th Ave., West, Calgary, Alberta, Can. 
TRADE MARK REGISTERED IN U. S. PATENT OFFICE. 
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