798 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 5, 
methods, and 10 cents a can more for an average bac¬ 
terial count under ten thousand per cubic centimeter 
of milk. In addition to this the patron averaging the 
lowest bacterial count for the month gets an addi¬ 
tional 10 cents a can. Besides this there is an allow¬ 
ance for butter fat of four cents a point for all milk 
above 3.5 per cent. To illustrate how this works out 
we will suppose that a farmer is selling 3.5 per cent 
milk, that he complies with all the requirements of 
the creamery, and that his is the lowest bacterial 
count among the patrons. With the flat price for 
May at 90 cents a can we have the following state¬ 
ment : 
Flat price per can. $.90 
For tuberculin' test, per can.20 
For sanitation, per can .10 
For count below 10,000. per can.10 
For lowest count, per can.\.10 
Price per can.$1.40 
This is equivalent to $1.63 per 100 pounds. On 
this basis every patron can reach $1.50 per 100 for 
May milk, and as I looked over the lists I am satis¬ 
fied that all but one will do it. Excluding the one 
patron, a new man, who hasn’t yet come up to stand¬ 
ard, the bacterial count ranged from something under 
one thousand up to something over nine thousand. I 
am inclined to estimate the average at about five 
thousand. In case a farmer sells four per cent milk 
he will add 20 cents a can, or 23 cents a hundred to 
the price already named. The experiment has already 
demonstrated that farmers can furnish milk of the 
most approved standard and that they are perfectly 
willing to do so the minute they are paid for it. They 
do not ask exorbitant pay, only enough to overcome 
extra expense, labor and loss. 
One of the farmers took me on his milk wagon 
and carried me out to his farm. It is a pretty farm¬ 
ing region. The land is somewhat rolling, the soil 
inclined to be gravelly and most of it readily worked. 
The barn and stable at this farm may be a little bet¬ 
ter than the average. It has been built only three or 
four years, and was very well planned. I made no 
measurements, but I think the stable is eight feet 
high. The barn is 36x90 feet. One end is used for 
horses and wagons, leaving 60 feet for 33 stanchions 
and a box stall. These are in two rows, with drive¬ 
way between for hauling out manure and for general 
convenience. There are six four-lighted windows 
with 12x24 inch glass, and one other window of the 
same size that did not seem to furnish much light. 
The owner explained that there is less light than he 
desires, and that he will put in one or more windows 
later. The stable has not yet been whitewashed, but 
will be in time. There is nothing unusually expensive 
about it, yet it is almost a model. An inspector scored 
it at 92. There is no milk house, but there is a small 
room at the partition between the two parts with a 
cement watering trough where the milk is kept. This 
is hardly in accordance with some of the modern 
regulations, but no fault is found here, and none 
should be. There is a very good ventilating, system 
in the stable, and the droppings in the gutters are 
daily removed to the field. Horse manure is scattered 
in the gutters, which are of concrete, as is the drive¬ 
way. At present the cows stand on plank, because 
there had been no experience with concrete when 
this stable was constructed, and there was some pre¬ 
judice against it. When the planks need replacing, it 
will be done with concrete. There is little in this 
stable that is beyond the reach of most dairymen. It 
is owned by an energetic man, who is right in the 
business himself from morning till night. Work 
moves because the owner of the place is moving it. 
There are mo non-essentials employed, and there are 
none asked for by the creamery people. Results are 
what is wanted. At the time of my visit ice had not 
been used, but I feel sure that it has been by this 
time. It is allowable to deliver milk twice a day, in 
which case no ice will be needed. The creamery is 
arranged to care for milk to much better advantage 
than a farmer can do it. It has always seemed to me 
that two deliveries a day are to be advised in case 
superior milk is wanted. I cannot help feeling that 
this night’s milk ought to be in the city for delivery 
the next morning. There are places where this is im¬ 
possible, but it is not the practice. h. h. lyon. 
(To be continued.) 
ROCKWEED AS A FERTILIZER. 
I am prepared to furnish rockweed, a marine growth, in 
nature similar to kelp, and used here extensively as a fer¬ 
tilizer I can furnish it in barrels on cars here at 35 
cents per barrel. Taking the cost of barrels and heading 
at 10 cents this price is as low as wc could figure. Later 
we can furnish the same decomposed and more available. 
In vour judgment, would there be any demand for either? 
Massachusetts. Walter b. savary. 
From the best information we can obtain it is 
doubtful if such a plan would pay. Farmers along 
the shore know something of the value of this rock¬ 
weed, but inland farmers who have not tried it would 
be slow to buy it at 35 cents a barrel. Analysis shows 
that 100 pounds of the rockweed will contain 65 to 70 
ol water. In 100 pounds there will be about six 
pounds of nitrogen, 18 of potash and 10 of phosphoric 
acid. If we allowed values for this plant food equal 
to those estimated for tankage, blood, or chemicals, 
we should have a probable manurial value of about 
$5 per ton. The rockweed would be useful not only 
for this plant food, but it would add to the stock of 
humus in the soil, and as it decays very rapidly 
would quickly give us this plant food. It is also 
superior to stable manure in the fact that it contains 
no weed seed. Rockweed is quite low in phosphoric 
acid, and also low in potash, so that if it were used 
these substances ought to be added to it. The farm¬ 
ers who live close to the seashore and can haul sea¬ 
weed or rockweed without great cost could by using 
this sea waste with acid phosphate and potash have 
a complete fertilizer. For many years certain men 
along the Atlantic coast have made a business of 
getting rockweed and loading it in bulk upon the cars. 
It is carried a short distance in this way and meets 
with a fair sale. It is doubtful, however, if there 
would be any profit in shipping it far inland. Some¬ 
time in the future it will be necessary to make use 
of the plant food in this sea waste. We must re¬ 
member that every year vast quantities of plant food 
are washed out of the soil and sent through brooks 
and rivers into the ocean. In fact the waters of the 
ocean contain every known substance in solution. The 
plant food or much of it is recovered by fishes and by 
marine growth like seaweed or rockweed and this 
source of plant food must in time be utilized in 
order to recover the immense drain constantly going 
on away from the soil. Some forms of this marine 
CULTIVATING CORN IN NEBRASKA. Fig. 302. 
growth are so rich in potash that it is claimed they 
could be burned at great profit and the ashes used 
as a source of potash for our crops. 
HAIRY VETCH AS HORSE HAY. 
I would be glad to know sonic one who has bad experi¬ 
ence, whether vetch makes good horse hay. I am told 
that horses will not eat it. The question of hay for the 
year of 1912 seems to me to be an important one. We 
cannot plow to put in peas and Soy beans, for the ground 
is so very hard and dry that plowing is out of the ques¬ 
tion, and I fear to sow the peas in the corn because that 
crop will need every drop of moisture, and can hardly 
mature; anyway, the time for planting peas is about past,, 
but vetch can be sown later. It would be a waste of time 
and seed to sow Crimson clover, unless it rains sufficient 
to wet the ground deep. Here in this tobacco country 
hay is always high. This is my first year here, and there 
was no meadow, and I must make some feed. I have 14 
acres of corn which has been suffering for rain for three 
weeks, and 1 wonder it is not all dead. We have had no 
rain to wet the ground more than one inch deep since the 
first week in May. I have a few peas in, about three 
acres, and shall sow millet if I can plow before it is 
too late. I have found that tobacco dust helps to keep 
seed free from weevils. The best crop of Crimson clover 
grown near here w r as sown last July, in millet, following 
wheat. I should guess the crop at three tons to the acre. 
In corn it does not succeed so well. The corn takes the 
moisture to ripen the crop, leaving very little for the 
clover. No vetch has been grown near here, but I want to 
build up my land. h. b. 
Virginia. 
Vetch hay is as desirable for horse feed as clover 
hay; in fact in those cases where I am familiar with 
the use of vetch hay for horses, it has given almost 
as good results as the use of Alfalfa hay. Horses, or 
in fact any animals, must become accustomed to vetch 
hay, if not already used to it. M&ny of my friends 
found in their first trials of vetch hay, or when pas¬ 
tured, that the live stock would not touch it. Later the 
horses, cows, poultry, in fact all stock, ate both the 
green vetch and vetch hay in preference to anything 
else. One of my friends, a dairyman in Connecticut, 
found that after the cows became accustomed to the 
vetch hay, and ate it, they produced more milk than 
when any other hay ration was used. This milk test 
I have seen repeated in several other cases, with 
equally good results. 
I rather think that for horses, the vetch hay when 
mixed with oat or other grass hays, will give better 
results than when fed alone. I have seen vetch 
grown with oat crops, which made a specially fine hay. 
The crop was cut when the oat seeds were in the 
milk. When vetch is grown with rye, a good hay can 
be made in the same manner. Barley and vetch makes 
a splendid hay, in those sections where Winter bar¬ 
leys succeed. In the caSe of vetch, or any new crop 
which animals have never tasted, a little patience will 
be necessary, until the animals become accustomed 
to the food. For instance, chickens will not eat the 
vetch plants at first, as a rule, but after a little experi¬ 
ence the chickens will keep the vetch plants eaten off 
so closely near their pens, that it has been found im¬ 
practicable to raise vetch near chicken yards. I have 
no fear of recommending a trial of vetch hay for 
horses, anywhere, and especially as a cow food or for 
poultry or other live stock. A. D. shamel. 
AN “OLD-FASHIONED” CORNCRIB. 
I wish to build a corn crib with bins for oats and 
wheat, etc. Can you tell me where I can get plans for 
such a building? I want the old-fashioned kind with 
sloping, slatted sides on posts with inverted pans to keep 
out rats. a. d. J. 
Sandy Ilook, Conn. 
Very few corncribs with sloping or flaring sides 
were ever built in this section and none is to be seen 
to-day. The only advantage in such construction is 
that it permits the side of the wagon box to come 
close to the sides of the crib, and a somewhat better 
protection from rains. Such cribs have the disad¬ 
vantage of less capacity for a given roof surface than 
a crib with perpendicular sides. The crib may be 
built on posts three feet above the ground, and be of 
such size to accommodate the crops of the owner. 
The posts should be of such size and numbers to 
make the crib secure, and they may be made of 
glazed sewer tiles, locust posts covered with galvan¬ 
ized iron, or of concrete. On top of the posts and un¬ 
der the sills are to be placed the pans to serve as rat 
guards. Along the sides and ends are to be placed 
posts to support the plates and the stringers to which 
the upright slats are to be nailed. It is well to make 
all joints tight, and to have all doors fit snugly to 
make sure that rats and mice do not get into the 
grain. 
For use as a granary and crib such a building 
should have doors at both ends and be provided with 
grain-tight bins. Steps to this crib should be made 
movable or hinged so as to swing up from the ground. 
The plans, Fig. 305, will give an idea of the con¬ 
struction and appearance of the crib. Of course the 
dimensions may be changed to suit the needs of the 
builder. Any carpenter can get out a bill for the lum¬ 
ber needed and make an estimate of the cost, which 
will vary with the locality. When building a crib it 
will pay well to look carefully after details to insure 
the building when finished will really be rat-proof. 
Ohio. W. E. DUCKWALL. 
THE USE OF RAW SWAMP MUCK. 
On page 756 you refer to the large corn crop grown 
by Jerry Moore of South Carolina. 
But how did this boy obtain his enormous yield ? 
Simply by going into the swamps near his farm and tak¬ 
ing 200 wagon loads of the rich swamp dirt, which he 
scattered over his field the first Winter. This he did 
that Winter merely as a means of fertilizing his land. 
The second Winter he made up his mind to go after the 
corn raising record, for which a good prize had been 
offered, so he took 300 wagon loads of swamp dirt the 
second Winter and put it on his field. 
I have found some North Carolina muck to ana¬ 
lyze over three per cent nitrogen, on dry basis. Let us 
assume that this muck contained 90 per cent water and 
that the 10 per cent dry matter contained two per 
cent ammonia. The boy hauled 500 loads, averaging 
probably 1,000 pounds each, making a total of 500,000 
pounds. If the muck was wet it contained 450,000 
pounds of water and 50,000 of dry matter. These 
50,000 pounds of dry, matter contained, perhaps, 1,000 
pounds of nitrogen, worth $150 at 15 cents per pound. 
Hence the muck was worth for its nitrogen about 33 
cents per load. It is true that this nitrogen is but 
slowly available, but in addition the land received a 
very large amount of vegetable matter, enough in 
fact, to change either bare sand or stiff clay into a 
good, productive soil. If such a soil be given now 
from time to time a few hundred pounds of ground 
raw phosphate rock and a few tons of ground lime¬ 
stone per acre it should be very productive for a gen¬ 
eration or more. 
The corn this boy raised on this acre was, in that 
locality, worth probably close to $200, and the first 
crop paid for the cost of hauling the muck. I have 
seen pecan trees in Georgia and orange trees in Flor¬ 
ida which at the time of planting had each received a 
generous wheelbarrow full of such muck, and these 
trees far excelled all other that had been more liberally 
fertilized otherwise. Both in theory and practice the 
use of muck rich in nitrogen is advisable in the South 
where small fields are to be intensively farmed for the 
highest production, and where the muck is readily 
available close to the field. f. i-i. nagel. 
Grant County, Wash. 
R. N.-Y.—We are not familiar wiith farming in the 
South, but in New Jersey and New York we would 
not advise the use of this raw muck. It would be far 
better practice to pile and compost it six months before 
spreading. 
