1911 . 
836 
\THEC RURAL NEW-YORKER 
MORE EXPERIENCE WITH VETCH. 
Moisture Needed When Seeding. 
Undoubtedly hundreds of R. N.-Y. readers are 
planning to sow vetch. Having used this as a soil 
improver, I can say that if used for that purpose 
alone, that is, plowed under, upon some kinds of soil, 
results will be obtained that will be an agreeable sur¬ 
prise. To repeat something that appeared above my 
signature a year or two ago may interest some who 
did not read it. I selected a small knoll in a field 
of very poor soil. This one-fourth acre selected for 
the test was so poor that, to use the expression of a 
neighbor, it would not raise a disturbance. A strip 
the width of this plot was heavily manured and planted 
to sweet corn for fodder and potatoes. 
Where the vetch’ and oats were sown 
no manure was hauled. I had hoped to 
get some fine hay from this mixture of 
oats and vetch, but they lodged so badly 
that they were left undisturbed. The 
next Fall I visited this farm, and the 
man living there asked how much 
manure I had put on ‘‘that high spot 
next to the lane.” When told that no 
manure had been put upon it the pre¬ 
vious Spring—well, he invited me to go 
and look at the field. The field had 
been planted in the Spring to oats. 
Where the oats and vetch had been, the 
stubble lay flat, showing that the oats 
had lodged, while the rest of the field 
showed no evidence of the oats having 
lodged, even where I had manured it 
heavily for the fodder corn and pota¬ 
toes. 
Much seed will be lost unless there is 
an abundance of moisture. Two years 
ago I sowed a few acres of vetch in a 
field of corn. A light shower during 
the night and frequent light ones dur¬ 
ing the next day and more apparently coming in¬ 
duced me to sow the vetch and cultivate it in. But 
the prospective showers did not come, and I had only 
about a one-per-cent stand. The amount of moisture 
would have been enough to start wheat or rye. The 
next two years this same field was planted to corn, 
and each year we had plenty of vetch. That ground 
has a liberal sprinkling of vetch seed, which will 
show up for years, as each time the field is plowed 
only a portion comes near enough to the surface to 
grow. I do not mention this to discourage the use 
of vetch, but to call attention to one of the ways in 
which it may become a nuisance upon a farm. Be 
sure you have the mois- 
the circular fire box a few inches above the bottom. 
A grate of this kind can be easily removed with the 
fire and ashes when necessary to clean out the fire 
box. The draught may be regulated by means of a 
damper in the door, and also one in the chimney, if 
desired. The inlet pipe has a float valve connected 
to it which keeps the water in the trough at the de¬ 
sired level. An overflow pipe is also installed to take 
oft' the excess of water in case the float valve refuses 
to work. These pipes can be placed to suit the needs 
of the builder, but it is better not to incase them in 
the cement wall. The pipes may need to be changed 
or replaced, and if they were in the cement wall the 
trough would need to be considerably damaged in or¬ 
IRRIGATION FOR THE BERRY PICKERS. Fir,. 323. 
der to remove them. Always provide a way to drain 
the water completely from the trough so that it may 
be easily cleaned. This may be done by running a 
two-inch pipe from the center or lowest place in the 
bottom of the trough to the outside, or into the 
drain, with a gate valve somewhere in the pipe that 
can be easily opened and closed. The trough should 
have covers to keep in the heat that has been gene¬ 
rated by the fire under the water. 
As with cement work of any kind, the. foundation 
of the watering trough should be well made. It 
should be put below the frost line, and should extend 
a few inches outside of the wall proper. It is also a 
proximately $96. The high cost of this case was 
partly due to expensive labor and cost of some of 
the materials used. They cost more than wooden or 
galvanized iron troughs of the same capacity, but 
when built right will last much longer than many 
wooden or iron ones. The construction can be made 
much simpler than shown in the illustration, and 
hence much cheaper. chas. h. spurway. 
Ingham Co., Mich. 
EXPERIENCE IN SCHOOL GARDENING. 
It is the custom in this country to have country 
school during the Fall and Winter months only, at 
most, the holding of school being optional with trus¬ 
tees. We live in a small district with a 
population, between the ages of six and 
21, of about 25, and after five months’ 
school, during last Fall and last Win¬ 
ter, our public school money was used. 
After a vacation of a few weeks, by 
means of contributions of some resi¬ 
dents of the district, we hired a teacher 
for two months of Spring school. The 
contract with the teacher stipulated that 
a portion of the school yard must be 
planted with common garden and farm 
seeds during school hours, watch ger¬ 
mination of seeds and cultivate the 
plants during the two months, after 
which pupils were to be met at inter¬ 
vals at the school house, and tillage 
and observation of growth thus con¬ 
tinued throughout the season. 
This idea of practical instruction in 
farming has been a pet notion of mine 
for a number of years, and although I 
have lived in various localities, I had 
never seen anything of the kind in con¬ 
nection with public school work. The 
results of our experiment have been 
quite satisfactory. The book study in arithmetic, read¬ 
ing, spelling, grammar, etc., was carried on regularly 
with the outdoor work, and the teacher stated that 
work with the books was fully as satisfactory as she 
had ever seen anywhere. No teacher could be found 
experienced in teaching agriculture, so of course the 
work was somewhat crude, but results have been so 
good that a lot of enthusiasm has been expressed by 
everyone concerned. Now we wish to know if any¬ 
thing of this kind has come to your notice, and also 
if you know of any source from which definite in¬ 
struction can be obtained in this work. 
Benton Co., Ark. 
ture to start the seed, 
then sow as much as 
you can find room for, 
and do not stop at the 
apparent high cost, as 
this is very insignificant 
compared to the benefit 
resulting. At least that 
is the writer’s experi¬ 
ence upon two different 
kinds of soil. It may 
disappoint others, but I 
should not hesitate to 
give it a trial. 
Ohio. J. d. prickett. 
CEMENT TROUGH. 
Many farmers are be¬ 
ginning to realize the 
value of cement con¬ 
struction of all kinds 
upon the farm. Fig. 322 
shows a good watering 
trough made of cement 
blocks, and coated on 
the inside with a rich 
mixture of cement. Con¬ 
crete can be used in 
constructing the trough, 
but this necessitates the 
use of forms of some kind. An iron pipe 12 inches 
in diameter serves as a fire box, and a five-inch pipe 
fastened to it does duty as a chimney. The joint be¬ 
tween these two pipes must be securely fastened and 
water-tight. As these troughs are usually located 
close to buildings where the danger from fire is great, 
they should have a tight-fitting iron door in front of 
the fire box, and perhaps, as.an extra precaution, a 
fine mesh screen fastened in the chimney to prevent 
sparks from gaining an exit that way. A grate for 
the fire to rest upon can be provided by bending or 
welding together iron rods of a sufficient length and 
width to carry enough fire and rest on the sides of 
JULY CROPS ON A NEW JERSEY FARM. Fig. 324 
good plan to build a cement platform around the 
trough, but if this is considered to be too expensive, 
the ground around the trough should be graded so 
that there is a slope away from the trough to carry 
away the water that is sure to be spilled there, and 
not let it accumulate and form a puddle in which the 
stock will need to stand while drinking. 
The cost of a trough of this kind will vary accord¬ 
ingly as the cost of labor and materials, and these 
will be more or less expensive in different communi¬ 
ties. These things make it hard to give more than 
an approximate estimate on construction work of 
this kind. The trough in the illustration cost ap- 
c. E. SLOCUM. 
R. N.-Y.—This is one 
of the most important 
things connected with 
country schools. There 
are probably other cases 
which our readers know 
about. We would like 
the experience of others. 
AN ACTOR’S FARM. 
As you see by my 
letterhead, farming has 
not been my trade for 
such a long space of 
time, and when the 
fruits and vegetables 
grow so as to make any 
showing I feel very 
proud of my efforts. 
This year, as every 
farmer knows, has been 
very hard on all kinds 
of produce, and mine 
made such a good show¬ 
ing under conditions un¬ 
favorable that I took a 
photograph of some of 
the vegetables, etc., 
w h i c h constitute my 
July crop from Jersey 
soil; see Fig. 324'. I 
have in quite a good-sized piece of field corn, and al¬ 
though we have had such a severe drought, my corn 
is over 12 and 14 feet high. Although I take quite 
an assortment of farm papers, without any jolly, bluff 
or hot air, I wish to state I think The R. N.-Y. is the 
most helpful, instructive and interesting of all; in 
fact I think it is a paper that would be appreciated 
by many people not farmers. a. d. allen. 
New Jersey. 
Will the germs of white diarrhoea affect ducklings the 
same as chicks? We understand that experiments are made 
feeding the germs to young ducks. They grew fat on the 
food. This disease seems to affect chicks alone. 
