1911 . 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1007 
SHORT STORIES. 
Surface Sowing of Lime. 
I failed to get my land lime In time to 
sow with my Alfalfa. Will it do to sow 
the lime on the top during the Winter? 
Kirkvllle, N. Y. j. b. 
No, we should not expect results from 
such practice. The way to use lime is to 
work it thoroughly into and all through the 
soil. Spread on the furrows and harrow in. 
Plaster as Fertilizer. 
Is the plaster from the walls and ceil¬ 
ings of an old house of any value as a 
fertilizer? a. 
It contains the lime used in making the 
plastering and the hair. This latter con¬ 
tains a little nitrogen, though not very 
available. Old plastering sometimes car¬ 
ries a small amount of nitrate of lime. 
Unless the plastering can be crushed line 
and- broadcast it will not prove very use¬ 
ful. If unground and as it comes from the 
ceiling we should pile it around trees and 
shrubs as a mulch. 
Restoring Old Pasture. 
I have a 30-acre field on my farm in 
New Jersey that has been pastured for 
40 years, but is now in weeds. The soil 
is a clay loam filled with loose stones. It 
would be almost impossible to hold a plow 
in the ground. Is there any means by 
which it can be restored to use as pas¬ 
ture? Would a Cutaway disk harrow pre¬ 
pare the surface for sowing mixed grasses? 
If not, what can I do with the field? I 
have thought of fruit trees, but if I can¬ 
not plow it, would an orchard pay? 
New York. " s. m. 
You can improve the pasture somewhat, 
but of course you cannot expect a good 
stand of grass without fitting the soil 
properly. A disk harrow will chop up the 
soil, and a spring-tooth will tear up the 
lumps and fine them fairly well. You 
could then sow mixed grasses and if the 
land is not too sour expect a fair stand. 
If the ledge of rock is not too close to the 
surface such a field might make a good 
apple or peach orchard. We know several 
good orchards on such land. They can bo 
worked shallow with disk and spring-tooth 
or mulched with weeds or grass and straw 
or trash hauled in from outside. 
Icehouses of Concrete. 
R. C. asks for information regarding 
concrete icehouses. Results depend on the 
amount of heat the material in the walls 
will conduct. The wall is used to keep 
the heat out, and should be so built as to 
combine this quality with durability. Heat 
is measured in units. A heat unit is the 
amount of heat required to raise the tem¬ 
perature of one pound of water or ice one 
degree; 142 heat units are required to 
change one pound of ice at the freezing 
point into water at the same temperature. 
The heat units conducted by materials one 
foot square and one inch thick, per hour, 
are as follows: Stone or concrete, 17; 
brick, 5; pine wood, .75; sawdust (dry), 
.55 ; chopped straw, .56, and confined air, .3. 
A practical icehouse could be constructed as 
follows : Build concrete walls eight inches 
thick and furr them with 2x4-inch furring 
and sheathe with matched pine boards so 
as to leave a four-inch dead-air space be¬ 
tween the inside of the concrete wall and 
the sheathing. Make the cement floor, hav¬ 
ing a drain with a trap in it to prevent 
air entering the house through the drain. 
The ice should be placed on slats to give 
good drainage. Make the roof of any ma¬ 
terial available, provided it is airtight. Tin 
or tar paper are good. It will pay to 
sheathe the underside of the rafters. Be 
sure the air spaces in the walls are tight 
top and bottom to prevent .circulation. 
Mr. Liverance, on page 920, gives some 
good advice when he says that dampness in 
the wall injures it as au insulator and that 
good water drainage is necessary. The re¬ 
mainder of his advice is exactly opposite 
to what it should be. lie states that “the 
walls of an icehouse are not of the greatest 
importance.” They are the most important 
part of the building. The farmers men¬ 
tioned had ice for Summer use because they 
had a big pile to start with, not through 
any real .merit in the construction of the 
so-called icehouse. If you let in the outer 
air, why build a wall at all? He states 
that ventilation is a requisite in a good ice¬ 
house. The ventilation is the worst thing 
he could provide unless he could replace 
the warm air with air that is at or below 
the freezing point, which would be out of 
the question, as the outside air often 
reaches very high temperatures. The most 
practical insulation is dead air spaces, and 
to obtain these and prevent air motion and 
“ventilation” cold storage and ice compan¬ 
ies spend much money in building walls 
containing one, two and three air spaces, 
alternated with double sheathing with air¬ 
proof paper between and then put double 
doors in the entrance to prevent air from 
entering. I know whereof I speak, as I 
have worked with my father who does this 
kind of work for one of the leading ice 
machine builders in Wilmington, Del., and 
others. it. b. g. 
Delaware. 
The Value of Orchard Trees. 
Query of C. P. M. and reply to same, on 
page 921, is of interest to many persons. 
In these days of rapid increase of rail¬ 
roads, especially interurbans, many valu¬ 
able orchards are being destroyed for which 
in many cases a mere nominal sum is paid. 
Three years ago au interurban was built 
across my land, requiring the cutting down 
of about 20 fruit trees from three to 10 
years old. The proposition first made by 
the company would not have given me more 
than $50 for them, but this was rejected 
and they paid $300. Had I to do this over 
again they would have paid $500. A tree 
one year planted is worth $1 for cost and 
labor alone. Each subsequent year adds an¬ 
other dollar to its value, until it reaches a 
bearing age, and then its value is governed 
by the value of the fruit it produces, such 
value of the fruit to be the interest on the 
value of the tree. For instance, C. P. M.’s 
tree produced 2%-barrels of apples, worth 
say $5, then the value of the tree would 
be a principal which would give him $5 in¬ 
terest per year at six per cent, or $83 1.-3. 
But with other varieties such as pear, plum 
or cherry, better prices are paid for fruit, 
hence they become more valuable. I have 
Kieffer pear trees that produce from 12 
to 15 bushels every year per tree. These 
sell at $1 per bushel. Now the real value 
of these trees is a principal which will give 
us $12 or $15 in interest each year, as 
these pear trees are capital invested. On 
that basis each tree is worth $200. Some 
one says, “Yes, but the tree is liable to 
die at any time and thus become a loss.” 
True; so may any other investment be lost, 
but remember not only the tree but the 
land passes forever from your control, and 
the moment the company gets your deed a 
hundred times the amount they paid you 
would not repurchase it back. Where or¬ 
chards are being molested I believe in hav¬ 
ing a sum paid for them sufficient to guar¬ 
antee to the owner interest on their pro¬ 
ducts during a period of his natural life; 
hence I would make the value of the tree 
the principal which would create such in¬ 
terest each year. J. H. haynes. 
Indiana. 
R. N.-Y.—We think this estimate too 
high. Suppose there are 50 trees on the 
acre. That would mean $4,000 to $10,000 
per acre! It costs something to care for 
these trees, and a few years of neglect 
would reduce their value to little or noth¬ 
ing. Last week we were in the Hitchings 
orchard near Syracuse. A block of Green¬ 
ings were loaded with fruit, and Mr. Ditch¬ 
ings said they paid a large rate of interest 
on $1,000 per acre—about 55 trees. It 
could not be said, however, that any such 
investment is as stable as cash when we 
consider all danger from insects and disease" 
Lime on Beans. 
Among the experiences reported by vari¬ 
ous farmers who are using lime, there is 
one who speaks of the benefit of lime on 
his bean crop. In addition to this, he 
writes that he has noticed a material bene¬ 
fit to his wheat crop around the fruit trees 
which he sjprayed with lime; that where- 
ever the spray lodged on the wheat it 
showed a decidedly beneficial effect. He 
says “It was ranker growth and free from 
insects.” Can you trace the connection? 
In other words, do you think a lime spray 
on grain could be of any use? Have there 
been any experiments along this line? 
New York. f. e. 
As a rule we do not think field beans 
respond directly to lime unles the land is 
very sour. Probably the spray was lime- 
sulphur mixture. This would not be like¬ 
ly to fertilize the wheat, but might give 
it a rank, healthy growth by destroying 
insects or germs of smut, rust or other 
diseases. 
The president of the Northern Nut Grow¬ 
ers’ Association, Dr. Robert T. Morris of 
New York City, is offering prizes for the 
best samples of native and foreign nuts 
grown in the Northern United States. Each 
sample is to consist of 12 nuts from one 
tree, accompanied by a description of the 
tree and some notes on its history so far as 
available. The prizes are $2 for first and 
$1 for second. The nuts desired are shag- 
bark, shellbark, pecan, black walnut, butter¬ 
nut, hazel, chinquapin and Persian walnut. 
Full particulars may be obtained by ad¬ 
dressing Dr. Robert T. Morris, 616 Madison 
avenue. New York City. All packages of 
nuts are to be forwarded to Prof. John 
Craig, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., 
where they will be received, recorded and 
judged at time of the Northern Nut Grow¬ 
ers’ Convention in Ithaca early in December. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply and a 
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