1912. 
337 
The Skinner Irrigation System. 
H. II. B., Johnstown , Pa .—I am figuring 
°n putting up an irrigating plant, probably 
the Skinner system. I have a hill whereon 
I could erect a tank at sufficient elevation 
to get 50 or 60 pounds pressure. Which 
do you prefer, the tank or pumping in 
the system direct? I have in mind an oil 
engine that is regulated by a lever, and 
by having a pressure gauge in the system 
I think I can regulate to furnish water 
for either large or small area by regulat¬ 
ing the speed of the engine. Which is best, 
centrifugal, rotaTy or piston pump? Which 
is the better, two or four-cycle engine? 
Is kerosene a better or cheaper fuel than 
gasoline? I have no data as to the amount 
of water required per acre per hour, etc., 
but wish to sprinkle at one time about 
3,000 square feet. 
Ans. —As I know Mr. Skinner person- 
ally, I have asked him about these tiling's 
myself, and have personally examined 
several plants under pressure, some 
direct from well and some tank pres¬ 
sure. This is what I found out: In 
using direct pressure 26 to 40 pounds 
are used; the plant I saw in operation 
was using 28 pounds pressure direct 
double-acting cylinder pump water about 
eight or 10 feet under surface. A deep 
well demands deep well pumps, and 
you cannot use a rotary pump on it, 
they tell me, so have to use deep well 
cylinders to get water up. Oil a system 
of this kind the pipe where water 
sprinkles out was about 200 feet long 
and the owner used two pipes at oncq 
with three horse-power gasoline engine, 
belt to pump. Why would not tank 
pressure of 30 or more pounds do the 
same work? The Skinner system in 
use was one faucet every three feet in 
pipe. I am thinking of putting my tank 
of 120 barrels water up on a 20 foot 
derrick and using tank pressure my¬ 
self, rows of pipe to be 266 feet long 
with two-inch feed pipe reduced to 
three-quarter-inch for faucets. The 
question is, will well hold out with me, 
tor we use a large amount of water. I 
used last Summer, which was very dry, 
three of my 120-bbl. tanks a day on 
half an acre, but that soaked the ground 
for three or four days; then I got busy 
again. 
If water is close to surface, not over 
18 or 20 feet deep, a rotary is the thing 
direct to pipe; if a deep well, a tank 
with 40 or 50 pounds pressure would 
be ideal if a man’s sprinkler pipes are 
not over long, say about 250 feet, and 
use as many as will work right. He 
can tell when in use how many to turn 
on. The best way is to experiment a 
little bit, it does not cost much to 
change, only the setting up of tank. I 
think a gasoline engine three or live 
horse power is the best thing for pump¬ 
ing water up-to-date, and the cheapest to 
operate; costs about 20 cents a day of 
10 hours, outside of wear and tear on 
machinery. E. s. B. 
A Fertilizer Mixture. 
G. II. W., Brunswick, Me .—I wish to make 
a cheap home-mixed fertilizer for potatoes. 
1 think of taking 100 pounds land plaster 
and mixing with it 10 pounds muriate of 
potash and 10 pounds of nitrate of soda. 
What do you think of such a mixture for 
potatoes? Land is good loam, also some 
land black muck loam, late land. I plow 
and then spread liberal coating of barn 
dressing—say one-third horse, two-thirds 
cow dressing, harow it in thoroughly and 
then apply handful of above formula of 
plaster 100 pounds, muriate of potash, 10 
pounds and nitrate of soda, 10 pounds, well 
mixed in hilL Ought I to have good 
crop? How would such a mixture succeed 
on general farm crops, sweet corn, peas, 
stock beets, etc.? 
Ans. —This is not a good mixture for 
such soil if chemicals are needed, because 
there is no phosphoric acid in it. Pos¬ 
sibly you know by experiment that this 
soil has plenty of phosphoric acid, but 
unless you do you should add ground 
bone or acid phosphate to this mixture. 
In one ton of such a fertilizer there 
would be 166 pounds each of nitrate 
and muriate. That means 26 pounds of 
nitrogen and 83 pounds of potash to the 
ton. It would hardly pay to make such 
a mixture; 60 pounds of plaster, 10 each 
of nitrate and muriate and 20 of acid 
phosphate would pay much better. 
Lime on Grain and Seeding. 
F. W. It., Sherburne Four Corners , TV. Y. 
—My neighbors and myself have just un¬ 
loaded 20 tons of the lime advertised on 
the enclosed circular. Do you know any¬ 
thing of its merits personally, and can 
you advise us as to the best time to sow 
it on meadows, old and new seeded, also 
rye and Winter wheat? I have recently 
heard that some farmers are sowing lime 
now on top of snow. 
Ans. —This is a ground limestone 
which seems of fair quality. If you put 
the lime on top of the living grain and 
grass we should wait until the bare 
ground is beginning to thaw. Like 
clover seed, the lime will be worked 
into the soil somewhat by the frost 
action. This is not the best time to 
apply lime. It should be worked into 
the soil if possible. The best way is 
to broadcast after plowing and harrow 
in. In this way the lime is spread all 
THIS HURAb 
through the soil and does its work 
rapidly. When left on the surface we 
have seen it form a sort of mortar and 
not work down as it should. 
More About “Botded Bacteria.” 
M. L., Teaneck , A T . J .—I would like In¬ 
formation about nitrogen. Six years ago 
I planted potatoes, and they turned out 
to be very fine. I was very much satisfied, 
but now I have potaoes every year the size 
of an egg, and am very much disappointed. 
I would like to try the nitragin. How 
shuld I use it and how much to an acre 
of gx-ound? 
Ans. —This gives a chance to explain 
further about this “bottled bacteria” or 
germs for inoculating the soiL This 
man like many others, has the idea that 
the bacteria make a sort of fertilizer or 
manure which is to be spread on the 
ground to benefit any kind of a crop. 
We can imagine his feelings, with any 
such belief, when he got only a small 
bottle for his money. These bacteria 
are useful only upon the pod-bearing 
plants, like beans, peas, clover or Al¬ 
falfa. They will not help corn, pota¬ 
toes or garden truck, except as they 
first help clover, etc., and this is put 
into the ground. One man tells how he 
put “the stuff into water and poured it 
around com!” Of course he got no re¬ 
sults. What good would it have done 
to dissolve a yeast cake and pour the 
liquid over roast beef or potatoes? Yet 
the yeast in the flour will help make 
good bread. You must remember that 
these bacteria add no plant food in 
themselves. All they can possibly do 
is to give these pod-bearing plants a 
stronger growth and the ability to gain 
nitrogen from the air. From what you 
say it looks as if you were trying to 
raise potatoes without any fertilizer. 
We should fit the soil as well as pos¬ 
sible and use at least 1,000 pounds of 
high grade fertilizer to the acre. 
The Various Forms of Lime. 
R. G. T.j Forth Girard, Pa .—I would like 
to know something about carbonate of 
lime, bow it is made, and is it as good 
for the soil as ground limestone, or burned 
lime, or is it better? It is a new thing 
in our section; it is very nice to handle, 
as there is no dust, and 100 pounds makes 
about two bushels or more. 
Ans. —It seem necessary to go over 
this lime question every few months in 
order to get it right. Limestone as it 
comes out of the soil is carbonate of 
lime. Grind this stone up fine and it 
is still carbonate of lime. So that is 
the same as what we call ground lime¬ 
stone or lime dust. Now the carbonate 
of lime will contain in a pure sample 56 
pounds of lime and 44 pounds of car¬ 
bonic acid gas to each 100 pounds. 
When you burn this in a kiln the car¬ 
bonic acid is driven off as a gas and the 
lime is left. This is called lump lime, 
stone lime or quick lime. On exposure 
to water or air this quick lime “slakes” 
—that is, it takes up moisture into com¬ 
bination with the lime. So you could 
take 100 pounds of pure limestone burn 
it completely and have 56 pounds of 
lump or quicklime. Let this slake and 
you will have about 74 pounds of 
“slaked” lime, as it takes up about 18 
pounds of water. This slaked lime is 
finer and quicker in its action than the 
ground limestone, but this is one reason 
why some authorities oppose its use and 
prefer limestone It comes down pretty 
much to a matter of cost, ar.d t» »s 
means freight. As a rule it is not 
profitable to pay freight on the ground 
limestone for a very long distance. 
Fish as Fertilizer. 
What is the best way to use fresh fish for 
corn fertilizer? I am a retail dealer in 
fresh fish, and have lots of waste, fish 
heads and bones. I have jnst bought some 
land and wish to raise corn and hay. I 
am bothered to dispose of waste fish in 
warm weather. I have been burying it. 
Ayer, Mass. j. c. d. 
Dust the waste fish with land plaster as 
it accumulated. This will dry out the fish 
and it should then be composted. Put it 
in a pile with manure, old sods, rich soil, 
anything that will ferment or decay. Keep 
the fish covered in this compost and fork 
it over every six weeks. The larger bones 
will remain, the rest will get fine and suit¬ 
able for use as manure. Pish contains 
nitrogen and phosphoric acid, but no pot¬ 
ash, so you should use muriate of potash 
with it as a fertilizer. 
Bread from "Winter Wheat. —I think G. 
M. S. could have good flour from this wheat 
If he could get it from a large mill; that is 
one that tests the grain and grinds accord¬ 
ingly. He must remember that these local 
mills grind wheat flour just the same as they 
would feed. If your grain Is good and 
dry you get good feed; if it is a little damp 
or green you get feed accordingly. When 
he takes his wheat to the mill it is dumped 
into a bin with wheat of ali grades, clean, 
dirty, dry, damp, plump or light and the 
result must be likewise, and that is in 
and out or good and bad flour. He may 
just happen to run into a nice run, but the 
chances are nine out of 10 he will run into 
a poor lot. Under the circumstances he 
simply has to help along the flour trust and 
get his flour from where its ground scienti¬ 
fically, and not by pure guesswork. 
EX-MILLER. 
NRW.YOKKliK 
Dairymen making the most money realize that it pays 
them well to use only high producing cows and the highest producing 
cream separator. That is why Mr. J. W. Clise/ successful business dairyman 
of Redmond, Wash., who owns Netherhall Brownie IX., the world’s record 
Ayrshire cow shown above, uses and recommends the 
SHARPLES 
Tubular Cream Separator 
Mr. Clise is but one of many who are equally businesslike and use Tubulars 
exclusively. Tubularsare prizewinners. Have twice the skimming force of other separators. 
Skim faster and twice as clean. Dairy Tubulars contain no disks to chop or "taint” the 
cream or give it a metallic flavor. 
By producing the best cream and the most cream, Tubulars make a profit no 
other separator gets. This extra profit is simply Tubular "velvet” which Tubulars make 
forother keen, businesslike farmers and will brake for you. Other separators taken in 
part payment for Tubulars. Ask for free trial proposition. 
Ask for catalog No. THE SHARPLES SEPARATOR CO. 
153 and our book, WEST CHESTER, PA. 
VRd o B T si ?L s £P airyinK -” Chicago, III.; San Francisco, Cal.; Portland. Ore.; 
Both FREE. Dallas, Tex.; Toronto. Can.; Winnipeg, Can. 
Netherhall 
Brownie IX. 
World's Record 
Ayrshire Cow 
Her Owner Uses 
a Tubular 
Absolutely sanitary 
conditions In the dairy 
mean money saved and 
made. 
Before you buy an¬ 
other milk can it will 
pay you to examine the 
sanitary , durable 
Milk 
Every inside seam Is smoothly sold¬ 
ered, tinned and retinned. As easily 
washed as a glass tumbler. 
Sturges material and workmanship Is 
of the highest. IVeguarantee satisfaction. 
If your dealer doesn’t handle Sturges 
cans, write us about it now. Ask for cata¬ 
log 60 \ 
When ordering you can save freight 
by specifying shipment from our ware¬ 
house at Syracuse, N. Y.,or New York Cl 
Sturges & Burn Mfg. Co., 
508 S. Green St, Chicago, Ill. 
Get the 
Dairy 
Dollars 
You’re Losing 
N.Y. 
AMERICAN 
SEPARATOR 
THIS OFFER IS WO CATCH. 
It Is a solid proposition to send, 
on trial, fully guaranteed, a new, 
well made, easy running separa¬ 
tor for $15.95. Skims hot or cold 
milk; making heavy or light 
cream. Designed especially for 
small dairies, hotels and private 
families. Different from this pic¬ 
ture, which Illustrates our large 
capacity machines. The bowl Is 
a sanitary marvel, easily cleaned. 
Gears thoroughly protected. 
Western orders filled from 
Western points. Whether your 
(dairy Is large or small, write 
us and obtain our handsome 
free catalog. Address: 
AMERICAN SEPARATOR CO. 
Farm, Stock and Tools 
TO BE SACRIFICED BY 
REASON OE IERNESS. 
Farm of 133 Acres, modern twelve-room 
house, oak finished; bath: basement bam, 32x58; 
two other barns: running water to barns; silo; 
fruit. Two miles from railroad town. Fourteen 
grade Holstein cows, live heifers, $400-pair horses, 
wagons harnesses, mower, rake, roller, snlky 
plow, oats, potatoes hay, ensilage. Everything 
ready, and income from milk $190 per month. 
Price$6,700 part cash HALL’S FARM AGENCY, 
Owego Tioga Coun ty New York. 
F OR SALE —Farm of i(J3 acres, one and one-half 
miles from Cornell University. Price, $9,1)00. 
MRS. E H. NELSON, 519 E. State St.. Ithaca, N. Y. 
FARM ' ls acle8 clear; II room house; hot and cold water; 
I nil III large poultry houaes and barns. At Lake Grove, Long 
Island, Suffolk Co., GO miles from N.Y. For further particulars 
write to owner, Timothy J. Mdkrissky, Candor, TiogaCo.,N.Y. 
For Sale-101 ACRE FARM 
Buildings, fences and location good; fertile soil; 
3!*j miles from railroad Price and terms right. 
Address F. H P., 519 W. Buffalo St., Ithaca N.Y. 
POP <sA I p— Five-acre Poultry Farm, 1 H 
l viv DALL miles from Owego and 3 rail 
roads. Good house basement barn, large poultry 
house, fruit good water. Easy terms Address 
NELSON BOSWOUTH, Owegp, Tioga County, N.Y. 
r p/''k T> 1?'\J'T' Desirable Dairy Farms in 
AVx-fl-N X Hoosick and Schaghtieoke, 
Rensselaer County, N. Y. Good buildings; neajr 
croamery and markets. Address LEGRAND C. 
TIDBITS Agent, Hoosick, N. Y. 
ORCHARDS AND ORCHARD LAND 
in the best fruit sections of Mainland and Virginia. 
We offer propositions of genuine merit valued at 
from $5,000 to $150,000. H. W. HILLEARY & CO.. 
M-729 Southern Building, Washington, D. C. 
F OR SALK—One of tho best farms in the famous Schoharie 
Valley, containing 180 acres, on the line of the to-be- 
constructed State Road. Excellent buildings; well watered, 
fertile soil; large orchard; adapted to all kinds of farming. 
25 head of Holstefu-Frieslan cattle, horses, tools, hogs, poultry, 
hay and grain go with the farm. An ideal country gentleman’s 
estate. Address liOX 212, Middi.ebbkoh, N. Y. 
FOP QAI p— Farm of 215 acres; Steuben Co., 
* A/IV. BALL N. Y ; miles from railroad 
station, on main line of Erie. New house of ten 
rooms, with running water, gambrel root; barn 
with basement; 17u acres tillable, balance wood 
and pasture, adapted to bay. grain and stock 
raising. $U UO an acre if sold by April 1st. 
ARCHIE LLOYD, CAMERON MILLS, N.Y. 
"W anted 
A man to start a chicken farm on rather 
a large scale. While it is being started 
he to help do the farm work. Married 
man preferred, with no children. 
Address RYERSON W. JENNINGS 
1410 South Penn Square, Philadelphia, Pa. 
W ANTED— Farmer of good habits (with half grown 
children preferred), to work 150-acre farm on 
shares. Information Box 43, Hasbrouck, N. Y. 
THE LEVIN PRUNER 
WANTFI1 - April 1st—First-dass Farm Hand; 
” 11 1 married; aged 27 to 85; must thor¬ 
oughly understand business ; others need not 
apply. Address WE A. COLKMAN. Tboy, N. Y. 
MAN WANTFD To care f° r ^ er<1 ° f Hoi- 
iTirviH YY f\DI 1 IbLf steins. Must be good 
milker and careful feeder. Single; German pre¬ 
ferred. Particulars in first letter. BOX No. 21, 
Iludd’s Lake, New Jersey. 
W ANTED—A farmer of culture and refinement fur the year 
1918. One who understand*; intensive farming; for a 75-acre 
farm adjoining the oorporate limits of the best small town 
in Eastern Arkansas. Co-operative plan. 
T. G. DIAL, Dolly Grove, Monroe County, Arkansas. 
W ANTED— Frrst-class milker, single, to work in a G 0 - 
cow Certified Milk barn. Must be clean and 
healthy. Each man milks 15 cows, has time off in 
the day and one day off a month, in first letter 
state references, age nnd wages wanted, with room 
and board. RARITAN VALLEY FARMS, Somerville. N. J. 
The best pruuer. Cuts %-inch dry 
branch. Quick, clean, easy cut. We 
will s end i t post p aid for c lu b oi t wo 
new yearly subscriptions at 81 each, 
or for club of 10 ten weeks trials at 10 
cents each. 
The Rural New-Yorker, New York 
