1912 . 
THE KUKAb NEW-YORKER 
1266 
Stable Manure for Peaches. 
W. R. B., Lancaster, Pa .—As I started 
a peach and apple orchard three years ago 
next Spring, and the land is none too rich, 
I decided to get a carload of horse manure 
and spread it over the orchard. When I 
had ordered the manure I met a man who 
is working along the line of fruit growing ; 
he told me that it is the worst thing I can 
do to put manure to peach trees, but for 
apple trees it is all right. He says they 
use nothing but fertilizers on peach trees, 
and just certain things, muriate of potash- 
and bone. As I have this car of manure 
coming and hardly have other use for it I 
decided to fall back on The It. N.-Y. for 
information. I would like to treat my trees 
in such a way that I can expect good re¬ 
sults ; they have made good growth so far. 
Ans.— Your friend is about right. 
Stable manure alone is not the best 
plant food for a thrifty peach orchard. 
The manure contains too large a pro¬ 
portion of nitrogen. The effect of this 
is to drive the trees to wood growth 
rather than to fruit. Apple and plum 
trees can stand this sort of feeding far 
better than peach—the latter being more 
delicate and more inclined to make 
wood. Such trees as you describe do 
not need, much nitrogen to mature their 
fruit buds. A mixture of three parts 
fine bone to one part muriate of potash 
would give you far better results in 
fruit than the stable manure will. J. H. 
Hale used to say he would shoot a 
man for hauling stable manure into his 
orchard. Of course this was an exag¬ 
geration, but it is true that manure 
alone is poor plant food for a peach 
orchard. 
A Concrete Hotbed. 
A. P., Logan, Utah .—I intend building 
a hotbed of concrete about 100 feet long 
and 10 feet wide, inside measure. Would 
you inform me how it should be built, the 
cheapest and most convenient to raise to¬ 
matoes, pepper and eggplants. Also, what 
kind of heat, hot water or steam? Would 
it be a good plan to excavate, say two feet 
of the soil where I intend to build? 
Ans.— When the natural drainage is 
good it is a good plan to excavate the 
soil to a depth of two feet or more 
for a hothouse of the width mentioned, 
whether the house is built this way or 
on the surface. The walls if built of 
concrete should be not less than four 
feet high and eight inches thick. The 
cost of construction will perhaps be 
somewhat cheaper if the house is built 
on the surface, as some expense can be 
saved in the item of excavating the pit, 
and also for the heating apparatus, as 
the boiler pit will have to be propor¬ 
tionately deeper for a pit house. For 
the over-head part the cheapest method 
of construction is what is called a sash 
house; regular 3x6 hotbed sash is used 
instead of sash bars as in regular green¬ 
house construction. In every other re¬ 
spect the construction of walls is the 
same for either style of house. When 
the last course of concrete is put down 
some provision must be made for 
anchoring the plates to the top of the 
wall. Bolts six to eight inches long and 
three-fourths inch thick should be set 
in the concrete every four or five feet 
and allowed to project above the top 
of the wall about 2 1 / 2 inches.' For places 
clear cypress is the best; this shoiild 
be two inches thick and six inches 
wide.' Bore holes in the plates same 
size as the bo,Its and at a correspond¬ 
ing distance apart with the bolts. When 
ready to be placed in position spread a 
thin layer of good cement and sand 
mortar on the top of the wall; put the 
plates on while mortar is soft and ad¬ 
just the nuts to the bolts, drawing them 
sufficiently tight to force the plate gently 
into the mortar slightly; this will make 
a tight joint and also assist to hold 
the plate in place. 
The ridge pole should be two inches 
thick and five inches wide. The rafters 
or sash supports can be made of 2x4 
inch dressed material, to be used broad 
side up. These should be nailed to the 
ridge pole, low enough down so as to 
leave the top of it slightly higher than 
the sash, on top of ridge pole and ex¬ 
tending the full length a % by six-inch 
board is to be nailed as a cap to pre¬ 
vent leakage in wet weather. This cap 
will make a better water shed if beveled 
on each side of ridge pole to a thick¬ 
ness of one-half inch on each upper 
edge. The sash supports or rafters are 
placed three feet and one and one- 
fourth inches apart from center to 
center. This leaves room for a strip 
%-inch thick to be nailed in the center 
of the sash bar extending the full length 
of the sash. This strip should be wide 
enough to extend slightly above the 
sash, so that a cap one-half inch by 
three inches can be securely nailed to 
it without binding the sash. The sash 
must be beveled on the upper end to 
fit to the ridge pole, and are held in 
place with brass hooks and screw eyes 
one on each side of the sash. 
The ventilating is regulated by lower¬ 
ing the sash from the top, and can be 
done from either or both sides as seems 
best. To hold the sash at any required 
distance from the top, screw-eyes are 
placed at short distances apart in the 
rafters, to which they can be hooked, or 
small metal pulleys may be attached to 
underside of ridge pole and sash be 
lowered and raised by small ropes. This 
plan is the best as it permits the sash 
being lowered to any required distance 
and held there by simply attaching the 
ropes to a small hook or cleat fastened 
on the underside of the rafter. 
Either hot air flue, steam or hot 
water will be found satisfactory for 
heating a house of this size. The hot 
air plan is the cheapest of construction, 
hot water is perhaps the best, but the 
most expensive system to install. K. 
Nuts Untrue to Type. 
I have some Japan walnut trees, and 
liave raised several seedlings from them, 
and they all come butternuts. Has any¬ 
body else had them come the same? 
I have seen something about milkweed a 
time or two in The It. N.-Y. I will send 
you a little bark or lint from a milkweed 
that grows here; I want you to try the 
strength of it. p. p. 
Piekerington, O. 
R. N.-Y.—What is the experience in 
young walnut seedlings? We twisted the 
“milkweed" into a small cord, which was 
so strong that we could not break it. 
Storing Kieffer Pears. 
Is it possible to store Kieffer pears so as 
to have them for sale in January, February 
and March? How is it done? . h. e. s. 
Kgg Harbor, N. J. 
We have had no personal experience in 
storing pears except in small quantities for 
home use. But I know of one grower here 
who stores a portion of his crop almost 
every year. This year he has about 1,000 
hampers of Kieffers in storage. They arc 
put in ordinary cold storage and kept as 
near freezing as possible without actually 
reaching that point. They are kept under 
the same conditions as apples, and the tem¬ 
perature ranges close to 33° F. They can 
be held until March if desired, but the 
grower referred to usually ligures that *t 
pays him best to sell in midwinter. He 
stores only his first grade pears, is very 
careful in packing and handling the crop, 
and lines each hamper with paper. This 
year the price for Kieffers at picking time 
was 12 to 18 cents a five-eighths bushel 
basket, but they are now going at $1 or bet¬ 
ter a hamper. The essential point to con¬ 
sider in storing pears is to have them ab¬ 
solutely free from all bruises and injuries. 
It is important also, if they are to be kept 
for any length of time, to have them in 
storage before they begin to get mellow. 
For home use we take the hard green pears 
and wrap them in a paper and place in a 
cool room. They ripen slowly, and we have 
them until Christmas. An empty refriger¬ 
ator makes a good place for storing a small 
quantity. trucker, jb. 
LIME-SULPHUR NOTES. 
Whether using commercial or homemade 
liquid a hydrometer is of real service, as the 
strength of such liquids may be accurately 
tested and not simply guessed at. Com¬ 
mercial lime-sulphur is usually rated as 
being so many degrees Beaumfi in strength, 
while fruit instructors mostly use the spe¬ 
cific gravity scale as a means of testing 
the strength of liquids. Hence I prefer a 
hydrometer, which has both scales ar¬ 
ranged side by side on the glass. Such an 
instrument can be purchased for a dollar, 
including a glass tube for holding enough 
liquid for testing. 
Do not make the mistake of diluting the 
lime-sulphur too much. A considerable 
over-test will do the trees no injury, but 
is, of course, a waste of liquid. It is 
usually recommended to dilute the concen¬ 
trated liquid to 1.030 specific gravity or 
four degrees Beauing. This is, I think, 
strong enough, except where trees are badly 
infected with scale a stronger mixture 
should be used. This test is for the clear 
liquid (lime-sulphide) free from sediment. 
If sediment is present it will cause the 
liquid to test higher without adding to its 
strength. The proper temperature for test¬ 
ing liquids is about 60° F. 
If your apple crop was a failure this 
year do not accuse the lime-sulphur spray 
for it. If you had a full crop do not give 
the lime-sulphur all the honor. Spraying is 
a helpful factor, but “there are others,” 
such as pruning, cultivation, fertilization, 
favorable weather conditions, etc. Spray¬ 
ing with lime-sulphur only indirectly af¬ 
fects the apple crop. 
. Besides killing scale and other sucking 
insects lime-sulphur is seemingly an ac¬ 
tual benefit to the trees, and I would spray 
all fruit trees once a year with this liquid, 
whether scale is present or not. 
Lime-sulphur being very caustic, it should 
not be kept permanently in tin vessels. 
Even brass will eventually succumb to its 
corroding powers. Wooden kegs or barrels 
are best for holding the liquid, and they 
should be tightly made. Lime-sulphur wiil 
slowly but surely burn human skin if it 
comes in contact with face or hands. The 
burning process is so slo w that the oper¬ 
ator scarcely perceives any injury for a 
few hours. I have been severely burned 
several times, but now use plenty of grease 
on exposed parts with steam-proof gloves 
for mj hands and a dust protector for niy 
nose and mouth. Goggles mav also be 
worn over the eyes. Because of this un¬ 
pleasantness some persons prefer to use 
oiI - , . DAVID PLANK. 
Pennsylvania. 
Model 42—$1600 
5 passengers; 116-inch wheelbase; 34s 
4-inch wheels; 4 cylinder motor, 4J4x4&; 
Deaco lighting and ignition system; self¬ 
starter ; fully equipped. 
Greyhound 6-60, five or seven passenger Touring Car, $2400 
Light Footed Car 
T HE Oakland is ‘ 4 light footed,” but not too 
light. A motor car should not be too heavy 
nor too light. If it is too heavy, its weight 
is liable to affect its efficiency and upkeep expense. 
If it is too light, it is likely to be dangerous. 
Oaklands are medium in weight but heavy 
enough so that the car will remain on the road 
at all times and light enough so that the machine 
will not be hard on tires and will be economical 
in the matter of gasoline consumption. 
These important things depend on the weight 
of the car. The car that is too heavy is not only 
a burden on the road, but its own weight affects 
the mechanical efficiency, for the heavy car is 
likely to rattle itself into the scrap heap. 
Send for catalog and name of nearest dealer. 
Oakland Motor Car Co. H6 Oakland Bivd. Pontiac, Mick. 
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TILE DRAINED LAND IS MORE PRODUCTIVE 
v— — ■- " - .... admits air to the soil. Inf 
creases the value. Acres of swampy land reclaimed and made fertile 
I V* 1 R ? , " ld P r «ln TJlemeets every requirement. We also make Sewer 
•iaS'iSf I ‘Pe, Bed and I ire Brick, Chimney Tops, Encaustic Side Walk Tile etc Writ a 
... t' V for what you want and prices. JOHN H. JACKSON, ag Third Ave. , Albany N Z' 
A plow beam is strongest 
where the strain comes. A 
“Ball-Band ” boot has extra 
strength where the rubber 
wrinkles at every step. 
Even Ball-Band ” Rubber Foot¬ 
wear will wear out in time, but our 
point is that we conscientiously 
try to make “Ball-Band” 
goods wear longer 
and give better service than any 
other boots at any price. 
k W We believe 
^ ™ that we have 
succeeded in mak¬ 
ing the best boot. Over 
eight million people wear “Ball- 
Band” Rubber Footwear and 45,000 
dealers sell it. 
When you buy “Ball-Band” Boots or Arctics re- 
member the months of wear they will give you. When 
you figure the cost of rubber boots on the length of time 
they will serve you, then “ Ball-Band ” goods become 
very low-priced. 
“ Ball-Band” Boots give long-time protection against 
wet and cold, snags, mud and the scratches of brush 
and rock. 
“Ball-Band” Arctics in one or four buckles have kept 
many a pair of feet warm and many a pair of good shoes 
from being spoiled in snow. Quickly put on and taken 
or long-wearing and well-fitting for every man who 
looks out for his health and comfort. 
Look for the Red Ball—it is the sign of “Ball-Band’* 
sen’s th£m b , 0 f 0 , lt .y° ur dealer is one of IJ.OOO that 
sells them. If he is not, write to U 8 * 
Mishawaka Woolen Mfg Co., Mishawaka, Ind. 
The House That Pays Millions for Quality" 
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