1913. 
THE RURAb NEW-YORKER 
63 
TRUCK IN LOUISIANA. 
I must go into truck raising for the 
northern market as the boll-weevil and free 
sugar make it impossible to grow same for 
a cash crop, but will truck do it? We can 
grow lettuce, onions, and cabbage during 
Winter, string beans, egg plants, tomatoes, 
cucumbers, from end of February in Sum¬ 
mer. What kinds of these vegetables 
would you suggest if you were in my 
place? Also what kind of Lima beans are 
best to plant, bush or pole? Also why 
were latter quoted November 16 at .$1 to 
$2.50 per bushel and November 28 $4 to 
$5 per bushel? What is the size of a 
half barrel basket, and weight of a bushel 
of Lima beans, shelled or in the hulls, size 
of tomato, egg plant and cucumber box 
and weight of string beans, bushel? 
p. w. 
Growing garden truck successfully means 
far more expenditure for manure, fertilizers 
and labor than general farming, for, no 
matter how naturally fertile your soil may 
be, the best garden crops are grown only 
by the heaviest sort of fertilization and 
careful and skillful cultivation. In fact 
market gardening is a very difficult occu¬ 
pation from growing cotton or sugar. Some 
farmers, in fact thousands of them, in the 
boll-weevil country, are still making good 
crops of cotton, by following the advice of 
the experts who have studied the condi¬ 
tions, and whether a farmer there should 
give up cotton and go to raising perisha¬ 
ble garden truck will depend greatly on 
the skill of the man as a gardener. Cer¬ 
tainly you can grow in your climate cer¬ 
tain half hardy things like lettuce, cab¬ 
bages and onions during the Winter, but 
even these will bring little profit if the 
crop is of inferior character. It is only 
the best that pays well. And the same is 
true of the Summer or early Spring crops. 
It is skill and heavy fertilization and good 
cultivation that pays. Now, whether it 
will pay you or not is a question I cannot 
answer, not knowing your adaptability to 
the work or your knowledge or skill as a 
gardener. It will not only take skill, but 
the expenditure of a great deal more money 
per acre for growing truck than in growing 
cotton or sugar. Now as to the crops you 
name. The Large White Lima bean is not 
suited to your climate and is always un¬ 
productive in the South as compared with 
the Small Lima or Sieva. There is a large 
Lima that does fairly well. This is the 
thick or potato Lima, grown by various 
names, such as Dreer’s Lima, etc. The 
original or pole variety of this will do 
very well in the South, and the newest 
type of this in the bush form is the Ford- 
hook. This too will yield very well in the 
South in heavily manured soil, and prob¬ 
ably it would pay better than the pole 
variety. Conditions in California are such 
that that State has practically a cinch on 
the Lima bean culture for the ripe market. 
But you can ship early Lima beans north 
to advantage in the hull. Prices for all 
these things vary greatly with the supply 
and demand, and why they should be at 
one price in one month and another the 
next month or week depends on the mar¬ 
ket supply and demand. The size of a 
half barrel basket is a bushel and a half. 
The Louisiana weight for dry beans is 60 
pounds to the bbsliel. I know of no 
weight by law for beans green in the hulls. 
Tomatoes are usually shipped in the 
Southern carriers that hold six baskets. 
Egg plants and string beans are shipped 
in baskets, either bushel baskets or half 
barrel baskets, and the same is the ease 
with cucumbers and string beans. These 
baskets have a wooden cover fastened by 
wire clamps. Lettuce also is shipped in 
half barrel basket or in barrels. 
W. F. 3IASSEY. 
Sulphur Pyrites. 
I note your editorial, page 1290, advising 
use of pyrites as sulphur. This may be all 
right, but along the highway from Doris, 
Mass., to Charlemont, Mass., where that 
has been drawn, the wash from road kills 
all vegetation, and the mine water in the 
brook kills all fish and frogs and where 
overflowing, the vegetation. Maybe some 
other cause, but I should want to investi¬ 
gate before advising its use. T. J. 
Connecticut. 
We would never advise any such extreme 
use of sulphur. Only a few hundred pounds 
per acre would be safe as an experiment. 
It is true that some of our scientific men 
say there is little or nothing in this idea 
of sulphur as a fertilizer. We think it is 
worth trying out. 
then dry and work on a pulley horse till 
soft as a kid glove. Then work with pum¬ 
ice stone till all the shreds of flesh are 
taken off, and if all goes well you will 
have a nice rug, otherwise you will have 
something to throw away. I do not expect 
anyone not used to tanning will make much 
of a success at tanning hides with the hair 
on. as it needs an experienced eye and hand 
to tell when in the right stage to handle, 
but no one will err in getting a hide too 
SOft. EDW. A. COLLINS. 
Connecticut. 
A Cheap Icehouse. 
About March 1 I decided I would like to 
have some ice to use during the Summer, 
so I selected a good dry place where no 
water would run under and shoveled the 
snow all away, then went to the woods 
and cut 12 poles about 12 feet long. I 
then took a sharp crowbar and dug out 
about six or eight inches of frozen earth 
so as to have some support to help keep 
the sides from spreading out. I then took 
some old roof boards taken from a barn 
roof that had been taken down and after 
getting three poles held up I fastened these 
old roof boards inside of the poles, so they 
would not be crowded off as they might if 
put on the outside. 
After getting the first side up the others 
were an easy task, and I soon had a very 
crude-looking icehouse built with only 12 
green poles and about 500 feet of old roof 
boards with old hay wire to keep the tops 
of poles from spreading; there was no 
roof except the clouds and sky. I then 
put about 10 inches of fresh sawdust In 
the bottom and then I was ready for the 
ice, and placed it about one foot away 
from each side and put sawdust around 
each layer as soon as placed, and filled all 
cracks and holes with dry snow. I put in 
four layers of 42 cakes each, and then 
covered with about one foot of sawdust. 
Some said it would not keep and some 
thought it would, as I had plenty of 
ventilation over head. 
I used all I needed and gave to my 
neighbor all they asked for at odd times, 
perhaps a dozen cakes, and about Novem¬ 
ber 1 I still had plenty left and the bot¬ 
tom layer was still about four inches 
thick, with the second layer not all used 
yet. I do not wish others to follow my 
way, as it was rough looking and not 
artistic, but it kept ice all Summer, and 
that was more than some expensive houses 
have done.. My ice pen did not cost me 
over one dollar to build, and I still have 
the material on hand. I don’t know how 
to build 'an icehouse, but I know how to 
keep ice in the Summer. We must keep 
the warm air away from it, and I think 
plenty of sawdust a good help. P. J. B. 
Galway, N. Y. 
Fertilizer for Strawberries 
What is the best commercial fertilizer 
for strawberries? Soil is a dark sandy 
loam, has a cover crop of clover, rye and 
turnips, but latter did not make much of 
a growth. h. h. 
Indiana. 
A mixture of 400 pounds dried blood. 
1,200 pounds fine bone and 400 pounds 
sulphate of potash, will make a ton of 
superior strawberry fertilizer. This is not 
the cheapest mixture you can put together, 
but it will produce fruit. 
When father drove old Dobbin he sat upon 
his load 
And frowned on every chauffeur who 
wanted half the road. 
When father got an auto his feelings 
seemed to switch ; 
He glared at every horse he met unless It 
took the ditch. —Credit Lost. 
A FARMER’S GARDEN 
Building Hay Barracks. 
What can your readers tell us about hay 
barracks? We are short of barn room and 
think that a hay barrack will help solve 
the problem. Is there such a thing as a 
portable barrack? What I wish to know 
most is how the roof is made to slide up 
and down. G. b. s. 
New York. 
R. N.-Y.—The best way is to call for ex¬ 
perience. In New Jersey our barracks are 
made by setting four posts solidly and 
framing them together. Holes are* bored 
in these posts. A four-sided roof fits over 
or into these posts so that it will raise or 
fall. It is held up by pins put into the 
post holes. The roof is raised one corner 
at a time, leaving the space between two 
holes and inserting the pin. 
TS without real serious meaning to 
many thousand farmers because 
they think it is too hard work or. 
it is not convenient to work a horse. 
So many farmers fail to understand 
what truly wonderful possibilities 
there are in modem hand tools 
IRONAQE 
do all of the sowing, hoeing, cultivating, 
weeding, furrowing, ridging, etc., in any 
garden, with better results, far less work 
and some real pleasure for the operator. 
S 8 or more combinations at $ 3.50 to $ 12 , 00 . 
Ask your dealer about them and write us 
for new booklet. “Gardening with 
Modern Tools'* also copy of our paper 
“Iron Age Farm and Garden 
News'*—both are free. 
BATEMAN M’F’GCO. 
Box 1022 Grenloch.N. J. 
® . 
A New Model of the 
Silent Gray Fellow 
TV/TORE pulling power at low speeds, more 
power on the hills, more reserve power for 
sand and mud. That was the demand our en¬ 
gineers set out to satisfy by building the 
MAKMYb" 
nAVIMM 
(5 actual horse-power—35 cubic inches piston displace¬ 
ment). Dynamometer tests show that this motor develops 
166 per cent, more power at 5 miles per hour than even 
the former 4 horse-power Harley-Davidson, which was 
the acknowledged leader in its class. 145 per cent, more 
power at 10 miles an hour, 80 per cent, more power at 
20 miles an hour. 
It will climb hills, pull through sand and over roads 
impassable to the average automobile. The “5-35” motor 
will pick up from a standing start to forty miles an hour 
in 300 feet. At low speeds this machine develops more 
power than some twin cylinder machines with higher horse 
power rating. 
The Ful-Floteing Seat (an exclusive Harley-Davidson 
feature) places 14 inches of springs between the rider and 
the bumps. The springs absorb all jolts, jars and vibra¬ 
tions, making the Harley-Davidson ride as easy as the 
highest priced touring car. 
The Free Wheel Control (another exclusive Harley- 
Davidson feature) is incorporated in each model this 
year. This device enables the rider to stop and start his 
machine by the mere shifting of a lever, thus doing away 
entirely with the tiresome pedaling and the objection¬ 
able running alongside to start. 
Description of these and other features on request. 
HARLEY-DAVIDSON MOTOR CO. 
654 A Street MILWAUKEE, WIS. 
(0 DAYS FREE TRIAL 
W© ship on approval without & cent 
deposit, freight prepaid. DON’T 
PAY A GENT if jou are not satisfied 
after using the bicycle 10 days. 
DO NOT BUY of tires from anyone 
at any price until you racelv. our latest 
art catalogs illustrating every kind of 
bicycle, mud hare learned our unheard of 
prices and marvelous new offers. 
flUC nPHT *» all it Will coat-you te 
WfcWI write a postal and every¬ 
thing will be tent you free postpaid by 
return mail. You will get much valuable in¬ 
formation. Do not wait, writ, it now 
TIRES, Coaster - Brake rear 
wheels, lamps, sundries at half usual prices. 
Moad Cydo Qo. Dept. Fsu Chicago 
CIDER PRESSES 
THE ORIGINAL MT. GILEAD HI., 
DRAULIC PRESS produces more older') 
from less apples than any other and is 
BIG MONEY MAKER 
Sizes 10 to 400 barrels daily, hand 
or power. Presses for all pur¬ 
poses. also cid9r evaporators, 
apple-butter cookers, vine- . 
? ;ar generators, eto. Cata- 
og free. We are manufac¬ 
turers, not jobbers. 
HYDRAULIC PRESS MFG. 00. 
(Oldest *nd largest manufacturers of older 
presses ia the world.) 
137 Lincoln Avenue, Mount Gilead, Ohlfi 
Or Room 119 L 39 Oortlandt St., New York, N. ¥. . 
Tanning a Deer’s Hide. 
I do not know how it will work on a 
deerskin, but I had fine results on a big 
tom-cat skin by tacking it hair down on a 
board, scraping off all fat and flesh, and 
rubbing in, several times, a mixture of 
equal parts salt and powdered alum. It 
dried pretty stiff, but soon got flexible used 
as a mat, and the hair stayed in. But I 
fancy the latter depends largely on the time 
of year. Thomas departed a life devoted to 
pleasure and music on a moonlight night in 
February. f. c. 
I notice an inquiry as to how to tan a 
deerskin with hair on. Soak hide till full 
of water, then with a beaming knife on a 
heavy slab set up about breast high, softeu 
the hide thoroughly and then cover thor¬ 
oughly with fine salt and powdered alum, 
then double together and let lie three or 
four days, depending on the weather. Then 
beam again, then wet with hen manure 
water, let lie 24 hours, then beam again, 
*flew e/feUcutd 
Stone Crustier 
Good roads, concrete sidewalks, stable floors, 
troughs, etc., will add hundreds of dollars to the 
value of your property. New Holland Stone 
Crushers are powerful, rigid, easy and cheap to 
operate. Will pulverize alt stone for your own 
use-crush stone for your neighbors and town¬ 
ship and make big money. whole Free 
month’s trial free. Write for 
catalog and low prices. 
NEWHOLLAND 
MACHINE 
Box 41 ,New 
Plan Now for Bigger 
Crops Next Summer 
T OOK over your fields and plan to 
' make each of them yield more 
and at the same time enrich the soil 
for future years. 
“Soil Fertility” and “The Grass Crop,” 
and for Hubbard's 1913 Almanac, containing valuable information 
about soil, fertilizers and other farm subjects. Sent free to any 
address. 
THE ROGERS & HUBBARD CO., Dept. A. MIDDLETOWN, CONN. 
Write for our booklets, 
