1913. 
THE RURAL NR W-YORKER 
63 
Bone Meal and Potash for Lawn. 
A. F. N., Oakville .—Is bone meal (or 
bone flour) a good fertilizer for a laAvn 
and if so what is a proper quantity to 
put on a lawn 100x100 feet, and when is 
the best time of year to put it on? If 
land plaster is scattered about a horse's 
stall or in a henhouse, will it retain the 
fumes of ammonia as well as act as a 
deodorant? 
Ans. —Bone flour is a good lawn 
dressing as far as it goes, supplying 
phosphoric acid and a small amount of 
nitrogen. This is not all a good lawn 
needs; potash should be added, and in 
some cases more nitrogen. We should 
use three parts by weight of the fine 
bone and one of sulphate of potash— 
200 pounds on the space you mention. 
I f the grass does not grow as you would 
like, add 15 pounds of nitrate of soda 
or sulphate of ammonia. Land plaster 
scattered on the fjoor of the stall will 
hold the ammonia and is one of the 
best substances for the purpose. 
Mangels in Hills. 
P. G., Norristown, Pa .—Is it a good and 
safe plan to plant mangels in hills, in¬ 
stead of drills in order to minimize labor 
both in planting and in cultivation, using 
a check row corn planter, and a suitable 
fertilizer? This is a hard crop to keep 
free from weeds when in drills ; about two 
acres is all we can keep clean. I would 
like to plant six acres if I could do the 
work or the greater part of it by horse 
and machine. Has anyone tried it and is 
the scheme feasible? About three plants 
to remain to a hill. 
Ans. —I have seen mangels grown in 
a small way in the manner suggested; 
the plan was apparently entirely suc¬ 
cessful. When planted in hills the rows 
should be 24 to 30 inches apart, and if 
three plants are to remain to the hill, 
they should stand not less than six 
inches apart, and in triangular form. As 
it is impossible to distribute the seed 
the proper distance apart with a plant¬ 
er or seeding machine, the seed will 
have to be sown by hand. All the beet 
family transplant very easily, and per¬ 
haps the best plan would be to sow this 
seed in a well-prepared seed bed in 
drills 12-15 inches apart, and when the 
plants are about as thick as an ordinary 
lead pencil at the crown, transplant 
them in the field, selecting a dull cloudy 
day, either before or following a rain. 
If this method is used the seed should 
be sown a week or so earlier than when 
sown where plants are to remain. In 
the preparation of the soil for this crop, 
a good coat of partially rotted stable 
manure should be applied and turned 
under as deeply as possible. If at all 
practicable subsoil the land, as the deep¬ 
er the soil is broken up the greater 
the resulting crop will be. When the 
plants are well established and making 
good growth apply at the rate of 200 
pounds complete manure, 200 pounds 
bone meal and 300 pounds salt per acre. 
With proper fertilizing and cultivation 
the plan of growing this crop in hills, 
as outlined above, will prove entirely 
successful. k. 
A 500-Bushel Corncrib. 
$. F. B., Gosport, N. Y.—I wish to build, 
as soon as possible, a 500-bushel corncrib. 
Can you give me specifications for an ideal 
crib of this capacity? Somewhere I read 
of a crib made principally of 2x4’s and 
mesh wire, the wire mesh to be rein¬ 
forced with heavy wire stretched at proper 
intervals; crib to have slatted bottom. 
I should very much like to have full de¬ 
tails and bill of material for this crib. 
Ans. —The building of a corncrib 
does not require the services of a pro¬ 
fessional architect, yet there are a few 
points to be observed in cribbing corn. 
A satisfactory crib must be so built as 
to protect its contents from the weather, 
keep out the rats and mice, and permit 
a free circulation of air about its con¬ 
tents. To foil vermin, perhaps the most 
difficult matter to accomplish, cribs are 
usually built about two feet above 
ground, and are supported upon posts, 
these posts being covered by tin or 
made of smooth concrete so that mice 
cannot climb them. The space beneath 
a crib should be kept free from rubbish, 
and it should not stand sufficiently near 
another building to permit rats to jump 
from one to the other. To permit free 
circulation of air, the sides of a crib 
are usually slatted, these slats being 
made of lx3-inch stuff, spaced about 
1J4 inch apart. As an additional pro¬ 
tection from mice, one-half-inch poultry 
netting is sometimes stretched over the 
slatted sides of the building. The typi¬ 
cal old-fashioned corncrib is narrower 
at the bottom than at the top, for some 
reason unknown to the writer, and is 
constructed by laying 4x4-inch sills upon 
posts and covering them with a tight 
floor. From these sills 2x4-inch studs 
rise to support a 2x4-inch plate, the 
studs being spaced about three feet 
apart, and spreading outward at the 
plate as much as it is desired to widen 
the top of the building. Short rafters 
with considerable overhang, to permit 
of wide eaves, are spiked to the plate. 
The rear end of the building may be 
slatted or tight, and the front contains 
the door, with hinged steps dropping to 
the ground. The sides are of slats, as 
above mentioned, placed horizontally 
and nailed to the studs. Such a crib 
four feet wide at the bottom, six feet 
wide at the level of the plates, six feet 
iri height from sill to plate, and 16 feet 
long, would probably hold about 500 
bushels of ear corn. This is an esti¬ 
mate, however. This is a cheap method 
of construction, and has the sanction of 
ancient usage; in fact, the writer would 
consider it flying in the face of Provi¬ 
dence to store corn in any other style 
of building. M. b. d. 
What to Do With Leaves. 
Some weeks since a correspondent 
asked in your paper what was the best 
thing to do with leaves. Probably the 
best thing a farmer can do with them 
is to give them to his hens to scratch 
over until they decompose. I read quite 
often of “scratching sheds” connected 
with henhouses, but where plenty of 
leaves are to be had for the gathering 
they should bed a henvard a foot deep 
or more, and the grain fed the fowls 
should be scattered over them, or, when 
dry, buried under them. The hens and 
the weather will, between November and 
June, work them into a black powder 
as fine as sand, and that makes a valua¬ 
ble fertilizer for lawns and gardens. I 
not only suggest this use of leaves, but 
add that I have practiced this plan since 
1902, and during the years since have 
taken from the yard 1,785 barrow loads 
of fine leaf mold. As 16 such loads 
make a two-horse wagon-load, the total, 
measured in wagon-loads, would make 
almost 112 loads—enough for quite a 
procession. This was for nine years, 
the year 1910 not being counted, as then 
I had only a small flock. That makes 
most in one season (1907) was 277 
loads. For 1912 there was 205 loads. 
The fowls at each New Year generally 
numbered from 85 to 90, and the num¬ 
ber increased as chickens came forward 
in March and April. 
Some of the leaf mold I spread each 
day on the platform under the roost in 
the henhouse, and mix it with finely 
sifted coal ashes. That acts as a divisor 
for the hen droppings, and the mixture 
constitutes an excellent fertilizer for 
heavy land. I never tried to sell any, 
but certainly would refuse 10 cents a 
barrow load as long as I had land on 
which to use it. The man who burns the 
leaves he can give his hens for scratch¬ 
ing. in mv. opinion, does a very foolish 
act. Should the leaves be spread a foot 
deep or more, those in the bottom may 
need forking over in the Spring to 
hasten decomposition, philip snyder. 
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