1913. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
153 
Value of Clippings. 
I have just been looking over my clip¬ 
pings made from the columns of The 
R. N.-Y. in the past two years, and I 
want to say to you that I wouldn’t take 
$25 for the collection. I have here a 
small box 5x5x2 inches for which I have 
made a card index with the following 
headings: Commercial Fertilizers ; Cover 
Crops; Fruit Trees; Grapes; Grass and 
Grains; Hens; Lime; Manures; Vege¬ 
tables; Small Fruits. I look over care¬ 
fully each issue of The R. N.-Y. as it 
comes, and it is very seldom that I do 
not find some little item of value. For 
instance, from the latest issue, January 
11, 1913, which has just come to hand, 
I have the following: “The Use of 
Land Plaster,” “Phosphate and Ma¬ 
nure,” “Value of Hen Manure.” All 
these clippings I shall file under the 
head of Manures. Whenever a ques¬ 
tion arises about fruit, vegetables or fer¬ 
tilizers I turn to my steadily growing 
encyclopedia, and it is astonishing, even 
now, what a wealth of ready informa¬ 
tion I have in my little 5x5-inch box. 
And although I have only a small gar¬ 
den and a few fruit trees, I find The 
R. N.-Y. a source of ever new and 
practical information, and it must be 
proportionately more valuable to a real 
farmer. You are certainly doing good. 
Ohio. IRVING c. FOSS. 
R. N.-Y.—It would pay many of our 
readers to adopt such a system. We 
often have “hurry calls” for informa¬ 
tion which has already been printed 
half a dozen times. 
BURNING LIME ON THE FARM. 
J. .1. M., Oak Hill, O. —I have just start¬ 
ed farming for myself; have 90 acres of 
my own, and I think I could get great 
benefit from lime. There is a five-foot vein 
of lime under 80 acres of my place, and 
plenty of coal. I want to find out the 
least expensive way to burn lime for my 
own use. This is quite a lime country, but 
not much lime used except crushed. 
We repeat here an article which was 
printed about three years ago. 
I have burned two carloads of limestone. 
The home-burned limestone, when damp, 
as it will become after burning and being 
exposed, can be scattered without the dis¬ 
comfort attending the scattering or drilling 
of the dry ground lime. I do not believe 
it will pay one to build a furnace unless a 
great deal of stone is to be burned. The 
only advantage of a furnace is the economy 
of fuel. The car of limestone first burned 
was in large pieces, from size of a hat 
down. The second car had been crushed 
before shipping, and was egg size. One 
burned as well as the other, although I 
have been told by those with more experi¬ 
ence that it is best to break the stones into 
small pieces. Living in the soft-coal dis¬ 
trict our fuel is cheap. The run of mine 
costs us at the mine $1.30 net ton, the 
slack 50 cents net ton, while the lime¬ 
stone costs $1 gross ton f. o. b. cars our 
station. The coal to be hauled from the 
mine about same distance away from farm 
as the railroad station is from farm. 
By referring to sketch above, you will 
more readily understand the building of 
the kiln. We leveled a space about 20 feet 
square, and covered it with old fence rails 
or light logs (AA) to a depth of about 15 
inches, leaving an opening, P, all the way 
through. In center we erected a wooden 
stack, P, for a flue, out of 10-inch boards. 
This stack was about seven feet high and 
inside 8x10 inches. All ‘around the rails 
bank up the earth, E, leaving opening or 
flue. P. open. On the rails cover with 10 
to 12 inches of coal, BB. We used ruu of 
mine lump coal for that layer, but believe 
slack would have answered. On top of this 
layer put a 12-inch layer of limestone, LL. 
then a six-inch layer of slack, then a 12- 
inch layer of limestone and follow with a 
six-inch layer of slack. Then the third 
layer of 12 inches of limestone, on top of 
which about a 12-inch layer of slack. Cover 
the edges, DO, with about four inches of 
slack. Pill the flue, P, with paper and 
kindling wood in as far as you can reach 
and light off, and let it burn for about six 
hours. After six hours, where flame breaks 
out cover with slack ns best you can to 
prevent outside burning too soon; that is. 
smother flame with slack. After six to 
eight days let it alone, and in probably 
three or four days, maybe six days more, 
the fire will burn out. 
The cost of 73,000 pounds of limestone 
delivered at our railroad station was $32.60 
and the coal and slack cost $20.95, or a 
total of $53.55. Theoretically, limestone 
burns to 60 per cent of its weight in lime. 
Assuming that is correct, we had 43.800 
pounds of lime, or about 22 net tons, 
making the cost f>er ton exclusive of labor 
and hauling, $2.44. This too assumes no 
value to old rails burnt. The dry agricul¬ 
tural lime finely ground and sold in bags 
in less than carloads costs us $6 net ton 
at our station. stewaut johnston. 
Pennsylvania. 
Silo with Basement. 
I intend to build a concrete silo and 
would like to put it about 12 feet below 
the surface and build about 15 feet above 
the surface, with six feet of boards on top 
of 27 feet of cement. Will the silage keep 
as well in the ground as above? I have 
just talked with a silo man, and he saic 
that it is too damp for the silo below 
ground, and it will mould. C. u. b. 
Bethel, Pa. 
I fail to see any advantage in de¬ 
signing the construction of a silo as 
outlined above, and there are several 
disadvantage to consider. In the first 
place it would be very troublesome to 
take out silage from a silo 12 feet deep, 
even though mechanical conveniences 
were utilized. In the second place, it is 
my judgment that there would be more 
spoiled silage under such conditions, 
d-ue to the presence of moisture in the 
soil adjacent to ^he walls of the silo. 
It is assumed that the object of such 
method is to simplify the labor of con¬ 
structing a concrete silo, for surely it 
is much easier to shovel concrete into 
the frames constructed below ground 
than to elevate it above ground. From 
experience with the silos at the Station, 
I would not under any conditions put 
the silo more than four feet below the 
surface of the ground. The use of hol¬ 
low tile is gaining in popularity in silo 
construction; first because it is relative¬ 
ly easy to build, and second because of 
the air space, thus permitting free cir¬ 
culation of air between two protected 
surfaces. _ f. c . minkler. 
NEW YORK’S ROAD TAXES. 
Reader, Pennsylvania .—Will you give us 
the figures showing just how much the taxes 
in New York have been increased on ac¬ 
count of improved highways? Our farmers 
in this State are interested, as they may 
have the same problem put before them. 
Ans. —The following items represent 
approximately New York’s increase of 
taxes on account of improved highways 
—State roads—under the first bond is¬ 
sue of $50,000,000: 
For State aid to towns (called 
townships in Pennsylvania) . . $1,700,000 
Amount raised by towns in order 
to take advantage of such 
State aid . 2,500,000 
Maintenance and repair' charges 3.500,000 
4 r /o interest on the bond issue.. 2,000.000 
2% yearly of the bond issue into 
sinking fund . 1,000,000 
$10,700,000 
An automobile tax of about $536,000, 
and which will probably increase as 
years go by, and interest on the sinking 
fund may be deducted from above 
amount. The proportion of State aid 
to the different counties ranges from 
50 to as high as 70 per cent, according 
to assessed valuation per mile of road. 
Previous to 1907 the expense of con¬ 
struction was apportioned, State 50, 
county 35, town 15 per cent. But a 
law passed that year provided for 
readjustment of proportion so as to ma¬ 
terially lessen the cost to the poorer 
counties and towns. 
It is altogether probable that the item 
for maintenance and repairs will in¬ 
crease with increased cost of labor and 
material, increased wear and tear of 
automobiles, and age of the roads. The 
second bond issue of $50,000,000 voted 
last November will at least double the 
above charges. 
Several types of construction are 
now in use, and there will be opportu¬ 
nity to study the effe'ets of the in¬ 
creased use of automobiles, which near 
cities is working havoc with the roads. 
It is a serious question with many 
whether further construction might not 
better have been deferred a few years 
pending the working out of some of the 
problems. Nevertheless the new bond 
issue was authorized by a vote of more 
than 300,000 majority. ' The upkeep of 
these roads is going to be a serious 
proposition unless some more resisting 
composition is discovered, or a way 
found to make the vehicles directly 
responsible for the short life of the 
roads assume a larger part of the cost 
of maintenance. 
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Dept. 4292 
DAVENPORT - - IOWA 
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