332 
VHE RURAi NEW-YORKER 
March 1, 
Reviving an Old Sod. 
IP. P. R., Milford, Mass .—Our town park 
here is natural hay ground, but all that 
has been done to it for years is just to 
cut off and rake up, and no fertilizer 
put on. We would like to make it a little 
better, but have not much money to put in 
it. IIow do you think it would be to put a 
double Cutaway harrow on it as early as 
practical in the Spring, then put on fer¬ 
tilizer and then seed it down? 
Ans. —We doubt if any such plan 
would ever be satisfactory. It would 
quicken up the new seeding, but sooner 
or later the old grass and weeds will 
work in and take possession of the 
ground. If the sod is still fairly good 
you can put on a heavy dressing of 
grass fertilizer containing a high per 
cent, of nitrogen. This will quicken up 
the grass, and if you cut it frequently 
with a lawn mower the sod will thicken 
and look much better. Very likely, 
however, the sod is thin, weedy and 
badly marked by white grubs. In that 
case you cannot hope to improve it per¬ 
manently except by killing out the old 
sod and starting a new one. This may 
not be practical in your town park, but 
it would pay to spend an entire season 
in killing that old sod. Start in the 
Spring with the Cutaway or disk and 
chop that sod, first one way and then 
the other, a dozen times up to June 
Then seed to buckwheat—a thick seed¬ 
ing. Plow this under in late August 
and add one ton of lime per acre 
and harrow until the surface soil 
is level and fine. Then seed heav¬ 
ily to grass and use at least 600 pounds 
per acre of a high-grade fertilizer. You 
will then have a permanent seeding that 
will last for years. In order to have a 
successful lawn you must start with a 
soil stuffed full of humus and as free 
as possible from old grass roots and 
weeds. The soil must not be sour, but 
must be open and fine. The plan given 
above will insure these conditions, and 
the seeding and fertilizing will do the 
rest. _ 
Seaweed for Potato Mulch. 
Reader .—Can I grow potatoes in the fol¬ 
lowing manner? Run light furrows and 
plant the seed thickly—with a light cov¬ 
ering of soil; then put a layer of seaweed 
over the entire field? I have heard of 
growing the crop in this way under a mulch. 
Will the seaweed contain too much salt 
if not “weathered?” 
Ans. —If “Reader” is going to plant 
the potatoes in the usual way, and sub¬ 
stitute a thick covering of seaweed for 
cultivation, I am doubtful if he gains 
anything. Pie will have all the trouble 
of preparing the ground and planting, 
and then the extra job of hauling and 
distributing the mulch. Then, too, he 
must see that the potatoes come up 
through the layer of seaweed. Further¬ 
more, unless his land is naturally moist 
this thick layer of mulch will absorb 
one light rainfall and his ground will 
be dry as ashes and the crop light in 
proportion. However, if the case is 
different, and the least labor at outset, 
to be followed by total neglect, is de¬ 
sired, he can take a piece of rough low 
land, avoiding places where water 
stands more than 8 hours at a time; 
cut off whatever brushes and sprouts 
would interfere with the mulch, lay his 
potatoes on the ground, cover each piece 
with a forkful of coarse manure, apply 
the mulch thick, but loose at first, a 
chance for the potatoes to come up 
through. This can be done by laying 
the seaweed down in forkfuls, so breaks 
in the matting will occur over the hills. 
The potatoes will take possession, and 
if planted quite thickly their tops will 
cover the ground. After they die down 
he can remove the mulch to his hog¬ 
pen and pick his potatoes off the surface 
of the ground. They will be as clean 
and fair as anyone can ask, but they 
are not likely to be large and may be 
clumpy. 
It has been the practice of the writer 
to utilize a small piece of ground near 
his barn that cannot be got at to plow. 
The method is to plant thickly and 
cover with a humus of rotten salt hay, 
thatch and salt mud, all of which has 
been weathered until so friable potatoes 
can come up through it. This does not 
prevent certain weeds from coming 
along, too, and they have to be pulled. 
The result is generally a crop of nice 
little potatoes of baking size, good keep¬ 
ers, no rot or scab showing. None of 
the above methods will compare with 
good cultivation in crop results. Sea¬ 
weed as commonly found on Cape Cod 
shores is weathered enough for imme¬ 
diate use. Salt mud—not peat marsh 
turf—after a Winter’s freezing should 
be like meal, and if put in contact with 
the seed will help produce very smooth 
tubers. Walter b. savary. 
Cape Cod, Mass. 
That Half Acre. 
A. L. B. tells a good thing for Ver¬ 
mont, but he is not “in it” with the 
Eastern Shore of Maryland. My gar¬ 
den, aside from the space occupied by 
house and lawns, is about one-sixth of 
an acre. This space has supplied my 
family with vegetables, except sweet po¬ 
tatoes and celery, which I do not grow, 
and the sales amount to nearly $125. In 
fact, on a plot 25x40 feet I sold cut 
flowers and bulbs at wholesale for 
$103.89 and had bulbs enough left from 
the same plot to plant twice the area. 
This was in the old-fashioned Madonna 
lily, L. candidum. Had I been at home 
(for I was absent all Summer) I could 
have made the returns much greater, 
and expect to do so the coming season. 
Getting things earlier outdoors down 
here than northward enables me to send 
cut lilies and other flowers to Phila¬ 
delphia and sell them profitably through 
a wholesale commission house to the 
florists. The coming Summer I shall 
add Gladioli to the lilies, and in Spring 
tulips, of which 2,000 are now planted. 
The trade is finding out that we can 
produce as good or better bulbs of the 
candidum lily here than they get from 
France, and I planted last Fall as fine 
tulips of my own growth as I ever saw 
come from Holland. I get vegetables 
from the garden of some sort every day 
in the year; am now cutting spinach 
that is the third crop on that spot this 
season. The first crop was early green 
onions from sets planted in the Fall be¬ 
fore; these were followed by tomatoes, 
and after these were done the land was 
prepared and sown to spinach, and the 
grocers are taking it now at five cents a 
pound and send out for it. I use both 
manure and commercial fertilizers heav¬ 
ily, and when at home do all the work 
myself. I have over 30 double glazed 
hotbed sashes for frames, and grow let¬ 
tuce and radishes and beets in Winter, 
and have the frames for hardening off 
the tomato plants started in my little 
greenhouse. This is a miniature struc¬ 
ture, a lean-to back of my office 6x10 
feet, heated by a miniature hot-water 
boiler and 160 feet of pipe. This has a 
bench 4x10 feet that gives me room to 
start all the plants I need and to bloom 
some bulbs in Winter. 
W. F. MASSEY. 
Kerosene or Gasoline. 
I expect to buy a small pumping engine 
and am favorable to kerosene as fuel (gas¬ 
oline costs 20 cents a gallon), as being 
more economical. Several manufacturers 
claim their engines will work as well on 
kerosene. I would like your opinion, and 
why do most engines and all motors use 
gasoline, if so much more expensive? What 
are the defects or objections to use of 
kerosene? c. w. B. 
Virginia. 
The main objection to kerosene as a fuel 
is that is requires much higher temperature 
to vaporize it than gasoline, and a much 
larger evaporating surface. It won’t evap¬ 
orate fast enough at ordinary temperature 
to run an engine as will gasoline. In some 
kerosene engines, the engine is started on 
gasoline and then when the engine is 
warmed up, kerosene is used as a fuel. 
This will work with almost any gasoline 
engine. In still other kerosene engines 
there are various forms of heaters to va¬ 
porize the kerosene. Then, too, incidental 
troubles, such as sooting up of the ignition 
apparatus, etc., are greater. But, with 
the engine built particularly for kerosene 
you will probably get satisfactory service. 
a. p. c. 
They work like Kodaks 
No. 2A Folding 
Brownie, 
Takes 2M x 4}i 
Pictures 
BROWNIES 
Made at first to make 
photography as simple and 
inexpensive as possible for 
the little folks. Made so 
well that grown-ups caught 
the Brownie habit at once. 
Now made for all — from 
the original little dollar 
Brownie up to $ 12 . 00 . 
Wonderfully capable little 
cameras are the Brownies— 
combining extreme simplicity, 
low price and efficiency to a 
remarkable degree. 
Work like the Kodak—made in 
Kodak factories—by Kodak work¬ 
men—to Kodak standards of quality. 
Use Kodak film cartridge—day¬ 
light loading and unloading of 
course—no dark room for any of 
the work. 
"Book of the Brownies" at your dealers 
or on request from us. 
EASTMAN KODAK CO. 
387 State Street, 
ROCHESTER, N. Y. 
The Kodak City. 
J 
7K DELIVERED ANY 
■ 1 J STATION EASTof 
MISSISSIPPI RIVER 
'Lucky Low Down” Dump 
Cart. Strong, substantial 
bte«l wheels, wide tires, steel 
axle. Body 1x4x6ft. Any horse; 
ft&y harness. Capacity 1,400 
lbs. Farmer*, gardeners, fruit 
growt-re and everybody with 
• horse. Sarea its cost every 
year. E. F. HOBSOH A CO. 
Easton, Pa. 
^intvfiutber 
The Niobe has a distinctive style, fit and 
beauty. It’s dressy. Because made of 
pure rubber and specially reinforced at 
the heel, this rubber and its companion 
(the Cupid), members of the “Top Notch 
Brand” are made for hard service es¬ 
pecially at the heel. The 
TMI CROSS 
The “Cross” on the instep, makes you 
sure of high service in wear. They are a 
balanced rubber, not the ordinary kind. 
Get them at your dealer’s. 
If he hasn't them write us his 
name and we’ll send you our 
ifree book No. 27. 
BEACON FALLS 
RUBBER SHOE 
CO. 
BeaconFslls,Ct. 
New York-Bniton 
Chlesft 
JOHN DEERE 
SPREADER 
The Spreader with the 
Beater on the Axle 
Mounting the beater on the axle Is the great¬ 
est improvement in manure spreaders since 
their invention. It has made the John Deere 
Spreader possible. This feature is fully patented 
and cannot be had on any other spreader. 
Simplest and Strongest 
A great many trouble-giving working parts 
have been done away with. There are some two 
hundred less parts on the John Deere Spreader 
than on the simplest spreader heretofore. 
The John Deere Spreader has no clutches, no 
chains, no adjustments. It does not get out of 
order. Is always ready for business. 
The strain and stress of spreading is on the 
rear axle, the strongest part of the spreader— 
where it belongs—not on its side. 
Roller bearings, few parts, the center of the 
load comparatively near the horses, and the 
weight distributed over four wheels, make the 
John Deere Spreader light draft. 
Only “Hip-High” 
The John Deere Spreader is only “hip-high’* 
to the top of the box. The first three feet you 
liftmanure are easiest of ail. It’s 
hard work from 
there to the top 
of ordinary 
spreaders. 
You lift each 
forkful only 
three feet with 
the John Deere 
Spreader. 
Wheels do not 
interfere with 
loading. Theen- 
tire side of the 
spreader is available for that purpose. 
Spreader Book Free— Tells all about 
manure, when and how to use it, how to store 
it and a complete description of the John 
Deere Spreader. Ask ua for this book as 
Package No. Y. 33 
JOHN DEERE PLOW CO. 
MOLINE, ILLINOIS 
More reed 
Greatest 
_ uieaietst CS- 
| ftCC rn ACT pacity, lightest 
JLVy w Vvo v draft. Force feed— 
can’t clog. No burrs. 
Rollers grind 6,000 bu. cob com before 
dulling. New set coats only $6. t-- 
SSSSS Bull Dog 
~Trye It XenDays Free, 
Not a cent until the mill has made 
good. Back at our expense —if it isn’t) 
the best, most economical grinder 
iyou ever saw. Write for details, stat-J 
k wgH. P. of engine. Lotz Mfn. 
^go., 204 East Hoad, Crown. ' 
Point, Ind. 
THE BEST 
FARM ENGINE 
MONEY CAN BUY 
Simplest, most compact, easiest 
nning farm engine ever designed 
r Light but exceptionally strong. Few parts—^ 
l nothing to get out of order. All parts acces" 
sible and standardized. Ask us to show you why 
Brownwall Air-Cooled Engines 
I are the best Investment you can make. Uses less fuel 
land requires less attention than any engine of its size 
1 on the market. Send today for full ^ _ 3 
information and details 
special offer to you. 
Drop us a postal now. 
The Brownwall 
^ Engine & Pulley Co. 
323 Michigan Aw., 
lanslng, Michigan 
PLANT YOUR TREES WITH 
Red Cross 
DYNAMITE 
Stops First Year Loses, Hastens 
Development, Improves the Fruit 
in Quantity, Quality and Color, pu ** , * d ’* 
Spftd«-du0 hole 
T HE illustrations are actual repro- Ph £l^’J!‘£’ cd 
ductions of photos of 2-year old < 
Bing CherryTreesplanted same day out 
Planted 
in spade" 
dug hole- 
phot o- 
graphed 
from life 
ofisame nursery shipment. Similar results 
have been obtained generally. The root 
diagrams show the reason. You cannot afford 
to plant trees in spaded holes. 
Red Cross Dynamite is safely andsuccessfully used by prominent 
fruit growers for planting, cultivating and regenerating orchards. 
Write today for name of nearest dealer, or expert blaster, 
and Farmers' Handbook No. 30. 
DU PONT POWDER CO., Wilmington, Delaware 
Pioneer Powder Makers of America Established 1802 
