792 
June 2-8,- 
FARMERS’ CLUB 
•r Every query must be accompanied by the 
name and address of the writer to insure 
attention. Before asking a question, please see 
whether it is not answered in our advertising 
columns. Ask only a few questions at one time. 
Put questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
Cover Crop Before Wheat. 
I have a field on part of which beans 
were raised last year, and on the re¬ 
mainder oats. This we intended planting 
to beans this Spring, sowing wheat in the 
Fall, but owing to a delay, due to putting 
in tile ditches. I fear the beans will not 
be off in time for the wheat, so my tenant 
proposed to Summer-fallow for wheat. 
This field contains considerable admixture 
of clay and I feel would be much helped 
if a quantity of green manure could be 
mixed with the soil. Could it be plowed 
the latter part of June and sown to a 
cover crop that would reach a sufficient 
growth to be profitable to turn under for 
wheat? How would you advise working 
such a field? Some years ago I believe 
you recommended sowing turnips and 
clover as a fertilizer in corn. Do you 
still think this advisable? G. A. N. 
Alabama, N. Y. 
On our own farm we have become con¬ 
vinced that such soils need lime and 
vegetable matter. We should plow that 
ground late in June and sow buckwheat 
and Cow-horn turnip seed as often de¬ 
scribed in Tiie R. N.-Y. This crop would 
be plowed under in August and the soil 
then fitted for wheat. You can use lime 
when seeding to the buckwheat and tur¬ 
nips, or when fitting for wheat as you 
prefer. We feel sure that this plan 
of handling will leave the soil in better 
condition than a Summer fallow. You 
are rather too far north for full success 
with Crimson clover. 
Sawdust for Bedding. 
I can procure nice dry hardwood saw¬ 
dust for bedding for my cattle. It keeps 
them very nice and clean. What effect 
will it have on the value of their manure? 
Hydetown, Pa. E. u. s. 
Our little pamphlet on plant food waste 
tells about this. The fresh sawdust con¬ 
tains an acid which injures the soil. 
When well soaked in the stable liquids 
and fermented in the manure pile the 
sawdust loses this injurious quality. 
Keep it under and behind the animals 
until it is fully soaked, and then mix it 
thoroughly through the manure pile before 
spreading on the land. 
Self-sown Clover. 
Could you tell me why clover grows on 
land on which it never was sown ? 
South Haven, Mich. f. s. u. 
Clover cannot grow on any land except 
from the seed. There is no such thing 
as “spontaneous generation” of clover. 
Who is able to say that he absolutely 
knows that no clover seed was ever put 
in this soil? Seeds have been known 
to remain for years in the soil, finally 
sprouting when conditions became favor¬ 
able. Seed might be brought in originally 
by birds, in the manure from animals, 
or in other ways, but clover cannot 
start and grow except from the seed. 
Controlling Plum Rot. 
How can I guard against plum rot? 
Green Gage and Lombard fruits rot just 
at ripening time and I am unable to 
get enough for my own use some years. 
Wooster, O. m. o. 
Treatment for brown rot demands, 
first of all, that all rotted fruit of pre¬ 
vious season be plowed under deeply, 
as spores of the fungus hibernate on 
such fruit, and that mummied fruit be 
removed from the trees and similarly 
put out of the way. The fruit should 
be sprayed about three weeks after petals 
drop with self-boiled lime-sulpliur with 
two pounds arsenate of lead to each 50 
gallons. The poison is to control cur- 
culio, as the punctures of this insect 
afford a point of infection for the rot. 
The lime-sulphur spray should be re¬ 
peated at intervals of three weeks, until 
about three weeks before the fruit ripens. 
Continue to observe precautions in re¬ 
moving fallen and other rotting fruits, 
and the trouble should yield to con¬ 
trol. 
Canning Salmon and German Carp. 
Can you give us any information as 
to the process used in canning salmon, 
which seems to soften the bones so that 
they may be eaten bones and all? It 
seems to me the same process might be 
used in cooking German carp, which are 
very bony, and to eat them with safety 
one needs good eyesight and unlimited 
patience. These fish are plentiful here 
THIS RURAL NEW-YORKER 
in the Spring, and would be quite palat¬ 
able if not for the bones. T. J. M. 
Port Clinton, O. 
I haven’t a great deal of information 
about the canned salmon, but I have 
often eaten salmon fresh or canned. The 
salmon is naturally a rather soft-boned 
fish, and in the cooking under pressure 
for canning the bones are still further 
softened. Also it is a very large fish 
without many bones. I do not believe 
the carp would handle in the same way 
as the sahnon. What I have seen of 
the carp, and there are a few lakes 
in Washington, unfortunately, stocked 
with them, would lead me to think of it 
as being entirely too bony, and with too 
hard bones, to make a desirable canned 
product. Several carloads of carp were 
shipped from Sprague, Wash., last year 
to some firm in St. Louis, I think, to 
be used for canning purposes, w. G. B. 
Washington. 
Spreader for Liquid Manure. 
Replying to the inquirer who asks for 
a spreader for liquid manure, I enclose 
an illustration and articles from Hoard’s 
Dairyman, written by W. B. Goodrich, 
of Ohio. 
“We made a tank of lumber and put 
it on a wagon. The bottom slopes from 
each end to the middle with a pitch of 
one foot in four, so that the liquid will 
all flow to the outlet, whether going up 
or down hill. The front and rear parts 
of the bottom lack about four inches of 
CROSS SECTION OF LIQUID MA¬ 
NURE DISTRIBUTOR. 
roofing is not lost or damaged and can 
be taken down and used again. 
Galvanized metal will not take paint 
until it has been exposed to the weather 
for some time, at least six months here, 
and, if painted earlier the paint will 
peel off in big patches. If used as a barn 
roof, ample ventilation should be pro¬ 
vided to take off the hot air, as it is 
excessively hot in Summer when the sun 
strikes it, unless laid over a tight sheath¬ 
ing, and even then it is a little warm. 
I am now building a small chicken house 
to accommodate some chicks to come off 
soon, as I need more room, and am using 
two squares of corrugated galvanized iron 
for the roof and will tack heavy paper 
on the under side of the rafters so the 
hot air will ascend with the slope of roof 
and go out at the peak. As I either re¬ 
build or have to put new roofs on my 
other buildings, it is my intention to 
apply the same material for roofs. I 
have been using roofing felt or whatever 
you call it, and it is not what I would 
use except on a temporary building, and 
with the cost of lumber, waste in cutting 
and labor, the galvanized is cheaper, and [ 
should last for at least 20 years, and | 
if painted every few years, for several j 
times that period. In roofing a barn, I 
should lay several strands of wire at the j 
eaves and tack the roofing over it. prop¬ 
erly grounding the wire at four corners, 
as a protection against lightning damage, 
as unless it is given a route to the 
ground, it will split up something. It 
will not be advisable to use any copper 
anywhere in contact with the galvanized 
iron, as it will set up galvanic action and 
destroy both metals in time. 
I am told that the British Government 
uses galvanized iron on all their ware¬ 
houses in British Honduras. Undoubt¬ 
edly this climate is more severe on 
metal than where there is less moisture 
in the air and greater elevations, and 
any serious defects would have had time 
to develop with roofs in use, but the 
use is apparently increasing. R. E. K. 
Southern Alabama. 
CRIMSON CLOVER 
The great soil improver and valuable for early 
green food, grazing and hay crop- Special 
circular free, also sample and price of seed 
sent on request. 
Alfalfa. 
High-grade American grown seed. Write for 
sample and price of seed, also a copy of our 
Alfalfa Leaflet, free. If in need of Farm Seeds 
of any kind, please write to us for prices. 
HENRY A. DREER 
-PHILADELPHIA, PA.-- 
PEACE 
TREES 
For Fall, 1913 
We will make special inducements for 
early orders with a deposit of 10£. 
JOS. H. BLACK, SON & CO. 
Hightstown, N. J. 
C EIJERY AND DANISH CABBAGE. One 
millionplants. $1 per 1,000. Asbmead,Williamson, N.Y. 
Sweet Potato Plants a^Tomato 6 '^.^ 
per 1000; and Cabbage Plants $1 per 1000. Send for 
free list. W. S. FORD & SON Hartly, Delaware 
PekkeivA Dio nte - Beets, Lettuce, Kohl-rabi, 
UuDDa^C rlaIII5 $| per lOOO. Tomato, Sweet 
Potatoes. $1.50 per 1000. Cauliliower, Peppers,$2 per 
1000. Send lor list. J. C. SCHMIDT'. Bristol, Pa 
Storing Mangels. —On page 425 W. 
E. B. asks about storing mangels. I 
have kept mangels perfectly through be¬ 
low zero weather iu the following man¬ 
ner : Select a well-drained location for 
your pile and for a large quantity make 
your pile long rather than round, about 
four feet high. Cover pile with straw 
then cover with six inches of soil, again 
cover with straw and soil as before. 
I have used the plow to looseu soil for 
covering on either side of pile. After 
covering run a furrow from pile to drain 
off water which otherwise might stand 
at base. A long pile is convenient to 
open. F. H. 
Standard Apple Barrels 
Car lots or less. ROBT. GILLIES, Medina, N. Y. 
STRAWBERRY PLANTS 
For July, August and September planting. Lead¬ 
ing varieties. CATALOGUE FREE. 
VEGETABLE PLANTS 
Celery. Tomato, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Sweet Po¬ 
tato, Pepper, Egg Plant, Rhubarb, Asparagus, 
Strawberry Plants, all leading varieties, large or 
small lots,by express or mail. CATALOGUE FREE 
HAKKY I.. SQUIRKS, Good Ground, N. Y. 
meeting in the middle, so that there is 
an opening four inches wide across the 
whole width of the bottom, over which is 
hinged a board which eau be raised with 
a lever from above. When this board is 
down no liquid will flow out. A six-inch 
roller is placed under the rear edge of 
this opening, with the top just touching 
it. A board is hinged to the under side 
of the front edge of the opening, swing¬ 
ing up against the front side of the roller, 
and controlled by a lever, so that the 
space between roller and board can be 
adjusted to regulate the flow of manure. 
When the board over the opening is 
raised the manure flows out, and the 
roller revolving forward by a chain from 
a sprocket on the hind wheel rolls out 
any fibrous matter, so that the liquid 
flows out iu a sheet.” B. A. 
A Driven Well. 
May I say a word to F. S. B., page 
G31, regarding driven wells? The earth’s 
crust is made up of different materials, 
rock, sand, gravel, clay, deposited in layers 
or strata. If your land is four feet sandy 
loam and then blue clay you must drive 
deep enough to get below the blue day, 
as clay is impervious to water, and uo 
water will be found in such a stratum. 
If there happens to be a stratum of sand 
or gravel below the clay and the water 
level is in this stratum you .may get 
water by the process described. If no 
such stratum is present in your locality 
you might drive indefinitely without 
being able to get water. A driven well 
differs from a dug well, iu that the small 
particles of sand and gravel are pumped 
out with the water until a pocket is 
formed around the pipe. If the soil 
is too hard to allow of this process uo 
water can be obtained. Many make the 
same mistake by supposing a well may 
be driven anywhere. L. R. T. 
New York. 
STEEL ROOFING. 
Galvanized steel roofing is coming into 
general use iu this section due to the 
high price and inferior quality of shingles 
and the cost of applying the same, and 
also the fire risk, and the cheaper framing 
of roofs needed by it, and because it is a 
lasting roof, easy to apply and no waste 
in cutting, the corrugated sheets coming 
in 6, 8, 10 and 12 foot lengths, and any 
labor can put it on. It is used mainly 
on barns and other outbuildings, and is 
often used for sheathing of the building 
as well, for warehouses, etc. Recently 
one of my neighbors was putting up a 
shed and covering it with corrugated gal¬ 
vanized iron, and he told me he bad 
used it on two other buildings already, 
and it had been in use 10 years. It 
was to all appearances us good as the 
day it came from the mill. If you want 
to pull a building down or move it, the 
Many Farmers Are Beginning to See the 
Tremendous Possibilities of the Reo Truck 
Did you ever stop to think how much time you take, and 
land you use, just to raise horse feed ? You work your head off 
to raise grain and hay to keep horses that loaf a third of the 
year. Why not cut that expense in half—or better? Why not 
take a tip from the big city trucking companies that discarded 
horse-haul long ago? For horses have proved too expensive 
for the cities even where they can work all the year round. 
How about the farm then, where horses stay in the stall 
days at a time? 
The Reo Model H Truck can carry 1500 pounds any- 
ywhere that horses can go—quicker and cheaper. 
You owe it to yourself to investigate. Don’t leave it to 
your children to learn that a motor truck is as far ahead of 
horse-haul as a binder is superior to a cradle. Learn it for 
yourself. Let us send you some good, sound, honest, reliable 
information about trucks on the farm. 
REO MOTOR TRUCK COMPANY 
Lansing. ^Michigan 
