J.U13. 
'i'HE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
f >oo 
BEES STOP WORK. 
Three years ago I hived a swarm of 
bees. The next year I got a new swarm 
from them and a good lot of honey. Last 
year neither hive swarmed, but made a 
large amount of honey. This year I got 
no new swarms and so far they have 
made neither comb or honey in the boxes. 
Could you tell me what has gone wrong 
with these two hives of bees, and how to 
get them to work? C. b. 
Brighton Station, N. Y. 
If your bees have not stored any sur¬ 
plus honey in the boxes placed upon their 
hives it is due to one or both of two rea- 
sons. The colony has not been strong 
enough in bees to provide a surplus, or 
there has been no surplus for them to 
store. The queens in these hives may be 
failing, and the supply of necessary work¬ 
ers may not be kept up, or the prevail¬ 
ing drought may have cut the honey flow 
accessible to them so short that they can¬ 
not find sufficient nectar to overcrowd 
the brood combs. Yon will know what 
the conditions affecting the normal honey 
flow of your locality have been, and an 
examination of the colonies will reveal 
the condition of the queens as shown by 
the number of eggs and hatching brood 
in the brood chambers of the hives. 
Loafing is not a common habit with bees, 
though they are. at times guilty of it, and 
if honey is not coming in it is pretty 
good evidence either that there is r.one 
or that a failing queen or some disease 
has depleted the working force in the 
hive- M. b. D. 
FARM ENGINEERING. 
Septic Tank. 
I have read with much interest your 
various notes on septic tanks. None of 
them, however, gives point I want to 
cover, i. e., for the convenience of the 
house I attached to the woodhouse which 
is attached to the dwelling, a closet with 
an iron tank four feet long, two feet 
wide, 2 y 2 feet deep, arranged so that a 
team could be hitched to it and draw it 
on a stone boat away to a dump. It is 
apparently all right, but of late so much 
has been said about flies that I think I 
ought to do all I can to prevent the tank 
being a breeding place. I have doused 
the contents with copperas solution, have 
put lime and wood ashes to cover, but 
the flies are still in evidence. w. w. 
Connecticut. 
The danger in allowing flies access to 
human excrement is not that they breed 
there, but that this excrement may, at 
anytime, contain the germs of typhoid 
fever, and these germs may easily adhere 
with the filth to the flies’ feet and be car¬ 
ried to food or drink within the house. 
Your plan for a movable receptacle that 
can be drawn out at intervals, and the 
contents buried, is a good one, though it 
may be still improved by keeping a box 
or barrel of dry loam or road dust where 
a few shovelfuls can frequently be thrown 
over the excrement in the vault. By 
making this vault fly proof, either by 
close boarding or by the use of fly 
screens, you will prevent flies from reach¬ 
ing the contents and do away with any 
danger from this source. ji. b. d. 
DEVICE FOR THINNING CORN. 
With this tool one man will do with 
ease the work of many men. A short 
stick, a blade from a mowing machine 
and one screw forms the fool as the 
[ 
COBN THINNING DEVICE. Fig. 363. 
sketch shows. Notch the wood to fit the 
blade, so as to give a heel of wood be¬ 
hind the blade to prevent its turning on 
the screw; put the bevel or slant side of 
the blade up. j, q. 
Norristown, Pa. 
Clover With Canada Pea». 
I have a field of oats which will be 
ready to harvest by the middle of Au¬ 
gust. After cutting the oats I plan to 
disk the stubble ground thoroughly and 
sow to cow peas or Canada field peas, 
hoping to cut them for hay this Fall, 
u ill it, in your opinion, be all right to 
seed the field to clover at the same time 
the peas are sown? E. E s 
Mayville, N. Y. 
Sow Canada peas and barley. The cow 
peas would not give a profitable growth 
when seeded so late. Barley will help 
hold up the pea vines and will add nearly 
a ton of forage per* acre. The chances 
are against a good stand of clover with 
this thick fodder crop, but we would try 
it. Use half and half of Alsike and lied. 
Old Mortar on Asparagus. 
V hat effect will old mortar have on 
an asparagus bed? This is old lime and 
sand mortar (not cement), taken from 
an old house. Would it improve other 
ground that is stiff and hard to work? 
B. K. 
It will have about the same effect as 
ground limestone if it is crushed fine. If 
put on in lumps or chunks it will have 
little if any effect. Asparagus usually re¬ 
sponds to lime. 
Quicklime in Tree Surgery. 
In a case of “tree surgery,” instead 
going to the trouble of digging out 
tne rotten wood in decayed and boll 
trees, which in most cases is hard to 
at to do thoroughly, what would be 
result of putting in lumps of quicklii 
not sufficient of course to fill the hole, 
it increases in bulk as it slakes? : 
idea would be to put in a lump of li 
and some excelsior or something to 
space that would not occupy much roc 
and alternate lime and excelsior, last 
an tilling the entrance with some sort 
eement that would seal the hole tig 
the object of the lime would be to abs< 
any possible moisture, and thus check i 
wood from rotting. Would the lime ht 
this effect? Does anybody know? 
Rhode Island. F . T . j 
3 N.-Y.-—We doubt if anybody kuo 1 
Ibis mi ght be worth trying, but it woi 
nULe i , - v to P r °ve permanently s 
ssful unless all the decayed wood \v< 
eaned out. The scheme is not uni: 
work on a decayed tooth. Every bit 
the diseased bone must be cut out, a 
wo ,, Cavit y fillod 80 as to exclude air 
we hope to save the tooth or the tree. 
Waste from Acetylene. 
Can I run the flushing from an acety¬ 
lene plant into a septic tank without 
stopping its being septic? I mean the 
water used to rinse out the acetylene 
tank after the thick part has been taken 
out. Is the residue from the carbide 
good to put on lawn or garden? 
Roseburg, Ore. s. D. e. 
I know of no reason why the rinsing 
water from an acetylene plant should not 
be discharged into a septic tank provided 
that none of the solid matter is carried 
into the tank in suspension in this water. 
If this were done such matter would set¬ 
tle to the bottom of the tank and would 
giadually fill it up. The waste from an 
acetylene plant is composed of lime, and 
may be used to advantage upon land 
where lime would be of benefit. Thi 3 
lime is thought to be somewhat deleteri¬ 
ous when fresh from the tank, and it 
would probably be better to let it lie 
somewhat thinly spread out upon the 
ground to weather” for some time before 
being used. I used about five tons of this 
m aste upon less than one acre of ground 
two years ago before seeding to clover, 
and have every reason to believe that it 
was as beneficial as the same quantity 
of actual lime in any other form would 
have been ; certainly no bad effects have 
been shown. This was waste that had 
lain exposed to the weather fur several 
years in a pile about one foot deep. 
JI. B. D. 
Wet Cellars. 
On page 69o C. Y. W. seeks informa¬ 
tion as to how to make his wet cellar 
dry. I should like to give my experience 
and results in just such instances. The 
cellar under my father’s house was built 
with good walls and a cement bottom, 
with a gutter in the cement all around 
the cellar close to the wall. This was in¬ 
tended to carry away the water after it 
got into the cellar, but it did not work, 
as there was usually from six to IS 
inches of water in that cellar every 
Spring. In my drainage engineering 
work of late years I have made dry and 
wholesome a number of cellars that were 
in a condition rendering them unfit for 
dumb animals to live, let alone human 
beings. An outlet is dug through under 
one corner or side of the cellar wall, in 
which tiles are laid. This line of tiles 
follows the wall all around on the inside 
and is usually four to six inches below 
the level of the cellar bottom. Then the 
whole bottom is cemented over, with a 
small opening protected with a grating 
entering the tile at the outlet point so 
that the cellar bottom could at any time 
be flushed out, the water all passing off 
in the drain. In one instance it was 
necessary to run an extra line of tile 
through the center of the cellar bottom. 
There has never since been any trouble 
with dampness in those cellars. One of 
these cellars, being located on a poultry 
farm, is used as the incubator cellar, 
which means that it must be dry. In cel¬ 
lars under houses newly constructed the 
drains should be laid under the walls 
just around the outside edge and good out¬ 
let provided. This was done under the 
foundation walls of the big cement block 
cow barn on Marlborough Farm, and al¬ 
though the barn is located on a springy 
slope there is no evidence of dampness in 
or around the barn. A wet cellar under 
a house results in an unsanitary condi¬ 
tion, but one which by proper precau¬ 
tions may be easily avoided, h. t. r. 
Floor Paint With Glue. 
I send directions for making floor paint 
with glue, as requested by C. T. on page 
836. If it is a large floor, purchase 
about six pounds of spruce yellow, one 
pound of glue, and two quarts of boiled 
linseed oil. For each quart of boiling 
water (we use four quarts) add an ! 
ounce and a half of glue. Set your pail 
on the stove, stirring the contents con¬ 
stantly until the glue is thoroughly dis¬ 
solved. Then while hot stir in gradu¬ 
ally the spruce yellow to about the con¬ 
sistency of mush, being careful that it is 
free from lumps. It may seem too thick, 
but you will find it spreads very easily. 
Apply hot to a clean, dry floor. On the 
places where there is a great deal of 
wear apply two or three coats. This 
paint dries very quickly; in fact, nearly 
as fast as you can pain. As soon as it is 
thoroughly dry, go over it with the boiled 
oil applied with a brush and use as little 
in the brush as possible, for if too much 
is applied it will not dry readily. The 
paint will absorb oil quickly and by lay- [ 
ing down papers the floor can be used all ! 
the time, which is one of the virtues of 
the glue paint appreciated by most house- j 
wives. When washing the floor use hot 
soapsuds. This is not a pretty paint, but 
it is cheap and durable, lasting much 
longer than common paint. The last 
time I used this paint I then gave the 
floor one coat of U. S. N. deck paint 
(light yellow) and have been much 
pleased with results. mbs. c. n. m. 
Jefferson, N. Y. 
I notice a reader asks for a floor paint 
made with glue. Here is one I think 
will prove very satisfactory if given a 
trial. Dissolve on back of stove two 
ounces glue, and one quart rain water. 
When cool mix with yellow ochre until 
it will spread smoothly. Oil with a good 
floor oil when dry. jibs. h. w. 
West, N. Y. 
I have used the following many times 
with good results: Use one gallon water, 
warm; five pounds dry ocher; about six 
ounces glue. Dissolve the glue in the 
warm water, stir in the ocher just as 
for making mush, keep it on the back 
of stove so it will keep warm till ready 
to use. Put it on the floor same as any 
other paint. It will be thicker than 
oil paint. If the user does not think one 
coat will fill up the cracks and rough 
places _ iu her floor put on the second 
coat; it w ill be very light yellow when 
dry. \\ hen it gets thoroughly dry oil 
it over with boiled paint oil; put on 
all it will take up. You can use the 
floor at once as soon as oiled by putting 
papers on it; it will not stick and is 
fit to live on, and will outwear the com¬ 
mon mixed paint for hard usage. 
Jerusalem, N. Y. mbs. m. d. s. 
“BIDWELL” 
BEAN and PEA Threshers 
A/bade in three sizes. 
Capacity: 50, 100 and 
150 bushels per hour. Thirty 
years’ experience. 
In Use wherever Beans and 
Peas are Grown 
Write for description of our 
half-size thresher. The Bidwell 
Jr., for use of individuals and in 
localities where large expensive 
machines are not necessary. 
BATAVIA MACHINE CO. 
Batavia, New York, U. S. A. 
IT PAYS TO USE 
FARMOGERM 
THE STANDARD INOCULATION 
BEWARE OF IMITATORS 
ON SOY BEANS - COW PEAS 
VETCH - CLOVERS - ALFALFA 
FREE BOOK NO, 54 
EARP-THOMAS FARMOGERM CO., BLOOMFIELD. N. J. 
BEST 
ON EARTH 
Write us for Litmus Paper to test your soil for 
lime requirements. It is FREE. Our Lime Car¬ 
bonate guaranteed in every respect. Let us 
prove it to you. 
INTERNATIONAL AGR’L CORP. 
Caledonia Marl Branch 
812 MARINE BANK BLDG., BUFFALO, N. Y. 
Is endorsed by the leading agricul¬ 
tural experiment stations as the 
best and most economical 
source of Phosphorus. It ap¬ 
peals to the intelligent 
farmer who utilizes na¬ 
ture’s abundant sup¬ 
ply of Nitrogen by 
growing legumes 
Increas* 
ed yields 
worth $22.11 
was obtained 
at the Maryland 
Experiment Station 
from the use of $1 96K 
worth of Rock Phosphate 
per acre. In the last 5 years 
of a 10 year experiment at 
the Massachusetts Experiment 
Station the use of Rock Phosphate 
increased the crop yields 45 per cent. 
\Vrite us for literature and prices 
Mention this paper 
and keeping hi& 
soil alive 
with hu¬ 
mus. 
Hubbard’s R?~fP Fertilizers 
s»BAir] 
^NEC*' 
are best for 
Seeding Down 
W e prepare special fertilizers for particular soils and special 
crops. Let us tell you how we have helped many a farmer raise 
BetteR HAY CROPS 
Y ou reap a bigger crop and still the land is richer than before. 
-"Begin now and use Hubbard’s Bone Bass Fertilizers. It costs you 
less in the end, and makes healthier and more productive soil. 
You can read it in our 1913 Almanac or in our Booklets on 
Soil , and on Grass Crops. They contain much practical informa¬ 
tion for the farmer and the gardener. 
THE ROGERS & HUBBARD CO., Address Dept. A, Middletown, Conn. 
OFFICE AND WORKS, PORTLAND. CONN. 
