1910. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
191 
HOUSE FOR THE WREN. 
The simple bird house pictured at Fig. 73 was 
made by T. C. Kevitt, of New Jersey. The body 
is a round stick with bark left on. A large hole is 
bored in the top, this being covered by the square 
pitch roof. The entrance is one inch in diameter, 
This house was specially designed for the wren, an 
interesting bird to have around as well as an indus¬ 
trious insect destroyer. Such bird houses may be put 
in the corners of the house or on parts of trees in¬ 
accessible to cats. 
A FREAK IN PUPPYDOM. 
In the picture are shown six English bull terrier 
puppies taken when two months old. One of 
the male puppies, the pure white one, is a sort 
of a freak; he has one bright blue eye, the other 
is brown, the usual color. These puppies are 
fed on biscuits soaked in separator milk, and it is 
quite a show to see the amount they will eat in 
about two minutes. The mother of the puppies is 
owned by the writer; she is a fine dog to catch rats. 
In the Winter she is kept in a feed house on our 
poultry plant and I defy anyone to find a rat or mouse 
in that house. During the warm weather she is 
chained in a poultry yard, one at the greatest distance 
from our house, and we have not lost any chickens 
by either two-legged or four-legged thieves, while 
many of our neighbors have. A. M. jones. 
New York. _ 
HOW TO BUILD A LIME DISTRIBUTOR. 
One of the greatest labor savers which we have 
found in many years is the lime distributor described 
by Mr. Allen In The R. N.-Y. for August 21, 1909. 
For the benefit of any of the Rural family who con- 
A BASKETFUL OF PUPPIES. Fig. 68. 
template spreading lime, ashes or bone I will describe 
how we built our machine. The accompanying draw¬ 
ings, Figs. 71 and 72 show the axle, which is the 
most important part. The axle of an old mowing 
machine is first cut in two and made as long as the 
machine is to be. Five collars are then shrunk on 
to the axle equal distances apart, in such a manner as 
to hold the four feed bars about one inch from the 
axle; one by three-eighths inch iron feed bars are then 
fastened to the collars with tap bolts, and the heads 
cut off and riveted, making a cylinder which acts as 
a force feed when revolving with the wheels. The 
same wheels and ratchets are used that were on the 
old mowing machine, so it can be put in and out of 
gear. Fig. 69 shows the machine as is appears when 
completed. The sides of the hopper are constructed 
of l*4-inch lumber and the ends are made of two- 
inch hard wood with iron plates screwed on where 
the axle passes through, to prevent wearing. Fig. 
72 shows the end with dimensions. The inside of the 
hopper is made one-half inch longer than the force 
feed cylinder, so it will work easily. The ends and 
sides of hopper are made separately and put to¬ 
gether on the machine. The whole bottom of the 
machine is then covered wth heavy galvanized iron 
with a 1 x 2-inch hole every six inches, and over 
this a false bottom is placed so it will slide toward 
either end to regulate the feed. This false bottom 
is held in place with three straps made of hoop 
icon, fastened to the sides of the hopper, and worked 
with a lever at the back. The force feed must work 
very closely to the holes in the galvanized iron to 
Prevent clogging. The pole is bolted to a 4 x 4-inch 
stick as long as the hopper. This stick is fastened 18 
inches in front of hopper, by bolting it solidly to the 
two draft irons made of two by one-half inch iron at 
each end, through which the axle passes, and two 
heavy braces which hold the hopper in position as 
shown in the picture. c. s. greene. 
GETTING THE CONSUMER’S DOLLAR. 
I am glad The R. N.-Y. has taken up the import¬ 
ant question of what part of the consumer’s dollar 
goes to the farmer. Your reference on page 112 to 
President W. C. Brown’s agricultural oratory has 
caused me to light -one little lantern, hoping to help 
some to see “where 10 cents more can honestly be 
given to the farmer.” I own a little farm on Long 
Island, about 50 miles out from Brooklyn, where I 
THE LIME SPREADER COMPLETE. Fig. 09. 
have lived and labored more than 30 years. Though 
my farming is on a moderate scale, I have found 
occasion to grapple with many questions in the line 
of farming, and have worked out some of them at 
least with a degree of satisfaction. These two ques¬ 
tions continue to interest most farmers: How can we 
produce more to the acre, and how can we market our 
produce to best advantage ? 
I offer some of my plans of marketing, hoping they 
may carry useful suggestions to others. What I raise 
THE LIME SPREADER-FEED HOLES. Fig. 70 . 
for market mostly is in the line of poultry and garden 
products. I aim to sell all that I can directly to the 
consumers. A large part of my garden produce is 
peddled out as green vegetables in nearby villages, 
but a considerable part of the green vegetables and 
most of the eggs and some broilers are sent to fam¬ 
ilies and boarding houses in Brooklyn. What I send 
to Brooklyn goes out in egg cases. After finding a 
few' customers and collecting a lot of second-hand 
egg cases, we proceed in this way. We find out as 
AXLE OF LIME DISTRIBUTOR. Fig. 71. 
nearly as we can what our customers require. They 
all want our fresh eggs direct from the farm, and 
more of them than we can supply, so w r e manage 
to divide them among our customers. We get the 
egg cases ready in the evening, pack some eggs in 
one end, and sometimes we dress a lot of broilers— 
according to what we may have ready and what our 
customers may be asking for. Then early in the 
morning we gather a quantity of vegetables in as 
great variety as w r e can, and always select the best 
quality, wash those that may require washing in cold 
water. If we .are sending broilers we have them 
chilled and wrapped in thin muslin. Then we fill 
up the egg cases, packing with care, and take them 
to the railroad station, and the Long Island Railroad 
express delivers them at the homes of our Brook¬ 
lyn customers so promptly that when the cases are 
opened the vegetables are cool with the morning dew. 
and all as fresh as when taken from the garden. Our 
customers are so much pleased with such fresh and 
delicious vegetables, eggs and broilers that they are 
glad to pay the express charges, usually 35 cents 
on an egg case, and the top prices of the retail 
markets. In this way of marketing we get all that 
should come to us. and have never failed to collect 
our bills. e. f. h. 
Lake Grove, L. I. 
IMPROVING SOIL IN MARYLAND. 
Cow Peas and Crimson Clover. 
I have a piece of very poor land in Prince Georges 
County, Maryland, which I desire to improve. II is a 
sandy clay soil, naturally well drained, and lias been 
planted in corn the past three years, (lie first cultivation 
the ground has had for 20 years. Previous to that time 
it was cultivated in tobacco. All soils in this vicinity 
are deficient in lime and more or less sour. I thought 
of sowing this ground in Canada field peas, plowing them 
in, and then spread lime and harrow that in. After (lie 
peas had reached the proper growth I would plow them 
under and in August sow Crimson clover to be plowed 
under the following Spring. However, I have never had 
any experience with Canada field peas. If this method 
is right 1 should also like to know if it would be advisable 
to use commercial fertilizer after having limed the soil, 
what kind and when to put it on. n. j. n. 
Maryland. 
I would not advise Canada peas in Prince Georges 
County. You can do far more with the Southern 
cow pea here, for the hot weather will soon do away 
with the Canada peas. If the land were clear of trees 
plow the land well and prepare it in nice shape, har¬ 
rowing in 300 pounds of acid phosphate and 30 pounds 
of muriate of potash per acre, and drill the peas in 
about the last day of May with a wheat drill at rate 
of one bushel or a bushel and a half per acre, using 
A SIMPLE BIRD HOUSE. Fig. 73. 
the Black pea. Then, when the pods turn yellow 
mow the peas for hay, curing them mainly in cocks, 
and putting in the barn as soon as the twisting test 
on a bunch will wring no sap to the twist. You 
will have a fine lot of the best of hay. Then disk 
the stubble lightly and late in August or early Sep¬ 
tember sow 15 pounds of Crimson clover seed per 
acre and roll it if the land is dry enough. Then 
during the Winter haul out on the clover all the 
manure made from feeding the pea hay and the corn 
fodder as fast as made, and you will have a crop 
of clover and manure to turn for the corn crop in 
the Spring. Then at last working plant cow pea-< 
again among the corn and you will make more corn 
with the peas than without them, and will have more 
humus-making material on the land after the corn is 
cut. and can disk the whole down and sow Winter Turf 
oats in September or Burt oats in the early Spring, 
or can disk the peas down as fine as possible without 
replowing the land and seed to wheat and grass if 
you wish. Get your land into a rotation of crops and 
stick to it, always having plenty of legume forage and 
making manure, and always have a green growing 
crop on the land in Winter. But as I note that the land 
is in fruit trees I would not sow small grain among 
them, but would cultivate well in some early vegetable 
crop with liberal manuring, and cultivate clean till July 
and then seed to Crimson clover. You want clean culti¬ 
vation in a young orchard during the early part of 
the season and then a legume crop to turn under in 
the Spring. I assumed that the land was in general 
farming crops till the last part of your letter said it 
was in orchard. Then this Spring I would sow the 
cow peas in rows and cultivate them and leave them 
on the land, sowing the Crimson clover seed among 
them as the leaves begin to fall, and turn the clover 
under in Spring. But do not depend on Canada peas. 
They arc all right in Canada, but you are too far 
SOUth. . W. F. MASSEY. 
