382 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 2S, 
COALS FROM RAILROAD LOCOMOTIVES. 
As I am a new subscriber since Janu¬ 
ary 1, I am not familiar with the way 
in which you have dealt with the nuis¬ 
ance of locomotives and farm fires. I 
was born on the farm and stayed there 
until the age of 24 years, then taking 
the position of a locomotive fireman, 
which I held a little over six years, at 
which time I was promoted to be an en¬ 
gineer and held that position for 3]/ 2 
years. Then in March, 1908, on account 
of poor health I returned to the farm. 
An article on page 53, by William -S. 
Spooner, states you attack the wrong 
end of the locomotive. I differ with Mr. 
Spooner on this subject, and I know 
whereof I speak. Both ends of the loco¬ 
motive should be attacked alike. I do 
not know how large you picture coals 
thrown from smokestacks of locomotives, 
but I do know that if Mr. Spooner can 
raise peas as large as coals or cinders 
thrown from smokestacks of locomotives 
they would be a very good kind for any 
farmer to raise. If the netting in the 
smoke arch of a locomotive is kept in 
good repair, as it should be, nothing 
much if anything larger than a pea can 
COAL FROM LOCOMOTIVE. 
pass through. I have seen holes burned 
through the netting eight inches in di¬ 
ameter, which would allow any coals or 
cinders that pass through the flues to be 
thrown out of the stack high in the air, 
and if a side wind were blowing they 
could be carried quite a distance. He un¬ 
dertakes to tell the construction of a 
locomotive by inspection after dark at a 
distance of from two to eight rods away; 
his eyes must be better than the average. 
He says some coals strike the drivers 
and are thrown up. I do not see how 
they could be thrown any higher than 
the running board which projects out 
over all of the drivers. The ash pan is 
constructed with hoppers which can be 
opened or closed at will from in the cab. 
Oft times they are left open when they 
should not be. When the hoppers are 
left open and the engine is working hard 
fire falls through the grates to the 
ground striking the 'ties, scattering them 
about the track. F. L. H. 
Frankfort, N. Y. 
R. N.-Y.—We print once more the 
picture showing the coal which came 
from the smokestack. This is photo¬ 
graphed direct from the coal. 
WHEAT AND TOMATOES IN MARYLAND. 
G. IF. II., Locust Grove, Md .—Will you 
give me some suggestions about the growing 
of wheat and tomatoes? The average yield 
of wheat per acre is 20 bushels. We fol¬ 
low a four-year rotation ; corn, wheat, wheat 
and grass. We use a fertilizer at 
300 pounds per acre. Soil is a medium 
clay with yellow clay subsoil. For to¬ 
matoes we plant on sod, plowed as early as 
possible and use from 350 to 500 pounds 
of 2-8-4 fertilizer, the sod being manured 
and turned under. The average yield per 
acre is four to seven tons. We grow to¬ 
matoes for packers and I would like to 
grow more per acre. 
Ans. —There are plenty of farmers in 
your county who make a good deal more 
than 20 bushels per acre of wheat, and in 
that beautiful land about Locust Grove 
you should average a great deal more, 
for there are farmers in your section 
who make 40 bushels I know. If I was 
farming in Kent I would make a short 
rotation and make a permanent grass 
pasture, and keep it good, and would 
never pasture a foot of my cultivated 
land. I would make a three-year rotation 
on the cultivated land of corn with all 
the homemade manure. Cut the corn and 
then do not replow the land, but simply 
disk it fine three or four inches, going 
over often enough to get the surface soil 
as fine as possible, and the more you go 
over and tramp it the more wheat you 
will make. Drill the wheat after the first 
white frost to avoid the Hessian fly. 
Sow clover on the wheat in the Spring. 
As to fertilizer for the wheat, I would 
use simply a mixture of acid phosphate 
and potash, 10 per cent of the first and 
five per cent of the latter at rate of 400 
pounds per acre. Let clover stand one 
season and cut only the first crop. Dur¬ 
ing the Winter get out all the homemade 
manure from the feeding of the hay and 
corn stover, and plant to corn again. 
Stick to this rotation and I know that 
you will soon get more than 20 bushels 
of wheat per acre and a greatly increased 
crop of corn and clover hay. Then once 
in six years apply 25 bushels of lime per 
acre just before planting corn, and har¬ 
row it in. Now, for tomatoes, I would 
have three lots, and would sow Crimson 
clover among the tomatoes in August, 
after having used on the tomatoes a 
complete fertilizer made up of 400 
pounds of acid phosphate, 100 pounds 
of nitrate of soda and 50 pounds of sul¬ 
phate of potash per acre broadcast. The 
next year turn the Crimson clover for a 
late crop of Irish potatoes, with a similar 
fertilizer. Then sow rye after the pota¬ 
toes, and turn it in the early Spring, 
say in April, and sow the lot in cow 
peas in late May. When these are well 
podded you can turn your hogs in on 
them and eat them down and then sow 
Crimson clover again to turn under for 
tomatoes the next Spring. It will then 
not be long before four tons per acre 
will look like 30 cents to you. 
w. F. MASSEY. 
Potato Scab.—Y ou ask for experience in 
trying to control potato scab. Six years 
ago I had to use seed potatoes that were 
at least one-third scabby. I cut them ready 
for planting, put one bushel iu a burlap 
sack and dipped them in a formaldehyde 
solution, one pint to 35 gallons water; 
left them in five to 15 minutes; take out, 
set in trough to drain and when dry plant. 
You will find them much cleaner to handle 
than if dipped before they are cut. I 
plant on clean ground ; the first year in a 
yield of 100 sacks there were not more 
than five sacks of scabby ones; the fourth 
year in a yield of 300 sacks there was not 
one sackful of scabby ones. I have no ex¬ 
perience in trying to control scabby ground. 
St. John, Wash. s. s. L. 
“For the Land’s Sake, use Bowker’s 
Fertilizers; they enrich the earth and 
those who till it.”—Adv. 
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