I 
April 2, 
416 
CONCRETE FOR BARN BASEMENT. 
.4. D. M., Pelham, Mass .—I am about to 
concrete a barn basement that is to be used 
for a stable and driveway. Crushed stone 
and coarse gravel would need to be brought 
from a great distance over difficult roads, 
which would mean heavy transportation 
cost. There is an abundance of coarse, 
water-worn pasture stone close at hand. 
Under such circumstances, would it be ad¬ 
visable to cover the floor of the basement 
with pasture stone, imbedding them solidly 
in sand, make the upper surface of the 
stone layer as even as possible, then fill in 
the interstices with cement and lastly cover 
the stone with a finish coat of strong ce¬ 
ment? The bottom of the basement is 
sand with a slight admixture of clay, such 
as we find in the more pervious hardpans. 
It admits of thorough drainage. 
Ans. —It is not clear just what is meant 
by “coarse water-worn pasture ■stone.” 
If they are small cobblestones from the 
size of the fist to the size of the head, 
more or less rounded, these could be 
laid as compactly as possible by filling 
the smaller ones into the spaces between 
the larger. Use a heavy sledge if neces¬ 
sary, or stone hammer, in breaking some 
of them to get a more even surface, 
being careful to have it very solidly 
laid, and then cover this with a layer of 
concrete which would have a thickness 
of about an inch above the highest stone 
projections. It would not do to use 
other than a good clean sand for mixing 
the surfacing concrete and, as the sand 
itself is no more difficult to haul than 
the cement itself would be, it would be 
cheaper than the cement if that could 
be used by itself. Fine sand which con¬ 
tains any considerable amount of clay 
would fret out too rapidly to serve the 
purpose. It is quite possible that, to 
take the place of gravel and so lessen 
the amount of sand and cement needed, 
it would be cheaper to break a suffi¬ 
cient quantity of stone by hand. Such 
work is often done. By taking sufficient 
care to get a thoroughly firmed bed of 
stone it ought to be possible to give 
a good surface, with not more than an 
average thickness of two to 2.5 inches 
of concrete, but in doing this it is very 
important that the stone itself should 
be clean, that is, not covered with 
earth or clay, and before the concrete 
is laid on the rock surface ought to be 
thoroughly wet, as this will make a 
firmer adhesion of the concrete with 
the stone, and make a thinner layer 
safe against peeling up. f. h. king. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Pear Scab. 
J. K., King’s Park, N. Y .—I have a pear 
tree that is about 16 years old, and the 
tree always bore good fruit until about 
two years ago. It bears well yet, but when 
the pears get about half grown they be¬ 
come spotted and shrink up. The leaves are 
also spotted. What can be done for this 
trouble? 
Ans.— There is scarcely a doubt that 
the trouble in this case is the fungus 
disease commonly known as scab. It 
can be kept down by spraying with Bor¬ 
deaux mixture. This will not only pre¬ 
vent the fruit from becoming scabby, 
but the leaves from having diseased spots 
on them. But the spraying must be done 
in time and with a mixture that is prop¬ 
erly made. It would be well to write to 
the director of the State Experiment 
Station or to the Vegetable Pathologist 
of the United States Department of Agri¬ 
culture at Washington, D. C., for bul¬ 
letins that will give detailed information 
regarding the entire subject of spraying 
fruit trees. There are several' insects 
that can and should be kept under sub¬ 
jection and this can be done with very 
little extra trouble and expense. 
H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
VERY VALUABLE DIRT. 
Some of our Western friends are over¬ 
doing the “booming” business. We have 
read an item solemnly repeated through 
the press that the soil around Greeley, 
Col., is so rich that farmers cannot af¬ 
ford to lose it. So when they bring 
sugar beets to the factory they save the 
soil that is shaken off and haul it home 
for fertilizer. Now there is usually 
some basis for such |stories and on 
hunting this one down we find the fol¬ 
lowing : 
It is true that Greeley land is valuable, 
but it is not so scarce or valuable that it 
is necessary to haul back the soil or tare 
from the sugar factories. Of course, when 
beets are dirty, as occasionally occurs when 
the ground is wet, at digging time, there 
are many tons of soil taken from the 
fields to the factories. There is plenty left 
in the field, however, and it would be fool¬ 
ishness for the farmers to attempt to haul 
this back, as it is no better than the other 
soil in the field. The practice with the 
growers is to take a few beets from the 
load, getting as near the average as pos¬ 
sible so far as amount of soil being on 
the beets is concerned. These are weighed 
with the dirt on and then washed and the 
percentage of soil estimated. This is then 
deducted from the total weight of the load. 
1 supix>se you understand this system, as 
it is the same as is carried on in the East. 
I expect that the accumulation of this soil 
around the factories becomes such that it 
is necessary to haul it away to get it out 
of the way of the factory work. 
Some of these newspaper correspond¬ 
ents simply need a suggestion, a pencil 
and a piece of paper and they proceed 
to move the world—or at least that 
large part of it which dekjhts in being 
faked. 
Crop to Follow Com. 
I have a field which was manured last 
year and planted to corn. Can I sow oats 
and field peas, cut and cure for hay, plow 
and plant fodder corn, and after taking 
that off seed to rye? I can topdress the 
rye with manure in Spring. Do I mix the 
peas with the oats and broadcast together 
or sow separately? C. E. s. 
Bloomingdale, N. J. 
It. N.-Y.—That is just exactly what can 
be done with such a piece of land. The 
work must be done promptly and at the 
right time, and the land must be well 
manured or fertilized. Put the peas on 
top of the ground and work them under 
with small plow or disk harrow. Then 
sow the oats and harrow them in. 
?> Get our FREE Books and Get 
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r The Business Farmer doesn’t sell out 
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John St. and 71 Nassau St„ New York 
K 
ROOFING 
Buy It—and You’ll Never 
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T HE ever recurring question of 
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Such a roofing is worth investigat¬ 
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Amatite because the demand war¬ 
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Z H.P. Complete 
one to you upon receipt of postal 
request. 
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Don’t decide hastily on a roofing 
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Get your samples and test them— 
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Don t forget that when making 
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waterproof roofing never needing 
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Write today for a Sample and 
Booklet telling all about it. 
Barrett Manufacturing Co. 
New York Chicago Philadelphia 
Boston Cincinnati Minneapolis 
Cleveland Pittsburg New Orleans 
Kansas City St. Louis 
Harness and Vehicles 
Here is the Big Murray Stylo 
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The Wilbur H. Murray Mfg. Co. 
317 E. 5th St., Cincinnati, O. 
PURE LIME SCREENINGS 
lime, car lots only, for $. r >.00 per ton in bulk f. o. b, 
cars at any point between Buffalo aDd New York, 
on the main lines of the N. Y. Central, Erie, J). L. 
& W.. Penna., Lehigh, O. and C. R. R. of N, J. 
Address J. W. BALLARD CO., Binghamton, N.Y. 
A STARTLING OFFER 
$40 now buvs a complete 2 HORSE POWER 
ENGINE with full equipment. T *>I» * 
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Northwestern SteelAlron W orks, 905 Spri ngSt. EauClaire, Wis. 
Save Money on 
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Fruit and Vege¬ 
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and Growers* Supplies of all kinds. 
Write for free money-saving catalogue 
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DCCIf CCDIIIG Its pleasures and profits, is the 
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. I. ROOT CO., Box 65, Medina, Ohio. 
cereal and hay wonder. ^ Silver 
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JOHN A. SALZER SEED CO. 
I44l0i 8th St. La Cross., Wla. 
HEATING 
Write for catalogue and special infor¬ 
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KROESCHELL 
HOT WATER BOILER 
KROESCHELL BROS. CO. 
458 West Erie Street Chicago, Illinois 
ForBest EXTENSION LADDER “ WA*“ 
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Pull Your Stumps 
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TRIAL 
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MANUFACTURING CO., 130 17th Street, CENTERVILLE, IOWA 
