1910 . 
FIGHTING FROST WITH FIRE. 
Earlier in the season we gave some facts about 
using tires in fruit orchards to raise the temperature 
and prevent damage from frost. The Tennessee Ex¬ 
periment Station reports experiments in this line as 
follows: 
Throughout Tennessee, and the country generally, the 
peach crop is endangered by Spring frosts, the greatest 
single cause of failure, probably, in the peach industry. 
In the Spring of 1908 and 1909 coal lires were lighted in 
the experiment orchard, and ou the nights of March 15 
and 10, 1910, wood fires were burned. In 1908 baskets 
were made of galvanized wire netting (chicken fencing*, 
one-inch mesh. They were about 10x10 inches in size, 
and were set with their short edges resting on two bricks, 
thus affording draft. Coal fires were kept going in them, 
but required frequent attention. In most <ases they were 
burned out in three firings, thus proving inadequate. The 
lires were placed 30x40 feet apart, in alternate spaces 
throughout the orchard. Two and a half tons of coal 
were used in keeping fires eight hours per night for three 
nights in two acres of orchard. The temperature within 
the orchard and beyond its borders was read by standard 
thermometers hourly, the least difference being four de¬ 
grees increased heat as the result of the fires, while on one 
night six degrees increased heat resulted. On March 15 
and 10, 1910, wood fires were used, the same distance as 
noted above. Stumps removed in clearing land the pre¬ 
vious year were burned, and made better fuel than coal, 
the fires requiring less frequent attention. The minimum 
temperature outside the orchard was 31°, and within the 
range of the heat from the fires the minimum was 27°. 
Fortunately the weather was dry, and few of the buds 
were advanced enough to show the color of the petals. 
Some bloom was destroyed, but enough remains uninjured 
to insure a crop if no further frost injury comes. 
MANURE SHED ON AN OHIO FARM. 
Fig. 265 shows a manure shed on the farm of Dr. 
C. S. Wright of Ashtabula Co., Ohio. As will be seen, 
the manure is run on a track from the stable so that 
the cars or carriers can be dumped into the shed. 
Where conditions are such that it is impossible to 
draw out the manure each day a manure shed would 
MANURE SHED OX AX OHIO FARM. FiG. 265. 
prove a profitable investment on any farm. Manure 
is conveyed from both the horse and cow stables by 
the same conveyor. In regard to the size of the shed 
much depends upon the amount of stock kept. This 
one is 20x40 feet with a cement pit three feet below 
the ground and a 12-inch wall above. Care should 
be exercised in not getting it too deep or too wide. 
Where locations are such that it can be located on a 
hillside having the drive on the lower side the depth 
does not prove a detriment. All of the liquid m'*nure 
is carried from these stables in an underground drain, 
hence all of the manure is practically saved. Both 
straw and floats are used as absorbents. Such a 
building as this need not cost very much, and should 
prove a profitable investment on any farm. 
GREAT BENEFIT FROM COW PEAS. 
For the benefit of your readers I will give a little 
experience gained from the use of cow peas. Between 
two fields I have about four acres so located as to 
be very prominent to the eye from the rear of my 
house. It was apparently devoid of all fertility and 
had been abandoned by its previous owner. It was 
such an eyesore to me that I determined to try to get 
something green on the soil. Last May I plowed 
and sowed it in cow peas, using one-third tankage and 
two-thirds ashes mixed, sowing about 350 pounds to 
the acre. The peas grew and soon covered the bar¬ 
ren surface. Last Fall, upon the persuasion of my 
farmer, I allowed him to cut in the peas with a disk 
harrow and sow it in wheat. I have adjoining this 
land a large field of wheat (fallow ground) which I 
devoted a great deal of especial attention to, the land 
being very much better in everv respect. I did not 
expect to get the seed on the four acres previously 
mentioned, but it is the best looking wheat I have 
on the place to-day. chas. a. hook. 
Maryland. 
FOUR GENERATIONS.—The picture shown at 
Fig. 267 was taken in Baldwin Co., Ala. It shows four 
generations with combined ages of 200 years. The 
older man in 83 years old, the others are 66, 40 and 
11, respectively, and they are all good specimens “for 
their age/’ 
THE RURAL NEW-VORKER 
ALFALFA IN ILLINOIS. 
The picture of Alfalfa (Fig. 266) is sent by Mr. 
Millard Iiorton of Hancock Co., Ill. This represents 
four cuttings. The first crop, cut June 12, measured, 
as we see from the picture, five feet. The second 
was cut July 25, the third August 31, and the fourth 
was left uncut October 13 when bitten by frost. Mr. 
Horton’s rule for cutting was when about one-third 
THE FOUR STAGES OF ALFALFA. Fig. 26G. 
of the plants were in bloom. “The best time to cut 
is when the buds are well formed.” Hancock County 
is on the bank of the Mississippi River. To show 
how Alfalfa is crowding in everywhere, on the same 
day that we secured this report we heard from a 
reader in southeast Massachusetts who has a field of 
good Alfalfa which runs directly up to the salt water. 
THE RAILROAD EXPERIMENT WORK. 
There may be some encouragement in the interest 
of various railroads in agricultural affairs, but it is 
still something of a question how near they can come 
to meeting the needs of the common farmer, or how 
near they care to come to meeting them. Advice, 
even pretty good advice sometimes, is probably the 
cheapest thing that one can give, whatever may be 
said regarding it when one tries to get it. What 
about the charge of $3.60 per ton on 12 tons of fer¬ 
tilizers to the farmer, while the dealer can get $2.60 
per ton raid" because he orders 15 tons ? Why can 
FOUR GEXERATIONS; 200 YEARS. Fig. 257. 
the railroad’s local agent have six days to unload 
two tons or five tons of freight while the farmer, if 
he buys a carload, must take it all off in two days? 
'In the case of the full car and the two days’ time, the 
farmer at two to 10 miles’ haul to his home from the 
railroad station is barred from ordering. He must 
buy in small lots in order to handle the goods. That 
means that he must pay higher prices in buying and 
higher rates in transportation. Why not allow the 
farmer time to unload his car, or afford him storage 
facilities either free or at nominal charges? Some 
way it is hard for me to see that the actual farmer 
on the soil, doesn't know as much about the best 
way to handle his business of farming under the cir¬ 
cumstances in which lie is obliged to labor, as any 
man who is engaged in other lines, and is a mere 
observer in this line. We all welcome experiments, 
and we are glad when railroad people see fit to employ 
experts in special lines to make experiments. The 
farmer can learn from them. Lie may not follow that 
particular line of work, one reason being that he 
hasn’t the money and the labor with which to do so, 
but there are items that he can copy. We have all 
seen farming by some so-called up-to-date method 
that afforded a profit to the operator, and much 
more of it that did not do so. Frequently the profits 
came from fancy prices which the common farmer 
could not secure. Seldom have theoretical methods 
proved profitable under such conditions of prices and 
labor as the common farmer must face. I mean the 
conditions under which the great world is chiefly 
fed. Nevertheless let us have the experimental work. 
It will do good. H. H. LYON. 
A CONCRETE SPRAYING TANK. 
I have seen several different kinds of spraying 
plants pictured in The R. N.-Y. but I am sending 
you a picture of one I built for myself that I think 
is ahead of any I have seen so far. It is built of 
reinforced concrete posts, is about eight feet from 
the ground to the bottom of the tank, holds 1,500 
A CONCRETE SPRAYING TANK. Fig. 268. 
gallons, and is divided in two compartments of 750 
gallons each, with a one-inch pipe outlet from each. 
I get my water supply from a windmill, the derrick 
of which is only 10 feet away, and have a 50-barrel 
tank up in the derrick. I find this away ahead of 
wood platform and barrels, as the barrels were always 
drying up, and the wood platform soon rots down. 
1 can make my stock solution of Bordeaux, lime on 
one side, copper on the other, and turn them into the 
spray tank together. It only takes five minutes to 
fill my 200-gallon tank, and when one has a couple of 
thousand trees to spray, time counts. I have the 
San Jose scale and from now on I shall boil my 
lime-sulphur in the tank with steam, and I think it 
will save a lot of time and disagreeable handling. 
New Castle, Pa. s. r. h. 
Last Fall we mentioned an experiment in using 
The R. N.-Y. as a text-book in a rural school. The 
paper was used in place of a reader. The articles 
were discussed and composition was taught by writ¬ 
ing business letters to advertisers and correspondents. 
We now have a report from the teacher: 
It affords me great pleasure to report that the use of 
The R. N.-Y. for a reader and general agricultural text¬ 
book in my school this Winter has been a success. It 
not only stimulates interest by affording variety, but at 
the same time teaches fundamental truths in regard to 
farming as a business, upholds the right in denouncing 
frauds, awakens interest in public questions both in 
the school and homes of the district; and, in short, tills 
a place in the rural school that no other text-book with 
which I am familiar could well be substituted. Though 
such a radical change from reader to newspaper was 
made by the teacher, it was favorably received by the 
parents, and also recommended at other schools by the 
commissioner. The question often asked Monday morn¬ 
ing was: “Have the papers come?” I shall not hesi¬ 
tate, after this experiment, to include your paper in the 
“want list” of any rural school with which I may be 
connected. 
That statement covers prettj' much all that a text¬ 
book on agriculture ought to be. A real agricultural 
paper ought to make farming interesting and present 
the truth in good English, with language adapted to 
the use of plain country people. We rejoice that Tire 
R. N.-Y. can help the farmer and then go into the 
school room and help the children. 
