786 
are all strong, vigorous and healthy. The prepotent 
sire is always the valuable sire, and I have not the 
slightest doubt that the prepotency of our animals is 
largely increased and more uniformly maintained by 
reason of our system of care. 
It may be suggested that full-grown, bulls and stal¬ 
lions which were never trained to work, would be a 
dangerous and difficult proposition to undertake. I 
would suggest in answer to that, that the Jersey bull 
shown in the illustration was purchased this season 
as a wild, vicious and unsafe animal, and that he and 
his Guernsey mate were entirely trained by the 17- 
year-old lad who is driving them. I may say that all 
of these animals will be shown at the coming State 
fair at Syracuse, the stallion in his class among the 
draft horses, and the bulls in their proper classes 
among the several dairy breeds; but of much more 
importance (as it seems to me) they will be shown 
every day, hitched singly and in combination, to give 
a practical illustration of how the State secures much 
valuable iabor on the State farm at Alfred, from drones. 
JOHN m’lENNAN. 
CLARK METHOD OF GRASS CULTURE. 
Some Bad After Effects. 
Noticing the strong commendation that The R. N.-Y. 
gives the Clark method of grass culture on page 723, it 
has seemed to me wise to sound a note of caution. It 
often happens in farming that a method that proves 
markedly successful under certain favorable conditions 
is widely adopted, being thought to have universal 
application. Much disappointment often results, and 
the original plan is condemned, when the trouble is a 
wrong application of a good thing. If one wishes to 
grow a nice grade of market hay, and can sell the same 
at $18 to $20 per ton, and has a natural grass soil, 
which holds an abundance of moisture to carry the 
crop to full growth, he will usually get good results by 
following the Clark method. Otherwise, he will find 
the method expensive, and the final results disap¬ 
pointing. On light loam soils, where humus is much 
needed to control the moisture and to conserve the 
available plant food, I believe this method will be gen¬ 
erally disappointing. Harrowing and stirring the soil 
12 to 20 times, covering a period of four to six weeks 
during the hottest part of the Summer provides condi¬ 
tions most favorable to the burning out of the humus 
in the surface soil. In soils of a sandy loam nature 
where the humus is most important, this is a 
serious matter. Then, again, the exclusive use of com¬ 
mercial fertilizers affords no opportunity for restoring 
the humus. I am convinced that on such soils less 
tillage than the Clark method advocates and the use of 
a liberal application of stable manure, to be harrowed 
in lightly before seeding, will prove more efficient and 
give larger crops. A case in hand has helped to clinch 
the above stated conviction. 
The writer is now in possession of a farm where the 
Clark method was followed for several years with 
apparent success, but with damaging after-effects. A 
field of about 16 acres was seeded by the Clark method 
about eight years ago by a former owner. The field 
was a light loam soil with a gravelly subsoil. The 
former foreman informs me that this area was har¬ 
rowed about 20 times for a period of six weeks before 
seeding. One good crop of hay was secured, while the 
second year gave a very ordinary crop. About this 
time the owner died and the property soon changed 
hands. For the past three years it has been under the 
management of the writer. Within four years after 
seeding the field began to run into the finer, wild 
grasses, with an admixture of such weeds as five- 
finger, sorrel and daisies. The first year it came under 
my management I observed an absence of firm close 
turf, and the grass seemed to suffer more from drought 
than an adjoining field that had been manured and 
treated in the usual way. Six years after being seeded, 
when this field was plowed for cultivated crops, there 
was a very evident lack of humus. This was shown in 
the soil remaining cold longer than similar soil nearby, 
but more particularly in the fact that the crops grown 
suffered worse from drought than crops on similar 
soil well stocked with humus. The condition of growth 
the first year of cultivation indicated a decided lack of 
nitrogen. The third year after seeding this field cut 
hardly one-half ton of hay per acre, and for several 
years thereafter the yield was somewhat less. 
Excessive cultivation during the hot season tends 
rapidly to make soluble the plant food of the soil, but 
it also increases the loss of humus by providing condi¬ 
tions favorable for its being rapidly burned out. This 
waste of humus should be avoided in all soils of the 
sandy loam type, because the humus is especially 
needed in such soils to hold the moisture and the plant 
food. Our plan of soil cultivation must vary with the 
soil, but on soils of the sandy loam type there is danger 
of overcultivation unless we take measures to restore 
the humus that frequent tillage tends to destroy. 
CHAS. S. PHELPS. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
THE “ IOWA SILO.” 
A New Model Built of Clay Tiles. 
Since the original rude wooden silo great advances 
have been made in silo construction. As soon as it 
became evident that silage was a necessity in the dairy 
both experts and practical men began to study plans 
for the most practical silo, the same as they tried to 
find the best type of barn or the best method for tieing 
cow’s. The old square silo has been largely abandoned, 
and practically all the silos now built are round, and 
all sorts of materials have been used, including wood, 
metal, brick, stone and concrete. Bulletin 117 of the 
Iow r a Experiment Station at Ames, describes a new 
type known as the Iowa silo. A picture of this silo is 
THE TILES FOR SILO BUILDING. Fig. 335. 
shown at Fig. 336, while Fig. 335 shows the different 
sizes of the hollow blocks from which the silo is made. 
Briefly stated, this silo is built of hollow clay building 
blocks or square tiles. A solid foundation of rock or 
concrete is built, and upon this foundation the silo is 
placed, building it up the same as one would build 
with brick. The hollow tiles are bedded together in 
concrete or cement, and at intervals bands of steel are 
placed in the concrete. This bulletin of 70 pages gives 
a full description of the silo with complete instructions 
and figures. It would be impossible in an' ordinary 
article to give this description in full. Every farmer 
who is interested should send for the bulletin and 
study it This Iowa silo has been fully tried out, and it 
is claimed that this type of silo possesses many points 
of superiority. The block of hard burnt clay will not 
absorb a large amount of w r ater nearly as much as 
concrete or concrete blocks, me hollow blocks resist 
frost well, as the entrance of air is quite thoroughly 
restricted and it is very rare indeed that any amount 
of frozen silage is found in the Iowa silo. It will last 
practically forever, and there is nothing to break dowm 
or to give way, provided the blocks are made of the 
right kind of clay. The roof of this silo is usually 
made of concrete, as is also a door frame which, if 
If 
A SILO OF CLAY TILES. Fig. 336. 
properly made, will be as durable as the wall. The 
material of this silo, therefore, will resist decay, the 
action of frost or any action from the ferments of the 
silage, and it is practically free from expense for repair. 
The only possible expense is the occasional washing 
of the inside of the walls with a cement wash, and 
renewing the doors after they become rotten. The cost 
of this silo varies, and would be considered expensive. 
In this bulletin the detailed cost of the silo 16 feet in 
diameter and 35 feet high is given as $308. Another 
of the same size costs something over $325. The 
building blocks, as will be seen from the picture, are 
of various sizes. They usually run four or five inches 
August 13, 
in thickness. These blocks are slightly curved so as to 
give the proper circle for the silo wall. The size of 
the materially generally used is the central one which 
makes a wall five inches thick, the block being one foot 
long and easy to handle. As we have said, these blocks 
are simply cemented together like bricks, with steel 
rods in the mortar to strengthen the wall. A number 
of these silos have been doing duty in Iowa for several 
years. They have proved very satisfactory, and while 
not directly advocating this type of silo the experiment 
station advocates it as a very satisfactory structure. 
PROTECTION FOR PLANT ORIGINATOR. 
Would some of the readers of The R. N.-Y. tell me how 
to protect myself in keeping others from propagating and 
selling a new grape? About three years since I heard of 
a grapevine bearing grapes without seed. Knowing this 
to be something new, 1 lost no time in looking up the 
owner of the seedless grape. I succeeded in getting 20 
cuttings; 18 of them grew. a. l. y. 
Maryland. 
In the first place, it should be known beyond all doubt 
that this variety of grape is a good one in quality, and 
it would be well to have the opinion of the best of 
judges of grapes before deciding to propagate and dis¬ 
tribute it. There are seedless varieties of grapes and 
they have been grown in large quantities for centuries 
past, but most of them are of the old world species, 
Vitis vinifera, which is only successfully grown in 
America on the Pacific slope and in houses where the 
phylloxera and mildew fungus do not trouble them. The 
dried fruit known as “English currants” is nothing but 
little seedless dried grapes of this kind, and if they are 
carefully examined a grape seed will be found in them 
occasionally. The name “currant” is a corruption of 
Corinth in Greece, from which port they have long 
been shipped to the markets of the world, and as they 
are often brought through the English trade they get 
the mistaken credit for being English. Some varieties 
of this class are now grown and made into delicious 
raisins in California, of which the Sultana and Thomp¬ 
son are most prominent. Although it is always wise to 
investigate all new fruits it is not wise to propagate 
them until it is certain that they are better in at least 
one important respect than the varieties we already 
have. As we have no really seedless grapes of the 
classes that succeed in the central and eastern part of 
this country, it would be well to investigate this new 
variety mentioned by A. L. Y., and if it is at all worthy 
propagate it and have it tested in safe hands to deter¬ 
mine its value for general cultivation. 
This brings up the very important point of the pro¬ 
tection that this man wants for his variety, and that 
all who originate or discover new varieties of trees 
or plants of any kind deserve. It is an old and much 
discussed subject that has never been satisfactorily 
settled. The owner of a new variety of fruit or flower 
should have the same protection from infringement 
by the public that an inventor has for a machine or 
device that is patentable. This has been denied him by 
the patent office at Washington, the officials there claim¬ 
ing that there is a material difference between the two 
classes of cases that prevents the living and growing 
invention or discovery from being subject to the same 
laws as those of a mechanical nature. It is the thought 
behind the material things, in both cases, that the in¬ 
ventor or discoverer deserves credit for, and he should 
be protected by the Government in the enjoyment of 
the material benefits that result from it. This the Gov¬ 
ernment does for the mechanical inventor and for the 
literary inventor, too, through a copyright, but it is not 
done for the plant inventor. This does not seem just. 
The Government brings its power to bear in preventing 
others than the lawful owner from manufacturing and 
selling the mechanical or literary article, but denies this 
protection to the owner of a living invention. A nur¬ 
sery is as much a manufacturing establishment as a 
factory or a printing office. All that the Government 
has so far agreed to do is to grant the exclusive use of 
the name of a tree or plant to the original owner of it. 
There may be valid reasons for the refusal to protect 
the owner in the exclusive multiplication or reproduc¬ 
tion and sale of his new tree or plant, but I have never 
yet been able to see justice in any of them so far pre¬ 
sented. H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
The battle for a fairer price for good milk has begun 
in earnest, and will not end until dairymen secure 
what they are struggling for. The first thing we have 
to do is to demonstrate what a quart of milk costs at 
the farm. In the recent “Boston milk war” the 
farmers took their case before the Legislature, through 
a committee, and proved their contention step by step. 
The first point was to show what milk costs. The 
figures were given by Prof. J. W. Sanborn, and were 
never disproved. We have given, on pages 721, 722 
and 738, a report of Prof. Sanborn’s argument. We 
ask you to read it carefully, think it over, and tell us 
how it tallies with your experience. That is the way to 
lav the foundation of actual cost. 
