&14 
can be built complete for from $350 to $375. The silo 
liovvn in Fig. 398 shows the dormer opening in the 
roof, which has a door in it to fill the silo through. 
The small building shown in Fig. 398 is an all con¬ 
crete milk house 14x20 feet in size and eight feet high 
to the eaves. 
The walls of this building are of hollow wall con¬ 
struction above the foundation, and are 11 inches thick 
including the three-inch air space. These walls arc all 
reinforced with steel wire. The roof is of reinforced 
concrete, four inches thick, and has a pitch of two 
feet in eight feet. The caves project 10 inches. The 
chimney is of concrete and has an eight-inch flue. 
The concrete floors are finished fine and smooth, and 
have a true draining grade to sewer in the surface of 
each floor, also the walls arc plastered inside and 
finished perfectly smooth. The building is divided 
into tw f o rooms by a concrete partition; the larger one, 
about 12 feet square, is for the milk room, and in it is 
located the concrete cooling tank, the separator and 
other needed apparatus to handle milk properly. In 
the other room, which is about 9x12 feet, is located 
the gasoline engine and water heater and it will also 
be used as a place to store needed supplies. This milk 
house was erected by contract for $250 plus the gravel 
and form lumber cost. k. c angevine.* 
Michigan. 
TOO MUCH NITROGEN FOR FRUIT TREES. 
Wluit about fruit trees In chicken yards? Are they 
r.ot likely to grow too fast and to bo more subject to 
blight and other diseases when fed too much nitrogen? 
J have bought fertilizer yearly for the past eight 
years, and have each time debated as to the purchase 
of nitrogen. 1 have followed the usual advice, and 
purchased potash and phosphoric acid almost ex¬ 
clusively. Undoubtedly this is right for trees under 
bearing .age, but 1 have been watching the use of both 
stable manure and other form of nitrogen on land 
stronger and presumably less in need of it, and the re¬ 
sults convince me that 1 should have added more 
nitrogen to the ration of all the peaches older than 
live years. It may be that the Crawford type of 
peaches can be made to run to wood too freely when 
of mature age, but 1 have no fear of this with the 
Klberta, Waddell, Greensboro or other of this type. 
The fruit is darker in color, larger and a few days 
later, when nitrogen is plenty. 
As to the diseases of yellows and “little peach” I 
believe I have yet to trace any connection between 
the spread of these troubles and the feeding or care 
the trees have received. The symptoms are more ob¬ 
scure on less vigorous trees, and yellows is usually 
worse in those portions of an orchard which receive 
the wash from a hillside, but I have little evidence 
that by any feeding the spread is either retarded or 
increased. I believe careful watching with the elim¬ 
ination of the first affected trees is the great factor in 
the control of these diseases, and lack of it is the main 
cause of the short-lived orchards we meet so often. 
There has been very little pear blight in the Hudson 
Valley for the past decade for some unknown reason. 
I believe many of the orchards have had feeding sim¬ 
ilar to the western New York and New Jersey orchards 
which have suffered badly in many cases. Probably 
the Seckel is as well adapted to high feeding as any, 
and I would put it in the rich hen yard with little fear 
of blight, for it seems to stand high among blight re¬ 
sistant varieties. P. I., huested. 
THE RIGHT OF WAY. 
I liave been going across a certain lot formerly owned 
b.V another man for over 25 years, drawing bay and wood, 
but now the place has been bought by another person, and 
be gave us the same privilege of crossing the same for 
eight or nine years. Now he is unfriendly and does not 
wish to let me cross any more, fan he stop me from 
crossing? In going to the lot we lirst have to cross a 
meadow and then through the woods to get to our lot. 
In going across the meadow we have not kept in the same 
nit all the time, as we did not want to make any ruts in 
the meadow. We never crossed the meadow if the hay 
was not cut, unless we cut a road through it before going. 
New York. w. u. 
This matter of acquiring rights in your neighbor’s 
land is important and quite complicated. You can sec 
at once that you are taking something from him, and 
yon can only take it in a lawful manner. When you 
have acquired such a right it is called an easement, 
and goes with the land for all time. Formerly case¬ 
ments were acquired after a very long time, a time in 
the quaint language of old, “when the memory of 
man runneth not to the contra.” Now, however, this 
time is fixed by statute at 20 years. In order that a 
right of way may ripen into an easement it must he 
continuous, uninterrupted and with the knowledge and 
acquiescence of the owner of the land and extend over 
a period of 20 years. The line of travel must be 
definite, but is not affected by an occasional slight 
deviation to avoid obstructions, mud holes or the like. 
If you can prove such a use of the land in getting 
access to your property you have an easement over his 
property which he cannot deny yon. 
THK RURAh NEW-YORKER 
HOW TO BLANCH CELERY. 
I would like to know bow to trench celery and bow 
long it will take for It to blaneli, and If I could trench 
it when the celery la wet. L. M. q. 
Ohio. 
There arc numerous ways of blanching celery. The 
man who grows for private use in the home garden 
may use stout paper held in place by an elastic band 
or string, or lie may use porous tile. The market 
gardener near the large cities who is compelled for 
want of space to plant his crop very close together. 
CONCRETE MILK HOUSE AND SILO. fid. 398. 
commonly uses boards, one stood on either side of 
the row, close to the celery plants, and held in place 
with hooks or cleats, hut the commercial grower who 
has land in sufficient quantity to plant his celery crop 
far enough apart between the rows, almost invariably 
uses the soil from between the rows for this purpose. 
This method has’ no expense attached to it except the 
labor. The operation begins with what is known as 
"handling” the celery; that is, going over the field, 
grasping each plant with one hand, holding all the 
leaf stalks together, and pressing the dirt close up 
around the plant. This is usually followed by a celery 
ridger, an implement that shoves the loose soil close 
up against the row. If it is desirous to make a finished 
product right where it is grown, and have it ready for 
market when dug, this operation has to he repeated 
two or three times, according to the variety grown. 
Blanching with soil requires longer than boards, paper 
or tile, because it cannot be put high enough at one 
operation, hut celery blanched with soil has a crisp¬ 
ness and nutty flavor known to no other method of 
blanching. When boards are used it is quite apt to 
impart a flavor from the wood to the celery. Celery is 
nearly as susceptible to odors as milk or butter. 
To keep celery for Winter use after it is grown, the 
greener it is taken from the row the longer it will be 
blanching and the longer it will keep, because fully 
blanched celery must be used or marketed at once or 
loss from rot is quite sure to occur. To store celery 
for Winter use, I prefer the green varieties, as they are 
much heartier than the so-called self-blanching varie¬ 
ties, and will keep much better in a trench. To store 
I 
CONCRETE SILO. Fio. S99. 
celery for Winter, dig it carefully, pull off all dead or 
half dead stalks, and have the top:; thoroughly dry 
when placed in the trench. Open a trench in some 
well-drained spot one foot wide, and deep enough to 
stand the celery in upright. Beginning at one end 
pack the celery plants in close, covering the roots an 
inch or two deep with damp soil. This may he con¬ 
tinued any length, hut if more than 50 or GO feet in 
length there should he ventilators about that distance 
apart the whole length of the trench. When com¬ 
pleted have hoards nailed together at right angles, 
invert these over the trench to act as a roof, leave 
both ends of the trench open for ventilation until 
Orto!)(*r 1, 
danger of freezing occurs, when they may he closed 
and other covering put over the top from time to time 
as the weather becomes colder. The point is, keep 
the celery stalks and leaves dry and as cool as possible 
without freezing. I have tried other methods for 
blanching celery, but the above has a smaller percent¬ 
age of loss than any that I know of. c. c. iiui.sart. 
THE CLARK GRASS METHOD AGAIN. 
On page 786 Prof. Phelps makes statements regard¬ 
ing the Clark method, which seemed to me, who has 
studied and practiced this method for 14 years, to he 
exceedingly misleading. I feel perfectly confident that 
the trouble with the tract of light soil that it did not 
retain but ran out into wild grasses, etc., was that 
first it was sour and second it was not mown early 
enough in June. 1 will agree to take the lightest soil— 
“blow sand”—which entirely refuses to turf over, be¬ 
ing so poor and thin that it will hardly sell at any 
price; and turf it permanently to Timothy and Red- 
top simply by judicious use of lime and the very 
tillage Prof. Phelps condemns. But the Timothy 
must be mown in early June—as soon as it begins to 
blossom, or the little bulbs if permitted to mature seed, 
will surely die, and the meadow “run out.” 
Finally, there is no such thing as burning the humus 
by Summer fallowing. Such portions of turf as, by 
exposure, arc dried, cannot decompose, hut are pre¬ 
served by the drying just as a dried apple is; while 
such portions underneath as are moist merely decom¬ 
pose. A severe rain may carry some of the nitrogen 
excess freed into the subsoil, but the capillary action 
reversing the process a day or two later will bring it 
all back. The only way nitrates can escape upward 
from the soil is in the various forms of ammonium 
carbonates, which for their production demand ex¬ 
cessive moisture and beat at the same time; coincident 
conditions impossible in Summer fallowing where a 
good system of draining and tillage is followed. In 
short, there is no such thing as waste of humus from 
Summer fallowing, and no such thing as the running 
out of Timothy and Red-top on sweet land well fed 
and frequently mown. david stone kki.sey. 
Connecticut. _ 
UNOCCUPIED NEW ENGLAND LANDS. 
In the run between New York and Iloston the train 
goes through miles und miles easily a hundred miles of 
reasonably good farm land enclosed by substantial stone 
walls, representing an immense amount of labor, which 
is not only not being cultivated, but Is being permitted to 
revert to primitive conditions, to grow up with wild 
shrubbery and practically valueless trees. This land Is 
within a few miles of large manufacturing towns or cities, 
where farm produce of all sorts is badly needed. There 
is something wrong somewhere. Where and what Is the 
trouble? j. 
The above inquiry is a perfectly natural one, but the 
answer is easy. Those neglected fields are not under 
cultivation because it does not pay. Were it a good 
business proposition they would soon he cleaned up 
and made to yield crops. In my neighborhood 'thou¬ 
sands of acres of this apparently waste land is owned 
by brass manufacturing concerns that use immense 
quantities of chestnut for furnace work. They claim 
that it pays them to hold the land for the wood that 
it grows. They certainly do not seem disposed to sell 
it at current prices after cutting olT the wood. In my 
boyhood days this land was largely used for pasturing 
cattle and sheep. Dogs and beef trusts have killed 
both those industries. However, the balance is being 
gradually restored. Men of means who are looking 
for Summer homes are buying up large tracts of this 
apparently waste land, and converting it into charm¬ 
ing estates, hut of course at great expense. Immi¬ 
grants, especially the Polish people, are also gradually 
getting control of much of this land, and they are 
Converting it into tillable land, apparently with some 
success. In the Farmington Valley corporations with 
abundant capital are cleaning up large tracts for to¬ 
bacco farms. 
The nearness to large manufacturing towns where 
the people must lie fed inevitably suggests the idea 
that the utilization of these waste fields is an economic 
necessity, and therefore presents a profitable business 
opportunity. Farmers who make a business of cater¬ 
ing to the markets of the manufacturing towns find a 
strong competition and an abundant supply of all prod¬ 
ucts that certainly docs not suggest the need of more 
competition to them. Raising fruit and vegetables in 
close proximity to the large towns is a business con¬ 
ducted on very close margins of profit, if there is not 
a direct loss. While the demand is usually good prices 
to the producer are very close to cost of production. It 
must he remembered that in these days of rapid trans¬ 
portation and refrigerator cars the South and West 
very largely supply these markets and at prices the 
home farmer cannot meet. Perhaps the most serious 
handicap to the restoration of these lands to fertility 
is the cost of labor. The really efficient kind is only 
to be had by capitalists. In my own case 1 recently 
had an acre of nice meadow land plowed and harrowed. 
It was an easy day’s work. It cost me $16.50. My 
plans to clean up a lot of brush land died when 1 
received that hill. 1 have watched this retrogression 
of once tilled fields to a state of nature for years. The 
pendulum has apparently begun to swing back again 
and it will swing about in proportion to the profit to 
be made in the change. I believe that in many cases 
where the owner can do or superintend his own work 
changing brush lands to cornfields is an excellent busi¬ 
ness proposition. 1 hope to be able personally to prove 
this statement, for it is my belief that corn growing in 
Connecticut affords a real opportunity at present prices. 
WAI.I.ACE H. MILLER. 
