1910. 
I HE) RURA.E, NF.W-YOKKEW 
910 
HOUSE HEATING IN MARYLAND. 
J. (I , »s t. Michael*, Maryland .—We have 
hero, In a climate where the coldest weather 
tor two Winters was M degrees above zero, 
a house of seven rooms, and wish advice 
from W. II. Miller, of I'onneetlcut, or some 
other writer about house heating Will It 
he advisable with a hot water heater to 
have radiator on the ground floor only? 
Ans. — 1 believe the hot water system 
of heating to be ideally adapted to J. G.'s 
needs. Here in Connecticut, where the 
thermometer drops as low as 20 below 
zero at times, the heater keeps the house 
warm. In mild weather it is easily regu¬ 
lated to meet the lesser requirements. 
This is a strong point of the hot-water 
system, that it has such a wide range 
and will keep a house comfortable in 
merely chilly weather with a very little 
fuel, or can be made to do heavy duty 
in zero weather. It is entirely practical 
to put radiators on the lower floor only 
if desired. The system is flexible and 
will run with only one radiator or as 
many as wanted anywhere from first 
floor to garret. The only point is to lo¬ 
cate radiators above the heater so as to 
get a reasonable flow of water. I strong¬ 
ly recommend the sectional boilers. One 
can be bought with as few sections as 
desired, and other sections can be added 
as more radiators are wanted. It would 
be a very easy matter to heat a house of 
seven rooms with comfort and satisfac¬ 
tion. W. H, MILLER. 
FEE FOR SELLING FARMS. 
Here in Talbot Co., Md., where one 
half of the farms are bordered by navi 
gable salt water, the real estate market 
is active, the purchasers for all the water 
fronts being wealthy people from the 
cities, who are attracted by the adver 
tisements of real estate agents. The 
section as a whole is certainly not over 
rated, but individual property differs 
greatly, and as the purchaser is in nearly 
every instance inexperienced, and the 
agent a lawyer with no practical experi¬ 
ence, some dissatisfaction is created, 
and real injury done the section. Every 
lawyer is an agent, but the sales are gen¬ 
erally made through a national agency 
which advertises extensively, co-operat 
ing with a local agent, who shows the 
property. Five per cent is supposed to 
be the fee, but there is another fee to the 
local concern that varies with the owner’s 
anxiety to sell, and not always “get- 
atable,” but never less than 2 l / 2 per cent. 
w. II. B. 
Ants Around Reach 'Frees. 
V. L. V., Port Chester, Oltio. What will 
keep nuts from building under and around 
peach trees? We have lost a number of 
trees this way. The trees are cultivated 
and kept free from grubs by hoeing away 
the dirt and scraping the grubs away. We 
also spray every Spring, hut no matter how 
much the trees are cultivated the ants 
build again In the same place. 
Ans. —Wc do not know of any better 
treatment for ants than to find their 
nest and use bisulphide of carbon. 'I bis 
is done by punching a hole with a 
crowbar into the nest, pouring in a pint 
or less, according to size, of the bisul¬ 
phide, and covering .all with a blanket. 
'I he fumes thus concentrated will kill 
the ants. Spraying would do little per¬ 
manent good while the ant hills are 
open. 
Mexican Rubber Companies. 
IF. M. I’’., Wenatchee, Wash. Will you 
give us some expression ns to the merits 
of the rubber and banana business of Old 
Mexico? I,a ml agents are covering this 
country with advertisements of most glow¬ 
ing character of fortunes to be made In 
growing tropical fruits for Northern mar¬ 
kets; some people here are nibbling at their 
halt. I tell my friends to let them alone. 
What can you say for or against the 
proposition In general? 
Ans. Our opinion is that you might 
better make these agents a present of 
your money and save yourself future 
worry. We have printed several articles 
about these land schemes, and have pub¬ 
licly challenged anyone to name a pro¬ 
moter’s company that has ever made good 
on its claims. The larger the stories 
these agents tell the less stock would we 
take in their statements or enterprises. 
Our general advice is to let them alone. 
There is nothing to the scheme. 
Rain for Irrigation. 
It. ,1 f. IF., >S7. doe, hid. I have a spring 
brook running through my farm which I 
would like to liar ness for Irrigation of 
berry beds, etc. Ity going up the stream 
1,000 feet I find a natural flow at this dry 
time (which here Is exceptional I of 24 gal¬ 
lons of water per minute. , Hy damming the 
stream at this point and laying tile or pipe 
the 1,000 feet I can get a fall of 10 to 12 
feet. How large should this lead pipe he? 
What size ram should I have? How much 
water could this nun lift 2f> feet from base 
of ram, 20 feet and 40 feet? What would 
he the probable expense of ram? 
Ans. The supply of water is too small 
to make it advisable to think of using 
it for irrigation by means of a hydraulic 
ram. Twenty-four gallons per minute is 
a small enough stream if all of it could 
be available on the area to be irrigated. 
It requires 27,150 gallons of water to 
cover an acre one inch deep, and hence 
19 or 20 hours would be required of 
steady flowing at 21 gallons per minute 
to apply the equivalent of an inch of 
rain to one acre. If irrigation is con¬ 
templated, and if it is possible to do so, 
it would be much better to carry the 
whole stream by gravity to the highest 
point practicable and lay out the ground 
to be irrigated just below this level. 
F. II. KING. 
Trees for Sandy Land. 
If. F. G., Connecticut. I have an acre 
of light sandy land, not valuable for general 
farming, fan you inform me whnt kind of 
trees 1 could profitably plant on the land 
that would grow fast and he of use for 
lumber or fencing or nut bearing, also when 
and how to plant? 
Ans.— Eight sandy land is poor, and 
only certain kinds of trees will flourish 
on it. As the climate of Connecticut is 
suitable to (be White pine I would think 
this one of the host trees to plant, for it 
naturally grows on very light sandy land, 
and it makes rapid growth after the trees 
are once started. There are other ever¬ 
green trees that will do well in sandy 
land, such as the Norway spruce, but the 
common White pine is the best of all. 
No kind of nut tree can be recommended. 
•The chestnut will do fairly well in sandy 
soil, but the terrible chestnut bark dis¬ 
ease that is ravaging the whole north¬ 
western region makes it too risky to 
plant this tree. The trees should be 
planted closely, so they will make tall 
bodies. The U. S. Forest Service has 
booklets telling how to properly plant a 
young forest. h. e. van deman. 
Drying Sunflower Seed.— On page 
8117 A. M. asks for best method of cur¬ 
ing sunflower seeds. My way is to cut 
the beads oil with a foot or so of stalk 
when they are ripe, then take poultry 
netting four feet in length, two feet wide, 
small size is best, fasten each end to 
something solid, wire lying flat. Take 
hold of stalk with left hand, palm of 
right on back of head, press down and 
draw the length of wire, and sec bow 
easy and fast you will shell them. Pick 
them over a little, spread out thin where 
it is dry, stir once in a while, and they 
will not mold. w. c. p. 
Massachusetts. 
For Ivy Poisonino. Since the days of 
early childhood I have been a subject of Ivy 
poisoning, hul since coming Into a commun¬ 
ity where It grows In all Its glory and run 
llgnity I no longer dread it as before, though 
avoid It all possible. I have found a most 
reliable antidote which also grows plenti¬ 
fully hero as well as almost everywhere, 
and ns I see a reference in Tun It. N.-Y. 
to Ivy poisoning and antidotes for the 
same, am constrained to give this reliable 
one to readers. This antidote Is the va¬ 
riety of plantain, sometimes called English 
plantain. It Is of a dark green color with 
long slender-ribbed leaves, and is called by 
the people here "ripple," hut we never heard 
the name before. Apply to the inflamed 
parts the bruised leaves, after washing 
them clean, until the skin Is well glazed 
over. Two or three applications are usually 
sufficient to effect a cure, locally, and what 
Is best, as in my own ease, It Is constitu¬ 
tionally as Well. AI.KX. COLLINS. 
Adams t’o., I’a. 
This Slate Roof 
old— 
Never a Leak — 
Not One Cent for Repairs 
Mr. A. G. Barnard of Seville, Ohio, walked into the 
Cleveland office of the American Sea Green Slate Com¬ 
pany the other day expressly to say: 
“Gentlemen, thirty-five years ago, as chairman of the board of 
trustees <>f our church at Seville, I got the board to put a roof of your 
slate on the church. That roof today is in tip-top shape—just as fine 
condition as the day it was laid—and I am delighted to tell you that 
m all this thirty-five years it has never had a leak and hasn’t needed 
one penny s worth of repair. I just wanted to congratulate you on 
selling such a satisfactory roof.’’ 
But Mr. Barnard is only one of hundreds. 
Eveiy owner of a slate roof who has watched his roof outwear 
two, or three, or halt a dozen times the shingle, the tin, the iron, cop¬ 
per or composition roofs of his neighbors is just as enthusiastic about 
nature s best roofing the roofing that never wears out—Sea Green 
or Purple Slate. 
Here is what other slate-roof owners have to say of 
Sea Green or Purple 
Roofing State 
The following letters—all written from 
the town of Wilmot, Ohio, prove the 
economy of using slate for roofs: 
Thirty-four years ago this summer I 
roofed my house with American Sea 
Green Slate It has never leaked since 
and I never puid out anything for re¬ 
pairs There Is nothing equal to such 
a roof for durability and service.— Uriah 
Meeae. 
Tills is to certify that the undersigned 
had personal knowledge of placing an 
American Sea Green Slate roof upon a 
building of his grandfather, Gabriel Put¬ 
nam, in the year 1877, and also one upon 
the dwelling of his father in the same 
year. Said roofs arc today intact, just 
as the day they were laid, never having 
cost one cent for repairs. IK. O. Putnavi. 
Twenty years ago the building occu¬ 
pied by the Farmer’s Bank was covered 
with American Sea Green Slate. It has 
given very satisfactory service, lias never 
leaked, and has never needed any repair¬ 
ing. I can heartily recommend Amer¬ 
ican Sea Green Slate for roofing.— Jno. 
Longoneclcer, Cashier. 
In the year 1876 I placed upon my 
house an American Sea Green Slate roof 
and the roof is just the sumc as when I 
put it on, has never leaked a drop, and 
has never cost one cent for repairs.— A. 
Hurraw. 
It is thirty-three years since 1 put an 
American Sea Green Slate roof on my 
house, and it is as good as new today, 
has never leaked and lias never needed 
repairing. —Banjamin Geasaker. 
You will find Sea Green or Purple Roofing Slate the best mater¬ 
ial for all your roofs because it is solid rock, and so resists absolutely 
the action of air, water, fire, sun, and lightning. It alone is never 
affected by rot or rust, it will not crack or warp. 
A well laid roof of Sea Green or Purple Slate will cost in the be¬ 
ginning a trifle more than shingles, iron or felt, but will save you botli 
money and anxiety from the day it is laid. 
How State Outwears Other Roofs 
Soa Green or Purple Rooting Slate weurs better than 
galvanized iron—seven times better. A copper roof—-cost¬ 
ing more than slate—has only one-third tho life of a slate 
roof Slate outlives shingles seven times. Felt rooting, 
cheapest of all, has practically no life whatever. A slate 
roof will outwear a tin roof four times. 
A Sea Green or Purple Slate Roof vastly improves 
the appearance of house, school, church, barn or other 
building; it. is spark-proof, as well as waterproof; it is em¬ 
phatically the only roofing to use where drinking water is 
collected oil’ the roof, because a good slate alone of all roof¬ 
ings will not absorb the carbonic acid or other poisonous 
gases of tiio atmosphere. 
Today, before winter sets in, now is the time to put 
an. American Sea Green or Purple Slate roof on your old 
building, and end forever your roofing troubles of tho past. 
Better.still, ro’of your new building with American 
Slate--then, if you lived a century, you would find the roof 
in better condition than the building itself. 
Send for “Roofs” 
When it is time for you to put on a roof, you will 
bo interested in "Roofs”, a 1<> page book of practical and 
helpful hints that will mivc you money and guide 
you right in selecting roofing material. Let us know 
now where to send your copy by signing and mailing 
today the coupon below. 
The American Soa Green Slate Go. 
(Roofs that Never Wear Out) 
HO dark Street 9 
Granville , N. Y. 
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