loee 
November 26, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
GAS IN WELL. 
J. 0. C., Morrislonn, Fa .—We have a 
well 25 feet deep nearly filled with gas, as 
a lighted lantern goes out when lowered 
about 10 feet. Is the water fit for drink¬ 
ing, and if not, how shall we clear well of 
gas? Water is quite low, only about 18 
inches deep, ordinarily lias between three 
and four feet. 
Ans. —It is probably carbonic acid gas, 
much like what is used to give the “fizz” 
to soda water. This gas is heavier than 
air, and will settle into wells or low 
places where there is no air drainage. It 
is sometimes found in silos in the morn¬ 
ing after a day’s filling. No one should 
go down into a well or into a tight silo 
without first lowering a lighted lantern. 
If the light goes out—keep out of the 
well. The remedy is to stir up the gas 
and mix air with it, or absorb the gas. 
A quantity of heated charcoal let down 
into the well will take up much of the 
gas. One of the best methods is a chain 
and bucket pump hung so it will splash 
in the water at the lower end. Work 
this rapidly up for a while. It will mix 
up the air and bring some of the gas out. 
A chain at the end of a rope splashed in 
the water will help, and so will a cistern 
pump, with the lower end just above the 
water. 
Partial Plowing for Young Orchards. 
C. F. R., Highland, N. Y .—I have a field 
of about 10 acres which I expect to set to 
peaches in the Spring, It has been newly 
seeded down to clover which 1 cut for the 
first time this year. It has occurred to me 
that instead of turning the clover under 
and raising corn between the trees as I 
have always done I might plow it in strips, 
say six feet wide, leaving 14 feet of clover 
between the strips. This would give me 
three feet at each side of the tree to work. 
Then next Fall turn it all under. In this 
way I could mow the clover, which is well 
seeded, and would be building up the rest 
of the field by leaving it there another 
year. I suppose that the sod might draw 
moisture from the broken ground, but I 
think I could overcome this by keeping the 
cultivators going. Is there anything about 
this scheme that seems to you impractical? 
Ans. —This plan is practical and we 
have seen it tried. Some of the Con¬ 
necticut peach growers who plant on old 
meadow or pasture land simply put in 
the trees and plow a few furrows on each 
side of the row. This plowed strip is 
kept cultivated through the season. Next 
year more furrows are plowed, until 
about the time the tree is ready to bear, 
the middles are all plowed and are ready 
for cultivating. It is figured that this 
old land will just about bring the tree 
to bearing age with this treatment and 
a little fertilizer. When the tree is old 
enough to give fruit it is given high 
feeding and culture. In our own orch¬ 
ards we have tried this plan, only plow¬ 
ing five feet on each side of the row in¬ 
stead of three. Such trees have made 
excellent growth. We have also tried 
the reverse plan of plowing the middles 
and leaving a 10-foot strip of sod along 
the tree rows. The plowing by the trees 
with good culture gives the better 
growth, but a careless hand will bark 
some of the trees. We should not hesi¬ 
tate to try the plan suggested. 
Apple Scab and Lime-Sulphur. 
D. F., Addison, Me. —Would a Fall spray 
of lime-sulpbur on McIntosh Red trees that 
produce badly-scabbed fruit in spite of three 
Ilordcaux-arscnate sprayings (one before 
buds opened, one after bloom, the last two 
weeks later) have any appreciable effect on 
next year's scab ? 
Ans. —It is difficult to see how Fall 
spraying can have any appreciable value 
against apple scab. This fungus passes 
the Winter practically entirely in the 
fallen leaves, and hence to be effective, 
any control measures during the dormant 
season must evidently be directed toward 
the leaves, either destroying them or 
otherwise preventing their becoming a 
source of infection in the Spring. By 
such means alone, we have known bad 
cases of scab to be practically eliminated 
from the orchard, during the following 
season. The difficulty mentioned in the 
inquiry is doubtless due to late infection, 
if the sprayings noted were properly 
made.' When this occurs, it can,generally 
be handled by a Bordeaux-arsenate spray, 
applied about August 1, this date being 
chosen primarily to meet the second 
brood of Codling moth at the same 
spraying. If spraying alone is relied 
upon, it is important that the exact times 
and purposes of the various sprays be 
clearly understood and the proper ma¬ 
terials used. To the- best of our knowl¬ 
edge at the present time, the essential 
facts are as follows. The first spray 
should be applied when the petals are 
showing pink and the blossoms are not 
yet open. The second may begin when 
about two-thirds of the petals have fallen 
and should be completed before the calyx 
lobes close, which occurs within about 
10 days thereafter, in most varieties. The 
third spray is applied about two weeks 
after the second. The first spray tends 
to increase the size of the crop by pre¬ 
venting loss of blossoms and young fruit 
through attacks of scab on their stalks. 
It is especially necessar"- when the 
weather preceding blossoming is damp 
and cool. The second spray is the most 
important, both for scab and Codling 
moth, so far as the fruit remaining on 
the tree is concerned. The third is main¬ 
ly a retoucher, and it also gives a good 
coating of poison on the foliage when 
the apple worms are hatching in maxi¬ 
mum numbers. 
Bordeaux and an arsenical may be sat¬ 
isfactorily used in the first and fourth 
sprays (the latter on August 1). For 
the second and third sprays apparently a 
properly diluted lime-sulphur in combina¬ 
tion with a proper arsenical is best, 
especially on varieties susceptible to rus- 
seting by Bordeaux. Some injury to the 
foliage in particular, may result from 
lime-sulphur, as well as from Bordeaux. 
And this injury is especially marked 
when the epidermis of the leaves or 
fruit has already been broken either by 
previous attacks of fungi, insects, or 
spray materials. It now seems probable 
that lime-sulphur injury is more severe 
upon broken epidermises than Bordeaux, 
though less harmful on sound ones. It 
is, therefore, more likely to do injury 
when used after scab attacks are well 
under way, or after injury has developed 
from previous application of Bordeaux. 
J. P. STEWART. 
Penn. Experiment Station. 
A STOCK JUDGING CONTEST. 
At the recent National Dairy Show in 
Chicago a great feature was made of the 
contest in judging dairy cattle by the 
students at the agricultural colleges. 
Many of our readers, particularly fruit 
growers or gardeners, may find it hard 
to understand why such judging should 
be so interesting and popular. They 
would understand why comparing fruits 
or vegetables to a standard is worth 
while, but not being live stock keepers 
they can hardly appreciate the great need 
of being able to select or judge a first- 
class animal. A few years ago the writer 
visited the Iowa Agricultural College 
shortly after a great fat live-stock show. 
Students of that college had won a num¬ 
ber of prizes in live-stock judging, and 
these students were celebrating that vic¬ 
tory with college songs, and much of the 
celebration was followed by a baseball or 
football triumph. It was an interesting 
and hopeful thing to see young men so 
thoroughly worked up and so thor¬ 
oughly interested in a purely agricultural 
contest. The very foundation of our im¬ 
proved live stock industry depends upon 
the ability to judge or pick the right 
kind of an animal for milk or for meat 
making. Prizes were offered by the 
various dairy cattle associations and 
others and judging was done with Ayr¬ 
shire, Guernsey, Holstein and Jersey 
cattle. Prizes were offered in each of 
these classes and the record of points 
was taken, the totals being added to¬ 
gether for a general team prize. Each 
team consisted of three students selected 
from the different agricultural colleges. 
The following table tells how this team 
contest came out. As will be seen the 
New York Agricultural College won first 
place, with the University of Missouri 
second. This plan of cattle judging is 
one of the most important and interest¬ 
ing things connected with modern agri¬ 
cultural education and ought to be en¬ 
couraged among students as far as pos¬ 
sible : 
TEAMS PARTICIPATING IN THE CONTEST. 
Points. 
New York State College of Agricul¬ 
ture .'.. 3290.92 
University of Missouri. 3182.94 
Nebraska Agricultural College.... 3109.94 
Iowa State College. 3109.25 
Ohio State University.. „. 2923.26 
College of Agriculture, Kentucky 
State University. 2912.26 
New Hampshire Agricultural Coll.. 2830.94 
Make a 
Water Troup 
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and clean. Build it of concrete made with 
PORTLAND 
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EDISON 
which is the strongest and most economical cement 
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greater strength or you can use l-10th less 
“Edison” Cement to get the same results as with 
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We would like to send you free of charge a book¬ 
let “ Elowto Mix and Use Concrete on the Farm.” 
Please write for it to-day. 
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801 St. James Building 
New York. 
The Standard Farquhar 
SA W MILL 
Just tell us the kind of timber you 
have and we will advise you as to the best 
FEED EQUIPMENT. Farquhar mills have 
done away with all “fussing"— and “trou¬ 
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save work—movable, easily set up—durable. 
We spent 54 years perfecting Farquhar 
mills. Now we are spending a large sum of 
money on a book that tells about FEED 
EQUIPMENTS and other saw mill and en¬ 
gine facts. These books can be had FREE. 
Just ask by postal. Now is the time to sell 
lumber—while prices are booming. 
A. B. FARQUHAR CO.. Box 304 York. P» 
Let Us Lend You a 
flew e/follciiid 
Feed Mill 
Go to our 
nearest dealer 
and borrow 
NEW HOLLAND 
Feed Mill just as you 
would of your best neigh 
bor. We’ have authorized 
him to let you try one and 
not to charge you'a cent until 
you’ve said you want to keep th< 
Mill. This is the squarest, broadest way we know of to show 
you farmers the big profits jou get from grinding your grain 
and cobs before feeding and to acquaint you with the perfV-ct- 
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To know the right way to feed grain—and to turn corn* cobs 
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I fr n poll SALE CHEAP, ill fertile 
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ALPHA 
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Send for Booklet and learn why it is the best. 
ALPHA PORTLAND CEMENT CO., 
ADDRESS 
2 Center Square, EASTON, PA. 
DON’T BUY A FARM 
UNTIL YOU HAVE SEEN CENTRAL NEW YORK 
TA/'RITE our hume office and secure an 
’’ appointment with the farm salesman, 
who will show you more farms in one day, 
from >'25 an acre upward, Ilian any sales¬ 
man in this section of the state. 
Most of these farms are situated in the 
heart of the lake country, have good t rol¬ 
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and rural delivery accommodations. 
If you are in search of profitable as well 
comfortable surroundings, you cannot find 
a more desirable location than central 
New York. 
The Tuxill Realty 6 Improvement Co., 
307-8-9 Auburn Saving's Bank Bldg., Auburn N. Y. 
G OOD HOME FARMS and money makers at reason¬ 
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NORTHERN REALTY COMPANY, Syracuse, N.Y. 
Fine 200 Acre Vermont Farm For Sale, 
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E. E. MOORE, Administrator, Ludlow, Vt. 
CORN IS KING 
AND 
HUBBARD’S “BS2E” FERTILIZERS 
ARE 
KING MAKERS 
Watch for the record of their winnings at The New England 
Corn Exposition held at Worcester, in next week’s number. 
