66 
T-'lliC KUKAL NEVV-YORKEK 
insurance, ;/when growth starts in the Spring, I top- 
dress with 100 to 200 pounds nitrate of soda, pre¬ 
ferring nitrogen in this form, as it practically as¬ 
sures a good cutting of hay regardless of the sea¬ 
son. I have described our practice in any land in¬ 
tended for grass; were I to pick my land, I would 
naturally select well-drained bottoms, with south¬ 
ern or eastern exposure, and seed nad fertilize 
heavily. I experimented on about two acres of such 
land a year ago, and took off about 3 y 2 tons of baled 
hay in the first cutting, and now have a sod that 
looks good for four or five tons per acre when cut 
again. I went to extremes in this instance, sowing 
120 pounds Timothy and nearly a bushel of Red- 
top ; am not yet ready to confess that I sowed too 
heavily. I do not think I would care to sow grass 
on a heavy growth recently turned under; would 
rather lime it and sow small grains. I would, how¬ 
ever, like to turn under a heavy crop .(Crimson 
clover preferred) in May, and sow to grass or Al¬ 
falfa in late August, after the most perfect tillage 
during the intervening months. This would be ideal. 
In broadcasting fertilizer, nitrate of soda, lime¬ 
stone, etc., my lime and fertilizer sower is invalu¬ 
able. We qan spread nitrate of soda satisfactorily 
down to as little as 50 pounds per acre. To illus¬ 
trate its accuracy, I set aside 124 bags of basic 
slag for a field of 31 acres, and it worked out ex¬ 
actly. In broadcasting seed we either mix ami sow 
with the fertilizer, or use a low-priced machine, 
which works accurately in the heavy sowing we 
make. We pay no attention to gauges, etc., but try 
out our machines on known acreage and ascertain 
just what it will sow of the various fertilizers, etc. 
As intimated in my former letter, my practical ex¬ 
perience is limited to three seasons, and I am only 
just beginning to find out what can be accomplished. 
While I took a short cut to success by generous 
use of seed and fertilizer, I doubt if so much fertil¬ 
izer, in one application, is necessary. Half the 
quantity might produce substantially the same re¬ 
sults. I have felt, however, that I could better 
r 
afford the more liberal application in view of the 
fact that basic slag is soluble in water and does 
not leach out of the soil, but remains until taken 
up as plant food. I use no caustic lime, nor acid 
fertilizer; it costs so much to put humus into the 
soil, I am not willing to lose any portion of it save 
in the development of plant life. In short, I am 
trying to increase production, and at the same time 
improve my land, and in this I am succeeding. 
Albemarle Co., Ya. edwin eable. 
PRINCIPLES OF ICE-HOUSE BUILDING. 
The details of construction of a building to store 
ice in are not agreed upon by all.experts Tile main 
principles involved,- however, are few and may be 
•Jjriefly stated. The object of the whole structure is 
to keep the ice as long as possible with the least 
waste. This may be accomplished only if the ice 
is thoroughly insulated from the effect of the warm 
outside air, the heat of the sun and the radiation 
from the earth. The first two are almost always 
well provided for, but in most small icehouses the 
latter is not equally well taken care of. The first 
icehouses were merely pits dug into the earth in a 
sheltered spot, lined in some way, perhaps with 
stone or mortar, and covered over with a roof and 
a thick layer of leaves, grass or brush. This is 
still sometimes used where a small .supply only is 
wanted. If ice is not obtainable, snow is thus kept 
for awhile. From this poor make-shift up to the 
best kind of a storage plant with solid stone founda¬ 
tions extending below the frost line and projecting 
a few feet above the ground, on top of which a 
double-walled building is built of matched boards, 
there are many grades of buildings. In every case 
double walls are essential, and for good insulation, 
the walls must be airtight This may be accom¬ 
plished by using matched boards, by covering with 
tar paper on the air-space side, by shingling, clap¬ 
boarding or by caulking the cracks with any con¬ 
venient substance. The purpose of these walls is to 
surround the building by a layer of dry, dead air, 
for such air is the best insulator there is. Some¬ 
times the air space is filled with sawdust, excelsior, 
paper, wool, or some similar substance, in the be¬ 
lief that it is a good insulator. The only purpose 
served by such fillings is to keep the air dead, that 
is, keep it from circulating. These substances axe 
all more or less conducting themselves, but they re¬ 
tain the air in their poies and in the spaces between 
the particle?, and this air held stationary is the 
insulator. If the walls are really airtight, and there 
can be no circulation, there is no need whatever for 
the filling material and. in fact, it would be a de¬ 
cided detriment. If the walls are not perfectly air¬ 
tight. the filling material—usually hay, straw, or 
sawdust, or dry moss—is very necessary. It is best, 
in all cases, to have horizontal partitions in the dead 
air space every four feet or so up, so as to cut off 
any circulation due to the hot air rising and the 
cold air dropping. Vertical partitions will be formed 
by the upright joists which support the walls. These 
partitions should be of as thin wood as can be han¬ 
dled, or may even be of tari’ed paper folded and 
tacked on each wall. The partitions at the joists may 
be made in the same way. Suppose an eight-inch air 
space is decided upon and you want to use 2x3 inch 
stock. There will be a two-inch space between the 
joists, if you put them side to side. While all this 
sounds like unnecessary trouble, and it seems like a 
long job. still after you get at it you will find it a 
simple matter, and far more satisfactory than any 
other way you could handle the work. Of course, the 
lower end and the' upper end of the air space will 
be tightly closed with boarding. So much for the 
side walls. 
The roof should be doubled and. in my opinion, 
the very best way to build it is as follows: Right 
on the four walls build a single thickness flat roof 
covered with tarred paper. Then over this build a 
hip roof and let it project over the side walls con¬ 
siderably on each side. I would shingle this. Some 
provision must be made to ventilate the space over 
the ice and beneath the flat roof. To do this, I 
would cut small doorways through the north and 
west sides up as near the roof as possible and near 
the northeast corner and the southwest corner of 
the icehouse, respectively. Perhaps these openings 
would be a foot and a half high and two feet wide 
for a small icehouse. The openings must be sided 
like a window so as not to disturb the air space, 
and the doors to close them may desirably be double, 
walled. If desired, one of these openings may be 
made somewhat larger to be used as an entrance 
for inspection of the top dressing of the ice and the 
removal of such ice as is needed. 
The foundation of an icehouse should be of stone, 
brick or concrete, extending well down into the 
ground below the frost line. It is not genei’ally 
built so. The common plan is to use the same sort 
of foundation as the rest of the farm buildings— 
a layer of stone on top of the ground. In this case 
there are a number of ways the floor can be fixed. 
First, a ditch should be dug in the floor six inches 
deep and with side branches covering the whole 
floor. The center ditch should, of course, be sloped 
to carry off the waste water. The whole floor, 
ditches and all, should then have a layer of broken 
stone placed on it a foot deep over which a layer 
of straw may be placed, followed by a thin layer 
of ashes in which are laid the supporting beams for 
the board floor, if the house is large enough to re- 
(Hiii’e them. If not, the floor boards may be laid 
right on top of the ashes. In any case, the ashes 
should come up to the floor boards, and the latter 
should be laid with small cracks so that the waste 
water can go through. If a board floor is not desired, 
put a layer of sawdust on top of the ashes and pack 
the ice on that. It might also be desk-able to have 
a tightly closing trap door in the roof of the house 
and a similar one, not directly beneath, in the flat 
roof. Then in case of bad steaming of the ice more 
decided ventilation may be obtained and, in case it 
is needed, the space between x-oofs may be utilized 
for storage of tools or sawdust. 
The ice should be stored during freezing weather 
so that it will be dry when packed, and not fieeze 
all together in the house. The packing i-equires 
great care and timfe. It is much better to pack as 
much as you need and have it keep well than to 
pack all you can get hold of and lose half of it from 
poor handling. I believe that all handling of the ice 
and inspection should be made from the top, and 
that no dooi-s should be opened at the bottom of the 
walls. Then there will not be a constant circulation 
of warm air through the mass when the house is 
entered. If you use a lower door when packing, 
this door should afterwards be stopped up from the 
inside with sawdust. The cakes should be packed 
with broken joints, so as to prevent circulation of 
air in the house, and each cake should be aix inch 
and a half from its neighbors on evei-y side. No 
broken cakes nor small pieces of ice should be ad¬ 
mitted to the house, and as little trimming should 
be done to the cakes as possible. Over the top of 
the ice should be a 12-inch layer of sawdust Some 
icemen believe that if this layer is divided into 
two six-inch layers separated by a thick layer of 
paper, the wasting is less. Around the sides of the 
ice and within the walls it is quite common to pack 
sawdust, filling a space of from four to six inches. 
It is a question whether it is best to do that or to 
pack up close to the walls, leaving perhaps an inch 
and having every fourth tier of cakes touching the 
walls so as to retard circulation. A discussion of 
January 17, 
this by the readers would be helpful, no doubt, as 
would also be some experiences as to whether it is 
worth while to pack the first tier on edge in place of 
fiat like the other tiers, the supposed advantage 
being that as the ice wastes edgewise, it wastes less 
weight during any fixed time. Personally, I have 
not found it so, for although each cake wastes less, 
there are more cakes on the lower layer when 
packed edgewise. e. p. c. 
FARMING FOR FURS 
During the past year we have received many 
questions like this from Sullivan Co., N. Y.: 
I have a tract of laud which seems suitable for fin- 
farming. I thought of ditching around it and building 
below ground a strong wall of stone and concrete, with 
a tight wire fence above ground. Inside this enclosure 
I would like to breed minks or skunks. Is such an idea 
practicable ? 
We have known many skunk farms to start, run 
for a while and fail. The trouble usually comes 
through a disease which breaks out among the 
skunks. On reference to the Bui-eau of Biological 
Survey at Washington, we received the following: 
“The growing scarcity of fur animals throughout 
the I nited States, and the consequent high prices, 
has led a great many pei\sons to consider the feasi¬ 
bility of producing furs with animals in captivity. 
The subject is one of considerable importance, as the 
American people are facing a condition in which 
the supply of furs is entirely inadequate to the de¬ 
mands. The interest is widespread, and so far as 
fox farming is concerned, a considerable measure 
of success has been attained. In Prince Edward 
Island at the present time the capital invested in 
this industry is about ten million dollars, and the 
assessed valuation of foxes in captivity is but little 
less than this sum. The companies last year de¬ 
clared dividends of from 40 to 900 per cent, on their 
capital stock. 
“The fur of the fox is much inferior in wearing 
quality to that of the mink and skunk, and if these 
two animals can be reared successfully at a pi-ofit, 
there is an opening for a very important industry. 
The Biological Survey, during the last few months, 
has had sevex-al hundred inquiries from people who 
are contemplating engaging in this business. We 
know of over a hundred who are making expei'i- 
ments with the skunk and probably half as many 
who are trying to raise minks. Several are also 
making experiments with muskrats. Some have 
been pretty successful, while others have failed. 
There are 13 licensed skunk farms in the State of 
New York and many others in the Middle West. 
Mr. E. T. Seton, the author and ntauralist, has 
raised about a hundred skunks at his place in Con- 
necticut. He and a number of ocher breeders re¬ 
move the scent sacs of the skunks when they are 
about a month old, and as a result the keeping of 
these animals is no more unpleasant than that of 
keeping cats or other domestic animals. 
“Under these circumstances, the Biological Survey 
considers that it is wise to encourage the produc¬ 
tion of furs in this way and we have done all 
possible to help breeders with advice when they have 
applied to us. We have also undertaken experi¬ 
ments in raising minks on our own account We 
have not been entirely sanguine as to the question 
of profits from fur farming within the United 
States, but the time is soon coming when the mar¬ 
ket value of furs will be much greater than at 
present, and should the ventures prove profitable, 
there is a good outlook for an industry of con¬ 
siderable economic importance.” d. e. lantz. 
WHAT KIND OF LIME? 
Shall I purchase burned lime or raw ground rock? 
The best farmers in this vicinity hold opposite views 
on this question. Several farmers are paying from $4 
to ,$4.20 per ton for raw ground limestone, when they 
could buy the burned lime analyzing 98 per cent, for 
$4.35 delivered at Milford. I can get the raw ground 
stone analyzing 52 per cent, oxide delivered at Milford 
for $3.70 per ton, ear lots; burned analyzing 98 per¬ 
cent. delivered for $4.35. ji n j> 
Milford, N. Y. • ■ ■ 
From our own experience we should consider the 
soil and the crop in deciding between raw limestone 
or slaked lime. On stiff clay inclined to bake hard 
in a drought we should use slaked lime and also on 
very sour soils not perfectly drained. The slaked 
lime is, we believe, usually better in such crops as 
clover, Alflafa, Timothy, garden crops—all those 
which prefer an alkaline soil, or which respond to a 
quick chemical action. We prefer the ground lime¬ 
stone on soil well filled with humus, and not particu¬ 
larly acid, and on the lighter sandy soils. The 
ground limestone seems better adapted to corn, as 
that crop, like rye. is usually capable of giving a 
good yield on slightly acid soil. In cases where 
the slaked lime is preferred, the reason is that this 
form gives a quicker and more powerful chemical 
action in the soil. 
