THE RURAL 
NEW-YORKER 
AN APPLE CELLAR. 
I notice that C. L., Ringtown, Pa., 
wishes to build an apple house. I have 
an apple cellar or storage with a pack¬ 
ing house and storage room above for 
boxes which I built about 10 years ago; 
it has given good service so far. Size 
of cellar, width outside, 22 feet; length, 
64 feet; depth in ground six feet, three 
feet above level of ground, which gives 
me nine feet in the clear as depth of 
cellar. It is built long way, north and 
south; walls are of cement, on top of the 
walls. I have a two-story building, side 
walls 14 feet, first story eight feet. I 
store boxes, barrels and baskets in the 
upper story when not in use. If water 
i§ not too near the surface to come into 
the cellar, go down in the ground deep; 
the cellar will not freeze as quickly as 
when shallow. I have four windows in 
my cellar walls, two on each side. 
Olinda, Ontario. M. G. B. 
A BOY'S FARM PROBLEM. 
I am 15 years old and wish to be a 
farmer. We own 175 acres of land. 
There is one pasture that has not been 
used for years. It is sandy, parts are 
dry and others swampy or lumber; lot of 
spruce, pine, hemlock, etc., is to be re¬ 
moved soon. It is all run out and bushy. 
Here is where I am to get my education 
in farming. I have neither time nor 
money to go to an agricultural college. 
I wish to keep pigs, cows, sheep and ani¬ 
mals of all kinds as well as poultry. I 
like nothing better than machinery and 
I can make myself happy any time study¬ 
ing engines or machines of some kind. 
I do not know where to begin in the 
pasture. I like to study plants too, and 
do not know but what I will raise oats 
and other grain that will grow in this 
country or hay and grain, and raise a 
calf, but I cannot have milk. Could you 
help me solve this problem? a. h. w. 
Massachusetts. 
I expect you ax - e going up against a 
harder proposition than you realize. A 
poor or rundown farm is not the easiest 
thing to tackle. Just the same I would 
not discourage you from trying it. Since 
you have little or no money to invest, 
you will have to start in a very small 
way. Let us begin on that sandy pasture, 
and see what can be done. Unless it is 
really too poor, I would plow it under 
and grow it to corn this Summer. Corn 
always comes in handy as a stock feed 
as well as the fodder. I suspect this 
field has very little “life” or humus in 
it. You must find some way of getting 
humus into it This you can do by either 
manuring it or turning a green crop un¬ 
der and liming it In the South we 
would use something like cow peas or 
Crimson clover to turn under. Following 
the corn you would probably better seed 
the field to rye. This rye you can either 
plow under the Spring following or have 
your cows or a flock of sheep pasture on 
it If you cannot afford to lime it, you 
would better pasture it Again, if you 
decide the land to be too poor for corn 
this year, sow a mixture of Canada field 
peas and oats. This will make fine hay 
if cut early for either sheep or cows. 
Either turning crops under or manuring 
the field will get rid of the bare spots. 
The wet spots you may have to drain. 
You probably will have to dig a ditch 
to do this, and leave it open or build 
a stone drain. 
You want to have all kinds of stock. 
On a place like yours I would not want 
more than one or two kinds. Better 
make one pay first. If you like them, 
you can make your best start with chick¬ 
ens. You must make them your main 
business, though, and not neglect them 
because some other farm work is press- 
ing. Then maybe you can get a half 
dozen or a dozen sheep to start with. 
After you have learned how to care for 
them you can get more or save all your 
lambs. Remember that you can buy 
10 sheep or 60 chickens when you can 
buy only one cow. If that cow should 
die, you have nothing left. If one or 
two sheep die you have eight or nine 
left. You would better have only 20 
sheep and 200 hens that pay than twice 
that many on a poor farm with a good 
chance of not having enough to keep 
them. 
I see you would like to raise a calf 
without giving it its mother’s milk. It 
can be done, but you must remember that 
you have become that calf’s mother and 
must take good care of it accordingly. 
I happen to know of a very thorough test 
that was earned on with various calf 
meals and can recommend their use 
where you must either use them or lose 
your calf. Using calf meals reduced the 
cost of feeding the calf one-half or more, 
according to the method followed. Of 
course, you could make up a homemade 
feed of oatmeal gruel, hay tea, and lin¬ 
seed or blood meal, but I think you had 
best at least start with something already 
prepared for the purpose. R. B. 
SEEDING TO ALFALFA—CENTRAL N. Y. 
I have a field I am planning to seed to 
Alfalfa, and intend to use lime on it, 
also have a quantity of wood ashes I 
would like to use. Would it be advisable 
to use with the lime or would phosphate 
be better? State proportions to use. It 
was plowed last Fall. I have a piece of 
Alfalfa that does not do as well as it 
ought; seeded it two years ago, and 
when it was in blossom cut the first 
year; cut twice last year, but it grows 
short and not as well as I would like. 
Manured part with cow manure and that 
was not any better than that I did not 
manure. Do you think cutting the first 
year is all right in as cold a climate as 
this State? . E. D. 
Oneida Co., N. Y. 
As early in the Spring as the ground 
is dry enough to work peiTeetly, this 
field should be thoroughly worked and 
made fine and compact as deep as it was 
plowed. The cutaway harrow, spring- 
tooth, smoothing harrow and roller or 
plank drag, by repeated application, will 
accomplish this. Towards the last of 
this fitting apply the lime and 500 pounds 
per acre of acid phosphato. The wood 
ashes would be of no especial benefit. 
They contain about 1*4% phosphoric 
acid, which is not available, and about 
4% of potash which is of no benefit on 
soil in your locality. They contain about 
one-third as much calcium oxide as the 
land lime, and are worth about one-third 
as much per ton as the. lime, in cases 
where the land needs liming. In ordin¬ 
ary years this field could be fitted about 
May 1 and should be left fine and smooth 
on the surface. Keep out of the field 
for 10 or 12 days, so that all the weed 
seeds that have been brought near enough 
the surface to germinate will do so. 
Then wait for a rain and afte- the rain, 
when the ground is dry enough to drag, 
sow the seed, BO pounds per acre, one- 
half in each direction, and drag both 
ways with some tool that cannot go more 
than one inch deep, the object being to 
cover the seed to kill the weeds already 
started and to avoid bringing up any 
fresh weed seed from below to grow with 
the Alfalfa. That is, raise the weeds 
first and then raise the Alfalfa. Finish 
the field with a roller if dry enough, or 
with a plank drag if not perfectly dry. 
When the Alfalfa is two inches high, sow 
broadcast, on a dry day, 100 to 200 
pounds per acre of finely pulverized ni¬ 
trate of soda. If pure northwestern 
grown seed, from Idaho or Montana, is 
used, in 10 weeks after sowing it ought 
to cut 1*4 tons per acre, and seven weeks 
later another crop of about the same size, 
both of clean Alfalfa free from weeds, 
and it will stand 12 to 15 inches high 
when Winter sets in. 
My experience has been that a top- 
Mareh 21, 
dressing of stable manure, six or eight 
loads per acre, when the ground is 
frozen in the early Winter of any year, 
and especially the first, both decreases 
the danger of Winter-killing and greatly 
increases the growth of Alfalfa the fol¬ 
lowing year. After a couple of years, 
when the Alfalfa is firmly rooted, it 
should be dragged occasionally to keep 
out grass and weeds and stimulate the 
Alfalfa. This may be done in the early 
Spring, when the ground is dry and be¬ 
fore growth begins or after mowing. Al¬ 
most any kind of a tool will do, but 
there is an Alfalfa cultivator made for 
this purpose, which is a spring-tooth 
drag with narrow diamond-shaped points. 
I should advise the application of at 
least 500 pounds per acre of acid phos¬ 
phate sown broadcast and dragging the 
ground with a spring-tooth or smoothing 
harrow (teeth set nearly straight) early 
in the Spring when the ground is dry 
and before growth starts very much. 
Then soon after the growth starts, sow 
on a dry day 200 pounds of finely pul¬ 
verized nitrate of soda. I am surprised 
that the application of cow manure to a 
part of the field did not improve it, as 
I have always found a light top-dressing 
of manure in the Winter greatly benefi¬ 
cial. It should be cut once or twice 
the first year. I am located in New 
York State about 100 miles exactly west 
from the inquirer and I have frequently 
cut 2 % tons per acre in two cuttings the 
first year, and four to six tons each suc¬ 
ceeding year. harry g. ciiapin. 
r 
E. Frank Coe Fertilizers 
% 
1857 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS’ STANDARD 
FOR OVER FIFTY-FIVE YEARS 
1914 
RAISE CORN AT 12c A BUSHEL 
This is what Mr. L. S. White 
of Connecticut did in TheCoe- 
Mortimer $500.00 Corn 
Contest in 1911. 
You remember that the com¬ 
petition was for the most pro¬ 
fitable acre of corn raised 
in New England. 
You probably remember also that 
The Coe-Mortimer Company 
had nothing to do with the judging or 
with the awarding of the prize. This 
was all done by a disinterested com¬ 
mittee from the Massachusetts Corn Show, 
and the records were approved by The 
Director of The Connecticut Agricultural 
Experiment Station. 
E. FRANK COE FERTILIZERS will help 
you to equal this record. Perhaps you 
can beat it. 
It cost Mr. White just $42.- 
50 to raise his corn. (Offi¬ 
cial figures.) 
The committee valued the 
7733.9 pounds of stover pro¬ 
duced at $8.00 per ton, 
amounting to $30.93. 
The difference between $42.- 
50 and $30.93 is $11.57; 
and this is what it cost Mr. White 
for the 97.9 bushels of shelled corn 
(12% moisture) raised on his acre. 
(Official figures.) 
Figure it out for yourself: 97.9 
bushels of shelled com cost $ I 1.5 7—one 
bushel cost 1 1 io cents; or in round numbers 
12 cents per bushel. 
If“ superior goods and superior se 
interest you, write to us promptly. 
service 
$1,000.00 Prize Cup for Best Corn Raised in the United States. Won 
at the New York Land Show, 1911, by Mr. Wm. H. Dorin of Virginia, a 
user of Coe-Mortimer Fertilizers. 
THE COE-MORTIMER COMPANY 
V 
51 CHAMBERS STREET 
NEW YORK CITY 
J 
