©80 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
the moisture laden atmosphere resists its passage 
terrific heat is developed, and the moisture, instant¬ 
ly converted into steam, produces a sudden expan¬ 
sion of the air which, as quickly returning, pro¬ 
duces the sudden crash or long roll of thunder 
which we hear. Not all the lightning flashes which 
we see are directed toward the earth, for the black 
clouds frequently hurl their thunderbolts at each 
other. When they do, they show that the same 
electrical relation exists between them as also ex¬ 
ists between the clouds and the earth. This inter¬ 
change of electricity between clouds is productive of 
one of the most destructive forms of bolts which 
reach the earth. A low-hanging cloud charged to 
its full capacity sometimes receives a discharge from 
one above it; this releases a portion of the lower 
cloud’s electrical energy, which then drops to the 
earth with an explosive force which no human 
agency can control. From the ordinary cloud dis¬ 
charge buildings may be largely protected, but the 
terrific force and erratic course of a thunderbolt 
thus generated is such that artificial conductors 
have no control over it. 
COURSE OF ELECTRICITY.—An electric cur¬ 
rent, whatever its source, has this much in its na¬ 
ture akin to that of humans; if resisted in its course, 
it becomes heated. Permitted to flow freely through 
channels agreeable to it, no disturbance whatever 
is created, but if compelled to travel paths along 
which it must force its way a large portion of its 
energy is transformed into heat, and through the 
agency of this heat, it wreaks destruction. All 
known substances are conductors of electricity, but 
by some it is conveyed freely, while others resist its 
passage. These latter substances are termed non¬ 
conductors, and they are used to insulate or pro¬ 
tect conducting bodies from loss of the current which 
it is desired that they shall carry. Water is a bet¬ 
ter conductor than wood, so that wood, though a 
good non-conductor when dry, carries an electric cur¬ 
rent freely when its pores are filled with water. 
When a bolt of lightning strikes a branch of a liv¬ 
ing tree it follows it to the ground, quickly changing 
the sap of the tree to steam by the intense heat 
generated, and the explosive force of this steam fre¬ 
quently shatters trunk and limbs. Similarly, the air 
and moisture contained within the bricks of 1 chim¬ 
ney are rapidly expanded when struck by lightning, 
and the chimney is burst apart. Air Is a non-con¬ 
ductor, more or less of which may always be found 
between a person’s feet and the ground. If a person 
is struck by lightning, the current must traverse this 
air space, and in doing this an explosive force is 
exerted which often tears the shoes from the feet. 
POSITIONS OF DANGER.—The danger zone in a 
thunderstorm is directly beneath the storm cloud or 
a little in advance of it. Any object upon the earth’s 
surface is liable to receive a lightning flash, but tall 
objects projecting toward the sky are in greatest 
danger. People in fields should not take refuge be¬ 
neath trees, and proximity to wire fences should 
also be avoided. Such fences should be “grounded” 
by vertical wires at intervals of every few rods, cross¬ 
ing the fence wires and extending well into the 
ground. If generally observed, this precaution 
would save the lives of many cattle now killed by 
lightning flashes which travel along fence wires. 
While it is not necessary within the house to seek 
refuge beneath a feather bed during a thunderstorm, 
it is wise to keep away from stoves and fireplaces, 
for the column of heated air rising from a chimney 
furnishes a better conductor for a lightning flash 
than the colder atmosphere about it. 
LIGHTNING RODS.—The use of lightning rods 
upon buildings has markedly decreased in the last 
25 years, though it is recognized that when properly 
installed they furnish a considerable amount of pro¬ 
tection. A No. 3 or No. 4 galvanized iron wire car¬ 
ried along the ridge of a building and properly con¬ 
nected with the ground at its sides will furnish a 
large amount of protection at small cost. This wire 
should be armed with sharpened points projecting 
about 20 inches toward the sky at intervals of IS 
or 20 feet, and it should be thoroughly grounded by 
wires extending from it to terminals placed so far 
beneath the surface of the ground that they will 
always be in contact with moist earth. Galvanized 
iron has been found to be better than copper, for 
while not as good a conductor as the latter metal, 
it will dissipate the destructive energy of lightning 
with less danger from induced or side flashes which 
often set fires, or do other damage, after the main 
current has been safely disposed of. Such lightning 
rods not only take care of many direct flashes, but 
they often prevent them by furnishing a path by 
which atmospheric electricity may pass quietly into 
the ground before sufficient tension has developed to 
result in an explosion. Whether it pays to install a 
system of lightning conductors is an unsettled ques¬ 
tion. Good buildings are usually insured against 
loss from lightning, and most farmers seem to con¬ 
sider the protection of their policies sufficient. Cer¬ 
tainly, the ubiquitous “lightning rod agent” is much 
less in evidence than in former years. 
M. B. DEAN. 
SOME COVER CROP QUESTIONS. 
I HAVE a young orchard planted to late cabbage. 
When the cabbage is cut in the Fall I want to 
pasture the offal with hogs. I have been thinking 
of sowing either rye or rape at the last cultiva¬ 
tion of the cabbage to make still more green feed. 
Which will be the better the rye or the rape? Do you 
think that either might hurt the crop of growing cab¬ 
bage? s. n. 
Ohio. 
We should sow rye alone, or barley and rye to¬ 
gether, in this orchard among the cabbage. Rape 
would make a heavy growth, and give considerable 
feed for the hogs, but it would take a good deal 
from the soil while the cabbage was heading, and 
we should hardly care to sow turnips, rape or other 
plants of the same family among the cabbage. A mix¬ 
ture of half and half barley and rye, cultivated in at 
the last cultivation, will make a heavy growth through 
the Fall. The barley grows well under such condi¬ 
tions, and would be eaten off by the hogs. They 
would pasture down the rye, but some of this would 
be left to make a fair growth in Spring for plowing 
tinder. This whole question of sowing a cover crop 
in among the cabbage depends iuuch upon the sea¬ 
son, and personal judgment is required in order to 
handle it properly. In a dry season, when there is 
evidently hardly enough moisture for the cabbage 
alone, it would be a mistake to sow any cover crop 
among the cabbage. You would simply rob the cab¬ 
bage crop of moisture, and could not expect enough of 
a cover crop to make up this loss. In a moist or wet 
season, however, there will be water enough for both 
crops, and in such a case the cover crop will pay, as 
OUTFIT FOR MAKING AN EMULSION. Fig. 421. 
it would help instead of injure the cabbage crop, 
give a large amount of pasture for the hogs, and save 
the loss of nitrates from the soil. 
I have another field of four acres. It is sandy land. 
It has been in truck crops, cabbage and potatoes for 
four years. It has produced abundantly. The land 
produces too well to sow to wheat, corn, oats or clover, 
if the fertility can be kept up. During the four years 
it has had three dressings of manure and considerable 
fertilizer. If I can harvest the crops early enough this 
Fall 1 wish to sow this field to rye to plow under next 
Spring. If I cannot sow it to rye this Fall how would 
it be to sow it to cow peas early next Spring to plow 
under in June for a crop of late potatoes? I wish to 
keep up the fertility of this field without having to 
plant it to field crops. Will my plan do? s. ii. 
Ohio. 
We would sow this field to rye, even if we had to 
wait until the middle of October or later. It will 
August 8, 
be a mistake to sow cow peas early next Spring. 
The cow pea is not a Spring crop; it is a hot weather 
plant which makes its growth during the warmer 
part of the Summer. It is as tender as a bean, and 
if seeded in the early Spring it usually decays in 
the ground, and proves a failure. The crop that 
you want for early Spring seeding is the Canada 
field pea, which is a cool weather plant, and does 
well when seeded early. We should sow Canada 
Peas and oats together, as is often recommended 
for producing a fodder crop. Let this grow until the 
middle of June, or until you want to plant your late 
potatoes. Then plow this crop under and fit the 
laud. This will add a large quantity of organic mat¬ 
ter, and also some nitrogen from the Canada field 
peas. For potato growing it will be necessary to 
use some fertilizer in addition to the cover crops. 
MAKING AN EMULSION. 
HE picture at Fig. 421, taken from Bulletin 106 
of the Tennessee Experiment Station at 
Knoxville, Tenn., shows the appliances for 
making a kerosene emulsion or similar mixture 
which requires thorough mixing or churning. As 
will be seen, there is a tin vessel 18 inches long and 
four inches in diameter, with a plunger such as is 
used on some farms in washing machines. This 
plunger has a row of holes in it and is connected 
with an iron rod so that it may be churned up and 
down through the cover. The liquid to be mixed or 
emulsified is put into the tin cylinder, and then this 
plunger is put in and churned up and down until 
the mixture is made. This bulletin contains recipes 
for making applications to animals or plants. Among 
others is the following treatment for animal para¬ 
sites such as ticks, hen lice and stable flies. This 
stuff is made by heating cottonseed oil, sulphur, 
potash and beeswax until the beeswax is melted. 
Then add three gallons of cottonseed oil or fish oil. 
Add one part of the sheep dip, dilute with six parts 
of water and thoroughly churn or mix before apply¬ 
ing the wash to cattle or horses: Cottonseed oil 
(fish oil may be substituted) one gallon; sulphur, 
one pound; carbonate of potash, one pound; concen¬ 
trated lye, three ounces; beeswax, one-half pound; 
sheep dip, one pint; water, three gallons. 
BUYING WINTER VETCH SEED. 
AM so heartily in accord with almost all you 
say to us in the columns of The R. N.-Y. that 
I am glad to have opportunity to take exception 
now and then. On page S8S, in commenting on 
F. C. D.’s experience with Winter vetch, under the 
caption “Fraud in Vetch Seed,” your last word is 
“The sure thing about vetch is to raise your own 
seed.” Right here I wish to take exception to that 
statement, and offer something that may be of 
benefit to R. N.-Y r . readers, and this from my own 
experience and observation. 
For over 10 years now we have used vetches for 
cover crop purposes, and for the past three years 
for forage purposes as well. For southwestern 
Michigan we can find no crop that does as well for 
cover crop purposes so generally as does the vetch 
crop. In seeking a source of good seed for this 
crop we were led into buying seed for friends and 
neighbors, and have handled as high as 30,000 
pounds of seed in a season. 
Now as to the comparative merits of imported 
and home-grown seed: I know nothing of the kind 
of Winter vetch seed that can be grown in the 
East. I have never seen a sample of Michigan- 
grown seed that I would change for a good sample 
of imported seed. Home-grown seed is always 
undersized, usually containing a very large per¬ 
centage of shrunken seeds as well. Several times 
we have tried home-grown seed alongside of the 
imported seed. Each time better results have fol¬ 
lowed the use of the imported seed. Here in Michi¬ 
gan our season is not right for maturing the seed 
of the vetch. We have had entire crops promise 
well without producing a single seed. It stands to 
reason that a seed below the norrnar size of that 
seed, if used continuously, will cause that crop to 
deteriorate. 
Our experience with Winter vetch leads us to 
recommend its use with other plants rather than 
alone. As a Fall and Winter cover it is not as 
useful as some other plants. For producing a large, 
quick growth of highly nitrogenous green manure 
and quickly decomposing organic matter early in 
the season, we have yet to find its equal for West¬ 
ern Michigan. A bushel of oats or barley used 
with 20 to 25 pounds of Winter vetch seed per acre 
makes as nearly an ideal combination cover and 
green manuring crop as we have been able to find. 
If we wish to use the vetches for hay we add one- 
half bushel of rye or three-quarters of a bushel of 
wheat per acre. ciias. ii. iiilton. 
