62 
THE RURAb NEW-YORKES 
January 10, 
FARMERS’ CLUB 
[ Every Query must be accompanied by the 
name and address of the -writer to insure 
attention. Before asking a question, please see 
whether it is not answered in our advertising 
columns. Ask only a few questions at one time. 
Put questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
Life of the Woodchuck. 
A T times The R. N.-Y. prints articles 
relating to woodchucks. Is there 
anj’thing published in relation to the 
animal in regard to life, habits, ways of 
hunting and trapping, etc.? J. F. K. 
There have been many articl s in the 
farm papers telling how to get rid of 
woodchucks but most of them tell very 
little about the habits of the animal. 
The woodchuck or ground hog is the 
largest animal of the squirrel family in 
America. It is found from Hudson Bay 
to Virginia, and west to Nebraska. It 
it not a good climber, but lives in holes 
which it digs in the ground. These holes 
may be found wherever the ground is not 
too wet, both in woods and in fields. 
Woodchucks living in the woods eat bark 
and the tops of the smaller plants. They 
sometimes cause much damage in young 
pine plantations. Strong-flavored barks 
such as pine, hemlock, sumac, e f c., seem 
to be preferred. In the fields they eat 
the tops of most of the plants they find. 
Clover and Alfalfa are much liked but 
the damage done to such crops is small 
compared to what they often do to beans 
or garden truck. A woodchuck will fol¬ 
low up and down the bean rows, eating 
the tops off just as they come through 
the ground. In a cucumber patch the 
leaves are eaten off, and the whole crop 
sometimes destroyed. Truck growers on 
muck land are not usually bothered 
much, but upland growers must fight. 
Woodchucks can be destroyed by shoot¬ 
ing or trapping, or by the use of poison¬ 
ous gases. The substances most recom¬ 
mended for this purpose are carbon bi¬ 
sulphide, gasoline, kerosene, dynamite, 
gunpowder, etc. The important things 
to do are to stop all the openings of 
the hole and liberate the gas. Gunpow¬ 
der or dynamite are exploded in the hole 
after the opening has been stopped. Car¬ 
bon bisulphide is poured on a bunch of 
cotton and pushed down into the hole. 
Gasoline or kerosene, the latter is best, 
are poured on a ball of burlap and 
burned in the hole.If gasoline is used 
be sure to light it' with a very long- 
handled torch. In any case get the hole 
closed as soon as possible. 
When killing woodchucks by the use 
of gases try to avoid killing skunks that 
may be using the holes. The food of 
skunks is almost entirely injurious in¬ 
sects, and they should be protected as 
much as possible. When one gets the 
habit of killing chickens it will come back 
to the same place night after night, and 
can be easily caught in a box trap and 
disposed of. In hunting woodchucks a 
good rifle is best, as many shots will have 
to be made at 75 to 100 yards. All that 
is necessary is to move slowly, keep good 
watch where you kpow they are likely to 
be seen, and shoot straight when in 
range. axfbed c. weed. 
Emigration to Australia; Cement Tank. 
W HAT is the reason that emigration 
does not flock to Australia as it 
does to America? 2. Would a con¬ 
crete water tank that would hold 1,000 
gallons be a success built on a platform 
20 feet high? How thick should the 
walls be and what proportion should the 
mixture be? R- a. e. 
1. Like other new countries, Australia 
owes a large part of her rapid develop¬ 
ment to immigration, the greater part 
of this having come from the mother 
country, Great Britain, where the efforts 
of that commonwealth to secure desirable 
immigrants seem to have been expended. 
The different States have made liberal 
laws for the acquirement of land with 
a view to securing desirable new comers, 
and immigrants, to the number of over 
half a million, have received direct 
State aid. It is said, however, that Aus¬ 
tralia has lost much of its attractiveness 
for Eu”opean settlers and Asiatic and 
colored immigration is discouraged by 
the States themselves. 
2. A tank five feet in diameter and 
seven feet in depth will hold 1,028 gal¬ 
lons and may be erected at any desired 
height, provided the supports are of suf¬ 
ficient strength. The walls of such a 
tank should be six inches in thickness 
and reinforced by horizontal rods of one- 
quarter inch diameter, spaced six inches 
apart in the lower one foot of the tank’s 
depth and with this space gradually and 
uniformly increased until the rods are 
12 inches apart in the upper foot. Ver¬ 
tical reinforcing rods of one-quarter inch 
diameter should also be placed at in¬ 
tervals of 36 inches. The proportions 
for such a tank should be one part ce¬ 
ment, two parts sand, and four parts 
crushed stone or gravel. M. B. D. 
Sweet Clover Questions. 
W ILL C. II. K.. Springfield, O., tell 
how much and what kind of fertil¬ 
izer, if any, he is using on Sweet 
clover seeding to give a good stand on 
poor sandy loam ; also, whether he uses 
lime and inoculation? A. J. w. 
Holyoke, Mass. 
Poor sandy loam will not require any 
special fertilization for Sweet clover, un¬ 
less it should happen to be sour, which 
condition can be detected with blue lit¬ 
mus paper and remedied by a top-dressing 
of lime. If, however, fertilizer is desired 
the ordinary barnyard manure is the best 
and should be thoroughly disintegrated 
before used. If possible, it should be 
scattered by a manure spreader; if spread 
by hand care should be taken to avoid 
large, compact masses lodging in one spot 
as Sweet clover is like Alfalfa, and will 
not allow entire exclusion of the air. 
Again, like Alfalfa, it requires lime. A 
ton of Sweet clover contains from 40 to 
50 pounds of lime, which is about six 
times as much as found in a ton of Tim¬ 
othy hay. When inoculation is desired 
it can be obtained from soil in an old 
Alfalfa field, or along the road where 
Sweet clover grows. If Sweet clover is 
growing along the roadside, very likely 
inoculation will not be necessary. In¬ 
stead of applying the inoculated soil to 
the surface it can be placed in a vessel 
of water, adding enough glue to make the 
water just slightly adhesive; that is, so 
you can barely detect the stickiness with 
the fingers. Pour this wat r over the 
seed, then let it drain off and dry seed 
before sowing. Be very careful not to 
have the water too sticky. Try first, 
how’ever, without inoculation. C. n. K. 
Some Recent Bulletins. 
T O mere man the bulletin “Making 
Cake—Part 1,” from the State Col¬ 
lege of Agriculture at Ithaca. N. Y., 
has the appearance of an exceedingly use¬ 
ful treatise. As Part II is probably eat¬ 
ing the cake, this will be awaited with 
anticipation by father and the children. 
Meanwhile, many housekeepers, young 
and old, will find the discussion of prin¬ 
ciples and helpful directions interesting, 
as at least supplementing the “jedge- 
ment” that they are in the habit of using. 
Bulletin 156 from the Experiment Sta¬ 
tion at Amherst, Mass., is a well illus¬ 
trated treatise on “Electrical Injuries to 
Trees,” dealing with the effects of direct 
and alternating currents, lightning and 
earth discharges, and methods of pre¬ 
venting injuries to trees from wires. 
The life history, habits and methods 
of control of the Marguerite fly in green¬ 
houses are given detailed and apparently 
scholarly treatment in Bulletin 157 from 
the Amherst Station. This bulletin, too, 
is well illustrated. 
“The Relations Between Yields and 
Prices,” by Director Davenport of the 
Agricultural Experiment Station at Ur- 
bana, Ill., issued as Circular 177, is an 
interesting discussion of that subject in¬ 
tended to correct some prevailing miscon¬ 
ceptions. It should be studied by the 
numerous urban advisers of farmers and 
carefully read by those farmers who ap¬ 
preciate the fact that “intensive agricul¬ 
ture” by no means always pays but are 
at loss to explain why. m. b. d. 
Limestone Clubs. —A new business 
w r hich is being quite rapidly organized is 
that of forming limestone clubs. The 
plan is for half a dozen farmers, more 
or less, to combine and buy a stone 
crusher, capable of grinding limestone, 
or of breaking up the softer kinds of rock 
for road-making. These clubs are gen¬ 
erally co-operative affairs, and are con¬ 
ducted somewhat on the principle of com¬ 
munity thrashing or w’ood sawing. The 
crusher is either moved about from farm 
to farm, or is located at some central 
point where a fair quality of lime rock 
may be found. This lime is crushed rea¬ 
sonably fine and distributed as needed 
upon the farm. In other cases the crush¬ 
er is owned by one or tw’o persons and 
sent around through the neighborhood on 
much the same principle as a thrasher or 
a buzz saw. Some of these clubs have 
been organized and appear to be doing a 
good business supplying ground lime¬ 
stone cheaply to the local farmers. In 
Ohio for example the use of lime and 
limestone is increasing wonderfully all 
over the State. An outfit for crushing 
the limestone has been established at the 
State prison. Under the Ohio laws, how¬ 
ever, the prison authorities will not be 
allowed to sell the limestone direct to the 
farmers. It will be used, however, at the 
various State and county institutions, 
and in this way form the basis for some 
very interesting experiments. In Illinois 
we understand this crushed limestone is 
prepared by convicts, and sold at from 
60 cents to ifl a ton to farmers in Illinois. 
The railroads, too, carry the limestone 
at a reduced freight rate. 
is the title of our 1915 catalooue—the most beautiful and complete horticultural 
publication of the day—really a book of 204 panes. 8 colored plates and 1,000 photo 
engravings, showing actual results uithout exaggeration. It is a mine of informa¬ 
tion of everything in Gardening, either for pleasure or profit, and embodies the re¬ 
sults of over sixty-eight years of practical experience. To give this catalogue the 
largest possible distribution we make the following liberal offer: 
Every Empty Envelope 
Counts As Cash 
To every one who will state where this advertisement was seen and who en¬ 
closes Ten Cents we will mail the catalogue 
And Also Send Free of Charge 
Onr Famous 50-Cent “HENDERSON” COLLECTION OF SEEDS 
containing one packet each of Ponderosa Tomalo, Big Boston Lettuce, White Tipped Scarlet Radiih, 
Henderson's Invincible Asters, Mammoth Butterfly Pansies and Eehford Giant Flowering Sweet Peas, in a 
coupon envelope, which, when emptied and returned, will be accepted as a 25-centcash 
payment on any order amounting to SI.OS and upward. With the Henderson Collection 
will be sent complete cultural directions together with the Henderson Garden plans. 
DIBBLES CATALOGUE 
the leading strictly Farm Seed Book of the year, copiously illus¬ 
trated with photo engravings describing accurately and truth¬ 
fully all that is best in Farm Seeds, is now ready for distribution 
D. B. Brand Alfalfa, Clover and Timothy Seed 
aoove 99.50 pure, the highest grade obtainable. 
Dibble’s Famous Heavy-weight Oats 
weighing 45 lb. per measured bushel. Bright, olean, 
thin hulled, enormously productive. 
Dibble s Pedigree Seed Corn tion r ?ls e tfa r b“l n e a ' 
95%. Five kinds, both Flint and Dent, the best 
varieties for crop or silo for the Northeastern States. 
Dibble’s Seed Potatoes, S22XSS2S.SZZ.? 
dard kinds and a new one worth while. Our prices are low for such high-grade 
Seeds as we ship direct from onr 1,600-acre Seed Farms to yours. 
Catalog and ten sample packages of Dibbles Farm Seeds for testing FREE 
Beedguerlers far Farm Seeds. Address, EDWARD F, DIBBLE SEE0GR0WER, Box B, Honeoye Falls, IF. T. 
DreerS 1915 
Garden Book 
A NSWERS all the gardening 
questiom you want to ask, 
about flowers and vegetables. 
All the worthy novelties 
and standard varieties. 
The best aid to successful garden¬ 
ing. Cultural notes by experts. 
8 beautiful color and duetene plates. 
Over 1,000 ether illustrations. 
Roses, Dahlias, Gladiolus, etc., 
are strongly featured. Special 
strains of veg>“ables and 
flowers that can 
be depended 
upon as the 
very best. 
Mailed free if 
you mrn/ion’this 
publication. 
Henry A. 
Dreer, 
714-716 Chestnut Street 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
Gregorys Vegetables 
at the STATE FAIR 
will win by growing these sorts: 
largo packets choicest -g _ , 
seeds postpaid for . . . I I EC/ 
Gregory’s Improved 
Crosby Beet; LucullusSwlnaChard 
for Greens; Sugar Loaf Lettuce, a 
dandy: Extra Early Scarlet Globe 
liadlsh; Gregory’s VictorSquash 
Fine Catalog Free 
Describes the very best reliable 
sorts of vegetables, field and 
flower seeds. Illustrated with 
“true-to-nature" pictures. 
Giveshonestprices for honest 
seeds. Write for copy today. 
J. J. H. Gregory & Son 
236 Elm St, Marblehead, Mass. 
PURE FIELD SEEDS 
('lover, Timothy, Alsike, Alfalfa and all kinds of 
PURE FIELD SEEDS direct from producer to con¬ 
sumer: free from noxious weeds. Ask for samples. 
A. C. HOYT & CO., Box R, Fostoria, O. 
Grow More OATS 
Brow the choicest procurable! Grow the oats thab 
broke all records for yield per acre and weight per 
bushel. Grow the oat that is bred especially to 
suit your soil conditions, grow 
CORN BELT OATS (Gartons No. 5) 
Of earliest maturity, with strongest straw and 
thinnest hull. The large berries carry pure white 
grain of richest quality. Write for 
FREE Samples and Illustrated Catalog 
Learn all about our 100 ft pure oats and money- 
back guarantee. Write a postcard today. 
Garton-Cooper Seed Co., Bax 123 Sugar Grove, lllinoit 
Buy grass seed early 
enough to permit 
testing for parity 
and growth. We 
allow return of un¬ 
satisfactory seed—re¬ 
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Everything for the farm—Grass Seed—Alfalfa— 
Field Peas and Beans—Potatoes—Corn—Oats. 
Fine catalog and Samples free— if you ask 
A. H, HOFFMAN , Landisville, Lane. Go., Pa. 
EEDLESS FIELD SEEDS 
We are trying with all our might to furnish ab¬ 
solutely pure, Red, Alsike, Mammoth. Alralfa, 
Timothy, Sweet Clover, and all other field seeds, 
with all blasted and immature grains removed 
Write today for free samples and Instructions 
“How to Know Good Seed.” 
O. M. SCOTT & SOX, 23 Main St., Marysville, Ohio 
I 
INSIST ON YOUR DEALER 
FURNISHING SEED OATS IN 
BAGS BEARING THIS TAG 
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A 
FROM 
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^ The*e are SELECTED STOCK from which false 
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If you plant oats to raiae oats and get the largest 
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, plants. False and light oat* unO not grow, and pin 
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BACK 
Seed Corn 
Oats. Barley, Potatoes, Altai- 
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pi nVFD CFFH - Tiny direct and save money. 
A-*-" Y CIV OCCLF p re p a y the freight. 
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BOOKS WORTH READING 
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11 Celery Culture. Beattie.50 II 
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