550 
THIS K.U RAL NEW-VOKKEK 
tirely on insects. The mocking bird is a particular 
favorite. Aside from their being the most interest¬ 
ing singers they are very useful as insect destroy¬ 
ers. Fortunately on my farm there are a good many 
families of them each year. They have never been 
troublesome as fruit destroyers, in fact I have never 
seen them partake of any other fruit than mulber¬ 
ries and wild cherries, and then not a great quantity 
of these. The robin is all right, devours many in¬ 
sects, and although fond of fruit too it seldom does 
much injury. Like most other birds it prefers mul¬ 
berries and wild cherries to other fruits. The other 
fruits are not much molested by this and several 
A Goon Iinoi)K 1sla.no Red Hen. Fig. lb-1. 
other fruit-loving birds. The robin is a pretty bird 
and a sweet singer. The redbird, catbird and brown 
thrush are all fond of fruit, but usually the good 
1 hey do as insect destroyers more than overbalances 
the loss from what fruit they eat. 
MEADOW BIRDS.—Each season until hay-mak¬ 
ing begins the grass offers cover and shelter for the 
nests of such birds as breed on the ground. The 
fields also provide food for birds, and for the in¬ 
sects on which birds feed. Where the birds of the 
field are undisturbed they tend to hold the grass 
insects in check. On the other hand when the num¬ 
bers of birds in the fields are for any reason insuffi¬ 
cient the insects increase. Without birds grass 
could not be grown successfully. The grub of a 
single species of beetle if unchecked could destroy 
all the grass roots of the meadows or any one of 
the several species of cut worms might be sufficient 
to destroy all the verdure above ground. Let us 
protect and encourage the good birds, those we 
know are our friends. o. F. taylob. 
Illinois. 
“ PUNCHER AND TONGS/* 
P RACTICE NEEDED.—Again we have a number 
of requests for an explanation of the method of 
setting plants with puncher and tongs. W T hen 
this information was first given I was a little bit in 
doubt as to whether many would have the patience 
and perseverance to make and learn to use these 
tools, if they had never seen them in actual use. It 
takes considerable practice and patience for a man 
to learn to handle them even if he has seen others 
do it with apparent ease. However, judging by the 
reports that have come in during the past two years 
there are a number who have not only learned to 
use them successfully but are, by practice, acquir¬ 
ing considerable speed. Others who have read the 
former explanations are anxious to have them re¬ 
peated so that they may study them more closely 
and have these tools ready for setting plants the 
coming Spring. 
VARIETY OF PLANTS SET.—Growers in Glou¬ 
cester County, N. J., set millions of sweet potato 
plants each year, and the puncher and tongs have 
enabled them to do the work with ease and speed. 
As near as I can learn these tools have been slowly 
evolved by the growers themselves; who in order 
to increase their plantings found it absolutely ne¬ 
cessary to have something that would make planting 
less laborious than if a trowel were used, and at 
the same time be more rapid. Practically all kinds 
of plants can be set successfully. Last year we 
set about 135,000 sweet potato plants, 25,000 straw¬ 
berries, S,000 cabbage and 4,000 tomato plants with 
these tools. The sweets were set on light, sandy 
soil, and the strawberries, cabbage and tomatoes on 
heavier soil. The greatest speed can be made with 
sweet potato plants on light soil. Plants cannot be 
set so rapidly on heavy soil, but even so the puncher 
and tongs are far ahead of the trowel for doing the 
work. 
CONSTRUCTION—The puncher and tongs can 
be made as follows: Take a piece of white pine 3% 
to four feet long, 2% inches wide, 114 inches thick, 
and dress down for puncher as shown in the illustra¬ 
tion, Fig 195. For 25 or 50 cents a blacksmith will 
put on a steel point, or rather a steel covering for the 
wooden point, and also an iron strap to hold the 
handle in place. A cloth band for the arm is run 
through a slot in the top. The tongs are simply 
two strips, each 3 y 2 feet long, one inch wide and 
one-half inch thick, made to taper at the point and 
nailed to a 5xl%xl-inch block, which keeps them 
open at the points and gives some spring. Be careful to 
have the two strips come together squarely and 
tightly at the points. The length of both puncher 
and tongs should vary in accordance with the height 
of the operator. It will be quite easy for an in¬ 
experienced person to make both puncher and tongs, 
but his first attempt at using them will not be so 
easy. At first they seem very awkward and clumsy, 
and it is quite difficult to get a plant set at all. To 
do first good work and later rapid work requires 
much patience and practice, but after once getting 
the knack it is quite easy. 
HANDLING THE TOOLS.—All operators do not 
handle these tools the same way. some prefer one, 
some another. The following is the way I like best 
myself. When setting plants walk with the row on 
your right. Use the puncher in the right hand. 
Run the right arm through the snug-fitting strap 
or cloth band at the top of the puncher and grasp 
the handle with the right hand. Take the tongs in 
the left hand. First grasp the plant at the very end 
of the , oot , between the points of the tongs; insert 
the point of the puncher where the plant is to stand, 
and turn it part way around without withdrawing 
it; then with the tongs punch the plant down be¬ 
side the point of the puncher in the opening made 
by turning it; withdrawing the puncher as tongs are 
inserted. When the plant is in as dee]) as desired, re¬ 
lease pressure on the tongs and remove them, strik¬ 
ing immediately after with the puncher a short dis¬ 
tance from the plant to pack the soil about the 
roots. In practice these movements follow each 
other in quick succession, and on clear ground plant 
*■ 
2/z/n. widexlfiin. thick 
-Cloth hard. 
I 
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1st 
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7K 
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1 V 
Puncher 
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Point covered 
with steel 
H'/z in. wide 
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X 1’A in X lin. 
Strip 
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Tonga 
Puncher Axn Tongs. Fig. 195. 
setting goes almost like clockwork. A beginner will 
find catching the plant in the tongs the most diffi¬ 
cult part of the operation, and emphasis should be 
laid on the necessity for doing it correctly. In prac¬ 
ticing he should be careful always to pick up the 
plant by the end of the root, and have it between 
the two points of the tongs clear down to their very 
end. If a plant is grasped half way up the stem it 
will be doubled up when set and have both tops and 
roots in the air, and if caught an inch or so above 
the two points of the tongs it will be hard to get 
the plant set as deeply or as accurately as desired. 
Hence the necessity for having the tongs come to¬ 
gether squarely at the points. 
RAPID WORK.—As stated in the beginning the 
puncher and tongs are used here mostly for setting 
sweet potato plants. A man with boy to drop plants 
can set 14,000 to 20,000 sweet potato plants in a 
day of 10 hours and he will not feel near as much 
like stretching himself across the ridges to get the 
“kinks” out of his back when night comes as does 
the man who sets plants all day with a trowel. 
Strawberry plants set with puncher and tongs have 
their roots crowded somewhat, but we think that 
disadvantage is more than offset by the fact that 
by the use of these implements we can get the roots 
set deeper in moist earth than if a trowel or spade 
were used. We seldom fail to secure a good stand 
of berries and never use anything but puncher and 
tongs for setting them. The most difficult plant to 
set is the tomato. It is very brittle, and the least 
twist will often snap the stem. Anyone used to the 
work can, by using a little extra care, set tomato 
plants perfectly and not break the stems. Begin¬ 
ners would do well to start with plants not so brit- 
April 10, 1915. 
tie. These tools are not, so far as I am aware, for 
sale by any seedsmen or dealers in agricultural im¬ 
plements. The ones I use were for the most part 
made by myself after the pattern described above, 
and I have no extra sets for sale. Anyone can make 
his own and once made will last a lifetime. 
TRUCKER, JR. 
DISKING THE COVER CROP. 
I am a firm believer in your rye and vetch cover- 
crop methods, and in our apple orchards and other 
fields we are using it. While at present the vetch 
is with a small letter, we hope to make it capital 
V soon. One point I have never seen discussed is this: 
The relative value of plowing vs. disking the cover 
crop in. Of course this is only in the orchard where 
no intermediate crops are used. On our land we can do 
a fair job of cultivation by disking twice or three times 
instead of plowing, and save the trouble and time of 
working close to the trees. A man and three-horse 
team can disk three acres while he could plow one, and 
as we would probably use a disk at least once after 
plowing there is not much gained in time by plowing. 
But do we lose anything in humus or otherwise? Last 
Summer I was delayed until the middle of June before 
I went on to the orchard, and the rye was all the 
way from waist to head high. This was disked I think 
twice, and dragged three times by August first. When 
I came to sow cover crop there was a good stand of rye 
there, so I saved my seed. g. w. s. 
Holland, Mich. 
W E think a discussion will show that this is gov¬ 
erned by circumstances—the kind of soil, light 
or heavy, season and condition of labor, and 
the needs of the soil. On light soils in a dry season it 
will be necessary to get the cover crop under as quick¬ 
ly as possible, and then the disk would be best. On 
a heavier soil and with moisture enough we should 
prefer, if possible, to put all the cover crop cleanly 
under ground and cover it—working the upper soil 
above this mass of organic matter. If you could 
disk and then plow the operation would be about 
right, but we do not like to leave the cover crop too 
near the surface. The cultivators tear it up and 
some nitrogen is probably lost in this way. The 
place for it is down under the ground with shallow 
working above it In Delaware we have seen cases 
where Crimson clover was plowed under with rough 
uneven furrows, so that tops of the clover were ex¬ 
posed. It matured seed and then by working with 
a harrow across the furrows this seed was scattered 
so as to give a fair seeding for the next cover crop. 
VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS FOR FARMERS. 
O N page 4G9 you have a very pertinent article 
by Trucker. Jr. While he does not infer or say 
that the young men from our agricultural col¬ 
leges are useless so far as their help is concerned on 
our truck farms, he does say that they are not 
really valuable when they can be had for their 
board. My own experience is not quite that, as 1 
have to pay them, and am glad to. I have found 
them uniformly worth fully as much as any other 
labor, but not much more. They are not vocationally 
trained, and don’t pretend to be. I would call his 
attention to the fact that Massachusetts has at least 
cne school that is training boys for just his needs, 
the Bristol County Agricultural School. They take 
boys, mostly from the cities, and without scholar¬ 
ship beyond our grammar schools, give them a good 
working schooling for four years at a really nom¬ 
inal cost for tuition, and give about half of each 
day to actual handicraft farm work. Each boy 
must know as well the chemical formulas for his 
fertilizers, and how to hoe weeds to kill them. lie 
must know by practice how to plant, plow and har- 
A Tray Or Sprouted < )ats. Fig 190. 
vest; how to pack and grade garden products, as 
well as how to milk cows and test that milk. I 
think that if Trucker, .Jr., will investigate this kind 
of a school he will be satisfied that some city peo¬ 
ple can be good “baek-to-the-landers.” He may want 
one of these vocational schools near him. I do. 1 
have no personal interest in this school, only in the 
movement that demands that kind of a school. 
Rhode Island. trucker, senior. 
