700 
Home-made Marker. 
How cm n I make a one-horse four-row marker, one 
that can be constructed quickly and cheap at home? 
Nova Scotia. P. M. N. 
WINO to the fact that most of the modern corn- 
planters are equipped with a gauge that marks 
the following row as the one before it is plant¬ 
ed. the marker has fallen into disuse as a farm 
b id. This is to he regretted. It is almost impos¬ 
sible to get a straight row wtili the planter when 
ene's mind is occupied with the dropping mechan- 
5sm as well as with guiding the horse. Much bet¬ 
ter work can be done by marking the ground pre- 
vious to planting. When planting with a one-row 
planter on well marked land the horse soon learns 
to follow the marks with little guidance. 
Aside from making a better appearance, corn 
planted in straight rows actually brings a larger 
cash return per acre. This is due principally to 
the following reasons. The cultivator can be worked 
more closely to the rows, reducing costly hand la¬ 
bor to the minimum; the rows being nearly straight 
less corn will be torn up by the cultivator and the 
harvester can do a cleaner job at cutting time. 
While the amount saved in any one of the above 
cases is small, the combined saving of the three 
makes quite an appreciable difference in the yield 
of the corn crop. 
The pictures show two different styles of mark- 
< rs that are easily and quickly made in the farm 
shop and that serve the purpose very well. The 
first. Fig. 254, is made entirely from poles. A 
straight- pole about six inches in diameter and 12 
feet long being chosen for the head, the length will 
depend upon tin* spacing of the rows. In the mark¬ 
er shown the rows are spaced 3% f<‘(‘t apart but it 
1 course, can easily be arranged for any other spac¬ 
ing. If a series of holes were bored at a distance 
f say three inches apart the whole length of the 
bead, the marker could easily be made adjustable. 
These holes should be bored with about a two-inch 
auger and fitted with curved saplings as shown to 
provide the runners for making the marks. If the 
■ nrved satilings cannot be obtained straight sticks 
will answer, although the curved sticks make a 
much steadier running marker and one that does 
better work. The runners as well as the thills 
which are also made from saplings, are held in place 
by wedges. Note the position of the wedges in the 
drawing, they should be put in in this position to 
avoid splitting the head as they might do if they 
were driven in parallel with the grain of wood. 
The second, Fig. 255, shows a marker made from 
planks and boards. Runners are cut from 2xG or 
2x8 planks and fastened together in the form of a 
v/ide sled. The marker shown is fitted to take an 
rdinary sled tongue, a team being used and the 
perator riding, securing a good deep mark. In 
placing the rod through the tongue use the nut on 
■.lie right hand side as you stand behind the marker, 
therwise the earth rubbing against the under side 
f the nut will tend to turn it off. If used on this 
c-ide the nut will be kept tight from the same cause, 
because of the length of the runners this marker 
runs very steadily and although shown as a two 
horse rig it could easily be fitted to take a pair of 
thills and be used with one horse. Two horses 
though handle it very stiffly and will cover a con¬ 
siderable portion of ground in a short time. If the 
ground upon which it is to be used is smooth and 
level it can be made wider, but if rolling some of 
The runners are likely to be held up from tin* soil 
if too wide. R - H - 8 * 
Alfalfa for Michigan Orchards. 
Have you information, or can you get it, about ad¬ 
visability of growing Alfalfa as a permanent cover crop 
in Michigan orchards—15-year-old, using the mulch 
system? Soil originally was covered with hard woods. 
I »oes Alfalfa take too much moisture away? F. w. B. 
We can undoubtedly get such information from 
nr readers. Is should he experience and not 
iheory. We have seen a number of orchards where¬ 
in Alfalfa was used as a mulch crop. Judging from 
bservation and reports it would be a mistake to 
seed Alfalfa in young orchards before they come into 
bearing, unless the entire growth is cut at least four 
limes and left on the ground. After the trees reach 
bearing age the Alfalfa serves a good purpose. We 
have one small orchard of bearing trees with an old 
seeding of Alfalfa growing about them. These trees 
do well and the Alfalfa makes a good mulch. We 
have seen orchards at Syracuse, N. Y., well seeded 
to Alfalfa. One cutting of this was left on the 
ground, the other two taken off as hay. These or¬ 
chards were in line condition. Evidently the soil 
must be right in order to make this plan pay. We 
must remember that while the Alfalfa is a thirsty 
plant it has a very long tap-root which works far 
iown into the soil and evidently draws water up 
THE KURAL NEW-YOK K 1-7 R 
from below. Thus while making a much heavier 
growth and demanding more water it may not take 
as much out of the upper soil as a surface rooted 
plant like Timothy would. 
Auto Trucks on the Farm. 
N reply to your question about the value of the 
auto truck upon the farm, the amount of evi¬ 
dence pro or con is very limited. I interviewed 
three men today, and in a general way their replies 
were favorable, with one of the three very enthusi¬ 
astic. This man is a truck farmer in addition to 
his other farm industries. He lives eight miles 
from market which lie says is no distance at all 
now, and in case of a great demand, he has made 
three trips in a day, where with a team, only one 
would be possible. lie uses the auto truck upon the 
farm for many purposes, and does some freighting 
besides. He has another car for the family, so that 
there is a car for utility, and another for pleasure. 
The other man has a large passenger car and has 
a homemade attachment by which quite a large load 
of produce may be carried. Last Fall in his section, 
fruit and the like was a drug upon tiie market, and 
while he lives 25 miles from the city market he 
carries all his produce to the city, making often dou¬ 
ble daily trips, and sold bis produce at a fair price, 
while otherwise it would have been about a total 
loss. His vote was that a farmer who had things 
to sell, could afford to own a light auto truck at 
least. 
The third man said if there were “good roads” 
the trucks would be worth their cost, but he thought 
them a “luxury”, now, hut admitted that with a 
good stout auto (passenger), a man could drag 
more plow land in a day with one, than with a 
team in three days, and if you could “turn round 
fairly well,” they would pull a nine-hoe drill in 
Sled Marker from Sawed Lumber. Fig. 255. 
great form, hut if you used phosphate, you would 
host cover tin* auto pretty well with a canvas. 
In our section the sight of the auto trucks from 
the city picking up produce of all kinds, great mov¬ 
ing vans, is very common, and almost in sight of 
my house is a regular line of freight trucks, with 
regular daily trips, and a line of express trucks, 
and I hear that within a few days, the experiment 
is to be made of running a line of passenger cars, 
over a well-populated route of 40 miles instead of 
building a trolley line. All of which shows that 
the gasoline wagon already has a place in the pro¬ 
gress of the country, and can in no other place, 
have the same beneficial influence as in the rural 
sections. john gould. 
Ohio. 
The Use of Swill as Manure. 
AM located in the part of Florida where we have 
every facility for growing crops except that our 
soil lacks humus. I am burying underground 
all the vegetable matter I can secure for that pur¬ 
pose by raising cow peas and plowing them under, 
which is effective hut slow. Now I am offered all 
lhe hotel and restaurant swill T can use for $2.50 
per ton delivered on my ground. This stuff is not 
fit to feed to pigs, because it has too much lye in 
it from the cleaning powders used, but that makes 
it all the richer in potash. Would it not he possi¬ 
May 15, 1915. 1 
ble to spread as much as 10 tons of this on an acre 
and then plow it under, with the result of produc¬ 
ing a whole lot of humus in the course of a few 
months? I have plenty of water for irrigation, so 
that I could keep the soil always moist, and the land 
is also well drained. An acre of this land when 
full of humus will produce the most abundant crops, 
and it is a pleasure and a profit to farm it, but it 
is rather slow building it up and we all desire to 
find a way to hasten the process. Any information 
lhat you or any of your readers can furnish me with 
will be most highly appreciated. r. s. howi.and. 
Florida. 
K. N.-Y.—We have had a few reports of such 
operation on rather heavy soil in the North. The 
results varied. Where too much fat or grease was 
used the soil did not respond as it should, for fats 
are not helpful as plant food. The use of lime in 
these colder soils helped overcome the effect of the 
fat, and also quickened the decay of the swill in 
the soil. We have no reports of such treatment 
on the quick soils of Florida under irrigation. We 
would like to have experience. 
Rotation for the Poultry Yard. 
Why riot, rotation here as well as on the farm? 
If, as we all agree, it pays to keep soil covered with 
a living crop there is a double reason why the chick¬ 
en yard should be carpeted, the green crop gives tin* 
hens cheap food, and it sweetens the soil, and keeps 
it in good condition. The New Jersey Experiment 
Station suggests dividing the hen run into two 
yards—call them A and B. 
Quick growing crops should be rotated in these yards, 
the birds feeding first on one and then on the other. 
The following system, worked out after much experi¬ 
mental effort, applies particularly to South Jersey con¬ 
ditions where the seasons are fairly long. 
DATE YAliD A YARD B 
March to April 50.Peas and oats.Feeding 
April 30 to May 25.... Feeding.Peas and barley 
May 25 to June 15.Dwarf Essex, Bajie... .Feeding 
June 15 to July 10.Feeding.Buckwheat and ontH 
July 10 to August 1-Buckwheat.Feeding 
August 1 to August 20 Feeding.Cow peas and millet 
August 20 to Sept. 20.. Rye. vetch and clover. .Feeding 
Sept. 20 to Dec. 1.Feeding.Rye and vetch 
In following the above system the rye and vetch seed¬ 
ed in yard B after September 20 should be* allowed to 
grow until planting time in the Spring when it will 
furnish green food for the birds until Spring planting 
crops are ready for forage. Two plowings. Spring and 
Fall, are sufficient for most soils. A cultivator will 
serve for covering the seeds when they are sown broad¬ 
cast. Birds should not be allowed to feed on these 
crops until the crops are from four to six inches tall; 
otherwise it will last hut a day or two. 
For North Jersey conditions, where the seasons are 
shorter and the soils are heavier, the following rotation 
is recommended: 
DATE YARD A YARD B 
April 1 to June 1.... Peas and oals.Feeding 
June 1 to July 15.Feeding.Buckwheat 
July 15 to Sept. 1.Soy beans.Feeding 
Sept. 1 to April 1.Feeding.Wheat and vetch 
The average cost of growing and feeding succulent 
green food by the above system at the New Jersey Sta¬ 
tion was only five cents per 100 pounds; whereas dur¬ 
ing the same period soil crops grown on outside land 
and carried to the birds cost 11 cents per 100 pounds. 
In addition to providing green food it kept the soil puri¬ 
fied and in a sanitary condition. 
Double Use of the Manure Spreader. 
N this age of “efficiency” farmers are urged to 
keep all their implements and live stock busy. 
“A short life and a merry one” seems to be the 
motto. We lift the gasoline engine off tlie sprayer 
when spraying is done and use it for pumping, saw¬ 
ing and other service. All sorts of suggestions are 
made for making implements give double service. 
The following suggestion regarding manure spread¬ 
ers is given by L. A. Moorehouse in the Farm Man¬ 
agement Monthly: 
Some of the implements which are found on almost 
every farm are used for very short periods each year. 
The length of service may not include more than three 
or four weeks. For the remaining part of the year 
such pieces either remain in the open, or they may be 
given the best of care in a first-class implement shed. 
Where they are exposed to the weather a rapid decline 
in value is the result. Investigations have proven that 
the depreciation for the manure spreader is approxi¬ 
mately 11.67 per cent, annually. Owing to the fact 
that this machine is required to carry a by-product 
which contains more or less moisture, a part of the 
depreciation is undoubtedly due to the decay of the 
wood in the framework. If this and similar pieces 
could be utilized to a greater extent they should last 
almost as long, and in doing the additional work the 
yearly charge in connection with operation could be 
met more fully or completely. Ordinarily the manure 
spreader is in use at seasons of the year when the field 
work is not demanding attention. While the harvest 
is in progress it will be found idle; hence, it is avail¬ 
able for other work. 
In districts where field roots such as mangels, sugar 
beets, or turnips are grown, the manure spreader may 
serve as a wagon in transferring the crop from the field 
to the root cellar or pit. A simple adjustment will 
enable the operator to save considerable time, as well 
as the task of unloading with the aid of a shovel. The 
cylinder or spreader is first removed from the end of 
the box and a suitable end board is set in place, the 
latter being held by an iron bar or rod. When the load 
is taken to the cellar, the end board can be lifted out 
readily and the roots may be rolled into the trap door 
merely by putting on the crank which connects with the 
apron shaft and turning by hand until the entire lot 
has been discharged. 
