894 
THE RURAL) NEW-YORKER 
July 10, 1915. 
General Farm Topics 
_ -r»l 
Cover Crop in Ccn. 
I have about lVi acre, generally loam, 
which five or six years ago was planted 
to corn and left to grow up as it would 
after the corn was taken off. It is in an 
old orchard, but few trees remaining. 
Last year I sawed oats and Canada peas, 
which I cut for hay, then sowed buck¬ 
wheat and plowed under in September 
and sowed rye, which I plowed under 
this Spring and have planted corn. I 
put on 1,000 pounds ground limestone 
and covered the piece thinly with hen 
manure. The soil is light and sour. The 
corn is looking very well now. What 
will be the best cover cron 1 can use, 
sowing at last cultivation of corn? Will 
probably plant corn on tlr piece next 
season. a. c. L. 
East Greenwich, R. l. 
Rye should usually be made the 
foundation foi :cvc7 crops in New Eng¬ 
land. The rye is sure to crow, am. veil 
should the other seeds be killed out ", 
will give a fair crop for turning under. 
The other seeds should usually be deter- 
m-- d by local experience, but judging 
ircm cur own results in Northern New 
Jersey, we would advise for each acre 
three pecks of rye, two pounds of 
Cow-horn turnip seed, and 15 pounds of 
Hairy vetch (if you are sure you can 
get the true variety). The vetch seed 
must be inoculated in order to give any¬ 
thing like a sure thing in the way of 
crops. We should scaAtto this seed even¬ 
ly over the ground, just before the last 
cultivation, and work it in with the cul¬ 
tivator. 
Working Into a Flower Business. 
I was interested in W. F. M.’s com¬ 
munication that appeared on page 739, in 
answer to the query whether to buy a 
farm or bonds. My case is somewhat sim¬ 
ilar. i am married and have my home 
and work in Philadelphia, 20 miles away. 
Here I have an acre of land in this vil¬ 
lage on which I built a house, and my 
hope and plan is to get away from the 
city at the earliest possible moment, and 
make my living here. To depend on the 
village for anything is out of the question. 
My idea was to try to work this acre to as 
great advantage as possible, then next 
Spring build a greenhouse and move if 
successful. So as you see I wanted to do 
practically the very thing that W. F. M. 
had done already and advises that other 
inquirer to do. 
My information about extensive, agri¬ 
culture is considerable, especially in the 
berry raising field, for I had a farm my¬ 
self. Rut about intensively working a 
little place all advice I can get is wel¬ 
come and needful. A goodly portion of 
the acre is taken up by buildings, home 
garden, a couple of hundred asparagus 
plants and some strawberries and other 
fruits, also apples, pears, etc., so as to 
give the acre as complete an assortment 
of fruit, etc., for the home as possible. 
About half of the acre is still remaining 
and in a portion of that I intend to plant 
Dahlias, leaving some space still open for 
< flier work. But what? Experience from 
W. F. M., judging from his letter, ought 
to be of great value to one who intends 
practically to attempt to do the very thing 
that he did. What in your opinion ought 
to be my first steps in this field? The 
plants and flowers that I hope to raise 
here I intend to sell by advertising in the 
various florists’ papers, shipping them by 
mail, cut flowers by express to Philadel¬ 
phia. N. R. 
My advice will be to hold on as long 
as possible to your work in Philadelphia, 
which is making you a living. Then sit¬ 
uated as your country place is you can do 
better in growing flowers for the Philadel¬ 
phia market than in jumping at once into 
a greenhouse business, which may well 
come in later. I have found here that the 
old Madonna lily, L. candidum, has been 
one of the most profitable plants to grow. 
From a space of ground 25x40 feet I have 
sold in cut flowers and bulbs $103.59. The 
flowers were cut as soon as the buds 
turned whitish, and placed in the hands 
of a large floral commission house in 
Philadelphia. Gladiolus flowers cut and 
shipped before any buds are wide open 
also .sell well. China asters come in nice¬ 
ly if you grow the long stemmed branch¬ 
ing varieties. Dahlia blooms sometimec 
sell well, but of late the markets have 
been overstocked with them and prices 
low T , but good flowers properly packed and 
shipped to the wholesale commission men 
will pay usually. Of course down here I 
have the advantage that the stock in the 
open ground comes in much earlier than 
around Philadelphia. The Candidum lily 
bulbs have generally been imported from 
France, but they can be grown fully as 
well here. Last year I sold entirely too 
close of bulbs to the Philadelphia florists, 
expecting to get a lot of small planting 
bulbs from the north of France, and sent 
an order for some thousands. But the 
war ravaged that section, and I failed to 
get my bulbs, and am now very short of 
them. If you can buy now good plants 
of asters to set out I do not know any¬ 
thing that will promise better. My plants 
have just been set as I do net cater with 
these to the early trade, Tut the Fall 
bloom is better and sells too. I have less 
than an acre and in my old age am gar¬ 
dening for* fun as much as anything else. 
Try the cut flowers for a while, and it 
you find it profitable you car. start with a 
greenhouse, or for the time use cold 
frames with the double glazed sashes and 
grow in them Paper White Narcissus. 
Roman hyacinths, White Italian hya¬ 
cinths and Narcissus. Getting these early 
:.n the frames they will sell very well. 
W. F. MASSEY. 
Street Sweepings and Oil. 
Noting inquiry as to street sweepings 
being possibly unsatisfactory because of 
the oil contained, I think the fear is 
groundless. I know a number of people 
who have either obtained the sweepings 
to fill up their lots, or to use on gardens, 
and they appear satisfactory for both 
purposes. My sister-in-law several years 
ago, purchased a lot which I advised 
against, due to poor drainage and it be¬ 
ing low. but she got it. I advised her 
tc ner husband to see the street com¬ 
missioner and have sweepings dumped on 
the lot. It being a shorter haul than to 
the dump, they put something like a foot 
deep in the place; the paper soon sogged 
and'rotted, and she has a fine vegetable 
garden in the back, put in some fruit 
trees, and has a pretty flower garden in 
the front. Practically all of her neigh¬ 
bors followed suit, and they have good 
gardens. He:’ land v.v.e sour to begin 
with, so they put a good dose of lime 
on the sweepings, and while if i still not 
so well underdrained as it might be. it 
is better than before being filled in. _ 
have never heard anyone even allude tc 
the possibility of oil being in such 
sweepings, and if it is, the quantity 
should not be more than would be in a 
good spraying with oil and water, and, 
as a matter of fact, if you drop oil on an 
asphalt pavement, you soon nave no 
pavement at all; it dis’ntcgrates and 
flakes or grinds off. Where automobile 
stands are established here, there is a 
wide strip of paving brick for them to 
use, due to the drip of oil and gasoline 
which would ruin an asphalt or tar pave¬ 
ment. M. A. P. 
Mobile, Ala. 
i. N.-Y.—The last Year Book of the 
Department of Agriculture gives some 
facts about hese street sweepings. They 
are thought tc ' e better for filling in 
waste spots than fo: direct fertilizing. 
The amount of actun, plant .ood which 
they contain is low. Thi report says 
that since the coming of the automobile, 
the value of these sweepings in the larger 
towns and cities has been reduced. This 
is on account of the oil dropped upon 
the streets by automobiles, and thus 
mixed in with the sweepings. In some 
cases as much as 2 % of mineral oil has 
been found, and the belief is that this 
oil is an injury when the sweepings are 
used as a fertilizer. It seems to be wiser, 
therefore, to use these sweepings for fill¬ 
ing in holes or vacant lots, and their val¬ 
ue as a fertilizer seems to have been 
over-rated. 
Freezing of Water-wheel. 
Have you any information regarding 
the liability of the steel overshot water¬ 
wheels'freezing during our cold Winters 
aere in New England. Is there any dan¬ 
ger of any part of the work of the wheel 
being affected by the cold weather? 
Newmarket, N. H. A. c. D. 
The steel overshot wheel seems to pro¬ 
vide an almost ideal way of developing 
the power of the small country streams, 
a small quantity of water doing a sur¬ 
prising amount of work. They secure 
their power from the weight of the water. 
As the name implies the water is deliv¬ 
ered at the top of the wheel, and filling 
the buckets, the wheel is turned, pre¬ 
senting new buckets to be filled at the 
top of the wheel and discharging the 
water from the others near the bottom. 
In this way about one-half of the buckets 
are kept filled with water and the wheel 
is made tc turn by this weight. If well 
designed, made and installed, there is 
very little trouble from freezing. The 
buckets and gat: are made tight, so that 
leaking is prevented, while the buckets 
are of such shape thal .here is no splash¬ 
ing while the wheel is in motion—it runs 
quietly. This prevents spattering water 
onto the frame of the wheel and conse¬ 
quently there is very little trouble from 
ce, for the buckets and rim of the wheel 
being made of steel are good conductors 
of heat and soon acquire the temperature 
of the water flowing over them. 
A number f ietters were sent out to 
users of these wheels, asking various 
questions about them in an effort to get, 
as nearly as possible, the users’ opinion 
of these wheels for farm power. These 
letters were sent to owners in New York 
and Canada. To date not a single com¬ 
plaint has been received. All consider it 
the best power where one has the condi¬ 
tions permitting its use. None of these 
men repert any serious trouble from ice 
gathering on the wheel—about half of 
them nave their wheels covered by a 
cheap shed and the others are loft uncov¬ 
ered. One man stated that -i ice did 
gather on the wheel from deet or other 
cause, it would fall off as soon as the 
weather became a little warmer or that 
it could he removed at any time by a few 
taps from a hammer. He also said that 
he intended to paint his wheel with axle 
grease next Winter, and in this way pre¬ 
vent the formation of ice altogether. Just 
how successful this will be I am unable 
to say. 
If there wheel: can run uncovered in 
Canada without difficulty from ice it 
would seem that they would be entirely 
safe in A. C. D.’s locatio? The fact 
before mentioned, that there is no splash¬ 
ing or splattering unless the wheel is 
considerably overloaded, prevents water 
from coming in contact with the frame¬ 
work of the wheel, and keeps it from 
loading up with ice as the old overshot 
wood wheel used to do, while its im¬ 
proved design makes it a great deal more 
efficient. R- H. s * 
rstroy’.ng Snakes. 
I notice on page 806 an inquiry con¬ 
cerning wavs of exterminating copper¬ 
heads and rattlesnakes. According to 
the International Encyclopedia the black- 
snake is a most bitter enemy of the cop¬ 
perhead, junting it as a cat hunts a 
mouse, and I am told by persons who 
have watched an attack that the black- 
snakc is quite sure to kill its victim in 
an encounter. I know men who encour¬ 
age these blaeksnakes to stay in their 
barns and mills as a protection against 
mice. They are quite harmless and are 
paid to be easily tamed. Personally I 
find it hard to feel kindly toward any 
kind of a snake, but since learning that 
they will hunt and kill copperheads and 
rattlesnakes we never kill a blacksnake. 
Perhaps “J. 1. will find it an aid to 
clearing liis plac: of copperheads to en¬ 
courage the presence of the blaeksnakes. 
Virginia. c. L. s. 
Gasoline Power for Unloading Hay. 
On page 754 you ask for a definite ac¬ 
count of where small gasoline engines 
were used in unloading hay and grain. 
We have one that is portable. We use 
it to unload hay into four barns and 
grain into another. We built a truck 
the wheels of which are mower and 
binder truck wheels. The engine is 
mounted on the front end with the hoist 
on the rear. We attached a rope to the 
friction clutch lever on the hoist, long 
enough to reach the load where we hang 
it over the rear standard so that the man 
on the load has control of the hoist. 
By pulling on the rope he can start or 
stop the load just as he sees fit, and 
the draft rope instead of being dragged 
on the ground is wound on the hoist 
drum. We use it with a fork for hay 
and slings for grain. This year we are 
putting a smaller pulley on the hoist 
to run it faster when we use the fork 
and will use the large pulley with the 
slings. We have a three horse engine 
that we use for spraying, sawing wood 
and grinding feed. In ordering hoists 
give the H. P. of engine, size of pulley 
and speed, the work it is expected to 
do. and the maker will put on the right 
size pulley. Hoists may be bolted to 
the floor if preferred hut as we use ours 
in five different barns we put ours ou a 
truck. wm. E. wood & SON. 
Ontario Co., N. Y. 
BOOKS FOR 
BOY S & G IRLS 
We have mace arrangements t# supply * series 
«f good, wholesome stories for boys and girls, 
well printed, niceD bound. 
THE RANCH GIRL 
SERIES, by Margaret 
Vandercook, include 
The Ranch Girls at Rainbow 
Lodge. 
The Ranch Girl’s Pot of Gold. 
The Ranch Girls at Boarding 
School. 
The Ranch Girls in Europe. 
"I *110. 
til 
THE CAMP FIRE, 
GIRLS SERIES, by 
Mar gar etVanderco ok 
include 
The Camp Fire Girls at Sun¬ 
rise Hall. 
The Camp Fire Girls Amid 
the Snows. 
The Camp Fire Girls in the 
Outside World. 
The Camp Fire Girls Across 
the Sea. 
THE THREE 
LITTLE WOMEN 
SERIES, by Mrs. 
Gabrielle Jackson 
include 
Three Little Women. 
Three Little Women at 
Work. 
Three Little Women’s 
Success. 
Three Little Women as 
Wives. 
YOUR CHOICE OF ANY OF THESE BOOKS 
WILL BE SENT DELIVERY CHARGES PRE¬ 
PAID FOR 
ONE NEW YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION TO THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER or 
TEN 10-WEEK TRIAL SUBSCRIPTIONS or 
TWO YEARLY RENEWAL SUBSCR1PT0N 3 
(one of these may he a renewal of your own 
Subscription). 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
333 West 30th St. New York City 
Some Useful Farm Books 
THE MODERN GAS TRACTOR. Its 
construction, atility, operation and re¬ 
pair. By Victor W. Page. 5(4 x 7!/fc. Cl. 
475 pp. 24 ills. 3 folding plates. 
The latesi and most 
complete work pub¬ 
lished on farm tract¬ 
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plants, treating ex¬ 
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design and construc¬ 
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their care, operation 
and repair. It de¬ 
scribes a 1 1 ignition 
systems, all types of 
vaporizers and car¬ 
buretors, latest forms 
of power plants and 
installations, clutches, 
speed changing and 
reversing gears, all 
frame parts and their 
functions, and every 
recent improvement in tractor and auxiliary ap¬ 
pliances. All types and sizes of gasoline, kero¬ 
sene and oil tractors are fully described. Every 
phase of traction engineering practice Is fully 
covered. 
THE GASOLINE ENGINE ON THE 
FARM, Its operation, repair and uses. 
By Xeno W. Putnam. 
This is the kind 
of a book every 
farmer will appre¬ 
ciate and every 
farm home ought 
to have. Includes 
selecting the most 
suitable engine for 
farm work, its 
most convenient 
and efficient in¬ 
stallation, with 
chapters on trou¬ 
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dies. and how to 
avoid them. The 
care and manage¬ 
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tractor in plowing, 
harrowing, har¬ 
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given for handling the tractor on the road. 
530 pages. Nearly 180 engravings. 
This book will be sent to any address prepaid for 
TWO NEW YEARLY SUBSCRIPTIONS 
or Twenty Ten-week Trial Subscriptions 
or Four Yearly Renewal Subscriptions 
or One New Yearly Subscription and Two 
Renewal Subscriptions. 
The Rural New Yorker, 333 West 30th St., N. Y. 
