914 
nearer 75% of the consumer’s dollar, and so is able 
to show the large total of farm receipts, annually, 
that he does. With one son at home, and one or 
two men of foreign birth employed, his expenses 
for labor are not large in proportion to the amount 
of business done. Mr. S., besides carrying on all 
this farm business, driving the market team him¬ 
self, etc., has in the Winter gone over the State 
representing a large fertilizer company, and we may 
attribute some of his farm faculty to the observa¬ 
tion of farm practice, and his talks with farmers, 
while so going about. So the farm has business 
planning and business fertilizing, and business mar¬ 
keting, and business management in all lines, and 
has won for its owner the business success that is 
indicated by the pictures of his home. Does not this 
instance give point to the fact that farming, while 
an art., and a science, is still more a business propo¬ 
sition? Would the farming here have been better 
if Mr. S. had had an agricultural college training? 
Do his sons need to take a course in scientific agri¬ 
culture to realize the best success possible in busi¬ 
ness with the land? Could a college professor take 
this farm, give it better management, and show 
better results and more profit than Mr. S. is doing? 
These questions we offer for consideration by read¬ 
ers of The It. N.-Y. We see in the ease of Mr. S. 
that a business man, without a scientific training, 
has won a notable success in farming, in the old 
Bay State. Could a scientific man, without a busi¬ 
ness training, do as well, probably? 
Mr. S., to our judgment, was possessed of all the 
scientific facts necessary to carry on his lines of 
farming; had obtained them by observation, and 
reading, and experience; and the art of farm work 
he had acquired by practice from bis boyhood up. 
Is not business faculty (in which be especially ex¬ 
cels) the factor most important, least readily ac¬ 
quired, and its lack oftenest the reason of poor suc¬ 
cess in agricultural pursuits? e. f. dickinson. 
Value and Use of Muck. 
What is the value of muck on worn-out soil, and 
how should it bo put on? How would it bo for top- 
dressing to be put on with a manure spreader? B. 
Camden, N. Y. 
IKE everything else put into the soil, muck 
gives its value in two ways. First we must 
consider the amount of plant food introduced into 
the soil through the muck. How much nitrogen, 
potash, phosphoric acid and lime does the muck 
contain? That is the basis upon which we value 
manures and fertilizers. Again, how much organic 
matter does the muck contain, and what condition 
is this in? The great needs of all soils are plant 
food and organic matter. Usually the organic mat¬ 
ter can be supplied cheaply by plowing under green 
crops, or plowing the sod into the ground after a 
crop of hay or fodder has been taken off. In some 
cases the black muck soils out of swamps or low 
places will supply this organic matter at a low 
figure. The value of the plant food in muck varies 
greatly; in some cases deposits of muck show four 
or five times as much nitrogen as ordinary stable 
manure, while in other cases there is only a small 
trace of nitrogen to be found. There would have 
to be an analysis of the muck made therefore to 
know just how valuable it is, but, generally speak¬ 
ing, a muck thoroughly composted and limed will 
be found equally as rich in nitrogen as ordinary ma¬ 
nure. At the same time it rarely pays to haul raw 
muck right out of a swamp, spread it on the ground 
and plow it under; that is because the muck is gen¬ 
erally very sour, and the plant food it contains is 
not available, and causes about as much harm as 
good through the soil by souring it. The way there¬ 
fore to use muck to advantage is to sweeten it, or 
let it season before putting it on the ground. This is 
done by piling it in a compost heap, where it may 
ferment and change its character. The best way to 
do this is to haul the muck out of the swamp, put¬ 
ting it in a pile six or eight feet wide, and four or 
five feet high, as long as is desired. A good way to 
do it is to haul the muck out, and drive the wagon 
over the pile, dumping the muck where it is needed 
to make the pile uniform in shape. Use from 75 to 
100 pounds of air-slaked lime to the load of raw 
muck. After the load has been dumped on the pile 
this lime is scattered over it, and the next load of 
course dumped on top of the lime. If it is possible 
to do so, it is a good plan to put in now and then 
a load of horse manure, or a quantity of chicken 
manure as this pile is made up. The object of this 
is to start a quick fermentation in the pile. The 
lime assists in this, and the horse or hen manure 
will act something like the kindling used in building 
a fire to start up the fermentation. A pile built in 
this way is left for three or four months as it 
stands. Then if hand labor is not too expensive it 
will pay to begin at one end with a fork and work 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
the pile over. The workman starts at the end of 
the pile, take a forkful and throws it three or four 
feet behind him, following with others so that as he 
works up the old pile the new one follows him on. 
After this working the pile is left for another month 
or so, and is then found fine and open, in good con¬ 
dition to be used as a substitute for manure. In 
fact this compost heap is a farm chemical factory, 
and if it were possible to do so it would be a profit¬ 
able thing to run all the farm manures through it, 
let them ferment and break up in this way before 
being put on the ground. 
The Destroying Corn Ear-worm. 
VERY year at this time we begin to have ques¬ 
tions about the corn ear-worm. This often 
causes great damage in sweet corn. Many gardeners 
who try to raise sweet corn for home use find this 
disgusting insect working in the ears, while truck¬ 
ers who raise corn on a large scale for market are 
often greatly troubled. The picture of the worm 
working in a sweet corn ear is shown at Fig. 337, 
this picture being taken from circular No. 23 of the 
Iowa Experiment Station. The life history of this 
worm is about as follows: 
It spends the Winter in the ground. In May or 
June the moth emerges and lays its eggs. These are 
laid mostly on sweet corn. In Central Iowa the 
first mature worms are found in July, and in Au¬ 
gust they become very abundant, especially in sweet 
corn. If the conditions are favorable, these worms 
may be found even up to October, and sometimes 
even after the corn is hardened they will attack 
clover or Alfalfa. In Iowa three generations are 
quite probable, but this will vary with favorable 
or unfavorable conditions. It will be seen from 
this life history how difficult it is to fight such an 
insect, as it becomes even harder to combat than the 
peach borer. Fall plowing is suggested as a means 
The Com Ear-worm. Fig. 337. 
for killing out the insect in the soil, but the insects 
breed with such rapidity during the Summer that 
this Fall plowing would not give much relief. Ro¬ 
tation and changing the locality of the sweet corn 
planting from year to year will help somewhat, and 
in a small garden hand-picking and destroying the 
affected ears will help. In Southern New Jersey 
considerable work has been done in dusting the 
sweet corn with powdered arsenate of lead during 
the time that the ear is putting out its silk. This 
has been found quite effective in many cases, al¬ 
though the entomologists do not think the method 
is past what they call the experimental stage. The 
corn worm is a nuisance, and very disgusting to 
gardeners who watch their sweet corn grow to per¬ 
fection, and think they are to have a feast, only to 
find this horrible worm making a meal ahead of 
them. 
Selling Timothy Standing. 
Y father has about 00 acres of reclaimed Dela¬ 
ware River marsh land in Timothy. For the 
past four years he has made a practice of selling 
this Timothy standing at public auction. The mea¬ 
dow is laid out by a surveyor into lots varying from 
one-half to one acre. A map is made of the same 
so that on the day of the sale each purchaser knows 
just what he is buying. The plan is for the pur¬ 
chaser to gather the hay himself within two weeks— 
mowing machine, hay rake, and tedder being furn¬ 
ished him on the ground at a small fee. 
Two cuttings are secured per season—the first 
about the middle of June, the second the middle of 
September, so we have two public sales. From two 
to three tons of high-grade Timothy per acre are se¬ 
cured at the first cutting, and one to two tons at 
the second cutting. There has only been the one 
seeding until last year, when the army worms killed 
the Timothy in spots, and practically destroyed our 
second crop. No fertilizer or manure has been ap¬ 
plied in the four years, and this Summer-we got as 
large a crop as ever, but the fertility of this soil 
is another story. 
Our neighbors are always glad to get the hay, 
and pay for it promptly. In the four years the price 
of the first cutting has averaged $14 per acre, and $9 
for the second cutting—making $23 per acre for the 
July 17, 1915. 
season. This is low for the amount of hay cut. and 
we cannot recommend it as an efficient method, but 
just now it sems to fit our conditions. However, 
when it is remembered that we have no worry or 
trouble, that my father spends practically but two 
afternoons a season on the meadow (those of the 
sale) totalling about 12 hours, thus making money 
at the rate of over $100 per hour, it will be seen that 
it might be a method fitting the peculiar circum¬ 
stances of many busy farmers. r,. k. wilkins. 
New Jersey. 
Automobile Parcel Post. 
T HE Postoffice Department now promises to try 
out a new automobile service for parcel post 
delivery. Within 25 miles of the towns and 
cities to be served, local instead of zone rates will 
be given, the difference being figured as follows: 
Weight 
Local 
First Zone 
Pounds 
Rate 
Rate 
1 
05 
05 
5 
07 
09 
10 
10 
14 
15 
12 
19 
20 
15 
24 
25 
17 
29 
30 
20 
34 
35 
22 
39 
40 
25 
44 
45 
27 
49 
50 
30 
54 
Thus, under this plan a package weighing 25 
pounds would be mailed at a farm and carried 
to the city address for 15 cents, while the present 
zone rate is 29 cents. The first routes of this sort 
will be started about August 1 and the service will 
be tried out as an experiment in a few cities before 
its general adoption. Such a plan will not work as 
well in a great city like New York as it will in the 
smaller cities with an approach from all sides. It 
will meet with great success in these smaller cities, 
bringing producer and consumer close together, and 
taking care of more of the local produce. At present 
too much of this produce is shipped to New York 
and the large centers, and then shipped back to the 
local market. This direct parcel post trade will 
change much of that and give a local market for 
local produce. 
Covering for the Barn. 
I have to build a barn, about 40x50, and wish to 
know what is the best kind of lumber to use for siding. 
Will Southern pine lumber blister the paint from pitch 
running? I have heard it would. I would like a metal 
roof, but so many claim metal roofs soon rust through. 
Can’t we have this siding and roofing question put to 
the readers, and let them thrash it out? If this could 
be done I am sure many like myself would find some 
valuable suggestions. L. w. w. 
HE question of covering the barn is often a 
perplexing one. Southern pine is cheap and 
enduring, but it does not hold paint, and 
often presents an unsightly appearance. Our native 
woods do not last as they did 50 years ago, when 
the forests were vigorous, and many who have lately 
covered buildings with native woods have been sad¬ 
ly disappointed. Undoubtedly, all things considered, 
cypress lumber is the best for outside work, but its 
price makes it almost prohibitive for ordinary barn 
work. Let me suggest the use of plaster for the 
walls. It is permanent, cool in Summer, warm in 
Winter, and is not expensive. Vines will grow over 
it and make an exceedingly attractive appearance. 
For plastered walls use any cheap sheathing. It 
must be perfectly dry. Fur out the walls with strips 
of lath placed 24 inches apart. Cover with expand¬ 
ed metal lath or galvanized woven wire poultry net¬ 
ting, stretched taut. Use two coats of plaster with 
a little Portland cement, and wash with a cream of 
Portland cement and water, to prevent the absorp¬ 
tion of moisture. The cost will not be much great¬ 
er than a good wood siding and two good coats of 
paint. There are many desirable things and few 
objections to this wall. Plaster on wood lathing 
will always crack because the wood absorbs moist¬ 
ure. It should never crack on metal lath. 
Metal roofs are seldom satisfactory because paint¬ 
ing is so apt to be neglected, and they seem to be 
especially liable to be blown off. Asphalt shingles 
make the one best roof, but their cost (about $10 
per square) makes them almost prohibitive. Prob¬ 
ably the best roof for the money is either cypress 
or cedar shingles or slate. f. l. allen. 
“Work is an acquired taste,” is the way one friend 
puts it. 
Patents have now been issued for cameras so small 
that they may be swallowed and thus used for photo¬ 
graphing the interior of the stomach ! 
Russia imported $1,000,000 worth of binding twine 
from this country. It had to enter Russia through the 
far northern port of Archangel, and came too late for 
most of the harvest. The Russian wheat crop is large, 
but cannot be exported freely or even brought to ports 
for shipment, since the army monopolizes the railroads. 
