1154 
Saving an Old Grapevine. 
I T is surprising what can be done with an old 
grapevine that has been abandoned and tangled on 
the ground frr years. The cut, Fig. 435, shows a 
Massachusetts woman and her daughter harvesting 
the grapes from a vine that they reclaimed. When 
the woman’s husband bought their present farm, it 
l;ad been unoccupied for some seasons, with the re¬ 
sult that many things were in a state of neglect, 
none more so than the old vine. The farmer’s wife 
set her wits to work. With the he’p of the hired 
man she evolved the following: 
The area that the vine covered on the ground 
measured about 200 by 50 feet. At the corners of 
this area were set four strong pos'ts, and outlining 
it about four feet apart were smaller posts. Across 
from these posts was strung a network of wire. 
Upon this the old vine was raised. This gave an 
opportunity for cutting out the dead wood and 
pruning back. This was done and the ground fer¬ 
tilized with well-rotted stable manure. 
The following Fall, the yield of grapes was slight. 
But the second season the farmer’s wife sold 300 
baskets of selected fruit and had plenty left for her 
own family’s use in jelly and jam and grape juice. 
That has been the rule each season since, so the 
Massachusetts woman feels that it pays to rescue the 
old grapevines. Alice spencer geddes. 
New Hampshire. 
Grant Hitchings on Apple Auctions 
fAt the recent apple auction at Syracuse, N. Y., the 
fine orchard of Grant Hitchings & Sons was sold at 
$3.40 per barrel for Winter varieties and $2.75 for Fall 
fruit. Mr. Hitchings grows fine apples which are al¬ 
ways in demand. He did not need the auction in order 
to dispose of his fruit, but as we see from the follow¬ 
ing, he fully believes in the system.] 
HE auction system of selling apples is perfect¬ 
ly fair to both buyer and seller. The grades 
being established by law does away with unfair 
packing. For well-grown crops the dealers will bid 
the limit, for quality always commands a premium. 
The new system advertises where the crops can be 
found and in what quantities, and it also estab¬ 
lishes the real value of the fruit offered. By refus¬ 
ing to sell at the bid offered by the dealers the 
grower becomes the speculator instead of the dealer. 
The new system also gives the grower a much wider 
market for his crops and relieves a surplus at any 
one point, for buyers always go where there is a 
quantity. Personally I am well pleased with our 
Syracuse sale; we feel as though Onondaga County 
has been put on the apple map to stay, and we shall 
endeavor so to pack our fruit that the buyer will 
be well pleased with his venture. In other words, 
we shall work with him rather than against him. 
I believe this auction system should be applied to 
all farm crops and if it is it will do more to up¬ 
lift the real farmer than the tons of advice that 
are so freely offered. grant g. hitchings. 
The Value of Coal Ashes. 
What is the commercial value of the leavings from 
coal ashes after being thoroughly sifted free from cin¬ 
ders, then subjected to a flock of poultry which re¬ 
moves practically all the coarse grit? hat value is 
the remaining dust-like substance when applied to muck 
soil? w. J. M. 
HERE is practically no plant food in a ton of 
such coal ashes except what the poultry may 
have added. For example, in a ton of anthracite 
coal ashes there will be only two to three pounds 
each of potash and phosphoric acid. Many people 
reason that because wood ashes are quite high in 
plant food, coal ashes must be also, but there is a 
great difference between the two, and no one should 
think for a moment that in buying or using coal 
ashes he is ever adding any plant food to his soil, 
yet as most of us know an application of sifted coal 
ashes will often make a showing in crop producing. 
This is because the fine ashes give a mechanical 
effect in the soil. In a heavy clay this fine dust 
works up the clay, opens it to some extent, and 
gives a better mechanical condition. In a lighter 
soil the fine ashes pack in between the particles of 
sand, and also improve the texture by making it 
better able to hold moisture. Coal ashes therefore, 
while having no value as plant food, may help in 
the manner here suggested. The coal ashes also 
make a very good mulch for use around berry bush¬ 
es or young trees. We generally pile them around 
peach and apple trees, making little mounds at the 
base of the trunk. This helps to keep out the 
borers to some extent, and is also a fair Winter 
protection. 
Another use of sifted coal ashes is for absorbing 
liquid manures. It is often desired to use small 
quantities of nitrate of soda or liquid manure, and 
TP HE RURAL* NEW-YORKER 
it is not convenient to apply such small quantities 
evenly. In such cases the nitrate can be dissolved 
in water, and this liquid poured over the coal ashes. 
The ashes will absorb the liquid, and when they 
are dried out the nitrate will be retained and evenly 
distributed throughout the pile. Then when this 
is dried it can be broadcast like any other fertilizer, 
so as to make a very even distribution. 
The Other Side of the Hairy Vetch. 
H AVING seen so many articles extolling the mer¬ 
its of Hairy vetch as a forage plant and a 
legume, I thought perhaps a word from one who 
has grown it for a number of years, although on a 
small scale, might be of some interest. About eight 
years ago I sowed one corner of a 20-acre field with 
Hairy vetch. It grew well, although the part sown 
was not in a fertile condition, being deficient in 
humus. Horses and cattle were grazing on the 
field and when they came to the vetch they would 
pass it by. The vetch fell on the ground and re¬ 
seeded thicker than the first sowing, so on for year 
after year. In 1914 I plowed the field and planted 
it in corn, and there is no doubt that the corn was 
better from the use of the vetch, but not so much 
as one would suppose from the deposit of eight 
years’ growth. 
In September of last year I sowed rye in the 
corn putting it in with a cultivator. No vetch was 
visible, and I supposed the seed had all germinated 
and died. When I came to cut the rye I found it 
all tied together by the vetch, and after thrashing 
the seed in the rye was plenty. I have never had 
any stock that would eat it, and have a neighbor 
who is an up-to-date farmer, and his experience is 
the same as mine. I would give more for one crop of 
cow peas as a forage crop either green or as hay, 
or as a legume, for improvement of the soil, than 
I would for 10 crops of Hairy vetch. In fact I don't 
think it worth anything for feeding green. Possibly 
stock might be starved to eat it in the Winter; I 
never tried it as hay, and have no intention of do¬ 
ing so. My experience with it to date is sufficient. 
New Jersey. experience. 
Easy Money and Easy Stock Keeping. 
J. BROWN, of Pontiac County, near Ottawa, 
• Canada, has about perfected a method of mak¬ 
ing money very easily with cattle, that is with a 
minimum of labor and fussing. His annual receipts 
for the last three years, from a herd of 40 grade 
Shorthorn breeding cows, has averaged $3,000, while 
his total expenses, including hired help, was less 
than $1,000, besides having some sales of hay and 
breeding stock to partly offset this expense. 
The farm is of course well adapted to pasturing, 
and is large enough, about 200 acres, to provide pas¬ 
ture for the cattle the year round. He, therefore, 
grows no corn for silo, nor seldom feeds soiling 
crops except in odd dry seasons. Pasture is de¬ 
pended on to make the beef from May to Novem¬ 
ber. A creek runs through the farm from one 
end to the other, and the ground slopes gradually 
to the creek on either side, so that there is no 
swamp, though somewhat marshy in places, an 
ideal pasture and grass land or farm. 
Mr. Brown never bothers milking the cows, but 
lets the calves do the milking right through the 
season. The calves follow the cows all Summer 
until Fall; no fussing about milking with the excep¬ 
tion of what milk he requires for his household. 
These 40 cows, with their calves, get no extra feed 
all Summer above what they get in the pasture. 
For Winter feeding hay, supplemented by oat straw 
and turnips, grown on the farm, and purchased 
meal, is depended on. About 15 tons of meal of 
various kinds was purchased last Winter and was 
used in addition to the grain and roots grown on 
the farm. Only 40 acres of the farm, near the 
buildings, is under a regular rotation. On this 
40 acres all of the manure is generally spread. Ten 
acres of these 40 are under roots, mostly Swede 
turnips; 10 acres under mixed grain; 10 under 
clover, and 10 acres under peas and oats. In odd 
years only are the peas and oats, or much of them, 
cut and fed green to the cattle. The crop is usu¬ 
ally made into hay or harvested as grain. After 
the peas and oats crop is looked after or secured 
the land is plowed and rye is sown, sometime lat¬ 
ter part August. On this rye the manure is drawn 
out and spread every day as made all Winter for 
the roots that are to follow. This rye affords some 
tine pasture in the early Spring, for the rank growth 
of the well-manured sod affords considerable early 
pasture which is duly appreciated by the cattle. 
Along by the end of May it is plowed under for 
September 25, 1^15, 
roots. The roots average about 600 bushels per 
acre. Not all of the 10 acres are under turnips, for 
some potatoes are grown. The aim of Mr. Brown is 
to be able to furnish a half-bushel of turnips per 
head per day during the 150 days of Winter feed¬ 
ing. He does not go to the trouble of cutting and 
slicing the turnips; they are fed round, the animals 
doing the slicing, for Mr. Brown’s object, all 
through, is a minimum of labor and a moderate 
result. He aims to do as little fussing about the 
cattle as possibly can be. That is why he quit dairy¬ 
ing some years ago for beef-raising—to escape the 
eternal fussing about the cows and calves. 
The steers and heifers are sold in their two-year 
old form, usually some time in the month of June 
when the pastures begin to dry up. Last year he 
sold 40 two-year-olds at an average of $75 each. 
They were a little over two years, some of them 
by three months. A few of the two-year-olds are 
retained and the older cows replace them in the 
sales bunch, as he believes In selection of breeding 
stock, and a good likely breeding heifer is retained 
and a cull cow sold in its place. 
About 50 tons of meadow hay are cut annually 
in addition to the ten acres of clover, about 30 tons. 
The meadows are allowed to remain under hay as 
long as they give a fair crop, and that too much 
sedge or swamp grass does not creep in, when the 
meadow is plowed up and reseeded with a crop of 
oats. No clover is sown in those meadows except a 
few pounds of Alsike, which grows well on the more 
marshy lands. All animals get more or less meal 
during the stabling season, from two pounds to 
eight pounds or more. For the two-year-olds that 
are to be sold in the following Spring, an average of 
five pounds of meal per day is aimed at and usually 
fed. Hay is the chief bulk food, except the nighl 
feed is in most cases straw. The turnips are fed for 
the evening feed, a half bushel per head and this 
followed by straw. Turnips, and straw, Mr. Brown 
contends, is better than any clover or silage. The 
sale animals get about two months of pasturage, 
before being sold in June. The best pasture is pre¬ 
served for these, and they make rapid gains on this 
pasture after coming out of their Winter quarters. 
No grain or meal is fed once the pasture is con¬ 
sidered good enough. Throughout the Summer, after 
the two-year-olds are sold, about SO head and the 
calves are on the farm; 40 breeding cows, last year’s 
calves, and this year’s calves following the cows. 
The year-olds are usually in a pasture by them¬ 
selves, and require practically no attendance; neith¬ 
er do the breeding cows and their calves require 
much attendance, no more than to oversee, that the 
calves are suckling and everything is all right. 
Canada. J. a. macdonald. 
The Pest of Dodder. 
What can I do to rid my farm of dodder? I never 
saw any of the stuff to know what it was until eight 
or 10 years ago, when I found it in a patch of clover 
where I suppose I must have sowed it with clover 
seed. I tried to get rid of it by cultivation and burn¬ 
ing, and supposed I had it pretty well subdued, but 
this year's wet weather has seemed to be favorable to 
its development, and I have it worse than ever. I had 
in mind to plow the ground and sow wheat with the 
expectation that the wheat will be ready to cut before 
the dodder is much developed next season, and then 
by plowing and harvesting try to work it out 
next season. Will this plan work? The ground 
is now in clover, a good stand, and I expected to get 
a crop of rowen from it for next Winter’s feeding, but 
I am afraid of spreading the dodder all over my farm 
if I feed it. w. w. a. 
Connecticut. 
HERE have been many complaints about this 
dodder during the present season. Apparent¬ 
ly the wet weather has driven the dodder into active 
growth in many clover and Alfalfa fields. The 
seeds of this pest are usually brought into the land 
with clover or Alfalfa seed, some samples being very 
foul with the pest. This is, as most farmers know, 
a parasite which grows around the plants of clover 
or Alfalfa, strangling them to death. In ordinary 
seasons where the patches of dodder are not too 
large, the usual treatment is to cut all patches 
where the dodder appears to the side, making sure 
to cut several feet outside of where the dodder 
plants are found. When the hay thus cut is dry a 
quantity of kerosene is poured upon it and the whole 
thing burned. In an ordinary season careful treat¬ 
ment of this sort will usually clear out the dodder, 
but oftentimes in a wet year like the present, it is 
impossible to take care of the pest without plowing 
the entire field and growing one or two cultivated 
crops before seeding down once more. It would 
hardly do to plow, cultivate and reseed the same 
year to clover or to put in wheat and seed to clover 
again. While that might work out most of the 
dodder, it would be a safer plan to wait a year be¬ 
fore reseeding, and plant a solid crop of either corn 
or potatoes, so as to clean up the ground thoroughly. 
