58 
"Ghe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 13, 1911. 
Ask any farmer •who owns a Farm¬ 
ers’ Favorite Grain Drill and he will tell 
^ you that it would he impossible for any 
drill to do better work; that it v/ill sow any seed from grasses and 
Mr clovers to bush lima beans; that it puts the seed in the ground at an 
Mr even depth; that the seed is covered right; that it is exceptionally well 
M built, strong, simple, easy on both man and team; that repair cost is 
W small; that it does all claimed for it 
I There is Made a Farmers’ Favorite 
Drill for Every Need 
Investigate the merits of the Farmers’ Favorite Plowfur Single Disc? 
opens an extra wide seed furrow; scatters the seed evenly the entire width; 
more plants to the row; less waste space between rows; a better stand and 
fewer weeds. This is only one of the many exclusive patented features used 
on Farmers’ Favorite Drills. These Drills are made in both grain and ferti¬ 
lizer styles and in every size. 
Send for Farmers’ Favorite Catalog. Read it, then go to your implement 
dealer and insist on seeing the drill that is sold under a warranty that 
means much to you, 
The American Seeding-Machine Co., Inc. 
Springfield, 0^ 
‘^oiild’nt take twice the 
tost and do^withbiit it’’ 
This is the verdict of farmers all over the country, respecting the 
No. 76 Planet Jr Pivot-Wheel Riding Cultivator. 
No. 76 plows, hills and cultivates corn, potatoes and similar crops 28 to 48 inches 
apart. Its specially hardened cultivator steels add 
50 per cent, to wear. Kight styles—various prices. 
Planet Jr ^ 
If you are not interested in a fine big two-horse 
cultivator, but want a splendid hand implement for 
garden cultivation consider the No. 17 Planet Jr 
Single Wheel Hoe. 
No. 17 is the highest type of single-wheel hoe 
made. Its light durable ingenious construction 
enables a man, woman or boy to do the cultiva¬ 
tion in a garden in the easiest, quickest and 
best way. We make 32 styles of wheel ho€s 
and seed-drills—various prices. 
New 72-page Catalog free! 
Illustrates all kinds of Planet Jrs doing actual 
work and describes over 70 tools including 
Seeders, Wheel Hoes, Horse-IIoes, Harrows, 
Orchard and licet*Cultivators. 
S L ALLEN & CO 
Box 1107V Philadelphia 
TYGERT 
Fertilizers 
RIPEN 
CROPS 
EARLY 
Dealers and Agents Wanted 
THE J. E. TYGERT CO. 
28-G So. Delaware Ave. 
PHILADELPHIA 
SUBSIDIARY OF THE AMERICAN AGRI. CHEM. CO. 
I 
Edison Electric 
Light 
In Your Home 
Mr. Edison’s 
Free Book 
tells you 
how you can 
‘^et all the 
electric 
light you 
Electric Light Plant need from 
the wasted power of your own gas 
engine. 
After year® of labor, Mr. Edison ba® perfected 
an absolutely satisfactory home electric light¬ 
ing system. His storage batteries can bo 
charged by your engine while it is pumping 
water, grinding feed, etc. The Edison Plant 
is always dependable and simple to operate. 
Get his Free Book and learn about this great 
system. Just send your name and address on 
a post card today. Address: 
Edison Storage Battery Co. 
SSSLakeeide Avenue Orange, N. J. 
or Michigan Avenue, Chicago 
s 
THE 
NEW 
KEMP CLIMAX SPREADER 
A LIGHT WEIGHT TWO HORSE SPREADER 
Tlie (ii'uin is to the iiiannre si)rea<ler wimt the cutter li.'ir 
is to the mower. This New Kemp Cliimix has reversible, 
Self-Shariieniiig Orsdeil Elat Teeth, witli enclosed drum 
that will liandle nil material at oiuMhird less power. 
It shreds the material. You pet over 40 years experience 
in this iiKiehine. IPri/e /or catalog. 
THE N. J. KEMP CO., Batavia, N. Y. 
W^ood Sawing Machine 
Table mounted on grooved rolls. Almost self-feed¬ 
ing with even lieaviest logs, (Jut is down—not 
against operator. Many otlier exclusive advanti^cs. 
Write for circulars—also on our drag saw machines, 
saw and sliingle mills, lioists, etc. 
IRELAND MACHINE S FOUNURY CO., 34 Stale SI., NORWICH, N. 
i^mmm 
Farm, Garden and Orchard Tools 
Answer the farmers’ big questions. 
How can I grow crops with less 
expense ? How can I save in plant¬ 
ing potatoes? How make high 
priced seed go farthest? The 
IRON AGE Potato Planter 
solves thelabor problem and makes 
the best use of high priced seed. 
Means §5 to $50 extra profit per acre. 
Every seed piece in its place 
and only one. Saves 1 to 2 
bushels seed per acre. Uni¬ 
form depth; even 
spacing. Wo make 
a full line of potato 
machinery. Send 
for booklet today. 
No Misses 
No Doubles 
BatemanM’f’gCo., Box 2B. Grenlocli.N.J, 
Indian Hearths 
It is probable that the Indian hearths 
referred to on page 424 were originally 
placed about where they were found. 
The soil in woods which have not been 
plowed usually con.sists of a layer of 
rotted leaves lying on the mineral sub¬ 
soil. Where the woods have been 
burned over this may be very thin, per¬ 
haps no more than one season’s accum¬ 
ulation. Various of the early writers 
mention the habit of burning certain 
parts of the forest each year to protect 
the camp sites as being common to most 
of the Indian tribes. Whei’e the mate¬ 
rial is protected from burning by being 
under water or in a damp place the lay¬ 
er of rotted leaves, etc., may he very deep, 
and is called muck. So much for the 
position of tlie hearths. INIr. Young says 
that the hearths were not covered by 
wash, so we may pass by this with the 
suggestion that at certain sca.sons of the 
year there is some wa.sli cither taken 
from or added to iiracticiilly all land not 
covered with a hctivy protective Itiycr of 
loaves and loaf mold, or similar material. 
This may never ho noticed, hut in time it 
will make certain stones di.sappear, while 
others become more prominent. Winds 
help in this, and we imiy notice each 
Spring a layer of dirt on the grass Avhere 
a deep snowdrift has mclti'd away. 
Earthworms also help by bringing up 
soil from deep in the ground and de¬ 
positing it at the surface. This mixes 
with the rotted leaves and roots of the 
grass. We may notice old flagstone 
walks which were several inches above 
the surrounding ground when laid, but 
which are now so low that water stands 
on them after a rain. It is interesting 
to note the indication of the rate at 
which these various operations act. If 
Mr. Young htid practiced the method of 
farming which may be seen in many 
phiccs, burning over the itind at least 
each time it is plowed, it is probable 
that in 10 or 15 years he could have 
destroyed this lityer of soil which has 
taken 150 yetirs to produce. A. c. w. 
It is possible, perhaps probable, that 
the Indian hearths mentioned on page 
424 wore buried by earthworms, the lit¬ 
tle wrigglers that furnish us Avith delect¬ 
able bait for our holidays. The insig¬ 
nificant “critter” is small individually, 
but collectively he is many and mighty, 
and that outside of trout brooks. Tlie 
gretit iiiitnrtilist. Dtirwin, made a study 
for years of flie earthworm and the re¬ 
sults of his research nmke a goodly sized 
volume. The facts giitliercd iierttiiii to 
Europciiu Avorms, hut similar results may 
he found on every continent. A few of 
Ills discoveries follow. 
The earthworm is a very simple organ¬ 
ism. At the anterior end—we cannot 
say head, for it has none—there is a 
mouth with a little lobe or lip that cn- 
ahlos it to take hold of lettves and other 
articles of food. The food tlmt has been 
swallowed ptissos down the gullet through 
a crop to a gizzard wlim-e it js gi-ouiid 
by means of teeth of tlie same nature as 
those of a hen. The ground-up food 
passes through a strtiight iutestine to bo 
digested and absorbed. 
The earthworm is omnivorous, eating 
anything, animal, vegetable or mineral, 
that it may he able to take into its 
mouth and that is near its hole. As it 
bores its way through the earth it swal¬ 
lows what it cannot push aside, digesting 
everything digestible iiiul excreting the 
rest at the mouth of its hole. This they 
do whenever the body becomes loaded 
with mineral matter, making the cast¬ 
ings that are so commou on Summer 
mornings in our yards. The little piles 
of castings are as numerous elsewhere, 
but are not so easily scon where the grass 
is tall or the ground covered with leaves. 
It is estimated tlmt the number of 
eax’thworms in land suitable for their 
operations approaches 25,000 to the acre. 
The amount of finely ground soil that we 
call vegetable mold, that is brought to 
the surface each year is enormous. Es¬ 
timating 20 castiugs during the season 
by each worm and an average weight of 
one ounce, 15 tons of this so-called vege¬ 
table mold is brought to the surface of 
one acre each year. Some of this is ex¬ 
cavated from below small rocks, aud as 
it is piled up around the rocks they grad¬ 
ually settle and hasten the process that 
in time covers them. 
From the observations of Mr. Darwin 
it was learned that the thickness of mold 
brought to the surface in 10 years var¬ 
ied from less than one inch to a little 
more than two inches where earthworms 
were abundant. A field that had been 
plowed last in 1841, harrowed and left 
to become pasture land, at that time and 
for several years aftt'rwards was thickly 
covered with flints, some half as large 
as a child’s hand. Before many years 
the small stones disappeared and in 1871 
not a stone was visible on the entire 
surface. Thus do our insignificant little 
friends silently work for ns grinding the 
soil in their tiny gizzards and ejecting 
it oil the surface, making ns a present 
of a soil pulverized as no disk or evener 
can grind it. and doing their best to cover 
obstructions that will not decay. 
W. H. IT. 
Sale of Rare Old Newspapers 
I have in my possession two newspapers 
of Bevolutioimry times. One is “The 
Bo.ston Gazette and Country .Tonrnal,” 
treating on the Boston Massacre and 
other events of that time. It is dated 
March 12, 1770. The other paper is 
“New York Morning Post,” printed by 
Morton and Horner. The date is No¬ 
vember 7, 1783. I wish to sell these 
ptiliers. Giin you tell me of any publish¬ 
ers wlio might he interested? Can you 
also inform me as to prices paid for such 
papers? I. A. W. 
Massena, N. Y. 
Such pajicrs are dealt in to some ex¬ 
tent by second-hand book stores and curio 
collections. The demand is light and 
price uncertain, deiiending on how badly 
they m.'iy be wiiiited to complete collec¬ 
tions. Spurious editions of some rare 
iind valuable old ptipors have been re- 
engi-aved and printed, so that they are 
fair imitations of the originals, and no 
collector would buy without examimition 
to mtike sure, of genuineness. Daily papers 
which carry a weekly book review de¬ 
partment often discuss and carry want 
and for sale advertisements of these old 
editions, iind this is one of the hi'st 
methods we know of finding possible cus¬ 
tomers. 
An Australian Mouse or Rat Trap 
The Gardeners' Chroniele (Loudon) 
reprints from the Queensland (Au.s- 
tralia) Agricultural Journal a sketch and 
descriiition of an ingeiiious trap for rals 
and mice, reproduced herewith. A s:;i;l1 
hoard is iilticod witli one end resting oa 
the rim of an ordinary pail nearly li:i!f 
full of Wilier, and tlie other end on llio 
ground. A piece of wire is stuck into tl; ‘ 
end of the boiird, three cotton spools 
strung on the wire, and its end turned up, 
with the bait fastened on the top. The 
best bait is a piece of cooked hiicon or 
toasted cheese. The trap has been found 
very successful, the mice standing on the 
spools in an iittempt to obtain the bait, 
and overbalancing into the water. 
Lantern Advice 
As the time to carry lanterns is at hand 
a suggestion how to carry and not make 
the little boy go is in order. Put th' 
liand through the bale, slide above the 
(dhow, letting the bottom rest in hand. In 
this way one can carry a pail in the 
same hand just as well, and keep the 
lantern right side up. Also, it would ne 
well to call the attention of people of the 
danger of the oil hetiter in the bathroom 
and other small rooms. A few years ag > 
a man in an adjoining town used such a 
lamp or heater, and they found him dead. 
The heater had burned up the air. He 
had got part way out of the bath-tub. 
One man lost his life last Fall here by 
starting his auto engine with garage 
doors closed ; he was suffocated, being in a 
small room. G. J. T. 
New York. 
The teacher had been reading to the 
class about the great forests of America 
“And now, boys,” she announced, whie.. 
one of you can tell me the pine that has 
the longest and .sharpest needles?” Up 
went a hand in the front row. “Well, 
Tommy?” “The porcupine.”—Credit 
Lost. 
