198 
R U RAL N EW-YO R K E R 
mav^mA 
Save Half the Cost 
of Digging Ditches 
‘The cost of making ditches with explosives is less 
than half the cost of hand digging,” says the Michigan 
Experiment Station. You can blast deep, wide ditches 
in a small fraction of the time it would take to dig them. 
Do the work yourself. It’s safe, quick and easy with 
The Safest Explosive 
The Original Farm Poiider 
Simply punch a row of holes, 
load with Atlas, fire, and the 
work is done—as much in a 
day as a dozen men could dig 
in a week. The soil is spread 
over the land, not heaped up 
to prevent proper drainage. 
Atlas Farm Powder Is sold by 
dealers near you. Get it for 
blasting stumps and boulders. 
Improve fertility by breaking 
up the subsoil. Set fruit trees 
in blasted beds to get thrifty, 
early-bearing orchards. 
Send Coupon for Valuable Book 
Oor illustrated book “ Better Farming ” shows you how 
you can make your farm yield more prohiable crops and 
how you can do many kinds of work quickly, cheaply 
and easily with Atlas Farm Powder, The Safest Explosive. 
ATLAS POWDER COMPANY Wamington, Del, 
Sales Offices: Birmingham, Boston, Houghton, Joplin, Kansas City, Knoxville, 
New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis 
ATLAS POWDER CO. 
Wilmington, Del. HNS 
Send me your 74-page book “Belter 
Farming.” I am interested in the use 
of explosives for the purpose before 
which I mark X. •' 
Stump Blasting 
Boulder Blasting 
Subsoil Blasting 
Tree Planting 
Ditch Digging 
Road Building 
Name- 
Address 
This Spray Outfit Only ^ 119 
I’he No. 1 U»R«E-K-A Spray Outfit you 6 
Kallons of liquid a miniiU» at a prensure of 175 lbs 
with 100 »callun tank, 50 ft. of hoso, 4 nozzles, 
Ko to work at this rtuivirkably low price. Our 
on request. Ktves you information on other sizes. 
R. CONSOLIDATED GAS ENGINE CO.. 202 Fulloa Stretl. New Yark 
More From Your Garden 
At Half the Labor 
tt**RARIfFR Weeder, Mulcher 
Di\ivn.£.iv and Cultivator 
Cuts the weeds unclerKround 
and forms the hardest crust 
Into a moisture • rolaininit 
mulch-->lntensive c u 11 i* 
vation. '‘Best Weed Killor 
Ever used.** Requires no 
skill to operate. A boy with 
a Barker beats ten men with 
hoes. Has leaf gruards, also 
shoTels for deeper cultivation. Self-adjustiner, inexpensive 
Write for free catalosrand Kactory-to-User offer. 
BARKER MFG. CO. Dept. 1 6. David City, Neb. 
FERTILIZERS 
-THAT- 
FERTILIZE 
Send for our descriptive Literature 
The Wilcox Fertilizer Company 
MYSTIC, CONN. 
sotv*'"' ' 
ops 
All farm land is helped by the application, 
of lime—but it gets the most help from lime 
in a form that readily dissolves, and releases the 
dormant fertility Stored in the soil. The best form of 
lime is limestone. 
^LVERIZCb 
LIMESTONE 
Is a limestons ths first quality anr highest grade 
Superior foi spring work, because so .inely r riverized 
that it acts quickly, sweetening the soil "without de¬ 
stroying the humus. Its application means bigger 
and better crops. If you would like to know mor< 
about the good effects of liming this spring— 
Get this FREE Booklet 
The "Solvay” Booklet gives the facts aboot the value of 
Fme to farmers—tells what form of lime is best, and how 
to use it. You will iliid the information timely, interest¬ 
ing and reliable. Copy sent postpaid upon request. 
THE SOLVAY PROCESS CO. 
501 Milton Ave.,Syracuse, N.Y, 
west. The orchaid holdings, he said, 
were generally small, the average being 
about 12 acres. The greater part of the 
work is often done by the farmers and 
their families, even to the fancy box¬ 
packing of the apples, under official in¬ 
spection. Horse in.stead ot motor power 
for cultivation, hauling, etc., is neces- 
.sitated becau.se of the small investments 
and lack of capital. The most of the or¬ 
chards are not over 12 to 15 years old, 
and most of the high class dess-ort apides 
are grown that make a fine appearance 
in the box pack. 
(liovvcrs use no .stable manure except 
the little made by the horses, but feed 
the orchards with cover crops, xisually 
clover, and -\lfalfa. This is disked down 
fine in the Spring, and cultivati- n may 
follow until midstimmer. when h other 
cover crop is seeded. It is a very .‘om- 
mon practice to grow strawberries in 
the young orchard when the trees are 
growing. Because of the rainless grow¬ 
ing season these fruit gi-owers iiilgate 
their orchards, with water furnished hy 
an irrigation company. 
Btwanse of the cost of water and other 
expeu.st's that, including the labor cost, 
itmounts to over $4(K) jier year, the 
Xorthwestern apple grower must get the 
large returns be does from the fancy 
box pack to make a living from his small 
farm. 
Senator H. M. Dunlap followed with 
his story, partly told by moving pic¬ 
tures, about orcharding methods in Illi¬ 
nois and the Central West, and de¬ 
scribed practices in extensive orchards 
opei-atcd with plenty of capital, that can 
make use of the mo.st modern machinery 
in all the operations, plowing and culti¬ 
vation of the orchard with powerful 
ti'aetiu-s that can draw se.veral plows or 
two or three heavily weighted harrows 
leaving the soil better cultivated than is 
the average garden. Spi'aying is done 
hy the Large size power sprayers and 
several leads of hose CJin be operated in 
spraying the large trees from the right 
pliitforins. The fruit is picked and cai-- 
ried in bulk to the packinghouse where 
the large mechanical graders ai’e used, 
and it goes into cold storage soon after 
picking, for Mi’. Dunlap sjiys that the 
old belief is entirely exploded that ap¬ 
ples need to stand in piles and sweat 
to keep well. 
Mfiilion is made of the prize speaking 
contest by students of pomology in the 
College of Agriculture of Cornell Uni¬ 
versity, as follows: “Why Not Advertise 
the -\pi)lcV” Clarke B. Doudenslager; 
“Some Problems of the Fruit Gi’ower,” 
Frank P. ('ulliiiau; "The Belation of 
Handling, to Decay in Storage,” Doug¬ 
las S. Dilts; "Cooperative Marketing,” 
.Tames T. Owens; "The Value of Train¬ 
ing for Home Making,” Miss G. Marion 
Hess. The first prize was won by James 
T. Owens and the second by Clarke B. 
Doudenslager. W. Ii. J. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK 
D( IMESTTC.—Sparks flying from a dull 
tool a workman was using to a heap of 
powder caused an explosion .Tan. 25 in 
the Riverside Metals Corjioration plant in 
Irvington, N. Y. Three men were badly 
burned, one girl Avas injured hy falling 
walls of the room whore the combustion 
occurred, and anorher Avas hurt sliding 
down a bank to escape. The fire was in 
the shaving room, dose to the powder 
magazine of the plant, which has been 
manufacturing time fuses for the last 
year. One hundred girls and as many 
men are employed in the factory. 
Fire in the retail district of IMttsburgh, 
I*a., .Tan. 27, injured 20 persons, and 
caused a loss of $2,500,000. 
Samuel Barkin, propi’ietor of the Essex 
Shirtwaist Company, which occupied part 
of the Diamond Candy Company’s build¬ 
ing at 286 North Sixth stx’eet, Brooklyn, 
wa.s sentenced Jan. 26 by .Justice Kapper 
in the Broklyn Supreme Court to serve 
not less than two y«hirs and six months 
nor more than five yeai-s and six months 
in Sing Sing prison. Twelve persons lost 
their lives in the building in a fire on 
November 5, 1915. There were two stair¬ 
ways, one of Avhich was made impassable 
by the flames, and employees on the upper 
floors made a rush for the only other way 
of escape. To reach this they had to use 
a trap dtxtr in the ceiling of Barkin's es- 
tahlishmeut. They found the door locked 
:ind bolted, and 12 of the workers perished 
before help came. 
Fire of unknown origin destroyed the 
G. Fox department store and Woohvorth 
5 and 10-cent store at Hartford, Conn., 
Jan. 30. 
OBITT'ARY.— The R. N.-Y. told re¬ 
cently of the life work of _ Judson N. 
Knapp, the well-known fruit grower of 
Onondaga Co., N, Y. Since then Mr. 
Knapp has passed away, in his 80th year. 
Ilis varied activities were described in 
onr issue for Dee. 30, 1916, accompanied 
by a picture of this useful and honored 
citizen. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—President 
Wilson Jan. 25 signed the bill recently 
passed by Congress opening to settle¬ 
ment and sale 40.000 acres in Arizona, 
comprising an auxiliary reclamation 
project in connection, with the Yuma 
project. 
The midwinter meeting of the Michigan 
State Horticultural Society will be held 
at Benton Harbor Feb. 20-21. 
Enlargement of the National Forest 
Reserves by 23,709 acres acquired through 
February 10, 1917. 
purchases in the White and Southern 
Appalachian mountains wa.s announcefl 
.Tan. 26 by the Reservation Commission 
It brings the total added to the public 
forests in the East and South under the 
Weeks law up to 1,373,131 acres. The 
largest single purchase among those an¬ 
nounced .Tan. 26 -was a tract of 8,000 sn re.s 
on 3Ionnt Mitchell, North Carolina. In 
the White Mountains of Ncav Hampshire 
4..500 acres were pnrchasfd. 
.Joseph SnLser has opened a butcher 
shop in New York City for the sale ex- 
chisively of horse meat and .san.sages 
made of horse flesh. The shop is the first 
of its kind in thi.s city and the business 
is being conducted with the permission of 
the Department of Health, whch gave 
authority a year ago for the sale of horse 
meat. Round and sirloin steaks arc 
quoted at 12 cents per ponnd, while the 
inferior cuts .sell as low a.s six cents. 
The Delaware County .Jersey Improve¬ 
ment Association held its annual meeting 
in the court hon.se at Delhi, N. Y., .Tann- 
ary 11. Several important matters of 
business were transacted. A resolution 
was adopted to ask every owner of Jersey 
cattle in the county to sign a petition ask¬ 
ing the Dairymen’s League to work for 
more than three cents a point for butter- 
fat above the three per cent. test. A 
committee was appointed to formulate 
rules governing a butterfat contest and to 
purchase, a loving cup to he given as a 
prize in this contest. Officers for the com¬ 
ing year were elected as follows: Presi¬ 
dent, Herbert W. Harper of North Kort- 
right; vice-president. Van E. Wilson. 
Delhi; secretary-treasurer, B. A. I. 4 idd, 
Delhi, and one director was elected. 
George Davis of North ICortrigfat. 
The annual meeting of the Otsego 
County Jersey Cattle Club was held .Jan¬ 
uary 22 in the Chamber of Commerce 
rooms in Oneouta, N. Y. Otsego County 
has two other organized cattle clubs be- 
side.s a sheep breeders’ association. The 
address of the day was by L. L. Doolittle, 
field agent for the American Jersey Cat¬ 
tle Club of Massachusetts. The commit¬ 
tee handed in a resolution which it was 
directed should be sent to otlier Jersey 
cattle clubs, to the Dairyman’s Ivcagne 
and the New York City Board of Health. 
The resolution proposes to incretise the 
additional sum now paid for milk above 
the three per cent. test. The present reg¬ 
ulations are that three cents be paid for 
each point over three per cent., which 
would be ,30 cents for one per cent. The 
resolution asks that the incr4‘ase be to 45 
cents additional for every one per cent, 
increase in butterfat, 
WASHINGTON.—That after spending 
millions on the upper Mississippi in con¬ 
stant river and harbor bills the Govern¬ 
ment, by allowing the construction of the 
Jxeokuk dam, has seriously iuterfei-ed 
with navigation, wa.s cliarged .Tan. 25 in 
the discussion of the river and harbor hill 
by Representatives Frear of Wi.sconsin 
and Rainey of Illinois. Rainey sought to 
have an auiendment adopted prohibiting 
the Secretary of War from gniutiiig au¬ 
thority to inipouud water above any dams 
on the river. He charged that the Mis¬ 
sissippi River Development Ckmipany, 
which constructed the dam, had been able 
to finance the enterprise because of reii- 
resentatioiis made that it would develop 
200,000 horse-power 
A bill uppropi-iating .$250,000 for a na¬ 
tional sanitarium for lepers, already 
passed by the House, was passed Jan. 25 
by the Senate. The institution is to be 
administered by the Public Health Ser¬ 
vice and officers engaged in the work will 
be given pay and a half. 
Senator Myers’s bill authorizing the 
Secretary of the Interior to sell lauds 
withdrawn under reclamation acts but no 
longer needed for Government purposes 
was passed Jan. 25 by the Senate. 
I’resident Wilson Jan 29 vetoed the 
immigration hill jtassed recently hy C'on- 
gress bt'cjiuse of its literacy test pro- 
vi.sion. It was the second time President 
IVilson had vetoed an imniigi-ation bill 
because of the literacy test, and for the 
sam»‘ reason similar measures were vetoed 
by Presidents ’Taft nd Cleveland. 
Coming Farmers’ Meetings 
Farmer.s’ Week, Cornell University, 
Ithaca, N. Y., Feb. 12-17. 
New Y'ork State Vegetable Growers’ 
Association, Ithaca, N. Y., Feb. 1.3-15. 
Michigan State Horticultural Society, 
midwinter meeting. Benton Harbor, 
Mich., Feb. 20-21. 
New York Sttite Fruit Growers’ Asso¬ 
ciation annuiil Eastern meetitig, Pough¬ 
keepsie, Feb. 21-2.3. 
American Jersey Cattle Club, New 
York City, iMay 2. 
IIolstein-Frmsiiin Association of Amer¬ 
ica, Worcester, Mass.. June 6. 
American Association of Nurservmen, 
forty-second annual meeting, I'hiladel- 
phia, I’a.. June 27-29. 
Wheat, $1.70 per bu.; corn, $1; oats, 
65c; potatoe.s, $1.25; milk at our cream¬ 
ery, $2.07 per cv.’t. for milk that tests 4 
per cent, butterftit; last inontL the price 
was $2.30 for milk that tiested 4 per cent. 
Eggs, 50c, less 10 per cent, commission; 
guineas. $1.25 per pair; chicken;^ 20 to 
21c per lb.; farm horses range in price 
from .$100 to $200. Cows in profit from 
$60 to .$100; veal calves, 11c per lb.; fat 
hogs, $14 per cwt.; pigs five weeks old, 
$3 apiece. Apples, $1.21 to $1.10 per 
bn. Good cabbage, i2%c per head. 
Chester Co., Pa. J. it. k. 
