I 
2M 
■Uhe R U R AL N E W-YO R K E R 
Februarj- 24, 1917. 
“Accident” never produced first quality 
hay. Get a good stand—give the rootlets 
plenty of “Food” early in the growing period. 
Friend Farmer—hundreds in New England have 
proven that 
HUBBARD'S 
BONE 
BASE 
FERTILIZERS 
contain just the food elements—a reliable balanced ration to pilT vigor and 
growth into your grass. 
Guaranteed Analysis of Our Famous Hay Maker 
Hubbard’s “Bone Base” Oats and Top-Dressing 
Nitrogen ... 6.00 to 7.00^ Equal of Ammonia - 7.25 to 8.50?; 
Available Phosphoric Acid 6.00 to 7.00?; Total Phosphoric Acid 12.00 to 14.OO?!! 
The Phosphoric Acid is all from Pure Bone. 
Write for our Grass Literature —“The Grass Crop” and "Turning Green Grass 
into Green- 
-^c 
The ROGERS 
& HUBBARD CO., 
Dept. A, 
Middletown, Conn. ] 
' W'r httvp (t Fertilizer 
that Fits {'<trh crop 
I (I r o w .*■ 
backs.” 
They’re both 
packed full of “Grass facts. 
Also let us help you with 
any special problems 
which are bother¬ 
ing you. 
c 
—but don't spread the lime with a 
shovel. Hertzler & Zook Low- 
Down Lime Spreader saves lime 
and labor too. Adjustable flow, force feed. Lowest 
price. Capacity. 150 to 4.,ooo ll>s. Write for cata¬ 
logues and special offer. $24 and up. 
HERTZLER 6c ZOOK COMPANY 
Box C Belleville, Pa. 
KITSELMAN FENCE 
HORSE-HICH, BULL- 
STRONG, PIG-TIGHT. 
Hade of Open Hearth wire 
heavily galvanized—a strong 
durable, long-lasting, rust-re¬ 
sisting fence. Sold direct to the 
Fanner at wire mill prices. 
Here's a few of our big values: 
-Inch Hog Fence• 1 e^c a rod 
47-lnGh Farm Fence- 24i4e • rod 
48-inch Poultry Pence - ZBUc a rod 
Special Prices on Galv. Barbed Wire 
I and Metal Fence Posts. Our Catalog shows 100 
styles and heights of Farm.Poultry and Lawn Fence 
at money-saving prices. Write to-day. It’s free. 
KITSELMAN BROS. Box 230 Muncle, Ind. 
^^rag Blow Out Those Stumps 
It’s Easy, Quick, Cheap 
rm Powder is the easiest, quickest and cheapest 
jans of removing stumps, repeated tests have 
wed. The Minnesota Experiment Station found 
plosives “blew stumps entirely out and broke them 
o pieces easily handled.” Clearyour stump land with 
tools. It will help you make cheapest,fastest,hardest work- 
idle acres pay a profit. ing farm hand you can get. 
Send Coupon for Farm Book—FREE 
Our illustrated book “ Better Farming’’will be helpful 
to every land owner. Itihows how to improve soil, raise 
bigger crops, blast stumps and boulders, and do all kinds 
of work with Atlas Farm Powder. Mail the coupon now. 
ATLAS POWDER COMPANY Offices: Wilmington, Del. 
Sales Offices: Birmingham, Boston, Houghton, Joplin, Kansas City, Knoxville, 
York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis 
New Orleans, New 
ATLAS POWDER CO. 
Wilmington, Del.' 
Send me .vour74-pngc book "Better 
Farming.” I am interested in the use 
bf explosives for the purpose before 
’’.vbif-K I ninrk X. ItlX 3 
Stump Blasting 
Boulder Blasting 
Subsoil Blasting 
Tree Planting 
Ditch Digging 
Road Building 
Address 
Keeping Water Out of Cellar 
Some time ago an inquirer asked how 
to keep water out of cellar. As you re¬ 
plied, pla.stering the wall with anything 
will not atop it. as I know from exjfer- 
ience. P>ut there is one way to stop it, 
which I h.ave employed frequently. 
Cut or. dig a space anywhere from IS 
to 24 inches wide along the wall outside, 
clear to base of wall, or better, a few 
incln's bidow the base. Then ’‘puddle” 
this space clear uj) :ibove the natural 
ground surface, forming a slope away 
from the wall—“puddle” in this case 
means to tiike good clay and fill in about 
four or not over six inche.s deep and wet 
it until it is thin mud—thou use any 
common rammer and ram or puddle it 
until there is no chance for any air 
spaces. AVhen this is done full length of 
trencli, fill in again find repeat this 
process fintil tlie desired height is at¬ 
tained, When this is hardened, it will be 
a solid mass, almost as hard as cement, 
hut with no crevices or porousnes.s and 
will positively turn water. 
In doing this work, there must be ab¬ 
solutely no stones in the clay, large or 
small, no chips, stick.s, or anything but 
clay. If there is .such matter, the job 
will be wortble.ss and will not answer 
the purpose. If done intelligently will 
co.st no more than drains, pipes, ete., and 
will be ;i bett<'r job. The jficture shows 
how this Work is done*. F. K. wii.sox. 
New .lersey. 
How Tree Stumps Are Killed 
Will .YOU folvise the best motliod ot 
killing the slumps and runts of locust 
trf'cs’:' .J. 1’. 
1‘asadena. Md. 
The i)crsistcnc(‘ with which the 
stumi)s of .«ome trees cling to life creates 
a pr<jhlem wliicli is continufilly confront¬ 
ing the farmer. It does not confine it- 
.self to locust trees, hut to sever.'il others 
which have the sprouting capacity de- 
veloiied to a higli degree. The iilea has 
occurred to many that it might he pos¬ 
sible to kill the tree by the injection 
of poison into the roots or ground. There 
is nothing wliicli is sufficiently penetrat¬ 
ing to kill the tree which would not ren¬ 
der the surrounding soil unfit for the 
support of otlier plant life. The only 
remedy that I know of is the very simple 
one of cutting the shoots and suckers 
back close to the ground. It is suf¬ 
ficient if this is done once or twice dnr- 
ing the Summer. Any which appear lat¬ 
er will uudoubteeny be killed during the 
following Winter. By Spring the stump 
will h.'ivi' become .so weakened that it 
cannot send forth any shoots, or at best 
only feeble ones, which may easily be 
done away with by a f<'W strokes of the 
ax or grub hoe. 
Perhaps if we trace briefly the coiirse 
of the food substances within the tree, 
it will help to explain this .sprouting 
ability and show that, after all. the old 
simple way with the hand ax or grub 
hoe is the only practicable method of 
killing the stumps and roots. All trees 
are dependent upon earbouie acid gas, 
oxygen, w.'iter, and mineral salts to .sus¬ 
tain life and growth. These are obtained 
from the air by means of the foliage, 
and from the soil through the roots. The 
water and mineral salts are ab.sorbed 
through tiny, sensitive root hairs, and 
are then conducted through the larger 
roots (which serve ahso as anchors), up¬ 
ward into the trunk and thence to the 
leaves. In order that a tree may live, 
it is not only necessary that the water 
should ascend through the wood to the 
leaves, but it is also' necessary that the 
manufactured foods should descend 
through the living portion of the tree to 
furnish nourishment of the roots in 
order that they may live and perform 
their function. .Some of the food ma¬ 
terial, as it is carried down through 
the soft, inner bark of the branches and 
trunk, is used immediately in forming 
the annual rings, flowers, fruit and 
other pai'ts of the tree. Otlier portions 
are stored away in the medullary rays of 
the wood and in the roots preparatory 
to starting the next year’s growth. 'In 
-the Spring and early .Summer nearly .ill 
the food which the tree makes avail.-ihlc 
is used in the production of leaves, flow¬ 
ers. and new growth rings. This is 
n.'iturally a period which demands a 
great deal of the tree’s strength, and it 
iiecd.s much of tlie extra food which it 
had stored during the previous year, 
'rheii as Fall approaches, and there are 
comiiaratively fewer demands upon the 
tree, it begins to .store away food for 
the comiug year. -\s a result of this al¬ 
ternate storing up of energy and draw¬ 
ing of resources, the tree has a greater 
amount of stored-up available food in 
the Winter than in the middle of the 
Summer. 
In spite of thi.s, however, trees wliicli 
:ire capable of sending forth sprouts will 
do so to a cm'taiu extent, whether cut in 
the Slimmer or Winter. The point to 
bring out here is that if they are cut 
ill the Summer, the wood in the sprouts 
produced will not have had time to 
harden, and will be winter-kiih'd. 'I'o 
draw a further cuiiclusion from this, it 
is ca.sy to see that if one wants to 
liroduce sprouts, tiie time to cut i.s in 
the Winter when the tree is at rest. 
The stumps of the locust trees which 
you have described may jiroduce some 
more shoots this coming Spring. They 
should be cut down close to the ground 
during the Summer If they sprout 
again, it should not cause you to worry, 
because they will not be very vigorous 
and will undoubtedly be killed during the 
Winter. This reijuires considerable jia- 
tieiice and persistence, hut in the end tlie 
.stump will become exhausted of its food 
and killed. o. ir. c. 
Wireworms in Potato Soil 
I. ill you iiiivise me as to the treat¬ 
ment of ground athected with wireworm.s 
for seed potatoes’/ 2. How can I treat 
sccd_ oats for smiit’f .t. . 7. M. 
West Aiistiiitowii, (). 
1. Tlic wireworms which may he in 
your .soil are very unsatisfactory to fight. 
They arc the result of the adult beetle 
depositing eggs on the ground usually 
M'hen it is in sod. 'I'lie wireworms di'- 
velop for from three, to five years before 
they turn to adults ready to again lay 
egg.s. The most idTective remedy is late 
Fall plowing, as this turns many up to 
oxiiosure when they are unable to jiro- 
tect themselves. Harrowing late in the 
Fall is also helpful. If they are very 
numerous in restricted areas tlie wire- 
worms can he effectively destroyed by 
placing poisoned bran under hoards 
around the field. These wireworm.s are 
voracious feeders and travel around in 
.search of their food, esiiecially wlnui the 
ground is keiit harrowed and they be¬ 
come hungry for green .stuff. If. after 
you have planted potatoes on this soil, 
you find that the wireworms are de¬ 
stroying your crop you had better dig it 
as soon as possible. 
2. The oat sniiit, about which you 
ask, is one of tlic most destructive dis- 
ea.ses we have and at the same time it 
is very easily controlled because the 
disease is carried on the outside of the 
oat seed where it cau he very effectively 
destroyed with formalin solution. Onh 
pound of formalin solution diluted in .oO 
gallons of water should make enough 
solution to disinfect ."lO bushels of .seed. 
A very good method to do this work is to 
spread the oats on a floor and siiriiikle 
them with thi.s solution. Turn them over 
with a shovel and sprinkle them again until 
they are evenly moistened. Then shovel 
them up in a big heap, spread the hags 
over the heap and then cover the en¬ 
tire thing with canvas for from six to 12 
hours. Thi.s canvas will hold in the 
fumes and make the solution thorough¬ 
ly effective, even on those oats on the 
outside of the pile and in disinfecting 
the bag.s. The seed is then spread out 
to dry and should be frequently stirred 
so that it will dry as quickly as pos¬ 
sible. The fumes given off may irritate 
the eyes and nose, hut are not iujuriou.s. 
D. H. 
