cr/ie RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
725 
harm to have newsiiapers placed over the barrels 
and on the inside of the building. I.ast year I sold 
my farm and bought a place in a neighboring village. 
I have a good-slzetl garden and a number of apple 
and pear trees. As there is a heater in my cellar the 
satisfactory stoi-age of my Winter apples appeared 
to be a problem. My nearest neigld^-^v, however, has 
a storage room built under his front porch. There 
is a door leading in from the cellar which can be left 
open in zero weather. Windows on each end can be 
opened in warm weather for the air to circulate 
through the lattice at the ends of the porch. This 
neighbor allowed me to store two barrels of apples 
in this storage I’oom. They have kept well and I 
The Boulder Before Treatment. Fig. 294 
still have a few left today, May 9, in good condition. 
It appears to me that any farmer of ordinary intel¬ 
ligence could build a storage-room of this descrii>- 
tion. The work could be done stormy days and be 
a great convenience for the .storage of fruit and 
vegetables. j. f. forbks. 
('onnectiout. 
Smashing of Boulders 
HERE are many farms that have fields con¬ 
taining a number of boulders that occupy a 
large amount of ground, which cannot be used, and 
is a total los.s. 1 removed the boulder illustrated. Fig. 
:.’94 (.see abovel by the use of dynamite. T drilled 
a hole about 24 inches deep, and placed a charge of 
two sticks of 40 per cent, dynamite in the hole, 
primed with a cap attached to a piece of good fuse. 
I tamped the charge firmly with dry dirt. The 
force of the explosive broke the boulder into a num¬ 
ber of pieces, shown in Fig. 290. I treated all of the 
boulders by the same method and now have a clean 
tield. The expense was very light in comparison 
with the profit of the extra ground. c. B. M. 
raldwell, O. 
Growing Corn on Long Island 
4’ tlie pre.sent time there are thousands of acres 
of fairly good laml lying idle throughout the 
Eastern States. On Long Island, in the counties of 
Nassau and Suffolk, the writer personally knows of 
hundreds of aci-es which will probably be untilled 
this year. 'Much of this land has produced good 
crops in the past, but is now in a poor sod or grown 
up with weeds. In .some cases it is not used because 
of the scarcity of labor, and in others it is in the 
bands of wealthy residents and land speculators. 
Most of this land will not produce profitable crops 
of potatoes, but Avill, with good management, pro¬ 
duce a good crop of Indian corn. !Much of this land 
adjoins the land of good farmers and market gar¬ 
deners who have all the land they consider them¬ 
selves able to handle properly. If you ask why 
they do not rent it and raise a crop of corn for their 
horses, and so avoid purchasing Western corn, they 
tell you it is possible to find time to plant and raise 
the crop, but that the main work of cutting up in 
stacks and husking comes in Sei)tember in the height 
of potato digging. 
Rut why cut the stalks at all? In the Middle 
West, in the great corn belt, where one farmer often 
has 200 acres of corn alone, they never cut the 
stalks, Init letive them to stand. They drive in and 
lireak the corn from the stalks and fling it into a 
husking wagon. In the West they claim one good 
man can husk 100 bushels of ears in a day. In that 
way our farmers could gather the corn in November 
when potato digging was over, lengthen their work¬ 
ing season by a month and their bank accounts by 
many dollars, l)esides helping to feed our Allies in 
Europe. Corn, like wheat, will be shipped to Europe, 
no matter how high the freight rates. It is a 
highly concenti-ated food, certain to bring a remun¬ 
erative price foi‘ years to come. C'orn, to-day, is 
woith about .$1.7.5 per bushel, three times the price 
l)efore the war, and with the high price of beef and 
pork behind it (for when the price of corn begins to 
lower, the Western farmer will begin to raise hogs 
and quit selling corn) it is as safe an inve.stment 
:is (Jovernment bonds. 
i^o I say, farmers, hustle a bit more! Hire some 
of those idle acres! If there are none in your im¬ 
mediate neighborhood, go to the wealthy land owner. 
Offer to rent some of his unproductive acres. Tell 
him what you want to do. You will be surprised. 
He is patriotic. He wants to do his bit, the .same 
as you do. He will rent the land and you will both 
be doing something for your country. We mu.st help 
to feed our Allies if we are going to win the war. 
Long Island. g. a. r. 
The Burro and His Future 
T he picture of the “Rocky mountain can,ary.” 
shown at Fig. 295, reminds us that every year 
we have letters from dozens of Eastern people who 
say they want to buy one or more of these flonkey.s. 
As many of them put it, these animals are wanted 
as “companions for the children." 
There are a few of the donkeys scattered through 
the Eastern country, but it is usually hard to pick 
them up at a reasonable price. On page G2G we 
printed a note from the Arizona Experiment Station 
showing lu)w these burros have become so numerou.s 
ow the Western plains that it is seriously proi)osed to 
kill them off and put their meat into cans for poultry 
food. If there is anything in the state'ment that 
“like produces like," we .should say that a sitting 
hen fed on donkey meat would prove a wonder on 
the nest. At any rate there are plenty of these 
little creatures in Arizona. 
Prof. R. H. Williams, of the Experiment Station, 
says that they can be purchased for .$2 to apiece. 
The Burro or “Rocky Mountain Canary”. Fig. 293 
He thinks tluit the young ones could no doubt be 
shipped safely across the country, and if fairly 
trained and well treated they would not injure chil¬ 
dren. He says that the burro is more intelligent 
than the hor.se, and that they shonhl not be spoiled 
in handling. They lack ambition, as we m.ay Judge 
from their appearance, but the average child usually 
has ambition enough to give the combination a fail- 
supply. 
The figures show that it would cost at least .$400 
to .ship a carload of Inirros fri>ni Arizona to New 
York. The freight would be apin-oximately .$.‘150. 
It would cost about .$.2G to feed them, and with the 
expenses for an attendant the price would run to 
something like $10 per animal delivered in New 
York. If the younger burros were chosen about 75 
could be handled in the car, and this would bring 
the price per head down below $8. The express rate 
from Arizona would be $S.G0 per 100. A young 
burro and his crate would weigh from 100 to 125 
pounds and the probable cost of feed and other 
charges would run about $4. 
Several people have asked us if we thought it 
would pay to import the.se creatures and go into 
the business of breeding them. On a small scale 
there might be something in it, but the demand 
would be rather limited unless some shrewd adver¬ 
tiser and good talker could convince parents that 
the donkey would suit the children. These little 
animals are very strong, and on a .small place where 
there was a boy who took kindly to farm work, they 
could be harnessed and made to do considerable 
work. There is. however, considenible prejudice 
against the donki-y. He has a reputation for stupid¬ 
ity which be does not deserve, as he has brains 
enough if lie would only use them. He lacks ambi¬ 
tion. and is anything but a beauty. The chief objec¬ 
tion is made to his song, or the noise he can make 
on occasion to exiiress his desires. Those who have 
been awakened early in the morning by the “Hee¬ 
haw!" of a donkey Avhen in full voice, will not take 
kindly to the tlunight of bringing a carload of these 
Rocky ^Mountain c.anaries east of the Mississippi 
Itiver. 
Start Your Home Vegetable Garden Now 
M any people who have not started a garden this 
year are wishing that they had. As a matter 
of fact .Tune is ideal in many respects, because the 
soil is warm and seed does not rot. The growth is 
quick and vigorous, especially if there are frequent 
rains. Of course, .some ci’ops such as lettuce, i-ad- 
ishes, cautiiloupes, onions, peas, potatoes, etc., 
should not bo planted. However. .Tune is a very 
good time for such crops as string beans, bush Limas, 
beets, cabbage plants, carrots, sweet corn, Hubbard 
.squash, and tomato plants. About .Inly 18 cauli¬ 
flower, Savoy cabbage, ami celery may be .set out, 
and ruta-baga turnips may lie planted. About Au¬ 
gust 1st lettuce, turnips and Black Spanish radishes 
may be planted, and during the last part of Augmst 
si)inach may be planted for Fall and early Winter 
use. 
The soil may I>e prepai*e<l by plowing or spading 
a modei-ate application of rotted stable manure into 
the .soil; one pound to one sipiare foot is a heavy 
application. Lime may be spread upon the loose 
ground and raked into it immediately thereafter, 
using one pound to every 25 square feet. The fer¬ 
tilizers which a home gardener may secure this year 
contain about 4% nitrogen. 9% phosphoi-ic acid and 
no potash. The safest and best way for the home 
gardener to use this material is to spread it upon 
the plow^ed .soil at the rate of one pound to every .“O 
.square feet, and rake it into the soil. Coal ashes 
have no value as plant food: however, a little of 
the sifted material nniy help to h>osen up a heavy, 
sticky soil. Poultry manure may well take the 
place of fertilizer, especially if 10 ])ounds of ground 
bone or etse 20 itounds of acid phosphate is mixed 
with every 100 ))ounds of the poidtry droppings. 
T"se this manure at the rate of one pound to every 
10 square feet. Excessive n.se of poultry manure, 
especially without the acid pho.sphate, may imluce 
large vine growth of the beams, s(piash and toma¬ 
toes at the exj)en.se of fruit. 
It is quite impossible to draw up an interesting 
plan, showing intercropping, at this season of the 
year, when most of the crops are long growers. 
Plant the beans, cabbage, celery, rutabagas, etc., in 
rows 2% feet a’i>art. The tomatoes, sweet corn, 
squash, etc., will need more room, while the root 
crop.s, lettuce ami spinach may be jilanted in rows 
14 inches ai)art. The late spinach may be planted 
in that soil where the string lieans will have been 
grown. 
It is expected that your local truck growers will 
supply your needs during the Summer and early 
Fall; therefore it is urged that every home gardener 
give first consideration to those crops which he or 
she can save for Winter use. The demand is to can, 
preserve, dry or store everything for Winter use. 
During the Summer live on perishables. All food 
The Boulder After the Use of Dynamite. Fig. 296 
sti'lTs will probably be excessively high if our staple 
foodstuffs are shipped as heavily as it is expected 
they will be. u. w. un b.\un. 
lx England ground limestone does not seem to be 
used freely. Farmers there demand the burned lime. 
To test :i fellow's energy this oiu' is good—you'll 
find. Are the shiny places (tn his kne(>s or ar(' they 
’round behind? 
There is a time to think for yourself and an¬ 
other time to tliink with your neighbor. Do not 
mix them up. 
This food trouble is proving the value of the yel¬ 
low turnip to many people who formerly regarded it 
as a sort of yellow peril. 
