A Bunch of Farm Notes 
Removing Pipe and Pump Cylinder from Well 
N page 883 is an inquiry regarding the best 
method to be employed in the removal of the 
pipe from a well, the same having become tightly 
wedged by reason of stones being thrown into the 
well and above the cylinder. The reply suggests 
the use of a spud attached to a piece of piping of 
sufficient length, with which it may be possible to 
break the stones and thus release the cylinder. I 
had a good deal of experience along this line quite 
a number of years ago, and, for the benefit of the 
inquirer and others, I will say that he will stand 
about one chance in 25 in loosening the cylinder by 
this method. Of the remaining 24 chances, 10 will 
be in favor of breaking the cylinder, 10 in favor 
of wedging it still more tightly, and four in favor 
of breaking the casing. It may be possible to 
apply sufficient force to the pipe to i)ull the cylinder 
from the well. A li/4-inch pijie, if fully screwed to¬ 
gether will stand the strain of three men, weighing 
probably 500 pounds, on the end of a IG-foot lever. 
How much more it will stand I cannot tell. It 
will require much less power to raise it if water 
covers the stones than if the well is dry. The best 
method is to have a steel point with barbs like 
spear made and attached to a i^-inch pipe. This 
can be driven through the deposit of stones, and. 
on its withdrawal, the barbs will catch the stones 
and loosen them, thus breaking the wedge. Also, 
a pair of tongs may be made with legs long enough 
to reach the stones, and joined in the middle, in¬ 
stead of near one end. With the.se it may be pos¬ 
sible to reach and remove the stones. 
Exterminating the Woodchuck 
In numerous issues of The R. N.-Y.. as well as in 
various other periodicals, letters have 
appeared advocating the use of ga.^^o- 
line or bi-sulphide of carbon for rid¬ 
ding a field of woodchucks. The chief 
objections to this method are its un¬ 
certainty and its possible inefficiency. 
One can never know whether he has 
killed the woodchuck or not, and hence 
there is a lack of .satisfaction. Re- 
side.s, the woodchucTv is capable of ex¬ 
isting for a long time with very little 
air, and, perhaps, Avith none at all 
and, Avhile the gases Avhich Avill ari.se 
from either of these liquids Avill sure¬ 
ly kill him in theory, the chances are 
that, as soon as he gets a whiff of the 
foul odor, he will bury his head in 
the fi’esh earth in the side of his den, 
and either Avait till the fumes subside, 
or continue to burroAV and eventually 
make his appearance at the surface by 
the Avay of a fresh hole, Avhich, being 
small and nearly filled Avith earth, Avill, 
ordinarily, escape notice. At least this has been 
my experience \Ahenever I liaA'e tried to destroy 
them Avith the fumes of burning sulphur or kero¬ 
sene. Almost invariably they Avould escape, aban¬ 
don the den, and soon appear in another part of the 
field. After learning how I had been tricked I tried 
droAvning them out Avith AA'ater, and, by this means, 
completely ridded the premises of them in a very 
f(‘w days. My method Avas to set the gathering 
tank, used in the sugar place, in the Avagon and fill 
it with water. Then I Avould drive to a hole, insei’t 
the si)out and turn on the Avater, and the Avood- 
chucks would immediately .scramble for the surface, 
Avhere I could kill them Avith a club. Once, as the 
hole filled. fi\'e Avoodchucks came croAvding out and 
I killed them all. Sometimes a single pailful of 
water was enough to drive them to the surface, but, 
ordinarily, it Avas necessary completely to fill the 
hole. The idea .so commonly exi)re.ssed, that the 
nest is raised abOA'e the entrance of the den, is all 
nonsense. Hoav can it be so in a level field? 
It is a fact not generally appreciated that, in 
proi)ortion to its size, the Avoodchuck is a valuable 
food animal, if properly dressed as soon as killed. 
There are .some fatty, yellOAVish glands on the breast 
and just beneath the skin. If these are alloAved to 
remain for any length of time, the fluid Avhich they 
secrete Avill permeate the body and give a strong, 
unpleasant flavor to the meat. If, however, these 
are removed, and the animal is bled, and dressed and 
skinned as .soon as dead, the meat Avill compare faA’- 
orably with any Avild game that I have ever tasted. 
Moreover, if killed late in the Fall, when the fur is 
at its best, the .skins have considerable value among 
the furriers., I am not aAvare that dealers have ever 
quoted prices on AA'Oodchuck skins, but I have knoAvn 
of Avholesale dealers paying from 50 cents to one 
dollar each for the skins AA’heu shipped in a bundle 
RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
with other furs. During the Summer months the 
hair is short and coarse, and thinly scattered over 
the bodies, and the skins haA'e then no value to 
the fur trade. However, the hide is thick and 
tough and strong, and, when tanned by any home 
process makes good whangs, and bag strings, and’ 
Avhiplashes, and even shoe packs. 
Digging Muck by Machinery 
On page 847 is an inquiry regarding the use of a 
low-priced dredge for removing the muck from a de- 
A Farm Mare and Her Colt. Fig. 372 
posit that is 50 rods long, two rods Avide, and six 
feet or mox'e in depth. On account of the Ioav value 
of muck and the limited demand for the commodity, 
it Avill not pay to install an equipment, the .shovels 
of Avhich are operated by poAver, unless the com¬ 
plete and rapid cleaning of the SAvamp is an im¬ 
portant desideratum. In this case it might be de¬ 
sirable to buy or rent a steam dredge, but. ordin¬ 
arily, the value of all the muck that could be used 
to advantage on a farm Avould not be sufficient to 
pay the interest, annually on a steam dredge and 
its a|)purtonances 
I have seen a litter carrier .such as is often used 
for cleaning stalxles emi)loyed for this purpose Avith 
satisfactory results. But, possibly, in the pre.sent 
instance, the topography Avill not favor the u.se of 
.‘-•(icli an arrangement. I have al.so seen a single- 
masted derrick, Avith a long boom, used in digging a 
cellar Avhere it Avas not practicable to use a team 
Lucy Duchess De Kol 96348. Fig. 374. See Page 906 
and scraper. Tavo cars Avere used, each holding 
about a cubic yard, and one Avas filled AA’hile the 
other Avas being emptied. One man operated the 
derrick, Avhile tAvo men did the shoveling, and there 
Avas lever arrangement combined Avith a latch and 
staple, by Avhich the bottom of the car could be 
dropped so as to SAving on hinges, simply by the 
pulling of a rope that was in the hands of the 
893 
operator. It is difficult to describe the mechanism 
in detail, but anyone Avith a slight understanding of 
mechanics can readily see hoAv the car should be 
built. After unloading the car is sAvung back and 
the bottom is fastened in place by the shoveler.s. 
The principle of the derrick might easily be applied 
to the digging of muck, and, judging from its Avork- 
ings in the cellar, three men Avith a derrick can do 
at)out the .same amount of Avork as tAVo men Avith a 
team and a dump-cart. It is refreshing to learn of 
the utilization of a portion of the immen.se de¬ 
posits of muck in NeAV England. I knoAV of farmers 
Avho pay 50 cents a load for saAvdust and dra*Av it 
10 nules for use as an absorbent. Avhile there are 
inexhaustible deposits of the best kind of muck, 
Avorth many times more than .saAvdust, Avithin a feAV 
rods of their barn.s, and, in some instances, the.se 
deposits have received the Avashings of the barn¬ 
yards for more than one hundred years. c. o. o. 
Vermont. 
Sweet Potatoes in the Silo 
SHORT time ago AA’e spoke of the remarkable 
development of the silo, and hoAV one after 
another many things formerly considered as Avaste 
ixroducts are noAv being used as silage. Noav Ave 
haA’e an addition to the list. It appears that in 
Florida SAveet potatoes are being u.sed in the silo 
Avith very good results. The potatoes ai*e handled 
the same as any other silage* crop, that is, they 
are run through the cutter, throAvn into the silo 
and stamped doAvn. The SAveet potato crop has been 
groAvn in Florida for many years, and during all 
that time they have been fed, more or less, to live 
stock. The chief trouble has been to store them in 
that Avarm climate so as to feed them during the 
entire year. In many ca.ses a drove of hogs Avill 
be turned right into the sAveet pota¬ 
to field to dig out the crops without 
further help, but of course this Avill 
last only a feAV months at best. The 
silo enables the Florida feeders to 
saA’e the entire crop and feed SAveet 
potatoes during the entire year. There 
is little difference in the feeding value 
of silage made from SAveet potato and 
that made from corn, although there is 
considerably more of the carbohydrates 
in the SAveet potato, and also less 
moisture, but a little mox’e ash. Ex¬ 
perience ixx feeding, hoAvevei*, shoAvs 
that 100 pounds of the SAveet potato 
silage Avill replace at least 150 pounds 
of the cox’xi silage. On a tx-ial of the 
tAvo for milk production Avith the gx’aixx 
feed the same there Avas a slight diffex-- 
ence in favor of the sAveet potato crop. 
Of coux'se this Avill liaA-e little value 
for the Northern dairymen avIxo can¬ 
not raise the SAveet potato property, 
yet Ave ai’e all intex-ested ixi learnixig of any changes 
ixi the px’oblexn of feeding stock. Thex-e is sux’e to 
be an immense developxnent in daii’.ving and cattle 
feeding throughout the Gulf States, and xnany 
neAv feeding ci'ops Avill be developed thex’e. All 
this Avill haA'e its effect upon our Nox'thex’u dairy¬ 
men, as the South continues to incx’ease its pro¬ 
duction of meat or milk. The Soxxtherxi fax’xnex’s 
cannot hope to feed their coavs in the same Avay 
the.v Avould if dairying ixx the North. They have 
a climate less sixited to gx’aixx px’oduction and bet¬ 
ter adapted to cx-ops Avhich do not thriA’e in Nox’th- 
erxi States. Thus their px’oblem is to leax’ii Ixoav 
to utilize their special crops to the best advantage 
and that is Avhat this SAveet potato silage meaxis. 
The South gives us cotton.seed xneal—a gx’eat and 
u.seful daix-y feed. We think the.v haA'e another 
equally useful feed coming ixx the velvet bean. 
Big Hen Stories 
Can you tell me if the Ancona hen, “Queen Bes.s,” 
OAvned at Toledo, Ohio, actually made a record of 331 
eggs in a year at an official contest? R. xi. 
Fairport, N. Y. 
E are unable to find that “Queen Bess” Avas 
ever a xuember of any x*egular and well-gov- 
erxied egg-laying contest. She px’obably kept her 
OAVxx x’ecord and had her husband make pxxblic recox’d 
of it. The stox-y seems to have appeax’ed fix’st ixx a 
Sunday papex-—so of couxAse it ought to be tx’ue. 
You can claim 15 records Avhile you ax'e ixiaking 
oxie. Thex’e is another “claixu” for a hen that is 
said to have laid 365 eggs in a yeax*. The evideixce 
offered is that she laid ixx the same spot ixx the barxi 
and an egg Avas found at this spot each day of the 
year! What more coxxvixxcing ixx’oof does axiyone 
Avant? Seriously, these fake I’ecords fl.v about like 
snoAvflakes, and ai’e about as valuable. Wlxen you 
A Modern Farm Evaporator of Brick and Concrete. Fig. 373. See Page 894 
