RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1233 
GenereJ Farm Topics 
Decaying Seaweed 
I am very anxious to know if there is 
any process by which "seaweed” can be 
made to decay quickly. I find that if it 
is put in a pile the inside of the pile will 
not decay. N. w. r. 
ratchogue, N. Y. 
You should send to the Connecticut Ex¬ 
periment Station at New Haven and get 
a copy of the recent bulletin on seaweed. 
There is no question about the value of 
rockweed as manure. This decays quite 
readily and may be used like any manure. 
“Seaweed” is much harder to utilize. It 
belongs to the duckweed family. It is 
thin and ribbon-like and is very slow in 
decaying. It should be used as bedding 
or thrown into the hogpen, where it will 
be mixed with decaying material and pul¬ 
verized. Rockweed itself decays very 
quickly, and for that reason cannot be 
piled up and stored. It should be put 
fresh onto the land, or it could be com¬ 
posted with sufficient seaweed. 
Potato Pierced by Grass 
I am sending you a novel combination 
of an Irish potato and some quack 
grass. I believe there is a good text in 
this for a good article on the persistent 
growth of quack grass; I thought it 
would interest you to look at. 
Michigan. Rogers. 
A photograph of this potato was made 
and the picture is sliowu below. This 
shows how the quack grass has bored 
right through the potato and kept on 
Quack Grass Growing Through Potato 
going around it. lYe have had a num¬ 
ber of such specimens—showing the ter¬ 
rible persistence with Avhich quack grass 
pushes its way where it wants to go. 
We can easily realize from this how 
difficult it must be to kill such a crop 
out. 
Mowing With a Tractor 
.lust received last week’s paper, and 
read about that mowing attachment for 
tractors that you say was shown at New 
'York State Fair. It may interest you to 
know my rea.son for asking. While on my 
way to the big tractor show at Fremont a 
personal friend who is interested in a 
AVe.stern railroad tried to get me to 
manage the job of cutting a great lot of 
Sweet clover along the right of way 
of his road. He said that for many miles 
on both sides was a solid mass of clover 
going to seed. He had the junvilege of 
cutting it, but did not have the time 
even to look after the job, hence the of¬ 
fer. He fully realized the value of that 
seed, and so did I. but family reasons 
prevented my accepting it this year. Now 
I i)ropose for next year *-o get a small 
tractor and use it to pull an eight or 
ten-foot cut mower. Then use it to 
run the thra.sher, move the se()arator 
and finally to haul the seed to railroad. 
I aim to ship the seed to my farm, 
where I have facilities for cleaning it, 
and would sell it direct to consumers 
during the Winter. It strikes me if a 
sickle bar could be placed at the center 
and on one side of a tractor at about 
18 inches from the ground, and run by 
direct power of tractor, it should be a 
very practical machine for the joh. 
Nebraska. J. il. T. 
R. N.-Y.—The tractor we saw at the 
State Fair had a long mower knife blade 
running on direct power from the ma¬ 
chine. This knife blade was under full 
control and it seemed to work well, al¬ 
though. of course, it was not in a reg¬ 
ular mowing field. We think this work 
could be done well. In the East, with 
its rough, hilly country and natural cuts 
it would be hard to use any machine. 
In the West, with its level land, the 
plan might work. 
The Litmus Test 
Evei-y year there will come, over and 
over, calls for a method of testing the 
soil for lime. The blue litmus test is 
simple and quite sure. This paper is 
colored by a solution of litmus, so that it 
turns red when put into an acid and blue 
when in an alkaline substance. A fair 
sample of soil is put into a glass or cup 
just moist enough to make it firm. .Slip 
a knife blade down into it and put the 
litmus paper into the hole. I’ress the 
soil up around the paper and leave it 
there. The Ohio Experiment Station says 
of this test: 
‘‘To make this test the blue litmus 
paper is left in the .slightly moistened 
soil for about half an hour. If the color 
of the paper changes to red, the soil will 
be benefited by liming. The intensity of 
the red color and the rapidity of' the 
color change will indicate .somewhat the 
deficiency of basic compounds in the soil. 
The color can be observed more distinct¬ 
ly if the paper is doubled before it is in¬ 
serted in the soil, and the change is then 
noted on the sides of the paper protected 
from the soil. Soils rich in lime would 
have little tendency to change the color 
of this paper. They will, however, turn 
red litmus paper blue.” 
Rent Value of Machines 
It has been a common practice to charge 
$2 per hour for the larger silo outfits, 
and they begin to mark time from the 
time that they begin to set up the ma¬ 
chine. A good many farmers in this sec¬ 
tion have now got outfit.s of their own. 
which, of course, is much more conveni¬ 
ent. 
Corn cutting with a harvester is usu¬ 
ally paid for by the acre instead of by 
the hour in this .section. I think that 
the corn harvester is the most unsatisfac¬ 
tory tool that a man can buy with the 
expectation of paying for it in working 
out with it. Three acres of big corn is a 
good day’s work for a harvester to do, 
and the price has been about $2 per acre. 
One could cut more if the corn were 
small and light, but one is seldom hired 
to cut that kind of corn. 
There is but one tractor in this neigh¬ 
borhood, and this has never been used to 
cut corn, but the owner says that he e.x- 
pects to use it this season. In his opin¬ 
ion, one can cut corn a little faster with 
a good team of horses so long as the 
horses hold out. The advantage of a 
tractor is that it does not get tired. 
There are but very few farms in this 
section where a tractor could be used to 
advantage, and we shall keep right on 
raising good big colts with the expecta¬ 
tion that there will be use for them at 
least some time to come; possibly until 
they begin farming with flying machines. 
Madison Co., N. Y. j. gra.xt mor.se. 
Marking Exhibits at Fairs 
May I suggest through the columns of 
The R, N.-Y. that much would be added 
to the enjoyment and instructiveness of 
county or agricultural fairs if exhihitors 
were required to classify and mark their 
exhibits? It certainly detracts much to 
go past pen after pen of sheep, swine or 
poultry with no means of knowing the va¬ 
riety one is looking at; and the exhibits, 
from an educational point, to many, are 
absolutely worthless. The same may be 
said of vegetables and grains. Many of 
the patrons of these fairs are of the non- 
agricultural cla.sses, but who, neverthe¬ 
less, take an interest in these exhibits and 
would appreciate the instruction which 
might he derived were this simi)le regula¬ 
tion enforced. A‘‘BACK-TO-THE-LANnER.” 
R. N.-Y.—The fair managers say they 
expect patrons to obtain a catalogue and 
thus study the exhibits. It would be bet¬ 
ter to have each exhibit marked, as is 
done with fruit at most of the large fairs. 
One trouble is that everything comes 
with a rush, and the exhibits, or many of 
them, are hurriedly thrown together. 
Mice and Peach Trees 
Will mice eat i'>each trees after they 
are three years old? I have been put¬ 
ting tar paper around them each year up 
to date, and would like to save this 
work. J. s. 
Yes. If the Winter is se^’ere so the 
mice are short of food they will often 
attack quite large trees. They are worse 
when trash or manure is left around the 
trees to furnish a cover for them. The 
mice will seldom cross open gi-ound to 
attack the trees, unless there is an army 
of them. We pile coal ashes around the 
trees and rarely have trouble. 
I M^stam Eketrk k 
Fai'tn Lid lit and Power Plant 
For easier work and more 
butter fat, drive your sepa¬ 
rator by electricity. 
Running water in house and barn 
is easily possible with electricity. 
Don’t be a slave to the tub. The 
Wesfern Electric way is 
quick and easy. 
makes farm work easier 
It’s the pesky little chores that 
waste your time and energy. But 
somebody has got to do them, and 
reliable help of every kind is 
scarce. What’s the answer? 
ELECTRICITY 
\ 
An electric motor will turn your 
grindstone, feed cutter, fanning mill, 
churn and your separator; and will 
furnish your barn and your house with 
a supply of running water. An electric 
motor will clean the house, wash the 
clothes and keep the home cool during 
hot spells. 
Electricity will do all this in addition 
to lighting your place with the safest, 
cleanest, brightest light that’s made. 
Intelligent farmers are buying 
Western Electric plants because they 
are backed by 40 years of electrical 
experience. 
Make your whole outfit a Western 
Electric — the plant itself, the lamps, 
motors, pump, cream separator, washing 
machine, vacuum cleaner, electric Iron 
—in fact, everything electrical for the 
farm and the home. 
WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY 
INCORPORATED 
195 Broadway. New York, N. Y. y 
385 Summer St.. Boston, Mass. ^ 
11th and York Sts.. Philadelphia, Pa, ' 
910 River Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa. ' 
Some Unassigned Territory 
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/ 
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y State_ 
County.. 
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Fig. 1604 
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id c' 
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Main Office and Works 
Seneca Falls, N. Y. 
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wator and air 
Into air-preaaure 
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