578 
■Che RURAL NEW-YORKER 
lalior, would have produeed greater and better re¬ 
sults. Reeause of their lack of knowledge of farm 
ways of doing tliings, nearly all that those hoys did 
was only half done, .\fter two months or more on 
the farm last Snmmei', many of those hoys knew no 
mon* about the knack of hoeing proi>erly than they 
did about using an ax, and that was nothing at all. 
I'or example, we had one seven-acre piece of pota¬ 
toes and did all the “hoeing" with disk cnltiv'ators 
at little expense. Then we had 18 acres of squash 
which the hoys hoed, and, because they handled the 
l.o(‘s without knack, or skill, or exiierieuce, they had 
t ) go over that piece again and again, some five or 
six times in all, and then it was not as well done as 
if farm hands had been over it twice, and the jnece 
was what we call a very clean piece, free of excess 
of w(‘eds. 
WEEK-END V.\CATION8.—The ages of the hoys 
we had were from 14 to 17, and we started out work¬ 
ing a short day, increasing it to an eight-hour one as 
they got hardened up. They took Saturday after¬ 
noons off and went home over Sunday. This going 
home over Sunday was a mistake. About Thursday 
of each week they got restless, and as time for go¬ 
ing home approached they got more and more rest¬ 
less, until they accomplished almost nothing on Sat¬ 
urday morning. 
W.VGES PAID.—We paid IS cents per hour at 
first, and then, having let .some of the mo.st u.seless 
hoys go, raised it to 20 cents as the time went on. 
q'here were a few boys who wei-e worth this. The 
three oldest boys (not .Scouts) we finally put in a 
tent away from the others and boarded them as regu¬ 
lar farm help, giving them 22 cents an hour. I 
think they were very well worth it. 
I'lXPENSES.—Overhead camp expenses were con- 
vSiderable, so we wanted to keep the camp quota full 
to make the cost per hoy for food, etc., as Ioav as 
po.ssihle. We charged them .$4.70 per week for hoard 
and this was not suflicient. Trying to keep the camp 
quota full meant that many boys were kept on who 
.shoiild have been sent home as unfit for the work. 
few were not strong enough, a few were splendid 
throughout, hut T certainly should say that the ma¬ 
jority were or became too lazy under the hot sun 
and the inexperienced supervi.sor to have made it a 
l)aying i)roposition for any farmer to hire them a 
second time under like conditions (unless he felt 
like calling half of their wages a gift, and I don't 
think you can ask even today in the name of pa¬ 
triotism that the farmers of the country do that), 
q'hey are not all getting rich today, as some people 
think! 
“TOO MI’CH OF A CHORE."— As far as running 
a tw»ys’ camp on our own place again is concerned, I 
fj.ay. “Never again!" It was too much of a chore, and 
T .should say the same thing as regards ever hiring 
two or three boys and leaving them alone on any 
jol), hut I should he glad to hire from time to time 
a gang of boys with their own experienced super- 
^•isor to Avork with them, provided the camp man¬ 
agement could liaA’C profited by some of our own mis¬ 
takes and corrected them. 
STTCGESTIONS IN MANAGEMENT.—My sug- 
ge.‘<tion to .such camp managements would be to: 
Weed out about 2.5 per cent of the boys before 
placing them on farms at all, then have an older. 
r 
A Commercial Evaporating Plant. Sig- 2'it9 
See page 581 
trained supervisor go about to the farmers hiring 
the hoys and take the farmer’s opinion on each boy's 
work as the correct judgment of that boy’s fitness to 
stay at the work. After a few days, fire every boy 
fi'oin the camp who fails to mejisure up in si)irit and 
willingness to the farmer's idea of work. This, of 
course, after breaking the boys in. And don’t give 
the boys all Summer to learn how to handle simple 
tools. Weed out the inefficient (piickly. 
Have a good cook; the best of camp .supervisors 
(not young) ; thin out each camp to the best work¬ 
ers and you will have something that will return 
jh(‘ farmer fair. exchnn.ge for his money paid in 
wages. Anything else is robbery in the name of pa¬ 
triotism, and city people have no right to demand 
of the farmer that he pay a dollar in wages and be 
given hack 50 cents in work. .tohx d. pearmaix. 
Massachusetts. 
Water Tank Underground 
W HEN my father bought his farm several years 
ago, the basement of the barn contained a 
large, round wooden water tank of about 100 barrels 
capacity. Rut it was not in a good place, principally 
for the reason that it took up a lot of space that 
was badly needed for other purposes. So one of the 
first improvements made was to tear out this wooden 
tank and build another of concrete on the opposite 
side of the foundation wall, and in the approach 
to the barn floor above. 
The picture. Fig. 281, shows the approach leading 
up to the barn enti*nnce. An excavation was made 
here and a concrete tank, 11 feet long, six feet wide 
and 5)4 foot deep, was built close to the foundation 
wall. The walls of the tank are eight inches thick 
A Living Scarccroic. Fig. 280 
at the bottom, tapering to six inches thick at the 
top. The cover of the tank is of reinfoi'ced con¬ 
crete with a manhole provided at one corner. The 
reinforcing for the cover consisted of railroad rails 
and steel rods, which had been discarded as waste 
from a railroad bridge job near by. These rods 
and 1 ‘ails were embedded in the concrete much 
closer tt)gether than was really necessary, hut as 
they could he had without cost, there was no reason 
why they should not he used, and the result is a 
cover that no traction engine will ever cave in. The 
cover is about IS inches below the surface of the 
ground. 
The tank has a capacity of 8(5 barrels, and is 
filled by gravity from the overflow of the house 
supifiy tank, and also by rainwater from the barn 
roof. The house supply tank has a capacity of only' 
12 barrels, so it not only requires frequent pumping 
to keep it full, but since all water for the stock 
tank mu.st first pass through the house tank, a fresh 
supply is available for house use at all times. The 
distribution of the water after it is pumped into the 
house tank is entirely by gravity. The water fi-om 
the stock tank is fed, by means of a float device, 
into a trough in the barn basement, and also one 
in the barnyai-d. The float keeps the water at a 
constant level in the troughs. 
My father tells me that all his stock—cattle, 
horses and sheep—seem to like the mixture of rain 
water and hard water better than the hard water 
alone. The horses and milch cows, before they are 
turned into the pasture each day, will always go to 
the troughs at the barn and drink; they prefer that 
water to the hard water in the pasture lot, which is 
obtained from a driven well, and which is good, pure 
water. I have also heard other farmers say tnat 
their stock preferred the mixture of hard water and 
rain water. raymoxd olxey. 
[Michigan. 
Spring Wheat in N. Y. Dairy Counties 
There is one way of relief on the wheat and flonr 
(leal. If every farmer was forced to grow at least two 
acres of Spring wheat this would make a great many 
thousand barrels of flour difference in Otsego and 
Delaware counties. My father and my forefathers 
nse(l to do this. They can grow 20 to 35 bushels per 
acre in this section. There is a first-class grist mill here 
that can produce the best of flour, and all kinds of 
cereals, bnt it is shut down. The farmers do not grow 
any grain, just silage. This mill used to run night and 
day. If our farmers were compelled to grow their own 
grain it would relieve the nation .and be a godsend to 
April 20, 1918 
the fanner. _ Furthermore, our farmers buy most of their 
feed. I believe if Mi\ Hoover knew the facts and con¬ 
ditions he would find that this small amount of wheat 
grown by every farmer who has a farm of 2.5 acres or 
OA’er in the State of New York would practically supply 
the rural districts with all the flour and cereals used. 
T. F. 
HIS idea of forcing the farmer to grow wheat 
whether his soil is adapted to it or not wmuld 
not work out. The effect would be to di.scourage or 
offend the farmers so that they w’ould produce less 
food. They already feel, with great justice, that 
they hai’e not received a fair showing in the dis¬ 
tribution of profits and to try to force them to grow 
any crop against their best judgment would be a 
great mistake. If the farmer can be shown that 
Spring wheat will pay he will grow it, but why 
force him to try an experiment in these war times? 
Who will pay for the experiment in case it fails? 
Will the Government guarantee at least 10 per cent 
profit on this wheat growing? It is most likely that 
these older farmers greAv Winter wheat and there is 
little evidence that Spring wheat will give any such 
crops as you state in Otsego and Delawai’e countie.s. 
Our advice is to grow oa'ts or baidey and So.v beans 
in order to help out the feed supply. More Winter 
wheat or rye will pay, but Spi-ing wheat is a gaml)le! 
The V alue of Burned Manure 
Is it a benefit to let fire burn over a grass field 
where there is a lot of dry stuff in the field in the 
Spring? It is customary in my vicinity. I haA'e also 
done it this year, and I was successful in burning the 
field. I did it in the forenoon, and when I was fin¬ 
ished I piit the fire out, and went home for my dinner, 
about 300 feet to my house. I was w’atching for trouble, 
but it looked safe. A very short time after I was in 
the house a wind started and I went out to look at the 
field and .saAV smoke, so I went in that direction to put 
it out. Before I reached the spot it started to burn 
rapidly, and my neighbors came to assist me, but did 
not manage to control the fire, so the wind became 
stronger and drove it in my neighbor’s field where hlj 
had hauled manure last Fall with the intention of 
plowing and planting corn this Spring. The fire has 
run over about one-half acre and burned his manure. 
I have offered to let him grow his crop and I will pay 
him damages. According to your opinion and expe¬ 
rience, will it ruin his crop and soil? He does not 
want to wait until the crop grows; he wants to have 
damages paid immediately. E- S. e. 
Northampton Co., Pa. 
We have never had quite .such a case as this be¬ 
fore, and hardly know what to suggest in the way 
of compensation. Alany farmers believe that it pays 
to burn over the old fields. This burning destroys 
a good many Aveed seeds and insects, and the ashes 
from the burning are promptly available for the 
next crop. Burning the manure is a different lyrojK)* 
sition. This burning drives off the nitrogen in the 
manure, but leaves the potash and phosphoric acid 
behind in the ashes. At present prices a ton of 
average manure Avill contain not far from .$2 AvortJ^ 
of nitrogen, and this AA-ould be about the limit of the 
damage done by the burning. It will not ruin the 
.soil or the crop; in fact, burned-over lands are fre¬ 
quently made more productive by the burning. Hoav 
many tons of manure Avent on this field? In order 
to pay the damage uoaa" you Avould have to find out 
hoAA" much manure Avas applied on this half acre. 
Where the Underground Tank ivas Built. Fig. 281 
and figure at about .$2 per ton. A fairer Avay Avould 
bc: to AA'ait until the end of the season, and see just 
h.OAV much actual damage AA'as done. This could 
ea.sily he told by the appcmrance or condition of 
the crop. If the corn on the half acre which 
burned OA'cr aa'us ('A'idently smaller than that on the 
adjoining half acri^. it AA’ould be fair to pay the dif¬ 
ference in value, and two or throe good farmers 
could, by looking it over, make a close estimate 
regarding this value. That Avould be the fairest 
Avay of settling the matter, because it Avould be nex^ 
to impossible to tell noAV just hoAV much damage has 
been done to this year’s corn crop before it is 
planted. 
