TShe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
935 
‘‘Daylight Saving” on the Farm 
An Inconvenience and Loss 
W E have now had about four mouths of “day¬ 
light saving,” and I can say positively that 
so far as it affects farmers in this section it is a 
serious handicap and detriment. I can see no rea¬ 
son why the same disadvantages of daylight saving 
that we find here should not apply to farmers in 
l.ractically all other parts of the United States. 
I believe the loss sustained by the farmers of the 
country will he much more^than the saving of light 
realized by the. plan. A loss of only $15 per farm 
would be equal to the estimated saving to the coun¬ 
try of a hundred million dollars. 
This is only another and striking example of how 
little the ones who passed this law know about or 
consider the convenience of the toilers on the farms. 
It would be interesting to know what per cent of 
those responsible ever rise earl.v enough in the 
Summer time to see the sun rise. 
In the Spring during the plant¬ 
ing season, rising at the usual hour 
for farmers, as farmers had to con¬ 
form to the chan.ge because of hired 
help, meeting trains, delivering 
milk. etc., it meant an hour's work 
to disadvantage in the dark. Later 
it meant working around in the dew¬ 
laden grass with wet feet and 
everything covered with mud. In 
ha.ving time, the hay would .iu.st be¬ 
gin to make nicely by time to go to 
dinner, it would be the middle of 
the afternoon before we could begin 
to haul it in. The .same holds true 
with the grain. Cannot do much 
with it until the short afternoon is 
here. With many mornings foggy 
and many more a heav.v dew we 
can do ver.v little before the middle 
of the forenoon. With many crops. Vnijoi 
notably beans, cauliflower and po- 
t:itoes. cultivating when Avet Avith 
dew on tends to spread the diseases 
that live on the plants. 
This time of the year Ave go 
through our cultivated crops like 
cabbage, corn, imtatoes. etc., to cut 
out the weeds that escaped the cul¬ 
tivators, but Avith potatoes knee 
high and corn head high it is not 
tit to get into these croi)s before the 
nuddle of the forenoon. Later, 
when Ave are harvesting our crops 
we always used to get up as soon 
as Ave could see to Avork and under 
the daylight-saving plan Ave Avill 
lose an hour earl.v in the morning. 
No otlier -class of people in the 
countr.v today are doing as much to 
help Avin the Avar as the farmers. 
The.v are Avorking 12 to 14 hours 
eA ery day, Avith no certaint.v of mak¬ 
ing ends meet and in many cases 
hardly breaking eA’en. Where is 
there any other considerable num¬ 
ber of men in other A'oeations that 
are Avoi-king more than eight or*at 
the most nine hours per daj'. Avith a half holiday 
on .'Saturday? ii. «. talmage. 
Long Island. 
en the outer ring, and lay one bundle in the inter¬ 
stice betAvecn tAvo other bundles, and in such a 
manner that the ends of the butts on the loAver 
side of this bundle shall be even Avith those in the 
upper side of the bundles already laid. >Skip tAvo 
bundles and la.v a second bundle in the second inter¬ 
stice. Skip tAvo more bundles and lay a third, and 
so continue until the place of beginning is reached. 
Start another ring, laying the butts about one- 
quarter of the length of the bundle, from the butts 
of those in the lOAver ring. Lay this ring, then 
another, and so continue, until the tops of the bun¬ 
dles in the last ring are eA'en Avith the tops of the 
first four bundles, and form a level, circular area 
in the center. Begin again at the outer edge and 
la.v other rings, and continue until the entire surface 
is IcA’el. This completes the foundation of the 
stack. 
Begin again at the outer edge and la.v a bundle 
in every interstice, and in such a manner that the 
more than the other.s. and thus giA-e the straAvs all 
the slope that is needed in order to shed Avater. 'Phe 
idea that the center must be kept highly rounded is 
all Avrong. If greatly rounded the settling Avill 
cause the outer bundles to slide out and so make 
the stack lop-sided and giAe a chance for Avater to 
enter. When the apex has become so narroAved that 
there is not room for a full ring, interlace the tops 
and continue until diameter is equal to only the 
length of one bundle. Then unbind tAVo or three 
bundles and re-bind them into one large bundle, 
tying the band tightly, and close to the butts. Spread 
the tops, and place tlie large bundle, upside doAvn 
over the apex, in such a manner that the straAvs 
shall spread evenl.v over the apex. Attach four 
strings, one at each quarter, to the band. DraAv 
them tightl.v and evenl.v, and fa.sten them to long 
pins drh-en into the sides of the stack. Watch tliem 
as the stack settles, and tighten them Avhen neces¬ 
sary. A stack so built Avill keep the grain in prefect 
condition until the moi.sture alv- 
sorbed from the ground cau.ses 
decay. t . o. okm.shee. 
Vermont. 
ni 
hii Corthnid Co., X. Y., fichool Tcochcrs. Fig. 'lOG 
Building a Stack of Grain Bundles 
I T is a somoAvhat difficult matter to give a lucid 
description of the best method of building a 
circular stack of bundles of grain, though it is com¬ 
paratively easy to build such a stack. The main 
essentials are to build it in such a manner that it 
shall settle evenl.v on all sides, and oonse(iuentl.v 
stand erect; Avithstand storms; and above all shed 
the AA'ater from the rains, fl'lie fli'st stack of the 
kind that I ever built capsized Avithin a Aveek’s 
time, but I learned to build them in such a manner 
that many of them remained in perfect condition for 
15 months. 
First, set four bundles as closel.A' as possible. Sur¬ 
round these Avith eight moi’e hundles. inclined a 
little toAA'ard the central hundles. Surround these 
Avith 10 bundles, inclining them a little more. Add 
another ring containing .‘>2 bundles that are inclined 
still more. So continue until the nucleus of the 
stack is from 12 to 10 feet in diameter. It is not 
Aviso to build a stack of a greater diameter, since 
, the distance and the height Avill be too great to throAv 
the bundles. The bundles of the last ring should 
la.v about half on the ground and half on the bun¬ 
dles in the inner ring. Noav begin at some point 
Flowing at Night xcUh Tractor. Fig. J/GG 
butts shall overhang those of the loAver ring by 
about one-quarter of the length of the bundle.'^. 
Complete this ring and lay another in the same 
manner. Complete the layer by placing i)undles 
onl.v in every other interstice, l)ut croAvding the 
bundles together and adding intermediate bundles, 
if necessary, in order to keep the surface level or 
slightly rounding. Intermediate bundles, hoAvever, 
Avill not I)e necessary if the regular bundles are 
rightly placed; but never allOAv the surface to be¬ 
come dishing in the least. Let the bundles in the 
last ring overlap and interlace so as to form a 
.slight prominence in the center. Begin again at 
the outer edge and place another layer, letting the 
outer ring overlap by one-quarter as before. Place 
a third layer, akso letting the butts OA’erlap by one- 
quarter. These three layers form the jet, and 
should increase the diameter of the stack by about 
six feet over the diameter at the ground. 
Noaa', Avith each succeeding layer, draAv the rings 
a little toAvard the center, so as to give the stack 
the form of a cone. SjAace the distance that each 
ring is draAvn in, so that the height of the stack, 
Avhen fully completed, shall be from tAvo to tAVO 
and one-half times its diameter at the ground. 
Keep the surface only slightly rounded, except for 
the prominence in the center Avhere the tops of the 
bundles overlap. Tread the center as solidly as 
possible, but never tread the three outer rings. 
When the stack .settles the.se rings Avill then settle 
A New Jersey Oat Problem 
I moved here from Noav York State 
hi.'<t Fall, and took Avhat Avas said to 
b(' a run-doAvu farm. This Spring I 
soAved 13 acres of oats. The seed oat.s 
that I soAved Avere groAvn last year on 
the Schley estate. Avhich is in a very 
high state of cultivation. They were 
a largo grain and Avere supposed to he 
“side oats.” They Avere light and 
Aveighed only 2S to 30 pounds i)er 
bushel, but Avere dirty, and I attrib¬ 
uted part of the light Aveight to this 
fiict. I soAved five acres on March 2!), 
and, altlutugh I had m.v drill—an old 
type—Avide open, yet only succeeded in’ 
getting on tAVo bushels per iicre. U'he 
soil is Avhat I would consider thin, and 
I used 200 pounds 2-10 fertilizer per 
acre. This field is noAV in full head. 
Oats stand five feet high and .seem to 
be thick on the ground. Some of nSjt 
neighbors tell me they Avill make 00 
bushels per acre. About 75 per cent 
of the heads are branch oats and 
contain 00 to 00 grains per stalk. The 
balance are side oats that seem to 
stand from three to six inches higher, 
and contain 100 to 125 grains per 
stalk. Would it pay me to go through 
the field before cutting and cut out 
.several bundles of these large heads 
of side oats, thrash them by hand to 
keep free from other oats, sow them 
on a selected plot next year and thus 
propagate a new strain of good side 
oats'? Or Avould the seed become run 
doAA n before I got enough to soav a 
large acreage? Will si(le oats even¬ 
tually runt out into branch oats? Can 
I attribute 'the fine shoAving made by 
these oats for me on thin soil to the 
fact that they were grown last year 
on very rich soil? Will oats groAvu 
year after .vear on the same farm run 
out? Some incidents that I have seen 
Avonld .seem to bear out this fact. Are 
not side oats, as a rule, heavier than 
branch oats? I have heard that the 
side oats sold by a Northern NeAV 
York seed groAver are the heaviest 
oats groAvn in the East. What are the 
comparative merits of side and branch 
oats for Northern Ncav Jersey? 
Somerville, N. J. c. R. u. 
N reply to C, 11. B.’s que.stion 
regarding the .selection of oats 
in Northern NeAV .lersey, the best 
varietit's to groAV there are of the branching or open- 
panicled type. Side oats in general are late in ma¬ 
turing and usually yield less than the better varie¬ 
ties of the open-panicled type, except under A’ery 
favorable conditions. Fields of .side oats are often 
very deceptive in appearance and yield far less than 
appearances Avould indicate. In Northern Noav 
. lersey I Avould recommend varieties like Welcome. 
Clydesdale, and SAvedish Select, all mid-season Avhite 
oats of the branching type. 
Instead of selecting several bundles of heads of 
the .side oats, thrashing them by hand and soAving 
them separately next year in order to obtain a pure 
^train eventually for his general croj), C. K. B. Avill 
obtain better results by making this selection from 
his branching oats if they appear to be of a variety 
AA'hich is adapted to his conditions. On the average 
the branching oats may be expected to produce larger 
yields of better quality than the side oats. If 
C. B. B. has the time to devote to the experiment, 
it Avould be interesting for him to make selections 
from i)oth types and test them under similar condi¬ 
tions. If kept pure the oats Avould not run out be¬ 
fore he obtained enough to soav a large crop. 
Side oats do not eventually run into branching 
(>at.s. nor do oats deteriorate in quality if care i.s 
taken in pi’cventing mixtures of varieties in harve.st- 
ing and thrashing, and the seed is fanned to remove 
Aveed seeds and small, light kernels. 
The fine shoAving made by C. R. B.’s oat crop this 
