1090 
sion of bloom throughout the entire season, and the 
expense of planting a border, or even a more pre¬ 
tentious garden, need not deter anyone from making 
the effort. All the varieties that I will mention are 
hardy, and will be finer the second year than the 
first that they are planted. 1 will mention only 
such as we have found easy of culture, both as to 
seed germination and growth in the border. Seed 
is comparatively low in price, and 10 to 20 cents 
will purchase a packet of most varieties that will 
give enough plants to fill a very large bed. 
STARTING SEEDLINGS.—Nearly every farm 
has at least one hotbed sash, and a few old boards, 
that can be set up in the form of a cold frame in 
which to germinate the seed. The soil should be 
fairly rich; a little well-rotted manure could be 
sifted and added to it. though do not overdo it. -Try 
to have the surface very fine, even if it is necessary 
to run it through a sieve. When readyito iow use 
Fritz Bahr's method for preventing damping off of 
seedlings: one fluid ounce of formaldehyde to a 
quart of water, and give the soil a good sprinkling, 
then sow the seed as soon as soil is dry enough. 
Sow in rows three or four inches apart and cover 
with soil and manure mixed, if you do not have any¬ 
thing better, in the shape of finely sifted leaf mold, 
or even fine sand. Be sure to treat the covering 
material same as the seed bed with formaldehyde. 
Nearly all seed varies greatly in size as well as to 
the length of time for germination. A safe rule to 
follow in covering would be about three to four 
times the depth of diameter of the seed. Firm the 
bed after sowing and water carefully but thoroughly, 
and watch the surface daily that it does not dry out. 
1 )o not overdo it. but try to keep it moist always. Soon 
as rlie seed is sown and watered, drive four stakes 
in the corners ^f the lied to hold the sash about four 
inches from the top edge of the boards. This will 
allow ventilation on all sides. Before fastening this 
sasli in place (and fastening in some simple man¬ 
ner will be necessary to avoid it being blown off), 
brush the under side with some shading material, as 
lime or clay. Seed of the great majority of peren¬ 
nials can be sown any time during the-Spring and 
early Summer, though if sown after July 15 the 
growth of some will not be very heavy in the 
Autumn, and they will have to be protected a little 
better than the larger plants. June is a good month 
to sow seed, though do not hesitate to sow as late 
as-July 15 and even a little later. 
TRANSPLANTING.—As soon as the seedlings 
have four leaves transplant to about two inches each 
way under a shaded sash, the same as used in seed 
bed. After a good growth is made they can be set 
out in the open or put direct into their permanent 
location. Each time they are transplanted the soil 
can be more heavily fertilized with well rotted ma¬ 
nure. Water will be necessary if the weather is dry; 
in fact, if is a benefit with most flowering plants at 
all times during any weather. Plants that have been 
transplanted twice will be in better condition to put 
in the.permanent bed in September than those only 
transplanted once. 
SETTING OUT PLANTS.—If it is not convenient 
to plant permanently in Autumn, the plants can he 
allowed to stand in the cold frame till Spring, in 
which instance they should be allowed four to six 
inches space each way, and have a protection of 
several inches of strawy manure placed over them 
after the ground has been frozen. There are nur¬ 
serymen who recommend Kail planting, for prac¬ 
tically all herbaceous perennials, but our experience 
has been that the best results are usually obtained 
by early Spring planting. By early Spring planting 
1 do not mean that anything is gained by digging up 
the soil before it is in condition to work perfectly, as 
nothing is ever gained, but much is often lost by 
working soil that is too wet. and this applies to flow¬ 
ers as well as to farm crops in general. Another ad¬ 
vantage in Spring planting is that quite often some 
plants will die out of a bed over the first Winter, and 
Spring planting will obviate transplanting. The 
principal advantages of Fall planting are usually 
more time and better soil conditions, and the ability 
to get what stock you wish to buy when you want if, 
the plant growers not being so swamped with orders 
as they usually are in the Spring. 
ELMER J. WEAVER. 
(Continued Next Week) 
Dirt Roads and Cheap Farms 
I N the occasional discussion of the hill farms of 
Central New York, the most important factor, 
that of location, does not usually receive the notice 
to which it is entitled. The so-called cheap farm, 
although frequently otherwise desirable, is usually 
located on some crossroad, more or less remote from 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
the main thoroughfares, and from the markets and 
stores. Aside from this disadvantage, many of 
these farms are more desirable ns a money-making 
proposition than the river farms, when the amount 
invested is considered. I believe from experience 
and observation that, in this section at least, good 
hill farms may be expected to average better crops 
for a term of years than the river farms, corn per¬ 
haps excepted. I have seen the gravelly pastures 
above the river flats as brown as the road before 
July 1, in a dry time, with the dairy cows living 
mostly on grain, when a few miles back on the hills 
there would be plenty of good green feed in the 
pastures, in spite of the drought. The hill lands 
are usually natural grass land, and in this time of 
high-priced feed, what is better than plenty of cheap 
pasture? 
But as the shipping stations and condenseries 
reach farther and farther back into the hills for 
/ 
their supply of milk, the problem of transportation 
becomes more difficult to the dairyman, who is fre¬ 
quently obliged to spend a good part of his time 
toiling through the snow or the mud of almost 
Impassable roads to deliver his milk. And so there 
is the tendency to seek a better location, and a good 
productive farm may be offered for sale for less 
than the value of the buildings, solely on account of 
its location: or it may eventually become unoccupied 
and unstocked. But, so far as I know, there are 
no deserted farms on the macadamized roads. 
Twenty-five years ago, the greater part of the 
milk was made into butter and cheese, and each 
Shade 
99~99~Base Elanlmg of Dwarf Evergreens. Box, 
Golden Box, Golden Pr/xel, e/c, or Japanese Barderry 
Planting Plan for Farmhouse Grounds. .< // 
little hamlet with its church, school, general store 
and creamery, was the social and business center 
of the surrounding country. As there were no im¬ 
proved roads, there were few back farms, and few 
unoccupied ones. But with the coming of the ship¬ 
ping stations and condenseries and the consequent 
closing of the creameries and cheese factories, the 
city or town receiving the milk became the business 
center of the farming country for many miles in all 
directions. The main roads are now macadamized, 
and the dirt roads are made worse by the autos and 
heavy milk teams, and the farms located on them 
suffer accordingly by comparison. In the past these 
farms were occupied by families contented with 
their location, for one location was in a way nearly 
as desirable as another; the advent of good roads, 
telephones, daily mail delivery, etc., to a part of the 
farms naturally disturbed this condition, and made 
some places, without regard to productivity or other 
advantages, much less desirable than others. 
It seems quite the proper thing nowadays to lay 
every evil condition to politics or graft, perhaps 
justly in many cases, but not entirely so in regard 
to the bad condition of the dirt roads, especially 
during the past Spring. No skill or care in the road 
work could prevent or remedy the effects of the 
snowless Winter, when the bare roads seemed to 
absorb what frost there was, to thaw out slowly 
for a month or more in the Spring. This, with the 
incessant rains, turned the roads into rivers of mud 
for weeks, without much regard to their usual con¬ 
dition or previous care. Again, as noted above, the 
present-day traffic is very detrimental to the roads; 
the heavy milk „ms must go through, and the 
autos will go through as soon as possible, rutting 
them deeply and constantly, giving them no chance 
to improve. There is no doubt that the usual 
method of working the roads might be improved. 
The road machine, under the traffic conditions of 
25 years ago, was a great improvement over the 
July 19, 1919 
plow and scraper method previously in use. Under 
present conditions I believe its use is overdone. The 
usual procedure seems to be to get over the whole 
township with the machine, treating all roads alike, 
good and bad, and using so much of the road money 
in this expensive work that there is little left, for 
permanent or semi-permanent improvements. The 
use of the machine only when and where actually 
needed, the frequent use of the road drag, more 
attention given to keeping the ditches and culverts 
in proper shape, and the digging out of fast rocks, 
would bring about much improvement with little or 
no increase in the cost. f. w. Parker. 
Preservatives for Fence Posts 
Is there any dip that I can use on such woods as 
basswood, poplar or wild cherry t! it will hoi)) to pre¬ 
serve the wood so they can be used for posts? Of the 
three trees, which would be the most durable after 
treatment? Gednr is getting beyond the poeketbook of 
the average farmer. c. E. j. 
Wayne Co., N. Y. 
A USE OF DECAY.—It has long been a prob¬ 
lem to prevent the decay of wood. Its short 
life has been the cause of much loss and damage, 
not only through the actual loss of the lumber, but 
also through injury to the structure in which the 
wood was used. Wood decay has been found to be 
produced by a fungus-like growth, the spores of 
which find lodgment in any little break in the stir- 
% 
face of the material. This growth requires certain 
conditions of heat, moisture and air for its develop¬ 
ment. For instance, wood kept thoroughly dry re¬ 
sists decay, and wood that is kept saturated is also 
little subject to rot. Wood, however, that is in a 
condition between these extremes, as is the case 
with a fence post, decays quite rapidly. In the 
fence post conditions for decay are best right at the 
ground surface, the very place where the post has to 
resist the most stress and should be the strongest. 
Above this point it is too dry to decay rapidly, and 
below this zone it is usually too wet and cool for 
rapid decay. 
METHODS OF TREATMENT.—Many substances 
have been made use of to lessen this decay; in gen¬ 
eral the two methods followed being either to sat¬ 
urate the wood in some substance of a poisonous 
nature which kills the spores of the decay-producing 
fungus and thus prevents its growth, or to coat it 
with a more or less impervious material which shuts 
out the moisture, keeping the wood dry, thus mak¬ 
ing conditions unsuitable for decay. Some of the 
creosote oils (coal tar derivatives) give very good 
results as preservatives, as they combine both the 
fungicidal and the waterproofing qualities. In ad¬ 
dition they have good penetration and remain long 
on the wood. Two methods of post treatment are 
open to the farmer; immersion in an open tank or 
the heated oil and the brush treatment. The tank 
method is by far the best, but is not so generally 
used because of the quantity of preservative neces¬ 
sary to secure immersion. The brush treatment 
gives good results if carefully done, applying the 
heated liquid by means of wire-bound brushes in 
two or more generous coats, allowing the previous 
coat to thoroughly dry in each case before applying 
the next. In either ease the timber to be treated 
should be thoroughly air dried, free from bark, and 
pains taken to see that all knots, checks and sappy 
places are saturated . 
RESULTS.—As to the added length of life to be 
expected, it is difficult to say. A letter from the 
New York Central people tells me that they estimate 
that such treatment prolongs the life, so far as decay 
is concerned, of ties and bridge timbers about 100 
per cent. Their method of treatment, though (pres¬ 
sure tanks), insures a much deeper penetration of 
the oil-than it is possible to get in farm practice. If 
applied to the butts only, with a brush, from 30 to 
(to posts may be treated with a gallon of the oil, 
the number depending upon the kind of wood, size 
of the posts, thoroughness of the job, etc., soft, 
open, porous woods of course admitting deeper pen¬ 
etration than the denser varieties. While there is 
no doubt of the economy of treating regular fencing 
material in this way, it is somewhat doubtful if such 
Avoods as wild cherry, basswood and poplar, because 
of their extreme susceptibility to decay, would pay 
for this treatment. A good portion of the expense 
of a fence comes from the labor of building, which 
is the same, regardless of the quality of the posts. 
If cheap posts must be used, set substantial steel or 
concrete posts as end, brace and gate posts from 
which the fence may be stretched up and suspended, 
using the cheap material for line posts only, where 
the only purpose is to keep the fence upright, and 
where its decay will not ruin the entire fence. 
r. H. s. 
