1662 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Painting a Silo 
Would you advise me to paint the out¬ 
side of m.v .silo after it is filled? I have 
been advised to oil, but not paint, while 
full of silage. A. J. P. 
Weedsport, N. Y. 
If the silo is of the stave type so com¬ 
monly in use it would seem scarcely advis¬ 
able to paint it while full of fresh silage. 
To make a good bond with the* wood, 
paint must permeate it to a greater or less 
distance. Hence in painting it is of the 
utmost importance to see that the wood 
being painted is dry, insuring that the 
outer pores are open and permitting the, 
paint to penetrate. Otherwise it is very 
likely to scale and peel off, and result in a 
very unsatisfactory job. If a stave silo 
and freshly filled, it is likely that there 
would be more or less moisture oozing 
through the seams, and that the wood 
would be damp, making the securing of a 
satisfactory job more or less of a gamble. 
If the silo, however, is of the triple wall 
type, or other type where the outer layer 
of wood is not in direct contact with the 
silage. I see no reason why it could not 
be painted at any time that the weather 
was suitable, the question of acids and 
moisture penetrating through and prevent¬ 
ing the absorption of the paint being the 
only thing against it, to my mind. 
I?. II. s 
Inexpensive Light Power 
I wish to use about one horsepower or 
less continuously nearly every day. For 
this purpose would a small steam engine 
or turbine be more desirable than a gaso¬ 
line engine, especially as I have to keep a 
fire all the time anyway for heating? 
Could a 10-gallon tank, guaranteed for 200 
lbs. pressure, be used for a boiler, and, if 
so, how should water glass, steam gauge 
and safety valve lx; arranged? Tank has 
threaded opening at top and bottom. 
Ma.vville, N. Y. K. s. L. 
While not knowing the nature of your 
work, which would of course influence to 
some extent the choice, it would seem that 
the gasoline engine would be the most sat¬ 
isfactory of the two for so light a power 
requirement. An engine rated at two 
horsepower should deliver the one horse¬ 
power required continuously without over¬ 
loading. and while working at this rate 
should consume not more than 1*4 gallons 
of fuel per day of 10 hours, making its 
operation inexpensive. You would not 
find the utilization as a boiler of the 10- 
gallon tank spoken of economical or sat¬ 
isfactory. A steam boiler is provided with 
flues or fire passages through which the 
flames and heated gases pass, greatly in¬ 
creasing its heating surface, economical 
use of heat and steaming qualities. With 
the 10-gallon tank these would be absent, 
and much more fuel would have to be 
burned to secure the required heat to keep 
steam up. A small steam engine and 
boiler could be used, but the constant fir¬ 
ing and attention required would, in my 
estimation, more than make up the dif¬ 
ference in fuel costs in so small an instal¬ 
lation. even if cheap fuel were available 
for use in the firebox of the boiler. 
n. tt. s. 
More About Lighting Henhouses 
Will you give me a little further infor¬ 
mal ion relative to the lighting of chicken 
houses with electricity? I am having 
installed a farm lighting plant, and am 
wiring my laying houses. What sort of 
device, and where can it be secured, to 
switch on the lights at any time you 
want: also, what does it cost? My light¬ 
ing man has a time clock he wants me to 
buy to the tune of $27, and I thought this 
too much. Aso, what arrangement is 
made to turn the lights on gradually? I 
understand from what I have read that it 
is not a good plan to turn the lights on 
bright suddenly. What is used for this? 
Belleville, W. Va. E. s. H. 
It is not necessary to have an arrange¬ 
ment to turn the lights on gradually. 
When the lights are used in the morning 
they can be flashed on full right from 
the start. When they are used in the 
evening, they should be flashed on just as 
soon as it begins getting dark and can be 
flashed full at this time. The dimming 
arrangement is used in the evening when 
the lights are turned off, and although 
this seems best, if you will turn down tin* 
lights just a little, you will find the birds 
at this time are ready to go to roost. 
Some go through the house and loosen or 
put out every other bulb. Others have a 
dimmer bulb which they turn on when 
turning off the brighter lights. Others, 
and perhaps the cheapest for installation, 
is to use the resistance coil through which 
the electricity is thrown for about 10 
minutes in the evening before tin* birds go 
to roost. This dims your lights sufficient¬ 
ly so the birds will start themselves. In 
our experience we find that in the evening 
if the lights are flashed off and on several 
times at the time when you want them to 
go to roost, inside of a few days you will 
have no trouble in having them go to 
roost if you will follow this practice. The 
idea is that after they have had from 15 
to 15 hours total daylight they are ready 
to go to roost anyhow. ' 
Quite a number of men are using time 
clocks which you refer to, and these are 
quite expensive, but work out fine. If 
you are a mechanic enough, you can ar¬ 
range an ordinary alarm clock to turn on 
your lights in the morning and also turn 
them off in the evening. Some of our 
men have done this. victor g. aubry. 
Is the Small Tractor Possible 
I am looking for something mechanical 
which will take the place of a 1,000 to 
1,200 lb, horse on a country place, either 
a tractor which would haul a small cart 
or trailer, or a small motor truck which 
could he driven slowly enough to plow, 
and adapted to that and similar work. 
I have seen advertisements describing at¬ 
tachments for converting automobiles into 
something of this sort, and have heard 
of small tractors which also served the 
purpose of a truck, but have no further 
acquaintance with them. All the tractors 
which I have seen are heavier and more 
powerful than I would require, and need 
more space to turn iu than is available 
sometimes in my case. Do you know of 
anything on the market which has been 
tried out, or is backed by a reliable con¬ 
cern, which comes anywhere near being 
an all-purpose source of power for very 
small farm purposes, capable of operation 
by one man, about two horsepower or 
larger on the drawbar, that will turn iu 
a 20-25 ft. circle, substantially con¬ 
structed and wheels so arranged that it 
could be driven over the public highway 
without cutting it all up? G. B. W. 
Massachusetts. 
We find a good many small farmers 
who are looking for something of this 
sort. Some of these farmers feel that 
unless they can find a small tractor or 
power plow they cannot keep in the pro¬ 
cession. It is quite doubtful whether 
such a light machine could do profitable 
work at plowing. 
less furnace, that will give the best satis¬ 
faction, the most durable and cheapest? 
The agents, of course, all have the best. 
15. Falls Church, Va. j. w. n. 
As all pipeless furnaces employ the 
same principle of heating and air circula¬ 
tion, it is difficult to see how one can be 
better than another, so far as its work is 
concerned. The question of quality would 
seem to apply chiefly to materials and 
care in construction, and here one must 
depend upon his own inspection and the 
reputation of the manufacturer. The or¬ 
dinary householder cannot be expected to 
be a judge of the quality of iron, but he 
can judge of the weight and the care used 
in finishing and fitting; for the rest, he 
will have to depend upon the reputation 
of the manufacturer, so far as he can 
learn what that is. There are few. how¬ 
ever, who would not consider themselves 
competent to distinguish between two 
kitchen stoves, as to quality, and a hot¬ 
air furnace is a much more simple bit of 
mechanism than a kitchen stove. There 
is no mystery about it, other than the fact 
that its inwards are concealed by a jacket. 
It is really a very simple style of stove 
with one or more jackets about it to con¬ 
duct the heat where it is wanted. After 
all, cheapness shows itself to the critical 
observer in almost any manufactured ar¬ 
ticle, and the careful buyer need not go 
far wrong in his judgment if he hus an op¬ 
portunity to compare different makes of 
familiar household utensils. M. b. d. 
November 8, 1019 
were increased to the point that large 
tonnages could be bought by the oil mills 
at reasonable prices, there would be ready 
sale for the beans. Soy bean oil is an edi¬ 
ble product, and can be used, after refin¬ 
ing. for making compound lard, cooking 
oil and soap. Considerable quantities of 
the oil are imported from China and 
Japan annually. It would seem highly 
desirable to promote the cultivation of 
Soy beans on account of its content of oil 
and protein. The cake, after extracting 
the oil, is a very valuable food for cattle, 
and l believe has been used largely in 
the East for making various food products 
for human consumption. B. F. taylor. 
Georgia. 
I suppose that North Carolina is the 
first State in the Union which began 
crushing Soy beans for the production of 
Soy bean oil, and we crushed some domes¬ 
tic beans about five or six years ago. Dur¬ 
ing 1915 a few cargoes of Soy beans were 
imported from Manchuria, which were 
crushed largely by the cottonseed oil mills 
in this State. At the present time there 
is not enough domestic beans to justify 
crushing, and the importation of Soy 
beans is not profitable now. The Soy bean 
oil is used in the production of edible oil 
products and also for other commercial 
purposes, and is a very good vegetable oil. 
I doubt if there are any beans being 
crushed in this country at the present 
time. J. I. Morgan. 
North Carolina. 
The Pipeless Furnace Again 
Will you advise me as to the best pipe- 
The Business of Crushing Soy Beans 
Can you tell me if the business of 
crushing Soy beans for the oil has been 
developed in this country? I have been 
told that in some sections farmers are 
raising enough of these beans to make 
the business of crushing profitable. 
j. s. K. 
This company has crushed small quan¬ 
tities of Soy beans of domestic production 
iu North Carolina, and a small quantity 
of imported beans. The price of domestic 
beans has been so high that it has not 
been practical to use the beaus for our 
purposes. This was probably due to the 
fact that they could be sold at higher 
prices for edible purposes than oil mills 
could pay for them. If the production 
Tumor 
What is the cause of bunch on my 
calf’s jaw? It has not been hurt. This 
bunch is as large as a hiekorynut, hard, 
but can be moved slightly ; does not ap¬ 
pear to be sore, nor does it affect its 
eating. The calf is about three weeks 
old. What would you suggest to use 
on it? r. j. c. 
New Jersey. 
A little tumor may be present or a 
gland may be enlarged. Sometimes such 
lumps are cystic in young animals and 
contain cheesy substance, hair or a tooth. 
Better have it dissected by a surgeon. If 
you cannot have that done paint it with 
tincture of iodiue every other day, and ’ 
open it should it become soft. a. s. a. 
HAPPY; COW FEfcDvd 
Winter Milk Production 
Owing to too much pasture and too little protein during the 
Summer many cows will go into the Winter season in poor 
condition. Put your cows in condition quickly by feeding them 
Happy Cow Feed 
|(24% protein) 
This complete dairy ration will produce 
more milk, pound for pound, than any 
other feed you can buy at any other price. 
It is a feed that cows eat greedily, yet they 
are satisfied on a lesser number of pounds 
than any other feed you have used. 
It took us years to perfect Happy Cow 
Feed. There is no guesswork about it. 
We experimented with many combinations 
on our own cows and other folks’ cows, 
before we got it just right. 
Happy Cow Feed is the ration that is 
just right for dairy cows. It does not con¬ 
tain too much or too little of any one 
thing, and it is exclusively a ration for 
milk production. 
Happy Cow Feed is made of cotton seed 
meal, corn meal, cocoanut 
meal, wheat bran, velvet 
bean feed, unhulled peanut 
oil feed, alfalfa meal and a 
This makes a com- 
small amount of salt, 
plete feed. 
You can’t beat this combination of in¬ 
gredients. Everyone of them is good for 
feeding dairy cows. Some of them are 
grown only in the South. Properly com¬ 
bined they make a wonderful ration. 
All Happy feeds are pure. They do not 
contain any refuse material of any sort. We 
do not buy or use oat hulls, rice hulls, cotton 
seed hulls, or other Jow grade materials. 
We are heartily in favor of an honest 
feed law to protect feeders as well as manu¬ 
facturers who are doing business on an 
honest basis. You should be interested in 
the Lever and Haugen bills now before 
Congress. 
Put your cows on Happy Cow Feed at 
once. Buy through your dealer. If he 
does not sell Happy Cow Feed send us his 
V F fp' 
name and we will see that you are supplied. 
Address Dep’t 128 
Edgar-Morgan Co., Memphis, Tenn. 
