4 
bators. Beds are built i n such a way that the eggs 
can be placed at the bottom of the bed, with heat 
applied during the day, while the heat of the people 
occupying the bed at night serves to keep up the 
temperature. It is actually said that old people or 
inv lids, or those who have been injured in some 
way so they cannot do a full day’s work, are utilized 
as incubators, and they may actually lie in bed. or 
sit in a chair, with eggs strapped around them in 
packages so that their bodily heat may not be 
Wasted. Thus American poultrymen have very little 
to learn from these Chinese hen men. The chances 
are that the latter will gain in poultry knowledge, 
Improve their ffocks through breeding, and as the 
business develops produce more and more eggs. In 
that event they will demand more for their products 
than they now obtain, and probably retain more at 
home as a part of their own food. 
ANNUAL PRODUCTION.—Statistics made in 
Japan show that the average production of the 
Chinese hen is 84 eggs per year. The annual pro¬ 
duction of Chinese eggs is figured at 1,473,292,250, 
and of these more than one billion eggs are exported 
to this country, Russia, Great Britain and several 
other European countries. Of course the greater 
part of these eggs are dried or frozen. The usual 
plan is to collect the eggs as we have described and 
bring them to breaking houses. There the eggs are 
quickly broken and either the whites and the yolks 
are separated for separate freezing or they are 
mixed together, made into liquid form by running 
through a churn, and then frozen or preserved by 
the addition of chemicals. Some shell eggs are sent 
to this country. We have seen eggs sold in the 
Chinese quarters of New York which were packed 
firmly in black clay. We never saw an American 
who would care to eat one if he knew just what it 
was, yet in the Chinese restaurants these decayed 
eggs are mixed and blended with other material so 
skillfully that they actually pass as palatable food. 
The business of bringing these frozen eggs from 
China is likely to increase after a time. We think 
that Europe will absorb most of this product for a 
year or two, but having found that there is cash in 
his eggs, the Chinaman is likely to develop the busi¬ 
ness considerably, and in the future these frozen 
eggs are likely to enter more and more into American 
consumption. 
Improving Stiff Clay Soil 
I have bought a farm six miles from Charlottesville, 
Va.. and I find the ground a little hard or baked. I 
wish advice on h>w to treat this land. It is light clay, 
red subsoil. What would do best on this soil? I shall 
plow it and seed it to rye this Fall. Should rye be 
plowed under in the Spring? MBS. A. G. 
Charlottesville, Va. 
AVING cultivated that Albemarle soil for years, 
I think that I can help you. In the first place, 
never plow the hill land there when wet, but always 
when in condition to crumble finely. Plowing when 
too wet will increase the tendency to bake hard. 
Then, too, the baking hard is evidenc ? of the de¬ 
ficiency of organic decay, or what is commonly palled 
humus. Then the first thing to do is to increase this 
organic decay by the use of Winter cover plants to 
turn under for Spring cropping. The long Fall 
drought has made it hard to plow, I assume. But 
if it is hill land I have managed it in this way: 
With three mules to a plow I turned the .soil slightly 
deeper than it had been turned, and had a pair of 
mules following in the same furrow drawing a sub¬ 
soil plow that loosened up the subsoil without turn¬ 
ing it up. In this way I broke in the Fall a steep 
old hy i which had run out to poverty grass. The 
deep breaking was to check the tendency of the 
Winter rains to run down hill. Rye was sown 
thickly, nearly two bushels an acre, turned under 
when less than knee high, and lime harrowed in 
well, 1,000 lbs. an acre of slaked lime. The land was 
well prepared and sown to oats and clover. 1 got 
a fair stand of oats and the finest clover field in the 
section, and after that the improvement of that hill 
was easy. Never put the red hill land in Albemarle 
in a hoed crop without turning a good sod to hold 
the soil together. Then run the rows on the level 
contour of the hill, and do not try to make straight 
rows. Cultivate level and shallow, and avoid mak¬ 
ing valleys between the rows to gather a head of 
water to start a gully down the hill. Get and main¬ 
tain a good sod on the land, but do not, as many 
have done there, run a hill in pasture till the grass 
runs out and the cattle tracks start gullies. There 
are lands around you that have gaping red gullies, 
and wholly irremediable from this sort, of neglect. 
Shallow plowing has also been the means of wash¬ 
ing the soil off the hills. While I have never found 
subsoiling of any benefit on level land, I have found 
it of great help in preventing the gullying of the 
7ht RUR* L. NEW-YORKER 
Southern Piedmont red clay hills. I have assumed 
that your land is hilly, for the greater part of the 
land there is hilly, except the low land bordering 
the mountain streams. 
Turn rye under before it heads, and it will decay 
rapidly. Then practice a good rotation of crops that 
will bring clover often on the land to be turned 
under for corn, and Hme the soil once in six years. 
Then after awhile you will find that red land to 
work as mellow as an ash heap. w. f. massey. 
Review of the Season’s Work 
Part III. 
DIRECTION OF THE SPRAY.—Many articles 
have been written to prove that the angle nozzle 
was the only right one to use, this being based on 
the idea that the main object of spraying is to drive 
as much as possible of the solution into the base of 
the calyx cup. In the commercial orchards of 
Western New York the codling moth is very far 
from being the main reason for spraying, because 
if we are thorough enough to control the apple scab 
we shall be sure to control the moth if we add poison 
to our sprays before and after blossoming. If there 
is enough spray material drifting in the air the 
calyx cup will be just as well filled by the mist 
"which settles on it as it could be by a driving spray. 
If we spray well enough to cover both sides of every 
leaf, as we must do to control scab, there is no 
chance for the apples to escape being poisoned for 
the worm. The one place where the apples generally 
fail to be protected against scab is where the um¬ 
brella of calyx lobes keeps off the falling spray and 
leaves the apple dry. Use the spray-gun or a straight 
nozzle and shoot the dope up under this umbrella. 
LATE SCAB INFECTION.—Most investigators 
have worked and written on the idea that the so- 
called “secondary infection” takes place all through 
the Summer, but we are coming to feel that this is 
probably not so here. In the last three picking sea¬ 
sons I have watched carefully, and have seen not 
more than three or four cases that could have been 
possibly late infection. The rest seemed more Mkely 
to have been infection of early Summer, which was 
held dormant until some especially favorable condi¬ 
tion allowed it to start into growth. There is only 
one thing which seems to argue against this, and 
that is the fact that it is harder to grow scab-free 
apples in our sod orchards. This may be explained 
(my own theory) by supposing that the scabby leaves 
which fall in large numbers in early Summer, 
especially from R. I. Greening, may pass through 
the same changes as the wintering leaves and give 
out a new lot of spores when the weather is wet 
enough. If this should be found true it will be u 
great argument for cultivation of the orchards, 
especially for cultivating the whole of the ground 
under the trees and, incidentally, more rational 
methods of training the young trees. 
SPRAYING AT TITE RIGHT TIME.—This season 
was the most convincing proof of the vital need for 
spraying at the right time. Those who sprayed 
before the blossoms opened had apples where iey 
sprayed and only there. Where a tree was half 
sprayed half of it had apples. Mr. Rogers ' the 
Wayne County Farm Bureau told of one man who 
sprayed a block of smallish trees from the ”th, 
west and east, and thought that covered the trees 
pretty well, but found that there was a narrow 
strip on the north side of each tree where the apples 
were missing. It seems that the “pink spray” was 
the one factor which decided whether a Western 
New York apple grower should have apples on his 
trees or not in 1919. The quality of the apples 
might be affected by later sprays, up to two or three 
weeks after the blossoms fall, but the later applica¬ 
tions could not bring back apples which had dropped 
because the first one was left out. 
Wayne Co., N. Y. alfbed c. weed. 
My Experience in Dusting Fruit Trees 
W ILL dusting keep fruit trees free from insects 
and diseases? This is the question orchardists 
are asking with ever-increasing interest. After using 
various kinds of liquid spray for a number of years 
with indifferent success, I decided to try the dust 
Perhaps I might Inve had good results with liquid 
applications if I con’d have made them always in 
time. But with 40 acres of large apple trees to cover 
I found it often utterly impossible to finish within 
the critical period, when the season was wet, and the 
hired help refused to soil their hands with spray so¬ 
lution. Every fruit man knows that if the applica¬ 
tions are not made at the right time it might as well 
be thrown in the ditch. 
Neither dust nor liquid spray ean do its best un- 
January .*?, 1920 
less the trees are so trimmed as to admit sunlight to 
all parts, and unless the soil is kept dry and freo 
from weeds, tall grass and rubbish, the breeding 
place of many insects and diseases. Therefore I am 
particular to cut out nearly all inside branches, cross 
branches and thicker portions of the outside limbs. 
I have observed with much interest that, the cultivat¬ 
ed half of the orchard does not bear as smooth or 
highly colored apples as the half in sod, which is 
closely pastured by sheep. The trees are all large, 
40 years old, and in the same field. 
For the past three years I have used nothing but 
dust, making three to five applications each year, 
using an average of 11/3 lbs. per tree for each ap¬ 
plication. I always use 90/10 dust and consider il 
strong enough for all ordinary purposes. When the 
conditions are right I have dusted the entire 40 acres 
both ways in one day. But I think best results are 
obtained by dusting in the morning or evening, when 
their is no wind and a little dew is on the leaves. 
I had a large crop of apples last year; all were 
shipped to Illinois as Standard A grade. This year I 
had over 5.000 bu., which I deem very good, consid¬ 
ering the fact that the average crop in Western 
New York this year is about one-fifth of normal. 
These were all sold, including drops, for $3.50 per 
cwt, or about $5.25 per bbl. The buyers were paying 
$3 and $3.10. Without seeing mine a dealer offered 
me $3.10. I persuaded him to examine my crop, and 
after seeing it he immediately offered $3.50 per cwt. 
I was so sure that my apples were free from insects 
and diseases that I made him a bona fide offer of 
$100 for each and every wormy apple lie could find, 
lie didn’t get the $100, although he spent a long time 
looking for a wormy apple. My fruit was finely 
colored, of large size, entirely free from all insects 
and disease, and beautiful in every particular. Any 
fair-minded person having a prejudice against dust 
would have it removed forever by an examination of 
my apples. e. g. grinnell. 
Genesee Co., N. Y. 
R. N.-Y.—We assume that the 90-10 mixture which 
Mr. Grinnell speaks of means nine-tenths sulphur and 
one-tentli dry arsenate of lead. We use 15 per cent 
dry arsenate and have had good results. In some 
cases lime or plaster is used in place of sulphur. 
A Potato Cellar in Virginia 
I contemplate building a potato cellar. The location 
faces a ravine. I intend to excavate to a sufficient 
depth so that the top of the cellar will be about level 
with the ground. The cover on this cellar will be a 
substantially built wood floor, and be used as a drive¬ 
way, where the potatoes will be graded and spouted to 
their respective bins. The ventilators will be carried 
through the roof of the building that I intend to erect 
over the cellar. This building will be used for housing 
wagons and other farm implements at odd times, and 
will be enclosed all around. The cellar will be 20 feet 
wide and as long as is necessary to hold 5.000 bushels 
of potatoes. The alleyway will be 8 feet wide and the 
bins 90 feet long. 
How heavy should the cellar walls be? The cellar 
front will be 9-inch cement blocks. How wide should 
the potato bins be? How deep may the potatoes be 
safely piled? How large should the ventilating area 
be beneath and surrounding these bins? How near the 
ceiling may the potatoes be piled? S. E. II. 
Virginia. 
OU fail to state what sort of potatoes you pro¬ 
pose to store in the cellar. If sweet potatoes, 
you will need very different conditions from those 
needed for Irish potatoes. Assuming that it is Irish 
potatoes 7 *ou will store, the thickness of the wall 
does not matter, provided it is strong. The ordinary 
cement blocks will answer very well. Bins should 
be slatted and separated from floor and wall, and 
not over 3 ft. in diameter and height. Too great 
bulk may cause heating. A cellar wholly in the 
ground and covered by a building will need abundant 
ventilation to keep it cool enough in Warwick Co., 
Va. The best temperature to keep Irish potatoes 
is 35 to 40 degrees, and total darkness. 
If you propose to put sweet potatoes in such a 
cellar, I would say forget it. Build a house with 
deadened walls and overhead ventilation, with fur¬ 
nace or hot-water boiler for heating and either store 
in shallow bins or pile in slatted crates. Then do 
not “spout” sweet potatoes and bruise them, for they 
will rot Handle in field and house like eggs. After 
all are in, start the heat and raise the temperature 
to S5 or 90 degrees, till the potatoes have dried off 
from the sweat they always pass through after 
storing. After that a temperature of 45 to 50 de¬ 
grees will answer. | Make all bins slatted for venti¬ 
lation, and when curing the potatoes keep the ven¬ 
tilator through the roof open. In a properly con¬ 
structed house you will seldom need fire after the 
curing, except in unusually cold snaps. I will give 
further hints if needed. But never “spout” sweet 
potatoes into a pit w. f. m. 
Forget It ! A slang expression which ought to be 
applied like a sticking plaster to a large proportion of 
our schemes to get rich. 
