The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Farm Mechanics 
Mending a Leaky Cistern 
Will yon toll mo how to fix a cement 
cistern so it will not leak? G. A. 
Altmar. N. Y. 
If the leakage is clue to porous spots in 
the cement walls, these may be repaired 
by applying a wash of neat cement, ce¬ 
ment mixed with water, to the leaky areas 
and rubbing this in with a wooden float, 
or. after cleaning and drying the wall, a 
solution of water glass, one part water 
glass to from three to five parts water, 
may be applied. The solution should be 
sufficiently thin to be absorbed by the 
porous cement. If the walls leak through 
cracks, these should be enlarged by chip¬ 
ping so as to. form a wedge-shaped open- 
ing with the.large end out. . These open¬ 
ings may then be patched by tamping in 
a mixture of sand and cement—one part 
cement to two parts sand—the openings 
having first been made clean and wet by 
washing them out with water. The mix¬ 
ture should be moistened to about the con¬ 
sistency of brown sugar and should be 
tamped until moisture appears upon the 
surface. it. R. *>• 
Cinders in Concrete; Lime for Run-down 
Soil 
1. Would cinders or coal ashes do to 
put in a cement flooi - , using this instead 
of sand? I live a long way from a sand 
bed and a hard hill to draw it up. Is 
there anything else that I could use in 
place of sand? A neighbor used cinders 
in place of sand and liked it. 2. What 
kind of lime do you think is best for land 
that is sour? Some of it is run-down soil. 
Tully, N. Y. n. e. 
1. Clean cinders, free from dirt or fine 
ashes, are used in structures, such as 
floors, where heavy pressure does not 
have to be withstood: they are inferior, 
however, to sand and gravel in concrete 
work. 
2. About double the quantity of ground 
limestone is required to replace burned, or 
lump, lime in its effect upon the soil. This 
effect is the same, however, and the choice 
is rather one of price, convenience of ap¬ 
plication, etc., than the form in which 
lime is applied. The actual lime content 
of ground limestone should be guaranteed 
in order that one may not be deceived into 
purchasing an unnecessary amount of in¬ 
ert material. Ground limestone is, gen¬ 
erally speaking, to be preferred upon light 
soils and the more active lump lime, upon 
those that are cold and heavy. The latter, 
being caustic, is disagreeable to handle 
and apply, but has the advantage over 
ground limestone in requiring less space 
for storage and less labor in hauling. As 
suggested above, the choice will usually 
be made upon considerations of compara¬ 
tive price and ease of obtaining and ap¬ 
plying the different forms. M. B. D. 
Spike-Tooth Harrow; Weed Killer 
We find there is no better implement to 
destroy the oncoming crop of young weeds 
than the spike-tooth harrow, like that 
shown in the illustration. The picture 
was taken in a potato field that was being 
broken up after a fairly heavy rain. Un- 
doubtedly the easiest way to control the 
weeds is to destroy them at the very be¬ 
ginning. when they are just mere shoots 
in the soil, or ready to come through. 
There are many weedere and cultivators 
on the market that accomplish this, but 
when it comes to breaking up a crust on 
the soil, the spike-tooth harrow is one of 
the best implements to do this. The teeth 
can be set at any angle, depending upon 
the hardness of the soil and at such an 
angle that they will not tear out young 
corn or potato sprouts. In going over a 
field soon after planting the teeth are set 
almost vertical, and after the crops are 
coming through the ground an angle of 
about 45° will accomplish the purpose 
nicely. 
This type of harrow being in three sec¬ 
tions cleans easily, or may be cleaned 
quickly by siniplv throwing the controlling 
lever forward so .nat the spike teeth are 
turned backwards to almost a horizontal 
line. Two horses will handle this type of 
implement easily on sloping ground, but 
for levelling before seeding three are re¬ 
quired. 
The harrow operates beet when the 
teeth are kepi; sharp. The teeth in this 
implement are generally bolted in so that 
they may be quickly removed and sharp¬ 
ened each season if necessary. When 
taken to the blacksmith shop the black¬ 
smith should use precaution so as not to 
heat the teeth too much, or they may be¬ 
come brittle at the end and break off on 
stones or roots. The temper should be 
drawn down to the point of the teeth, and 
they will remain hard and firm for a long 
time. Any farmer can sharpen his own 
harrow teeth by a small forge and an 
anvil. The providing of these tools for 
the farm workshop may save him unneces¬ 
sary expense and time in the blacksmith 
shop. 
This implement may bo used on potatoes 
and corn even after the crops are several 
inches above the ground without danger 
from tearing out or disturbing the rows. 
In this way the weeds may be killed, so 
that when the cultivator is placed in the 
corn the cultivator will simply maintain a 
shallow swath and kill the young weeds 
that come on rather than attempt to plow 
out and destroy tall weeds of several 
weeks’ growth. c. M. baker. 
Electric Incubators 
Will you give me some light on electric 
incubators? I have an electric plant. 
439 
The oil lamp incubator is a nightmare for 
the busy farmer and his busy wife. What 
is your opinion of the enclosed? I note 
that the references have no address and 
are suspicious. Can you recommend any 
others ? M. s. T. 
Pennsylvania. 
Electric incubators are not in suffi¬ 
ciently common use to make it easy to get 
reliable information with regard to them. 
On the face of it, electricity would seem 
to be the ideal source of heat for an in¬ 
cubator, constant, easy to control and 
clean. Heating by electricity is expen¬ 
sive. however, as anyone knows who has 
used the ordinary electric sad iron. Power 
and light from electric sources are com¬ 
paratively cheap, but to obtain heat re¬ 
quires a current consumption that makes 
heat from this source anything but eco¬ 
nomical under ordinary circumstances. 
With very cheap electricity, from water 
power or other source, I should expect 
to find its use in hatching chicks most 
satisfactory, but. with the rates ordinarily 
paid. I doubt whether the ordinary opera¬ 
tor would find it sufficiently economical 
to be practicable. I am told at the Cor¬ 
nell Exper-iment Station, where they have 
used electric incubators to a limited ex¬ 
tent and in an experimental way. that, 
while the original cost of the machines is 
about the same as that of kerosene-heated 
ones, they are more expensive in operation 
and are not materially easier of control. 
Excellent hatches have been obtained from 
them, however, and even frequent tem¬ 
porary interruptions in the current have 
not appreciably affected the hatches. 
M. B. D. 
“I can’t keep my watch from losing 
time,” remarked the man who always 
fretted about something. “Can’t a jeweller 
fix it?” "I doubt it. I begin to suspect 
that watch was made in one of those fac¬ 
tories where nobody thinks about any¬ 
thing except shorter hours.”—Washington 
Star. 
PERFORMANCE PROFITS 
OR 
PAPER PROMISES 
FEED THIS WAY WITH 
CLOVER HAY. 
NOTE 
C]j For those who do not 
raise corn and oats, we re¬ 
commend our Centaur Feed, 
made of com, oats, oilmeal 
and bran. 
BOSTON OFFICE 
131 STATE STREET 
MILL AT HAMMOND, 1ND. 
TVTQBOby ever criticizes the quality of 
Unicom—only its price. 
Anyone can come along and show you—on 
paper—how he can equal Unicom for less 
money. 
Such men have nothing to lose; but you have, 
and we have. 
Unicom has to be uniformly good or we lose 
your trade and our business—the work of a 
lifetime. That’s what we have at stake. 
The kind of men we must satisfy are leaders 
of American dairying and dairy-cattle breed¬ 
ing; shrewd, careful, exacting. 
No other high-protein mixed ration or “pre¬ 
scription” can show records like these, made 
with Unicom as the greater part of the ration: 
365-DAY RECORDS Lbs. Milk Lbs. Fat 
Royalton De Kol Violet.29949.60.1036.45 
Jolie Topsy Pauline De Kol.29221.50.1032.37 
Doede Binnema Flora- (11 yrs.).28857.00.1005.66 
Lena De Kol 3rd (11 yrs.).26768.8 . 942.80 
Caddy Mutual De Kol.24564.80. 902.09 
Pauline Brightview .25606.10. 895.99 
Fryslan Waldorf ..24648.60... 894.39 
Segis Fayne Princess .27656.09. 844.03 
Nina May De Kol of Cooley Farms.23324.70. 837.08 
Anetta Mapleside Pet .2385t.40. 816.35 
Walcowis Ollie Mooie (24 mos.).21569.70. 808.50 
305-DAY RECORDS 
Flint Bertjusca Pauline.21419.0 . 806.21 
Lillie Green Hengerveld .19021.06. 665.15 
Flint Maplecrest Rosina (2 yrs.).17778.00. 649.12 
Such records are our answer to “just-as-good” 
feeds or “try-it-on-your-cow” prescriptions— 
well meant, but untested. 
Unicom is the right feed for the small dairy¬ 
man as well as the large; for the market-milk 
producer as well as the record-making breeder. 
CHAPIN & CO., CHICAGO 
Breaking Up Potato Field with Spike-tooth Harrow 
