1883 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Results from Top-dressing Wheat 
A Test in Ohio 
E XPERIENCE of farmers (luring the past few 
years has shown that wheat, to get the best 
results, needs plenty of quickly available plant food, 
applied sometimes as a top-dressing in the Spring. 
This gives all the plants a good chance to get liberal 
food in going through the season, and seems to be 
the critical time in the life of the wheat plant. It 
has been necessary to sow wheat late during the 
past two years in order to escape tin* infestation of 
Hessian fly. hut considera’ le winter-killing has been 
noticed where late planting is practiced. 
T have seen a large number of instances where 
farmers top-dress their wheat in the Winter with 
barnyard manure at the rate of four to six tons 
per acre. This is a good practice, al- __ 
though there is some danger of smoth¬ 
ering the wheat plants if the spreader 
does not spread the manure evenly. The 
illustration. Fig. 686. shows the result 
of a local boy, W. C. Shreve. in a 
wheat-growing contest, who top-dressed 
one of his acres with 100 pounds of 
sulphate of ammonia in tin 1 eariy 
Spring. The top-dressed wheat yielded 
82 bushels to the acre, while that re¬ 
ceiving no top-dressing made but 25 
bushels. The extra yield in wheat paid 
big returns on the investment in sul¬ 
phate of ammonia. 
When either sulphate of ammonia or 
nitrate of soda is applied to wheat in 
the Spring, it may be done with the 
ordinary fertilizer drill or lime 
spreader if horses can be driven over 
the fields. If it is not possible to do 
this the material is usually broadcast. 
Wayne Co.. O. c. m. raker. 
the gas may be poisonous or disease-laden. Step.' 
should be taken at once to correct the trouble. 
Temporary relief may be obtained by pouring 
through the sink strong, hot solutions of lye. other 
good disinfectants and deodorizers may be used. 
The lye however, has the virtue of cutting out the 
grease, as well as cleansing the pipe, and is not 
expensive. 
Permanent relief can only be obtained by putting 
in traps and venting the line so that the gases are 
prevented from going up through the sink pipe and 
are carried away out-of-doors. This construction is 
indicated in the drawing. Traps are placed at "A" 
and ‘*B.” beneath the sink and in the cellar, while 
a vent pipe is led up from the sewer outside of the 
house. This permits a circulation of air througn 
the sewer pipe, but not into the house. The sewer 
a circulation of air through the house portion of the 
pipe, and to prevent siphoning of the water in the 
trap, which would break the seal. It is similar to 
tin* vent stack found in closet installations. R. h. s. 
Kitchen 
Grease trap 
The Value of Farm Pasture 
The Ohio Experiment Station prints the following 
statement: 
The township assessors’ reports from practically 
every county iu Ohio show a steady decrease in the num¬ 
ber of cattle kept. This means a lowering of the amount 
of manure produced on farms. 
It. is believed that wheat production in Ohio has been 
seriously held up because of the lack of farm manures. 
The acre production of wheat has increased very little 
during the past 50 years; in fact, it has been maintained 
by shifting to the land best adapted for wheat and small 
use of commercial fertilizers. 
Even at this Ohio will be consuming all the wheat it 
produces at the end of five years if the 
population continues to increase during 
that time. 
T IIE practical remedy suggested is 
to improve the pastures and tliu 
enable the farm to carry more live 
stock. That will 
and thus more wheat 
farm. In many parts 
State the same trouble 
a stock farm the 
the most valuable 
ir. runw'r.g frap 
sent 
ca rry 
mean more manure 
and a better 
of New York 
is found. On 
pastures represent 
part of the farm. 
Suggestion for House Drainage System. Fit/. tid) 
Trouble with Drain 
We are having trouble with a bad odor 
from a drain, and come to you for help. 
This drain consists of a pipe running 
from kitchen sink down through the cel¬ 
lar. and <»iptying into a 4-inch drain 
tile, placet! at the corner of the cellar in 
a position to carry off any standing 
water. Outdoors the tile runs through 
sloping ground, so that it is about t‘> feet 
below the surface near the house and 
only a foot where it empties. Broken tile 
was used for the drain. This became 
clogged, and was left some time before 
being repaired. Only about 10 feet of 
the drain at lower end was dug up for 
this purpose. Since cleaning this out 
and allowing the air to circulate through 
the drain once more we notice the odor. 
This is prououneed when it is windy, 
both in the cellar and in the kitchen. Is 
there any remedy short of digging up and 
cleaning the rest of the tile? R. 
Stephentown, N. Y. 
G ETTING the sewage away from 
the house is perhaps a greater 
problem than getting the water in. in 
both eases avc have a liquid to conduct.. 
In the case of the water the liquid is 
pure, with no tendency to clog the 
pipes or cause odors. With the sewage 
the problem is different: the water 
carries grease and other solids to clog 
tin' pipe by coating its interior anil 
lodging in the bends. These same solids 
give rise to offensive odors and poi¬ 
sonous gases, due to the putrefying 
process in the warm pipes, and on top 
of all this the sewage system must he 
arranged to operate by gravity, instead 
of a pump, as is usually the case with 
the water side of the system. A borne 
waterworks system is. however, only 
about 50 per cent efficient without the 
sewage disposal system: all of the 
water that is piped into tlie house 
must he carried out again unless a 
sewer is provided. A simple sewer is not difficult to 
provide if a few simple rules are remembered and 
applied. 
The trouble in the case presented by the query is 
indicated very plainly by the notation “no trap” 
appearing in the upper right hand corner of the 
sketch submitted by inquirer. Since cleaning out the 
lower end of the sewer there is practically an un¬ 
interrupted air passage from tlie lower end of the 
line to the kitchen sink. The portion of the pipe in 
the cellar, being warmer than that out-of-doors, acts 
as a chimney, with the result that there is a stream 
of air flowing in at the lower end of the line and 
out at the kitchen sink. With the wind in the right 
direction this will, of course, he much worse. This 
is n very had condition, for aside from the un¬ 
pleasant features of the odor coming from the sink. 
That is not because they product most 
food, but because they require least 
labor to care for them. For some years 
these pastures have been failing. The 
improvements have been made on the 
cultivated parts of the farm. Prob¬ 
ably the pastures would have paid bet¬ 
ter returns for money spent on them. 
We know that limestone and phosphate 
are the things needed on these nastures. 
We think any New York farmer can 
prove this by scattering limestone and 
phosphate over an acre or two of com¬ 
mon pasture. Then watch the cattle 
and see where they go. We cannot 
afford to put all our capital in the corn¬ 
field. Some of it should go in the pas¬ 
ta re. 
Dick Says "II Hays to Use Nitrate of Soda.” Fig. 
Results of Sulphate of Ammonia On the Wheat Cray Fin. (>.?<> 
should preferably discharge into a septic tank or 
some other reliable disposal system, and where this 
is not done care should he taken to'get it far enough 
from the buildings to prevent odors and to insure 
that the drinking water is not contaminated by 
seepage. It is assumed that no other sewage is 
carried by this line other than the regular drainage 
of the sink. The trap at the cellar bottom may be 
the ordinary running trap, with an opening to carry 
away cellar drainage if desired. The one beneath 
the sink, however, should he of the type known as 
a “grease trap.” This is not easily clogged l>y grease 
that is sure to he picked up from the dishwater, 
and is also easily cleauable. If desired this trap 
can be revented by a small pipe leading into the 
line .iust beneath it. but this is seldom necessary iu 
farm practice. The object of reventing is to secure 
Raising a Good Potato Crop 
I NOTICED a recent article by Mrs. 
F. N. on how to treat seed potatoes. 
Here is my plan: In the Spring, as 
soon as tlie days are warm enough. ! 
bring my seed potatoes up from tlie 
cellar and spread them out on tlie barn 
floor or any place where they may stay 
undisturbed till planting time, give 
•them plenty of light, but not direct 
sun rays. They will throw out lug, 
sturdy sprouts from most of the eyes. 
At planting time care must be taken 
not to break off any of these sprouts if 
possible. We cut two or three eyes to 
each piece. Do not cut them until ready 
to plant. Plant with the cut side down. 
cover lightly with a hoe. or two-liorse 
shovel. After a week or ten days the 
first plants begin to show above the 
ground. When they are all showing 
nicely, about two or three inches high. 
I take a one-horse plow and turn a 
furrow away from the plants as deep 
as it was plowed before, or nearly so. 
I then take a good sharp hoe and clean 
out all weeds, which can be done very 
nicely, and draw some soil up to the 
plants to keep them from drying out: 
then take a cultivator and go over the 
patch and work more soil up to the 
plants so that the ground is level again. 
When the plants are large enough they 
are billed up for good. I now leave 
; 
them as undisturbed as circumstances will permit. 
I cultivated mine once with tlie urn chine narrowed 
up as close as it would go: also go over the patch 
and pull out all big weeds. East Fall (1920) 1 dug 
from a patch 7 rods wide by 7*4 rods long 145 
bushels Dibble’s Russet from seed raised by myself 
Penn Yan. N. Y. w. a. t. 
The hardest thing to straighten out is a crooked 
habit. 
The great aim of life should be to take joy in the job. 
If there is no joy in it something is wrong with the 
job. and the job is usually made by the man. 
For years no one could mention New England apple 
growing without putting the Baldwin apple at tin* head. 
Visitors from other sections would wonder at it. but old 
Baldwin held its place. Now a change is coming: Mc¬ 
Intosh lias moved in and finds himself at home. A bet¬ 
ter apple than Baldwin, it is proving a better son of 
New En :a;E. 
