1153 
Staked Tomato Plant* in Washington. Fig. J/81 
The cost per ton is obtained by dividing the total 
cost by the number of tons in the silo. 
The following table, taken from Farmers’ Bulletin 
855, gives the tons of silage in silos of different 
diameters: 
Depth of silage (after settling) for a given rapacity of situ with 
a given diameter. 
Depth of 
silage 
(after 
settling , -—Capacity of silo haring an inside diameter of- 
2 days). 
11 ft. 
12 ft. 
13 ft. 
14 ft. 
15 ft. 
10 ft. 
17 ft, 
Feet 
Tons 
Tons 
Tons 
Tons 
Tons 
Tons 
Tons 
26 
46 
55 
28 
51 
61 
7t 
83 
30 
50 
07 
79 
91 
io.i 
32 
02 
74 
80 
100 
nr, 
131 
34 
80 
94 
109 
120 
148 
ioi 
30 
. . . 
87 
102 
119 
130 
155 
175 
38 
• • « 
110 
12K 
147 
107 
189 
40 
♦ • . 
138 
158 
180 
203 
42 
. , . 
170 
193 
218 
44 
207 
234 
V. S. 
1 )eparl 
nient 
of Agr 
ieultu 
re. 
J. B. BAIN. 
Tomatoes Trained to Stake 
1 AM sending you a photograph of tomatoes (Fig. 
481) as grown season of 1920, thinking they might 
interest you, as they were grown by the single-stem 
system. Owing to the location the views were taken 
close up, and it was impossible to get an extended 
picture of the whole plot. The plants were set out 
about June 10, and photograph taken last week in 
August. 1 had five rows, 29 plants to a row, and 
plants were set 00 in. apart each way, 145 plants in 
Potato Sprout Growing Inside 
I am sending a small box containing a 
Jersey Redskin potato. It looks to me 
as if another potato had sent its sprout 
through it. Having read in The R. 
N.-Y. a short time ago about grass or 
other plants growing through a potato, I 
thought this might be something new. 
New Jersey. f. J. G. 
I T is something new—different from 
anything we have described before. 
A picture of the potato is shown on the 
next page, split open so as to show the 
growth. It appears that the sprout 
started from the “eye" or bud, and in¬ 
stead of growing outside of the tuber 
as usual it grew inside. As it devel¬ 
oped the face of the growing stem split 
the tuber and, as we see, two or more 
little potatoes have formed. This is 
unusual, although we have seen much 
the same growth before. 
Garden Notes from New 
England 
N aming fruit trees by 
THEIR LEAYES.—«Massachusetts 
fruit growers are very much interested 
in the announcement coming from J. K. 
Shaw, of the State College at Amherst, 
that he has worked out a system of 
identifying nursery, stock by their 
leaves. As every fruit grower knows, 
it is extremely difficult to be certain of 
getting fruit trees true to name, and 
this, of course, is a serious matter, be¬ 
cause of the fact that there is a long 
wait between the time trees are planted 
and the appearance of the fruit. Dr. 
Shaw’s system makes it possible to de¬ 
termine the variety of a tree while it 
it yet in the nursery row. Put into 
practice it will take much of the un¬ 
certainty out of fruit growing, and 
prove a tremendous boon to those who 
depend upon fruit for their living. 
With this system in operation there 
will be no excuse for selling trees 
which are not true to name. It has taken Dr. Shaw 
seven years to work out this system of identifying 
nursery trees by their leaves, and he has not yet put 
it into print. Its importance has been recognized, 
however, to such an extent that plans are now under 
way for its immediate application. It is stated that 
Dr. Shaw can teach anyone in one or two days how 
to make this positive identification from the leaves 
alone. Of 1,100 trees which lie has inspected at the 
college, over a period of years, he has made a mis¬ 
take in just one instance. It, is now planned to have 
students of the method go through the nursery where 
the trees are in leaf, identifying and labeling them. 
Then a certificate of stock can be issued that will 
mean certainty instead of worry to the oreliardist, 
and set up a new standard of business integrity for 
honest nurserymen. Any group of buyers can engage 
a competent man to go through the nursery where 
they expect to place their orders and make certain 
that the trees which are to he delivered to them will 
be the trees that they want. 
JAPANESE CLIMBING CUCUMBER. — Once 
again the Japanese climbing cucumber has shown 
Us superior value as a kitchen garden variety. The 
blight has swept over all New England this season, 
and in the average garden cucumbers have not been 
seen for several weeks. Even the Japanese climber 
has been affected to some extent, but it lias proved 
much more resistent than any other kind. This year I ' 
Silage From a Husker and Shredder 
What about a machine for husking and shredding 
corn? I have a silo which I have heretofore filled with 
silage by using a cutter, blowing the corn (stalks and 
everything) into the silo. This, of course, has been 
done before the corn lias ripened. It is now my idea 
to use a combination machine which husks the corn and 
shreds the stalks all iu oue operation. To do this it is 
of course necessary to wait until the corn is ripe and 
hard, which means that the stalks are brown and con¬ 
siderably more advanced than when you would ordi¬ 
narily use the stalks and corn for silage. By using the 
combination husker and shredder would it be possible 
to blow 'the shredded stalks into the silo, wet them down 
and pack them well, and get as good results as you 
would by the method which I have adopted in the past? 
What I am anxious to do is to save the 300 or 400 
bushels of corn which I have been putting into the silo 
each year, and simply use the cornstalks, of which I 
still have plenty, to feed the stock. I do not force my 
cows for milking during the Winter months, and plan 
to have the most milk during the Summer, when it can 
easily be sold to the Summer residents. Are the present 
combination husking and shredding machines now on 
the market practical? Can the shredded 
cornstalks be put put into a silo the same 
as regular silage, and good results be 
obtained? If so, what is the proper 
method of handling the shredded stalks? 
Why isn’t the proposed method of husk¬ 
ing and shredding corn and not putting 
the cobs in the silo more universally 
practiced ? C. w. G. 
New York. 
T HE combined busker-shredder is 
practical as a machine, and does 
just what it is advertised to do. It 
removes the ears and shreds the stalks. 
The reason that more of such machines 
are not used is not due to inefficiency 
of the machine, but to results obtained 
from silage made. When a farmer 
spends money to build a silo it is for 
the purpose of getting a good supply 
of milk during the Winter by taking 
care of his cows as well ns possible. 
Silage, that is, shredded corn with 
ears, cut before the stalks become too 
hard, gives a feed with food value. In 
order to husk corn it must be fairly 
mature, and at this time the stalks arc 
tough and brown, and as far as silage 
is concerned, the time to get the highest 
food value is past. This, with the re¬ 
moval of the ears, gives a poor feed, 
even though it is a feed, and most 
dairymen figure good silage worth 
more than poor silage with corn seed 
saved out. Again, where silo or silage 
corn is grown, in many places the seed 
would not ripen before frost comes, so 
for a dairyman the machine would not 
be worth the investment. 
Last year the stalks were run into 
the silo here, and soaked thoroughly 
with water. The silage was packed 
firmly, three men tramping it down alt 
the time the machine was running. If 
not packed firmly it will spoil. Though 
the silage has some feeding value, we 
shall not put it in the silo again. Whole 
corn cut at an earlier stage will be 
placed in the silo, and our seed corn 
husked by the machine and shredded 
stalks blown under a shed and fed as one 
does whole stalks. The silo investment is 
too high to bother with a low feed value. 
For a grower of seed corn there seem 
many advantages in favor of the busker and shred¬ 
der. He must have enough corn to pay for the 
investment in the machine. t. Tf. t. 
Figuring Values of Corn Silage 
O UR method of valuing silage in the silo is to 
make an estimate of the yield of corn, grain, 
and valuing it at the farm price on the stalk, and 
add the cost of putting in the silo. Wo do not like 
valuing the silage by some substitute crop, for it is 
not a substitute. 
Example: One acre corn, estimated yield (50 
bushels, at 50 cents per bushel, $30. Cost of putting 
in silo, $35. Total cost. $05. Yield. 10 tons. Value 
per ton, $0.50. caby w. Montgomery. 
Ohio Experiment Station. 
Referring to your reply to a correspondent on 
the “Value of Silage Corn,” on page 1051, you 
may be interested in the method of determining 
the cost of silage followed by the Dairy Division of 
the United States Department of Agriculture. 
The cost of silage is equal to the farm value of 
the grain plus the value of the stover plus or minus 
the difference between the cost of filling the silo ami 
husking the corn and selling the grain and stover 
sepa rately. 
The first step is to determine the proportion of 
Jhf RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
grain and stover in a ton of silage. To do this a 
farmer must estimate the yield of corn per acre if 
the corn was allowed to mature for husking. A field 
of corn which would husk 30 bushels of grain per 
acre will have about 1.2 tons of stover. A 40-bushel 
yield will give 1.4 tons of stover, and there will be 
about two-tentlis of a ton increase in stover for each 
10-bushel increase in the yield of grain. 
Now we will suppose that iu a silo there have been 
put 12 acres of corn, which would yield 40 bushels 
to the acre, or 480 bushels. Then since 40 bushels 
of corn would yield 1.4 tons of stover, 12 x 1.4 
equals the amount of stover which could have been 
saved off the 12 acres, or 10.8 tons. The value of 
the ear corn plus the value of the stover plus or 
minus the difference between the cost of filling the 
silo and husking the corn and selling the grain and 
stover separately will give the cost of the silage. 
all. the plot of ground being 15x75 ft. The stakes 
are 5 ft. above ground. The plants as grown in the 
cold frames were quite tall, 15 to 18 in., and were 
set 12 in. deep, the holes being thoroughly worked 
to a depth of 20 to 24 in., a fair shovel of well- 
rotted manure and half an ordinary garden trowel 
of commercial fertilizer added, being equal parts of 
fine ground bone, superphosphate, tankage and hard¬ 
wood ashes. 
Some of the fruits shown in the foreground of the 
Alacrity run from 1 lb. to 1% lbs. each; the 145 
plants average 10 IDs. to a plant, one giving a yield 
of over 10 lbs. I like the growth and general be- 
havio the English variety very much the best. 
Where well-grown they run about three to the pound, 
and I have had fruiting stems with 30 tomatoes, 
large and small. The Alacrity is very much larger, 
but of fine flavor and a vivid scarlet color which is 
very attractive. c. t. canfiei.d. 
Washington. 
