I 148 
September 6, 1924 
men who will put more modern practices into opera- 
lion. It was my impression that those people are 
most interested in the heavier types of fowls, those 
better adapted to meat production. They were in¬ 
tensely interested in the pens of American breeds 
shown in the United States exhibit. The American 
visiting poultry keeping in Spain brings back a 
capacity of appreciation of American poultry in¬ 
dustry that he did not have before. His vision is 
broadened and his interests enlarged. Poultry keep¬ 
ing is seeking new methods, new practices, more 
economical systems every day. Spain will some day 
have its offering, there is no doubt. 
WILLARD C. THOMPSON. 
New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. 
Short Stories 
Starting a Lawn 
I have a piece of land about 50x50 ft. which I wish 
to make into a lawn. I would like to start in the Spring 
to sow something for humus, ae the land is poor light 
soil, and I want to enrich it before sowing it down to 
grass. What should I use, and when turn it under? 
Eowell, Mass. B - 
Y OUR plan is right as far as it goes, but why wait 
until Spring? Plow or spade the land now and 
start by seeding on this lot of 2,500 square feet 
about half a peck of rye and half a pound of Alsike 
(lover. Let this grow until late April and then 
plow or spade under seed with six quarts of Canada 
field peas and a peck of oats. About the middle of 
August plow this growth under and put on 150 lbs. 
of lime well worked in. Make level and fine as pos¬ 
sible and seed a lawn grass mixture, using a good 
dressing of fertilizer. 
No Lime on Potatoes or Strawberries 
Is powdered limestone a good fertilizer for potatoes 
and strawberries? J. H. 
Tompkins Cove, N. Y. 
We have stated at least 50 times that lime should 
not be used on potatoes or strawberries. It will in¬ 
crease the potato scab by making the soil too 
alkaline. The strawberry prefers an acid soil for 
best development. In every case where we have 
used lime or wood ashes on strawberries, or burned 
brush piles on strawberry ground, the plants have 
been spindling and poor. 
Fertilizing a Cover Crop 
1 intend to start trucking next Spring on a few acres 
of sod, which I am plowing at the present time. What 
should I sow on it this Fall? I was thinking of Crim¬ 
son clover or rye. Should I drill in fertilizer this I' all 
or next Spring, and how much to an acre? J. J. 
Bucks Co., Pa. 
Our plan would be to seed three pecks of rye and 
10 to 12 lbs. of Crimson clover together on each 
,acre. The rye will insure a good cover crop even 
if the Crimson clover is killed out. This combina¬ 
tion will make a good growth before Spring plow¬ 
ing. We should use at least 400 lbs. per acre of 
some good fertilizer at time of seeding. The object 
of this is to give extra growth to the cover crop. 
In the Spring plow under and use more fertilizer. 
Fertilizing the Asparagus Crop 
I have four rows of asparagus 100 ft. long, two years 
old. What is the best fertilizer for it, and when ap¬ 
plied? The fertilizers available here are garden fer¬ 
tilizer and nitrate of soda. o. w. B. 
Massachusetts. 
The garden fertilizer will be best to apply at this 
-season. The best time to fertilize asparagus is when 
cutting stops in June. The object is to get a good 
growth of top and also the best possible root. The 
Bpring shoots, which we cut for eating, are produced 
from nutriment stored up in the roots. Therefore 
the plan is to feed and cultivate after cutting so as 
to restore the roots and fit them for the next year’s 
crop. Fertilizing early in the Spring or late in the 
f all will not help greatly. 
Starting a Cranberry Bog 
I have two meadows, one surrounded on three sides 
by sandy hills, of about two acres, covered with bogs, a 
foot of black muck, under which is a sand bottom. Nat¬ 
ural drain ; in the middle a never-failing spring. Could 
also be irrigated from the brook by a small ditch. Some 
friends of mine, returning from Cape Cod, thought this 
meadow would make an ideal cranberry bog, but before 
going any further into it I come to you for advice. Re¬ 
lations of my friend cleared .$10,500 from about 13 
acres, and if I could turn my meadows, all about tax 
acres, I would soon be on easy street, if cranberries can 
be raised successfully in New York. I am contemplat¬ 
ing a trip to Cape Cod. c - lv * 
Westchester Co., N. Y. 
The preparation for cranberry growing is expen¬ 
sive. The crop requires care and skill, but one year 
with another there is some profit in the business. 
Before you start, make a trip to Cape Cod and to 
Southern New Jersey and see how they do it. You 
must expect to put considerable capital into such a 
business, and take great chances on late or early 
frosts. 
•ht" itU ft A L NE'W-t O ft K E R 
Division of Irregular Plot Into Two Equal 
Parts 
Will you tell me how far from the northwest corner 
of the diagram the line would come to divide this 14- 
acre piece in two equal parts? How many rods from 
the corner? c. B. A. 
Limaville, O. 
I T is impossible to give you a definite answer as to 
the location of the dividing line because of lack 
of suflioWit measurements on the sketch map fur¬ 
nished. Directions are given, however, that will 
enable you to make this division. 
Assuming that both parties wish a frontage on 
the highway, the land can he divided by running the 
line A-B. dividing the plot C-D-E-F into approxi¬ 
mately equal parts. After making this approximate 
division find the exact area of plot A-B-E-F by divid¬ 
ing the line B-F into a number of equal parts and 
running the ordinate 01, 02, 03, eic. Measure the 
lengths of these ordinates. Measure also the lengths 
of the sides A-B and E-F and the distance separating 
the ordinates which is represented by d. 
NORTH 
WEST 
80 rods 
SOUTH 
The area of the plot A-B-E-F is now found by add¬ 
ing the lengths of the sides A-B and E-F and divid¬ 
ing the sum by two. To this result is added the sum 
of the lengths of the ordinates Ol, 02 and 03, or 
more, if there should be more than three ordinates 
used. The sum so obtained is then multiplied by d 
(the equal distance separating the ordinates), the 
resulting product being the area of the field ex¬ 
pressed in units of area similar to the linear units 
used in making the measurement; that is, if the 
measurements are taken in feet the area will be ex¬ 
pressed in square feet. 
A line C-G is next run and the area of the plot 
C-G-A-B determined in the manner just outlined. 
To this is added the area of the triangular plot, 
C-D-G, found by multiplying the length of the line 
C-G by q/w, the length of the line D-H which should 
be run at right angles tq C-G. 
►Subtract the area of the smaller field from the 
larger and divide the difference by two. Divide this 
result by the length of the line A-P> and lay off the 
distance so found on the base line C-F, starting at 
the point B and measuring to the side of the line 
occupied by the larger field, locating the point I. 
Run the line I-J which will divide the tract into 
two parts which will be nearly enough equal in size 
for all practical purposes. This division can be 
made with simple equipment, chain or tape, chaining 
pins and range poles. If, however, there is any 
likelihood of a dispute over the boundary when es¬ 
tablished, I would suggest the employment of a sur¬ 
veyor. B. H. S. 
antees of efficient pasteurization are not very good. 
In spite of the work of investigators along this 
line, there remains much to be explained with regard 
to the transference of tuberculosis from cattle to 
human beings. It is generally accepted as a fact 
that the prevalence of tuberculosis among humans 
is decreasing, and common observation would seem 
to confirm the story of vital statistics, yet it cannot 
be denied that cows’ milk is as much a food of in¬ 
fants and young children as it ever was; probably 
more, since recent years have seen numerous cam¬ 
paigns to stress its importance as a food for the 
young, and that but a small part of the milk con¬ 
sumed outside large cities is pasteurized. As al¬ 
ready suggested, there is room, too, for grave doubts 
as to the effectiveness of much of the pasteurizing 
that is done. 
To one who has seen herd after herd of apparently 
healthy cows react to the tuberculin test and con¬ 
demned, the question cannot but arise, “What of the 
tens of thousands that have never been tested and 
that must be as much a source of danger as these?” 
If tuberculosis is really transferred from cows to 
young children by means of the milk used as food, 
how have any of us escaped? The writer does not 
profess any authority in this matter, though he has 
been a student of authorities, and he confesses to a 
lurking doubt whether the conclusions now gener¬ 
ally accepted with regard to bovine and human tu¬ 
berculosis will be confirmed by future study, yet he 
also confesses that he would not bring up a young 
child of his own upon milk from a non-tested and 
possibly tubercular cow. This may be over-confi¬ 
dence in “authority,” or excessive timidity, but until 
the question is more thoroughly settled in the 
writer’s mind than it is now, he would not take un¬ 
necessary chances. m. b. d. 
The Problem of Eradicating Tuberculosis 
In your opinion, is there anything definite to be 
gained toward the eradication of tuberculosis in humans 
by applying the tuberculin test to a few scattered herds 
in a certain community? Will it not work unnecessary 
hardship upon those few, being surrounded, as they are, 
by other herds not forced to test? w. D. H. 
New York. 
1 CAN see nothing to be gained by applying the 
tuberculin test to scattered herds, so far as gen¬ 
eral community health is concerned, unless it is ar¬ 
gued that any tubercular cow is a source of danger, 
and the removal of a single infected animal reduces 
the opportunity of transmission by that much. It 
might be said, too, that this is but the beginning of 
general testing of herds, and that a beginning must 
be made. 
If the danger of transference of bovine tubercu¬ 
losis to human beings is as great as it is believed by 
good authorities to be, and it cannot be denied that 
there is an “if” .of considerable magnitude there, it 
dees not seem to me that any great headway toward 
removing this danger will be made until a very con¬ 
siderable proportion of our cow population is de¬ 
stroyed and replaced by healthy cows. This is a job 
of herculean size, and I am afraid that the present 
generation will not see it accomplished. There is, of 
course, the alternative of pasteurization of all milk 
used for human consumption, but here too the guar- 
Machine Oil for Spraying 
I read reports of the use of engine oil made into an 
emulsion for spraying. How is it prepared, and is the 
spray effective? w. K. T. 
I T is true that methods have been worked out for 
making emulsions of engine oil and water. It is 
known, of course, that oil and water will not mix 
directly. Some other substance is needed to make 
an emulsion in which the particles of oil will be 
suspended in water like the fat in milk. Soap has 
been commonly used for this puipose, and many of 
our readers have used some form of soap to make an 
emulsion of kerosene. The soap and water are heat¬ 
ed, the kerosene added and the mixture well churned 
together. It has now been found that cold emulsion 
of oil can be made without the use of soap. The 
substances used are the same as those used in mak¬ 
ing Bordeaux mixture—sulphate of copper, or sul¬ 
phate of iron and lime. These cold emulsions have 
been found useful in spraying for the San Jose scale, 
though they have not yet been fully tried out. The 
Missouri Experiment Station explains the method of 
handling the oil in one of its bulletins, and the fol¬ 
lowing description is taken from it: 
Emulsions with copperas and lime are made the same 
way as those with Bordeaux mixture. Merely substi¬ 
tute copperas for bluestone in the directions given be¬ 
low. First, make a stock solution containing 1 lb. of 
bluestone to every gallon of water. Place 25 lbs. of 
Milestone in a burlap sack, and suspend over night in a 
barrel containing 25 gallons of water. The bluestone 
requires 12 to 20 hours to dissolve. In another con¬ 
tainer, such as one-half of a lime-sulphur barrel, place 
25 lbs. of burned lime and slake it. Then add cold water 
to make 25 gallons. 
If it is desired to use 200 gallons of 2 per cent oil 
spray emulsified according to this formula, put four 
gallons of oil in a half barrel or other container, then 
add one-half gallon of the copper sulphate solution and 
one gallon of water. Stir up the lime and add one-half 
gallon of the milk of lime. Mix the oil and water, etc., 
by pumping the mixture back on itself, using a coarse 
spray. After a minute’s pumping, reduce the opening 
in the nozzle until a fine spray is obtained and pump the 
emulsion into another container. Then pump it back 
again. The emulsion would probably be satisfactory 
with one pumping, but it is generally best to give it two. 
The finer the spray, the better is the emulsion obtained. 
To make the emulsion by means of a power sprayer, put 
the suction hose and a hose from the return line into 
the half-barrel containing the mixture and pump it back 
and forth a time or two. It is essential that the pump¬ 
ing be done immediately after mixing the various ma¬ 
terials. Only freshly made Bordeaux or iron sulphate 
and lime mixture will act as a good emulsifying agent. 
Tbis is what is known as a “stock emulsion.” 
When used as a spray enough water to make 200 
gallons of liquid is added. This spray is designed 
to kill San Jose scale or other sucking insects. We 
give the formula and method of mixing as requested, 
but caution should go along with it. Unless the 
work is carefully done the mixture of oil and water 
will not be complete. There will be too much “free 
oil,” and that will surely mean injury to fruit and 
tree. 
