1232 
Iht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
one object of the Parent-Teachers’ Club, to bring the 
teacher and parents together, and help them to un¬ 
derstand each other. 
CONSIDERING THE CANDIDATES.—We had a 
meeting of our Black Lake Rural School Improve¬ 
ment Society the other night, at which the secretary 
read letters from the various candidates for office 
as to their position on the rural school question. 
We do not propose to support any candidate who 
would favor such bills as were introduced the past 
two years. Everyone was urged to vote and to use 
care in voting. There is a strong feeling among 
country people that they must keep control of their 
schools if they are to be run in the interest of the 
people living in the district. They want the taxes 
made more equal but feel that this can be done by 
giving more public money to the smaller districts. 
In this section we feel that consolidation is not prac¬ 
tical on account of the climate. The right to con¬ 
solidate should be given to the people and not to 
the district superintendent and the department at 
Albany, as it is at the present time. The country 
people are not altogether satisfied with their schools, 
as some people seem to think, but they are opposed 
to any more high-salaried officials being put upon 
them to look after affairs which they intend to 
look after themselves as they are able. If you had 
taken a trip through the county the last week in 
August you would have seen at every schoolhouse 
on the road men and women busy with paint brushes, 
hammers and scrub brushes getting ready for school. 
ITobably in nine cases out of ten they were donat¬ 
ing their services in an effort to keep down the 
taxes. What do you think this work would cost if 
it was under the direction of a school board and 
the Education Department at Albany? 
WORKING FOR IMPROVEMENTS.— The It. 
N.-Y. is doing fine work on the school question, 
and other matters of interest to farm people. It is 
the paper that goes to the farmer for his opinions 
and then prints them as they are. And that is why 
we like The R. N.-Y. It is the voice of the real 
farm people. It is not influencing public opinion, it 
is public opinion. I wish more people would write 
about their schools. I am sure there are schools 
that are doing good work along some special line, 
and it would be both interesting and helpful to hear 
from them. We are working away in a very modest 
way, and if we are not doing big things now there 
is the future, and who can tell what that will bring 
forth? MRS. CHARLES MC ARTHUR. 
Fertilizing Value of Muck and Clay 
The Bottom of the Pond 
This Spring the owner of a farm at Moores Mills, 
Dutchess Co., N. Y., decided to drain his pond in order 
to do some masonry work around it. On draining this 
pond he obtained wonderfully rich silt which had ac¬ 
cumulated for about 80 years. This was allowed to 
dry, and was then carted away to be spread over spots 
which needed enriching. The pictures will give a lit¬ 
tle idea of how the old bottom of the pond looked. The 
most interesting thing was that the seeds which had 
been lying dormant for years in the mud on feeling 
the warmth of the sun, soon began to grow, and before 
long the whole surfact was covered with all kinds of 
grasses. What one man obtained from his pond (200 
tons) can also be duplicated by many others. 
G. T. FIRTH". 
HERE is no question about the fact that quan¬ 
tities of plant food accumulate at the bottoms 
ol such ponds. Part of this comes from decayed 
vegetable matter, while part is precipitated from 
the water. In old Pilgrim days in New England 
Making a Start at the Muck Digging. Fig. 504 
certain ponds around Plymouth contained iron in 
such quantities that the metal accumulated in the 
bog or muck at the bottom or edges of the pond and 
was taken out for use in iron work. Some of the 
cannons used in American ships during the Revolu¬ 
tion came from these ponds or bogs. When one ac¬ 
cumulation was removed others were formed. This 
deposit in most ponds is chiefly valuable for its 
nitrogen. This is an insoluble form, and requires 
some time before it will be of much value as plant 
food. It is usually quite sour, and it is good prac¬ 
tice to use lime with it, or mix with manure in a 
compost heap. It seems more valuable than it really 
is—yet it has true value, as is made evident in some 
places where ice ponds are used in Summer for 
growing corn or vegetables. In such cases the ponds 
are fed by some small stream. This is dammed in 
November so as to make a large shallow pond for 
ice making. In Spring deposit of muck and sand is 
found on the soil. This is plowed under and corn 
or some rank growing crop planted. This crop is 
taken away before the time for making the pond 
once more. In such cases it has been found that 
limestone and acid phosphate make a very good 
combination for fertilizing such lands. The lime- 
Growth Started on the Old Muck. Fig. 505 
stone helps to make the nitrogen available, while 
phosphorus is naturally lacking in such soils. There 
is no question about the plant food at the bottom of 
such ponds. The great question is how to utilize 
it economically. 
Good Results from Clay 
We took samples of clay from a recent digging and 
sent them to the State chemist for examination. He 
reported .08 per cent of nitrogen, .20 per cent of phos¬ 
phoric acid and .10 of potash. The clay put around 
apple trees and on Alfalfa soil gave excellent results. 
If this analysis is about normal we cannot understand 
why the effect on apple trees and Alfalfa is so great. 
The clay was removed in excavating for a building, and 
large quantities deposited near trees, and the next year 
they made a growth greater than when we used fer¬ 
tilizers or manure, and plants of Alfalfa sprung up 
and grew unusually strong. There is an unlimited 
quantity of this, and what is bothering us is to know 
which stratum in particular has the strong properties. 
How would it be if we take five or six samples, one 
from every foot of depth, and have them analyzed, as 
the stratum has an incline of only 30 or 40 per cent? 
We think we have something of value here, and do 
not know how to get results. Will it be necessary to 
call in an expert? C. E. B. 
For many years it has been noted that samples of 
clay or subsoil exposed to the air and put on light 
soil gives surprising results in crop production. The 
some thing is often noticed when fine sand or coal 
ashes are mixed with a heavy clay. .There is very 
little if any plant food in coal ashes, yet we have 
seen a great increase in crop production when such 
ashes are put on naturally heavy soils. In the case 
of the clay as ivell as the sand it is a matter of 
improving the physical condition of the soil. The 
light sandy land will not hold water. Soluble plant 
food leaches through it and in time of drought it 
dries out so completely that little can grow. Mix¬ 
ing the clay through such soil improves its me¬ 
chanical condition, making it better able to hold 
water and retain plant food. The fine sand, used 
on the clay, mixes in and opens it up so that air 
and water may work in. Thus in each case most of 
the benefit is obtained from improving the mechani¬ 
cal condition of the soil and not from any great 
addition of plant food. Lime has something of the 
same effect by compacting the light soil and opening 
up the clay. In your case we think the benefit 
comes from this mechanical improvement rather 
than from any great addition of plant food. There 
are some curious things about the effect of manures 
and fertilizers which are hard to. understand. It 
may be that some parts of this clay are richer than 
others. Any great difference in this respect would 
probably show in the potash. It would be interest¬ 
ing to have different samples analyzed separately. 
If you do we suggest, using larger samples of each 
lot separately as fertilizers, so as to observe any 
difference in results. 
Harvesting Corn in the West 
Will you tell us how corn is husked and harvested 
in the Western States? I am told that men walk 
through the field, breaking off the ears and throwing 
them into wagons. Is that true? J. B. 
USKING FROM THE STALK.—Practically all 
of the corn throughout the great central corn 
belt, especially in Iowa, Illinois. Nebraska and Kan¬ 
September 27, 1924 
sas, is husked from the standing stalk, and it is very, 
very rarely that you ever see a farmer husking corn 
from shock fodder. The husking starts as soon as 
the corn is dry enough to crib, which, here in South¬ 
west Iowa, generally means about October 15, and 
the usual rule is to get the corn all husked before 
Thanksgiving. It is very much faster and easier 
than husking from the shock, and does not tire the 
man any more. A good busker will crib 100 bushels 
a day, and remember that here in the West a bushel 
means two bushel baskets of ears. It is all figured 
as 70 lbs. to the bushel, and 70 lbs. of ear corn makes 
about two bushel baskets full. In other words, it is 
enough ear corn to make a bushel of shelled corn. I 
understand that in the East when they speak of a 
bushel of corn they mean a bushel basket full of 
ears, which would mean an entirely different thing 
from the way we figure it here. 
HOW IT IS DONE.—The hardest part of the 
husking is shoveling it into the crib from the husk¬ 
ing wagon, so most of the better class of farmers 
through Iowa have put up elevators which automat¬ 
ically put the corn in the crib without any labor on 
the part of the man. This increases the busker’s 
output about 20 per cent, as it gives him a longer 
time to work in the field, and also does away with 
the hardest and most exhausting part of the labor— 
the shoveling off. The operator husks two rows at 
a time, the team and wagon straddling the last row 
that has been picked, and the wagon working around 
and around the field, or if the field is too wide, 
around a certain portion of the field, which is laid 
off. The team, of course, must be fairly well trained 
to keep moving along so as to keep just ahead of the 
man all of the time. A team soon learns this if they 
have any sense at all. There are a number of differ¬ 
ent styles of husking, and also a number of different 
styles of husking pegs or hooks to use on the hand, 
but the usual method is to grasp the butt end of the 
ear with the left hand, tear the husks loose with the 
hook or huskinjf peg on the right hand so that the 
ear can be seen, then grasp the point of the ear 
firmly with the right hand, give it a twist and a 
jerk, which pulls it loose from the husk, and with 
the same motion throw it into the wagon. 
RAPID WORK.—The wagon has high side-boards 
on the far side, sticking up sometimes 3 ft. above 
the rest of the bed, so that the operator can throw 
the ears without turning around to look to see where 
they go, for he is always working with his side or 
back towards the wagon. The ears hit the knock 
board, or bang board, as it is called, and drop into 
the wagon. A good busker will average about 20 
ears a minute, which means an ear thrown into the 
wagon every three seconds, so you see he must keep 
steadily at it and time his moves just right. While 
of course a man must be active and fairly muscular, 
and have fairly strong hands and wrists, it is not 
considered uncommonly strenuous labor, and it is 
nothing unusual for even a boy of 17 or 18 to crib 
100 bushels a day, especially if he does not have to 
shovel off. In husking contests, which are very pop¬ 
ular through this county, there have been official 
records made of as high as 25 bushels per hour, but 
of course in these cases the husker does not have to 
shovel off or even haul the corn to the house. He 
simply changes wagon at the end of the round, and 
keeps right on husking. As soon as the field is 
husked the cattle are turned in to clean up the field, 
The New Masonry. Fig. 506 
and there is surprisingly little waste, as the cattle 
gather up all the husks and blades, and even the 
more tender part of the stalks, and while of course 
there is not quite as much food value as there would 
be if the corn was husked and fed from the shock, 
there is not nearly so much difference as the Eastern 
man might imagine. There certainly is an enormous 
saving in labor. henry field. 
Iowa. 
