<Ibc  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1223 
The  Line  Fence  Once  More 
1.  What  height  of  wire  must  be  used  for  a  legal 
fence?  2.  If  I  use  a  30-in.  wire,  known  as  sheep  wire, 
will  that  be  high  enough,  or  can  I  use  other  wire  top 
or  bottom?  3.  What  distance  apart  should  posts  be? 
4.  What  is  legal  time  allowed  after  notice  is  served  to 
erect  fence?  5.  Must  I  fence  half  of  wood  lot?  6.  Can 
barbed  wire  be  used  on  highway?  7.  If  not,  how  should 
I  go  about  it  to  compel  proper  fence  erected  ofi  high¬ 
way?  '8.  Is  barbed  wire  permissible  for  top  or  bot¬ 
tom  fence?  T> 
New  York. 
IN  answering  questions  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  we  assume 
that  you  mean  a  division  fence.  If  they  are  not 
division  fences  you  can  build  them  any  height  or 
depth  or  thickness  that  you  care  to. 
1.  A  division  line  fence  is  not  legally  inquired  to 
be  of  any  particular  height  unless  the  electors  of 
the  town  shall  have  made  rules  and  regulations 
prescribing  what  shall  be  deemed  a  sufficient  divi¬ 
sion  fence.  The  fence  shall  <be  of  sufficient  height 
sive  wood,  if  purchased  in  reasonable  quantities,  that 
is,  carload  lots.  A  man  can  trim  his  house  in  ma¬ 
hogany  with  not  over  a  cost  of  10  to  15  per  cent  more 
than  it  will  cost  for  domestic  woods,  such  as  oak, 
birch  or  whitewood,  and  at  about  the  same  cost  as 
quartered  oak.  The  same  as  above  applies  to  furni¬ 
ture,  unless  the  retail  dealer  robs  the  public  by  putting 
a  high  price  on  simply  because  he  used  the  magnetic 
word  “mahogany,”  which  should  cost  no  more  than  a 
piece  of  furniture  made  in  ordinary  walnut  or  quar¬ 
tered  oak.  ICIIAROD  T.  WILLIAMS  &  SONS. 
New  York. 
Cultivated  Blueberries 
One  of  the  most  promising  new  bushes  was  personally 
picked  by  Dr.  Coville.  There  was  not  a  berry  on  it  less 
than  one-half  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  a  great  many 
ran  up  to  seven-eighths  of  an  inch,  although  a  dry  sea¬ 
son  has  caused  the  average  berries  to  grow  to  only 
three-fourths  the  size  they  have  shown  in  previous 
years. 
R.  COYILLE  is  an  expert  connected  with  the 
Department  of  Agriculture.  The  bushes  in 
question  were  blueberries  on  the  New  Jersey  planta- 
great  results  in  practical  fruit  growing.  She  has 
really  given  us  a  new  market  fruit  and  shown  how 
to  put  acres  of  idle  land  at  profitable  work.  We 
cannot  think  of  any  horticultural  development  in 
recent  years  that  means  more  in  a  practical  way  to 
the  American  people  than  this  painstaking  work 
with  blueberries. 
The  Cost  of  a  Strawberry  Crop 
WE  are  frequently  asked  to  give  actual  figures 
regarding  the  cost  of  growing  strawberries 
and  the  income  obtained  from  them.  Very  few 
practical  growers  are  able  to  tell  just  what  it  costs, 
since  they  do  not  figure  labor  exactly.  Some  of 
them  keep  record  of  sales  so  that  they  know  the 
income.  The  Farm  Bureau  of  Fairfield  Co.,  Conn., 
prints  the  statements  about  strawberry  culture.  In 
one  case  Mr.  Howard  Tomlinson  reported  gross  re- 
and  character  and  kind  of  material 
that  it  will  be  proper  and  safe  for  all 
the  purposes  of  such  fence  and  will 
not  necessarily  cause  injury  to  the  ad¬ 
joining  owner,  to  his  property  or  ani¬ 
mals. 
2.  If  your  sheep  wire  is  of  sufficient 
height  and  strength  for  holding  the 
particular  class  of  cattle  or  animals 
usually  pastured  on  the  other  side  of 
the  fence  you  can  use  the  same. 
Barbed  or  other  wire  may  be  used  on 
a  divisional  fence  provided  the  written 
consent  of  the  adjoining  owner  is  ob¬ 
tained.  If  it  is  not  obtained  it  may 
be  built  in  the  following  manner.  The 
fence  shall  be  of  at  least  four  strands 
of  wire  with  a  sufficient  bar  of  wood 
at  the  top  and  with  posts  no  further 
apart  than  14  ft.  Whenever  the  fence 
shall  become  out  of  repair  so  as  to  be 
unsafe  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
owner  to  immediately  repair  the  same. 
But  any  person  building  such  a  fence 
without  the  consent  of  the  owner  shall 
be  liable  to  all  damages  that  may  be 
occasioned  by  reason  of  such  fence. 
3.  See  No.  2. 
4.  Thirty  days. 
5.  Yes,  unless  both  of  the  adjoining 
owners  shall  agree  to  let  their  lands 
lie  open  to  the  use  of  all  animals 
which  may  be  lawfully  upon  the  lands 
of  either. 
G.  Barbed  wire  can  be  on  the  high¬ 
way. 
7.  if  the  fence  is  not  along  your  land 
it  is  not  your  duty  to  attend  to  the 
fencing  of  the  highway. 
S.  ‘See  No.  2. 
Outlook  For  Black  Walnut 
Timber 
In  a  recent  number  of  the  Dearborn 
Independent  we  are  advised  to  plant 
black  walnut  timber  heavily.  The  author 
states  that  there  is  sure  to  be  a  great 
demand  for  both  nuts  and  timber.  Is 
this  safe  advice?  A.  L.  w. 
HERE  was  a  great  demand  for 
black  walnut  during  the  war, 
largely  due  to  orders  from  the  War 
Department.  This  short  “boom”  seems 
to  be  the  basis  for  the  present  advice 
about  planting.  The  War  Department  gives  the 
turns  of  $1,160.01  from  an  acre,  but  no 
details  of  cost  are  given. 
Then  there  is  a  statement  from  Mr. 
A.  B.  Brundage  who  presents  the  fol¬ 
lowing  figures: 
The  Brundage  demonstration  gave 
the  following  yield  per  acre: 
Sample  . 
Howard  17 . 
Kale  . 
Abington  . 
Arnot  . . 
Average  yield . 
Gross  receipts  for  iy2 
acres,  $055.90  per 
acre  $430.31 
Total  exp .  588.29  per 
acre  392.19 
Total  Profit  . .  .$  07.67  per 
acre  $  44.12 
The  following  cost  account  kept  by 
Mr.  Brundage  of  the  1 *4 
acre  of  her- 
ries  is  of  value : 
Plowing  and  harrowing.. 
...$  17.10 
7500  plants  . 
Labor  setting  . 
Hoeing  and  cultivating.. 
...  163.30 
Straw  for  cover . 
. . .  55.00 
Cover  labor  . 
. . .  24.40 
Fertilizer  . 
Uncovering  . 
4375  baskets  . 
Picking  and  packing . 
Marketing  . 
.  . .  43.75 
Total  Cost  . 
In  this  account  man  labor  is  figured 
at  40  cents  an  hour  and  horse  labor  at 
25  cents.  As  for  the  field,  it  was  used 
for  pickles  in  1021,  with  rye  and  vetch 
seeded  in  early  Fall.  This  was  plowed 
in  ‘Spring  when  15  to  18  inches  high. 
The  yield  'is  low  for  the  labor  ex¬ 
pended,  and  this  was  due  to  a  disease 
which  attacked  the  berries,  and  the 
dry  weather.  The  income  given  by 
Mr.  Tomlinson  is  not  excessive.  Many 
strawberry  growers  have  made  a 
greater  gross  income  from  an  acre.  Tne 
labor  account  of  Mr.  Brundage  is  fair. 
It  will  seem  large  to  some  growers, 
but  when  they  are  through  the  job  of 
keeping  an  acre  of  berries  on  weedy 
land  clean  and  neat  they  will  find  they 
have  spent  in  cash  and  labor  over  $400. 
and  this  should  convince  anyone  that 
strawberries  represent  a  gambler’s 
crop  with  the  cards  generally  running  in  favor  of 
Not  much  use  for  a  bootjack  in  these  degenerate  low  shoe  days,  but  in  grandfather’s 
time  the  bootjack  always  hung  behind  the  kitchen  stove.  Let  a  man  come  in  with 
wet  or  frozen  boots  and  he  would  have  a  job  to  get  them  off  without  a  jack.  In  the 
picture  grandfather  is  explaining  how  he  put  one  foot  on  the  jack  and  then  put  the 
heel  of  his  boot  in  the  crotch  and  pulled.  Something  had  to  give,  and  the  boot  started 
before  the  knee  joint  gave  out.  We  see  that  grandfather  is  wearing  shoes  now.  And 
the  bootjack  had  other  uses  too.  Some  of  our  readers  will  no  doubt  testify  that  some¬ 
times  when  father  was  inspired  to  avoid  sparing  the  rod — with  no  stick  at  hand  he 
used  the  bootjack !  Well,  it  was  flat  if  it  was  heavy. 
tion  where  Miss  Elizabeth  C’.  White  has  developed  a 
following  regarding  the  present  requirements: 
remarkable  business  proposition.  She  learned  the  the  grower. 
I  have  to  advise  that  the  Ordnance  Department  is 
not  on  the  market  at  the  present  time  for  black  wal¬ 
nut  timber.  This  material  is  used  by  the  department 
in  the  manufacture  of  gun  stocks.  The  department’s 
future  requirements  'or  this  material  are  purely  specula¬ 
tive  and  we  are  not  m  a  position  to  predict  the  profit¬ 
ability  of  raising  black  walnut  for  strictly  military 
uses.  c.  m.  wesson,  Major.  Ord.  Dept.,  U.S.A. 
secret  of  making  blueberries  feel  at  home  on  culti¬ 
vated  land.  Most  previous  attempts  to  domesticate 
this  fruit  had  failed  because  planters  did  not  realize 
that  the  blueberry  must  have  a  strongly  acid  soil  for 
its  development.  Miss  White  searched  the  swamps 
and  woods  for  superior  seedlings,  propagated  from 
A  New  England  Haystack 
M.  COOLE  of  Wallingford.  Conn.,  sends  us 
•  the  picture  of  the  haystack  shown  at  Fig. 
522.  This  he  says  shows  what  they  do  with  their 
hay  after  the  barns  are  full.  The  New  England 
The  following  is  a  fair  statement  of  the  commer¬ 
cial  outlook : 
At  the  present  moment,  while  there  is  still  consider¬ 
able  walnut  being  sold,  there  seems  to  be  no  difficulty 
in  supplying  the  demand,  that  is,  there  is  ample  supply 
of  timber  to  take  care  of  the  present  demand.  We  are. 
however,  inclined  to  believe  that  the  vogue  on  walnut 
is  passing  and  that  mahogany  is  coming  back  to  take 
its  place.  There  seems  to  be  more  of  a  demand  /or 
genuine  mahogany  at  present  than  there  has  been  for 
several  years  and  the  supply  of  mahogany  is  more 
than  ample  to  take  care  of  all  needs.  There  will  be 
over  fifty  million  board  feet  of  same  imported  into  the 
country  this  year  to  augment  the  present  stocks  on 
hand.  This  mahogany  is  coming  in  from  Mexico,  all 
Central  America,  and  Africa  and  a  very  small  quan¬ 
tity  from  San  Domingo  and  Cuba,  this  latter  being  of 
fine  texture  but  very  small  dimensions.  The  African 
wood  is  the  really  fine  mahogany  of  enormously  large 
size  and  producing  the  beautiful  varied  figure,  which  is 
so  much  sought  after  and  from  which  over  80  per  cent 
of  the  fine  figured  mahogany  veneers,  are  made.  Ma¬ 
hogany,  contrary  to  public  opinion,  is  not  an  expen* 
them  and  found  the  soil  best  adapted  to  their  growth. 
It  seems  simple  enough  now  to  tell  about  it,  but  one 
can  hardly  realize  the  great  patience  and  careful 
work  required  to  develop  this  enterprise.  The  words 
quoted  above  are  taken  from  the  report  of  a  recent 
meeting  at  Miss  White’s  place.  These  great  blue¬ 
berries  are  very  handsome  and  of  fine  flavor.  They 
will  give  to  the  public  what  is  really  a  new  and 
superior  fruit,  and  their  cultivation  will  mean  the 
profitable  employment  of  thousands  of  acres  of  land 
long  idle  and  unproductive.  This  land  is  low  and 
acid,  unfitted  for  any  of  the  so-called  lime-loving 
plants.  Miss  White  has  shown  that  the  blueberry  is 
at  home  on  such  soil,  and,  as  we  all  know,  success  in 
crop  production  means  the  art  of  making  plants  feel 
at  home.  From  the  very  first  Tiie  R.  N.-Y.  has  felt 
sure  that  Miss  White’s  careful  work  would  lead  to 
barns  are  generally  big,  and  when  they  overflow 
in  this  way  we  may  be  sure  that  the  hay  crop  is 
a  good  one.  Some  of  our  Western  people  seem  to 
have  an  idea  that  New  England  cannot  supply  fod¬ 
der  for  its  stock.  Some  years  ago  when  we  were 
advocating  the  mulch  system  of  handling  an  or¬ 
chard  the  buyers  seeded  the  ground  to  grass,  cut¬ 
ting  it  twice  and  piling  the  grass  around  the  trees. 
We  heard  one  man  say  “that  New  England  could 
not  produce  enough  litter  to  bed  half  their  stock.” 
and  “thus  the  mulch  system  would  never  pay.” 
Such  haystacks  as  are  shown  in  this  picture  dis¬ 
pose  of  that  argument.  When  the  New  England 
soil  is  cleared  of  stone  and  smooth  and  properly 
handled  it  is  just  about  as  productive  as  any  soil 
in  the  country,  and  some  wonderful  crops  of  hay 
are  grown  by  those  good  Yankee  farmers. 
