VOL. XXVIII.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND. APBIL 29, 1893.
NO. 17.
Growing Carrots for Stock.    p ,
Editors Indiana Farmer: \..[-   -    ^__
When and  how  are  carrots  sowB'for
feeding stock? C. II. M.
Whiteland.
—AVe take pleasure in replying to your
query. Carrots are an excellent and at
the same time a cheap feed for both horses
and cattle. Thoy keep the horse in good
condition and appetite, sleek and lively,
and they do the same for the cow, besides
increasing the .flow of her milk and giving
It a richer color. They yield abundantly
even on light soils and are not exhaustive.
Furthermore, if properly stored, they can
be kept till late in the spring without loss
or injury. A feed of 20 pounds per day to
a horse or cow is recommended. This ration would require a ton for each hundred
, days, or a ton and a half to two tons for
"each animal, during the winter. On good
soil, with careful cultivation a yield of 25
to 30 tons, or from 800 to 1,000 bushels may
be expected; that is to say the product of
one good acre will be sufficient for 12 to
15 head of stock.       *
Now for the cultivation. The ground
should be mellow and plowed deep. If
not fairly rich, apply a coat of well rotted
manure. Fresh manure will not do. lt
W ill pay to break the ground twice, and
harrow four or five times before planting.
_The rule is to sow in rows 15 inches apart,
but we would prefer 20 inches, for convenience of cultivation. The seed should be
ol last, year's growth and ought to be
soaked or kept in a sack under ground for
three or four days previous to planting in
order to start them quickly into germination and enable the plants to get ahead of
the .weeds. Cover not more than an inch
deep. Have the rows perfectly straight so
that the cultivator or bull tongue"can be
run close to the plants. Thin out to six
inches in the row, and keop clear of weeds
by all means.
;The first cultivation should be deep, but
after that shallow. If the seeds are soaked
as recommended, the planting may be
safely delayed till the 10th of June, when
they will germinate quickly, and the more
easily be kept clear of weeds.
t The variety recommended by Mr. Gregory, the seedsman, is the Danvers Shorthorn, which is of medium length, smooth
and of dark color, and much easier to dig
than the long varieties.
s If the rows have been made straight the
work of digging will be easy. Run a small
turning plow along side the row on a dry
day, throwing the furrow away from the
carrots, and it is an easy matter to pick
them out and clean them of dirt. The tops
must be cut off and the roots left to dry in
the sun a day or two, after which they
Bhould be piled in small heaps in a cool
cellar or stored in pits like turnips and potatoes.
Grub Worms in Clover.
Kditors Indiana Fabheb:
I havo a 10 acre clover field that I am
breaking for corn, which is litterlly alive
with white grubs. We have cut but one
crop from it, as it was sown in wheat cut
last harvest a year ago. After harvesting
the clover last summer it grew bountifully and was harvested for seed. It being the large kind, it left quite a lot of
stubble on the field. Shall I burn it to be
able to plow it? If so, what shall I do
with the everlasting grub? Would sow-
■ ing the field with salt be any benefit to it?
The ground is good, and I have Dungan's
White Prolific for seed. Will they allow
tne a full crop, as they are of full size? If
any of your readers have anything to suggest, I would be glad to have it, as the
grubs are one of the greatest drawbacks
the farmer has to contend with. H.
Wayne Co.
■s Salting your ground would not be apt
to destroy many of the grubs, as but little
of it would come in contact with them.
' Burning the stubble will not reach many
of them either. Turn the stubble under
if you can. If the grubs are full size they
will not do much harm to the corn, as
X
they will change to the chrysalis stage
and come out as Juno bugs. Hogs and
crows are very fond of tbe grubs, and often destroy thousands of them when they
are turned up by the plow. There is no
absolute preventive yet known for the
pest, but they do not«abound at the same
place every year, and you are likely to be
free from them for two or three years after this.
It surprises us to know that your clover
grew so well, while the grubs are so abundant. If you had not said they were full
size, we would have thought they were
only in thoir second year, and that last
year, being their first in the larval stage,
they were too' small to do much damage
to the roots of the plants. The second
year is the time when they feed most voraciously, and the third they are full
grown and change, first to chrysalids and
then to'May beetles or June bugs.
Written for the Indiana Farmer.
Blowing Out Stumps.
BY DR. C. A. ROBINSON.
There is no more aggravating object on
the farm than a stump, unless it is more
stumps. By far the greater portion of the
area of Indiana has at one time been covered by a dense growth of timber, and in
some sections of this State timber grew
very large. In central Indiana stumps
measuring four feet across the top are not
uncommon, and occasionally we find one
measuring "six foot over."
When we get the trees all felled, piled
and burned, and the grubs and briers all
taken out, we say the land is cleared,
though often times the great number of
stumps left on a field makes tbe tending
of it a thorn in the flesh of the farmer for
years. I well remember the mattock, the
old ax, the spado, and the long levers tbat
have been used until a comparatively recent period for taking out stumps, and
when they were taken out they were so
large as to be almost beyond the power of
man to manage.
Latterly, along the line of other improvements, comes the methods of blowing out stumps with dynamite cartridges.
This is the only practical method of lifting tho large stumps that now mar the
beauty of many Indiana farms. The only
objection I have heard urged against them
has been the cost. It is well known that
many of the smaller stumps after having
been allowed to rot a few years can be
taken out with a few strokes from the ax,
and done perhaps at a smaller outlay of
actual cash than if blasting powder were
used.
There is on every farm a season when
the farmer is compelled to endure a comparatively enforced idleness from his
duties in general farming. At such times
he can take out the smaller stumps by
muscular power, when his labor in any
other line would not secure him sufficient
ready cash to justify him to expend it for
blasting materials. But the larger stumps
cannot be removed with any reasonable
amount of physical force, and the quickest, the cheapest and the easiest way to do
it is to blow them out with blasting
powder.
Every farmer living in a timbered section should be pcssessed of the necessary
implements with which to blow out
stumps. Ho will need two augers with
shanks about four feet long. One
auger is for boring in the dirt, the other
for boring wood. Then a pestle will be
needed with which to pound the dirt in
the holes after the cartridges are in place.
There is a great dlflerence in the range of
roots from different kinds ot stumps. An
oak stump has a heavy tap root that runs
straight down into th« ground. The poplar stump has large spur or branch roots,
that run in various directions, but no tap
root. It is essential in boring that we
strike the tap root of the oak stump and
bore entirely throngh it. To do this the
auger must not be given a- very steep incline; if so, we are apt to bore too low in
tho tap root and the charge will not be as
effective as it should. In blasting poplar
stumps an angle of about 45 degrees will
do very well to range the auger, inasmuch
as the spur roots will have to be blown
out at different charges. I prefer to insert
the cartridge between spur roots rather
than in them. I think this method more
effective.
Figure 1 represents in a crude way our
idea of a stump with augers ranged for
boring. The one showing the greater
slant is for blowing stumps having spur
roots, the other is ranged for boring top
roots.
The dirt auger is easily managed, but
the operator will find some difficulty in
sending the wood auger through top roots
of old oak and walnut stumps, but it is
very essential that it be sent through: It
will require an auger of a two-inch diameter and two cartridges can be placed in
one hole side by side. Of course a larger
bitted auger would admit a greater number of cartridges, but the labor necessary
to boring through a tough root with a two
and a half or a three-inch bit is hardly
warranted, for two cartridges containing
half a pound each will usually be found
to shatter the tap root.   .
If the operator desires to blow up small
stumps he can range the auger under
them as shown by the slighter incline in
Fig. 1, and in this instance he should not
bore entirely the full diameter of the
stump. He will find the best results by
boring about four inches past the center of
the stump and pushing his cartridges to
the bottom of the hole. The reason for
this is obvious, as in almost all small
stumps that have been allowed to stand a
few years the greatest resistance is from
above, and the more solid the resistance
from the sides or below, the more
effectual will be the blast. I have
often blown out moderate sized
stumps with one stick or half a pound of
powder. It is not best, however, to depend upon this amount as a rule, the size
ofthe stump and the experience ofthe
operator will bo found to be the best guide
in all cases.
In Fig. 2 I have endeavored to call the
attention of the reader to the cartridge
with fuse attached that is commonly used
when blasting stumps.
c
D
In practice the fuse is inserted about the
middle of the stick then it extends about
three inches into the cartridge. This cartridge is about an inch in diameter and
eight inches long. To enable the operator
to insert the fuse in the cartridge, as directed above.it will be necessary to whittle
a small stick slim and sharp and with this
bore a deep hole into the cartridge, in fact
as deep as you wish the fuse to extend; it
can then be inserted quite easily. Before
inserting the fuse it will be necessary to
slip a blasting cap over the end of it which
ls very easily done. Now push the fuse as
far into the cartridge as it will go then lay
the portion that  hi, outside  down close
against the cartridge and fasten it there by
wrapping a small twine string around it
and tying it down.
The cartridge can then be inserted into
the auger hole and should be pushed to
the bottom gently by the use of a stick
kept for the purpose. Care should be
taken to have the fuso long enough to
reach above tho surface of the ground.
The next step is to tamp the earth down
over the charge as firmly as possible in
order to furnish the strongest resistance
possible.
You are now ready i, touch the fuse off.
Fig. 3 shows you an extra long fuse
touched off.
But you are not ready to light it yet.
You have brought your blasting powder,
your fuse and your caps along with you in
a little basket. Before you light the fuso
you must take that basket away at least
five rods; then come back, light your fuse
and draw back in the opposite direction
from the basket, sufficiently far so that
you will have no fear of climbing the
golden stairs by the dynamite route.
As you handle the blasting powder you
will become familiar with its innocence
when used with a sensible degree of judgment and caution, but if 3'ou become careless you will be apt to pay pretty dearly
for it. In Fig. 4 we show our method of
getting rid of stones, that are too large to
haul away with any degree of oase.
The essential thing in removing a large
stone is to break it up into as many pieces
as possible. This can best bo done by
placing the cartridge on top of it and piling
dirt on the cartridge, taking care to tamp
the dirt as solidly as convenient. Then
fire the fuse and the rock will usually be
broken up into fragments so small that
they can be easily removed from the field
on a lizard or a mud boat.
But whatever you do, never put a stone
on top of a dynamite cartridge to try to
hold it down, if a stono lies under it. If
you do, let me suggest that you get over
into the next county and the county
should be some distance away. I speak
from experience in this matter, for once
upon a time I had a very large nigger-head
sprout and mature in one of my fields, and
I decided to get rid of him. I had used
blasting powder with dirt on the cartridge
as I have here mentioned, but I thought a
good sized pebble on top of the cartridge
ought to help send the power downward;
so I put it on lighted the fuse and took
shelter behind a board fence. Pretty soon
the explosion came and the way the elements did rain small pieces of stone for a
while was forever afterward a caution to
the man who sent off that charge.
An elderly gentleman was on the top of
our house at that time finishing a flue, and
when tho pebbles began to fall too promiscuously he scampered down off that roof,
and we never could get him back, so we
had to finish the flue ourselves, which
accounts for its being so much lantern-
jawed at the top. The old man declared
that the heavens rained nigger-heads, but
he stoutly averred that he believed the
devil was at the bottom of it.