COLD WATER REFRIGERATOR. 



421 



to the soil will stimulate the growth of the 

 fruit trees too much, and thus induce a great 

 growth of wood at the expense of fruit. 

 There are few old fields, however, in which 

 this danger need be feared, and hillside or- 

 chards, where the washing of the soil is a 

 principal cause of loss of fertility, may well 

 be planted to this soil-improving crop. 



In using such crops as cowpeas and rye, 

 which are drilled or sown broadcast, the 

 ground immediately about the trees should 

 be well tilled, either by cultivating a strip on 

 either side of the trees, or by hoeing a wide 

 space around them. 



The constant cultivation demanded by 

 hoed crops is the best treatment that can be 

 g-iven orchard land. It prevents the tree 

 roots from growing too close to the surface, 

 as they are apt to do in grass land, keeps 

 the soil well aerated, thus improving its 



chemical condition, and by maintaining a 

 loose surface cover saves the moisture in 

 dry times for the use of the cultivated plants. 

 The trees share these advantages with the 

 plants that may be planted among them. In 

 young orchards, by good judgment in the 

 selection of such crops, they will frequently 

 more than repay the expense of cultivation, 

 and thus one may establish a vigorous or- 

 chard at comparatively little outlay. 



In the bearing orchard no cover crops 

 should be grown except to prevent soil 

 washing, or as green manure. One of the 

 most impressive things in the vast orchards 

 of California is the wonderful thoroughness 

 of their cultivation. The owners must have 

 discovered what few eastern orchardistsseem 

 to realize, that the fruit tree repays high 

 tillage as well as any other plant. 



COLD WATER REFRIGERATOR. 



fOR the last two years I have used a 

 homemade water refrigerator in the 

 farmhouse which has some advant- 

 ages over ice. It saves the expense of 

 putting up ice ; saves labor of getting it 

 out and putting it into the refrigerator. It 

 is purer than ice and furnishes drinking 

 water of guaranteed quality, which is better 

 for the health than ice water. Director 

 Sage, of this state, makes a strong point 

 against putting ice in- 

 to a refrigerator and 

 then breaking oflF a lit- 

 tle to put into drink- 

 ing water — this on the 

 score of health. 



The windmill sends 

 the water from a 

 drilled well to the 

 tank in the top ol the 

 refrigerator through 

 the short pipe indica- ^^^- ^'^'^ 



ted by dotted lines, the over-flow runs back 



through the other pipe and goes to the stock 

 water tank. The water is needed for stock 

 so none of it is wasted. It is also needed 

 at the house, and faucets permit its being 

 taken out at the house as desired. Shelves 

 in the lower part hold the milk, butter, fruit 

 and whatever else is desired to be kept cold, 

 and the wife does not have to go down cel- 

 lar after butter, nor to the well for water, 

 nor the man of the house have to g^et ice 

 for which he has no need. 



The tank I use is four feet high, three 

 feet wide and one foot thick, and made of 

 galvanized steel. A cupboard-like structure 

 without shelves in the upper portion aff"ords 

 a good place to locate this tank, and the 

 the windmill will do the rest. The pipes 

 run underground from well to house, in a 

 trench six feet deep, so to be free from frost. 

 A stopcock at the pump allows the water to 

 be sent to the house when desired, or direct 

 to the stock tank without first passing 

 through the house tank. — Am. Agriculturist. 



