THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



winter water can be stored. Small chan- 

 nels, made with an ordinary plow, will be 

 sufficient to lead the water from a large 

 area to the reservoirs. In this manner the 

 rains, that otherwise would only swell the 

 mountain streams and run away causing 

 frequent floods and destruction of prop- 

 erty, can be utilized and made to furnish 

 moisture for the next season. The snow 

 is a prolific source of supply for these res- 

 ervoirs, and many small streams of winter 

 and early spring can be trained into the 

 channels leading to the reservoirs. 



The Woolly Aphis. Cyrus Marshall, of 

 San Marcos, California, gives this remedy 

 for the apple tree pest as follows: 



"Some six years ago I found fifteen or 

 more apple trees infested with woolly aphis. 

 The trunks were more or less covered with 

 them and they had distributed themselves 

 on the higher branches on most of the trees. 

 I had a mixture, kerosene, of course, being 

 the principal ingredient, and applied with 

 a very small brush to the parts affected. 

 As fast as I killed them they came up to 

 the roots and appeared again upon the 

 trees. 



I consulted all the men I saw who were 

 learned upon the subject of tree pests, and 

 received from each a remedy, none of which 

 was a success. The second year, after 

 vainly working, I dug deep around each 

 tree and found masses of diseased roots 

 attached to the main roots, woven together 

 in labyrinth, and from three to four inches 

 in diameter. In the interstices were thou- 

 sands in different stages of development. 

 I cut these diseased masses of roots clean 

 from the trees, and put around each tree 

 two or three gallons of hard- wood ashes, 

 and then filled up with the earth. It was 

 not necessary to repeat the experiment, ex- 

 cept with five or six trees, and did not lose 

 one, and have since had no woolly aphis." 



Care of Fruit Trees in Winter. 



When trees stand too thickly in grown 

 orchards, excluding air and sunshine, all 

 inferior trees should be dug out. Each 

 tree to bear well should be exposed to the 

 light on all sides. Many a cord of wood 

 might be taken from most orchards and 

 y^t plenty of trees remain to serve their 

 purpose better. Remove all rough dead 

 bark from the trees with a scraper, and 



whitewash the body of the tree nearly \ip 

 to the limbs. This destroys all insects, 

 the bark will be renewed and the whole 

 tree restored. The ecrapings, however, 

 must be burned or the pests will live on 

 the ground. This work can be done any 

 time during the winter. 



Our Poultry Population. No accoun 

 was taken of the hen product until the 

 census of 1880, when it was found that 

 we had approximately 100,000,000 fowls 

 in the United States, laying nearly 457, 

 000,000 dozen eggs. During the subse 

 quent ten years the number of fowls had 

 more than doubled, though the increase 

 in the egg product was not so great, 

 doubtless because of the greater consump- 

 tion of broilers. The exact figures are as 

 follows : 



Census. Fowls. 



1890 258,472,155 



1880 102,265,653 



(Jeese, ducks 



and turkeys. Uoz. eggs. 



26,816,545 817,211,146 



23,234,687 456,875,080 



Increase. 156,206,502 3,581,858 360,336,066 

 The increase in the number of fowls 

 was 153 per cent between 1880 and 1890, 

 and of eggs 79 per cent. Estimating the 

 value of eggs at 12 cents a dozen on the 

 farm the year through, we would have the 

 egg supply of the United States worth 

 $55,000,000 in 1879, and $98,000,000 in 

 1889. Taking the farm value of a fowl 

 at 25 cents, we should have $64,618,039 as 

 the representative value of all American 

 hens. Adding this to the $98,000,000 for 

 eggs, we get $162,618,539 as the value of 

 the fowl crop of the United States. This 

 is 150 per cent greater than the value of 

 all American sheep in 1895, and $62,000,- 

 000 greater than their value in 1890. 



One Acre, ivith Irrigation. The fol- 

 lowing is a closely estimated average of 

 crops raised on one acre in Otero county, 

 Colorado, last year : Wheat twenty-six 

 bushels, oats thirty-seven bushels, rye 

 thirty bushels, barley forty bushels, corn 

 forty-one bushels, beans twenty-two bush- 

 els, potatoes 160 bushels, sweet potatoes 

 110 bushels, peanuts 150 bushels, toma- 

 toes 325 bushels, sugar beets twenty-two 

 tons, alfalfa five tons; cabbage, sold at 

 two cents a pound, eight tons, canta- 

 loupes, sales for an acre, $248.30, net 

 $203.20; watermelons, sales for an acre, 

 '$134.40, net $96.40. 



