1S34 



ENCYCLOPEOIA OK l'UA("rU'AL llOliTU'ULTURE 



duct. Forced rhubarb brings from eight 

 to 15 cents per pounii. 



The roots, if not liighly foroc-d, may be 

 used for division and planting out. They 

 regain their vigor after two or three 

 seasons, with good care. A supply of 

 roots must be kept coming on when forc- 

 ing is re^uUirly luiilortakcn. Soeillings 

 and divided roots may be rendered suit- 

 able for use earlier by liberal manuring 

 and high cultivation. 



Roads 



The subject of Good Roads is one that 

 is of considerable importance to the fruit 

 grower. The general farmer can haul his 

 product to market without any consider- 

 able damage on account of rough roads; 

 his loss in hauling over bad roads is 

 mainly in the fact that it takes more 

 power to transport a given amount of the 

 farm produce to the market than it re- 

 quires where the roads are good. But 

 with the fruit grower there is the addi- 

 tional reason that in hauling over bad 

 roads his fruit is damaged by jolting, 

 bruising, disarranging the pack, etc., so 

 that when it reaches the market it is of 

 less value and brings a less price than 

 if it reached the market in good shape. 



»°' 



s^-^ 



POWER RIOUIRtO ON DirfOirNT GRADCS 



FIk. 1. An Illiisli-ation of tlic Difference In 

 Power Re(|uii(,-(I un the Ijiffeient Grades Fiom 

 That of a 15 Per Cent Grade Down to the 

 Level Grade. 



An instance is given by a Wisconsin 

 fanner who held 1,000 bushels of potates 

 in his cellar waiting for a good price. 

 He was offered 92 cents in March, but 

 they must be delivered in town and the 

 roads were so bad he could not haul over 

 them. When he finally got them to 

 market, his potatoes brought him 30 

 cents a bushel. Bad roads, therefore, 

 cost him 1620. 



In many cases it is not necessary that 

 a great deal of money be spent on the 

 roads, but what is invested should bo 

 used carefully and intelligently. A few 

 dollars spent at the right time will save 

 repairs costing hundreds of dollars, and 

 most of the roads where there is no heavy 

 through travel may be improved in this 

 way. The average cost for sand-clay 

 roads is but $723 per mile for the 24,601 

 miles of such roads said to be in use in 



Fig. 2. Split Log Drag Used for Keeping 

 Dirt Roads in Repair. 



the United States. This may be com. 

 pared with a cost of $4,989 per mile for 

 macadam; in other words, about seven 

 miles of good sand-clay road can be built 

 for the same money as one mile of plain 

 or water-bound macadam. The cost of 

 maintenance is also less than for any 

 other form of improvement, except earth 

 road, and horses and autoraobilists alike 

 prefer it to any of the hard-surface 

 roads. 



Granville Lowther 



Rodents 



"Digger Squirrels" or Ground Squirrels 



H. F. Wilson 



The ground squirrels are of great econ- 

 omic importance, not only because of the 

 injury to grain, fruit trees, etc., but be- 

 cause the United States Public Health 

 and Marine Hospital Service has recently 

 found that one of the California species 

 is a carrier and disseminator of plague. 



These animals do considerable damage 

 to young trees and scions by climbing 

 them and eating the buds and stripping 

 away the leaves. Dr. C. Hart Merriam, 

 of the United States Biological Survey, 

 is authority for the statement that 

 ground squirrels are gooil to eat and were 

 at one time regularly sold in the markets 

 of San Francisco. He also states that 



