148 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



April, 



from disease, a striking proof of the 

 efficacy of the treatment. 



By July 30 there was considerable Kot on 

 the treated vines, evidently the result of a 

 recent attack, as none of the diseased berries 

 were yet blackened or shriveled. On the 

 untreated vines one could scarcely iind a 

 bunch with more than a half dozen sound 

 berries on it. Knowing, as we now do, that 

 the period of incubation or the time from 

 the moment of infection to that when the 

 disease becomes externally manifest, is 

 from six to eight days, we conclude that the 

 attack of the treated vines occurred about 

 the 20th, or about ten days after the last 

 application was made (July 11). Had special 

 care been taken to spray the bunches and 

 another application been made about July 

 17, we believe, from what was really ac- 

 complished, that the protection would 

 have been complete and the loss from Rot 

 practically nothing. 



In remarking upon the results of our' 

 experiments at Vineland Professor Vlala 

 says: " The results of the treatments are 

 not yet perfect, but for the present they 

 afford the assurance that Black Rot can 

 be effectively overcome by the salts of 

 copper, and that the same applications 

 will serve to prevent the development of 

 mildew and of this disease; the treatment 

 of Black Rot will not therefore occasion 

 any additional labors. The experiments 

 made in France and America demonstrate 

 that it it indispensable to begin the applica- 

 tions before the first appearance of the 

 disease upon the leaves; they prove also 

 that four or five treatments are necessary, 

 the last to be made just before the berries 

 begin to ripen." 



A Convenient Barn for a Fruit Farm. 



L. B. PIERCE, SUMMIT CO., O. 



To the fruit grower with 30 or 40 acres of 

 land, a large barn is not a necessity as it is 

 to the farmer, yet more barn room is needed 

 than most fruit farmers allow themselves. 

 Generally such barns are patterned after the 

 small village style, cramped and incon- 

 venient, there being no place for tools, extra 

 wagons, or temporary storage of fruits and 

 vegetables, and the stable and can'iage room 

 being all one, 16x20 feet with from one to 

 three unsightly open sheds being made to 

 answer. Such an arrangement does not 

 give the conveniences which a pushing hor- 

 ticulturist needs. These are a separate 

 stable room sufficient for 4 or 5 head of 

 cattle and horses, a separate tool, wagon 

 and carriage house, and a tight barn floor to 

 be used for threshing Beans and seeds and 

 storing vegetables in summer and as a feed- 

 ing floor in winter. It should be large 



tlvely small additional expense a root cellar 

 10 feet square could be put under the ap- 

 proach to the barn floor. I planned to build 

 in this manner and got along several years 

 as best I could until able to build with sub- 

 stantial stone walls and everything in the 

 most thorough manner, but backed out at 

 the last minute because the location would 

 be an exposed one, and an underground 

 barn there would be no warmer than one on 

 top of ground in a sheltered position at the 

 lee of the hill. So I am building on top of 

 land, with a somewhat larger ground plan. 

 It is 24x38 feet and 12 feet 4 inches from 

 top of sill to top of plate with half pitch 

 roof. The stable and carriage rooms are 8 

 feet in the clear with ten inch joists sup- 

 porting the floor to the lofts. These are 3 



STABLE 

 12 X 24 



MAIN FLOOR 

 13 X 24 



VEHICLES 

 13 X 24 



Pig. 2. Arrangement of Barn Sills. 

 enough to drive in a load of hay or a load of 

 truck over night. There should also be a 

 loft or scafl^old room for the storage of 

 several tons of forage and bedding. On a 

 hilly site these conveniences can be secured 

 in a structure 20x20 feet with an eight foot 

 basement, and a superstructure 10 feet at 

 the eaves, and a three-eighth pitch roof. The 

 basement will contain the stable 12x20 feet 

 with tool room and feeding floor 14x20. 

 Above the carriage room is the loft, 8 feet to 

 the eaves, with addition of room under 

 roof, while a scaffold 11 feet above the 

 barn floor gives a large additional storage 

 space for fodder or bedding. At a compara- 



FIG. 1. CONVENIENT BARN FOR FRUIT FARM. 



feet inches at the eaves while in the peak 

 they are 12 feet higher, the half pitch roof 

 making extra room. The stable is 12x24 on 

 the south end with two cattle stalls on west 

 side, each .5 feet wide and a 5 foot horse stall 

 in the center while the additional 9 feet is 

 left in one so that a span of horses can be 

 hitched in there if need be. A door 40 inches 

 wide gives egress at either end of the stable. 

 The barn floor is 13 feet wide, as is also the 

 carriage house on the north end. The 

 width of both sills (8 inches deep) are in the 

 carriage house, and it would have been 

 better if this had been 14 feet from outside 

 to outside or even 1.5 feet, making the build- 

 ing 40 feet long. The floors of both stable 

 and carriage house are of compact gravel 

 with a slight admixture of clay and are 16 

 inches lower than top of the sUls, the sills 

 being left out or cut out at the doors. 

 The barn floor is of two-inch plank above 

 the sills making a filled approach necessary 

 18 inches higher than entrance to stable or 

 carriage house. The sills rest upon an eight- 

 inch wall of building blocks of vitrified 

 sewer-pipe clay. These resting upon a 

 frost-proof foundation in ditch after the 

 usual style. The grading when completed, 

 will leave the barn upon a slight elevation, 

 falling away in all directions. The fioor of 

 carriage room is nearly on a level with car- 

 riage drive at the side of the house. Had I 

 built a bank barn there would have been a 

 climb of nine feet, and the barn from its 

 elevated position would have been the most, 

 conspicuous building on the place which 

 would not have been harmonized with my 

 ideas of the fitness of things. 



The roof is of first class Pine shingles and 

 the siding of clapboards K inch thick and 

 five inches wide, the frame being balloon of 

 2x5 studding with sills of timber 8 inches 

 square. Around the stable, to the height of 

 the ceiling rough sheathing is nailed, then 

 tarred paper and then the siding. Above 

 this the studding is furred out one inch and 

 the siding put on without lining. There are 

 matched floors to the lofts resting on 2x10 

 joists two feet apart. Three studs on each 

 side of bam floor at each end run to the 

 roof, the longest supporting 2x10 joists for 

 purlein plates and three taking the thrust 

 of the roof, which is not as great as in a roof 

 of less inclination. The rafters are 2x.5 feet 

 and 18 feet long. The steep roof makes a 

 large amount of storage room. By refer- 

 ence to the plan of sills in Fig. 1 it will be 



seen that the carriage house has a short 

 sill on west end, leaving room for one 7 

 foot door. On east end, which is toward 

 carriage drive, there are two doors opening 

 full width. The barn floor has large double 

 doors on each end. 



A Handy Field Marker. 



Regularity is one of the chief features 

 that make a garden attractive. It is not 

 enough that the rows of vegetables be 

 straight, but such plants as Lettuce, Cab- 

 bage, Cauliflower, etc., should also have a 

 uniform distance in the row, and with the 

 wider planted ones, if possible, also be in 

 line crosswise. 



A convenient little device to mark not 

 only the rows but also the exact places for 

 each plant in the row, we flnd illustrated 

 in " Rawson's Market Gardener's and 

 Vegetable Growers' Manual." Our Illus- 

 tration makes construction much plainer 

 than a wordy description could do. The 

 pins which serve to mark the places for 

 plants in the row are put in with a nut, 

 and may be changed to mark intervals of 

 ten, twelve, twenty and twenty-four inches, 

 if the wheel is made plump 38 inches in 

 diameter. A field can be marked with this 

 implement in a short time, and with little 

 effort. For the purposes of marking the 

 rows for sowing seeds of Radishes, Carrots, 

 table Beets, Lettuce, etc., in the house gar- 

 den any of the simple home-made garden 

 markers, consisting of a piece of scantling 

 with the necessary number of teeth, and a 

 convenient handle, will answer well enough. 



Crowing Fine Asparagus. 



DANIEL K. HERR, LANCASTER CO., PA. 



If two-year-old roots are not readily ob- 

 tainable, get seed of Conover's Colossal, Pal- 

 metto, or other popular sorts; and as early 

 as possible in the spring, sow in rich mellow 

 ground in drills two feet apart, covering the 

 seed one inch deep: should they come up too 

 thickly, thin out to three inches apart. Keep 

 scrupulously clean of weeds, and cultivate 

 well for two seasons. If the Asparagus beetle 

 appears, apply any of the poisons used for 

 Potato bugs. Several applications may be 

 necessary, as the larvas of this small beetle 

 destroy the foliage very rapidly. 



Asparagus does well in almost any soil, 

 for many years; therefore, when two-year- 

 old roots are ready, choose a situation where 

 they may remain, work the soil up 10 or 13 

 inches deep, incorporating a liberal quantity 

 of well rotted barn-yard manure. Draw 

 wide furrows eight inches deep, and flat in 

 the bottom, so the roots can be spread out 

 all around, cover so the ground is level all 



A Handy Field Marker. 



over when finished. Place the roots so the 

 crowns are one foot apart in the row, and 

 have the rows three feet apart, for garden 

 cultiire, and at least four feet for field cul- 

 ture. A light mulching of fine manure as 

 soon as planting is done, will help to keep 

 the soil mellow, and promote a vigorous 

 growth. Cultivation must be continued for 

 two years more the same as for seedlings, 

 and each fall the growth cleared off, and 

 good manure spread over the entire surface 

 at least two inches thick. 



With careful culture and liberal fertiliz- 

 ing, the roots will be strong enough to per- 

 mit cutting shoots freely the third season. 

 Allow the shoots to grow six or eight inches 

 high, and cut at the ground surface, not be- 



