1864. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



9 



Figure 2 shows the pump adapted to a deep 

 well. It is of course necessary, from the very 

 principle of a suction pump, that the working part 

 should be not more than thirty-two feet from the 

 surface of the ^ater, and where the well is deeper 

 than that, the pump must 

 be lowered till it is within 

 that distance of the water. 

 This cut shows the man- 

 ner of suspending the 

 pump, and also shows the 

 pump in section, so that 

 the arrangement of the 

 valves can be seen. 



The pump is entirely of 

 iron, with leather washers 

 upon the piston, and these 

 washers are the only things 

 about the pump that can 

 possibly wear out. It 

 throws water at both the 

 up and down strokes of 

 the handle, and works as 

 easily, when the discharge 

 is not contracted, as it is 

 possible for a pump to do. 

 If you want the water 

 carried to a distance from 

 your well, the pipe can be 

 attached under the well 

 curb, and the water car- 

 ried by an underground 

 pipe to the place of deliv- 

 ery. 



As a force-pump, this is 

 as good as a small fire en- 

 gine, for with a hose attached, it will throw fifteen 

 or twenty gallons of water per minute, to a dis- 

 tance of fifty feet from the hose. 



This may prove a timely aid in case of fire, and 

 the "feeling of security which it gives is worth the 

 cost of the apparatus. The pump is now sold by 

 Calvin Horton, agent, at No. 2G Union Street, 

 Boston. 



Wheat for a Barrel of Flour. — The ques- 

 tion is often asked, how much wlieat does it take 

 to make a barrel of flour? At the annual fair of 

 the Dubuque County Agricultural Society, in 

 1860, a premium of three dollars was offered for 

 the best barrel of flour made from winter wheat, 

 and also the same for spring wheat. James Pratt 

 & Co., of the Rockdale Mills, entered one barrel 

 of each, accompanied with the statement that six- 1 

 teen bushols of winter wheat yielded three bar- j 

 rels and 1()'3 pounds of flour — at the rate of four I 

 bushels and fifteen pounds of wheat to the barrel. 

 Of spring wheat, fifty bushels yielded eleven bar- 

 rels of flour, being four bushels and thirty-two 

 pounds per barrel. The wheat used was of a fair i 

 quality, and no more. 1 



For the New England Farmer. 

 COVERING HASPBERHIES AND BliACK- 

 BERRIES. 



It is the practice of horticulturists to lay down 

 their raspberries early in November, and cover 

 them with soil, to promote their fruit- bearing the 

 next season. This is a good custom, as it is found 

 by experience that they will hardly fruit at all un- 

 less they are somewhat protected from the sever- 

 ity of our northern winters. But tlie Catawissa 

 variety docs not need such protection, for, unlike 

 all other kinds which are cultivated in this vicini- 

 ty, its fruit is borne on wood Ihal is made the .same 

 year. Other kinds bear on cants which tjrew tlce 

 year before, and therefore need protection ; but 

 this peculiarity of the Catawissa raspberry is some- 

 thing of a consideration in favor of its more ex- 

 tensive cultivation. There is another peculiarity 

 about the Catawissa, which deserves notice. It 

 is, in a sense, overbearing ; that is, it bears a suc- 

 cession of crops through the season. The Sep- 

 tember crop is nearly as prolific as the July, and 

 the more valuable as such small fruits can hardly 

 be obtained in the autumn at any price. Though 

 the berry of the Catawissa is not as large as some 

 of the other varieties, and though its flavor is by 

 no means inferior, yet, for the r'^asun here stated, 

 it really claims a greater degree of attention than 

 it has yet received from cultivators. 



I believe it is not the general practice of fruit 

 growers to protect their blackberry canes at all- 

 against the inclemencies of the winter. They are 

 thought to be so extremely hardy as to need no 

 protection, and besides they are very uncomforta- 

 ble things to handle. They doubtless suft'er much 

 less th»n raspberries and strawberries for the want 

 of protection ; but if any fruit grower will try the 

 experiment of covering them in the fall, he will be 

 so much surprised at the great increase of his next 

 year's crop, that he will hardly omit it again. 



WaWutm, Xov., 1863. D. C. 



Strawrerry Insect. — Heretofore this fruit 

 has been exempt from the depredations of insects 

 to a greater degree than most of our cultivated 

 fruits. At a late meeting of the Fruit-Growers' 

 Society of Western New York, the following re- 

 marks were made upon a newly discovered dep- 

 redator : 



II. N. Langwqrtiiy had seen an insect within 

 the last year that eats holes through the leaves 

 and stems. (Mr. L. exhibited a strawberry plant 

 the leaves of which were riddled by the insect.) 

 It also attacks the raspberry. He feared it would 

 prove a very destructive enemy to the strawberry. 



Jas. Vick said he had sent tiiis insect to an en- 

 tomologist, and it belonged to the curculio fami- 

 ly. It does not attack tiie strawberry till the fruit 

 is formed, but alter that it eats up the vines and 

 destroys them. If the strawl)erry beds are re- 

 newed every year, this insect does very little dam- 

 age. 



By a vote of the Society, the Secretary was re- 

 quested to send specimens of the insect to Dr. 

 FlTClI, the State Entomologist. 



I.N the Ionian district, Michigan, there were 

 taken up, in the month of October last, about 9000 

 acres of land, under the Homestead law. 



