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W I N D FA LLS. 



tinct trunks as it leaves the ground, but which finally 

 comes together and are united in a single trunk as 

 smooth and round as the trunk of any tree, and without 

 any visible seam The members of the double trunk 

 are not, properly speaking, limbs, and the complete 

 trunk may well be termed a two-legged trunk, and from 

 this fact it is called the ' ' man oak. " 



"The tree is Qitcrcies rubra, or red oak. The space 

 between the two trunks is ten inches wide at the widest 

 place and seven and one-half feet high, the total height of 

 the tree being about forty-five feet. As viewed from the 

 southeast, the right trunk is sixty one inches in circum- 

 ference and the left one fifty-eight and one-half. Both, 

 in cross section, are in the form of a flattened oval with the 

 flattest sides confronting each other. The longest diam- 

 eter of the right trunk is twenty inches and that of the 

 left is twenty-three. The left trunk has begun to decay 

 at the roots and is partially hollow. The right trunk, 

 however, is perfectly sound, and even if the left trunk 

 should cease to grow, the tree would undoubtedly be 

 supported by the right trunk and thrive for years. Oaks 

 do not often sprout from the roots, and no doubt this 

 tree comes from two separate acorns and when young 

 was two distinct trees, growing side by side, until from 

 some unknown cause they came together and were liter- 

 ally "joined in one." The trunks stand somewhat 

 obliquely to the track, and for that reason are best seen 

 when coming from Hartford, sitting on the left hand 

 side, and may be seen when coming from the cars of 

 either the New England or Consolidated road. ' 



Prevention of Floods. — ^Tbe Jamestown (N. Y.) 

 Nnvs proposes the following simple series of reservoirs to 

 catch and hold back the water which, in consequence of 

 forest denudation, swells the streams and causes the 

 annual spring floods : 



' ' Every one who has been at all observing has noticed 

 the fact that the highways, and especially those upon 

 the hills, are the easiest and most practical routes to 

 the streams in the valleys, and that in a rain-fall they 

 form the natural conduits for the waters in their dram 

 age area. The more the road is cleared up and "im- 

 proved" the more rapid becomes the precipitation, the 

 sluice ways at either side of the track often representing 

 miniature rivers. When we consider the vast area given 

 over simply to the roadways, and then take into account 

 the contiguous territory drained, it will be seen that if this 

 water could be held in check, as it was wont to be when 

 the forests decked the hillsides, the problem of the 

 floods would be solved. More than this, the roadways 

 themselves would no longer be cut up and destroyed, 

 causing a vast annual expenditure to keep them even 

 passable. 



"All that is necessary is to adopt a system of under- 

 drainage by means of earth reservoirs, retaining the 

 waters for a period and allowing them to reach the 

 lower levels by percolation, instead of tumbling down 

 the hillside and doing damage from the moment they 

 fall until houses and lives are sacrificed to the floods in 

 the lower river countries. 



' ' The average annual rain-fall in this state and Penn- 

 sylvania is less than six inches, and a large share of 

 this falls in the five months beginning with May. 

 Assuming, for the sake of demonstrating our plan, 

 that one-half of this amount, or three inches, should 

 fall at a single precipitation, we find that a piece of 

 road fifty feet wide, by the same distance in length, 

 would receive 625 cubic feet of water. Suppose, then, 

 beginning at the summit of a hill road three rods (prac- 

 tically fifty feet) wide, we measure down the hill fifty 

 feet and cut a ditch entirely across the road five feet 

 wide and ten feet deep. This would give us a reservoir 

 capable of holding 2,500 cubic feet of water, or four 

 times the amount that could fall on this piece of ground. 

 This ditch could not, of course, be kept open, so we 

 would fill it loosely with large rocks, old stumps, logs, 

 furnace slag or other coarse material, occupying as little 

 of the space as possible, giving the whole a top dressing 

 of cobble stones and coarse gravel. This reservoir would 

 hold all the water of the drainage area above, and the 

 operation could be repeated fifty feet below and so on 

 down the hill. The momentum of the water flowing 

 over fifty feet of space would not be large and it would 

 all sink into the bed of gravel and cobble stones before it 

 could run over five feet, leaving the road to be dry and 

 in good condition as soon as the shower was over." 



Cultivating. — The cleaner and the better in tilth the 

 soil can be kent the thriftier the growth. In the garden 

 it is very essential to keep the soil loose and mellow. 

 It is also an advantage to keep the soil reasonably level. 

 Of course, good drainage is necessary in the garden, 

 but this can be secured much more readily by providing 

 means either for good under drainage, or to get rid of 

 the surplus moisture by surface drainage, and it is only 

 in exceptional cases that it will pay to resort to what may 

 be termed hill cultivation in order to afford drainage. 



Keeping the soil level affords a much better oppor- 

 tunity of giving repeated cultivation than is possible in 

 any other way, as the cultivation can be repeated as 

 often as may be necessary to secure the desired results. 



Of course, the kind of implement used must, in a 

 measure, determine the amount of labor required, but 

 as a rule the implement used should be something that 

 will stir the soil thoroughly and at the same time eco- 

 nomically. But thoroughness should be the first con- 

 sideration. Keep fine and mellow and level, stirring re- 

 peatedly. One of the best gardeners I know does a 

 considerable part of his work early in the morning, 

 while the dew is on, thinking that this is much the best 

 time. — N. J. Shephard, JMo. 



Black- Knot. — A recent bulletin from the New Jersey 

 Experiment Station on the subject of black-knot by 

 Dr. Halsted is very opportune. It is a subject that 

 well deserves legislative enactment. The Ploun-iglitia 

 inorbosa is not so severe in the west as it is in the east, at 

 least so far as cultivated plums and cherries are con- 

 cerned, though it is on the increase especially on Pri<niis 

 doiiiestica. In the west, especially in Iowa, Wisconsin 

 and Minnesota it attacks with preference the choke 



