1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
865 
THE SUBJECT OF SUB-IRRIGATION. 
E T., Edwardsville, Kan .—I am seeking information 
on the subject of sub-irrigation. The circumstances 
are these: Next spriug, I contemplate planting a 
flower garden, so situated with respect to water that 
there will be an abundance of it under pressure of 
about 25 pounds to the inch. I had contemplated a 
system of hydrants and sprinklers so that the flowers 
could be showered when desirable. A friend advises 
me that I would have much better success with what 
he calls the “ New Culture,” in which, as I understand 
it, the whole tract to be planted, is underlaid with 
drain tiles, thickly set, with a common supply point, 
so that they can be kept full of water by a hose wh : ch 
empties into the inlet. Can The R. N.-Y. shed any 
light upon the subject? 
Giant Strawberries From Sub-Irrigation. 
The practice of sub-soil irrigation is by no means 
new. It is about a dozen years since a patent was 
granted for a system of perforated tiles laid under the 
surface for the watering of the land. But it was 
found that the common drain tiles would answer the 
same purpose in every respect. The writer thus irri¬ 
gated in 1881, part of his garden in wh ; ch a bed of 
strawberries was planted, and with extraordinary 
results. Of the largest of the fruit, a large variety, 
anyhow, seveu berries filled a quart basket, and the 
average yield of a number of hills of three plants each 
set three feet apart each way, was seven quarts of 
selected berries. There is no doubt that for such cul¬ 
tures as this, this mode of irrigation would pay ex¬ 
ceedingly well. 
The tiles are laid in precisely the same manner as 
for draining, but not so deep and not so far apart. It 
depends on the nature of the soil how much water is 
to be supplied, and much pressure is not necessary. 
With as much as 25 pounds to the inch which is equal 
to a head of 55 feet, the probability is that the water 
would be forced above the surface and flow on the 
top. This is not desired, but only to keep the sub¬ 
soil moist enough to supply the crops in a dry time. 
Rows of tiles 12 feet apart have been found sufficient 
in a light sandy soil, and in a clay it would doubtless 
be necessary to provide drainage for the surplus or 
the distribution must be very carefully made. A 
small head, three feet for instance, is quite enough to 
secure the even distribution of the water. As in drain¬ 
age, the supply is carried to the small tiles in larger 
ones, estimated as to size by the area to be supplied. 
In fact, it is simply drainage reversed, and thus every¬ 
thing about it is reversed precisely, the feeding source 
being equivalent to the outlet of the drains, and the 
discharge equivalent to the collecting tiles in the 
drains. h. stewart. 
Two Bits of Experience. 
If E. T. can get the tiles laid on a water level and 
not more than one foot under ground, and keep them 
from frost in winter, they will give better results 
than the use of a hose and sprinkler. Few under¬ 
stand how much water it will take to keep the ground 
wet enough to grow a crop of fine flowers. I would 
prefer the Wyckoff pump log, putting it about two to 
four inches under ground ard with one-fourth-inch 
holes bored on two sides about 12 inches apart. It 
may be taken up in the fall and put away until needed 
the next season. If this cannot be procured, make a 
tight trough and bore holes in it the same as in the 
log. If this be kept full of water in dry time, E. T. 
will have a fine flower garden fit for a king to look 
on. I us this in my greenhouse and it is much better 
than sprinkling from a hose. A. donald. 
I am sorry to say that I can give your querist little, 
if any, information from practical experiments on 
sub-irrigation. We are doing just what he mentions, 
but we use the water by means of hydrants, rubber 
hose and sprinklers. We have succeeded to some ex¬ 
tent with sub-irrigation on the plan of “Cole’s New 
Agriculture,” but the reservoirs are so far down that 
it was only plants with very long roots that would 
reach the water. So far as I have experimented with 
drain tile, it is considerable trouble to fix the ground 
so that they will work right, and 1 am inclined to 
think it takes a good deal more water than with hy¬ 
drants and sprinklers. A. I. root. 
Medina, Ohio. 
Advantages of Surface Irrigation. 
This is an irrigation country. We have no use for 
sub-irrigation here. There are some kinds of water 
that are not suited for irrigation, for instance, the 
water from our artesian wells. There is something 
about it that kills vegetation. Surface irrigation has 
many advantages. The operator can know when his 
garden has sufficient water. He will learn the exact 
time when the earth should be stirred to prevent hard 
baking. He can observe the effect of much or little 
water on different plants. He can more readily no¬ 
tice in surface irrigation if the water be wholesome to 
the soil and plants. I understand that the plan of sub- 
irrigation has proved disappointing and has been 
abandoned to a great extent where it was once prac¬ 
ticed. OLIVER HOWARD. 
Greely, Col. _ 
A Talk About Ashes. 
L. R. V., Bridgeport, Conn —I have a run-down farm 
which I wish to bring up ; I can get limed ashes ; I 
wish to know the difference between limed and wood 
ashes. 
Ans.— By “limed ashes” we assume that you mean 
the ashes taken from the bottom of lime kilns where 
wood is burned to prepare the lime. Such ashes con¬ 
tain a large proportion of lime varying of course as 
they contain more or less sand and water. A fair 
average would give in such ashes about half of one 
per cent each of potash and phosphoric acid. A ton 
of such ashes therefore would contain about 10 pounds 
each of these substances while a ton of Canada wood 
ashes will contain, say, 110 pounds of potash and 40 
pounds of phosphoric acid. The lime kiln ashes are 
useful where the soil needs lime, but for potash—for 
which ashes are usually applied—they are of little 
value. But why buy ashes at all when you can get a 
substitute for less money ? A ton of ashes of good 
quality contains about as follows : 
Pounds. 
Sand, earth and coal . 200 
Water. 240 
Oxide of 'ion and useless substances. 131 
Actual potash. 
Pno&phorlc acid. 30 
Lime, etc. 1.220 
Total. 2,000 
These figures are taken from the Connecticut re¬ 
ports. If your land does not need lime all you get of 
value in this ton is 110 pounds of potash and 39 of 
phosphoric acid worth not to exceed $7.50. If you pay 
$12 for the a6lies it means that you have paid $4.50 for 
1,200 pounds of lixe when you can get that amount of 
lime alone for $2 50. So far as the potash and phos¬ 
phoric acid are concerned 220 pounds of muriate of 
potash and 150 pounds of Peter Cooper's bone, or 250 
pounds of a pure superphosphate will give you all that 
the toa of ashes will give and if you need lime you 
can apply that separately. You will find this matter 
of a substitute for ashes well discused in the reports 
of the Connecticut Experiment Station, New Haven, 
Conn. 
Blood, Bone and Potash. 
A. r I. T , Franklin Park, N. J .—I have within market¬ 
able reach fine ground dried blood mixed with some 
animal meat or tankage, which will analyze 12 per 
cent ammonia; pure bone, which analyzes 2.50 per 
cent ammon ia, and 27.75 per cent phosphoric acid. Can 
I safely mix with the above muriate of potash analyz¬ 
ing about 40 per cent potash, that is, is there not 
danger of the potash dissipating the ammonia in the 
tankage and making it worthless if mixed with it ? I 
wish to make a corn fertilizer for heavy soils. I would 
like to make a mixture that will show 7 per cent am¬ 
monia, 12 per cent phosphoric acid and 6 per cent pot¬ 
ash. My experience is that the above percentages, or 
thereabouts, work well on a heavy clay loam soil. 
Ans.— It will be safe enough to mix the muriate 
with the blood rnd boue, but you cannot make a fer¬ 
tilizer with the desired analysis out of these ingre¬ 
dients. A mixture of 900 pounds of dried blood, 900 
pounds of bone, and 300 pounds of muriate would give 
a little over six per cent of ammonia, with the phos¬ 
phoric acid and potash a little below your estimate. 
You could make this nearer by using a muriate con¬ 
taining 50 per cent of potash, as then you would need 
but 240 pounds, whereas with 40 per cent you need 300 
pounds to get potash enough to give six per cent in the 
ton. The way to obtain a fertilizer with seven per 
cent of ammonia is to use some substance with a 
higher per cent of that element than the dried blood 
contains. Nitrate of soda (16 per cent nitrogen) or 
sulphate of ammonia (20 per cent) would enable you 
to use less weight in order to obtain the needed 140 
pounds of ammonia. We think, however, that the mix¬ 
ture given above would serve your purpose, as we 
doubt if you can profitably use over six per cent of 
ammonia on your crops of grain and hay. 
Influence of Smut on Succeeding Crops. 
R. R. H., Dunda8, Ontario .—Do you think smut in a 
crop of grain one year will have a tendency to produce 
smut in a different grain the next year on the same 
land ? For instance, will smut, say, in corn this sea¬ 
son, produce smut in oats, or smut in oats this year 
produce smut in wheat next? 
Ans.— This query is an important one, and in order 
to reply it will be necessary to consider slightly the 
essential nature of smut. Smut, as we are familiar 
with it in grains, consists of multitudes of microscopic 
particles known as spores of a low form of vegetation. 
In other words, the smut plant is a parasite upon the 
grain plant, and there are many kinds of these smut 
plants, scores and hundreds of different species of 
smut plants. For the answer to the query, it is not 
necessary for us to consider the methods of propaga¬ 
tion and growth of these low forms of fungi. Suffice it 
to say that these spores, finding their way to the 
young grain plants, are able to cause them to be¬ 
come in time “ smutted” as they are termed. 
The most conspicuous of all the known smuts is the 
species Ustilago maydls, (D. 0.) which is the smut plant 
of the Indian corn. This differs from all other kinds of 
smut in certain microscopic details, and, as far as the 
writer knows, is confined to the Indian corn or maize. 
If this be absolutely true, it follows, therefore, that 
the smut of the corn, which in large measure falls to 
the ground and becomes incorporated with the soil, 
will have no influence upon succeeding crops of other 
kinds of grain. That is, the corn smut spores, should 
they come in contact with the young plants of oats, or 
wheat, or barley, would have no effect in producing 
the smut. Therefore, it is easy to answer the question 
with regard to corn smut, it growing only upon corn. 
When we come to consider the smuts of wheat, oats 
and barley, it is not quite so clear sailing because, for 
example, Ustilago seqetum, (Bull), grows upon wheat, 
oats and barley and many kinds of grasses. The sub¬ 
ject is still more complicated, because there are 
more than one kind of Ustilago which grows upon 
wheat. So far then, as these white grains are con¬ 
cerned, it is possible that the smut prevalent in the 
wheat, for example, one season might have manifest 
effect upon oats or barley grown on the same land the 
following season. byron d. hai.sted. 
New Jersey Experiment Station. 
Some Hen Problems and Bone Meal. 
A. S A., Pitts field, III. —Would it pay to buy a bone 
cutter for 60 hens ? Eggs are 20 cents per dozen here, 
now, and run down to eight cents in the summer. My 
hens are mostly Plymouth Rocks. I was thinking of 
crossing them with Brown Leghorns; would this be 
advisable ? If not, how would a Wyandotte answer? 
I want layers, only; the full-blooded Leghorns I can¬ 
not keep anywhere. Do you know anything about 
The Stock Yard Fertilizer Comp iny of Chicago? How 
would bone meal do for garden truck ? This company 
offers it for $27 a ton, which ii much cheaper than I 
can get it for anywhere else. 
Ans. —We question it. We doubt if 60 hens could 
make one pay. The Leghorn and Plymouth Rock 
cross would give you good layers. We have a discus¬ 
sion of this very point coming. We have had no deal¬ 
ings with the company mentioned, but good, fine bone 
meal at $27 per ton will be a cheap fertilizer for gar¬ 
den truck and fruit. 
What to do With Charcoal. 
J. E J., Waretown, N. J. —I have from 50 to 100 tons 
of charcoal-pit bottoms consisting of fine charcoal and 
some ashes. Can this material be utilized in any man¬ 
ner for manure ? How would sulphuric acid operate 
upon it ? 
Ans —Ordinary charcoal has but little direct fer¬ 
tilizing value. It contains carbon, a substance that 
need not be supplied in the form of minure. Pure 
charcoal makes an excellent absorbent, and is excel¬ 
lent to use in the manure pile. It is also good to use 
on light colored soils to give a darker color, and hence 
add to their warmth. Sulphuric acid would not keep 
the charcoal. We would either mix it with manure or 
scatter it over the grass or grain on lighter soils. 
Grapes for Central New York. 
D. O. D., Washington Mills, N. Y .—For a collection 
of 20 or 30 grape vines, what kinds would you suggest 
as likely to do well here in Oneida County ? I would 
like about two or three of a kind, or would more of 
some kinds be better ? 
Ans. —I would make the selection something like 
this : Three Concord, two Worden, three Brighton, 
two Delaware, two Niagara, two Lady, two Salem, 
two Diana, two Eumelan. For heavy soil I would 
leave out the Delaware and substitute two more of 
the Brighton. ADDrsoN weed. 
Oneida County, N. Y. 
Sphagnum Moss. 
J. B. M., Groton, N. Y .—I have a piece of land on 
which a moss grows which is called sphagnum. What 
is its value and for what purposes is it used ? 
Ans. —This moss is quite largely used by florists and 
nurserymen for packing trees, plants and vines for 
shipment. It also makes good bedding and absorbent 
in stables. 
What to Do With An Ossage Hedge. 
T. H. L., Stony Point, N. Y —I have an Ossage orange 
hedge fronting my property. It is very old, but good. 
I desire to close the present entrance to the grounds 
and put in a new one. Can I transplant the hedge 
and fill up the present opening with the shrubs or 
plants taken from the new? The hedge is 4>£ feet 
high. If I can, how shall I proceed ? 
Ans. —The safest way would be to cut about the 
roots of the plants to be removed now. Earlier would 
have been better. Then transplant in the spring jubt 
as the buds are breaking. The cut roots would have 
callused by that time. 
