586 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 16 
wind Irrigation Not Fully Successful. 
Edwin Tayi.oh Kansas —A. M., Cres- 
toD, Towa, who wants to know whether 
he shall get a windmill to lift water 25 
feet for irrigating 10 acres of truck, hot¬ 
houses, etc., will be assured by a swarm 
of windmill men that they can fill his 
bill satisfactorily. Let me suggest that 
he do not put in a windmill for this pur¬ 
pose, except upon a specifie guarantee 
of a stated capacity per hour, in winds 
of different velocities—about as they 
average during the irrigating season in 
his section. The signal service people 
of his State can give him the average 
velocity of the wind for every day in 
every month of the year. In this way, 
he can figure on what to expect, from 
his windmill, day by day, and can com¬ 
pare it with what his estimated needs 
will be. Then if he is careful not to pay 
any money till his mill has come up to 
the specifications, he will be safe. Of 
course, he will not go into an enterprise 
of this magnitude and importance with¬ 
out first arriving at an approximation of 
the amount of water he will require. 
Several years’ experience with wind¬ 
mills, both direct stroke and “back- 
geared,” have given me a deep disgust 
for them. When one needs water the 
worst, in hot, parching weather, they are 
so liable to be standing still. This dis¬ 
position of the windmill to quit work in 
dog-days, may be counteracted to some 
extent by storage reservoirs or tanks. 
But tank-room enough for a water sup¬ 
ply sufficient for irrigating 10 acres of 
truck through a sultry August, would be 
an expensive luxury. Two high-priced 
“ wind-engine” grinding mills have been 
set up within a few years in my neigh¬ 
borhood. Both were abandoned after 
one season’s operation, and steam sub¬ 
stituted. Would it not be profitable for 
A. M. in the long run, to follow the 
adage which says, “ Never send a boy to 
mill,” and make sure of his irrigation 
experiment by putting in at the outset a 
dependable plant to do his pumping ? 
That Maine Flnm. 
S. D. WiLLAED, Geneva, N. Y.—I 
would say that M. B, W., of East North- 
port, Me., page 537, cannot have the true 
Prince Albert currant, which with me 
(and I have fruited it for 20 years) is two 
weeks later in ripening than either Fay 
or Cherry. The description given of the 
fruit in the reply to M. B. W., is practi¬ 
cally correct. 
A City Farm Hand Talks. 
L. McD., Ellensbubg, Wash. —Fred 
Grundy’s article in The R. N.-Y. of July 
7, “ Shall It Be Ex-Farm Hand ? ” has 
attracted my attentioa to that extent 
that I feel obliged to comment upon it 
from the standpoint of the “ city chap,” 
if only to prove that all such are not as 
Mr. Grundy describes them. I came to 
Washington with a friend from St. Louis 
last November. We were fresh from the 
store and office ; he had been a book¬ 
keeper, and I a clerk, for more than 10 
years. However, although we might be 
able to “shoulder a shovel and drink 
from a jug,” we could also shoulder a 
sack of wheat if necessary ; and although 
our actual knowledge of farming was 
rather vague and uncertain, we were both 
willing and anxious to adapt ourselves 
intelligently to such methods as our re¬ 
spective employers saw fit to adopt. 
True, it was a trifle hard the first few 
days. And, pray, what change of occu¬ 
pation is not wearisome at first ? But by 
persistent, honest and determined effort, 
any man of intelligence and sand can 
succeed in winning the approval of his 
employer; and, although it may not be 
modest in me to say so, I think that we 
have done so (I am sure about my friend), 
from the fact that we have held down 
our jobs while the woods are full of idle 
men. Mental labor is greater than physi¬ 
cal, and it the farmer’s son can go to the 
city to build his fortune and shake the 
world, discourage not the city youth from 
coming into the country where he may 
throw his shoulders back, fill his lungs 
with fresh air, and stretch his muscle. 
“A fair exchange is no robbery.” I think 
that if Mr. Grundy’s contented miner had 
treated animals with the necessary kind¬ 
ness and firmness to control them, his 
comparison of danger would not have 
been thought of. Many a man practicing 
law, etc., has elements in his composition 
that would tend to make a better practi¬ 
cal farmer of him than lawyer. Not to 
say that each does not require equal 
skill, but every man should strive to fol¬ 
low the occupation he is built for, and 
some of the best farmers in the country 
are those who have migrated from the 
city. 
Road Making. 
Prof. 1. P. Roberts. —Roads should 
be made but once; they need repairing 
every year. First, wherever the ground 
is at all moist or water is to be carried, 
two open ditches, one on either side, 
should be dug at considerable depths; 
from the inside bank of these, the rise 
should be moderate until the middle of 
the road is reached. If too steep, wagons 
in turning out will carry the earth from 
the center of the road to the borders. 
After the road has received its proper 
grade, then it should be rolled, but the 
average roller is nearly worthless for 
this purpose. The first requisite for a 
good road is to form so far as possible, a 
roof over the traveled part. We can 
make one of earth that will serve the 
purpose fairly well, if we compact the 
earth enough so that the water cannot 
pass through it. This can be done only 
by a roller as heavy, in fact it would be 
better if it were two or three times as 
heavy as those which are used in the 
cities for solidifying pavements. The 
pressure of the wagon tire, where it 
comes in contact with the road with the 
load of a ton, is greater to the square 
inch than that of the heaviest rollers 
used. Every county should own a steam 
roller of the heaviest pattern, and heavily 
load it with stone or iron. 
As only a small portion of the country 
roads is used, it is not necessary to keep 
the entire roadway in prime condition 
unless the travel, as near town, is very 
extensive. The road having been made 
once for all and thoroughly compacted, 
the road machine may be used to smooth 
off the center part. The outside corner 
of the machine should be set low enough 
so that it will form a small channel eight 
or nine feet from the center of the road. 
This little channel, if kept clean, will 
carry the water parallel to the road for 
a little distance where a slight cross 
channel made with a spade should lead 
it into the large ditches. The road 
machine should be used but little, and 
the steam roller very extensively. The 
channels at the sides will not interfere in 
the least with turning out on to the grass 
on either side. A little gravel, or clay 
on sandy roads, thoroughly rolled in, 
will greatly assist in forming a fairly 
impervious roof over the center of the 
roadway. 
What Does Broom Sedee Indicate? 
Prof. W. F. Massey. —Prof. Roberts 
says, page 553, “Broom sedge is an indi¬ 
cation of soil poverty.” Not always, by 
any means. True, Broom sedge will 
cover old fields which are too poor to 
grow anything else, but in some sections. 
Broom sedge will creep in on closely 
mowed meadows of rich soil, and take 
possession. I have had mountain cove 
and bottom lands in Virginia that would 
invariably run into Broom sedge. Yet 
break the sod and plant with corn, and 
the land would easily make 50 bushels 
per acre. On such lands, I regard it as 
an indication, simply, that the hardy 
Broom sedge was always ready to fill the 
place of the run-out Timothy, and all 
that was necessary was to cultivate a 
year and re-seed. Timothy is short¬ 
lived, particularly in the South, and 
when meadows are pastured. Broom 
sedge has no sort of objection to rich 
land if allowed a chance at it, which it 
never should have, and never will get if 
a properly short rotation is practiced. 
But when generally seen waving over 
the uplands of the South, it is an indica¬ 
tion that Nature is doing her best to re¬ 
pair man’s careless waste. But the best 
lands in Virginia, east of the Blue Ridge, 
will soon run into Broom sedge if kept 
in meadow. In the limestone lands there 
is not such a tendency. Then too, by 
liberal top-dressing and close pasturing 
on the hills. Broom sedge can be run 
out, being kept down by cattle, which 
are fond of it when young, and White 
clover or Blue grass will come in. But 
manuring without close pasturing will 
not run it out, but make it more luxuri¬ 
ant. It grows, not because the soil is 
poor,* but because it is the most robust 
and shades out other grasses. Broom 
sedge and loblolly pines have been the 
salvation of the old fields of the South, 
many of which would have been utterly 
barren but for their restorative infiuence. 
But I have seen many an acre of Broom 
sedge on land where the owners ought 
to have been ashamed to let it grow ; 
lands by no means exhausted except of 
seed of better grass. 
In a late number of the much-prized 
Gardening, is a beautiful photo-engrav¬ 
ing of Koelreuteria paniculata. The 
original is 15 years old, 20 feet high, 22 
feet in diameter of the top and three 
feet around the body. We have never 
before seen so symmetrical a specimen. 
Those in Central Park are* all deformed 
in one way or another owing to being 
crowded by other trees, probably. Our 
own specimen was planted 21 years ago 
on a bank. It did not thrive. Its foliage 
was scanty, its branches long and ill- 
shapen. Concluding, prematurely so, un¬ 
questionably, that we knew enough about 
it, the tree was destroyed. Mr. Falconer 
(editor of Gardening) considers it hardy, 
easily grown, beginning to bloom at an 
early age. The fiowers are small, yellow 
and borne like those of the horsechest- 
nut to which it is closely allied. The 
bladder-like seed pods are about as in¬ 
teresting as the flowers. The seeds which 
fall from the trees germinate freely and 
the little seedlings are easily trans¬ 
planted. 
Though the Koelreuteria is not com¬ 
mon in our grounds, it has been known 
since 1763. F. J. Scott, in his fine work. 
Suburban Home Grounds, has this to say: 
“ We know of no tree which, without 
being variegated, has such yellowish- 
green foliage ; and this quality, together 
with the airy delicacy of its leafy out¬ 
line, its brilliant flowers and autumn 
color, combine to make it one of the most 
desirable trees for even a small collec¬ 
tion.” 
As long ago as 1869, there were at Ger¬ 
mantown, near Philadelphia, specimens 
25 feet high and 40 feet in diameter of 
head, planted about 1840. 
The entire story of the Loudon red 
raspberry comes to us in the first num¬ 
ber of the new publication “ Green’s 
Fruit Instructor,” a very attractive 22- 
page catalogue and horticultural paper 
combined. About three pages are given 
to what is said about the Loudon and sev¬ 
eral ingenious illustrations. The price 
is 50 cents each or $5 per dozen. Mr. 
Matthew Crawford—there is no author¬ 
ity more trustworthy—says that it is the 
most valuable variety he has ever seen— 
perfectly hardy and wonderfully pro¬ 
ductive. Many of the desirable novelties 
among raspberries, currants, gooseber¬ 
ries, plums, etc., are described in this 
first number of the Instructor which, we 
presume, will be mailed to all who care 
to apply for it—Chas. A. Green, Roches¬ 
ter, N. Y. 
At the Maryland Station (College Park) 
during the past season, Garfield wheat 
(bald heads) yielded at the rate of 44 
bushels to the acre ; Winter Fife (bald), 
41 ; Red Clawson (bald), 32 ; Beal 
(bearded), 42 ; Diehl Mediterranean 
(bearded), 32 ; Jones’s Square-head, 40 ; 
Velvet Chaff (bearded), 25—there are at 
least one dozen varieties known as Vel¬ 
vet Chaff. 
lOO/o 
« PU RE« 
FOR THE BAFT. 
THE PROCTER & GAMBLE CO., CIN’TI. 
fl ay III IIP MACH INKKY and SUPPLIES. 
UMIl R I R U 0. O. Trench Co., Chicago, Ill., and 
If aranaa,. N. 1^. Mention this paper. 
GIDER 
MACHINERY 
Hydranlie, Knnckle Joint and Screw 
Prsaaes, eraters, BleTators, Pompe, 
•to. Send for Catalocne. 
BOOMER & BOSCHERT 
PRESS CO., ^ 
118 W.WaterSt.. SYRACUSE 
DRIVINQ STILL LEADS THEM ALL. 
Q'|i_ IT WILL CONTROL TH* MOST 
Dl I VICIOUS HORSBa 
75,000 sold In 1891. 
100,000 sold In 1892. 
THEY ARE KiHG. 
Sam|)le^inalled X C for $ 1.00 
Stallion ilts SOcts. extra. 
RACINE MALLEABLE IRON CO. 
IK writing to advertlBen please always mention 
Thk Bubax. 
Great Slaughter in Prices 
No Vacation 
For me, say many, this year. To such 
we say, you may gain needed strength, 
refresh your wearied nerves, stimulate 
your appetite, and renew your vigor by 
Hood’s 
Sar8a~ 
parilla 
taking Hood’s Sarsa¬ 
parilla. A few doses 
will convince you 
that it is doing you 
good, and you will soon be praising Hoo( 
to others. It makes the weak strong. 
C 
urei 
Hood’s Pills cure all liver Ills. 25o. 
In order to make room for our Cutter trade, we 
have to close out our immense stock of Carriages 
Baggies and Road Wagons at KUINOUS PKICJfiS, 
Send for our Special Cut Price List and get 
a bargain. 
KALAMAZOO BTJCKBOARD CO , 
Kalamazoo, Mich. 
