66 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
then broken up into pieces that a man can lift and 
load into a car. Light tracks are laid as the miners 
burrow in, and on these run cars which are hauled to 
the elevator and hoisted to the top. They are weighed 
and the weight of coal in each credited to the miner 
who filled it—then on it goes to the “ breaker” where 
the large pieces are crushed and broken into the 
different sizes we buy. 
Great steam fans force a constant supply of pure 
air through the mine. By an ingenious system this 
wind is distributed all over the mine, and miners are 
not permitted to enter until each passage has been 
tested for gas. Accidents seem to be due chiefly to 
earelessness—by getting too near the blast or going 
in where the walls are weak and liable to be thrown 
down. We found 90 mules patiently chewing their 
grain 1.000 feet underground. They pass their lives 
in the dust and blackness of the mine, and often live 
20 years underground. 
Most of the miners in this region appear to be for¬ 
eigners—chiefly Huns. They are able to make fair 
wages, and would help to make this one of the most 
prosperous regions finane ; ally but for liquor. The 
beer wagon takes trade that belongs to the bread 
wagon, and there are few communities where the 
curse that liquor-drinking throws on the legitimate 
trade of the farmer or merchant, is more plainly 
evident. 
1 asked several farmers what coal is sold for near 
these mines. I find that they pay $1.75 per ton for a 
grade of coal that costs me $(5.50 not 150 miles from 
the mine ! It is getting so that the mines, the cars 
and the railroads are all controlled by the same per¬ 
sons. They can dictate not only the output of coal, 
but the rate to the dealer and the freight rates as 
well. It is a shame that any body of men should be 
permitted to monopolize the trade in one of life's neces¬ 
sities, which the Creator put away in those hills ages 
ago, that we, who live on the earth to-day, might 
have heat and light. To force the poor to pay such 
prices for coal in order that these railroad men may 
enjoy vast profits, is a crime, both from a moral and 
legal standpoint, and it seems almost incredible that 
the people of this country will permit such extortion 
to continue. H. w. c. 
Some Ideas. 
[Under this heading we shall print from time to time “ideas” or 
short bits of thought or suggestion that occur to our readers or 
which we can obtain from other sources. The general character 
of these notes will show what is wanted. We shall be pleased to 
have our readers help in this department.] 
Cold Weather Cauliflowers. —1 had for my dinner 
last week as delicious Snowball cauliflowers as I ever 
ate. On referring to my farm notes, I find that on 
December 4, I “ had all cauliflower plants which had 
not bloomed at that time, planted in a trench and 
covered with leaves.” They continued to grow, and 
not only has every plant formed a nice head, but the 
outer leaves are as green and crisp as in September. 
I shall never waste another unmatured cabbage or 
cauliflower. A. c. w. 
Bergen County, N. J. 
A Sensible, Cheap Barn Floor. —Mr. McConnell 
of Coudersport, Pa., asks, “Howto lay a barn floor 
over a basement stable, which will not warp or hump 
up ?” I have built a number of barns, and have been 
in hundreds of others, and it is almost impossible to 
find one over where stock are kept, that is not more 
or less warped or twisted up in many places. When' 
we laid the floors in the barn next to the last one I 
built, I used the best quality of two-inch pine plank, 
had the edges grooved and used an oak tongue and 
spiked them down with 40penny nails. Even then 
it humped up in more than a dozen places. 
When preparing for my last barn, I made up my 
mind to have a common-sense floor, and one that 
would stay where it was put. We put the floor joist 
one foot apart from center to center, and over this 
laid one-inch hemlock boards of first quality and well 
seasoned, 12 inches wide, and nailed each one with 
three lOpenny nails in each joist. Over this we laid 
the best waterproof paper, and for the surface laid 
first quality Norway pine, one inch thick, one surface 
planed and the edges jointed, not matched, of the 
same width as the hemlock below, and so laid as to 
break joints. This was nailed with three 12penny 
nails in each joist. To know where to drive the nails, 
we lined on the sheathing paper after it was laid and 
tacked down. This floor has now been down about 
five years, and stock have been housed permanently 
every winter since, but never a board has stirred. 
What is more, hay or grain will keep as “ bright as a 
dollar,” right close on the floor. 
Another good thing about this style of floor is its 
low cost. The party furnishing my lumber asked $28 
per thousand for the pine plank with one-sixth added 
for the matching, which would have made the floor 
cost $65.33 per thousand feet surface measure. My 
floor cost $11 for the hemlock and $14 for the pine sur¬ 
face and about 50 cents for the paper, making the 
whole cost, aside from nails, $24.50 per thousand sur¬ 
face feet. This was a clear saving of $40 for every 
1,000 feet with the added satisfaction of having the 
best floor which it is possible to lay in a barn. 
j. s. WOODWARD. 
“Matching” Apple Borers. —I have always thought 
that there was no way to destroy the apple tree borer 
but to dig him out, or to punch him with a wire ; 
but recent experiments have partly convinced me that 
there is a much easier method. A friend set his Irish 
gardener at the work of digging out the pests, and 
left him for a time. On his return, he was surprised 
at the number of trees he claimed to have examined 
and cleared. “ You surely cannot have dug all the 
borers out of those trees,” exclaimed my friend. “Dig 
them out ! No, sir ; there was no need,” replied the 
gardener. “ I jist plugged the holes with a bit o’ 
parlor match, and sorra a one will ye’s iver see again, 
sir.” True enough, the trees showed no further sign 
of them. I have tried the remedy, and am convinced 
that a borer well plugged in with a parlor match will 
die. I am not prepared to say that nothing but a 
match will answer ; any other stick might be equally 
efficacious, but my Irish acquaintance avers that it is 
the “stuff on the end of the stick that kills them,” and 
he may be right. augur. 
SUB-IRRIGATION AGAIN. 
SWEET’S SYSTEM—IS IT PRACTICAL ? 
In answer to H. It. II., page 825, W. J. Green says 
that tile cannot well serve for both irrigation and 
drainage ; because, 1. Drain tile should be two or 
more feet under ground, while sub-irrigating tile 
ought to be as near the surface as possible and still be 
out of the way. 2. Drain tile require some fall, but 
sub-irrigating tile must be nearly level, or some pro¬ 
vision made to check the too rapid flow of water to the 
lower end. 3. There are practical difficulties in the 
way of managing long runs of sub-irrrigating tile, so 
as to get a uniform flow at all points. 
Would not the following system overcome these 
difficulties, and render sub-irrigation practicable ? 
Place the reservoir at the highest point and run head 
ditches right and left. Connect the latter with the 
lowest part of the field, by open, parallel ditches two 
feet deep, and two to four rods apart. Then lay lines 
of tile from ditch to ditch, 15 inches deep and follow¬ 
ing the contour of the surface so that they will be on 
a dead level. Little dams nine inches long, are cut 
from a board the width of the ditch with a circle saw, 
convex on the bottom and concave on top, so that 
water can flow over without washing the earth at the 
sides. By means of these dams, placed alternately 
below the lines of tile first in one of two ditches and 
then the other and so adjusted that the tile will be 
just filled, the water is passed back and forth between 
them as far as the supply will reach or it is desired to 
irrigate. It seems as though such a system, with its 
deep vertical ditches two to four rods apart, in connec¬ 
tion with the cross tile drains six to ten feet apart, 
would make a good, practical system of drainage. 
The ditches could be covered and water gates used, 
but I think that it would be found less practical. 
As an irrigating plant, the drains being level and 
each kept full of water the distribution of water is 
practically perfect. This can never be the case where 
they are laid on an incline—the low parts, which 
really need the least, always getting the most water. 
Any portion of the field may be given much, little, or 
none, as desired, and the drains being short and 
accessible at either end, are easily repaired if neces¬ 
sary. Any sediment has but a few feet to travel be¬ 
fore it drops into a ditch where it may be easily re¬ 
moved. For cold clay and muck land, an impervious 
subsoil and a hungry home market, what do the 
“ doctors ” think of burying so much money ? Is it the 
best use that can be made of limited capital ? What 
does The R. N.-Y. think of it ? Would inverted chest¬ 
nut troughs be more thrifty than tile during the ex¬ 
perimental stage ? MOUNT POMONA. 
Maryland. 
R. N.-Y.—This plan seems reasonable to us, though 
we have not had enough experience to venture a real 
opinion. 
WHAT SAY? 
Best Portable Fence. —What style of portable 
fence would you recommend, where one wishes to 
fence against hogs and fowls ? h. p. r. 
Portland, Me. 
Planting a Peach Orchard. —I would like the ex¬ 
perience of the readers of The R. N.-Y. in planting a 
peach orchard. The soil is a gravelly clay, with a red 
clay subsoil. Is it best to dig holes ? If so, what 
size ? Would you advise severe root and top pruning 
or not ? Will not close root pruning cause the roots 
to extend too deep into the soil, making wood at the 
expense of fruit ? p. w. hunter. 
Chattanooga, Tenn. 
CRANBERRIES WITHOUT FLOODING. 
CAN THEY BE GROWN IN A MARSH WITHOUT WATER ? 
What About Varieties ? 
I would like information in regard to growing cranberries. We 
have always been informed by agricultural writers that to grow 
cranberries successfully, we must have land that we can flood at 
will. Not having any such land, I have never taken any interest 
in the growing of this kind of fruit. But the success of one of my 
neighbors has opened my eyes; and now I am anxious for all the 
information I can get. 
This man had a small lake on his farm. By the side of this lake 
was a piece of marsh land. He gathered wild vines from a marsh 
in the woods and set the plants in the wet land by this lake. Thi s 
land when set to plants, was wet so that the men setting the 
plants sunk into the muck about overshoe deep. The plants were 
set in>tlie wire grass sod that covered the marsh. Since setting 
the plants, the lake has all dried up, and the men who picked the 
berries this fall could walk on their knees without wetting their 
overalls. I saw the berries from this marsh. They were large 
and fine, but not very deeply colored. This man gathered 82 
bushels from one-half acre. 
I have a few acres of wet land that never gets dry—cannot be 
flooded — that I would like to set with cranberries. Can The R. 
N.-Y. or any of its readers give any information that would help 
me in trying to bring this kind of land into some sort of useful¬ 
ness ? My land is too wet to plow, but I have thought that I would 
spade up the sod and help the plants all I could to take possession 
of the ground. Would I get as good plants from a- wild marsh as 
I would from a nurseryman ? My neighbor raised as large berries 
as one would wish to see. Was the light color due to a variety that 
always grew that way, or was it the season or something else that 
prevented them from obtaining a darker color? What is the best 
variety of cranberries to grow ? Are they dark or pale red ? Does 
the color make any difference in the price of berries in market ? 
Michigan. C. F. h. 
What Prof. L. H. Bailey Says. 
“ Dry bogs” were once rather common, but in the 
East they are largely given up, because they are found 
not to be uniformly successful over a series of years. 
Flooding is a necessity if one gets certain insects and 
diseases—which he is likely to do if he grows cranber¬ 
ries long. Flooding is also a protection against frost 
in fall and spring, and against heavy freezing and 
heaving in winter. There is much difference in varie¬ 
ties, and it is generally best to secure plants from a 
cultivated bog, for one is then more certain of getting 
a uniform lot. About 150 varieties are known. Some 
are dark and some light. If the correspondent’s ber¬ 
ries were well ripened, the light color was probably 
due to the variety. In the Cape Cod region, the 
favorite berry is the Early Black. 
Water Needed for Protection; Wild Vines. 
In favorable seasons, a cranberry crop may be pro¬ 
duced without flooding. The principal enemies of the 
cranberry are insects, frost and fire. Water is the 
only cheap and reliable protection against these. If 
the vines are not flooded in winter, the chances are 
that fire or worm will get a mortgage on the crop, and 
foreclose it before the fruit can be gathered. If the 
vines cannot be flooded about the time of the late 
spring, and early fall frosts,' the crop of any season is 
liable to be lost. 
Dry places such as C. F. H. describes, have frequently 
produced large crops, and that, too, when there was 
general failure in what appeared to be more favored 
localities ; but he would better make haste slowly and 
start with a small tract. On his ground, he will prob¬ 
ably secure a good growth of vines and occasionally a 
good crop of berries, but he is in no position to com¬ 
pete with growers who have control of water for 
flooding. 
No one can say until he sees it, how marsh land can 
be best prepared for planting cranberry vines. If 
there are brush, willows or heavy moss beds to con¬ 
tend with, it should be scalped. With the use of the 
scalping plow, we can scalp and plant an acre for $35. 
To do the same work by hand, will cost over $100. 
If there is only wire grass to contend with, it may 
in a dry season be nearly destroyed by going over it 
with a spade harrow once a week during the month of 
July and the first half of August. The vines planted 
the following spring will get possession of the ground 
in three years. If this was not done, it might be 
seven or even 12 or 15 years before they would get the 
start of the grass. But in the long run, they are sure 
to get the better of the grass. But under any system 
of planting, the thicker the vines are planted, the 
sooner they will get possession of the ground. We 
plant half a ton of cut vines, or about a ton of uncut 
vines, to the acre. 
The cranberry could hardly be classed as a domesti¬ 
cated plant, therefore all vines are wild vines. The 
so-called nurseryman who raised cranberry vines for 
sale might prove to be a delusion and a snare. But 
among the wild vines, and those that have been under 
cultivation since men began to cultivate cranberries, 
there is a great variety. We have collected for the 
State experiment station, since we took charge of it a 
year ago, 71 varieties, and hope before the expiration 
of another year to have over 100. But it would prob¬ 
ably be best for C. F. H. to start with his native wild 
vines. They are adapted to that climate ; the im¬ 
ported ones might not be. 
Difference in color of cranberries, like that of men 
or apples, may be to a slight extent the result of local 
