63o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 21 
eter, larger and better trees than can be grown in the 
North in two years. The negroes make excellent 
nursery workmen, budding and grafting fully as well 
as the bright whites at the North. The price 
paid them varies from 40 to 75 cents per day, accord¬ 
ing to age and general ability, land here is worth not 
more than $15 to $40 per acre, but very little fertilizer 
has to be used, and work can go on through the whole 
12 months of the year; it is the cheapest and best 
place to grow nursery stock that I know of anywhere 
in the country. That is why we have more than 100 
acres in nursery, and nearly 3,000,000 young trees on 
the place at this time. It also serves to give work to 
our many hands when not required in the orchard or 
handling the fruit crop.” 
“ Why do you believe that the Japan plum industry 
is going to be a good thing ? When will they come 
into market as compared with peaches ? What varie¬ 
ties will you plant most extensively for market? Will 
they be graded and packed as carefully as the peaches 
in smaller packages ? ” 
“ As to the Japan plums, I have been studying them 
carefully here at the South as well as in the North, 
for some years past, and I am fully satisfied that they 
will be even more profitable here than peaches. The 
trees are rampant growers, very healthy, come into 
bearing a year after planting, and in two years will 
give over one-half bushel to a tree ; while four or five- 
year trees bear proportionately more. The fruit here 
grows to very large size, great brilliancy of color, and 
has a thick, tough skin, which will enable it to be 
shipped to most distant markets. Some of the varie¬ 
ties, particularly the Burbank, will be picked when 
fully grown, and yet green, and paper wrapped, and 
will carry for two or three weeks, ripen up a fine 
bright color, and be exceedingly rich and sweet. 
There is no question in my mind that Japan plums 
from the South, shipped through June and early July, 
will be a great feature of the Northern fruit stands 
in the future. 
“ The Willard plum, which is the very best of the 
extra early kinds, will ripen here about May 20. The 
Abundance June 10 to 15, and the Burbank, which is 
the best of all yet fully proved, some 10 days later. 
The most profitable varieties will be those that come 
before the main crop of peaches is ripe, coming to 
market just before and with the Alexander and Til- 
lotson peaches. Some few of the later varieties that 
ripen fx-om July 10 to 15, have been selling at fine 
prices this year. I expect to put out a hundred acres 
or more of these plums another winter, and while 
they will be gi-aded and handled fully as carefully as 
the peaches in evei'y way, they will require the addi¬ 
tional work of paper-wrapping each plum, if we wish 
to put them in market in the highest perfection of 
color, which, of course, is a strong feature toward 
making a x-eady sale at high prices. Several lots have 
gone from here to the North in refx’igerator cars with 
the peaches, and those that were not paper wrapped, 
had a mussy appeai-ance, while those wrapped came 
out very bright and showy, kept for a long time, and 
sold for high prices on account of their superior flavor. 
One leading dealer i*eported that such fruit would 
knock California plums forever out of the ruai-ket.” 
This is but another illustration of the possibilities 
of the South as a fruit countx-y. Next week we shall 
see how the peaches are shipped. After that we hope 
to discuss the question of negro labor and other con¬ 
ditions that would affect Northern immigrants. h.w.C. 
" THE WORK OF A WINDMILL." 
My windmill is a 12-foot geared Aermotor. It is 
put on the roof of the barn and is GO feet from the 
gi-ound. It is this fact of height largely that gives it 
such great efficiency. While speaking of this point, I 
would insist that every wheel of which important 
work is expected be put up at least 20 feet above all 
wind obstructions neai'er than 300 feet. I have a 
pumping wheel that is on a steel tower GO feet high, 
and as thex-e is a wood about 200 feet away on one 
side, it does not run very well when the wind is in 
that dix*ection. It would have cost me but $20 more to 
have put it 20 feet higher, and it would have nearly 
doubled the efficiency of the whole plant, worth with 
well, pump, pipes and all, say, $125. So it is expen¬ 
sive to neglect this essential point in the start. 
I bought my wheel, shafting, woodsaw, grinder and 
pulleys of the Aermotor Co., and the sheller, feed 
cxxtter and bone mill of diifei-ent firms. 
Fig. 198 shows the way that we have arranged our 
machinery, and in most respects it is an ideal arrange¬ 
ment. The shafting, S, reaches down the 8x8 mast to 
the grinder, A, where there are bevel gears that turn 
the horizontal shaft, B. On this shaft are various pul¬ 
leys of different sizes. On the upper floor is another 
shaft, V; that is what I call my slow shaft; it is run by 
a belt from the pulley, D, which is five inches in diam¬ 
eter, to pulley E, which is 25 inches. These are wooden 
pulleys, and homemade. They are as good as more 
expensive ones. One can buy the flanges for fasten¬ 
ing them to the shaft very cheaply. This slow shaft 
runs an elevator (not shown in the cut-for fear of con¬ 
fusion), that brings corn up from the sheller, and 
delivers it into a big bin. There is a 15-bushel hopper 
at T, that is spouted to the grinder, A, and then there 
is a conveyer from the gi'inder to a bin that holds the 
meal. On the slow shaft, too, is the sheave, G, that 
runs a wire cable to the pump 220 feet distant. The 
feed cutter, II, is run from the lower shaft, and the 
cut fodder drops down to the room below. Back out 
of the way is the wood saw, W, which is also rxxn by 
the lower shaft. The bone mill and grindstone are 
above and run from the lower shaft. 
Now what will the thing do after it is fixed up ? It 
will grind 100 bushels of corn on a good day, and 
grind it pretty fine. It will grind excellent Graham 
flour and corn meal for the table. It will run a large 
corn sheller, and elevate and grind at the same time. 
I would not get a sheller unless it were a self-feeding 
one of large capacity ; that is, if I had several thou¬ 
sand bushels of corn to shell. There is ample power to 
run it. It will cut dry corn fodder as fast as one can 
feed it in when there is a good wind. It will keep 
two men hustling to get wood to it when there is a 
good sawing wind. It will pump and perform almost 
any of the other operations at the same time. When 
thei*e is not a good wind, it will not do much ; yet a 
very light breeze wiL shell, and pump, and run the 
bone mill. I do not use a tank at all in the sheep 
barn, but depend on pumping directly into the 
troughs, and not 10 times in a winter do I have to 
THE WORK OF A WINDMILL. Fig. 198. 
pump by hand. There is no doubt that, for the farmer 
who can store his work, his wood, w r ater, and shelled 
corn and corn meal, the wind power is the best and 
cheapest power on earth. That is if he l’eally has a 
wind exposure. If he does not, and cannot'get up to 
it, he is throwing money away in bujdng one. Here 
is the cost to complete my outfit: 
12-foot wheel.$50.00 
50 feet vertical shafting. 7.50 
Grinder. 15^00 
8 feet line shafting. 2.40 
Two pulleys (one free). 2.40 
440 feet cable. 17.60 
Wood saw. 15.00 
Total.$119.90 
From this I got a small discount, as my outfit was the 
first to be erected and they made a special “introduc¬ 
tion” price. 
The elevators and fixings generally, we fixed our¬ 
selves with material that cost us but a trifle. The 
pump gear at the well was made of a pair of gear 
wheels that were on the farm. It is necessary to 
reduce the speed to less than one stroke of the pump 
to a revolution of the wheel. 
Just at present I am studying the irrigation pi’oblem 
from a windmill standpoint. I have become convinced 
that, with a well-constructed earthen reservoir large 
enough to hold the spring and part of the winter’s 
work of the mill while pumping, a good deal of profit¬ 
able irrigating can be done. It will pay well on 
strawberries and other small fruits. At any rate, I 
mean to make a thorough trial of it. j. e. wing. 
Woodside Farm, O. 
What A Kansas Windmill Did. 
On page 58G, of The R. N.-Y., C. F. B., of Buchanan, 
Mich., asks about windmill power. I am, perhaps, 
in the position to answer some of the questions. When 
I came to Kansas, I bought a homestead with two 
wells about 70 feet apai’t; sevei*al years later, I put a 
12-foot geared mill on the one farthest from the house, 
and attached a grinder to it. I could grind very well, 
but had no shed over it, and did not like it in that 
way. The wind blew the ground feed too much, and 
I had to be at tlie mill all the time to attend and watch 
it. I afterward put a building over it. It was built 
with bins on one side, and a corn crib on the other, 
48 feet long and 20 wide, 12 feet to the square. It had 
two floors, with a cellar under part of it. I had a 
two-hole I. X. L. corn sheller on the first floor, and 
the grinder on the second floor. I built a slanting 
hopper in the tower about six feet from the floor at 
the lowest end, with slope enough for the grain to 
run out. I had a spout from the lower end to the 
hopper of the grinder. This bin held about 20 or 25 
bushels. The chop bins were on the first floor. The 
chop fell direct from the grinder into these bins. I 
had a hole for each bin, and a keg with a hole in the 
bottom which I turned to whichever bin I wished the 
chop to drop into. 
From the cellar, I had a square funnel-shaped hole 
dug, lined with flat stone and mortared, but got it 
partly lined with boards afterwards. Outside of this 
funnel, I set the elevator. This funnel was straight 
on one side, and the straight side was of matched 
boards. Above the funnel, stood the corn sheller at 
the end of the corn crib. The elevator carried the 
grain up into the bin in the tower, from which it went 
on the grinder. 
I shelled and gi*ound all grain that I fed to my stock. 
The corn fed to the horses was generally fed whole, 
but we fed many hundred bushels to the hogs, and to 
other stock. One year, we had nearly 5,000 bushels 
of corn, of which, perhaps, 4,000 went through the 
sheller, and the greater part through the grinder. 
Vei’y frequently we mixed other grain with the corn 
to grind—oats, rye, barley, wheat, etc., and our 
ground feed was better than we generally got when 
we had it ground. I could grind from 20 to 100 bushels 
in a day, depending on the wind and the condition of 
the grinder, and the fineness of the grist. But I did 
not simply crack the grain, as some do. I also ground 
hundreds of bushels for neighbors. To this mill were 
attached, as needed, a corn sheller and grinder, two 
pumps, a churn and grindstone. I also had the fix- 
tures to attach a wood saw, and could attach either a 
drag or a circular saw. The mill pumped the water 
for nearly 100 head of cattle and horses, and some¬ 
times 50 to 60 hogs. This water was pumped from the 
well at the mill. The other was used largely for 
ii*rigating the kitchen garden, and for home use. It 
was attached and driven with elbows and a cable. 
in a good, strong wind, I could run the sheller, 
gx-inder, elevator, two pumps, and churn at the same 
time. The grindstone was run from the corn sheller 
pulley, so I could not run the grindstone when shell¬ 
ing corn. The advantage of my ai'rangement was (as 
I am in my sixties and not calculated for heavy work), 
that I did not need to carry any grain, excepting to 
shovel the ear corn to the table of the sheller, which 
was in the crib. The corn came through a hole in the 
partition end of the crib to the corn sheller. The 
shelled corn dropped through a slatted floor to the 
elevator, thence to a hopper in the tower. When I 
had my hopper filled, I could go about my other busi¬ 
ness. I frequently was away several hours, while the 
mill and grinder were doing good and satisfactory 
work, grinding 20 bushels or more while I was away. 
Dickinson County, Kan. A. m. engle. 
SELLING DELAWARE PEACHES. 
Fig. 199 gives a very lifelike representation of a 
scene that may be seen almost any morning in August, 
at many of the stations along the southern half of 
the Delaware Railroad. This particular view was 
taken at Wyoming, Del., and is so realistic that one 
can almost taste the luscious fruit. It is not uncom¬ 
mon to see more than a hundred wagon loads await¬ 
ing their turn to unload—many of them drawn by 
three or four mules, and bearing 100 to 150 %-bushel 
baskets of peaches. 
Delaware has long enjoyed the enviable imputation 
of sending the finest peaches in size, flavor and color, 
that reach New York market. She is doing her best 
to maintain her reputation. The bulk of the Dela¬ 
ware peaches this season comes from Sussex County, 
the crop in Kent County being much lighter. George¬ 
town, Milton, Milford, Seaford, Bridgeville, Harring¬ 
ton and Felton have all been heavy shipping stations. 
Up to August 30, 4,424 cars of peaches had been ship¬ 
ped over the Delaware Railroad this season. At GOO 
baskets per car, this makes 2,654,400 baskets. Proba¬ 
bly not less than 500,000 baskets have been carried by 
water, and the late varieties are yet to be marketed. 
When these are sent in, it is probable that the total 
crop of this peninsula this season, will not fall short 
of 3,500,000 baskets. As prices have been very good, 
and most of the fruit has been bought and paid for at 
the railroad stations and boat landings, it will be seen 
that this crop has put into the hands of the farmers 
on this peninsula a very considerable sum of money, 
that will soon make itself felt in other channels of 
trade. Prices have run all the way from 30 cents up to 
$1.25 per %-bushel basket. The bulk of the good fruit 
has brought 70 cents to $1 per basket. E. g. Packard. 
