THE RURAL- NEW-YORKER 
of work at id money. His house is on the hill 
and is a little higher than the barn 75 yards 
away; 100 yards from the house and 45 feet 
lower than it is the spring. The flow of the 
spring is about four gallons per minute; by 
going 35 feet from the spring, eight feet fall 
may be had. At this point a ram was placed 
and a one-inch lead pipe was run from the 
spring to the ram. A half-inch lead pipe was 
run from the ram to a 30-gallon oil barrel 
placed in the kitchen of the house about four 
feet above the floor; the oil barrel was paint¬ 
ed inside and out. From this barrel a five- 
eighth-inch overflow pipe was run to a trough 
in the barn-yard, and an overflow pipe was 
run from this trough to another one outside 
the barn yard in the pasture field. The ram 
raised about a quart-and-a-half per minute, 
or 550 gallons every 24 hours. This quantity 
is quite sufficient for the house and all the 
stock. Since it has been started the ram has 
run without stopping, and there is no reason 
why it should not continue to do so as long as 
there is water enough to run it. The work 
was done by the owner, and cost nearly $65. 
I know of several rams that have been 
working 30 years. As all the work in this case 
was done very thoroughly it is safe to say it 
will last 25 years and not cost over $5 for re¬ 
pairs in that time. This makes the cost per 
year, allowing for repairs and interest on the 
money invested, less than $6. In return for 
this my friend has always 30 gallons of fresh 
water in his kitchen and plenty of water at 
the barn for his stock. He does not have to 
depend on some one to pump water for the 
stock, but knows that there is always enough 
water if only the stock are allowed to get it. 
Before he bad the ram, the water for the 
house was carried trom the spring which 
runs the ram, and the water for the stock was 
pumped from a well in the barnyard, the 
water of which was not fit for drinking by 
the family. A little calculation here will 
give some queer results. Suppose it takes 45 
minutes to carry the water for the house and 
30 minutes to pump enough for the stock; then 
an hour and a quarter are consumed each day 
in getting the water used on the farm. Mul¬ 
tiplying this by 365, we get 456 hours as the 
time used in a year. Dividing $6.00 by 456 
we get 1 1-8 cent nearly. That is to say, 
when farm labor costs less than 1 1-3 cents 
per hour, it pays to carry and pump 
the water used on this farm; otherwise it 
pays to use the ram. In making this calcu¬ 
lation, we have not taken into consideration 
the fact that with the ram about three times 
as much water is used as formerly. The 
stock is watered regularly, and given as much 
as is wanted. This fact alone would warrant 
the use of a ram in this case. At the house 
much more water is used. There is no neces¬ 
sity for carrying water from the spring to get 
breakfast with while the thermometer stands 
uncomfortably low and the wind is very 
active. Another point is'worth consideration: 
Cleanliness is said to be next to godliness, and 
water is certainly a very important factor of 
cleanliness. Does it not follow that if the 
supply of water is limited cleanliness will suf¬ 
fer in the same way? 
1 he fact that a farm is supplied with water 
in some such way as this is worth consider¬ 
able hard cash when a farm is sold. Such a 
convenient method of supplying water is one 
of the most profitable improvements a farm 
can have. G. s c 
Kent Co., Delaware. 
SMALL FRUITS IN DRY SEASONS. 
riIfc - following notes have been prepared in 
response to many letters of inquiry. Last 
) ear was exceptionally dry in many parts of 
the country and many small fruit growers 
lost heavily in consequence. They do not 
want to have this loss repeated in case this 
year should prove as dry as last. Notes by 
some of our leading fruit men will therefore 
prove valuable. This season may not be as 
d i y as last, but there is nothing in the practices 
recorded in these notes that would not prove 
valuable in any season. 
PROTECTION OF SMALL FRUITS IN 
TIMES OF DROUGHT. 
J. M. SMITH. 
1 he question of protecting crops in times of 
di ought, has within the last two years, as¬ 
sumed an importance hitherto unknown in 
the history of the Northwest. This is pecul¬ 
iarly true in regard to our small fruits. 
-Many have lost nearly their entire crops of 
them for two years in succession. Not only 
that, but those who set new beds one year ago, 
with the hope aud expectation of a good crop 
this coming summer, are doomed to disap¬ 
pointment for the third year, because their 
plants made so poor a growth last season on 
account of the dry weather, that a full yield 
this year will be simply impossible. Perhaps 
you will ask, Must we stand still and see the 
ruin and make no effort for self-protection? 
Here is my method. 
During the spring of 1885 I set one piece of 
about 3% acres with strawberry plants. All 
the land was most thoroughly surface-drained. 
Not all of it had been underdrained; though 
the crop would doubtless have been better if 
such had been the case. It had been manured 
at the rate of 30 to 40 good two-horse loads 
per acre each year for nearly or quite 10 years 
previous to this time. It was manured again 
at the rate of about 40 loads per acre, and set 
with the Wilson. The beds were kept 
thoroughly cultivated during the entire sea¬ 
son. When the plants began to throw out 
runners, they were trained around the original 
plants, like the spokes in a wheel, the parent 
plants being in the center. By so doing, each 
plant had a chance to get well rooted, and 
was not crowded and weakened by having 
from one to half a dozen so near as to make 
them all poor and puny, and their yield of 
fruit of the same character. Late in the fall 
they were covered with marsh hay in quanti¬ 
ties just sufficient to hide them from view. In 
the spring of 1886 this was taken off, and the 
plants were carefully hoed. Most of them 
stood too thick upon the ground to be culti¬ 
vated with a horse or even a hand cultivator; 
hence the necessity of hand hoeing. Wood 
ashes were spread upon them at the rate of 
about 75 bushels per acre just before hoeing. 
The weather becoming very dry, they were 
hoed the second time. If my recollection is 
correct, this was about the time they were in 
full bloom. By the middle of June the 
drought was very severe aud the plants were 
hoed the third time. The pickers followed 
immediately after the men with the hoes. 
What was the object of all this work-in 
the first place draining all the water possible 
from the ground, and then trying to get it 
back? The reasons are as follows: All good 
growers are well aware that the roots of the 
strawberry-vine will live but a very short 
time in a soil saturated with water. Neither 
will they thrive in a wet aud heavy soil, even 
though not wholly filled with water. In fact, 
I have never—even with the most perfect sys¬ 
tem of underdrains that I could devise—been 
able to drain my land so perfectly but that 
not only the strawberry-vine, but other plants 
as well, would do better, even in a drought, 
than in similar land not drained. In a deep, 
rich soil thoroughly prepared, the roots go 
down deeply not only into the soil, but into 
the sub-soil as well, and pump up the water 
for their use from a much greater depth than 
they could possibly do if they were set in a 
poor, half-drained and half-prepared bed, 
where the roots were compelled to keep near 
the surface and, as a matter of course, suffer 
and die of thirst during the first short drought 
that comes. The object in hoeing for the 
second and third time was threefold. First, 
to destroy every green thing upon the ground, 
except the plants, and, next, to keep the sur¬ 
face of the earth so perfectly loose that it 
would act as a mulch, which it did, and much 
more perfectly, too, (in my opinion) than the 
best straw mulch could have done. The third 
reason is to keep the soil in the most perfect 
condition possible, to be benefited by any and 
every little shower that might come. I have 
often been astonished at the effect produced 
upon plants, so kept, by a little shower that 
would hardly lay the dust in the street for 
more than two hours. The change was al¬ 
most marvelous; while upon a similar soil 
not cared for, the suffering plants would 
scarcely be affected in auy manner. 
What was the result of all this iare and ex¬ 
pense? It was, in a few words as follows: 
The three-and-one-half acres averaged some 
thing more than 250 bushels per acre, and the 
gross sales were $733 per acre. The land is a' 
sandy loam, with a yellow sandy subsoil. It 
was originally a fairly good soil, but by no 
means an extra one, as we count soils in the 
West. Perhaps it is only justice to say that 
the above value represents only the actual 
sales of fruit, those used in the family or 
given away not being counted. There were 
also over 50,000 plants taken from the ground 
in the spriug. As I take but one crop of ber¬ 
ries from a bed, they were turned under and 
handsome crops of cabbage and celery were 
grown upon the same land. Last season there 
was a repetition of the previous year’s drought, 
though it was in some respects still more un¬ 
fortunate. While the vines were in full bloom, 
a cold east wind prevailed for some days, winch 
blasted many of the blossoms. The drought 
was terrible until the first of July; and then 
we had two or three light showers per day 
for three or four days, with the thermometer 
at 100°. The result was that some thousands 
of quarts were literally scalded upon the 
vines in spite of all our efforts to save them. 
Yet with all of these drawbacks, the average 
yield marketed was 223 bushels per acre, and 
the gross receipts a trifle over $500 per acre. 
The cultivation was practically the same as 
the year previous. That portion of the beds 
that had been thoroughly underdrained was, 
as usual, the best. 
I have given an account of these crops on my 
own ground, thinking that a careful statement 
of what had been done during two years of 
what is said to be the most severe drought ever 
known in the Northwest, would be of more 
practical benefit to Rural readers than any 
mere theory that I could put forth. 
As regards irrigation, there is no difficulty 
in growing large crops by it. The question 
of expense is about the only one to be consid¬ 
ered. My machinery for irrigation was built 
when my garden contained only 13 acres. It 
now contains 40 acres, and for the past two 
years we have been transplanting some hun¬ 
dreds of thousands of plants of various kinds 
annually, and it has taken nearly all the water 
that our machinery would raise and distribute 
to water the newly set plants, and keep them 
in good condition until they could care for 
I themselves. Hence we have done but very lit¬ 
tle toward any general artificial watering for 
the past two or three years. Still, these few 
things should be considered by those who are 
contemplating any system of artificial irriga¬ 
tion. It is not equal to water from the clouds. 
It takes more of it to produce any effect than 
if it came from the heavens. For instance, if 
one acre of strawberries is to be watered fairly 
well, it will take at least 1,000 barrels of water 
per acre, and then it should be repeated at 
least once in each week until the raiu comes. 
I have thus briefly described my method of 
cultivating small fruits, and can truly say 
that it answers equally well for othfr crops. 
I will not pretend that it is an entire protec¬ 
tion against drought, or that my crops, either 
of berries or of other garden products, were as 
large and fair as they would have been with 
seasonable rains, for they were not. Still 
they were good, many of them large, while 
upon lands that were neglected, or perhaps 
half cultivated, the general result has been 
unsatisfactory, and as a rule unprofitable to 
the owners of the land. 
Brown Co., Wis. 
lar place the conditions of each neighborhood 
can alone determine. 
Grayson Co., Texas. 
SUGGESTIONS FROM TEXAS 
T. V. MUNSON. 
To help small fruits through the drought 
I have found three things essential, where irri¬ 
gation cannot be employed: 1st. A deep loam- 
ing (sandy preferably) soil upon a red or yel¬ 
low clay subsoil 12 to 24 inches below. 2nd. 
Plant in hills or narrow matted rows—never 
broad and thickly matted. 3rd. Frequent, 
thorough, shallow pulverization, or cultiva¬ 
tion of soil with hoe, rake or cultivator, never 
going over three or four inches deep. In the 
growing season, aud especially at the time 
when drought is likely to commence, the stir¬ 
ring of the surface soil should be done just as 
soon after each rain as the soil can be readily 
pulverized. If the soil bakes aud remains 
cloddy or hard after rains, it needs fibrous 
manure or a mulch of rotting straw and com¬ 
post-heap manure to give porosity to the sur¬ 
face. But the best and cheapest mulch is a 
rich surface soil kept loose and porous by fre¬ 
quent stirring. 
I have not tried artificial irrigation, but I 
think from observations in California and 
some places in Western Texas that where 
water has to be pumped or is limited, sub-irri¬ 
gation is decidedly the cheapest and best. 
Nearly every one is acquainted with the per¬ 
forated cement pipe, laid under soil some 18 
inches by a machine made for the purpose, 
and this is efficient. The pipe is perforated 
every four to eight feet on top with a koife, 
cutting out a plug a third or a half inch in 
diameter,aud then the orifice is covered with a 
cup of cement to prevent the soil from get¬ 
ting in, and then all is covered up to keep it 
full of water till the surrounding soil becomes 
saturated; then there is a cessation for 10 days 
or more. More frequent saturation does not 
produce such good results. 
A good strong well of water, with a good 
wind-mill or a steam pump, will be profitably 
employed almost every year in gardening or 
small-fruit growing where high culture and 
good markets prevail. A reservoir should 
always be used to “temper” the water before 
applying it, if it is pumped from a well. 
A pipe of galvanized sheet-iron, made in 
sections similar to the joints of a stove pipe, 
but only two or three inches iu diameter, and 
joined together by telescoping the same as 
stove-pipe, then laid in trenches, in place of 
cement pipes, is found to be more economical 
and efficient, and is easily taken up and re- 
laid. The saturation takes place from leak¬ 
age around the joints and along the seams. 
It is quite possible to thus irrigate many small 
places throughout the country; but as to 
whether it is profitable or not in auy particu- 
DROUGHT. 
PRECAUTIONS FOR STRAWBERRIES. 
P. M. AUGUR. 
First. A retentive soil is always best for 
the strawberry. If it is inclined to be wet, 
underdrain it thoroughly 3>£ feet deep, re¬ 
move all stones, plow and sub soil 20 inches 
deep. This will give a porous condition to 
the soil, which will prove one of 
the best safeguards against drought. 
A good capillary condition gives na¬ 
ture more power to utilize her forces to sup¬ 
ply water as well as plant-food. And a well 
drained soil resists drought better than a close, 
compact soil. Under the above conditions 
mulch well as soon as the ground becomes 
well frozen with 2X tons per acre of coarse 
hay or its equivalent, and don’t remove this 
until the ground ceases to freeze during nights 
in the spring. Then rake off the mulch and 
cock it around the edges of the strawberry 
patch. At this time, when the ground is suf¬ 
ficiently dry, apply an additional dressing of 
strawberry fertilizer—all the ground will 
bear—use a small-toothed cultivator, cutting 
the surface, clean but shallow; weed out the 
rows carefully, not disturbing the roots more 
than necessary. Let the ground get thor- 
oughly warmed and as the crop becomes well 
set, restore so much of the mulch as may be 
needed to protect the ground from drying un¬ 
der the summer sun, and to keep the crop quite 
clean during ripening. When the above con¬ 
ditions have been well complied with, on most 
soils the crop will not suffer very seriously 
from drought. 
On a sandy soil my plan would be to do all 
the above except underdraim'ng, and mulch 
rather more in summer, and in case of severe 
drought I would irrigate very thoroughly 
once if I bad a natural water supply easily 
available, in which case I would depend upon 
furrows and an incline rather than sprinkling 
with the hose which would ordinarily be too 
expensive. A sprinkling does not amount to 
much, while one or two good wettings would 
suffice. But it is better to have good natural 
conditions in the soil than to supply them by 
much labor, as it largely increases the expense 
of the crop. 
Middlesex Co., Conn. 
IRRIGATION. 
We have no extended system of irrigation iu 
Michigan. About the only work of this kind 
done here is in bay-windows, small gardens 
and yards with sprinkling cans. We have no 
mountain streams because we have no moun¬ 
tains. To irrigate, we would have to raise 
water by artificial means into tanks, and then 
distribute it by pipes; and even this could bo 
done only on a very small scale. Some years 
we have an abundance of rainfall with some to 
spare; and when everybody wants raiu every¬ 
body is predicting rain. Mulching is general¬ 
ly practiced by strawberry growers, but not 
so much on account of drought, as for protec¬ 
tion iu winter and from spring frosts, also to 
keep the fruit clean—free from sand and clay. 
To protect from a long drought, the mulching 
would have to be heavy, and of some other 
material than straw or hay, both of which are 
mostly used here. The best, and in fact the 
only remedy we have against drought is to 
cultivate the ground frequently until we com¬ 
mence to harvest the fruit. On a leachy soil, 
and in an extreme case like last year, this 
would fail. Salt, to conserve moisture, 
would have to be applied to the surface, and 
draw its moisture from the atmosphere. I 
have tried this among pear, plum and quince 
trees, as I thought, with good effect. Seme 
years since I prepared a plot of strawberry 
ground by sowing about four bushels of salt 
per acre, partly as a protection against the 
grub-worm, and for the sake of whatever 
other good it might do. The result was that 
the only crops I got from that tract for three 
years were big, fat grub-worms and lean, dead 
strawberry plants. 
Our timber is being used up so rapidly for 
various purposes and our low, wet lands have 
been tiled so much to carry off the surplus 
water, thus changing the order of nature, that 
our droughts seem to be more frequent and 
more severe and to extend over larger areas 
of country. If this is so, we may have to re¬ 
sort to some system of irrigation, especially for 
gardening and truck-raising. Wind is cheap 
here and in great abundance. When the mill 
is up and the well is down deep enough to af¬ 
ford a bountiful supply of water and there is 
a reservoir of some kind of sufficient capacity 
and high enough to admit of a general dis¬ 
tribution, we could irrigate to a limited 
extent. It might, however, bring the bal¬ 
ance on the wrong side of the ledger. 
Berrien Co., Mich. w. a. smith. 
