382 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
May 31 
paper disks, together with other information concern¬ 
ing the Cabbage maggot, can be found in the tenth 
annual report of the Agricultural Experiment Station 
of Wisconsin; Cornell University Agricultural Experi¬ 
ment Station, Bulletin No. 78, Ithaca, N. and in 
Circular No. 1, series of 1895, of the New York Agri¬ 
cultural Experiment Station, Geneva, N. Y. Any 
of the foregoing methods mean an additional ex¬ 
pense in growing the crop, hence the farmer should 
be sure of receiving a fair price for the cauliflower. 
The majority of cauliflower and early cabbage growers 
think these methods entail not only too much expense 
but also too much labor. A few growers have tried 
the bisulphide carbon treatment, applying same with 
a McGowan injector, but generally the treatment has 
killed more plants than the maggots did. 
Long Island. f. a. sirrine. 
LACK OF FARM LABOR IN OR LEON. 
I have sold my dairy farm and will retire to a five- 
acre tract within the city limits of Portland, Oregon, 
soon, but The R. N.-Y. is one of the few agricultural 
papers I shall continue to take. I am 67 years old 
and in rather poor health. The difficulty of obtaining 
reliable hired help, alluded to in your issue of May 
3, is the principal reason for selling my farm. It 
seems hard to be compelled to do so after having by 
30 years of hard work made a fine farm in the heavy 
fir timber. You ask in the issue of your paper re¬ 
ferred to whether American agriculture is profitable 
enough to enable the average farmer to pay for such 
help as Prof. Waugh refers to on page 318. This 
question, it seems to me, the average farmer could 
answer better if the Professor had stated what the 
ruling wages for such labor are. However, reliable 
hired labor for outdoor work on the farm is not yet 
as hard to obtain as hired labor for housework, and 
hundreds if not thousands of American farmers’ wives 
are overworked, not because their husbands are un¬ 
willing to pay a fair compensation for such labor, 
but because it is simply impossible to obtain it. It 
seems strange that the average girl who consents to 
do housework at all, prefers to work in a city where 
she is treated as a servant to housework on a farm 
where she is considered as a helper and companion; 
yes, in many instances, treated as well as a daughter. 
t. r. 
FUMIGATION FOR SAN JOSE SCALE. 
A few years ago The R. N.-Y. described the tent 
fumigation practiced in California orchards. At that 
time few of our eastern fruit growers believed that 
this method would ever be considered profitable in 
eastern orchards. Yet the pictures on our first page 
show the tents operated in a peach orchard in west¬ 
ern New York as advised by J. J. Barden, horti¬ 
cultural inspector of the State Agricultural Depart¬ 
ment The pictures show the tent ready to drop down 
over the tree, one side lifted for the purpose of drop¬ 
ping the cyanide into the jar of acid and water, and 
the tent as finally closed for fumigation. Mr. Bar¬ 
den writes that the trees are quite large, yet the tents 
give good satisfaction and permit a thorough job. As 
most readers know, hydrocyanic acid gas is used for 
fumigatiag. It is generated by dropping cyanide of 
potash into a mixture of sulphuric acid and water. 
This must be done in a closed place, since the gas 
would quickly escape if unconfined. We feel sure 
that some modification of this tent method will be¬ 
come popular in eastern orchards. In order to make 
it most effective the trees must be headed lower and 
given a compact bush form. 
SENSIBLE TALK ABOUT BEEF TRUSTS. 
There has been considerable talk among the farm¬ 
ers of the West about the so-called beef trust. There 
has been a feeling among farmers for a good many 
years that the packers in the great cities which now 
slaughter the greatest per cent of the cattle, sheep, 
and hogs in the United States, were in some sense 
a combination if not an actual trust. It looks now 
as though the administration were about to probe 
the matter to the bottom and find out whether a 
combination of this kind exists. The price of beef to 
the consumer has been largely advanced quite re¬ 
cently, and there is a feeling among beef eaters that 
this advance is beyond that which the supply justi¬ 
fies. On the other hand, it must be understood that 
the price of all kinds of meat on foot is now very 
high, and that in addition the supply is less in point 
of number, still less in point of weight, and still less 
in point of quality. There are not so many cattle 
and hogs; they are a good deal lighter in weight, and 
they dress out lighter in proportion to gross weight. 
This justifies a very considerable advance in the 
price of meats. On the other hand, a good many of 
the practices of this trust, combination, or whatever 
else it may be called, are open to the gravest criti¬ 
cism. This combination has practically annihilated 
the butcher. The butchers have been reduced to cut¬ 
ters, and there is not a little evidence that this has 
been done by the usual method of the trust. That 
is, if a butcher undertakes to buy cattle of the 
farmer and kill them, a shop is started near him, and 
meats sold so cheap that he is forced out of the busi¬ 
ness. I was greatly impressed with the fact, that 
while the English farmers get much higher prices for 
their stock on foot, they were obliged to sell their 
meats in competition with the meats of the American 
packers. This would seem to indicate that the pack¬ 
ers were taking all the profits In the business in this 
country and giving the men who produce the cattle 
the smallest amount possible. It would be but hu¬ 
man nature which, after all, is a weak commodity, 
if not in many cases a bad one, that the buyers for 
these concerns in the packing centers should not bid 
against each other, but exercise a continuous bear 
pressure to keep the price of live stock down to the 
lowest point except when speculation in the product 
made it to their interest to advance prices artificially 
for the time. d- 
Iowa. _ 
A STEAM SPRAYING OUTFIT. 
My steam outfit, shown in Fig. 149, consists of 
boiler, 1% horse-power, weight, when full of water, 
600 pounds; steam pump, 25 pounds; and engine, 226 
pounds. The engine runs the agitator, which is con¬ 
nected wan pulley in center of tank. The cut shows 
the boiler and steam pump. Opposite the latter is 
mounted the engine, and there is a sidewalk built 
out on that side of the platform so that the driver 
can walk back to engine, pump and boiler. The en¬ 
gine is kept moving constantly. Two men stand on 
STEAM SPRAYING OUTFIT. Fig. 149. 
the derrick, each using a bamboo, brass-lined pole, 
fitted with stop-cocks and three Vermorel nozzles. 
By closing the spray valve from the pump and open¬ 
ing another valve I can fill the tank with my power 
from any stream, and but 10 minutes are required 
to do this. The steam pump is more powerful than 
any hand pump can be, and we have no difficulty in 
reaching the top of our tallest tree with the Vermorel 
nozzle. For fuel apple wood cut into stove lengths 
is used, and a wheelbarrow full will last half a day. 
I drive and look after the power, and two of my men 
do the spraying. The wagon is a 3% axle, four-inch 
tire. Fuel box and tool box are mounted on the rear 
of platform, which is composed of four 4x4 sticks 
and slanted so in front as to allow turning to the ut¬ 
most capacity of the wagon. The weight is evenly 
distributed, and there is plenty of room to move 
around. I have used this outfit on steep hills and on 
rough ground, but it has been staunch and reliable, 
and the little engine has been running without skip 
or break. My suction hose goes into the top of tank 
and is boxed to prevent collision with the agitator. 
It has generally taken me about eight or 10 days to 
do my spraying the first time with a hand pump. 
I did it thoroughly this year in 3% days. A. e. b. 
FRUIT IN SOUTHERN OHIO. 
Early apples will be scarce, as there was little 
bloom. Rome Beauty with us and several adjoining 
orchards that have had good care are loaded with 
fruit free from insects and fungi or as near it as I 
ever saw, but they have been sprayed. Other varie¬ 
ties are going to be scarce. I hear people saying their 
apples are all dropping off, but later they may see 
enough left to make a fair crop. The bloom was 
heavy, a good part of it had to drop and they may 
think because part of it fell that all is going. Fre¬ 
quently if a few apples can be seen there will be 
plenty to make a crop where they have been sprayed 
and freed from the foes of the fruit grqYfffif. Some 
of our old trees that have had three crops in succes¬ 
sion are not heavily laden this year, but all the 
younger trees are starting a nice crop, even those 
that are only large enough to bear a peck or bushel 
in orchards set but three or four years. 
About 10 times as many people are spraying this 
Spring as ever before. I look for this to be a year 
to boom the fruit business in southern Ohio and con¬ 
vince the negligent that it pays to take good care of 
the trees and spray as regularly as they would culti¬ 
vate a crop of corn. Probably some young trees will 
need thinning this Summer. Why can’t part of the 
crop be picked in the Summer and the remainder 
when the fruit ripens, making the labor bill about 
the same? Theoretically, there will be about the same 
quantity of fruit of better quality, handled at less 
cost at picking time, and worth more money, and the 
trees will be left in condition to produce a crop the 
following year. The peach crop will be light when 
the good fruit ought to be on the market, but the 
early kinds are as full as ever. Plums are extra full 
and in the chicken yard they are almost free from 
stings. We shall thin them in a few days. Pears are 
only fair, and trees blighting. There is some twig 
blight on apples also. In my estimation the dust 
spray is not equal to the liquid. We need rain badly 
and water is not plentiful for spraying. u. t. cox. 
Lawrence Co., 0._ 
SUGGESTIONS FOR FIRE INSURANCE. 
An article on Grange insurance in the issue of May 
10 makes me wish to say a few words on the subject 
of insurance practices which seem to me to need 
mending. There is, so far as I know, no limit to the 
valuation which may be put upon property for the 
purpose of insurance. The practice of insurance 
agents who get their pay from a percentage of prem¬ 
iums is to place as high a valuation as the owner can 
be induced to pay premium for. The policies are 
often written for more than the true value. As the 
law excuses the insurance companies from paying in 
case of loss any more than the real loss, the com¬ 
panies are not solicitous that their agents shall not 
over-value. The result is often the “friction of a 
$3,00C insurance against a $1,000 risk,” which some¬ 
times sets the buildings on fire. Such practices are 
conducive to and productive of dishonesty and crime, 
and it is too bad that the conditions are allowed to 
exist. I do not think any person should be allowed to 
have his property insured for its full value. He 
should have some pecuniary interest in guarding 
against loss to insure his taking proper care. 
As a remedy for present conditions I would suggest 
that insurance be allowed for only 80 per cent of the 
value, and that valuation for insurance be copied from 
the assessors’ books of valuation for taxation. I would 
have the assessors’ duties extended to include the 
valuing of all property which is insurable. I think 
such a rule would prevent the frictions which cause 
fires, and it would be of service in another way. 
There are many cases where owners might help the 
assessors to place a higher valuation on property. 
There are many fine residences now insured for much 
more than they are taxed. Increase of tax valuation 
would help to lower the tax rate. This subject needs 
more room for proper treatment than you could spate 
in your columns, but I have said so much hoping it 
may be seed for thought, and, possibly, fruit. 
Massachusetts. __ morse. 
New Use for Worn-Out Connecticut Farms 
One hundred and twenty-five thousand baskets of 
peaches were shipped from Wallingford in the season of 
1901. To this number should be added those sold In the 
nearby towns and cities by those farmers who have 
small orchards of a few hundred trees. Most of the crop 
was consigned to dealers in Springfield, Providence and 
Boston, and there reshipped to points in New Hamp¬ 
shire and Vermont. The failure to deal directly with 
the consumers and the lack of promptness on the part 
of the railroads and express companies was a source of 
some loss. Labor Day coming in the middle of the sea¬ 
son brings another loss to the growers, for practically 
three days’ delay in shipping is very disastrous to per¬ 
ishable fruit like peaches. J. Norris Barnes heads the 
list of shippers with 46,000 baskets. His orchards were 
a fine sight. The older orchard of 15,000 trees stretches 
in long straight rows along the crest of the hill, and 
every tree seemed to have all the fruit it could well 
hold, though they were carefully thinned during the 
Summer. From this orchard the country to the north, 
west and south stretches out in a grand panorama of hill 
and valley, river, hamlet and city, all outlined by trap 
dikes. The new management of the Consolidated Rail¬ 
road is leading the growers to hope that they will be 
able to get this year's crop into the New York market, 
and the last annual town meeting voted to keep the 
roads, from the orchards to the cars, in good condition. 
The orchards on which Wallingford’s peaches are 
raised are all located on stony hillsides the former graz¬ 
ing ground of sheep, too rough for successful farming, 
producing small return above the taxes and Interest. 
There are hundreds of acres here, growing up to cedars, 
which need only patience, perseverance and a small cap¬ 
ital, to produce as fine peaches as any already raised. 
The location and climate are eminently suited to fruit. 
The Hanging Hills form a barrier on the north, the 
Durham range and Pistipaug on the east, and Mt. Car¬ 
mel on the west, while the opening to the south gives an 
easy access to the sea breezes. The old alluvial meadows 
left by the Connecticut River, when it emptied at New 
Haven, long ago, by bad farming became an arid desert, 
which now stretches much of the way from New Haven 
to Meriden. In places it has been reclaimed. The Barnes 
Brothers, among others, have proved that a careful study 
of conditions will again make It productive, and they 
have, to-day, hundreds of thousands of peach trees all 
grown in their extensive nursery on the edge of this 
desert. With thousands of trees already bearing, a nur¬ 
sery ready to furnish thrifty young trees, a cold storage 
plant and prospective evaporator in Wallingford, the 
outlook for 1902 is good. R - C- 
