1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
FENCE CORNER AND SEEDLING PEACHES. 
TREES WITH TAP ROOTS—I think it is very im¬ 
portant to know why the “fence-corner” tree is 
hardier and longer-lived than others, so the cause 
can be applied to the orchard trees. Nature designed 
the peach tree to have a tap root, and when the tree 
is forced to grow without it, it appears to me the tree 
Is certainly injured. My experience has taught me 
this. I have had peach trees growing beside each 
other (16 feet apart), the one with a tap root, the 
other without; the former were the larger trees, gave 
the best fruit, lived longer, and were hardiest in bud. 
I know of no difference except the tap root. The rea¬ 
son is plain to see. You will not find a nurseryman 
who will agree that the tap root amounts to anything. 
How stupid Nature must be, to grow a tap root on a 
tree when it is of no account or benefit to the tree! 
Rocky Hill, N. J. wm. it. skillman. 
R. N.-Y.—Our experience indicates that wnen the 
roots are severely pruned at planting a tap root is 
formed. 
EXPERIENCE WITH SEEDLING PEACHES.— 
When I planted my first commercial orchard I was 
possessed with the idea that seedling trees would 
piove more hardy than those which had been budded, 
and acting on that theory I planted the seed for the 
trees, selecting a variety which was said to reproduce 
itself. The larger part of the orchard was so grown, 
but it was a big mistake. The trees which grew from 
pits taken from seedling trees did reproduce their 
kind fairly true, but such variation as there was was 
nearly always retrograde, and I cut out many trees 
because the fruit was not desirable. The pits from 
fruit of trees which had been budded varied indefi¬ 
nitely; mostly it was poor. But I found the variation 
of seedlings was not in fruit only. Many of the va¬ 
riety which reproduced itself as to fruit, proved to be 
less hardy, and I removed them because the tops died 
in Winter. As a whole, the seedling trees were less 
hardy than budded trees which I bought. I have 
given my experience with peach trees, as I imagine 
the same principle as to variation in fruit and hardi¬ 
ness may apply to both peach and apple. m. 
Massachusetts. 
“FENCE-CORNER” PEACH TREE.—It is no har¬ 
dier than a cultivated one. I have a peach orchard 
of 10 acres. I grew all these trees; budded them on 
seedlings from pits of the best varieties, such as Bar¬ 
nard, Crosby, Goldendrop, etc. I set these seedlings 
18 feet each way, where they now stand, and budded 
them in June, 1895. The varieties mainly were Tri¬ 
umph, Alexander, Elberta, Goldendrop arid Crosby, 
and this is the first year my Goldendrop has failed 
to produce a few peaches since set in 1895. I have 
seedlings standing all around in various places, and 
they have not proved to be any hardier than Crosby 
or Goldendrop. It is not a fact that a “fence-corner” 
peach tree is hardier than a budded one. All the dif¬ 
ference is in the conditions. Take a “fence-corner” 
peach tree and give it high culture in the orchard, 
make it produce a tremendous growth full of sap, and 
let it go into Winter without Fall pruning, and you 
will have the same conditions as the budded tree, 
whereas the “fence-corner” tree generally stands in 
sod, and has always every year of its growth been 
slow, and goes into Wintei with very little growth, 
hence requires very little sap to sustain it. The 
Champion is as hardy as any “fence-corner” tree. 
Indiana. f. m. b. 
DRY-POWDER “SPRAYING” IN FLORIDA. 
This is our first season’s experience in using dry 
powder—previously using spray pumps that have 
been very hard on both man and team, and our ex¬ 
perience so far pleases us very much with the powder 
gun. Used while dew is still on the leaves, or after a 
rain, the work is better than from any spray I have 
ever seen. The Jumbo gun makes a perfect cloud of 
dust reaching both sides of every leaf. The effect is 
so much better under those conditions that we pay 
the extra price for night work, when we do not have 
enough time in day, but even when leaves are dry 
more of the dust sticks than one would expect. The 
spray pump to give the mist-like spray that one 
must have for good work must be powerful and kept 
in first-class condition; hose and nozzles the same. 
I do not feel that my experience has been long enough 
to entitle me to advise anyone further than to say 
the gun is very well worth trying. Our way in spray¬ 
ing is to use three carts—two with three men each. 
One man drives and pumps and two handle lines of 
hose. The third tank is filled and brought to spray¬ 
ers ready when either of the other carts is empty. 
The tanks holding 100 gallons make a heavy load 
when stops and fresh start are so frequent. It has 
taken this rig of seven men and three mules 12 days 
to go over grove, and now two men do it in four days, 
but taking about 500 pounds more material than when 
used in solution. The saving is very large, and work 
so far as I can see fully as good; I think better. In 
applying Bordeaux Mixture, though, I do not think 
the dry quite as good as the spray, still it does good 
work, and others no doubt are sometimes situated as 
one piece of my grove is now. I could not get on to it 
with cart, but can use the gun all right, and a little 
more experience will no doubt help to make dry as 
lasting as the standard Bordeaux. When using the 
dry Bordeaux we mix anything else we want to add 
with it; sulphur for rust, mite and spider, Paris-green 
for grasshoppers, and leaf-eating insects, etc. In 
working in an old grove of large trees, even if quite 
a wind was blowing, the waste would not be large, 
as this powder is so light it floats and would reach 
the next row of trees. We furnish men with Lamb 
CALIFORNIA PLUM CARRIER. Fie. 205. 
eye shields; they only cost 25 cents, and protect the 
eyes. Altogether, the change to dry method has been 
very satisfactory indeed. For scale, though, of course 
one has to use the pump, the kerowater, which per¬ 
fectly mixes the materials in the nozzle, and so saves 
labor making emulsions. f. g. sampson. 
Florida. 
CALIFORNIA PLUM PACKAGE. 
One of the best choice-fruit packages seen in this 
market is that in which California plums are received, 
Fig. 205, bottom upward to show method of ventila¬ 
tion. It is 16x16x4% inches inside measurement. The 
ends are % inch pine. The top consists of two pieces 
7 y 2 inches wide and 3-16 inch thick, and the bottom 
and sides are slatted with % inch material iy 2 inch 
wide, four on the bottom and two on each side, leav¬ 
ing spaces 1 y 2 to two inches wide. Two strong cleats 
%xy 2 inch hold the top firmly and permit a circula¬ 
tion of air where the packages are piled up; and 40 
1% inch wire nails fasten the package together. The 
fruit is packed in four baskets of the form shown. 
They are 6% inches square at the bottom, eight at the 
top, and four inches deep, holding a trifle less than 
three quarts. They are made of two splints 1-20 inch 
BEAK OF FEEDING CICADA INSERTED IN BARK. Fie. 206. 
thick, ventilated at the corners and sides. A half¬ 
inch strip of tin pinched tightly around the top gives 
the basket a surprising firmness. Each basket weighs 
iy 2 ounce, and the whole package about three pounds. 
ABSENTEE POTATO BEETLES.—Not long since you 
inquired whether there is any place in the United States 
where the striped Colorado Potato beetle is not found. 
We used to have any amount of them up to within 
three years ago. Last year 1 only saw one, and that a 
full grown one. This year I have seen only three young 
ones. It would seem that the cold Winter cleaned them 
out three years ago. Potatoes bid fair to be an extra 
heavy crop here. Oats are too heavy and are falling 
down before heading out. The corn crop is backward 
owing to too much rain and cold weather. Grass grows 
well, but hay will be scarce owing to the meadows 
being so thin. No wheat is raised around here. Every 
farmer buys his iiour; oats, corn anci grass being the 
principal crops. M. M. MAHTIN. 
Boone Co,, 111. __ 
5 T I 
MODERN USE OF CEMENT IN BUILDING. 
Handsome building blocks that are hard to distin¬ 
guish from stone are now being made in commercial 
quantities for building business fronts and dwellings. 
It is being thus used very freely for foundation work 
in all kinds of dwellings, barns and cribs. The use of 
Portland cement has grown at the rate of a million 
barrels a year for a few years past. From 1899 to 
1900 the gain was 3,000,000 barrels. The name Port¬ 
land cement does not indicate its place of manufac¬ 
ture, but the character of the article. The rise in price 
and increasing scarcity of building material have 
called loudly for its increased use. Its most unique 
use at present is in building blocks. These are made 
in molds by tamping and the forms are removed, al¬ 
lowing the block to harden while the forms are used 
elsewhere. If one will take 100 pounds of sand or 
gravel and mix 20 pounds of cement with it, and wet 
and mold it, the block will not fill quite as large a 
space as the gravel alone did before the mixing. This 
is because the finely-ground cement lodges in the 
openings and the whole mass is tamped. The strength 
of the concrete block depends very much on the 
coarseness of the gravel or stone. The coarser the 
better, except that the openings should be filled with 
sharp sand or gravel. If the gravel when thrown in 
water makes the water dirty it should be washed. 
This dust on it is one thing that makes the block 
weaker if made of gravel than of crushed stone. 
The foundation to my office was made last year of 
bowlders and gravel, five parts bowlders the size of 
one’s fist and smaller, three parts gravel and one 
Portland cement. This is quite dilute, but the rocks 
were the same as a hollow in the block so far as the 
proportion of cement was concerned, so that this 
wall was as strong as though it had been of gravel in 
the proportion of one to four or five. One can crush a 
hard brick against it now and scarcely scar it. The 
cement block machines are hardly machines at all. 
They are molds so made that the sides can be easily 
removed and false bottoms replaced. The secret in 
any “machine” for construction of concrete blocks is 
in its being convenient for handling the heavy stuff 
and in its being true and of iron, instead of wood, so 
that it will not warp or spring. The machines now on 
the market seem high in price, some charging as 
high as $600, when the castings probably didn’t cost 
$25. A good machine makes a remarkably perfect 
block when properly handled. 
The main secret of making them is to have a good 
Portland cement ground very fine. It should always 
be bought subject to inspection and tested. In test¬ 
ing do not take a number of samples from different 
bags and mix them, but test each bag or barrel sep¬ 
arately. One hardly needs to test every barrel, but it 
is reasonably safe to inspect each and to test several 
in a carload. The next secret that will not be neg¬ 
lected without fatal results is to see that the cement 
and roughness are well mixed. Of course it is mixed 
dry. There are several machines that mix by steam 
power; probably the best sort is that which slowly 
revolves a barrel-shaped receiver, but for small jobs 
one may use a wide hoe. It is helpful to have a two- 
inch hole in the hoe. A shovel is also necessary. After 
well mixing let one wet slowly with a garden sprink¬ 
ler, in small jobs, while others mix till all is fairly 
uniformly dampened. It is not now customary to 
mix as vet as formerly, especially in molds where it 
is desirable to use the sides repeatedly. The mold 
is filled half full and tamped with iron pestles. This 
should be carefully done, so as to fill out every corner 
and edge and to drive out the air. The mixture is 
not wet enough to stick to the hand, and after being 
set out to harden, which takes four days till hard 
enough to use, it should be sprinkled often to avoid 
evaporation from surface and corners, reducing the 
water content till it will not harden well and may 
crumble. Blocks get very much harder all along for 
several weeks, and improve for years. These blocks 
are often made 30 inches by 8x10. Such a block takes 
the place of about 40 bricks. A 10-inch wall is equal 
in strength to a 13-inch brick wall, and does not need 
the mud coat of plaster inside nor paint outside. One 
can replace the face side of the machine with an or¬ 
namental side of any kind. Sometimes colored con¬ 
crete is used. The writer has seen several founda¬ 
tions and a few buildings made wholly of these con¬ 
crete blocks, and they have a fine appearance. Its 
cost is considerably less than brick, especially if lay¬ 
ing is considered. The blocks are usually hollow, and 
a hollow wall is warmer and cooler and drier. In 
fact, the use of concrete in building is coming fast. 
The writer is preparing to build a home of these 
blocks in a shady place, and will build the walls above 
the roof; will make a fiat roof and put a roof garden 
on it. This is the finest place for evening entertain¬ 
ments, and by stretching a pavilion one can sleep on 
the roof in extremely hot weather. E. H. cqllins. 
Central Indiana. 
