718 
October 25 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
their comparative merits in flavor and keeping I am 
obliged to wait until the specimens I have in my cel¬ 
lar are in proper condition to examine. All those with 
whom I talked about the fruit of the variety who have 
tested it are sure that it is handsomer, keeps better 
and tastes better than Gano or Ben Davis, but other¬ 
wise they ai’e all about the same. 
H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
HEATING A SMALL CONSERVATORY. 
On page 672 I note the inquiry of N. J. about mode 
of heating a small conservatory. I have had nearly 10 
years’ experience in heating a plant house measuring 
about 8x17 feet, and can confidently recommend my 
method. I use a hot water circulation in iron pipes, 
and the heating is done by kerosene lamps under two 
tin boilers. The boilers are bell-shaped and set up 
with mouth down. The hot air, after having done its 
work of heating the water, is controlled by a tin 
drum at the top of which is a smoke pipe, by which 
all fumes are carried off. The lamps were made to 
order by the tinsmith, and are fitted with common 
flat-wick burners; four of them can be placed under 
each boiler. Thus in the severest weather there are 
eight lamps burning, and they may burn 25 cents’ 
worth of oil in a day. The plant-house walls were 
built with care to make them warm, and I have a 
system of screens (made by stretching cotton cloth on 
wooden frames) which I put up every cold night un¬ 
der the glass and take down in the morning—this op¬ 
eration taking not over five or six minutes each day. 
Under these circumstances my heating system has 
worked admirably, and has never failed. At four 
o’clock in the afternoon I can light as many lamps 
as I think necessary, and leave them with the most 
perfect assurance that I shall find everything right 
r.ext morning or the middle of the forenoon if I am 
so late as that. If I were to build another house, or 
two or three small ones I think I should use this same 
system of heating. I will give you further details if 
you desire. c. o. a. 
East Orland, Me._ 
CURRANT JELLY MAKING. 
AN OPINION FROM INDIANA.—Regarding the 
question on page 703 I would consider 300 bushels 
of currants per acre a fair yield. Allowing 2.722 
plants to the acre, that would make about 3% quarts 
per plant, not allowing anything for vacancies, more 
cr less of which are bound to appear. I do not know' 
of any standard weight for a bushel of currants; I 
would consider, however, that 56 pounds was pretty 
high. Currants usually sell here in the market at $2 
to $3 per bushel. Our best and most 
reliable nurserymen sell first-class 
two-year-old plants at from $20 to $30 
per 1,000, depending on the variety. 
My opinion is that our friend would 
better be sure of his man before invest¬ 
ing so largely. j. troop. 
Indiana Exp. Station. 
A DUBIOUS PROPOSITION.—It 
looks to me as though that promoter 
of a jelly business might easily he a 
fraud; he will probably demand that 
all plants be purchased of him, and at 
a price higher than they can be bought 
for elsewhere. Good plants can be had 
from reliable nurserymen for $20 to 
$25 per 1,000 according to age, and 
probably for much less in large quan¬ 
tities. As to the weight of a bushel of 
currants I am sure 56 pounds is en¬ 
tirely too high. I would think 40 
pounds much nearer correct. Under fa¬ 
vorable conditions, currants sometimes 
yield enormously, but it is not an easy 
matter to estimate what would be a 
fair yield per plant for the period of 
seven years from the time it was plant¬ 
ed, as so much depends upon its care 
and surrounding conditions. I would 
think a good healthy bush properly 
cared for should average four quarts per year for the 
first seven years of its life; how r ever, this may be too 
high or too low, as so much depends upon the condi¬ 
tions under which the plants are growm, and upon 
“the man behind the hoe.” Unless the price of jelly 
is very much higher out in Indiana than it is here, 
I don’t see how this promoter can afford to pay six 
cents per quart for his fruit; and besides, it would be 
unnecessary to pay such prices, for the fruit could be 
bought for less. If this promoter had made me this 
same offer I would be very suspicious of the whole 
scheme, and would do considerable investigating be¬ 
fore I bargained with him; then I would demand an 
ironclad contract with security that was unquestion¬ 
ably safe. The whole matter looks to me a very safe 
one to leave alone. wir. it. ,sklt.t. man. 
New Jersey. 
TAX ABATEMENT FOR WATERING TROUGH 
Can you give me the law on watering troughs as it 
relates to any compensation or privilege for keeping up 
a trough, or is there no such law on the statutes? The 
custom here has been to allow a man three days on his 
road work. We have now voted to pay the road tax in 
money rather than in work. How is the man with his 
trough going to get his pay? • f. g. 
Naples, N. Y. 
The following copy of the law is furnished by the 
Attorney General: “Section 48. Abatement of tax 
for watering trough. The commissioners of highways 
shall annually abate $3 from the highway tax of any 
inhabitant of a highway district who shall construct 
on his own land therein, and keep in repair a watering 
trough beside the public highway, well supplied with 
fresh water, the surface of which shall be two or more 
feet above the level of the ground, and easily acces¬ 
sible for horses with vehicles; but the number of such 
watering troughs in the district and their location 
shall be designated by the commissioners. In a town 
in which the highways are worked or repaired by the 
money system of taxation, the commissioners of high¬ 
ways shall annually issue to each person to whom 
such an abatement is allowed, a certificate specifying 
the amount thereof.” 
HOW TO HANDLE PEACH PITS. 
Peach pits should be buried on the south side of a 
fence or building, with the earth well mixed in with 
the pits. Put them from four to six inches below the 
surface of the ground. In April dig them out, when 
the larger proportion of the pits will crack open, and 
the meat of the nit will drop out of the shell. Keep 
the pits from drying and plant, covering about one to 
114 inch deep. In this way almost every pit will come 
up unless worms eat the sprout off before it gets 
through the ground. edwin tioyt. 
Connecticut. 
We usually get in our peach seed toward the end of 
November and cover three to four inches deep, plac¬ 
ing the pits two to three inches apart. This is what 
we call “bedding out” the seed. In the Spring we 
usually find a fair percentage of the seed cracked and 
sprouting; what does not crack we crack with ham¬ 
mer, using care not to bruise the kernel. The seeds 
are then planted in rows where they are to grow, and 
are budded in August following the planting. The 
young trees should be given good cultivation and kept 
free from weeds. h. s. wiley. 
New York. 
MR. HITCHINGS ANSWERS QUESTIONS. 
MORE ABOUT THE MULCHED ORCHARD. 
Mice, Mulch, Manure and Other Matters. 
We have seldom discussed any subject that has 
called out more questions than the recent description 
of the mulched orchard of Grant Hitchings. These 
questions were referred to Mr. Hitchings, and answers 
to the more important of them are given here: 
I have been interested in Mr. Hitchings’s mulching 
method. I have one orchard I would try, but am afraid 
of mice. Do they trouble his trees? We have the most 
we ever had this year. I have cocks of hay standing now 
in one small orchard to gather them under and catch 
them if T could. v. j. m. 
Medway, N. Y. 
“To guard from damage of mice one needs to re¬ 
move the grass and mulch for about a foot from the 
trees, and throw two shovelfuls of fresh dug soil close 
around the trees. Do this in November, and two or 
three times during the year. Loosen the soil up 
with a hoe if needed. Mice are fearful of danger, and 
are not likely to cross this fresh-stirred soil. If they 
do cross take building paper and wrap close around 
the trees, tying with twine. Remove the paper in the 
Spring. One dollar’s worth of paper will protect 400 
trees. These mice do us a service by destroying in¬ 
jurious insects, they feeding upon them to some ex¬ 
tent, while insects are in the pupa state.” 
“Do you recommend your method to apple growers 
in western New York?” 
“If they couldn’t get a thicker sod than I saw in 
Orleans County this Fall they would need to draw ma¬ 
nure or straw to help out the grass in order to he ef¬ 
fective. This applies more especially to their older 
orchards. In a young orchard they could accumulate 
vegetable matter while orchard is growing, and I be¬ 
lieve they would get results.” 
% 
“Does Mr. Hitchings use manure or fertilizer at 
all?” 
“I have used manure only as an experiment. It al¬ 
ways causes the grass to grow more vigorously, and 
the trees also responded, but the gain I concluded 
was not enough to warrant the expense. This would 
apply more particularly to a young orchard where you 
have considerable surface to mow over in which to 
gather the cut grass to mulch with.” 
“How about fertilizer?” 
“My observation of fertilizers in general is that if 
you commence using them you must follow it up each 
year, for they act like a stimulant, and when the ef¬ 
fect is gone your trees will suffer more than the ones 
not treated. Of course one would be justified in using 
them in order to establish a good stand of grass. My 
idea is to furnish the trees with a 
steady diet of plant food, just enough 
to keep them healthy, and not be ex¬ 
travagant in using up vegetable mat¬ 
ter.” 
“How can you tell when the tree has 
food enough?” 
“The foliage and general condition 
of a tree is my guide in this matter, 
and really I am surprised at the re¬ 
sults obtained with a very light mulch. 
It becomes a matter of good judgment 
on the part of the owner of an orchard 
how much to feed his trees. One year 
our hay was a failure in our regular 
rotation, so we saved the grass in the 
orchard and used straw in the place of 
it. I think it was five years ago that I 
used the manure; shall try some hen 
manure this Fall on some of the 
Wealthy that bore so heavily, to see 
whether it will help them to recuper¬ 
ate. Trees grown near rocks do not 
show marked improvement over those 
mulched with vegetable matter. I 
have not dug out any stones since 
orchard was set; have sunk a good 
many so as to be out of the way.” 
“Which will come in bearing first, 
sod or cultivated orchard?” 
“It is my experience that a sod-planted orchard will 
come into bearing much sooner than a cultivated one. 
The reason for this is your tree is better supplied with 
plant food during the time fruit buds are forming in 
the Fall, by reason of the mulch, and restricted to 
some extent by growing grass in the Spring when leaf 
buds are forming. Untrimmed trees also tends to 
early bearing.” 
“What about danger from fire?” 
“We have many times burnt the brush in the or¬ 
chard when we would cut out an old tree, and never 
had any trouble. The grass would be wet underside, 
so fire wouldn’t run. Those old trees 100 years old 
that have not been cultivated in over 80 years at least 
are a good argument that cultivation is not needed.” 
MR. GRANT HITCHINGS AND ONE OF HIS LOW APPLE TREES. Fig. 293. 
