542 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July 29 
used to keep us awake nights thinking how we could 
leave our berries long enough to hoe them out, 
now have a hard time of it, and only here and there 
a plant survives. This hot, dry weather, the flea- 
beetles are thick, and the only remedy I know of is 
to work in the crop. The weeder stirs up a dust, and 
drives them off, perhaps kills them; at least, there 
is less apparent damage. One small experiment plot 
of over 100 varieties, planted in April, were hand- 
hoed, and being in bloom, were laid by. After two 
weeks of drought, I found them turning yellow, 
leaves covered with flea-beetles, and the last new 
growth wilted by the attacks of a small yellow fly. 
My pride in them received quite a shock, and the 
contrast between them and a field of June Eating 
which had been weeded twice, was startling. As 
large as they were, I put on the weeder at once. A 
cultivator would not stir the soil in the hill, or 
knock off the flies. A few leaves were torn off, and 
the vines were pushed over. When done, it looked 
as though a heavy wind had struck it, and “mopped 
the earth.” 
“I guess you have finished them now,” was the com¬ 
ment of the men, and “New-fangled ideas, books and 
papers will make a fool of a fairly good man,” was 
an observation (overheard by me) from two passing 
neighbors. I fully intended to take my hoe, and try 
to straighten them up, but could not for two days. 
When I went to do it, 1 was astonished. They were 
all straightened up, no cracks in the soil, a darker 
green, but few fleas and flies. The combing was as 
magical in its effect on them as on a school boy; 
they look quite spruce. 
ON STEEP HILLS.—I started in on three acres of 
very stony soil, and noticed that the stones pushed 
the tops over considerably, some remaining on them. 
There were many half-inch weeds near the lower 
edge of the hill, and the land is so steep that a cul¬ 
tivator run close enough to cut those weeds would 
tear the soil away, and expose the potato roots; so 
I was obliged to use the weeder or a hoe. The weed¬ 
er would slide some, and several times I stopped and 
concluded that I was doing more damage than good; 
but we had a big berry crop to harvest, haying to do, 
wheat about fit to cut, and I guess the hard work 
of toiling day after day, with a hoe, decided it, and 
I went on regardless of consequences. Two days af¬ 
ter, there was not a trace of damage. 
Driving across the rows, on the beet bed, with 
one-third of the teeth removed where 10 or more 
pounds of seed were used, materially reduced the 
labor of thinning. Where evenly drilled and land is 
in fine condition, four pounds are enough; the rest 
is paid for want of care. 
Our flat-turnip seed was covered with the weeder, 
and if too thick it will be used to thin them and 
kill the weeds. 
We mowed our old strawberry beds, covered them 
with earth by plowing between the rows, and har¬ 
rowed them down level. They will start new foliage 
from the roots, and the bed will be full of small 
weeds. The weeder will be used twice per week 
from now till Fall, and not much else will have to 
be done. I could not get along without the weeder, 
yet if one is a few days behind time, it is abso¬ 
lutely useless as a weed killer, and time spent in 
using it is wasted. " c. e. chapman. 
Tompkins Co.. N. Y. 
ALL SORTS. 
PROTECT THE HORSES.—During fly time, some 
protection should be given the horses while at work, 
as well as in the stable. Nothing is cheaper or bet¬ 
ter than a large bran sack used as a fly sheet. Sim¬ 
ply rip it down the seams, and tie it with stout 
pieces of cord to the harness, and also behind to 
the breeching or traces to prevent its blowing off. 
Where one cannot afford ear nets, two or three twigs 
with the leaves on may be fastened to the top of the 
bridle, and they will keep the flies off the head. In 
the stable, some pieces of sacking may be tacked 
up to the windows, and another at the door. This 
should be fastened at the top and one side, and if 
two pieces are used and the second tacked along the 
other side, it will cover the opening better, and 
brush off the flies as the horses enter. At night, 
the pieces should be hooked back to allow for a 
draft, and to cool the stable. e. c. p. 
CURRENT-WHEEL WATER POWER.—I would 
like to say in reply to H. G. P., of Monterey, N. Y., 
page 512, that he could use a current wheel in all 
probability under the conditions named, and one of 
16 feet diameter would certainly give him 20-horse- 
power. This wheel should have paddles from six to 
eight feet long and 12 inches wide, according to 
volume of water, and should be placed in the lower 
end of a flume, so as to get the benefit of all the fall 
in stream. The paddles should fit close to sides of 
flume, and a wing dam at upper end of flume should 
be added. This wing dam could be made of stones 
thrown loosely in the stream, and of a height that 
would force a part of the stream towards the flume. 
A man here has a wheel of this kind in use where 
the fall is not over half an inch in 20 feet, and he 
pumps water for house and cuts feed for a horse— 
probably a full horse power. Two feet fall in 20 is a 
fair-sized stream, and would give a great deal of 
power, properly harnessed. Current wheels are not 
novelties in the West, many being used for irrigation. 
Elkhart, Ind. s. e. b. 
KILLING GRASSHOPPERS.—Every year we have 
questions about the best methods for killing grass¬ 
hoppers or locusts. In the West, these grasshoppers 
appear in immense numbers, and the agricultural 
colleges have been obliged to give a good deal of 
study to the matter. The Nebraska Experiment 
Station sends out a bulletin dealing with this sub¬ 
ject. It appears that, by all odds, the best imple¬ 
ment for killing these grasshoppers is the hopper- 
dozer or kerosene pan, a picture of which is shown 
at Fig. 209. This is made of stove-pipe iron, bu turn¬ 
ing the sides and ends. This leaves a long, flat pan 
about 4 inches deep. This is mounted on wooden 
runners as shown in the picture. A piece of cloth 
is stretched on a frame at the back of the pan. 
When ready for business, this pan is partly filled 
with water, and a quantity of kerosene oil poured on 
top of that. On level ground, no cross pieces are 
necessary. On sloping ground, the contents should 
be divided as shown in the picture, as otherwise the 
water would run to one end. These hopper-dozers 
are made of any desired length up to 18 feet. They 
are hauled along over the ground scooping up the 
grasshoppers, which fly and strike the cloth, and 
fall back into the pans, wnere the kerosene quickly 
kills them. With one of these hopper-dozers, it is 
easy to collect several bushels of grasshoppers in a 
day. 
A NOVEL CHICKEN COOP.—About the best idea 
I have seen in chicken coops in which to keep the 
hen and her brood, is the old-fashioned A-shaped 
coop covered at the back and sides with tarred pa¬ 
per, and then whitewashed. The paper helps to keep 
away the lice, and makes the coop watertight and 
windproof, while the whitewash changes the color 
so that it does not become so hot during the day 
as would a dark-colored one. 
Very little material is required for one of these 
HIS FIRST BREAKFAST. From St. Paul’s. Fig. 210. 
coops. A board 13 or 14 feet long and 12 inches 
wide cut in four pieces, will make the sides. Four 
cleats, 4x24 inches, will hold them together. Any 
rough lumber will do for the back, while a few 
laths or strips of board make the front. The coop 
should have a spread of 3 to 3Y 2 feet, and the lath 
need to be about three inches apart. These are the 
cheapest coops that can be built, and are fully as 
durable and convenient as any other kind. 
New York. edwin c. poweel. 
SPANISH LAND LAWS.—We have a good deal to 
say about the laziness and lack of enterprise shown 
by the Spanish people, and yet, it appears in some 
respects that they are in advance of more civilized 
nations. Some of their land laws might well be 
copied by other countries. Any one who reclaims 
land on water or marshes, insures exemption from 
taxation of any kind for from 10 to 20 years. A 
house constructed on reclaimed land a certain dis¬ 
tance from a town is exempt from taxation for five 
years. Where newly-planted fruit trees are set on 
land, no increased assessment is permitted for 20 
years. Where one erects buildings designed for agri¬ 
cultural purposes there can be no increase in the as¬ 
sessment for taxes for 15 years; in other words, build¬ 
ings placed on the property are not taxed for that 
length of time. What a boon some of these laws 
would be to English or American farmers, and how 
it would, in some cases, stimulate farming. Near the 
large towns or cities, it would act to encourage towns¬ 
people to go to the country and build and improve 
property. As it is, such people may go into a com¬ 
munity and spend money to beautify grounds or put 
up substantial buildings, and they are at once con¬ 
sidered fit subjects for bleeding; taxes are heaped 
upon them, and the result is that others who might, 
go to the community are driven away. 
HIGH PRESSURE IN MILK PRESERVING. 
Is It of Practical Value ? 
We have given a brief account of the experiments 
conducted at the West Virginia Experiment Station, 
in putting milk under a high pressure to aid in pre¬ 
serving it. The pressure seemed to weaken the ac¬ 
tion of the bacteria which sour milk. We have been 
interviewing a number of scientific men to try to 
learn something more about the matter, but few of 
them are prepared to speak definitely. 
Prof. S. M. Babcock says: 
“I think Prof. Hite has maae a valuable contribu¬ 
tion to what has been known concerning the con¬ 
ditions which affect the growth of bacteria in milk. 
I do not see, just now, how those high pressures can 
be applied in practice but have no doubt a way will 
be found, if further investigations show that they 
will be effective in keeping milk in its natural con¬ 
dition. It has been shown before that high pressure 
retards the development of some kinds of bacteria, 
but such high pressures as were used in this case 
have, I think, never been tried before. I do not 
know why pressure should affect the growth of 
bacteria.” 
Dr. H. A. Hardy, the bacteriologist of die Geneva 
Station, ( says: 
“From a practical standpoint, the value of these 
results is not so clear. From the published account, 
it appears that the high pressures used did not result 
in the death of the bacteria, but only in checking 
their action for a few days. Pressure alone cannot 
be depended upon to free the milk from disease- 
producing germs. A combination of pressure with 
Pasteurization gave good results, but in this case, 
the pressure simply takes the place of the cooling 
w,.ich usually follows the heating. Milk Pasteurized 
at 152 to 160 degrees for from one to three hours 
and properly cooled and kept cool, can be ship¬ 
ped from New York to San Francisco in good condi¬ 
tion. If the extra cost of providing containers 
capable of withstanding a pressure of ten tons, of 
applying this pressure, and of transporting the con¬ 
tainer to its destination and back will be less than 
the cost of properly cooling pasteurized milk and 
keeping it cool, then some practical results are to 
be expected from the process. In the sub-tropical 
portions of the country, where cooling is more ex¬ 
pensive, there may be a balance in favor of pres¬ 
sure; out even here the present outlook is not prom¬ 
ising. As the research goes on, something may be 
found to modify this view.” 
Last year we transplanted sprouts of Cuthbert rasp¬ 
berries in August, on land where an old strawberry bod 
had been plowed under. The plants -all lived and made 
a fair growth. This year they are giving us about one- 
third of an average crop of fruit. 
A Philadelphia man was arrested recently for stealing 
a brick sidewalk. He may go on record with the Chicago 
man who stole a newly-sodded lawn, transplanting the 
grass bodily to his own premises; he was, however, con¬ 
siderate enough to leave the shade trees and the garden 
fence. 
A fruit tree agent is canvassing Delaware County, Ind., 
and among other novelties, is selling-the Prunus Simoni 
plum, and recommending it as the best in cultivation. 
He exhibits samples of very large, deep purple plums, 
which, he says, are Prunus Simoni. Readers should let 
him severely alone. 
A friend in Ohio, who has started an orchard of 5,000 
trees, says he has put in 1,000 Bartlett pears. It was re¬ 
ported that he went to California for his stock, but he 
says; “No, California is the last place I would think of 
sending for nursery stock, on account of the number of 
diseases their trees are subject to. I made every tree 
myself.” 
A Philadelphia man recently passed through New 
Jersey with his entire family of wife and four children, 
riding on a tricycle. This machine weighed 85 pounds, 
and carried, in addition to the family, a repair kit, a 
small tent, cooking utensils, and a bag of food. The 
four children ranged in ages from 18 months to seven 
years, and were said to be happier than many larks. At 
night, the party slept in farmhouses. Th^y make about 
20 miles a day on their machine. This is certainly a novel 
and pleasant way of taking a family outing. 
A NEBRASKA HOPPER-DOZER. Fig. 209. 
