1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 671 
point and pay an inspector, increasing the cost to the 
State 10 to 15 fold. The greater proportion of such 
work, I think, is utterly needless. Our farmers 
and landholders here are overburdened with taxation; 
land in my own neighborhood, of a present market 
value not to exceed $10 per acre, is paying a yearly 
tax of about $2 per acre. The trouble here is that a 
greater proportion of the electorate pay no State or 
local tax at all, even being exempt from the poll tax 
formerly in force here. So we find we can have no 
check upon the multiplication of officers and public 
expenditure. j. f. c. 
Skagit, Wash. 
THE FARM WATER SUPPLY. 
Great Value of a Spring. 
After an experience of over 25 years with wells, 
deep and shallow, pumped by engine and windmill, I 
would certainly say ‘‘Don’t do it”, if you have a “beau¬ 
tiful spring” only 1,350 feet distant, with an even 
down grade. By all means, get the pipe, not neces¬ 
sarily iron, but wood or fiber must be cheaper if iron 
pipe has gone up as you say it has. I bought two-inch 
wrought iron pipe, black, for 5*4 cents, with coup¬ 
lings, last year. But if the grade is even, and you 
propose to let the water run, a two-inch wooden pipe 
would last longer than iron in the ground, can be got 
wrapped to stand a good pressure, and you will have 
better water with wood. I have used lots of this wood 
pipe, and it is 0. K., and easier to lay than Iron. 
Don’t put in less than 1%-inch pipe, but two-inch 
would be better; friction stops the flow terribly in a 
small pipe, and it clogs easily. After the pipe is in, 
you are done for a while, whereas with well and en¬ 
gine you have probably expended just as much and 
more, and have the water to get yet, with no end of 
repairs. Pumps always need some tinkering, and if 
you pump by hand, it is a job, besides freezing in 
Winter, and for storage, you have to drink tank 
water, and that means dead-rat, soup occasionally, if 
boys take care of things, and leave the cover off. 
I have a large 14-foot windmill on a 100-foot well 
(27 feet of water in well), but it hasn’t pumped a 
drop in two weeks—no wind strong enough—and 1 
have to haul water for house use from a spring, and 
drive my horses to the creek half a mile. The well is 
too hard for hand pumping; boys prefer to haul the 
water when watering the team. Of course, if your 
spring “goes dry” at any time, the well you must 
have, but a good strong spring of living water is 
worth spending some money on to bring it where you 
want it. i). k. 
Crenshaw, Pa. 
R. N.-Y.—Our spring is now very low, with hardly 
enough water for our use. All through New York 
State, in the dry districts, we hear of dry springs. 
We should judge that the deep drilled well is having 
its innings after this dry season. 
GREEN’S TARTARIAN CHERRY. 
When I bought our Rochester home, containing five 
acres, there were located at the east side of the 
house, about 30 feet distant, three cherry trees, not 
less than 35 or 40 years old. I used to pass this 
place on my way to the city when a boy living on 
the farm where I was born, in the town of Rush, and 
I am quite sure these trees were growing on this spot 
at that early date. One of the trees bears firm white 
cherries, and two of them black cherries, which have 
never failed to fruit abundantly so far back as the 
oldest inhabitant can remember. The man of whom 
we purchased the place stated that the trees had 
borne every year heavy crops, and that he had sold, in 
one season, $50 worth of fruit from the three trees. 
I have in my day seen many cherry trees, but I 
have never seen any that have borne so abundantly 
and regularly as these black cherries. They have sold 
in the market as Black Tartarian, and I have as¬ 
sumed that they are the Black Tartarian, but the 
fruit remains in perfect condition on the trees longer 
than it does upon other cherry trees I have known, 
which has excited my curiosity. I do not know that 
Black Tartarian was known 35 years ago. 
The fruit upon these trees has often remained there 
in eatable condition for nearly a month. I have taken 
buds from these old trees, and worked them upon 
young stocks, and have called those thus propagated 
Green’s Black Tartarian. They are vigorous, upright 
growers, resembling Black Tartarian in wood, in leaf 
and bud. I have never seen any larger cherries than 
these. The photographs I have sent you, see Fig. 250, 
do not do credit to the size of these cherries. I claim 
that no photograph gives an exact idea of the size of 
fruit, or of mountains either, for that matter. 
These trees are not over 10 feet apart, the branches 
intermingling. They have not received any cultiva¬ 
tion for many years, the ground beneath them being 
covered with sod. This soil is a sandy loam, with a 
clayey subsoil. The trees are healthy and vigorous. 
The lower branches have been sawed off, which will, 
probably, lead to the destruction of the trees later. 
These trees have never been attacked seriously by any 
insect. We have never sprayed them, and the fruit is 
unusually free from blemish of any kind. 
We warn our friends from using the buds of old 
trees like these for propagation, since not more than 
20 per cent of the buds taken from the old trees suc¬ 
ceed in making a growth on the young stock. Buds 
taken from the new growth of such old trees often 
turn out to be blossom buds. They blossom on the 
young stock, and perish. I have just come across the 
entry in the books, showing that 1,214 pounds of 
cherries were picked from these three old trees. 
These sold at the ridiculously low price of three cents 
per pound at wholesale, I being absent on a vacation 
at that time. I think it possible they could have been 
sold at five cents per pound, but at three cents per 
pound, the fruit of these three trees came to $36.42, or 
a little over $12 per tree. Assuming that 70 of these 
cherry trees could be placed upon one acre, the gross 
receipts would have been $840, at three cents per 
pound. The above yield is about the average one for 
these old trees, which have never missed bearing a 
crop, so far as is known. ciias. a. green. 
CURING ONION SMUT. 
The branch office of the New York Experiment Sta¬ 
tion, for doing work in the Second Judicial District, 
A CALF-COW MILKS AT SIX MONTHS OLD Fig. 252. 
See Page 682. 
includes Greater New York, Long Island, Staten 
Island, and Rockland, Orange, Westchester, Dutchess 
and Putnam Counties. Mr. F. A. Serrine, entomolo¬ 
gist, is in charge. 
One of the most important experiments this year 
is with the Onion smut, which has played such sad 
havoc the past season. It has been particularly no¬ 
ticeable in Orange County and Connecticut, where 
so many growers make a specialty of onion culture. 
It has been bad this season wherever onions have 
been grown in succession for a number of years. The 
disease is spreading rapidly, and the spores remain 
in the soil, reappearing after half a dozen years, 
whenever onions are again grown. The disease is 
parasitical and self-propagating by means of spores, 
or seeds, like corn smut. Smut attacks the onion at 
the time the seed germinates, and then only. Its ap¬ 
pearance shows itself in black streaks on the stems; 
afterwards the stems burst, and the black powder is 
seen more plainly. The onion never develops, but 
rots. The disease assimilates the food which the 
onion prepares for itself. The roots of the smut 
penetrate the cells of the onion, causing the streaky 
appearance. 
The New York market demands a small onion, or 
one of medium size. Restaurants and families often 
use only one to flavor some dish, and if a large onion 
is used, it must be cut in two, and the half wasted. 
The demand for small pickling onions is enormous. 
These are raised from the seed, and are most sus¬ 
ceptible to the disease. 
One way to take advantage of the disease is to 
start the seed in hotbeds or seed-beds of new soil, 
and transplant to the field. All danger of the disease 
is thus obliterated, because, as stated before, the 
smut attacks only the germinating seed. 
If the disease has gained a foothold in the soil, and 
the grower does not wish to use seed-beds, the remedy 
is sulphur mixed with land plaster, and sown broad¬ 
cast or in drills. The latter is better and more eco¬ 
nomical. The proportion is 100 pounds of sulphur to 
an equal amount of lime by weight, or land plaster 
by measure. The weights and measures of lime and 
plaster are not interchangeable terms. The above 
refers to amounts for drilling. If sown broadcast, 100 
pounds of sulphur to 500 pounds of lime or plaster, is 
the correct proportion. If drilling is practiced, apply 
when the seed is sown, by placing the mixture in the 
bottom of the drill. If broadcasted, harrow the ground 
before the crop is sown. 
In no case, will the remedy save the entire crop. 
Most growers use double the quantity of seed required. 
This is particularly necessary where Onion smut is 
likely to show itself. s. 
COTTON-SEED MEAL OR NITRATE. 
Why Nitrate of Soda is Used on Grass. 
A subscriber in Maine notes the advice to use nitrate 
of soda on grass or grain. Cotton-seed meal is largely 
used in his State. Why not use that in place of the 
nitrate? Is the latter any better? 
COTTON-SEED MEAL SLOW.—Cotton-seed meal is 
one of the best forms of organic nitrogen, and may be 
used with success as a fertilizer for grass. The disad¬ 
vantage of cotton-seed meal as a top-dressing lies in 
the fact that it does not feed the plant until it changes 
into a nitrate, and inasmuch as this change not only 
takes place slowly upon the surface of the ground, 
but since it takes place only when temperature condi¬ 
tions are favorable, a much heavier application would 
be necessary to secure the needed nitrogen for a de¬ 
finite increase in crop, than would be required in the 
case of nitrate of soda. In the preparation of land 
for seeding with grass, this fertilizing material may 
serve as the source of potential nitrogen, because of 
the reasons given, but it cannot fulfill all of the con¬ 
ditions, or meet the special needs so well as nitrate of 
soda, owing to the fact of its being in an organic form, 
which must change. The advantage of nitrate of soda 
as a top-dressing lies, first, in its extreme solubility, 
which is an advantage, since it rapidly sinks to lower 
layers of the soil, thus encouraging a deeper root sys¬ 
tem, consequently a greater drought-resisting power 
on the part of the crop; and second, in its entire avail¬ 
ability, or its immediate appropriation by the plant. 
No time is required to change this form into some 
other form; it is appropriated immediately the roots 
come in contact with it. 
NITRATE IS RAPID.—If nitrate of soda is applied 
to a grass field previous to a rain, the nitrate is dis¬ 
tributed everywhere in the soil, and the plant roots 
come in contact with it everywhere; if too heavy 
rains do not follow, the entire amount, or a very large 
part of it, is appropriated early in the season, thus 
invigorating and strengthening the plant at a time 
when conditions are not yet favorable for changing 
the nitrogen existing in the soil, as well as that ap¬ 
plied in organic forms, into die nitrate form. My sug¬ 
gestion in reference to the use of nitrogen for grass is, 
first, that the organic forms be freely used before 
seeding, as these change slowly, and in their slow 
change into nitrate, gradually and continuously feed 
the plant, but not to apply such a quantity as would 
supply the entire needs of a series of crops, for al¬ 
though a waste may not occur, there is a likelihood of 
It; besides, there is no need of advancing the money 
for all of the nitrogen needed for subsequent crops 
until they are ready to use it. Second, since we have 
the nitrogen in the nitrate form, which is practically 
as cheap as the organic, and which is immediately 
available, we use it as a top-dressing when the plant 
can make the best use of it, viz., in the Spring after 
the grass has been started, and before changes in the 
soil are active. 
In reference to the possible losses that may occur 
from the application of nitrate of soda to grass fields, 
it is my judgment, based upon careful observations 
made for a number of years, that large losses are not 
likely to occur. e. b. voorheks. 
New Jersey Exp. Station. 
Onion smut and the Onion maggot have always given 
much trouble to onion growers. We have been surprised 
to find that the large growers have as yet found practi¬ 
cally no remedy for these troubles. Most of them say, 
"Let the maggots eat, or find a new place to grow the 
onions.” Our scientific men are advocating the use of 
sulphur for the Onion smut, and on a small scale, this 
remedy seems to have proved effective. 
