766 
November 4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
1,200 hills of watermelons and muskmelons. Cucum¬ 
bers go to the market about the middle of July, and 
are fairly profitable—the main element of success in 
gardening is to have them early and market them 
when demand is most active.” 
‘‘Are your sales confined to Port Jervis?” 
‘‘We ship a large quantity to Monticello, the capital 
of Sullivan County, which is a famous Summer resort 
—it is only 24 miles by rail from Port Jervis.” 
‘‘I noticed that you have a large area of straw¬ 
berries. What varieties do you mostly grow?” 
“Bubach, Clyde and Sharpless—these we have, so 
far, found the best.” 
“How about peas?” 
“We do not raise many. The picking time of early 
peas is about the same as that of strawberries. One 
can pick a bushel of strawberries as quickly as he can 
a bushel of peas.” 
“What commercial fertilizers do you use?” 
“We do not buy prepared fertilizers; we buy the 
chemicals, muriate of potash, nitrate of soda and 
ground bone. We do not buy much bone, but sup¬ 
plant it with South Carolina rock. We buy from six 
to 10 tons of these materials, and mix them to suit our 
purposes. We only keep three cows, sell none of their 
products—we use them all ourselves. We keep four 
horses in Summer, but three in Winter.” 
These brothers plant cow peas largely, and I saw 
them growing heavily loaded, and these they plow 
under. They are perfectly convinced that it is the 
cheapest way to secure the bulk of the needed nitro¬ 
gen. The sou in use for these departments of their 
business is a sandy loam. They were plowing, 
and a team of horses pulled a large steel plow, which 
makes a wide furrow of any required width, and will 
turn weeds or fertilizing crops two or three feet high, 
under perfectly, not a leaf or stone can be seen. The 
soil is as mellow as a heap of ashes, and it is reason¬ 
able to suppose it is an alluvial product of ages ago. 
They grow largely of blackberries, but raise no black¬ 
caps and red raspberries, excepting those they can 
consume at home. e. g. f. 
and North Carolina in a common heap, covered with 
two to three feet of sawdust only, the dampness of 
the sawdust due to the rain which fell on it, evap¬ 
orating, produced a sufficiently low temperature in 
the sawdust to keep the ice from one Winter to an¬ 
other. At the same time, the earth under the ice 
should be dry; if it is saturated with water, the ice 
will not keep. h. s. 
MORE HOMEMADE WINDMILLS. 
Last week we pictured several of the odd-looking 
windmills that are in use among Nebraska farmers. 
Fig. 282.—The head of an old wooden pump serves as the axis 
on which the mill revolves. The driving parts consist of the fly 
wheel and sprocket wheels of an old corn sheller. The fans were 
wired to the spokes of the fly wheel. Geared in the ratio of three 
revolutions of the fans to two strokes of the pump. A crossbar 
nailed to the pump head carries two pulleys (made of spools) ; a 
weighted piece of rope passing through one pulley, and attached 
to an arm on the rudder, tends to hold the rudder in position. A 
pull on the opposite rope, which passes down the center of the 
wooden pump head, throws the rudder to one side, and the mill 
out of gear. Pumps water for 60 cattle. 
SOUTHERN ICEHOUSES. 
I wish to build an icehouse on top of the ground. 1 
have slate rock under the surface, ranging 1% to three 
feet thick, so I will have to build the icehouse on the 
surface. Will you give me the best plan for a house 
that will hold 15 cords of ice? n. r. r. 
Salem, Va. 
I made an icehouse in the ground, floored, and sides 
built up with slabs, roof of slabs and earth, with an in¬ 
ner and outer door, with passage between doors about 
eight feet long, each kept closed. Ice all melted by the 
end of June. The walls and roof kept damp all the time 
after the weather began to get warm. The house had no 
ventilation, and the bottom of the house was only about 
3feet above the level of water in pond, on bank of 
which the house was built, about 15 feet from edge of 
pond. Did the want of ventilation or nearness to the 
pond cause the melting? w. b. r. 
Stuart, Va. 
An underground icehouse in your locality would not 
be satisfactory. The reason is, that the ground soon 
becomes warm, and the ice does not keep as well un¬ 
derground as in a building on the surface, with plenty 
of ventilation about it. Make your house in this 
way to be perfectly safe: The place for the building 
should be on a knoll from which there is drainage in 
all directions, and full exposure to winds. The walls 
should be double, with an air space between them of 
at least eight or 10 inches. Both walls should be 
close and tight, so as to keep a dead air space be¬ 
tween them. The inside wall should be made of 
smooth boards laid closely, the outside one may be 
made of scantling covered with tight weatherboards 
over water and airproof paper. No filling will be 
needed between these walls, only the dead air space 
is left. The house should be 13x13 feet square, and 10 
feet high, to hold 15 cords of ice. But as there should 
be a foot of packing around the mass of ice, two feet 
more should be added to the space inside of the 
double walls. This space is to be filled in with dry 
clean sawdust around the ice, and there should be a 
covering equally thick on top of the ice. The eaves 
around under the roof should be open, to secure a 
good circulation of air, this being indispensable to 
the due keeping of the ice. There will be no need 
of drains with soil of this kind, but the greatest care 
is to be exercised not to admit air into the house at 
the bottom. The ice should rest on the ground with a 
foot of dry sawdust under it. To secure a sufficient 
circulation of air over the sawdust on top of the ice 
a cupola, or spout, protected from the rain by a 
hood, will be needed. 
W. B. R. is informed that the want of ventilation 
was the cause of the melting of the ice. Ventilation 
tends to cause evaporation of the moisture in the cov¬ 
ering of the ice, and it is by this that the covering is 
kept cool. The slab building, which is impossible 
to make close enough to keep out the air or keep in 
the cool air around the ice, is a very ineffective kind 
of protection for ice. I have seen ice kept in Virginia 
There are really four different principles. The Jumbo 
mills are simplest, while perhaps the highest type is 
an imitation of the shopmade turbines. Some old 
PFig. 283. At the right a “ Battle-ax” mill made of old barrel 
staves. At the left a mill attached to a saw which cuts a 30-ineh 
log. This mill is 10 feet in diameter. 
buggy or farm implement wheel is mounted on a 
tower or pole, with wooden blades fastened to it 
much like the steel or wooden blades of the regular 
A QUEER SCHEME FOR RAISING WATER. Fig. 284. 
mills. Fig. 282 shows how it is done. These really 
do fair work. Another form is the “battle-ax” mill, 
two of which are shown at Fig. 283. In these mills 
wooden blades or fans are attached to arms so that 
they slant to the wind, working, like the Jumbos, 
best when the prevailing winds blow from north or 
south. At Fig. 284 is shown a curious device observed 
on a Nebraska farm. This is 12-foot aermotor. In¬ 
stead of a pump, it works a 13-foot tympanum water 
wheel for lifting water from a stream. 
Van Deman’s Fruit Notes. 
ALE SORTS OF QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 
Kieffer on Bartlett Pear. 
I have about 30 Bartlett pear trees, planted five years 
ago. They are not growing like my few Kieffers beside 
them; they have blighted considerably and have been 
cut back. How will it do to cut the Bartlett low down, 
five to 10 inches from the ground, and graft the stumps 
to Kieffer next Spring? Will it be better to remove them 
entirely, and plant the Kieffer trees? The prevailing 
opinion here is that it is not advisable to graft on the 
Kieffer stock, or the Kieffer on any other stock, but 
from some little observation and personal experience I 
have found this not always true. I do not expect Bart¬ 
lett trees to grow like Kieffer; but I have arrived at a 
point with the Bartletts when I must either graft or re¬ 
set them with the Kieffer. If I can gain the root growth 
of the Bartlett by grafting, I hope to do so. o. c. 
Bridgeton, N. J. 
Bartlett is said to graft much better on the Kieffer 
than the Kieffer on the Bartlett, but there has been 
very little of the latter done. The Kieffer is the 
stronger grower, and is likely to overgrow the Bart¬ 
lett stock. If I wished for a Kieffer orchard I would 
prefer to have young trees, instead of grafting into 
the Bartlett stumps; but it might work much better 
than I think. I have never tried it. 
Hardy Plums and Pears. 
Will you name a list of early to medium late pears and 
plums, that will stand our Winters without injury? The 
mercury sometimes drops to 30 degrees or more below 
zero. If possible, I would like to plant something that 
would give satisfaction in a fancy market. j. f. p. 
Jefferson Co., N. Y. 
A temperature of 30 degrees below zero, and more, 
is not a good sign for a pear country. I am by no 
means sure that any list of pears that will cover the 
season from early to late, and that will stand such a 
severe climate, can be found. There are some kinds 
which seem reasonably hardy under sucli conditions, 
of which the following are among the best: Wilder 
Early, Grand Isle, Goodale, Flemish and Vermont. 
A list of plums that are very hardy is easy to ar¬ 
range, but most such kinds are of the native species, 
Prunus Americana, and ripen within a rather short 
space of time, which latter is an objection. Wolf, 
Rockford, Stoddard, Forest Garden and Hawkeye are 
among the best of this class. Of the European type, 
Arctic, Lombard and German Prune are said to be the 
hardiest by those who have thoroughly tested them. 
It has been found that Burbank, which is one of the 
Japan type, is quite hardy and exceedingly productive. 
The Hubbardston Apple Tree. 
A nursery agent recently stated that there were but 
very few Hubbardston apple trees In stock; that it is 
hard to grow, and that nurserymen are filling orders for 
it with some other variety. Do you think that this is so? 
Newark, O. c. w. m. 
The Hubbardston apple tree is not of so nice a style 
in the nursery as some others, but it makes a very 
good orchard tree. Doubtless there is a scarcity of 
the trees in the nurseries, partly because of their 
rather inferior growth, and partly because of the un¬ 
usual demand for the variety of late years. People 
are getting to know more of its value. No honorable 
nurseryman would even seriously consider the sub¬ 
stitution of other trees when those of Hubbardston 
had been ordered. It may be that it is done by some 
dishonest nurserymen, but that it is generally so I 
do not believe, because most of our nurserymen are 
as honest as the people who deal with them. 
Abundance Plums; Peaches. 
1. On our place are some Burbank and Abundance plum 
trees. The man who set them out does not know which 
is which. One kind of tree grows perfectly straight in 
the air; the other grows straggling and spreading. Can 
you identify them, and how would you prune them? 2. 
Can you recommend a good pear and peach, something 
that matures in New Jersey, on light sandy soil, about 
August 15, as I require an early fruit for my trade? 
Elberon, N. J. c. j. 
1. The Abundance trees are those that have an up¬ 
right habit, and Burbank those that grow straggling 
and spreading in habit. The idea in pruning the Abun¬ 
dance trees should be to head them back from mak¬ 
ing tall, slim trees, and yet not to have them too com¬ 
pact. To prevent the latter, some of the interior 
branches will, probably, need to be cut away. The 
heading in at the top should be done every year or 
two. The Burbank trees should be pruned so as to 
induce an upright growth, which may be done by cut¬ 
ting back the straggling and drooping branches. 
2. A good peach for early market is the Triumph. 
The early pear that I would plant in that section 
would be Tyson. 
Apple Pomace.— Used upon sandy land I should im¬ 
agine it might be fairly satisfactory. On a heavy clay 
soil I should fear that being already pretty moist it 
would not decay rapidly, and might prove less readily 
available. I should say that the material was just about 
worth hauling for relatively short distances. 
Burlington, Vt. Joseph l. hills. 
