1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
8i5 
SUBIRRIGATION IN FORCING HOUSES. 
The subject of subirrigation in the forcing house is 
still attracting much attention, and experiments con¬ 
tinue to be made. Pig. 301 shows one arrangement 
used at the Maine Experiment Station, Orono, Maine. 
The bottom and sides of the bench are made water¬ 
tight by coating with Portland cement, and two rows 
of two-inch porous drain tile are run lengthwise, ce¬ 
mented at the joints, and closed at the ends. Six- 
inch flowerpots are cemented on at intervals of seven 
or eight feet, connecting with the bore of the tile, into 
which the water is poured when needed. The water 
must pass through the porous sides of the tiles into 
the soil, which is filled into the bench in the usual 
manner. 
Another method, which proves fully as effective 
under trial, is to cover the bottom of the cemented 
bench with two inches or more of broken pots and 
bricks, which are then covered with burlap. The soil 
is then put in place, and water admitted to the 
stratum of potsherds as the soil becomes dry. Where 
radishes are grown, the yield of marketable roots is 
about 15 per cent greater. The germination of seed 
is about the same, but a larger number of young 
plants “damp off’’ under surface watering, and the 
number of small and diseased roots is also much 
greater. The number of roots injured by millipedes, 
or Thousand-legged worms, is greater under subirri¬ 
gation, but not enough to reduce the net gain seri¬ 
ously. Subirrigatlion is likely to prove of great ad¬ 
vantage in growing such crops as lettuce, where leaf 
rot iis aggravated by contact with damp soil. 
FALL-FRUITING STRAWBERRIES. 
Up to the present time, in my experience, all varie¬ 
ties claimed to bear a second crop of strawberries in 
the Fall have proved a failure. Every Fall, late in 
September, we have a few ripe berries on nearly all 
varieties, that is, here and there a stray berry. Two 
years ago we picked quiite a crop of good mar¬ 
ketable berries from an old bed of Lovetts. It 
seems that when the plants have suffered by a 
severe drought after picking they show the 
greatest tendency to bear in the Fall. We have 
tried all kinds of methods by which we would 
be likely to secure a fair crop of berries in 
the Fall; for example, by mowing off the blooms 
in early Spring, or when the plants show buds 
in May, thinking that thfis would cause the 
plants to store up nourishment during the 
month of June, and to produce another crop of 
buds and bloom in August, but this has proved 
a total failure. Another experiment which we 
tried was to place a covering of dry swale hay 
over the beds at the time when the plants were 
in full bloom, and then to burn the hay, which 
swept the entire bed of the new foliage and 
blooms. After three weeks this bed was nice 
and green. We thought that we had hit the nail 
this time, but the plants failed to respond the second 
time. t. c. kevitt. 
New Jersey. 
With several years’ experience with 200 or 300 va¬ 
rieties per year, I have never had plants bear fruit in 
the Fall, except those of the Alpine class. Louis 
Gautlier and St. Joseph are said to bear fruit in the 
Fall, but I have had no experience with these sorts. 
If we get a Fall-fruiting variety, it is probable that 
the only demand would be in the large cities, and then 
but a very limited one. In a commercial way, I see 
no great demand for strawberries in the Fall. We 
then have enough of other fruits. n. p. gladden. 
Michigan. 
CORN-COB ASHES FROM KANSAS. 
Last year the Connecticut Experiment Station ana¬ 
lyzed samples of corn-cob ashes, which were sent by 
purchasers who wished to know what they were 
worth. The analyses showed the high per cent of 
potash, and it occurred to us at the time that, if there 
was any large quantity of such ashes to be picked up 
in Kansas, it would pay well to ship them to the 
East to be sold to farmers. We have written a num¬ 
ber of persons in Kansas, to try to learn whether 
there is any trade'in such ashes, and the following re¬ 
plies show that Kansas people have given very little 
attention to it: 
L cannot say positively that, the cob-ashes story is un¬ 
true, but as applicable to Kansas, to any extent, I do not 
believe it. Kansas shells a good deal of her corn, first 
and last, and the cobs are sold in the different neighbor¬ 
hoods and towns by the wagonload for kindling, etc., and 
in that way burned with other fuel, but that the ashes are 
kept separate from others, or used in a commercial way, 
1 have never before heard suggested. f. d. coburn, 
Secretary, State Hoard of Agriculture. 
We have never known corn cobs to be burned in Kan¬ 
sas, simply for the ashes, and should consider it a great 
waste, as fuel of all kinds is worth money in this State; 
in many of our larger towns and most of the smaller 
ones you will see the cob-wagons running daily, and find 
that cobs retail at from ?1 to ?2 per two-horse wagon¬ 
load, and are considered as very valuable for both fuel 
and as kindling for coal and hardwood. On many of our 
ranches, corn for feeding the stock is all put through a 
hand sheller for the purpose of getting the cobs for fuel; 
I have been at homes where corn had to be shelled and 
the cobs brought to the house before dinner could be 
cooked. The shortage of cobs in Topeka often necessi¬ 
tates having them shipped in by carloads. It is quite 
possible that in some of the gas-producing counties cobs 
may be considered so worthless as to be burned for the 
ashes only, for at Coffeyville and Iola I saw nice dry- 
goods boxes piled up and burned as rubbish because of 
the plentiful quantities of gas so easily acquired. 
WILLIAM H. BARNES, 
Secretary, State Horticultural Society. 
I am unable to give you such information regarding the 
amount of corn-cob ashes which are gathered up in Kan¬ 
sas and Nebraska. I have been told, however, that the 
cobs are largely used as fuel in localities in these States 
where the corn crop is so extensively grown. My own 
analysis of a single crop of corn-cob ash showed them to 
contain: Per Cent. 
Phosphoric acid .36 
Potash.51.4S 
Soda. 2.08 
Lime. 1.76 
Magnesia.96 
It will thus be seen that as a source of potash more 
than one-half the total amount would be available as 
plant food. e. f. ladd. 
North Dakota Experiment Station. 
From Prof. Ladd’s analysis, it is evident that a good 
deal of valuable fertilizer is being wasted. Muriate 
of potash averages only 50 per cent of actual potash; 
yet, last year, 118,106,530 pounds of muriate were im¬ 
ported from Germany. Ait the same time, over 
16,000,000 pounds of sulphate of potash were ‘imported. 
Now these Kansas ashes, if they contain even 30 per 
cent of potash, might well be brought to the East and 
sold as a fertilizer. The Canadians ship large quanti¬ 
ties of wood ashes, which are often picked up from 
house to house. This business was formerly very 
profitable; yet, the ashes rarely averaged over five per 
cent of potash. If the Canadians can afford to pick 
up a five-per-cent ash and ship it to this country for 
sound apples will come out if the conditions are met. 
I would also add, keep the apples out of doors as late 
as possible. Protect the barrels with a covering of 
boards to prevent freezing. w. r. fitcii. 
Western New York. 
The farmers in this section do not use a specially- 
constructed cold-storage building for apples, but or¬ 
dinary cellars and basements. The apples are usually 
packed in barrels soon after being picked, before any 
hard frosts, and left in the orchard under the trees, 
or rolled together and covered with boards, until 
freezing weather, then put into a dry, cool cellar or 
basement. I think that it would be perfectly safe 
to keep apples in the manner your correspondent de¬ 
scribes. Apples in this section are unusually ripe 
this season, and will not keep as well as usual. 
Orleans County, N. Y. f. h. g. 
f 
Wp 
* 
f 
f. 
• 
;? . 
V. 
•I';'-- A 
SUBIRRIGATION IN THE GREENHOUSE. Fig. 301. 
sale, the western people ought 'to be able to collect a 
30 per cent ash and ship it to the farmers of the East. 
It may be that some bright Kansas man will be able 
to make more out of the corn-cob ash business, than 
he ever will out of the big corn and fat steers for 
which Kansas is famous. 
HOW THEY KEEP APPLES. 
An Ohio reader wishes to know how farmers in western 
New York keep their apples. He has 300 bushels, which 
he would like to keep till Christmas. He has a good bank 
barn. Can he keep them safely on the barn floor? 
Farmers in this section do not use any specially- 
constructed storehouse for their apples; they depend 
on such buildings as they may have. From what I 
have observed in handling and keeping apples, the 
damage is done to the fruit when it ‘is harvested, by 
careless and rough usage. Apples keep best with me 
if stored in the bushel-box crate in buildings that can 
be opened a’t night to cool. I have some now in crates 
that were piled on the north side of a building until a 
few days ago, when they were removed to a barn out 
of danger of frost. I am sure mine will last till after 
the holidays; Kings, Snows, Greenings, etc. 
Oswego County, N. Y. geo. a. davis. 
I would advise the Ohio reader first to sort out all 
the second-grade fruit, making the apples he intends 
to keep No. 1. I think that he can, with safety, put 
his apples on the floor of the bank barn. They must 
not be kept too warm; just above freezing point 
would be the proper temperature. Farmers in west¬ 
ern New York do not keep their apples to any great 
extent except for family use. Such are kept tin the 
house cellar. Cold storage men bid for the apples, 
usually taking them as a speculation. If I had 300 
bushels of apples, I should first sort carefully, then 
barrel and head, and put into a dry cellar. Apples 
will not keep in damp places. They require plenty of 
ventilation and cool air, and should also be placed 
near the cool ground. Put in only sound apples, and 
PIG PASTURE IN VIRGINIA. 
Pork from an Old Cow Lot. 
I have a 10-acre lot on which I wish to raise hogs. The 
location compels me to lay it off in two five-acre lots. 
One contains four acres of wet soil, from a mud bath 
to fine Spring water. The other lot will grow almost 
anything that is put on It. I wish to make a hog pasture 
of the four acres of wet soil. What shall I grow on the 
six acres, and how many hogs will it be safe to keep? 
Hogs in the Winter will bring four cents gross and five 
cents in the Summer. j. t. 
Petersburg, Va. 
ANSWERED BY F. E. EMERY. 
You will do well to drain the four acres, if it ad¬ 
mits of drainage, and not turn it into a hog wallow. 
The drainage water can be run out over a paved area, 
or into troughs, where the hogs can go for drinking 
water, and will prove an efficient and cheap source of 
good water. If discharge is too low for such use. 
turn some of lit through a ram and drive it wherever 
needed. Pigs need a copious supply of water, which 
can thus be easily secured. At the same time, the 
drained land should become as productive as the best 
of tohe upland. I am unable to set a limit to the 
number of swine J. T. can keep on 10 acres. I 
should not, however, bank mudh on pork at four 
and five cents in Alexandria, Va. If he keep a 
good kind of stock, and make any reputation, 
he might sell two crops of six or eight-weeks- 
old pigs at about eight to 10 cents per pound. 
In this case fatten for bacon and hams those 
that do not sell well. Thus, the stock kept 
would be breeders and, perhaps, five or six 
sows and one good boar would be enough to 
start with. The crops which may be grown on 
the four acres, as J. T. describes them, will 
hardly give the hogs more than an appetite for 
what he grows on the six acres. If well 
drained, these four acres can produce many tons 
of forage. Rape should be started now. Vetch 
may be sown as soon as possible, and these two 
may be combined to advantage. Say one-half 
acre each rape, oats, oats and vetch, rye, vetch. 
This may be all of the four acres dry enough to plant 
until after drained. 
The six acres may grow vetch and oats first, using 
one bushel each per acre for seed, and later put into 
corn, cow peas and sweet potatoes, two acres each. 
When the half-acre crops are ready to be grazed off, 
the hogs are to be confined on one lot as long as may 
be desirable, and then on another. Whatever is left, 
as not needed for grazing, can be harvested. As soon 
as cold weather is over, the grazed-off lots should be 
put into sorghum, rape, cow peas, and succession 
crops of sorghum and the cow pea may be planted 
until July. After July, rape, rye, and vetch and oats 
come in again. 
There are possibilities in this kind of feeding and 
growing crops, and so much depends on the aptness 
of the carrying out of a rotation, breeding and turn¬ 
ing pigs off well, that I hesitate to say how many can 
be kept. J. T. will soon find, by starting as above in¬ 
dicated, how many he can keep, and iif he use some 
city kitchen refuse in fattening can increase his herd 
above the possibilities of the land to support it. He 
should be particular not to use any of the city waste 
for his breeding stock or pigs. 
The Popular Science Monthly says that the flesh of 
animals dead of symptomatic anthrax may retain its in¬ 
fection after having been hold in a dry state for 10 years. 
To remove a rusty screw, heat its head by applying a 
small metal rod which has been made red hot. As soon 
as the screw has been heated, it may be removed with 
an ordinary screwdriver. 
Analysts state that condensed milk put up without 
sugar is much more liable to decomposition than that 
prepared with sugar. Severe poisoning results from the 
use of decomposed canned milk. 
According to the Fruit Trade Journal, the watermelon 
crop of Kansas this year was far in excess of the de¬ 
mand. Some have been running the surplus stock 
through thrashing machines to extract the seeds, which 
are sold to seed dealers all over the country at from 
eight to if cents per pound. The yield is from 150 to 300 
pounds of seed per acre. 
