218 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
March 26 
MAIN PIPE AND BRANCHES. Fig. 91. 
at noon, all the good clover and Timothy hay the 
cattle will eat. The cows stand by twos in wide stalls, 
chained loosely so that they can turn and lick them¬ 
selves. They are not turned out at all during cold 
weather. Running spring-water is in the barn all the 
time, and the milk is cooled, and the stock watered 
from this source. Come rain, come snow, come Jan¬ 
uary thaw or zero blasts, these cows know it not. but 
give the same amount of milk regularly, regardless of 
the milk-shrinking conditions of weather that may 
prevail outside of their comfortable quarters. 
Mr. Stewart has served four years and nine months, 
with honor to the State and credit to himself, 
as Assistant Dairy and Food Commissioner. In 
this capacity, he was actively engaged in prose¬ 
cuting those who unlawfully dealt in oleomar¬ 
garine. None of the salary that he drew from 
this source was in any way used upon his farm. 
Ohio. A. B. PHILLIPS. 
CHEAP MODERN IRRIGATION. 
Irrigation in what we call the arid regions of 
the West is a necessity, and it would appear to 
be much the same in portions of the East. There 
is little rainfall at the time when moisture is 
needed for the development of the crop and, to 
obtain best results, irrigation must be practiced. 
The practical application of the principle is 
treated in an excellent little handbook recently 
published by Johnson & Stokes, entitled Irriga¬ 
tion by Cheap Modern Methods, from which Figs. 
91,92 and 93 are taken. These illustrations show 
the manner of irrigating on a south Jersey truck 
farm. The soil is a sandy loam, with a gentle 
slope, which is sufficient for gravity irrigation, a 
stream of water being available. Water is raised from 
the stream by a 234-horse power gasoline engine. The 
water flows through a 234-inch main at the rate of 60 
gallons a minute, and is distributed through homemade 
hose. This hose is made of 12-cent duck cut the re¬ 
quired size, sewed up with seam outside, and dipped into 
a mixture of hot coal tar and linseed oil, equal parts. 
This hose costs but 1 34 cent a foot, and is durable. 
The main distributing pipe is about one-fourth mile 
long, and 20 feet above the brook at its highest point. 
The laterals, made of the duck hose, are subdivided 
into seven or fewer streams, flowing through smaller 
pipes, for the purpose of reaching individual rows of 
growing crops. With water flowing at the rate of 60 
gallons a minute, an inch of water may be easily ap¬ 
plied to an acre of ground in a day. The entire cost 
of the engine, pump, pump-house, pipe, hose, etc., is 
$300 to $350. The cost of fuel, etc., is about 23 cents 
a day. The crops irrigated are celery, lettuce, cab¬ 
bage, squash, watermelons and cantaloupes, turnips, 
potatoes, bedding plants and peach trees. The results 
fully justify the expenditures. 
In most cases, irrigation in shallow ditches or fur¬ 
rows is preferable to flooding. When the latter sys¬ 
tem is used, especially on a heavy soil, there is danger 
of the formation of clods or lumps, together with a 
baked surface. The best results are obtained, on cul¬ 
tivated ground, by shallow irrigating furrows, the 
surface being protected by a dust mulch. For closely- 
planted garden crops with rows two feet apart, the 
water may be admitted to every row, while in beds 
planted closely for hand culture, spaces should be 
left for irrigation furrows three or four feet apart. 
Among broadcast crops, it is recommended that shal¬ 
low irrigation furrows be made, varying from four to 
ten feet apart. This is a better plan than the old 
method of making 12-foot lands, with ditches along 
from two to 
three inches per 
100 feet, 12 
inches being 
the maximum, 
and sometimes 
an unsafe limit 
of fall for the 
same distance. 
Water must not 
be allowed to 
lie in the fur¬ 
rows or the 
main ditch. 
The ground 
should become 
dry, and have 
frequent thor¬ 
ough cultiva¬ 
tion, with copi¬ 
ous irrigation 
when needed. 
Instead of light 
wateri ngs, 
which merely 
dampen the 
surface, the 
effect of a copious rain must be imitated. A 234-horse¬ 
power gasoline engine, which runs for hours at a time 
without attention, is used. It will raise water enough 
to cover nine acres per week. Fig. 92 shows the little 
house in which the engine is operated. This house is 
in a swamp near the stream, and the engine rests on a 
brick foundation. Figs. 91 and 93 show the pipes and 
hose used in field operations. 
TEST AND TREATMENT F0RSAN JOSE SCALE 
A positive test for San .Jos6 scale on pear and apple 
trees, is to cut the bark with a sharp knife slanting 
SHELTER FOR THE GASOLINE ENGINE. Fig. 92. 
through the cambium ; this will reveal the diseased 
soft new inner bark and outer sapwood. The color 
will be a purplish red, so distinct as not to be mis¬ 
taken. My place is at high-water mark with San Jos6 
scale. Having purchased nursery stock from nearly 
every prominent concern in the country, I have a 
large list of diseases to treat the present season. 
Heretofore, the trees affected have been destroyed, 
but now I purpose to fight the trouble according to 
modern methods. A good spray pump is the chief 
requisite. I 
feel obligated 
to the man 
who invented 
the kerosene 
attach ment 
which does 
away with 
making emul¬ 
sion. A pail 
pump, as now 
used, is not 
so bad as a 
previous one, 
for the clamp¬ 
ing firmly of 
pump and 
tank to the 
pail makes 
all the differ¬ 
ence between 
pleasure and 
exasperation. 
I have about 
10 0 subjects 
to treat, and 
for so small 
would like a quarter barrel mounted on high wheels, 
with a kerosene attachment and handle pump. All 
such in the catalogues are too large, viz., whole bar¬ 
rels, hence heavy, hard to push, and not adapted to 
small places. 
To fight our insect enemies and fungus, we need 
three great guns—Bordeaux, Paris-green, and kero¬ 
sene. I purpose to have a 50-gallon tank, of wood, 
and use this formula: Six pounds of copper sul¬ 
phate, five pounds of quicklime, four ounces of Paris- 
green, water to make 50 gallons. Out of this mixture, 
throughout the season, I shall give trees and vines a 
lunch weekly, and may forget to detach the kerosene 
tank set at 2-10 for general work, 1-15 for peaches and 
roses. I generally try every new entomological 
recommendation, and had a direful experience with 
Dendrolene. It killed all my peach trees except two, 
but did not injure apple trees. Hence, I am some¬ 
what fearful of the new suggestion to use kerosene 
undiluted before the buds swell, for scale. I shall, 
however, try it on my worst affected trees, being sure 
to have a good force on, give a perfect spray, and not 
allow the oil to run down the trunk or into crotches 
of trees. The others will receive 5-10 treatment, and 
all be sprayed twice, one week apart. Next, before 
the buds swell, I shall use a strong solution of copper 
sulphate, followed by the contents of the barrel 
heretofore mentioned, once a week throughout the 
season. 
The rapid multiplication of San Jos6 scale, its ten¬ 
acity, and the almost impossibility of complete exter¬ 
mination, make it one of the most pernicious foes. 
No wonder Germany stands aghast at its possible in¬ 
troduction. My first experience was with a Red 
Beitigheimer apple tree of small size. With a stiff 
brush, it was repeatedly scrubbed with the strongest 
suds, made of Gold Dust powder. The process, though 
frequently repeated, had no more effect than so much 
rain. Is it any wonder that only three years are re¬ 
quired to kill a tree, when we consider the 
poisonous work of the insect as shown in the 
discoloration of the cambium ? It seems not 
content to thrive on the tree, it must destroy it 
at the same time. 
February 22 has been celebrated here by 
going from tree to tree testing with a knife 
for this Tasmanian invader. It is surprising 
to find the knife revealing what the eye had 
not. Wherever the red sapwood showed up, 
on close inspection, the flyspeck scale was there 
waiting for Spring. The best place to cut is at 
the junction of last year’s growth with that 
of the previous year. On trees newly in¬ 
fested, this seems to be favorable Winter quar¬ 
ters, but on those badly so, like a Kieffer pear 
on my place, the trunk and limbs to the tips 
are covered and overlapped with scale, as 
though dusted with ashes. When so bad that 
the knife is not needed, it is a question 
whether the ax would not serve a better 
purpose. FREDERICK II. PAGE. 
Middlesex County, Mass. 
R. N.-Y.—Eternal vigilance is bound to be the 
price of fruit wdierever the San Jos6 scale abounds. 
But experiments at Cornell Experiment Station, at 
the New Jersey Experiment Station, and at other 
places have demonstrated that the pest can be con¬ 
trolled. The manufacturers of spraying machinery 
usually stand ready to furnish anything popularly 
demanded for fighting insects, and our friend can, 
probably, find just what he wants with some of 
them. The demand usually brings the needed supply. 
the center. The proper fall for irrigating furrows is a number, 
IRRIGATION FURROWS AND MAIN PIPE. Fig. 93. 
