5 + 4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
August 6 
conclusion after these experiments that the spraying 
had very little effect, reducing the amount of rust 
but one-fourth. It may be noted that, among seven 
varieties of asparagus grown, the Palmetto appeared 
least susceptible to the rust. 
Effective treatment of the infested fields in Autumn 
to prevent any spores of the rust from germinating in 
the Spring, is likely to prove more efficacious than 
sprajdng. The spores upon old brush can be destroyed 
by burning the asparagus stems, either as they stand 
in the field, or by cutting and throwing the brush into 
piles. by the latter method, many of the small 
branches will be broken off and scattered upon the 
ground, thus giving a suitable place for the spores to 
remain over the Winter. For this reason, it would be 
safer to burn the plants as soon as they become 
brittle and lifeless, thus avoiding the breaking up of 
the brittle rusted plants, and sowing the spores upon 
the ground. The most effective destruction of spores 
would be by burning the whole field of standing 
brush. This work should certainly be done in the 
Autumn to prevent the spores from wintering over. 
This operation is advocated by several European 
authorities who have studied the subject. It is also 
suggested that, as many of the spores will be scat¬ 
tered upon the soil, it will be wise to sprinkle a thin 
coat of lime upon the ground, and leave it there dur¬ 
ing the Winter. If this is followed by turning under 
the surface soil in the Spring, it will bury any spores 
that might still be living, so that they would be out 
of reach. 
The Outlook For It.—This rust is found upon 
ot her species of asparagus, but is not known as living 
elsewhere. It is also noted that pistillate plants are 
somewhat less rusted than those that don’t bear ber¬ 
ries. This rust is affected by two natural enemies, 
both fungi, which may be expected to aid in checking 
the ravages of the host plant. It is suggested in bul¬ 
letin No. 50 of the Maryland Experiment Station that 
the asparagus beetles aid in the distribution of these 
plant parasites. This is not at all unlikely, as many 
fungous diseases in plants are, undoubtedly, carried in 
this way. 
It is impossible to say as yet what the range of the 
disease will be this year. It makes its appearance 
during,luly, August and September, but the proba¬ 
bilities are that we shall have a wider range than dur¬ 
ing the previous two years. Some good asparagus 
growers assert that they have little fear of rust so 
long as their plants are thoroughly cultivated, the 
cultivation continuing after cutting is over, and then 
bui-ned over as soon as the growth is mature. This 
practical opinion would seem to coincide with that of 
the scientists who are studjdng the rust. 
AN OHIO MAN TALKS. 
DRY WEATHER NOTK8. 
Corn and Cow l*eas. —No matter how tired I am, 
the Hope Farm man’s letters always put me in a good 
humor, and if 1 am tired this afternoon from thrash¬ 
ing, plowing tobacco, and hoeing out big plants of 
purslane, I will write a few notes on our late dry spell 
and its effect on various crops. Field corn, sweet 
corn, popcorn, sorghum and Kaffir corn, planted in 
the same patch about May 17, were damaged about in 
the order they are named. Really the Kaffir was not 
hurt at all, and grew right along through the hottest 
days. Two varieties of cow peas and two of table 
peas were planted about .1 une 10 ; the cow peas stood 
the dry weather much better than the table peas, and 
the black cow pea grows much faster than the War¬ 
ren’s Early. 
Some Big" Corn. —During the wet spell from May 
5 to 15, I broke three acres of rich loam where weeds 
had killed out the clover. We plowed it rather deeper 
than usual, perhaps seven inches deep, and turned 
under all the crop of weeds. It lay until June 2 to 4, 
when it was rolled and harrowed with the 40-tooth 
harrow, marked deep with a single-shovel plow and 
planted with Learning corn. June 22, the boys and I 
hoed all but 10 rows, just filling up around the hills; 
the weeds will be chopped up in the 10 rows if any 
weeds grow. I just came in from that corn patch, 
and it is all higher than my head ; I want to see what 
kind of a crop 1 can raise without work ; there are no 
weeds in the corn now, but of course, if it had been a 
wet season, 1 would have had to work the crop. 
Shallow Plowing" Best. — Several years ago, 1 
abandoned extra-deep plowing, and have been raising 
my crops of corn, tobacco and wheat on land plowed 
not over five inches, instead of the old eight inches 
deep, and 1 find that crops stand the drought much 
better on the shallow plowing. This year, tobacco 
did not stand nearly so well on deep as on shallow 
breaking. Four-inch breaking means an easily-pre¬ 
pared seed-bed, while eight-inch breaking means hard 
work to get the ground in order. To-day my oldest 
son was breaking wheat stubble for wheat this Fall ; 
there was a strap of seven-inch breaking last year in 
he field, and the rest was broken four inches. The 
whole field breaks up nice and loose except the strip 
mentioned, and that turns over in lumps. 
Oats and Potatoes Fail. —Potatoes are a fail¬ 
ure. I dug 15 hills of Early Ohio to get a small mess 
for supper. We can raise only early varieties here, 
and it seems that we have lost our grip on even these. 
I always get a good crop if I plant from March 10 to 
25, but this year, no planting could be done until the 
middle of April, and we have no crop. Oats are like¬ 
wise a failure. I notice that oats never make a good 
crop, if a poor potato year, and that, if late May and 
June are dry, we have neither oats nor potatoes. 
brown County, 0 . c. D. I.YON. 
MORE ABOUT HYDRAULIC RAMS. 
MR SENDER AND HIS 8IPHON. 
My critic, page 510, may be decidedly better posted 
in regard to hydraulic matters than myself, as he is 
“ Wet more” than I am ; but it is not always the big¬ 
gest foot that gets over the most ground. The maker 
of my ram stated that a one-inch pipe was the thing 
for the smallest ram. Judging by the flow, and not 
first testing, I thought I was sure of enough water, 
and promptly ordered an outfit. To get a fall of six 
feet, I had to use 120 feet of pipe, instead of the 80 
feet I recommended to the inquirer. I also found that 
the flow of my spring would not keep the one-inch 
pipe much more than half full. Determined not to be 
thwarted, I resorted to the reservoir described, and 
thanks to the objectionable elbow and siphon, we got 
a continuous flow from the delivery pipe from before 
breakfast until after late supper, when the ram was 
stopped for the night. 
The readers of The R. N.-Y. would, no doubt, thank 
Mr. Wetmore to tell how he is going to get the 300 
cubic feet of reserve water below the pipe to the 
ram without the use of a siphon, and without going 
to the expense of cutting a ditch, sometimes through 
solid rock, to the depth of the reservoir the entire 
length of the supply pipe, and running the risk of 
diverting the spring. He seems entirely to overlook 
the fact that, as long as the water is above the deliv¬ 
ery pipe, the siphon offers no practical resistance, as 
. D 
D, delivery; S, spring; R, hydraulic ram, 14 feet, 8 inches below 
spring, making actual height to which water must be raised 
61 feet, four inches. 
the water from below naturally rises to its own level 
without external assistance, but when the water 
gets below the delivery pipe, it might as well be 
quenching the thirst of Dives as to be in our spring 
without a siphon. True, the lower the water gets, 
the less will be delivered, but the ram is kept in 
motion, and three-fourths, even a half, loaf is better 
than none. The siphon is merely to enable us to run 
the ram many hours longer than would otherwise be 
possible. I admit that the need of it is objectionable, 
but so is the fact that most springs are near the bot¬ 
tom instead of the top of the hill. We must put up 
with what we can’t put down. 
Forty feet is the “ very least ” length of supply pipe 
allowable for six feet fall; for even a small increase, 
it is insufficient. In recommending 80 feet, I knew it 
to be more than sufficient, and still 40 feet less than I 
found satisfactory, but my chief object was to get 
increase of fall resulting from greater distance from 
the spring, as a small ram, with six feet fall, that 
will raise only 17 gallons per hour 40 feet high, will, 
with an eight-foot fall, raise 29 gallons, a difference 
not to be despised. With this, I butt my actual ex¬ 
perience against all theories, some of which, as re¬ 
gards water supply, have been refuted in other respects 
by everyday practice, and that contrary to the theo¬ 
retical teachings of some very learned men. 
A New York State man says that he has a spring 
that yields two gallons of water per minute, and he 
would like to use a ram if possible. The length of 
the feed pipe would be 57 feet, and its fall 14 feet, 
eight inches. The delivery pipe would be 515 feet 
long, the elevation from ram to house 79 feet. He 
wants to know whether a ram will work satisfactorily. 
Whether or not the natural flow of the spring, all 
other conditions being made to conform to the re¬ 
quirements of a hydraulic ram, would suffice to keep 
a ram in continuous motion, the inquirer can quickly 
ascertain by means of a short piece of one-inch pipe. 
Let one end rest at the outlet of the spring, and let 
the other be just slightly lower. Next place a little 
earth over the middle of the pipe so as to form a tight 
dam. If after waiting a short time, it be found that, 
as the water flows through the pipe, the same is kept 
full and that the water actually rises above the pipe, 
showing that.it is not sufficiently large to carry the 
flow, (hen there can be no doubt that he has enough 
water to operate any hydraulic ram requiring a on e 
inch supply pipe, provided this flow can be steadily 
depended upon. If this reliable experiment show 
that the pipe cannot be kept quite full of water, then 
the only alternative is to resort to the plan described 
on page 481, or some modification thereof, so that the 
acctunulation during the night may prove a reserve 
for the natural flow to draw upon during the daytime. 
but the other conditions are such that few manufac¬ 
turers would care to guarantee the proper working 
of their rams, as these machines will not work when 
placed in a haphazard manner. The height above the 
ram is 79 feet. As the water will naturally rise to its 
level of its own accord, 14 feet 8 inches must be de¬ 
ducted, which leaves only 04 feet four inches to be 
surmounted by the ram. which need not be considered 
a difficult matter. Neither is the length of the deliv¬ 
ery pipe a formidable affair, but a feed or supply 
pipe only 57 feet long does not admit of a fall of more 
than about nine feet, because a greater fall for this 
length of pipe would cause the water to rebound in 
the pipe, preventing the proper action of the ram. Or, 
putting it the other way, a fall of 14 feet 8 inches does 
not admit of a supply pipe much 1 ess than 100 feet long, 
and for the same reason. The fall can be reduced by 
building a solid foundation for the ram about five feet 
high. If he prefers to increase the length of the supply 
pipe to 100 feet, he must make sure not to increase the 
fall materially. If circumstances do not adapt them¬ 
selves to our needs we must adapt our needs to the 
circumstances. j. c. senger. 
Virginia. 
P0S TED ON FENCE P0S TS. 
WHEN, HOW AND W n E R E TO CUT. 
One of our readers in Illinois expects to build a mile 
of barbed-wire fence, and wants the best fence he can 
build. He asks us the following questions about posts: 
1. What is the best month of the year for cutting White-oak 
trees for fence posts ? 
2. Do you prefer split posts to round ones, and would you make 
all your posts from trees large enough to make two or more split 
posts ? 
3. Do you recom mend barking posts ? 
4. Can you suggest a cheap way of treating posts, to insure 
against rot ? 
5. Should the posts be allowed time for thorough seasoning, or 
would it be safe to put them in the ground while green ? 
6. How deep should such posts be set in the ground ? 
Cut in the Summer. 
The best month to cut timber in the northern States 
for posts, sills, or any use where it is exposed to earth 
or water, is July, as at that time the wood cells are 
not loaded with starch as in the dormant season. 
Incidentally in the early days of prairie settlement, 
the thousands of straw sheds taught this lesson. As 
a rule, the posts were cut in Summer and set at once 
in a green state. It was found that Red oak, box 
elder, Red elm, and even willow cut at that time would 
last about as well as White oak cut in Winter. Split 
po'sts are better than round ones, as they can be dried 
more perfectly before setting, and they are made from 
older trees with less sap-wood. If cut in July, they 
dry faster if the bark is taken off. We have had the 
best success by soaking posts for several days in lime 
water. The same is true of shingles and soft-wood 
boards. It is best to dry posts thoroughly before 
setting. If sharpened so that they can be driven a 
foot into the hard ground at the bottom of the hole, 
they will stand well if set two feet deep. 
Iowa Experiment Station. j. l. budd. 
Cut Them in May. 
The post question is quite a serious one with me, 
because my land is post-hungry, and choice posts seem 
to be tid-bits to it. I have bought posts made in each 
of the four seasons, and my experience with them in¬ 
dicates that those cut in May, when the trees are in 
full leaf, last much longer than those cut at any other 
time, but it is difficult to get posts cut in May, unless 
one cuts them himself, because at that time, people 
who own timber are usually busy planting corn among 
their stumps. The lot that I secured were cut from 
trees that made one to four good posts, and there was 
no difference in their lasting qualities. The bark was 
removed when they were cut, and they were not set 
in the ground until Autumn. They were set with 
another lot, equally good, that were cut in the Win¬ 
ter, and while the latter have all rotted off. most of 
the former are comparatively sound. I know of no 
cheap process of treating posts to insure against rot. 
I have seen the charring, hot coal-tar, etc., processes 
tried without the slightest benefit resulting. The 
best remedy for post-rot that I know of is thorough 
drainage of the soil. Except for temporary purposes, 
I would never set a post less than 30 inches deep ; 36 
is still better. To sum up the matter, I would (if I 
could) set posts that were cut in May, barked and sea¬ 
soned in the shade of trees, or under a shed. I would 
set them not less than 30 inches deep, then see that 
the soil is well drained. I would expect such a fence 
to stand, with slight repairs, 20 to 30 years. 
Illinois. FRED GRUNDY. 
