1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
593 
little more than twice the quantity delivered multi¬ 
plied by the height. An example carefully observed 
may be quoted, and will afford a good basis for calcu¬ 
lating the results of rams of other sizes. Drive-pipe 
was 15 feet long and three-quarter inch diameter; 
slope of drive-pipe, 8% feet; water used, 768 cubic 
inches per minute ; delivery pipe, 200 feet long, three- 
quarter inch diameter; height of delivery, 63.4 feet, 
water delivered, 48 cubic inches per minute. Then as 
768x8.8, is to 48x63.4, so is 100 to 45, and the water 
delivei’ed by a ram will be somewhat less than half 
the quantity flowing into the drive-pipe when the dif¬ 
ference of height is allowed for. 
The rule may then be said to be, in general, to find the 
quantity of water delivered by a ram : Multiply the 
height of head of the drive-pipe by the quantity of 
water flowing through it in a minute, for a dividend, 
and for a divisor, take the height of the discharge ; the 
quotient will be the quantity of water delivered. As 
one square inch of water flowing at the rate of four 
miles an hour is sufficient to water seven acres of land 
once a week, as liberally as the average rainfall, it is 
not difficult to make quite an insignificant stream do 
very useful work in the watering of a garden, and 
thus insure a full product every year. One acre of 
strawberries watered by means of a small steam pump, 
and a cistern for storage, yielded at the rate of nearly 
50,000 quarts of fruit in the season, the fruits being 
mostly of the largest size and very numerous, and con¬ 
tinuing much longer than under ordinary culture. It 
is not a difficult matter to get a stream of water flow¬ 
ing one cubic inch a second, which will be sufficient, 
with the ordinary rainfall, for five acres of land at 
least. H. s. 
Division of Income from Dairying. 
W. /I., Potoxi, Mo. What would be a fair compensation fora 
man to milk one-half of 15 cows, and to run the milk through a 
separator, make butter and do all necessary work about the 
spring-house? Also to drive up the cows from the pasture ad¬ 
joining the barn, or feed the cows in Winter ? I have good aver¬ 
age grade Jerseys, convenient barn and spring-house of the best 
kind, and No. 1 pastures. I get 20 cents for butter for six months, 
and 85 cents for six months. I furnish everything, milk half the 
cows, and have a woman and husband to do the rest. I am to 
give them a per cent of the product. What part should I give 
them in Summer, and what part in Winter? I should have more 
in Winter, as the butter sells for more and feed costs more. 
Ans. —To answer this query from a New York State 
standpoint, one would look at it something in this 
wise : When the owner furnishes only the farm, and 
the tenant all stock and tools, the latter receives one- 
half the proceeds. When the owner furnishes farm, 
stock and tools, the tenant usually receives one-third 
for doing the work. When the tenant, or helper, has 
everything furnished by the owner, and has only to 
feed the cows, milk half of them, and make the but¬ 
ter, I should think that he ought to receive about one- 
fifth, or 20 per cent, of the proceeds. I do not think 
much, if any, difference should be made in Winter, for 
while the butter sells for more and feed may cost 
more, it is also much more work to feed the cows then 
than in Summer. L. A. 
Sowing Awnless Brome Grass. 
E. P. It., Sidney, U .—At what season should Awnless Brome 
grass seed be sown, and how much per acre ? May it be sown in 
corn with wheat in September ? 
C. S. B., Mackinaw, Mich.- I intend to try Bromus iuermis on 
one-half acre of light sandy land which was cleared la3t year, 
and now has a very good crop of early potatoes on it. Which is 
the better time to sow it, Spring or Fall, and what quantity of 
seed per acre ? Is it best to sow alone or with grain ? 
Ans. —Sow about 20 pounds per acre. The best time 
is late August or early September. It may be sown 
with wheat or alone, or it may be sown in the Spring. 
Ashes or Manure for Fruits. 
J. M ../., Bradford, Tenn .—I have three acres of strawberries 
on rather thin land, but by good cultivation, I have made a good 
growth of vines. I also have the same amount and kind of land 
in a peach orchard, with itsfirstcrop of fruit. I can buy hard 
wood ashes at the mill fresh from the furnace, good and strong, 
at 10 cents per barrel. I can get manure from the stable at 
25 cents per load, mixed largely with sawdust. The hauling in 
both cases is the same (1*4 mile). Which will be the most profit¬ 
able, at what season ought each to be applied, and at what rate 
per acre ? 
Ans.—A barrel of wood ashes and a ton of average 
stable manure contain the following comparative 
amounts of plant food : 
Nitrogen. Potash. Plios. Acid. 
Barrel of wood ashes. 0 6 2 
Ton of Manure. 10 13 6 
A “ load ” is an indefinite measure of value—with 
you, probably, this would mean less than a ton. For 
25 cents, you can buy, in the ashes, about as 
much potash and phosphoric acid as you can in a ton 
of the manure, and that is all. The ashes, under the 
circumstances you mention, are likely to prove more 
reliable than the manure, and we would buy them 
first. Put them on the peach orchard ; you may safely 
use one ton to the acre. There is no nitrogen in 
ashes, but you can obtain that by sowing cow peas or 
Crimson clover in the orchard. The ashes are best 
used by broadcasting them on plowed or cultivated 
land, and then harrowing them in. By sowing peas 
or clover you get a double benefit from the ashes, 
since they not only fertilize the trees but give a large 
crop of peas or clover. We would not use the manure 
in the orchard, but if at all, would apply as a mulch 
to the strawberries. This crop has greater need of 
the nitrogen than the peach trees. We would use a 
fair quantity of the ashes between the rows of berries, 
well cultivated in, and apply the manure when the 
ground freezes, over the vines. 
Fall Laying in Ducks. 
T. C. F., Indiana. —What care and treatment should be given 
ducks to induce Fall laying ? Is there any special difficulty in 
getting Fall-laid duck eggs to hatch ? 
Ans. —To induce Fall laying, ducks should have 
practically the same treatment as for Winter laying. 
Begin at once to feed them meat. A good ration is 
composed of four parts of corn meal, four parts of 
wheat bran, and one part of ground meat, with about 
one pint of charcoal and a small handful of salt to 
each one-half bushel of mixed feed ; also add a large 
handful of good sharp grit. This should be fed morn¬ 
ing and night, all they will eat readily, care being 
taken not to overfeed. They should have a light feed 
of wheat, corn and oats at noon. It is best where 
practicable, to allow them free range ; when this is 
impossible, they must be supplied with a liberal 
amount of green food. This may consist of green 
corn fodder, grass, refuse cabbage and other vege¬ 
tables, in fact, almost anything green. They will 
eat many kinds of weeds with a relish, and there is 
no more sure way of killing weeds than feeding to 
ducks. There is not so much difficulty in getting Fall 
eggs to hatch as those laid in Winter, and if the ducks 
are properly mated and eared for, the eggs should 
hatch well; but as a rule, the ducklings will not be 
so profitable as the early-Spring ducks. J. K. s. 
Hens with Indigestion. 
A. B., Schoharie County, N. Y. —What .ails my hens? As the 
first symptoms, they sit around with their eyes shut, do not eat or 
drink; their droppings are yellowish and dark green. Some live 
two days, some a week, and a few get well. When opened, I find 
the liver twice the usual size, the gall very large; the liver next 
to the gall Is dark green. The feed has been buckwheat and 
corn. They have free run. 
Ans.— The symptoms described by A. B. indicate 
that his fowls are suffering from indigestion. It may 
be caused by lack of suitable grit on their range, or 
from feeding too much corn and buckwheat. It is not 
as generally known as it should be that, though 
wheat, corn, oats, buckwheat, etc., are all excellent 
feed, any one of them, when fed almost exclusively, 
will cause indigestion, and a large number of the 
diseases to which fowls are subject can be traced di¬ 
rectly to indigestion. I would suggest that A. B. 
change the feed, giving them a mash in the morning, 
equal parts of wheat bran, ground oats or oat feed, 
and corn meal, with about 10 per cent each of ground 
meat, cake meal, and ground charcoal, moistened and 
fed only what they will clean up readily, and at night, 
give them a very light feed of grain. Place some good 
sharp grit where they can reach it; this may consist 
of broken crockery or even glass, though not neces¬ 
sarily the good wife’s best dishes. Be sure that they 
have plenty of clean, fresh water to drink, and that 
there are no stagnant or filthy pools for them to 
drink from, which is a frequent cause of sickness in 
fowls during warm weather. ,x. E. s. 
The Potato-Stalk Weevil. 
C. B. P., Pittxville, Pa .—I send you a package containing a piece 
of potato vine having a worm or maggot in it ? Does this consti¬ 
tute part, or all, of the blight we hear so much about ? What is 
the remedy for it? 
ANSWERED BY M. Y. SLINGEBLAND. 
The piece of potato stalk sent contained a grub of 
the Potato-stalk weevil (Trichobaris trinotata). The 
adult insect is a small snout beetle not quite so large 
as the Plum curculio, but similarly built. Briefly told, 
its life story is this : The eggs are laid by the beetle 
in tender portions of the stem, and as soon as the 
grub hatches, it mines downward in the tender pith, 
and when nearly full-grown, reaches the main stem. 
Here it mines out the whole pith down to the root, 
then mines back up the stem nearly to the surface of 
the ground or a little above, where it gnaws a hole in 
the woody portion out to the bark. Here the grub 
changes to a pupa, and later to the adult weevil. The 
injury is usually noticed in the latter part of July, 
and the adult beetles begin emerging early in August. 
The pest breeds, also, in the stem of horse nettle, 
and in several species of ground cherry. 
The tunneling out of the pith causes the stalk to* 
wilt soon and finally, the leaves turn brown and die, 
thus giving the plant a “ blighted ” appearance. No, 
this insect is not the cause of the potato blight which 
is so prevalent throughout the country nearly every 
year. This blight is caused by a fungus, and has no 
connection with the Stalk weevil. In limited locali¬ 
ties, during certain seasons, this weevil is so numer¬ 
ous as to “ blight ” a large proportion of the vines, 
possibly as many as, or more than, does the fungous- 
disease ; both the insect and the fungus, doubtless, 
often work in the same field or in the same potato hill. 
I have never seen the two “blights” together, so am 
unable to point out all the distinctive differences ; but 
I would expect to find the plants first wilting from 
the work of the weevil. 
The only remedy that has been recommended for 
the Potato-stalk weevil is to pull the vines as soon as 
they show signs of wilting, and burn them, roots and 
all. Do not wait until it is time to dig the potatoes, 
for then many of the beetles will have emerged. Prob¬ 
ably, about July 15 is the proper time. 
The Brown Rot in Plums. 
A. W. F., Whitehall, III.—I have five trees of the Burbank plum, 
which bore their first crop this year, and although they have been 
set out but two years, I believe they had two bushels of fruit per 
tree. When the fruit was about two-thirds grown, it began to 
rot, and did not stop as long as there was a plum on the trees. 
Not a plum got fully ripe on the entire lot of trees. I plucked a 
few before they were quite ripe, and am holding them to see 
which they will do, ripen or rot. Now what was the matter .and 
what is the remedy ? Trees of the Abundance stood right in the 
midst of the Burbank and were affected only a little. Is it 
characteristic of the Burbank to act in this way ? If it is, I want 
none of it. These trees were a sight to see. People came to my 
place just to see the loads of fruit they held, and now it is not 
pleasant to answer questions about them. 
Ans. —The rot which affected the Burbank plums 
was almost surely the Brown rot. It also affects the 
peach and cherry. Moist, warm weather induces a 
rapid spread of the malady. Some varieties of the 
peach and cherry, as well as of the plum, are more 
easily affected than others. The Burbank plum is not 
so able to resist the attacks of the disease as some, 
but it is not so subject to it as some other kinds. It 
would be unwise to discard it on that account. As a 
preventive, the application of the copper remedies 
pays best. Just before the buds swell in the Spring, 
use a solution of one pound of sulphate of copper in 
25 gallons of water. When the buds are swelling spray 
with Bordeaux Mixture. Repeat this when the fruit is 
well formed. When it is nearly grown, spray with 
the ammoniacal carbonate of copper, made according 
to the printed formula which is easily found in agri¬ 
cultural papers and books. This ought to be sufficient 
even in a bad season for rot. ii. e. v. d. 
Double Stocks and Petunias. 
B. , Long Inland.—1. Last year, I bought the seed of double Ten- 
weeks stock, which came about 75 percent double. This year, 
from the same source, less than 10 per cent is double. What is 
the reason? 2. How is the seed of double Petunias raised. I 
never got more than 20 per cent double, sometimes none. What 
is the cause of that ? 
Ans. —1. The Ten-weeks’stock succeeds best in a cool 
season, and our hot Summer would be very likely to 
cause the large percentage of single flowers. Any 
check to growth causes premature flowering, and de¬ 
teriorates the individual flowers. All double flowers 
have a tendency to revert to the single form. 2. The 
seed of double Petunias is obtained by crossing 
single flowers with the pollen from double ones. The 
double flowers do not bear seed, and naturally quite 
a proportion of the seedlings will retain the character 
of the pistillate flowers. From 30 to 50 per cent 
double seems the usual proportion. The finest double 
Petunias are propagated by cuttings. The number of 
fine double flowers produced depends somewhat upon 
cultivation. It is asserted by practical growers that 
very often the seedlings which look strongest and 
most vigorous at the start are the single ones, the 
doubles being rather more slender at first, and this 
may often lead to the rejection of plants that would 
produce double flowers. Many florists only sow seed 
sold as double Petunias, depending on this for their 
stock of singles, the colors being, as a rule, finer than 
those produced by single seed. 
Germination of Hardy Catalpa Seed. 
E. P. It., Ohio. —I bought an ounce of Hardy Catalpa seed two 
or three years ago, but failed to get a single seed to germinate. 
How should the seed be treated and planted ? 
Ans. —There should be no difficulty about the ger¬ 
mination of Hardy Catalpa seeds. They may be sown 
precisely as we would sow peas, though not so deep. 
Fully cover the seeds and keep them moist until they 
sprout. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
Mulberry Cuttings.—J. D. B., New Lexington, Pa.—Some vari¬ 
eties of the mulberry may be grown from cuttings with consid¬ 
erable ease, but the common method of propagating this fruit is 
by grafting or budding. Seedlings should be grown in nursery 
rows for this purpose. 
Thrashing Sorghum Seed.—J. G. L., Bloomfield, Ind.—For 
thrashing sorghum or cane seed, an ordinary steam-power do ver- 
huller, when properly adjusted, will do reasonably good work. 
You will have to use great care in curing the seed in order to 
market it in good condition. 
Plowing Under Cow Peas.— E. B. E., Marietta, Pa.—With us, 
the best time to plow under cow pea vines is iu the Spring. We 
let them grow as long as they will until frost,when they die down 
and form a mat upon the ground through the Wiuter. They 
partly decay before Spring, and are then readily worked under 
in time for any Spring crop. We have found it useful to work the 
ground over first with a disk or Cutaway harrow, and then to 
plow under the chopped vines. Of course, where some grain crop 
is to follow the cow peas, they must be plowed under this Fall. 
About September 1 will be the proper time, and we would prefer 
to run over with the disk or Cutaway two or three days before 
plowing under. If plowed under when green, you should use a 
quantity of lime with the cow peas before seeding to grain or 
grass. 
