720 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
October 22 
land that can be cultivated as a whole. Wherever 
such tracts of land exist in Cuba, they will be found 
more profitable as sugar plantations, and will, prob¬ 
ably, not be diverted to the growing of vegetables. 
Besides the difficulties mentioned above, there is that 
of labor in connection with the growingof vegetables. 
The work will have to be done by negroes, mainly, 
who do not understand how to do the work, and will 
have to be taught. As they take quite slowly to learn¬ 
ing new things, it would require a considerable time 
before a large plantation could be established and 
stocked with efficient help. Of course, the help is 
somewhat cheaper than in the United States, but this 
is more than compensated for by the lack of efficiency. 
The difference in cost of transportation from Cuba 
to New York, and from various vegetable-growing 
sections of the North and East, will make a handsome 
profit for the grower of the northern and eastern sec¬ 
tion. Besides this, it should be borne in mind that vege¬ 
tables and fruits allowed to ripen in the field are very 
much superior to those that have to be ripened en 
route. As it will take fully three days for a cargo to 
be shipped from Cuba to New York, these vegetables 
would have to be picked green and allowed to ripen 
on the road, much to the detriment of the shipped 
vegetables. 
For the sake of argument, we will say that Cuba is 
really able to produce vegetables and fruit in compe¬ 
tition with the United States. If a firm or company 
were to undertake this on a large scale, it would be, 
at least, 10 years before the business could be in active 
operation. There are lands to be cleared (and I might 
say that people who have never attempted it in the 
tropics do not comprehend the meaning of this state¬ 
ment), roads to be built and boat lines to be estab¬ 
lished. Probably the quietest way to accomplish this 
would be for some very wealthy firm to undertake the 
whole job, but to leave this to grow up naturally, it 
certainly could not be accomplished in 10 years. From 
the foregoing discussion, we may safely conclude that 
there is no immediate danger of Cuba displacing any 
of the ordinary vegetables and fruits of our country. 
There are, however, industries in this country with 
which the opening of Cuba will seriously interfere, 
but these industries are located in the South. 
Pineapple Growing Will Suffer.— Pineapple 
growing will receive a very severe blow unless Cuba 
is maintained as an independent nation, and a pro¬ 
tective tariff be placed upon this fruit. In Florida, it 
costs from $50 to $200 per acre each year to fertilize 
pineapple fields. In Cuba, they are raised without 
fertilizer. This difference alone will give the Cubans 
a handsome profit on the product. Of course, our 
product, as a whole, is much superior to that of Cuba, 
but with the supex-ior product, we have to produce 
considerable inferior fruit. The Cuban product will 
come in direct competition with this poor fruit which, 
in turn, will destroy the market for much of the better 
product. The difference in transportation rates be¬ 
tween Cuban ports and railway stations in Florida 
is inconsiderable. The transportation by rail is some¬ 
what expensive, so much so that, for a considerable 
time, all the products of the Keys were collected in 
small schooners and carried to Key West ; from there, 
they were doubled back in steamers for New York. 
Key West is but a few hours' ride from Havana which 
will, doubtless, be the basing point for Cuban vege¬ 
tables. 
Relation to Oranges. —The Cuban oranges, if per¬ 
mitted to come in duty free, will, probably, drive the 
California fruit off the market, and greatly reduce the 
profits on the Florida crop. But the damage will not 
be done at once, from the fact that there are no ex¬ 
tensive groves in Cuba, and those that are there are 
in bad condition ; many of the trees produce undesir¬ 
able fruit, and others are not cultivated. The natives 
have never been trained to prepare their fruit prop¬ 
erly for the market, and will, probably, not learn how 
to do this for a number of years. As the orange groves 
are mere patches scattered here and there, no corpora¬ 
tion could afford to buy them up, as the work of sup¬ 
erintending them would cost more than the fruit 
would be worth. It will, then, be until some enter¬ 
prising firm can plant desirable varieties of oi-anges 
and bring these into fruiting, before it will seriously 
interfere with the orange industry. 
Florida Mangoes. —Mangoes are grown to some 
extent in the southernmost portion of Florida, and 
some people are deriving a good revenue from these ; 
but, were the Cuban markets open, people would 
hardly attempt to plant more mango groves. 
Avocado Pears and Bananas. — The Avocado 
pear has, also, become a remunerative fruit to a num¬ 
ber of growers in Florida. The shipping of Florida 
bananas, which may be considered an infant industry, 
will, doubtless, be discontinued, though there is no 
reason for complaint of the profit under the pi*esent 
conditions. A number of other tropical fruits might 
be mentioned in this connection, but the above 
enumerations, I think, are sufficient for the present. 
Irish Potatoes. —Before the Cuban insurrection, 
several of our ports shipped a considerable number of 
Irish potatoes and other vegetables to the Havana 
markets. Indeed, the Havana market was considered 
one of the best places for selling early Irish potatoes, 
so, if Washington and New York would not give us $3 
or more per barrel, the Irish potatoes were simply 
sent to Tampa to be forwarded to Havana. This trade 
will, doubtless, be cut off, and Cuba grow her own 
new potatoes and vegetables for Winter use. 
Farm Products as a Whole. —As soon as full 
commercial relations shall be established, we shall 
export much more flour, meat, dairy products, Irish 
potatoes, etc., than will amount to the import of 
vegetables and fruits. Cuba cannot produce the 
staple farm products of the northern United States 
profitably, but will be a more serious competitor for 
the southern States. If her sugar be admitted duty 
free, it will be to the disadvantage of the sugar-pro¬ 
ducing States, and may be disastrous to the produc¬ 
tion of beet sugar. [prof.] p. h. rolfs. 
Florida Experiment Station. 
A YANKEE AND HIS WIND. 
BEATEN BY A RAM, HE GETS A MILL. 
Mill Beats Ram. —Five years ago, I purchased a 
hydraulic ram, and up to December 1, 1897, I did every¬ 
thing I could possibly hear or think of to make that 
ram do its work. I bought fixtures without number, 
bought one entii’ely new ram, and spent postage, time 
and labor in an effort to make the thing work. It 
would not go, and on the date given, house and barn 
went dry. There were times during the struggle of 
five years when, for 30 days, the thing ran all right. 
Then, under just the same conditions, it might stop 
every day, 10 times a day, once a day, or three or four 
times a week. I think I must have paid as much as 
$750, including the first cost, for water supply. My 
town votes “ no license,” and besides, I must have 
water for other purposes than drinking, and so I de¬ 
cided to buy a windmill, and ended by buying an 
Aermotor. 
I had a workshop in the basement of my house, with 
power from a two-horse Shipman engine to run some 
tools I had there, also to pump from the well to the 
attic when the ram was off duty. Having a jig-saw, 
splitting-saw, lathe, and drill in my shop, I was 
ci-amped for room, and when I wanted to build a small 
boat or a cart body, I had to do my work out of doors 
and keep my tools in the shop. Besides, it was not 
very light down there, so I decided to buy a power 
mill and build me a power house at the foot of the 
tower to use as a shop, and drive my machines from 
the windmill. The mill was erected and started to 
pump some time in January, 1898. It cost me com¬ 
plete between $300 and $400. Fig. 339 shows it about 
half way up ; the tower is 60 feet high, the wheel 16 
feet in diameter, and the wheel and head gear alone 
weighed nearly 3*000 pounds. In March, I built the 
power house shown at Fig. 330. This building is 16 
feet wide, 32 feet long, and 12 feet high. 
What the Mill Docs.—My power comes down 
under the floor, and with bevel gear carries a line shaft 
five feet west of the upright shaft, that runs a 26-incli 
wood saw at the outdoor end of the building, which is 
driven from a 30-inch pulley by a six-inch belt. Under 
the floor of the shop, east, are 25 feet of line shafting 
in sections, which can be thrown in and out as certain 
machines are run. From this shaft, I run first a 
siphon pump with a capacity of 800 gallons an hour ; 
this is connected to both my well and a cistern in 
cellar. From the well, I deliver to the barn and a 
reservoir on the hill, to water stock in a dry pasture, 
and from the cistern to the house tank, as we prefer 
rain water for all general purposes. Next I have a 
20-light dynamo which I drive with counter shaft, 
2,100 turns a minute, and at times, light shop and 
house, though a storage system would be necessary to 
make this a success. Next I have an N. P. Bowslier 
feed mill, which I drive from a 30-inch pulley and six- 
inch belt, and when the wind blows hard, I have 
ground, as fine as meal I buy, two bushels of corn in 
seven minutes. A 14-inch splitting saw comes next, 
with which I can easily split a three-inch hard-wood 
plank, and from this saw arbor and table, I also drive 
a Thompson Variety molding head, with which I can 
make small moldings and plane and match narrow 
stuff. A wood-turning lathe that swings 10 inches, 
and eight feet long, is the next machine. A Beach 
jig-saw that will saw up to eight inches thick, an iron 
drill attached to a Millers Falls anvil and vise, and a 
300-pound grindstone, form nearly a complete list of 
the machines run in successful operation. 
Great Benefit to Farm. —The natural break¬ 
downs upon the farm are quickly repaired with this 
outfit, and it is a serious one upon the farm or about 
the house that can't be repaired in good shape. Be¬ 
sides all repairs, a great many new things are made 
every year, and while it is an exceptional day that 
would give me continuous power for 10 hours, there is 
wind enough for all reasonable demands. The care of 
the mill and shafting is no serious matter, frequency 
of oiling depending upon the amount of actual use. 
While I have had but six months' use of this mill, it 
has become such a handy source of power for general 
purposes, besides always keeping the tanks full, that 
I feel like kicking myself, both uphill and down, that 
I should have continued a ram fight over four years 
without getting either satisfaction or water. To those 
who want only power for water, a small sum of money 
will furnish a complete pumping outfit, and plenty of 
water, and my experience and extra machines will 
show those who desire water and a good many other 
good things how they can be acquired in eastern Con¬ 
necticut through the help of wind. Q. 
Connecticut. 
PRINTER POTATO PLANTERS. 
ANOTHER FHASE OF VACANT-LOT FARMING. 
I EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.! 
Potatoes in a Park. —East Spring, an experiment 
in vacant-lot farming in New York City was started 
under the joint auspices of the Society for Improving 
the Condition of the Poor, and the New York Typo¬ 
graphical Union No. 6. The experiment is located in 
Pelham Bay Park, one of the outlying districts of 
New York City. The Park comprises several hundred 
acres, and is made up largely of old farms, most of 
which, however, look as though they had been aban¬ 
doned long ago. It is located only a short distance 
from Long Island Sound. While the land is naturally 
fairly good, some of it has, px-obably, been badly run, 
and is not over-fertile. Numerous stone walls sur¬ 
rounding it give evidence to the fact that it was 
formerly well covered with rocks and bowlders. 
The inception of this particular experiment was 
with the officers of the Typographical Union. For 
several years back, many of their members have been 
out of steady work, and have been supported by the 
Relief Fund of the Union. The chairman of the com¬ 
mittee having this experiment in charge, Mr. W. J. 
Sullivan, said that the claim had often been made 
that these men who were receiving relief did not care 
to work, so long as they could have money furnished 
them. This experiment was started, he said, either 
to prove or disprove this statement. The results have 
shown that a majority of the men are willing and glad 
to work, and avail themselves readily of the oppor¬ 
tunity for relieving their own necessities in this way. 
A few became discouraged because of untoward cir¬ 
cumstances, and some did not take the care of their 
