666 
September 10, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
worked. Any grass or trash on the land will be 
dragged, and left on the land lying in the direction the 
tools have been driven. This lessens the possibility of 
any stubs or other trash obstructing the drill, whether 
it be a hoe or a disk drill. If the land is worked in 
both directions, in getting it ready to drill, some of the 
stubs and trash will be crossways of the path of the 
drill, and interfere more or less with the even and 
perfect working of the drill. By taking three shock 
rows in a land, the finish will be the center of the mid¬ 
dle corn shock row. If the land does not drill out of 
finish with a full drill width, there is less double drill¬ 
ing in this way than there would be by drilling in 
single shock row lands. Maximum crops of wheat can 
be grown in this way, and at a light expense as com¬ 
pared with the system of Summer fallowing of the 
land. JOHN M. JAMISON. 
Ross Co., Ohio. ___ 
SHEEPING THE ORCHARD. 
Since the publication of the article under the above 
heading, page 601, I have been flooded with so many 
letters of inquiry that I think about everybody must 
take and read The R. N.-Y. These letters ask so 
many questions that a book would not be large enough 
to answer all of them, and many persons seem not to 
have the first idea of the requirements of an orchard. 
For instance, one correspondent asks: “Would it re¬ 
quire more than one pair to keep down the weeds and 
grass and fertilize the four acres of orchard?” I cannot 
afford the time to answer these letters personally, and so 
will briefly answer the most important here. 
When I was a boy I was a great lover of pumpkin 
pie—and am yet, for tiiat matter—and when I would go 
for the second piece, mother used to say: “You must 
remember you can’t eat your pie and have it, too.’ - 
While she was right, so far as to pie, there are things 
which can be used and we have them just 
the same. As I said in the former article, 
the orchard must have plenty of food, par¬ 
ticularly potash and phosphoric acid, to 
grow fruit successfully. No other food that 
can be used on the ground will furnish these 
in such abundance and in such an available 
form as wheat bran. If we buy a ton of 
wheat bran and feed it to the sheep in the 
orchard under the proper conditions, the 
maintenance of the sheep will fully pay for 
the cost of the bran, so that in keeping the 
sheep we have eaten our pie. But the sheep 
really take none of the potash or phosphoric 
acid from the bran, but scatter it all over 
the orchard, so we still have our pie after 
having eaten it. 
Most of the inquirers seem to get the idea 
that the sheep, by eating the grass, in some 
way add to its fertilizing value, which is not 
true in the least. The sheep live from what 
they take from their food, and in no way 
add an iota. On the other hand, if full 
grown sheep are used, they practically do 
not take any of the potash or phos¬ 
phoric acid from the food. So it follows that 
no matter how many sheep are put into the or¬ 
chard, they can add nothing in the way of fertility unless 
we use the right kind of supplemental food. It follows 
further, that to sheep the orchard for the benefit of the 
orchard, we overstock, so as to be compelled to give 
food in addition to what they get from the herbage. 
As to the number of sheep to be put in the orchard 
for best results, all depends upon the amount of sup¬ 
plemental food the owner is willing to feed. We do not 
hesitate to put as many as 100 sheep in an ordinary 
barnvard for a whole W inter. So we do not need to 
fear bad results if we put as many as 20 sheep upon 
an acre of orchard; with the proper and sufficient food 
they will be healthy and thrive. But 10 or 15 will do 
very well, depending upon how close the trees stand 
and how luxurious the grass, etc., how well they are 
supplied with fresh water. Put them in early in Spring, 
provide an abundant supply of feed troughs, scattered 
all about the orchard, plenty of salt boxes under cover, 
and plenty of good clean drinking water, and feed regu¬ 
larly every day enough wheat bran to keep them 
thriving. This will be from three-fourths to a 
pound and a half per head, depending upon size 
and breed of the sheep used. Of course all the 
smaller trees must be protected, or the sheep may in¬ 
jure them, but this can be very easily and cheaply done 
by use of wire netting fastened about the trees, or by 
common laths, set up and fastened to wire like ordi¬ 
nary lath and wire fence. The man who puts sheep 
in his orchard and properly feeds them will be sur¬ 
prised to see how quickly the trees will show it, and 
how rapidly the land will increase in growth of grass 
and ability to carry more sheep. j. s. woodward. 
An Oregon paper tells about the intelligent hens on a 
bee ranch, which capture and devour the drones, while 
respectfully avoiding the working bees. This may be a 
conscientious regard for the owner’s interests, or it may be 
the result of a hen’s experience in swallowing a very live 
working bee which ought to' have been well shaken before 
taken. 
A SYPHON FOR DRAWING WATER. 
LOCATING THE WELL.—On page 620 I find an 
inquiry by R. V. B., Queenstown, Ont., about piping 
water from a spring, and a reply by F. H. K., with 
which I shall take issue. F. H. K.’s reply reads as if 
it were predicated upon theory, and I think my experi¬ 
ence indicates that his conclusions are erroneous. When 
I bought my present home the only water supply was 
a well 35 feet deep. Before buying I satisfied myself 
that wafcr could be had more easily than by drawing 
from the well. I found a wet place about 1,600 feet 
front the house, and higher up the hill, about 40 feet 
higher elevation. I there dug a well, large, about eight 
feet diameter at bottom, but contracted at top when 
finished to three feet, and 18 feet deep. From this well 
I laid a half-inch lead pipe to my buildings. The pipe 
leaves the well about six feet below the surface, syphon¬ 
ing the water from the well about 12 feet rise when low. 
The arrangement worked well one year; then the well 
ran dry, and 1 sunk a small well in bottom of old well 
five feet deep, so the well is 23 feet deep and 17 feet 
deeper than the point where the pipe leaves the well, 
and water has to be raised by syphon when well water 
is low 17 feet. The syphon works all right, and has 
been in use 23 years. The cost was about $250, and I 
would not give it up and go back to the well drawing 
of water for $1,000. 
SYSTEM OF PIPING.—Now for the information of 
R. V. B., let me describe more in detail how I have 
arranged my piping. The surface level I will represent 
by the diagram below. It will be seen that the 
descent continues from the well until a point is reached 
just before arriving at the buildings, 12 or 15 feet lower 
than level of buildings. At this point 1 put in a waste 
cock. My well furnishes only a limited supply of water, 
during much of the season far less than a gallon per 
minute. Of course I have to regulate the waste off to 
the supply. The water flows from the well directly to 
my house; in fact. I have two houses, and both are sup¬ 
plied ; then it returns to the barn and the waste sup¬ 
plies tubs for cattle. I have faucets in my cellar, in my 
kitchen, on first floor, and in bath room; in chambers; 
also in kitchen of old house; in barn cellar, and in a 
poultry house, and, as I said, the waste supplies the 
watering tubs at the barn. As the waste is continuous 
the water is always fresh at any of the faucets. The 
waste off at the low point before reaching barn is used 
to draw out the air when it gathers in the syphon. 
When the flow becomes sluggish 1 open the waste cock 
at low point wide and the water will be drawn through 
so rapidly that all air will be driven out, and a solid 
stream of water will fill the syphon. When air ceases 
to come I close the waste off. Air gathers in the pipe 
only in Spring and Summer when water is growing 
warmer. Before 1 put in the waste off at the low point 
I had occasionally to pump the pipe full from the lower 
end to drive the air out at the upper end, but now 1 
have no such trouble. 
SIZE OF PIPINGS.—If R. V. B. should put in a pipe 
from his spring he would have no trouble from air 
gathering in his syphon if he will allow a full flow of 
water through the pipe for 15 or 20 minutes at a time 
every few days. I would advise using larger than half¬ 
inch pipe, as sometimes the flow is too slow for conven¬ 
ience. By actual measurement the water delivered now 
through my pipe (1,600 feet) is three gallons in five 
minutes. The water in well is so low that the syphon 
lifts about 10 feet. I should recommend using five- 
eights or three-fourths-inch pipe; three fourths-inch 
would probably deliver about three times as much water 
as does my half-inch. I think if I was now doing the 
job I should use three-fourths inch, but I would not use 
larger pipe for so small a spring, as the larger the pipe the 
less fresh will be the water drawn from faucets. I 
have a copper tank holding about a barrel in my kitchen, 
so I can always have a supply of water at hand and not 
have to wait for it to run when wanted in quantity. A 
reservoir at the spring holding enough to prevent the 
pipe running it dry, and so allowing air to get into 
syphon, would be needed by R. V. B. By allowing a. 
small continual waste at the end of pipe, which waste 
may go in drinking tubs, water will always be fresh in 
the pipe, and in cold weather there will be little danger 
of freezing. I feel it would be too bad for a man with 
so good an opportunity to get running water and a will 
to get it to be deterred from doing so by fear that syphon 
will not work. If I were laying a pipe under same 
conditions I would lay it as deep over the crest of the 
rise as I conveniently could, say six feet if the digging 
is not too difficult. I think there is no danger in using 
lead pipe where there is a continual flow of water 
through it, unless the water itself is of exceptionally 
corroding character. In my case there has been abso¬ 
lutely no corrosion. The inside of pipe has acquired 
a thin brown coating, but is uncorroded and remains 
smooth. M. MORSE. 
Massachusetts. 
FURTHER EXPERIENCE.—In regard to piping 
water from small spring, 1 believe it is entirely practical 
for R. V. B. to do so under conditions named. Your 
conclusion that it would not be practical is, as I under¬ 
stand, based upon the opinion that air would collect in 
the bend where it passes over higher intervening land 
between the spring and house. But with 100 
feet head, as he states he has, it would over¬ 
come that air space; or if in time air did 
collect sufficiently to stop the flow all that 
would be necessary to start it again would 
be to fill the pipe with water by means of 
a force pump, thereby forcing out the air. 
My buildings are supplied from a spring 
1,200 feet away, with a head of only 25 feet, 
although no higher ground intervenes. I 
use a lead pipe, which I prefer to galvanized 
iron (where the water flows continuously) 
as being equally safe, cheaper to lay and 
more durable. A lead pipe which my grand¬ 
father laid upon a farm adjoining mine at 
least 75 years ago is in good condition to¬ 
day, and the water is still flowing through 
it into the same house in which it was orig¬ 
inally placed. h. s. p. 
R. N.-Y.—The experience given is of spe¬ 
cial interest, because of its practical char¬ 
acter. We notice an increasing interest, on 
the part of our readers, in all problems con¬ 
nected with supplying heat, light and water 
to the farm home. A higher standard of 
domestic comfort is quite as characteristic of the countrj 
as of the town. 
STATE ROADS.—Some hard-headed farmers of Orange 
County, says the Buffalo Express, believe they can build for 
$100 a mile highways that will compare favorably with those 
the State builds at $2,000 to $4,000 a mile, and they are go¬ 
ing to make a demonstration of their idea. Why is it that 
such men never get into boards of supervisors or the Legis¬ 
lature? They do. Ontario County has had in its board of 
supervisors hard-headed farmer members who favored good 
roads, but thought good roads could be built for less than 
the cost of the average State road. In fact, it has been 
proven in this county that good roads can T>e built for less 
than State roads cost. The agitation went to the point ol 
the county asking permission to build its own roads with the 
assistance of the Stale. Nothing came of the effort, how¬ 
ever.—Canandaigua Journal. 
The claim that good highways can be built at $100 per 
mile is ridiculous. But they can be constructed for a sum 
considerably less than the cost of State roads, which ranges 
from $8,000 to $11,000 per mile. If the State has built 
any roads at the expense of $2,000 to $4,000 per mile, that 
fact has not become generally known. For $1,000 to $2,000 
per mile good roads can be secured, and that is as much as 
the farmers can afford to pay for such improvements. There 
will never be any general improvement of the highways until 
the price is reduced to about, these figures. Short sections, 
here and there, may be constructed under the expensive State 
law, but its general application would bankrupt the State.— 
Penn Yan, N. Y., Express. 
FIXING THE TELEPHONE.-—A story and a moral come 
to us from Getaway, W. Va., a village whose name suggests 
its capacity for doing the unexpected. As the local chronic¬ 
ler put the matter: “There is to-day a wise telephone sub¬ 
scriber in our neighborhood. Finding some difficulty with 
his telephone, this self-appointed repair man undertook to 
put it in order, but not with entire success, for upon taking 
apart the transmitter, the granulated carbon was spilled upon 
the floor and some lost. An examination of what was left 
convinced the would-be expert that the grains were nothing 
more than gunpowder, ('onseiiueutly, when putting the in¬ 
strument together again, lie used gunpowder to replace the 
lost material. After finishing the job to his satisfaction, lie 
attempted to call up the exchange, so that he might ascertain 
how successful his work had been, not thinking that now his 
transmitter was loaded; but, upon ringing the magneto, the 
gimpowde- in the transmitter exploded, with some damage 
to the subscriber’s face, and disastrous effects upon the tele¬ 
phone.” A scientific commentator draw the moral : “Do not 
meddle with your electrical appliances unless you happen to 
know something about each particular device.” It is further 
suggested that it would be well not to take the language of 
the electrical experts too literally, as, for instance, when a 
“loaded” telephone line is spoken of a load like that used by 
the West Virginia man is not necessarily indicated.—New 
York Evening I’ost. 
LILITH PAULINE DE KOL’S COUN 1' 28430. Fig. 296. See Page 679. 
