66o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 9 
necessary to slaughter an animal slightly affected by 
tuberculosis if it can be kept in such a way that the 
disease will not spread. The Kansas Agricultural 
College authorities have certainly an excellent chance 
to carry on 6ome interesting experiments with this 
diser se, and we are sure that live stock men will 
watch their operations with great interest. 
NOTES ON NEW FRUITS. 
I send a sample peach from a dwarf tree which 
came up in the nursery among the stock we budded. 
The tree is seven years old, and about six feet high 
and wide. It is bearing 125 specimens of fruit, and 
is a beautiful sight to look at. I think that the 
quality of the fruit will compare favorably with any 
yellow peach coming in at this season. I have not 
named it or propagated any trees. | The peach meas¬ 
ured 8}* inches either way in circumference ; color 
yellow with faint crimson markings. Flesh yellow, 
stone free, quality excellent, being rich, vinous, 
tender and juicy. It was eaten September 27. Eds ] 
The Wickson plum, a specimen of wtrch I send 
you, was grown on a small tree one year from the 
bud. about three feet high with only a few small 
branches about six itches long, the tree being trans¬ 
planted from the nursery row in the spring of 1897. 
There were 16 plums on the tree, though it made an 
enormous growth the past season. In mv opinion, it 
will prove as hardy in bud as any of the Japans. In 
illustration of this fact, just about the time the 
blossom buds were opening, we had a very cold 
spell, the ground being frczen so hard that we had 
to suspend digging in the nursery ; yet, strange to 
say, not a bud was damaged. I have great hopes for 
the Wickson, and I think it will prove a valuable 
market plum, its time of ripening being late when 
the glut of peaches and other plums is over. [The 
color of the Wickson is a dull yellow with lines and 
streaks of dull crimson. In quality, it is excellent. 
See Fig. 281. Eds.] 
The Burbank did well on trees properly thinned ; 
the fruit was very large—two inches and over in 
diameter—and of delicious flavor. 
The WeepiDg Japan Blood is more for a curiosity 
and ornament than for the fruit, it being poor in 
quality. [The shape is shown at Fig. 282. It is a 
cling of fair quality with dark red flesh.— Eds ] 
The Champion peach has done finely here this 
season. It is a white peach, with a speckled red cheek 
on the sunny side, just enough to give it a very at¬ 
tractive appearance, and of delicious flavor. 
Elberta is doing well in this section. It is a very 
large, showy peach, not of the highest quality, but 
good enough to bring in the shekels. 
The Crosby is not the peach that I have read about, 
complaint having been made of its small size ; but 
three inches in diameter is large enough for any 
reasonable purpose when its fine quality is taken 
into consideration. 
As I am the original introducer of the Lincoln plum, 
and have lost more money on it than any other man, 
I will not make any comments, but your correspond¬ 
ent from Stewartstown, Pa., has done the Lincoln up 
very brown. I have two seedlings from it, both 
being yellow and of better quality than the parent, 
being strong, healthy growers, while the Lincoln is a 
very poor, unhealthy grower. k. b. good. 
York County, Pa. 
The Farmers’ Club. 
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see whether it is not answered in our advertising columns. Ask 
only a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate 
piece of paper.1 
Cold Storage and Damp Cellars 
D. W. A., Parkwood, Pa .—I built a cold storage room two years 
ago to put my grapes in. I double-boarded the wall and stripped 
it, set up studding 14 inches from the wall, lined it with good 
worked lumber and filled the space with spent tanbark. The 
only trouble I had was that the grapes molded some. I put my 
ventilators about half way between the floor and the ceiling 
which, I think, was a mistake; I think they ought to be on the 
floor. I have been thinking of remodeling it by putting up stud, 
ding, making a four-inch air chamber, lining it with lumber, 
setting up another row of studding, lining it, filling it with six 
inches of coal ashes and putting the ventilators on the floor. 
Will this be a good plan ? 
Ans -Cold-storage bouses may be of two kinds, one 
supplied with a sufficient cooling apparatus, or ice, 
or otherwise, some non-conducting arrangement by 
which the outside heat may be kept out, and a moder¬ 
ate, steady temperature be maintained. In practice, 
it is hardly wise to attempt to make a cold-storage 
room without the use of ice, and when ice is used, it 
must be in such a way that dampness is avoided. In 
this case, the tanbark was, doubtless, damp, thus 
producing the very difficulty which is to be avoided. 
The plan suggested will not work as D. W. A. expects. 
Coal asbes are a very poor non-conductor of heat, 
when used as suggested. In all cases, a non-conductor 
should be dry and porous, for it is not the matter 
itself which resists the passage of heat through it, 
but the quantity of air contained in the innumerable 
spaces by which the heat is prevented from passing 
through the miss. It is for this reason that dry saw¬ 
dust is a good non-conductor, as it preserves its poros¬ 
ity better than any other ordinary material that can 
be procured so cheaply. It is indispensable, too, that 
the non-conductor should be dry and kept dry, or its 
usefulness is impaired by the conductivity of the 
water or the dampness in it, by which the air is dis¬ 
placed. 
These principles applied to cold storage for fruit go 
to show that the cold must be produced in such a way 
THE WICKSON PLUM. Fig. 281. 
as not to increase the dampness caused by the evap¬ 
oration of the moisture in the fruit, or if it does, some 
way of getting rid of this moisture should be em¬ 
ployed. If it is only this moisture, and the conse¬ 
quent moldiness due to it that give the trouble, a 
simple means may be employed to prevent this. It 
is the use of fresh stone lime in the chamber. Lime 
absorbs one-third its weight of water without show¬ 
ing the least dampness itself, merely falling into a 
fine, dry powder, and thus may be used with the best 
results in a cold cellar or storage house, taking up 
the moisture existing in the air. It is easy to keep 
the most perishable articles for any indefinite time 
by the mere use of lime in an air-tight receptacle, 
completely to dry the air, and decomposition cannot 
take place in dry air. Doubtless the use of lime in 
the case presented will remove the difficulty without 
further trouble or change in the storage house. It is 
commonly supposed that the night air is damp, and 
thus, at night, the cellar is closed, and for desired 
ventilation it is opened in the daytime. This is a 
serious mistake. At night, the temperature is the 
lowest and the air is the dryest. At midday, the tem¬ 
perature is about the highest, and the moisture is the 
greatest. This is shown by this table : 
QUANTITY OP MOISTURE IN 1,000 CUBIC FEET OP AIR. 
At 32 degrees 213 grains. At 86 degrees 1315 grains. 
At 50 degrees 409 grains. At 95 degrees 1715 grains. 
At 68 degrees 750 grains. At 104 degrees 2215 grains. 
At 77 degrees 1000 grains. 
At noon, the temperature may be 100 degrees, and 
the moisture of the air prevents perspiration, the 
heat is withheld from radiation, the blood boils, as 
THE WEEPING JAPAN PLUM. Fig. 282. 
we may say, and a person is sunstruck, that is, the 
heat, excessive heat not removed by perspiration, is 
destructive of the function of the brain. Then if the 
cellar is opened to ventilation at such a temperature 
when one may think the hot air is the dryest, as it 
flows into the cool cellar, this excess of moisture is 
precipitated on the walls or floor, and the dampness 
produces mold, and that common moldy smell of what 
is thought to be a well-ventilated cellar. I have seen 
the cold-water pipes passing through a cellar thus 
ventilated and cooled (!) dripping with condensed 
water, so much that pails were used to collect it, and 
when asked the reason, and this was given, the other¬ 
wise very intelligent owner of the premises would 
not believe it. 
Let us open the windows of a cellar late in the 
evening after it has been closed, and kept dark all 
day. The coolness of the n’ght air causes the excess 
of moisture to be deposited as dew outside, and the 
air is dried to that extent. The ccol air flows down¬ 
wards and fills the cellar with comparatively dry air. 
Then at sunrise, the windows are closed and shaded, 
and at midday, the cellar is chilling cold and may be 
thought damp by the housewife. Of course, this ap¬ 
plies to the upper part of the house, which should be 
kept closed and shaded during the day and opened as 
wide as may be during the night. A little study of 
these scientific principles will help very much in re¬ 
gard to the management of cold storage, as well as to 
domestic arrangements. In conclusion it may be 
said that ventilation is wholly inapplicable and in¬ 
jurious to cold storage. None is required. All that 
is necessary is to get rid of the moisture in it and 
keep out the outer air. n. s. 
How to “ Reduce ” Bones. 
A. B., East Berlin , Conn .—I have a lot of odds and ends of old 
bones, perhaps nearly a toD, on my farm, but owing to the 
promiscuous sizes and shapes, they are of no use to me. Is there 
any wav that an ordinary farmer can dissolve these, or Is there 
any machine for crushing or cutting them into small pieces or 
dust so that they will be valuable as a fertil zer ? 
Ans —The fertil'zer dealers first steam the bones 
under high pressure for several hours, after which 
they are easily crushed and ground. Some farmers 
steam them in stout wooden chests with steam from 
a boiler used for other purposes. Those who cannot 
do this, may burn the bones or pack them in wood 
ashes. To burn them, make a pile of wood with the 
bones scattered through it, and burn the whole thing 
down to ash. In burning, all the nitrogen is lost, or 
about one-third of the total value. To “reduce” 
with wood ashes, pack in boxes or barrels with a 
layer of ashes, then one of bones, then another of 
ashes, and so on to the top. Keep the whole wet 
with water or liquid manure. In about three months, 
the bones will be soft enough to smash with a heavy 
shovel. 
IVhat to do With Bones. 
,/. A., Connecticut .—I am in a quandary to know exactly what 
to do about the bone business. The bones, as I get them from 
he local butchers, have more or less meat clinging to them, 
which very soon becomes decidedly offensive. I had intended to 
let these bones collect in barrels until I could get about a ton of 
them, but they have become so offensive that I cannot do this. I 
see no other way except to boil them and get the meat off in that 
way, then let them dry, or else pile them up in a field away from 
everybody, and let the meat rot away from the bones, then grind 
them. If I undertake to boil them to get the meat off, that will 
make the cost of the ground bone nearly as great as I am obliged 
to pav the fertilizer dealers. Mv idea was to mix the dry ashes 
and ground bone on the barn floor thoroughly, in equal parts, 
then pack away in barrels and occasionally apply a pailful of 
water. I thought that, in this way, the bone and ashes would 
mix thoroughly, and I would get a fertilizer much more valuable 
and much quicker acting than to use the two separately. I can 
buy wood ashes at $10 per ton in car-load lots delivered here. 
Ans —If you had hogs to feed, it might pay you to 
boil the bones and mix corn meal with the soup for 
hog food. The bones could then be easily crushed. 
As it is, we would advise you to smash the fresh bones 
with ax or hammer, and pack them at once in layers 
of wood ashes. Put in boxes or barrels, first a layer 
of ashes, then a layer of bones, then more ashes and 
so on until the box is full. Keep the top well wet 
and, by spring, the bones will be quite soft. This is 
a slow and unsatisfactory process, but about the best 
that can be done unless you can steam and grind the 
bones. 
Gas Engines in the Dairy. 
A ../. F.. Glenshaw, Pa .—Are gas and gasoline engines the same, 
and is the power of each in operation generated by the same 
process? Are they a success as farm engines, the same horse 
power considered ? What is the cost of running, and what ad¬ 
vantage do they possess, if any, over steam for all work on a 
dairy farm ? 
Ans —Gas and gasoline engines are constructed 
exactly alike, with the exception that the feed attach¬ 
ments for these two different fuels are not alike. The 
manufacturer always wants to know whether you 
intend to use gasoline, artificial or natural gas, and 
then puts on the necessary attachment. The power 
in each is generated by the explosion of the fuel. In 
regard to their being a success on the farm, I have 
used one over two years, and it is the most satisfac¬ 
tory piece of machinery I ever owned. I have operated 
a bone crusher, corn husker, feed grinder, corn 
sheller and ensilage cutter most satisfactorily with 
it. These engines give all the horse power that is 
claimed for them ; in fact, it seems to me that they 
give more power when put to actual test than is 
claimed for them by the manufacturers. 
The cost of running is reduced to the minimum with 
the gasoline engine. I use gasoline for fuel, and have 
a six-horse-power engine. The cost of running is in 
proportion to the amount of power required to oper¬ 
ate the machinery. It costs me about 12}£ cents for 
each horse power required to operate a machine. For 
example, for my six-horse-power corn husker, it will 
take 75 cents’ worth of gasoline per day. There is 
no expense necessary for an engineer, as the engine 
