1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
H PROBLEM IN HOUSE DRAINAOE 
Having had the same problem of house drainage as 
that stated in Hope Farm Notes October 12, I give 
you my experience. My house stands about 80 fe.?t 
from road; soil a clay loam underlaid with shaly lime¬ 
stone at two to three feet depth; road about 15 feet 
below level of house. Having plenty of room at side 
of house I carried the drain 80 feet west (house faces 
south) properly trapping and ventilating at house. I 
dug a square cesspool five feet deep, walled and ce¬ 
mented it, divided it in center with plank wall and 
placed therein a panel of wire cloth; one-quarter- 
inch mesh, heavy galvanized wire. This acts as a 
strainer. Beyond the strainer a tile drain leads the 
water into a blind ditch of stones, covered with earth. 
The cesspool is covered with plank. There is a man¬ 
hole in this covering, on the house side of the strainer, 
and through this the contents of cesspool are removed. 
We have a bathroom and closet draining into this 
cesspool, and for four months in Summer have 20 to 
30 people in the house. The cesspool has been emptied 
but once a year. The water seeps away into the thin 
soil, making the grass green over a wide space. The 
system proves efficient and inoffensive. I do not con¬ 
sider it complete, for the waste of valuable fertilizing 
material is great. I intend to dig a ditch about 100 
feet long, fill with stone to within to two feet of 
surface, fill in with earth and plant grape vines along 
side, and will conduct the liquid drainage into this 
ditch for a i)ermanent outlet. My house, drained as 
above, you illustrated in The R. N.-Y. as the “first 
premium” farmhouse two or three years ago. 
New York. w. b. cleves. 
CANADA AND COW PEA HAY. 
A word about haying cow peas. I tried it on a 
small s'cale, cutting the hay in a cutting box, mixing 
with mill feed, scalding and letting steam several 
hours. This makes a good feed, especially if pods are 
allowed to form before haying. But I imagine cows 
must be very hungry to eat the hard, coarse, dry 
stems. For hay I much prefer sowing Canada field 
peas and oats—both hardy—early in April here, more 
than a month earlier than it is safe to sow cow peas; 
cut in June and cure. This hay will be eaten more 
readily than that of cow peas. Then there is still 
time to sow cow peas, even though it were as late as 
July 6, and by the middle or latter part of September 
have a good crop of green feed. Thus I get two crops 
instead of one, and the soil is none the worse for it. 
The ground can now be plowed for the third time 
for that season and sown to rye, and it will be in good 
condition for corn next season. If 1 can manure it, so 
much the better. By the way, 1 have seen the state¬ 
ment that manure has very iittle effect on cow peas, 
which does not accord with my experience. On soil 
of ordinary fertility they make a good growth. They 
will also grow on soil too poor to grow any other use¬ 
ful crop, and where clover is not to be thought of, 
but on such soil it will well pay to manure them. The 
fact that they grow on poor soil, and improve it, ren¬ 
ders them especially valuable. h. 
South Hadley, Mass. 
R. N.-Y.—Manure will benefit any crop, but we 
sometimes have so little of it that it is better to put 
a fair dressing on part of the crops and let the cow 
peas alone. _ 
CREAM SEPARATOR FACTS WANTED. 
Prof. I. P. Roberta, of Cornell, in one of his an¬ 
swers within a year or so, in speaking of so-called 
water separators, speaks of the method of water sep¬ 
aration as of doubtful utility. “Doubtful utility” 
used in this connection seems to be just a guess based 
on general knowledge rather than on “1 know.” Prof. 
Roberts has no heartier admirer in his bailiwick than 
“yours truly,” and so I write you to induce him to 
say “I know,’ for I have tried certain experiments 
to find out. Seven years ago I commenced here, and 
the first yeat used small pans. Two four-year-olds, 
one three and one two-year-old made up my dairy. 
The sum total of butter was 620 pounds and some 
ounces, or an average of 155. The next year I used 
water in an open can—sometimes a tin butter tub— 
skimming crudely yet carefully from the top; the 
same cows, one year older, and a two-year-old. The 
result was 917, or 189.4 per cow, with the same feed, 
no grain of any sort being fed. The nex't year an 
average of 204.7. I now possess a so-called separator, 
and use it Sundays, as I send milk to a cheese factory 
during the week. I have always ascribed the increase 
in butter to the water separation, and if it be of 
“doubtful utility” I want to know why. 
I wish you to induce Geneva and State College to 
unite with Prof. Roberts in making an experiment 
like this: Use 400 pounds of milk, all mixed to¬ 
gether. First, water 110 pounds, milk 100 in water 
separator. Second: 100 pounds milk run through a 
standard separator. Third: 100 pounds milk in 
Cooley-Stoddard or any standard creamer. Fourth: 
100 pounds milk set in small pans. Fifth: After milk 
has been watered in No. 1, wait four hours or more, 
and then very slowly draw off about 100 pounds of 
milk and water, warm it and run the product through 
a De Laval, United States or other separator, and see 
how much butter can be extracted therefrom. Then, 
when these results are tabulated, we shall know why. 
Meantime, I will read and love TiiE R. N.-Y., water 
the milk and wonder whether I’m an old stupid or 
tchy watering is of “doubtful utility.” E. r>. r. 
Pennsylvania. 
R. N.-Y.—The directors of the experiment stations 
at Cornell and Geneva, as well as the Vermont Sta¬ 
tion, tell us that they consider this question has been 
fully settled. At the Vermont Station the centrifugal 
separator did extract some cream from the diluted 
NEW HARDY PEACH, WELLINGTON. Fis. 350. 
See Rurallsms, Page 774. 
skim-milk. A bulletin from Cornell, No. 151, gives the 
full history of very complete experiments in which 
large quantities of fat were found in every sample of 
skim-milk taken from one of these dilution separ¬ 
ators. H. E. Cook sums the matter up as follows: 
“I consider the ‘dilution’ system something of a 
humbug. It possesses no merit above the cold setting, 
and has. many disadvantages, the chief of which is 
nearly spoiling the skim-milk by making it so thin. 
C/Ornell made under Prof. Wing most elaborate ex¬ 
periments, and if the writer will send for their bulle¬ 
tin he will be satisfied that they ‘know,’ and did not 
guess. I have tested skim-milk from this system that 
contained over two per cent fat. I have not tested 
any that had less than .4 of one per cent. The reason 
I call it a humbug is because several cans were on the 
market advertised to possess some mysterious power 
of getting the cream all out, and were called separa¬ 
tors, a name which cannot be applied to them as we 
understand and accept the term. A separator gets the 
fat all out. These things do not. A Babcock test 
usually takes the conceit all out of this system. I 
would suggest to E. D. R. that he put his skim-milk 
through a test and see how much is left. The centri¬ 
fugal separator is the only means to-day of getting 
clean skimming, and all other systems have more or 
less loss. The so-called Cooley system, or to simpli¬ 
fy, a can about six inches in diameter placed in ice 
A PROBLEM OF HOUSE DRAINAGE. Fte. .351. 
water, is next best, and with Jersey or Guernsey milk 
properly attended to will give very good results. But 
please do not buy these so-called dilution separators.” 
CLOTH IN PLACE OF PLASTERING. 
In a copy of your paper a few months ago there was 
an article on building a small tenant house. The writer 
alluded to using cloth Instead of plaster. Would you 
tell me what kind of cloth was used, and whether pasted 
on or nailed? e. h. m. 
Grant Park. Ill. 
Last May, on page 323, I gave a description of a 
small tenant house I had recently built, at small cost, 
and which has proved very satisfactory. The house 
in question is finished inside with cloth instead of 
plaster. We used unbleached sheeting, which cost 
4% cents per yard. Some use cheesecloth, but 1 do 
not think it strong enough. The cloth should be firm 
enough to bear hard stretching. It is tacked on with 
tacks that come for the purpose. They are a little 
smaller than carpet tacks, and the heads are thinner 
and fiatten down to the goods, holding It firmly. The 
771 
cloth should be put on before the casings; and for 
walls eight feet high 2% breadths of yard-wide sheet¬ 
ing are required. This leaves six inches for base. The 
breadths should be sewn together on the sewing ma¬ 
chine and then rolled upon a board with the seams 
out. The board should be a trifie shorter than the 
walls are high, and the first end of the cloth should 
be securely tacked to it. Now, beginning at a window 
or door, stand the board up, and begin rolling off the 
cloth and tacking the upper edge until you come to a 
corner. Have ready a piece of cove molding as long 
as the cloth is wide and, making the threads of the 
cloth come straight down the corner, press the mold¬ 
ing into the corner, and nail with small finishing nails. 
This holds the cloth firmly and makes the work easy. 
Now continue to stretch and tack the cloth into place. 
The spaces above windows and doors are filled in 
with pieces. 
For the ceiling, make the cloth a few inches larger 
than the room; sewing together, same as for the walls. 
This also is put on with cove molding. Cut four pieces 
as long as the walls of the room, and drive nails about 
10 inches apart the entire length of each. The nails 
should pass through the molding, about a quarter of 
an inch. Now take one of the pieces, and pushing 
the nails through one edge of the cloth, nail it up. 
The opposite edge, then the two remaining edges, are 
fastened in the same manner, stretching it tight. Tack 
the cloth to each joist, to prevent sagging. The cove 
simply rounds the corners, and is papered over and 
forgotten. If preferred, it may be painted. The cor¬ 
ners cannot be mitered; but a very neat finish may be 
obtained by letting each piece lack an inch or more 
of reaching the upper corner and fitting in little cubi¬ 
cal blocks before putting on the last pieces of mold¬ 
ing. The cloth may be put on without sewing, tack¬ 
ing each breadth separately, but this is more work, 
and the result is less satisfactory. j. s. 
ON THE DEATH OF SAMUEL MILLER. 
Another of the old veterans of horticulture has 
lately passed to the world beyond. October 24 Judge 
Samuel Miller, of Bluffton, Mo., died at his home in 
his eighty-first year. He was born near Lancaster, 
Pa., October 4, 1820. He had a Large family, having 
been the father of nine children, and is survived by 
seven of them and 38 grandchildren. Mr, Miller was 
born with the love of horticulture in his soul, and at 
an early age he decided to follow its pursuits. For 
many years he grew trees and fruit in his native 
State, where he originated the grape which he named 
Martha, in honor of his wife, Martha Isabel Evans. 
For many years this was the best of the white grapes, 
but it is now superseded by the Niagara and a few 
others of later origin. He was honored early in life 
by being chosen a county judge by his fellow-citizens 
and also a me^aber of the Pennsylvania Legislature. 
In 1867 he moved to Missouri and settled on the pic¬ 
turesque banks of the river near Bluffton. Here he 
had resided ever since. His life has been spent in 
good works. It was his delight to plant trees, plants 
and seeds, and watch their development. A new va¬ 
riety of fruit or fiower to him was of more interest 
than the acquisition of property of financial import¬ 
ance. He loved to see things grow, and he worked 
hard to have all prosper that he planted. The grape 
was one of his favorite fruits, but he loved to grow 
all those that would fiourish in the region where he 
worked. He also labored to grow some of those that 
required special attention. Of late years the persim¬ 
mon and several kinds of nuts occupied his attention, 
because he was anxious to see them improved. 
Judge Miller was a ready writer for the horticul¬ 
tural press^^ and his thoughts on paper have helped 
many others who were laboring in the same cause as 
himself. He has long been a special contributor of 
Colman’s Rural World of St. Louis. His pen is now 
quiet forever, and his kindly words of advice will 
be sadly missed. Perhaps he was a little too san¬ 
guine and enthusiastic at times, but he was always 
candid, strictly honest and fair-minded. My first per¬ 
sonal acquaintance with Mr. Miller was at a horticul¬ 
tural meeting in Kansas in 1874. We have often met 
on similar occasions and corresponded still more fre¬ 
quently. It was a great pleasure to have him serve 
as an attendant at the Missouri fruit exhibit in the 
Pan-American Exposition, where he spent several 
weeks of his latest service to the world in explaining 
Missouri fruits and their culture and kindred topics. 
It was while so engaged that a dropsical affection 
overtook him. This caused his return home in a pre¬ 
carious condition, with the fatal results we so much 
deplore. Otherwise he might have lived to bless the 
world for a few years more. One thing that he great¬ 
ly enjoyed on the Exposition grounds was an exten¬ 
sive plantation of old-fashioned fiowers by H. A. 
Dreer, of Philadelphia. As he and I were walking 
through the grounds one morning on our way to the 
horticultural building I pointed it out to him and he 
at once wanted to see them all once more. It was a 
great pleasure to guide him through the beds and 
thus minister to the happiness of a devoted and ven¬ 
erable horticulturist. May his noble life encourage 
others to follow his good example. 
H. K. VAN DEMAlf. 
