i89o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
497 
Pearl also deserves praise. It is nearly as vigorous in 
plant as the Bubach, more regular in shape of berry and 
somewhat smaller and less productive; it still stands head 
and shoulders above the average of the new varieties. Like 
the Bubach, it is medium as to sweetness and acidity. The 
Bomba is also doing very well here. Thus far it is the 
most promising berry for canning. Medium to large, 
round, acid, of a deep color and firm, it is also quite pro¬ 
ductive and drought-resisting. The Bubach, Belmont and 
Pearl have shown themselves dry-land varieties, standing 
up when the Jessie and Sharpless were wilted. The Cloud 
may prove a good shipping berry, but as I sell all my 
berries directly to consumers one mile away, I do not need 
a berry that will ship from Mississippi to New York and 
then be too sour to eat. I think such a variety should 
never have been introduced at the North. The Belmont I 
am pleased with. It is the most promising variety I have 
tested to succeed the Jessie for a fancy market, if I except 
the Jersey Queen, which has been my favorite late berry 
for several years. It needs special culture, and this season 
the sun’s heat gave the berries the taste of vinegar rather 
than their native spicy flavor. The Belmont, however, 
matured its large, fine fruit unscathed. 
Now for some of the varieties that have not proved satis¬ 
factory : The Lida was more productive than anything 
else in my grounds. The quality was not extremely acid, 
but lacked a good flavor. It was poorer than anything I 
had ever raised, with the exception of the Crescent, which 
I long ago discarded. The Miner’s Prolific with me is too 
poor to deserve a place. The Henderson and Pineapple 
gave a few small, cone shaped berries of good flavor both 
failures. Dutter and Ontario were inferior to the Sharp¬ 
less. Cumberland Triumph was soft and of medium pro¬ 
ductiveness and quality. The Iron clad is not more hardy 
than the Sharpless, summer or winter. I shall discard It 
after five years’ trial. Neither the Louise nor the Miami 
is so good as the Belmont; all ripen together- 
medium late. The Gandy and Glendale both failed 
to give enough fruit for a fair test of quality, and 
the plants nearly succumbed to the drought. 
The Manchester also was a like failure. 
Among varieties which I shall still persevere 
with, although not satisfactory this season, is 
the Prince of Berries, which made a beautiful 
show early in the season, but failed later to 
redeem its promise of fruit, although the l^rge. 
strong plants kept up. This and its parent, the 
Jersey Queen, must have more water than ord¬ 
inary culture gives. In quality they leave noth¬ 
ing to be desired. My only first-early berry is 
the Crystal City ; it gives fine berries, as good as 
wild ones in quality, nearly a week ahead of 
anything that has yet fruited with me. I must 
say a good word for the Charles Downing. It has 
proved the most satisfactory of all for general 
purposes. It is the best to be planted in the shade 
of trees, when this must be done. Customers are 
never tired of telling how good the berries were. 
I would recommend it for a home garden.. With 
the Crystal City to precede it, the season is about 
covered. For a third and fourth choice I would name the 
Sharpless and Bubach (No. 5), and the two latter I believe 
to be the best for general culture for a near market. 
Worcester County, Maas. 
At Fig. 193, we show a drawing of the Rogers Reservoir in 
use at Fort Worth, Texas. This was designed by Mr. H. 
D. Rogers, who became dissatisfied with wooden or cement 
tanks; the first are expensive and liable to leak and the 
second require skilled labor to prepare them properly. He 
therefore made his reservoir of earth, lined with tar. The 
following descriptions are taken from a circular issued by 
the Panhandle Machinery Co.: 
“ Select a location for your well on a surface, which is a 
little higher (18 inches will do) than the adjacent ground 
50 or so yards around, clean off the top earth or sod from 
what is to be the bottom of the reservoir, then fill this 
space in with earth borrowed from the outside. Build up 
the walls or banks of the reservoir with the earth from the 
outside—make it just as an earth-work fort is made. You 
can build it circular, square, or in any shape which best 
suits you. Before beginning the embankment, lay the in¬ 
let pipe A from the pump W, and also the outlet pipe B, 
which is to take the water to the tank T. After the banks 
are thrown up and trodden down hard and solid, it being 
best to let them settle for a few days, then sweep out the 
inner surface and apply the hot coal tar, prepared as de¬ 
scribed below, to the inner surface P P P R, putting a 
sprinkling of dry sand after it, while yet hot. After it has 
cooled and hardened sweep off clean and follow with an¬ 
other, and still a third coat of the hot tar and sand. If the 
tar is properly boiled down you will then have a tough, 
hard surface on the whole inside of the tank, and one 
which will hold water and will be as lasting as stone itself; 
neither heat nor cold will affect it. Should it crack by the 
settling of the banks you can readily mend it with a bucket 
of hot tar and a mop, following with dry sand. The com¬ 
mon roofer’s kettle such as is shown at K, is the better 
shape; for the construction of the tar kettle, a paver’s dis¬ 
tributing pot having a nozzle or discharge built to throw a 
thin sheet of the hot tar (see the front and side view of the 
jacent to the river, and well up, has been almost com¬ 
pletely destroyed, this spring, a large percentage of the 
trees being wilted or burnt badly, while the plum trees iu 
the same orchard, have not been affected. Some say that 
the injury has been caused by blight, others that it is due 
to lightning (we have had tremendous rain and lightning 
storms here this spring). Is such injury general among 
pear orchards, and what has caused it in my case ? 
Ans. —The occurrence was a very unusual one, but the 
cause could not be determined without personal inspection, 
perhaps not then. It may have been winter-killing of the 
roots for lack of the usual protection of snow. It might 
possibly be due to blight, but that rarely strikes so exten¬ 
sively, suddenly and indiscriminately — some varieties 
being almost or quite blight-proof. It is still less likely to 
be due to electricity, as even when lightning strikes 
among tall trees, it rarely affects many of them. Such in¬ 
jury is not general. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
FRUIT NOTES. 
I have on the table before me the Red Astrachan, Te- 
tofsky, Yellow Transparent, Thaler and Early Colton 
apples, the wild Goose and Robinson plums, the Alexander 
peach, and the Early Harvest pear. They are all of nearly 
the same degree of maturity. Last year the Yellow 
Transparent was a week later than the Astrachan. The 
Early Colton is new, and is about the size of the Early 
Harvest, which it somewhat resembles in flavor. It is of 
a dark greenish yellow, strongly marked with russet at 
the stem end. This russet and its very small stem cavity 
distinguish it from all the other early varieties that I am 
acquainted with. The Robinson plum promises to be val¬ 
uable here. It is only a few days at most later, and 
slightly smaller than the Wild Goose, and seems to be a 
very early and good bearer of good fruit; nor does it need 
the extra pollen from other varieties that the Wild Goose 
is said to require in the Northern half of this State. The 
Caddo Chief ripened a week ago, while it will take a full 
week longer to mature the Marianna. The Early Harvest 
pear is of medium size, greenish yellow with a crimson 
blush, obtuse-pyriform in shape, and of moderate qual¬ 
ity. The tree is of rampant, upright growth, and has 
not blighted. B. B. 
Sangamon County, Ill. 
The Farmers Club. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
(Every query must be accompanied by the name and address 
of the writer to insure attention. Before asking a question, please 
see if it is not answered in our advertising columns. Ask only 
a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate piece 
of paper.) 
Wind-Mill Power for Irrigation. 
H. O. N., Wickcs, Montana .—I wish to raise water for 
irrigation to a hight of 15 to 20 feet; what is the best wind¬ 
mill for the purpose aud what is the capacity of any men¬ 
tioned ? 
ANS.—Any of the large wind mills advertised in The R. 
N.-Y. may be used for this purpose. The Halladay made 
by the U. S. Wind Engine & Pump Co., of Batavia, Ill., is 
an excellent one. Of course, in order to make irrigation a 
success the water must be pumped into a suitable reservoir 
where it can be held and flowed upon the land whenever 
ueeded. Tbis is necessary »s wind power i« Intermittent, 
PLAN FOR TAR-LINED RESERVOIR. Fig. 193. 
nozzle above L), should be used. Any hardware merchant 
can get up the proper tools from the sketches given here. 
To prepare the tar, boil down common coal tar, such as 
the refuse from gas works, until it becomes hard when 
cool; when boiling the tar mix about 50 pounds of 
black pitch to each barrel of tar. All you have to do is to 
get the tar boiled down to the right pitch—you can tell 
when it is right by testing, cooling a small bit of it.” 
It must be remembered that this reservoir is for a hot 
climate. It might not do so well in a colder one. Experi¬ 
ments would be needed to determine this. It is recom¬ 
mended to The R. N.-Y. by one who has had a good deal of 
experience in wind power for irrigation. Those who use 
wind power for watering gardens, fruit plantations or 
other comparatively small areas adopt sub-irrigation. By 
this system the water is not flowed over the surface, but is 
sent through perforated pipes placed a foot or so below it. 
When these pipes are filled from the tank, the water soaks 
through into the soil where tho roots may And it. It is 
impossible to say exactly how much water a wind-mill will 
lift in a day. It depends upon the wind and also upon the 
pumps used. The claims printed in the catalogues of 
manufacturers are generally based upon the most perfect 
conditions. It is probably a fact that over every farm of 
100 acres a force equal to 500 horse-power is blowing away. 
How much of this can we afford to utilize—that is the 
question. 
Testing Old and New Varieties for the Sake of 
Comparison. 
B. F. F., Blair's Station, Pa.—I think the experiments 
conducted by the Editor of The Rural would be of more 
practical value if standard varieties were always planted 
in plots alongside of the new sorts which are being tested. 
I think the experiments would be of more use to readers 
if in testing berries, for example, plots of Crescent and 
Sharpless were planted near the newer sorts, and reports 
of both kinds were given, so that comparison could be 
made with regard to the growth and health of the plants, 
and the firmness, size, quality, beauty, etc., of the old and 
new kinds. 
Ans.—The R. N.-Y. Is always thankful for suggestions 
or criticisms from its readers. Our friend is probably a 
comparatively new subscriber. During the past 17 years 
we have raised yearly not less than 100 different varieties 
of strawberries. All the old varieties have been tried and 
reported upon many times. To keep up all the old as well 
as the new involves more work and time than we have at 
our disposal. As a matter of fact, we have grown abso¬ 
lutely sick of testing aud reporting upon new varieties, 
though it is proposed to keep up the dreary work. 
Injury to Pear Trees. 
“ Subscriber ,” {address mislaid .)—My pear orchard, con¬ 
sisting of 1,000 trees from five to six years old, situated ad- 
H. B. S., Rockport, Ohio. —What is the inclosed plant? 
It is multiplying rapidly hereabouts, and threatens to be¬ 
come a serious pest. 
Ans. —It is Barbarea vulgaris—Winter Cress. It is a bi¬ 
ennial, and cultivation or plowing under the first year will 
keep it in check 
J. J., Toronto, Canada. —I have a quantity of slaked 
lime which has been kept in barrels for two years. 
1. Will equal parts of such lime, bone meal and land 
plaster be a good top-dressing for strawberries, red rasp¬ 
berries and musk-melons, and also for potatoes ? 2. My 
neighbor’s pear trees are being destroyed by a worm or 
grub about a quarter of an inch long and much the color 
of the wood under the bark; the head is black, the body 
the thickness of a fine pin. The pests work rapidly; in a 
few days they killed about 20 limbs on two Flemish 
Beauty trees. What is the pest, and what is a 
remedy for it, if any? 
Ans. —1. The lime or plaster may or may not 
help your crops. All will depend upon whether 
the soil needs lime in such forms. Probably it will 
have little effect. We should use bone and potash, 
and not count much upon either plaster or lime. 
2. We do not recognize the grub from the descrip¬ 
tion. 
A. M. T., Garden City .—1. I have a horse whose 
oats appear to pass through him whole. Is that 
a sign that his teeth need filing ? 2. Would cut 
hay mixed with the oats force him to grind the 
grain better ? 3. Does The Rural approve of 
feeding cut hay to carriage horses ? 
ANS.—1. Yes. Either the teeth require atten¬ 
tion, or the animal has acquired the habit of bolt¬ 
ing his food without chewing. 2. No. It would 
be better to feed ground oats with the cut hay. 
Ground oats with equal parts of corn meal and 
fine wheat bran, or one part of corn meal and 
two partsof ground oats, make a good grain ration 
to feed with the cut hay, the grain and hay being 
well mixed and slightly moistened. 3. Yes. For carriage 
horses we consider it much better than the usual 
long hay. 
A. C. B., Rockville, Ind. —Is there any difference between 
the Blue Grass of New York and Pennsylvania and that of 
Kentucky ? Why was the Shell-bark called the hickory 
nut in a late Rural ? Was it the large or small nut that 
was referred to ? 
Ans. —No. Blue Grass is Blue Grass everywhere. This 
is Poa pratensis. The name ought to be confined to Poa 
compressa which is the true Blue Grass. 2. The Thick 
Shell-bark is Carya sulcata. C. alba is the chief Shell-bark 
of the market. Sulcata has a thicker shell, is larger and 
the nuts are more pointed at both ends. 
A H. T., jamesport, L. I .—The inclosed leaf was taken 
from a Long Island seedsman’s catalogue. Is one-half 
what is said about Lucerne true ? 
Ans. —No, not one-half or one-tenth. We much doubt 
if Lucerne will ever displace clover on Long Island. In 
hot dry, climates, it has proved of great value.. 
B. F. A., Charleston, S. C.— How can I get rid of sorrel 
in a meadow ? 
Ans. —By manuring the land, draining it, both or either, 
as needed. 
C. A. D., New York City.— What fruits—large and 
small—do well near Rockville Center, Long Island ? Would 
the west bank of the Hudson River be a better location for 
one desirous of growing fruit as a business ? 
Ans.— Blackberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries 
and strawberries do well. Grapes do not. Large fruits do 
fairly well—peaches, apples, pears and plums. We should 
prefer the Hudson for all kinds of fruits except peaches. 
L. H. W., Brooklyn, N. Y .—In a late Rural occurs that 
frequent quotation: “A merciful man is merciful to his 
beast.” The quotation has a biblical flavor ; but I cannot 
find it in the Bible. Where does it come from ? 
Ans. —The origin of this sentiment which is expressed 
in many ways by many different writers ih, no doubt, to 
be found in Proverbs XXII., 10: “A righteous man re- 
gardeth the life of his beast.” So far as we can ascertain, 
the name of the author of the exact form in which it is 
commonly quoted is not known. Mr. Christy, in his care¬ 
fully prepared book of proverbs, gives it without authori¬ 
ty. In “St. Ronan’s Well,” Chapter 2, it may be found. 
“The merciful man,” said Meg, when her guest left the 
kitchen, “is merciful to his beast.” It also occurs in 
Thomas Fuller’s “ Holy State.” A form of the sentiment 
attributed to Hannah More is: 
•• A man of kindness to his beast la kind. 
But cruel actions show a Brutal mind.” 
