THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
February 22 
116 
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Sub-irrigation from Windmill Tank. 
8. II. B., Shreve, Ohio. —I am making arrangements for irriga¬ 
tion. Fig. 44 shows my location. A is the well at the house; 
water stands at 80 feet. B is a pipe running above ground to the 
reservoir. E is a reservoir containing 1,000 barrels; it is 450 feet 
from the well, and the top is three feet higher than the pump 
spout. D is four half-acre strawberry plots, 210 feet north and 
south, with two-feet fall to the north. I wish to sub-irrigate. 
1. Can I pump enough water with a 10-foot steel windmill ? 2. 
What sized tile should I use, how far apart, how deep, and how 
many should be connected together? 3. How shall I draw the 
water from the reservoir ? How shall I connect it with the differ¬ 
ent sections of tile ? 
Ans. —1. A 10-foot mill would probably be inade¬ 
quate to supply water for two acres of strawberries 
when it has to be drawn from a depth of 80 feet. A 
12-foot mill would be required, at least, and one that 
is 14 feet in diameter would be better, unless the 
storage capacity be increased. 2. Three-inch tile, 
placed 18 inches to two feet deep, will answer to dis¬ 
tribute the water, and the lines can be anywhere 
from 10 to 30 feet apart, according- to the soil, being 
greatest where the amount of humus is largest. The 
t ies in each section (100 feet) can be connected by a 
larger tile. This should be level, and to secure the 
even distribution of the water, the laterals should 
have an even slope of not over one foot in 50, while a 
quarter of this would be better. 3. Draw the water 
from the reservoir through a two-inch pipe, and con¬ 
nect with each section by means of a 1^-incli pipe, 
provided with a valve by which the flow can be regu¬ 
lated. The water can be turned directly into the tile 
by means of an elbow brought up to the surface, or a 
large tile can be placed at the end of this main tile, 
forming a silt basin into which the water can be 
delivered. i„. r. taft. 
Michigan Experiment Station. 
Brewers' Grains or Bran; Milk. 
A. S. L., St. Charles , Mo. —1. Would there be any money In buy 
Ing dried brewers’ grains at 812 per ton, to take the place of bran 
at 89.50 and sliipstuff at 812-50, to feed to cows for milk and beef ? 
2. What is the difference between sterilized and Pasteurized milk? 
Can either operation be successfully performed off a small scale, 
sav, 50 gallons per day? I am running a small dairy In a town 
of about 7,000. The milk is all right in the winter, but in summer, 
it sours too quickly, and there Is no ice this winter to put up. 
What do you think of sterilizing, and then bottling and delivering 
it to customers in that shape? I am going to have the engine 
any way, and have steam very nearly all the time. 
Ans.— 1 . The following table shows the compara¬ 
tive feeding value of average specimens of these feeds. 
The giainswill vary more in composition than the 
bran : 
Muscle-makers. 
Dried grains.... 
14 /* 
’Iran. 
Shipstuff. 
ll/s 
Fat-formers. 
3< 14 
44/, 
49 
Pure fat. 
4\ 
2/s 
2 /, 
At the prices given, bran is the cheapest food, and we 
would use it in preference to either of the others— 
especially if you feed corn stalhs in any quantity. 
We would not advise the use of dried brewers’ grains 
at $12 under the circumstances. 2. As explained be¬ 
fore, on page 745 of last year's volume, the difference 
between Pasteurizing and sterilizing milk is a differ¬ 
ence in the degree of heat applied. In the former, 
the milk is never heated above 175 degrees, while to 
sterilize it pioperly, boiling heat or even a higher 
temperature, is applied. You should send to the Wis¬ 
consin Experiment Station (Madison, Wis.), fora copy 
of Bulletin 44. Under the circumstances, it might 
pay you to Pasteurize the milk, but boiling it would 
be sure to cause complaint among your customers. 
Dairy Cattle in Mexico. 
0. C. It., San Luis Potosi, Mexico.— Will a herd of 17 half and 
three quarter bred Jersey milch cows, which have been raised on 
prairie hay, eoru, etc., in Texas, producing there three gallons of 
milk daily, thr ve on cotton-seed meal, wheat bran, dry fodder, 
and green Alfalfa, as a regular ration, with a change to a few 
roots, etc., given occasionally ? Will they produce as much milk 
as they did in Texas, being kept in a three-acre field here, as 
against a 1,000-acre pasture in Texas ? With wheat bran at 81 per 
100 pounds, cotton-seed meal at $1.34, fodder at $1, green alfalfa at 
40 cents, and labor at 25 cents per day, can milk be produced at 
six cents per quart half the year, and 10 cents the other half? 
Ans.— The cattle placed under the new conditions, 
should gain at least 20 per cent in their flow of milk, 
provided they do not have to go through with the 
fever of acclimatization. In Mississippi, not long 
since, cattle were moved not more than 100 miles 
from a cooler to a warmer district. They all had a 
slight attack of what is known as Texas fever. This 
very much interfered with their fattening the first 
season. I am not acquainted with the climate at San 
Luis Potosi. The soiling which is proposed and the 
small run of three acres, if properly managed, will 
conduce to an increased flow of milk. The price of 
cotton-seed meal is reasonable, but bran and Alfalfa 
are both entirely too high. As compared with cotton¬ 
seed meal, bran should be worth 75 cents per 100 
pounds, Alfalfa, uncured, not more than 10 cents, and 
corn fodder not more than 50 cents. All the foods 
named, except corn fodder, are highly nitrogenous 
and, therefore, should be balanced up with some car¬ 
bonaceous food. Is it not possible to do so by sowing 
barley or Hungarian grass, or by raising an abund¬ 
ance of green corn, not corn fodder? That is to say, 
plant corn about twice as thick as when it is raised 
for the ears chiefly. This will give a large proportion 
of ears, and one ton of it will be worth two to three 
tons of thickly sowed fodder corn. With a little care 
in cheapening some of the foods named, and in balanc¬ 
ing the rations, milk should be produced, with the 
low-priced labor, at an average of three cents per 
quart the year around at the barns. I. p. Roberts. 
Care of a Rural Cemetery. 
0. F. B., Itushford, N. Y. —Can The R. N.-Y. or any of its readers, 
offer any suggestions as to the treatment and care of a rural 
cemetery ? Ours is a half acre in extent, and we desire to make 
a continuous level surface, to be lawn mowed when done. The 
caretaker of a cemetery says that it costs more to trim about the 
different stones, than it does to lawn mow the whole ground. 
Does any one know of any method by which a lawn mower will 
do the whole work without leaving a fringe of grass about the 
stones? The ground was thoroughly plowed last fall, and many 
roots, stumps and other rubbish were taken out. The soil natur¬ 
ally grows June grass, and is light and thin. Would it be desir¬ 
able to grow a crop of potatoes as a means of subduing the 
ground, or can it be just as well done and at the same expense 
without the crop of potatoes ? 
Ans.— The construction of all the lawn mowers now 
before the public, is such as to prevent cutting close 
to stationary objects. I do not know of any method 
by which one can be made to cut close to stones, trees 
or fences. Hand trimming, by means of the sickle, 
appears to be necessary. It does not seem needful to 
grow a hoed crop upon the cemetery lot in question, 
though it would undoubtedly benefit the soil. An 
application of 300 to 400 pounds of ground bone, fol¬ 
lowed a few days later by six or eight bushels of good 
PLAN FOR AN IRRIGATION PLANT. Fig. 44. 
wood ashes to the half-acre plot, would put it in fine 
condition to receive the seed, which should consist of 
a mixture of about 50 pounds each of Kentucky Blue 
grass (June grass) and Red-top. A pound of Sweet- 
s rented Vernal grass, mixed in, will prove a pleasant 
a idition. Do not use any manure, as it will inevitably 
i itroduce myriads of troublesome weed seeds. The seed 
should be evenly sown on a still morning after the 
ground has been made as mellow and fine as possible. 
On a plot of this size, it is best to rake the seed in 
evenly by hand, after which it should be firmly rolled 
with a rather heavy roller. If the ground bone and 
wood ashes are not easily procured, an application of 
400 to 500 pounds of any good commercial fertilizer 
will be found useful, but by no means as lasting in 
its effects w . v . f. 
Making a Pasture in Vermont. 
(j. M. II., North I errisburg, T t. —I have a piece of pasture wbic-h 
I plowed last year and planted to corn; it is a gravelly soil, and 
so full of stones that it can scarcely be worked. The soil is rather 
poor. I wish to turn it back into pasture without harvesting an¬ 
other crop. Would it do to sow millet this spring, mixing the 
grass seed with it, and let the cows on to it in the middle of sum¬ 
mer ? The laud is rather dry. 
Ans. —It is difficult to get dry, open, stony ground 
into a good pasture. It can only be done by working 
at it for several years, sowing additional grass seeds 
from time to time, and adding some plant food ; or 
in other words, it must be coaxed back into grass land. 
Oats, one bushel per acre, sowed with the grass seeds, 
would be preferable to millet, as the former would 
cease to grow when the most trying time in August 
occurs, while the millet would then be at its best, 
and would rob the soil of both food and moisture to 
such an extent as to endanger the young grass and 
clover plants. A mixture of two quarts of Medium 
clover seed, one-half quart of Alsike, and four quarts 
of Timothy, and some Orchard grass and Tall Meadow 
1’escue, about one peck of each per acre, would be 
sufficient. The latter seeds weigh but 14 pounds to 
the bushel. Sow as early as possible. The ground 
being so stony it cannot well be roiled. If, after the 
seeds and oats are sown, a light dressing of any kind 
of manure could be spread thinly over the ground, it 
would assist in conserving moisture, and in shading 
the plants until they are well established. It will be 
better to cut the oats when green, and feed them in 
the stables than to pasture. If the latter must be re¬ 
sorted to, then let the pasturing be as light as pos¬ 
sible. A light dressing of nitrogenous fertilizers 
could be beneficially applied at the time of seeding. 
It is probable that full success will not be attained 
the first year. If so, resow with about one-eighth as 
much seed the following spring, and add a little plant 
food in some form, if possible. i. p. r. 
Heating All “ Outdoors ” with Bricks. 
P. L. B., Dresden, 0 .—I read in a weekly paper of a peach 
grower in Connecticut who claims that he can prevent his peach 
buds from being killed by spring frosts by burning kerosene in 
cans, in which he places common bricks and allows them to be¬ 
come saturated with the oil. These he places from 30 to 40 feet 
apart in his orchards, and when there is danger from frost, he 
lights them, and claims that the smoke will keep the buds from 
freezing. Does The R. N.-Y. know of this practice, and whether 
it is practical or not? I would like to know whether a strip of 
grass left along the peach trees on a side lull, would be of much 
injury to them, if the rest of the ground between the trees is cul¬ 
tivated. The idea is to keep the ground from washing. 
Ans. —No, there is nothing to it. It is little short 
of a “fake.” In a small, protected inclosure, heat 
produced in this way might offset a slight freeze ; but 
in large, open orchards, you would waste your fuel. 
It is a pretty theory—little else. On a hillside, a strip 
of grass will often save washing, and to that extent, 
is a help. 
How to Fight White Grubs. 
It. M., Bloomington, III. —Does salt have any effect on White 
Grubs in strawberry beds ? If it does, how should it be applied ? 
Would kainit answer the purpose ? Will London-purple kill leaf- 
rollers ? How strong should it be made? Will strawbenies, 
grown In hills, produce more fruit in a single row than in a 
matted row if managed right? 
ANSWERED BY M. V. SLINGERLAND. 
In 1891, Prof. Perkins, Entomologist of the Vermont 
Experiment Station, “conducted a long series of ex¬ 
periments for the purpose of ascertaining, if possible, 
whether some substance could not be profitably used 
which should act, at the same time, as a fertilizer to 
vegetation and a destroyer of White Grubs. It was 
thought that, perhaps, some one or more of the 
potash salts commonly used as fertilizers, might 
prove to meet these conditions. The results of the 
experiments were not altogether satisfactory, since 
it was found that, while some of these salts did prove 
in a measure destructive to the grubs, and of course, 
would be in most cases beneficial to the crop growing 
in the soil, it was necessary to use a larger quantity 
than could profitably be applied.” Sulphate of potash, 
kainit, muriate of potash, and salt were all partially 
effective when used in solution at the rate of a ton 
per acre ; the salt was the least effective, and the 
sulphate of potash the most efficient. “ Wood ashes, 
even when used abundantly, failed to injure the 
grubs ; neither did strong lye poured over the ground 
appear to affect them.” 
The question of how to rid a strawberry bed of 
White Grubs is a very serious one. Mr. L. J. Farmer 
has had much experience with the pests. At the 
meeting of the Western New York Horticultural 
Society in 1895, he stated that a liberal application of 
salt had a tendency to keep the grubs away, and is 
also said to kill them in the first year of their growth. 
He had used four bushels per acre, scattered along 
the rows, and cultivated in, with good results, lie 
further stated that, “in fitting a piece for strawber¬ 
ries, known to be infested with grubs (grass lands 
usually are), they can be largely killed by plowing 
late in the fall ; thus throwing them out on the top 
where they will freeze. This must be done just be¬ 
fore a heavy freeze, for if given but a short time, 
the grub is able to burrow back into the ground In 
spring, if land is plowed and harrowed.continuously 
for several days, most of the grubs come to the sur¬ 
face, and are picked up by birds, poultry, etc. After 
the plants are set out, there does not seem to be any 
surface application that will kill the grubs and not 
kill the plants. Kerosene emulsion I have tried with 
unsatisfactory results. They fatten on Paris-green 
water. When a plant is attacked by grubs, it changes 
color, and if the roots are all severed, in a short time, 
it wilts. In watching the plants from day to day', 
one’s eyes become, trained, so he can tell every plant 
that has a grub under it. If we dig under one side, the 
grub can often be removed and the plant saved, espe¬ 
cially if the soil be moist; carefully replace and firm 
the earth down. The grub hates to be disturbed, 
and will migrate to uncultivated spaces. Thus culti¬ 
vate close and hoe out deeply all around the plants. 
Protect the crows, blackbirds, moles, and especially 
the skunk. The only really successful way to fight 
these pests in strawberry beds, is to avoid them ; and 
this can be done by cultivating the soil in some farm 
crop for three years previous to setting out the plants.” 
In short, hand-pick the grubs, thoroughly cultivate 
the soil before it is to be used for strawberries, and 
keep the soil stirred close around the plants after they 
are set. 
There are four different kinds of strawberry leaf- 
rollers at work in Illinois, but most of the destructive 
work is done by one—the Common Strawberry Leaf- 
