794 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 27, 
more for eight months; and the majority during the 
harvest time only. Jn the meantime the workingmen 
need work, and they all need it by the year. Just a 
hard fact—necessity of shelter, food and clothing for 
365 days in the year. And in what numbers can they 
look to farm labor for the requisite number of work¬ 
ing days for the individual workingman? 
Schuyler Co., N. Y. medora corbett. 
AN ACRE OF CELERY. 
As supplementary to the article on page 727 I for¬ 
ward a brief resume of.the cost of one acre of celery 
with us under quite normal conditions in plots of from 
10 to 14 acres. It will be noticed I have purposely left 
out the fractions of cost. While these grounds would 
require another dose of manure, or fertilizer, or per¬ 
haps a fair proportion of both to grow another crop of 
celery, yet the fact must not be lost sight of that this 
single application has become of so much permanent 
benefit that they could be depended on to grow a crop 
of potatoes, followed by a crop of wheat, two or three 
crops of grass, then a good crop of corn, and probably 
not be any less productive then than before the celery 
was planted. Under special conditions we have grown 
patches of celery that netted double the one under con¬ 
sideration, but they were above the normal. 
One ton fertilizer. $35.00 
40 tons stable manure, cost on the ground. 80.00 
29,000 plants grown in greenhouse and transplanted 
114 in. 100.00 
Planting in field—6 rren one day. 9.00 
One boy drooping plants. 1.00 
Hoeing and cultivating. 50.00 
Humber for bleaching. 25.00 
20,000 stalks, at 40 cents a dozen bunches tied flat. 700 
doz. (like the fingers on a man’s hand). Cost of 
tying in bunches, at 18 cents. 126.00 
$426.00 
Ground rent . 20.00 
$446.00 
700 doz.. at $1.20. $840.00 
10 per cent commission for selling. 84.00 
$756.00 
446.00 
$310.00 
Pennsylvania. _______________ M - garrahan. 
BRINGING WATER TO THE HOUSE . 
Part II. 
Hydraulic Rams and Gravity System. 
Another device for getting a supply of water for the 
farm is the hydraulic ram. I need not explain the de¬ 
tails of construction, for anyone can get that from the 
manufacturers, and very few will care to read them. 
It often happens that there are springs or creeks on 
the farm, but they are below the house, and therefore 
the water must be carried or pumped up hill. The ram 
does this work perfectly. In order to estimate what 
can be done we must know, first, the amount of water 
available; second, the fall from the source to the ram, 
called power head, and third, the height from the ram 
to the discharge, called the pumping head. In esti¬ 
mating the amount of water it is customary to give the 
amount in gallons per minute. To get the flow of a 
spring confine it enough to get it into a trough or 
pipe, and see how long it will take to fill a can or 
barrel of known capacity. A flow of say 30 gallons 
can be measured quite accurately with a five-gallon can, 
while for a flow of, say 50 to 100 gallons, some larger 
receptacle must be used. This method, of course, is 
not remarkable for accuracy, but is close enough for 
what we want on the farm, and is all right for rams 
using less than 100 gallons per minute. One should 
always undei* rather than overestimate his flow. If a 
larger stream is to - be developed these “jack-knife” 
methods should not be used, for the enterprise will 
then warrant employing a competent engineer, and the 
money spent for his services will be the best part of 
the investment. 
After you have determined the flow, next measure 
the power head and the pumping head. The principle 
of the ram is this: The power, which, we will say, 10 
gallons falling 10 feet will develop, will raise one gallon 
100 feet, or for the theoretical work, multiply the flow 
in gallons by the power head, divide the product by the 
pumping head, and the result will be the discharge. 
Suppose we have 47 gallons per minute, with a power 
head of nine feet, and we want to raise the water 65 
feet. Then we will have 47 + 9 = 423 65 = 6(4 
gallons per minute discharge. This in theory is what 
the ram should do, and would were it not for loss of 
power by friction. If we get 75 per cent of that 
amount we may conclude that our ram is doing good 
work. Our scientific friends give formulas for figuring 
the efficiency of rams, but it is enough for us to know 
that a good ram, if correctly placed with pipes of 
proper proportion, will develop from 60 to 75 per cent 
of the theoretical efficiency, and if one has a place that 
will figure out anything worth while with these figures 
he can go further and consult the manufacturers. The 
old style of ram admits of but little adjustment for 
the varying amount of flow, while the improved ram 
can be adjusted so that the same machine will work 
with, say 30 to 75 gallons per minute, thus giving the 
®perat#r a wide scope over which to adjust his ma¬ 
chine to the_yarying flow of the water. These rams 
arc made in sizes to use from 2(4 to 1,500 gallons per 
minute, with a power head of from 1(4 to 50 feet, and 
will raise water as high as 500 feet. It has been my 
pleasure to watch one of these rams for the past six 
or seven years, which is owned by a neighbor. The 
expense for repairs has been close to nothing, and the 
machine is doing more than the manufacturers guar¬ 
anteed. The best part is that it requires no attention. 
1 f one has not a gravity system the ram is the next 
best thing in point of constant, faithful and economical 
service. The principle is perfect, and the application 
is also perfect, being reduced by friction only. 
Now we come to the best system, the gravity. Every 
one knows that water will run down hill. Nothing 
new about this, but many do not know that the dis¬ 
charge may not be satisfactory even though the pipe 
runs down hill all the way. In Fig. 338 note the 
straight line drawn from the surface of the water at A 
to the outlet at E. This line is called the hydraulic 
grade line. Note that a part of the pipe is above that 
line. The flow in that part of the pipe from F to C 
will be governed by the head A B, and in that part 
EVIDENT NEED OE DISHORNING. Fig. 339. 
from C to E by the head C D. Now as C D is steeper 
than A B the water will naturally flow faster through 
C E than through A B. This will cause an irregular, 
unsatisfactory flow, the tendency being to discharge like 
an open gutter. If, however, the orifice at E is con¬ 
tracted, the tendency is to check the flow in the steep 
part, and if contracted enough no bad effect will be 
noticeable from improper laying of the pipe. If the 
pipe can be laid below the hydraulic grade line it is 
best to do so, but don’t allow your wife to carry water 
just because there happens to be a bump in the ground 
between the tank and the house. Sometimes a proper 
grade may be secured by passing around high ground 
without lengthening the pipe very much. Generally 
THE AUTUMN ROUND-tir. Fig. 340. 
on the farm we can see from one end to the other of 
the pipe. If too far apart or if too crooked, an engi¬ 
neer will locate the proper line. E. j. h. 
THE AUTUMN ROUND-UP.—I send a photograph 
taken September 28, 1906 (reproduced at Fig. 340). 
The field c*rn is Reid Early Yellow Dent; sweet corn, 
Country Gentleman and Stowell’s Evergreen; tomatoes, 
Dwarf Stone; pumpkins, California Mammoth; onions. 
Giant Gibraltar; squash, Bush Fordhook; sugar cane, 
Texas Ribbon. Arthur king. 
THE MANURIAL VALUE OF CROPS. 
I enclose herewith a clipping prepared by Prof. Armsby. 
in which he gives a table of values. Are these figures 
correct? 
“Prof. Armsby has prepared a table showing the value of 
fertilizing elements carried away from the soil in different 
crops. The estimate is on the manurial value of $10 worth 
of the products named. 
Meadow hay . $5.10 
Clover hay . 9.07 
Potatoes .12 
Wheat bran . 8.32 
I.inseed meal . 7.34 
Cotton-seed meal. 10.05 
Wheat . 2.63 
Oats . 3.86 
Corn . 3.78 
Bariev . 3.03 
Milk .88 
Cheese .<10 
Live cattle . 1.18 
“This table will show to the farmer the amount of fer¬ 
tilizer ingredients he sells with each $10 worth of the 
various products named above. For instance, if he sells a 
ton of meadow hay he will sell with it fertilizing ingredi¬ 
ents which would cost him $5.10 if purchased in the form 
of commercial fertilizers.” 
I would like to have your opinion on these figures, par¬ 
ticularly on potatoes, which he gives at only 12 cents. 
Starr, Pa. j. H. D. 
The figures are correct when you understand what 
they mean. Much depends on the price received for 
these various crops. For instance, when we buy a ton 
of prime hay on our own farm it costs nearly or quite 
$20. The farmer who sold this same ton off his farm 
often gets no more than $8. There is a certain amount 
of plant food in the ton, but we pay more than twice 
as much as the farmer sold it for. The following table 
shows the pounds of plant food in a ton of various 
products: 
POUNDS IN ONE TON. 
Nitrogen. 
I’hos. acid. 
Potash. 
Meadow hay. 
. 31 
8 
26 
(’lover hay . 
. 39 
12 
37 
1’otatoes . 
. 7 
3 
12 
Wheat bran . 
. 45 
55 
29 
Linseed meal .... 
. 90 
32 
25 
Wheat . 
. 42 
16 
11 
12 
9 
Corn . 
. 32 
12 
7 
12 
9 
Other figures could be given, but these will make the 
matter clear. At present wholesale prices nitrogen is 
valued at 17 cents a pound, and potash and phosphoric 
acid at five cents each. These figures mean the average 
wholesale price for a year in New York. The ferti¬ 
lizer mixer charges more to cover cost of handling and 
profit. When you sell a ton of clover hay the nitrogen 
in it, according to this, is worth $6.63, the potash $'-.s>., 
and the phosphoric acid .60 or a total of $9.OS. You 
understand that this means what this plant food cost 
in the wholesale market. You will see that it depends 
on the price of the clover hay. On our own farm we 
could get about $18 for it, so that we would send away 
only a little over $5 worth of plant food. We would 
not sell clover hay anyway. In the same way a ton of 
potatoes or 33(4 bushels contain $1.19 worth of nitro¬ 
gen, 60 cents’ worth of potash and 15 cents’ worth of 
phosphoric acid, or $1.94 worth of plant food in the 
ton. This means 5j4 cents a bushel. There is prob¬ 
ably a misprint in these figures. The amount of plant 
food sent away in $10 worth will, of course, depend 
upon the price. With us potatoes now bring 80 cents 
a bushel, which means 12'A bushels for $10, represent¬ 
ing, at our figures, 63(4 ceiTs. People are often aston¬ 
ished at the small amount of plant food in potatoes. 
We must remember that the average potato contains 
75 per cent of water. If you burn a ton of potatoes so 
that everything that will burn is consumed you would 
have less than 20 pounds of ashes left. Some farmers 
make the mistake of supposing that because a bushel 
of potatoes contains so little plant food it follows that 
heavy fertilizing for this crop is not necessary. That 
is a great mistake, for of all, ordinary farm crops the 
potato most needs heavy feeding. 
CURIOUS FREAK OF AN APPLE. 
In Fig. 336, first page, we have a striking example 
of a pear-shaped apple in comparison with a normal one 
from the same tree. The specimens were sent in by 
White & Rice, Yorktown, N. Y. The variety is Caba- 
shea, a well-known large red early Winter apple. 
There were some marks of insect injury near the stem 
end of the pear-shaped apple, evidently inflicted at an 
early stage of its development. We may infer that the 
growth of this portion of the fruit was checked, while 
the lower part expanded in the usual manner until it 
finally attained the ordinary outlines of a pear. Pear- 
shaped apples and apple-formed pears are really not 
uncommon. The Japan Russet variety of Oriental pear 
is as flat as, and almost indistinguishable in appearance 
from a russet apple when matured, but it is every sense 
a pear. Some pear-shaped apples have been brought 
forward as hybrids between the pear and the apple, but 
there is no evidence that the two species can be in¬ 
duced to cross. There is so little affinity between them 
that they never make a lasting union, even when suc¬ 
cessfully grafted. Unless characteristic of all the fruits 
on a particular tree the occasional pear-shaped apple 
may be considered as a case of partially arrested deveh 
opment. 
