1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
r OCTOBER SNOWSTORM IN MICHIGAN . 
The snowstorm of October 10 and 11 will long be 
remembered in the Michigan fruit belt. It came with¬ 
out warning. It blew half a gale from the southwest 
all Monday and Tuesday. Then, in the night, the wind 
whipped round to the north and it began to snow. A 
city man who had been “driven back to Eden” by poor 
health, opened his door on Wednesday morning to go 
forth for wood and kindling, when—behold, the green 
earth and every stick of his neglected woodpile had 
disappeared, and naught remained in sight but heaps and 
heaps of dazzling snow. The ground was covered to 
a depth of 18 inches. It was still snowing. The trees 
were bowed down with the weight of the burden, many 
limbs had broken off, some of the trees were split down 
the trunk. Late apples peeped out from under Winter 
caps of snow, pears and quinces the same, while grape¬ 
vines were simply bowers and garlands of the “beau¬ 
tiful.” Of course it would not last, everyone said so; 
but the next morning it was still snowing in occa¬ 
sional gusts, and the temperature had dropped to 10 
degrees above zero. Tons and tons of fruit, the entire 
late crop of apples, pears and grapes, to say nothing 
of celery, representing tens of thousands of dollars in 
value, was a total loss! 
The only crops worth gathering were those buried 
under the snow, and the rare photos of 
beautiful snowscapes that everyone pos¬ 
sessing a camera hastened to procure. 
Such a sight we never saw before, and 
may never see again—the rarest and 
most beautiful combination of Summer 
and Winter ever seen by mortal eyes. 
As for the loss to fruit growers, Nature 
has her own way of making compensa¬ 
tion. Prices of fruit already gathered 
are rising. Doubtless many harmful 
insects have been destroyed, and the 
tardy farmers taught a lesson that may 
hasten their movements next year. Sat¬ 
urday, October 13, was clear and warm, 
and the snow had entirely disappeared. 
To-day, October 17, we are having Sum¬ 
mer heat—78 degrees. The leaves on 
branches that were under the snow are 
fresh and green, all the rest brown and 
withered. No Autumn colors this year. 
South Haven, Mich. e. b. m. 
THE ICEHOUSE QUESTION. 
Our icehouse—or room—is 9x11 feet 
in the clear inside, and is 10 feet from 
sill to eaves. We find it sufficient for 
our use, having more than once found 
ice remaining when preparing for the 
annual filling. It might be proper to 
state that we have very good water 
and a very good cellar, so that ice is 
not needed to cool drinking water, nor 
to keep well-made Jersey butter in nice 
condition in Summer. As to material 
for building, ours is of wood with wall 
high enough to bring sills up from 
ground—a foot high. On this plank 
2 x8 inches were laid for sills. On these 
3x4 scantling were used for side walls, 
weather-boarded on outside, lined up on 
inside with rough boards, and filled be¬ 
tween with sawdust. The bottom is 
cemented, carefully sloping to one cor¬ 
ner, where a tile leads through the wall to a milk 
trough, also of cement—which has never been used— 
in a cool room attached. This house is perhaps as 
small as would be practical. • We put in eight to 10 
two-horse loads, say 10 to 15 tons, put 10 to 12 inches 
of sawdust on bottom; pack the ice carefully, keeping 
it about a foot from the side walls all around, filling 
this space with sawdust as we go up with the ice, or 
leaving until ice is all in as seems most convenient. 
In putting in the ice care is taken to get it as nearly 
solid as possible; to this end care in cutting is neces¬ 
sary. If, however, there are projecting corners and 
broken misshapen pieces, these are dressed up to fit, 
the chippings carefully filled into the crevices. When 
the ice is all in and nicely leveled up we cover with 
sawdust a foot to 18 inches deep, leaving space above 
open to the roof. 
As to filling, we have a nicely-fitted door extending 
down to within about three feet of the ground. We 
back up to this and have no difficulty in shoving the 
cakes in on a smooth plank, using no elevating appara¬ 
tus. Loose boards are fitted into this door as we go 
up. We are located a mile from a creamery, to which 
we sell butter fat. . They have the necessary tools for 
cutting ice. We arrange with them to cut what we 
need, we hauling and filling while they are putting up 
their supply. There is a great difference in the keeping 
qualities of ice. Clear solid ice will keep much better 
than that which is partially made up of frozen snow— 
slush ice. As the Summer advances and the ice is 
settling away, it is necessary to keep the covering 
packed solid so that cracks are not developed, as the 
ice will waste rapidly if this be allowed. 
A. p. YOUNG. 
A Maryland “Hole in the Ground ” 
Icehouses in this part of the country are very primi¬ 
tive affairs. They are simply a hole in the ground. 
The average thickness of ice here is from four to six 
inches. That makes it impracticable to pack in a 
house built above ground. My house is 20 feet deep, 
16 feet square, covered with an A-shaped roof with 
plenty of ventilation in each end. The house or hole 
in the ground is logged up to prevent caving. In heavy 
clay soils that do not cave the logging is not needed. 
If the soil in the bottom of the house is not porous 
enough to carry off immediately all water from the 
melted ice a well 3x4 feet is dug in the center and a 
few posts laid over it to keep the well open. Ponds 
are dug and a chute three feet wide of two-inch boards 
built from the bottom of the pond to the height of the 
wagon box. The ice is then cut about two feet square, 
and pulled or pushed with ice hooks from the pond into 
the wagon box, then drawn by hand from the wagon 
into the house. About every third load is broken up 
to fill all cracks. After filling it is covered with straw. 
About June 1, after the ice has melted away from the 
sides of the house, straw is packed well between the 
ice and the log lining. My house holds 25 four-horse 
loads. I have never weighed the ice, but judge each 
load weighs about two tons. This amount lasts me 
until ice comes again; in fact until the present time 
my house has had ice in it all the year round. Last 
Winter I only could get about 10 loads of very thin 
porous ice. It gave out about September 15. In this 
climate it takes ice to keep ice. It also required more 
depth than width. That is, a house 16 feet deep and 
10 feet square will keep ice much longer than one 10 
feet deep and 16 feet square. A house 14 feet deep and 
10 feet square if kept properly covered should keep 
enough ice for a family of six. john h. janney. 
Montgomery Co., Md. 
“THE DANGER FROM PEACH YELLOWS.” 
In a recent issue a correspondent asked if it would 
do to reset peach trees where a yellows tree had been 
taken out. I would by all means reset a peach tree 
where a yellows tree had been taken out, but think 
it safer to remove the discarded tree and wait one year 
before resetting. The practice of removing a diseased 
tree and resetting at once is often followed in Niagara 
County, N. Y., and the proportion of loss from disease 
in the reset trees is only slightly larger than in the 
831 
rest of the orchards. By following this method of 
resetting peach orchards are carried along until 18 to 
25 years old in full bearing. I would by no means 
reset with plums or pears in a commercial orchard, as 
the scattered trees are a nuisance to harvest, and being 
longer lived than the peach are in the way when the 
peach orchard becomes so old and unprofitable that it 
should be removed. b. d. van buren. 
I wish to be recorded as stating that the answer to 
your inquirer about replacing trees removed because 
affected with yellows, is sheer nonsense. I can show 
healthy trees anywhere from one to seven years old 
in just such places, and not one case has occurred 
where the second trees has been affected. I have done 
this continually in peach growing for over 20 years. I 
have planted an entire orchard on the same land where 
the yellows had taken the first one during the two 
previous years, removing the last of the lot just before 
fitting the land for the second orchard. For the next 
nine years the loss was less than five per cent, or no more 
than was expected in any orchard in the vicinity. There 
is not the least evidence that the soil is affected, or 
even that the disease exists in the root at all, and 
when the affected tree is promptly removed I know of 
no objection to replacing with a new tree. I would 
not, however, replant in an orchard several years old, 
full of yellows, as I should expect all, both old and 
young, to go before much returns could 
be received. a. g. gulley. 
Connecticut Agricultural College. 
FLUTE-CRAFTING CHESTNUTS. 
On page 780 I see that Dexter Field 
has his share of trouble with his Italian 
chestnut trees. He states that his trees 
were planted some 25 years ago, and that 
he has as many varieties as he has trees. 
I have seen similar cases on a much 
larger scale, and the only thing for him 
to do is to top-work his trees by the 
well-known method of flute-grafting, 
which should be done as soon as the 
bark can be slipped from the stock and 
the flute removed from the scion without 
injuring it. In this method great care 
must be exercised to have the flute fit 
the stock, and that the flute contains at 
least one good eye, and have the top well 
waxed to exclude the elements. This is 
the only method in general use in chest- 
nut-growing districts of Italy and Cor¬ 
sica, and if the graft catches the union 
will certainly be a perfect one. If I 
were in his position I should lop all the 
limbs off at such places that would cause 
the trees to make a nice lot of pollards, 
and insert the flutes on the ones which 
would go to make a symmetrical tree, 
and leave some of the others to take up 
the surplus sap, only to be cut when his 
grafts are strong enough to receive the 
full flow of the tree. 
As to his young seedlings, I think it 
perfectly safe either to splice or tongue- 
graft them about two or three inches 
below the ground during the first week 
in April, and cover the grafts with a 
small mound of earth to keep them fresh 
until they start. If our friend from 
Oregon contemplates setting out an or¬ 
chard, he would better stratify his nuts 
in the Fall and plant three or four near each stake 
where he wants the trees to stand. The planting 
should be done in Spring as early as the ground 
can be worked, and when the seedlings are about 
six inches high he should pull all but the strongest 
one, being careful to graft this one before it gets 
to be over an inch in diameter. In this way his trees 
will have a tap-root, and as the union is formed in the 
ground he will hWe thrifty, straight trees that will 
make a phenomenal growth, and should pay him for 
his trouble in a very few years. Flute budding or 
grafting implies the removal of a cylinder of bark from 
the stock, to be replaced by a similar one bearing a bud 
or short twig in place of a scion. It is rarely used ex¬ 
cept for nut and other difficult trees where ordinary 
methods seldom succeed. john casazza. 
New Jersey. __ 
DELAWARE NOTES.—It may be of interest to the 
readers of The R. N.-Y. to know that the Delaware State 
Grange will hold its next annual meeting in Smyrna, Dela¬ 
ware, December 11-13. The evening sessions will be held 
in the Opera House. The Peninsula Horticultural Society 
will meet in the Dover Opera House. January 8-10, 1907, 
Dover, Delaware. An unusually good programme will he 
arranged, and among the speakers will be Dr. E. B. Voorhees. 
of New Jersey; Prof. F. A. Waugh. Massachusetts, and 
Prof. J. Harold Powell of the United States Department 
of Agriculture. All the agricultural interests of Delaware 
will he represented in a conference to be held in the State 
House at Dover, December 4 and 5. The Delaware crop 
of Winter apples has perhaps never been finer and cer¬ 
tainly never so large as this year. The farmers in Kent 
County are planning large orchards of this fruit. 
WESLEY WEBB 
SNOWSTORM IN MICHIGAN OCTOBER 10. Fig. 357. 
