926 
December 15, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER- 
stands the Winter well, but just sends up a seed stalk 
V/ 2 to three feet high, but no blades of grass higher 
than three or four inches. Could you suggest a 
remedy ? 
There are only three or four ranches here, five, I 
believe, who are trying to raise Timothy and potatoes, 
but with small success. \ he frosts in Summer make 
it a bigger gamble than 1-lorida oranges. 1 here are 
no members of the Apple Consumers League here, 
the price of apples runs too high, the last I got cost 
50 cents a pound and were poor specimens. I lie cli¬ 
mate is said to resemble the northern New England 
States, only a few more Summer frosts and cool nights; 
no month is clear of* frosts. Prices of vegetables are 
very high, from six to 10 cents a pound, but the only 
plants that seem to thrive are turnips, radishes and 
lettuce, and almost everybody grows a patch of them, so 
the. supply is greater than the demand. I enclose a 
head of grass which came up among weeds from oats. 
Could you identify it, as it seems to make a good 
growth where Timothy fails? Also, would some one 
name the earliest oat likely to ripen here, as the com¬ 
mon oat that comes here will not get past the flowering 
stage? • D * L - H * 
Atlin, B. C. 
R. N.-Y.—The grass appears to be Tall Meadow oat 
grass. _ 
NEW INSTITUTE FEATURES IN MISSOURI. 
For the first time in the history of our institute 
work we have, as an experiment, held a series of poul¬ 
try and dairy meetings at which the principal attrac¬ 
tion was a special poultry exhibit. 1 lie Missouri 
Pacific Railroad, co-operating with us, furnished a train 
‘of two cars, one filled with an exhibit of about 20 varie¬ 
ties of standard-bred poultry nicely arranged in exhibit 
coops. These were all utility fowls, and carried along 
for educational purposes. On the train was our rep¬ 
resentative, a special poultry lecturer, who lectured to 
the people on questions relating to the poultry industry 
and also give demonstrations in judging poultry. In 
one car were carried poultry supplies, such as models 
for poultry houses, incubators, brooders, feed coops 
and various balanced rations for poultry. 
Another feature, which is perhaps not new, but which 
we are trying for the second year, is the rural school- 
house institute. 1 he method of conducting these mcel- 
ings is about the same as for the regular institute 
meeting; the lecturers are the same. We send two 
lecturers, and a meeting is announced to be held in 
the rural school. The parents are invited and often 
the house is filled to its capacity. 1 he lecture given 
is adapted to the children; in short, the lecture is 
intended to be one lesson in agriculture. Then at 
night a regular institute session is held. So far these 
meetings have been very successful, and T think moie 
of our meetings next year will be held on that plan. 
We seem to get closer to the farmers in that way than 
through the larger meetings held in the cities. 
GEO. B. ELLIS. 
Sec’y Missouri State Board of Agriculture. 
THE ELBERTA PEACH AND QUALITY. 
Peach growers, like all other investors of capital, try 
to place their money where they think they will reap 
the richest harvest on their investments. This, in our 
opinion, is the reason why so many growers invest so 
extensively in the culture of the Elberta peach, for it 
must be admitted that the Elberta is a money-getter. 
It is certainly true that it is inferior in flavor, not even 
rating as a second-class peach in this particular; but 
the tree is a fairly vigorous grower, hardy and pio- 
ductive. The fruit is large, uniform in size and at- 
t -active. All these points make it a remunerative vari¬ 
ety to the grower, and that is just what he is after. 
We well remember when we first began shipping fruit 
to the New York market. One of our shipments con¬ 
sisted of a medium-sized, but most excellent-fiavored 
peach. The returns were very disappointing. We 
protested. Our protest was met in the following lan¬ 
guage: “The people of New York are a set of fools. 
They would rather please their eyes than their stom¬ 
achs. Flavor counts for nothing in a peach. Size and 
color count.” Years of experience have confirmed this 
statement, and we set out more Elbertas. We do be¬ 
lieve, however, the public is beginning to learn that 
quality does constitute at least a little value, and pre¬ 
dict that before many years the Elberta will lose a 
part of its popularity. If this prediction shall prove 
true as it certainly has in the case of the California 
peach, growers will show wisdom in being cautious 
about' investing too largely in the future in the Elberta 
peach. STACKHOUSE & SON. 
New Jersey. 
The svmposium on page 851 on the Elberta peach, 
by acknowledged experts, gives all the reasons why it 
is planted so extensively. The Elberta is unique among 
peaches; having the desirable qualities that combine to 
the pre-eminently successful commercial peach. 
As we get it in the stores it does not equal in quality 
peaches of the Crawford type, but I notice that Gabriel 
Hiester remarks concerning it something that I dis¬ 
covered and stated in print years before the Elberta 
became famous. “If allowed to ripen on the tree it de¬ 
velops good quality.” Some seven years ago The R. 
N.-Y. published this: 
The Strong Points of the Elberta Peach. —Hardiness, 
thriving anywhere within the peach belt. Large size, mar¬ 
ketable even when allowed to overbear. Fine appearance, 
so beautiful that it sells at sight, even when the market 
DREAMING OF THE HUNT.* Fig. 418. 
is glutted with other sorts. Freedom from rot even 
when fruit on other trees is badly affected. Not stung by 
insects; eurculio. wasps, etc., let it alone while doing serious 
damage to other nearby sorts. Does not drop; successfully 
defies winds and Wings on persistently through the hardest 
gales. Is a good shipper, standing up well after a long 
journey. 
Perhaps this honest endorsement of Elberta may 
have helped to create the present enormous demand for 
that variety, but the test has been a long one and none 
• of the claims for it has been disproved. If the Niagara 
has all these desirable characteristics of the Elberta 
plus the high flavor of the Crawford, then the Niagara 
is the greatest peach ever produced, and deserves to be 
crowned king of peaches, but first let us prove the 
claim. Let us have a symposium on the Niagara as 
soon as possible. ___ J- yates peek. 
PROTECTING WATER PIPES. 
One of our readers in Virginia has asked us to tell him 
the best way to prevent water pipes from freezing. These 
water pipes are above ground and must be covered in some 
way' to keep them from the frost. What would you do to 
protect such pipes? 
I should box them in and fill in with cut straw or 
planer shavings. The cover' must be watertight; wet 
material is a good conductor of heat. Then if the 
danger is great I would either box again and fill with 
same material, or perhaps covering with straw or litter, 
as a second protection will be sufficient. Running 
water will not quickly freeze. 1 he size of the stream 
with the ground, a device largely used in the Eastern 
States is to insert within the water pipe a smaller 
lead pipe which conveys air from a dry well beneath 
the tower and passes out to the open air above the 
tank. The relatively warm air continually flowing 
upward inside the water absolutely prevents freezing, 
even at the lowest temperatures. wm. pickhardt. 
I hope the thermometer in .Virginia does not go 20 
degrees below zero as it sometimes does here for a 
short time, for if so it is practically impossible to pro¬ 
tect outside pipes without going to as much expense 
and work as it would be to lay them in the ground. 
One of the best ways is to wrap them with asbestos 
paper, then make a box covering, filling this with dry 
sawdust or leaves. If pipes be near top of ground a 
good covering of horse manure and this slightly cov¬ 
ered with dirt or anything to keep it from blowing 
away is the quickest and cheapest covering that we 
know. Leaves and dry sawdust are good, but what¬ 
ever you use see that a good job is done, as it only 
wants a small exposed place to make a lot of trouble. 
H. G. MANCHESTER. 
Wrap the pipe with asbestos; enclose it with a larger 
pipe or wood boxing, so that there shall be a dead-air 
space of about one inch between the two. Build around 
this a box of one-inch boards of sufficient size so that 
there shall be about four inches of space. Within this 
space, pack sawdust. This will prevent water from 
freezing in our climate, provided w^ater is kept run¬ 
ning during the severest cold spells. In Virginia it 
ought to prevent freezing even if water is not running. 
If one knew the location of this particular pipe, some 
other plan might be suggested. Pipes near the ground 
can be covered with strawy manure, than which there 
is no better protector from frost. Whether any make¬ 
shift like this could be resorted to, however, would de¬ 
pend upon the location. g. d. 
CULTURE OF WHITE BEANS. 
In the culture of small white beans select a warm, 
dry soil of a strong gravelly nature, although they will 
do quite well on clayey soils if naturally dry or well 
drained. Beans will not do well on land inclined to 
be wet. The immediate application of barnyard manure 
is not as good as to apply the manure to clover or 
other sod and plant corn and follow the next year 
with beans. A field that has been in sheep pasture a 
few years generally does well for beans. In soils of a 
gravelly nature plow early in the Spring and fallow as 
much as possible before planting. On clayey or heavy 
soils it is better to plow in the Fall and work well in 
the Spring. The Spring-fallowing gets the ground in 
fine condition to receive the seed, and also destroys 
innumerable weed seeds. Plant with an ordinary grain 
drill in rows 28 inches apart from June 1 to 15. As 
soon as the plants are large enough to cultivate, which 
ought to be in from 10 to 14 days, go through with a 
riding cultivator, which is better than a walking culti¬ 
vator, as the depth can be more easily regulated. The 
first cultivation should be light, so as to get as close 
to the growing plants as possible without smothering 
them. If the field is not too stony go over two or 
three times with a weeder at intervals of three or four 
days. One or two more cultivations with cultivator 
and hand weeding if necessary is all the attention 
that the crop will need until harvest. It is best not to 
work in beans when the vines are wet, or to cultivate 
after the plants begin to blossom. 
Pea and Medium beans will yield from 20 to 40 
bushels per acre, and the straw, if secured in good 
condition, makes excellent fodder for sheep and cattle. 
The usual rotation where beans are properly cared 
for, and free from weeds, is to sow Winter wheat 
without plow’ing, simply harrowing to a depth of three 
or four inches. I do not think from my experience 
that I can recommend to growers of small white beans 
the use of commercial fertilizer with this crop. 
Genesee Co., N. Y. j. w. burke. 
R. N.-Y.—Some large growers in Orleans and other 
counties say that the use of acid phosphate on beans 
gives remarkable results. 
BROUGHT UP ON THE BOTTLE. Fig. 419. 
and the fall would largely govern. I have often done 
this where pipes were underground, and passed under 
roads. Where deep freezing was possible provide dead- 
air spaces m some way most convenient, and } ou may 
solve the problem. H - E - C00K - 
I can suggest nothing really new. I have entire suc¬ 
cess by wrapping heavily with felt, using the cow-hair 
filling of worn-out collar pads of horses; then boxing 
them. An important point is to keep the packing per¬ 
fectly dry. A leading plumber here uses several thick¬ 
nesses, alternately of felt and paper, then boxing the 
whole. For upright pipes connecting elevated tank§ 
THAT OCTOBER SNOWSTORM 
The October snowstorm and cold snap in the Michigan 
fruit belt did more harm to fruit trees than was at first 
supposed. The extreme cold of the night of October 10— 
10 degrees above zero—was limited to an area of about 
20x40 miles along the east side of Iaike Michigan. But it 
was a freak storm in every respect, and any statement about 
it might be subject to modifications. For instance, an 
apple buyer reports that he found a streak of country near 
Fennville—eight miles back from the lake—practically un¬ 
touched: a strip of about 1x2 miles where the apples on 
the trees were not frozen. But outside of that. I think 
it raav be said without exaggeration that every peach and 
plum tree—with the exception of some American pliims—- 
has been destroved. Cherry, pear and apples trees do not 
' seem to have been hurt. One man, at Bangor. 10 miles 
back, lost all his nursery trees, while his nursery at (.rand 
Rapids—20 odd miles from the lake—escaped. Kalamazoo 
Valiev seems to have acted as a cold-air duct. Kalamazoo 
—40 miles east of lake—is reported to have lost two hun¬ 
dred and fifty thousand dollars’ worth of ce J£LV—abo» f t° n 
thirds of the crop. On my own place the branches on 
peach and plum trees snap off like glass and are dead to 
the heart This applies to old as well as young trees. 
Plums are of the Burbank and Abundance variety, e. b. sj 
