2911. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
291 
that New Jersey was noted for 
i its market gardening. Its one 
* drawback is want of sufficient 
rainfall. Dr. Fortier, Chief of 
the Bureau of' Irrigation at 
Washington, has tabulated the 
rainfall and found that in 13 out 
of 17 years the rainfall has not 
been sufficient in New Jersey to 
provide the crops with the re¬ 
quisite water. Inasmuch as the 
whole State of New Jersey has 
| a flow of water under it, as 
soon as irrigation is practiced 
more broadly it will increase to 
) a very great degree the possi¬ 
bilities of the State. 
The vast sums that have been 
expended on irrigation in the 
West have been mostly along 
engineering lines for the purpose 
of bringing the water to the land, 
and very little effort has been 
made in the direction of the 
correct application of the water 
to the crops. The Skinner peo¬ 
ple have developed a system 
which secures absolute unifor¬ 
mity of water distribution, elim¬ 
inates labor and enables Mr. 
Seabrook to secure the maxi¬ 
mum returns with a minimum of 
expense. Mr. Seabrook has a 
tank near his barn which con¬ 
tains 5,000 gallons of water; it 
is 50 feet high. A four horse¬ 
power engine is used which 
pumps at the rate of 100 gallons 
a minute. The past season Mr. 
Seabrook had installed on one 
side of his farm an eight horse¬ 
power engine which runs a 
duplex pump with from 90 to 
100 pounds pressure. The water 
is ditched from a nearby stream. 
The main pipe, three inches in 
diameter, runs through the mid¬ 
dle of the farm and feeds both 
ways. The overhead method of 
water distribution possesses ad¬ 
vantages not obtainable from 
any other method. The over¬ 
head pipes are V/z inch in¬ 
side diameter, the holes in the 
pipes one yard apart. The pipes 
are eight feet high and thus do 
not interfere with horse cultiva¬ 
tion. The rows of pipes are 50 
feet apart and the water reaches 
25 feet each side. This gives a 
uniform rainfall, and if none 
comes from the clouds this sys¬ 
tem is turned on every third 
day. A slight twist of the wrist 
turns the lever, and one man 
makes the gentle rain to fall. 
There is also a device for spray¬ 
ing the crops with fungicides, 
insecticides and commercial fer¬ 
tilizer, and in some sections of 
the South a heater is used for 
raising the temperature of the 
water, adding to the element of 
frost protection. 
CORA J. SHEPPARD. 
TRACTION SPRAYER 
Several people ask why the 
manufacturers do not put on the 
market a gasoline spray machine 
with power strong enough to 
work the pump and also propel 
the machine like a motor car. 
The following statement by one 
well-known maker will answer 
for all: 
‘‘It can, of course, be worked 
out, but you must keep in mind 
the fact that the cost would 
make it almost prohibitive. You 
would not think of planning for 
a commercial truck self-propell¬ 
ing wth a horsepower less than 
25 or 30, would you? What, 
then, would be the estimated 
cost of the commercial truck? 
Probably not less than $1,500 or 
$1,600, and to this price must be 
added the cost of the spraying 
ONIONS UNDER SKINNER IRRIGATION SYSTEM. Fig, TO. 
OVERHEAD IRRIGATION OF CELERY. Fig. SO. 
MR. SEABROOK’S RESIDENCE. Fig. 81. 
equipment and the tank. Do you 
believe that any farmer would 
be willing to pay it? Have you 
ever heard of a commercial 
truck, self-propelling, w h i c h 
would carry a load of two or 
three tons, that could be bought 
for less than $1,200 or $1,600? 
It seems to the writer that the 
price makes this sort of an ap¬ 
paratus out of the question. It 
can, of course, be worked out 
mechanically.” 
CONCENTRATED LIME- 
SULPHUR. 
Many requests come for in¬ 
formation about making concen¬ 
trated lime-sulphur at home. 
Last year Prof. J. P. Stewart, of 
the Pennsylvania College, gave 
detailed instruction. We repeat 
the essential facts here : 
The utensils needed are a 
cooker, measuring stick, strainer 
and hydrometer. Their total cost 
need not exceed $15. The cooker 
may be of either iron or wood, 
and use either bottom heat or 
steam. If steam is used it is 
preferable for accurate work 
that it be in closed coils, rather 
than live steam, at least in the 
latter stages of the process. This 
is merely because it is desirable 
that the final volume be under 
control and be decreasing rather 
than increasing. Steam-jacketed 
kettles with mechanical agitators 
are available, and they work very 
nicely, indeed. But where stor¬ 
age is not considered and lower 
densities are permissible, there 
is no objection to making the 
material with the use of live 
steam throughout. 
In making 50 gallons of con¬ 
centrate the procedure follows: 
Materials—Fifty pounds best 
stone lime (not over 10 per cent 
impurities), 100 pounds sulphur 
(kind stated above) ; 50-55 gal¬ 
lons of total product at finish. 
Put 10 gallons of water in kettle 
and start fire. Place lime in 
kettle. After slaking is well 
started, add the dry sulphur and 
mix thoroughly, adding enough 
water to maintain a thin paste, 
which requires about five gal¬ 
lons. After the slaking and mix¬ 
ing are completed, add water to 
the height of 50 gallons on the 
measuring stick and Fring to 
boil and stir until the sulphury 
scum practically disappears. Then 
add water (preferably, but not 
necessarily, hot) to the 60-gallon 
height and boil again to 50 gal¬ 
lons, if storage space is limited. 
If it is not limited, a little more 
water may be added the third 
time, and boiling stopped at 
about 55 gallons. The material 
should be kept well stirred, es¬ 
pecially during the early stages 
of the process, and any lumps of 
sulphur or lime should be thor¬ 
oughly broken up. The boiling 
usually requires 40 to 60 min¬ 
utes. The liquid is strained into 
a barrel or tank and kept away 
from the air. When used it is 
diluted by mixing with water. 
REMOVING TREES WITH 
DYNAMITE.—In clearing land 
I have used dynamite under 
some apple trees 1C inches in 
diameter with good results. 
Three sticks of the explosive 
lifted some of them (whole 
trees) out of the ground bodily, 
an expense of 40 cents, about, so 
applied accomplishing as much 
as two men could effect in sev¬ 
eral hours of hard work, or, 
more likely, half a day. c. L. 
Manhasset, L. I. 
