1912. 
THE RURAL NEW'YORKER 
my friends an asparagus and strawberry bed worth 
seeing. The' force pump will also serve to pump water 
through another line of pipe to the upper garden, 
which is too high for the siphon. A third well is 
now planned, in a place that is a pond all Winter, to 
be siphoned to irrigate a lower-lying field where Al¬ 
falfa grows and other things will. Any siphon will 
WATER SUPPLY, DRAINAGE AND IRRIGA¬ 
TION ON THE FARM. 
LOCATING WATER.—“Everybody looking for a 
country place wants it on top of a hill with a nice 
stream of water running before the door. So far as 
I know you are the only one who has got it,” said the 
real estate agent. How I got it may be profitable to 
tell, for it seems strange that the method is not a 
common one. My. farm lies on a hillside, the house 
and barn some distance below the summit. When I 
bought it the water supply came from a well with a 
bucket and windlass in the Summer kitchen. Ambi¬ 
tion aspired to running water in the house and barn, 
but it did look like an impossibility. However, in 
prospecting around the hill above the house, where 
we made our garden, a shallow basin-like formation 
was noticed, covering about a quarter of an acre, 
bounded on two sides by out-cropping ledges, while 
on the other sides the hill sloped down toward the 
basin. I thought that if it should chance that be¬ 
neath the surface the ledge rock really formed a basin 
it would be a natural place of water storage. Looking 
at it in very early Spring after a rain the water was 
found to stand an inch or two deep at about the cen¬ 
ter of the basin. This spot was marked, and when 
the ground was settled a drive-well point was sunk, 
and, sure enough, water found at five feet. A little 
sighting showed that the level of the surface of the 
ground carried just over the chimney of the house. 
In late Summer a well was dug, and no rock found 
until a depth of 12 feet was reached. Then three feet 
of rock was blasted out, when the inflow of water was 
so rapid that further work was stopped. 
A SIPHON.—A one and one-half inch pipe was 
carried from the bottom of the well to within three 
feet of the surface of the ground, and then through 
a trench down to the house. A pump and valves were 
arranged as shown in the sketch. When the pipe was 
filled it formed a siphon. To test the water supply, 
and to be enabled to dig the well deeper if necessary, 
the water, was allowed- to run all day and night, but 
without lowering the water-level.- What followed can break in time from the gradual separation of the air 
be guessed; nice bathroom with all fixtures, hot-water held in solution in the water, but it takes so long 
boiler, sink and laundry tubs in the kitchen, hydrant that it is not of practical importance. The great thing 
and troughs in the-barn and a big- feeling of pride in is to have all joints and valves absolutely airtight, 
the-head: SEWAGE DISPOSAL.—Now, having an abundant 
Ibis is the fourth year that the system has been water supply the problem of sewage disposal had to 
in use, and there,has never been a water shortage, be solved. As immediate, but temporary, expedients 
A PENNSYLVANIA FLOWER GIRL. Fig. 460. 
This Summer the well was accidentally fouled, and 
in order to clean it- we had to run off the water for 
two days and nights and then set two men to bailing 
also to get the water down to nine inches. At times 
we had trouble -from the breaking of the siphon ac¬ 
tion. The smallest leak in the valves would stop the 
flow. When they were perfectly tight there would 
be no break for several months,-but the suction was 
so strong and constant that the slightest leak made 
trouble at once. This was very inconvenient, espe¬ 
cially when ;it happened at night or in freezing 
weather, when the frost protection had to be removed 
to get at the valves and the pipe 
filled by pumping. The first rem¬ 
edy tried was a foot-valve at the 
bottom of the pipe in the well. 
This did away with suction when 
the water was not being drawn. 
Then gate .valves were substituted 
for ordinary stopcocks, but after 
awhile these began to leak, too. 
Finally the problem was solved. 
By* means of a force pump in the 
kitchen the well under the kitch¬ 
en was connected to the supply 
pipe in the house. It is now pos¬ 
sible for anyone at any time to 
refill the siphon by pumping in the 
kitchen, first opening a small valve 
near the upper well to give vent 
to the air. This makes it possi¬ 
ble to do away with all valves at 
the siphon except the small one 
for air vent, and this can be made 
automatic .with a , signal, visible 
from the house, to show when 
the siphon is full. - I here will be no more freezing 
day or night trips to ..pump up the water 
an ordinary leaching cesspool for the bathroom, and 
a hole filled with stones and covered with earth for 
the kitchen sink were made.- Both were very unsat¬ 
isfactory. Not only was there the steady waste of 
water and plant food, but both these reservoirs would 
overflow from time to time, and have to be cleaned 
out, which was a nasty job. The consciousness of the 
existence of these festering pits so near the-house was 
very unpleasant. A permanent system has finally been 
completed and works to perfection. A concrete, 
water-tight tank, 6x6x4 feet, was built, one foot below 
the surface of the ground, and divided through the 
THE DUCK BUSINESS ON A PENNSYLVANIA FARM. Fig. 461. 
middle by a watertight concrete partition. The 
TTQTMr Tur dttaid "a * wastes'from bathroom and kitchen flow into one of 
" * TUMP. Moreover, the force pump these compartments, which acts as a sediment tank 
m the.kitchen makes it possible to use the well under The fluid contents of this tank flow steadily into the 
tie kitchen independently of the other water supply other tank through a pipe opening halfway down the 
in case of its failure from any cause. Also the force dividing wall into the sediment tank, and near the 
pump can be used to increase the pressure in the pipes, top of the wall in the other tank, so that the level of 
so as to throw a stream over the house or barn in the contents of the sediment tank remains constant 
case of fire. Not only this, but by means of valves and the solid parts that , sink, or float on top, a f e not 
an a by-pass, a second siphon leading from the disturbed and undergo gradual disintegration and so¬ 
il, 11 well to the garden below the house can be lution. The contents of the second tank are always 
i e and the .garden irrigated. This has not been fluid. It was intended to empty this tank by an auto- 
tested foi endurance, but if this well has the capacity matic flushing siphon, but this proved to be such a 
o t e other I shall be able next Summer to show difficult and expensive thing to get or to make that we 
1116 
contented ourselves with a homemade plug and rod 
to close the outlet of the tank at the bottom. By 
means of a gate, made by the blacksmith, and placed 
in the discharge pipe about 10 feet from the tank, the 
flow may be directed either into the young orchard 
with its intercrops, or into the corn and potatoes, 
where our wonderful asparagus and strawberries are 
going to be. By means of little channels, made with a 
hoe, the discharge may be sent between different rows 
or to different hills. When the plug is pulled and 
those 54 cubic feet of fluid dash down the main chan¬ 
nels and slowly find their way through the subsidiaries 
to the thirsty roots, the gardeners heart dances with 
joy at thinking how he has turned his wastes into 
precious savings. 
Not every farm is situated like mine, but almost 
anyone can have a well and a little pumping engine 
for water supply and irrigation. Crops are two to 
four times as great with irrigation. And yet they 
are often permitted to wilt and wither, with an under¬ 
ground ocean but a few feet away or a stream of 
living water flowing forever by. 
W. c. DEMING, M. D. 
SOIL FOR A GARDEN. 
I want a sort of concise table showing what elements 
ground needs to be in first-class vegetable-raising condi¬ 
tion ; which elements produce the stalk and leaves and 
which produce the vegetable; the manures that are best 
to produce these elements. That is, what vegetables will 
hen, horse, cow or hog manure cause to grow best, and 
how should these be worked in, etc. ? l. c. m, 
Ishpeming, Mich. 
1 here is a little book by Frank Sempers, entitled 
“Fertilizers and Manures,” which will probably give 
you the information you want, although it is not 
complete. The price is 40 cents, and our people can 
supply it, if need be. In a general way, land in 
order to make a garden must be well drained, so that 
water will not remain upon it; it must not be sour 
as low land frequently is. It must contain a large 
proportion of vegetable or organic matter to decay 
within it, and it must also be supplied with an abun¬ 
dance of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash and lime. 
Each one of these elements mentioned has a definite 
function in plant life. The nitrogen promotes growth. 
It is the element mostly responsible for a rapid green 
growth of stalk, and leaf. The phosphoric acid is 
the element which has most to do with the forma¬ 
tion of seed, the strength and the development of 
the stem, or what would correspond with the bones 
in the body of an animal. The function of the potash 
is not so much to build up the body of the plant as 
to promote ripening, increase the production of starch, 
and in a general way act as a life or health giver 
to the structure. These are three distinct elements, 
and no one can properly do the work of another. 
They must all be present. Perhaps the most com¬ 
mon mistake made in fertilizing a garden is to use 
manures alone. All forms of manure contain too large 
a proportion of nitrogen to the other elements; ma¬ 
nures of hens and sheep being 
worst in this respect. The result 
is that when the garden is fertil¬ 
ized with manure alone in large 
quantities, you are most likely to 
have a very rapid and rank growth 
of stem and leaf, not in the best 
of health, but inclined to be tender 
and feeble. This, of course, is 
much better for such crops as 
celery, cabbage, or similar things 
which are largely leaf and stem, 
but not so good for those which 
develop seed like peas or beans, 
or which develop roots and tubers 
like beets or potatoes. The rem¬ 
edy is not to use more stable ma¬ 
nure, but rather to use something 
in connection with this manure 
that will reinforce it and supply 
what the manure lacks. Farmers 
use to serve this purpose a chemi¬ 
cal fertilizer; either ground bone 
and sulphate of potash, or acid 
phosphate in the place of the ground bone. In other 
places where wood ashes can be obtained, this will 
make an ideal substitute or addition to the manure. 
If your land is well drained, therefore, and not sour, 
you can plow under a good coat of- manure,- then 
spread wood ashes freely on top and have that raked 
or harrowed in, and you will then have an excellent 
preparation for any garden crop. 
Australia still has a pest of rabbits. Eight to 10 
rabbits eat as much pasture as one sheep. While 
10,388,716 pounds of rabbit and hare skins were exported 
last year from New South Wales alone, the pest is still 
increasing. The government helps by selling wire fence 
at cost. 
