1222 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
regions the drier portions of the home-yard. These 
peculiarities are to he learned by observation and 
the study of horticultural publications, particularly 
the better nursery catalogues as advised above. 
An example of a congenially situated shrub is 
seen in Fig. 4f<). This is evidently a specimen of 
Spirtca Van Houttei. and a very creditable one too. 
One can imagine from the fine development of the 
plant a deep rich soil and judicious fertilization as 
well. Such a well-grown shrub is a pleasure to the 
beholder, and adds a value to the farm home that 
cannot be well expressed in dollars and cents. 
Spirrea Van Houttei is one of the best of an ad¬ 
mirable group of flowering shrubs covering a long 
season of bloom, hardy, easily grown and adapted 
from their diverse height and aspect to a great 
variety of situations. There are over 50 ornamental 
species of the genus Spinea and new ones are fre¬ 
quently brought to notice. Many are very beautiful 
but none exceeds the subject of our illustration, 
which appeared as a natural hybrid between two 
Chinese species, presumably S. cantouiensis and 
S. trilobata, in an European nursery a long gen¬ 
eration ago. It is easily propagated, and has been 
widely disseminated, as it is always popular ou ac¬ 
count of its profuse and lovely bloom, graceful habit, 
comfortable growth, and neat aspect at all times. 
One can have many handsome Spiraeas, but S. Van 
Houttei is the really iudisiiensable one of all. v. 
THE NEW POTATO DISEASE. 
As we have stated several times, the new tariff 
law which puts potatoes on the free list will not be 
likely to give much extra competition. A quarantine 
or embargo lias lieen placed upon imports from most 
European countries. This is on account of the new 
wart disease of the potato, which has given great 
trouble on the other side. A description of the dis¬ 
ease will interest our people. The picture at Fig. 
470 shows the way the warts grow upon the tubers. 
It is unlike any other fungous disease which potato 
growers know. The disease gains an entrance at the 
Wart Disease of Potato. Fig. 470. 
eyes of the young sprouts, and there causes a growth 
which is shown in the picture. Generally the growth 
is very noticeable, but it is iiossible for one eye of a 
tuber to be affected by the disease and not show it 
to any extent, yet this might spread the disease 
throughout the field. These warts are first light 
brown in color and quite firm, hut they gradually 
darken until they become almost black, and later 
rot and become soft. The life history of this fungus 
disease is given as follows in a pamphlet issued from 
Scotland. 
The life history may bo roughly divided into two dis¬ 
tinct phases—an active and a resistant nesting stage. It 
is during the latter state that the greatest danger of the 
spread of the disease into new areas occurs. While in 
this stage the spores of the disease are enclosed in hard 
resistant cases known as "sporangia”—a large number 
in each sporangium. Thousands of these sporangia may 
be found in a single diseased tuber. These resting spore- 
cases have a marked vitality and. lying dormant in the 
soil, may retain their power of infecting the potato crop 
for at least six years. They may be' imported into new 
areas either in the “seed” used for planting, in diseased 
refuse from the manure or refuse heaps, or even in 
particles of infected soil ou implements, boots, etc. 
Earlier or later in the growing season, according to 
climatic and soil conditions, many of these sporangia 
germinate, when the outer coats bursts and releases the 
delicate spore’s into the soil. At this point the active 
stage begins. A certain limited movement of the spores 
takes place in the moist soil, and soon some of them 
reach the young unprotected sprouts, there giving rise 
to the fungus which increases and multiplies at the 
expense of the host. The irritation caused by the pres¬ 
ence of the fungus here causes the unaffected cells of 
the sprout to increase, and thus the abnormal warty 
tissue is produced. Repeated reinfection may take 
place, causing variation in size and contour in the 
warty outgrowths. During late Summer and Autumn 
the fungus within the host passes again into the resting 
stage, the spore-cases being formed with their hard re¬ 
sistant coats. If the diseased material is left in the 
ground it soon rots and the sporangia pass into the sur¬ 
rounding soil in increased numbers. The ordinary meth¬ 
ods of tillage only Increase the infected area. Thus the 
infection, at first perhaps slight, goes on increasing from 
year to year until l he whole area becomes polluted with 
the disease and the production of a sound crop is im¬ 
possible. 
Thus far no treatment has been thought out for 
getting rid of this disease and cleaning the soil, 
except by growing other crops than potatoes on it 
for a number of years, and even this may not he 
effective. The disease may be spread on the seed, 
in the manure or in the trash, and it may remain in 
the soil for a good many years. In Scotland ap¬ 
parently the great trouble has come from potatoes 
grown in gardens or small patches, or from potato 
peelings carelessly thrown out upon the ground. 
These seem to have been carried about by 
birds or animals, and in this way the disease is 
spread. It is apparently a far more dangerous dis¬ 
ease than the scab and blights, or rots with which 
our American growers are familiar, and every pre¬ 
caution should he taken in this country to prevent 
Co a crete Bridge Fader Construction" Fig. 471. 
the introduction of diseased tubers. The Government 
states that the American potato crop will he short 
about 100,000,000 bushels as compared with last 
year. Apparently the only foreign countries which 
are qualified to ship us potatoes under the quaran¬ 
tine are France. Belgium and Holland. It is said 
that the steamer Volturno, which was recently 
burned at sea. had on board among other produce a 
very large quantity of potatoes. 
CONCRETE BRIDGES. 
In Highland County, Ohio, there are quite a num¬ 
ber of wooden bridges from 10 to 20 feet long, which 
have been expensive to maintain, and which have 
lately been largely replaced with concrete structures. 
The old bridge which occupied the location shown in 
the pictures. Figs. 471 and 472. gave more than the 
usual trouble and expense, owing to the fact that 
its top was slightly lower than the roadway, collect¬ 
ing water and sediment during showers, and being 
between two woodlots it did not dry out quickly 
when wet. so the sills and flooring did not last long 
Finally the county commissioners let the contract 
for a concrete bridge to replace the old one. The 
work was done under plans and specifications drawn 
by the county surveyor acting as engineer, and the 
excavating and concrete work was done at a con¬ 
tract price of $5 per cubic yard, the contractor to 
furnish the gravel, sand and labor and the county 
to furnish the cement, steel re-inforcing and guard 
railing. Of course the contractors own the tools and 
lumber used for forms. The abutments were not 
removed, but were faced with jacket walls of con¬ 
crete 20 inches wide qt the bottoms and 12 indies 
at top. and extending beyond the ends of the abut¬ 
ments, both making 22Ft cubic yards of concrete. 
The top of the bridge, which is 10 feet wide, IS feet 
long and 14 inches thick, contains 13 cubic yards, 
including the parapet walls supporting the guard 
railings. Fig. 471 shows the concrete and steel 
being put in place when the bridge top was started 
There were quite a number of these steel rods, and 
they cost for tiiis bridge $25. Fig. 472 shows the 
finished bridge. The floor of the bridge is two or 
three inches below the roadway, but as shown, this 
Concrete Bridge Finished. Fig. 472. 
space is .filled with gravel, which will absorb the 
shock of shod horses and steel-tired wagons. 
The concrete required 114 barrel of cement to each 
cubic yard, and the entire bridge required 53 bar¬ 
rels, at a cost of $53. The gravel and sand was used 
just as it came from the creek ready mixed by na¬ 
ture, which obviated some of the labor of mixing. 
The guard railings cost $22 and were made up of 
two-inch iron pipe, hut the pipe is more expensive 
than angle-steel guards, which will likely he used in 
the future. The labor and gravel for this bridge cost 
$176.25; steel rods, $25; railing, $22; cement, $53; 
total, $276.25. The labor and gravel cost $176.25, 
November lb, 
which must be divided among three men and a 
team for about a week's work, though some work 
was done on another bridge nearby during this 
time. The concrete was allowed to season two 
weeks before the bridge was opened to the public, 
and barring accidents it ought to last till bridge;; 
are no longer needed. w. e. d. 
Hillsboro, O. 
A LABOR-SAVING WASH-HOUSE, 
The weekly wash lias been the hard day’s work 
for the wife and daughters on our farm, and some 
times even the head of the house has been invited 
to lend a hand in pumping water and turning the 
washing machine. This latter fact may have set 
me to thinking if there was not some way to make 
this weekly job easier and pleasanter, anil resulted 
in the building of the house 1 am about to describe. 
A foundation floor of cement 10 by 12 feet was laid, 
upon which a frame house with studding eight feet 
high was built. This was neatly sided and painted 
to correspond with the dwelling-house, and about 
20 feet distant from it. A tank holding eight bar 
rels is in one side of house and five feet from the 
floor. This tank is long and narrow, and the wood 
for fuel is placed under it. The house has eavo 
spouts and conductors to carry the water from the 
roof into the tank, thus furnishing sufficient water 
for the washing. A stove in one end of room for 
heating water leaves plenty of room for washing 
machine, tubs, etc. A hose is attached to the tank 
and can supply water to any part of the room by 
gravity. l»eing carried to the stove or machine or 
tubs as desired. The cement floor slopes slightly 
toward one comer of the roofn so that when the 
machine or tub is to be emptied it is allowed to 
go into the floor and into a ditcli about two inches 
deep at one side of room, out through the wall and 
into a tile drain. By thus supplying and disposing 
of the water not a bucket of water need he handled 
in doing an entire washing, thus saving the work 
Ayrshire Cow. Fig, 473. 
of pumping and lifting water. This house is used 
only for washing and butchering work, and is large 
enough for such uses. One great advantage of this 
separate building is that the dwelling-liouse is not 
disarranged on wash-day and butchering day. We 
are preparing to put in a one horse-power gasoline 
engine to run the washer and wringer, and then 
the good wife will have time to read a good maga¬ 
zine or The R. N.-Y. while superintending the work 
that has become a pleasure instead of drudgery. 
The entire cost of this building, which is an orna¬ 
ment to the lawn, was about $100 including tank 
and hose, and we consider it one of the greatest 
labor savers yet installed on our farm. 
Ohio. II. MARKLEY. 
ORIGIN OF THE ELBERTA PEACH. 
In The R. N.-Y. of Oct. 25 occurs this sentence: 
"The Klberta peach is said to have grown from a 
pit thrown out of the kitchen door by a negro cook." 
That is probably not the correct history of the origin 
of this splendid variety. The facts as 1 have learned 
them are these: About tin* year IS’72, Mr. Samuel 
II. Kuniph of Marsliallville. Ga.. planted an orchard 
of six or more acres of seedling peaches. These 
seedlings were grown from pits of improved var¬ 
ieties. There were about 1,000 trees in the orchard 
but the Klberta. which was named after Mr. 
Rumph’s wife, was the only tree in the whole lot 
that was considered worthy of propagation. 
I visited Mr. Rumpli in 1S07. My visit was 
prompted largely by curiosity to see the old original 
tree, for the Klberta was then just coming into 
prominence. I found that Mr. Humph was a nursery 
man and also a large grower of peaches, having 
many acres of peach orchards. 1 was shown eveiy 
courtesy possible, was taken to the seedling orchard 
and shown the old original Klberta tree. It was 
then about 25 years old and practically dead. Many 
of the other seedlings planted at the same time 
