1910. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1135 
A GEORGIA SEEDLING PEAR. 
I am sending you two seedling pears; keep them 
and let them ripen until they turn yellow and get soft 
and eat them, after which I should like to have an 
expression as to their quality and merits. The only 
one I have eaten is extra good, being juicy, sweet, 
spicy and same texture to core. It is a seedling from 
cross of LeConte and Kieffer, and is an accidental 
seedling. Unlike the LeConte, it is firm to core, and 
unlike Kieffer, it is free from woody substance and 
does not, like Kieffer, soften on outside to point of 
decay while hard at the center. It has the appearance 
of a russet apple, but this may be because it grew in 
shade under oak and mulberry tree. I had another 
seedling from accidental cross, which was earlier than 
LeConte and quite attractive outwardly, but was a 
choker to eat, and like LeConte, ripened too rapidly 
at core. The seedling sent ripens a few weeks after 
LeConte, though I still have very many LeContes on 
trees. How large the pears sent would grow under 
proper conditions, I cannot say, but these were grown 
just where seed came on land not broken for 20 years, 
and which had been drawn on for 50 years by oaks 
and other trees. I am getting too old to propagate, 
but I think it too good a thing to be lost. 
Georgia. A. w. smith. 
R. N.-Y.—The fruit received deserves all the praise 
given it by Mr. Smith. The flavor was excellent, its 
superiority in texture to Kieffer being marked, while 
there was more sprightliness of flavor than with the 
LeConte. The russet color was attractive. We hope 
SMITH’S SEEDLING PEAR. Fig. 487. 
this pear will be fully tested, as it would seem to pos¬ 
sess possibilities of marked value. A specimen of the 
pear is shown in Fig. 487. 
DEATH IN THE ELECTRIC WIRE. 
A fatal accident befell a farmer in the truck region 
about 10 miles east of Oakland, California, November 
7; it was one of those accidents that the dweller in 
the country would never think for a moment would 
come his way. The like of it, perhaps, never hap¬ 
pened before. We of California consider ourselves 
fortunate that we are far and safe from the bolts of 
lightning that so often prove dangerous to life and 
property in various parts of the East. And yet by this 
I do not want to convey the impression that we are 
entirely exempt from such visitations, for, sometimes, 
in the mountainous portions of the State, lightning 
has been known to have found its victims. It is very 
rare that such calamities occur. But in the case I 
refer to, a farmer was “struck” dead by “artificial 
lightning”—he never knew what happened him. It 
came about in this way: 
F. J. Vargas was a truck farmer, and lived a con¬ 
tented life with his wife and family. Like all his 
countrymen, he was industrious; his hours of labor 
were nearly always from early morn till dewy eve. 
On the morning mentioned above, he awoke early and 
was about to get up at five o'clock when his wife 
noted a peculiar sound without the house. It was of 
a hissing and crackling nature. She hastened out of 
bed and ran to the window. She noticed that the posts 
and rails of the chicken yard were burning in places. 
Her husband was notified and both proceeded to the 
scene of trouble; the wife with a pail of water and the 
ether empty-handed. Coming near the fence the 
woman hurriedly dashed the water at a burning post—■ 
she fell to the ground in a heap. She soon recovered 
and looking about saw her husband prone upon the 
earth. Believing he had fainted she went to his re¬ 
lief, but she was unable to do anything for him. Aid 
was summoned; it was found that he was dead. The 
woman was mystified. The cause of this frightful 
occurrence was this: Some half a mile away were the 
heavy wires of one of the lines coming from a power 
station of an electric power company hundreds of 
miles away in the mountains. Currents of high volt- 
PLANTING WITH HAND PLANTER. Fig. 488. 
age are brought to Oakland, San Jose, San Francisco 
and all the intermediate towns for light and power 
purposes. It was from one of these lines that a 
branch line extended to a canning plant in Vargas’ 
neighborhood. The wire broke and fell across a line 
of barb-wire fencing. By devious and tortuous courses 
the current found its way to the wire netting of the 
chicken yard on the Vargas premises. Not being up 
in matter electrical the farmer and his wife (and per¬ 
haps almost anyone else would not have realized any 
sooner the cause of the fire), did not know that there 
was hidden danger in the fire that seemed to threaten 
all their buildings. When the wife threw the water at 
the post and received an electric shock through the 
column of water, as it came in contact with the wire, 
the husband, it is believed, grabbed the wire to pull 
it from the frame woodwork. The current passed 
through his body, killing him instantly. No one saw 
him or how lie acted at the time he met his death. 
It is known, however, that his hands were burned by 
the wire. The wonder is that the woman was not 
killed too. 
From this it seems that no farmer, or anyone else 
tor that matter, is safe from personal or property in¬ 
A ROW AS DUG. Fig. 489. 
jury by one of those electric currents. Everyone 
having wire fencing about his premises, whether near 
or far from an electric light wire or worse, a high 
tension power service, should take some means to 
break joints in the fencing by establishing, as it were, 
an insulated gap. This could be done in several ways; 
perhaps turnstiles would be about the cheapest, or a 
few posts set a foot or so apart for the distance of 
several feet. Except in possibly wet weather, there 
would be little danger of the current finding its way 
to the wire on the other side of this gap. Even if it 
did, I believe it would be of low tension, as the earth 
should surely have conducted the current to places 
more “congenial” to its liking. Glass insulators might 
be used, but these would probably only become targets 
for the boy with the handy rock or even a rifle. 
California. w. A. pryal. 
A NEW FERTILIZER: VETCH. 
The most successful soil restorer evei tested in this 
section is Hairy or Sand vetch. In 1905 a worn-out 
farm of 160 acres was puehased by the president of 
our canning company for the purpose of growing early 
products, such as peas, sweet corn and tomatoes for 
the cannery. The soil is mainly sand, some portions 
having clay mixed and others some black soils, but all 
so-badly reduced in productive powers as to merit the 
name “Starvation Farm.” His idea was to plant such 
crops as would come off before hot, dry weather came 
on. The crop of 1906 proved a failure so far as the sandy 
land was concerned. The owner, hearing of Sand 
vetch and its renewing power, and having a “sandy 
farm,” took courage and invested in two bushels of 
vetch seed, which was sown in August on two acres of 
his very poorest sand land. In June, 1907, this was 
cut for hay, and so well impressed was he that he 
sowed in August, 1907, 25 acres, designing 21 acres 
A PLANT OF HAIRY VETCH. Fig. 490. 
for corn and four for pasture. The mass of vetch on 
the ground in the Spring of 1906 was so thick that the 
plowing under was very slow, and the corn was not 
planted till in June. The season following was very 
dry, six weeks without rain, but this 21 acres averaged 
72 bushels per acre, whereas for 20 years previous the 
average yield had not been 20 bushels per acre. 
In August, 1908, he sowed 30 acres in vetch, intend¬ 
ing 12 acres for sweet corn, 10 for field corn and eight 
for potatoes. The yield of these crops in 1909 were 
4 Yz tons sweet corn per acre, 90 bushels field corn, 
and the eight acres in potatoes yielded 2,000 bushels, 
an average of 250 bushels per acre. On 12-5 acres 
of this potato patch the yield was 450 bushels. On 
another farm owned by the same persons, 50 acres 
gravelly land was sown in vetch in 1909. This tract 
had been farmed for 60 years with no cessation, and 
was in poor condition. In 1909 the whole tract was 
turned under, 40 acres planted in corn and 10 acres 
sown in Alfalfa. They had never been able previous to 
this to get either clover or Alfalfa to grow, but this 10 
acres made one of the very finest Alfalfa fields, and 
the 40 acres of corn doubled the yield. Both farms 
are now largely sown in vetch, and further tests will 
be made. I believe vetch will become one of the very 
best restorers of our worn soils. I would advise a 
general trial at least in a small way. j. H. haynes. 
Indiana: 
The American Standard of Perfection divides fowls 
into some 38 breeds and 104 varieties. From time to 
time the “standard” type changes as the noiuts wnicn 
go with utility become more marked. A true hen man 
can take any breed or variety and develop it into the 
“Business Hen.”’ 
When a farmer starts to sue a seedsman or nursery¬ 
man for selling impure seeds or trees not true to name 
he must be prepared to prove that the damage was really 
caused by the particular seed, or that the trees were the 
identical ones originally sold. The defendant in such 
a case will try to show tHat the farmer cannot be sure 
of the goods. 
