1162 
'THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 17, 
IRRIGATION AND WELL NOTES. 
In Arizona. 
P. H. H., Douglas, Aris .—I have a well 
300 feet deep, 60 feet to water, 240 feet 
of water in well. Well inexhaustible. 
Which would be the best for irrigation, to 
put in a centrifugal pump or one for com¬ 
pressed air? 
Ans. —Before attempting to decide on 
the best type of pump for use in this 
case it is very important to decide, first, 
how much water is desired for irriga¬ 
tion, and second, as nearly as possible, 
at what rate the well can supply water. 
A well may appear inexhaustible for a 
low rate of supply, while, if a centrifugal 
pump were installed, the water in the 
well might quickly be lowered below the 
depth at which suction ceases to operate. 
The best plan is to write to the manu¬ 
facturers of each type of pump, stating 
as definitely as possible the facts which 
indicate the amount of water the well 
can supply per minute or hour, the size 
of the well casing and the amount of 
water desired. This will enable manu¬ 
facturers to give a definite answer. 
F. H. KING. 
In New York State. 
B. F. M., Chatham Center, N. Y.—I 
have about two acres of land adjacent to 
a creek that I wish to arrange for a gar¬ 
den and contemplate putting in some kind 
of irrigation plant. From the creek to 
the highest point of land is about 200 
feet and the elevation nearly 15 feet. 
The land slopes to west and south and has 
hut slight undulations or draws. The soil 
is gravelly loam with gravel subsoil. What 
would be the best means of forcing the 
water to elevation? Would a windmill 
answer the purpose, or would a gasoline 
engine be better? What volume of wate* 
would be required, what horsepower and 
how large pipe? After the water is ele¬ 
vated I have thought it might be con¬ 
ducted along the upper side by means of a 
common house conductor pipe, putting in 
a T at about every rod to let the water 
out by withdrawing a plug. 
Ans.— The first question which should 
be considered and answered right in a 
case of this sort is, “Will the irrigation 
pay a fair interest on the investment?” 
If it is proposed to use the two acres for 
market gardening, making that a'busi¬ 
ness, and if it is the purpose to fertilize 
sufficiently to insure large yields, then 
there is no question but that irrigation, 
properly handled, would pav good re¬ 
turns on the money invested if proper 
business management in selling, hand¬ 
ling and selecting crops were exercised. 
If it is proposed to use the area simply 
as an ordinary farm garden the wisdom 
of investing in an irrigation plant would 
be doubtful. The best outfit for irri¬ 
gation under these conditions would be 
a No. 2 centrifugal pump set up at the 
stream, with a two-inch pipe to carry 
the water to the highest point, the pump 
to be driven by a two or 2^4 horse-power 
gasoline engine. The garden should be 
laid out so that the water may be dis¬ 
charged into a nearly horizontal furrow 
running across the upper end of the 
tract, and the crops planted in rows lead¬ 
ing away from this head furrow in a di¬ 
rection which will give sufficient fall for 
the water. This fall need not be large; 
two to six inches in 100 feet or even less 
will permit the water to be distributed. 
Too great a fall is undesirable on ac¬ 
count of the tendency to wash the soil. 
A flow of 30 gallons of water per minute 
will allow the water to be turned into 
six to a dozen furrows at once. The 
outfit mentioned would probably give 
more than this amount. It should not 
give less. The manufacturers will guar¬ 
antee a specified flow if conditions are 
named. By putting in a two-inch valve 
close to the pump the amount of water 
delivered at the garden, if the quantity 
is too large, can be regulated by partly 
opening the valve, allowing the water to 
flow back into the stream. The pump 
should be set in a pit, if practicable, be¬ 
low the water level, so that it will be al¬ 
ways primed. If this is not practicable 
the end of the suction pipe should be 
provided with a foot-valve which does not 
leak. An ordinary suction pump cylin¬ 
der of the right size makes a good foot- 
valve. Judging from the description of 
the soil and subsoil the drainage of this 
tract is likely to be perfect and, if this 
is true, there is likely to be little danger 
of injury to the crops resulting from a 
heavy rain immediately following a 
heavy irrigation. The loss in such a 
case would be limited chiefly to the cost 
of applying that irrigation. 
F. H. KING. 
POSTAGE STAMP MACHINE.—A cler¬ 
gyman in Trinidad has designed a slot ma¬ 
chine for buying postage stamps. By au¬ 
tomatic action when a proper coin is placed 
in the slot and the handle pulled it sepa¬ 
rates a penny stamp from a roll inside 
the machine and securely fixes it upon 
the envelope held in an aperture of the 
machine. The machine is about the size of 
an ordinary typewriter, and stamps enve¬ 
lopes, newspapers, or circulars at the rate 
of 4,000 an hour with seemingly absolute 
accuracy. The machine will hold 50,000 
stamps, and as used each stamp is automat¬ 
ically registered. The coin to be received 
by this piece of mechanism must be gen¬ 
uine, of perfect size and shape. It is 
claimed that it will return the silver piece 
inserted in the slot by error, but keeps 
without any recompense the fraudulent 
metal disk. It is reported that the ma¬ 
chine is to be placed in every underground 
railway station and at all pillar boxes. 
THE PEOPLE’S DOLLAR.—We hear 
much about the consumer’s dollar, of which 
the producer gets 35 cents. The publ>e 
dollar is often cut up so that the tax pay¬ 
ers get even less than the producer. The 
city of Yarmouth, N. S., seems to be try¬ 
ing to get a larger slice. Consul Young 
says that the city recently called for bid < 
to erect a public fire house: “Two or three 
contractors made bids and all, say the a! 
dermen, were unreasonably high. The coun- 
eilmen discussed the matter and decided to 
go ahead with the building and erect it 
under the direct supervision of the mayor 
and a committee of three councilmen. ahe 
city employs a foreman by the week, and 
all workmen are hired by the day. The 
city also buys all material, and the work 
is progressing in a satisfactory way. This 
is the first time the city authorities ever 
tried to erect a public building, and the 
people are eagerly waiting to see how the 
enterprise works out.” Well they may 
watch it, for if they can cut out the graft 
that is the way to do public business. 
GROWER’S SHARE OF GRAPES.— 
Grapes from the Hudson Valley are sold 
in crates containing eight tills or baskets, 
and weighing, well filled, 20 pounds. This 
season the crop from my farm averaged 
69 1-3 cents per crate, sold on commis¬ 
sion in New Y'ork. Expenses, commission 
.07 cents, freight .04 cents, cartage .04 
cents. Total .15 cents, leaving .54 1-3 
cents, or deducting cost of package 14 
cents, 40 1-3 cents. I am informed by 
friends in the city that grapes sell at 15 
cents per till, or $1.20 per crate retail. 
Marlborough, N. Y. c. h. b. 
Onion Insects.— In regard to a remedy 
for the onion maggot, growers in this sec¬ 
tion never found a practical remedy for this 
pest, though such remedies as sowing sul¬ 
phur in with the seed, sprinkling on wood 
ashes, etc., have been tried with varying 
results. The onion industry was a very 
important one here 20 years ago, but it bids 
fair to die out, very few having been grown 
here the past season, the cause being largely 
the thrips or onion louse. The onion maggot, 
from the nature of his attack on the plant, 
is a hard pest to treat successfully. 
Connecticut. Joseph adams. 
THE HAMILTON RESERVOIR 
ORCHARD 
HEATER 
Positively 
the most 
effective 
heater be¬ 
cause of its 
REGULATED 
FIRE. Many 
other points of superiority — 
Write for our RED BOOK'on orchard 
heating free. Tolls you how best to smudge. 
HAMILTON ORCHARD HEATER CO., Grand Junction, 
Colo. 
OLD 
peaTuts 
DIRECT FROM 
VIRGINIA 
PlANTATIONPEAJUrrCO. 
RICHM0N0.VA 
ONE WHOLE BUSHEL OF 
OLD PLANTA¬ 
TION PEANUTS 
DIRECT FROM VIRGINIA 
PEANUTS will keep in- 
A definitely. Today you 
would like to roast some and 
— . - J eat’em while they arc hot.” 
Tomorrow you could pre¬ 
pare a dish salted.” Then some peanut 
candy. \\ e send a book of recipes telling 
how to make these and seventeen other 
dishes, with the first bag to each party. 
SENT BY EXPRESS It O O /> 
PREPAID FOR .... 9dliOU 
PLANTATION PEANUT CO., Mutual Bldg., Richmond, Va. 
Cold-Proof Wool Outfit 
FOP. MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN 
Gray or white Sweater Coat. Toque to 
match, and Hair Seal Flush Back 
Gloves, regular $3.00 value, sent direct 
from the mill to any address in D. S. 
Prepaid for $2.00. 
Coat alone $1.50, Toque 40 cts.. Gloves 
35 cts. Send measurements — head, 
chest and knuckles. Order todav. 
LOWER KNITTING MILLS CO. 
Box 406 Little Falls, N. Y. 
THE PLANT FOOD PROBLEM SOLVED 
BY USERS OF 
Bradley’s Fertilizers 
The World’s Best By Every Test” 
Sometimes farmers say they cannot afford to use as much 
as 1000 lbs. of fertilizer per acre, yet man}’’ farmers have 
proved that as much or more is very profitable to them. 
How much to use is a problem every one must work out 
for himself. Our most successful customers say they find 
as they have increased from year to year the amount of 
fertilizer used, the easier it has been to pay for it. This is 
the way they express the greater profit derived from using 
1500 to 2000 lbs. per acre instead of a smaller quantity on 
their market crops. 
Many of them use a ton to the acre of Bradley’s High Grade 
Fertilizer and find that it pays in the crop marketed and in the up¬ 
keep or improvement of the land for succeeding crops. You cannot 
tell without experimenting how much fertilizer will pay you best. If 
you have not already solved this problem, begin next season and use 
Bradley’s Fertilizers 
Our local agents have a new descriptive booklet and 
calendar for 1911 for you. If we have no agent near you 
write us today for our agency proposition. Address Depart- 
BRADLEY FERTILIZER WORKS 
OF THE AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL CO. 
92 State St., 
Boston. 
2 Rector St., 
New York. 
P. 0. Drawer 970, 
Buffalo. 
Rose Building, 
Cleveland. 
