1232 
■Che RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Garden and Farm Notes 
Renting a Peach Orchard 
A man owning a young peach orchard 
of about 20 acres has offered to lease it to 
myself and another young man for a term 
of years. The orchard is not yet bearing, 
is three years old and in good condition. 
We would be expected to do all tbe work 
and furnish everything. What do you 
think would be a fair proposition? 
Ohio. T. B. s. 
There are two general ways of land 
leasing, cash and share. AYith the cash 
lease those who do the work assume all 
the risk, while under the share plan the 
risk is divided. The cash method is best 
for the land-owner in that whether the 
operator takes care of the crop or not he 
is sure of his payment for the use of the 
laud. On the other hand, if the renter 
is to assume all the risk the rent must be 
low enough to pay him for this risk, and 
the land-owner should receive less for 
the use of his land than as though he 
shared the risk. 
There is no staple crop, it seems to me, 
in which the element of ri.sk is so high as 
peach growing and in some ways there is 
no place where the future of a young 
01‘chard, especially on land never before 
u.sed for peaches, is so uncertain as in 
Ottawa County, Ohio, where a few feet 
difference in elevation, a slight difference 
in soil, means success or failure. For 
this reason it seems to me the share 
method is best adapted to this particular 
case that the risk may be borne by both 
parties. As to proper division of profits, 
this will have to be worked out by those 
vitally interested. I know of apple 
orchard leases in which the owner pur¬ 
chased half of the fertilizer and burned 
the brush, the lessee doing all the other 
work up to and including the picking of 
the fruit. The renter paid two-thirds of 
the i)acking, package and marketing ex¬ 
penses and received two-thirds of the 
receipts. 
It seems to me the best way would he 
to get a copy of Bulletin 11.3 from the 
Delaware Experiment Station, Newark, 
Delaware, “A Financial Statement of 
the Experiment Station Peach Orchard.” 
Of course to fit modern conditions the 
figures would have to be changed to meet 
the increased cost of labor. From this 
and from local data as to yields and prices 
the costs iuid income for a series of years 
can be predicted and an equitable divi¬ 
sion be made. P. T. 
Construction of Small Greenhouse 
I am expecting to build a small green¬ 
house, 12x24 feet. Can you tell me the 
best size of glass to use; also, the length 
of rafter for a gable roof so as to get the 
best “pitch” for the sun’s rays? Is sin¬ 
gle or double strength glass used on the 
roof? How high should the windows be 
between the top of the cement foundation 
wall and the eaves of the roof? In 
using a coal stove for heating, .should it 
be placed at the entrance end or the op¬ 
posite end of the building? j. n. 
Hannibal, N. Y. 
The .size glass to use depends upon 
the price one wishes to pay for it; lGx24 
inches is the heading .size in use by com¬ 
mercial grower.s at present, the bars being 
spaced 16 inches apart. Many houses are 
glazed with l()xl5-ineh glass, which is 
satisfactory and less expensive. Double 
strength is universally used on the roof; 
single strength can be used on the sides 
and ends. 
Cut the bars eight feet long, which will 
give sufficient pitch if house is 12 feet 6 
inches wide. Ventilating sash must be 
placed at ridge. Any narrow .sash will 
do which may be hinged to the ridge. 
If benches .30 inches high are desired, the 
concrete may extend .si.x to 12 inches 
above the bench, and 16 inches to 24 
inches of glass, or a sash of equal width 
placed between top of concrete and the 
eaves. If benches are not used, the con¬ 
crete wall should not be more than 15 
inches high, and sufficient glass used in 
the sides to elevate the eaves as high as 
desired. The stove would give best re¬ 
sults when placed in the center of the 
house. Surround it with sheet iron to 
cause a circulation of air, extending .same 
from near the ground to somewhat above 
the top and allowing plenty of space be¬ 
tween the stove and the shield for a good 
volume of air to pass through. 
Lancaster Co., Pa. elmer j. weaver. 
Seed Potatoes from Potato Balls 
I thought I would experiment a lit¬ 
tle this year, and see if I could get some 
wonderful new varieties of potatoes to 
plant next fpring. So I sent for a 
package of potato-ball seed, and sowed 
early in the hou.se. I think every seed 
must have sprouted, and I had a long 
row of little i)]ants to .set out in the 
garden when time to plant potatoes. 
Most of tbe little .sc<‘dlings grew well, 
and I could hardly wait for the time to 
come to dig them ! When I did, I found 
the results varied wonderfully. Some 
plants had no potatoes at all, .some sur¬ 
prised me with “whoppers!” One man 
wrote to a farm paper and told of his 
crop about the size of chestnuts, so when 
I found some as large as eggs I smiled! 
Here are the figures: Nine big ones; .30 
size of a bantam’s egg; 22 size of wal¬ 
nuts; half a pint of small ones. The 
largest, laid on a rule, measured 11^x214 
inches. All very fair and smooth- 
skinned. MRS. A. S. A. 
3Iiddlctown, Conn. 
The Grape-seed Chalcis 
I have been growing some grape seeds 
and raising seedlings in an effort to 
improve our native grapes. I was sur¬ 
prised to find a few days ago nearly 
90 per cent of the seeds are worthless, 
as they contain a mlnure maggot or 
worm about one-eighth inch long. These 
poor seeds float in water, while the 
good seed sinks to the bottom. So far 
as I know this is a new pe.st. I sup¬ 
pose, like the bean weevil, an egg must 
have been laid in the grape blossom to 
produce the worm inside the seed. Can 
you explain the matter and give the 
l)est metliod of removing or preventing 
this pe.st? E. A. A. 
West Medway, Mass. 
The seeds above referred to are in¬ 
fested with the Crape-.seed Chalcis, for 
which there is no known remedy that can 
be economically applied to commercial 
vineyards. It may be possible to pro¬ 
tect the clusters that have been hybri¬ 
dized or crossed through care in fasten¬ 
ing the paper sacks so that they will be 
so tight that insects cannot gain entrance 
to the enclosed cluster. Further, the 
fluster should be kept covered till it is 
harvested, F. E. geadwin. 
Legal Questions 
Breach of Contract 
I .came here to work as a farm hand 
until the trucking season opened. While 
here I spoke of the possibilities in the 
trucking business, and interested the 
owner to the extent of this person mak¬ 
ing this agreement. I was to fit up 
an eight-acre truck patch, plant and 
take care of same for 15% of the mar¬ 
ket price, do half the choj'es for my board. 
The owner was to put a farmer on the 
place to do the farming and half the 
chores. I fitted up the patch, planted and 
took care of same up until a month ago, 
when the man left; since then the own¬ 
er has not allowed me to take care of 
the patch, but has kept me busily en¬ 
gaged in farming. Fall grass and weeds 
have knocked out three-quariers of my 
crop, and I would like to know if there 
is any reason why I cannot get dam¬ 
age for the three-quarters of truck lost in 
this transaction. She could have obtained 
help if .she tried, but she didn’t. R. ir. 
We print this as a fair sample of the 
hundreds of such problems which come 
up to us. In this case the employer is 
a woman. We know nothing about the 
controversy except the statement here 
made. Apparently there was no written 
agreement or contract, so that neither 
party could say just what was agreed to. 
This trouble comes up in practically 
every controver.sy of this sort, and we 
print this in order to make the fact 
clear. People will go into a partnership 
or business involving considerable cap¬ 
ital and much labor, without any clear 
understanding as to what they are going 
to do. One party will say, “ijet us do 
so and so”; the other party says, “All 
right,” and they proceed to spend their 
money and put their time into the work. 
After a few weeks or months one party 
or the other becomes dissatisfied and 
thinks things ax’e not going as they 
should. He begins to find fault, and then 
they find neither one- has any definite 
idea of responsibility in the matter. 
They get into trouble, and as there is 
no written agreement both remain dis¬ 
satisfied. One man or party loses his 
labor, the other loses time, and what 
was probably a friendship before turns 
into bad feeling. 
In the present case there is no pos¬ 
sible way for us to tell what is right in 
this matter, and we always take the 
position that a stranger has no business 
to give a decision of this sort without 
knowing all the particulars and the per¬ 
sonalities as well. 3'he foundation ixoint 
of tbe whole business is never to go 
into a proposition involving expenses 
and labor without a definite and clear 
uuder.standlng of the conditions in writ¬ 
ing. 
Soldiers and Tax Exemption 
Am I exempt from dog tax and per¬ 
sonal taxes due to being a discharged 
soldier from the volunteer army, Span- 
i.sh-American War? I understand from 
a lawyer here that I could receive a 
rebate or reduction on dog tax due to 
above fact, as I am a breeder of Airedale 
dogs. I am anxious to know, due to the 
Wicks dog law just in effect. ii. B. T. 
Fair port, N. Y, 
If you are a breeder of purebred 
Airedale or other dogs you may present 
to the town or city clerk with your ap¬ 
plication for a special kennel license a 
registry certificate of the registry as¬ 
sociation under which your dogs are reg¬ 
istered, and you may then obtain a spe¬ 
cial kennel license, for which the fee is 
twenty dollars, irrespective of the num¬ 
ber of dogs kept. If not more than 10 
dogs are kept, the regular license fee 
of two dollars a head is chargeable. 
There is an addit'onal charge of 2,5 
cents for each metal tag to be fastened 
to each dog’s collar. You are not ex¬ 
empt from paying this tax because you 
are a veteran of the Spanish-Amorican 
War, nor from paying personal taxes. 
Distress of Wife’s Property for Rent 
I have a tenant on my chicken farm; 
he has not paid rent for three months 
and all the household goods belong to his 
wife as he claims. If I had the I'ight to 
get hold of his wife’s belongings, I would 
sue him for the rent without dispossess¬ 
ing him or voiding the lease, as he is able 
to pay. What is the law in New .Ter.sey 
on that'point? How can his wife prove 
her ownership legally? R. A. M. 
New Jer-sey. 
A wife may own personal property 
which shall not be liable for her hus¬ 
band’s debt. The statute in your State 
expressly limits the rights of distress to 
the goods and chattels of the tenant and 
no other person. After she tells you it is 
her property you run the risk if you seize 
it. She doesn’t have to prove .she is the 
owner any more than any man has to 
prove his title to personal property when 
he tells you he owns it. The burden is 
on you to disprove it. The presumption 
is she is telling the truth. 
Electric Light and Telephone Poles on 
Highway 
Will you advise me whether an elec¬ 
tric light company can erect poles in 
front of my property Avlthout my con¬ 
sent? Even if they have the right, can 
the telephone company string their wires 
on such poles without my permission? 
New York. F. j, G, 
The electric light company may string 
their wires along the highway in front of 
your premises, if the company is light¬ 
ing the highway by authority of the 
town or village, for it has been legally 
held that the poles and wires in such a 
case did not constitute an additional 
burden for Avhich the adjoining owner 
along the road was entitled to compen¬ 
sation. But where no light is given and 
the i)oles and wires are used merely for 
transporting’ the electricity, they may 
not put them up without your authority 
and without payment to you unle.ss they 
first condemn the property for their 
purpose; if they have erected the poles 
and wires you may recover for the dam- 
go done. The telephone company bas 
not the right until they first get your 
consent or condemn your property and 
pay you for the privilege. 
Line Fences 
I have a piece of pasture land and my 
neighbor has a wood lot by it. The fence 
is no longer of use, being old. My 
neighbor insists that I fence my strip 
in; will not build half or any. In the 
next field we grow cultivated crops and 
these he is willing to fence half, this 
leaving two-thirds of the whole line for 
me to build and repair. He argues that 
as he makes no use of the wood lot he 
has no call to fence in, and I must 
fence my cattle off his property, Is this 
October 27, 1917 
the law of Pennsylvania? La.st Winter 
I asked the advice of a lawyer, and he 
gave me the law on the matter at a 
charge of ,$5. Not satisfied that he was 
correct I crossed the street and asked 
another attorney, and he gave me advice 
contradicting the first attorney at a 
charge of .$5. Bound to get to the bot¬ 
tom of the matter, I went down the 
street to another lawyer, and told him 
my price for advice I needed was .$2 and 
I got more for my money than at $5. 
Going home and thinking the matter 
over I decided that there was no law 
in the matter, but it was only what the 
other man was smart enough to do and 
get away with. g. b. p. 
Penn.sylvania. 
It is no wonder you do not go to an 
attorney with this line fence trouble 
after the difiiculties you have had with 
them. We have not the laws of Penn¬ 
sylvania available, but these line fence 
difficulties must be taken up and ad¬ 
justed by the fence viewers of the town. 
Find out who they ’are, and talk the 
matter over with them. Then if your 
neighbor will not build and maintain his 
share make a complaint against him to 
them. The general rule is that each party 
must build and maintain an equal por¬ 
tion of the line fence and where any 
question arises it is taken up with the 
fence viewers, and they look the matter 
over, have a hearing and adjust it. Pos¬ 
sibly by writing to the Secretary of 
State of your State you may be able to 
get a copy of the line fence law free. If 
you can it will give you just the infor¬ 
mation you desire and how to proceed. 
THE MAILBAG 
Needle for Sewing Sacks 
There are a great many people rais¬ 
ing potatoes for the first time this year 
and when they get them sacked up, 
and .start to sew up the sacks, they will 
find they have no needle suitable. So 
I will tell them how to make one, as 
I used to, for lacing my bicycle tires. 
Straighten out a sardine can key. cut 
it off the right length, file the end op¬ 
posite the eye, to a point, bend it into 
the proper ctirve and there you are. 
Now go to the rubbish pile and get 
(another Ikey, straighten it* * make a 
blunt point on the end opposite the eye 
and give it to your wife, to run the 
ribbon in_ the baby’s dress and the tape 
or string in the sash curtains. M. L. p. 
• Destroying Quack Grass 
I have a number of times .seen inquiries 
how be.st to combat quack grass, and all 
the replies have recommended ceaseless 
labor which, though it does the job, no 
farmer has time for. I have tried the 
following in Central New York, and 
know it to be a complete success. Plow 
in the Fall as late as possible and let 
lie in furrows through Winter. Disk 
once or twice as the ground turns gi’een 
in the Spring and then plow latter part 
of May. I know from experience on 
toughest possible sod that it is an ab¬ 
solute cure and no more quack will be 
seen, especially if corn or potatoes are 
j)lanted and w’ell cultivated with horses, 
no hoeing needed. B. S. 
Akron, O. 
Need of Small Tractors 
The account of the tractor demonstra¬ 
tion is very intere.sting, but the trouble 
with these machines is '"hat they are built 
for the larger places. Now, there are 
many medium-sized farms having work 
for four horses part of tne year, but only 
work enough to pay to keep two the year 
’round, where a small tractor, one that 
could pull spring-tooth drag in orchard, 
or plow one good furrow, or small or¬ 
chard or vineyard gang for light plowing, 
would do much to relieve the strain on 
the one team, which a farmer must 
have anyhow. I have been waiting for 
a long time for .something of the kind 
that would not cost as much as a good 
team, and save the feed. There aix; or 
were the past Spring 10,000 surplus 
horses in this State (according to cen¬ 
sus), and more than twice that many 
more that were a surplus article during 
the greater part of the time since and 
until next Spring, just because of their 
being kept to help out during the rush 
of work. It costs a lot of money now 
to keep a team a year, and it takes a 
lot of valuable grain that ought to be 
used for human consumption. A tractor to 
relieve this extra team work would re¬ 
lief grain enough to fill many a vacancy 
in the human .sy.stem. Perhaps some 
idea of whether there would be any in¬ 
terest in such a machine could be had by 
making inquiry through the R. N.-Y. 
family. I. C. R. 
A YOUNG lady got into a rather crowded 
street car, and was obliged to sit next to 
an old gentleman. When the conductor 
came to the lady for her fare .she ex¬ 
claimed frantically, “Oh, I have been 
robbed ! I have got nothing in my pocket 
but a piece of string, some orange peel, 
and an old knife!” “Madam,” said the 
old gentleman in a deep voice, “would 
you please take your hand out of my 
pocket?”—Melbourne Leader. 
