6>jc RUi^iAL NEW-YORKER 
483 
ties and cooled at once. They are labeled at any 
convenient time and placed on the market. All these 
operations can be done on a smaller scale by a little 
homemade outfit, the i)rinciple being the same 
whether you can one can or a million. I’ears, plums, 
apricot.s, peaches and berries of all kinds are canned 
in practically the same way, only varying the treat¬ 
ment to suit the different kind.s. c. o. waiuoiu). 
Starting a Fishpond 
I have a swamp meadow, about three acres, natural 
l)a.sin, brook along one side, and two springs leading in 
it: exit lower end. I wish to dam it for fishpond. I 
can get about five feet of water at lower end, and 
about two feet at upper end. I would like to stock 
with fish. How would carp do, or what suggestions 
would you niiike? L. it. 
(Connecticut. 
I... F. does not give all the details that are needed 
if one is to give a full an.swer to his question, hut it 
is possible to guess at .some of them. From tlm fact 
that the average depth of the water is to be not far 
from three feet, it is evident that the Avater will l)e 
quite Avarm during the Summer and the pond Avill 
not suit .such fish as trout and small-mouth black 
bass. Tt is probable also th.at the bottom Avill be 
niuddj’, and Ave must stock it with fish that like a 
muddy pond. Carp Avould do Avell in such a place if 
kept caught doAvn to tiie lajint where they Avould 
have food enough to groAV. If overstocked they 
would be veiy small. Also they do not take the 
hook AA'cll, and AA'ould give little sjxu-t. If carj) 
would bite at such baits as are used for 
rounding country fills it up rather quickly. Where 
possible it is well to make another dam above the 
fir.st to catch most of the mud and hold it. This 
pond can be drained once in a while and the mud 
cleaned out Avirh a scraper. It is usually advised 
in such ;i case to make the pond by digging or dam¬ 
ming at one side of the stream course, and leading 
the Avater into it through a dit<'h or c:inal Avith head 
gates to shut out the Avater Avhen the pond is to be 
cleaned. 
A dei)tli of three to U\-e fi^et is all right for the 
main pjul of the pond, but a pocket .should be made 
Avhere the AA'iiter Avill be six or .seven feet deep. If 
the ground in the sAvaiup raeadoAV is not too Avet, this 
deeper part can readily be made l)y u.se of a horse 
scraper before the dam is built. An outlet .should 
be made .so th.at the Avhole pond can be drained Avhen 
desiiasl. If nets are to be used in the pond, the sur¬ 
face of the ground should be made as smooth as 
possible l)efore turning in the Avater. 
The fish Avould IniAe a better chance to groAV well if 
the jKmd AA ere stocked Avith food a year before plant¬ 
ing them. The best Av.ay to do this AA'ould be to go to 
.some pond or bake Avlien' the Av.ater is .sh.alloAA' and 
rake up a mass of the pbants that groAv under 
water. I'ut this in tubs .and dump it in (be ih'av poml 
as soon ,as ])ossible. There Avill be a gi'e.at m.any 
kinds of small insects, etc., mixed in Avith the |)lants, 
and tlu'.v Avill iiicreas(‘ as the i)lants groAV. .so that 
tlMM'e Avill be jileiity of food for a proper numb«>r of 
fish. If the tish as caught after a year or tAvo are 
those that happened to drop Avith the eye doAvn, or 
laid or the side, the former position being the best, 
and the ones that dropped Avith the eye looking up 
Avere the longest in coming up and often did not 
come up at all. Noav if .soil and Aveather Avere ex¬ 
actly ideal, the bean Avould come up all right Avithout 
regard to the lAositioii of the seed in the gromid, 
but Avhen the ground is cold and rains cause a crust 
to form ov('r the beans after planting, Ave haA'e a 
different i)roposition on our hands anrl here is Avhy 
Ave so often get so poor a st.ind of beans. When 
a number of beans are near together, as they are 
in a hill, .some of these are bound to drop right; 
these soon break through to the .surface, letting the 
air enter the hill, and this so encourages the others 
that all are ((uickly “oA’er the top.” When a bean 
germinates and begins its groAvth the stem or stalk 
starts out of the bean, groAvs doAvmv.ard and forms 
a root system Avhich must become strong emnigh 
to push the plants to the .surface. This is a com- 
paratiAoly easy task Avben the poAver c.an be ap- 
jditsl immediatel.v beloAv lh(^ burden, as is the case 
Avlum the seed lies Avith the eyes doAvii, but Avhen 
the reversed position occurs, a lot of time and plant 
energy is expended before the sprout or .stem gets 
around and doAvn Avhere it can get a root hobi to 
lift the bean, AA'hich luis noAV Ix'comc sAvollen and 
(piite firmly iml)eilded in the crusted .soil :ind 
often fails to .shoAv abov(‘ tln^ surface, 'bhis gives 
the maggot an oiiportunit.v to (‘at out the little 
leaves and a bare .stalk or ‘‘b.-ibl head” ai>p(‘:irs. 
Oat Field on School Farm of Kew Yorlc State School of Agriculture, Canton, A". Y. Fig. .3.T.I 
A'arious fi.slu'S they AA'ould be In great d(‘- 
mand evt?ryAvhere, for tliey m.ike a very 
g((od light when hooked. Because of their poor 
game qualities there i.s much ]irejudic‘e a.gainst them 
and many States haA'o Iuavs jirohibiting placing them 
in public Avaters. t'arx) and lai'ge-mouth black bass 
would be a good combination, because the carp Avould 
furni.sh a large amount of food for tlui bass. The 
trouble Avith this combination is that if the tAvo 
Avere ])re.sent in proper proportion the bass Avould 
haA'e .so much fecnl that they Avould be hard to c.''.t.ch 
Avith hook and line. This seen’.s to be the* nxil reason 
for the stories th.at the cari» destroy the ba.ss fi.sh- 
ing. In ni.iny jdac-es Avhere the tishing has bcaju .so 
”de.stroyed,” and Avhere the fish and game clubs are 
(‘ailing loudly for some Avay to clean out the c,ari), 
the bass are present in immense numbers. Bass 
alone aa'ouUI not gi-oAv to large size unless fed regu¬ 
larly. The pike or great northern pike (Ibsox lucius) 
would do Avcdl in such a pond, but AVould h.ive the 
same di.sadAantages as the bass either alone or Avitli 
car]i. Probably the l>est fish to plant in siu'i a pond 
Avould be the one knoAvn to small boys throughout 
NeAv York and Noav England as l)ullhead or lioim- 
pout. This fi.sh Avould breed freely in such a pond. 
It AA'ould furnish .some good fishing. It Avould not re- 
(luire other food than could be furnished by the 
plants groAving in the pond if the numbers AV(‘r(‘ kej)! 
doAvn by careful fishing. If f(‘d regularly it Avould 
provide a large amount of fish food Avhich usually 
brings a good price. 
The main trouble Avith m.aking a pond by dam¬ 
ming a natural basin is that Avash from the sur- 
too .'-mall, it Ls .a .sign that they are probably too 
croAvded and they should be fed or caught out. 
Al.rKKD C. AVEKU. 
Planting Beans in Hills 
Tavo or three months ago I rend an article in The 
II, N.-Y. by 11. E. Oo.x on raising beans. He says it 
i.s better to plant them in hills 12 or Tl inches .apart 
ii!st(‘iul of drills, aiid that ther«‘ is a rea.son, but doe.s 
not explain. We have b(‘en idauting ours in drills 
and have succeeded in rai.sing some very large crops. 
V.'e would like to change to hills on account of the 
labor caring for them. AVould Air. Eox tell hoAV far 
aiiart he Avould put the hills, and how many b(‘ans to 
the hillV The A'ariety Ave are planting is red kidney. 
Waterford, Me. F. u. M. 
P TO tAvo .A'e.irs ago I firmly believed in .and 
prnetict‘d the one plant in a place for beans. 
Experiments and results luiAe noAV convinced me 
that .as .se.asoiis liaA'e b(‘t*n of late years, hill plant¬ 
ing proves to be a sort of crop insurance; that i.s, 
placing the roAvs 2s to .”>() inches apart and placing 
the hills about 10 inclu‘s .ai)art for kidney beams, 
Avith thia'e to four b(‘ans in a hill, (‘overing lightly, 
not OA'er one-half inch, and i)lant(‘d not later than 
.Tune 10, or tairlier. As to the reasons for this 
m(‘thod and Avhat l(‘d to it I Avill giA'o my exp(‘r- 
i(‘nco: 
In testing seed beans in the Winter of 1017 I 
noticed that there Avas (piite a (liff(‘r(‘nc(‘ in the 
time reipiired for some Imans of the same kind, and 
cover(Hl the same depth, to germinate and push to 
the surface. On investigation I found this differ¬ 
ence Avas caused by the position of the bean in the 
soil. The beans that came up the quickest AA'ere 
I lieli(‘\e that as the samsoiis run, banishing tlm 
drill from our bean fields Avould rt‘sult in ;i gr(‘atly 
increased yield. I have never experienced Avorse 
soil and .season (condition than of last sea.son, but 
out of a numlier of differ(‘nt varieties of beans that 
I plant(‘d in hills, coAcring about one-half inch, I 
did not lose a single hill. The . idanting began the 
first Aveek in May, and continu(‘d every fcAA* days 
until the middle of .lune. I’here Avere three roAV.s, of 
Avhite kidneys, each 2tH) feet in length, Avith exac-tly 
thr(‘e b(‘ans in each hill, and a tine crop result(‘(L 
In this locality the small Avhite pea bean or navy 
b(‘an is generally jdanted. I plant four to fiA'e of 
these in a hill. ii- e. cox. 
Pomace for Cattle 
)B s(‘veral years Ave h.ave talked about apple 
pomace as food for cattle. Ep to within a short 
time, this pomace aa'us regarded as a Avaste. Noav 
and then some farmer fed a little of it. or hauled 
It out in the orchard for mtinure or mulch. As com¬ 
mercial feeds, including Ixxd pulp, have gone up in 
price, more farmers have experimented Avith pomace, 
until noAv groat quantities of it are ftxl. We t)elieA'C 
that Avithin a feAv years every bit of pomace Avill be 
utilized. It AVill be dried and fed very much like 
dried beet puh). Already avo hear of a number of 
cider makers, who are putting in larger boilers and 
driers for the purpose of handling this i)omacc. 
We believe that within a few years it will become a 
regular ai'ticle of commerce and add much to the 
commercial feed business. 
