1524 
lb* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Cold Storage for Vegetables 
I have a furnace in cellar, and it heats 
up so apples and potatoes will not keep. 
Can you give me an idea to build a cold 
storage ? ^ I. M. Q. 
Manchester Green, Conn. 
The simplest plan for storage of vege¬ 
tables, when room in the cellar will per¬ 
mit, is to partition off a part of the cellar 
space, and, if possible, have an outside 
window that can be opened into the vege¬ 
table room. By leaving this window at 
least partly open, except when weather 
is too cold, the storage room can be kept 
at a low temperature regardless of that 
in the furnace room. The partition used 
need not be of stone or brick, as matched 
stuff will make an airtight wall and one 
through which the heat will not pass. If 
the cellar does not extend under the 
whole house, it may be continued beneath 
another room, and the additional space 
thus gained used for vegetable storage, 
this space to be partitioned off from the 
furnace room as above suggested. 
M. B. D. 
Arrangement of Heating System 
My house has box hall and is now heat¬ 
ed with two stoves, the pipes of which 
pass through the ceilings and into chim¬ 
neys in second floor. There are 9-ft. ceil¬ 
ings on first floor, and 22 in. above doors 
on first floor. Would two-pipe heater 
be available, with one . pipe to each of 
rooms on first floor, getting circulation via 
old pipe holes in floor or ceiling, or would 
a single-pipe heater under living room 
(northwest corner) be better? Would 
you advise a separate cold-air intake type, 
other than the return reheated air style? 
Somerville, N. J. L. m. h. 
The single-pipe heaters are proving 
very satisfactory where used, one in my 
own house having given good service for 
two seasons. I would suggest having an 
agent of the manufacturer visit the house, 
however, and give a guarantee of satisfac¬ 
tory heating before installing one. There 
are a number of things, such as exposure, 
direction of prevailing cold winds, char¬ 
acter of the building, etc., to be consid¬ 
ered, and it is well to have advice from 
someone interested and on the spot. Your 
diagram shows an unusual plan, only two 
very large rooms upon the first floor and 
a single small door connecting them. My 
preference would be a heater beneath the 
hallway with a short hot-air pipe to each 
room; the cold-air flue to connect with a 
register, either in the hallway or the 
northwest corner of the main living room. 
Without pipes to the second floor, you 
would get only such heat as would rise 
through registers from the warmed rooms 
below, but, if these rooms are used only 
for sleeping purposes, that would probably 
be sufficient. M. B. D. 
Cheap Device for Lifting Water 
On page 133S T. J. C., Illinois, in¬ 
quires for a cheap way to raise water 
from a creek for irrigation purposes. I 
would like to give my idea for his benefit, 
if he has fall and water enough to do the 
work, and for others who might utilize 
it. The idea is an undershot wheel with 
boards nailed across to engage the cur¬ 
rent of the stream, and buckets fastened 
around one of the rims at regular inter¬ 
vals of a size and number proportionate 
to the size of wheel and stream. The 
way it works is thus: The current en¬ 
gages the floats on the wheel; it revolves ; 
the buckets dip up the water and are car¬ 
ried to the top, or near the top, when the 
filled buckets begin to empty into a flume 
whence it is carried to the laud. The 
flume has to be set below the top of the 
wheel, and far enough away to clear the 
buckets, which are set angling to throw 
the water away, and allow them to clear 
the flume. The wheel and buckets may 
be cheap affairs, as ordinarily there is no 
great strain on them. 
These wheels are common in the East. 
I understand. When I was a young fel¬ 
low. living in Virginia City, Nev., I used 
often to visit a relative at Wadsworth, 
where the Central Pacific Railway crosses 
the Truckee River, and this relative had 
a garden on the bank of the river and one 
of these wheels for irrigation; it was a 
cheap affair, but it did the business. By 
the judicious use of some rocks he tolled 
a part of the current close to shore and 
raised about as much water as a farm 
would need. A few miles below, towards 
Pyramid Lake, was a ranch where there 
were three of these wheels of a substan¬ 
tial make, one below the other, lifting 
water day and night. Of course the wheel 
will have to be of a diameter sufficient 
to throw the water on the flume. 
Florida. frank howard. 
A current wheel, or what is called a 
“Chinese wheel,” a device frequently used 
in the West, will solve the problem of 
your correspondent, T. ,T. C. This is an 
ordinary paddle-wheel with buckets fas¬ 
tened to the rim on the side next the 
shore. It is suspended on a frame so 
that the water just covers the paddles. 
The current turns the wheel and the 
buckets, as the wheel revolves, empty into 
a box from which the water is led to the 
ground to be irrigated. The whole thing 
can be homemade. The buckets may be 
of wood or old tin cans, uailed to the rim 
of the wheel. Of course, if the current 
is very slow, the delivery will not be 
great. It can be made cheaply, and once 
installed, there is practically no expense 
of operation. j. h. d. 
New York. 
Another Rabbit Trap 
On page 273 I saw a box trap for rab¬ 
bits, so I am sending you a drawing of a 
boy’s rabbit trap I saw a few years ago. 
It worked well. When the rabbit puts his 
feet on the false floor to reach the bait he 
shuts the door behind him, as you can aee 
by the illustration. 
The box is 3 ft. long and 8x10 in., nar¬ 
row side down ; 2 is the false floor, held 
up by spring; 3, elbow to pull trigger; 4, 
spring from window shade roller; 5, wire 
from elbow to trigger; 6, trigger to hold 
up door; 7, door fastened by nails through 
box ; 8, screen end of box; 9, wire hook 
to hold bar. A. B. 
Portland, Ore. 
must be some three inches high. And how 
about worms that are found on asphalt- 
paved squares in a city? But, of course, 
there may be a crack somewhere. To 
quote from Mr. Herrick’s reply: “We 
must conclude that they cannot originate 
nor live in the air, and therefore cannot 
rain down from the sky.” 
It was some 25 years ago. I was a 
boy on a Massachusetts farm. A hard 
thunder shower was under way, and 1 
was at the window watching the pouring 
rain. My grandfather and my elder 
brother were standing in the doorway of 
the “shop” across the yard. Something 
large and black was seen to strike the 
ground, bound into the air, roll over and 
over and come to rest in a puddle. I can 
remember seeing my grandfather, in his 
shirt sleeves, dash out and secure this 
meteoric visitant. It proved to be a box 
turtle, some five inches in diameter, alive 
and in good condition. It was kept as a 
curiosity for a few days, and then liber¬ 
ated in a nearby stream. 
Now, I do not believe that turtle 
originated in the air, but I am sure it 
must have lived there for a time, how¬ 
ever short, and, having seen a five-inch 
turtle descend in that manner, I am not 
prepared to say that it would be im¬ 
possible for an angleworm to do like¬ 
wise; although possibly it rains earth¬ 
worms about as often as it does turtles. 
Massachusetts. L. u. i\ 
October 11, 1919 
wooden tub or bari*el before giving them 
the salt bath, and the water must have 
some growing water plants to keep the 
fish in good health. If your correspond¬ 
ent cannot do any better, go or send to 
the nearest pond or brook and get some 
fine-leaved plants, and give the fish a 
quantity at once, and if they are not too 
far gone they may survive. I have, how¬ 
ever, found the parasitic Mime the most 
difficult of all the fish diseases to cure. 
Plenty of aquatic plants is the best and 
only remedy, as they furnish oxygen to 
the water, and fish cannot remain long 
without it if any quantity is kept. 
New Jersey. h. w. hales. 
A Turtle that “Rained Down” 
The reply by Mr. Herrick to question, 
“Do Angleworms ‘Rain Down,’ ” on page 
1304, is very good, and a statement of 
facts, although noting the size of worms 
mentioned in II. F. A.’s letter, it does 
seem like some stunt for a 1^-in. worm 
to kick itself over the rim of a dish that 
Care of Goldfish 
Seeing on page 1342 that a correspond¬ 
ent is losing his goldfish, I write to say 
that I have kept them many years, and 
now have about 150 in an outdoor tank. 
Your correspondent has too many fish for 
an ordinary tub, as is shown by their 
gasping for air. Another fact is that gal¬ 
vanized iron is poisonous to fish, and is 
accentuated when salt is added to the wa¬ 
ter. as a galvanic action is then set up. 
The fish should be removed to a clean 
Storing Canna Roots 
Can you tell me how to keep Canna 
tubers through the Winter? I have some 
very beautiful bronze-leaved Caunas that 
I am anxious to keep over. I have never 
had success in wintering them in the 
cellar; either they would dry up or die 
or else they would rot. F. M. S. 
Holland, N. Y. 
Die the roots after the tops have been 
killed by frost, and have dried for two or 
three days after the frosting. Let the 
roots dry well; do not shake off all the 
earth, but let some of the soil cling to 
them. Store them on shelves, in a cellar 
that will keep potatoes. The chief causes 
of trouble are too much warmth before 
settled cold weather, or too much 
moisture. If they do not retain much 
earth throw a thin covering of dry soil 
over them. This is always a wise pre¬ 
caution with the improved large-flowered 
kinds, which are harder to keep than 
older sorts. 
“So the doctor told you to go to a 
warmer climate. What was the nature 
of the trouble you consulted him about?” 
“I went there to collect a bill.”—Credit 
Lost. 
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