<lh, R U R A B NEW-YORKER 
1201 
A Group of Schuyler County, N. Y., Rams. Fiy. 513 
A Farmer’s Cold Storage Cellar. Fig. 518 
The subject, however, will not stand modern scientific 
investigation; nevertheless, a great many people still 
say that, ‘there is something in it.’ 
“Indeed, there lives a man right in the shade of both 
Amherst colleges, where science is supposed to reign 
supreme; who, after he had dug in vain for living 
water for his cows, sought the services of Edward 
Shaw, a well-known ‘diviner,’ of West Pelham. Mr. 
■Shaw, who is now well along in years, said that he had 
not located a well site for a long time, but he was glad 
to help any man who had faith in his art to find one. 
and with the aid of an apple tree twig he soon struck a 
spot where he maintained there is for sure an under¬ 
ground current of water. The prospective well-digger 
was still skeptical, and upon learning that William 
Royce, also of Pelham, recently of Vermont, could work 
the magic wand, set him reconnoitering on the same lot, 
and sUange to relate, Mr. Royce soon found the vein 
that Mr. Shaw had located, and within 10 feet of the 
same spot. Upon narrating this story to a group of 
acquaintances he learned that Melvin Graves, chief of 
police of Amherst, is also a ‘diviner,’ and as a result 
Mr. Graves was invited to the field in question, and 
A Yearling Fire in Central Yew York. Fig. 511 
the following from the Springfield Republican: 
“In Eastern United States a witch hazel twig is most 
commonly used ; indeed, some consider nothing else will 
answer; others, however, prefer sweet apple tree or 
willow: still others say that it makes no difference 
what the wood is, the essential part being that both 
branches should be of equal size and strength. The 
method is simplicity itself. It consists in holding one 
of the two branches in each hand in such a manner 
that the stub, which is cut to extend an inch or two 
beyond the forks, stands upright, and walking slowly 
around the prospecting field. When over an underground 
current of water, the stub will, in the hands of “a 
diviner” dip down despite all efforts to hold it upright. 
Sometimes the tendency is so strong to dip. that if the 
twig is held firmly, the bark is twisted off in the hands 
of the operator, or even the wood itself may be broken. 
“This strange action was formerly ascribed to the 
works of evil spirits, and the Bible is severe in its con¬ 
demnation of employing such methods for any purpose 
whatsoever. In recent years, in this country, at least, 
it is generally believed it must be due to electricity. 
Good Sheep on New York Land 
O N page 1090 we printed a picture of a Merino 
ram, stating that just at present this kind of 
sheep “was under a cloud” on account of the low 
price of wool. While it is true that wool prices are 
ridiculously low. without great apparent hope for 
the immediate future, it is true that a good many 
sheep men have great faith in the future of wool¬ 
growing. and they are going right, ahead, improving 
their flocks and making preparations for keeping 
up their business. It shows a good deal of spirit to 
do this in face of the present depression, but there 
are still plenty of men who have faith in the future. 
Mark ,T. Smith of Schuyler County. N. Y.. sends us 
the pictures shown at Figs. 511 and 512. One is a 
yearling ewe which was raised on the hills of Central 
New York; the other picture shows a group of year¬ 
ling rams just as they were before starting out for 
the county fairs. These were all sold within a short 
time at $75 or less. They were all grown on $10 farm 
land in Schuyler County. Mr. Smith started out to 
produce a practical sheep, capable of giving both wool 
and mutton, and by hard work and careful study he 
has gone further than he ever expected. The point 
is that good sheep grown on the cheap hill lands 
of Central New York still make a good business 
proposition. They can be grown at reasonable cost 
on this type of soil, and even in the present depres¬ 
sion the well-bred sheep of this sort will bring fail- 
prices and meet with reasonable demand. -V farmer 
must have high ideals, and he must, know just what 
he is after in order to succeed in this business. In 
connection with these ideals there must be work 
hard and long continued, for Mr. Smith says that 
his hours have been from 5 A. M. to 9 P. M. since 
last March. It. seems good to have such enthusiasm 
and optimistic feeling worked out on a New York 
farm. There are still plenty of oppor¬ 
tunities here, and this success in the 
face of the present, wool depression 
is very encouraging. 
Mr. Smith says in a recent letter; 
“I think the tide in the sheep industry 
has turned. In July at the Del Rio 
ram sale in Texas. 109 New York fine 
wool rams were sold averaging better 
than $80 a head. Over 900 head of 
rams were sold for an average of more 
than $80, thus exceeding the expecta¬ 
tions of th(> auctioneer. Dwight Lin¬ 
coln, and of the management. The best 
men and minds are seeing over the 
present difficulty. The Western flocks 
are greatly reduced from 10 to 15 per 
cent. There is today in sight a scarcity 
of the wools.” 
Some time ago a writer expressed 
the need for 500 young men to engage 
in the breeding of fine wool sheep 
(purebreds) in New York. Western 
Pennsylvania and Ohio (particularly 
Eastern Ohio). This is naturally a 
fine wool country. Every word this 
man said was. I believe, true and well 
taken. 
The breeding of purebred sheep is 
not. a flashy business but tends toward 
stability and character and makes a 
life. Warfield in his book on cattle 
breeding says: “He who moulds the 
counterfit of life may. indeed, be the 
artist of no mean art; but surely thrice 
greater he who with no less skill man¬ 
ipulates the complex nature of a living 
being, producing a superior form and 
one in conformity with the ideal in his 
mind.” I have often used this state¬ 
ment since first reading it. back in 
Kentucky, the native home of the 
author. 
My experience leads me to believe 
that there will always be a market for well-bred 
animals properly grown out. It is surprising to 
know how many men there are who want rams worth 
$75 to $100 and who are not interested in $25 rams. 
Hast Fall I knew of a case where a breeder lost a 
sale because he offered good rams for $25. His 
customer said “T guess you don’t, know the kind ot 
ram I am looking for.” He wanted one worth $75. 
They can be raised on the hills of New York and at 
low COSt. MARK J. SMITH. 
Now York. 
“Water Witching” or Divining 
O N page 1152 there were printed a few notes on 
locating water by using a forked stick. Our 
people are evidently interested, and they will enjoy 
with a forked willow twig cut to his liking he was 
asked to locate the current, and lie did it. Several 
others present at each of the three tests tried to work 
the wand, but it would not budge an inch. 
"Mr. Shaw found two currents on tin* tract, but the 
first one. he decided, was altogether the stronger. Mr. 
Royce found only the one. Officer Graves, however, 
said probably water might be found almost anywhere 
on the two-acre lot, but the wand worked far better on 
practically the same spot that the other two men had 
selected, and ho agreed with them that this was the 
most favorable location. Now, on ths two-acre, nearly 
level tract of land there is nothing apparently to indi¬ 
cate where an underground current of water might be 
found. These three men are unknown to each other. 
They had no opportunity to compare notes, and if is 
absolutely certain that none of the three had any way 
of even guessing what the others found. Do they 
possess certain occult powers not enjoyed by most indi¬ 
viduals? If not. how can one account for what they 
did with their forked twigs?” 
Garden Notes from New England 
SEEDLING TREES—There are still a lot of people 
who think they can save money by planting peach pits, 
cherry stones and the like, instead of buying started 
trees. Sometimes a tree grown from a stone or a seed 
will prove surprisingly good, but such cases are very 
rare. A good example of this fact is to be found on 
Cape Cod, where there are two peach orchards in the 
same vicinity. One of them is in a very flourishing 
condition and earns the owner a good income every 
season. This orchard was set out with carefully 
selected trees. The other orchard was grown wholly 
from seeds that were planted as a means of saving the 
cost of trees. This orchard is an absolute failure. 
There is hardly a tree in it which produced fruit worth 
selling; and of course the peaches vary so greatly that 
it is impossible for them to have anything like a uniform 
appearance. Probably the average man would say that 
growing peaches on Cape Cod would be impossible, but 
quite the contrary has proved to be the fact. Some 
time ago I visited a peach orchard only a short distance 
from l’rovincctown which is proving very productive. 
The trees seem to be growng in pure sand, and yet 
they yield well. They are located in a depression 
between two medium-sized hills, with the result that 
they are protected from frosts and produce a crop every 
year. Some years Cape Cod has about the only peaches 
to be found on any Massachusetts trees. The man 
who runs this particular orchard also raises poultry, 
allowing the birds to run among the trees. 
It is an ideal combination, and between 
the hens and tin' peaches the owner gets 
a very good income. 
LOSS OF BEES FROM POISON.— 
Most farmers have learned that it is unwise 
and unnecessary to spray their fruit trees 
while in bloom, with the result that there 
is less loss of bees from this cause. There 
seems to be no way, however, of avoiding 
the loss as a result of spraying forest 
trees with arsenate of lead, a job which 
is carried on annually in a very large 
way by the State and by the different 
cities and towns. A strong poison is 
used, and collects on the leaves. The 
bees visit the trees, presumably for the 
dew to be found on the leaves, and so 
take the poison. Indeed, some beekeepers 
claim that the bees are attracted by 
arsenate of lead and deliberately take it 
up. In any event, they die in great 
numbers. Beekeeping has received a very 
serious blow, especially in Essex County, 
for this reason, and the effects are felt 
by the fruit growers. I know of one man 
near Newburyport who planted an acre of 
strawberries, with the expectation of 
meeting a payment on his home. Tie 
needed about $000. and in the early 
Spring the strawberries gave every 
promise of lifting him out of his financial 
difficulties. They bloomed profusely and 
made a fine sight. The man spent most 
of his time cultivating the strawberry 
patch, but when fruiting time came he 
had hardly $100 worth of berries. The 
reason was not far to seek. Spraying 
had been done that year on a very large 
scale, and practically all the bees in I he 
neighborhood had been killed off. The 
result was. of course, that the blossoms 
were not fertilized and berries could not 
be formed. 
CAULIFLOWER AND BRUSSELS 
SPROU T S.—Conventional gardening 
methods are sometimes criticized, and so 
there are growers who maintain that in 
the northern part of New England at least 
there is no need of tying up cauliflower in 
order to blanch the heads. That would 
be poor advice for any section south of 
Vermont, however, and in the big cauli¬ 
flower sections around Boston this tying 
up of the heads is always practiced. In 
no other way can the curd be prevented 
from becoming browned by the sun. and 
of course the market demands a perfectly 
white head. Cauliflower is most uncer¬ 
tain. Sometimes it heads easily and in 
other seasons refuses to head at all. This 
year they seem to be doing well, and when 
this is the case are always profitable. It is a question, 
too, whether Brussels sprouts should have the leaves 
picked off as the sprouts form. Some growers contend 
that it is not necessary, but it is quite commonly done. 
The facts seem to be that if the plants are at all crowded 
it is best to remove at least a portion of the leaves, 
while if there is plenty of room between them there is 
less necessity of this procedure. It stands to reason 
that while the plants are growing they are better off if 
they have plenty of foliage, but after the sprouts are 
pretty well grown and are hardening up they can get 
along with less. Although the fact is not commonly 
i ealized. Brussels sprouts that are only partly.developed 
will mature in the cellar if the plants are lifted from 
(he garden and set in boxes of earth or sand. 
EARLY CRANBERRIES.—Cranberries were ready 
to harvest 10 days earlier than usual this season. The 
crop is a small one. however, due to Spring frosts. On 
some bogs no picking has been done at all. while on 
others a fairly good crop has been obtained. Probably 
there are no more than 200.000 barrels on the Cape. 
The price is quoted at $10 or $12 a barrel, whcli will 
make the crop a profitable one for those who have any 
