822 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
Dec.  10 
ODDS  AND  ENDS. 
Retail  Domestic  Purchases. — Wash¬ 
ington  Gladden  in  an  article  in  The  Cen¬ 
tury  gives  this  illustration  of  the  way 
some  poor  families  in  'London  buy  pro¬ 
visions  : 
One  family,  with  an  income  of  about  $5 
a  week,  made  72  different  purchases  of 
tea  during  the  five  weeks.  Inasmuch  as 
this  family  never  took  more  than  two 
meals  a  day  at  home,  it  is  evident  that 
they  never  bought  more  than  a  single 
drawing  of  tea  at  a  time ;  72  purchases 
of  tea  in  35  days  is  two  purchases  a  day 
(Sundays  included)  and  two  extra.  This 
hand-to-mouth  existence  is  at  enmity 
with  thrift  ;  it  is  scarcely  possible  that 
any  family  should  escape  from  poverty 
until  it  learns  wiser  methods  of  expendi¬ 
ture. 
Every  time  that  family  bought  a  “pinch 
of  tea”  it  paid  for  the  dealer’s  time  in 
serving  it,  or  72  profits  instead  of  one. 
Who  could  save  money  by  such  trading  ? 
The  Jersey  Mosquito. — Insect  Life 
thus  describes  a  scheme  for  catching 
mosquitoes,  practiced  in  Montclair,  N.  J.: 
It  consists  in  nailing  to  the  end,  or 
rather  the  top,  of  a  stick,  the  lid  of  a 
small  tin  box,  such  as  a  yeast-powder 
box.  The  stick  must  be  long  enough  to 
enable  the  operator  to  reach  the  ceiling, 
and  the  tin  cover  of  the  box  is  nailed  to 
it  in  an  inverted  position.  Into  this  re¬ 
ceptacle  is  then  poured  a  tablespoonful 
of  kerosene,  and  the  mosquitoes  at  rest 
upon  the  ceiling  are  easily  trapped  by 
simply  placing  this  kerosene  cup  under 
them  and  close  up  to  the  ceiling.  In 
their  endeavor  to  escape  they  fall  at  once 
into  the  kerosene  and  are  hilled.  On  the 
morning  of  September  25,  the  writer 
captured  in  this  way  75  mosquitoes  on 
the  ceiling  of  the  room  which  he  had 
occupied  during  the  night.  Most  of  the 
75  were  filled  with  blood,  which,  we 
think,  is  a  sufficient  argument  in  favor 
of  performing  the  operation  before  going 
to  bed  rather  than  after  rising  ! 
Decrease  in  the  Use  of  Shoddy. — Not 
since  the  war,  according  to  the  Shoe  and 
Leather  Reporter,  has  so  little  shoddy 
been  used  in  shoes  as  now.  There  are 
numerous  imitations  of  calf,  kangaroo, 
dongola,  goat,  etc.,  made  from  a  cow¬ 
hide,  and  by  the  skill  of  mechanism  they 
are  remarkably  close  imitations,  but  they 
are  generally  sold  for  what  they  purport 
to  be,  and  cannot  be  classified  as  substi¬ 
tutes.  The  pancake,  or  pasted  sole  and 
heel,  is  still  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
low-grade  shoes,  but  to  a  less  extent  than 
formerly.  Leather  is  so  cheap  that  a 
good  button  boot  can  be  made  solid 
throughout  at  95  cents  and  $1,  and  per¬ 
haps  less.  The  consumer  secures  more 
value  than  ever  in  the  modern  medium- 
priced  shoes  ;  genuine  materials  are  put 
into  everything  except  such  low-priced 
shoes  that  it  is  impossible  to  make  them 
of  actual  leather.  There  is  no  deception 
about  these.  Manufacturers  make  no 
secret  of  the  fact  that  they  are  composed 
of  pasted  soles  and  heels,  split  insoles 
and  the  like.  Buyers  know  what  they 
are  getting. 
Vegetable-Eating  Mole. — The  fol¬ 
lowing  note  from  a  friend  in  Oregon  will 
interest  many  of  our  readers:  “  Very  few 
things  are  ‘settled.’  I  thought  one  of 
those  that  are  was  that  moles  are  insec¬ 
tivorous.  But  now  we  have  this  from 
the  Rural  Northwest,  published  at  Port¬ 
land,  Oregon,  which  seems  to  put  quite 
a  different  light  on  the  matter.” 
Among  the  interesting-  and  really  note¬ 
worthy  exhibits  at  the  Portland  Exposi¬ 
tion  is  Miss  Talbot’s  mole.  It  has  long 
been  held  by  naturalists  that  the  mole  is 
an  insectivorous  and  not  a  vegetable-eat¬ 
ing  animal.  The  reasons  for  believing 
this  to  be  the  case  were  very  convincing, 
but  many  gardeners  have  been  inclined 
to  believe  that  moles  actually  eat  garden 
vegetables  at  times.  The  question  has 
long  been  discussed  but  until  the  mole  in 
question  was  caught  no  positive  proof 
could  be  furnished  in  behalf  of  their 
side  by  those  who  believed  in  the  vege¬ 
table-eating  propensities  of  the  mole. 
At  the  January  meeting  of  the  State  Hor¬ 
ticultural  Society  Miss  Talbot  and  Prof. 
Washburn  had  a  rather  sharp  discussion 
upon  this  question,  and  Miss  Talbot  set 
out  to  prove  her  side  of  the  case.  She 
trapped  a  mole,  caged  it  and  put  it  on  a 
vegetable  diet  which  seemed  to  suit  it 
admirably  from  the  start,  and  now,  after 
months  of  an  exclusively  vegetable  diet, 
it  appears  hearty  and  healthy  and  eats 
readily  almost  any  kind  of  vegetables, 
but  is  especially  fond  of  peas. 
Roasting  Frost. — It  is  but  a  few  years 
ago  that  The  R.  N.-Y.  set  people  to  ex¬ 
perimenting  carefully  for  some  way  to 
fight  frost  in  large,  open-air  spaces. 
Smoke  was  the  first  thing  tried,  but  it 
was  not  fully  successful.  It  became  evi¬ 
dent  that  heat  was  required  with  the 
smoke.  A  Californian  with  80  acres  of 
oranges  has  hit  upon  the  most  practical 
scheme  we  have  heard  of  yet.  Here  it  is  : 
Briefly  described,  the  contrivance  con¬ 
sists  of  a  100-gallon  iion  cask  on  each 
acre,  filled  with  oil,  from  which  two 
pipes  run  along  between  the  rows  of 
trees,  with  half  a  dozen  elbows  to  the 
acre,  20  feet  apart,  over  which  are  flat, 
sheet-iron  pans,  into  which  oil  spatters 
and  burns  as  it  vaporizes.  Burning  at 
the  rate  of  one  gallon  per  burner  every 
hour,  an  intensely  hot  flame  is  made, 
which  rises  several  feet  and  creates  also 
a  dense  smoke  which  acts  as  a  smudge. 
The  cost  of  the  plant  is  about  $25  per 
acre,  and  the  oil  should  not  cost  over  $7 
an  acre  in  the  coldest  winter. 
With  cheap  California  petroleum  this 
proves  an  effective  means  of  fighting 
frost. 
Grasshopper  Juice. — We  know  of  a 
man  who  used  potato  bug  juice  to  dye 
cloth,  but  here  is  the  California  Fruit 
Grower  telling  a  fairy  story  or  starting 
a  “ new  industry.”  Which? 
It  is  the  chemist  after  all  that  gets 
right  down  into  the  mysteries  of  things, 
and  often  turns  a  trump  card  when  least 
expected.  Take  the  case  of  grasshoppers. 
Except  to  destroy  crops  and  fatten 
Thanksgiving  turkeys  in  June,  no  great 
economic  use  for  them  has  hitherto  been 
found.  But  it  is  different  now.  Some 
fellow  in  Iowa  scooped  up  half  a  dozen 
hatfuls  of  “hoppers”  from  his  wheat 
field,  put  them  under  his  cheese  press 
and  sat  down  upon  it  to  rest  and  mop  his 
brow.  As  a  result,  he  was  able  to  send 
to  the  Kansas  Agricultural  College  about 
two  quarts  of  the  “  nectar  de  grasshop¬ 
per.”  The  professor  made  a  complete 
analysis  of  the  liquid,  and  by  distilling 
it  with  sulphuric  acid  obtained  a  color¬ 
less  solution  of  formic  acid  worth  60 
cents  an  ounce.  This  substance  has 
hitherto  been  extracted  from  red  ants, 
but  the  new  possibilities  of  utilizing 
grasshopper  pests  is  said  to  have  greatly 
excited  the  farmers  of  the  prairie  States. 
Let  the  good  work  go  on.  California  can 
be  relied  upon  to  make  up  any  deficiency 
that  may  occur  in  the  Eastern  crop  of 
hoppers. 
Some  “  Feeder  ”  Nonsense.  — The 
“Fibro  Ferro  Feeder  Co.,”  of  Rochester, 
N.  Y. ,  seems  to  feel  aggrieved  because  in 
a  late  Rural  we  said  that  the  claims  made 
in  its  circular  were  ridiculous.  We  ad¬ 
vised  one  of  our  readers  not  to  bother 
with  this  “  feeder.”  Now  here  are  the 
statements,  literatim  :  are  they  ridicu¬ 
lous  or  not  ? 
TAKE  NOTICE  WHAT  FIBRO  FERRO  FEEDER  WILL  DO, 
Provided  your  ground  is  too  poor  to  furnish  fibrous  and 
vegetable  growth. 
It  will  keep  Peach  trees  in  a  healthy,  thrifty  con¬ 
dition,  clear  of  the  grub  or  peach  tree  borer  and  the 
yellows.  No  gum  on  either  tree  or  fruit. 
It  wall  by  circulating  in  the  sap  charge  the  green 
fruit  with  properties  destructive  to  the  life  of  the 
curcullo  worm,  and  thus  save  the  fruit  from  falling 
off. 
It  will  increase  Pears  full  one-half  In  size  and  clear 
of  hard  knots,  hills  and  hollows.  It  will  do  the  same 
for  Apples. 
It  will  save  grapes  from  falling  off,  mildew  or  rot. 
It  will  last  for  several  years,  not  being  of  a  vola¬ 
tile  nature. 
TEN  PEACH  TREES  treated  with  it  as  needed  will 
bring  more  and  better  ffuit  than  1,000  not  treated, 
because  the  1,000  would  die  in  a  few  years,  while  the 
ten  would  last  an  indefinite  length  of  time,  besides 
bringing  better  fruit  and  in  greater  abundance  per 
tree. 
Roses,  Shrubs,  Shade  and  Ornamental  Trees  will 
be  kept  clear  of  all  kinds  of  insects  or  worms  that 
live  and  prey  upon  the  inside  body  of  a  tree  or  on 
the  bark.  Boiling  hot  water  might  he  a  swifter  but 
certainly  not  a  more  assured  death  to  the  mealy  bug 
or  cotton  louse  than  the  “  Fibro  Ferro  Feeder.” 
Or,  for  example,  take  this  thrilling 
statement : 
Some  growers  of  late  years  resort  to  spraying  their 
fruit  trees,  currants,  grapes,  etc.,  with  Paris-green 
or  some  other  poison-charged  liquid,  to  fight  the  in¬ 
sects  depredating  upon  them.  This  certainly  strikes 
one  as  taking  great  risks  with  the  health  of  the  com¬ 
munity,  besides  it  entails  an  almost  endless  labor, 
as  the  spraying  has  to  be  repeated  again  and  again 
through  the  season,  while  one  application  to  the 
roots  of  the  trees  with  the  ”  Fibro  Ferro  Feeder” 
lasts  for  at  least  several  years— its  endurance  not  yet 
being  established,  and  not  only  insure  the  one  crop 
of  fruit  but  make  the  tree  thoroughly  healthy  and 
free  of  injurious  insects  from  the  root  and  center  to 
the  outer  bark. 
’Why  does  the  proprietor  of  this  stuff 
talk  such  nonsense  as  that  ?  Doesn’t  he 
know  any  better  ?  If  he  doesn’t,  and 
really  wants  to  improve  his  mind,  let  him 
send  some  of  his  stuff  to  the  Horticul¬ 
turists  at  our  experiment  station  and  ask 
them  to  test  it.  Will  he  do  it  ? 
A  Dairy  Strike. — A.  L.  Crosby  in 
Hoard’s  Dairyman  tells  how  one  woman 
“  struck  ”  for  an  easier  way  of  doing  her 
work.  Her  husband  couldn’t  afford  a 
creamer  and  new  churn — though  he  could 
buy  a  riding  plow  to  make  his  own  work 
lighter.  One  day  he  came  driving  home 
two  Guernsey  cows  for  which  he  had 
paid  $80.  Then  his  wife  “flared  up,”  and 
said  : 
John,  unless  you  promise  me  now  to 
buy  a  creamery  and  a  churn  with  no  dash 
in  it,  I  won’t  set  another  gallon  of  milk 
or  churn  another  pound  of  butter.  I  carry 
down  cellar  a  big  lot  of  stone  pots  every 
day,  and  bring  up  another  big  lot,  wash 
them,  and  hang  them  on  the  palings  to 
sun  and  air.  The  baby  is  teething  and 
is  cross,  I  have  the  cooking  to  attend  to, 
the  washing,  the  mending,  the  churning; 
I  feed  the  pigs  and  calves  when  you  are 
busy;  I  take  entire  charge  of  the  poultry 
and  you  know  the  hens  pay.  But  the 
time  has  come  to  call  a  halt;  I  am  get¬ 
ting  played  out;  my  back  is  on  a  strike, 
I  don’t  sleep  well  at  night  and — Well, 
woman-like,  she  cried  a  little. 
In  relating  the  story  she  says: 
He  looked  all  taken  aback  at  first,  and 
I  saw  that  he  was  thinking  hard.  After 
a  few  minutes  he  said,  “  Mollie,  you’re 
right.  I  never  realized  before  all  that 
you  have  been  doing.  I  remember,  the 
day  you  were  sick  and  I  had  to  strain  the 
milk  and  wash  the  pots,  that  I  came  very 
near  swearing,  by  the  time  I  got  through. 
You  let  me  know  the  make  of  creamer 
you  want  and  the  kind  of  churn,  and  I’ll 
buy  them  for  you  if  I  have  to  mortgage 
the  farm  to  raise  the  money.”  Then  I  be¬ 
gan  to  admire  the  Guernseys,  and  they 
certainly  were  beauties.  I  told  John 
that  with  a  good  creamer  and  churn  I 
could  care  for  the  milk  and  make  the 
butter  from  25  cows  with  less  labor  than 
I  could  from  10  with  those  old  stone  pots. 
She  got  the  creamer  and  made  it  pay  ! 
-S 
Every 
Smoker’s  Nose 
knows  when  it  is  pleased.  It  is  always 
pleased  with  the  fragrant  and  peculiar 
aroma  of 
Blackwell’s 
Bull  Durham 
Smoking  Tobacco 
Which  has  been  for  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century  the  desire  and  delight  of 
comfort  lovers  everywhere.  It  strikes 
the  taste  of  many  fastidious  smokers. 
Try  it. 
Blackwell’s  Durham  Tobacco  Co., 
DURHAM,  N.  C. 
SPECIAL  COMBINATION 
FOR  OUR  FARMER 
READERS. 
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—  AND  — 
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THE  FARMER  has  been  established  45  years,  Is  a  20-page  weekly,  giving  Its  readers  more  sound 
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The  addition  of  four  extra  pages  of  literary  matter  from  the  best  writers  will  largely  increase  the! 
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have  now  some  of  the  finest  styles  of  Organs  and  Pianos  ever  man¬ 
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styles  and  at  all  prices.  Organs  from  *:15.  Pianos  from 
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