556 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 19 
a walk than at a trot or change of pace. It does not 
knock them out to walk as it does to trot.” 
“ Is there r.o choice in buying horses ? If you should 
accept any horse offered you, would you not be in 
danger of getting an animal that would never learn to 
walk rapidly?” 
“ Of course a man has to use sense about buying 
horses as well as everything else, and there is just as 
much difference in the intelligence of horses as of 
men. A lunkhead can never be got to walk satisfac¬ 
torily. I cou’du’t afford to own one. Notice the 
difference in men about walking. Business men and 
thinkers walk rapidly ; laborers always walk slowly.” 
“ What do you feed your horses to keep them so 
round, fat and hard?” I inquired. He smiled proudly 
as he walked from one stall to another and brought 
his heavy hand down upon the plump flanks of his 
favorites. 
“ They get just one thing at every meal, except for 
Saturday’s supper, and it consists of the best Timothy 
hay and all the oats each will eat. Here’s a 1,600- 
pounder that eats his 30 quarts of oats every day. 
Get off their feed ? Bless your heart, they have too 
much work for that. Why, these horses work from 12 
to 16 hours, and night hours besides, sometimes doing 
work for 20 hours out of 24. Their appearance doesn’t 
indicate that they are very hard workers, does it 
now ?” 
“ What is the variation you give them Saturday 
night ? ” 
“ Well, these 12 big fellows have 40 pounds of good 
hay, 40 pounds of bran, and the same weight of mid¬ 
dlings divided up among them. This makes a soft, 
cooling and nutritious mash w r hich regulates them in- 
te. nally and keeps them in good order through the 
following week. I never feed it at any other time ex¬ 
cept Saturday night, because it is slightly physicking 
and weakening. The horses are not taken out on 
Sunday, and begin their regular, oat ration on Sunday 
morning so that they are ready for their hard work 
again on Monday. The bran and middlings are not 
put upon wet hay in winter, as it might freeze in 
their mangers.” 
“ What has made you such a firm believer in heavy 
feeding ? ” 
“ Well, I will tell you all about it. I became con¬ 
vinced three years ago that there was no money 
made in starving horses. I see horses every day that 
are worth $150, but wouldn’t bring $50 if put up at 
auction. Their bones stick out and they can scarcely 
draw a cart. Horses can’t live on free lunch as I did 
for 20 years.” 
“ How did you make it go ? ” 
“ I didn’t make it go any better than the rest of the 
poor drunkards. I got so reduced that the shoes on 
my feet were taken to the pawn shop, and the looking- 
glass was gone from the wall. I stopped drinking 
when refused a bucket of coal because my credit was 
also gone. Now I have not tasted the stuff for over 
three years. I own numerous horses, among them a 
better one that is in the stable here, and harnesses 
and carts for all, besides having money at interest. 
Besides all this I have a happy home, and never do a 
hard day’s work, and never shall.” Hollister sage. 
LATE HATCHED CHICKS AND BROILER PIES. 
“ I had a nice little bunch of chickens hatched last 
Monday,” murmured Mrs. S., “and they did nicely 
until Friday, when they began to peter out, and in 
less than 24 hours the last one expired.” 
“ Wbat ailed them, do you suppose ? ” 1 asked. 
“ I don’t know. They moped about a few hours, 
and then—just died. The weather was hot, but I 
greased their backs well ti keep the sun from blister¬ 
ing ’em, but they died anyway.” 
“ What was it you did to their backs ? ” 
“ Greased ’em ! I read in the Farm P. Q. that the 
backs of all chickens hatched in July and August 
should be well greased to prevent the sun from blister¬ 
ing ’em and cracking ’em open ” 
“Greased, did you say?” 
“Yes.” 
“ To prevent the sun from cracking ’em open ? ” 
“ Yes ; that’s what the paper said.” 
“ Did you ever see one cracked open ? ” 
“ No; but the Farm P. Q said the hot sun was likely 
to crack ’em open, unless they were greased.” 
“ And so you greased ’em ? ” 
“ Yes.” 
“ And they didn’t crack open ? ” 
“ No; they died ! ” 
“I don’t blame’em a bit. They would have been 
foolish if they hadn’t! ” 
Then she brought out the Farm P. Q., a 25-cent ad¬ 
vertising sheet, and showed me the nugget of advice 
she had followed. It was nestling among “Bits of 
Poultry Wisdom,” and ran something as follows : 
“ The hot sun of July and August is very severe on 
freshly hatched chicks, burning their backs so seri¬ 
ously as to raise blisters, and even to cause them to 
crack open. To prevent this, and much subsequent 
suffering, their backs should be well greased with 
some oleaginous substance, like lard.” 
By this advice had Mrs. S. slain her chicks, and by 
such “ Bits of Wisdom” is the amateur poultry culti¬ 
vator saddened and ruined. 
“ I have three hens sitting now,” continued Mrs. S. 
“ They will come off in August. Do you think the 
chickens will make gocd fowls ?” 
“ No, I don’t! Chickens hatched after the middle of 
July are rarely fit for anything but the table. Cold 
weather catches them before they arrive at full stature, 
and though they may be correct in color it seldom 
pays to keep them over. You will notice that all late- 
hatched chicks run to feathers instead of size. The 
chilly nights call for warm covering, and that grows 
at the expense of bone and meat. I have seen chickens 
hatched in August as fully feathered as old hens when 
they were no larger than your fist. But go ahead 
with your hatching until the middle of September, if 
your hens want to sit. Late chicks make meat fit for 
a king, and you can have some of the finest broiler 
pies in the world at corn husking time. Don’t try to 
keep the little fellows too late. Nothing looks more 
pitiful than a little chick shivering and creeping about 
the barn when the weather is hovering around zero. 
From the time they are hatched until you cook them 
hustle them along with lots of good feed, and give 
them a warm place to sleep, and they will be as plump 
as quails. Theie is no dish in the world that can 
excel a pie made from chicks weighing 1 to 1% pound, 
and every farmer's wife in the United States may have 
lots of them if she wishes, and at a time when such 
pies are deli ious—pumpkin time ! 
“ This is the kind of pie that makes a boy wish his 
stomach was like unto a barrel. And when he becomes 
a bearded man and drifts hundreds of miles from the 
old home, it is this same pie that he sighs for when he 
feels a vacuum within him. And if, perchance, he 
returns after many years, and his favorite sister asks: 
‘ What would you like best for dinner, John ? ’ the 
answer invariably will be, ‘ A chicken pie like those 
mother used to make.’ Yes, go ahead with your 
hatching Mrs. S., and tickle your boys’ ‘ innards’ with 
broiler pie when the frost is on the corn, and they’ll 
never forget them while life lasts.” feed, grundy. 
Christian County, Ill. 
(Under this heading we propose to print questions that seem to call 
for a variety of answers. We ask all who have any experiences or 
suggestions to offer to talk Into The R. N.-Y.'8 ear at once.) 
Questions About Fungicides. —Does a fungous dis¬ 
ease ever leave the foliage of plants perforated or full 
of small, round holes? My potatoes—Bliss’s Triumph— 
are yellow and dying ; no blight. The leaves are full 
of holes the size of turnip seed. My turnips were in 
the same condition, and I am told the trouble is the 
result of a fungous disease. I think it is the work of 
some insect, but I do not find any on them. What can 
be added to Bordeaux Mixture to make it stick ? Will 
an excess of lime do so ? If so, will it do any harm to 
foliage --r render the mixture less beneficial ? c. e. c. 
B. N.-Y.—This looks to us like the result of the work 
of the flea beetle, earlier in the season. In France, a 
cheap grade of molasses is used, or a small amount of 
glue. 
wards I used from five to six pounds each of vitriol 
and lime to the barrel, applied with a single Vermorel 
nozzle mostly, and sprayed both sides of the rows, 
allowing the team to walk quite slowly. Two or 
three times I used the Boss nozzle and drenched the 
leaves. About June 15 the rains mostly ceased ab¬ 
ruptly, and when I sprayed on the 17th I found many 
of the rust spots on the leaves, and I thought that I 
should have sprayed heavily about the 12th ; but it 
was raining nearly all the time and I waited for a 
partial cessation. By the 23d rot was everywhere. 
Even the Perkins, nearly rot-proof, went about as 
rapidly, and before the month had passed probably 50 
tons of grapes—Concord, Worden, Champion, Per¬ 
kins, Pocklington, Wyoming Red, etc., had gone. 
Perhaps five tons are left—mostly Norton, Cynthiania 
and Delaware. Vines at the end of the rows are in 
the best condition, probably from receiving more 
spray and from being more exposed to air and sun. 
Among over 125 kinds I find the least rot on Cynth¬ 
iania, Norton, Iron-clad, Delaware, Conqueror and 
Ives. But the relative liability changes. What I want 
to know now is, how could I have saved my grapes ? 
Farmingdale, Ill. B. b. 
Rats and Frost in $ilo. —I should like to know a 
good deal more than I know now about siloes and the 
proper way of building them. Three years ago I 
buiLt one in one of the bays of my barn. The exposed 
side is to the west; on the north and east is a hay 
mow ; at the south the barn floor. It is double-boarded 
inside and out, of eight-inch studding, with tarred 
paper between each boarding. The hoards used were 
old but sound, and came from a barn that had been 
blown down during the hurricane of that year. The 
floor consists of pounded clay with coal tar at the 
edges. The size of the silo is 11 by 11 feet and it is 12 
feet deep. September 13 and 14 it was filled with 
common eight rowed corn ripe enough for the old way 
of harvesting the crop. On December 1, after uncover¬ 
ing it and digging down about a foot, I came to what 
I considered a perfect food and so it proved for about 
15 or 20 days when it began to freeze at the sides and 
froze clear to the bottom—about a foot. The next 
year I had the same trouble with frost, and there were 
in addition two or three nice litters of rats at the bot¬ 
tom, which spoiled about 100 baskets. The third and 
last year an increased quantity was frozen ; but there 
were no rats at the bottom, though there were lots of 
them at the top, spoiling a layer about 3% feet deep. 
In spite of all this, however, I am not s ; ck of it, as I 
intend to build one this season in the same place, 18 
by 20 feet, 16 feet deep, 12 feet above ground and four 
below. Now, how can I do this, so as to avoid my 
previous trouble ? j. c. f. 
Rouse’s Point, N. Y. 
What They Say. 
Sprayed with a Broom.— Last year I sprayed my 
potatoes with a mixture consisting of 10 pounds of 
blue vitriol, 8 pounds of air-slaked lime (which had 
been standing around for years), and about 100 gal¬ 
lons of water. I took an old tin pail and a small whisk 
broom and sprinkled the mixture on just as the blight 
began its work. The above amount treated one-toird 
of an acre once, and no second application was needed, 
as the vines remained green till killed by frost, and 
there were only two dozen rotten tubers. There was 
a gain of at least 20 bushels in yield, and a gain also 
in size and quality. I had an excellent chance for 
comparison, as part of the field was not sprayed. 
Vermont. kneel and. 
A Roller on Sod. —I have a hill meadow that is 
run out. I don’t want to lose the use of it for another 
year, in order to summer-fallow it. We are now in 
the midst of a drought, so it is almost impossible to 
plow. Experience here teaches that it is not much 
use to plow an old sod late and seed to wheat at 
once. I have a ton of bone meal to be used on this 
piece. Can’t The Rural come to the rescue and help 
me out ? Could I get rid of the effects of freshly 
plowing a field by settling it firmly with a heavy iron 
roller before and after seeding it ? A. b. s. 
Guysville, Ohio. 
R. N.-Y.—We should plow the field as early as pos¬ 
sible and work it up with a tool like the “ Acme,” 
and roll carefully before and after seeding, as sug¬ 
gested. Those of our readers who have had actual ex¬ 
perience in such a case are invited to tell us about it. 
How Save the Grapes ?—I know that 1 am in need 
of more light, and I write to know wherein I have 
offended the rules of spraying, seeing that my grapes 
have nearly all rotted, while some neighbors who 
have sprayed little or none at all have good crops of 
nearly sound fruit. April, May and the first half of 
June here were very wet. I sprayed grapes first on 
April 18, using three pounds of copper, three of cop¬ 
peras and four of lime to the barrel of water. After- 
A Strawberry Bed.— We all know the present was 
a very unfavorable year for berries on account of the 
dry weather. Last spring I set out 3,000 Sharpless 
and Bubach strawberry plants. In the previous fall 
after the ground had frozen solid, I scattered 25 
wagon-loads of well rotted manure on the laud In 
the spring just before I got ready to plow the ground I 
harrowed it over twice with an Acme—the best tool a 
farmer ever had on his place—then plowed it well and 
harrowed twice more with the Acme, and once with 
the Thomas smoothing harrow and marked it out with 
a corn marker and set the plants out with a spade and 
tried to keep them as free from weeds as possible ; but 
by the time haying was over one could not see the 
berries the purslane was so thick. Before I started in 
to weed them out my hired man said he would rather 
plow the whole thing out, but I s»id, “ No I think I 
shall get a few dollars’ worth of them next year,” and 
to my surprise we picked 3,200 quarts this year, besides 
what we used for home use and gave away, which 
amounted to at least 200 quarts. Now people who say 
fruit growing is overdone should roll up their sleeves 
and go to work, not to sleep. They shouldn’t hang 
around the village store and growl that fruit growing 
does not pay. If they only do their part I am sure 
Nature will do the rest. frank barnes. 
Orange County, N. Y. 
