13  52 
e*/>e  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
ful  informal  ion  pertaining  to  the  part  played  by 
micro-organisms  in  soil  fermentation  and  the  pro¬ 
duction  of  available  plant  food.  The  writer  does  not 
propose  to  repeat  the  facts  with  which  the  readers 
of  Tjib  It.  N.-Y.  may  be  to  some  extent  familiar.  He 
does  wish,  however,  to  bring  to  their  attention  some 
recent  investigations  on  the  part  played  by  micro¬ 
organisms  in  the  production  of  sulphur  acids  out  of 
elementary  sulphur  in  the  soil.  It  was  demon¬ 
strated  more  Ulan  20  years  ago  by  Dr.  B,  I).  Hoi¬ 
sted.  of  (lie  New  Jersey  Experiment  Station,  that 
sulphur,  when  applied  in  amounts  of  300  to  000 
pounds  per  acre,  may  serve  to  check  tlio  growth  of 
scab  on  potato  tubers.  More  recent  investigations 
by  the  New  Jersey  Station  show  that,  with  proper 
limitations,  sulphur  may  he  used  economically  for 
this  purpose.  It  is  also  well  known  that  the  use  of 
considerable  quantities  of  lime  or  of  wood  ashes  is 
undesirable  where  potatoes  are  grown  more  or  less 
regularly.  The  use  of  these  materials  is  undesirable, 
since  they  seem  t<>  encourage  the  growth  of  seal)  on 
potato  tubers.  In  fact,  intelligent  and  progressive 
potato  growers  insist  oil  keeping  their  land  acid  so 
that  injury  from  scab  may  lie  reduced  to  a  min¬ 
imum.  It  may  be  asked  now  why  it  is  that  pow¬ 
dered  sulphur  or  flowers  of  sulphur  have  thus  far 
given  the  best  results  in  the  checking  of  injury  from 
potato  scab.  The  answer  to  this  question  will  be 
found  in  the  fact  that  sulphur  is  readily  changed 
in  the  soil  by  micro-organisms  into  sulphuric  acid, 
and  that  the  latter  increases  the  soil  acidity  to  a 
point  where  the  lime-loving  seal)  fungus  is  hindered 
in  its  development.  Tn  some  of  the  recent  experi¬ 
ments  conducted  at  the  New  Jersey  Experiment 
Station  it  has  been  shown  that  sulphur  may  make 
land  too  sour  for  the  growing  of  clover  or  Alfalfa. 
JACOB  0.  T.Il’MAX. 
New  Jersey  Experiment  Station. 
Cutting  Dry  Corn  Fodder  in  the  Silo 
Some  time  last  month  we  had  the  misfortune  to  have 
our  silo  blown  down,  and  were  not  able  to  have  it 
erected  right  away,  so  I  had  to  cat  my  corn  and  shock 
it.  What  would  the  results  be  if  1  put  up  my  silos 
now  and  filled  it  with  the  corn  in  the  shock?  I  have 
heard  that  it  has  been  done,  but  I  want  your  advice 
on  the  matter.  The  corn  being  dry,  it  would  have  to 
be  wetted  as  it  was  put  in.  Do  you  think  it  would 
keep?  Do  you  know  of  anyone  doing  just  that  way? 
Michigan  City,  link  u.  D.  TJ. 
F  this  corn,  unless  in  very  large  shocks,  stands 
in  the  field  till  midwinter  it  will  have  little  act¬ 
ual  feeding  value.  If  this  half-dried  corn  is  put  into 
the  silo  without  plenty  of  water  it  will  fire  fang  and 
be  worth  little,  If  enough  water  is  added  to  make 
good  silage  out  of  it,  the  expense  will  he  consider¬ 
able  unless  you  have  unusual  farm  facilities  for  this 
work.  Corn  in  the  right  condition  for  the  silo  con¬ 
tains  about  SO °/c  water.  By  the  time  you  can  en¬ 
sile  (his  shocked  corn  it  will  have  lost,  probably  one- 
balf  of  its  water.  To  restore  all  of  the  evaporated 
water,  therefore,  will  require  the  addition  of  about 
150  gallons  of  water  to  every  ton  of  the  half-dried 
fodder.  If  this  water  must  be  hauled  it  will  be  ail 
expensive  job.  It  is  a  question  bow  much  less  than 
tills  will  answer.  From  an  experience  a  number  of 
years  ago,  I  am  led  to  venture  the  following  sug¬ 
gestion  :  If  you  can  keep  water  running  into  the 
blower  through  a  %-inch  hose,  and  will  take  special 
pains  to  pack  the  cut  corn  into  the  silo,  you  may 
expect  good  results.  The  need  of  care  in  packing 
arises  from  the  fact  that,  the  pith  of  the  stalk  con¬ 
tains  much  air.  and  the  shell  has  hardened  so  that 
there  is  great  difficulty  in  excluding  the  excessive 
air.  Too  much  air  occasions  violent  heating  and 
white  mold  or  firefangiug.  Unless  the  water  is  run 
into  the  blower  with  the  com  and  all  thoroughly 
wet,  the  result  will  not  he  good.  There  will  be  dry 
spots  and  wet.  spots,  which  will  likely  mean  moldy 
spots  in  the  silage.  f.  l.  allen. 
Ohio. 
AT  this  time  of  year  the  wise  poultryman  will  bo 
looking  around  for  male  birds  to  use  with  his 
selected  hens  for  next  year’s  breeding.  More  fail¬ 
ures  in  poultry-keeping  are  due  to  lack  of  care  in 
breeding,  than  to  any  other  cause.  Farmers  as  a 
rule  suffer  most  by  this  lack  of  care.  If  they  swap 
roosters  with  some  neighbor,  not  knowing  whether 
the  bird  they  get  is  bred  from  a  50-egg  hen  or  a 
150-egg — their  main  care  being  to  get  one  as  heavy 
as  the  one  they  gave — they  are  not  very  likely  to 
improve  the  egg  output  of  their  own  flocks  by  such 
exchange. 
If  the  farmer  looks  over  the  advertisements  of  his 
farm  paper,  he  is  far  more  likely  to  buy  one  of  the 
cheapest  birds  offered  than  one  of  the  best.  It  seems 
to  him  preposterous  to  pay  ten  dollars  for  a  roos¬ 
ter,  though  he  has  been  educated  by  years  of  ham¬ 
mering  through  dairy  associations  and  the  press, 
into  realizing  that  it  is  worth  while  to  pay  $100  for 
a  hull. 
But  let.  as  see  how  it  figures  out.  Suppose  he 
luys  a  really  good  cockerel  bred  for  generations 
from  high -producing  hens,  and  pays  ten  dollars  for 
him.  If  they  are  Leghorns,  he  selects  the  liens 
along  last  of  October  that  have  not  yet  molted,  that 
are  rough-looking,  legs  and  beak  white,  having  lost 
all  their  yellow  color;  and  puts  say  15  of  these  hens 
with  the  ten-dollar  cockerel.  Next  Spring,  March, 
April  and  May.  lie  sets  every  egg  from  this  pen. 
If  the  15  lay  only  10  eggs  a  day,  he  will  have  900 
eggs.  Hatching  say  7<>0  chicks  and  allowing  for 
losses  from  cats,  hawks,  etc.,  he  should  have  in  the 
Fall  500  birds — 250  pullets  and  as  many  cockerels. 
At  the  very  lowest  calculation  those  well-bred  ind¬ 
icts  would  lay  a  dozen  eggs  each  the  first  season 
more  than  common-bred  birds.  At  30  cents  a  dozen, 
which  is  about  the  average  price  in  New  England, 
that  would  mean  $75  additional  profit  on  an  invest¬ 
ment  of  ten  dollars.  And  yet  the  average  farmer 
The  Regal  Grape.  Fig.  556.  See  page  1364 
would  think  he  could  not  possibly  afford  such  a 
1  rice  for  a  rooster.  T  realize  that  one  has  to  grow 
to  it.  The  first  time  I  paid  $5  for  a  cockerel  I 
thought  it  an  awful  price  to  pay,  but  after  seeing 
the  advantage  of  if  for  a  year  or  two,  I  could  pay 
ten  dollars  for  a  bird  with  less  inward  remonstrance 
than  1  had  before  felt  when  paying  $5. 
OEO.  A.  COSO  HOVE. 
What  the  Law  Allows 
I  wish  to  post  signs  oil  my  farm  hi  Ulster  Co..  N.  Y., 
1  efore  the  hunting  season  opens,  and  want  to  make 
them  read  as  short  as  "possible.  Is  "Trespassing  For¬ 
bidden”  or  “No  Trespassing"  sufficient  according  to  law, 
or  must  my  mime  be  underneath  ?  A.  A. 
New  York. 
We  are  very  much  annoyed  by  hunters  leaving  gates 
open,  tearing  down  fences,  in  some  cases  stock  has 
bei  n  shot,  and  there  are  numerous  annoyances.  Sun¬ 
day  seems  to  be  their  special  day.  The  laud  is  posted, 
though  it  has  not  been  advertised  as  such  in  a  news¬ 
paper.  They  are  as  a  rule  lawless  and  impudent,  nearly 
all  are  strangers  to  us.  Is  there  any  law  that  forbids 
hunting  and  shooting  on  Sunday?  Is  there  no  way 
that  this  nuisance  can  he  abated  and  these  ruffians 
Cheeked  in  their  lawless  depredations?  Fabmeh. 
New  York. 
THE  COMPLAINT.— Every  year,  our  farmers 
complain  when  hunters,  motorists,  tramps  or 
other  people  cross  their  farms,  leaving  gates  open; 
October  28.  1910. 
occasionally  shooting  stock  or  chickens,  or  setting 
lire  to  the  woods,  stealing  apples,  pumpkins  and 
chestnuts,  and  doing  many  annoying  things  that  are 
illegal  and  from  which  the  farmer  should  he  pro¬ 
tected. 
WHO'S  WHO. — The  farmers  living  along  the  State 
highways  suffer  most  from  the  city  motorists,  who 
seems  to  have  an  idea  that  city  manners  and  laws 
do  not  hold  good  in  the  country.  Tim  farmers  near 
mill  towns  are  bothered  mostly  by  foreigners  and 
young  men  from  town  who  are,  as  a  rule,  bold  and 
impudent. 
THE  LAW. — There  are  two  laws  covering  this 
matter,  tin*  penal  law,  including  portions  of  the  so- 
called  "old  blue  laws,”  and  the  hunting  or  conser¬ 
vation  law.  The  penal  law  provides  that  any  per¬ 
son  may  arrest  anyone  committing  a  crime  or  mis¬ 
demeanor  in  his  presence,  and  that,  hunting  on  Sun¬ 
day  is  a  misdemeanor.  The  penal  law  (Sec.  2145) 
making  Sunday  hunting  a  misdemeanor  is  nearly 
one  hundred  years  old,  and  is  very  rarely  enforced 
and  since  Sunday  hunting  is  quite  generally  in¬ 
dulged  in,  it  is  not  practicable  for  an  individual  to 
try  to  Stop  it  or  exercise  the  right  of  arrest,  men¬ 
tioned  above,  unless  the  whole  community  cooper¬ 
ate  in  the  effort,  and  fair  warning  is  given  of 
such  a  movement  by  newspaper  notices  or  posters. 
The  bunting  or  conservation  law  provides  a  cer¬ 
tain  amount  of  protection  and  relief.  The  “hunting 
law"  provides  that  first,  any  owner  or  owners,  or 
lessee  or  lessees  of  farm  lands  and  their  immediate 
family  or  families,  occupying  and  cultivating  the 
same,  may  hunt,  fish  or  trap  in  season,  without  a 
license,  on  their  own  lands.  That  minors  under  16 
years  of  age  may  trap  fur-hearing  animals  in  sea¬ 
son,  without  license.  That,  a  farmer  or  his  author¬ 
ised  agent  may  kill  hares  and  rabbits  at  any  time 
they  are  damaging  bis  property,  except  by  the  use 
of  ferrets.  Any  other  person  hunting  must  have  a 
license  on  his  person  when  hunting  “and  shall  ex¬ 
hibit  the  same  for  inspection  to  any  protector  or  of¬ 
ficer  or  other  person  requesting  to  see  the  same.” 
After  Jan.  1,  1017,  he  must  also  wear  a  license  but¬ 
ton  in  a  conspicuous  place  on  bis  clothing  and  they 
shall  limit  only  in  season.  For  a  citizen,  resident  for 
six  months  in  the  State,  the  license  is  $1.10;  for  a 
non-resident  or  an  alien  not  a  citizen  the  license 
and  fee  is  $10.50.  This  last  fee  is  large  enough  to 
afford  some  protection  from  the  foreign  element 
from  mill  towns. 
PENALTIES  UNDER  THE  CONSERVATION 
LAW. — Prosecutions  may  be  brought  by  any  person 
upon  order  of  the  Conservation  Commission  in  the 
name  of  the  people  of  the  State, (Sec.  1*5,  sub.  d. 
10)  and  may  be  brought  before  a  justice  of  the  peace 
(Sec.  26).  The  fines  range  from  ten  to  one  hundred 
dollars — any  violation  of  the  license  law  or  the 
game  law  is  a  misdemeanor. 
POSTING  LAND. — The  law  provides  that  “no¬ 
tices  or  sign  boards  not  less  than  one  foot  square 
warning  all  persons  against  hunting  or  fishing  or 
trespassing  thereon  for  that  purpose,  shall  be  con¬ 
spicuously  ] tasted  and  maintained,  not  more  than 
40  rods  apart"  It  is  not  necessary  that  these  bear 
the  name  of  the  owner,  although  it  is  better  if  they 
are  signed  by  the  owner.  Signs  printed  on  cloth, 
ready  to  tack  on  boards  or  trees,  can  be  purchased 
from  printing  offices  at  about  a  dollar  a  dozen,  they 
read  as  follows: 
“NOTICE.  Hunting,  fishing  or  trespassing  on  these 
premises  is  forbidden,  under  the  provision  of  Sec.  3(!2 
of  the  Conservation  Law,  and  violations  will  be  prose¬ 
cuted  for  misdemeanor  under  See.  36  of  said  law.” 
HOW  TO  PROCEED. — A  farmer  may  be  made  a 
deputy  constable  or  deputy  sheriff  with  power  on 
ami  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  his  own  property, 
by  applying  to  his  town  hoard  or  county  sheriff. 
This  gives  him  more  authority  to  make  arrests, 
without  being  liable  to  suits  for  false  arrest  or 
malicious  persecutions.  If  a  person  is  hunting  or 
trespassing  and  doing  any  damage,  the  farmer  can 
ask  to  see  the  license,  and  so  get  the  name  of  the 
offender.  If  the  trespasser  has  no  license  or  is  not 
limiting,  the  farmer  has  to  ask  the  name,  or  find 
il  out  by  any  means  lie  can  devise,  and  bring  civil 
suit  for  damages  in  the  justice  or  other  court,  or  if 
the  offense  is  a  misdemeanor  under  the  conservation 
law,  such  as  hunting  without  a  license  out  of  sea¬ 
son,  he  must  report  the  fact  to  the  local  game  pro¬ 
tector  or  the  Conservation  Committee  In  Albany, 
and  ask  for  a  prosecution.  It  is  not  wise  for  a  per¬ 
son  to  try  to  make  ail  arrest,  unless  lie  has  been 
made  a  deputy,  and  then,  only  when  the  trespasser 
has  done  some  real  damage  or  is  acting  in  direct 
violation  of  the  law.  The  mere  act  of  trespassing 
is  not  held  to  be  at  all  serious  and  any  prosecution 
attempted  bad  better  be  taken  up  through  the  local 
justice  of  the  peace.  e.  w.  m. 
“  Figuring  It  Out” 
The  Farmer  and  the  Hunter 
