1441 
<uar*. 
we  pave  the  person  to  be  examined  a  sample  of  milk 
which  our  test  showed  to  contain  3.0%  of  fat,  we 
would  allow  them  a  variation  from  3.5  to  3.7.  the 
1-10  variation  either  way  giving  him  sufficient  lee¬ 
way  for  any  circumstances  which  might  affect  the 
reading  of  the  test. 
STANDARDIZING  THE  TEST.— With  the  glass¬ 
ware  tested,  operators  examined  and  licensed,  and 
such  evidence  as  T  have  roughly  described  admitted 
as  competent,  I  believe  that  local  groups  of  dairy¬ 
men,  properly  organized,  could  control  the  matter 
of  testing  to  the  point  where  there  would  be  a 
minimum  of  dishonesty  and  unfairness. 
k.  o.  hei.yar,  Director. 
Morrisville,  N.  A'.,  Ag’l  School. 
The  Farmer  and  the  Hunter 
Young  Orchards  in  Winter 
AVERY  good  practice  for  this  time  of  the  year, 
or  just  before  the  ground  freezes  for  the  Win¬ 
ter,  is  to  go  through  the  young  orchard  cleaning 
away  all  grass  and  trash  from  the  base  of  the  trees, 
after  which  the  soil  should  be  drawn 
up  to  the  trunk,  forming  a  cone  about 
six  iuehe; 
is  in  height. 
Many  fruit  growers  frequently 
complain  of  the  damage  in  their  or¬ 
chards  during  the  Winter  due  to  mice 
gnawing  at  the  collar  and  extending 
downward  to  the  roots,  oftentimes 
completely  girdling  the  trees.  Invar¬ 
iably  upon  examining  the  gnawed 
trees  it  will  be  found  that  these  trees 
had  considerable  grass  or  weeds  close 
to  the  trunk;  affording  desirable 
shelter  for  mice.  By  cleaning  away 
the  rubbish  from  the  base  of  the  trees 
you  will  destroy  the  shelter  and  con¬ 
sequently  save  your  trees  from  rav¬ 
ages  of  mice. 
Occasionally  fruit  growers  ask  if  a 
material  can  be  put  on  the  trunks  of 
trees  during  the  Winter  to  ward  off 
the  mice.  We  know  that  mice  are 
very  persistent,  therefore  no  material 
sprayed  or  painted  onto  the  trunks  of 
trees  has  given  very  satisfactory  re¬ 
sults.  A  better  treatment  is  to  soak  a 
quantity  of  wheat  in  strychnine,  after 
which  a  few  kernels  are  placed  near 
the  base  of  the  tree.  The  kernels 
should  be  put  a  couple  of  inches  under 
the  surface  and  covered  with  a  little 
soil,  to  prevent  birds  or  poultry  from 
finding  the  poisoned,  bait.  It  has  been 
the  writer’s  experience  that  this  treat¬ 
ment  against  mice  injury  has  invari¬ 
ably  given  excellent  results. 
Mounding  up  the  soil  at  the  base  of 
young  trees,  just  before  Winter  sets  in, 
is  a  very  important  practice  in  good 
orchard  management,  thereby  support¬ 
ing  the  tree  and  furthermore  causing 
the  surface  water  to  drain  off.  Whip¬ 
ping  about  of  the  trees  by  the  con¬ 
stant  Winter  winds  causes  large  holes 
to  be  made  iu  the  soil  at  the  collar  of 
the  tree,  in  which  the  surface  water 
collects  and  when  freezing  and  thaw¬ 
ing  begins 
A  Farmhouse  with  its  Curtain  of  Vines.  Fig.  579 
A  Square  Deal  on  Milk  Testing 
Experience  in  Massachu¬ 
setts 
m  sym¬ 
pathy  with  the  feeling  among  milk 
producers  that  they  have  not  always 
received  a  square  deal  at  the  cream¬ 
eries  and  stations  in  the  weighing  and 
testing  of  milk.  My  feeling  is  based 
on  experience  I  hail  in  the  State  of 
Massachusetts  as  an  inspector  in  the 
department  of  foods  and  feeding  of 
the  State  Experiment  Station,  and  in 
which  capacity  it  was  my  duty  to  see 
to  the  operation  of  the  law  licensing 
those  operating  the  Babcock  test  in 
milk 
injury  to  the  roots  is 
bound  to  follow.  Winter  injury  to  the 
roots  is  oftentimes  the  cause  of  pre¬ 
mature  ripening  of  the  fruit,  especially 
upon  young  trees,  and  sometimes  re¬ 
sults  in  dying  of  the  trees  during  the 
growing  season.  Cleaning  away  the 
grass,  etc.,  and  mounding  up  of  the 
.soil  can  both  be  done  at  the  same 
operation,  thus  saving  much  time  and 
protecting  your  young  trees  from 
dishonesty  on  their  part  not  only  forfeits  their  li-  ravages  of  mice  and  Winter  injury, 
cense  but  subjects  them  to  a  fine  of  one  thousand  Cape  M'ay  Co.,  N.  J.  geo.  b.  thrasher. 
dollars  or  a  year’s  imprisonment,  or  both,  this  would 
serve  as  a  great  deterrent  to  those  who  would  be 
dishonest;  secondly,  if  the  law  allowed  as  competent 
evidence  (lie  results  of  tests  of  duplicate  samples  of 
milk  taken  before  two  reputable,  disinterested  wit¬ 
nesses  under  seal  and  under  affidavit,  to  be  tested 
by  some  other  licensed  operator  or  any  competent 
official  of  the  State  Department  of  Agriculture,  so 
that  testers  would  understand  there  was  a  definite 
means  by  which  to  check  their  work,  I  think  this 
would  be  a  factor  to  help  keep  operators  honest. 
Of  course,  in  the  consideration  of  such  evidence  an 
allowance  must  be  made  for  certain  variations,  due 
to  differences  in  the  taking  of  samples,  strength  of 
acids,  etc.,  which  may  occur  with  the  best  of  opera¬ 
tors.  In  Massachusetts  we  used  to  allow  2-10  of 
1%  variation  even  on  the  same  samples,  that  is,  if 
butter  and  cheese  factories, 
depots  and  other  places  where  milk  or 
its  products  were  bought  and  sold 
upon  the  basis  of  the  butterfat  con¬ 
tent  as  determined  by  the  Babcock  test. 
COMPETENT  OPERATORS  NEEDED.— In  my 
work  iu  that  State  I  found  incompetent  men  operat¬ 
ing  the  test.  I  found  faulty  machinery  and  glass¬ 
ware  that  could  not  give  correct  results  no  matter 
how  careful  the  operator.  I  believe  that  there  are 
three  important  points.  Two  of  them  should  he  en¬ 
acted  into  laws.  The  third  one  remains  with  the 
local  dairy  organization,  although  even  this  particu¬ 
lar  phase  of  the  matter  might  be  cured  for  through 
legislation.  The  first  point  is  that  in  every  case 
where  milk  and  its  products  are  bought  on  the 
basis  of  the  butterfat  content  determined  by  the 
Babcock  test,  or  any  other  method,  the  operator 
snail  have  shown  himself  competent  before  proper 
State  authorities  to  operate  that  test,  and  shall 
hold  in  his  possession  as  long  as  the  State  shall 
deem  him  worthy  a  license  authorizing  him  to  make 
rests. 
TESTED  GLASSWARE.— The  second  point  is 
Taming  the  Leghorns.  Fig.  580 
I  HELPED  fill  four  silos  in  our  immediate  com¬ 
munity  this  season.  The  one  on  the  W.  P.  Ritter 
farm  is  the  one  of  which  I  want  to  write.  The  field 
upon  which  the  silage  corn  was  grown  has  been 
planted  to  the  same  crop  eight  successive  years.  It 
was  a  pleasure  to  look  and  work  at  it.  A  number 
of  men  estimated  the  corn  iu  ears  at  100  to  110 
bushels  to  the  acre.  There  are  five  acres,  the  silo 
is  12  by  34  feet.  As  soon  as  the  silo  is  filled  he 
begins  to  feed  from  it.  About  a  week  later  he  fills 
what  space  has  settled  and  then  has  from  four  to 
seven  large  loads  of  corn  left.  I  think  that  ex¬ 
plodes  fhe  theory  that  corn  cannot  be  raised  success¬ 
fully  on  the  same  ground  for  more  than  two  or 
