Ghe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1589 
The  Game  Season  in  New  York 
I  favor  changing  the  open  season  for  skunks  and 
raccoons  in  New  York.  They  should  be  open  for  trap¬ 
ping  or  hunting  a  month  earlier  at  least.  Can  we  not 
get  together  so  as  to  change  the  law?  s.  .t.  k. 
TIIE  present  open  season  on  the  above  quadru¬ 
peds  was  fixed  by  the  committee  which  had 
charge  of  the  codifying  of  the  law  in  1012,  who 
heard  all  those  who  were  interested  in  these  two 
species  of  fur-hearing  animals.  The  deciding  factor 
was  the  argument  put  forth  by  the  Fur  Dealers’ 
Association,  which  was  directly  responsible  for  giv¬ 
ing  protection  in  the  first  instance  to  skunk  and 
raccoon.  They  desired  when  interesting  themselves 
in  the  passage  of  this  legislation,  to  produce  prime 
fur,  and  advised  the  codifying  committee  that  the 
taking  of  either  skunk  or  raccoon  should  he  pro¬ 
hibited  except  during  the  present,  specified  open  sea¬ 
son,  if  the  object  which  they  sought  to  bring  about 
was  attained,  namely,  first-class  fur.  The  only  de¬ 
viation  from  their  recommendation  was  that  there 
was  a  period  in  October  provided  in  which  raccoons 
could  he  taken  either  in  the  day  time  or  at  night, 
and  in  any  manner  except  by  the 
use  of  traps.  This  would  provide 
an  open  season  in  which  ’coons  could 
be  legally  taken  by  those  who  en¬ 
joyed  a  ’coon  hunt  simply  for  the 
sport. 
There  was  an  amendment  passed 
at  the  last  session  of  the  Legisla¬ 
ture  closing  the  month  of  October, 
as  the  contention  was  that  the  rac¬ 
coon  was  a  valuable  fur-bearing 
animal,  and  should  be  protected  for 
{hat  reason.  Therefore  they  can 
only  he  taken  at  the  present  time 
from  November  10th  to  March  15th. 
This  season  was  fixed,  as  I  have 
stated  above,  on  the  recommenda¬ 
tion  of  the  fur  dealers,  whose  ob¬ 
ject  was  to  have  only  prime  fur 
placed  upon  the  market,  which  is 
far  better  for  the  trappers,  as  the 
price  paid  was  considerably  higher 
than  it  would  be  were  the  furs  of 
an  inferior  quality. 
I  realize  that  it  is  impossible  to 
fix  the  seasons  on  the  different  spe¬ 
cies  of  birds  and  quadrupeds  to 
which  the  law  seeks  to  give  pro¬ 
tection,  so  that  they  will  he  satis¬ 
factory  to  all  concerned;  hut  I  am 
a  firm  believer  that  the  seasons 
having  once  been  fixed,  after  care¬ 
ful  consideration  from  every  stand¬ 
point,  such  as  the  breeding  season, 
etc.,  it  should  not  be  changed,  as 
it  tends  to  bring  about  confusion 
in  the  minds  of  the  public,  and  in  a 
great  many  instances  a  person  will 
violate  the  law  innocently  because 
of  being  unaware  that  the  season 
had  been  changed  from  that  of  last 
year  and  was  now  different  upon 
the  statute  books.  Where  the  sea¬ 
sons  are  fixed  and  are  not  changed, 
the  sporting  and  hunting  public 
become  familiar  Avith  them,  and  do 
not  haAre  to  study  the  conservation 
Iuav  which  gives  protection  to  fish  and  game  every 
time  that  they  care  to  go  afield,  but  know  just 
what  the  season  is.  geo.  d.  pkatt. 
Conservation  Commissioner. 
have  put  in  what  are  known  as  incinerators,  or  de¬ 
vices  for  burning  this  garbage  down  to  an  ash.  In 
this  way  the  stuff  is  promptly  and  quickly  re¬ 
moved  AA'itli  no  odor  or  discomfort. 
Our  friend  learned  of  this,  and  began  to  investi¬ 
gate  the  ashes  which  were  left  from  this  burning, 
lie  found  that  the  hotel-keepers  bad  given  no  at¬ 
tention  to  the  plant  food  in  the  ashes.  This  refuse 
was  being  given  away  and  used  to  some  extent  in 
cement  or  brick  work.  A  sample  of  the  ashes 
from  one  big  hotel  shoAved  about  20 c/c  of  lime,  8% 
or  9%  of  phosphoric  acid  ~\i]  something  under  2% 
of  potash.  Other  samples  of  garbage  ashes  from 
Massachusetts  showed  5%  of  potash.  This  garbage 
consists  mostly  of  refuse  vegetables,  meat  and  bread. 
It  contains  a  considerable  quantity  of  burnt  hone 
more  or  less  fine.  The  sample  shown  us  had  been 
sifted  and  Avas  as  fine  as  flour.  At  one  hotel  alone 
nearly  fi vo  tons  of  these  ashes  were  made  In  a  sin¬ 
gle  Aveek  which  gives  an  idea  of  the  vast  amount 
of  plant  food  produced  at  all  the  hotels /find  which 
hair  formerly  boor?  thrown  away. 
For  months  thO  hot£  proprietors  had  been  givinjj 
through  the  year  an  immense  amount  of  potash  to 
our  plant  food  supply.  Is  it  not  a  singular  thing 
that  the  banana,  grown  in  a  soil  which  is  quite 
lacking  in  potash,  naturally  absorbs  this  vast 
amount,  and  Avhen  shipped  to  the  North  carries  it 
away  to  be  utilized  in  this  faraway  country? 
A  Few  Plant  Food  Wastes 
ALONG  with  the  high  cost  of  living  Avhich  has 
made  so  many  of  our  city  people  rather  hys¬ 
terical  Ave  also  have  the  high  cost  of  fertilizing. 
The  war,  by  shutting  off  supplies  of  potash,  and  to 
some  extent  nitrates,  and  also  increasing  the  price 
of  sulphuric  acid,  has  put  the  plant’s  dinner  into 
the  aristocracy  class. 
The  potash  supply  is  practically  exhausted,  and 
very  little  if  any  Avill  be  sold  in  fertilizes  this  year. 
The  chemists  and  fertilizer  men  are  hunting  every- 
Avliero  for  new  supplies  of  plant  food.  A  friend  in 
this  city  has  made  a  special  search  for  goods  of  this 
sort,  and  made  some  quite  remarkable  discoveries. 
Among  other  things  he  found  that  the  big  New 
York  hotels  have  put  in  private  apparatus  for  burn¬ 
ing  their  garbage.  In  former  years  this  garbage  or 
swill  was  carried  away  by  the  city,  takes  out  into 
the  ocean  and  dumped-  There  was  a  strike  not 
long  ago  by  those  garbage  handlers.  While  it  did 
not  last  long  the  hotel  men  became  frightened  at 
the  thought  of  Avhat  might  happen  if  they  Averq 
obliged  to  face  the  real  thing  in  a  strike.  So  they 
Early  Bearing  of  Duchess  Apples 
WM.  P.  BELDEN  of  Northern  Michigan  sends 
us  the  photograph  reproduced  at  Fig.  923 
as  showing  a  remarkable  growth  on  an  apple  tree, 
lie  says  that  this  tree  was  set  out  in  May,  1915, 
yet  as  the  picture  shows  it  bore  a  well-matured  ap¬ 
ple  this  year.  It  is  of  the  Duchess  variety,  which 
is  precocious  and  an  early  bearer.  This  tree  stands 
on  the  farm  of  the  Northern  Orchards  Company, 
located  in  Marquette  County,  Mich.  This  orchard 
is  more  or  less  of  an  experiment,  but  thus  far  in¬ 
dications  are  that  the  apple  trees  begin  bearing 
at  a  much  earlier  period  than  in  orchards  located 
further  South.  We  have  no  doubt  that  after  this 
picture  is  shown  we  shall  have  many  instances 
from  the  Far  North  where  similar 
things  have  come  to  pass. 
The  orchard  contains  about  3,000 
trees.,  of  which  2,000  are  apple 
trees,  and  1,000  are  cherry,  plum 
and  pear  trees.  The  entire  orchard 
was  set  out  in  May,  1915,  and  grew 
so  rapidly  that  in  the  Spring  of 
1910  most  of  the  cherries  and  some 
of  the  x'lums  Avere  in  bloom.  The 
blossoms  were  picked  off  as  far  as 
possible,  but  some  were  left,  and 
many  scattering  cherries  and  a  few 
plums  matured.  This  orchard  is 
located  about  tAvo  miles  from  the 
south  shore  of  Lake  Superior,  on  a 
hill  which  rises  about  250  feet 
above  lake  level.  There  is  excel¬ 
lent  soil  aud  air  drainage,  and  a 
fair  degree  of  soil  fertility.  On  ac¬ 
count  of  the  altitude,  frosts  do  not 
reach  this  orchard  until  several 
weeks  later  than  the  surrounding 
country  is  affected. 
Judson  N.  Knapp,  the  Veteran  Apple  Grower.  Fig.  624 
the  ashes  aAvay  to  get  rid  of  them.  The  moment 
they  learned  that  the  ashes  had  value  they  imme¬ 
diately  demanded  a  price  which  is  far  beyond  their 
worth.  Someone  Avill  make  a  business  of  collecting 
these  ashes  from  the  city  hotels.  Properly  mixed 
Avith  some  form  of  nitrogen  they  will  make  an  ex¬ 
cellent  fertilizer.  This  shpws  something  of  the  Arast 
amount  of  plant  food  Avliieh  is  being  wasted  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Hudson.  The  time  must  event¬ 
ually  come  Avhen  all  the  wastes  of  this  big  city 
must  he  saved  and  utilized.  New  York  and  other 
large  cities  Avill  be  driven  to  methods  of  this  sort 
in  order  to  protect  the  health  of  the  people,  and 
sooner  or  later  other  towns  and  cities  must  folloAA-. 
Instead  of  dumping  their  refuse  into  streams  and 
lakes  they  must  hum  it  and  save  the  vast  quan¬ 
tities  of  plant  food  now  wasted. 
The  man  referred  to  above  saw  in  The  It.  N.-Y. 
an  account  of  an  experiment  with  banana  skins 
and  stems  in  England.  The  chemists  found  that 
the  banana  refuse  contained  a  larger  percentage  of 
potash  than  any  other  vegetable  product.  Avith  the 
possible  exception  of  sunflowers.  He  finds  upon  in¬ 
vestigation  that  here  in  New  York  the  dealers  are 
throwing  away  enough  of  this  banana  refuse  to 
make  many  tons  of  potash  each  Aveek.  As  it  is 
this  refuse  goes  to  the  dumps,  where  it  is  taken 
cut  into  the  ocean  and  thrown  away.  If  it  could 
he  collected  and  burned  the  TiShe^  would  .a do 
The  Chicken  Thief  Question 
WE  never  had  so  many  com¬ 
plaints  about  poultry  thieves 
as  have  come  this  year.  The  hen 
thief  seems  to  haATe  grown  bolder, 
aud  to  understand  his  business  bet¬ 
ter  than  ever  before.  Some  of 
them  are  experts  at  the  business. 
They  make  use  of  cars  and  even 
auto  trucks;  come  in  gangs  and 
frequently  clean  out  an  entire 
neighborhood  in  one  night.  They 
are  able  to  rush  back  into  the 
town  or  city  and  quickly  dispose 
of  the  birds  to  advantage,  and  it 
is  impossible  to  track  them  in  a  car 
as  would  be  done  if  they  had  a 
horse  and  wagon. 
In  Southeastern  New  England 
this  trouble  has  reached  a  desper¬ 
ate  state,  and  all  through  that 
country  farmers  are  greatly  aroused  about  it.  The 
Southern  Rhode  Island  Farm  Bureau  has  worked 
out  a  plan  to  handle  this  matter.  It  will  he  neces¬ 
sary  to  make  a  close  combination  among  fanners 
in  order  to  work  such  a  scheme  to  advantage,  hut 
something  must  be  done,  or  the  poultry  business 
in  that  section  Avill  simply  cease  in  one  man  pay¬ 
ing  out  his  money  to  raise  the  birds  and  then  have 
another  man  in  a  single  night  raise  them  off  the 
roost  and  I’eceive  the  payment  for  them. 
The  poultry  committee  of  the  Southern  Rhode 
Island  Farm  Bureau  have  recently  formulated  a  plan 
which  if  adopted  will  higve  a  tendency  to  lessen  if  not 
entirely  stop  poultry  thieving  in  this  State.  They 
purpose  to  organize  n  Poultry  Growers’  Protective  As¬ 
sociation,  and  secure  members  in  every  town,  and  of¬ 
ficers  in  every  county.  Detectives  will  be  pledged  to 
work  on  every  case  of  theft  from  a  member  of  the 
association,  and  a  standing  reward  offered  for  the  ar¬ 
rest  and  conviction  of  the  thief.  The  association  will 
also  make  it  tlicir  business  to  see  that  those  con¬ 
victed  uf  lien  thieving  s*hall  get  the  maximum  rather 
than  the  minimum  sentence.  A  system  of  marking 
is  noAV  being  perfected  whereby  the  stolen  poultry  may 
be  identified  when  found  dead  or  alive. 
In  some  sections  conscript  societies  working  on 
a  plan  somewhat  siihilar  to  this  have  cleared  out 
the  horse  thieves.  It  Avas  easy  to  get  away  with 
U  horse  when  only  the  owner  and  one  or  two  neigh¬ 
bors  were  on  the  chase,  but  frith  a  general  alarm 
reaching  members  iu  a  radius  of  25  miles  or  more, 
the  thief  is  quite  sure  to  get  headed  off  somewhere. 
Rural  telephones  have  added  greatly  to  the  effi¬ 
ciency  of  such  work. 
