388 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 11, 1922 
Mapes the Hen Man Talks Again 
Readers who saw the January 21 issue 
of Tiie R. N.-Y. may be interested to 
know that our hens and cows hit the 
$1,000 mark for the month of December 
and had over .$80 to spare. Of this the 
amount credited to the cows, after de¬ 
ducting pool expenses, was $153.91. and 
to the hens $934.80. The amount of pool 
expeuses was $3.76. 
One reader asks if I allow the hens to 
eat the pumpkin seeds, and says that as a 
boy he used to feed pumpkin seeds to hens 
and make them act “tipsy.” As a boy I 
spent many an hour with cold lingers re¬ 
moving seeds from pumpkins before feed¬ 
ing them to father's cows. He thought 
they would be injurious to the cows in 
some way, but I do not recall any claim 
that they would get “tipsy.” At any 
rate, my hens eat all the seeds without 
apparent harm to them. I know of noth¬ 
ing that they are more eager for, except 
it be the yolk of a broken egg. I tried 
cutting the pumpkins with a shovel, but 
was all the time in danger of cutting a 
ben’s bead off, they were so eager to grab 
every seed as soon as it was exposed to 
sight. Pumpkins are splendid feed for 
either hens or cows during the months of 
October. November and December, but 
canuot well be kept much longer. They 
are so much easier to raise than beets 
that I try to raise a few for the hens 
every year. The Cushaw pumpkin of the 
seed catalogues, sometimes called Winter 
Crookneck squash, are bug-proof with me. 
when squash bugs will destroy nearly 
every plant of Boston Marrow or Hub¬ 
bard right beside them. I raised about 
five tons last Summer on a third of an 
acre, and the heus ate nearly all of them, 
seeds and all. except the outer shell. 
I planted in rows 10 to 12 ft. apart, 
with the hills about 6 ft. apart in the row, 
using four to five seeds to a bill, and 
thinning to three plants to a hill. A 
strip about four furrows wide where each 
row was to be planted bad an extra ap¬ 
plication of mixed hen manure and cow 
manure. This was replowed the first 
week iu June, and the seed planted on the 
ridge made by the back furrowing. The 
soil was warm, moist and full of plant 
food, and very little cultivation was re¬ 
quired before the vines with their big 
leaves began to spread, and occupied the 
ground to the exclusion of all weeds. The 
only attention required after that was to 
clip the ends of vines that wanted to climb 
upon the grapevines and young fruit trees 
growing between the rows. Many speci¬ 
mens weighed 30 lbs. each, and a few 
weighed 40 lbs. or over. I do not know 
the amount of digestible nutrients in a 
pumpkin, but judge it at least equal or 
superior to fodder corn as it is usually 
grown. Incidentally, there is no better 
timber for pumpkin pie. 
Mr. Mapes’ article about that paragon 
grandson is wonderful, but now, honest, 
where is there the inducement that keeps 
an lS-year-old lad on the job? Mr. 
Mapes isn’t holding the big stick over 
him. so I think the thing (that is. that 
dav’s work), happened once and the rest 
of the time poor Mapes wanders around 
with a milk pail and feed bucket mutter¬ 
ing "that darn boy/’ I bet you dollars 
to doughnuts he is fairy-taling. 
E. WAKE-MAX. 
The above is a fair sample of the way 
many farmers “knock" their own calling. 
Why should he not “stay on the job?” 
If there is any “big stick” in this case it 
is the one which fell nearly two years 
ago, when William’s father died and left 
him as the principal bread-winner for 
his mother and younger sisters. Does Mr. 
Wakeman think there are no young heroes 
who will respond to such a call to be 
found outside of story books? He is do¬ 
ing a man’s work for me, and drawing a 
man’s pay for it. Aside from that. I en¬ 
couraged him to try to raise a flock of 
chickens for himself outside of his work¬ 
ing hours here. He was given the use of 
my incubator after I was through with 
it, and also the use of one of my houses 
that was standing idle for the Summer. 
With a little help from his mother and 
sisters he succeeded in hatching enough 
about June 1 to give him 230 late pul¬ 
lets. Fie now has them in part of an old 
barn on his mother’s place, and tells me 
that yesterday (February 7) they laid 
better than GO per cent, although he has 
nothing but lanterns for lights. The egg 
yield for the entire month of January 
averaged 12S eggs a day from the 230 
late pullets. This is 55 per cent per day 
for the entire month. They sold for enough 
to leave him over $100 for the month 
after paying their feed bills. He can now 
buy all the skim-milk he wants delivered 
at the door for two cents per gallon, and 
is trying hard by crowding them with 
corn and skim-milk to keep them from 
taking a Winter slump, as so many pul¬ 
lets have doue after laying well for a 
time under lights. We have a neighbor 
who has a flock of 240 that laid well dur¬ 
ing November and early December, after 
which they slumped from 130 eggs a day 
to 29 eggs a day. Two of my flocks have 
showed tendencies of doing the same 
thing, but I have been able to keep them 
above the 40 per cent mark as yet. 
After we got our birds penned for the 
Winter he expressed a desire ^o feed part 
of thorn just as be thought best, so I gave 
him “the key to the feed store.” and told 
him to go ahead, In the toss-up for first 
choice he w T on on the pullet pen and I 
won on the old hens pen. I had been 
using dry buttermilk powder in the dry 
mash, and cracked corn and oats for 
scratch grain. I made no change, and 
his principal change was to add wheat to 
the corn and oats, and substitute semi¬ 
solid buttermilk for the buttermilk pow¬ 
der, at the same time giving a little wet 
mash once a day. After a contest of some 
six w'eeks the egg sheets showed that he 
was a little ahead with the pullet pen 
and I was about as much ahead with the 
pen of old hens, so we called it a draw. 
The dry buttermilk in the mash involves 
much less labor than the semi-solid goods. 
All these little things help to keep “the 
job" from getting stale. 
The advent of the automobile and the 
telephone has worked a wonderful change 
in life on the farm. For instance, the 
State normal school at New Paltz is 
within easy driving distance of as, where 
they have about 300 students of the fe¬ 
male sex and but three of the male sex. 
It is the custom there to have one recep¬ 
tion and dance each year, when each stu¬ 
dent can invite one guest of the opposite 
sex. It happened that at the instant 
when that horrible catastrophe happened 
at Washington, and the roof of the 
Knickerbocker movie picture house fell, 
William was having “the time of his life” 
as a guest of one of “the 300.” lie is 
anxious to attend some of the Farmers’ 
Week meetings at Cornell, and I am just 
as anxious to have him go. As my sec¬ 
ond man is now on hand, he is looking 
forward to that. 
It looks easy in print after it is done, 
but beware! The R. N.-Y. is primarily a 
paper for the farmer and his family. If 
city people will persist iu reading a farm 
paper and get enthused to the point of 
undertaking the impossible, with the 
amount of real knowledge and real money 
they have. I assume no responsibility. I 
do believe, however, that many farm boys 
and girls can emulate William's example 
with some of their spare time with profit, 
both financial and educational. 
Orange Co., N. Y. o. w. mapes. 
Ailing Animals 
By Dr. A. S. Alexander 
Coughing Pig 
I have a pig that is coughing very bad. 
It was sick for two weeks with a sore 
throat, but the swelling is gone. E. P. 
New Jersey. 
The coughing will be likely to subside 
ns the weather warms up, unless there are 
ulcers upon the lining membrane of the 
mouth and throat. It would be well to 
catch the pig and examine the throat. If 
ulcers, or yellow spots are seen, they 
should be swabbed with 25 per cent 
argyrol solutiou and then well sprayed 
with a 1 per cent solution of perman¬ 
ganate of potash. Afterwards spraying 
daily with one part of peroxide of hydro¬ 
gen and five parts of boiled water should 
suffice, but. if it is uot soon effective, 
swab again and then use a stronger solu¬ 
tion of peroxide. Once daily rub into the 
throat from ear to ear a mixture of one 
part of pure turpentine and seven parts of 
melted lard or sweet oil. Feed ship, and 
if the coughing persists, give the pig 10 
grains of chlorid of ammonia two or 
three times daily and, if necessary, in¬ 
crease the dose. Glyco-heroin is also ef¬ 
fective for cough. The dose is one tea¬ 
spoonful aud up. two or three times daily, 
according to age and size of animal. 
Pining Goat 
Can you tell me what ails a milk goat 
that eats the boards of her stall, leaving 
good grain and hay or vegetables to chew 
at the boards? She is very poor, growing 
so all the time. _ I gave her 3^4 ounces 
of a blue vitriol solution advised for 
worms in a bulletin once in December; 
don’t know wlmt to do next. c. R. 
New Hampshire. 
It is to be feared that the goat has 
takosis, regarding which disease the Unit¬ 
ed States Department of Agriculture pub¬ 
lished a special bulletin some years ago 
and which may still be available. No 
remedy was found, neither was the exact 
cause discovered. In that disease, how¬ 
ever, fever was present, and the malady 
spread to other goats. In the case in 
question there may be some internal 
growth or tumor, or the goat may have 
swallowed a sharp object, such as a nail 
or wire, which has penetrated the wall of 
the stomach, diaphragm and sac of the 
heart. The latter condition is termed 
traumatic pericarditis and is incurable. 
We think it quite likely that it is pres¬ 
ent. Were worms the cause you would 
find them iu the droppings. The blue- 
stone Solution mentioned is excellent for 
stomach worms of goats as well as sheep, 
and some help in ridding them of tape¬ 
worms. The dose should be repeated in 
10 days. As a tonic, give the goat twice 
daily five drops of fluid extract of mix 
vomica and 15 drops of fluid extract of 
gentian root in a little water. Increase 
the dose one drop every other day, hut go 
back to the original dose if any alarming 
symptoms appear. Have a post-mortem 
examination made by a veterinarian if the 
goat dies. 
Spraying Teat 
When I milk one of my cows one of the 
teats sprays the milk in several divergent 
directions, instead of a solid stream. As 
it thus goes pretty much everywhere, in¬ 
cluding up my sleeve, it is provoking. Is 
there any remedy? H. p. B. 
New Jersey. 
If you squeeze the teat you will probably 
notice that little warty growths protrude 
from the opening through which milk 
flows. These warts may be reamed out 
with a small, sterilized scalpel, or scraped 
off by means of a sharp-edged inverted 
cone fixed on a little rod, passed into the 
teat and pulled downwards while the tis¬ 
sues are held firmly against the inserted 
instrument. Great care must be taken to 
sterilize the instrument aud teat before 
operating. The teat should be immersed 
for five minutes or more in a hot 1-to- 
1,000 solution of chinosol or in hot water 
containing all the boric acid it will dis¬ 
solve. Sterilize the instruments by boil¬ 
ing for 20 minutes. Another plan is to 
out down through the obstruction or stric¬ 
ture in four different directions with a 
sterilized teat bistoury or teat slitter. 
Afterward a stream of milk should be 
stripped away frequently during the peal¬ 
ing process, so that the orifice may he 
kept open. Some veterinarians treat the 
condition by twisting a little hit of steril¬ 
ized cotton on a toothpick, saturating it 
with carbolic acid and inserting it in the 
opening of the teat. It is left, there for 
20 minutes to buru out the growth. This 
is a somewhat dangerous practice. Some 
dairymen insert a cleau clove between 
milkings. 
Mr R. A. Wellnitz of New Jersey sends us this picture of a young garden operator. He 
thinks it might be called “This fellow believes iu doing little things in a large way.” 
Surely that is better than to try to do large things in a small way. Spring is almost 
upon us now, and we shall soon bc j at our gardens. The sooner the better after this 
long and drab Winter. 
