546 
Iht RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
April 15, 1922 
tbe eaves would add considerable more. Taft’s 
••Greenhouse Construction” would be an excellent 
book for the beginner to have. Any other informa¬ 
tion 1 may give on the other questions may not be 
■very acceptable: $3,000 will not go very far toward 
stocking a 50-acre farm, especially if a good portion 
were put in the property, which would be necessary 
in this section. To purchase a stock of Dahlia or 
Gladiolus bulbs will require a considerable outlay, 
and the returns will be very much more uncertain 
than with straight farming. As an illustration, last 
season was very dry in our locality. The Gladioli 
grown locally sold well during June, and after that 
did not bring much more than half the price of the 
bulbs of the better grade. Again, it is a difficult 
matter to get flowers in June, and only by a freak 
season which permitted planting by the end of 
March was it possible last year. We did not grow 
any. but some neighbors do. Many have tried grow¬ 
ing Dahlias in our heavy soil, and practically all 
have failed. 
Frequently there appear glowing articles in some 
garden or farm papers describing the easy manner 
in which money can be made by growing flowers 
outdoors. I have known some of these articles to 
have been concocted by men who had the bulbs or 
roots to sell from which the crops were to be grown. 
A profitable market would be of more importance 
to the grower of outdoor flowers than the production 
end would be. The best suggestion 1 could make on 
this subject would be to go to either West 28th or 
West 18th Street, just (iff Broadway, and ask some 
of the wholesale florists you will find there what 
opportunity you would have to dispose of your stock. 
Several years ago all flowers that one could grow in 
the Summer time sold readily at good prices. Owing 
to scarcity of labor production was very low. Each 
season the quantity had been increasing steadily, 
and last Summer stock from outdoors simply flooded 
the market, except during June. We anticipate the 
same condition this season. A number of years ago 
we planted a large quantity of asters. Gladioli, etc., 
and for several seasons the prices were fair, but 
each season prices became lower, until finally we 
quit Summer flower-growing entirely, as it was a 
losing proposition. Our production was fairly heavy, 
one season totaling over 350.000 asters grown at a 
loss. It may be possible to build up a profitable 
trade on a small scale by selling direct to tourists 
on some main-traveled highway. 
The profit from the greenhouse area will not be 
very large from a small space. About the best re¬ 
turns the large commercial establishment realizes is 
$1 for each square foot—though the majority of 
plants are operated at a much lower return than 
this figure. 
. A partnership is formed by both parties drawing 
up and signing duplicate papers as to their inten¬ 
tions, finances, etc. The same is dissolved by mutual 
agreement, which fact is usually advertised several 
times in the papers circulating in the locality in 
which the partners live. This advertising is, I 
think, considered necessary. Either one of the part¬ 
ners is personally responsible for the debts con¬ 
tracted by the firm, and the advertisements usually 
contain the information as to who shall continue the 
business, receive money owed to the firm, etc. 
e. J. WEAVER. 
A Satisfied Farmer on Hired Men 
I HAVE read with much interest the various ar¬ 
ticles appearing from time to time in the col¬ 
umns of The It. X.-Y., written from the point of 
view of both employer and employe, the farmer and 
the hired man: I wish to add just a bit to this never- 
ending discussion, something different from anything 
that I have seen in your publication—the tale of a 
farmer who is entirely satisfied with his “hired 
man,” a man who fills his collar every minute of 
the day, and at night, if required ; one with whom I 
have never had a word of disagreement, and never 
censured: who tries to please and do his level best 
at all times, and whom I could not wish changed in 
the least particular. This man and his wife, thank 
God, have children, and little ones at that. Our 
own children are grown up. or nearly so, some of 
whom, are gone from home and making their own 
way in the world. We have always had little chil¬ 
dren in the house, and hope we always will. 
Mrs. Hired Man, a young woman, is not required 
to do a thing on the farm, aside from her own do¬ 
mestic duties, and she is capable, neat and indus¬ 
trious; as much of a thoroughbred as her husband. 
This man is employed on a producing proposition, 
not a rich man’s plaything, work being done almost 
to the entire exclusion of horse flesh by gasoline, 
both in the field and on the road. My man is very 
handy and ingenious, understanding a great deal 
about machinery, and this knowledge comes in very 
handy in taking care of tractor and tractor tools, 
and tbe truck and car. We make short days in the 
Winter, but always busy, and 12 to lb and 17 hours 
in the growing season. All work together, tbe boss 
and tbe hired man on the place, and the day help, 
which at times count from eight to 15 hands, though 
the day help is on a 10-hour day. 
I will not try to tell the reason, or any reason for 
the dissatisfaction that seems to exist in so many 
cases between capital and labor on the farm. I am 
middle age and have been employing labor for nearly 
30 years and have bad my share of experience. One 
man whom I promised to give work for a month 
stayed 15 years as head man. Another whom I 
hired for a year moved, bag and baggage, in less 
than two months, leaving me fiat late in the Spring 
at the very busiest time of tbe year. Maybe it's 
Some folks trace, in pedigree, back to Plymouth 
Rock ; others gain distinction—and a living—from 
the hens carrying the color of the old footstool. 
like getting married. Sometimes two people seem 
to be just suited to each other, and live a lifetime 
of happiness, and again—well, the divorce courts 
are still doing business. Possibly it is one of those 
cases, more or less rare, where two minds act and 
think alike, to the entire satisfaction of both. 
Now, what does this perfect hired man receive as 
recompense? First. $75 a month, 12 months’ full 
time a year, with a week’s vacation, with pay, and 
using the boss's touring care to take said vacation, if 
be wishes to go away from home with his family 
for the week. He has a six-room flat in the same 
house with his employer, with running water in 
the kitchen, use of telephone, milk, eggs and any 
farm products that he may need for his table, with¬ 
out stint, and wood fuel. When the farmer takes 
his car out on a pleasant Summer evening, or for a 
short trip on Sunday afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Hired 
Man and the little ones are loaded in and we are off 
for a perfectly enjoyable trip together. And further 
to show that it is possible for a farmer to got along 
with and appreciate a good, conscientious man and 
to let the man know that he is or was so appre¬ 
ciated, the employer gave this man a $50 Liberty 
bond ns a Christmas present in 1921, at tbe end of 
bis first year on the place, not at all with the idea 
of buying him, but to show him that his boss was as 
much a man as an employer. I am fully and en¬ 
tirely satisfied with this man, his work and his fam¬ 
ily, and 1 have reasons to think that he feels the 
same way about his job, and I hope and trust that it 
will be many years before I am obliged to look for 
another man to take tbe place of this, my “100 per 
cent hired man.” another farmer. 
Trotters for Farm Work 
T IIE gray gelding shown hauling a cultivator is 
Wickham and sired by Card ova. He has a rec¬ 
ord of 2.10 V, on a half-mile track in 1907. and be 
was foaled in 1902. I bought him in 1913 for 
$207.50 and used him as a matinee horse on the 
tracks around Philadelphia. I have driven him a 
mile in 2.10. lie is as game as they make them, 
and I was always sure he would do all he could. 
In 1910 my business compelled me to move to 
Easton, Pa. I bought a five-acre place just outside 
the town and concluded to try my hand at fanning 
in a small way, so I drove Wickham to Easton and 
tried him at farm work. He had never been booked 
to anything heavier than a cart or sulky, and 1 was 
afraid he would not work heavy, but lie works any¬ 
thing I book him to, and will haul out as much 
manure in *a one-horse wagon as any ordinary farm 
horse. I think if tbe farmers would give the out¬ 
classed trotter some consideration they would find 
ii a hard job to get an ordinary bred horse to bold 
their end up with them. Wickham is 20 years old 
tins Summer and has as much grit as when I bought 
him nine years ago. j. c. ezine. 
Easton Pa. 
The “Turken” or Peel Neck Fowl 
I HAVE received from Z. T. Spencer. California, 
one of his so-eailed “Turken” cockerels. I have 
been studying this fowl for the past two months. 
Tr is just a chicken, with no trace of turkey about 
him. lie is an active, independent, self-reliant fel¬ 
low of badly mixed and rather doubtful parentage, 
though I would judge there was some Tmlian Game 
and a fair per cent of Silver Laced Wyandotte blood 
in him. lie is very long in the back, and bis typical 
bare neck gives him a rather wild and weird appear¬ 
ance. Tbe featherless condition is not confined to 
his neck: there are but few feathers under the 
wings, and quite a good-sized perfectly bare patch 
around and extending forward on each side and 
below tbe vent. There are several smaller bare 
places on tbe sides of the body. None of these bare 
places could lie seen without examination. This 
chicken will weigh about 5 lbs, crows like any other 
chicken, and lias whipped all the large Light. Brahma 
roosters on the place. The featherless condition is 
probably due to the same cause as the hornless con¬ 
dition in cattle, whatever that may be. It may be 
due to a lack of secretion or to the improper func¬ 
tioning of the feather plates of the skin in certain 
zones or areas. The bare skin is confined to these 
areas, like a color pattern in animals. 
I am not ready to condemn tbe chicken as worth¬ 
less. A flock nf fowls with tbe build and activity of 
this one should be good layers and rustlers. I want 
to study them and see if I can find out whether 
Nature gave them any good characters in exchange 
for the feathers, or whether she just pulled out the 
feathers and let the chicken go. The chicken is not 
to blame for bis condition. But I want to go on 
record as saying that no one has any more right or 
reason to call this chicken a “Turken” or turkey- 
chicken hybrid than he would have to call a turkey a 
hybrid between a chicken and a turkey buzzard. 
Iowa. HARLOW BOCKH1LL. 
It. N.-Y.—We have had reports of these “peel 
necks” or “leather necks" from various parts of the 
world. There is evidently nothing in the story of 
the turkey-chicken cross. We hear of these fowls 
on the island of Jamaica, where it is said they are 
found in all colors. We have ordered a trio of red 
birds with “peel necks,” and when they arrive we 
will have them pictured. 
Plans for Sterilizing Soil 
I wish to sterilize soil for cucumbers, and would like 
to know how t# make a machine to do it with steam. 
Will 20 lbs. pressure be all right, and how loug should 
the machine remain in "tie place? This same soil has 
grown cucumbers for 25 years. After sterilizing, how 
long should ground stand before planting? Should I 
lime it. and if so, how mueli should I use? The size of 
the house is 25 ft. wide and 200 ft. long. m. c. 
Maine. 
HERE are several practical methods of steril¬ 
izing greenhouse soil, perhaps the simplest 
being the inverted pan. These are generally home¬ 
made affairs. 10x0 ft. and 0 in. deep, constructed of 
galvanized material. It is inverted over the soil, 
and tbe edges ai - e pushed into tbe soil 2 or 3 in. 
The pan is connected with a steam boiler or pipes 
by means of a steam hose, and live steam is run 
into the pan for 40 minutes under a pressure of 100 
lbs. or more. Tbe higher the pressure the more 
thoroughly the soil will be sterilized. Some growers 
sterilize through sub-irrigation tile at tin* bottom of 
tlie bed and others have perforated iron pipes in the 
same place. The beds are covered with blankets 
and steam introduced under pressure of 40 to 80 lbs. 
for about two hours. Lower pressure can be used 
with perforated pipes; the lower the pressure the 
smaller the holes should be for best results. Pipes 
are laid 12 to 15 in. apart and tbe %-iu. holes are 
made <! in. apart in the tapes. 
Steaming makes a physical change in the soil, so 
that it runs together, holding water tenaciously. 
^Therefore it must lie watered lightly and carefully 
at first, or it will become waterlogged and the roots 
will die. It must be worked to the bottom and 
allowed to dry a few days, then worked again. In 
adding new soil or manure sterilize before adding, 
so the main soil will not have to he sterilized again 
for several years. t. h. t. 
