The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
607 
An English Farmer on Ferrets 
I AM rather a long way off at present, but the old 
“stand-by” arrives every week, just as regularly 
as when I was in the States. Many are my farmer 
friends who come to borrow it. and they all say they 
wish our farm papers over here would give us some¬ 
thing more like The R. N.-Y. I have just read 
your issue of March IS, and notice on page 42;} 
“Y hat About Ferrets?” so T will make an attempt 
at telling you some experiences we had with them. 
Every farmer, gamekeeper, and poacher over here 
(poachers are numerous) has usually anything from 
two to .10 ferrets. These are used almost daily, for 
rats and rabbits are pests over here. The ferrets 
are housed in boxes, with a sleeping compartment, 
and the rest of the box with a wire front. They 
breed once a year, having from two to seven little 
fellows. They are considered hard to raise, being 
blind for several weeks from birth. Nevertheless, 
they are hardy, but. if the mother takes a notion she 
will devour them. They need training before they 
will enter a rabbit’s or rat's hole, but their chief 
schooling consists of getting them used to a man's 
hand. This is not usually a long or tedious job. 
As soon as the little fellows can run around I begin 
to handle them, and once they are caught around 
the neck, it is not much trouble. Then when I have 
them quiet to handle. I take them to the rabbits’ 
or rats’ holes. .Sometimes they will wade in at 
once; sometimes not. If not, let the okl one in, and 
they are nearly sure to follow. Their instinct seems 
to do the job. 
Rabbits usually holt if everything is quiet, outside; 
then one can have some good shooting. Then, again, 
we net the holes and secure bunny this way. Oft- 
times the ferret may kill a rabbit; then you put in a 
ferret with a collar and line on him. lie should 
drive the loose ferret out and remain with the rabbit 
until he is dug out. If a rabbit holts, he is usually 
quite a piece ahead of the ferret, so it is good sport 
for a gun. When all the tenants have been driven 
out. the ferret soon appears, and is picked up to go 
on to the next burrow. I have captured as many 
as do rabbits a day with ferrets, and some days only 
two. The latter may happen when a ferret kills a 
rabbit, eats his fill, then curls up and sleeps beside 
him. Usually a line ferret will find him. and you 
can dig them out, or a well-trained dog will tell 
you where to dig; but in some big burrows a ferret 
is sometimes lost for days; then he will come out 
for water, and is usually picked up. 
Now for rats. Ferrets will certainly move rats. 
A rat bolts every time possible, hut ferrets for 
rats are too fierce for rabbits, because a rabbit 
seems to offer no opposition under ground, and 
a ferret, being slow, would never get near one 
above ground. The way to use a ferret for 
rats is to put him down the hole and either shoot 
the rats or club them, or, better, let the terrier kill 
them as they bolt out. None of our terriers or any 
dogs will, if any use at all. molest a ferret. Rats, 
of course, will get. where a ferret cannot, but we 
ferret all our henhouses, stables, etc., every week, 
and seldom miss a rat. We also ferret our stacks to 
prevent the rats eating all our grain. I know a 
farmer who Iasi week killed 2(51 in his buildings in 
one day with two terriers (fox terriers) and a few 
boys with sticks, and six ferrets. Sometimes if a 
rat is in a tight corner he will tight, but 99 per cent 
of these battles are one-sided, for a ferret is a scrap¬ 
per; but if there is an exit, the rat is out before 
the ferret is near him. I only know of one ferret 
being killed by a rat, and that ferret killed that 
rat in 10 seconds, but the rat’s bite caused blood 
poison. 
Be sure not to let your ferret loose alone iu the 
hen coop, or lie will prove he can kill poultry. If 
he cannot be found before you go to chores, and is 
still under the floor, stop the holes and keep him 
in. for if he emerges in your absence, he will start 
on the first chicken he comes to, and in an hour 
you would swear a machine gunner had been there. 
A ferret will put a weasel or a stoat out in jig time 
if the'hole is big enough for him to get there. I 
put one in a rabbit burrow once, and in three min¬ 
utes he had a. fox out. Only two instances have I 
known of this. A fox could easily kill a ferret, but 
this time he bolted; but had I known lie was in 
there, my ferrets would have stayed out. 
We carry ferrets in bags when working them, 
but if they were left, too long there they would 
scratch a way out. I handle all mine as if they 
were kittens. If I cannot get my hand around their 
necks, I grab their tails. Don’t pinch the ferret's 
stomach or ribs, or he will nip you. I tried to get 
a ferret in the United .States to try him on wood¬ 
chuck and skunk, but could not get one. .Tust get 
your ferrets so you can pick them up easily, and 
you will say they are the cutest little things under 
the sun. Some are dark (nearly black); others 
white. I prefer a white one, as it is easier to see. 
Some say a dark ferret is keener, but I do not think 
so. We feed them bread and milk, or a rat, or a 
dead hen, or an occasional rabbit, and hang the box 
in which they live on a wall or on a stand, with 
plenty of hay to sleep in, and waterproof top and 
sides, and they will be all right. Be sure the half 
side of the box covered in wire is of small mesh or 
they will get out. as they are not loafers. 
Wiltshire. England. j. a. tyler. 
The Cull in the Apple Package 
I WAS reared in the apple country of New York 
State, and when 1 entered the leading market 
of this city this morning and saw a box of cider fruit 
labeled "New York Baldwins." I protested. The 
head clerk said that they came out of a barrel labeled 
(trade A Baldwins, and when I doubted his word, he 
promptly rolled another barrel onto the fioor. and 
showed me the head, with this brand: 
A GRADE 
MIN. 2V-_> IN. 
NEW YORK BALDWINS 
ORIGINAL PACK 
LOCK PORT. NEW YORK 
Swinging a hatchet, he knocked out the head, and 
the sight revealed was one to make angels weep. 
Even the outside layer was far from fancy fruit, 
and. running my hand into the barrel a few inches, 
I pulled out four apples, which I am sending you 
today by parcel post under separate cover. 
Now, sir. as a loyal son of my native State, know¬ 
ing the kind of apples that can be produced there. 
I wonder what can lie done in a situation like this. 
If you tell me that no legislation can make a man 
honest, I will agree with you. but it is a condition 
and not a theory by which we are confronted. West¬ 
ern fruit of naturally inferior flavor is sold in this 
market for more than twice the price it ought to 
bring, and for this reason: That if you buy a box 
branded “fancy fruit,” every apple in the box is up 
to standard, but you talk today to a market man 
about the brand on New York State apples, and he 
will tell you that it means nothing. 
In the present instance they told me the apples 
were purchased not because they expected them to 
be No. 1 fruit, but because they were short of apples, 
and made a hurried purchase of the first dozen 
barrels that came to hand. So far as the brand on 
this particular barrel is concerned, the apples I am 
sending you may be considered No. 1 fruit in New 
York State, but the guaranteed minimum of 2(4 in. 
was certainly a tie. Francis e. Webster. 
Waltham, Mass. 
R- N.-Y.—Three of the apples which were sent by 
Mr. Webster are shown at Fig. 255. care being taken 
to have them appear in their exact size. 
Killing the Peach Curculio 
On page 282—“Brevities”—you state that apparently 
the only way to control peach curculio in Georgia peach 
orchards is to pick up the wormy peaches. You are 
wrong. When Georgia peach growers learn to spray 
right there won’t bo any wormy peaches worth worry¬ 
ing about. They are years behind the times. The 
second brood of curculio is more destructive than the 
first. We have been spraying for it for three years in 
Alabama, and “cotton” farmers have had fruit 08 per 
cent free from curculio after almost complete destruc¬ 
tion when following the plan still in use in much of 
Georgia, See enclosed bulletin, and note the peach 
spray calendar. That's a stiff schedule, but where we 
have two broods of curculio nothing less than a stiff 
schedule will prevent its ravages. Note also that a 
complete fungicide is used every time. That pays, too. 
This is the best schedule in print. Yes, I was the first 
man to recommend such a schedule—and am not ashamed 
of it. I also originated the “hydrated lime-sulphur” 
formula for peaches, too. G. c. starcher. 
Alabama. 
UR authority for the statement came from the 
United States Department of Agriculture. The 
bulletin referred to is Circular 51 issued by the 
Alabama Polytechnic Institute at Auburn. It recom¬ 
mends the use of the self-boiled or .hydrated lime- 
sulphur and 1 lb. of powdered arsenate of lime—or 
2 lbs. of the paste. This is to be used four times— 
first, as soon as the petals have fallen, again two 
weeks later, then three to four weeks after, and 
once more in two weeks. Surely a stiff spraying 
program. This mixture is described as follows iu 
the bulletin: 
Ten pounds hydrated lime. S lbs. sulphur. 8 gallons 
boiling water. 
This is a mixture for use under identically the same 
conditions as self-boiled lime-sulphur. The only dif¬ 
ferences are. (1) that hydrated lime is used in place 
of rock lime; (2 i the substitution of the hear of boiling 
water for the heat of slaking lime. It is a simpler 
method of obtaining the same results, and has the advan¬ 
tages of being freer from objectionable sediment and 
more constant in its composition. Hydrated lime is a 
fine dry powder and does not chan; in composition 
through the season unless it is exposed to air or mois¬ 
ture. while rock lime breaks up rapidly through air 
slaking, and must, therefore, be perfectly fresh to make 
self-boiled lime-sulphur. The mixture is prepared as 
follows: 
The hydrated lime and sulphur are first thoroughly 
mixed iu a dry state, and passed through a sieve made 
of mosquito wire screen having at least 16 meshes per 
inch. After the 10 Ihs, of lime and 8 lbs. of sulphur 
are mixed and sifted, add eight gallons of boiling water 
and stir the mixture slowly for five minutes. Then add 
eight gallons of cold water to lower the temperature, 
after which strain the mixture into the spray barrel, 
or tank, and dilute to make 50 gallons. If it is desired 
to make 100 gallons of spray solution, use twb-e the 
amount of lime and sulphur and 12 gallons of boiling 
water for cooking it. If 200 gallons of solution are 
needed, use 40 lbs. of lime and 12 lbs. of sulphur and 
15 gallons of boiling water. This material is not quite 
as easily agitated (hiring spraying as self-boiled lime- 
sulphur, so the agitator must be working constantly. 
No fire should be under the vessel in which the materials 
are mixed. 
_ 
These Apples Were Taken from a Barrel Marked “A Grade. Min. 2%-inch. Fig. 255 
