THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
207 
isoa 
THE EFFECT OF A BONE CUTTER. 
I send the record of 40 pullets fed on the anti-mash 
system, January and February. I do not say it is any¬ 
thing unusual, but was satisfactory. I think it dem¬ 
onstrates the value of green bone and meat scraps 
ground up. Beginning with 42 pullets, two died dur¬ 
ing this record. During the first 14 days the feed was 
mash, grain and animal meal. January 15 the green 
bone cutter arrived: January 1, 4; 2, 6; 3, 4; 4, 5; 5, 
4; 6. 4; 7, 5; 8, 6; 9, 6; 10. 8: 11, 7; 12, 7; 13, 11; 14, 
11; 15, 12; 16, 8; 17, 10; 18, 12; 19, 10; 20, 6; 21, 15; 
22, 11; 23, 11; 24, 12; 25, 13; 26, 14; 27, 12; 28, 16; 29, 
14; 30, 17; 31, 14; total for the month, 295 eggs. Feb¬ 
ruary record for 40 pullets, grade Plymouth Rock: 1, 
25; 2. 19; 3, 19; 4, 22; 5, 25; 6. 22; 7, 22; 8. 26; 9, 25; 
10. 21; 11, 22; 12, 24; 13, 17; 14, 23; 15, 18; 16, 22, 
17, 17; 18, 26; 19, 20; 20, 22; 21, 23; 22, 19; 23, 23; 24. 
15; 25, 25; 26, 15; 27, 14; 28, 19; total for February, 
590 eggs. 
After arrival of bone cutter, no mash was fed— 
simply an intelligent feeding of wheat, buckwheat and 
corn, green cut bone and meat scraps, and having no 
pig, I take all leavings from table, free from water, 
and grind through the green bone cutter, which an¬ 
swers this purpose perfectly. I find that green bone 
and meat grind through as easily again, if allowed 
to freeze up like a rock. The bone then becomes brit¬ 
tle and the meat does not become stringy, besides be¬ 
ing so much easier and cleaner to handle. My supply 
of green bone and meat was precarious, and toward 
the last of February often failed, where before I had 
fed one ounce per hen each day when I had it. This 
shows in the record. Two pullets died. I fed some 
ground-up ham bones, salty, and this may have been 
the cause. These pullets had no outdoor run. Snow 
was very deep, so they had simply the sand scratch¬ 
ing pen. CUTTER. 
Essex Co., N. Y. 
EXPERIENCE WITH AN ICE HOUSE. 
I have read the recent articles in The R. N.-Y. on 
ice houses and ice packing, together with L. W. R.’s 
troubles, on page 83. When he built his house he 
made a mistake in leaving the studding over (out¬ 
side) the sill, thereby leaving the air space open; it 
should be perfectly tight, as dead air is a poor con¬ 
ductor. I am not much of a doctor, but I think I can 
tell L. W. R. why his ice melted in the shape of a 
cone, as he says, and that is, there was not enough 
ventilation at the top. His house should not have 
been ceiled overhead, but would better be left open 
to the roof with a good-sized hole in either end of the 
house near the peak. It is very necessary to have 
plenty of ventilation at the top, in order to keep the 
air over the ice dry. My house has single ceiling and 
siding, with no paper, and we put in between 400 and 
500 cakes, packed the same as C. E. C. would pack, 
but do not pour on water as L. W. R. did last year, 
and instead of dry sawdust we use it wet or green. 
We have plenty of ice to run our creamer through 
(lie season with 12 cows, besides furnishing our neigh¬ 
bors who do not put in ice, nor take The R. N.-Y., 
with ice for their ice cream. j. k. 
Montgomery Co., N. Y. 
DYNAMITE AND STUMPS. 
it is a number of years since I had occasion to use 
the explosive to remove stumps. The more I know 
of it the more disposed I am to give the substance a 
wide berth. There is an element of danger connected 
with its use in the most careful hands. If a charge 
is placed, and it fails to go, it should be attended to 
before forgotten. If not, I would place a new charge 
some place in the stump, and expect its explosion to 
set off the old. The cheapest way to remove a green 
stump of large size is to use dynamite; it is not neces¬ 
sary to use enough to throw out the whole stump, 
splitting or dividing it will answer. When once split 
open, and allowed to air-dry for a few days it can be 
burned out without much trouble. Without splitting 
it will be harder to burn off the top than to burn out 
Hie whole stump from the inside, after it is split. It. 
costs too much to throw out the whole stump with 
dynamite, and besides, it is seldom necessary, because 
where stumps are to be removed there is generally 
enough refuse wood of some kind for use in burning. 
In no case would I farm about a stump any longer 
(ban absolutely necessary. By planning ahead most 
old stumps can be got out without great cost, and at 
a time when they will not require much attention. 
The best time to remove them is when the land is in 
sod, and at times before it is plowed. Most people, 
as I notice, do not think to take out stumps till the 
field is to be plowed, and then is the time that it costs 
(he most to remove them, and the work is often most 
unpleasant. It is a good plan when the soil in the 
Spring is easily spaded to spade about the stumps to 
lie removed, cleaning the soil from the roots as much 
as possible, and as deeply under the stump as can be 
easily done. This need not be a hard job if a good 
ditching spade is used; there is no pleasure in work¬ 
ing with any but a good one. This removing of the soil 
allows the roots to dry out when dry weather comes; 
also the body of the stump will dry out much better. 
When dry weather comes after harvest, or during the 
Fall, set fire to the stumps and let the fire do the 
work of removing. It will often be much easier, safer 
and cheaper to watch the fire than to use dynamite 
to remove the stumps. If stumps are to be removed 
from sod fields that are to be plowed, the grass is 
nearly always so short when the weather is dry that 
there is little danger of the fire running and endanger¬ 
ing other fields with their fences and crops. When 
I had old stumps in my fields I worked this plan and 
found it far preferable to blasting and digging. 
Ohio. JOHN M. JAMISON. 
WINTER NOTES FROM CALIFORNIA. 
We are having a decidedly dry Winter, and we see 
evidences on all sides of hard struggles to keep up 
courage and wait for rain. Fruit growing being our 
greatest interest we naturally look for conditions 
that are favorable for our orchards. Up to the pres¬ 
ent time we have had only about four inches of rain, 
and the soil in which the roots of the trees are im¬ 
bedded is dry and hard. Artificial irrigation is our 
refuge, but does not take the place of rain entirely 
And yet we have about six weeks in which we may 
have abundant rains, and we can only hope and trust 
that it will come. Fruit trees in this valley never 
ALL SEASON’S GARDEN, 66x165 FEET. Fig. 75. 
Figures following the names of varieties indicate length 
of drill in feet. See page 211. 
looked better. A good growth was made last season, 
and there are plenty of fruit buds that look strong 
and healthy. Almonds are in bloom and peaches are 
waking up into the new life of another year. The 
ground has been too dry to plow well, so after a long 
wait we concluded to disk our grain fields and harrow 
in the grain, using only the three or four inches of 
finely pulverized top soil in preference to turning up 
the dry lumps lower down. Our crop, if we get one, 
will be almost entirely beardless Chevalier barley, 
which for hay or grain we prefer to any other. This 
barley does not produce as much weight of straw per 
acre as does common barley, but we consider a ton 
of hay worth about $2 more. The yielu of grain is 
about the same, but the kernels are heavier, with 
less hull than other varieties grown here. Prices of 
feed are advancing steadily as tue limit of the rainy 
season draws near. However, abundant Spring rains 
may give them a lively tumble. 
Our pruning except peach trees is done. The prim¬ 
ings are all bound into fair-sized faggots as fast as 
cut. Next Summer all this brush will be burned un¬ 
der a boiler and make steam for pumping water and 
running a dynamo. We consider that it does not cosc 
much more to pick up, bind and haul out the brush 
than it does to haul out loose and burn, without get¬ 
ting any benefit from it as fuel. You will readily see 
that fuel has been costly in this country when I say 
that four-foot steam wood (redwood and pine) costs 
from $4.50 to $6 per cord. Coal costs $10 per ton for 
the cheapest. Redwood slabs from the lumber mills 
in the Santa Cruz Mountains cost $3 to $3.50 per cord, 
and make excellent fuel for steam boilers. They come 
to us green, however, and have to be kept six months 
or more before they will burn readily, so you see that 
the primings from the orchard are valuable in taking 
the place of fuel that must be bought. We gather 
up and bind all prunings from ornamental trees, also, 
particularly from the pines, Monterey cypress and 
Blue gum trees. From the Blue gum grove of about 
three acres we get many loads of leaves and bark 
that fall from the trees each year. These are fed 
to the fire with a fork and burn with great heat. We 
are just now pulling out an old cypress hedge which 
is making many wagon loads of fine fuel for the en¬ 
gine house. ii. g. keesling. 
Santa Clara Co., Cal. 
A TALK ABOUT MARKETING FRUIT. 
We have read from time to time the articles pub¬ 
lished on selling apples in boxes, and especially the 
recent article by W. H. Outwater. It brings to mind 
some of the troubles experienced by beginners in the 
box businss. Those apples were consigned to me, and 
I sold them under very trying circumstances. The 
results did not discourage me in using boxes, for we 
have used thousands since, and expect you will live 
to see boxes freely used. Keep right on encouraging 
the use of boxes for apples and other fruits, and 
later you will see the results of your effoite. I want 
to say a worn about growers of fruit branding their 
names on packages put up and sold to wholesale 
dealers. We hear much and read more about the 
necessity of growers branding their name on every 
package of fruit they sell. We believe this is as it 
should be, but under the present system, wholesale 
shippers as soon as they get the fruit in their pos¬ 
session, especially when a good lot, immediately 
erase all previous marks and substitute a fictitious 
fancy name. We see day after day this Winter west¬ 
ern Ben Davis sold for New York Northern Spy and 
Missouri Pippin for Vermont Spitzenbergs. With 
such conditions we do not see wherein anybody is 
benefited by the grower’s brand except the first buyer. 
It is and will soon be a matter of great importance 
to apples growers of New York, Vermont and Maine 
to have every apple buyer know whether they are 
getting a New York Spy or a Missouri Ben Davis. 
The time is past when we can expect to hold our 
own either in quantity or good looks with the western 
growers of apples. The only thing that will save 
the eastern grower is quality. This he should ex¬ 
plain on every package he puts up, and his name and 
guarantee should be respected as a trademark that 
tells every user of fruit just where the fruit was 
grown, and by whom. This would encourage the grow¬ 
er to brand his fruit correctly. We believe an ex¬ 
planation regarding our fruit is only a duty we owe 
our patrons and those who consume it. We must let 
them know that a R. I. Greening is a good apple, or 
they will buy the red apple every time. We must let 
them know all about our fruit; it is a part of the fruit 
grower’s business. henry i.utts & son. 
Niagara Co., N. Y. 
ALL SORTS. 
OHIO NOTES.—We have experienced one of Ihe nicest 
Winters for many years in which to go about and get 
work done, but rather dry for the growing wheat. The 
short corn crop has, so far, scarcely been noticed. Money 
seems plentiful, and any farmer who has bought or is 
reported about to buy any property is industriously 
hunted up by his neighbors to solicit him to borrow 
money, if any Is needed. The farmers themselves are 
going into the small towns and crowding the banks and 
loan associations very hard for the loans even there. 
The light corn crop with high prices for feed and live 
stock, and the heavy wheat crop with moderately fair 
price, are responsible. a. f. d. 
New Paris. O. 
PRICES OF POTATOES.—Hindsight Is better than 
foresight to predict (?) prices for seed potatoes. We 
think there is still a good supply in seed-producing sec¬ 
tions, and though prices will be higher than usual, to 
compare with eating stock, we do not look for a very 
heavy advance. We believe that they will retail from 
$3.50 to $4.25 per 165-pound barrel, and wholesale at $2.70 
to $3.25. From our present knowledge, we are inclined to 
believe that the acreage will be decreased, as most farm¬ 
ers had not made much money for several years on the 
potato crop (their own fault, however), and will turn 
their attention to corn and oats. The corn acreage has 
been increasing very fast lately. h. a. m. 
Connecticut. 
PENNSY LVAN lA MILK.—I think the product of about 
1,000 cans is marketed at our nearest shipping station, 
which is Laceyville. Having handled the main part of 
this for four years, though since retired, I consider the 
estimate a conservative one. The chief part of this is 
purchased by the Bradford County Creamery Company, 
which paid during 1901 for six months 7(4 cents per quart 
for cream raised by the “gravity process,” or, as we 
speak of it here, by the Cooley can system. This cream 
has a guaranteed quality of 17(4 per cent butter fat. 
Otherwise they pay New York Milk Exchange prices. A 
number of our friends have made private terms with 
city dealers, which I understand are better, but our chief 
dependence is the outlet above mentioned. The F. S. 
M. P. A. is not in as good standing here as is desirable, 
owing chiefly, 1 believe, to the too hiahlv colored state¬ 
ments put out by those w'ho claim to represent it. .nil 
intelligent dairymen recognize the fact that the effort is 
in the right and only feasible direction, and wish it a 
corresponding success. w. s. 
Spring Hill, Pa. 
