1002 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
847 
WHAT SHARE FOR DAIRY TENANT? 
Suggestions from Practical Experience. 
What proportion of the profits of a dairy farm should 
a man who works it on shares have when the owner fur- 
nishes everything except the labor? Is there any work 
published giving a basis of agreement in such cases when 
different conditions govern? subscriber. 
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
In my experience and observation the owner has 
furnished the dairy either by direct purchase of cows 
or through an arrangement with the tenant to raise 
the calves. The owner also furnished the grass and 
clover seed, material for building or repairing fences. 
Where silage was fed it was our practice to supply 
all of the seed corn. Each party furnished one-half 
of all purchased grains for the dairy. We demanded 
liberal feeding of the dairy, and to induce it furnish¬ 
ed one-half of the grain for the horses, which were 
owned by the tenant, whether purchased or home 
grown. Each party furnished one-half of the seed 
grain, seed potatoes, or any other crop from which 
each party received one-half. All of the coarse foods, 
such as hay, straw, silage and cornstalks remained 
upon the farm, and belonged to the owner. The own¬ 
er was on this account obliged to supply in some form 
sufficient roughage for the stock. All voidings from 
the animals were also to remain upon the farm. 
One of the most difficult problems to solve is the re¬ 
newing of the dairy. If the owner prefers to buy 
cows, no trouble is encountered. This is quite ex¬ 
pensive, and we obviated it by requiring the tenant 
to raise a given number of heifer calves each year. 
In the Fall we would buy his interest and take them 
away to a place where no second party was interested, 
grow them to their two-year-old form and return 
ready to take their place in the dairy. 
Another system which we practiced 
for several years has much to com¬ 
mend it—where a tenant remains a 
term of years. He raises the calves 
upon undivided foods to the time 
Avhen they drop their first calves. 
Then each party receives one-half of 
the returns from an equal number of 
cows that are sold. This plan prompt¬ 
ed the tenant to feed full rations to 
cows that were likely soon to leave 
the dairy tor any reason, and thereby 
obtain beef prices for them. While 
each system has its drawbacks the 
last mentioned I think has the least. . 
In our section milk is either sold in 
bulk or manufactured into cheese or 
butter at the factories. Where sold 
outright of course each party has one- 
half. When manufactured it has come 
to be quite generally adopted for each 
party to pay one-half the expense of 
manufacture. Formerly the tenant 
paid the cost of manufacture, while 
each party paid his share of the fur¬ 
nishing, that is boxes, tubs, salt, etc. 
Each party pays one-half of all taxes, 
except the road tax, which is, I am 
sorry to say, still “worked out.” This 
the tenant does. Where the road tax is paid I am 
unable to say what the adjustment may be. It is cus¬ 
tomary to allow the tenant to cut all or a fixed 
amount of firewood, provided the farm is so fortu¬ 
nate as to possess available wood land. The tenant 
is to perform all of the labor connected with the farm 
in a workmanlike manner, which does not count for 
much, because each party may have an entirely dif¬ 
ferent standard, and just on this account we have 
changed from the tenant system to hired help. There 
is now but one recognized head. It is very hard to 
bind a tenant to make any repairs; in fact, he could 
not be expected to make permanent additions to build¬ 
ings, but he can if material is supplied him, often in 
a very few moments, nail a broken board or put in 
a light of glass that will if neglected cost more in 
the end. 
The hogs kept are owned equally by both parties, 
fed upon foods belonging to both, and all sales are 
therefore equally divided. The tenant also has his 
house rent and garden and milk for the family use 
without cost to him. Tenants are often bound up so 
tight that they find it hard to fulfill the require¬ 
ments. No contract, however rigid or arbitrary, can 
make a good man out of a poor one, but when you 
get a good man it will certainly pay to be liberal 
with him. I have seen many good tenants spoiled by 
a close penurious policy on the part of the owner. 
These men are often without capital, in fact usually 
so, and cannot tide over a hard time without loss to 
both parties. At such critical times a little help from 
the owner, a few days’ work perhaps with a team in 
seeding time or haying, maybe harvesting, will not 
only encourage this man, but secure a larger crop at 
a very small outlay. We always followed this prac¬ 
tice when renting, and found our tenants not only 
made money, but also were much more satisfactory 
to us than the tenants who were arbitrarily treated. 
These last suggestions may not be relevant to the 
question, but it is after all in my experience the es¬ 
sential, rather than the arbitrary writings drawn 
and signed. _ h. e. cook. 
A WEST VIRGINIA APPLE HOUSE. 
Will some of your readers who have had experience, 
please give me a plan for an apple house? Shall I use 
"dead air" spaces or stuff the walls with sawdust, which 
is the only stuffing material available? If I use the 
"dead air" spaces, will heavy sheathing paper (40 pounds 
to roll) be sufficient for separating- these spaces? Of 
course, I would have it so arranged that the paper would 
lap on a studding, and would nail a striD one inch thick 
on every studding, thus making one-inch air spaces. 
How thick a wall will it take to keep out frost where the 
thermometer falls to 10 below zero? h. j. w. 
West Virginia. 
I have had considerable experience in keeping 
apples over Winter, but have no frostproof house. 1 
have kept them successfully in bins out of doors; bins 
made with double walls about a foot apart and the 
space stuffed with leaves, and loose leaves placed on 
top of the apples. The water was kept out by a roof 
of corn fodder, the tops of which rest on a ridgepole; 
and the butts on the sides of the bin. Of course a 
good house is very desirable, and I hope to have one 
some day, but am not sure just how it would be best 
to build it. I think it would be best to use tarred 
paper in both the outer and inner walls, whether the 
space between was filled with sawdust or not. It is 
well to remember that it is the long freezing spell 
that penetrates, rather than the short sharp one. I 
i p:z 
AN OHIO APPLE HOUSE. Fig. 345. 
-think when I build my apple house.I shall arrange 
to supply artificial heat in case of an extra long cold 
spell, such as we have some Winters. a. r. l. 
Barboursville, Va, 
I cannot give a plan for an apple house unless I 
know its scope and purpose. For a small house upon 
the farm, to be cooled by ventilation only, I would 
prefer some kind of filling in the walls to simple air 
spaces, provided the filling is perfectly dry and packed 
so as not to settle. Sawdust is often too green or wet 
to be used safely. The best material is dry baled 
shavings, tightly packed, and a foot of this material 
should exclude any frost if doors and windows are 
properly insulated so as to be quite airtight with sev¬ 
eral air spaces. If paper air spaces are used a good 
insulating paper which will be proof against mice and 
dampness should answer better than a heavy sheath¬ 
ing paper. wm. h. hart. 
Dutchess Co., N. Y. 
The main principle in constructing an apple house, 
or a house to keep any other kind of fruit, is to make 
the walls and ceiling perfectly tight and with spaces 
of dead air between the enclosures. Still air is the 
poorest conductor of heat known. In a fruit house 
we want to keep the heat out, and at times to keep 
it in. An even and moderately low temperature is 
what is wanted. There should be more than one 
dead-air space. I would put no sawdust in the walls, 
but endeavor to make the linings as near airtight as 
possible. The best building paper should be used be¬ 
tween thin boards, and if these are matched they will 
be the better for it. 1 would have at least two air 
spaces of about four inches each, in the main walls 
and overhead. Horizontal pieces should be used that 
will prevent any circulation of air up or down, as well 
as sidewise. Outside of this part of the building I 
would make another air space, reaching from within 
a few inches of the ground to the peak of the roof. 
I once saw a fruit house with this latter air space, 
that was the best one ever examined, aside from some 
of the costly cold storage houses. Th idea is, to have 
a draft of air passing through this outer space, con¬ 
stantly, when the sun warms the roof and the air just 
under it to a higher degree than that next the ground. 
There must be an escape or vent at the top of the 
roof for the warm air to pass through. A space two 
inches deep is sufficient, but it must be continuous 
from the bottom to the top, between the upright 
strips. If strips 2x2 inches are spiked on outside of 
the sheathing that covers the main studding and raf- 
ers, and over them the weather boarding and roofing, 
the space will be provided. When the sun shines on 
the roof it will at once warm the air under it, and it 
will begin to pass out at the vent at the top. The 
air below will take its place, and as it is cool it will 
keep the roof cool. In fact, the roof and the air 
spaces below will be kept of the same temperature as 
the air that comes into the open air space at the 
ground. This plan works splendidly, and anyone who 
has never seen it tried would do well to try it. Such a 
house will not allow freezing when the outside tem¬ 
perature is 10 degrees below zero, or lower. That 
which keeps heat out will keep it in. 
' 11. E. VA,N DEMAN. 
SOME CONNECTICUT HEN NOTES. 
On page 683 T. H. F. says his brother had “19 pul¬ 
lets in a coop 4x5 feet and four feet high. They com¬ 
menced laying about January 1, from 
that time they averaged 17 eggs per 
day the rest of the Winter. I know 
this to be a fact.” That is to say from 
January 1 to March 20 the 19 hens laid 
1,360 eggs, or 71 y 2 per hen. At this 
rate for a year the 19 would lay 6,205 
eggs, or 32614 per hen! Evidently T. 
H. F. feared that The R. N.-Y. readers 
would hesitate to believe such an in¬ 
credible statement, so he hastens to as¬ 
sure us that “I know this to be a fact.” 
But the wonder at this astonishing 
product becomes greatly magnified 
when we are told that these 19 hens 
were confined in a box containing 80 
cubic feet of air space—about four feet 
to each hen—equal to a box two feet 
square! How were the nest boxes ar¬ 
ranged? Perhaps there were none, and 
the eggs came out through a hopper. 
If the agent of the Society for the Pre¬ 
vention of Cruelty to Animals had been 
around he might have had something 
to say about this matter. 
On page 765 Mr. Mapes refers to Cor¬ 
nell experiments with flocks of 150 
hens each, showing that for four 
months, commencing with December 
I, 1901, the egg product did not pay 
for the food consumed. The result is what might be 
expected from flocks of that magnitude, selected prob¬ 
ably with no special regard to breed, pedigree or lay¬ 
ing record. I am satisfied from many years’ experi¬ 
ence that in order to get the best results special at¬ 
tention should be given to the above qualifications. To 
obtain milk in reasonable quantity and good quality 
we breed cows to that end. The same rule may apply 
to poultry. A flock of 12 or 15 hens will give a far ' 
better proportional output, other things being equal, 
than a larger one, and I should expect the percentage 
to diminish in exact ratio to the increase in number. 
I give below the record for one year of 10 White 
Wyandotte hens, that came out of the shell in April, 
1901, from eggs laid by hens with a record of more 
than 200 eggs in a year each. Feeding has been about 
the same as recommended by Mr. Mapes—equal 
parts wheat, cracked corn, mashed boiled potatoes, 
half teacupful ground scraps, wet up with hot water 
and a pint of skim-milk in the morning; at night 
whole corn, wheat and oats—all they would eat. Dur¬ 
ing November of last year the 10 hens laid 109 eggs. 
Commencing with December 1 the record is as fol¬ 
lows: December, 1901, 195; January, 1902, 197; Feb¬ 
ruary, 189; March, 216; April, 66; May, 168; June, 
191; July, 196; August, 169; September, 163; October, 
113; November, 176. Total, 2,039; average per hen, 
203 9-10 eggs per year. 
I have found Leghorns, both White and Brown, to 
be very poor Winter layers. For that reason I dis¬ 
carded them. I have found Brahmas and Plymouth 
Rocks better, but not equal to the Wyandottes. There 
has been much complaint in this locality this Fall of 
scanty egg output. One man with upwards of 200 hens 
reports getting 5 to 10 per cent. Another with about 
the same number reports even worse figures. Quite 
a number having 30 to 40 hens get but two or three 
eggs per day. Most of these flocks appear to be made 
up of several different breeds on a sort of “hit or 
miss” system. h. r. 
Jewett Citv, Conn. 
