1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
731 
HORSE BREEDERS HAPPY. 
Good horses all over this Continent 
have advanced very materially—the 
better the horse the greater the appre¬ 
ciation. In fact I question whether 
there has ever been in the past 20 
years a more active demand than right 
now for first-class carriage horses and 
heavy drafters, nor do I ever remember 
a time when better prices were paid 
than at present. This of course applies 
to the better class of horses, but even 
common horses have also advanced con¬ 
siderably during the last year or two. 
As to the future supply, I am afraid 
that the quality will continue to de¬ 
teriorate for a good many years to come. 
The virtual abandonment of breeding 
from 1893 to 1898 has necessarily pro¬ 
duced a shortage, which is just begin¬ 
ning to be felt now, and this shortage 
will be more noticeable during the next, 
few years. Horses rejected last year 
by horse buyers are accepted this year, 
and many that are being rejected now 
as not up to standard will pass muster 
next year, simply because there are no 
better ones. Breeding is again in full 
swing, but there is a sad lack of dis¬ 
crimination among breeders in general. 
The average farmer is looking for the 
cheapest and most convenient sire to 
breed from, instead of using only the 
best, as he ought to. No progress or im¬ 
provement in our horse stock is possible 
as long as our farmers exercise so much 
of this penny wisdom and pound fool¬ 
ishness. ALEX. GALBRAITH. 
Janesville, Wis. 
RAPE A GREAT CROP. 
I consider rape the greatest of the 
newer acquisitions. It will require six 
to eight weeks of fairly good growing 
weather, and moist soil, to bring it to 
the point of much usefulness. It can 
be successfully raised for late feed, sown 
in corn, but does not get much growth 
until after the corn is cut. With us, 
sown in corn in July, with occasional 
rains (which we do not always get), and 
corn cut early in September, rape will, 
during the last half of October, make 
quantities of feed. It is not desirable to 
feed it while badly frozen, as then it is 
almost sure to produce scours, and 
sometimes in a serious form. 
The better method, to secure greatest 
results is to sow in drills, 30 inches 
apart, three pounds to the acre. Culti¬ 
vated about twice, and with suitable 
weather, five weeks will produce good 
feed. When sown in drills the sheep 
will almost invariably follow the rows, 
and not tread down the plants or befoul 
them, as when sown broadcast. Enougn 
extra feed may be obtained thus to pay 
additional cost of labor. Four to five 
pounds per acre should be sown if 
broadcast. None but Dwarf Essex va¬ 
riety should be used. It is the greatest 
fodder, with the exception of Red June 
clover. The rape cannot be used for 
hay. Too much like cabbage, it will not 
cure. It will grow almost anywhere; 
corn land is rape land. c. a. tyler. 
Nottawa, Mich. 
DUCKS IN AN ORCHARD. 
We have an old orchard (10 acres) that 
has not produced much fruit for a few 
years. We fought the worms the past 
season and will have a few apples. The 
trees are large and worms plenty. We 
have been advised to put as many ducks 
in the orchard as possible. Are they a 
profitable fowl? w. b. s. 
Syracuse, N. Y. 
Ducks Not Dainty. —Ducks are not 
very particular as to the kind of food 
they get. It is a question of quantity 
rather than quality with them, and their 
choice of bugs, etc., is limited only by 
their ability to catch them. They are 
insect-catchers to a faul . As young 
ducks never take the time to kill insects 
before swallowing them, they do not get 
along well with Rose bugs, which usual¬ 
ly attempt to gnaw their way out after 
being swallowed alive. As a result, the 
unfortunate duckling becomes useless as 
an insect exterminator or money-maker. 
I know of no other insect that will kill 
young ducks, and even these do not af¬ 
fect grown ducks, so far as my observa¬ 
tion goes, but they are sure death to 
ducklings. This orchard would be a 
good place for breeding ducks on ac¬ 
count of the shade and insect food, and 
should keep about 100 ducks per acre. 
If they do not rid the orchard of insects, 
they will, if well fed, surely be a great 
benefit by increasing the fertility of the 
soil, and, at the same time, pay a profit 
over cost of feed, while they are feeding 
the orchard. 
The Money Side. —If W. B. S. do not 
wish to raise many ducklings, he will 
find some profit in producing eggs for 
market. In the New York markets, 
duck eggs usually bring good prices, 
much higher than hens’ eggs, before 
Easter. After Easter, the price falls to 
about that of hens’ eggs for remainder 
of the season. A Pekin duck of good 
family and well brought up will lay 
from 80 to 160 eggs per year, much de¬ 
pending on the care and feed; but, with 
plenty of ground meat or green cut bone 
in their feed, they should average at 
least 10 dozen eggs per year, which will 
bring from 12 to 40 cents per dozen, 
usually averaging about 30 cents before 
Easter, and 15 cents after. The laying 
season begins in January, and by the 
first of July they are ready to take a 
rest and moult. 
Feeding One Thousand Ducks. —To 
feed 1,000 ducks one year, will require 
about 36 tons of corn meal, 17 tons of 
wheat bran, eight tons of middlings, 
seven tons of ground meat, and two tons 
of cut clover hay, or its equivalent in 
green food. Raising ducklings will pay 
a larger profit, providing there are no 
Rose bugs to interfere, but will require 
more care and attention. If well fed 
they will weigh 9 to 11 pounds per pair 
when 10 to 11 weeks old, and should be 
marketed at 'this age, when the cost for 
all food consumed should not have ex¬ 
ceeded four cents for each pound of 
duck. J. E. STEVENSON. 
What About the Broiler Business ? 
Can broiler chicks be raised successfully 
in the Winter months in the vicinity of 
central New York? What kind of build¬ 
ings are necessary, and how heated? 
What breed is best for broilers? When 
should I begin hatching? Would it be 
policy to raise ducks in connection with 
the business? Would 10 or 12 acres be 
room enough? n. G. d. 
New York. 
Ans. —With broiler prices much lower 
than formerly, and many who have been 
raising broilers for years going out of 
the business, there doesn’t seem to be 
much encouragement for a beginner, un¬ 
less he have a good local market. 
Broilers must be raised in Winter, un¬ 
less one have cold storage, in which case 
they may be raised in Summer, and put 
away until needed. They can be raised 
in Winter in central New York if warm 
buildings are provided, but these must 
be very warmly constructed. Double 
boarding, with good paper outside and 
in, and a dead-air space, are needed. 
The house must be dry and light, as well 
as warm. On a large scale, houses are 
best heated by a regular hot-water 
heater and pipes, but on a small scale, 
individual brooders will do the work. 
The best breeds are Wyandottes and 
Plymouth Rocks, though the Leghorns 
do very well for broilers when they are 
to be killed at three-quarters to one 
pound in weight. For the earliest mar¬ 
ket, hatching should begin at once; for 
the later market, it should be deferred 
for several weeks. Ducks are generally 
considered more profitable than broilers, 
-though many raise both. The two work 
together nicely. One could do a pretty 
good-sized business on 10 to 12 acres. 
Most of the broiler business at Ham- 
monton, N. J., is done on village lots. 
A beginner should visit several plants, 
and learn all he can, then begin on a 
small scale. 
The New York State Dairymen’s Asso¬ 
ciation will hold its annual meeting at 
Cortland, N. Y., December 13-15. 
The Breeder’s Gazette states that ex¬ 
porters have great difficulty in finding 
enough good horses to meet their wants, 
and in spite of the prejudice against 
“branded” animals, many are being ship¬ 
ped from the ranges. 
Our cows have been getting refuse kero¬ 
sene mixed with tar applied with a hand 
spray-pump this Summer, as a protection 
from flies. It is effective, but needs to be 
put on daily or oftener. Some method of 
making it more lasting is needed, e. c. b. 
This year the New York State Breeders’ 
Association, the American Hampshire 
Down Breeders’ Association, the New 
York State Shropshire Breeders, the Meri¬ 
no Breeders, and the Western New York 
Jersey Cattle Club, all meet at Rochester, 
N. Y., December 5-7. 
The Pennsylvania Experiment Station 
contemplates the manufacture of dry curd. 
This is a by-product of skim-milk, largely 
used in the manufacture of paper. A 
number of creameries are making use of 
this by-product, but the market for it ap¬ 
pears to be limited, and only a moderate 
quantity of milk can ever be handled sat¬ 
isfactorily in this way. 
Denver Field and Farm tells of a Mon¬ 
tana man who recently paid $15 per head 
for 150 fine Merino rams. He dipped them 
in a carbolic dip in proportion of one to 
27. They all died, and an examination 
showed that the lungs were inflamed and 
the lining of the stomach peeled off as 
though cooked with acid. The proportion 
in the dip should have been one to 80. 
In the dairy exhibit at the Halifax 
(Nova Scotia) Provincial Exhibition, the 
Arcadia Dairy Company, of Wolfville, N. 
S., displayed a model of their factory, 
constructed entirely of butter. It weighed 
60 pounds. At last year’s exhibition the 
butter exhibited by this company scored 
99.5. There was a fine display of vege¬ 
tables and fruit, Prof. John Craig, of the 
Iowa Experiment Station, judging the 
latter. 
NEW 20TH CENTURY 
CREAM SEPARATORS 
Mortgage Lifters 
That’s what dairymen call our light run- 
- n > n » hand separ¬ 
ators, because they 
increase the yield of 
butter about 25 per 
cent, and improve 
the quality, which 
means higher prices. 
We guarantee the 
Empire 
Cream 
Separator 
to run with less power than any other of 
the same capacity. Skims cleanest in 
every test. 
Six sizes of hand separators, #40 and up. 
Illustrated catalogue, free. Agents wanted 
U. S. Butler Extractor Co., Newark, N. J 
Save the Pennies. 
The butter fat left in 
the skim-milk by the 
old process of dairying 
would go a long way 
toward educating the 
boys and girls if saved 
and converted into 
fine-flavored, high' 
quality butter. The 
Sharpies Separa¬ 
tors will save the 
butter fat and make it sell at the high¬ 
est market price Learn all about them 
in our free Catalogue No. 25. 
THE SHARPLES CO., P M. SHARPLES. 
Canal and Washington Sts., West Chester, Pa., 
CHICAGO. U. 8. A. 
Top Price Butter. 
Sept. 1st marked the 
introduction of the Im¬ 
proved 20th Century 
“Baby” or “Dairy” sizes 
of I>e Laval Cream Sepa¬ 
rators and these newest 
“Alpha” disc machines 
are simply unapproach¬ 
able by anything else in 
the shape of a cream sepa¬ 
rator. Overwhelming as 
has been the conceded su¬ 
periority of the De Laval 
machines heretofore their 
standard is now raised still 
higher and they are more 
than ever placed in a class 
b)) themselves as regards all 
possible competition. 
Send for new catalogue. 
THE DE LAVAL SEPARATOR GO. 
Randolph & Canal Sts., I 74 Cortlandt Street, 
CHICAGO. I NEW YORK. 
SAVE FEED. 
Feed Is fuel to the animal economy. It 
is burned up to supply internal heat. If it is 
heated (cooked) before it goes into the ani¬ 
mal’s stomach it save* that much fuel (feed). 
Electric Feed Cookers 
Hiive teed, nave money and produce 
better reaulta. Made of best cast iron 
; boiler made of extra heavy 
Capacity ‘25 to 100 gallons. 
Circular and price free. 
Electric Wheel Co., Box 88, Quincy, 111. 
COOK Your FEED and Save 
Half the Cost—with the 
PROFIT FARM BOILER 
With Dumping Caldron. Emp¬ 
ties Its kettle In one minute. The 
simplest and best arrangement for 
cooking food for stock. Also make 
Dairy and Laundry Stoves, 
Water and Steam Jacket Ket¬ 
tles, Hog Scalders, Caldrons, 
etc. ty Send for circulars, 
D. R SPERRY & Co.. Batavia. Ill. 
SMALL’S CALF FEEDER. 
Calves suck their milk, grow sleek, 
thrifty and very large, commanding the 
highest market prices for veal or dairy. 
W rite for free circulars. 
J. B. Small & Co., Boston, Mass. 
The kind that a fancy private 
trade demands, is colored with 
Thatcher’s Orancje Butter Color — 
the color that does not contain 
any poison. Send for a sample. 
THATCHER MF8. CO., Potsdam, H.Y. 
tiie 
WILLARD KNAPP 
Cow Tie 
Insures Cleanliness, 
Health and Profit, and Is 
the mostduraOle device for 
fastening cows. We have 
never had a dissatisfied cus¬ 
tomer. We quote below a 
samp e letter from a user: 
From James II. Webb, Spring Glen Farm, New 
Haven Conn.: “We have just completed one dozen 
stalls, using your ties and following your pian. We 
are going to equip another barn with them and want 
20 more immediately.'’ 
Send for Circular and Testimonials from the best 
dairymen. 
WILLARD H. KNAPP & CO., 
404 Groton Street, Cortland, N. Y. 
CONVEX 
DISHORNER 
is made on a different, better, and more 
scientific principle than any other horn- 
cutting machine. It is simpler,strong 
er, cheaper; easier to operate, cuts 
closer and more smoothly, more 
humane. The only dishorner 
that cuts all kinds, shapes, 
and sizes of horns without 
crushing or pulling them apart. Write at ouce 
lor illustrated book on dishorning—free. 
WOODWARD’S WATERING BASIN 
; stable necessity, see what OTHERS SAY 01 n. 
Circular* Ere*. J. S. WOODWARD A SON. LOCK PORT. Vi 
when you are ready to buy a cream 
separator, that the 
Remember, 
IMPROVED U. 5. SEPARATOR 
EXCELS ALL OTHERS IN 
Thoroughness of separation, 
Little power required to operate. 
Little time required to clean, 
Simplicity, only three parts to the howl, 
Durability, therefore smaller repair bills, 
iT) Consequently, is the one you will wish to buy, if you desire 
_pjJ'the best. Send for our latest illustrated catalogues. 
VERMONT FARM MACHINE CO., Bellows Falls, Vt. 
