1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
35 
shape, and are very much too coarse. Nine pounds 
may he attained in good specimens, but they will 
much oftener go under eight, unless very fleshy. 
There occasionally appears a black one or two in a lit¬ 
ter, showing that a black rabbit has been introduced 
in the making, or to improve the ticking. Black is 
not standard color. The proper color is rich rufous 
red, (not dark smudgy color) carried well down the 
sides and hind quarters, and as little white under the 
paws as possible. Every purchaser, however, should 
not expect such a specimen with every other point 
perfect; if he do, he will be disappointed, for the 
simple reason that we have not produced a perfect 
specimen yet, although we are trying hard to do so. 
They are very fine eating, and can be made a great 
source of profit to the breeder, as they can be made to 
dress five or six pounds, for much less than chickens. 
As soon as the people of the United States have tried 
them as table meats, they will be as popular as, if not 
more so than, ducks or ducklings are to-day. I have 
bred poultry for 16 years, always purebreds, and find 
hares more profitable, and they suit me much better 
to care for. 
1 have had no disease among them since I commenced 
breeding them. They can be kept in small quarters, 
or allowed large runs. I keep my breeders in hutches 
three feet square and 20 inches high, inside measure, 
having a wire door covering about two- 
thirds of one side; the size of the wire 
is one-inch mesh. o. w. 
Massachusetts. 
FORTUNES IN THE LIGHT LANDS 
OF SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY. 
It sometimes takes man a very long 
time to find out for what the Lord made 
certain tracts of land. There are large 
tracts in western New York that, when 
I was a boy, were considered almost 
worthless; the rock was so near the sur¬ 
face that they could not be plowed, and 
they afforded very scant pasture, and 
that of poor quality. But under them, 
the Lord made the finest sandstone quar¬ 
ries, and now when man has found out 
what it was made for they are worth 
hundreds of dollars per acre. 
During the winter, as I have been at¬ 
tending farmers’ institutes in southern 
New Jersey, and have seen those im¬ 
mense tracts of sandy land with here 
and there a Red cedar growing and look¬ 
ing so clean and thrifty, I have taken 
much pains to ascertain the ages of many, 
and wish to do a little figuring in the 
matter as, perchance, it may awaken 
some one to do that which cannot but 
benefit all southern New Jersey. 
At South Seaville, I found Red cedars 
that I was assured were transplanted 30 
years ago at only two feet in height, that 
now average 10 inches in diameter, and 
are high enough to cut three lengths of 
fence posts. Each of these would cut 
seven posts, the butt cut making four, 
the next two, and above that, one. At 
Vineland and Williamstown were those better yet. 
I was also told that such posts sold at from 20 to 30 
cents each, or say 25 cents average. 
Now for the figures. That land can be bought for $4 
or $5 per acre, say $5. What trees were taken out would 
make good bean stakes, and be worth $10 per 1,000 ; 
as 4,000 would be taken per acre, they would be worth 
$40. The rest should now stand five years more, when 
another half should be cut, leaving them five by four 
feet, and giving us 2,000 which would be suitable for 
grape stakes, and worth five cents each, making $100. 
They can now stand five years more, when they will 
need to be thinned to five by eight feet, and we would 
get 1,000, which would certainly be worth $75. 
At the end of another five years, we can cut them 
to 10 x 8 feet, and as they would be tall and straight, 
at least half of them would cut two each, making 750 
worth $75 more. Now, leave them unmolested for 10 
years, or until 35 years planted, when there would be 
500 trees per acre that would make railroad ties of the 
butt cut, and posts above, or, if cut into posts, would 
average as much as seven per tree, making 3,500 worth, 
at one-half present prices, $525. 
We should now have for gross receipts from our 
land, $815 per acre. The first outlay, $24, which, if 
we supposed it put at compound interest for 35 years, 
would not exceed $144, to which should be added the 
expense of getting out the stakes and posts, say 
$100 more, making $244, would leave $281 clear 
profit, or a net rental of $8 per acre per year. Be¬ 
sides the above profit, when the plantation began to 
bear seed, there is no doubt that the young cedars 
would come up so thickly and persistently as to keep 
it-alcontinuous- wood-lot* from* which} many posts or 
ties could be cut annually after the expiration of the 
35 years. I am surprised that such wideawake, far- 
seeing people as the managers of the various railroad 
systems of New Jersey don't plant the sides of their 
roads to these Red cedars. It would add greatly to the 
beauty of their surroundings, and go far to supply 
posts or ties for the roads, as a Red-cedar tie would 
last at least a half century. .j. s. woodward. 
WHAT THEY SAY. 
How Feather-Eating Starts. —The trouble with 
J. T. M.’s Foul-heai’ted Fowls, page 845, is nothing 
more nor less than a habit, the same as the feather¬ 
eating habit, and was, most likely, first started by 
some little sore or blood spot on one chicken’s eye. 
Very likely, a couple of them had a little fight, one 
of them got a wound near the eye, some one of the 
flock began pecking at it, got it to bleeding, thereby 
got a taste of blood, and then kept at it until others 
learned the trick and they soon got to trying sound 
eyes as well as sore ones. I once saw a pen of fowls 
that literally ate one another up alive by the feather¬ 
eating habit. Some of them were nearly denuded of 
their feathers, and their bodies were covered with 
large spots of raw, bleeding flesh, fairly sickening to 
look at. If J. T. M.’s pullets are confined in pens, the 
habit might be stopped by feeding them an unlimited 
supply of meat food, but if they are of only ordinary 
value, a sharp hatchet will be the cheapest and best 
remedy in the end. When a flock of fowls get well 
established in such vicious habits, it is almost impos¬ 
sible to break them of it. In J. T. M.’s case, if he 
can give them free run and plenty of fresh meat, it 
might help the matter. A. A. f. 
Brooklyn, Ohio. 
R. N.-Y.—While watching the hens the other day, 
we noticed one that had been eating soft mash, and 
had smeared some of it over her breast feathers. 
Another hen followed her up and, in trying to eat 
this mash, deliberately pulled out several feathers 
and swallowed them. This same hen went about 
picking at the beaks and heads of the others, appar¬ 
ently trying to get the food that had stuck to them. 
Possibly this is one way in which feather-eating be¬ 
gins. We certainly have three or four “ rogue ” hens 
that are up to this mischief. 
Teosinte in Bergen County, N. J.—At Fig. 13 is 
reproduced a photograph of a field of Teosinte on the 
farm of B. S. Smith, of Closter, N. J. This picture 
was taken on Labor Day (September 6). Mr. Smith 
says that the seeds were planted J une 2 and 4. The 
field had grown potatoes the previous year with a 
fair amount of barnyard manure. The field was 
marked in drills three feet apart, the seeds being drop¬ 
ped three in a hill, one foot apart in the drill. These 
seeds were slow to germinate, and when six inches in 
height, the plants seemed to stand still. Later, they 
took a new lease of life, and grew rapidly. After the 
picture was taken, a single hill was pulled up by the 
roots, and the earth well shaken from it. From root 
to tips, it measured six feet six inches, and weighed 
seven pounds. With hills one by four feet, this would 
represent a tremendous crop. Mr. Smith had a heavier 
crop, however, in 1896. A small patch was planted on 
a sod, and made a remarkable growth. This plant 
appears to require about the same culture and food 
that is given corn. A heavy sod with a light dressing 
of soluble fertilizer will suit it well. After feeding 
Teosinte fodder to his cows, Mr. Smith concludes that 
it is superior to the best corn fodder. Cattle will 
gnaw it down even to the roots. The seed did not 
develop on this crop. 
REMARKS ON THE USE OF DYNAMITE. 
I would like to call attention to a few mistakes 
made by Mr. Garrahan in describing the use of dyna 
mite, on page 818. lie says, “ I have been thus par¬ 
ticular in describing all the little details of this work, 
because I needed just such instruction myself, and had 
to pay pretty dearly before I got it.” Now that costly 
instruction need not have cost him more than a letter 
to Tiie R. N.-Y. Many of its readers could have fur¬ 
nished the information, and Tiie R. N.-Y. would have 
borne the expense of obtaining it. This is only one 
of the good “points of the paper,” ask and you shall 
freely receive, not sufficiently appreciated. This was 
his first mistake. The second was in following this 
costly instruction. Dynamite of good quality is a 
costly affair, and he made use of it far 
in excess of any actual need. Half of 
the amount he used would be considered 
lavish by an expert. Why place it under 
the rock ? Dynamite exerts its greatest 
force downward, but even were there a 
steady, uniform expansion of the gases, 
it is plain that three-fourths of the force 
was expended uselessly on the earth, and 
only the upper fourth was applied where 
needed. 
In ordinary rock, he could have had a 
hole drilled sufficiently deep in, probably, 
less time than it took to make the ex¬ 
cavations. Two or three sticks of dyna¬ 
mite would then have been as effective 
as the dozen or more that he used. I 
have had rocks weighing several tons 
shattered with only half a stick of dyna¬ 
mite. But judgment, learned only from 
experience, must determine the location 
and pitch of the hole as well as the 
charge. In a large rock, half a stick 
exploded at the bottom of a drilled hole, 
without any tamping, will simply blow 
out a “ pocket.” This hole can now be 
loaded with the much cheaper blasting 
powder, well tamped, and when fired, 
will lift the rock and scatter it about in 
a shape more readily handled. 
Mr. Garrahan was fortunate in having 
slow fuses, or twice the length he used 
might not have given him a chance to 
get to a safe distance, and sometimes, 
several hundred yards leave one uncom¬ 
fortably close. A fuse is cheaper than a 
coffin, and my advice to all would be to 
let the fuse be the last thing with which 
to practice too close economy. It is best, 
not only “sometimes,” but always, “to 
tie a string tightly (not too tight) around the end of 
the cartridge and fuse.” The chances of missing 
fire are thereby lessened, and I much prefer load¬ 
ing a charge to unloading one in case of a fail¬ 
ure to explode. When it has to be done, the men 
sometimes look as solemn as though they were on 
their deathbeds. They wouldn’t mind dyin’ a mite 
so much; it is the danger of dyin’ altogether that 
makes them tremble. As I have had occasion to 
suggest before, for such work, employ an expert. It 
may cost one more one way, while his knowledge may 
save more than the difference in explosives, time, etc. 
Besides, it won’t invalidate your life insurance policy. 
Virginia. _ J. c. senger. 
AN UNCONVERTED DOG-HATER. 
I have never read a more kindly and intelligent 
essay on dogs than that on page 1. Indeed, I never 
read anything that seemed so nearly or so easily to 
disarm my prejudice. It will, no doubt, make many 
friends for the Fox terrier. I have been an owner of 
sheep for about 40 years, but have never been the 
owner of a dog. I have bought sheep, from place to 
place, gathering about 1,000, more or less, each year 
for the past 25 years, and I have sometimes had the 
help of dogs that helped me, but oftener had their 
“ help ” to hinder me. I am speaking of shepherd dogs 
of good reputation, and considered valuable as such. 
As for the dairy, I have kept cows longer than I have 
sheep, and I believe that a quart or two of meal is a 
better incentive to bring the cows to the barn than a 
dog at their heels or nose. We always use the meal 
and never need the dog for this purpose. Not once in 
a year have I felt the need of a dog to hold or catch 
