538 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July If., 
day is incessant; one must give up all idea of freedom, 
and be able to get up every night to attend to his fire 
and read the thermometer. Even then, in our climate, 
he will get left. Two nights this Spring I left our 
houses for three hours, and in that time the mercury 
dropped to 30, with thousands of seedlings just coming 
on. Tt was one of those sudden climatic changes oi 
SECTION OF A PRACTICAL POULTRY HOUSE. Fig. 234. 
which one never has any warning. If the small house 
is near a city competition from the larger establish¬ 
ments is keen; if in the country the question is if it is 
a flower-buying community. If flowers are purchased 
only for funerals and special occasions, trade would be 
very light. A house in connection with market gar¬ 
dening is a necessity, hut before building for the sale 
of flowers only the most careful consideration for the 
market should be given. One of our prominent florists 
told me: “A small greenhouse is a pest.” F. c. c. 
Maine. 
ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLES IN POULTRY 
HOUSES . 
Since describing some of the methods followed on the 
poultry farm of White & Rice we have been asked for a 
description of the houses used there. F. Q. While gives 
the following statement: 
The three essentials in building a poultry house are 
comfort, convenience and cost, in their order. Comfort 
should be first, for the reason that if the hens are not 
comfortable no amount of work and feed can make them 
lay in the Fall and Winter, when the high prices of eggs 
make poultry keeping so profitable. Then comes con¬ 
venience; have things just as handy as you possibly can, 
for you will find when you keep a thousand and more 
hens that having the houses handy to feed, water and 
clean will save many days’ work in the course of a year. 
One hour a day means over one month in a year. Last 
of all comes the bugbear of so many, cost, which does 
not spell comfort or even convenience. There are 
many expensive poultry houses that are both uncomfor¬ 
table and unhandy. 
A hen needs five square feet of floor space, and to 
keep her comfortable in cold weather we must build the 
house low, so she will not have to warm up an unnec¬ 
essary air space, but do not get it so low that you break 
your own head when caring for the hens. Very good di¬ 
mensions for a single house are 12 by 15 feet, seven feet 
high in front and four feet in the rear. The floor should 
be raised six inches, with stones and a good cement 
floor put on that, making it proof against dampness and 
rats, two of the trials poultry men are heir to. The 
sills and roof timbers should be 3 by 4 inch hemlock or 
spruce, and 2 by 3 inch stuff is heavy enough for all 
else. The siding and roof boards may be of any cheap 
lumber that is dry and free from loose knots. Cover 
the roof with three-ply tarred paper and a coat of roofing 
cement or paint. 
A modification of the colony house plan is the best 
(see Fig. 234.) Building six houses together makes 
is more convenient to care for the hens, is warmer and 
costs less than single houses, while the flock is none too 
large to run together in the Summer. Strong un¬ 
bleached muslin makes good partitions in such a house. 
It is also used a great deal for windows, being warmer 
than glass in Winter and cooler in Summer. The only 
thing against it is that it does not let in quite as much 
light on a dark cloudy day as glass will, but where there 
are very cold Winters it is the best thing to use. Have 
the interior of your houses as simple as possible for 
the sake of cleanliness. The simplest way is to make 
nests under the roosts and suspend the whole device 
from the roof. Then there is nothing to bother clean¬ 
ing the floor and no cracks between roosts and side 
walls to harbor mites and trouble. For a house of this 
size you would want a plattorm six feet long and three 
feet wide, with three perches and a row of nests under¬ 
neath. See Fig. 235. A shell and grit box made like 
Fig. 236 is fastened to the wall so it is easily remov¬ 
able. The dust box and water basin complete the fur¬ 
nishing of the house. The scratching shed house is par¬ 
ticularly adapted to breeding stock, and is a little more 
expensive than the plans given here, but where the best 
results are wanted from breeders it is worth the extra 
cost. In Fig. 234 the windows are low, and should be 
made of muslin tacked on stiff frames, the whole 
hinged, making a door when wished, and it should 
always be open whenever the weather permits. A six- 
section house would be 90 feet long, accommodating 
over 200 hens, and should not cost over $150 complete 
if built on this plan. It will be so comfortable and 
convenient that with good feed and care one cannot 
fail to make poultry keeping profitable. 
HOW MILK AFFECTS INFANTS AND 
INVALIDS. 
The following extract is from a recent paper on milk: 
“It is easier,” said Dr. Brush, “to control cows than women. 
Human mothers are often emotional, excitable, indiscreet, 
sometimes hysterical, and not always able to control them¬ 
selves. Dairymen, understanding that these conditions can 
affect the milk, must also understand the necessity of con¬ 
trolling their cows. From years of experience I feel safe 
in affirming that the accountable party to the Individual in 
the cradle is the man who is responsible for the production 
of the milk.” Is it probable that high-strung nervous cows 
can affect those who drink their milk in a similar way? 
We have been at insane hospitals and sanitariums where 
Holstein cattle were kept because it was said their milk was 
better for the patients. Do you think there is anything in 
this idea? 
There seems to be no doubt that the nervous condi¬ 
tion of a mother is an important factor in determining 
the condition of the nursing infant. A nervous, hys¬ 
terical mother is quite certain to have a fretful child. 
It is also quite well established that the composition of 
milk is often profoundly affected by the nervous condi 
tion of the animal producing it. In some cases, where 
only a single cow is considered, this change in the 
composition of milk may be sufficient greatly to im¬ 
pair its nutritive value, but the mixed milk from a 
herd of cows is, I believe, rarely if ever much affected in 
ibis way. So far as I am aware no relation has been 
observed between the health of a child and the nervous 
temperament of the cow which supplies it with milk. 
The suitability of milk for infant food seems to depend 
chiefly upon the care which it receives after it is 
drawn, and very little upon the breed of the cow pro¬ 
ducing it. S. M. BABCOCK. 
Wisconsin Experiment Station. 
I have no doubt that certain conditions affect the milk 
of cows both as to quantity and quality. No doubt cer¬ 
tain conditions act in the same way in the human 
family. Over-exertion, over-heating, neglect and im¬ 
proper feeding, the play of the passions and emotions 
and such, doubtless will have an effect prejudicial to the 
milk of lower animals, and thus cause their milk to 
fail in different ways as proper food for man and as 
proper food for the offspring of the animals in question. 
Delaware. Jno. j. black. 
I fear I can give you no useful information concern¬ 
ing the question you ask me. Really so little is known 
upon the subject that little beside conjecture could be 
ventured. I suppose there is no doubt that the quality ot 
mother’s milk does affect a child nervously. It would 
seem probable that the same would be true of milk from 
nervous, irritable cows, and I think this is believed 
to be the case. But I doubt whether anyone has any 
evidence upon the subject that would stand scientific 
scrutiny, and evidence will be very difficult to obtain. 
Upon the matter of Holstein cattle as compared with 
others I can give absolutely no opinion. Such a thing 
is possible, but I have myself never heard the theory ad¬ 
vanced before. h. w. conn. 
Connecticut. 
Referring to a recent paper on “Milk,” by Dr. Brush, 
in which he expresses the opinion that children should 
not be fed on the milk of high-strung and nervous 
cows for the reason that the use of the milk would 
seriously affect the nervous system, I note your request 
to be advised as to whether there is anything in such 
a proposition. I think the position taken by Dr. Brush 
is a very proper one, and that in order to produce a 
good quality of milk the animal should be kept as quiet 
and free from all exciting conditions as possible. 
New York Commissioner of Health, daniel lewis. 
I am unable to refer to any satisfactory exact experi¬ 
mental data showing the difference in value of milks 
produced by different breeds of cows, so far as differ¬ 
ences may be due to the nervous temperament of the 
animal. I believe that the milk given by any healthy 
cow in normal condition will be wholesome, although in 
some exceptional cases such milk has been found to be 
too rich for a delicate consumer, such as a young child 
or sick person. I think the chief reason why Flolstein 
cattle are often kept for supplying public institutions 
with milk is that their product is generally of good, fair 
quality, though not so rich as the milk of other common 
breeds, and this breed produces milk at a little less 
cost per quart than is the general rule with other breeds. 
I think there is no doubt that the milk taken from an 
animal which has been unduly excited or is in a spe¬ 
cially nervous condition, might produce bad results upon 
the consumer, but an animal of any breed could be 
affected in this way. r. a. pearson. 
Cornell University. 
I referred the quotation which you sent me to a 
mutual friend, upon whose experience and good judg¬ 
ment we often both rely. His single comment was “fool¬ 
ishness,” which seems to express the matter briefly and 
completely. The quotation is merely another expression 
of that pseudo-science which is now so popular, and has 
for its main point the conception that the mental states 
of animals are practically identical with our own, and 
influence them in essentially the same way. It is a mat¬ 
ter of common belief, though I think lacking in exact 
proof, that the mental states of the mother do affect 
the child through the milk. While a high-grade cow 
through the stress of great production is often spoken 
of as of a highly nervous temperament, I think you will 
agree that we have never seen cows either highly emo¬ 
tional or hysterical. At the time of weaning the off¬ 
spring, an act which would drive a human mother in¬ 
sane, the cow is disturbed for a portion of a day, rarely 
longer. Even this disturbance is probably to be attrib¬ 
uted more to the unpleasant feeling resulting in her 
udder than to any mental conception of the loss ot 
offspring. Any evidence of brooding over fancied 
wrongs or like mental states is rare and uncertain. The 
slight thread of truth which saves the statement from 
being utterly foolish is the fact that cows grossly abused 
are undoubtedly affected as to the extent, if not as to 
the quality, of their product. In the case of the asylum 
referred to, it may have been that the use of a pool 
quality of milk was desirable for somewhat the same 
reason which induces the use of beef extract, when a 
patient desires nourishment, and yet should not receive 
it in any appreciable quantity. ' h. a. harding. 
Geneva, N. Y., Station. 
HOW TO FIGHT ANTS. 
We are bothered with ants here by the thousands, red 
ones, black ones, big and little, though the little black ones 
are most numerous. Can you suggest something that will 
exterminate them, or at least keep them out of the house? 
I have tried several insect exterminators without success. 
South Carolina. m. ii. 
If possible the nests or homes of the ants which enter 
houses should be located. They may be in mound¬ 
like nests in grass lands near the house, or they may 
be under the stones forming the sidewalks, or they 
may come from the little holes surrounded with heaps 
of pellets of dirt which are often scattered about the 
lawns around houses. One can easily treat a mound¬ 
like ant’s nest by punching several holes in it with a 
stick or iron bar and pouring into each hole a table- 
spoonful of carbon bisulphide, and quickly closing the 
hole with a piece of sod. The fumes of this liquid will 
penetrate all through the nest and kill the ants. Some¬ 
times a lighted match is dropped into one of the holes 
and the fumes explode, and thus are driven all through 
the nest. Where it is not possible to locate the homes 
of the ants, there are several ways of discouraging 
them, so that finally they will leave for more favorable 
quarters. One method is to take a large sponge, sat¬ 
urate it with sweetened water, and leave it where the 
ants come. When it is thoroughly alive with ants drop 
it into boiling water, re-sweeten it and repeat. It is 
said that after a few experiences of this kind the ants 
will soon tell their friends, and that house will be let 
alone for a time. Some report success by putting cam¬ 
phor gum around where ants come into the house; 
others think powdered borax is effective. We have 
prevented ants from getting into bread and cake boxes 
by setting these boxes on top of an overturned pan. In 
one case a young lady kept her bottle of syrup of hypo- 
phosphites in the closet of her room, going in at cer¬ 
tain times to take a dose, until one day she thought it 
was thicker than usual, and upon bringing it to the light 
and investigating found that there was a minute hole 
down the side of the cork, and through this hole thou¬ 
sands of minute red ants had found their way into 
the liquid, and she never knew how many she had 
taken! m. v. slingerland. 
BUILD GOOD SILOS.—I. L. W., Wayne Co., 
N. Y., asks if any reader of your paper has had any 
experience with frame silo plastered with concrete. 1 
have one 12x20 and 32 feet deep, seven feet of wall to 
top of ground, the remaining 25 feet frame. The cor¬ 
ner posts are 8x8 oak, studding 3x8, one foot apart, lined 
inside with one-inch boards ship-lapped at ends, and cor¬ 
ners filled with V-shaped pieces to make them rounding. 
Then plastering lath nailed on one foot apart; all lathed 
over same for plastering; then plastered with cement 
mixed one part cement and two parts sand. The lining 
and lath are apparently as good as when put there; can¬ 
not see any sign of decay. After using that kind 11 
SHELL AND GRIT BOX. Fig. 236. 
years I would say to I. L. W. by all means build a good 
stave one. The first cost will be a trifle more, but will 
be much cheaper in the end when he takes the keeping, 
quality into consideration. The silage will cause the 
cement to lose its vitality, when it will become porous 
and admit the air and will be easily pierced with a fork. 
After seeing the results of the use of both kinds I 
would say by all means build the best. H. w. 
Marshallton, Del. 
