1904 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
459 
A CHANGE IN MILK STANDARDS. 
How about changing our milk test and giving the many 
who will a chance to sell a poorer quality and yet keep 
within the bounds of the law? Is there danger of the bill 
passing? A little information on this matter will greatly 
oblige me and some of my neighbors. b. b. 
Sardinia, N. Y. 
We do not want any lower standard for milk, nor 
did I know of any effort to accomplish this result. 
There is, however, a feeling that something should be 
done in New York State to check the skimming of 
high-grade milk so that it will pass just above the 
standard of 12 per cent total solids and three per cent 
fat. At present there seems but one way to bring 
about the desired result, viz., to raise the fat content 
standard to 3.5 or perhaps a trifle less, and so make 
impossible under the law such great adulteration. I 
might say that the producer is cjuickly and easily caught 
if he in any way adulterates his milk, for the simple 
reason that he delivers it to the buyer, where the whole 
business is readily watched. The act of watering or 
skimming milk of itself is not illegal. One can do as 
he pleases with his own property, provided he does 
not offer it for sale or for manufacture with other 
milk. Then it becomes at once a misdemeanor. The 
situation with the milk shipper is entirely different so 
far as the enforcement of the law is concerned. The 
sale or delivery of their milk is not accomplished until 
it reaches the city, and then if it has 12 per cent total 
solids and three per cent fat, no disturbance takes 
place. The Agricultural Department, in order fully to 
execute the law, would have to- see the skimming done 
at the country station, board the train for the city, never 
for a moment losing sight of the can or 
cans, watching it in New York or any other- 
city until offered to the consumer; then the 
agent could act and conviction follow. This 
lias been tried, but was of no avail because 
the owner would let the milk stand indefi¬ 
nitely, letting the Department agent watch it. 
The milk could more patiently wait upon the 
platform than the Department agent who 
watches for it. 
What those people feel would be accom¬ 
plished if the standard was raised to 3.5 
per cent, is that it would make that the min¬ 
imum instead of 3 to 3.3, and just to that 
extent stop skimming. The law as it stands 
to-day is not balanced. It calls for 12 per 
cent total solids, of which not less than three 
per cent shall be fat. Now it is well known 
that milk carrying 12 per cent total solids 
will have more than three per cent fat. At 
the time the present standard was adopted 
the means for making fat determination was 
not as perfect as now, and three per cent was 
all that could be obtained from 12 per cent 
milk. The method now in vogue will secure 
every trace, and will average around 3.25 
per cent fat. Our present law should there¬ 
fore have its fat requirement made specific 
and mandatory at 3.25 or 3.3 per cent, and 
then no misunderstanding would follow in 
thinking that three per cent milk is neces¬ 
sarily legal milk. This is probably as far 
as the law should go at one enactment. 
After dairymen had become adjusted to this change then 
I firmly believe the greater good would follow even¬ 
tually if 3.5 per cent fat was made a minimum. With 
the easy Babcock system, any farmer can quickly deter¬ 
mine whether or not he has any cows running under, 
and if so dispose of them, or if they are abnormal 
milkers tbeir milk could be fortified. Such a slow 
but gradual change would finally give the consumer a 
better food, for which he would willingly pay more, 
and also consume more—a point that should receive 
more attention than it does. If one looks after the 
quality the price will usually take care of itself. 
H. E. COOK. 
NOTES ON BREEDING BANTAMS. 
Cochin Bantams have all the characteristics of their 
larger cousins. Our breeding pens contain from six 
to eight females and one male. Great care should be 
exercised in having the breeding stock healthy and vig¬ 
orous. In mating, the male should be good Cochin 
shape and of a good golden buff, with strong under¬ 
color, and with heavy leg and toe feathering; females 
of a medium golden buff, same shade as breast of male 
and good Cochin shape. Never mate a male with 
females having the same defect; one should be strong 
in those points where the other is weak, remembering 
when selecting the male to get one as nearly perfect in 
all points as possible, as be is half the pen. We always 
trim away the feathers around the vent of our breeders; 
this insures fertile eggs, and a larger per cent hatch. 
Previous to the hens becoming broody the first time 
in the Spring they lay quite a few eggs; if they are 
“broken up” they will generally lay about 15 eggs before 
wanting to sit the second tune. May and June are the 
banner months in which to hatch Bantams, although 
we hatch many in July. The eggs may be set under 
either Bantams or large hens, but, better still, in an 
incubator. Bantam hens make the best of mothers. 
Young Bantams when first hatched are very delicate, 
and should be tenderly cared for; leave them in the nest 
or incubator for 24 hours before removing or feeding. 
For the first week feed them bread, cracker crumbs 
(not salted cracker crumbs), hard boiled eggs and rolled 
oats; then feed them cracked corn and wheat. We be¬ 
lieve in feeding dry food, and use no sloppy food what¬ 
ever, and thereby avert all bowel troubles. Keep clean 
water before the chicks all the time; give plenty of 
grit and a little green bone occasionally. The first 
eight weeks our chicks arc given free range; after this 
they are kept in shady grass runs. We find this pre¬ 
vents their becoming too long in legs, and does not 
interfere in their getting a natural growth. 
There is no more trouble in rearing Bantams than any 
other chicks. The most important thing is to keep 
them free from lice. You must remember that lice on 
the Bantams are the same size as on the larger chicks; 
therefore the Bantams will succumb more quickly than 
their cousins. We use every precaution against lice; 
when we find them we use insect powder and put lard 
or vaseline on their heads and under wings. It is a 
wrong idea to starve your Bantams to keep them small, 
for in this way you obtain small, stunted specimens of 
no value for exhibition or breeding. Give them plenty 
to cat at all times, and in this way you will keep them 
growing, which will develop them into fine Cochins, as 
nature intended them to be. Each year select your 
smallest, best-colored birds for breeding; in this way 
you will keep them small and will improve them both 
as exhibition and breeding specimens. Don’t cull your 
chicks too early, as some of the most ungainly chicks 
sometimes develop into the finest birds. 
New York. ernest e. ford. 
PROTECTING MAIN WATER PIPE. 
On page 421 in an article on improving a water sys¬ 
tem, by J. B. J., it appears he made the mistake, like 
many others in putting in this system, of not properly 
protecting the main pipe leading from pump to tank. 
There is only one way in properly packing this pipe that 
will absolutely secure this from freezing, I believe. I 
have just such a system as above referred to, furnishing 
water to the different floors of my house and different 
barns, hoghouse, etc., consequently my tank must have 
an elevation of at least 20 feet, being exposed to the 
extreme weather, only housed by the building it stands 
in. My experience has lasted for 2q years, but after 
the first year after making the same mistake as many 
others in packing my pipe I repacked in the following 
manner: First, the main pipe should enter the tank in 
the center at the bottom of tank, or nearly so, then a 
casing of tin, say a two-inch conductor pipe unsoldered, 
placed around this pipe before any other protection 
is given, copper wire being used instead of solder to 
hold this casing in position. This leaves an open-air 
space from the ground up, and below the ground to the 
depth of the frost. Open tile is used to encase the pipe. 
You can readily see that air can pass from below the 
frost to the bottom of the tank. Around this casing 
place at least half a dozen thicknesses of asbestos or 
any firm paper, wound tightly, secured in the above 
manner; then if sawdust is properly dried before pack¬ 
ing in the 10x10 box you will have no trouble with 
freezing. Everything must be done properly to prevent 
perfectly still water from freezing, as in the case of 
water being furnished by wind power. Another way 
is more simple if you were sure of always having water 
on hand; it is to have a faucet in a protected place, say 
in the well, and give a small leak in the severest 
weather. JOHN w. wood. 
Oneida Co., N. Y. 
THE LIME AND SULPHUR WASH. 
As a refiner of sulphur and a chemist, I am much 
interested in the exploitation of the lime, salt and sul¬ 
phur wash for the prevention of the San Jose scale, the 
extending use of which in the East was brought to my 
attention through the increased call for sulphur by the 
agricultural community. After visiting the orchards of 
Barnes Bros., at Yalesville, Conn., this Spring, and 
watching the preparation and application of the wash, 
I obtained some literature on the subject. The only 
suggestion I find as to the method in which the wash 
acts, is a statement contained in an article by Mr. Brit¬ 
ton, in your issue of March 5, to the effect that the 
insecticidal action of the wash is probably due to the 
slow generation of sulphuretted hydrogen gas, thYough 
the decomposition of the poly-sulphides of lime present 
in the wash. It seems to me that this statement is open 
to question. It would be interesting to know whether 
any experimental work has been done to determine 
directly the insecticidal action of the pure or diluted 
sulphuretted hydrogen gas upon the scale. 
The statement in Bulletin No. 52 of the 
United States Department of Agriculture, 
that the wash is practically a sheep dip im¬ 
ported from Australia, and by a lucky chance 
tried and found efficient against the San Jose 
scale, would seem to explain why there is so 
great a variation in the formulas recom¬ 
mended and used, due to the fact that the 
whole preparation is to a certain extent a 
“rule of thumb” formula, the use and func¬ 
tion of the different ingredients being not 
fully understood. As whitewash of itself 
has been found not to be efficient, it would 
seem that the efficiency depends entirely on 
the sulphur compounds of lime present in the 
mixture, the excess of lime going to form a 
coating of whitewash which holds the sul¬ 
phur compounds in position. As the action 
of the wash is admittedly not immediate, but 
slow and gradual and more or less cumula¬ 
tive, it would seem that one of the prime 
considerations would be to increase the per¬ 
manency and durability of the coating, which 
raises a question as to the effect and desira¬ 
bility of the salt in the mixture. In Bulletin 
No. 52 of the United States Department of 
Agriculture the suggestion is made that as 
salt is used in whitewash to increase its ad¬ 
hesiveness, it may act in much the same way 
in the wash. This suggestion was also made 
by one of the workmen at the orchards of 
Barnes Bros. It would seem that this is a 
reasonable and plausible suggestion, but 
the question immediately arises, is it necessary to 
use such a large amount of salt for this pur¬ 
pose as is generally recommended? If not, is 
not the excess of salt detrimental? One would expect 
it readily to wash out, because of its solubility, and in 
this way have a detrimental effect, by thus rendering 
the coating porous and more easily destroyed and 
washed from the trees, while the usefulness of the wash 
is apparently somewhat proportional to its permanency. 
Books consulted seem to agree in calling for a pound 
or two of salt to a bushel of lime, as all that is required 
in whitewash mixtures. It would seem that if, as some 
authorities state, the mixture is just as efficient when 
the salt is omitted entirely, the suggestion of the Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture as to the action of the salt was 
probably the correct one. This being true, if the salt is 
to be retained, there would be every advantage in de¬ 
creasing the quantity to the amount found most satis¬ 
factory in the ordinary mixtures for whitewash. It 
would also seem desirable to carry on direct exper¬ 
iments with a view of determining what proportion of 
the various ingredients gives the most permanent and 
durable coating. Such experiments could be readily 
carried on at any season, applying the wash to dead 
trees. It seems probable that the exact amount of 
poly-sulphides present in the wash is not the most im¬ 
portant question. A more vital point would seem to 
be how can the poly-sulphides, which unquestionably 
are the active ingredients, be held on the trees? What 
formula gives the most durable and lasting coating? 
F. H. POUGH. 
We begin to get the usual complaints of loss by gardeners 
and fruit growers from law-protected game animals. They 
are protected to please “sportsmen.” 
A NEW YORK FARM BOY AND HIS SHEEP. Fig. 201. 
