•June 22 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
434 
SELLING CHICKS FROM THE INCUBATOR. 
How Shipped? How Sold? How Much? 
Poultrymen report considerable trade in little chicks 
Just out of the incubator. Some buyers prefer to pay 
more for the live chicks rather than run the risk of in¬ 
fertile eggs. The following notes are written by practi¬ 
cal breeders: 
Selling little chicks right from the incubator is 
practiced but very little, if any. We have made such 
sales a few times to near-by points at 25 cents each, 
from nice well-mated purebred stock. Can be shipped 
in baskets well protected and not containing too large 
a number. knapp bros. 
Fabius, N. Y. 
I have never catered to the trade in young chicks, 
although I have sold several lots. I securelj' tied 
them in baskets lined with woolen goods and covered, 
sending them on specified trains. There is quite a 
demand for them, and for chicks three months old, 
but very few wish to pay much for them. Chicks two 
days old I consider worth from 15 to 50 cents each, 
according to value of parents and how mated. 
Pottstown, Pa. w. w. kulp. 
We have had some experience in that line, but not 
very extensively, and we would not advocate it, as 
there is much danger in shipping the chicks at a very 
great distance, especially in the early part of the sea¬ 
son. What we have sold we crate in box with tin can 
placed in middle of crate, filled with hot water. We 
should have to have about $5 per dozen for little 
chicks, or $15 per hundred, if we were going to make 
a practice of shipping in that way. I do not think 
it is a custom that will be followed very extensively, 
as I think it would cause dissatisfaction with cus¬ 
tomers, as the chicks are liable to chills in transpor¬ 
tation and die in customers’ hands from the lack of 
proper brooding. In a great many cases people would 
try to raise them without much heat, and little chicks 
must have a temperature of about 90 degrees for some 
time. I think it much better for customers as well as 
the breeder that the customer buy the eggs and hatch 
them himself. n. o. turner. 
Wick, 0. 
The shipping of young chicks is a new venture in 
the poultry business; very few are yet offering chicks 
from the incubator. Two or three are advertising 
chicks just hatched at $10 per 100, which is a fair 
price to the buyer and to the operators of machines. 
Others advertise them two weeks old at $25 per 100, 
which is very reasonable for chicks from first-class 
stock. I think that eventually very few eggs will be 
sold for hatching; that the demand will be for chicks 
just hatched. There is getting to be so much dissatis¬ 
faction in selling eggs that poultrymen are discour¬ 
aged with the egg business. Next year we shall sell 
no eggs for hatching at all. When taken from the 
incubator and put in a lined box, with a hover in 
Winter or early Spring, the chicks can be shipped 
almost any distance without food, and will arrive in 
good condition. After arrival they should be taken 
out and put in a brooder warmed up to about 90 de¬ 
grees, and then fed and watered, and with proper food 
and care 85 per cent should live. 
Trenton, N. J. teanet poultry farm. 
The plan of selling chicks right from the incubator 
is not a general practice, but is certainly increasing. 
It appears to be satisfactory for the most part. Ten 
cents is ordinarily charged for common chicks, and 
they are usually shipped in light boxes or baskets 
well lined and properly covered. This is also a very 
common practice in England, if I am rightly inform¬ 
ed. The chief danger comes, I suppose, from the lia¬ 
bility of our weather to extremes of temperature. I 
have often thought that eventually large Incubator 
plants would be established in different districts, 
where the eggs would be handled by experts in such 
quantities as to warrant constant day and night at¬ 
tendants, and that after hatching, the chicks would 
be distributed throughout the district to farmers and 
farmers’ wives who would rear the chickens. I think 
the brooder system will yet be developed, which will 
help to bring about this condition of the business. 
Certainly the poultry Industry is bound to increase 
and to progress. It appears to me to be the most 
lively branch of agriculture carried on in America. 
R. I. Exp. Station. a. a. brioham. 
I sell the purebreds in small lots at 15 cents each, 
and in lots of 50 or less down to 25 at 12% cents each, 
and in lots of 100 or more at $10 per 100. I use 
different plans of shipping in the different kinds of 
weather, whichever is best suited to conditions. To 
have buyers on the safe side I guarantee safe arrival, 
which I have but little trouble to do. This way seems 
to suit a good many people, as it saves them the 
bother of hatching, and also of buying poor eggs, 
which I am sorry to say a great many breeders send 
out, and then refuse to give their customers anything 
for their money if they do not get a hatch. In selling 
eggs for hatching I guarantee safe delivery and satis- 
faction; that means that if my customers do not get 
a good hatch I refill their order to their satisfaction, 
and I find I do more business that way than all of 
my advertising brings me. I am not expert enough 
to tell the roosters from the pullets while so young. 
All that is necessary for the buyer is to have a hen 
ready to take care of them, or have a brooder ready 
to put them in on arrival. I do not know how much 
it is practiced by poultry people generally, but im¬ 
agine it will soon be overdone, as there will always 
be some one who will sell anything for the “best 
chickens.’’ d. a. mount. 
Jamesburg, N. J. 
EVERYBODY’S GARDEN. 
NEVER TOO LATE.—I suspect that there is many 
a farm, village and suburban home sadly lacking as 
to a vegetable supply. I suspect that there is many a 
vacant and unsightly spot around these homes which, 
notwithstanding the lateness of the season, might 
still be beautified and utilized for growing a generous 
supply of late-sown vegetables for Winter use. The 
following list, for which there is still ample time, will 
be found very useful in making up the Fall and Win¬ 
ter store of good things to which every farmer’s 
family is richly entitled. 
LETTUCE.—The Summer and Fall supply of let¬ 
tuce is usually cut short by the persistent habit of 
the early sown, of running up to seed, so that the 
table is usually minus this delicacy quite early in the 
season. Select a moist and somewhat shaded spot, 
work the soil fine and mellow and make very rich 
with well rotted stable manure, or better still, soak 
the soil thoroughly with liquid cow manure. After 
two or three days rake well and sow the seed, not too 
thickly, and cover lightly. As the plants begin to 
grow, thin out for use, or transplanting, and the re¬ 
maining ones as they get more room, will begin to 
head up nicely, and with plenty of water and good 
culture will give a supply indefinitely. Any surplus 
above home or market use will be profitable for poul¬ 
try, especially if kept in confinement. 
CELERY.—For the late crop the plants may be set 
up to the last of July, and ground previously used for 
the early sweet corn, early potatoes, peas or beans 
will do nicely. The ground should be thoroughly 
worked; but on account of the shallow feeding habit 
of the plants, five or six inches in depth is sufficient. 
Thoroughly rotted stable manure is considered by 
most growers to be the safest and best fertilizer, and 
should be used without stint. In transplanting, clip 
the tops and ends of the roots back and set firmly, 
five or six inches apart, in the row, and unless rain 
has recently fallen, watering out will be found help¬ 
ful. If the blanching is done with boards, 30 inches 
between rows is sufficient, or even less if space is 
limited. If blanched with soil 3% to four feet is not 
too much. The essentials of a large crop and fine 
crisp quality are rich soil, and abundant moisture, and 
if the rainfall is not sufficient then watering by some 
means must be resorted to. The smaller plants, or 
even larger ones, if set later, may be left in the ground 
until danger of too much frost. They may then be 
taken up and placed in a dark cellar, and if set close¬ 
ly together with the roots packed in wet sand, they 
will make considerable growth and blanch nicely, and 
the larger stalks may be broken out as desired for use. 
ENDIVE.—The late sown is highly prized in many 
localities as a Winter salad. The seed may be sown in 
drills as late as July, and when plants are well es¬ 
tablished should be thinned to 10 or 12 inches in 
the row. Clean culture is all that is necessary until 
late Pall, or when wanted for use; the outer leaves 
are drawn up and tied over the center of the plant, 
when they will blanch nicely in a few days’ time. The 
Green Curled is a hardy and desirable variety, and 
blanches to a clear white. j. e. morse 
Michigan. 
HOW AND WHAT NEW YORKERS EAT. 
Farmers hear much about the great markets of New 
York. The city is a wonderful place. One can buy 
anything here at any time. The thing that is of most 
interest to the farmer is the great stomach of the 
city. In Greater New York and the cities of Newark 
and Jersey City there were last June 3,875,705 human 
beings. Probably not over five per cent of these mil¬ 
lions contribute anything to the food supply. They 
are all consumers, eating food which is brought from 
the very corners of the earth. The farmer is deeply 
interested in the fact that these 4,000,000 human 
stomachs should be filled three times each day for 
365 days in the year. It is easy to see how agricul¬ 
ture is affected when for any reason these stomachs 
go empty, or are filled with adulterated or improper 
food. We hope to give during the Summer a series 
of articles describing some of the odd and striking 
things about “city folks at their mangers.’’ They 
will show country people something of what becomes 
of the food they produce, and also how their “raw 
material’’ is raised in price before it reaches the 
mouths of consumers. 
Our little picture. Fig. 181, shows a figure quite 
familiar to New Yorkers who visit the large manufac¬ 
turing buildings at the noon hour. The building in 
which The R. N.-Y. office is located has a population 
larger than that of many country townships. A test 
vote before the presidential election showed 383 
votes. There were enough women, boys and girls to 
bring the working population of this one building to 
more than 600. With the wives and children at home 
it is safe to say that this building represented an 
industrial and home population of more than 2,000! 
The workmen in this city do not all bring their 
dinners. The great majority of those who work at 
trades go out to the restaurants where a fair meal 
can be bought for 20 cents, or send out for a light 
lunch. The boy shown in the picture is a “printer’s 
devil.’’ He will serve as waiter for a dozen girls nr 
men. In each hand he carries a stick with six hooks 
driven into it. Little pails partly filled with hot 
coffee are hung on these hooks, and in the tray hung 
about his neck he carries sandwiches and pieces of 
pie—usually wrapped in paper. Some of the lunch 
counter men have a special trade in goods of this 
class, and little time is required for filling the orders. 
The boy goes his rounds day after day, and acquires 
great skill in balancing his load. A farmer coming in 
from the field and sitting down to a hearty meal wlli 
hardly understand how a man or woman can contrib¬ 
ute much energy or force on a diet of pie and coffee 
—yet thousands of the young people who do the quick, 
active work in printing offices, binderies, etc., seem to 
live largely on such food. 
LIVE STOCK IN SPRAYED ORCHARDS. 
I have never been able to get a definite case of stock 
poisoning where stock fed under sprayed trees. Once in 
a while I hear that such a thing has happened; but every 
attempt that I have made heretofore to trace up the re¬ 
port has failed. It has always landed on some one who 
heard that such a thing had happened; but either he 
could not remember where he heard it, or of whom he 
heard it. Several years ago Prof. A. J. Cook, of the 
Michigan Agricultural College, in reply to objections of 
this kind, grazed his horse under a tree thoroughly 
sprayed with Paris-green. No harm resulted, and so far 
as I am aware this is the only definite experiment that 
has ever been made in this direction. 
[Prof.] JOHN B. SMITH 
For a number of years I have had running in my 
large orchards sheep, swine and calves, and none of 
them has been Injured, except in one instance where 
I lost a couple of sheep, and this came about after a dry 
lime, when none of the poison was washed off the leaves, 
and the sheep reached up and ate the poisoned leaves. 
In all my experience I have never known of another 
case of Injury of this kind, except where men have 
been careless and have either spilled or deluged the grass 
with the poison, when, of course, there would be danger. 
I have never felt safe in using acetate of lead mixture, 
for the reason that it does adhere to the leaves so much 
longer, and there is danger from this source. The case 
you refer to of stock being so poisoned has doubtless 
come from just suck carelessness as mentioned above, 
or from the animals eating leaves that still had some 
of the poison on them. e. v. a. 
Columbia Co., N. T, 
There have been a number of cases of supposed poison¬ 
ing by Paris-green in sprayed orchards reported at farm¬ 
ers’ institutes, and one or two by letter here at the Sta¬ 
tion. In every case I have endeavored to secure definite 
information, but have been unable to follow any of them 
up satisfactorily. The only case that has come under my 
observation which seems to be based upon definite infor¬ 
mation occurred last Summer near Rochester. I hap¬ 
pened to be at a farm just north of the city when two 
or three of the cattle were taken sick. Two of them died 
within a few hours. A veterinarian was called, and ho 
stated that the cattle died as a result of arsenical poison¬ 
ing. They had been kept for several days in an orchard 
which had just been sprayed with Bordeaux Mixture 
and Paris-green. Branches of the trees were low enough 
for the cattle to reach them. The veterinarian was very 
positive that the trouble was caused by the Paris-green. 
On the other hand. I have known of a number of cases 
where sheep and cattle were kept in sprayed orchards 
with no apparent indications of Injury. 
Geneva (N. T.) Station. [Prof.] v. h. lows. 
