634 
SEPT. 20 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
“Rough on Rogues 
LOOKOUT 
ALMANAC 
LOOKING OUT FOR NUMBER ONE. 
S E PT EMBER, 
Look out for the “ Red Star Ferric 
Fertilizer,” made at Washington 
22. c. H., Ohio, and “The Western 
Reserve Fertilizer,” made at Mineral Ridge, 
Ohio. Prof. Plumb, of the Indiana Experi¬ 
ment Station, has investigated these fertil¬ 
izers. The first retails for $27.50 per ton. 
Chemical analysis shows it to be worth 
$5.76 per ton, while a field test also shows it 
to be a fraud. The second fertilizer is 
worse yet. It retails for $22.50, while it is 
worth only $4.44. The “ Red Star ” folks 
claim that their fertilizer is the only one 
that will make “any soil inexhaustibly 
fertile.” What nonsense! Can it be that 
there are farmers in the country foolish 
enough to believe such stuff ? And yet, 
come to think of it, these fertilizers are no 
worse than leached manure which has 
rested six months or more in a hill side 
barn-yard with the rain washing its fertil¬ 
ity into the brook ! 
« * •* 
Look out for a new game now 
luoauaj bei played by the “green 
23- goods ” men. Instead of sending 
you the old letter they send a circular like 
the following: 
“ Dear Sir 
Having heard from an old customer who Is ac¬ 
quainted with you. that you are a man that I can 
trust with a secret, I write to Inform you that I can 
make you a proposition by which you can make a 
large amount of money In a very safe and eqsy man¬ 
ner, providing you are not very particular what class 
of goods you handle to make It. If you care to hear 
more concerning this matter, send your name and 
address in full to. Yours truly. 
CHAMPION NOVELTY CO.” 
Of course these rascals pretend that they 
have counterfeit money for sale. They 
hope to strike some evil-minded person 
who will want to invest in “ green goods.” 
They will not even deliver the counterfeits. 
The package which they give their dupes 
will be found filled with sawdust or old 
paper. 
* * 
WarinPCriflV Look out that you educate 
nmucMiay your8elf to a proper apprec ia- 
24 * tion of the importance of your 
way from $1,200 to $5,000 for the secret. 
La*t week two of the cleverest of these 
rascals were caught in this city. A detec¬ 
tive pretended to be a “ sport ” and gambler 
and offered to buy the “secret.” After 
a long discussion the fellows “ made gold” 
before him. The gold-maker first pretended 
to wash his hands in the sink. While doing 
so he dropped in the water a genuine gold 
piece covered with some gray substance. 
Then he melted some lead and zinc in a 
crucible and pretended to add a “secret 
substance ” from, a bottle. The liquid 
metal was then poured into a common 
mould and carefully pressed. After cooling, 
the whole thing was dropped into the water 
in the sink. Then after fumbling about in 
the water, the swindler pulled out the 
genuine coin with the gray substance on it, 
and after pouring a little acid over it to re¬ 
move the gray matter, held it up for in¬ 
spection. Queer—isn’t it ?—that hundreds 
of men have seen this trick and paid good 
money for the secret? 
* * * 
FridflV Look out for cheap telescopes. 
^ ^ Several firms are offering to sell 
20. these fraudulent toys. They are 
usually made of common window-glass 
with a pasteboard body. They are good 
for nothing; let them alone. You will 
only injure your eyesight by peering 
through them. * * Our lottery friend,Frank 
Wehoskey of Providence, R. I., was recent¬ 
ly fined $100, with no imprisonment. He 
pleaded guilty; but claimed ignorance of 
the law. If old Roger Williams could 
come back to Rhode Island and see some of 
the frauds that his degenerate heirs coun¬ 
tenance, he would be ashamed of them. 
That might not hurt their feelings any, 
though. 
* 
* * 
Thursday 
25- 
little chicks drinking the pearly drops. 
Later when the sun is hot and everything 
dry and parched, chicks, like other animals, 
get thirsty and appreciate a cooling drink. 
At the best, drink can be kept from them 
only when they most need it. I am not 
writing of chicks raised artificially. These 
could be better kept on soft food. I raise 
my birds in large runs, on a farm, giving 
them soft food twice or three times a day, 
while very small, soon reducing the feed¬ 
ing to once a day. They get wheat, oat¬ 
meal, oats, etc., at other times, and at all 
times plenty of water. I have noticed dur¬ 
ing very hot weather that if the drinking 
cups get upset, the chicks so deprived of 
water are the first to fail in strength, and 
show symptoms of sickness. 
HENRY HALES. 
* 
* * 
Saturday 
Look out for rascals who sell a 
secret “ process ” for turning 
27 . 
sawdust into “ a grain equal in 
feeding value to bran !” It seems almost 
silly to Issue such a warning as this, and 
yet we have private information to the 
effect that an Indiana farmer paid $50 for 
this secret. A very nice gentleman drove 
up to the door and told the farmer that a 
leading chemist had just discovered a pro¬ 
cess for changing sawdust into cattle food. 
Wood from which sawdust was made, he 
said, grew from the soil just like corn or 
wheat. It was food in a hard form. If we 
could soften it so that cattle would eat it, 
we would have ground feed. To prove his 
great discovery he went into an empty room 
with a peck of common sawdust and in 20 
minutes came out with a quantity of grain 
food which the cows greedily ate. The 
farmer paid $50 down and agreed to pay 
$150 more when a certain amount of grain 
was prepared. He is still “ waiting.” This 
is the old “ Electric Sugar ” swindle on a 
small scale. Wonderful indeed are the 
ways to wealth ! 
The world ought to erect a monument to the 
man who invented the wheel. He changed 
the world’s history, gave civilization a 
boost, and helped things generally. Before 
that the world went on foot or on horse¬ 
back or bumped along on runners. The 
man on horseback naturally looked down 
on the man on foot. That began an unfair 
distribution of rank and wealth. The in¬ 
vention of wheels did much to even things 
up. Now you will go through life either 
on wheels or on runners. The runners 
may work well enough on ice and snow, 
but on bare ground! ! ! You are largely 
responsible for your running gear. You 
make it yourself as you go along. Your 
wheel is made of energy, enterprise, work, 
patience and faith. Put them together and 
save hard bumps on the rough places. 
Please mention The R. N.-Y. toour adver¬ 
tisers. 
Look out for frauds who pretend 
that thay are able to turn zinc 
into gold 1 That seems ridicu¬ 
lous, doesn’t it ? Yet a gang of rogues in 
this State have made a mint of money in 
selling this “ secret.” They would fix upon 
some miserly person with a little money 
and tell him that they had a secret for so 
changing zinc and lead that it would pass 
for gold coin. As proof, they would, after 
many pledges of secrecy, go through the 
process of “ making gold ” and they were 
so skillful that dozens of men paid all the 
Poultry Yard. 
Rye is a good poultry food when fed in 
connection with other grains. Variety 
gives the best results with any grains. 
L. V. B. P., Penn's Grove, N. J.— Some of 
our hens and older chickens toss their heads 
occasionally and make a noise as though 
their throats were stopped. In other re¬ 
spects they act like other fowls. They are 
fed chiefly on cracked corn, wheat and dry 
meal. What is the matter ? 
Ans.—T he chickens are probably choked 
by eating the dry meal. They may have a 
touch of the roup, but if nothing more seri¬ 
ous than the actions you describe occurs, 
we should let them alone. Wet the meal, 
but not enough to make it sloppy. 
W. S., Falrvlew , N. J. —What is the 
average age at which pullets begin to lay, 
and what is the earliest on record ? 
Ans.—T he “average age” varies with 
different breeds. The smaller breeds, like 
the Leghorns, mature and lay earlier than 
the larger breeds, like the Brahmas. Much 
depends also upon the care and feed. We 
have had Silver Wyandottes lay when five 
months old and White Leghorns at about 
the same age. The heavier breeds probably 
would not lay until considerably older. 
We do not know what the earliest recorded 
age of a pullet’s first egg is. 
Water or no Water for Chicks.—I 
have never made any experiments in with¬ 
holding water from chicks, as the thing 
appears to me not only impracticable, but 
cruel; for when it rains (mostly in cool 
weather) nothing can prevent chickens 
from drinking. Even in the morning while 
the dew is on the grass, any one may see 
"STARTLING FIGURES ON CHICKS.” 
This discussion is attracting consider¬ 
able attention in The Rural at present, so 
that I will add a few more “ startling fig¬ 
ures.” The whole sum aiid substance of 
the matter is that breeds and individual 
fowls of the various breeds determine 
largely the weight. I gave the weight of a 
Plymouth Rock cockerel at 10 weeks of 
age as 2)-^ pounds, and at a little over 15 
weeks as 3pounds. A pullet in the same 
brood weighed fully two pounds at 10 
weeks. These were individually the best 
specimens of the brood, and I will add, the 
heaviest I have ever raised. A friend of 
mine, a thoroughly reliable man, wrote to 
me recently, anent the weight of his 
chickens, as follows: “ Last night I weighed 
a half-blood (one-half G. Wyandotte, one- 
half Indian Game) that weighed four 
pounds. He is not three months old yet. A 
full-blood (Indian Game) of the same brood 
weighed 8)^ pounds. These chickens were 
all raised in the natural way with un¬ 
limited range, and in feeding chickens this 
must not be lost sight of. Exercise de¬ 
velops muscle, lungs and appetite. This is 
bound to increase weight rapidly. I never 
saw a pair of chickens eat more grain and 
forage better than the pair whose weights 
I mention above. I am only sorry that I 
did not weigh them before the 10th week. 
Last year I received a letter from a breeder 
of Javas in which the most “startling 
figures on chicks ” were given; but I can¬ 
not find it. Suffice it to say that they were 
a surprise to me. In every case where such 
large weights have been attained, the 
chickens had a range and were under hens. 
I never saw chickens “go off their pins” 
that were properly fed and handled. If 
some of The Rural readers could visit the 
Plymouth Rocks and Wyandottes raised 
on farms in New York and New England, 
they would be surprised to find plenty of 
“startling figures.” But the growth of 
that Canadian bird takes my breath away. 
The Rural’s correspondent F. H. C., 
gives corrected weights of his ducks. I hope 
he will be kind enough to tell us how he 
succeeded in obtaining an average weight 
of 10 pounds one ounce for his ducks at 11 
weeks of age. He will pardon me, I am 
sure, for being a little skeptical in such 
matters; but really, I cannot understand 
how ducks can gain such weights in so 
short a period, especially when the most 
expert breeders have had extreme difficulty 
in getting ducks to weigh 20 pounds per 
pair when nearly matured. Such ducks as 
F. H. C. has would prove a fortune in the 
hands of Mr. Rankin or Mr. Rudd. The 
eggs from these ducks will sell at high 
figures. I sincerely hope F. H. C. will tell 
us more about his ducks and his method 
of feeding; also whether he has any for 
sale. j. H. DREVENSTEDT. 
The soft, velvety coloring effect so desirable for 
house exteriors cau only be produced and perma¬ 
nently held by the use of 
CABOT’S CREOSOTE SHINGLE STAINS. 
For Sample*! on Wood, with Circulars and full 
Information, apply to 
SAMUEL CABOT, 
TO Kllbv Street. UoHton. Man. 
Mention Rcbal NEw-Yorkku. 
|dPERI0^ EEDERvs 
.Land or 
■Roller ^- ulars 
; ’ 6'OUVERNEUa. 
g^^g?JviACH.C0- 
Gduverneur.n./ 
Three Leaders. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A weekly illustrated newspaper of the 
Farm, Garden, Field, and Stable. Estab¬ 
lished iu 1850. First to establish an experi¬ 
mental farm. Original throughout. Rep¬ 
resenting the best thought on rural topics. 
Sixteen pages, large quarto. $2.00 a year ; 
$1.00 for six months. 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 
A monthly magazine of Horticulture and 
Rural Life. Profusely illustrated. About 
one hundred pages. The foremost, most 
beautiful and valuable rural magazine pub¬ 
lished anywhere. $2.00 a year; $1.00 for six 
months. 
Tbe Rural Publishing Co., Times Building, New York. 
Lawson Valentine, President. 
THE CHRISTIAN UNION, 
A Family Paper of thirty-two to forty 
large quarto pages, frequently illustrated. 
Its “Outlook” ably reviews the worlds 
leading events each week. Its Home De¬ 
partment is bright and helpful. Its Con¬ 
tributors lead tne world’s thought. Its 
Stories are popular and entertaining. Its 
Sermons, Sunday-school Lessons, and Re¬ 
ligious News are for men and women of 
every faith. Lyman Abbott and H. W. 
Mabie, Editors. $3.00 a year. 
TH8 CUristian Union Co., 30 LaFayette Place, New York. 
Lawson Valentine, President. 
The Rural New Yorker. The American Garden 
and The Christian Union together for 5SY.At». 
Either The Rural New Yorker and The Amjricak 
Garden and The Christian Union together foi *4.00 
The American Garden and The Rural New Yorker 
together for »3 0(1. 
ADDRESS EITHER OFFICE. 
THE NEW ENGLAND FAIR. 
Worcester, Mass., September 2to8, 1890. 
(Rural Special Report.) 
The [fruit-men of eastern Mass, are 
feeling blue over the apple crop, which is 
practically a failure. Pears are a light crop; 
grapes hardly a fair average ; while small 
fruits, though they gave excellent promise 
early In the season, were cut short by the 
drought, which appears to have pinched 
all crops early in the summer. Among 
apples the Baldwin aud R. I. Greening are 
really without rivals as winter varieties in 
middle and southern New England. Iu 
northern Maine, New Hampshire and Ver¬ 
mont, iu exposed localities these sorts are 
not hardy, and several visitors from “ the 
North” are following Dr. Hoskins’s experi¬ 
ments very closely. Truly, we have several 
well-known Russian varieties which are 
hardy in much higher latitudes ; but some¬ 
way they do not “fill the bill.” By the 
way, will l)r. Hoskins tell The Rural 
readers of the new Vermont Greening 
(Continued on next page.) 
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«• second class mall matter. 
