t 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1896 
of this, and after much actual practice in this line, 
have arrived at the following' conclusions : The soil 
used in covering was probably lumpy, too heavy, and 
without doubt, was scattered over the seeds none too 
carefully, by hand, that is, crumbled on with the 
fingers, covering the seeds unevenly. The watering 
also served to cover still deeper, many of the seeds. 
In contrast to this, is a box of seedlings even in 
height, and in a couple of weeks entirely covering 
the ground. An excellent way to cover small seeds 
evenly is to sift very light soil over them through a 
fine sieve, holding it high enough above the seed box 
so that the seeds may be observed and gently tapping 
the sides of the sieve with the hand. There is more 
danger in too much than in too little covering in in¬ 
door seed-sowing. Another point of some importance 
is to press the soil firmly down about the edges of the 
seed box, before sowing. Dry soil occupies more 
space than wet soil, and if this be not done, the con¬ 
traction of the soil after watering, will leave a large 
space between soil and box. 
Next to sowing, the most difficult operation is 
watering. The ordinary living room, and in fact, 
many greenhouses, answer very well as drying ovens, 
but very poorly for seed germination. While Mr. 
Meehan’s plan of not watering at all is the very best, 
if it can be carried out, it is well to consider the next 
best plan. The finest rose sprinkler will undo all 
your careful work in seed sowing, and will prove a 
source of vexation at all times. Sub-irrigation com¬ 
pletely fills the bill. After the 
seeds are covered, place the box 
in a pan or tub with an inch or 
two of water, and allow it to re¬ 
main only until the moisture 
reaches the surface of the soil in 
one spot, which it will usually do 
in about 10 minutes. Remove the 
box and in less than an hour, the 
remaining portion of the surface 
will be moist. The entire mass 
of soil is now thoroughly soaked 
without having disturbed a single 
seed, and will not, under ordinary 
conditions, need watering again 
before the seedlings are trans¬ 
planted. 
The scheme is equally practi¬ 
cable for the transplanted seed¬ 
lings. The soil does not become 
hard and baked on top, always 
i-emaining loose. This plan avoids 
the necessity of frequent water¬ 
ing. It will be necessary to con¬ 
struct the seed boxes with open¬ 
ings in the bottom, either small 
auger holes or cracks between the 
bottom slats. This is not a new, 
untried scheme, but is pi’acticed 
exclusively in many large gi’een- 
liouse establishments where hun¬ 
dreds of boxes are sowed every 
yeax*. These trifling details may 
not appear as of much account to 
the fxirmer who has but a box or 
two of tomato or cabbage seeds 
to sow, but they very often ex¬ 
press the difference between suc¬ 
cess and failure, and to the greenhouse man, are of 
the highest importance. oranefield. 
Experiment Station, Wisconsin. 
The Farmers’ Club. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address of 
the writer to insure attention. Before asking a question please 
see whether it is not answered in our advertising columns. Ask 
only a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate 
piece of paper.] 
Some Remarks On Feeding Poultry. 
C., Washington. Kan. —1. What is a good ration, by weight, to 
feed daily in winter, with a view to getting all the fertile eggs 
possible for broiler chicks, from 100 ordinary hens bought of 
farmers ? How should it be fed ? 2. For market eggs ? Prices of 
feed are as follows: Potatoes, 25.cents; wheat, 50; oats, 15; eorn20, 
per bushel. Blood, $3.50; bone meal, $4; dry ground meat, $4; uncut 
green bone, 50cents; crystal grit, $1.50; flax seed, $1.50; oil meal, 
$2.50 per 100 pounds. How can I make charcoal from corn ? 
Broken clam shells, crockery and glass are free. 3. I want to 
fatten these hens in July, and another 100 in February, and add 
30 to 40 per cent in weight in 14 to 20 days. My idea is to place 
them in a warm, dark house and crowd to a finish. Will you 
give directions'? 4. What green food shall I grow and how? 
What make of machine shall I use, and how prepare the feed and 
preserve it for summer and winter? 5. What part of the French 
method of cramming would it pay to adopt ? 6. I am using White 
Wyandotte males; what breed would be better? 
ANSWERED BY P. II. JACOBS. 
1 . As the hens will be purchased of farmers—no 
breed mentioned—they will consequently be of all 
ages, sizes and kinds, and as no two hens eat the 
same quantity, or are in the same condition, or prefer 
the same kind of foods, it is difficulty-to fix upon a 
quantity of food for 100 hens, especially for fertile 
eggs. No intelligent poultryman can, or attempts to, 
feed by weight as a fixed ration. A quart of corn for 
10 hens, one day, is regarded as the quantity, but 10 
hens may eat only a pint one day, and a quart the 
next. The proper way to feed is to weigh the food 
for a morning meal, let the hens eat all they desire, 
then weigh that left over. You will then know, by 
the difference in weight, how much they have eaten. 
Having learned hovt much they can eat, give them 
one-half the quantity they would eat if allowed, in 
the morning, and a full meal at night. A light morn¬ 
ing' meal will leave them somewhat hungry, and make 
them scratch. Two full meals will cause them to 
fatten, and the eggs will be few or will not hatch. 2 . 
For market eggs, use the same method. Foods 
should vai*y. Give grain, cut bone, meat, clover, 
cabbage, etc. 3. To fatten, put them in a yard (close 
confinement in coops is a mistake) and feed heavily, 
all they will eat, three times a day. Give ground 
grain and also meat and clover (to pi’omote health), 
adding a pint of linseed meal and a pound of crude 
tallow to every five pounds of ground grain. 4. 
Ci’imson clover, Red clover, cabbage. Details of how 
to gi’ow them are given in The R. N.-Y. frequently. 
They are cut fine and fed. In winter, the hay is so 
tx-eated, also, but scalded. For cutting them, the 
Gem clover cutter, made by Wilson Brothers, Easton, 
Pa., is excellent. Green food for winter can be pre¬ 
served with the silo. 5. It is too laborious a method, 
and is inapplicable in this country. It simply leads 
to indigestion and loss. 6. The selection is a good one. 
How to Fleece Fleas of Life. 
II. E. A'., Washington , I). C .—I rented a place a short time ago, 
and after moving in, found it infested with fleas—outhouses and 
dwelling alike. The former occupant kept a number of cats and 
dogs, also dill a good deal of butchering, and didn’t keep ttie 
slaughterhouse and surroundings any too clean. During every 
warm spell, they become very friendly, and take a delight in 
making the acquaintance of members of the household— whether 
because we are new to them or not, I cannot say. 
ANSWERED BY M. V. 8I,INGERI.AND. 
A few years ago, one of the laboratories at Cornell 
University, became badly infested with fleas inti’o- 
duced on an animal kept in captivity in a neighbor¬ 
ing room. So thick did the annoying creatures get, 
that at one time it was feared the rooms could not be 
used for laboratory purposes. The professor in charge 
tried many different schemes to rid the place of the 
pest; he even went to the trouble to spray thoroughly 
every nook and cranny with kerosene oil ; but the 
pests were soon as thick as ever. Finally, the follow¬ 
ing plan of warfare, which some writer had sug¬ 
gested, was inaugurated. A large quantity of sticky 
fly paper was purchased and generously distributed 
in the most frequently haunted portions of the rooms. 
Where the fleas were the thickest, a person would 
don rubber boots and walk between two rows of the 
fly paper, thus encouraging the fleas into activity, 
only to meet their death when they fell back on to 
the sticky paper. Then the novel scheme of hiring a 
colored gentleman to walk about the rooms with 
strips of the sticky paper fastened around his rubber 
99 
boots was put into vex-y successful opei*ation. After 
the sticky fly paper had been in use for a few days, a 
decided lessening in the numbers of the fleas was 
noticeable. Of course, the paper did not have the 
attractive effect on the fleas that it does on the house 
fly where “ a dozen flies come to the funeral of each 
one caught.” But the fleas ai*e so constantly on the 
jump, and the fly paper was so genei’ously distributed, 
that they coxxld not jump many times without land¬ 
ing on one of the papers. In short, this sticky fly 
paper proved a complete and lasting success. Use it 
unstintedly and, if possible, do something to keep the 
pests on the jump. Benzine or other substances will 
kill when they hit them, but they are not easily hit. 
How to Fight the Tarnished Plant Bug. 
P. II., Afton, Mo .—The Tarnished plant bug has done great 
damage to the berry crop in this neighborhood. I noticed the 
pest early in the spring, on my young quince trees, of which they 
ruined the young shoots. I sprayed them with strong Paris- 
green water, but without the least success. Soon after I noticed 
them in my berry patches. My strawberry crop was completely 
ruined by them, the blackberry and black raspberry crop over 
half. To destroy the pest, Prof. Slingerland recommends pyre- 
thrum for strawberry beds, and kerosene emulsion for apple 
trees. Will the kerosene emulsion not answer for the different 
berry patches ? What is the best way of fighting them in the 
different berry beds from early spring to the end of June ? 
Ans. —Tliei*e is no denying the fact that the Tar¬ 
nished plant bug is a tough customer to battle against. 
It is so extremely common, that hundreds can be 
swept from the grasses in almost any locality at tiny 
time of the year, and when one is 
killed a dozen may come to his 
funeral. It is so very active, and 
such an adept at hiding, that one 
can rarely get a good look at it. 
It did much damage by blighting 
peach and apple tips in several of 
our nurseries last year. In one 
case, thousands of them wei’e 
captured by walking along rows 
of apple stocks and sweeping an 
insect net along the tips ; it was 
found necessax-y to repeat the 
process every day for several 
days before there was an appre¬ 
ciable lessening of their num¬ 
bers. A nurseryman in Virginia 
claims to check their onslaught 
by a kerosene emulsion spray, 
diluting the emulsion with aboxxt 
10 parts of water. This would be 
much cheaper than pyi-etlirum, 
and 1 believe equally as effective. 
I see no l’eason why it could not 
be used on blackberi’y and x-asp- 
berry bushes, and it doxxbtless 
can also be used on strawberry 
vines with equal efficiency. If 
the emulsion does not prove 
effective, I shall be at a loss to 
know what suggestion to make 
next. A better method is yet to 
be suggested. One of our corre¬ 
spondents used the emulsion 
diluted with 24 parts of water, 
and although it did not kill 
many of the bugs, it seemed to 
render the pear trees uninviting 
to the insects, and they remained away until all 
ti*aces of the emxxlsion had disappeared. Give the 
emulsion a thoi*ough trial; experiment on a few 
bushes until you get the dilution that will not injui-e 
the foliage. m. v. s. 
Bitter Milk From Jersey Cows. 
H. E. L., Eactoryville, Pa .—I have two purebred Jerseys whose 
milk lately has begun to be so bitter that it can hardly be used. 
It has churned nicely until the last thi-ee times, when it has 
foamed and frothed until a gallon of cream would make three 
churnfuls, and it has been impossible to get butter. I keep the 
milk from all contaminating substances, and in a reasonably 
cool milk-room. I feed my cows good, clean corn fodder cut, and 
bran and meal mixed. I did feed turnips, but thinking, perhaps, 
that was what caused the above results, I quit a week ago; but 
the milk still remains bitter and impossible to churn at any tem¬ 
perature whatever. What is the cause ? 
Ans. —Although the time that the cows have been 
in milk is not stated, I apprehend that the bitterness 
of the milk may be due to a peculiarity that some¬ 
times occurs toward the close ot the milking period, 
particularly when that comes in the winter on dry 
feed. Occasionally cows under such conditions give 
milk of a peculiar bitter flavor, for which, so far as I 
know, there is no assigned cause or remedy. In re¬ 
gard to the trouble in churning, the difficulty prob¬ 
ably comes from the small size and hardness of the 
fat globules, coupled with an increased viscosity of 
the milk. Greater care should be taken in ripening 
the cream, and pains should be taken to secxxre a 
sharp development of lactic acid in a reasonable time. 
It may be that the “ reasonably cool milk-room” is 
too cool. The cream should be kept at a uniform 
temperature as near 50 degrees as possible until 
See Catalogue Reviews. Page 102. 
