834 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
December 19 
Alcohol for Regulating Incubators. 
II. E. Moss, Mo.—In The R. N.-Y. of 
November 7, J. W. M., of Quincy, Ill., 
undertakes to answer my article in 
which I condemn some makes of incu¬ 
bators as worthless, and especially those 
in which the heat is supposed to be 
controlled by regulators whose action is 
based on the expansion of alcohol or 
mercury, or both. I reaffirm my pre¬ 
vious statement, and can furnish abun¬ 
dant evidence to substantiate it, both 
from a thorough practical test of them, 
and from a scientific standpoint. 
J. W. M. says that he has been inter¬ 
ested in artificial incubation for 14 
years ; that is no evidence that my 
statement is incorrect or his correct. 
Does J. W. M. know that the boiling 
point (and, therefore, the incubating 
temperature or point) of any liquid 
varies with the atmospheric pressure ? 
Does he not know that the regulator in 
question is in itself a syphon barometer 
made doubly sensitive by the alcohol 
above the mercury in the bulb, but 
variable and inaccurate as a barometer 
on account of the vapor of alcohol which 
collects in the upper extremity of it ? 
Does he know that the atmospheric pres¬ 
sure varies from 27 to 31 inches ? Does 
he know that, at a barometric pressure 
of 26.529 inches, water boils at 216 de¬ 
grees F., and at 31.120 inches, it boils at 
214 degrees F., and that all liquids are 
similarly affected ? 
Does he not know that regulators, 
based on this principle were tried years 
ago and discarded as worthless, and 
that a prominent maker in Iowa recent¬ 
ly adopted the same regulator, but 
quickly discovered its faults and dis¬ 
carded it because he is honestly trying 
to make a machine that will hatch ? 
The facts are that J. W. M. is a manu¬ 
facturer of incubators. On January 1, 
last, he adopted this regulator, and I be¬ 
lieve I am safe in saying that I have set 
more eggs and run more hatches in his 
own machines equipped with this regu¬ 
lator, than he has. I do not hesitate, 
after a thorough, careful and intelligent 
trial, to pronounce it worthless. It 
varies with every change in the atmo¬ 
spheric pressure, as it must, it being a 
barometer itself. For example, on Aug¬ 
ust 25 last, after two weeks of steady 
hot weather, a thunder shower arose 
about 6 l’. m. ; during this storm, the 
temperature fell 25 degrees, and the 
barometer fell from 30 at 8 A. m., to 
29.84 at 6 p. m. During the day, I noticed 
the heat rising on the thermometers of 
the one machine I had running at the 
time, and it kept me busy adjusting the 
regulator and lowering the flame. When 
I left it for the night, the damper was 
slightly open, and the thermometers 
averaged about 103 3^ F. The next 
morning, I found the temperature on 
the tray as shown by the five ther¬ 
mometers, to range from 106 to 110 F., 
which, of course, ruined the hatch. 
Furthermore, of all the hatches I run in 
these machines, not a single one could 
be run with any approximation to a 
uniform temperature on all the ther¬ 
mometers on the tray ; neither could 
the temperature be held steady on any 
one of them without a constant watch¬ 
ing and shifting of the weight to com¬ 
pensate for the changes in atmospheric 
pressure and outer thermal changes. 
The latitude of movement of the weight 
was fully one inch during the hatch. 
Experts can operate incubators with 
success without regulators; they are 
skillful enough to regulate by the lamp 
alone. This method is preferable to a 
worthless regulator, even in the hands 
of a novice. J. W. M. should be aware 
of these facts, and if he had studied his 
regulator and its action during 1896, 
since he adopted it, as carefully as I 
have, he would. As J. W. M. advances 
in knowledge, he will discard this theo¬ 
retically beautiful device, and will, when 
he becomes fully posted, learn that 
aluminium and steel combined in a ther¬ 
mostatic bar, make the most sensitive 
and accurate as well as practical device 
that can be made for this purpose ; the 
best makers are adopting them. 
If I have not made this sufficiently 
plain, I shall be glad to furnish tabu¬ 
lated records of numerous hatches show¬ 
ing all the variations of the regulator 
and the adjustment necessary to compen¬ 
sate for barometric pressure, as well as 
variations of temperature on different 
parts of the egg tray and other details 
in full as to hatches. As he says that 
three-fourths of the incubators he sells 
go to farmers, I am willing to sit up 
nights as I have often done watching 
these regulators in compiling this record 
of their operation, if it will assist one 
farmer in selecting an incubator worthy 
of the name. 
Killing Poultry Vermin. 
M. W. D., Augusta, Me. —I think that 
putting oil or tar or anything else on 
roosts to get rid of hen lice or red mites, 
is all wrong. It only drives them to 
other parts of the house, where it is 
impossible to get at them, I tried that 
for two or three years to my sorrow. 
Now, instead of trying to drive them off 
from the roosts, I make them as pleasant 
as possible for the lice, though I have to 
tack a strip of cloth on the under side 
of the roosts to induce them to stop 
there. Then about once in two or three 
weeks, I treat them to a bath of water 
as hot as I can get it. That kills lice, 
mites and everything else that’s on the 
roosts. The roosts should be made so 
that they can betaken down and carried 
out-doors and turned bottom side up to 
turn on the hot water. 
“ Old-Fashioned ” Prize Butter. 
J. G. M., Poolvillk, N. Y.—I wish to 
congratulate Mrs. R. A. Bloomfield, of 
Illinois, on her courage in holding up to 
view the methods of that woman who 
made prize butter salted three ounces 
to the pound, and then washed the salt 
out again. She might also have called 
attention to the fact of the “cream 
churned from milk set in open pans for 
four days,” for, if set in a dry place, the 
cream would be very much like leather 
in four days, and if in a damp place, I 
should expect to find it near molding. 
While I think that just as good (and, 
perhaps, better) butter may be made 
without a separator, and that there is a 
great deal of unnecessary talk about mod¬ 
ern butter making, still I think it no more 
of a sin for men to “ make a great talk, 
and even swell into their coats and vests 
with great pride ” over their modern 
ideas, than it is for a woman to make 
herself ridiculous just for the sake of 
being “ old-fashioned.” 
Defending the Dorsets. 
E. M. G., Verona, Md.—I n referring 
to Dorsets on page 804, you are mistaken 
about the Dorset Courier being out of 
existence, although there is some talk 
of discontinuing next year, if breeders 
don’t give it more support; I think that 
it will still be issued. You certainly 
give some Dorset importers a severe rap, 
but I agree with Mr. Latta, page 799, 
and yourselves, that all trickery and 
misrepresentation should be exposed, 
and the breeders that employ these 
means should suffer. 
Although a young Dorset breeder, I 
am well pleased with this breed, and 
having seen November lambs, I am sure 
that Mr. Latta’s way of keeping his 
flock must be wrong, provided he wishes 
extra early lambs. My seven years’ ex¬ 
perience with sheep shows that Dorsets 
beat both Cotswolds and Oxford Downs, 
in having strong coming lambs, and as 
for milking qualities, are far ahead of 
other breeds. Although I dare say that 
there are dishonest breeders, yet for my 
own part, I would be pleased to show 
how my customers are pleased with my 
stock. As I am in it for a business, all 
purchasers have the option of returning 
stock, if not satisfied, at my expense. 
Improving Varieties of Cotton. 
R. J. Redding, Georgia Ex. Station. 
—In regard to efforts making to improve 
the varieties of cotton in the South, very 
many farmers have engaged in the work 
of improvement, mostly by careful se¬ 
lection and cultivation. I think that I 
may truly say that even more attention 
has been and is now being given to im¬ 
proving cotton than to Indian corn, 
wheat, oats, or any other southern- 
grown crop. The number of varieties 
in cultivation throughout the South must 
number over 50, and their number is 
added to every year. This station has 
been engaged in the work of cross fer¬ 
tilizing, with the view to developing 
greater length and fineness of fiber, 
while at the same time maintaining pro 
duetiveness. This work has be< n con 
ducted for six years past, but as yet with 
no very decisive practical results. In 
this work, we have always been con¬ 
fronted with the fact that there is a close 
relation between the productiveness 
(yield per acre) of a variety and the 
fineness of the staple (fiber). In other 
words, we find, so far, that the quality 
of the fiber varies in inverse proportion 
to the yield—the longer and finer the 
staple, the smaller the yield. This is 
universally observed by all who have had 
any experience. 
In the conduct of the cross-fertilizing 
experiments, we have relied mainly on 
the Sea Island species as the source of 
the qualities of length and fineness of 
staple, and some one of the more pro¬ 
ductive varieties of Upland or Short 
staple, for productiveness. One of the 
first observable results of such crosses 
is the very diverse and unstable charac¬ 
ter of the offspring. For instance, we 
sometimes get a dozen plants, each the 
product of seeds from the same boll 
(capsule), with scarcely a point of re¬ 
semblance to each other, but a notice¬ 
ably stronger tendency towards the Sea 
Island type. We have published no bul¬ 
letin of results as yet, simply because 
we have not yet attained satisfactory 
practical results. 
True 
Merit is characteristic-of Hood’s Sarsaparilla, 
and is manifested every day in its remarkable 
cures of catarrh, rheumatism, dyspepsia. 
Sarsaparilla 
Is the best—in fact the One True Blood Purifier. 
Hood’s Pills 
act harmoniously with 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla. 25c. 
K EVITT’S NEW DISPLAY PACKAGE for the 
shipment of berries requires no Division Slats, 
Hinges or Staples. No berries are crushed or 
injured by Division Slats as in the case of the 
Old crate. Send 50 cents for a Detail Drawing. 
T. C. KEVITT. Inventor, Athenia, N. J. 
in the fertilizers applied 
on the farm means 
larger and better yields 
of crops, permanent 
improvement of the 
soil and 
More Money 
in the farmer’s pocket. 
Ail about Potash—the results of its use by actual ex¬ 
periment on the best farms in the United States—is 
told in a little book which we publish and will gladly 
mail free to any farmer in America who will write for it. 
GERMAN KALI WORKS, 
93 Nassau St., New York. 
The Winter Course in Agriculture 
AT DELAWARE COLLEGE, 
will open January 6, 1807, and continue to the last 
Friday in March. The course has been improved 
and enlarged for the coming winter. Tuition free. 
Full descriptive circular will be sent upon ap¬ 
plication to Prof. W. H. BISHOP, Newark, Del. 
PDIUCflll PI flUED- The largest handler 
ummouil ULUVCIl of American-grown 
Crimson Clover Seed in the United States, is J08KPH 
H. HOLLAND, Grower and Jobber. Milford, Del. 
Also. Cow Peas, Winter Oats. Timothy Seed, eto. 
finnCCDEDDV ANI) CURRANT—50,000 
UUUOEDEnlt I Other Nursery Stock. 
T. G. ASHMEAD. Nursery, Williamson, N. Y. 
no. «.•» ipwivo uftWHOguo »< rpp, 
T. S. HUBBARD CO., FREDONIA, li. ¥. 
TREES AND PLANTS. 
Full assortment. Special prices on PEACH TREES, 
Large stock CALIFORNIA PRIVET, NORWAY and 
SILVER MAPLE. 
N. P. BROOKS, Lakewood, N. J. 
VEGETABLES UNDER GLASS. 
(JU8T OUT.) 
Every American farmer and gardener ought to 
send 25c. (cash or stamps) for this now handbook on 
winter gardening. It tells how to make money in 
cold weather; how to get cash out of the soil during 
every month of the year. It gives the latest proc¬ 
esses of the most successful farm gardeners and 
market gardeners, and is practical throughout. It is 
a book for money-makers; not a seed catalogue. 
Gardening (high authority) says of it: “The best 
little book of the kind that we have seen since Peter 
Henderson wrote his ‘ Gardening for Profit.’ ’’ 
137“ Second edition ready in December. 
HENRY A. DREER, 
No. 714 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 
Stark fruit Book j 
contains new and copyright • 
colored plates of over < 
100 rare fruits, etc.—write 1 
for particulars. Askforlistof < 
Stark Trees— $3 per 100 and < 
up. Stark Bko’s, Stark, Mo. 1 
Buy direct and pay but ono profit. No nursery carries 
a more complete assortment of tho best in 
Fruit and Ornamental Trees, Shrubs, 
Plants, Roses, Vines, Bulbs, Seeds. 
Don’t buy trash. Don’t pay two prices. But send for 
our free catalogue today, it tells tt all, an elegant book 
of 168 pages profusely Illustrated. Seeds, Plants, 
Bulbs, Small Trees, etc. sent by mail postpaid. Larger 
by express or freight. 8afe arrival and satisfaction 
guaranteed. 43d Year, 32 Greenhouses, 1000 Acres. 
THE STORRS & HARRISON CO., 
BOX 29. PAINESVILLE, OHIO. 
T | Ail ET And we’re ready now to talk about the list of trees you want for spring. Why not write 
I I vl Ca to-day ? Why not order early ? Early orders bring sxiccess when you plant ROGERS 
FRESH-DUG DAN8VILLE TREES. Our new catalogue will soon be ready. It’s larger 
f i | f n and better t han ever. You can’t afford to buy before you see our prices and easy terms, 
rU£a ;°o r U m«n““™ ROGERS NURSERIES, Dansville, N. Y. 
TRIUMPH 
The only Yellow Freestone PEACH 
Ripening with Amsden. 
Te 
The Latest and Largest 
Yellow Freestone PEACH, 
EMPEROR 
MERCER { 
The only Sure-Bearing, 
Non-Rotting CIIEIIIIY. 
For full descriptions send for Catalogue (Wc.) We will send our Beautifully Illus. Catalogue with 
tho Col’d Plates of the ;j Wonderful New Fruits, and l Emperor Peach June Rud by 
mail, postpaid,for 10c. J0S.U. BLACK,SON A CO., Village Nurseries, llightstoniv, A. J. 
