726 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
■ September 29, 
need different treatment. In some cases there may be 
room for three trees, and in others two would occupy 
the space fully and give more fruit. Some varieties 
need less space than others. Again, it may be a ques¬ 
tion of varieties, i. e., which of two varieties growing 
may be preferred. If it is a Tetofsky, for instance, 
twice as many can be grown on the same ground as of 
King, so it is a question that should be carefully con¬ 
sidered before tbe work of renovating is undertaken. 
If such an orchard belonged to me I would look it 
over carefully and determine what to do. In doing this 
I would mark in some way either the trees to be re¬ 
moved or those to remain. Having determined this, a 
further examination may show that it is not necessary 
to remove all the trees the same year. This would, for 
•averal years more, give one more bearing trees, and 
a consequent larger profit from the orchard. As soon 
as the condemned trees are in the way of the other 
trees, so as to exclude the sunshine, I would cut them 
out. This may give the orchard an irregular appear¬ 
ance, but it should be borne in mind that the orchard 
is grown for the profit there is in it, and what the 
owner should do is to direct his work in such a way as 
to secure the most assistance from nature. Nature is 
always ready to help, but she will help grow the mean¬ 
est scrub with as much apparent pleasure as the most 
choice fruit. The fruit grower as well as the farmer 
should always consider this in giving shape to his plans. 
Apple trees that “lock horns” will not give the best 
results in fruit, because the limbs running together will 
shut out the sunlight, and the best apples are not grown 
in the shade. Land is cheap in Maine, and the orchard 
with 40 to 50 trees to the acre will be more profitable 
than the orchard with 60 to 70 trees as I have some¬ 
times seen them. Give the trees plenty of room and 
all the sunshine they may be able to use. Thin out the 
limbs, thin out the trees to secure it. This may not be 
true in this instance, but many trees are starving for 
food, and one has no right to expect much from them, 
but many a man forgets that the lack of care is the 
cause of many failures in orcharding. Having pre¬ 
pared the trees for receiving cultivation by giving them 
an abundance of light and sunshine, the next great 
question is one of fertility—how to get it. Most or¬ 
chards in Maine, I am sorry to say, are being starved, 
or half starved, and there are many men who do not 
seem to see it. The remedy for this condition is found 
in cultivating the soil and applying fertilizers. There 
are a great many kinds of fertilizers, and it is not 
always easy to determine just which is best, but if one 
understands that fertilizers must be supplied in some 
way it will work itself out in the most practicable way. 
The owner must then do the right thing. There are 
great opportunities for orcharding in Maine, and it is 
passing strange that so many people do not see the main 
chance till the gray hairs of old age remind them that 
it is all too late. During the four years preceding 1905 
one man in Maine, considerably less than a hundred 
miles from Portland, set out 1,000 Ben Davis apple 
trees. These were given good care and in 1905 they 
produced two carloads of fruit, for which the owner 
received $1,010.75 at his railroad station. There are 
hundreds of other instances, but this is enough to show 
that conditions are favorable, and all there is lacking 
is the man to do such things. n. h. knowlton. 
Secretary Maine Pomological Society. 
A WOMAN’S POULTRY NOTES. 
The sultry dog days now past demanded that our 
chickens be given extra care in the way of feed, water 
and ventilation, in order that they should receive no set¬ 
back at this critical period of a pullet’s career. The 
April-hatched ones are developing very fast; combs are 
red and conspicuous and they have a general appear¬ 
ance of beginning to think about getting ready to lay. 
Overcrowding and lack of air are conditions to be 
strictly avoided, if we work for best results. If a 
house is used for sleeping quarters, it should be as 
open as possible, and they are perfectly comfortable in 
the trees. If new houses are to be built, they should 
be well under way in season, so that they may have 
time to dry out, as the early-hatched pullets should be 
settled in permanent quarters not later than the latter 
part of September, and, as we once learned, by bitter 
experience, damp, tight houses are very productive of 
colds and roup. Plenty of shade is also an urgent 
necessity during hot days, and chickens appreciate cool 
drinking water as much as people do; therefore, let us 
keep the dishes in the shade, and refill often enough to 
have the water fresh and pure. 
A correspondent asks: Just how do you make mash, 
and how much do you feed at once? Well, there are 
ways and ways; some good, others very poor, and 
some chicks will eat more than others. Perhaps my 
way is just medium, and I try to feed just what will 
be well cleaned up from one meal to the next. When 
the youngsters are about 10 days old I commence with 
mash made by pouring boiling water over cornmeal and 
a little beef scrap, stirring until it is swelled and wet 
all through, and a stiff, partly cooked mass; then stir 
in about as much bran and middlings, equal parts, as 
I had of meal, with a little fine charcoal. This makes 
a well-flavored dough, but is more trouble than my 
“standby” mash, which, with wheat at noon, and 
cracked corn at night, forms the main bill of fare all 
Summer. To make this for the 350 chicks I am now 
GONZALES PLUM. NATURAL SIZE. Fig. 306. 
See Ruralisms, Page 730. 
feeding, it takes three large quarts each of hran and 
middlings, two quarts cornmeal, one quart heef scrap 
(a handful of salt twice a week) ; any table scraps avail¬ 
able. Mix all together dry, then add about 10 quarts 
or less of water or milk and mix thoroughly. I use 
a tin washboiler to mix in. and can get along faster 
and better with my hand than with a paddle or spoon. 
Sfi 
l 
A 
I 
NELLIE BLANCHE PLUM. NATURAL SIZE. Fig. 307. 
See Ruralisms, Page 730. 
Distribute it by pailfuls to each brooder, always escort¬ 
ed, from place to place, by a white bodyguard, some 
of which will *probably have audacity enough to fly 
to my shoulder or take a hide on the edge of the pail. 
The chicks are healthy and happy on this diet, and as 
they have unlimited free range they get their own 
green food. To me nothing looks more cruel than to 
WAUGH PLUM. NATURAL SIZE. Fig. 308. 
See Ruralisms, Page 730. 
s<te poultry confined in bare yards, looking through 
that relentless wire netting, and longing for the green 
things beyond their reach. By the way. three old tin 
boilers constitute a large part of my outfit; one, with 
a tight cover, is used to keep johnny cake, rolled oats, 
or other special feed in; another is used for carrying 
litter to and from the brooders on cleaning days. As 
there is much carrying and lifting in raising a large 
number of chicks, a not very strong woman is glad to 
use the lightest utensils consistent with the work, even 
if they are not handsome. 
We have lately had a disastrous experience with 
crows. We had trapped the rats and were congratu¬ 
lating ourselves that our troubles were over for this 
year, when I noticed that the chickens were growing 
less every day. I saw no hawks about; heard crows, 
but thought the chicks were too large for them to 
catch, so paid no attention to their cawings, until 
finally, in the midst of a prolonged jubilee, we investi¬ 
gated and found a chicken large enough for a broiler 
being devoured by several young crows, who had doubt¬ 
less received it (and many more) from their tough 
old parent. We put poison in the dead broiler, and left 
it to bring retribution upon its slayer; rigged up a 
scarecrow man, scattered some pieces of broken mirror 
about, and the crows left at once, having taught us 
that they are no respecters of age, so far as chickens 
are concerned. Truly, eternal vigilance is the price of 
poultry, either for pleasure or profit. , 
In all that I have read concerning poultry I have 
seen very little about the beauty which a fine flock 
adds to the home. They, especially the white ones, cer¬ 
tainly do present a handsome appearance on the lawn, 
and it is not the least of my pleasures to have passing 
strangers stop and admire them; even the very prac¬ 
tical young man who drives the butcher’s wagon, says: 
“How nice your chickens look; they make me think of 
a flock of doves.” Of course all the flowers must be 
guarded by netting—but that is another story. 
_ DELL S. PETRIE. 
A NOVA SCOTIA HIRED MAN. 
A serious charge has been brought against me through 
the columns of your valuable paper by a former printer, 
and, if I remember correctly, by a farmer's daughter; 
viz., drunkenness, as I have, with many of my neighbors, 
worked on the farms of Massachusetts and New York, 
etc. I beg leave, most emphatically, to deny the charge. 
Perhaps many of your readers hardly know where Nova 
Scotia is, or that we do any farming here. Yes, we 
farm a little. On the street on which I live three years 
ago there were raised 80,000 barrels of apples (a distance 
of eight miles), while other sections can make a better 
showing. This would embrace about 55 to 60 farms, 
owned and occupied by as many farmers. Said farms 
cut from 40 to 100 tons hay and raise from 50 to 1,000 
bushels grain, etc. Yet many of our young men, and 
women too, start for the States in the Spring, perhaps 
because it is the fashion. When a lad I spent one Sum¬ 
mer in Massachusetts. On one farm the owner did the 
drinking, while he and his wife did the fighting, and the 
hired man went "scot free.” On another the well stood 
close to the hired man’s room. The water was drawn 
over a high wooden pulley, which had a wonderful loud 
squeak. Said squeak started precisely at 4 A. M. and 
the work kept up until eight to nine P. M. This seemed 
to be the general rule on all the farms I heard of at that 
time Perhaps farmers have been helped more by labor- 
saving machinery than any other class, yet methinks 
they demand more hours than any other. 
Since my first trip I have traveled and worked one 
Summer through Massachusetts and New York, and 
have not changed my opinion; too long hours' on the 
farm. Don’t you think, Mr. Editor, you worked those 
two one-legged men pretty hard? Again, those children, 
“A Substitute for Hired Help.” Under such circum¬ 
stances they would get disgusted with farm life. Again, 
when the “Farmer’s Daughter” takes up the work of 
mowing machine and horse rake, she is out of her place. 
There is a good deal said nowadays of “division of 
labor.” The author of the book, “What Can a Woman 
Do?” never placed her-on the mowing machine. I have 
always thought running a machine pretty particular and 
trying work, to say nothing of cosmetics, which we 
farmers do not care for our wives and daughters to 
handle. Good women are scarce, and should not be 
worn out in that way. To me such work looks as 
though we were going backward. We read that in 
Eden our forefathers worked together in rnaking their 
clothes. I remember a true story my mother used to 
tell of a German soldier who settled about 150 years 
ago in Lewisburg County. His wife could not sew, and 
while he made her clothes she did the chopping, piling 
and planting. I fear while the high school miss was on 
the machine the housework was neglected, and the hired 
man would get a poor dinner. t. e. s. 
Central Clarence, N. S. 
WHEAT HARVEST IN KANSAS. 
The picture at Fig. 310 shows how they harvest 
wheat in Kansas. This picture was taken on July 1. 
One of our reads, O. F. Wilcox—the man on the stack— 
says that with this outfit from 25 to 40 acres were put 
in stack each day. Those who have never seen a header 
at work will see the plan from this picture. The ma¬ 
chine does not attempt to bind the grain or cut it close 
to the ground. It clips off the heads within a foot or so 
of straw and delivers them into the racks which run 
alongside. When one rack is filled it is driven to the 
stack and unloaded, while another rack takes its place, 
thus keeping the header constantly at work. As will 
be seen the horses pull behind the header. The knife 
attachment is much the same as that on a binder, only 
much wider. The rod delivers the heads to an endless 
apron, which carries them up and drops them into the 
rack. In California on some of the larger wheat 
ranches, a thrashing attachment is carried on the header. 
The heads are delivered to the thrasher so tnat the 
machine actually works through the standing wheat, 
dropping the sacked grain and straw behind it. 
