1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
943 
MAPES, THE HEN MAN . 
Ventilating the New Hen Barn. 
Whatever the system of ventilation employed it is 
imperative chat as fast as oxygen is extracted from a 
given amount of air, the residue must be emptied into 
the great reservoir surrounding the earth, and a new 
supply of pure air admitted to the apartment. In 
making plans for the new hen barn, shown at Fig. 
42S, after carefully examining the many known systems 
of ventilation, I decided to use the system described 
in U. S. Patent No. 738,340. On page 677 Mr. Burr 
says that “the superstition that hens kept in flocks 
larger than 20 to 30 would not give as good results as 
the smaller flocks, giving 10 square feet of floor space 
as the smallest area compatible with good results, is 
absolutely false, being based entirely upon theory.” He 
also says that "the basic law is, that results are gov¬ 
erned by the cubic feet of clean fresh air available for 
each bird.” If we accept this as the basic law, “where 
arc we at” when we remember that with a perfect 
system of ventilation “all out of doors” is “available?” 
I have only placed 500 in my flock as yet, but I am 
watching developments, and may increase the size of 
the flock later if the outcome seems to warrant it. 
One of the first things to be provided with any system 
of ventilation is a connection with the outside air 
which will allow a supply of pure fresh air to enter. 
These are usually called intake flues. In the system 
which I am using, a hole six inches square is cut in 
the floor in each corner of the room. From this hole 
a flue extends downward to within a few inches of the 
ground, the longer the better. There is no donger of 
the warm air of the room going down and out through 
these flues, since the tendency of warm air is to rise 
rather than to descend, so these flues for intake may 
always remain open. 
The other important thing to be pro¬ 
vided is a means for removing vitiated 
air from the room. Because pure car¬ 
bonic acid gas is heavier than pure 
oxygen or pure nitrogen, many suppose 
that the stratum of air near the floor is 
more impure than that near the top of 
the room. The reverse is really true, 
especially in the roosting quarters where 
the perches are placed high. In this 
system, a hole is cut through the ceiling 
at the center of the room, four times as 
large as those at the corners through 
the floor. From this hole a flue extends 
upward through the roof, extending well 
above the roof, and capped by a cover 
supported on four small posts to ex¬ 
clude the rain from it. Ours was made 
by nailing four boards together 12 
inches wide and 16 feet long. In this 
flue there is a slide or damper, by means 
of which the amount of air passing up 
the flue and out of the room can be 
regulated as accurately as the draft of 
a stove can be regulated by means of a • 
damper. The flue is also provided with 
a box of filtering material, to be placed 
in position within the flue in very severe weather. The 
idea of this filter, I believe, is to prevent any counter- 
current of cold air from coming down the flue. It is 
said that when the difference between the outside 
air and that inside air is too great, a current of warm 
air will sometimes go up one side of the flue, while a 
counter-current of cold air comes down the opposite 
side. In practice, there are four small streams of 
pure air entering the room at the floor in the corners, 
which move upward and toward the center, till they 
unite at the foot of the larger flue, and pass out of 
the room. 1 his keeps the air constantly changing in 
all parts of the room. At this writing, November 15, 
we have had no occasion to use cither the damper or 
the filter, as we have had no severe weather. Last 
night was cold enough to freeze ice half an inch thick, 
yet the thermometer hanging on a level with the perches 
registered 50 degrees just before daylight. The damper 
in the flue was wide open, and a strong current of air 
moving up it and out of the room. I do not suppose 
there was any danger of any of the hens being sucked 
up the flue, but I pulled a feather loose from one of 
them, and the current carried it up into the flue at once. 
I expect that in close, muggy weather the draft in this 
flue will be deficient for best results. If I were only 
situated where I could connect with suitable power, 
this difficulty could be obviated by placing an electric 
fan in the flue, so as to force a draft up the flue in 
any kind of weather. I shall investigate the possi¬ 
bilities of a storage battery for that purpose, if its need 
becomes apparent with use. The great store of pure 
air out of doors will then be “available,” and if the 
basic law laid down by Mr. Burr is correct, there will 
be room in my 24x36-feet building for more than 500 
hens. Either advantages or defects of the present system 
will become apparent after a season’s use. o. w. mapes, 
THE FLAVOR OF MclNTOSH APPLE. 
Grafting for Superior Quality. 
Oiw of our readers la Connecticut scut us a sample of the 
McIntosh Red apple, which, to our taste, was quite superior 
to the ordinary McIntosh sold in the market. The outward 
appearance did nor differ from others of this variety, but 
the flavor was greatly superior. This man says that the 
tree on which this McIntosh was grown always gives 
fruit of this superior quality, higher in aroma and flavor 
than tlie ordinary run. Trees of the same variety within 
30 feet of this one do not show any improvement. He 
thought that this superiority might lie transferred or re¬ 
tained by grafting wood from this, superior tree, but lie 
finds that fruit grown from such wood is in no way supe¬ 
rior to the ordinary McIntosh, even when the scions were 
worked on wild seedling trees. He wants to know what 
there can be about this tree which gives this superior 
fruit, and why it cannot lie conveyed through the wood. 
Is there any explanation for such a tiling, except through 
the influence of the stock? Would it be possible to graft 
scions from this tree on pieces of its own roots and thus 
probably retain the superior quality? This tree, we are 
told, is from 20 to 25 years old. 
Guess at the Cause. 
I fully believe that improved varieties of fruits may 
■’omc and do come from certain trees that show better¬ 
ment of their product without any apparent cause. It 
is probably due in most of these cases to bud variation. 
If so, the variations are permanent and may be per¬ 
petuated. In the present case the variation is not out¬ 
wardly perceptible, is only a matter of flavor of the 
Tuit, and is not possible of perpetuation, according 
to the experiments made in propagating young trees 
from the old one. It seems as if there is something 
in the soil conditions that conduces to a more perfect 
excessive development of the juices of the fruit 
than is ordinarily the case with the McIntosh apple. 
There may have been some unusual deposit of plant 
MAPES’S NEW “HEN BARN.” Fig. 428. 
food there at a time unknown to the present owner 
of the land. For instance, a dead animal may have 
been buried there, or a log heap burned there in clearing 
the land, which in cither case would have a marked 
effect on the soil. In the first case it would have been 
a large deposit of nitrogen, which would be somewhat 
more transitory than in the second case, in which 
potash would have been left there in an unusual quan¬ 
tity, and this would remain for many years. I would 
,not attribute any of the superiority of flavor to the 
stock on which the tree is growing, nor would I think 
it would have any effect to graft scions on pieces of 
roots from the parent tree. However, it would do no 
harm to try it. There will be difficulty in getting them 
to grow, for, according- to the experience of many who 
have tried this method of propagation, of whom I am 
one, such grafts rarely live, or, if they do, the trees arc 
usually feeble. h. e. van deman. 
Not Unlike a Superior Cow. 
It is not at all unusual to find an individual tree of 
a variety, superior in flavor, color or bearing qual¬ 
ities to other trees of the same variety growing 
with it. It is not more unusual, though much 
less noticeable, than to find an individual cow in 
a herd of one breed which surpasses its mates. 
Your correspondent’s tree is probably one of the chance 
variations which we find in all varieties of plants and 
in all breeds of animals. It does not seem to me the 
stock can have any possible influence on the fruit in 
this case. Such variations can be perpetuated in most 
cases by using scions or buds from the tree. I am 
surprised at your correspondent’s report to the con¬ 
trary. As you probably know, there are several strains 
of Baldwins, and it is more than likely that there are 
Strains of the McIntosh. There are many distinct 
strains of Fameuse, several of Ben Davis, and so with 
many other of the old varieties. These strains are as 
capable of being perpetuated as are their parents. This 
particular tree differs from other apple trees very ma¬ 
terially if its good qualities cannot be perpetuated by 
grafting or budding in the ordinary way, either on 
old trees or on nursery trees. I should recommend 
that your correspondent again attempt to propagate it 
in that way. I can explain the seeming failure of his 
first attempt to perpetuate the strain only by assuming 
that the high quality of the fruit was not brought out 
in the first years of the young tree’s life, as sometimes 
happens, in which case trees propagated from it or 
grafts set from it as they grow older may produce the 
original fruit with all its superiority when they have 
attained greater age. yl p. hedrick. 
Geneva, N. Y., Experiment Station. 
Quality Comes with Age. 
It will be a strange case indeed if these young trees 
do not show the same characteristics when they come 
to more mature bearing, or after the young trees settle 
down to heavier bearing and arc not making as rank 
growth. There is no question in my mind about this. 
I have no faith in the influence of either sour or crab 
stock affecting the fruit in any way, and especially from 
small roots. I have no doubt at all that the stock 
influences the growth in the trees, and that a weak 
grower worked on a strong grower is an improvement 
in regard to growth and health of the tree, but I never 
could believe nor have any faith in the theory that the 
stock would in any way influence the quality of the 
fruit itself, any more than the nonsense that is be¬ 
lieved about inserting a graft upside down to get a 
seedless apple. On the other hand, I do know and 
can prove it in many cases that the little tiny bud 
inserted into a stock probably many 
thousand times as large as itself 
is not only not influenced by that stock, 
but that it will do just the opposite; 
that is, it will change the entire char¬ 
acter of the root system of that stock, 
and in one instance a bud of one variety 
inserted in a stock will make a heavy 
root system, while another tiny bud of 
another variety will make an entirely 
different style of root, all side by side 
under same conditions. I would not 
hesitate to plant thousands of trees of 
McIntosh in orchard propagated from 
such parentage and expect the same 
high quality of fruit. We are planting 
several thousand McIntosh all worked 
in this way, and still more of them to 
put in, and while these young trees may 
not for the first few years while grow¬ 
ing strong produce the same high-col¬ 
ored, high-quality fruit, when they are 
laid by under the mulch system, and 
get down to business it gives me no 
anxiety as to the result. I certainly 
would advise the owner of that tree to 
go ahead and propagate from it, and 
unless that tree is influenced by some 
local conditions which make the difference, which is not 
at all likely, he can- depend on getting what he is working 
for when the trees get older, unless there is a mistake 
in the plan on which we are working, though, of course, 
there are chances to take in all kinds of propagation 
and breeding in plant or animal life, isaac c. Rogers. 
New .York. 
A Susceptible Variety. 
I can well believe the statements made. McIntosh 
seems to be especially susceptible to the influence of 
the stock on which it is worked. I have seen some 
rather remarkable examples of the modification of this 
variety evidently due to this cause. But I do not see 
any practical way of reproducing the superior qualities 
mentioned. f. a. waugh. 
Massachusetts. 
Effect of Uncongenial Stock. 
After careful consideration, my theory is that the 
particular stock on which the scion of this McIntosh 
was worked was not congenial and it had the effect 
the same that is produced in the ringing of the grape¬ 
vine, which checks the flow of sap and causes the grape 
to grow larger and sweeter. If this theory is correct 
it may be verified by taking scions of any of the 
McIntosh trees and grafting them on sections of roots 
of the tree under discussion. This would be a very 
interesting experiment, and I know of no other way of 
settling this question. There is a bare possibility that 
there is something in the soil beneath this tree which 
differs from the surrounding soil so as to cause this 
tree to bear better fruit. But this is not likely to be 
the case. I have known of similar cases to this, but 
none so marked. g. b, BRACKETT. 
U. S. Pomologist. 
