294 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
April (it. 
might remove them. This pest is said to be more trou¬ 
blesome in the Central States than the East. J. \v. B. 
Hathorne, Mass. 
WIRE NETTING ON TREES.—1 notice your cor¬ 
respondent, M. L. P., page 148, has trouble with mice. 
That wire netting is not a protection. For 20 years 1 
have been using wire netting around apple trees as 
protection against rabbits. 1 simply have a notion that 
1 do i\ot want to wrap trees with anything that will 
keep out air and light. If the trees are to live in this 
world I want them to take things as they come, whether 
they be blizzards or hot winds. When setting young 
trees, before finishing filling the hole, I wrap the tree 
with a strip of netting six inches by 15 or 18, leaving 
the lower end about two inches below the surface. This, 
in our country, is protection against field mice and all 
rabbits except jack rabbits, which require about ;’>0 
inches of netting to keep them off. Our field mice are 
a species of vole, an animal 4^2 inches long with a tail 
three-fourths of an inch long. These sometimes attack 
large trees, commencing at the surface of the ground, 
and taking all the bark clear around the tree, working 
down into the ground a foot or more if not stopped. 
I have saved trees on which they have commenced, by 
digging down and putting wire netting around the 
trunk. But in a large orchard it requires pretty close 
watching to know when they are threatening the tree. 
I have lost a few trees before discovering the danger. 
This vole burrows about two inches below the surface, 
but the netting is sure to keep them off, if properly 
applied. o. d. h. 
Table Rock, Neb. 
THE OFF YEAR IN FRUIT GROWING.—When 
fruit trees overbear they have not enough vitality to 
produce fruit buds and mature a crop of fruit the fol¬ 
lowing season, and they have to rest and recuperate 
a year so as to produce a crop the year following and 
then they have too many again, and so on. I think 
there are two ways to help make the trees annual 
bearers. One way is to thin the fruit severely and the 
other to stimulate the growth of the trees so they will 
not set so many fruit buds. By removing more than 
half or probably three-fourths of the small fruits that 
set early in the Summer, the trees can usually form 
fruit buds enough to make a fair set of fruit the follow¬ 
ing Spring, and if it is properly sprayed it will be likely 
to mature and make a fair crop; and by continuing that 
practice year after year it is possible to have a fair crop 
every year. Since we have been thinning our apples 
we have fair crops where given such treatment every 
year. One crop is usually heavier than the other, but 
still there are enough to produce at least three-fourths 
of a crop of very fine fruit. If an orchard were in 
good sod and fairly rich soil I should not think of 
plowing it up and cultivating and using fertilizers unless 
there is some good reason for doing so. I should mulch 
with the grass that grows in the orchard, and use any 
straw and manure that may be had if it is needed. If 
the land is such that it will not wash it may be possible 
to tear it up with a Cutaway harrow enough to cultivate, 
and use manure or a cover crop and get a better growth 
and help toward annual bearing, but it is not usually a 
good practice to turn under a sod in an orchard, as it 
breaks too many roots, and injure^ the orchard in later 
years. u. T. cox. 
Ohio. 
MORE ABOUT GASOLINE BROODERS. 
The cut and description sent out from the Omaha 
Stove Repair Works with their burners has several 
glaring errors, and as my name is used in it I think 
it will save me trouble if 1 make it plainer by an 
explanation through the columns of The R. N.-Y. 
This description was evidently taken from The R. 
N.-Y., but not copied exactly, and there lies their 
mistake. The “sheet-iron” arrangement around the 
burner, or in other words, the lamp box, should be 
underneath the house, and the heater drum should 
come through the floor of the. house and rest on the 
sheet-iron lamp box with a packing of asbestos paper 
Bin Diameter 
r loo R 
- 1 " 
2X4 
DOUBLE Flooa| 
S) LL 
SHEET IRON BOX 
between the wood and the burner box as well as 
heater drum. Mr. Menges has consented to my giving 
a description of the drum for the readers of The R. 
N.-Y., and they can take it to their tinsmith and have 
one made. You can see from the accompanying cut the 
drum is composed of two cylinders, the inner one 
V-shaped, with the large end the same size as the 
outer one, to which it is fastened airtight. From near 
the bottom of the V a small lube runs out through 
the outer cylinder and takes the fresh air from behind 
the lamp box underneath. The edges wherever joined 
should be rolled as well as soldered. The double floor 
shown in cut is just to bring it level or even with 
sill _FLOYD Q. WHITE. 
SICK CHICKS; SNOW FOR WATER. 
The picture of sick chickens, Fig. 135, is taken 
from Bulletin 44 of the Storrs Experiment Station, 
Connecticut. Most of us have seen just such chicks, 
and the sight is enough to make a hen man desperate. 
This “‘white diarrhoea” takes off thousands of chicks, 
and no one seems to be sure of the cause—much less 
of a secure treatment. A poultry commission in On¬ 
tario feels reasonably sure that poor ventilation is the 
chief cause. The Connecticut experiments seem to 
show that many deaths among young chicks are 
caus-d by musty food. There is no doubt too that 
TOO FREQUENTLY SEEN IN BROODERS. Fig. 135. 
poor brooding, chills, overheating and lack of vitality 
in the parent stock also contribute. This matter ought 
to be settled by careful experiment. In this same bul¬ 
letin we find records of experiments in substituting 
snow for water in Winter henkeeping. Many of us 
were brought up on the theory that hens should never 
eat snow—that we should wipe our feet before going 
into the henhouse. One form of the “new henkceping” 
is to let the hens run out into the snow or scrape it 
into the house in place of water. Prof. Graham speaks 
of cases where a hen had no water for months except 
that furnished by the dew. Strange to say, such hens 
laid a reasonable number of eggs. The figures given 
in this bulletin show that hens of small-combed breeds 
actually laid about as many eggs when furnished with 
snow as did those given warm water. 
REPAIRING A LINED SILO. 
1 want Information about the use of paper in building 
silos. The silo in question was originally built, of concrete 
and the silage did not keep well. It. was then ceiled with 
matched pine, and now the pine is showing signs of decay, 
if heavy building paper is used on the matched timber now, 
FOUR GENERATIONS OF FRUIT GROWERS. Fig. 136 
and boarded over with rough boards, which will come be¬ 
tween tile paper and silage, will the paper be destroyed and 
rendered useless? Was it the new lime that caused the 
silage to spoil, and would it keep if it came in contact 
with the concrete walls after they have stood several 
years? w. H. K. 
Flint, N. Y. 
It hardly seems to me that the plan outlined will be 
the best one. When you take wood and soak it full of 
corn juice, carrying as this does sugar and other easily 
decomposing materials, and then keep it moist and 
warm, you are giving decay about the most favorable 
conditions possible. When, however, you have a single- 
walled silo standing empty during the Summer, it gets 
bone dry within a few days, and decay stops short. We 
have a round hemlock silo erected in 1898 and painted 
inside at that time with some sort of a preservative 
supplied by the manufacturers. This silo has been car¬ 
ried over partially full several times for Summer feeling, 
and the lower portion of it, where silage laid during 
the hot months, is getting pretty punky. The upper 
two-thirds, however, is in almost perfect condition. 
I am afraid that if W, H. R. puts a layer of building 
paper over the decaying lining and then another layer 
of boards over that, he will have a rotten mess.within 
a very few years. It will of course decay far more 
quickly than if there was no outer wall of concrete. It 
is a fact that in many cases concrete and masonry silos 
have not given as good results as those made of a 
single thickness of wood. I suggest as a reason that the 
heavy stone wall absorbs and conducts the heat away so 
rapidly that the outer portion of the mass never gets as 
hot as it must if first-class silage is to be the result. 
Silage making is essentially a canning process, and the 
temperature must get above the death-point of bacterial 
and fungus life. Nevertheless, some concrete silos have 
been satisfactory, and I believe it would be wisest to 
tear out the old wooden lining and try coating the con¬ 
crete with a thoroughly hard, smooth cement or plaster 
finish, unless it is already in good shape. 
JARED VAN WAGENEN, JR. 
FARMERS WHO ARE NOT FOOLED. 
No Corner in "Hot Air." 
We often wonder why so many people mistake the 
true properties of what is known as “hot air.” Some 
people seem to believe that the strangers who send out 
letters and circulars containing the most benevolent 
advice are really great, warm-hearted creatures who 
want to make humanity happy and comfortable. There 
arc others, however, who know what “hot air” is. It 
is more for the purpose of melting a dollar out of your 
pocket than for protecting you in old age. A reader of 
The R. N.-Y. who knows about this received the follow¬ 
ing letter: 
We want to find 600 men who will invest $50 where their 
$50 will be worth Two Hundred dollars in twelve months. 
If we can prove to you that we can do this will you be one 
of the 600 men? 
$10 a month for five months if you wish. 
You are a man of business and will want proof. You 
will want to know if we are reliable and responsible. Write 
to any or all of the banks we give as references, or get a 
report from Dun or Bradstreet. They will tell you that the 
Officers and Directors of this company arc reliable and re¬ 
sponsible and that we can be depended upon to fulfill every 
promise we make. 
Write your address on the enclosed postal card and we 
will send you the most convincing proof that this is your 
chance to make a few dollars, earn a lot of money and 
earn it quickly. Don’t waste any time. The list will be 
filled quickly and you will regret it if you miss this chance. 
Write to our banks and to us to-day. 
This was a printed circular—including the signature. 
There have been calls for men before now, and millions 
have responded during the world’s history. The man 
who got this letter didn’t rush in with his money, but 
proved himself a Knight of the Postage Stamp by send¬ 
ing the following reply. He is wise not to be in too 
much of a hurry to get rich. Sudden wealth is often 
demoralizing: 
Your philanthropic favor received. I notice you wish an 
answer “to-day,” and trust it will still be that time when 
you receive this letter. I am very much interested in your 
scheme and am not a little flattered that my existence is 
known to you, and that you so plainly manifest an interest 
in helping me make my fortune. Now. before I join the 
599 other men in sending you the $50 that is so rapidly to 
quadruple itself for .our benefit, I would like to ask you 
to join me in a little scheme that I have been pushing for 
some time, and only lack funds to make it a very profitable 
venture. The scheme is this: We have in this country an 
inexhaustible supply of clear, unpolluted circumambient at¬ 
mosphere. Just now its temperature is about zero. If we 
could between us manage to surround an infinite quantity of 
this air, ship it to New York and pass it through your 
office, thereby raising its temperature to about 212 degrees 
Fahrenheit, it seems to me we could do an Immense busi¬ 
ness supplying “hot air” to all the different New York 
companies that seem to use that article as their principal 
stock in trade. So much blows away from your city it 
would seem good business to return a little. If you cannot 
write me to-day I can wait until to-morrow. 
Invest Your Money at Home. 
We have often called attention to the points so well 
expressed in the following letter. One reason why peo¬ 
ple will send their money away for investment is be¬ 
cause they want to show that they are wiser and smarter 
titan'their critics! 
I am always an interested reader of the “Publisher s 
'sk ” I expect to he as long as I live. From what I 
id there I have concluded that the farmer in general is 
mightv queer animal and is often in ueed of a guardian, 
bv bard work and good management he is a little ahead 
the game financially, why in the name of common sense 
esn’t be invest his money in further improvement of his 
-n farm (a hundred chances to one it needs it) or lend it 
t on some good security at home? Instead of this, lie 
uns always ready to put his money into any sort of 
jd-cat scheme that happens to come along. It. <«. Dun 
Co say that during the past year more than one bull¬ 
ed and fifty million dollars have been blown in on takes, 
rgelv mining stocks, not a dollar of which will ever be 
turned to the investors. The man who works for wages, 
v a railroad employee, may have a slight excuse for play- 
g the game. There is none for the farmer. Why is the 
rmer so susceptible to the ways that are dark and trick 
at are vain of the promotion schemer ? I think that 
ricultiiral papers should keep preaching it into farmers 
keep and invest their money at home. I believe that they 
ould take a hand as far as practicable in exposing all 
ch fake schemes and in advising against Investment even 
schemers are known to he straight. I believe the farmer 
he has anv surplus should invest it in furthering his own 
isiness I "am sorrv to see agricultural papers selling ad- 
•rtising space to any kind of outside Investment schemes. 
FOUR GENERATIONS.—Mapes, the hen man, re¬ 
cently gave us a picture of four generations of the 
Mapes family. This week we print ,a little picture 
showing four male generations of the Sawyer family, 
well-known fruit growers in,Niagara C°q N« 
