1909. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
23 
MAPES THE HEN MAN 
On Ventilation and Mangel Beets. 
Some lime ago “Mapes the lien Man” spoke of a system 
of ventilating liis lien barn and declared: 
“I am not ready as yet to see three feet of boards 
ripped off and replaced with muslin. The deacon and I 
recently attended our farmers’ institute (where II. E. 
Cook was the conductor), and exhibited tin models of 
buildings with muslin front, with open front, with the 
King system, and with the system of ventilation in use 
in the hen barn, with a lighted lamp burning in each. 
In the model with the muslin front, and also with the 
King system, the lamp flickered and went out right before 
the eyes of the audience every time we lit it, while in 
the open front, and also in the patent system I am using, 
it continued to burn with a steady glow.” What does 
he now say about it? t. a. h. 
Minnesota. 
The system of ventilation referred to in the above 
clipping is still in successful use. and I see no reason 
to change my first favorable opinion of it. I 
have, however, come to the conclusion that a 
warm temperature does not play so important 
a part in egg production as I once believed it 
to do. I am forced to this by my many obser¬ 
vations of flocks of hens laying well in cold 
quarters, and failure to lay in warm quarters. 
Thinking that they might be of some value, let¬ 
ters patent were secured on some of the fea¬ 
tures used in the new system, particularly the 
intake flues starting from a point considerably 
below the floor of the room to be ventilated. 
This makes it possib'e to provide for an un¬ 
limited supply of fresh air to enter the room, 
through openings which will allow none of the 
heat to escape, since warm air is so much 
lighter than cold air that it never descends un¬ 
less there is some compelling force. With air¬ 
tight side walls, and top openings protected by 
filtering materia] acting as a heat retaining 
agent (straw or shavings, etc.), in conjunction 
with a ventilating shaft that can be partially 
closed by means of a slide or damper, the 
volume of fresh air entering through these in¬ 
take flues is under perfect control of the opera¬ 
tor. No attempt has ever been made to place 
the device on the market however. The cost 
of such quarters seems to be out of proportion 
to the profits to be expected in ordinary poultry 
operations, so that I have never felt like recommend¬ 
ing people to venture. In two Winters’ use I have 
found entire freedom from condensation of moisture 
(except a little on windows) and no freezing even on 
the coldest nights. Mr. D. S. Loughran has an ex¬ 
act duplicate of my house (24 by 36 feet for 500 
hens) erected over a year ago, and the following let¬ 
ter just received from him is self-explanatory. M'r. 
Loughran’s place is situated on Long Island and he 
keeps about 2,000 S. C. White Leghorn hens. It 
is evident from his letter that he neglected to pro¬ 
tect the upper windows with netting, or his hens 
would not get sore feet by “jumping from the win¬ 
dows to the ground.” 
•So far as reports show received from the farm, it has 
been a money saver where labor is concerned, and the 
birds seemed to thrive in the house, but due to their 
jumping from the windows to the ground the flock as a 
whole had sore feet. We disposed of all the old stock in 
this house and the house is now stocked 
with this year’s pullets. I might also 
say that the percentage of eggs laid showed 
up slightly in favor of the Mapes house, 
and on the whole we look upon it as a 
good investment. d. s. loughran. 
Anyone wbo lias either bens or cows 
for which to provide a supply of green 
feed for Winter, would do well to try 
the possibilities of the mangel wurzel 
beet. Our past season’s experience is of 
interest as a study. Having raised a 
few the two previous seasons, and been 
pleased with results from feeding them, 
I started out last Spring determined to 
know more definitely just what the cost 
of raising a bushel is. On account of 
the drought during August and Septem¬ 
ber, when the crop makes its best growth 
usually, conditions were most unfavorable for a good 
showing, yet at the close of the season I find that the 
total cost is only about eight cents per bushel of 50 
pounds on an acre of only fairly good upland soil, 
with a good many small stones. One-half acre had 
been in beets the two previous seasons, and the re¬ 
mainder had been in potatoes and oats, the strip de¬ 
voted to oats having been seeded to grass along with 
the oats, so that there was quite a sod at time of 
plowing. Cost of seed, fertilizer, etc., was all charged 
to the crop as well as every hour’s time spent in its 
culture, 15 cents per hour being allowed for my own 
or my hired man’s time and 7J4 cents per hour for the 
extra boy who worked for 75 cents per day. 
What was the first step? Purchasing the seed and 
testing it to make sure that it would germinate Well. 
Of 15 seeds planted in a pot in the kitchen window 
every one sprouted. This enabled me to plant with 
confidence. We next applied a light coat of stable 
manure (10 loads) and plowed and harrowed as for 
corn or potatoes. Next we drew a stout line the 
length of one side of the strip, tied a good stone to 
each end, and drew the line tight and straight. Now 
we were ready for fertilizer, which consisted of two 
bags of 2-8-2 potato fertilizer and 500 pounds nitrate 
of soda well mixed together. About half of this 
amount was used at this time, and the remainder was 
applied after the plants were partly grown. The fer¬ 
tilizer was applied by scattering it at one side of the 
line as evenly as possible. The next move was to-take 
a short garden rake and draw along the same side of 
the line as closely as possible. This mixed soil and 
fertilizer somewhat, removed small stones from the 
path of seed drill, and facilitated the first hoeing, 
while the young plants were yet small. Now we were 
and some purslane pulled by hand on the strip in beets 
for the third season, in August. We began harvesting 
early, using the tops for the cows as harvested, and 
extended the harvesting until after election. I figure 
that the tops arc worth enough for cow feed to pay 
for the labor of harvesting. One row was left with¬ 
out thinning as an experiment. This row produced 
less feed than the others, and the extra time re¬ 
quired to pull and top them more than balanced the 
labor of thinning at the proper time. The total cost 
of the acre was as follows: 
Interest on value of land. $6.00 
6 pounds seed at 35 cents. 2.10 
2 bags potato fertilizer. 5 .00 
500 pounds nitrate of soda. 1-L50 
43 hours’ time, boy, at ~y 2 cents. 3.23 
43 hours’ time, man, at 15 cents. 6.45 
20 hours, man and team, at 40 cents. 8.00 
29 hours, man and horse, cultivating, at 30c... 8.70 
$53.98 
The crop consisted of 700 bushels, reckoned at 50 
pounds to the bushel, 300 bushels on the half 
acre where beets followed beets for the third 
season, and 400 bushels on the half acre of new 
soil. With a normally wet season I am con¬ 
fident we should have had at least 1,000 bushels 
and no extra cost. One row on the part in 
potatoes the previous season, yielded by actual 
weight at the rate of 1,500 bushels per acre, dry 
as the season was. This required an average of 
less than five pounds per beet, and it is a com¬ 
mon occurrence to find them weighing 12 to 14 
pounds each under favorable conditions. Even 
at a cost of eight cents per bushel can J. Grant 
Morse or anyone else tell us of any better way 
to reduce “that awful feed bill” than by means 
of a crop of beets? Like all succulent food 
they possess greater feeding value than .is 
shown in analysis. 0 . w. mapes. 
AMERICAN WONDER LEMON. Average Natural 
Size. Fig. 11. See Ruralisms, Page 28. 
ready for the seed drill. The line acts as our guide, 
so the usual guides were removed from our onion 
seed drill and the first row planted a few inches from 
the line. With a man or boy at each end of the line, 
and a stick 30 inches long as a guide, it was an easy 
matter to pick up the stones to which the line was 
tied and stretch it 30 inches from its old position. 
The fertilizer, the rake and the seed drill were again 
used as before, and the operation repeated until the 
whole plot of an acre was planted. 
While each step in the raising of a maximum crop 
is important, there is none more so than the securing 
of a perfect stand. I wanted the rows 30 inches 
apart and the plants 12 inches apart in the row. The 
drill was set so as to sow six pounds to the acre. I 
figured that it is cheaper to waste a little seed at 35 
cents per pound than to have vacant spaces in the 
row, or to transplant. As soon as possible after the 
.-.V -ado J j Mr& a 
«w 
A FAKE PHOTOGRAPH OF EARS OF CORN. Fig. 12 
beets were up so that we could follow the rows, we 
took a hoe and stirred the soil on each side of the 
rows, being careful to go as closely as we cou'd t<? 
the row of seedling beets. The use of the rake before 
using the seed drill helped greatly at this point. As 
soon as the plants were well started in growth the 
cultivator was started between the rows, and kept 
going once a week until the crop occupied the ground- 
About the time of first cultivation the plants were 
thinned to one every foot as nearly as possible. The 
spaces between the plants were easily disposed of by 
striking a wide hoe across the row at regular inter¬ 
vals. I 11 connection with the first hoeing of the soil 
at the sides of the row, this left only a space about 
two inches square from which the weeds and surplus 
plants had to be removed with the fingers. The re¬ 
maining half of the fertilizer was applied about July 1, 
ORCHARDING FOR SMALL GROWER. 
There is more or less written on orcharding 
all the time, and it is well that this is so, for 
fruit growing is getting to be one of our great¬ 
est industries. However, I have noticed most 
of this seems to be intended for, and is more 
valuable to the large grower. I know there are 
many men who arc growing a considerable 
amount of apples and yet are not large, growers. 
Most of these are more interested in the prob¬ 
lems of the small growers, as for instance what num¬ 
ber of varieties to set, and how best to handle their 
crop cheapest, or with the regular help or the family. 
It is to this class and especially those who anticipate 
setting more orchard that my plan should appeal 
most. T am working along this line now, and it is 
practical and satisfactory. I have now growing about 
1,200 trees. They run mostly 25 and 50 of one 
variety, and give me a succession from earliest to 
latest, with no two kinds ripening at exactly the same 
time. Arranged in this way it seems not only pos¬ 
sible but perfectly practical to handle the product with 
my son alone, even after coming in full bearing. Of 
course there are disadvantages. Shipping in carloads 
is hardly possible. It also cuts one out to a great 
extent from selling to the large buyers, as most of 
them prefer large quantities of few varieties- It does 
not, however, make any difference as a rule at the 
local storages, as they get nearly all 
kinds during the season. Nor does it 
make much difference if shipping in 
small amounts, while on a local market 
it is often a distinct advantage. But 
the really great thing about it is that 
there is no extra help to pay, so even 
at lowest prices it will generally pay to 
handle the fruit. If most of the help 
must be hired, you will sometimes need 
a strong glass to see the profit, and help 
must surely be hired if large quantities 
of few varieties are grown. There are 
also possibilities here for the large 
grower, as you can always get better 
help where five men are needed 100 
days than if you must have 100 men 
five days, and there is much fruit 
wasted each year by those not able to handle a large 
crop of one kind in the short time one generally has 
at command. w. h. 
WATERPROOFING FOR BOOT AND SHOE LEATHER. 
—Take rosin, beeswax and tallow, twice as much tallow 
as rosin, half as much beeswax as rosin; melt over a 
slow (ire. as the rosin is quite inflammable. Before 
applying to the uppers of boots or shoes fill the leather 
with neat’s foot oil: there will he less danger of burning 
it and it will keep soft and pliable longer. Hold in such 
a way that the melted preparation will run off and may 
not lie long enough to injure the leather. For the soles 
use twice as much rosin, applied a little hotter, being 
careful to hold in such a way that it will not lie on 
the shank in front of the heel long enough to burn. I 
have had a tap filled with the preparation more than 
outwear two other taps that it was not used on. I 
have stood in running water in boots coated with the 
preparation and they did nor leak at all. If you are 
thinking of having a pair of boots or shoes made to 
order, cut a pair of soles of muslin, dip them in a melted 
preparation as described, have one each placed between 
(lie innner and outer soles of your new boots or shoes. 
Salem, N. Y. H. M. 
