320 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 20, 
FIREPROOF HENHOUSE. 
Can I keep rid of chicken lice and 
mites if I use a cabin built of lumber with 
ruberoid on the outside and plaster it 
with that hard finish on the inside? 
Would you advise putting in a concrete 
or cement floor, or just leave a dirt floor? 
1 want something permanent, but of all 
the places in the world for mites this 
beats it. I had 1 1 hens leave tlieir nests 
last year, and lost two of those hens. When 
I came to look into the trouble I found 
those eggs just black with mites, so now 
I have torn down all these old buildings 
and rabbit hutches and coops, and want to 
build new ones so I can keep them clean. 
Montrose, Col. j. n. y. 
If-the soil is dry cither a concrete 
or dirt floor could be used with good 
results. The concrete floor would in¬ 
sure easier cleaning and greater pro¬ 
tection from rats than a dirt floor. On 
the other hand, the initial expense 
would be greater, and it would be neces¬ 
sary to use considerably more straw 
litter to keep the feet of the birds in 
good condition. The dirt floor should 
be of some light soil, dry and not liable 
to pack down much. The top part 
should be changed about once a year 
to keep it clean. With either floor 
there should be good ventilation in 
order to prevent dampness. If you 
build with a hard plaster inside finish 
it should be rather easy to keep free 
from mites. The walls and the fix¬ 
tures should be thoroughly white¬ 
washed at least once a year. As soon 
as any mites are noticed in the house, 
the roosts, droppings boards and all 
other places of retreat for mites should 
be sprayed with kerosene. Another 
good spray is made in the preparation 
of one ounce of creolin to a quart of 
water. A little care and observation 
in finding the mites, and a little labor 
to apply the spray is practically all 
that is necessary to keep the mites in 
control. Nests may be kept free from 
mites by using as bedding the ordinary 
ferns, so common in pastures and along 
fences in the East. A dust bath should 
be provided in order to keen the birds 
free from body lice. c. F. b. 
Keeping Insects From Trees. 
11. P. D. Boston , Mass .—What is the 
most available tiling to keep bugs and 
worms, etc., from getting up in an apple 
tree? What season do you consider the 
best for pruning apple trees? 
Axs.—We prune at any time during 
the Winter—mostly in February and 
March. You cannot keep flying insects 
from getting into the trees. We spray 
to kill them after they get there. For 
crawling insects which do not fly, but 
creep up the tree, strips of the sticky 
paper known as “tanglefoot” tied 
around the tree will catch most of them. 
Poultry House and Manure Shed. 
As I wanted a manure slied and a poultry 
bouse I made one combined. My barn is 
about 85 feet long and 35 feet wide and I 
built the manure shed at the end of the 
barn as a lean-to building 35 feet by 34 fe.et 
floor space. The lower story is about 10 
feet high and is the manure shed and the 
upper story is the poultry house. Thus I 
have a poultry house which cannot easily 
be excelled and has cost me practically 
nothing. In one corner I have a stairway 
for the chickens to pass up and down into 
their yard, which is the enclosed orchard 
of one acre in which are plums, apples, 
pears, blackberries and raspberries. We 
usually have about 200 hens to cultivate 
the orchard and lay eggs to sell and use. 
The plums do exceedingly well among the 
chickens. c. r. b. 
Bethel, Pa. 
Red Water. 
Can you tell me what to do for red water, 
a common disease among cattle in Wash¬ 
ington, as I just lost a once valuable cow 
with that disease. What is the cause? 
Washington. j. p. 
The red-colored urine is merely a symp¬ 
tom of some other disease, and the cause 
varies. But in perhaps a majority of in¬ 
stances the cause is acrid plants growing 
upon wild, low or timber land. The trouble 
cannot be remedied without determining 
and removing the cause. When this has 
been done give a quart of raw linseed oil 
and follow with half an ounce of powdered 
alum once or twice daily as found neces¬ 
sary. Anthrax, which is an incurable, 
contagious, fatal disease also causes bloody 
discharges from the natural orifices of the 
body and is communicable to other animals 
and man. It is promptly fatal and most 
commonly contracted on lowlands that are 
overflowed at time of flood water. If the 
pastures on your place are of the latter 
character better lmve a careful investiga¬ 
tion made by a qualified veterinarian. 
a. s. A. 
TREE ROOTS AND DRAINS. 
In regard to A. >S., page 1(18, asking ad¬ 
vice about roots of trees disturbing wall of 
cistern will say, I built a cistern about 
eight years ago and the following Spring 
planted some Sugar maples, one of which 
was planted only five feet away from cis¬ 
tern wall. I have since watched these 
trees very carefully, and although I have 
not seen any injury done to wall of cistern 
I plainly noticed that tree nearest to cis¬ 
tern was considerably checked in growth 
owing, I believe, to the roots coming in 
contact with the cement used in construct¬ 
ing the wall. I believe if A. S. has a 
tree 15 feet away from wall there is hardly 
any danger involved. o. z. 
Shohola, Pa. 
I have a box elder tree over five feet in 
circumference two feet above ground, that 
is about seven feet from cellar wall and 16 
feet from brick cistern of 100 barrel 
capacity. The tree was planted 24 years 
ago and the cistern was built 15 years ago. 
No damage has been done to the cistern or 
cellar walls by the roots of this tree. 
Wapello, Iowa. w. c. ir. 
I have helped to take up three cisterns 
which had trees about 20 or 25 feet from 
the wall, one tree a large elm, one an ash, 
the third a Sugar maple. The roots of each 
had crowded the wall until stones weigh¬ 
ing 150 or 175 pounds were in two cis¬ 
terns from eight to 10 inches, and in one 
cistern of brick the ash fibers had grown 
inside and enlarged the joints so you could 
place two fingers side by side, and the 
cement lining, 1% inch thick, as hard as 
stone, was cracked in several places. 1 
would not have any fear in regard to the 
apple tree, for too much water will kill a 
young tree of that class. e. p. 
Sharon, Conn. 
On page 108 A. S., Medina, O., asks for 
information about trees near oistern. On a 
farm I afterwards owned a maple tree was 
set out at least 20 or more feet from cis¬ 
tern. As the tree grew it broke into cis¬ 
tern with its roots. We took all the cement 
off the bricks and cemented it again with 
no good results. We hated to sacrifice the 
tree and cistern has been practically use¬ 
less ever since. a. p. 
Hebron, Kv. 
Wanted, Parcels Tost Delivery.— 
When I read about the demand for apples 
written by C. II. W., Waltham, Mass., on 
page 135, I could not help but think of the 
position held by the middleman, who reg¬ 
ulates the price at both ends; that is, be¬ 
tween the producer and consumer. Wo 
evaporator men have large quantities of ex¬ 
cellent pie timber that we would be glad to 
sell if we could sell at a profit, which 
we could do if we had parcels post de¬ 
livery, so we could sell direct to the con¬ 
sumer in small packages. Anything less 
than 50 pound, packages would be quite ex¬ 
pensive after transportation was paid-, as 
there would be but a very few who would 
want over five-pound packages at a time. 
It is estimated that there are nearly 700 
carloads of evaporated apples in western 
New York being held by evaporator men. 
Some day when the people can vote direct 
for these high office-holders we will get 
some laws to suit ourselves. c. l. i. 
Newfanc, N. Y'. 
California Olives. —The olive trees in 
the orchard of the San Diego Mission, the 
first of the California Missions, are grow¬ 
ing as vigorously and fruiting as freely 
as ever after more than a century of 
existence in the fertile river lands. From 
this orchard started by slips brought from 
Spain the American olive industry has 
grown to its present respectable dimen¬ 
sions. Now a large bunch of olives ex¬ 
hibited in the Chamber of Commerce here, 
of a certain sort, which was labelled to sell 
at $100 a ton. T reached up into one of 
the old trees and picked some of the ripe 
purple-black fruit and ate it with a de¬ 
cided relish, despite its strong bitterness. 
Ripe olives, from which the bitterness has 
been washed or removed by lye, are now 
sold in all the California cities by measure, 
and eaten freely. After once eating them 
the desire for the ordinary green olive is 
gone forever. The oil made here is abso¬ 
lutely pure and delightfully palatable. It 
never will la- cheap enough to compete 
with the low-priced foreign oils which, not¬ 
withstanding the pure food law, it is 
claimed are still adulterated. Last Fall 
on one vessel sailing from New York to an 
Italian port went 3.000 barrels of cotton¬ 
seed oil to come back to us as pure olive 
oil. While in Ran Diego and the sur¬ 
rounding hills the tenderest plants never 
freeze, in the olive orchard in the valley 
wo picked seed from dead castor oil plants 
that were killed to tlie ground by freezing. 
J. YATES PEEK- 
T-t JTo Toll Yon H ow tnOMnin the Bc 3 t 
PROTECTION 
FROM LIGHTNING 
Don’t do a tiling about bu.vinir Light¬ 
ning Rods until you get my Proposl-, 
tlon. I have an entirely New Plan— 
l A Complete System direct to you with 
Dull instructions for installing. 
Buy Direct From the Maker and SaT© Money i 
System guaranteed satisfactory or 
, your money back. Our Catalog is tho 
most complete work on the subject pub¬ 
lished. Tells just what you waut to 
know—Makes everything plain. Just 
w rite me a postal personally for our 
Proposition and Free Catalog. 
J. A. Scott, President 
The J. A. Scott Company! 
l>ept. I, Detroit, Mich. 
VIRGINIA 
Is an ideal climate for a home. Good lands 
cheap, near the great markets, adapted to the 
growing of all kinds of crops, fruits, trucking, 
poultry and stock raising. 
Write for Handbook and information to 
G. W. KOINER 
Commissioner of Agriculture 
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 
120 ACRES OF FOWLS 
Nearly everybody interested in poultry knows U. R. 
Fishel’s 120-acre Poultry Farm at Hope, Ind., where be 
breeds thousands of WkitePlymouth Rocks—more than 
any other man in the world. M r. Fishel’s great expe¬ 
rience makes his opinion most valuable to poultry raisers. 
He writes us as follows:' "After using Incubators for 
nearly 25years I must say that your latest pattern ma¬ 
chine is the most complete hatcher I have ever tried. 
Last year we reared more chicks than ever before, and 
they came out stronger and grew faster. I am mailing 
PHOTOGRAPH OF THE COCK “Prince 
of Indiana” which I sold for $800.00 
He was Hatchod and Reared In Cyphers Machines 
Mr. Fishel also writes us about our New Fire-Proofed 
Insurable Incubators. This is what he says: "four 
fire-proof improvement I consider has saved me an expendi¬ 
ture of something like $500 for an incubator house. ” HE 
KNOWS! He knows that by using our New 1909 Pat¬ 
tern Incubator he not only gets the World’s Best 
Hatcher but can get insurance without building a special 
incubator.house to hold it. He can use it in bis resi¬ 
dence if he wants to. 
Don't you also want to know all about this Superior In¬ 
cubator—the one he uses—the one that has helped make 
him the leading breeder of America in White Rocksf II 
you do, just write for our Big Illustrated Catalogue of 212 
pages, containing chapters on poultry raising. If you men¬ 
tion this paper when writing, we will send it to you Free 
of Cost—postage paid. Address nearest office. 
CYPHERS INCUBATOR COMPANY 
sFERTILIZERSi 
TANKAGE = - $12.00 per ton 
IRON CITY ~ = 22.00 per ton 
Delivered freight prepaid to any railroad 
station in Now York state. 
Manufactured by 
AMERICAN REDUCTION COMPANY 
OF PITTSBURG, PA. 
When buying a steel rake examine 
the rakehead, because the rake- 
head bears most of the weight 
and strain. 
Johnston rakeheads are of angle 
steel, steel trussed—will not sag 
or twist. 
Weight of Driver assists in operat¬ 
ing rake. 
Rake lifts high for dumping. 
You want a rake that is strong/ 
yet light, and simple in construc¬ 
tion. Being made of steel, it pos¬ 
sesses durability and wearing 
qualities. Made in several sizes so 
you can get just the rake you need 
to give you satisfactory service. 
Buffalo, N. Y.; Boston, Mass.; New York City; Chicago, 
Ill.; Kansas City, Mo.; Oakland, Cal. 
Wood Saws 
that are guaranteed to give 
satisfaction or money re¬ 
funded. 1 Wood Saw Finnic 
Complete with IS in. Clrenlar Saw, $10; 24 in., $10.91; 20 in., 
$17.81, Jiint the thing for the farmer and fruit-grower for 
saw iiig crate lumber, hewing fence posts, etc. Rend for circular. 
HKKTZLER & ZOOK, Jielleville, Fa, 
140- 
Egg 
Incubator 
Ever Made 
* $4.50 Buys the Best EJtfaoder 
Both Incubator and Brooder, ordered together 
cost but $11.50. Freight Prepaid. The Belle 
City Incubator has doftble walls and dead 
air space all over, copper tank, hot-water 
heat, self-regulator, thermometer, egg tester, 
safety lamp, nursery, high legs, double door. 
The Belle City Brooder is the only double- j 
walled brooder made, hot-water heat, plat¬ 
form, metallamp. No machines at any price 
are better. Write for 
our book today, or 
send the price now 
under our guarantee 
and save waiting. 
Satisfaction 
Broodor Guaranteed 
Belie City incubator Co., 
WIs. 
At least 4 times from our 
self-regulating guarauteed-to- 
hatch-every-hatchable-egg In- 
$ 4.95 
ON 40 DAYS’ TRIAL write ror name 
and addresses and description of this and othe 
sizes of Incubators, Brooders and Poultry “fixins’ 
BUCKEYE INCUBATOR CO., Sff™ 
We Supply the U. S. 
Government. 
PricesCutinHalf 
this season. Our large 
new 104-page Band in¬ 
strument catalog Sent 
FREE. Write to-day. 
THE RUDOLPH WURLTTZER CO. 
178 E.4th St. Clncinnatl;or, 
349 WabashAVe.Chicafio.lll. 
Let us send you our Library—all 
about Johnstons Farm Tools. 
THE JOHNSTON 
HARVESTER CO. 
Box 310, Batavia, N. Y, 
Cheap and Reliable Water Supply 
For irrigation, mining, on the stock or dairy farm 
and for suburban homes the 
NIAGARA HYDRAULIC 
is the cheapest pump you can install. No coal; 
no steam; no oil; no labor—no cost after in¬ 
stallation. Works day and night. Write 
for catalogue A G aud estimate. We 
furnish Caldwell Tanks and Towers. 
NIAGARA HYDRAULIC ENGINE CO., 
140 Nassau 8t, N. Y. Factory: Chester, Pa, 
ing carrying 
Co’s. bond, 
and 
The Guaranteed Roofing- 
CONGO 
A SURETY BOND 
with every roll 
The Surety Company is issuing 
these bonds, and back cf them is their two 
million dollars of assets. It is a matter 
of keen satisfaction to us that they were 
willing to stand behind Congo Roofing. 
You are immune from any re¬ 
sponsibility other than giving the roof¬ 
ing ordinary care. 
Write to-day for samples of 
Congo and full information. 
Remember, that with every roll 
of Congo you get a genuine Surety 
Bond. 
Congo is the 
only Ready Roof- 
the National Surety 
It carries with it 
terms and conditions that make 
it especially attractive to anyone 
who must consider the roofing ques¬ 
tion. 
For 10 years you can rest easy 
.bout your roofs if covered with 
3-ply Congo, and we know that it 
is probable you will get even longer 
8ervice out of it. 
UNITED ROOFING AND HFG. CO. 
532 WEST END TRUST BLDG., PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO 
Successor to 
Buchanan Foster Co. 
