1909. 
HYDROPHOBIA AND THE PET DOG. 
Danger from Rabies not Exaggerated. 
On page 553 I notice the article on mad dogs. We 
have just had a case of hydrophobia which terminated 
fatally. For years it was said here that no animal had 
rabies on this coast. About a month ago J. O. Bailey, of 
this place, went out-doors at night just before going to 
bed, and as ho turned to go into the house a wild fox 
grabbed him by the ankle. lie had great difficulty in 
getting the fox loose. He got his gun and shot the fox. 
In a few days Mr. Bailey became very nervous. His 
friend took him in an automobile to Los Angeles, 150 
miles from here. Before he got there he was in spasms. 
They arrived at 6 p. m., and Mr. Bailey died at 5 a. m. 
next day. h. f. w. 
Julian. Calif. 
R. X.-Y.—We find some people who are inclined to 
make light of the danger from rabies, but that is only 
because they have never seen a case of it or been made 
to understand what it is. The danger to humans 
comes through dogs, and the family pet is most 
dangerous of all. Children are not so likely to pet 
a strange dog or give it a chance to bite them, but 
old “Dick” or “Shep” is constantly with the children, 
and in case he had the disease would be most likely 
to turn on his friends. There are many cases in 
New York State where these pet dogs have suddenly 
put their teeth into children or adults without warn¬ 
ing. In most cases these wounded people were able 
to get prompt treatment and were saved but where 
the patient is far from a city or where the wound is 
near the brain the chances are against recovery. 
Some people cannot believe it possible that their pet 
dogs could have the disease, and they object to all 
demands for control or muzzling. They ought to 
remember that the public has right as well as their 
dogs. We have great sympathy for the faithful 
house dog and know how it changes 
his nature to have him muzzled or tied. 
Yet, if there is a case of rabies in the 
neighborhood we know that this dog is 
liable to convey the disease if he is 
left at large with his teeth free. A 
man may have a child that has been 
brought up in absolute cleanliness— 
yet that child, if exposed to a loath¬ 
some disease, might carry it to others. 
The danger might be greater with such 
a child because people would reason 
that its careful nature would protect 
{t. A well-knowm (bacteriologist had 
a little daughter who was brought up 
to regard a “germ” as worse than sin. 
At a neighbor’s house she wanted a 
drink of water, but before she. would 
drink from the family dipper she car¬ 
ried it to the kitchen and dipped it in 
boiling water. Now if that child had 
unknowingly been brought in contact 
with cases of smallpox or scarlet fever 
she would have been far more likely to 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Holstein is probably the cow which is in greatest de¬ 
mand at the present time. So long as milk is milk at 
the condensery or the milk car without regard to 
fat or solids not fat content, the cow which will put 
the most water in the milk up to the limit allowed by 
law is the one in demand. Whether this condition 
will always obtain, or whether in the future there 
will be a call for a higher grade of milk and the Jer¬ 
sey and Guernsey will come into their own again is 
a perplexing question. Will some prophet among the 
readers of The R. N.-Y. give the answer for the 
benefit of the prospective breeder? e. s. b. 
Vermont. 
HANDLING THE LIQUID MANURE. 
A Watering Cart for Fertilizer. 
I have often thought it might be possible to collect the 
liquids from a stable separate from the solids and apply 
them through a watering cart, but all to whom I have 
spoken said it was impracticable, because no form of 
strainer had been devised that would not clog within a 
few minutes. I have had several experiences, in a gar¬ 
den, of the value of liquid manure, applied through a 
common watering pot, and I see no reason why the same 
quick •and valuable results should not follow the applica¬ 
tion to farm crops. Can you tell me of a practicable 
method of constructing a pit so that the liquid contents 
will collect in such a way that it can be pumped, either 
over the pit, or taken to the field in proper conveyances 
for distribution? < 3 . w 
Connecticut. 
It is well-nigh impossible to obtain the liquids 
so clear that they will run freely through an or¬ 
dinary strainer. We are told that large watering 
carts are fitted with pipes, through which the liquids 
run over a board at the back of the cart, giving a 
fairly even distribution. Probably every farmer 
knows from experience that the liquids contain the 
623 
companies and indirectly by the United States Post 
Office Department. I found on overhauling my grain 
drill this Spring that two small castings were broken. 
As the castings were light, I wrote the company at 
Macedon, N. Y., to send them by mail at once, and 
send their bill for them, and when they were deliv¬ 
ered by the rural carrier and I received the bill I 
would remit the amount at once. In about a week I 
received a postal card from Ohio, printed with blanks’ 
filled in, stating that as I had no open account with 
them they must ask for advance payment of 50 cents 
for the castings and 30 cents postage. I sent the 
money and in about another week I received a letter 
stating that they had sent the castings by W. F. X., 
which, interpreted, Wells Fargo Express. In a few 
days I telephoned to the express office and found 
that the castings were there. It is against the rules 
of the Post Office Department for the rural carrier 
to bring them down, because being mailable (their 
weiglit was only l]/ 2 pounds) they would have to be 
mailed at full postage rates, one cent an ounce. I 
drove five miles to the express office for no other er¬ 
rand only to get the castings. On arriving there I 
found the express charges had not been paid and I 
had to pay 30 cents before I could bring them home. 
Legal postage . 24 cents 
Express charges (nominal) .•. 30 cents 
Time required for the deal.about 3 days 
Time consumed .about 30 days 
Express charges (to me). 60 cents 
Total cost .$1.10 
Cost of the whole drill at same rate... .about $10 00 
Cattaraugus Co., N. Y. will g. press. 
BIG PEAS AND BEANS. FAKE PICTURE FROM ARKANSAS. Fig. 269. 
spread the disease than a child from some hovel or 
tenement, because no one would suspect her. It is 
much the same with the family dog. There was a 
little pet dog in our neighborhood that suddenly 
developed rabies and ran off. He never came back 
to the neighborhood, but no one knew how many 
animals he bit in his way. The most reasonable way 
to stamp out the disease is to keep every dog muzzled 
whenever there is a case of rabies anywhere near. 
In New York several districts have been “quaran¬ 
tined,” that is, cases of genuine rabies having been 
found, orders are issued that every dog in these dis¬ 
tricts must wear a muzzle. We advise all our 
friends to comply with such an order promptly and 
cheerfully. We believe it to be for the good of 
society. In England there are practically no cases 
of rabies left. The disease has been “starved out” 
by‘prompt and continue^ muzzling of dogs. The 
disease is becoming a serious question in some dis¬ 
tricts here. 
BREEDING FOR WATER OR FOR FAT. 
The cows used for dairy purposes in this section 
have always been bred on dairy farms. The advent 
of the milk condensery will be sure to bring about a 
different order of things in a few years, and our 
dairy cows will have to come from other sections. 
1 he condensed milk industry and the increased con¬ 
sumption of market milk as our towns and cities 
grow are fast changing our eastern dairy farmers 
from butter producers into sellers of whole milk. 
This way of marketing milk leaves behind no skim- 
milk to serve as a cheap feed for growing calves, 
hence we often hear the expression: “It is cheaper 
to buy a cow than to raise one.” For the farmer, 
however, who is still selling butter, or who is 
selling cream, the raising of good heifer calves 
is a profitable business and one which is likely 
to be more promising in the future. The 
most effective part of the manure. These liquids 
contain the part of the food which is fully digested, 
and, of course, this means that they are most soluble. 
In “fhe Fertility of the Land,” Roberts gives sev¬ 
eral statements about quantity and value of manure. 
One report from Denmark states that the average 
for 12 cows during a period of one year was 
Milk . 7,519 pounds 
Solid manure .18,432 pounds 
Liquid. 6,454 pounds - 
The liquids contain a large proportion of the pot¬ 
ash voided by the animal and over 60 per cent of the 
nitrogen. A barrel of fresh liquids would be much 
like a barrel of water containing two pounds of ni¬ 
trate of soda and 1^2 pound# of muriate of potash. 
Such a liquid will be best suited for quick-growing 
crops, and when used in the original form it is usu¬ 
ally sprinkled over grass or grain early in the season 
or put in the garden. A more practical plan is to 
build a concrete pit or cistern a little lower than 
the stable. Have a concrete stable floor and pipe to 
the pit so as to carry off the liquids as fast as made. 
Pile the solids on top of this pit with a pipe through 
the center for a bucket pump. At intervals pump 
the liquids from the pit and pour them over the ma- 
nue. 1 hen when you haul and spread the solids you 
have the entire thing at one operation. Many farm¬ 
ers feel that where they use plenty of bedding to 
ab’sorb the liquids and haul out the manure every 
day or so they get more out of it than they would 
to go to the expense of handling over and over. 
ANOTHER ARGUMENT FOR PARCELS POST. 
I have been very much interested in the discussion 
of what is the matter with life on the farm, and the 
arguments in favor of one very much needed im¬ 
provement—a fair parcels post. I will give a little 
experience I had this Spring, which will illustrate 
how the farmer is “held up” by the trusts and express 
ALFALFA ROOTS AND DRAINS. 
On page 565 Everett Martin, of Wisconsin, com¬ 
plains that Alfalfa roots have entered 
and are likely to choke his tile drain. 
I am not an expert, but I will hazard 
the following opinion: The roots would 
not enter dry tiles in dry weather, 
nor any tiles at all where the ground 
is moist. I unhesitatingly assume that 
these tiles carry water during a drought 
as if from a spring or a house drain, 
and the roots of almost any field crop 
will enter such a drain three feet deep 
in such a drought as we had last Sum¬ 
mer. If the tiles had been dry they 
would not have been entered, but the 
roots were thirsty and wanted a drink, 
not to wet their feet. In ordinary 
fields there is no cause for' alarm on 
this head, unless the tiles carry water 
in dry weather Mr. Martin’s difficulty 
illustrates a peculiar, not to say para¬ 
doxical, phase of drainage engineering 
in that he made a mistake (in this par¬ 
ticular case) when he drained the wet 
part of his field first. He says his field 
slopes, and the lower part was too wet for cultivation, 
so it was tiled. When the «pper field is rained upon 
part of the water soaks into the ground, and part flows 
over the surface to the foot of the slope. It is not the 
surface of the water which made his field too wet, but 
the water which soaks into the upper field, goes down 
by gravity until it strikes an impervious layer in the 
subsoil, which it follows to the base of theislope (or to 
a less incline) where it oozes out on the surface of the 
lower field, this ooze is spring water and would be 
recognized as such if the nature of the subsoil were 
such as to lead it all to reappear at one point. This 
oozing is a slow process, and the spring water may 
or may not flow the year round, but at any rate it 
continues for a long time after any rain has fallen, 
and he practically has piped a spring through the field. 
Regardless of the present difficulty the proper way to 
drain this land would be, instead of honeycombing 
the lowland with tile, to lay just one main across ihe 
slope just above the wet place, not bclozv. This 
would intercept the ooze, but must be large enough 
to carry it all, as it is a main, and must be laid deeper 
than tile are ordinarily laid—how deep I cannot say, 
perhaps four, five or even six feet. If the Alfalfa is 
not plowed under it will likely choke the present drain 
and many other crops would do the same under the 
same conditions. If the Alfalfa is maintained and 
does choke the drain he can still lay such an inter¬ 
cepting drain as I have outlined above, but he should 
get some expert advice before doing so, as a slight 
mistake will mean failure. Then he will have per¬ 
fect drainage and only one line of tile, instead of 
honeycombing his field. The strip over this line 
could be planted to some shorter-rooted crop. 
W511 Co., Ill. R . B . M. 
R. N.-Y.—Our correspondents seem to agree that 
Alfalfa roots only enter tiles that are actually carry¬ 
ing water while the surrounding soil is dry. Of 
course this may exist in a “springy” field at any 
season of the year. 
