778 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 3, 
PUBLISHER’S DESK 
We have the following notes signed by the pro¬ 
duce commission firm, Stevens & Simpson & Co., 
202 Washington Street, New York, for collection : 
$47.81, dated April 25, 1907, and due in 90 days. 
$25.25 dated July 1. 1907, and due July 30, 1907. 
$25.25, dated July 1, 1907, and due July 16, 1907. 
The notes were issued to Allen B. Wells, 
Saratoga Springs, N. 1'., for produce shipped and 
sold on commission. 
A friend of mine was induced to take 
1,000 shares at 10 cents per share in the 
N. K. W. Gold Mining Co. They are lo¬ 
cated in Colorado, I think, but are incor¬ 
porated under the laws of Wyoming. Would 
you advise me to take any stock; and is the 
company O. K.? c. a. c. 
Indiana. 
We should most earnestly and posi¬ 
tively advise you to have nothing to do 
with this stock or any other stock like it. 
I have just received from the Jackson Co. 
Nurseries, Bosky Dell, Ill., a check of $1.25, 
the amount of the bill that I sent them for 
plants. I kindly thank you for writing 
them for me. c. l. t. 
New York. 
These people are beginning to sit up 
and take notice. When we first called 
their attention to complaints they paid 
no attention to us whatever, not so 
much as to answer our letters, and say 
“mind your own business.” Since we 
have published some of the complaints, 
they have probably heard from it from 
growers direct, and the return of this 
remittance is one of the results. 
Why not give your opinion and advice 
about Thomas F. Lawson's scheme? It 
would interest quite a number of your read¬ 
ers. I mean the National Stock and how 
he intends to crush the “System,” the 
Rockefellers, Ilarrimans and Morgans. 
West Virginia. c. j. m. 
Our opinion of this scheme is pretty 
well known from reference to others of 
the same kind. It is about the boldest 
form of gambling of which we have 
any knowledge. We do not know why 
the people should take sides with one 
set of gamblers more than with an¬ 
other. What the people ought to do is 
to stop the game as they have some of 
the less dangerous forms of gambling. 
They would if they understood the full 
iniquity of it, but they do not, and the 
powers behind it are so strong few 
men or papers dare to touch it. Neither 
of the two leading political parties of 
the State of New York dares touch it 
in their platforms this year. The men 
who profit by the game furnish the 
money to run the campaigns, and it 
would be dry picking for the party that 
proposed in good faith an investigation 
of Wall Street gambling and a restric¬ 
tion of the system’s vested privilege to 
bleed the rest of the people. There is 
no danger that Lawson will crush 
Rockefeller, Harriman or Morgan. He 
does not expect it. They know the 
game as he knows it, and he knows they 
know it. He is after the same quarry 
that they are after—the lambs. If you 
would like to be one of their lambs 
drop in and get fleeced. 
The local stockholders of the D. L. Mar¬ 
shall Milling Co. held another meeting last 
evening and decided to let MY. Marshall 
alone, so you have another town which owes 
you thanks for keeping at least $250 within 
its bounds, which money bid fair to leave it 
for a long visit. I enclose 20 cents for two 
trial subscriptions. One of these men said 
he wanted to see a paper which took the 
stand that The R. N.-Y. does. Will you 
kindly begin their term with this week’s 
issue so they can read your remarks on 
Marshall? This letter will show you how 
much success the latter gentleman finally 
had in organizing his club at Clinton. I 
fail to see where he is doing anything 
for the farmers except as he is giving them 
a chance to help his’ very worthy self to 
dress well and live easily. Thank you for 
trouble taken concerning parcels post mat¬ 
ters. READER. 
Clinton, N. Y. 
Here again is an instance of the ne¬ 
cessity of a paper equipped and ready 
to serve farm interests. Mr. Marshall 
claimed that 25 farmers of Clinton had 
subscribed $10 each for the stock, and 
that a local branch had been organ¬ 
ized. This he boasted had been accom¬ 
plished contrary to private advice to 
farmers from this office, but when we 
had published an analysis of the situ¬ 
ation the logic of the facts convinced 
the farmers that they had nothing to 
gain but all to lose from the scheme. 
If the farmers of Clinton or any other 
town will act together through a 
Grange or similar organization they can 
co-operate in buying feed by the carload 
and save money, but there is absolutely 
no sense or business in putting money 
into stock schemes of this kind. It 
would seem that these 25 farmers of 
Clinton could afford to invest a dollar 
in The R. N.-Y. for a year’s subscrip¬ 
tion on the strength of this case alone, 
and we have every reason to believe 
that the year will produce other 
j t 9»1 , 1 1 i > f t i i s . 
schemes on which they will need infor¬ 
mation. But the heading off of a 
scheme of this kind affects not only the 
place in which the scheme is being 
worked, but the saving extends to other 
sections where it would be worked later 
in case it were permitted to develop. 
If the farmers directly and indirectly 
benefited became subscribers to The R. 
N.-Y. we would have to order another 
new press. 
Several commission merchants of 
New York City are now sending out 
letters and circulars to country shippers 
soliciting consignments of produce, and 
quoting prices considerably above the 
market. Of course they tell of special 
trade they control, and consequently 
the higher prices. They usually prom¬ 
ise return and check by next mail after 
receipt of the goods. Do not get caught 
by any of this tempting bait. The con¬ 
cerns referred to usually have no ware¬ 
house of their own—only a desk room 
with some other house. They have no 
rating, no credit, and no capital. They 
expect the high quotations will induce 
many to send them goods, and it does, 
but they have no notion of paying for 
the goods. Thev will simply get what 
they can, and pocket the return. When 
you hear from them again it will be in 
a new name and new address, but the 
scheme will be the same. Don’t ship 
any goods to a house unless you have 
good reason to believe it is responsible. 
A few days ago a man came to my place 
and introduced himself asi Mr. Odell. lie 
said that he was advertising for the Frank¬ 
lin Mdse. Co., of Chicago, who have a 
branch house in Syracuse, N. Y. The ad¬ 
vertising plan of the house is to sell to 30 
families in each town not less than two 
nor more than four patterns of cloth' at 
$11 each cash, or $11.25 each on 60 days’ 
time, the purchaser to give his note. The 
above pafterns of cloth to be made into 
suits or overcoats at Syracuse, N. Y., any 
time within two years, the only charge be¬ 
ing for the trimmings which shall not ex¬ 
ceed $6.50. He claimed that suits and 
overcoats made from the above grade of 
cloth could not be purchased from the 
Franklin Mdse. Co. by anyone in the town 
after the advertising plan has been com¬ 
pleted for less than $25 to $30. Is there 
such a house doing business under this 
plan ? d. s. 
New York. 
Yes; there is such a house We have 
published letters from farmers in dif¬ 
ferent sections of the country who had 
bought the goods, and were not satis¬ 
fied with the clothes after they had 
been made up, and said they could get 
no satisfaction In many cases people 
are induced to buy more of the cloth 
than they need, and complaint is made 
that the clothes are not as satisfactory 
in fit as readymade goods. To make 
suits to order, careful measurements 
must be made, and special fittings taken 
as the work progresses. This they do 
not do, and without it the result could 
hardly be satisfactory. We doubt if 
anyone would have much trouble in 
getting more than four patterns if he 
wanted them, and the story about $25 
to $30 for the same thing afterwards is 
too suggestive of a big bargain for the 
time being. If we are to go by the 
experience gathered from such schemes 
in the past, by the reports from others 
of experience with this concern, and 
mix the whole with a little eood judg¬ 
ment based on the nature of the prop¬ 
osition as a whole, we must conclude 
that a reliable clothier in any local town 
will give you better value for your 
money than you can get from this con¬ 
cern or its talkative agents. 
This renewal subscription comes to one 
who has, I imagine, the unique distinction 
of having been a subscriber ever since his 
birth. His grandfather sent him a trial 
subscription as soon as lie received news 
of the young man’s arrival, and upon the 
ending of the trial it was renewed by me, 
and I hope to keep it going until he is able 
to look after it bimself. although none 
of us has ever lived upon a farm for 
more than a week or two at a time. Still 
we have hopes of getting out on a small 
place some day not too far distant, and in 
the meantime getting what theoretical and 
practical experience we can out of The 
R. N.-Y'. and a garden. w. u. k. 
New Jersey. 
A _ distinguished judge making the 
opening address at a State dairymen’s 
meeting at Cortland, N. Y., some years 
back said that he was brought up on 
The Rural New-Yorker, and some 
one in the audience replied that “the 
judge was well brought up.” This 
young Jersey man promises to be 
brought up on an equally nourishing 
mental and moral ration. By the time 
he attains to manhood we hope condi¬ 
tions of farm life will be such that he 
will prefer such comforts and emolu¬ 
ments as it affords to a judgeship or 
any other profession or pursuit, and 
that the opportunities for obtaining dis¬ 
tinction as a farmer will be as promis¬ 
ing as that of any other calling. In 
the meantime we are ready to do what 
we can in the bringing up of .the farm 
boys, and will, accept trial subscriptions 
dating from either birth or marriage. 
J- J. d. 
A DAY’S WORK ON THE OLD HENHOUSE 
I suppose it is possible to overdo any 
good thing, but I have never seen the hen¬ 
house in which too much dry earth was 
used. The relative advantages of earthen, 
wooden and concrete floors are often dis¬ 
cussed, but those who have found earth 
floors unsatisfactory have usually failed to 
observe some of the points which should 
characterize this style of construction. 
Whatever the material the henhouse should 
be on as dry and well-drained soil as it is 
possible to secure. Then a ditch, if no more 
than a furrow, should carry any surface 
water around and away from the building. 
The earth from this ditch or furrow can 
be banked against the house to shed from 
the foundation the rain water which will 
beat against and run down the sides. It 
will pay to put up wooden eave-troughs on 
the cheapest henhouses, even if they con¬ 
sist of only narrow boards in a V trough, 
or a three-inch strip with lath nailed to 
the edges will be found practicable. The 
best wooden trough is probably a 2x4 scant¬ 
ling hollowed on one side with a suitable 
adze. Give the gutter plenty of slope, and 
let it discharge at the end where the water 
will run most rabidly away from the house. 
The average farmer can do all that I 
have outlined for the average henhouse in 
about a half day, if the weather is good, 
and in the afternoon he can do considerable 
toward making a success of his earth floor, 
and if he has a little help he may introduce 
some new features founded on dry earth as 
follows : First, if he has not a solid, rat- 
proof foundation extending at least six 
inches below ground level, let him dig a very 
narrow trench around the inside of his 
house and set in a board on edge to the 
depth indicated, or deeper if practicable to 
do so. Lot this board extend also six 
inches above the natural floor level, and if 
such a wide board is not to be had, use two 
narrower ones. In a new house this board 
to check water from soaking under the 
wall should be on the outside, and should 
fit up close against the lower edge of the 
siding, but in an old building, or one which 
has already been sided, it is Quite difficult 
to make a close joint, so it is better to 
depend on the eartli banking outside and 
put the sunken board within. This done he 
is ready to begin bis earth work in earnest. 
Now let the floor be scraped down to hard 
pan, or at least be certain that all the 
droppings are removed and a clean sur¬ 
face exposed, and when this is done start the 
wagon, dump cart or wheelbarrow and get 
in the driest, finest, cleanest earth obtain¬ 
able and as fast as possible until the whole 
henhouse floor is filled in to a height of six 
inches above the general surrounding ground 
level. Do not tamp or solidify the floor 
more than is necessary, for the object is 
to secure the deepest possible bed of dust. 
It will pay to haul a few loads from the 
farther side of the farm for the sake of 
getting a soft fine soil, rather than to fill 
in with coarse gravel or tough clay dug 
from around the henhouse door. When this 
is done the average farmer may think that 
he has done a day’s work and that it is 
chore time. If so, and if he has 50 April 
or Mav pullets to winter in the house, and 
if he 'will kill all the older hens by the 
middle of November, he will find before | 
Soring that this is one of the most profit- j 
able days that he has spent on the farm 
this season. 
But if he has hired a carpenter to patch 
the roof and make a few general repairs 
in preparation for Winter, and if he is 
anxious to reduce the labor of caring for 
this house to the point where a 10-year-old 
child can attend to it properly : if further, 
the day is especially favorable for securing 
dry earth, he will probably do well to have 
the carpenter take out all the old roosting 
arrangements, and the sloping dropping 
boards, if any, and instead make a tight 
level platform some two feet or 30 inches 
from the floor, and extending along the 
entire back wall of the house. The width 
of this platform may vary with the num¬ 
ber of perches to be put over it, but with 
my own large Barred Plymouth Rocks I 
like a platform four feet wide for three 
lines of perches, as this gives room to get 
the back row of fowls out. far enough from 
the wall to prevent serious crumpling of 
the tail feathers, and there is no special 
interference of one row of fowls with an¬ 
other. A platform 30 inches from the 
ground and four feet wide will be found 
ns wide as the average man can reach over 
if he wishes to handle the fowls in the 
back row. 
Now when the carpenter has put in this 
level platform let him nail on a strip along 
the front to stand up some two or three 
inches high, and then our farmer will fill 
the platform with dry earth to the top of 
this strip and level across to the back of 
the building. The perches should now be 
put in. It is well to have them easy to 
remove, each separate, and all on the same 
level. The front perch should he six inches 
back of the front of the platform. The 
height of perches above platform is a mat¬ 
ter of taste or preference. I prefer to have 
them low enough so that hens cannot hop 
down on the platform and run under the 
perches if I come in with a lantern to look 
over the situation at night, or to select 
birds for shipment or slaughter. Has any 
reader failed to see the advantages of this 
level, earth-filled platform over the sloping 
dropping board? They are briefly these. A 
child can take a light garden rake and comb 
the droppings off from the dry, fine earth. 
There will be no sticking or scraping as on 
the boards. There will be no need to 
sprinkle fresh earth every morning as the 
supply once in place will last a long time. 
The earth rapidly absorbs the moisture 
from the droppings, keeping down the odor. 
The raking of the earth keeps it loose and 
helps maintain an absorbent surface. If 
the supply of loose dust on the floor is 
abundant the hens will not try to dust 
themselves on the platform. The main floor 
of the house can he covered with straw or 
leaves if desired, hut if the climate is not 
too cold I suggest a hare dust floor with 
the scratching place outside. Clean the 
floor as you do tne roosts with rake or light 
scraping hoe, and keep surface mellow and 
dusty if possible. w. i. sherman. 
Fairfax Co., Va. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you'll get a quick reply and 
“a square deal.” See guarantee page 10. 
EXGELL 
ROOFINS 
and SIDING 
IRON 
and 
STEEL 
Send today for Free Book and bottom 
Factory Prices on Metal Rooting and 
Siding. Made In our own factory. 
Better than you can buy elsewhere at 
any price. Shipped at our risk. You 
Send No Money 
so you take no risk. Our guarantee 
and see-what-you-buy-before-paying- 
Plan specify you pay nothing unless 
fully satisiied. Lowest prices on all 
roollng and rooting supplies sold 
straight to you from Factory at real 
Don’t buy till you got our prices and 
[ Factory Prices, 
FREE Roofors’ Guido— Write for this Book today. 
Tha United Factoring Co., Pent. 3 1 -R, Cleveland 
O. 
Ideal Cow Stabling 
Adjustable Chain Swing Stan¬ 
chions, Automatic Cleaning 
Mangers and Steel Pipe 
Partitions ^ 
The neatest, cleanest, strongest, most con¬ 
venient, most comfortable and most sanitary 
of all cow stablings. Cement trough for in¬ 
door watering forms manger bottoms. Stan¬ 
chions adjust for long and short cows, so all are 
lined on the gutter. Send for booklet for all 
particulars. 
KenHIfmCOj^SOJKen^L^JIor^AtklnsonjJVls^ 
The WAGON to BUY 
strncted. Saves labor, annoy 
anee and expense of repairs. 
STEEL WHEELS 5,° A To A N L !i 
Your address on apostul will bring: you free catalog-. 
The Geneva Metal Wheel Co. 
Box 17 Geneva, Ohio. 
Home Wafer Works 
Have running^ water where and when you want 
it. Use the nearby brook., spring or pond. 
POWER SPECIALTY CO. RAMS 
raise vator to any height, in any 
quantity. Reliable, economical, no 
expense or trouble to operate. Free 
Catalog gives valuable BUggestlous. De¬ 
scribes and illustrates Rife and Foster 
Hydraulic Rams. We Guarantee Satie* 
faction. Write today. 
SOWER SPECIALTY COMPANY. Ill Broadway, New York Clt> 
OTS OF EGGS 
» If you feed raw bone fresh cut. Its egg pro¬ 
ducing value is four times that of grain. Eggs 
more fertile, chicks more vigorous, broilers 
I earlier, fowls heavier, profits larger. 
Mann’s 
Bone Cutter 
Latest 
Model 
I Cuts all bone with adhering meat and gristle. 
Never clogs. 10 Days’ Free Trial. No 
money in advance. Send today for free catalog. 
F. W. MANN CO., Box 15 MILFORD, MASS. 
IEGINHERS WITH POOLTRYsIS 
experience and conclusions of Experts and 
Experiment Stations which use and recommend 
CYPHERS INCURATORS 
Guaranteed the Best for Satisfaction and Profit 
Save time and money by writing for ant-page Free Cata¬ 
log showing Self-Keguluting Incubators, 
CYPHERS INCU3ATOR COMPANY, Buffalo, N.Y. 
Pekin Ducks 
and 
White Leghorns 
We are bl-eeders of high-class 
Single and Rose (’omb White 
Leghorns, White Wyandottes, 
White and Barred Plymouth 
Rocks, Genuine Japanese breed 
and Imperial Pekin Ducks. Blue ribbon winners at 
Madison Square Garden, New York City, December 
1907 in Pekin Ducks and offer pens of 5. April hatch, 
of this stock for $10.00; pens of 5, Japanese breed, 
$15.00. In Single Comb White Leghorns, pens of 6, 
April hatch, good utility stock $10.00, best and very 
choice snow white,yellow legs and well marked,pens 
of 6 for $15.00. Fifty pens, 1,000 layers. Also pens of 
Barred and White Rocks, White Wyandottes and 
Rose Comb White Leghorns. Largest plant in 
vicinity of New York City. Correspondence invited 
BONNIE BRAE POULTRY FARM, New Roche lle, N. \[ 
RHODE ISLAND REDS? 
I have sold all the breeders I can spare. Cockerels 
and pullets will be ready in September. SINCLAIR 
SMITH, Box 153, Soutliold. Suffolk Co.. N. Y. 
THE AMERICAN PET STOCK COMPANY—Breeders, 
I Buyers and Shippers of all Breeds of Thoroughbred Dogs and 
Standard Bred Poultry. Choice Stock always For Sale. 6,000 
Early Hatched Pullets and Cockerels. Collins. Ohio. 
poultryinen—Send 10c. for our 1909 Catalog, chock full of useful 
I information. Describes and illustrates 36 varieties. You can’t 
afford to be without it. East Donegal Poultry Yards,Marietta, Pa. 
EMPIRE STATE S. C. WHITE LEGHORNS, 
May hatched cockerels and pullets from my best 
stock $1.00 each. Yearlings, heavy layers, $1.00 each. 
Catalog free. C. H. ZIMMER, Weedsport, N. Y. 
T he Celebrated Hungarian and English Partridges and 
Pheasants, capercailzies, black game, wild turkeys, 
quails, rabbits, deer, etc. for stocking purposes. 
I aney pheasants, peafowl, cranes,storks,ornament¬ 
al geese and ducks, foxes, squirrels, ferrets, and 
all kinds of birds and animals, wen/, a mackensen. 
Dept, 10, Pheasantry Sc Game Park, Yardley, Pa. 
W P. Rock Cockerels, high grade stock, early 
■ hatched, fine vigorous birds; also a few R. C. 
Brown Leghorn Cockerels, a. s. BRIAN, Mt. Ki«eo, N. Y. 
A Few Vearling; Hens at SSI apiece, and April 
**■ hatched Cockerels, $S2 to SS5. 
Edward Van Alstyne & Soil, Klnderhook, N. Y. 
