870 
November 1 \ 
not kill any wild animals, except as, and when the 
sportsman gives him permission. If the farmers, as 
a class, were not so good-natured and willing to con¬ 
tribute to other people’s pleasure, even at their own 
expense, they would soon change this state of affairs. 
Why must fajmers allow sportsmen to trespass on 
their land, in the hunting season or at any time? 
Prior to 1900 the State of Rhode Island, so far 
as T can find out, had no special law relating to deer, 
nor was any needed, for deer were practically un¬ 
known. In 1898 or 1899 it was said that a few deer 
had been seen in the south part of the State, and 
the Legislature promptly passed a law, presumably 
at the request of the sportsmen, prohibiting abso¬ 
lutely the killing of deer for a period of five years 
under penalty of $500 fine. It is an interesting ques¬ 
tion as to how the deer came into the State, and in 
view of subsequent events, the suggestion that they 
were brought in and liberated is not unbelievable, 
though it is not proved. However that may be, the 
deer increased, slowly at first, then more rapidly, 
and by 1904 they were quite numerous and were do¬ 
ing considerable damage, but it was not general 
enough to prevent an extension of the close period to 
1908. By 1907 the damage was so widespread and 
great (my loss was several thousand dollars) that 
when the attempt was made to again extend the pro¬ 
tection time, coupling it with the nice little provision 
of a limited season, during which licensed persons 
might shoot deer, but no others, the farmers rallied in 
sufficient strength not only to kill the proposed meas¬ 
ure, but were able to secure the passage of the pres¬ 
ent law, which allows any owner or occupier of land 
or his employees, after getting a license from the 
State, which license identifies the person and states 
the conditions of its use, to kill deer on the premises 
found destroying property, provided a shotgun be 
used, the latter provision being made from a fear that 
in the thickly settled localities a rifle would probably 
entail considerable danger to people. It was recog¬ 
nized that it was no kindness to the deer, many of 
whom would probably be wounded and yet escape, 
tp suffer and die later. This law is not perfect by 
any means, but it affords the farmer some measure 
of protection and by its use we are gradually reducing 
the number of deer. 
It is not to be supposed that the sporting fraternity 
enjoy this condition of affairs, and they have been 
on the alert to strike at the farmers, and found an 
opportunity, a few weeks ago. when a young farme-, 
whose land adjoined his father’s farm, both farms 
being operated as one by the father and son, shot 
at a deer one evening, the deer being at the time 
on his father’s land. The next day a deer was found 
dead near by, and the young man, presuming that : t 
was the one lie shot at, felt quite elated and, as the 
news spread and neighbors called, told the details of 
the shooting freely, and with a little of the foolish 
talk that youth is prone to. The virtue-loving, law- 
abiding sportsmen could not endure that such an in¬ 
fraction of the law should go unpunished, and caused 
the young man’s arrest, on the grounds that he had 
killed the deer on his father’s land, whereas he had 
no right to shoot except on his own farm, and that 
as it was dusk when he fired at the deer, he could 
not swear that the deer were then doing any damage, 
although the deer were then eating under some apple 
trees, which they had gleaned for fruit all the season, 
taking the whole crop as fast as it fell. The evi¬ 
dence was clear that the deer had damaged or de¬ 
stroyed nearly every crop the defendant had attempted 
to grow for the past two years, and the whole case 
rested upon the above points and depended upon the 
admissions of the young man himself, for no one 
saw the shooting, and there is good reason to ques¬ 
tion whether, in fact, the deer found dead was the 
one shot at the night before. No attempt was made 
by the defense to take shelter behind any technicali¬ 
ties, nor to hide anything, relying upon the principles 
of equity and intention underlying and controlling 
the application of the statute. Fortunately, the case 
came before a judge with common sense and clear¬ 
ness of vision as well as knowledge of law, who 
brushed aside the obscuring dust of hair-splitting 
statute reading and ordering the defendant’s dis¬ 
charge, on the ground that he had complied with the 
spirit and intention of the law, an outcome of the 
case on which I think both the court and the farm¬ 
ers are to be congratulated: the one because it re¬ 
fused to allow the principles of justice to be over¬ 
borne by a too strict devotion to the letter of the 
law, and the farmers because it marks the placing 
of a barrier against the encroachments of a class 
uyon the general welfare. h. w. heaton. 
Rhode Island. 
There is some reason in the statement, made by a 
rorent author, that too many people, when they start out 
<* make their poultry comfortable, consult tlieir own 
feelings as to what constitutes comfort, overlooking the 
fact that a hen’s point of view is not a man’s. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
HEATING A FARMHOUSE. 
Having purchased a big, old-fashioned farmhouse, 
the first thing done was to enclose the back veranda 
with glass, converting it into a little conservatory. 
This brought to the front the question of properly 
heating that conservatory as well as the entire house. 
There were five stoves scattered through it. A fire¬ 
place was built in the dining-room adjoining the con¬ 
servatory, and a ventilating grate was put in. Win¬ 
ter came, and so did the memorable coal strike and 
famine of fuel. The lady of the house said those 
plants must not freeze. We had plenty of wood. All 
through that Winter I sawed wood and kept watch, 
getting up three times every night tp put wood into 
that fireplace with an abnormal appetite. That stim¬ 
ulated thought. The arrangement of the house did 
not permit a hot air furnace. The plumber wanted 
$350 for a steam or hot water plant. That was be¬ 
yond my purse. I had never used plumbers’ tools of 
any kind, but I bought a set consisting of pipe vise, 
thread cutter of Armstrong pattern with dies from 
half-inch up to one and one-half inch, two or three 
reamers, a pipe cutter and several pipe wrenches. 
This outfit cost about $8. The Armstrong pattern of 
dies is noted because the dies are adjustable, and 
a perfect fit is easily had by setting up the dies and 
running the second time if the first cut is not right. 
This cannot he done with the fixed pattern. Every 
time a piece of pipe is cut a burr is formed. This 
must be taken off with the reamer. It is of prime 
importance to have the interior of the pipes perfectly 
smooth for a hot water system. The knack of using 
the tools was soon learned. Anybody at all handy 
with general tools can quickly learn the trick of cut¬ 
ting, threading, etc. The only mistake I made in 
putting the pipe together was in getting a patent 
cement. There is nothing equal to red or white lead 
or a mixture of both ; this as thick as needed. They 
were not in the business when I put in my plant. I 
would advise a larger heater than is really needed. 
It costs no more to run the larger size, and there 
is always reserve capacity. And don’t scrimp on the 
sizes of the radiators. Get ample heating surface 
at every point and economy will result as well as 
efficiency. Another point. Cover all exposed pipes 
with asbestos jackets. I used fireproof building paper 
with good results. 
Since installing my heating system I have used 
those plumbers’ tools for putting in hot-water tank 
in the kitchen, running to laundry, bathroom and 
sinks, and also a complete water system to the barn 
and through the house. Now I am at work on a 
power pumping scheme. But I never expect to do 
a piece of work that will be so thoroughly satis¬ 
factory to the whole family as my hot-water heating 
system. I am obliged to count every penny that 
comes my way, and cannot afford many luxuries at 
plumbers’ prices, but I find I can have such ad¬ 
vantages as comfortable heating methods, bathroom 
with hot and cold water, good well water to the barn 
and through the house, a little conservatory and all 
at the cost of material, which is not large. Labor, 
when hired, is the expensive item. I see no reason 
why almost every owner of a country home should 
not have all these things, and more. In my own 
case I had to do much of the work at nights. As 
a mechanic I am in the kindergarten class but the 
results I have achieved without any previous training 
or experience ought to encourage others. I should 
be glad to be helpful to anyone interested if possible. 
A picture of the house from the rear is shown at 
Fig. 409, while the drawing—Fig. 408—shows the ar¬ 
rangement of the pipes and radiators. Flow and re¬ 
turn pipes-from heater to first elbows are two-inch 
pipe. Then V/ 2 to next connection, to next, and 
then one inch for balance of system. All radiator 
connections and service pipes are one inch. An eight- 
gallon expansion tank is placed in the garret. This 
is the familiar two-pipe system. Cast-iron fittings, 
such as elbows, tees, etc., are used throughout. Shut¬ 
off valves of the gate pattern are placed near the 
heater so that any repairs necessary can be made 
without draining the system. Gate valves must be 
used, as they do not obstruct the flow as globe valves 
do. One-inch pipe is used in the conservatory, run¬ 
ning back and forth under the benches. 
Connecticut. w. h. miller. 
R. N.-Y.—Mr. Miller will answer questions about 
the use. of tools or house-heating through The 
R. N.-Y. He does not pretend to be an expert, but 
understands farm conditions. 
SHALL I BUY A MANURE SPREADER? 
Undf-r Hits heading we shall give the experience of 
farmers who have used spreaders so that they can give 
an intelligent opinion about them. The farmer needs all 
the burden-bearers and labor-savers that he can find. 
Spreading manure is one of the hardest jobs connected 
with farming. If there is any way of saving this hard 
labor—that is within the reach of the small farmer— 
we want to tell about it. 
“Five Cows and a Team.’’ 
After giving it a thorough trial T find the wagon- 
box spreader the greatest labor-saving*, and money¬ 
making tool I have on the- farm. It holds 50 bushels, 
enough for any team to handle, and a team weighing 
1,000 pounds each will handle it all day on meadow 
land when it is fit to draw a load of any kind over it. 
It has an endless apron and a force feed ; the gear is 
positive and sprocket on both hind wheels of wagon. 
By filling some solid manure at each end of hox I 
can draw and spread manure evenly and accurately 
that is thin enough to run off a shovel. If I had but 
five cows and a team since using it I would have this 
kind of a spreader, the same as though I had 50 head 
of stock. It is easily taken off a wagon and easily let 
down on it again. This season I drew most of my 
manure out after haying, top-dressed some in the 
Spring, just a thin coat and the grass was double that 
on the same field where no manure was spread. I 
think I have done spreading manure in the Winter 
when the snow is two feet deep and the ground frozen 
hard. A manure or litter carrier and a spreader 
work well together. T. c. M. 
Would Not Be Without It. 
I have three GO-bushel spreaders on as many dif¬ 
ferent farms. What caught my eye in connection 
with this spreader was the guarantee the builder of¬ 
fered, namely, if machine did not work perfectly sat¬ 
isfactory that it could be returned to him and he 
would refund all freight charges. I appreciated the 
fact that he would have to have a very good thing 
to make this sort of a proposition, or it would ruin 
him. I had wanted to purchase a spreader for some 
time, but the cost of the more complicated machine 
forbade my getting more than one machine, and to 
work this one machine was too slow a process in 
handling a large quantity of manure. I throw all 
three of these machines to one farm, use two drivers 
and keep three men in the pound loading constantly, 
and in this manner I can handle as much manure in 
three days as the same number of teams have cus¬ 
tomarily been handling for me in three weeks, and do 
much better work. I do not spread manure as fast 
as it accumulates, but believe this would be the proper 
course to pursue. I value the machines I have very 
much, and would not be without them for double 
their cost, were it impossible to replace them for less. 
Talbot Co., Md. wm. h. kemp. 
From a Hilly Country. 
Our experience with the wagon-box manure 
spreader has been very satisfactory. It is a real help 
in that it gives us better results by an even distribu¬ 
tion of manure, ashes or lime, and does it with a 
facility that is really refreshing in these days of the 
hired-man problem. We would think that a man 
who owns five cows and a team could well afford a 
spreader and it would he a good financial investment. 
In handling manure we think there are no fast or set 
rules that are satisfactory. We are governed alto¬ 
gether by weather conditions. In Winter we never 
spread manure when the ground is covered with snow 
or frozen, or on a side hill in Winter. Our farm is 
more or less rolling, and a favorite plan with us is to 
draw the manure in Winter as fast as we make it to 
some one or more elevated part in the field for corn, 
and heap in large heaps, and when Spring comes take 
the spreader and radiate from that so that we 
have down hill to spread. What manure is 
made after April 1 is usually heaped in a large heat) 
and spread on the meadow after haying with good 
results, especially if we have rain soon. We have 
had excellent results by plowing corn stubble ground 
in the Fall and seeding to grass, in oats in the 
Spring with a light top-dressing of manure before the 
oats and grass seed is sown, omitting the grass seed 
until the oats are harrowed once. We have tried the 
two rotations, corn and oats and manure for three 
years in succession, and are well pleased with the 
results. w. s. l. 
Dcckertown, N. J. 
