1908. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
989 
THE AGRICULTURAL TRAIN. 
The Farm Special run over the Erie R. R. 
from Cornell reached Hunt, N. Y., just at 
noon, and found over 100 waiting; some 
women, wives of farmers, women with note 
books in hand ready for pointers. One man 
sent his wife into one car, son into another, 
while he went into the third. Lectures 
were given on Alfalfa, dairying, soil fer¬ 
tility and potatoes. It was very plain that 
the people knew what they wanted to hear 
about before the train arrived, because just 
as soon as it was announced what car the 
different subjects would be discussed in, 
the cars were soon filled. So far as I can 
judge I should say that these trains are a 
good thing, and pay well. They pay for 
the knowledge the instructors give us. 
They allow the farmers to see the men who 
are at the head of our class of \*ork. We 
became perfectly acquainted with them, and 
will feel more free to co-operate with them 
or write them about -problems that bother 
us. They create interest in our boys for 
more knowledge of agriculture, a greater 
desire to be a “specialist,” “to know one 
thing and know it all.” The new way of 
dealing out the farmers’ institutes has left 
this part of the country minus, and we 
were very glad to get a chance at the “pow¬ 
ers that be” if for only one hour. I am 
not given to “patting the back,” but I want 
to say that a finer lot of men never came 
to this part of the country. They were 
good even to the cook. c. I. hunt. 
Livingston Co., N. Y. 
THE FUEL ALCOHOL QUESTION. 
In the West there is a strong demand 
for denatured alcohol at a fair price. 
Lamps, stoves and ipotors for utilizing this 
fuel are now made, and if we could manu¬ 
facture it in this country as the French 
and Germans do there would be a revolu¬ 
tion in farm practice. A few acres of sugar 
beets or the “cider" apples in a fair-sized 
orchard would provide alcohol for light, heat 
and power. Last year in France 15,689,246 
gallons of alcohol were denatured—that is, 
adulterated for fuel purposes; of this over 
12,000,000 were used for fuel and light. 
The total amount of alcohol produced in 
France was 66,441,275 gallons. More than 
half of this was manufactured from sugar 
beets and waste molasses. The wholesale 
price of this alcohol was a little over 31 
cents a gallon, while the retail price of a 
high-class fuel alcohol was 47 cents per 
gallon. In this city on Dec. 1 the quoted 
prices on large lots were $2.,SO per gallon 
for a 95 per cent pure alcohol and 59 
cents for denatured. The price must fall 
far below this in order that alcohol can 
compete with coal and oil. In France both 
these fuels are higher than with us. 
STOCK INVESTMENTS vs. FARM IM¬ 
PROVEMENTS. 
“Pudd’n’head Wilson” says that October 
is one of the peculiarly dangerous months 
in which to speculate in stocks; the others 
are July, January, September, April, No¬ 
vember, May, March, June, December, Aug¬ 
ust and February. Many farmers read of 
fortunes being made by dealing in stocks 
and are more than anxious to invest their 
savings in them. As a matter of fact a 
small investment of this sort is seldom 
profitable and there are many fakes to 
look out for. A farmer may be a good all- 
around business man and yet not understand 
the workings of the Stock Exchange. Sup¬ 
posing even lie were wise enough to dis¬ 
cern the fair investment from the fraud 
and could manage his holdings personally 
or through a reliable broker to the best 
advantage; even in that case the same 
amount of money might be invested right 
at home on the farm, where it would bring 
in as good a rate of income. 
Why farmers should invest in stocks at 
all is a hard question to answer. There 
are so many ways of investing money profit¬ 
ably. Replacing scrub cows with pure¬ 
bred animals may double and treble the 
principal invested. Purebred stock on any 
farm, is by far a better investment than 
even “gilt edge” stock certificates. Invest 
in stock, not in stocks ! Then there is the 
silo. This is essential on a dairy farm if 
one would realize the greatest profit. It 
is a fact that money invested in a silo, in 
•modern machinery, in a windmill or gaso¬ 
line engine, increases the income from the 
farm greatly, much more than would the 
interest from the same amount. 
A shed for housing wagons and machin¬ 
ery is a great saving. Exposure to wind 
and weather takes fully as much out of 
this sort of property as does careful usage. 
“A penny saved is a penny earned.” It 
is a matter of dollars saved in this case. 
In music-loving families there is no one 
thing that would help so much to keep 
the children contented at home as a piano. 
The influence of music is refining and does 
much toward making home cheerful and 
pleasant. Possibly a piano might be the 
best investment you ever made! Now, if 
you have already added every improvement 
to your place and still have some money 
to invest, put it into mortgages or into 
the savings bank, where it will be perfectly 
safe. e. b. p. 
THE VALUE OF SILAGE. 
I have never heard of silage being shipped 
and sold for feed. Corn silage deteriorates 
in value very quickly when exposed to the 
air. This is the reason that one cannot 
use a silo of big diameter to feed a small 
herd of cows. I should not expect that a 
carload of silage would be worth anything 
as food after having been pitched from the 
silo into wagons, which would thoroughly 
expose it, then pitching over again into 
car, then handling again upon reaching its 
destination. I should expect that it would 
be a rotten mass before it could be offered 
to the cows. There is a vast difference in 
the value of corn silage, and although it 
has been used for quite a long period and 
so much has been said and written about 
it, I still believe that a good deal of nearly 
or quite worthless silage is being fed, and 
this is why such varied results are ob¬ 
tained from its use. 
Of course, the value of silage as se¬ 
cured by a farmer must be problematical. 
This year I had some corn that would 
not go in the silo, and I husked it. I 
think that my whole field would have pro¬ 
duced 50 bushels' of shelled corn per acre 
at $1.60 per hundred (the present price 
here). We have $44.80 per acre for the 
value of the grain alone. The.eight acres 
that went into my silo would be worth 
$358.40. If the stalks are worth one-half 
as much as the grain, that would give us 
$537.60 for say 100 tons of silage. In 
explanation, I will say that my corn was 
the “Iowa Gold Mine”—a kind that does 
not produce so tall a stalk as some, but 
is a good producer of ears. Besides. I 
grew it so as to produce as much grain 
as possible. j. grant morsb. 
DAMAGING HENS; CARRYING TIMBER. 
1. What is the law in regard to keeping 
hens where they damage their neighbors, 
in the State of Connecticut? Are owners re¬ 
sponsible for damages after being notified? 
2. In carrying a 30-foot timber with three 
men how far from the front end should 
the handspike be for the two men to make 
it equal weight, the third man being at 
the extreme end? r. d. p. 
Batavia, N. Y. 
1. The law regarding damage done 
by hens is the same as for other do¬ 
mestic animals. Every now and then 
some one claims that when hens go on 
to a neighbor's premises and do damage 
they may be treated as wild animals. That 
is a mistake. If they commit damage you 
can sue the owner. The general practice 
is to shoot at the hens if they become a 
nuisance or put up a house and induce 
them to lay in it. 
2. If the two men are one-third the length 
of the stick from their end they will bear 
two-thirds the weight and the other man 
one-third. But to make the actual labor 
done by the three equal it will be neces¬ 
sary for all to lift from the same level 
and at the same time; for the two men 
to grasp the handspike at equal distances 
from the timber; and for the third man to 
have as convenient hold on the stick as 
the other two. The lifting of a certain 
weight and the .amount of physical labor 
with which it is done are entirely different 
matters, even when no leverage of any sort 
is used. A man may lift a weight so awk¬ 
wardly that he will get much more work 
out of himself than is necessary. 
When you write advertisers mention Tun 
R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply and 
“a square deal.” See guarantee, page 8. 
SAVES ITS COST 
IN WAGES 
IN A FEW MONTHS 
Besides, it saves ^y 
a lot of dirty and 
back-breaking 
work. 3 
There is no carrying or wheeling of litter. 
You stay right in the barn and load the car¬ 
rier. A push with the hand or shovel, and the 
carrier goes to the place desired, dumps away 
from the barn, in the manure yard, pit or 
spreader, and returns automatically. One man 
can do the work of two, and with less effort 
and greater comfort. 
Then, your barn is clean outside as well as 
inside. No disease-breeding dump at the door. 
Remember, there is only one Drew 
Carrier, and that is made by the Drew 
Elevated Ca-ner Co., Waterloo, Wit. 
9aves wages, saves work, saves manure and 
prevents disease. 
Our new Swivel Trolley perfects the con¬ 
venience of operation with the Drew. 
Send for our booklet. It is FREE. It tells 
all about the Drew Automatic Carrier, and 
other labor-saving farm implements made by us. 
Address all correspondence to Waterloo Office. 
DREW ELEVATED CARRIER CO. 
115 Monroe St., Waterloo, Wisconsin 
Eastern Branch: Rome,N.Y. Pacific Branch: 
Mitchell, Lewis & Staver Co., Portland, Ore 
reproduces fill sounds, und espe - Edison Phonographs 
cially the sounds of the human $12.50 to $60 
voice and the music of instruments, 
so marvelously that you would be 
amazed at it as a scientific inven¬ 
tion if you had not become so 
used to its wonderful work. 
We want everyone who has not 
yet experienced the de light of 
owning- and listening: to an Edi¬ 
son Phonograph to go to some 
dealer today and hear the Edison 
Phonograph play. There is only 
one way to know how good the 
Edison Phonograph is and that 
is to hear it. Nothing can de¬ 
scribe it. 
There is a dealer in the town 
where you do your marketing 
who will be glad to show you the 
Edison Phonograph and let you 
hear the new records. He has an 
assortment of both Edison and 
Amberol Records, and he has 
Phonographs in various sizes 
and styles, at different prices— 
all low. You can arrange with 
him for putting an Edison 
Phonograph in your own home. 
Some dealers sell on the instal¬ 
ment plan. 
Edison Amberol Records 
Sold everywhere at 
the same prices 
Edison Gem Phonograph 
Edison Standard Phonograph 
The New Phonograph Records that play twice 
as long as the regular Edison Records 
These are the new Records which 
have just been made to play on 
the Edison Phonograph. They 
play twice as long as the old 
ones and play far better. 
This is the latest great discovery 
of Mr. Edison for the benefit of 
his favorite invention, the Edison 
Phonograph, and for your bene¬ 
fit if you are wise enough to get 
an Edison Phonograph with the 
Amberol attachment at once. 
An Edison Phonograph with the 
Amberol attachment plays both 
Records, the old two-minute 
Records and the new four-minute 
Records. 
There are thousands of selec¬ 
tions already made up in the old 
Records which you can enjoy, 
and there will be many new 
ones every month in both the 
old Records and the Amberol 
Records. 
Ldlson Records are made in Bohemian, Cuban, Danish. French, German, Hebrew 
Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Spanish, Swedish, etc. 
Edison Amberol Records, 50c. Regular Edison Records, 35c. 
Edison Grand Opera Records, 75c. 
If you are not ready to buy at once, ask your dealer for a catalogue of 
I honographs and a catalogue of selections. You will be surprised that 
so much music is available to the owner of a Phonograph. Do not be 
misled by any other sound-reproducing instrument. The Edison 
Phonograph is the best for the home. 
National Phonograph Co., 172 Lakeside Ave., Orange, N. J. 
Edison Home Phonograph 
Edison Triumph Phonograph 
