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THE RURAL* NEW-YORKER 
September 9, 
FACTS ABOUT FEEDING RAPE. What About “The Poor Man’s Cow?” 
C. I. Hunt has an interesting article on Last year we printed an article about 
rape as hog pasture, but does not tell us milch goats, expressing the opinion that 
how he prepares his pasture, or when he these goats would prove to be the “poor 
turns his pigs into it. H. h. D. p. 
Rape, like everything else, will pay 
for every dollar’s worth of fertilizer and 
work that is put on to the crop. Our 
rape patch is an old orchard that has 
been pastured for years, is a sandy loam, 
and is land that should grow almost 
any kind of a crop. If there is well- 
rotted manure enough it is put on top 
and well harrowed in; if not, it is well 
manured before plowing. If no manure 
is available and the ground is well 
filled with humus, rape will do very well 
with a good dressing of a high-grade 
fertilizer, the more nitrogen the better, 
say 500 pounds of a 4-8-10 to the acre. 
The seed of rape is very small and as so 
little is used on an acre the ground 
should be harrowed until it is in very 
fine condition, or in other words, in such 
shape that it would be a pleasure to 
plant as a garden. As to the proper 
time to turn into the rape that must be 
determined by the conditions. If it is to 
be pastured to the limit of growth, it 
should not be turned to pasture until 
it is at least 15 inches high. If there 
is less to pasture and the growth will 
be more than the amount eaten, it can 
be turned into when much smaller. Care 
should be taken not to pasture too close. 
This inquiry brings to mind the cau¬ 
tion of the New Jersey reader against 
going crazy over the rape question. 
Many letters have been received since 
the article appeared in The R. N.-Y. 
One in particular attracted my attention. 
It read something like this, “What is 
the use of writing about rape? It is 
just like a turnip, and no sheep or hog 
will eat a turnip unless you starve them 
to it.” That simply shows ignorance 
and a determination not to learn. In 
direct contrast is a letter just received 
saying: “Last season I pastured four 
hogs in rape, about one-eighth acre, that 
when sold brought $99; no grain; milk 
from five cows after going through sep¬ 
arator. 1 am now pasturing five on same 
piece, and they do not begin to eat it as 
fast as it grows.” This man knows 
how to raise rape as well as to get the 
money out of it after it is grown. There 
is a man in this town who will not try 
to raise Alfalfa because it is nothing but 
a small kind of Sweet clover, as he 
claims, yet there are a number of men 
in this same town who are raising from 
$30 to $50 worth on an acre every year. 
Don’t go crazy, but sow rape as well as 
Alfalfa. c. i. hunt. 
man’s cow.” At once we were flooded with 
letters about goats. Several hundred peo¬ 
ple wrote asking where the goats could be 
found, with all sorts of questions about 
them. A Goat Breeders’ Association was 
started in Connecticut, but we found it 
impossible to find a full supply of goats 
for the people who called for them. About 
that time a wealthy merchant in New York 
had a herd of imporred goats. With a 
view to help the cause of dairying, he 
turned this herd over to the New York 
Experiment Station, and Dr. W. H. Jordan, 
the director, began a systematic experi¬ 
ment to determine certain things about 
goat dairying. The letters about goats 
continue to come to us, and we have asked 
Dr. Jordan about the experiment in the 
hope that we could satisfy the people who 
talk about the “poor man’s cow.” Dr. 
Jordan tells us that they are not yet 
ready to talk definitely about the goats. 
They are trying to find out two things; 
first, the cost of producing goat’s milk as 
compared with cow’s milk, and the value 
of the milk for use particularly as food 
for children. Many wild statements have 
been made about the goats, particularly 
regarding the amount of milk they will 
give and the extraordinary value of such 
milk as food for children and invalids. 
In the flock of goats which came to the 
station there were some good purebred ani¬ 
mals, but a lot of very inferior ones. They 
are breeding from the purebreds exclu¬ 
sively, and now have a nice lot of young 
goats. As regards their milk-producing 
powers Dr. Jordan says that they have 
one remarkable goat. In the first year of 
her lactation she gave 1,189 pounds of 
milk, and in the second period she had 
given as high as six quarts a day. Other 
goats in tins herd have given eight or nine 
pounds of milk day after day. The goats, 
however, are very uneven, not only in their 
yield, but in the quality of their milk. It 
would never pay to buy an ordinarv goat, 
on the theory that they will give you as 
much milk as this one mentioned above. 
Dr. Jordan has found a general impres¬ 
sion that when one knows how to handle 
the goats their milk can be produced at 
about the same cost as cow’s milk. In 
order to do this, however, you would have 
to have a high class of goats, cheap feed 
and to know just how to handle them to 
the best advantage. 
Nothing will be published in the way of 
a positive statement by the station for a 
year or two. They are still working at 
the problem. It seems likely that the 
proper place for milch goats will be as 
milk supply for the small families who 
have only a little piece of land. The milk 
is also useful for infants which are not 
fed on a natural supply. At the Geneva 
Station the goat’s milk is now supplied to 
several babies. Later it is hoped to make 
an arrangement to supply the milk to some 
children's institution and in that wav get 
systematic returns for comparison. ‘ Do 
not, however, write to Dr. Jordan for par¬ 
ticulars about goats. He cannot tell you 
any more than we have said here, and it 
will simply cause him annoyance and loss 
of time to ask further questions about it. 
Just as soon as anything definite can be 
said we will give you the facts. 
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BLACK CHERRY POISONS CATTLE. 
Enclosed find newspaper clipping from an 
Ohio newspaper on subjects of general in¬ 
terest to your readers. j. c. 
Norwalk, O. 
The clipping sent with this letter was 
from the Oberlin, O., Tribune, and re¬ 
ferred to the poisoning of four animals 
which had eaten black cherry branches 
when browsing in pasture. An extra¬ 
ordinary fact connected with this tree 
is that the fresh leaves are considered 
harmless, but wilting liberates a form 
of prussic acid, one of the most deadly 
of poisons, by the chemical action of 
non-poisonous substances present in the 
leaves. The poison is volatile, and dis¬ 
appears in a short time. Thus cases 
of poisoning ordinarily result where 
branches are broken down or cut off, 
and eaten by the cattle while wilting. 
The symptoms of black cherry poison¬ 
ing in cattle are labored respiration, 
diminished pulse, numbness, fright, pro¬ 
truding eyeballs, convulsions, and death 
from paralysis of the lungs. In some 
cases there is frothing at the mouth, 
and there is always a noticeable smell 
of prussic acid in the breath. There 
seems no possibility of saving cattle 
thus poisoned. The freshly cut branches 
of the tree should never be put where 
cattle can gain access to them, and al¬ 
though the black cherry is a handsome 
tree, it is wise to keep it off the farm 
entirely to avoid risk of accident. 
While the flesh of the fruit is harmless, 
the kernel is open to suspicion; cases 
are on record where children have died 
from eating the kernel, or from 
swallowing the fruit whole. The laurel 
cherry of the South, and the cherry 
laurel of Europe, are likewise poison- 
Stop Using 
Feed Fop Fertilizer 
Whole com in your animals’ droppings indicates that a part of the feed of even a 
r . healthy animal is wasted through non-digestion. Grinding the feed fails to save this waste and the 
feeder must either let his hogs follow up the 6teers and eat this wasted grain or be content to realize what little 
he can from it as fertilizer Saving a part of this wasted feed by Improving Digestion is known as “The Dr Hess 
Idea, and back of it are the opinions of our ablest writers. 
DR. HESS STOCK TONIC 
the prescription of Dr. Hess (M.D., D. V. S.), improves digestion; it contains iron, the greatest of all blood and tissue 
builders, acts mildly on the kidneys, regulates the bowels, also expels worms and relieves the minor stock aLenS 
As proof that Dr. Hess Stock Tonic does all these things just show the formula on the label to your family phvsS 
mom and Shi S “ * g °° d raU ° n P °° rly digestecL Im P roved di g estio " insures mo^rowth. 
Our proposition. You get of your dealer a 25 lb. pail of 
Dr. Hess. Stock Tonic at $1.60, or 100 lbs. at $5.00 
(except in Canada and extreme West and South). Use it 
all winter and spring. If it doesn’t pay you and pay you 
well, get your money back. Every pound sold on this 
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96 page Veterinary Book free for the asking. 
“- Mention this paper and include 2 c stamp. ^ 
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DR. HESS POULTRY PAN-A-CE-A. A scientific fowl tonic, prepared by Dr. Hess to 
make hens lay more eggs. It acts beneficially on the digestive organs, keeps the egg organisms active, contains 
nitrates to drive out poisons, and iron to build up the system. It fattens broilers quickly, helps chicks to maturity, cures 
minor fowl ailments. Very economical— a penny’s worth feeds 30 fowls per day. 
IX lbs. 25c ; mail or express 40c. 5 lbs. 60c ; 12 lbs $1.25; 25 lb. pail $2.50. 
(Except in Canada and the Extreme West and South.) • 
ous, and we would observe similar pre¬ 
cautions with the choke cherry. 
HSISTANT LOUSE KILLER KILLS LICE 
