1911. 
THE RURAL NEW-VORKER 
iiae 
PROTECTING PRIVfT FROM MICE. 
B. E., New Hartford, Conn .—Can you tell 
me any sure way of preventing field mice 
and chipmunks from gnawing and killing 
privet hedge this Winter? Any mulch 
seems to attract them. 
Ans. —Field mice eat a great deal of 
green or vegetable food, which they 
can easily procure during the Summer 
season. To procure this desired and 
needful food in Winter season, when 
the ground is frozen, they greedily eat 
the bark of trees and shrubs. The 
apples, peaches and privet are favorite 
plants to furnish them green food from 
their bark. The only sure preventive 
against their ravages is to protect with 
wire, the meshes so small that they can¬ 
not get through it, or tarred paper 
wrapped around the body of the plant. 
None of these protective devices is 
practicable with the privet hedge, as 
the branches would interfere with fas¬ 
tening anything of the kind so that a 
mouse could not get in between it and 
the plant. The only sure plan is to 
keep away all mulch, like straw, hay, 
leaves or coarse manure from around 
or near the plants, as this affords a 
nesting place and protection for them. 
If mulching is really necessary, then 
use well rotted cow manure, free from 
straw, or better still, good rich soil ap¬ 
plied late in the Fall before ground 
freezes. e. s. black. 
ONE SCHOOL TEACHER TALKS. 
Now that the long Winter evenings are 
here and we people on the farm have a 
litle spare time, let us give our attention 
to our children’s school work. Have a 
little talk with the boy and the girl about 
their lessons in school. Find out what 
they are doing. Tell them any facts tlnTt 
may help in the geography or arithmetic 
class. Let them feel that you are inter¬ 
ested in their work. 
Do not criticise the teacher, poor soul, 
out there in the country school. Re sure, 
her path ^s not all roses. There are al¬ 
ways the big rough boys, who are inter¬ 
ested in making trouble, as well as the little 
children who are to be amused and taught 
For it is a teacher’s duty to strive to 
make the school a pleasant place. 
If you drive to school with the children, 
try to say a cheerful “good morning” to 
the teacher, and a pleasant word. It is 
only a little thing, but it helps a lot. 
Then, too, see that the children start to 
school with clean hands and faces and their 
hair brushed. I have taught where children 
of well-to-do parents came morning after 
morning with faces which showed lines 
down the cheeks, “high water mark,” and 
whose hands were not familiar with soap 
and water. 
You are interested in the poultry and 
cows of the farm, in social work, perhaps 
take pleasure in the Grange. All these are 
good, but do not neglect your duty to your 
child. Do all in your power to keep them 
in school until they are prepared for their 
life work. l. m. 
A SURGICAL OPERATION ON FAKES. 
I could not tell you in language strong 
enough to express my appreciation of the 
value and integrity of The R. N.-Y. Al¬ 
though I do not live on a farm or run one, 
I was raised on a farm, and have owned 
farms at different times that have been 
leased to others. Hence my chief interest 
aside from that of my profession, has ever 
been that of a farmer, and because of that 
fact I have always been a liberal sub¬ 
scriber for farm literature. I have been 
actively engaged in the practice of medicine 
for 4o years, and as I live in a small city 
of from two to three thousand inhabitants, 
the greater part of my medical practice 
has been in the country among the farmers. 
As a result I have easily kept abreast of 
farm practice, and I am glad to say that 
in no profession has there been greater 
improvement than in that of farming. 
Much of this is due to Tite It. N.-Y. and a 
few other farm papers. While it has had 
some competitors along the line of giving 
instruction, it has had no competitor or 
peer in the line of effort in saving the 
farmer from the multitudes of heartless 
sharks that advertise so extensively in other 
papers. It is useless to attempt to name 
even the varieties of these fraudulent prop¬ 
ositions with which the farmer is continu¬ 
ally confronted. Many of them are so bald 
that it looks as if anyone who would ho 
taken in by them ought to have a guardian. 
Rut there are others that are more danger¬ 
ous than the transparent ones alluded to 
above. Among these may be mentioned the 
advertisements that are, wo might say, half 
lies. Such, for instance, as some of the 
seed catalogues, that have something that 
may be even good in variety, but no better 
than older varieties, yet the proprietor un- 
blushlngly makes statements that are sim¬ 
ply impossible, and as a result many people 
pay exorbitant prices for something that is 
no better than standard articles that can 
be purchased at a much lower price. 
One of the most flagrant fakes of this 
kind is certain things pertaining to poultry 
culture. Every farm paper, and almost 
every magazine one can pick up, aVe well 
laden down with advertisements of incuba¬ 
tors, and almost without exception each 
claims to bo vastly superior to any other, 
many times containing unblushing state¬ 
ments that it would be impossible to corro¬ 
borate. Then there is the owner of fancy 
breeds of poultry that are said to be so 
vastly superior to all others, that one might 
wonder that every poultry keeper does not 
at once cub the heads off the fowls he 
owns and invest in these gold mine chick¬ 
ens. Fabulous stories are told about hens 
that net the owner six, eight or nine dollars 
each per year. Another will buy space in 
a magazine to the extent of two or three 
pages that a single insertion will cost more 
than an average farmer can make on his 
“chickens” in a lifetime. But here the 
farmer or poultryman is caught and will 
purchase eggs at from .$10 to $20 per 
sitting, from which he may raise to maturity 
possibly, if he is lucky, half a dozen birds, 
only to find in the end that they are sim¬ 
ply “chickens” and no more profitable pos¬ 
sibly than his neighbor’s dunghills. What 
a pity each reader of these flaming adver¬ 
tisements cannot see that the men who buy 
these high-priced eggs or birds pay for 
these advertisements, and as a matter of 
fact the advertiser is not out a cent. 
These advertisements are either half truths 
or plain lies, and perhaps more often the 
latter. 
The-fact is the press is so inclined to 
excess of statement that one hardly knows 
any more, what is true or false in state¬ 
ment if read in a newspaper. This of itself 
I firmly believe has a demoralizing effect 
upon the popular mind. The average read¬ 
er is not sufficiently deceived but that he 
known much whitft he reads is false, and 
as it continues unchallenged it has the 
effect of suggestion on him until it does 
not touch his conscience at all, and sooner 
or later he passively accpts it without even 
a mental protest. As an illustration I 
again refer to the extravagant claims made 
for rearing poultry as a profitable profes¬ 
sion. I believe it is safe to say that not 
one person in ten on an average can make 
poultry raising even fairly profitable. In 
the case of these extravagant stories we 
read along this line, if they are true, the 
truth depends upon the owner’s success as 
a business advertiser. The fact is. every 
one of these fellows makes advertising a 
profession, and if lie succeeds it is not 
because his poultry is in any sense better 
than any one of ten thousand other persons, 
but because he is an advertising plunger, 
and if successful, that is, if he succeeds in 
getting enough suckers to pay his advertis¬ 
ing bills, he will make a lot of money, and 
then he can blow about what a vast sum 
of money his birds made for him. This in 
turn is inserted in his next “ad” and this 
brings a new crop of suckers. Of course 
if one is near one of the great eastern 
cities, even dunghill fowls might be made to 
pay. Rut otherwise, especially in the West 
or Middle West, the real net profits on the 
average is but a meagre profit. I believe I 
speak advisedly as I have been engaged in 
poultry raising all my life, and I believe 
I have at least average sense about such 
things, and it is my conviction that every 
hen that is raised to maturity costs on aii 
average not less than a. dollar. The poul¬ 
tryman does reasonably well if he gets 
50 cents for this dollar hen. Certainly the 
few choice ones ho selects for breeder's are 
worth more money, and possibly will show 
a small profit in eggs. If he is a con¬ 
scienceless and successful advertiser he may 
make a profit in selling eggs for hatching, 
or birds for breeding, but this is not for 
the farmer or the average poultrvman. My 
advice is to go slow on fancy poultry breed¬ 
ing, ns it is not for the average man. 
Another fake is the various systems that 
are advertised so extensively, in such glow¬ 
ing language as to make it'appear tnat all 
one has to do is to adopt my system and 
your fortune is made. Now the truth is 
the natural condition of the “chicken” is to 
be allowed unlimited range, and in propor¬ 
tion as that is abridged it becomes more 
difficult to achieve success in the poultry 
business.* Hence if a system so artificial 
as complete confinement in a coop is adopted 
it will require constant attention to the 
fowls to make even a partial success. The 
Individual who embarks in this line of 
work must go into it extensively so as to 
occupy all his time, because he must ab¬ 
solutely live with the “chickens.” He may 
in this way get a fair proportion reared to 
salable size, but this is not for the man or 
woman who has some other regular calling 
that requires timely attention. ' So look out 
for poultry fakers, as well as fakers of 
other kinds. They all have their speclal- 
t * e ®- , . A. W. FOREMAN, M. D. 
Illinois. 
^ hen you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply and a 
’ square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
A BRAIN WORKER 
Must Have the Kind of Food That Nourishes 
Brain. 
I am a literary man whose nervous 
energy is a great part of my stock in 
trade, and ordinarily I have little patience 
with breakfast foods and the extravagant 
claims made of them. But 1 cannot 
withhold my acknowledgment of the 
debt that I owe to Grape-Nuts food. 
‘‘I discovered long ago that the very 
bulkiness of the ordinary diet was not 
calculated to give one a clear head, the 
power of sustained, accurate thinking. 
I always felt heavy and sluggish in mind 
as well as body after eating the ordin¬ 
ary meal, which diverted the blood from 
the brain to the digestive apparatus. 
“I tried foods easy of digestion, but 
found them usually deficient in nutri¬ 
ment. I experimented with many break¬ 
fast foods and they, too, proved unsatis¬ 
factory, till I reached Grape-Nuts. And 
then the problem was solved. 
“Grape-Nuts agreed with me per¬ 
fectly from the beginning, satisfying my 
hunger and supplying the nutriment that 
SO «many other prepared foods lack. 
I had not been using' it very long be¬ 
fore I found that I was turning out an 
unusual quantity and quality of work. 
Continued use has demonstrated to my 
entire satisfaction that Grape-Nuts food 
contains the elements needed by the 
brain and nervous system of the' hard 
working public writer.” Name given by 
Postum Co., Battle Creek, Mich. 
“There’s a reason,” and it is ex¬ 
plained in the little book, “The Road to 
Wellville,” in pkgs. 
Ever read the above letter ? A new one 
appears from time to time. They are genu¬ 
ine, true, and full of human interest. 
“This Car-And My 13-Year Old Boy” 
Y OU do not require an engineering education in order to operate the 
Abbott-Detroit, because it is so simple in construction that your wife, 
daughter or young son can drive it at will with the absolute knowledge 
that the car is running perfectly. 
President Lawrence E. Smith of the Smith-Grieves Typesetting 
Company of Kansas City, Mo., whose Abbott-Detroit has covered 6,000 miles, 
writes: "This car has been driven exclusively by the writer and my thirteen year 
old boy. The engine is working perfectly ancl has more power today than when 
I first began driving it. The fact of the matter is, the more you run the engine 
the better it seems to work." If you are in the market for a new car, you owe it 
to yourself to read the score of letters we have just issued in booklet form—letters 
written by representative men who own and drive Abbott-Detroit cars. 
“The Car With a Pedigree’* 
Built for Permanence 
When you consider, criticize and compare the standard 1912 Abbott-Detroit 
with other cars selling at or near the Abbott-Detroit price, reflect what it means 
to your best interests to own a car that is not only pleasing to the eye, comfort¬ 
able to ride in, and built by a reputable firm, but embodying the ideal design, 
features and standard gasoline engine principles that have made possible the 
100,000 mile trip of the Abbott-Detroit "Bull Dog”—the stock car that has 
covered 40,000 miles to date of the roughest roads in the United States. 
3 Free Books 
Our Book of Letters, our Story of the "Bull Dog” and our Reference Catalog 
will be mailed free to any address upon request. The Abbott-Detroit Reference 
Catalog is an excellent prompt book and reminder of what constitutes standard 
construction. Write today for these 3 free books. 
Abbott Motor Company detroit, 0 < mich! 
A Steel Roof 
for the Least 
Money 
You can gave every cent of tha 
middleman’s profit when you buy 
from us, because we make thousands 
of tons of Steel Roofing a year and 
sell direct to the user without one bit 
of unnecessary selling expense. 
r , , _ unnecessary selling expense, 
fcvery poum, of our Roofing is brand new. standard quality, perfect in every 
way, and is sold under the positive guarantee that if it is not perfectly satisfactory it 
will not cost you a cent. 
. . V £f ite i t S da ? for fr ® e * a , mp!el ° f S . teel Roofing, and Roofing Book, which tells all 
about Steel Roofing and Siding, why it is the best roofing material, how easy it is to 
put on, and shows our complete line of Roofing Supplies. 
We pay all freight charges, and our price sheet shows exactly what your Roof¬ 
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. Don’t fail to write for all this free information because it will show you why you 
ca« positively save money, get quicker and better service and receive the very high- 
est grade of Roofing when you buy direct from our factory. s 
The Ohio Galvanizing & Mfg. Co., No. 8 Ann St., Niles, 0. 
Ifijjf and selling RUBBERHIDE Boots 
b R te o r J h H n e , vc F’ Th « increased demand proves it. Only best Oak Leather used in 
. any cohbler - Ask your dealer or writo us for booklet and prices. 
RUBBERHIDE COMPANY. Dept. E* Essex Building, Boston, Mass. 
Star Grinders 
Absolutely fastest grinders made. Farm stock 
thrive better on ground feed— but 
grind your own stuff and grind 
with a Stur. Grind your neighbor’s 
feed and earn big money. Every 
machine built right— guaranteed 
one year. We 
are making spe¬ 
cial low prices.l u st 
now —write to¬ 
day and we’ll 
send you book¬ 
let and quota- 
SWEE? tions. 
The Star ManufucturingCa,, 
18 Depot Street, 
New Lexington, Ohio. "" POWER 
GASOLINE ENGINES 
6 Horse Power, $125 
SAW WAGONS CIRCULAR SAWS 
PUMPING 
ENGINES 
ICE AND 
HAY HOISTS 
Catalog R 
Free 
PALMER BROS., 
Cos Cob, Conn. 
AGENTS 100% PROFIT 
New, Patented, Combination Tool 
Sells in every homo. Big 
demand. Low price to agents. 
Fast seller. 10 tools in ono. 
Drop forged from finest 
steel. $5.GO worth of tools for 
the price of one. Jack Wood 
Hold 100 in one week, his profit 
SfO.OO. Write quiok for freo 
samplo to workers. 
THOMAS TOOL CO. 
3465 Barny St. Dayton, Ohio 
Every Rotten Post 
that must be replaced entails an expense greater than 
setting a new line of posts. The cost of replacing is post 
plus labor and expense incidental to adisturhanco of the 
balance of the feneo. This can BE PREVENTED through 
the proper treatment of butts of posts with Avenarius 
Carbolineuin. Painting S-foot butts two coats cost no 
more than 2 cents for each. Circular 58 tells nil about 
the proper preservative treatment of posts. It’s free 
for the asking. Write. 
CARBOLINEUM WOOD PRESERVING CO. 
181 Franklin Street, New York, N. Y. 
