1911 . 
THE P£ IJ RAL NEW-YORKER 
llilS 
AN EFFICIENT SNOW SHOVEL. 
Fig. 497 shows a cheap, easily made, 
efficient snow shovel or walk cleaner. It 
is made of a piece of pine board 
feet long, 10 inches wide for a "blade” 
and two pieces of pine lxl^ inches and 
four feet long, with a short piece for a 
hand hold across the handle at the mid¬ 
dle point. A dozen eight-penny nails, 
hammer, nails and saw, and 10 minutes’ 
time and you have it. The “blade” 
should be planed smooth on both sides. 
The back edge should be chamfered off 
as in the end view cut, and then it will 
self sharpen. A few moments use will 
teach the various ways it can be han¬ 
dled. It- is strong and very effective; 
can be used as a stable scraper and 
keeping the barn floor tidy without rais- 
AN EFFICIENT SNOW SIIOYEL. Ftg. 497. 
ing a dust. Use it and you will be a 
“booster” with and for this shovel. 
Minnesota. w. j. langley. 
STORY OF A FERTILIZER CONTRACT. 
In the latter part of the Summer of 1910 
the Riverhead Fertilizer Company, an or¬ 
ganization of farmers of Long Island, made 
a contract with the Consolidated Agricul¬ 
tural Chemical Company of Newport, Del. 
This contract called for the delivery of 300 
to 425 tons of animal tankage, in good 
mechanical condition, properly milled and 
screened. It was to contain seven per cent, 
of ammonia and 20 per cent, of hone phos¬ 
phate of lime, under guarantee. If the 
material analyzed less than this guarantee, 
a pro rata deduction was to be made. If 
it tested over the guarantee, addition was 
to he made. Such difference, more or less, 
was to be figured at $3.25 per unit for the 
ammonia and the bone phosphate at 10 
cents per unit. 
The goods were to be packed in sound 
second-hand bags, 150 pounds to the bag, 
these bags to be furnished free by the seller. 
It was contracted that the analysis was to 
be made at the seller’s expense by the firm 
of Hamlin & Morrison, from samples drawn 
at time of arrival of goods by the seller 
and buyer, or their representatives. On 
January 9 the seller sent samples of tank¬ 
age. The buyers telegraphed back that the 
sample was not satisfactory, not being a 
straight animal tankage. To this the Dela¬ 
ware company replied that they did not 
manufacture that sample, but it was a lot 
which had been offered them for sale, being 
a mixture of animal tankage and a small 
quantity of garbage tankage. They sent an¬ 
other sample which they claimed was made 
up of bone tankage and blood. This sam¬ 
ple proved satisfactory, and orders were 
given to ship the goods. The tankage went 
forward in several lots, and in order to 
finance the deal, the Delaware company 
made a sight draft for 90 per cent of 
the amount, which was paid. 
When the tankage arrived it was found 
badly heated in spots throughout the car. 
In these spots the bags were all rotten, and 
the cars were full of escaping ammonia. 
The Delaware company stated that they 
were unable to account for this heat in the 
cars, and made light of the ammonia smell, 
as they said it would amount to but little. 
They called for a sample of these goods to 
be sent to the chemists in Philadelphia. 
Further complaint was made about the bags 
and the tankage. The bags looked as if 
they had been killed or eaten up by acid, 
and the tankage was badly heated to the 
touch. Part of this tankage was so badly 
heated that they were obliged to dump it 
out and rebag. in order to handle it. The 
bags were marked “alkali.” The Delaware 
company insisted that there was nothing to 
be reared from this condition. They said 
the alkali bags were the best second-hand 
bags they could purchase, and they offered 
to make an allowance on the renewed bags 
at six cents apiece. They said they knew 
the goods wbre all right, and could be 
stored with safety. As more of the cars 
were opened, the condition of the tankage 
was found to be worse. Some of the bags 
were so badly burned that they could not 
be handled, and it was difficult to induce 
customers to accept these goods. Some only 
did accept them with the understanding that 
there should be an allowance made. 
Samples of the tankage were sent to 
Hamlin & Morrison, as contracted, and also 
samples of the bags were sent to Delaware. 
The goods were considered reasonably satis¬ 
factory, except for the bags. On February 
27, Hamlin & Morrison made report of their 
analysis, which gave six per cent, of ain- 
m*nia, and 20.35 of bone phosphate. This 
made a shortage of one per cent, of the 
ammonia, and was evidence that consider¬ 
able of this ammonia was lost in the cars. 
The Consolidated Chemical Company 
claimed that this analysis was not correct. 
They sent another sample to Wiley & 
Hoffman. This firm found 19.08 per cent, 
of bone phosphate and 6.43 per cent, of 
ammonia. The Delaware company claimed 
that this latter analysis was nearer right 
than the other, and they wanted the Long 
Island people to accept it, even after they 
had agreed to go by the other analysis. 
The Long Island people suggested that still 
another sample be sent to Stillwell & Glad¬ 
ding.. To this the Delaware company 
agreed, and the sample was sent, under 
instructions of the Delaware company. 
Stillwell & Gladding found 19.56 of bone 
phosphate, and only 6.12 of ammonia. The 
Long Island buyers made the suggestion 
that a settlement be made on the basis of 
the difference between the analysis by Still¬ 
well & Gladding and by Hamlin & Mor¬ 
rison, which would give the Delaware com¬ 
pany a little advantage over their contract, 
and payment for a fair proportion of the 
bags. The Delaware company, through its 
general manager, then stated that they 
thought the analysis of Stillwell & Glad¬ 
ding would be fair for a settlement. Ac¬ 
cordingly the Long Island buyers sent a 
statement, figuring out a bill on the basis 
of Stillwell & Gladding, for a balance due 
of $280.64. This bill was sent on March 23. 
On April 12 they wrote again that noth¬ 
ing had been heal'd from Delaware, and 
again on April 14. On April 14 the gen¬ 
eral manager from Delaware said he had 
not been able to go over the account, but 
would do at once. It was then re¬ 
ported from Delaware that the general 
manager who made the arrangement had 
left the company, and on May 24 the Long 
Island people wrote again to try to settle 
the matter. Again, on May 19, a new 
manager of the Delaware company came 
forward, saying that he had a great many 
things to attend to just at that moment, 
and would like an itemized account. On 
June 12 the Long Island buyers took up 
the matter again, reviewing the matter in 
an effort to obtain a settlement. On June 
8 the Delaware company actually had the 
nerve to send a statement showing that the 
Long Island people owed them $80.53. They 
offered to send new bags rather than pay 
six cents for the defective ones, and they 
kindly requested that a check lie sent them 
for the $80.53, attempting to figure the 
loss on the analysis of Wiley & Hoffman, 
which was the highest of all. Then, to 
cap the climax. Stillwell & Gladding wrote 
the Long Island people that they had been 
instructed by this Delaware company to 
collect $12.80 for the analysis. TTnabie to 
obtain any satisfaction from this Dela¬ 
ware company, these Long Island buyers 
sent the papers to The R. N.-Y. We have 
had a long correspondence with the Consoli¬ 
dated Agricultural Chemical Company, with¬ 
out any result whatever, except that they 
think the secretary of the Long Island buy¬ 
ers should come to Philadelphia and see 
them about it. The above statement is 
taken from the correspondence between the 
parties. At this time of the year farmers’ 
clubs often make contracts for their fertil¬ 
izers on some such basis as outlined in this 
statement. In theory it looks like a fine 
thing to be protected by a guaranteed analy¬ 
sis—but where is the protection in this 
case? 
DETERIORATION OF CONCRETE. 
There is some complaint of poor results 
in concrete work everywhere, yet some ex¬ 
cellent work has been done in almost every 
community. Just where the blame for poor 
work lies is difficult to trace. There are 
so many ways to pursue to cripple good 
work that it would take an expert to trace 
out why things went wrong. It is not al¬ 
ways the fault of the workman, because he 
is not always in possession of materials 
that even with care and skill will make 
lasting results certain. The chief foundation, 
of course, is safe and reliable cement. Pro¬ 
portions of cement and sand or gravel de¬ 
pend entirely upon the purity of either of 
the latter. The more grit and mineral 
there is in them the quicker and more last¬ 
ing will be the work when completed. In 
very frequent cases sand and gravel contain 
a high percentage of soil and humus in 
them, washed together along streams. With 
these conditions present it is impossible to 
secure lasting results. I know of some 
cases where crushed sandstone was used in 
the place of gravel, and the effects from 
the disintegrating of the sand rock has 
caused some of the work to break. In 
some cases the lack of drainage has caused 
great damage in spots when heavy freezing 
occurred during Winter months. This 
trouble I am sure was caused by too shal¬ 
low foundation beneath the concrete. Crack¬ 
ing in massive walls or pillars occurs, 
doubtless, from settling of portions of the 
walls and not of other parts. Poor results 
occur with almost every concrete con¬ 
structor. and even amateurs at times put 
up most excellent walls and paving work, 
and then fall down on the very next job. T 
am convinced that where the expert uses 
the best of material, with deep foundation, 
and the best of drainage, and uses sound 
judgment in thorough mixing prior to water¬ 
ing the mixture, there will be little trouble 
in securing most excellent results and those 
results lasting. geo. e. scott. 
Ohio. 
SNAIL CULTURE IN GERMANY. 
A writer in the “Florists’ Exchange.” 
Hugo Mulertt, describes the culture of the 
large edible garden or vineyard snail, Helix 
pomatia, in Europe. 
As a rule, the snail culturist, here des¬ 
ignated “Schneckenbauer” (snail farmer), 
used to collect the snails he wanted dur¬ 
ing the Spring of the year, soon after they 
had left their Winter quarters—many farm¬ 
ers exercise this method to-day—and de¬ 
posit them in reservations, so-called “snail 
parks.” or “snail gardens,” within his 
premises. These parks are enclosures in 
which the snails are protected against their 
enemies and prevented from wandering 
about at will and becoming destructive. 
They receive intelligent care here and are 
finally fattened on selected food of a strict¬ 
ly vegetable character. With the approach 
of cold weather, when the foliage drops 
off the trees and vegetation goes to rest, 
the snails, too. retreat. They burrow into 
the ground, close their houses tightly and 
retire for hibernation. Germany's largely 
and steadily increasing population and in¬ 
dustry has caused a rapid decrease of the 
rich, natural pastures the snails enjoyed 
for ages. Their number is lessened from 
year to year and it has become necessary 
now not to depend solely on collecting ana 
protecting, but on propagating them as 
well. 
From the stage where the snails seal 
up their shells for the purpose of hiber¬ 
nation, they become an article of com¬ 
merce. They are gathered from their bur¬ 
rows, packed in barrels, between" oats, 
like eggs, and shipped to the larger cities 
or communities in France and Austria, prin¬ 
cipally to those having large Catholic pop¬ 
ulations. There they are used by the 
housekeepers, or prepared in establishments 
in one or the other forms of cookery, to 
be re-shipped to the fancy grocers, who dis¬ 
tribute them to the consumers. We have 
over 30 different recipes for preparing 
snails for the table, all collected from dif¬ 
ferent parties in different sections of this 
country. 
Many families keep their “parks” solely 
for home consumption, just as most Ameri¬ 
can farmers keep their poultry yards for 
the production of eggs and chickens for 
their own table. But. like mushroom cul¬ 
ture, with which snail culture might be 
ranked and compared in several respects, 
the culture of snails has been taken up by 
quite a number of gardeners and nursery¬ 
men, as well as by other tradesmen or pro¬ 
fessionals, as a side branch of business, and 
in some cases it has eventually developed 
into their main branch. The business is 
by no means a small one, as one might be 
led to think; one firm alone bought, a few 
years ago, the product of 130 parks, 
amounting to ten millions of snails, for 
which they paid one hundred and twenty 
thousand marks ($30,000). Owing to last 
Summers’ drought, the price of them is this 
year three times as high. From another 
section four millions of snails are shipped 
to the city of Vienna (Austria) each season. 
The snaii shells average in size 1% inch 
in diameter, and the “animal” alone weighs 
about half an ounce; the length of the snail 
when creeping is four inches by 1% inches 
wide. 
This county with all the rest, suffered 
the great drought of the early Summer 
until August, when abundant rains set in, 
and the ground has been full to over¬ 
flowing ever since, making Fall seeding, 
spreading manure and all Fall work very 
inconvenient. Much wheat is hardly 
through the ground, which looks discourag¬ 
ing for the next crop. Forage of all 
kinds is especially high; hay having pro¬ 
duced all the way from one ton down to 
nothing per acre. An abundant growth oi 
Fall pasture has allowed stock to run up 
to the present time without much feeding. 
A large auction sale on an adjoining farm 
will give you a very fair idea of feed 
prices as they rule here, but conservative 
men try to buy elsewhere than at sales. 
Thrashed Timothy hay, baled, $21 ; millet 
hay, $15.50 to $17.50 per ton ; baled straw, 
$7 : 250 bushels oats sold for 69 cents per 
bushel. Corn in crib, 69 cents per bushel. 
Corn in shock making strong two bushels, 
$1.10 per shock. Buyers offer 90 cents 
for wheat. I have not seen much stock 
sold at auction except Spring lambs, which 
brought $2 to $2.75 per head, weighing 
around 50 pounds. Feeding wethers are 
not plentiful, but sell around $3.50 per 
100 pounds. Butchers keep the prices on 
feeding cattle above a profitable level for 
buying, good kinds bringing five cents per 
pound, at which price last Fall they proveo 
a loss to feeders. We know of no good 
heavy cattle for sale. Thin heifers and 
cows for market sell cheap, about three 
cents. Good hogs bring around six cents 
with feeders afraid to buy light hogs in 
some sections on account of cholera. Farm 
labor is scarce and as compared with the 
farmer’s profits, too high. Farmers as a 
whole are wintering only enough stock to 
consume their own feed, most men believing 
it is policy to keep the feed on the farm, 
where it belongs. Silos are becoming very 
popular, the present cost of roughage mak¬ 
ing them a practical asset to the feed 
yard. As to the value of manure we would 
hesitate to buy it at the prices at which 
it is valued by the experiment stations, 
hut we cannot get along without it. a light 
application of it being the only fertilizer 
which gives to the writer any positive re¬ 
turns. I believe that a large per cent 
of the fodder and roughage fed on some 
farms is of no more value to it as a 
fertilizer than if it were sold and hauled 
off. It does not pay to feed the stock 
“up in the woodland” or “down along the 
brook.” It should all be fed where it may 
be saved and again be applied to the soil 
from whence it came. e. w. m. 
Hanover, O._ 
To Prevent Insanity.— The State Char¬ 
ities Aid Association, during the past year, 
has distributed to persons in this State 
366.000 pamphlets entitled “Why Should 
Anyone Go Insane?” The pamphlet gives 
facts as to the extent, causes and prevention 
of insanity, and is issued for lay circula¬ 
tion. The campaign of education on this 
subject began a year ago and through pop¬ 
ular lectures, public meetings, newspaper 
and magazine articles and pamphlets, it is 
estimated that more than a half million 
people have been reached—if not interested 
—and it is hoped that the fruits of the cam¬ 
paign will be shown by a lessened hospital 
population in the immediate future. The 
work will continue, for the people behind 
it consider insanity a preventable disease 
and will not give over their efforts while the 
public remains ignorant of this fact. c. 
Home Fire Dangers.— Thomas .T. Ahearn, 
the State Fire Marshal, a new position cre¬ 
ated by reason of the great demand for bet¬ 
ter inspection of factories which arose imme¬ 
diately after the fire in the shirt waist fac¬ 
tory in New Y'ork last Winter where scores 
of lives were lost, on December 1 issued 
thousands of copies of a booklet for general 
circulation, in which he calls the attention 
of the public to the little careless things 
that cause many fires, destrov many homes 
and cost many lives. The booklet is entitled 
“Home Fire Dangers.” and is divided into 
two parts—“Nevers” and “Always.” While 
some of the “Nevers” seem trite, yet they 
are in truth not so, especially this one'. 
“Never insure your property for more than 
its value—the temptation is too great.” 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply and a 
“square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
“All Cream—No 
Skimmed Milk” 
A paper of universal appeal—as interesting 
to the city man and his family as to the 
farmer and his. 
A paper that is practical without being dull— 
clean without being preachy-outspoken with¬ 
out being yellow—humorous without offense. 
A paper that mirrors farm life in all its 
delightful reality—brings the smiling coun¬ 
try right to the door of the city man and 
teaches one farmer what the others are doing. 
Such a paper is FARM JOURNAL 
—the crispest, meatiest, cheerfullest, most 
helpful and best loved paper printed. 
A dollar brings it to you monthly for five 
years. If, after receiving the first few copies, 
you don’t like your bargain, say so, and we’ll 
rebate to cover the unexpired subscription. 
We take the risk—cheerfully. 
FARM JOURNAL 
130 N. Clifton SL, Philadelphia 
r 
GALVANIZED ROOFINC 
i] 
1 Corrugatod $^96 per square. 
1 or V crimp Del. your station | 
Send postal for new catalogue 13 
r 
[GRIFFIN LUMBER CO., huds n on y faus J 
Low-Down Steel Wheel Wagons 
Are fast replacing the high farm wagons for 
general farm work. The reason is plain. The 
Low-Down wagon makes easier work for the 
man and no harder for the team. One man 
can do most of his farm work alone with the 
Low-Down wagon. Get our free catalogue. 
HAVANA METAL WHEEL CO., BOX 17 HAVANA, ILL. 
BUY AN ICE PLOW 
and savo the ice crop. Cut your ice 
quick and cheap with my double- 
row Ice IMow. It equals 2(1 
men with saws. Pays for 
itself in 1 day. Also Tools. 
Ask for catalog and prices- 
WH. II. PRAY, Verbank, M, Y. 
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 a disturbance of the 
balance of the fence. This can BE PREVENTED through 
the proper treatment of butts of posts with Avenarius 
Carbolineum. Painting 3-foot butts two coats cost no 
more than 2 cents for each. Circular 58 tells all about 
the proper preservative treatment of posts. It’s free 
for the asking. Write. 
CARBOLINEUM WOOD PRESERVING CO. 
!8! Franklin Street, New York, N. Y. 
BUY LIME NOW! 
Hydrated Lime in paper sacks, car lots, for $7.50 
per ton. Lime Screenings in bulk, from best grade 
of burnt lime, $5.00 per ton, f. o. b. cars any point 
between Buffalo and New York on the main lines 
of the N. Y. Central, Erie, D., L. & W., Penna 
Lehigh, N. Y., O. & W„ and O. R. R. of N. j. 
Special price on ground Laud Lime made on appli¬ 
cation. Order early before the great demand sets 
in and delays shipments. 
Address J. W. Ballard Co., Binghamton, N. Y. 
GREAT CROP RESULTS 
from the use of Martin’s Animal Bone and Tankage 
Fertilizers force us to operate a third factory; total 
capacity, 200,000 tons. Seven large abattoirs and 
stockyards furnish the bulk of our raw materials. 
Agents and farmers constantly assure us that our 
fertilizers give the best results of any ever tested 
and that they sell more than of any ever handled. 
Agents and farmers wanting strictly independent 
animal matter fertilizers, with exclusive selling 
territory, should arrange with us NOW. 
D. B, MARTIN CO. burdIng Pittsburgh, Pa. 
TRADE MARK REGISTERED IN U. S. PATENT OFFICE- 
. . . MANUFACl’URKD ONLY BY . , . 
*Ihe Rogers & Hubbard Co., 
Middletown, Conn. 
Send f° r free Almanac telling all about 
Hubbard’s “ Bone Base” Fertilizers. 
