1114 
THE HURAt NEW-YORKER 
show a hen in her ragged, played-out dress. We 
. select human workers, not in their-'fancy clothes, but 
! while.-they atr-the job. As laying hens , should be 
j selected now’ want to know where to look for the 
patch, as With the hired man. • 
SOME GRADE COLTS. 
The picture, Fig. 455, shows two colts owned by Perry 
Landers, who, when the picture was taken, had just 
brought the youngsters in from the pasture. They are 
quiet, gentle fellows, and do not mind the halters at all. 
These colts are from light farm mares bred tp purebred 
stallions, and the colts should do well by their owner. 
This man has taken a rundown farm and made two 
blades of grass grow where none grew for some time 
before, and has otherwise improved the place until 
the old neighbors scarcely recognize the farm. In his 
time Mr. Landers has hauled produce to Cincinnati 
in four-horse loads in the early days, and was for a 
time interested in a saw mill, but later began farming 
in earnest as a tenant, finally buying and moving to 
his present home. Owing to his long years of ob¬ 
servation and experience, Mr. Landers knows the pos¬ 
sibilities of grading up farm stock by using good sires 
and keeping the best females, and such of the work 
as comes under the observation of his neighbors is 
inspiring and encouraging, particularly to those of 
fewer years. w. e. d. 
Ohio. 
WHAT A PENNSYLVANIA GIRL DID. 
This little girl, pictured at Fig. 460, lives at Dela¬ 
ware Water Gap, Pa., a Summer resort with a Sum¬ 
mer population of 3,000 to 5,000. Last year we had 
such beautiful flowers that we thought we would let 
our little girl sell them in small bouquets to the guests 
at the hotels. At first we only sent her one or two 
days each week, until she found that the boarders 
seemed disappointed that she did not come more often, 
and she would go every day, and frequently both 
morning and evening. Her receipts for 1911 were 
$36, as she was only eight years of age and rather 
timid. For 1912 we planned our flowers to sell, and 
Florence made her first trip on June 29, Decoration 
Day, and she only sold 80 cents worth of sweet peas, 
as there are not many people here at that time, but 
some of her best days are like this: July 6, $5.50; 
July 7, $1.95; July 9, $4; July 27, $2.15, making as 
many as three trips in one day, walking most of the 
time, only in the evening we would drive down with 
her; we are a full mile from the nearest hotel; they 
cover quite an area, and the country is hilly. This 
girl, nine years of age, wound up her flower business 
September 14 with a sale of 43 bouquets of Asters, 
$2.15, and started to school with a balance to her 
credit of $115 for 2J4 months’ work, from June 29 
to September 14. Little Florence cut and bunched 
a great many of the flowers, but her mother and 
father help her cultivate them. There are all kinds, 
but her main sellers are sweet peas and Asters. We 
do not charge any time against the flowers for culti¬ 
vation or preparing for market, because we all love 
flowers, not alone for their beauty and fragrance, but 
because there are lots of things to master in the culti¬ 
vation. EZRA R. FULLER. 
SPROUTED TREE AGENTS AND THEIR 
BACKERS. 
Here he is again! 
Who? The sprouted tree agent! 
There are, we admit, some tree agents who go 
about their work as fairly and honestly as a good 
tree makes its growth. Some of them are well- 
known fruit growers who know what a good tree 
is and give honest advice. They must do so, for they 
live in the neighborhood, where you can get at them. 
They generally charge more for their trees than 
you would pay if you bought direct, but they have 
responsibility and try to give a square deal. 
There are others! 
The other kind represent what we call “sprouted 
tree agents.” You know what happens when a seed 
or a bud sprouts, and it is dried or picked off. The 
man who is trying to sell it will work off the sprout 
and try to tell you that it is sound and vigorous. 
He will come along ready to take oath that the 
sprouting was only exercise for it, so that it’s all 
the stronger because the sprout grew. There you 
have the principle of the sprouted tree agent; they 
sprout at the mouth and make a growth of words so 
strong and large that it gets in their way. Then 
they bite the sprout off, and then start in again 
telling a bigger story than ever. This brand of 
agent is at large once more, as we learn from the 
following letter sent from Pennsylvania: 
A party Is around here selling peach trees, claiming 
the roots are wild peach from South Carolina, budded 
with other peaches. He claims that the second year they 
will hear enough to pay for the trees. He claims they 
will not winter-kill or' blight.- - He offers Elberta and 
other kinds for $8 per 100, but says, “What is the use 
of planting them when they will die'in several years, 
while these budded on South ' Carolina stock will live 
25 years or more?" He charges $25 per 100 for this 
South Carolina stock, and he certainly is reaping a har¬ 
vest. as nearly every farmer takes from 200 to several 
thousand. They sign a contract that says no counter- 
DIAGRAM OF SIPHON SYSTEM. Fig. 45?. 
manding the order, goods to be paid for when delivered 
next Spring at the railroad station. Please give us your 
opinion on this matter. c. a. b. 
Benwick, Pa. 
Here was a genuine case of the sprouted tree agent, 
and first of all we wanted to know his name, and the 
name of the nursery which supplied these wonderful 
trees. It appearecl that when this man came to a 
farmer whose land sloped to the north, he told him 
that was the ideal place for peaches. When he came 
to another whose land sloped to the south, this slick 
duck said that was just exactly the place, for these 
wonderful South Carolina trees were at home any¬ 
where; like the man who said that the gray hen 
was the best one he had, but the black one was a 
little better. The name signed to the order is J. C. 
Shaffer. The orders bear the name of Rice Bros. 
Company, Geneva, N. Y. We have here an order, 
which this man sold, for 13 trees, 12 peaches and one 
pear, for which the buyer agrees to pay $3; the 
pear apparently thrown in for good measure. We 
do not know whether Rice Bros. Company stands for 
the sprouts on this tree agent or not. At any rate 
they have a contract under which they evidently in¬ 
tend to hold this man for peach trees at 25 cents 
apiece. The foolish tales which the above letter re¬ 
ports were evidently useful in selling this stock, and 
we give them as a fair sample of the guff and false¬ 
hood which these sprouted tree agents put forth. 
Who, except a fool or a man who never saw a peach 
tree grow, would claim that because a tree was grown 
on a South Carolina root it will live 25 years, and 
9 
PLAN OF WATER SUPPLY AND SEWAGE DISPOSAL 
never winter-kill or blight? The sprouts on a tree 
agent are apparently the only things which will not die, 
or rust off, and this man would do far better if he 
would claim that his trees are budded on his own 
big stories, and can be renewed as easily as they are. 
This is a fair sample of the way the sprouted tree 
agent approaches his customer, gets him interested, 
and has his name on a contract before the man can 
November 2, 
stop and realize the absolute folly of such claims. 
It seems almost a childish thing to'tell an intelligent 
man that there can be a peach tree that w.ould not 
-winter-kill or blight. The chances are that these 
trees are grown just exactly as other peach trees are 
developed. Most likely seed from the southern moun¬ 
tains is used, as all nurserymen use them, and buds 
are put in just as they are with the ordinary crop 
of peach trees. Such liars ought to be arrested and 
put in jail, for they do immense damage, not only by 
robbing the people who buy the trees, but throwing 
discredit upon legitimate men and firms who attempt 
to do an honorable business in an honorable way. 
If you grant that is so, what shall we say about 
nurserymen who permit agents to travel through the 
country telling such contemptible lies, and profit by 
the lying? Under the contract we have mentioned, a 
man is held up for $3, for which he is expected to 
receive three Yellow St. John, three Willet, three 
Magno, three Mountain Rose peach trees, and one 
Clairgeau pear. It is evident that trees of equally 
good quality would be supplied by reliable nursery 
men for half this money. It seems also evident that 
the nursery firm would not have obtained such an 
order at this extravagant price had it not been for 
the statements about these live-for-ever trees. The 
question is, if we are to condemn the agent who tells 
the lie and obtains the money, what are we to say of 
nursery firms which will accept the order and compel 
payment for it? 
DIRECT SALES OF BUTTER. 
I lived on a farm till 20 years ago, then learned 
mechanical -draughting and designing, which I have 
followed for about 25 years. The importance of 
farmers and the consumers in the city trading di¬ 
rectly with each other seems to me «to be growing 
greater every season. A year ago I bought some but¬ 
ter of a farmer 17 miles outside of this city and had 
them express it to me. There has been a death in 
the family and they cannot make any more. When 
on vacation in Vermont this Summer I tried to 
engage some butter there but could not find one 
farmer who would pack one jar for me. Most 
farmers there sent their cream to creamery and the 
creamery sent the butter to Washington. D. C. One 
farmer’s wife said she made butter but would not 
let me have any because she did not have enough to 
supply her customers with all they wished. We 
stopped in Massachusetts on our way home and 
inquired of some friends for butter. They also said 
they could not make half the butter they could sell 
to people nearby. I presume there are a half dozen 
farmers in The R. N.-Y. family who would be glad 
to put down some first class butter and send it by 
express if they can be assured that the price will 
be promptly sent them. We people here can keep a 
jar all right in cool weather but not in hot Summer 
weather. The express charges on 10 pound jars 
bought a year ago were, 1 believe, 30 cents. I could 
use larger jars now and the express might not be 
much more. I think there are other men in our shop 
who would be glad to buy butter this Winter in this 
way. One shop friend who spent his vacation on 
the “old home place” had to make a five-mile trip 
to buy butter to last him over Sunday! This was less 
than 20 miles from Hartford. e. l. f. 
Hartford, Conn. 
R. N.-Y.—During the year we have many letters 
from city people like the above. There is a genuine 
demand for dairy butter which can be sent regularly 
by express. The trouble is that most farmers appear 
to have given up the plan of making butter at home. 
That work has gone out of date, and most farmers 
either ship the whole milk to the city, or send it to 
the creamery, selling the milk‘outright or selling the 
cream. The creamery usually handles its butter at 
wholesale. We have long felt that at present butter 
prices such a trade as this man suggests would prove 
a way out for many dairymen who can now hardly 
get the cost of their milk by shipping it to the city. 
If there is any good reason why the farm dairies 
cannot and should not be revived for this direct 
trade, we would like to have it discussed. It would 
seem as if this butter business ought to prove an 
opening wedge for increasing direct trade now that 
we are to have a trial at least of parcels post. 
Tobacco growing is being tested quite largely in Nor¬ 
folk, England, on land which was previously regarded as 
useless for agriculture, and experiments are also being 
made in Kent, Hampshire and Wales. The excise laws 
have tended to discourage tobacco growing in the United 
Kingdom, but it is believed the crop can be made very 
profitable. 
An English patent medicine faker has been caught 
coating peas and selling them as ‘‘tasteless liver and 
kidney pills.” Some suspicious person planted the pills, 
which promptly sprouted. However, purchasers could 
comfort themselves witli the thought that these unde¬ 
niably vegetable pills were much less harmful than many 
other nostrums offered. 
