11)13. 
1FHK RURAL NEW-YORKER 
SSI 
NEW TEST FOR TUBERCULOSIS. 
I enclose a circular which. I received by 
mail this week. 1 am no authority on 
* tuberculosis, but have information enough 
to make me believe that this “itestol - ' (eye- 
testol) and “ftheesm” are frauds. Will you 
inform me about it? If it is a fraud the 
matter should be reported to the postal 
department. I believe it would also be well 
to warn the readers of The It. N.-Y. The 
thing is pretty cleverly gotten up and I 
am sure it will appeal to a good many 
farmers. c. m. r. 
New York. 
It is “cleverly gotten up”—most fakes 
are. The circular tells how to test cat¬ 
tle by dropping ‘Ttestol’’ in the animals 
eye. Then, of course, there is another 
substance to use as a cure in case the 
“eye test” goes. Those medical dis¬ 
coveries which excite great public in¬ 
terest frequently bring in their wake 
a brood of harpies to fatten on the half 
knowledge which popular discussion of 
such matters creates. Since the discov¬ 
ery of tuberculin by Dr. Koch, of Ger¬ 
many, in 1890 (at the time widely her¬ 
alded as a cure for consumption), 
there have beeen innumerable fakes 
founded upon the name and fame of 
that preparation. While tuberculin dis¬ 
appointed the world as a cure for tu¬ 
berculosis, it proved of great value as a 
test for the presence of that disease, 
and is now universally used to detect 
tuberculosis in cattle. A more recent 
application of this test for the detec¬ 
tion of human infection is carried out 
by putting one drop of a properly pre¬ 
pared solution into the eye, whereupon 
a slight inflammation may be expected 
to ensue if tuberculosis is present. 
While of value for this purpose, it has 
been found not to be infallible, and not 
unattended by danger, several eyes hav¬ 
ing been lost through the severity of 
the inflammation induced. It has ac¬ 
cordingly fallen into disrepute. It Is 
evidently upon this test, known as the 
ophthalmo-reaction, that the fake you 
mention is based. While it is conceiv¬ 
able that tuberculin might be so pre¬ 
pared as to enable an unskilled observer 
to obtain some diagnostic results from 
its use in the eyes of cattle, there has 
certainly been no remedy yet devised 
that when injected will cure the cattle 
as claimed in the circular; and the so- 
called reports from the probably imag¬ 
inary foreign agricultural journals are 
as ridiculous as the attempts to make 
the names of the two preparations re¬ 
semble the words eye test and phthisis 
in sound. m. b. d. 
HEIRS TO AIR CASTLES. 
as Capt. Kidd's treasure. All this wealth 
would not begin to pay for the stories that 
have been written about it, and it has not 
been found yet. 
JOHN W. CHAMBERLIN. 
Destroying Sparrows. 
Can you tell me how to get rid of these 
pesky sparrows? I live in the suburbs of 
Pittsburgh, and these pests annoy roe al¬ 
most beyond endurance with their chatter¬ 
ing and chirping in the early morning. I 
have thought that poison was about the 
only means, hut that would kill the robins, 
and other worthy birds also. What shall 
I do? b>. o. v. 
Pennsylvania. 
P. X.-Y.—The usual advice is to poison 
the sparrows by soaking wheat in strych¬ 
nine water and leaving it where the birds 
can lind it. This kills other birds or poul¬ 
try. A shot gun well aimed is good. Who 
can give other remedies? 
Poultry Questions. 
1. Are you acquainted with the feeder 
shown in enclosed advertisement, and would 
it have a tendency to relieve the chickens 
of the useful exercise of scratching? 2. I 
am taking some fine S. C. W. Leghorns to 
Maine, going as far as Boston by water, a 
trip of six days. Would it be too long a 
confinement for them and should you advise; 
expressing them instead? 3. Where can 1 
find colony henhouses that can be easily 
moved from place to place, and that have 
roofs with a short slant to the front, a 
longer one to rear? 4. My place is very 
small, only one acre, largely taken up with 
apple trees. Could I grow oats under the 
trees to feed a dozen chickens? I always 
feed my trees. 5. L want to keep a few 
bees, where would I best buy them? 
Mississippi. a. s. d. 
1. We would not feed whole grain in a 
hopper like the one mentioned except to 
growing stock on free range. It is a de¬ 
sirable method of feeding ground grains, in 
the form of dry mash, to either chicks or 
old fowls, and when used for this purpose, 
will not interfere with necessary exercise. 
2. We would ship young chicks by express, 
older ones would not suffer from confine¬ 
ment for six days if given a reasonable 
amount of room and fed and watered on the 
way. 3. Such colony houses as you wish 
may be built by any carpenter or handy 
man, and you will doubtless be able to get 
plans for the same by addressing a request 
to your State Experiment Station at Orono, 
Me. 4. If your idea is to grow oats for 
grain under apple trees, they would prob¬ 
ably make a very unsatisfactory crop unless 
the trees were small and far apart; under 
large trees, oats would amount to prac¬ 
tically nothing. 5. The best way to get 
a start in bees is to purchase a swarm or 
two of some neighboring bee keeper in the 
Spring. You can furnish your own hives 
and have the bees placed in them and left 
on the bee-keeper’s premises until combs 
have been built, or they may be moved im¬ 
mediately after hiving. Nuclei may be pur¬ 
chased of dealers in bee supplies, but these 
are comparatively expensive. If Italian 
bees are wanted, those may be readily ob¬ 
tained by introducing an Italian queen into 
a colony of common blacks, after removing 
the blacfk queen. m. b. d. 
Vitality of Incubator Chicks. 
It appears to require all sorts of people 
to make a world like ours, but there are 
two sorts of them who should at least know 
better, and one of them could be more 
honest without much effort. Tliey are, for 
one sort, the attorney or newspaper para- 
grapher who gives notice of large wealth 
waiting somewhere for the rightful heirs, 
and the other sort is made up of the 
people who believe themselves to be such 
heirs, and are willing to spend time and 
sometimes money to find out. A few days 
ago I was asked to look up one of these 
estates “with millions in it." which was 
supposed to be in process of settlement in 
my city. There was an anxious “heir” 
somewhere waiting eagerly for his share of 
it. I began in a general way, and after 
a while called on an official of the public 
library, who readily confessed that he was 
tlie referee in very many cases of the sort, 
lie said this was a now on’e, and at the 
same time confessed that he was notnearly 
so well posted oil local cases as he was on 
those supposed to bo waiting somewhere in 
Europe. In fact, the farther away the 
more real they appeared to be in the minds 
of the inquirers. The famous “Spanish 
prisoner” who sends out so many distressed 
letters to all sorts of people, asking for 
relief and promising a fortune for it, would 
not be able to do business in his native 
town or country. lie would receive too 
many personal calls. The library authority 
said that he always advised people to drop 
such foolishness. lie had never known any 
such lost fortunes to turn out to he reai, 
and he had been on the inquiry line a 
number of years. On his advice I tried 
once more and asked an attorney who is 
familiar with the work of seeking out 
heirs to estates that were at least actual 
and tangible, but he had not heard of the 
estate in question and did not believe it 
existed. 
How then could the printed notice of this 
estate have originated? As a newspaper 
man of somewhat extended experience I 
am of the opinion that there was not far 
from the starting point either an attorney 
who hoped to get a few fees for looking 
the matter up, or possibly a paragrapher 
with imagination who had a trifle of space 
to till. While I never really knew of the 
fatter scheme being practiced I can see that 
it might be quite possible. That there 
are plenty of attorneys in that business T 
am quite sure. They are of the class known 
as shysters, which my dictionary pleasantly 
describes as “a lawyer who practices in an 
unprofessional or tricky manner.” No, it 
is generally too easy to find an heir to 
eal property left by anyone, no matter 
? 1 , °t the world he may happen 
, v ® kvod in, and no matter where his 
vL Ue . heirs have strayed. There was a case 
nr i e ' ll the city papers within a 
.The estate was here, hut some of 
ie heirs still lived in Ireland. It was 
L t0 »., UlK i th£UU Let us re fleet that it 
s possible to weave easy romances out of 
s 1 h eases and then let us reeall such cases 
is an incubator chicken as strong as a 
chicken hatched under a hen? Would such 
chickens do for breeders year after year, 
or is the idea of an incubator chicken being 
weaker a foolish one? o. u. w. 
Rhode Island. 
Other conditions being equal, there is 
no reason to believe that incubator hatched 
chickens have any less vitality than those 
hatched under hens. They may be, rfttd 
are, used as breeders for many generations 
without any loss of vitality that can be 
attributed to the method of hatching. 
__ M. B. D. 
House-thief Association's.— It might in¬ 
terest some of your readers to know that 
the farmers of Northeastern Kansas have 
a very effectual anti-horse thief association. 
They have hundreds of members and an ef¬ 
fectual system of catching the thieves. I 
don't know when this association was or¬ 
ganized. but I heard of it 20 years ago 
when my older brother was secretary of a 
local lodge. j. h. t. 
Gage Co., Neb. 
Oxen on the Farm. — I have been very 
much interested in what you have printed 
about oxen. Twenty-five years ago my 
father sold his oxen because he thought 
What he called improved machinery was 
running them off the farm. He was using 
one-horse cultivators and one-horse hay 
rake. We have been using a pair for the 
last two years, and have been surprised at 
the amount of work they can do; have used 
them on plow, harrow, roller, two-horse 
cultivator, hay-rake, horse-fork, all kinds of 
hauling on the farm. Perhaps the best 
work was on the two-liorse cultivator. 
Skaneateles, N. Y. w. p. 
•“ FREE BOOK 
ALFALFA 
HOW TO GROW IT ON YOUR LAND 
“Alfalfa—Wonder Crop,” is the title of a new book 
just issued by us. It contains a fund of priceless 
information on alfalfa growingsecured from many 
sources; United States Government, State Experi¬ 
ment Stations, the best posted authorities and suc¬ 
cessful growers.. This information was secured at 
a great cost of time, money and research, and yet 
it is yours for the asking without cost. This book 
will convince you that your farm has some land on 
which you can grow alfalfa; it tells how to get re 
suits from the first planting, how to select the field 
and prepare the soil, including fertilizing, plowing, 
liming, and how to prepare the seed; when to plant, 
how to plant. It tells you what to do during the 
growing period, how to get bigger than average 
crops, and how to cut and cure. This book is 
worth many dollars to the farmer interested in 
growing alfalfa, but we gladly send it without cost 
or obligation of any kind if you answer at once. 
Don’t put it off—write for free book today. 
6AU0WAY BROS.-BOWMAN CO., BOX 684 S WATERLOO, IA. 
Make Your Mark 
Digging Ditches 
No matter who you are or where you 
live, if you really want to make good 
and make big money we can help you. 
The ditching business is waiting for 
you—it offers you an opportunity that 
you can’t afford to overlook—an oppor¬ 
tunity to be independent in a business 
of your own, that will net you a large 
yearly income. 
All you need is to hitch your ambition 
to a 
BUCKEYE 
TRACTION 
DITCHER 
The ditching business is booming 
now. Farmers everywhere are letting 
contracts for the tiling of their land. 
With a Buckeye you can get a big 
share of this business, because farmers 
prefer straight, true, Buckeye-Cut 
ditches to those cut by slow hand labor. 
The remarkable speed and power of 
this machine will enableyou to dig from 
100 to 150 rods a day, depending upon 
the soil. Your operating expense is 
very small, and your profits will run as 
high as $15 to $18 a day. 
That’s the whole story in a nut-shell 
—if you want to know the details—the 
real inside facts about contract ditching, 
write for Catalogue 3 now. 
THE BUCKEYE TRACTION DITCHER CO. 
FINDLAY, OHIO 
NATIONAL WRAPPER AND SPLICER 
FOR FARMERS, FENCE BUILDERS, LINEMEN 
Before you build that wire 
fence this Spring you will 
want a National Wrapper 
and Splicer. JUST OUT. A 
Machine-made tool with a 
revolving head. SEE CUT. 
Four distinct parts. Works 
on any gauge of wire. Sim- 
ply pump up and down and 
head revolves and makes 
the wrap. No Space to close. 
Send Lie Money Order end re. 
eeiic one. Parcel Post. 
SELLS LIKE WILDFIRE 
Agents wanted in every 
county and township. Write 
today. 
NATIONAL IMPORTING COMPANY, DESK 2, JACKSON. MICH. 
RAW GROUND LIME 
Good for all Crops. Quickly available. 
Order now. 
F. E. CONLEY LIME CO., • - UTICa, /V. V. 
KendalLs Spavin Cure 
The oh!, reliable remedy yott can de- 1 
pend on for Spavin, Curb, Splint. 
Ringbone or lameness. Thou¬ 
sands have proved it invaluable^ | 
Get a bottle from your druggist. 
Price per bottle . 6 for $5.* 'Treat¬ 
ise on the Horse*' Free at drug¬ 
gist or from Dr. B. KKNPALL €0.* 
Enosburg Falls, Vt« t U. 8 . A, 
Erickson Leg 
Arms, Crutches, Stockings, 
SOLD ON EASY TERMS. 
E. H. Erickson ArtiGcial Limb Co., 
19 Wash -lv. No., Almncapolls. Miau. 
Does not chafe, overhear 
or draw end of stump. 
Send for Catalog. 
Largest Limb Factory 
in World. 
SILOS 
Buy direct from 
factory—save 
$30 to $100 
We have our own limber lands and saw mills and cover 
40 acres with mills and yards. You get the benefit. 
A better silo for less money. Look at our prices : 
8x20 Silo, $64.72. 10x24, $92.23. 12x26, 
$118.25. 14x28, $144.65. 16x32, $185.02. 
Any size wanted. We use best sflo material. Round 
iron hoops, malleable iron lugs, long take-up threads. 
Staves tongued and grooved. Silos air-tight and easy to 
keep in order. Continuous door front, galvanized iron 
roof. Let us send catalog and figure with you. 
GRIFFIN LUMBER COMPANY, box n, Huusoii Fills. N. Y. 
A GENTS WANTED— To sell Farmers' Account Book. 
Easy seller. Home territory. Big inducements. 
Address, A. F. NAYLOR, 943 Main S«., Ft. Wayne, Ind. 
$13 TURNS YOUR WALKING PLOW INTO A SULKY 
Don't throw your walking plow away—just to get to ride. No matter 
what kind it is—left, right or reversible, wooden, steel or iron beam—the 
WINNER PLOW TRUCK 
will fit it. Then you can do more work with less draft on your 
horses—the wheels carry the plow—and you don’t have to walk. 
10 DAYS’ FREE TRIAL 
Order a Winner Plow Truck. Try it 10 days in any kind of 
ground. If you are not satisfied send it back. We’ll return your 
money and pay freight both ways. Write for Catalog and Money Saving 
Introductory Offer. Resolve to make plowing easier. Make it a boy’s job. WRITE TODAY. 
LEWIS MANUFACTURING COMPANY', Box C, CORTLAND, N. Y. 
You can have 
Running Water in 
your House and 
Barn, at even tem¬ 
perature Winter or 
Summer, at Small 
g for 
Plan, 
It will bring you a Hundred 
Pictures of it in actual use. 
Do it Now. 
Aermotor Co., 1144 S. Campbell Ave., Chicago 
Aermotor Co., 2nd and Madison Sts., Oakland, Cal. 
Aermotor Co., 1213 W. 8th St., Kansas City, Mo. 
Aermotor Co., 332 1st St., North, Minneapolis, Minn. 
Cost. 
Send Postal 
New Water 
aski n 
Supply 
