1290 
THK RURAL NEW-YORKER 
November 29, 
PUBLISHER’S DESK 
A present of a subscription to The R. 
N.-Y. at Christmas time will be 52 re¬ 
minders of your generosity and thought 
during the coming year. We book the 
order any time now and hold a Christmas 
card ready to send the recipient of your 
remembrance for Christmas Eve. 
Will you give me address of some re¬ 
liable person who will exchange sweet 
potatoes for apples? 
WALTER J. FITCH ELL. 
Cape Charles. Ya. 
In my letter of this morning 1 forgot 
to ask to be “put next” to greenhouse 
men who wish to buy hives of bees. Kind¬ 
ly advise me. c. a. ellis. 
Middleburg, N. Y. 
We can distribute a quantity of apples 
and other fruit if we can get in touch 
with “where to buy right.” Can you 
put this communication with the proper 
party? Either western apples in boxes 
or New York State apples in barrels. 
Also turkeys. moyses brothers. 
Oyster Bay, X. Y. 
The above three inquiries all came in 
one mail. They belong in the new Sub¬ 
scribers’ Exchange. We give them here 
free to show the wide range of these in¬ 
quiries. There are great possibilities in 
developing this trade. All such notices 
may go into the Subscribers’ Exchange 
at five cents a word, which is about one- 
half the regular advertising rate. 
Some years ago I invested $20 in the 
Circle Magazine. Then it failed. To 
save my money the promoter persuaded 
m to invest $0 more. A few months ago 
I received a check from him for IS cents 
as a dividend, with a request to invest in 
a life membership in the present Circle 
and Success. When I didn’t bite, he 
presented me with a life membership. 
Now the inclosed letters come. What 
do you think? I wish you would com¬ 
ment on them, as others will receive 
them. It was your paper that first put 
me wise. If it had not been for you I 
might have invested in some of the pro¬ 
moter’s other schemes. F. w. m. 
Massachusetts. 
The inclosures consisted of seven solid 
letter pages soliciting subscriptions to 
stock of the Pure Products Company, 
which the letter says is to be formed, 
with the prospect of making everybody 
rich. The business of tin* new company 
is to be run in connection with the 
Circle and Success paper. The old Cir¬ 
cle venture failed, and stockholders lost 
their money. Success failed. It was 
reorganized and failed. Its stockhold¬ 
ers, bondholders and life subscribers 
all lost their money. Then an attempt 
was made to organize a new company 
and start a new publication using the 
subscription lists of the defunct pub¬ 
lications to start with. The theory 
seemed to be that the patrons of the old 
publications would respond again in a 
new venture, especially if it were made 
to appear that they were going to re¬ 
ceive their lost money. In other words 
it was thought that the names formed a 
promising sucker list. We have seen no 
indication that this cultivation of the 
old victims proved a very profitable un¬ 
dertaking. The present proposition con¬ 
tains a feature adopted more or less now 
by promoters. . You are told with an 
outburst of frankness that no promises 
are made you. You must take your 
chances of the great and quick riches, 
and hand over your money with no 
strings to it. As far as we know, E. G. 
Lewis was the first to adopt this form, 
after having exhausted schemes to col¬ 
lect money from the credulous on assur¬ 
ances of big profits, and after some an¬ 
noying experiences with the Post Office 
Department. Certainly an avowal of 
this kind bars out district attorneys 
and grand juries. You cannot charge 
fraud, when you are warned in advance 
of the loss of your money. 
In its circular to the public the E. A. 
Strout Farm Agency says: 
The false representations, so-called, 
which Mr. Dillon has repeatedly referred 
to, was the following statement contained 
in a catalogue of ours issued two years 
ago: “The owner selling pays our com¬ 
mission.” This statement has not ap¬ 
peared in any subsequent catalogue or 
literature of our Agency, yet the state¬ 
ment was true whim it was made and 
it still would be true if we made it to¬ 
day. for in every transaction the owner 
selling pays our commission. All of our 
contracts with owners show this to be 
the case. 
In 1010 the Strout Agency had a farm 
at Qualcertown, Pa., listed for $3,500. 
It is alleged, and we believe true, that 
they sold it for $4,500, and pocketed 
$1,000 as commission on the sale. Dur¬ 
ing the same year they sold it again to 
Mr. Clarence T. West for $5,500. and 
pocketed another $1,000 for the second 
sale. Now, we have no doubt that the 
Strout Agency had a contract with the 
owner in each case, fixing the price first 
at $3,500, and the second time at*$4.500. 
The catalogue to buyers said the owner 
selling paid the commission. That is the 
transaction. Who paid the commission? 
The Strout literature repeatedly said that 
they could buy farms cheaper than they 
could list them, so that the farm on this 
basis would not be worth more than 
$3,500. The same confidential literature 
to local agents repeated over and over 
that they were not selling on commis¬ 
sion; that they were brokers; that the 
contract was an option and that they 
were entitled to all the profits (not com¬ 
missions) that they could get. If the 
“listing blank” was an option, and the 
Strout Agency was entitled to all the 
profit it could induce a prospective buyer 
to pay above the seller’s price, why call 
it a commission in the catalogue, and 
in other places insist that it is not a 
commission, but a profit? 
In this case Mr. West gave a note for 
$1,000. payable to the Strout Company 
and its local agents. After paying two 
years’ interest and $100. he discovered 
the nature of the transaction, and that 
the $1,000 was the commission or profits 
to the agents. lie complained first to 
the Strout Company, then to The R. 
N.-Y. Negotiations were under way 
about it for six or seven months. The 
Strouts during all this time did not claim 
that the transaction was just or right. 
They did insist that it was technically 
legal. They put it up to the local agent. 
On the other hand the agent, Leister, did 
not deny that the complaint was justi¬ 
fied. but insisted that he was acting un¬ 
der contract with the Strout Agency, 
and subject to their direction ; that he 
acted under their instruction, and in¬ 
sisted that the adjustment should be 
made by the Strout Company, and that 
he should not be asked to forfeit any of 
the profit on the transaction due him. 
The matter was finally adjusted by can¬ 
celling the note and the interest, the 
Strout Agency taking the farm for sale 
again, with the understanding that if a 
sale were made, and Mr. West realized 
the price it cost him. he would then pay 
the balance on the note. Such is the 
transaction as we get it, and as we be¬ 
lieve it to be true. If not true in any 
particular, we will give the Strout Com¬ 
pany space to correct it. Who paid the 
commission in this case? If the owner 
who sold paid the $1,000, why was the 
note not made out to him, and why 
didn’t he benefit by the compromise? 
Perhaps some of the farm papers that 
still publish the Strout advertising will 
explain and defend the transaction. 
Does the Nowak Producing Co., Ber¬ 
lin, Md., promise a success sufficient to 
warrant an investment in its stock? 
Pennsylvania. reader. 
This is a company with $25,000 stock. 
It is proposed to do a general farm busi¬ 
ness, including poultry, dairying and 
fruit growing at Berlin, Md., on a farm 
of 100 acres. We know little about the 
enterprise except what is revealed in the 
prospectus of the company. If the men 
connected with it have the proper qualifi¬ 
cations, and can raise the money among 
themselves and their friends, there is no 
reason why they should not succeed, but 
we do not regard such stock a desirable 
investment for small savings. At best 
it is a speculation and money is earned 
too hard on the farm and saved at too 
much sacrifice to put it into speculative 
enterprises for other people’s benefit. 
People who feel a personal interest in the 
men connected with the enterprise may 
want to help them with the undertaking. 
That is their own business, but such en¬ 
terprises are not promising enough to 
justify the solicitation of stock sales to 
people who earned and saved a little 
money and who wish to invest it where it 
will serve them in their declining years. 
J. J. D. 
Chickens And Hawks. —Would say 
in answer to Mrs. A. II. I’.. Chelmsford, 
Mass., pages 1120 and 120S, that I should 
set out a good blackberry patch for my 
chickens, or raspberries or both. That 
is what we have, and the chickens are 
safe and snug as bugs' in a rug, and it 
makes a perfect shade for them in hot 
weather. I think it worth it even if we 
did not get berries. It is fenced in and 
nothing can get at the chickens day or 
night. A . n. L. 
THE NEW YORK LIVE POULTRY TRADE. 
About 100.000,000 pounds of live poul¬ 
try are required to supply the yearly de¬ 
mand of New York City. Allowing six 
pounds as an average weight, which is 
perhaps excessive considering the large 
number of chickens received, this would 
make at least 10,000,000 individual birds, 
enough for a close single file procession 
3,000 miles long. 
This live poultry is mainly for the 
use of the large Hebrew population of 
New York, whose religion requires that 
all meats be slaughtered according to 
the provisions of the Mosaic law. under 
the supervision of the rabbis. The He¬ 
brew retail markets, however, have many 
patrons of other faiths who buy the poul¬ 
try because they can be sure it is fresh¬ 
ly killed and has had no contact with 
cold storage other than the yearling, or 
older birds have experienced in a novmal 
northern Winter. 
A great proportion of this poultry 
comes from the Central West, and South¬ 
west, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ken¬ 
tucky and Tennessee. Special coop cars 
are used, so arranged that the birds may 
have food and water on the way, and 
enough ventilation so that the loss from 
suffocation is not heavy. 
On arrival at the railroad yards in 
New Jersey the poultry is unloaded and 
distributed. Part goes to the retailers 
direct from the cars and the remainder is 
trucked to warehouses in the live poul¬ 
try market sections, where buyers come 
for supplies. There are about 250 who 
may be classed as regular buyers from 
the car or warehouse. These men are 
quite thoroughly organized as a matter of 
self protection in the “wordy war” with 
the dealers over prices which goes on 
practically every week. Each side puts 
all possible pressure on the other. In 
some weeks when the argument of re¬ 
ceipts and demand is about equally divid¬ 
ed. the buyers hold oil' until the last min¬ 
ute in the haggling over prices. An at¬ 
tempt was recently made to establish 
prices by auction sales, as is done in the 
fruit trade, but the buyers refused to 
buy in this way, evidently believing that 
they could protect their interests better 
in the methods they have followed so long. 
In addition to the car and trainload 
lots that come from the West, there is 
a considerable volume of small shipment 
business from nearby States. Many gen¬ 
eral commission men handle live poultry 
as a side line, especially in the Summer 
when shipments of dressed cannot be 
made without ice. Large quantities of 
broilers are sold thus in late Summer. 
While there is a steady demand for live 
poultry throughout the year, the greatest 
trade is for the special Hebrew holidays 
which occur in Spring and Fall. The 
dates vary from year to year. For 1913 
the New Year celebration began Septem¬ 
ber 30. Next came the Day of Atone¬ 
ment. October 9; Feast of Tabernacles, 
October 14-15. and Feast of Laws. Oc¬ 
tober 20-21. The next holidays are the 
Passover, beginning April 10, and the 
Feast of Weeks, May 30. 
POULTRY QUESTIONS. 
1. What should I feed my pigeons? 
They do not seem lively. I am feeding 
cracked corn. 2. My turkey hen does 
not eat much. I have her shut up in a 
pen covered with wire. It is about 20x 
IS. What should I feed my old turkeys? 
3. What can I give my liens to cause 
them to moult quickly? ii. A. B. 
Leominster, Mass. 
1. The standard feeds for pigeons are 
cracked corn, wheat, kafir corn, millet, 
peas, hemp, and rice. A variety should 
be given, and one authority recommends 
giving wheat, cracked corn, and peas in 
equal parts in the morning, and in the 
afternoon, equal parts of cracked corn, 
peas, kafir corn, and millet. For full 
directions regarding the care of pigeons 
and squabs write the F. S. Department of 
Agriculture, Washington, I). ('., for 
Farmers’ Bulletin No. 177. 2. Old tur¬ 
keys should be fed about tin 1 same kinds 
of grain given hens. Corn, wheat, buck¬ 
wheat. clabbered milk. etc. They do bel¬ 
ter when given their liberty and it is 
quite likely that tin* confinement in a 
small run is responsible for your turkey’s 
lack of appetite. 3. There is no feed that 
will make hens moult quickly, but while 
they are undergoing this process they 
should be well fed and should have ani¬ 
mal food of some kind in addition to the 
ordinary grains and mashes. Beef scrap, 
meat meal, or plenty of skim-milk should 
be furnished at this time as well as whim 
they are laying, for these foods are need¬ 
ed to make feathers as well as eggs. 
M. B. D. 
or can be grown, wherever kaffir corn grows or can 
be grown, wherever pea-vine hay grows or can be 
grown, there is a place for a Stover Alfalfa & Ka?ir 
Corn Grinder. 
This machine can be used in nearly every section 
of the United States. It will cut and grind t ■> 
fodder mentioned above 
and with this can be ground 
dry ear corn or shelled 
grains independently or 
mixed with the hay so’ that 
every feeder can produce 
his own balanced ration. 
We build a full line of 
Feed mil Is and Samson 
Windmills. 
Send for catalog. 
STOVER MFG. CO. 
188 Vine Street 
FREEPORT • • ILL 
kelly duplex c mS5!s° 
Easiest Running Miil Made. Fully Guaranteed 
Grinds ear corn, shelled corn, oate, 
wheat, barley, rye, kaffir corn, cotton 
seed, corn in shucks, alfalfa, 
• sheaf oats, or any kind of 
grain. Bagger has a double 
spout attached to either side 
of mill. We furnish extra 
hopper for grinding small 
grain and ear corn at the 
sainetime. Only mil I made 
with double set of grind' 
ers orburrs. Haveagrind- 
.ing surface of just double 
'that of most mills of equal 
size, therefore, do twice ai 
much work. Requires 25# less power. Especially adapted 
for gasoline engines. We make 7 sizes. Write J or Free Catalog. 
DUPLEX MILL & MFG. CO., BOX 330 SPRINGFIELD, OHIO 
Write for Catalogue 
DESCRIBING, ILLUSTRATING mm 
and PRICING 
Quaker City Mills 
The acknowledged standard 
for high quality and variety 
of satisfactory usage for 
47 years. 23 styles — hand 
power to 20 h. p. Will grind 
any grain, separate or 
mixed, coarse or fine meal, 
corn, cobs and husks. 
Sold on 
19 Days’ Trial—Freight Paid 
Write for our grinding mill catalogue at once, also 
for booklet on labor-saving farm machinery at 
bargain prices. 
THE A. W. STRAUB COMPANY 
Dept. E 3740 Filbert St., Philadelphia, Pa. 
Dept. T 37 09 S. Ashland Ave., Chicago, III. 
Maple Syrup Makers 
THE FAMOUS 
EVAPORATOR 
used by principal 
syrup makers 
everywhere. Sav¬ 
ing of time and — 
fuel alone will pay for the outfit. Write for cati 
logue and state number of trees you tap. 
GRIMM MFC. CO. 
619-621 Champlain Ave., - - Cleveland, Ohio 
9 CORDS IN IOHOURS 
■fl RUSS KASV 
BT ONE M AS. 
backache, 
price and 
✓•.$10,000 Backs ^ 
this portable wood saw. Guaranteed 1 year—money 
refunded and freight paid both ways it unsatisfac¬ 
tory. Yon can easily earn $10 a day with a 
HERTZLER & ZOOK 
Portable 
Wood 
snwine all kiuds of neighbors* Ium- 
. Strictly factory prices—sioe 
obber’s profits. Operates easily. 
Stick sits low—saw draws it on im¬ 
mediately machine starts. Only $10 
saw to which ripping table can bt 
added. Write for catalogue. 
HERTZLER & ZOOK CO*. 
Box 3, Belleville, Pa 
as low as (10 
ClltclWcl 
Ask your dealer to show you Cutaway 
(CLARK) disk harrows and plows. Write us for 
free book," 'l'he Soil and Intensive Tillage.” 
The Cutaway Harrow Company 
Main Street lltggnnuiii, Conn. 
FOR SEWING LEATHER 
The Speedy Stitcher is the latest and 
best of anything ever 
offered for 
S1.00. 
AGENTS 
make over 200% profits. 
Send at onco for catalog and terms. 
Automatic Awl Co., 35 Gardner Terrace, Worcester, Mass, 
BOOKS WORTH BUYING^ 
Landscape Gardening, Parsons.2.00 
Lawn Making, llarron. HO 
Agriculture and Chemistry. Storer. 5.00 
Fertilizers and Crops, Van Slyke.... 2.50 
Weeds of Farm and Garden, Pummel 1-50 
Book of Wheat, Dondlingcr. 2.00 
Successful Fruit Culture. Maynard.. 1.00 
Irrigation and Drainage. King.... 1.50 
Study of Corn, Shoesmith.50 
Tlie Soil, King. 1.50 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
333 WEST 30th ST., NEW YORK. 
