i'J 10. 
THK RURAL NEW-YORKER 
<531 
THE “EXCHANGE” PRICE FOR MILK. 
I sold my milk last Winter to a cream¬ 
ery company. I was to have New York 
Exchange prices, less 26 cents per can. 
They have given me for December $3.60 
per hundred quarts; January $3.60 and 
$3.35 per hundred; February, $3.35 per 
hundred quarts. Are these prices correct 
according to above agreement? l. o. e. 
Erin, N. Y. 
The exchange price of milk delivered 
to the New York City terminals of the 
various railroads during December, 
1909, and the first half of January, 
1910, was $2.01 per 40-quart can, less an 
allowance of live cents per can, which 
makes the price really $1.96 per can. 
If you receive $3.60 per 100 quarts, one 
can of 40 quarts sold for $1.44 or 52 
cents less on each can than the Ex¬ 
change price in New York City. On 
January 16 the Exchange price was re¬ 
duced to $1-91 per 40-quart can de¬ 
livered to New York City, with the 
same allowance of five cents per can. 
As you received $3.35 per 100 quarts 
during February and the last half of 
January, or $1.34 per 40-quart can, you 
will see that this is exactly 52 cents 
per can less than the Exchange price 
after deducting the allowance of five 
cents per can from $1.91. The sub¬ 
stance of this case is simply this: You 
either agreed to sell your milk for 26 
cents per can less than the Exchange 
price at your station, provided you live 
in the 26-cent freight zone, in which 
case the price would be correct, in¬ 
stead of the New York City Exchange 
price, or you should have received 26 
cents per can more than the creamery 
company paid. c. s. G. 
EFFECT OF SALT ON POULTRY. 
In the editorials on page 392 you say: 
“Any one who knows the effect of salt on 
a hen will recognize the crime of selling 
such stuff.” I am a “would-be farmer” 
who has been on the farm only a short 
time, and I supposed that some salt is 
good for the hens. Please enlighten me. 
Jeannette, Pa. c. w. w. 
Nearly all classes of domestic ani¬ 
mals and birds require some salt. If 
deprived of it for any great length of 
time the desire for it becomes nothing 
less than a craving. To give hens or 
pigeons enough salt to satisfy this crav¬ 
ing at once will produce death in many 
cases. When supplied constantly in 
proper quantities salt can do no damage 
to hens or any other class of live stock; 
but when mixed in excessive quantities 
with other feed the fowls are com¬ 
pelled to eat too much, and this is what 
does the damage. The natural action of 
salt when properly fed is to increase the 
energy of the vital processes. Salt is a 
universal power of osmosis—that is, it 
aids the nutritive portions of the food 
eaten to pass through the delicate mem¬ 
branes. where it changes into blood and 
is sent to nourish all parts of the body, 
A little salt in the food for hens in¬ 
creases its palatability; also its con¬ 
sumption and value. When salt is given 
to hens in excessive quantities it in¬ 
duces abnormal thirst. The water drank 
at this time then forms a strong brine 
when it comes in contact with the salt, 
and this brine has a depressing influ¬ 
ence upon the heart which causes death. 
Usually it is not necessary for the fowls 
to drink water after eating salt, as 
' there is enough water in the system to 
produce death in most cases. I once 
saw a flock of turkeys which had never 
had any salt wandering around in a 
pasture where sheep had recently been 
salted on large flat stones. The turkeys 
immediately started to eat the salt, and 
several died within a few minutes. 
C. S. G. 
Breaking Up Large Bones. 
(}. C. L., Pennsylvania .—I have a lot of 
steers’ legs, green bones from the butchers. 
How can 1 use them on my trees? IIow 
can I use wood ashes on peach trees and 
other fruit? 
Ans.—T hese hard bones will not do 
the trees much good unless they are 
broken up. The fertilizer manufacturers 
would steam them under pressure to 
take off the fat* and then stamp or 
crush them into fine meal. You might 
break them with a sledge hammer and 
bury the pieces near the trees, but the 
effect will be slow. You can pack the 
bones after breaking them with a sledge 
in layers of wood ashes, keeping the 
mass wet. This will soften the bones 
in three or four months, so they will 
be more available, but handling hard 
bones on the farm without strong power 
and a bone mill is not very satisfactory. 
Charcoal as a Fertilizer. 
F. II., Johnstown, Pa .—We had a large 
fire here, and two lumber yards were 
destroyed. I can get tons of tine char¬ 
coal, and was told this would be good to 
improve the soil. My soil is clay. Would 
you advise using the charcoal? 
Ans.— Charcoal has but little plant 
food, yet it usually shows results. It 
gives light soils a darker color, thus 
making them warmer. It also makes 
soils porous and increases their power 
to hold water. Charcoal is a fine ab¬ 
sorbent for gases. When worked into 
the soil it will no doubt prevent the 
escape of some of the ammonia formed 
when organic substances decay. P'or 
these and other reasons charcoal will 
help especially on light soils. Prob¬ 
ably what you will haul contains a 
quantity of wood ashes also. 
Preparing Land for Strawberries. 
Q. G. L., Pennsylvania .—How would you 
proceed to prepare the ground for straw¬ 
berries and grapes when plenty of hog 
manure and butcher’s manure are avail¬ 
able? 
Ans.— For strawberries we would, 
from choice, select* a well drained, strong 
soil, what is called a “sandy loam” if 
possible. Do not use a sod, and if the 
field is covered with dead weeds do not 
plant strawberries, but put in some crop 
that can be grown in hills and kept 
clean. If the land is not too weedy, 
spread the hog and butcher’s manure 
as thickly as you can afford and plow it 
under deep. Then with a tooth harrow 
work the surface of the plowed sod first 
one way and then the other until it is 
fine. Then with an Acme harrow or 
a plank drag work in the same way 
until the clods are crushed and the 
surface packed smooth. The object is 
to put the manure under deep and then 
make the upper surface fine. 
THE OUTLOOK IN MONTANA, 
Here in the Gallatin Valley, in Gallatin 
County, Montana, which lies on the north¬ 
western border of the Yellowstone Park, 
the outlook for an early Spring and for 
good crops is very promising. There were 
18 inches of snow in the Valley when the 
thaw came, about the first of March. On 
March 13 we did our first plo7/ing, but in 
some parts of the Valley they plowed as 
early as March 6. The melted snow re¬ 
vealed fresh green grass, clover and Alfalfa 
which the horses and cattle, feeding the 
past month on the straw stacks, eagerly 
sought. It is surprising how well the 
horses and cattle winter with no shelter 
and with no food other than straw. The 
past Winter was considei’ed unusually 
severe. The temperature did not go much 
below—30 deg. F., but the steady cold of 
0 deg. F. and —10 deg. F. continued un¬ 
usually long. The snowfall, too, was unusual. 
The snow meant a considerable loss to the 
cattle and sheep out on the ranges, and ibe 
price of hay went up, but the melted snow 
guarantees a good crop of Fall wheat on 
the dry farms. The past three years there 
hhs been so much moisture that the farm¬ 
ers on the dry land have raised 40 to 
50 bushels of wheat to the acre, 
over the farmers in irrigated lands, for the 
former raised as large crops as the latter 
on cheaper land and at less expense. The 
Winter here was fine and the unanimous 
opinion gathered from men from New York, 
Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ken¬ 
tucky and even Mississippi and Texas is 
that they much prefer to spend the Winter 
in Montana rather than in their home 
States. 1 came from Pennsylvania and can 
voice the same sentiment. I have worked 
out of doors carpentering when the tem¬ 
perature was —10 deg. F. and did not feel 
the cold as much as at 20 deg. F. in Penn¬ 
sylvania. Montana has indeed a mild climate. 
New settlers are coming in train loads to 
Montana; and by those who are position to 
know it is asserted that within two years 
all the government land within 30 miles of 
the railroad will be taken up. Montana 
has millions of acres of wonderfully pro¬ 
ductive soil, and she promises in the near 
future to be the leading agricultural State 
in the Union. Not only will she lead in 
the production of hay, grain and live 
stock, but Prof. Shaw claims she will be 
the leader in the growing of that first of 
all fruits, the apple. h. h. 
Belgrade, Mont. 
Sales of Holsteins. 
There has been an unusually large call 
for stock this Spring, and our sales have 
more than doubled over last year’s busi¬ 
ness. It would appear from present indi¬ 
cations that the demand for high-class 
registered Holsteins far surpasses the 
amount of stock that breeders are willing 
to part with. We shipped 20 head to 
Massachusetts to a customer who wishes 
them for foundation animals for a herd 
he intends to establish. His products will 
go to Boston, and we predict for him a 
well-established and substantial trade for 
his products in a very short time. We 
have also shipped one or more animals to 
seven different States within the last 30 
days, and yesterday we received an in¬ 
quiry for some young stock from Orange 
Itiver Colony, South Africa. 
RIVEN BURGH BROS. 
French Draft Horse Association. 
I wish information as to the standing 
and authority of the National French Draft 
Horse Association, a body that registers 
French draft horses, but does not give the 
location of its office or address of sec¬ 
retary. h. s. D. 
Bethel, Conn. 
This is without doubt the American as¬ 
sociation, C. E. Stubbs, secretary, with 
headquarters at Fairfield, Iowa. There is 
no question about the standing and re¬ 
sponsibility of this society. The above as¬ 
sociation registers both French draft and 
Percheron horses, and insists that the two 
breeds are identical, but, on the other 
hand, the three Percheron horse associa¬ 
tions do not recognize the pedigrees of 
Percheron horses recorded only in thoj 
French Draft Association. w. e. d. 
WEST CHESTER, 1*A. 
Chicago, Ill., San Francisco, Cal., Portland, Ore. 
Toronto, Can., VI lnnlpcg. Can. 
THEY THINK 
You Don’t Know 
Any one who thinks he can hide from you 
the fact that disk-filled or other 
common cream separators are 
complicated and hardest to clean 
must think you never use your 
eyes. Any one who tries to con¬ 
vince you that disks or other con¬ 
traptions are necessary in a 
modern separator must think you 
know nothing of facts. 
Sharpies Dairy Tubular 
Cream Separators 
have neither disks nor 
other contraptions, yet 
produce at least twice the 
skimming force, skim at 
least twice as clean, wash 
many times easier, and 
wear a good many years 
longer than common, com¬ 
plicated separators. 
That is why far¬ 
mers all over the world call 
Tubulars “The World's Best,” 
and it explains why Tubular 
sales exceed most, if not all, 
others combined and why 
Tubulars probably replace 
more common separators than 
any one maker of such ma¬ 
chines sells. World’s 
biggest separator works. 
Branch factories in Canada 
and Germany. Write for 
Catalogue No. 153 
Sharpies 
Dairy 
Tubular. 
The World's 
Best. 
30 
Mrs 
RCCirCEDIlin lts pleasures and profits, is the 
DCCIV Cl r 111 U theme of that excellent and hand-. 
somely illustrated magazine. GLEANINGS IN BEE 
CULTURE. We send it for six months on trial for 
twenty-five cents, and also send free a 64-page hoolc 
on bees and our bee supply catalog to all who name this 
paper. THE A. 1. ROOT CO., Bex 66, Medina, Ohio. 
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The market has become flooded with spreaders of slip-shod 
quality—slapped together in a hurry—since the demand has grown so 
large, owing to the general recognition of the big money-making and 
time and labor-saving qualities of good manure spreaders. 
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INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY OF AMERICA CHICAGO USA 
( Incorporated) 
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