30 
TH IS XJJRA.lv NEW-YOKKER 
January 3, 
PUBLISHER’S DESK 
Our renewals of subscriptions have con¬ 
tinued to increase up to Christmas, but 
as previously stated, we were a little short 
during the first weeks of December; and 
while we have no concern for the future, 
we do wish to ask our friends to send 
in the renewals early. It will save us 
much extra work, and confusion, and at 
the same time make it possible for us to 
devote ourselves to your service in other 
ways. 
We are receiving many kindly words 
of appreciation for the enlarged Wom¬ 
an and Home Department, which began 
in the December 20th issue, and which is 
to be a monthly feature for the future. 
The next issue will be January 17. It is 
our purpose to make this worthy of the 
best traditions of the farm homes of this 
country, and we realize that this purpose 
means work and study and expense. We 
are prepared for it all. The first at¬ 
tempt was only an intimation. We ex¬ 
pect to make it better and stronger as we 
go along. We have some of the best men 
and women in the country to help us with 
it, and with the cooperation of our own 
subscribers, men and women, we will 
make it a feature in the literature of the 
country. 
With the beginning of the new year, 
we have decided to reject all produce 
commission merchant advertising for the 
future. For many years we have - carried 
small cards for commission houses that 
we believed could be safely entrusted to 
handle farm products in the New York 
market. We always refused dozens of 
orders where we accepted one. But we 
have bad frequent complaints from the 
best of them; and, while we have no 
proof of irregularities in the business of 
the houses that we have advertised, we 
have had complaints that have not been 
explained to our satisfaction. In the 
future as in the past we will, on inquiry, 
give our subscribers the names of com¬ 
mission houses with financial ratings, and 
with good standing in the trade; but we 
will not accept their advertising, nor will 
we be in any way responsible for them. 
We will, however, as in the past, re¬ 
ceive complaints from our subscribers and 
do what we can to adjust them. 
Edward F. McAvoy, the famous Hou- 
dan chicken man of Cambridge, N. Y., 
pleaded guilty in the Federal Court of 
Utica, N. Y., before Judge Ray on De¬ 
cember 10, to indictment for using the 
United States mails with an attempt to 
defraud and was fined $750. McAvoy 
was indicted at the Binghamton term of 
the Federal Court in June last and was 
under a bond of $5,000. The charge 
against him was that he advertised pure¬ 
bred fowls and sold mongrel birds on 
orders received through the mail. There 
were many charges against him, from all 
parts of the country as far as Texas. 
If the case had gone to trial and the 
defendant was convicted, there would 
probably have been a prison sentence in 
addition to the fine, but in view of his 
saving the State the expense of a trial, 
and for the further reason that a prison 
sentence would embarrass bis wife and 
child and sacrifice his poultry and farm 
interests, the court was lenient and con¬ 
fined the penalty to a money fine. 
New York. b. f. e. 
This ought to prove a restraining les¬ 
son for Mr. McAvoy. It is several years 
now since The R. N.-Y. had occasion to 
criticise Mr. McAvoy and to caution its 
readers against his methods of poultry 
selling and his record and manipulation, 
and we have felt the necessity of repeat¬ 
ing the caution on different occasions 
since. Tiie R. N.-Y. has no disposition 
to follow Mr. McAvoy further, but the 
public, who buy poultry through the mails, 
have a right to know his past record in 
the matter. If lie will now take his les¬ 
son to heart and devote himself hon¬ 
estly to the poultry business, his past 
may be forgotten, but we caution him 
that a repetition of the old methods can 
only result in greater embarrassment to 
him. 
The E. A. Strout Farm Agency has 
again been in court and has again gone 
down in defeat. This time the scene 
was laid in the Bucks County, Penn., 
courts. The action grew out of the sale 
of the Frantz farm near Quakertown to 
Mr. Harry Reisma. The sale was put 
through by George G. Cupp and W. K. 
George, representing the Richland Real 
Estate Company. It seems that George 
and Cupp had previously been in the 
Strout employ, but had left, and the con¬ 
tract was put through after the discon¬ 
tinuance of the services. On some theory 
that does not appear definite in the re¬ 
ports, the Strout Company caused the 
arrest of Mr. Cupp on the allegation that 
in accepting the fee for the service he had 
become guilty of embezzlement or lar¬ 
ceny of a fee which the Strout Agency 
claimed belonged to them. The testi¬ 
mony seemed to show that the transaction 
was put through by Mr. Cupp as agent, 
and the commission paid to his attorney 
and afterwards turned over to himself 
and his partner. Receipts for the money 
were exhibited in court, and the trans¬ 
action shown up in full, and the jury 
quickly brought in a verdict of not guilty. 
This adds one more defeat for the 
Strouts in their legal battles growing 
out of contracts with agents and with 
farmers. From the number of com¬ 
plaints that we have received from Bucks 
County and from the temper of the peo¬ 
ple as we found it there, Bucks County 
would seem to be about the last place 
in the world where the Strouts ought 
to expect to get away with a technical 
advantage against a farmer or agent. If 
they had an enforceable claim the civil 
court would seem to be the place for a 
contention of this kind, but it was re¬ 
ported from the evidence that the Strout 
representatives admitted that it is their 
policy to prosecute claims in the criminal 
court. Some promoters and enterprising 
concerns seem to think that an appeal to 
the courts gives them the presumption of 
sincere contentions. They figure too that 
prosecutions have the effect of intimidat¬ 
ing hesitating opponents, and besides jus¬ 
tice is not by any means sure, and they 
have a chance of winning out in a weak 
case, if they put up bold enough a front. 
The records of the Strout Agency are, 
however, pretty well established in Bucks 
County, Pa., and a defendant against 
them is pretty sure of an intelligent judg¬ 
ment in that territory. 
Were you to see the financial tragedies 
that are being enacted in this valley, by 
unwilling actors, lured to their ruin by 
bandits and buccaneers, commonly known 
by the name of real estate dealers, I am 
sure your heart would beat in sympathy 
with mine, over the blasted hopes and 
ruined fortunes of the victims of these 
schemes. There are more abandoned 
homesteads here than in any part of the 
State of California which it has been my 
privilege to visit, and you know that I 
get around about as much as the aver¬ 
age person. I read very long articles by 
unwise boosters and uninformed writers 
who seem to be paid for their ability to 
paint word pictures from a lively imagin¬ 
ation, with the result that many a hard¬ 
working family are separated from their 
savings of patient toil of years, and left 
to begin the struggle of life anew, with 
energies impaired, and the feelings of dis¬ 
couragement to contend with as well. 
California. p. d. b. 
The above letter comes to us through 
a mutual friend of the writer’s in Cali¬ 
fornia. It was simply a paragraph in 
a friendly letter; but is so much in line 
with the conditions we find here in the 
East it was forwarded to us as au en¬ 
couragement to show that others on the 
Pacific coast are confronted with the 
things we are fighting here. The mutual 
friend who sent us the correspondence 
added the following paragraph in his re¬ 
ply: 
No better work can be done by any 
paper than this in making exposures of 
such fake real estate men. When in 
Florida I have felt terribly saddened by 
seeing the men stranded there who would 
give anything if they could only get back 
enough of the money they invested in 
the fake lands to return to their old 
homes in the North. w. a. B. 
Pennsylvania. 
Families who think of giving up their 
homes in settled sections of the country, 
and moving to the South and West to 
lands offered by these real estate promo¬ 
ters will do well to commit these two 
paragraphs from these two private let¬ 
ters to heart and recite them daily with 
their evening prayers. We have had re¬ 
ports aplenty to confirm these personal 
observations and we hope no R. N.-Y. 
reader will take up land contracts any¬ 
where without first visiting the land and 
learning of the conditions in the neigh¬ 
borhood. j. j. d. 
"Tommy your subscription for the 
boys’ paper has expired. Shall I renew 
it for you?” "Don’t care dad, but it isn’t 
as good as it used to be.” "What do you 
mean—are the stories not as good?” 
"Everybody says it’s no good—even the 
postoffice calls it ‘second-class matter.’” 
—New York Tribune. 
Heating a Brooding House. 
I have a small brooder house 32 feet 
long by 10 feet wide, partitioned off in 
four pens, making the pens 8x10 feet, six- 
feet high in front and four in back ; ceiled 
sides and overhead. One end of this 
house is built against a small feed house 
with a basement cellar. Do you think it 
would be practical and not too expensive 
to put some kind of a heater in this 
room under the feed house and run pipes 
through into and down the length of the 
brooder house to heat it with the use of 
hovers to raise a few chickens in each 
pen? I have always used small brood¬ 
ers in this house, heat with lamps but 
as it is near my house and barn I am 
afraid of fire from the lamps. What 
kind of a heater should be put in, and 
what kind of hovers? l. l. 
Pennsylvania. 
Yes, this is the method of heating 
hovers used in many large poultry plants. 
Heaters are manufactured for this pur¬ 
pose and hot water pipes are run through 
the building at the proper height above 
the floor; hovers for the chicks being 
placed over these pipes. I would suggest 
that you write one or two of the large 
manufacturers of incubators and brood¬ 
ers, state your problem, and ask for plans 
and figures upon the cost of installation. 
They will be glad to furnish them. 
Poultry Ration. 
My 80 hens and pullets are W. Wyan- 
dottes and R. I. Reds, both fullbloods. I 
keep a mash by them at all times com¬ 
posed as follows: 52 pounds cornmeal; 
32 pounds ground oats; GO pounds mid¬ 
dlings (wheat); 35 pounds bran; 14 
pounds linseed; 14 pounds Alfalfa; GO 
pounds beef scraps. To every 16 parts 
by measure one part charcoal and to the 
whole one part salt. I keep grit and oys¬ 
ter shells by them and give some green 
food; sprouted oats or beets. I have 
raised SO or 90 bushels of oats, 12 bushels 
wheat, 30 bushels barley and 115 corn on 
ear. Will you tell me in what propor¬ 
tion to mix these whole grains to feed? 
I do not wish to have what I raised 
ground. Do I give animal food enough? 
My hens have just got over their moult 
and are beginning to lay. My pullets 
have not begun yet. How many quarts 
of whole grain should I feed per day? 
New Hampshire. b. c. 
Sixty pounds corn; GO pounds wheat; 
30 pounds barley; 30 pounds oats; would 
make a good proportion in which to mix 
your whole grains. Your mash mixture 
contains a large proportion of meat food, 
therefore, a little excess of corn in the 
whole grain mixture will be balanced 
by it when your small supply of wheat 
is exhausted. Your mash is expensive but 
should bring good results in eggs. Your 
80 hens will need from four to six quarts 
of whole grain, twice daily. Do not 
give them more than they will quickly 
clean up and show an appetite for more 
at the next feeding time. Wyandottes 
and R. I. Reds are more easily overfed 
than the lighter and more active breeds. 
M. b. u. 
When you write advertisers mention 
The It. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick 
reply and a “square deal.” See guaran¬ 
tee editorial page. : : : : 
burn and rot, or Edwards Steel 
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THE EDWARDS MFG. CO. 
123-173 Lock St., Cincinnati, Ohio 
This Brings Big Offer 
The Edwards Mfg. Co. 
123-173 lock Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 
Please send Book on your Steel Shingles, 
together with latest Freight-Paid prices. 
Name-., 
Address. 
W All Steel 
W Triple 
I Power —, 
3-Year ^ 
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HERCULES W5FG. COMPANY, 
930 22nd Street, Centerville, Iowa. 
