826 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
P UBLISHER’S DESK 
Your Woman and Home monthly de¬ 
partment is getting to be one of the 
strong features of the paper. G. c. 
Connecticut. 
Certainly it is. We intended it should 
be. But wait. We have not been able 
to do it justice because the old press had 
more work than it could do. Our new 
64-page two-color duplicate press will 
be in some time during June. It 
always takes a few weeks to ad¬ 
just a new press and get it working 
just right, but we expect to have it 
working in fine shape by September. In 
the meantime the Woman’s Department 
will be developing and we propose ulti¬ 
mately to make it the best magazine for 
farm women to be found in this country 
or any other country. Just watch it 
grow and develop in character and im¬ 
portance and interest. 
A writer in one of the farm papers 
discussing the New York cooperation law- 
says this: 
The form of by-law sent out by the 
office of the Commissioner of Agriculture 
provides that each subscriber for stock on 
organization of an association under the 
law- shall pay in 20% above par to form a 
reserve fund. Thus a person subscrib¬ 
ing for $100 par value of stock would 
pay in $120. Should a stockholder die, 
under this provision his estate could be 
mulcted out of the difference between 
the book value of the stock and its par 
value. 
This indicates a confusion of mind in 
reference to corporate stock companies. 
The stock of a corporation simply indi¬ 
cates the fractional part of the company 
that he ow-ns. If the company has a sur¬ 
plus or reserve fund, he owns his frac¬ 
tional share of that also; and there is 
no way himself or his estate can he 
mulcted out of his share of the surplus 
any more than he could be mulcted out 
of the par value of the stock. It is easy 
enough for a man unfamiliar with stock 
company affairs to make an error of this 
kind, but we ought to be able to expect 
something better from a publication that 
assumes to instruct the people. Of 
course, it is entirely optional with the 
local organizers of a cooperative company 
whether they provide a reserve fund or 
not; but if they do they are just as fully 
protected in the reserve fund as they are 
in the capital of the company. 
Herbert Myrick wants to know- if any 
of the subscribers to his papers have had 
unsatisfactory dealings with John W. 
Woodruff. We rise to speak. Some 
years back Woodruff was organizing 
branches of the American Farm Co., in 
different sections of New York State, 
and getting from $12,000 to $20,000 out 
of a section. The R. N.-Y. showed him 
up. and while it was defending Woodruff’s 
libel suits for a half million dollars, Mr. 
Myrick was giving him encouragement 
and support in the State by publishing 
his advertising. If any of his subscrib¬ 
ers lost their investments as a result 
of the advertising perhaps Mr. Myrick 
will now make good their losses. These 
victims now have the floor. 
I w-as informed by some who were pres¬ 
ent at the last Chicago National Conven¬ 
tion on Farm Credits and Marketing, 
that it w-as a bankers’ and big business 
men’s affair. Out of the 500 who attend¬ 
ed there were only 10 farmers. While I 
do not want to be understood as being 
against business men, yet I cannot but 
feel that a movement of this kind should, 
at least, be controlled by men who are 
actual farmers, and not by men who pro¬ 
fit by the system of marketing which is 
now in vogue. I understand that at this 
convention the Minneapolis Chamber of 
Commerce and the Chicago Board of 
Trade were much in evidence. We had 
hoped to gain recognition there, and have 
one of our men on the program, but this 
was denied us. From what I have heard 
of this convention and of the men at the 
head of it, I do not believe that vez-y 
much good to the farmer will result from 
the work. j. m. a. 
North Dakota. 
One of the progressive farmers of New 
York State sent us the above letter to 
him from a mutual friend of the North¬ 
west. He accompanied it with the fol¬ 
lowing comment: “Think of it! The 
livest marketing cooperative organization 
in the entire Northwest denied a place 
on the programme of a National Mar¬ 
keting Commission !” There are a num¬ 
ber of farmer-uplift concerns just about 
as near the farmer as this one, and I 
think it would not be amiss to print the 
experience of the Equity Cooperative Ex¬ 
change for the general information 
Please advise whether I should send 
$25 to the Southern Georgia Railroad 
Land Development Bureau, Washington, 
I). C., as requested in the inclosed letter? 
I cannot go to see the property at pres¬ 
ent but if you think the affair good, I 
should not mind spending the money. 
New York. (miss) g. v. s. 
We have been unable to get any sat¬ 
isfactory information as to the standing 
of the concern. The party in charge of 
the Washington office replied that lie had 
instructions to say that they did not care 
to give out information regarding the 
Bureau. The most that we can make out 
of the literature is that they are willing 
to give you a five or ten acre plot of 
land somewhere for $25. Where it is 
and what it is worth we do not know, 
except that it is somewhere in Georgia. 
The literature is distinctly of the land 
promotion type; and altogether our ad¬ 
vice to our correspondent is to keep her 
$25. 
Noting in Publisher’s Desk, page 754, 
what F. F. II., Ohio, says about truss he 
got from Chas. Cluthe & Sons, 125 E. 23d 
St., New York, I had about the same 
experience a few years ago. j. d. s. 
New Jersey. 
It always happens that way. The ex¬ 
perience of one is usually the experience 
of many others. If these experiences 
were generally known, there would be 
fewer disappointments. We propose that 
our people, at least, shall know them. 
On page 582, in issue of April 11th, 
we referred to two sales of hothouse 
lambs, one being made by Phillips & 
Sons, 277 Washington Street, and the 
other by Read & Garrison of 322 Wash¬ 
ington Street. The farmer said the 
shipments were exactly alike and made 
at the same time. Read & Garrison re¬ 
turned sales for $14, and reported the 
lambs prime; Phillips & Son returned $7 
and reported that they sold the extreme 
top market price considering their condi¬ 
tion and that the pelts were covered with 
lice. We made some general comments 
on the matter, and Messrs. Phillips & 
Sons have complained to us that this ar¬ 
ticle unfairly accuses them of having 
been guilty of some impropriety in the 
handling of the two lambs shipped to 
them. They say that they do not handle 
or make a business of handling hothouse 
lambs; that they do not solicit, nor do 
they care to handle them; that the two 
lambs in question came to them un¬ 
solicited and from a person who had 
never been a customer; that upon receiv¬ 
ing them they did the best they could to 
dispose of them at the best prices ob¬ 
tainable. 
We sent this name to our subscriber 
because the firm had been long in business, 
had a high rating and stood well in the 
trade. Its announcement said they han¬ 
dled calves, and we took it for granted 
they handled lambs. Our criticism was 
intended to be a general marketing con¬ 
dition of which this was a mere incident 
and all of which it was hoped the new 
Market Commission would in time cor¬ 
rect. We intend no innuendo in The R. 
N.-Y. When the interest of readers de¬ 
mand it, we try to give the facts, and 
when we criticise we try to leave no 
doubt of the intent, but we would not for 
any purpose or consideration knowingly 
allow a reflection on an honest name, and 
we did not intend to make any accusa¬ 
tion of dishonesty against this firm in 
connection with this transaction. 
J. J. D. 
Bumble-foot. 
I have several chickens which have a 
boil on the ball of the foot. The foot 
around the toes swells up and becomes 
very hot. The substance which they ex¬ 
crete is very thin and white. Three of 
my chickens died. Could you tell me the 
cause of this and if there is any cure for 
this? l. M. 
This is the so-called bumble-foot, or 
abscess formation in the sole of the foot. 
Bruising of the feet by jumping from 
high perches to hard floors probably pre¬ 
disposes to the trouble, which is directly 
caused, however, by infection through a 
slight injury of some kind, such as vig¬ 
orous scratching might produce. Like 
any abscess, it should be treated by be¬ 
ing opened freely, the contents syringed 
out and the wound dressed with some an¬ 
tiseptic ointment, such as carbolized vase¬ 
line in 5% strength. The fowls should 
then be kept upon clean floors or runs 
until the wound has healed. m. r. d. 
June 13, 
Chicks that Pick Toes—What Will Stop It ? 
< tne ot our readers in California says 
he has been greatly troubled by having 
the chicks picking each others toes. They 
keep up this practice until considerable 
injury is done. He wants to know if the 
trouble is general among poultry keepers, 
and what they do to stop it if it once 
gets started. 
We have noticed that this complaint 
almost invariably comes from persons 
who are trying to keep too many chick¬ 
ens in a small enclosure without a suffi¬ 
cient amount of exercise, and without a 
proper supply of green feed in their ra¬ 
tion. Small flocks of chicks on a free 
grassy range practically never acquire 
this destructive habit. We have had 
several reports this seson of consider¬ 
able damage being done from this cause. 
Although we are raising over thirty 
thousand chicks here this yea • we give 
them free range, and keep them in small 
enough colonies so that we seldom have 
a case of toe picking c. S. greene. 
New Jersey. 
I have never been troubled with the 
little chicks picking each others toes, 
except perhaps before they had received 
their first feed. The cause undoubtedly 
must be improper feeding, and consequent 
malnutrition. I feed sour milk liberally, 
and I believe that its addition to the 
diet of the chicks ought to help overcome 
the habit. Depriving the chicks of suf¬ 
ficient bone and feathers forming food 
elements i. e. bone meal, granula d bone, 
beef scrap, etc., would undoubtedly fa¬ 
vor the formation of the habit. The ap- 
lication of flexible collodion to the sore 
toes will help prevent further injury. 
New York. j. c. dingman. 
This vicious habit is most liable to de¬ 
velop with specially strong chickens 
which are closely confined and which are 
not kept busy. It occurs more often and 
is more serious when there is no meat 
or animal food in the ration, though 
when they get a taste of blood it seems 
to make them crazy whether they have 
meat or not. As usual prevention is the 
best cure. Give the chicks as much room 
as is practical and keep them busy— 
digging chick food out of litter, tearing 
sod to pieces and working at green stuff, 
either sprouted oats, mangels which have 
been split open or rye or oats which 
have been cut up for them. Where the 
trouble has developed, much can be done 
along these lines and of course any 
which have been injured removed. Gen¬ 
erally the habit can be checked by catch¬ 
ing a few of the worst offenders and 
either removing them or clipping a little 
off the end of the heak, enough to just 
start the blood a little. This makes the 
beak sore and while they are thinking 
about the hurt they forget the toe pick¬ 
ing. FRED B. SKINNER. 
New York. 
This is very common trouble where one 
keeps large numbers of chicks together, 
and I have lost many chicks by it years 
ago. It comes from idleness. I think— 
“Satan finds some mischief still for idle 
chicks to do.” But when they get a 
taste of blood they act crazy, and soon 
eat up the chick. I have taken 20 picked 
chicks out of one brooder in 12 hours 
some years ago. By a little watchfulness 
to check it when first started we have 
no more trouble nowadays. At the first 
sign of this trouble I hang a piece of 
lean tough meat by a string just so it 
will clean the floor, and it seems to take 
their attention and satisfy their abnor¬ 
mal craving, and it is rarely ever neces¬ 
sary to put a second piece in the same 
brooder. floyd q. white. 
New York. 
When you write advertisers mention Thb 
R. N.-Y. and you'll get a quick reply and a 
“square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
IsYour 3 
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Is it protected against vermin, fire 
and theft? I» it well-cured, ready for the 
highest market price? You can answer all 
these questions with yes after installing a 
Marshall Corn Crib 
Made of heavy galvanized iron that 
lasts a lifetime. Perforated body 
and ventilating shaft insure perfectly 
cured corn. Built along acientific 
linos, easy to erect, all sizes. Writ© 
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showing all styles. 
Iron Crib & Bln Co., 
Box 25 Wooster, Ohio 
for potatoes —4 styles to choose from to suit your 
special conditions. We guarantee them to do the 
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valuable tune and save all of the crop in good condition 
IRON AGE diggers 
No. 155 
For 
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Conditions 
Wheels, 32 or 28 inch. Elevator, qo or 
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Ask your dealer about them and 
write us ior descriptive booklet. 
BATEMAN 
M’F'G CO. 
Box 102D 
Grenloch, N. J. 
Harder 
Silos 
Catalog 
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For 15 years the one Best Silo. Great Im¬ 
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It trill pay you to write us today for free 
catalog of Harder "Quality" Silos. 
HarderMfg. Co., Box 11, Cobleskill, N.Y. 
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Over 
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Back of it 
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The E. w. Rosa Co., Box 113, Springfield, O. 
GENUINE 
GREEN MOUNTAIN SILOS 
The Cornell feeding method will pre¬ 
vent the acquisition of this had habit, 
particularly if an abundant supply of 
sour skim-milk or buttermilk is always 
at the reach of the chicks. Any little in¬ 
jury to a toe will start it, and we must 
be ever watchful to stamp it out as 
quickly as possible. A little pine tar on 
the injured toe, with separation from the 
flock for a few days, will put the injured 
chick on the job again. Aside from acci¬ 
dents, I regard it as a sure indication of 
a faulty ration. fred. m. peasley. 
Connecticut. 
It has been my experience that the 
most natural thing for youn- chicks to 
do when first hatched is to pick at any¬ 
thing prominent or that moves in front 
of them, which accounts for the inclina¬ 
tion to pick at each others toes, or even 
their own toes when closely confined. 
If the web of the toe has been punched 
in such a way as to produce a wound, on 
which blood appears, it immediately at¬ 
tracts the attention of the young chicks, 
and they pick at it. and their natural 
predisposition for animal food in their 
diet, gives them the inclination to keep 
on picking until they produce injury. I 
was troubled with this when I first start¬ 
ed to raise chicks, but by giving them 
more space and a good percentage of 
blood meal, or other animal food, in their 
rations, the trouble entirely disappeared, 
and we have had none of it for years. 
New York. Sinclair smith. 
“So Miss Bangs didn’t get any dam¬ 
ages in her breach-of-promise suit. 
Couldn’t she prove anything?” “She 
proved too much.” “How was that?” 
“She drew such a picture of the faithless 
man that she convinced the jury he 
wasn’t worth thirty cents.”—Baltimore 
American. 
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Ask us for special circular giving 
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writing for FREE Catalog today, 
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by 
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Dump Cart. Strong, sub¬ 
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[Capacity 14001b*. For far¬ 
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HOBSON & CO. 
BOX 47, EASTON, PA 
