1014. 
1 iJ36 
ORGANIZED FRUIT BUSINESS IN MICHIGAN. 
S OMETIMES a lot of good comes from what 
seems to be nothing less than a mass of ruins. 
The old grist mill shown in Fig. 527, has long 
been in the discard in Allegan County, Michigan. 
The old dam, however, has been reinforced by the 
use of concrete, and is now serving a very useful 
purpose. The farmers in the region bolted a pump 
to one of the rails of a bridge spanning the dam. 
and dropped a suction pipe into the dam. In proper 
A WATER SUPPLY FOR SPRAYING. Fig. 527. 
season the water is pumped up and hauled away in 
barrels to use in mixing spray material for hun¬ 
dreds of acres of trees around and about the old 
mill-site. Scores of fruit growers get their water 
supply from the old dam for this purpose. 
The other picture, Fig. 530, shows the result. It 
shows the front of a fruit receiving and shipping 
shed. The loaded wagons drive through the rear 
part of the shed, and the packages are transferred 
to long push cars. The cars being loaded are pushed 
over a stilted double-track railway over a sandy 
beach and a bar. At the end of the railway is a 
steamship in water deep enough to float it. This 
ship then transfers the load to a large lake liner 
which crosses Lake Michigan to the Chicago and 
Milwaukee market, where a big consumption and 
outside distribution of fruit takes place. The car 
shown in the picture is loaded with peaches, the 
production of which largely was aided by the spray¬ 
ing process. j. l. graff. 
WINTER CARE OF THE SUMMER MACHINE. 
E SSENTIALS FOR CARE.—The greater portion 
of the mechanical equipment of the farm is 
Summer machinery, i. e., it is machinery such 
as the grain drill, plow or harvester, that is de¬ 
signed for Summer use. Such machinery is idle in 
the Winter, and during this time it should be so 
cared for that the deterioration will he as slight as 
possible. Only too often this period of rest from 
one season to another takes more out of a machine 
than the field work done by it. The first essential 
lor Winter care is proper storage. Perhaps no 
other one thing, unless it is the lack of systematic 
A COMFORTABLE FARM REPAIR SHOP. 
Fig. 528. 
repairs and adjustments, so affects the life of a ma¬ 
chine. By proper storage is not necessarily meant a 
tight roof only; other conditions enter that may 
more than counter the good done by a tight roof. 
The writer has seen machinery stored under an abso¬ 
lutely tight roof with tight side walls as well, that 
would have been in better condition in the Spring 
if wintered out of doors. An unventilated stable 
was below it, and the machines were constantly wet 
from the vapor of the stable condensing on them. 
Stable vapors are absolutely fatal to most paints, 
and it is but a short time until it peels off, leaving 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
the metal beneath it to become pitted and weak¬ 
ened by rust. 
TIIE STORAGE SHED.—A storage shed for farm 
machinery should be free from stable vapors and 
should have ventilation. In our climate we have 
some very rapid changes in temperature during the 
Winter. When the weather changes quickly from 
cold to warm, moisture is condensed on the metal 
parts of machinery, and unless good ventilation is 
provided it is not evaporated quickly. A shed of the 
style illustrated in a previous article, page 1079, has 
much to recommend it; it is cheap, has a tight roof 
and a free circulation of air. A system of doors 
would improve it for nearly every farm has poultry, 
and poultry and farm machinery has a great affin¬ 
ity for each other to the detriment of the machinery. 
If doors are out of the question protect the machines 
by blankets made from the ever-present bran sacks. 
NEEDED REPAIRS.—As the machinery is stored 
broken parts should he removed and carried to the 
shop, or, at least, a note made of their location so 
that it may lie attended to on the first rainy day. 
Repairs should then be ordered, for Winter should 
be the time for repairing, re-adjusting and painting 
the farm machine. Repairs ordered now will not 
tie up the work if they are a few days late. The 
branch house dealing in repairs can give better ser¬ 
vice now than it can in the Spring, when everybody 
is rushing them for extras, and you have more spare 
time to fit and adjust the new parts to the machine 
than you will have when the rush season comes. A 
well-equipped and comfortable farm shop does much 
toward making these Winter repairs comfortable, 
as well as possible. The shop should be made tight 
enough to be warm, and then see to it that it is used 
enough to get a good interest on your investment. 
METHODS OF PROTECTION.—Plows and other 
implements having a polished metal surface should 
REMOVE THE BROKEN PARTS. Fig. 529. 
be protected by a coating of grease or a cheap var¬ 
nish of some kind to keep them from rusting. The 
“land polish,” on your plow cost you money, and 
your team hard work to get: it is necessary for good 
work; why not keep it? If there is no floor in the 
shed pieces of plank should be thrown down and the 
machines run on to them so that they will be up out 
of the damp. By placing blocks under the corners 
of the frame the weight may be taken off' the tongue 
or the tongue may be taken off entirely, making 
more storage room. Apply grease liberally to the 
knives of mowers and harvesters. It is best after 
coating them with grease to wrap them in old sack¬ 
ing or burlap, this protects them and helps to pre¬ 
vent accidents. A place that is often overlooked is 
the metal lining under the canvas back of the cut¬ 
ter bar in the harvester. In use tne paint gets worn 
from both sides of this and unless repainted or kept 
greased it soon rusts through. If not done before 
see that the seed and fertilizer hoppers of the grain 
drill are cleaned out. Chemical fertilizers have a 
tendency to rust the metal parts. Open dishes of. 
unslaked lime set in these hoppers take the moisture 
from the air and help to keep the rust from forming. 
Calcium chloride is even better for this purpose, and 
is inexpensive. Fight rust, it is the enemy of the 
farm machine, and can be controlled only by good 
shelter and the liberal and sensible application of 
good paint and grease. kobert ii. smith. 
WILD DEER AND FARM STOCK. 
T HE R. N.-Y., I am aware, has a large circulation. 
Possibly it reaches the man in this country 
who is complaining of the increasing cost of 
living. In that hope I write to lend him a bolt for 
his bow. The State of Connecticut has a long-wind¬ 
ed law which gives to the patient reader the infor¬ 
mation that wild deer shall not be destroyed except 
upon one stated day yearly: and further, if deer do 
damage to crops the State will make good the far¬ 
mer’s losses. There is only one occasion when deer 
may be killed out of season, and that is when a far¬ 
mer is a good enough woodsman to find them at 
their depredations and a good enough shot to scotch 
them before they bound over his neighbor’s fence. 
A deer killed is not, as in the old days, venison 
found. The game warden has the disposition of the 
carcass, and he usually has a long throat for steel- 
drilled flesh. 
Connecticut has not now sufficient pasturage to 
supply beef for its citizens. Therefore, seeing that 
cattle raising is a useless expense, the Legislature 
generously gives a small class of men known as 
LOADING FRUIT FOR TIIE BOAT. Fig. 530. 
“hunters” (because they can pull a trigger without 
being kicked flat) the right to pasture a million or 
so of deer on those same over-worked pastures. No 
one can use these (public) tons of converted (pri¬ 
vate) grass for food unless he belongs to the small 
sect whose privilege it is to let off primitive zeal one 
day annually. 
The deer trample corn, eating a little. The State 
pays for what they eat but not for what they tram¬ 
ple. That’s up to the farmer. Many farmers lose 
even this small return, because they do not trust the 
State—in which I will not initially blame them. An 
instance is before me, that of an Italian who planted 
an acre to cabbage. The next day his wife saw 19 
deer pass his house, and when he saw his cabbage 
sprouts again there were not enough to count. He 
didn’t go to the State, but asked a neighbor what to 
do. The neighbor angrily said: “You live out of 
hearing of any other farm. Can you shoot? Well, 
then, you just lay for them critters an’ you pepper 
’em till they look like jerked beef. Then you salt 
’em down an’ say nothin’. Come Winter you won’t 
miss the iiootcher wagon.” 
That Italian will do well if he follows that advice. 
Public opinion used to back the deer laws. It doesn't 
now. Not where it counts. City folk who shoot have 
no opinions on the subject of real value. The laws 
are paling into dead letters and should be changed 
soon. When they are changed they should be draft¬ 
ed so that any man. hunting alone, may kill deer for 
food. Not more than one a month should any man 
kill. No butcher should be allowed to sell the meat— 
no clique should be allowed to hunt for profit. But 
it is manifestly ridiculous that with beef selling at 
the cost of butter so many pounds of good meat 
should be permitted to vie with the farmers’ stock 
on their own land. 
One good turn the deer do do. They keep the 
SCOUR AND GREASE THE METAL. Fig. 531. 
woods fairly clear of underbrush, a doubtful good, 
since partridge need the brush to nest in and they 
do good. BATTELL LOOMIS. 
Connecticut. 
The Kansas Agricultural College has two resident 
physicians, one a man—the other a woman—the latter 
for the girl students. 
Tiie Department of Floriculture at Cornell Univer¬ 
sity. Ithaca. N. Y., has issued Extension Circular No. 
S, calling attention to the opportunities for young men 
in floriculture. 
A fungus disease of cultivated mushrooms has been 
causing much loss to commercial growers. The U. S. 
Department of Agriculture has issued a bulletin on this 
subject. “The Mycogone Disease of Mushrooms and its 
Control,” which should be studied by anyone engaged 
in mushroom culture. 
