480 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 27, 
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Sixty Carloads of Potatoes Wanted 
Send Estimates to The Food and Markets Department 
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A request has been made of the State 
Department of Food and Markets for 
estimates on a shipment of 60 carloads 
of potatoes for an export order. Specifi¬ 
cations are that the potatoes must be free 
from fungus and scab, and also free from 
cut stock and second growths. They 
need to be of medium size, ranging from 
1% inches up, but not to include the 
extra large sizes. For export the pota¬ 
toes will have to be in ventilated double¬ 
headed barrels, or in crates, and the buy¬ 
ers are willing to accept estimates for 
potatoes shipped to New York in open 
barrels or bags, or in bulk, provided the 
specifications in other respects as to 
quality are maintained. Such shipments 
would, of course, have to be repacked on 
arrival in the city. No price is offered, 
for these potatoes, but estimates are in¬ 
vited, and if farmers or organizations of 
farmers wish to submit estimates for 
carload lots, the department will receive 
the estimates and do what it can to se¬ 
cure the order for them. 
This order brings home to producers 
the need of organization. There is not a 
single place in the State where an order 
of this kind can be promptly placed at 
the present time. If, however, our State 
growers were organized into associations, 
and the potatoes graded in accordance 
with the standard requirements and their 
stock on hand filed with the department, 
the order could probably be assembled in 
24 hours and the sales made at a good 
price. Further than this, in the case of 
the completed organization, the request 
of the buyer would come direct to the 
department and there would be no profit 
between ; whereas now the estimate goes 
to dealers and, of course, they must re¬ 
ceive a profit on the order. This will 
naturally come out of the grower. This 
is a single instance and brings home 
strikingly to us the necessity of preparing 
goods for special markets. There are 
many orders of this kind, varying, of 
course, in amounts, and we hope in the 
future to develop the organizations of 
producers in the State to such an extent 
that the goods can be assembled and the 
orders filled promptly. It is going to 
cost these buyers a good deal of money 
and time to assemble these potatoes, and 
there is no reason in the world why the 
producer should not have the benefit of 
this expense, provided they were in a 
position to- eliminate the expense and fill 
the orders from ilieir own stock. 
The department, of course, has no con¬ 
trol of this order, and can only submit 
the estimates that it has received and use 
its good offices to secure a whole or part 
of the order. Estimates may be sent to 
the Department of Food and Markets, 
71 West 23rd Street, New York. 
Getting Rid of English Sparrows. 
I SEE on page 217 that R. II. wants 
to know how to get rid of sparrows 
in his barn. My experience may be of 
help to him. We have a large shed the 
south side of which we close with a sash 
every Fall as Winter quarters for a 
flock of around 50 sheep. From Decem¬ 
ber until May we care for our “hot¬ 
house” lambs in this shed, and in a sep¬ 
arate pen I feed the lambs a ration of 
ground oats, ground flaxseed, and cracked 
corn. The upper part of this shed is a 
sort of hovel, and a year ago there were 
about 60 sparrows living there. As soon 
as we had lambs, I put their ration in 
the separate pen and the sparrows 
promptly got away with all of the 
cracked corn in it. After standing this 
a few days I made a little trough for 
their benefit, nailed it up out of reach 
of the lambs and put some of the ration 
in it. After feeding the sparrows out of 
this for four or five days (only as much 
as they would clean up each day) I gave 
them their regular supply one morning 
and mixed into it some cracked corn pre¬ 
viously prepared with poison. I fed them 
this three or four days and killed all but 
14 of them. They got wise that some¬ 
thing was wrong, and after staying 
ground a few days without eating any 
of my corn they left for a healthier cli¬ 
mate. 
This year, we had a few sparrows that 
collected in the hovel last Summer and 
about three weeks ago, when I put out 
the first lambs’ ration we had a snow¬ 
storm that covered up everything. The 
sparrows cleaned up the lambs’ feed en¬ 
tirely, being able to get nothing outside 
on account of the snow. Next morning 
I put out no lambs’ feed, but only the 
same feed in the sparrows trough with 
some poisoned corn in it. Five minutes 
afterward I picked up nine dead spar¬ 
rows and five more through the day. 
The rest have left the hovel and I have 
not had one touch the lambs’ ration since. 
The sparrows’ trough is still there with 
the first dose in it waiting for them. 
The corn is prepared as follows: Take 
one quart of cracked corn, let it swell 
up in water and dry it very nearly dry 
again. Dissolve one ounce of strychnine 
in a little warm water and soak your 
quart of corn a second time in the pois¬ 
oned water until it swells again, then 
thoroughly dry it and you can keep it on 
hand for use at any time. I still have 
some of my first lot in a can labelled 
poison, and a little bit of it will kill a 
great many sparrows. Sparrows are very 
wary and suspicious birds, and you can¬ 
not offer them the poisoned corn separ¬ 
ately. After getting them accustomed 
to eating in a trough up out of reach of 
the fowls you may add the poisoned corn 
to their feed and they will likely “bite.” 
Mave no fears about the cats eating the 
poisoned sparrows, for I have fed a half- 
grown cat or kitten three sparrows in 
two hours and two more sparrows after 
dinner (all I could get her to eat) and 
the cat showed absolutely no signs of the 
poison. Our cats live at the barn most¬ 
ly and they went around having a feast 
off the sparrows after they fell, and 
showed no effects whatever of being 
harmed. ciias. c. husson. 
Rockland Co., N. Y. 
“Waiter, are any of the compounds on 
this bill of fare of a deleterious nature?” 
“Oh, yes, sir; we have the latest things 
out.”—Baltimore American. 
WANTED 
A Job on YOUR Farm 
“Bill Broadcaster” wants a job on your farm. He’s a coun¬ 
try-born implement that broadcasts everything evenly— 
from seed to ground limestone. Put him out in your field. 
Fill up his galvanized iron hopper. Set the handle on the 
brass dial at the amount yoa want to apply per acre, and 
“Bill” does it perfectly. A touch of the lever 6tops him 
from sowing at the end of the field. A move of the handle 
at the top makes him sow thickly in poor 6pots—more 
thinly in the rich. 
Sows Clover, Oats, Rye, Wheat 
Broadcasting clover with “Bill” will give better results 
than drilling. “Bill” sows oats 10 to 16 ft. Sows wheat 
and rye 20 to 25 feet. 
Spreads Ground Limestone 
And "Bill is the only lime spreader that distributes 10 to 
12 ft.—that doesn’t mind coarse pieces of limestone, rock 
or trash being fed him. Requires but one horse. Works 
perfectly behind a wagon—if preferred. Goes through 
any gate. Lasts a lifetime. 
Acid Fertilizer Doesn't Matter 
"Bill” will distribute acia >ertilizer without damage to 
himself. He has no wooden^ 
hopper to rot out. A lit¬ 
tle gravel in the hopper 
after using cleans per- I 
fectly — just like new. 
Puts fertilizer, either wet 
or dry over broad area where 
all the roots get the benefit of _ 
it Distrib^ 
utes 10 /*■ , -v 
to 12 ft/5prEfld5i 
3ta I Lime 
ume - v 12 FL 
Will you give 
“Bill Broadcast¬ 
er” a lifetime job 
on your farm? 
W rite 
now for 
full information 
about "The Hand that^ 
Wants No Wages.” 
PARRISH MACHINE C0.^ 
Box 701, Waverly, Virginia" 5 
B «ti k, tyt/ 3 *idcss* 4®? 
TtaoHand «" 
"ifvdt Wdntf No Wages’ h 
Comes to you recommended and Guaranteed « 
To every man who buys an Ingersoll 
Dollar Watch goes a clear guarantee. 
40,000,000 of these guarantees have 
been written in the last 22 years. 
It takes a good watch to uphold such a 
gigantic promise of satisfaction. But the 
Ingersoll would not be guaranteed unless it 
were a good watch. Nor would it carry 
the name Ingersoll on the dial. 
Look sharp for that name when you buy. 
R0BT. H. INGERSOLL & BR0. 
315 Fourth Avenue New York 
The Nitrate Problem Solved 
We show you how to produce the nitrates your 
soil requires and in a very inexpensive way. 
We positively guarantee that the Farmogerm method 
will cut your fertilizer bills in half and produce 
bigger crops and richer soils. 
This method produced 1,800 tons of Alfalfa worth $45,000 at Plainsboro. 
N. J., last year, after several years unsuccessful efforts by other means. 
Ask us for our proof of this. 
EVERY SINGLE BOTTLE OF THE GENUINE 
HIGH BRED NITROGEN GATHERING BACTERIA, 
for ClOVERS,A!.fALfA.&fA*l$ t WQTHER’LEGUMES 
IS GUARANTEED TO BE ALIVE AND ACTIVE TO DO ALL THIS 
Beware of imitations — accept no substitute 
Alfalfa—burr, red, sweet, alsike or crimson clover, 
1W\) liUl OUW swee t, cow, garden or Canada peas—beans, soja 
beans, vetch, peanuts, or other legume without Farmogerm Inoculation. 
Farmogerm is the only high-bred culture guaranteed to be pure, alive and active, 
and is the only culture that will keep more than six months—it is guaranteed by 
us to keep in perfect condition for 5 years, and to produce larger yields than any 
other culture—let us prove this to you. 
REDUCED PRICES OF FARMOGERM 
Extra Farm Size Small Farm Size . . 5 acres $9.00 
(20 five-acre bottles) 100 acres $100.00 Trial Farm Size . . 1 acre 2.00 
Farm Size Garden Size . . . % acre .50 
(10 five-acre bottles) 50 acres 55.00 Half Garden Size.25 
In ordering always state what you want to inoculate. 
4 
Write for booklet, showing why Farmogerm is the only reliable cultureand explain¬ 
ing our Farmogerm method of producing your own fertilizer—free for the asking. 
Earp-Thomas Farmogerm Co., 265 Washington Ave., Bloomfield, N.J. 
AT EVERY POST OFFICE 
We need a representative to solicit new sub¬ 
scriptions and renewals to The RURAL NeW- 
YoRKER. Write for terms to Department “M” 
The Rural New-Yorker, 333 West 30th Street, New York City 
