'i'WLC RURAL NEW-YORKER 
because wherever these stings occur the squash will 
soon begin to rot. This characteristic rot is most 
easily seen upon the so-called Boston marrow 
squash. Round black soft rotten spots occur, show¬ 
ing the characteristic effect of such stings. 
CARE IN HANDLING.—At all times the greatest 
care must be exercised in handling. Do not throw 
them from one to the other in gathering them to 
the heaps in the field. Do not load them more than 
two thick when hauling them in, and always use 
a spring wagon and line the body with straw. Push 
off any lumps of fresh soil that may adhere to the 
squash, for when the dirt becomes hard and dry, 
it is a more difficult proposition to remove it. 
STORAGE HOUSE.—An ideal storage house for 
squash contains many series of shelves where the 
squash may be laid out for the free circulation of 
air. It should be rat-proof, and should he provided 
with a wood stove so that the air may be kept warm 
and dry. Ventilation should be provided for, but 
keep out the cold damp air of night, and keep every¬ 
thing closed up during cold or rainy days. Mod¬ 
erately warm dry even temperature of 50 to 55 deg. 
Flir. will cause the squashes to harden up and keep 
in wonderful condition, provided they have not re¬ 
ceived even slight bruises when handled or stings 
from the squash bug. Any time the squashes are 
seen to “sweat,” do not imagine the moisture is 
coming out of them. If the squashes are cold and 
warm air blows across them the warm air will he 
cooled off with the result that the moisture which 
warm air carries will be deposited upon the cold 
squash. When such a condition arises close up the 
ventilators and start a little fire in the wood stove. 
This will warm up the squash and the air already 
in the building, and no dampness will be deposited. 
Middlesex Co., N. J. k. w. de baun. 
Southern Grapes in Northern States. 
T HE growing of the delicate grapes of southern 
climes may be easily accomplished in an inex¬ 
pensive grapery made of concrete, as outlined in the 
accompanying plan, Fig. 467. In some localities the 
climate in the North is so severe that grape growing 
is out of the question, and the hardiest variety must 
be buried in Winter even to keep them alive, and it 
is needless to suggest that this is a nuisance, as 
the vines must be taken from the trellis in the Fall, 
and replaced in the Spring. But the finest grapes 
may be grown in a house as designed in this plan. 
A greenhouse is made of reinforced concrete. We 
make the wall 12 feet high on the north side and 
six inches thick, using poultry wire strung from 
top to bottom of the wall, between the forms, in 
which is shovelled a mixture of one part best ce¬ 
ment, two parts clean sand (to test the sand put 
some in a pail of water and stir it well, and if it is 
muddy do not use it. Clean sand will settle to the 
bottom at once and leave the water clear.) eight 
parts of gravel or brownstone. This will set in a 
day or two and make a firm wall, but a week or 
more should elapse before removing the forms. The 
south side is made of hotbed sash secured to rods 
of T-iron bolted to the concrete walls. The bolts are 
set in the soft concrete with the head sunk in the 
wall and the screw out, to which the rods are se¬ 
cured by the nut, and in the interior walls bolts 
are set wherever it is desired to fasten wood or any 
other structure. 
The roof is made of reinforced concrete laid flat 
with a series of galvanized iron ventilators placed at 
about three feet apart. The south wall is four feet 
high, two feet being below the surface, and three 
feet apart are made apertures in the wall, connect¬ 
ing with the outside, and below the ground line a 
foot. Below the sasli on this south wall from east 
to west are strung galvanized telegraph wire to sup¬ 
port the grapevines one foot from the glass. At the 
east end is a door three feet by six feet six inches, 
opening into the grapery. In the cut it is shown in 
the west end for purposes of illustration. Steps 
lead down to the floor, and on the north wall is 
fastened, within the grapery, poultry wire. This 
poultry wire serves the purpose of a trellis for 
growing cucumbers or other climbing fruit. The 
entire inside is whitewashed. The floor is of earth 
and in Winter where it is not desired to put in a 
heating plant fresh manure is piled on the floor 
to generate heat. At the bottom of this door is 
made a ventilator with a slide to regulate the ad¬ 
mission of air. 
The grapevines are planted in soil outside the 
south wall, and the stems trained into the grapery 
through the apertures above mentioned and the 
branches trained on the telegraph wires helow the 
sash. In the house the finest grapes, as Black Ham¬ 
burg, Thompson Seedless and other delicate and 
high-priced grapes may be grown in the North where 
it is impossible to grow them outdoors. The writer 
repeatedly tried to raise the Thompson Seedless 
grape outdoors in the mild Winters of Southern 
Michigan without success. The vines were winter- 
killed each year and finally succumbed entirely. 
With a grapery such as described above they can 
be grown easily. This grapery is not an expensive 
structure, as one may see by a little figuring, and in 
Protection for Tender Vines. Fig. 467. 
the Winter, and when cucumbers and other like 
fruits demand a high price, they may be grown 
against the north wall. Ampelopsis quinquefolia, 
ivy and other vines planted on the outside of the 
wall make a very attractive addition to the vista of 
the farm. Herman iiaupt, jr. 
Michigan. 
A Pleasure to Lend Tools. 
HEN we began our farming, we made up our 
minds that we would not borrow, nor lend. 
But we found it hard to stick to the last resolution. 
When we got acquainted with our neighbors, we 
grew to feel that we were all like one family, in a 
way, and we hated to refuse them anything they 
Not the Original “ Mary’s Little Lamb.”—A Farm Girl 
in the Lamb Business for Profit. Fig. 468. 
wanted. We had everything, and no one else in the 
neighborhood had, it seemed, so we became quite 
popular. 
We had some cement work to do, so we made a 
mortar bed. We had it on hand for other little ce¬ 
ment jobs, which were continually cropping up. I 
mean we did have it handy—until the day when 
a spanking team of horses, with two jolly men on 
1239 
the wagon, came sweeping up to the door and one 
of the men called out, cheerily: 
“Where’s your mortar bed?” 
I told them, and the mortar bed started off on its 
eventful career. 1 suppose it had varied adventures, 
for it was never found, although we heard of several 
places where it had sojourned, before we lost track 
of it altogether. No one seemed responsible for it. 
The ones who came after it, when asked, said they 
“got it for Williams.” Williams was approached. 
He said: “Robinson came after it.” We tackled 
Robinson. “O, was that your mortar bed? I didn’t 
know who it belonged to. It’s been around the 
neighborhood for a long time, but some one came 
and got it, I don’t know who. I don’t know where 
it is now.” 
We had a jackserew. Now a jackserew is a thing 
you want when you want it. And it is needed more 
than once in awhile—that is, we wanted it when we 
wanted it, and the neighbors needed it more than 
once in awhile, with the result that when a tele¬ 
phone call did not raise the borrower, we went 
after it. 
We had cans for catching maple sap. They were 
carefully scoured and put away, in rather an in¬ 
accessible place. Some one wanted to make maple 
sugar, and would we lend our cans? Certainly—as 
usual! The next year, some one drove into the yard 
and shouted, “Where d’ye want these cans?” and 
threw, pell-mell, into the woodshed, 50 wet, rusty 
cans. We didn’t even get any of the maple sugar! 
We had a road-scraper, which soon became a gen¬ 
eral favorite. It was borrowed by one man, who 
generously lent it to another, who performed the 
like favor for a third, and in time it disappeared. 
But it was too tangible to disintegrate, as the mor¬ 
tar bed evidently had done. Rumors of its exist¬ 
ence, now here, now there, came to us, and finally 
we located and brought home the wanderer. 
At about this time, we made up our minds that 
we were easy marks. Also, that we had been doing 
all the sweating under the collar, and selfishly de¬ 
frauding our neighbors of the advantage to be 
gained by this hygienic exercise, and so we gave 
them an opportunity to enjoy a little of what we had 
had so much of. We announced to the next man 
who wanted a minor tool from us, that we should 
be most happy to accommodate him, and that we 
would accept the small honorarium of 10 cents a 
day for the use of said tool, the borrower to be re¬ 
sponsible for the account, no matter who borrowed 
it from him, or how long it staid away. It has 
worked. They do not object to the price, are glad 
to know where they can get a tool instead of hav¬ 
ing to buy it, and it comes back! 
ELLEN EAMES DE GRAFF. 
The Poultry Business. 
Our poultry farmers on this coast are up against 
hard sledding in their business. In other words they 
must compete with a few hundred million pagans who 
sell their eggs at some three and one-half cents per doz¬ 
en. Probably the poultryme i at the East do not feel 
this competition as we do. Never has poultry feed been 
so high as the past 11 months, and instead of poultry 
products keeping somewhere in sight of the cost of 
production the market for poultry and eggs has ruled 
lower than for many years. Since the middle of Feb¬ 
ruary I do not think the net returns from egg ship¬ 
ments have averaged the producer more than 15 cents 
per dozen. It is mighty hard lines for a deserving 
class of people who have invested in the poultry busi¬ 
ness. Poultry as the only staff of support for a fam¬ 
ily is a mighty uncertain one. As an adjunct to the 
home or a side line, poultry keeping can’t be beaten as 
an all-profit cash proposition in any line of agriculture, 
but on a large commercial scale it’s a man-size job and 
something of a gamble besides. m. R. james. 
California. 
HE R. N.-Y. has never joined the ranks of the 
bluffers and boomers in any line of farming. 
We have seen a number of public crimes committed 
by people who exploited some new “system” of keep¬ 
ing poultry. These fellows do great harm by in¬ 
ducing inexperienced people to “get into poultry.” 
A man must be half hen to succeed in the chicken 
business, but the only way some of these victims re¬ 
semble a hen is in their ability to be plucked. Now 
a large proportion of the milk dairymen are ready 
to admit that with present prices for milk there is 
no real profit in dairying under present conditions. 
That confession, and the ability to look the facts 
squarely in the face is one of the best things that 
ever happened to dairymen, because it has brought 
matters to a head and concentrated effort upon the 
marketing problem. The same thing must be done 
with the poultry and egg situation. The case is 
somewhat different from that of dairying and yet 
essentially much the same. First of all let us get 
past the fairy tales and go to facts. Stir the shade 
into the sunny side and see what we get. Doe 1 the 
chicken business, as at present conducted, pay? Let 
us not “knock” the business or “boom” it either, but 
strip off its feathers and see if it is fat or lean. 
