1300 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Business 
Turkey Raising in Ohio. 
The raising of turkeys is a very profit¬ 
able side line for the farmer with a large 
farm. It is, however, necessary to know 
something of the nature and needs of the 
young poults in order to insure success. 
But there is no reason why every farmer 
cannot raise a flock of from 20 to 100 
turkeys each year and thereby realize a 
nice little profit. 
The turkeys, after the first few weeks, 
need but little care, in fact they do 
much better when left to themselves and 
allowed to pick up a living by roaming 
around over the fields, catching grass¬ 
hoppers and other insects; if given 
plenty of range they will require no 
other food, until a few weeks before they 
are to be marketed, when they should 
be given plenty of grain which will put 
on the finishing touches for a fine 
Thanksgiving roast. 
Now do not misunderstand me. Tur¬ 
key raising is not all pleasure and profit. 
In some cases it is quite the opposite, 
as the little woman in the picture has 
found out. She made a howling failure 
right in the start. Instead of letting the 
turkey hen hatch and care for the young 
poults, she gave the eggs to a chicken 
hen, thereby insuring them a dose of 
lice to begin with. Then as soon as they 
were hatched, she fed and petted and 
pampered them in a way most disagree¬ 
able to all inhabitants of turkey-land. 
As a result at the end of two months the 
poults were all dead and the little wom¬ 
an’s heart well nigh broken. 
But this all happened two years ago 
and experience has made our young 
friend wise. Last Spring a year ago she 
purchased two Bronze hens and a tom, 
paying $10 for the trio. One hen laid 
IS eggs and the other laid 21, then they 
began the job of incubation, coining off 
four weeks later with 31 young poults. 
The poults were left entirely to the hens’ 
care, and they were not troubled with 
lice, blackhead or any other serious trou¬ 
ble as the others had been the previous 
year. Only three poults were lost, leav¬ 
ing 28 for the market. Two of these 
were exchanged for two hens that were 
no relation to the tom, so she had four 
hens for the foundation of this year’s tur¬ 
key crop. The other 26 were sold to the 
packers at IS cents per pound. They 
averaged 15 pounds apiece, making 
$70.20. She had used only $5 worth of 
feed from start to finish, so you can readi¬ 
ly count the profit. This year the little 
woman has 64 fine turkeys which she 
will soon begin to fatten for market and 
it is needless to say that she is going to 
realize a nice bunch of cash for her trou¬ 
ble. o. a. v. 
Upper Sandusky, Ohio. 
Market for Evergreens. 
Is there sale in New York for such 
green as holly, laurel, prince’s pine, 
hemlock, etc.? several headers* 
Florists’ supply houses handle a mod¬ 
erate amount of these greens during the 
entire year. They are used in house 
decoration, making floral pieces, etc. 
During the holiday season the demand is 
largely increased, and the greens are 
handled by many of the general produce 
commission dealers, some of whom make 
a specialty of the business and receive 
great quantities of Christmas trees and 
similar decorative material. 
Ilolly is received in two different ways 
—loose in boxes and made up in wreaths. 
Laurel comes tied in bunches and in 
large wreaths. Mistletoe is packed loose 
in cases. Ground pine is made into rop¬ 
ing, which may be heavy or light, de¬ 
pending on how much of the material is 
tied to the cord forming the body. When 
completed this roping is coiled into 
bunches of 10 yards, 25 yards or more. 
Christmas trees run mainly from 10 to 
25 feet high, though some smaller and a 
few still larger are received. The branch¬ 
es are tied close to the bodies, so that 
they may be packed closely, and are 
usually shipped on flat cars, held at the 
sides with stakes. Only well-shaped 
trees are wanted. 
The holiday prices received vary con¬ 
siderably. Sometimes there is a large 
surplus, so that some shipments have to 
be thrown away—a total loss to the send¬ 
er. Occasionally there is a shortage or 
unusual demand, so that high prices are 
realized, but as a rule the shipper does 
not find the sale of evergreens a short 
road to wealth. As it comes at a time 
when other work is slack, however, it is 
worth trying where the greens are avail¬ 
able. 
A Farmer on Selling Hay. 
It seems to me one of the weaknesses 
of most farmers is that he is not a sales¬ 
man. I have bought up hay and .sold it 
without touching it. making $2 a ton and 
sometimes $6. The farmer was glad he 
had a place to take it, and the city man 
was glad he didn’t have to run to the 
market. I have sold as high as 200 tons 
of farmers’ hay in one season, the farm¬ 
er agreeing to take it where I wanted it 
delivered. I received orders for 22 tons 
in two hours. But this is the best I 
did. All hay I sell is sold subject to in¬ 
spection, and if party doesn’t like it he 
doesn’t have to take it. But I have 
enough orders in the locality, so if one 
refuses another will take it. The first 
year I farmed I waited all day at the 
market for a buyer to come around, and 
sometimes I didn't sell at all, or at a 
big loss, as most buyers wait until clos¬ 
ing time when the farmer must sell cheap 
or go home with his load. So I went out 
one day to get hay orders and got enough 
ahead to deliver every day for two weeks. 
This taught me a lesson I say this not 
to praise myself, but to show what can 
be done by any farmer if he hustles just 
a trifle. J. A. V. 
Wisconsin. 
Selling Home-canned Meat. 
One of our readers in Vermont, much 
interested in what has been printed about 
meat canning, wants to try that business 
on a commercial scale. Several beef ani¬ 
mals can be slaughtered during the Win¬ 
ter, but at present there is very little 
sale for them. It is almost impossible 
to obtain fair prices for small lots of 
cattle. This farmer thinks he can put 
the meat into cans, advertise it fairly, 
and dispose of it to better advantage than 
if the cattle were sold on the hoof, or if 
the meat was peddled out in the town. 
We think there is no doubt about it, if 
such a business was worked up properly 
with fair advertising the meat could be 
well sold. Parties who have tried sell¬ 
ing sausage and hams in this way have 
met with very fair success. This man, 
however, has been told by the local meat 
men that he will be arrested for violating 
the federal laws if he undertakes to sell 
this meat in any other State except Ver¬ 
mont. This is a good point to have set¬ 
tled. There would be no question about 
the sale of the meat properly canned in¬ 
side the State where it was made, but 
when it is shipped outside it comes under 
the head of interstate commerce, and the 
Federal Government takes a hand. In 
order that our readers might know just 
what they are doing we have investigated 
the matter at Washington. The Govern¬ 
ment, through the Bureau of Animal In¬ 
dustry, has the right to inspect all places 
where meat is slaughtered, canned or 
preserved, provided this meat comes into 
interstate commerce. The government 
very rarely exercises this right to inspect 
a farmer’s house or kitchen and probably 
would not do so unless very poor meat 
was found on sale. The best way for a 
farmer to do in order to avoid all trouble 
is to apply to the Bureau of Animal In¬ 
dustry at Washington for a certificate of 
Exemption from Inspection. He will re¬ 
ceive a blank form or application. This 
is to be made out by filling in certain 
blank places in answer to various ques¬ 
tions. Then this is sent to Washington 
for filing, and it is safe to say that any 
farmer who is honest and gives reason¬ 
able attention to his business will be 
able to obtain this exemption and thus 
be free to sell his canned meat anywhere 
in the country. We advise our readers 
who think of entering this business to 
apply to Washington for the blank and 
secure this exemption if they can. It 
would be far better to be on the safe 
side in a matter of this sort. 
The Woman Plumber. 
On page 1167 we had an article on 
“The Woman Plumber,” which has at¬ 
tracted quite a little attention. Among 
October 30, 1915. 
others comes this note from Mrs. Tail- 
man—the plumber in question: 
The article has found an old friend of 
35 years ago for me, whom I have tried 
many times to find. 
(MRS.) M. E. n. TALLMAN, or 
BERTHA TALLMAN or 
(MRS.) S. C. TALLMAN. 
You see Mrs. Tollman looks forward 
to the time when women in New Jersey 
may have the right to do pretty much as 
they please with their own name—as they 
do in Kansas! As for finding people 
The It. N.-Y. has done that again and 
again, for it has the most “friendly” fam¬ 
ily of any paper in the country. 
Settlement Between Neighbors. 
Now and then we are asked to settle 
a problem like the following: Some time 
ago a woman farmer employed a neighbor 
to build a stone wall. Fie was to get a 
certain price for each rod. When the 
wall was completed, he said he thought 
there were about 60 rods, and the woman 
paid him on that basis. When she bought 
wire to put on top of this wall, she found 
that she had to pay for 80 rods of wire 
to cover the distance. The neighbor 
heard of this, and demanded pay for 
building the extra 20 rods of wall. 
Strange to say, neither one of them had 
ever thought of actually measuring the 
job. The woman claims that when this 
man accepted the pay for 60 rods, he 
acknowledged payment in full. The man 
says he should be paid for what he did. 
Then the woman remembers that 10 or 
12 years ago this man had a small quan¬ 
tity of hay from her farm, which she 
thinks has never been paid for. She 
wants to know if she should pay for the 
extra building of the wall, and whether 
this old hay bill could be used to offset 
it. Quite frequently we have just such 
cases as this for settlement. The first 
thing to do in a case of this, sort would 
be to actually measure the job. The 
two people should go together and find 
how many rods had been made, and then 
payment should be made promptly. The 
old debt for the hay is probably outlawed 
by this time. While it might be possible 
to claim that when this workman ac¬ 
cepted the money he acknowledged full 
payment, that is not the fair way to 
treat a worker. Our advice in such a 
case is to measure the wall accurately, 
and if there are 20 rods more or less un¬ 
paid for, to pay for it promptly and close 
the matter at once. While it is some¬ 
times possible to evade these payments 
through technicalities, the true way is 
to meet them fairly, as between neighbor 
and neighbor, and treat the other party 
just exactly as you would like to have 
him treat you. You may say that he 
would take advantage of you in such a 
case, but that is no moral reason why 
you should take advantage of him, if you 
have opportunity. 
Hot Water in the Fireplace. 
On page 1224 you request the experi¬ 
ence of anyone who has installed a hot- 
water system in connection with an open 
fireplace. It • affords me considerable 
pleasure and much gratification to testi¬ 
fy to the very great success I am having 
with heaters of this character. In my 
country home at Lake Katrine we have 
two large fireplaces on the first floor, 
in one of which we have installed what 
the heater men call a nine-foot wall 
radiator, the back or lower end being 
about eight inches above tin* andirons, 
connected with pipes running to two 
radiators in two rooms on the second 
floor, and one room on the third floor. In 
the other fireplace we have installed a 
coil of pipe slightly larger than the radia¬ 
tor, connected with radiators in two 
rooms on the second floor, and one on 
the third floor, and to a large wall radia¬ 
tor in the hall of that floor. 
Mrs. John Gray, of Tannersville, N. Y., 
has installed a similar system in a fire¬ 
place in her residence, and with it heats 
five rooms very comfortably in the coldest 
Winter weather. There is no question as 
to tin 1 successful operation of a heater of 
this kind if it is properly installed. The 
radiator or heating coil should be on an 
angle of about 45 degrees, near enough to 
the fire for the flames to go through it. 
The front or top ought not to obstruct 
the opening to the chimney flue, or the 
fireplace will smoke. A space of three 
or four inches will be sufficient to allow 
a free draft from the fire. 
New York. JOHN E. KRAFT. 
