■ 
140 
Quarter of a Mile of Pullets 
T he ]ik-turp on the first page, Fig. 40, shows a 
oornfiohl scene on a large ])onl(ry farm in Cen- 
Iral Xe\v York. AfK'r three or four years mowing. 
Alfalfa or clover sod is turned nnder iind corn 
lilanted Avith hen manure either in the hill or broad¬ 
cast, de])ending niton the amonnt available. The 
varirdy of corn used is King I’hilii), as the strain 
which has bemi acclimated on this farm “makes" in 
from no to or> days, so that it can he cut and re¬ 
moved from the field the first of Seiit.emher. O'hen 
the field is disked and Winter wheat pnt in with a 
small amonnt of aciil iihosidiate. The Winter wheat 
comes off the first of .\ngnst when the field is again 
disked and seedi'd to Alfalfa. 
This rotation calls for a ininimnni amount of la¬ 
bor and saves a year’s use of the ground on most 
methods of seeding to Alfalfa. It also gives good 
croiis. we have hnskcd out as many as 2.‘>0 hnshels 
of ears to the acre and thrashed 40 hnshels of wln'at. 
The most serious handicai> to vVlfalfa is weeds, and 
the Avell-hoed corn crop followed by the quick i-i))en- 
ing wheat without tnrning n]) a mnv supply of weed 
seeds fi-om hcdow for either the wheat or the .Vl- 
falfa gives a minimnm amonnt of tronhle from this 
source. 
We have occasionally failed with the Alfalfa he- 
canse of ice covering the ground in the Wint(‘r. hnt 
Avhen this hapiiens we .sow clover early in the 
Spring and get a croj) i)art clover and part .Mfalfa. 
'J'he colony brooder houses are placed along the 
side of the field and when the pnllets are half grown 
they are giv(“n the rnn of the field. 
FKKD B. SKI.V.NEK. 
Partridge and the Conservation Law 
T woidd like yonr advice about protecting one’.s 
proix-rty from partridge.s, which are doing con.siderable 
damage in the orchards. One orchard has a flock of 
six. another has four. I have had a talk with the game 
w;i.rdon iind he says I have no right to .shoot them. 
The open season is from Oct. 1st till Nov. l.oth. which 
is a month too eaidy. The foliage in woods prevents 
the shooting of them. Would you suggest getting sworn 
statements from sound men as to the damage they are 
ihiing? I mean b.v bringing the men to the orchard at 
dusk any night and showing them the birds in the act 
<if destroying fruit huds before taking the law into my 
own hands. I have scattered btickwheat and Avheat 
ai'ound, but they prc'fer the fruit buds. They work 
on (Irfoning, .Tonathan, Baldwins, also Bartlett pears. 
They do not bother Ben Davis apples as the buds are 
not so far advanced. I would particidarly like to have 
communication with the Conservation Commission. 
Creene Co., N. Y. hay iianeh. 
E scut this letter to the Conservation Com¬ 
mission at Albany. It AAms referred to .John 
T. McCormick. dei)nty chief, aa'Iio Avrites the fol- 
loAving: 
This is the fir.s-t time that this Commission has < ver 
received a complaint again.st the i)artridge doing dam¬ 
age of this nature. We believe that if they eat the 
buds of his aiiple tia-es. as Mr. llaner say.s they do, 
the damage is nominal, for the reason if it amounted to 
anything Ave would have had previous complaints 
against this bird from other fruit groAvers of the State. 
We will say, howevei’. that no matter what might be 
the damage done by the.se birds. Mr. llaner Avould have 
no authority to kill them during the close season for 
the .same. If he .should take the law into his own hands 
and kill these birds during the close .season, as he in¬ 
timates he intends doing, the Commi.ssion will vigor¬ 
ously itrosecute him. .toiiN T. ji’cop..\iick. 
Thiit is cmidiafic if nothing more. But Avhat 
about Mr. llaner? lias he no rights? I.s he forcml 
to stand by and see his i»roperty destroyed Avith no 
redress Avhatever? Is this a free country, or are 
Ave back in the middle ages Avhen the.y choitped off a 
niiin’s ears for killing the king’s game? It is abo\it 
time we found out. Can any of our readers give us 
definite information regarding the damage done by 
jiartridges? 
The Unwarranted Fear of Milk 
HEBE is little doubt that the efforts of sanitar¬ 
ians to fix the res])onsibility for the .siiread of 
certain diseases ha.s tended to ludng a po])ular mis- 
conceiition of the dangers attendant upon the use' 
Ilf milk as food. With the stress that has been laid 
111)011 the possibilit.v that di])htheria, tyjihoid. scar- 
h*t fever or tuberculosis may be conveyed through 
milk, it is not strange that some people should have 
<'ome to look upon this as an imminent danger rath¬ 
er than as the somewhat remote possibility that it 
is. With the jios.sible exception of tuberculosis in 
rhe very young—and this exception has never been 
definitely jiroven—niilk^should probafily he held as 
among the least re.sponsible of foods concerned in 
the transmission of disease. 
Some statistical studies of the health records of 
IVIassachu.sett.s, made by Dr. Eugene B. Kelley of 
Boston, and rejiorted in the .Tournal of the Ameri¬ 
can Medical Association, are of interest in this con¬ 
nection. Dr. Kelley says that apparently very fcAV 
health departments in this country have determined 
Avith even a rough degree of accuracy whether eyii- 
demics pos.sibly due to milk infection, are really so 
IShe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
caused, and that, in many ca.ses, outbreaks of dis¬ 
ease are alleged to be due to milk infection Avithout 
any scientific investigation being carried out to 
A-erif.v or disprove the assertion. 
"Even if health oflicials make an attempt to de¬ 
termine the ))iissil)le eiiljiability of milk.’’ say.s the re- 
))ort, “they usually caia-y the investigation no farther 
than to establish a su.si)ieious frequency of infection in 
])er.s(ins having a c-oinmon milk snj)i)ly. Then the ont- 
bn-ak is in-oinjitly labeled a milk ej)idemic and every- 
bofly is satisfied with the explanation except the milk- 
Position of Fowl’s Reproductive Organs. Fig. 50. 
1. Ovary. 2. Oviduct. 
man—Init his protests are brushed to one side by the 
Cucksnre doctor or health bo.ard that Inis condemned 
him and his prodiict.s on most incompletit cii'cumstan- 
tial evidence alone. Time and again, careful investi¬ 
gation has shown that an outbreak that at first aj)- 
])e;u'ed to be milk-borne has i)i'ov(‘d to be cander or 
water-bofne. and vice vei-.sa.” “In the c.ase of diph- 
theida, scarlet fever or tyi)hoid. their single occur- 
r(‘i)ces far outweighs, in the aggregate, their occurrence 
in epidemics. It is almost unique to have a single case 
of any of these diseases definitely tr.-iced to milk in¬ 
fection. It is easy enough to assume that many .such 
ca.ses inu.st be due to milk infection, but to p)-ove it. 
Detail of Egg Organs. Fig. 51 
1. Ovary, containing small immature eggs or ova. 2. Larger 
ovum, 3. Empty lining of one of the mature eggs or ova. 
4. Matured ovum entering the oviduct. 5. Mouth of the oviduct. 
6. Albumen secreting portion of oviduct. 7. Lower part of the 
oviduct. 8. Fully formed egg in the oviduct just after the shell 
has been secreted. 9. Rectum. 10. Cloaca. 
even to I'cndcr tlie case faiidy reasoiiabh^ against jnilk, 
is another matter.” 
Briefly stated, the conclu.'^ions of the .study under¬ 
taken by Dr. Kelley are tlnit M.issjichu.setts exiter- 
icnce Avould seem to indiettte that even in raw milk 
sui)i)lies. Avitli widely vtiryiiig conditions of suiter- 
vision. diph'tlieria transmission thron.gh milk is so 
rare an oecnrrence as to be negligible. That tran.s- 
mission of scitrlet fever fhrongh milk, Avliile ninch 
more common than diphtlieria, is of very small per¬ 
centage significance. Typhoid fever in this large 
.series extending over a jicriod of years was reason¬ 
ably attrii)uted to milk infection in a mtich larger 
nnmlter of cases than diphtheria or .scarlet fever. 
February .“1, 3Oil. 
but the.se amounted in all to only live per cent, of 
the total numher of cases reitorfial. 1. 
“In all itrobability, the menace of tuberculosi.s is the 
host ju.stification that we have as practical sanitarians \ 
for the amount of propaganda that has been carried on 
and the mone.v that has been expended by health au- 
fhiirities for the supervi.sion and control of milk sup- 
))lies, so far as such sui)ervi.sion aims at the suppression 
of communicable di.sea.ses.” M. n. n. 
Chemical Fertilizers for Kansas 
We ai’e in the Kaw Valley in Kansas. It is a very 
fertile vaile.v from one to four miles in width for more 
than loO mile.s. The Eastern part of it has always been 
a great potato growing section, not comparing with 
Eastern Sliore of course, hnt the average area lias been 
about I0,(K)0 acres in previous ycaiAS. 
Much of this potato land has been planted in •po¬ 
tatoes year after year for, say 80 years. The only ro¬ 
tation practised has been to plant turnips or rye in 
August after potatoes were harve.stcd, and then tui'ii 
under tliis cover crop in November and it Avould he 
ready for potatoes again in tlie Spring. Y^ields of po¬ 
tatoes now are less than half of what they Avere in 
early days, and the question is, would commercial fer¬ 
tilizer pay; if so, Avhat kind, and how much? This 
ground is still rich. If planted to corn it will make 
from 75 to 100 bushels to the acre. 
Kansas. .TOii.x AV. tayloh. 
VIDENTLY you ai’e getting the result of single 
C'i’opping. Land cannot he kept perennially 
fertile and productiA’e from its own products alone. 
Yonr A'alley lands still huA'e a lai-ge amount of po¬ 
tential nitrogen from tlie decay of organic matter, 
l)nt i)otatoes use up rapidly the mineral elements 
in tlie .soil, and yon return little of these in tlie 
crops turned under so that the soil is heconiing de¬ 
ficient in ])hosi)horns and potassium. .Inst now it 
would be especially diflicnlt to rejilace the potash. 
Br.t I think tliat yon Avill Iind that apiiliciitions of 
acid ])liosi)liate in the furrow Avill jiay Avell in the 
jxitato crop, either tliis or steamed bone. Tlie acid 
pliosphate Avill he more sjieedy in action. Tlion 
a longer rotation Avill lielp. In yonr part of Kan¬ 
sas .YOU .should lie alile to grow rrimson clover for 
a Winter cover, and if so this clover after Hie po¬ 
tatoes or mixed Avitli rye Avill make a good cover to 
turn under for corn in the Spring, and the cloA'er 
sown again among the corn at last Avorking Aviil 
give a good crop to turn for imtatoes aided Avith 
]il)cral aiiplicatioiis of acid phosphate. Our mar¬ 
ket growers, Avitli land far poorer naturally than 
yours, and depending on the commercial fertilizer.s, 
often make 75 to TOO barrels of marketable pota¬ 
toes an acre. They are now mainly using a mix¬ 
ture of eipial parts of cotton.'<eed meal and acid 
]ihos])hate at rale of 1.000 to 1.500 pounds an acre. 
This mixture Avill not he far from three per cent, 
nitrogen, eight jier cent, phosphoric acid ami one 
)K‘r cent, potash from the meal. This is used on 
ilie (‘arly potato crop and most of the groAA'ers fol¬ 
low it Avith corn in .lime and get a big corn crop 
from the heavy fertilization. But the Aviser ones 
will got a crop of cow peas to turn iimler ami Crim¬ 
son cloA’er as a M'inter cover, and in this Avay in- 
cro.-ise the iinmiis content in the soil. No matter 
how fertile yonr soil I believe that this mixt'ire 
will give .A’on good results, though you mu.A' not need 
to use it as lieavily as here. w. f. massky. 
Tannery Waste as a Fertilizer 
. Let me introduce myself as a back-to-the-lander for 
about four years iu a .special line of work, producing 
dowers and bulbs. Following the teacliings of Tun 
B. N.-Y. I am growing MTnter rye. which I plow nn¬ 
der in May. My bulb crop is benefited by lime, and 
the r.ve when turned under also needs lime. I am 
oflered refuse lime from the vats of a tannery. No 
chemicals are used, and the refuse contains some hair, 
grease, etc. It is spread in the yard to dr.v a few diiys, 
jtnd is tliiis rather sticky and ]nmp.v. Can you ad¬ 
vise me as to the jiossilile auvIuc of this refuse. n. 
HE Massachusetts Experiment Station gWes the 
anal.A'ses of t\A’o samples of tliis refuse or 
••slmlgic” Tliese sIioav : 
Xo. 1. 
No. 2. 
01.04 
.18 
. 1.80 
0.82 
Miignesimn . 
Nitrogi'ii . 
.88 
.07 
!66 
This shoAvs the refuse a 
s taken from 
the vats 
with some Avater drained away. It is in tlie form 
of soggy lumps or cakes—quite hard to spread ca'cii- 
ly and hard to mix Avell Avitli tiie soil. When tliis 
lime refuse is thoroughly dried and ground it con¬ 
tains from 17 to 80 iier cent, of lime and from two 
to iier cent, of nitrogen. It Avonld he didicult 
for most farmers to dry and grind this stuff, and 
most of them Avill simply idle it throiigli tlie Win- 
t(‘r and .spread as best they can in the Spring. In 
tills way, ton for ton. tlie.v will get a little more ni¬ 
trogen than in stalile manure. For use on corn or 
similar crops Ave think this refuse Avould he harm¬ 
less and useful, Imt for delicate and expensive crops 
like fioAA’ers and bulbs Ave should hesitate to try 
suoli stuff Avithont first experimenting carefully. 
There might lie no troidile, hnt there is not enough 
plant food in the refuse to pay a florist to take 
chances with it. 
