Wie RURAL NEW-YORKER 
295 
WHAT EVERY 
FARMER WANTS 
Cheap and Efficient Trans¬ 
portation His Great Need— 
How It Can Best Be Assured 
T he present situation of the rail¬ 
roads presents two alternatives, 
efficient federal regulation or federal 
ownership. 
The experience of other countries 
proves conclusively that government 
ownership of railroads is more costly 
and less efficient than the system of 
private ownership in this country. 
The railroads of the United States 
have the lowest freight rates, the 
smallest capitalization per mile, the 
highest operating efficiency and pay 
the highest wages of any railroads in 
the world. 
High Rates on Government Roads 
The charge for hauling a ton of 
freight one mile on the government 
owned roads of various countries and 
on the privately owned roads of the 
United States is shown in the follow¬ 
ing table: 
Average 
Freight rate 
per ton mile 
Germany (Gov’t Railways) 1.24 cent 
France “ 1.30 cent 
Australia 
New South Wales “ • 1.59 cent 
South Australia “ 1.75 cent 
Switzerland “ 2.63 cent 
Canada (Private ownership) .76 cent 
United States “ .73 cent 
No railway system under govern¬ 
ment ownership can show a record for 
cheapness and service approaching that 
of American Railroads under private 
ownership. What the railroad situa¬ 
tion needs is the adoption of a system 
of national regulation that will en¬ 
courage initiative and investment and 
enable the carriers to meet the grow¬ 
ing requirementsof American business. 
Keep Railroads Out of Politics and 
Politics Out of the Railroads 
It is to the interest of the railroads 
and the interest of the whole country 
that the railroads keep out of politics 
and that politics be kept out of their 
management. 
Government ownership under our 
political system would make the 
control of the railroads a partisan 
issue at every election. It would 
bring political and economic disaster. 
No man in thecountry standstolose 
more by the adoption of a political 
system of railroad management than 
the farmer. None will profit more 
from efficient national regulation that 
will do away with the present conflicts 
and waste of local control and enable 
the railroads to make the extensions 
and improvements necessary to keep 
pace with the business progress of 
the nation. 
We invite discussion of this ques¬ 
tion and shall be glad to answer ques¬ 
tions and to supply information on 
request 
RAILWAY EXECUTIVE'S 
ADVISORY COMMITTEE 
61 Broadway New York City 
frank TRUMBULL, Chairman 
FRANCIS H. SISSON, Assistant 
ALFRED P. THOM. Counsel 
B. F. BUSH R. S. LOVETT 
Receiver Mo. Pacific Ry. Ch. Union Pacific R. R. 
A. J. EARLING C. H. MARKHAM 
Pres. C. M. & St. P. Ry. Pres. Ill. Cent. R. R. 
HOWARD ELLIOTT SAMUEL REA 
Ch. N. Y. N. H.& H. R. R. Pres. Penn. R. R. 
W. J. HARAHAN A. H. S.MITH 
Pres. Seaboard Air Line Ry. Pres. N. Y. Central Lines 
WALKER D. HINES FRANK TRUMBULL 
Ch. A. T. & Santa Fe. Ry. Ch. C. & O. Ry. 
hale HOLDEN F. D. UNDERWOOD 
Pres. C. B. & Q. R. R. Pres. Erie R. R. 
L. F. LOREE H. WALTERS 
Pres. D. & H. Co. Ch.AtlanticCoastLineR.R. 
DANIEL WILLARD 
Pres. B. &0. R. R. 
Slaughter-house Waste for Hogs 
In reply to J. G. M., Rhode Island, on 
page 170 (“Feeding Pigs on Slaughter¬ 
house Waste”), this can be done very 
profitably if handled right. As a boy 
from 12 to 17 years of age, I was em¬ 
ployed by a butcher in England, and 
during my five years’ stay there had 
considerable experience along this line 
in cooking and feeding offal to pigs. I 
would advise J. G. M. to purchase a 
feed boiler, and boil the offal. I would 
not advise feeding raw (either offal or 
potatoes), but boiled it can be used to 
good advantage; they will eat it with a 
relish ana thrive on it. I have seen 
some good pigs raised with it. Sometimes 
it was boiled and fed alone, sometimes 
mixed with a little meal and bran, some¬ 
times boiled with small potatoes. I 
think if J. G. M. can get any quantity 
of this it will cut down the feed hill con¬ 
siderably. I think it is far better and 
less dangerous than feeding swill. I nev¬ 
er knew a case of sickness through this 
method and I have seen a good number 
of them fed this way. Wash the offal 
before boiling; there is not then much 
disagreeable smell. A hose pipe, or a 
few pails of water thrown over, it will 
answer this purpose. It is not altogeth¬ 
er a pleasant job at first, but one soon 
gets used to it. iiarold newtox. 
Massachusetts. 
done its work well. And I did not think 
there was anything disgusting or cow¬ 
ardly in destroying that three feet of 
“quivering muscle,” quoting the term 
used by Frederick F. Schi-ader, Jr. But 
I understand he was referring to the kill¬ 
ing of small snakes, only a few inches 
in length. I could give many other in¬ 
stances of the black snake’s mm-derous 
work among birds, but these will suffice 
as an example. I am certainly in favor 
of the destruction of all large snakes, but 
think it a crime to kill the tiny insect¬ 
eating snakes, which are as harmless 
and helpful to the farmer as the toad 
is. NANCY E. STEADMAN. 
Rhode Island. 
When you write advertisers mention 
The Rural New-Yorker and you’ll get 
a quick reply and a "square deal. ” See 
guarantee editorial page. 
Concrete Foundation Wall 
_I would like to advise .T. E. M., page 
156, to use for a foundation wall 24x32, 
eight inches thick, seven feet high, 1:3 :5 
mixture, and not too wet. He will use 
98 sacks of Portland cement, any stand¬ 
ard brand, 10 “yards” of clean, coarse 
sand screened over a i/4-inch sieve if 
too much gravel is present, and IGj/^ cu¬ 
bic yards of gravel or crushed stone, 2l^ 
inches to be largest size. After mixing 
thoroughly and using the right propor¬ 
tions you can pour the concrete about 
six inches at a course and use stones four 
inches thick to embed in the placed con¬ 
crete. The stone should be drenched be¬ 
fore using; this will reduce expense and 
give a very strong foundation. Use the 
correct proportions, clean sand, and mix 
very thoroughly; place the mixed con¬ 
crete within half an hour after msing 
water and the thermometer around 40, 
not lower, and you will surely succeed. 
Hot Springs, Va. j. w. b. 
A Woman on Blacksnakes 
TTnder the heading of “Various Notes” 
I notice there has been some discussion 
about snakes, and whether they do more 
harm than good. It has been my ex- 
j)erience that one species of the snake 
family, the blacksnake, is a great de¬ 
stroyer of birds and their eggs, prefer¬ 
ring them to all other food. One Sum- 
nier’s day a great disturbance was heard 
in an apple tree, and when I investi¬ 
gated, found a 4%-foot black snake coiled 
about a robin’s nest, and in the act of 
swallowing the second young bird. The 
young birds were almost full fledged and 
would have flown in less than a week, 
“Mr. Black snake” did not relish being 
disturbed at his meal, and launched him¬ 
self almost full length toward me, his 
baleful little eyes glowing red and hiss¬ 
ing fiercely in spite of his mouthful of 
bird. I had snatched up a cane, as I 
ran out to see what the birds were cry¬ 
ing over, so with this, fighting angry as 
I was, it was only the work of a mo¬ 
ment to knock the snake from the tree 
and despatch it, though the feminine sex 
is supposed to be “afraid” of snakes. 
The next Summer a robin built her 
nest in a plum tree, and one morning 
we found the nest had been robbed and 
marks in the sand showed a snake had 
visited it. Then the mother robin built 
a second nest in the woods near our 
house. One day we heard the birds mak¬ 
ing a loud outcry, and brother arrived in 
view of the nesting tree in time to see a 
large black sn’ake de.scending from the 
nest. Tie shot at it, but the tree trunk 
kept the snake from harm, aifd when 
brother reached the scene, the snake had 
disappeared in its hole beneath an old 
stump. 
The next year the robin built her nest 
in a vine, growing on a trellis on the 
side of the house. I suppose she thought 
there was safety in building so near hu¬ 
man protection, and I had the same 
thought. But one day we heard the 
mother bird’s alarm cry, and at the 
sound, _ I rushed out of doors, a yard 
stick in hand, that being the nearest 
weapon I could get, and there, just as 
I expected, was a three-foot black snake 
just swallowing the last of the robin’s 
blue eggs! Again a daughter of Eve had 
the pleasure of destroying one of the 
proverbial enemy of her sex. When 
father arrived with a hoe, the snake was 
dead, the frail yard stick, wielded with 
the strength of righteous indignation, had 
On page 41 a correspondent asks a 
question regarding the method of finding 
the hoi’se power of a steam engine. The 
formula given in the answer is correct, 
but the value of P is not the boiler pres¬ 
sure, but the Mean Effective Pressure 
(M, E, P,), which depends upon the 
point of cutoff which in turn depends 
upon the type of engine and the load, and 
changes with every variation of the gov¬ 
ernor. The M. E. P. will vary from 
about half the boiler pressure in a Cor¬ 
liss or other high-grade engine wTen run¬ 
ning light_ to three-fourths to seven- 
eighths boiler pressure in an ordinary 
slide valve engine with a heavy load. In 
any case the M. E. P. or value for P in 
the formula will be less, usually not more 
than three-fourths the boiler pressure, 
which would make that much diffei-ence 
in the computed horsepower of any given 
engine. The M. E. P. may be found by 
attaching an indicator to the engine and 
taking a card from which this value may 
be computed. Also I ' think the ques¬ 
tioner does give the length of stroke. It 
is five inches as the cylinder dimensions 
he gives are 5 by 5. chas. a. dodge. 
The picture of a birch tree on page 5 
is quite interesting. It illustrates the 
curious fact that the seeds of birch seem 
almost unable to germinate except in 
moss. Occasionally a few will grow 
when planted in mineral soil but prac¬ 
tically all that fall on the carpet of leaf 
mold die. The largest part of the young 
birches seen in the woods started life on 
an old log or stump. In some cases this 
log lay across a stream and the birch 
sent roots both ways and now forms a 
natural bridge. I remember marking 
for timber a big yellow birch which 
started on top of a big rock. The tree 
was about four feet or more in diameter 
and I had to climb up about ten feet on 
the rock to get to the bottom of it. I 
do not know how the loggers got it down. 
A. c. w. 
There is one point in which most writ¬ 
ers on crops and prices are in error, that 
is in supposing that a high price com¬ 
pensates a farmer for a short crop. Un¬ 
like a manufacturing 'plant that can sell 
all its pi’oduct the farmer necessarily uses 
considerable of his crops in maintainng 
his stock and teams. A short crop means 
that a less per cent, of the crop is avail¬ 
able for market, and the result is that he 
gets less money than with a fair crop and 
moderate price. daniel e. bobbins. 
Illinois. 
If Mrs. B. of New York, J. G. L. of 
Michigan and M. ,T. S. of Denver will 
scald each day’s cream or milk when it 
is 24 hours old and chill before adding 
to the day before’s supply, there will be 
no trouble with strong cream or butter, 
provided the milk is not strong when it 
comes from cow. A cow that gives 
strong milk (unless she has been fed 
turnips which a milch cow should never 
have) should go to the butcher. To 
sour the cream add rather warm two 
days before churning, and keep the whole 
quantity where it will be warm till thick; 
churn as soon as thick. Of course this 
only applies to Winter butter. When 
the supply^ is limited, I churn all the 
milk, scalding it all. Sometimes I add 
buttermilk to sour the cream, but never 
unless buttermilk is very good. L. c. il. 
Denville, N. J. 
In answer to J. K., Arkport, N Y., 
page 90, there are some Greeks milking 
sheep near here and making cheese. 1 
was out there about a year ago. They 
milk about 600. They have about 80 
acres, for which they pay a rental of 
.$30 per aci’e, all in Alfalfa and under 
irrigation. They let the lambs run with 
the ewes until large enough for mar¬ 
ket, then milk the ews about four 
months. They told me the gross returns 
were about .$12 or better per ewe for 
cheese and lambs. Last year they got 
over $5 apiece for the lambs. They are 
Merino and Shropshire grades. I think 
they told me 12 men did the milking. 
They drive them in small pens, then 
catch them and stand them on a plat¬ 
form, where they are held while milking. 
I have forgotten what they told me about 
the amount of cheese and the price re¬ 
ceived, but I think they are making 
money, for they tried last year to have 
their lease extended 10 years. 
California. s. E. K. 
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Why pay painters good 
money to paint your barns 
with shoddy barn paints 
when a few cents more per 
gallon will buy the reliable 
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A real linseed oil paint that 
really preserves the wood and 
keeps its color for years. 
pArPnnrrofA our Concrete and 
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and name of nearby dealer. 
£omBrofber^ 
510 E. Third Street 
Dayton, Ohio 
Branches and Dealers Every¬ 
where 
ROOFING ADVANCES 
March 1st— You Should 
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Save from 60c to 75c per roll andseeure 
line, lieavy, long-Uved Three-Ply and 
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duplicate any inauufactiu-ersqiiality 
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similar quality. Get SUNSET Samples. 
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^^webber lumber and supply company 
841 Thompson Street Fitchburg. Mass. 
N&t 
CARPENTER’S 
rioton€ 
Nine times out 
of ten,calves that 
die are victims 
of scours. 
Prevent this 
dread disease 
by feeding a 
pinch of 
Nutriotone in 
their milk. Nutriotone is a perfect stock 
tonic. Costs little and saves much. In 
use for over 40 years by leading stockmen. 
Send tor literature and guaranteed. 
Free Trial Offer. 
W. D. CARPENTER CO. 
Box SO Syracuse, N. Y. 
