62 
January 12, 1918 
PUBLISHER’S DESK 
Thp McAlpine Company of Now York 
City has of late boon sonding agonts to 
this part of the country to induoo farmers 
to go to Long Island to buy land, and 
have got several to “bite.” Will you tell 
me whether this company is reliable or 
not, and whether the land has a clear 
title, or is there any such land and com¬ 
pany? The agents tell the people that it 
will not cost them one cent to go, for they 
pay all expenses and that they will not 
have to buy land unless they like it, but 
nearly everyone who has gone yet bought 
at least a $500 share before they returned 
home. H. M. 
Virginia. 
We have often expressed our opinion of 
all these Long Island real estate schemes 
and developments. If there were any 
good prospects that the lots which are be¬ 
ing promoted by McAlpine Co. would in¬ 
crease in value there are plenty of people 
and plenty of money on Long Island to 
purchase them. The trouble is Long 
Island people have some idea of the pres¬ 
ent and future value of the property— 
Virginia people have none and are there¬ 
fore easily duped. There never was a 
time when more snares and pitfalls were 
set for the savings of country people, as 
the mails are flooded with the literature 
of get-rich-quick stock-selling schemes, 
land developments, etc. A good New Year 
resolution would be to consign the litera¬ 
ture of such concerns to the fire as soon 
as received, and show the slick-tongued 
salesman for such enterprises the door as 
soon as he opens his mouth about the 
riches in store for investors. 
About a year and a half ago I made a 
deal with .t. W. Vaughan of St. Johns- 
ville. N. Y.. through an advertisement in 
the ilolstein-Friesian Register, for a IIol- 
.stein heifer. lie gave me what appeared 
to be good recommendations and evidently 
is quite an extensive breeder and dealer 
in this kind of cattle. After considerable 
correspondence I completed a deal, feeling 
that Mr. Vaughan was an honorable and 
reliable man. lie says in his letter to me 
after the matter was fully gone over that 
he would shif^ me a heifer that would 
“stand tuberculin test anywhere,” and I 
could depend on getting a fine animal that 
would please me. She was shipped to me 
this Spring and has been i-epeatedly test- 
efl—once inside of .”.0 days after her ar¬ 
rival. and at Mr. Vaughan’s own sugges¬ 
tion. again in about three months, so as 
to make sure. This heifer has had the 
best of care and large, roomy, well-lighted 
and ventilated box stall, etc., but both 
times reacted and.was condemned by the 
State officials, different veterinarians and 
highly respected men. Everything was 
.said in our letters to make sure that I was 
to have an animal that would prove to be 
all right, and Mr. Vaughan could not fail 
to under.stand that, as I have his letters 
to show. Now in reply to my letters tell¬ 
ing him how' she proved, etc., he writes 
me that he does not consider himself liable 
to me. and shows no disposition to reim¬ 
burse me for this loss. I don’t see how' 
Mr. Vaughan can feel that anyone can 
have any confidence in him as being a safe, 
honorable man to deal w’ith. o. B. .i. 
Maine. 
We have advice from the Maine sub¬ 
scriber in the meantime that the animal 
has been slaughtered by the direction of 
the State authorities. “O. R. ,1.” reports 
that the postmortem showc-d a fully devel- 
0 |)ed case of tuberculosis. We Inive writ¬ 
ten the breeder several letters in behalf 
of (). R. .1. in this transaction, but the 
only response we have been iible to 
get is the stiggestion that the subscriber 
bring legal action, in w'hich case I’.(* can 
show the transjiction to be fair and just 
in all respects. The correspondence we 
have on file bears out O. R. .T.’s conten¬ 
tions. that this animal w'as recommended 
to him ns tuberculin-tested, and Mr. 
Vaughiin wrote before the sale he would 
“take special pains to get one that is de¬ 
cidedly clean in test and will' stand test 
anyw'here.” We have no reason to believe 
that Mr. Vaughan knew this animal was 
affected with tuberculosis at the time of 
sale. Such cases as these, how’ever, are 
very unfortunate, and do a great injury 
to New York State breeders in prejudicing 
prospective customers in other sections of 
the country. From a business standpoint, 
as well as being good ethics, we feel that 
when an animal is sold in this way and 
turns out afterw'ard to be affected with 
tuberculosis, some fair and reasonable ad¬ 
justment should be made. We believe all 
high-class breeders will agree w'ith us in 
this. 
I have just received check from Adams 
Express Co. for $14.5$, which is the 
amount of ray claim, less express charges, 
for case of eggs damaged by them last 
Jj/ie RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August. I was agreeabl.v surprised to get 
check within $0 days from the time I 
turned the matter over to you. This check 
looks far better than the one for ,$.$.29 
which they sent me first. If I knew how 
much expense you have been to on my 
account I would gladly pay for the serv¬ 
ice. However. I am enclosing a few 
stamps as a token of appreciation. 
New York. K. w. c. 
A shipment made in August was offered 
in such bad order consignee refused it. 
Claim was entered at once, and early in 
December Adams Express Co. offered 
$.$.29 in settlement. This was refu.sed, 
and claim was sent to us. This letter 
shows the result. We have no bill for 
our service. Our only regret is that the 
companies will not act on all claims as 
promptly. 
I’ossibly it would be a good plan for 
me to borrow $50,000 or $75,000 to invest 
in Ohio Valley Oil Co. stock. I could 
clear $18 on a hundred by so doing (?) 
and make money easily (??)! Thought 
perhaps you would like to go in, too, so 
am passing it along. Your Publisher’s 
Desk has put me on my guard more than 
ever. Do you know anything about this 
company and proposition? i. i.. a. 
The stock is not listed on any of the 
stock exchanges so far as we have been 
able to discover, and must not be confused 
with stock of the f)hio Oil Co. This stock 
is highly specul.ative and would not appeal 
to cxi)erienced investors. 
Enclosed you will find nearly .‘ill of an 
advertisement which ai)peare<l in the 
“Pathfinder.” Will you tell what you 
think ftf it? Are the men back of it re¬ 
liable and do you think it might be a good 
investment or not? .T. >f. B. 
New York. 
The enclosed consists of more than five 
pages of an advertisement in reading 
style, from the publication “The Path- 
linder.” telling the reading public how 
they may become rich through an invest¬ 
ment in the IV'xas Textile Comp.any, 
Houston, Tex. 'I'lie advertisement reads 
like the stereotyped prospectus of the get- 
rich-quick investment scheme, while we 
would not venture to say that this is such. 
It is claimed that some chemist working 
in the interests of this comi)any has stolen 
the .secrets of the silkworm. A mean trick, 
if true! P.y this secret process, cotton is 
turned into silk. Every woman can we.ar 
silk dri'sses in the future, everybody be¬ 
come rich by investment in this slock, and 
the financing of the war will then, of 
course, cause the Covernment no further 
concern! 
“I'he P.athfinder" is advertising in many 
publications. ’I'liK R. N.-Y. refused the 
business last year because* of the (|uestion- 
able character of financial adve'rtising in 
the jiaper. If anyone desires the services 
of a “Pathfind<*r” to relieve himself of his 
savings, we would heartily recommend 
this publication. 
Several subscriln>rs report S. Kirk, 
L5-l() Park. Ave,, New York t’ity. slow 
pay on <'gg shipments. In one case ac¬ 
count hits been stiinding for several 
months, and we have been unsuccessful 
in getting .settlement. 
Salt Poisons Hens 
I picked nine of my be.st pullets and 
have been for the past eight months giving 
them the best of care. This morning I 
found the nine dead in the coop. Mother 
made a cake and by mistake put in salt 
instead of sugar. The cake was fed to 
the chickens, ('an you tell me if this 
would kill them? A. A. M. 
New York. 
Salt is poisonous to fowls, if fed in suffi¬ 
cient quantity. I, of course, do not know 
how much cake or .salt these i)ullet.s got, 
but the circumstances are suspicious if 
the pullets ate all of the cake at a sitting. 
It is probably fortunate that your mother 
has so many good cakes to her credit that 
one mistake can easily b(‘ forgiven, and, 
in fact, almost any effort to find a substi¬ 
tute for sugar nowadays is commendable. 
M. B. 1). 
Shipping Young Chicks 
T have .sold chicks about six weeks old ; 
personally I do not care to take the re¬ 
sponsibility of shipping them when young¬ 
er. At six weeks old my Leghorns are 
feathered out and I ship them in boxes 
with woven wire nailed on the top. They 
do not want to be packed in very thickly, 
as day-olds are packed, as there is danger 
of them trampling each other to death, 
nor should very many ne put in the same 
box, not over 20 or so. I have not shipped 
enough to have any .standard size box : I 
use grocers’ boxes, such as canned goods, 
.soups, etc., come in. I have shipped them 
when they would be .$0 hours or so in go¬ 
ing from my farm to the customer, and 
have had no trouble. I understand that 
month-old chicks crowd and smother each 
other, .so I have never tried shipping them, 
and would not advise it. F. F. L. 
(’onnecticut. • 
Frozen Wattles 
What can be done for T.eghorn males 
which get their wattles frozen by dipping 
them in the water of drinking fountains? 
I keep the Rarroih^^train and their wattles 
and combs are big. Wattles s\vell to 
enormous size and the birds are likely to 
die in consequence. I never had this 
trouble before having birds with such 
large combs and wiittles. Is there any 
fountain made which is so built that 
males cannot get their wattles in the 
water? M. P. L. 
Maryland. 
I know of little than can be done for a 
bird that has frozen its comb and wattles, 
other than to grease them with some 
bland ointment and p*it the bird where 
others will not annoy it while the frozen 
parts are sloughing off and the wound is 
healing. Keeping the wattles greased with 
lard or vaseline will aid in preventing 
freezing, but I do not know how a foun- j 
tain could well be made that would pre- ^ 
vent their getting wet when the bird j 
drinks. A fouiitain with rather small and ‘ 
shallow trough from which the water 
would be taken »«id Iwing high upon the ! 
wall of the poultry house might help. My 
own fowls drink from barge galvanized , 
pails set in orange crates to prevent their 
being overturned, and I have found 
nothing more satisfactory for the ptirpose. ^ 
M. B. 1). 
Praise for Guinea Fowls 
We have a nice flock of Pearl guineas. 
I think they are a-ery profitable for me. 
They are the watchdog of the farm, and 
the best scavengers 1 (‘ver saw. Thei-e 
is nothing esca|)es them, from the l.argest 
h.awk and crow to smallest i)otato bug or 
grasshopper on the farm. They are the 
best foragers I ever saw. You can raise 
more grain with guineas than you can 
without them ; tlu'y i)rotect your corn 
from tin* crows ,‘iml at the same time de¬ 
stroy all insects. They are ,‘i very game 
bird. Th(*y .are a very nice tabh* fowl; 
a guinea dinner is hard to beat at our 
liouse. ’rh(*y will dress from 21/4 to three | 
pounds <*ach. 
The guinejis iire a V('ry i)rofitablt> biial ; 
they lay from (!0 to 100 eggs each y<*ar. 
How to t<*ll the male from tin* female is 
by the cry; the male giv(*s a screech'and 
the female says “Vun-kwhear. bu<*kwheiit.” | 
They both give a sci(*ech wln*n excited, or 
when an enemy is around. K. .S. 
Michigan. 
Cost of Raising Chicks 
What shall I <-li:irg(' customer for rais¬ 
ing c-hickens for him U|; to the age of six 
months? A f(*w of these <*hir'kens were 
hatched by me from eggs he supplied, but 
the majority were brought to me when 
they wi're “day-ohls.” He has furnished 
all the fp(*d consumed with the exce|)tion 
of weeds, etc. 1 have simply tJiken care 
of them. Ho has left the matter entirely 
to me. MBS. A. .M. A. 
Maine. 1 
The cost of labor re(iuired for raising 
chickens depends so much on varying con¬ 
ditions that it is not lanssible for me to 
give you any definite i)rice to apply to 
your particular circumstiince.s,*with which 
I am. of course, unfamiliar. However. I 
can give you some figures which will ap¬ 
ply here on a commercial poultry farm, 
aiid you may be able to work out a fair 
chiirge to make from them : One man’s 
work here on a commercial i)oultry farm 
is to take care of $.000 chicks. He rnay 
require some a.ssistance during the fir.st 
few weeks, while after the chicks are 
half-grown they would not require all his 
time. A man capable of doing this work \ 
properly can get $75 per mouth, at least; 
perhaps more in some sections of the 
country. This gives us an average cost of 
15 cents each for labor alone. A smaller 
number of chicks would natunally cost a 
little more for labor. To this then must 
be added fuel, interest on the investment 
and depreciation ; we figure this at about 
8 cents per chick, making a total of 2$ 
cents each when raised on a commercial 
basis. In smaller numbers the cost may 
easily run up to 50 cents each. c s. G. i 
Garden Hoe 
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Dept. A 
I ------ 
j IF you want books on farming of 
I any kind write us and we 
I will quote you prices 
I THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1 333 West Thirtieth Street, New York 
A GOLD MINE ON 
YOUR FARM 
SAWING WOOD 
A gold mine on your farm. Turn all 
your waste lumber, all of the trees 
that you can spare into wood. They 
will even take limbs—anything that 
will burn. A prominent authority 
on coal production says that normal 
conditions in the coal Industry will 
not arrive in live years. Cut vour 
wood now. Sell it this spring at high prices. We have in stock sawing outfits. 'I’he famous Two Fuel 
Heavi-Duti kerosene engine with magneto ignition operates without trouble, starts well in cold 
weather. V'ork when you feel like it and make more money than you can when farming. Order now 
while we have stock for niick delivery. 
R. CONSOLIDATED GASOLINE ENGINE CO., 202 Fulton Street, New York City 
