IShe RURAL NEW.YORKER 
535 
All Sorts 
Dynamiting Road Obstructions 
On many country roads there are 
troublesome outcroppings of leelge or large 
bowlders. In such cases a little explo¬ 
sive properly used will remove the ob¬ 
struction and improve the grade. The 
pictures, Figs. 262 and 264, page .513, 
show how this is done. 
Examination for Citizenship 
I am more or less ashamed to say that 
after being a resident of this country since 
the Fall of 1894 I am not yet a full- 
fledged citizen, but if my health is sipared 
I hope to be able to complete my citizen¬ 
ship. If yon have at your command any 
information that would a.ssist me in pre- 
pa r’ug for that day, I would appreciate 
ry much. If I were to be cross-ques- 
. . 1 on any historical matters I might 
i to be very deficient along these 
li. , as it is a long time since I have 
been at school. s. M. 
Delanco, N. .1. 
The examination in court is not con¬ 
ducted along fixed lines. Such questions 
are asked by the court or the examiner 
as will tend to indicate the ability of the 
applicant to understand the English lan¬ 
guage, and test his knowledge of the pro¬ 
visions of the Constitution of the United 
States, its i)rinoiples, the nature of the 
oath of allegiance to this country, and 
the elTect of renunciation of allegiance to 
the country of nativity. It is also de¬ 
signed to ascertain his knowledge of the 
form of Federal, State and municipal gov¬ 
ernment. It is suggested that you study 
the Constitution, read the daily newspaper 
to keep in touch with current national and 
local events, and also learn the method of 
election of Federal and State officers, and 
the manner in which the various laws are 
made or enacted. Many of the public 
schools throughout the country are con¬ 
ducting classes for the instruction of alien 
residents, with a view to affording them 
a knowledge of the matters referred to 
above, to better fit them to nnderstaud the 
examination in court and equip them for 
the exercise of the rights and duties of 
citizenship, after naturalization. It is 
suggested that you make inquiry of the 
public school authorities in your vicinity, 
and if such cla.s.ses are conducted at any 
place where yon may attend that you 
enter .such a class without delay. 
Tenant’s Ownership of Orchard 
man h'ased a farm for five years 
with the promise of a renewal of lease 
at the end of this term. The first year 
on the farm he planted fruit trees, and 
now the'- are all bearing fruit. If the 
owner refuses to renew the lease, can 
the tenant destroy the trees if the owner 
of the farm refu.ses to buy themV R. ll. 
New York. 
,\ tree planted in this way becomes 
a ]»art of the real estate. It belongs to 
the farm and the tenant cannot: legally 
t:ike it with him or destroy it. The law 
will hold that anything permanently at¬ 
tached to the land becomes real estate, 
and a five-year-old tree would come in 
that class. Courts have held that rasp¬ 
berries, currants and blackberries become 
a part of the real estate. In one case in 
New .lersey the court decided that straw¬ 
berry plants did not rank as a permanent 
crop, and that the tenant could come 
back and i)i(‘k them as he could harvest 
a cro]) of grain. I’er.sonally. we think 
a strawberry crop is as permanent as 
raspberi-ies, but the court decid('d that 
the strawberj'ies were personal propert.v 
and that bush fruit and trees were “per¬ 
manently attached,'’ and became real 
estate. 
Poor Honey Production 
What is the trouble with my bees? I 
have a few swarms, keep them in hives 
I bought from a bee man in Massachus¬ 
etts : he called them simi)licity hives. 
Tli(> hives are set on the south side of 
a hank wall that is five feet high. They 
are shaded part of day by a large black 
walnut tree. I always have a field of 
buckwheat; there are lots of all kinds 
of clover, and wild flowers, apple, chei-ry 
.•iiid basswood trees. No other bees with¬ 
in five miles of here and yet we don’t 
get five pounds of honey from them in 
any year w(‘ have had them. They make 
identy for their own use ; the swarms are 
large. I live on the side of a moun¬ 
tain, about 1.600 feet elevation; they are 
not purebred Italian bees. n. F. 
Antrim. N. II. 
If your colonies are really large, as 
you think. I can see no rea.son why you 
do not get some' surplus honey from 
them. Your description of your loca¬ 
tion would lead one to think that you 
had an almost ideal one for a few col¬ 
onies of bees. Assuming that your gen¬ 
eral management of your little apiary 
is what it should be the only explana¬ 
tion of your failure to get any surplus 
honey that I can offer is that your 
colonies, while apparently large, are 
really too weak to .store a surplus. If 
your bees are not Italians or hybrids, it 
would he well worth your while to 
Italianize them by introducing good 
Italian queens thi" season. If the queens 
with the colonies are at fault, this will 
correct the trouble, and, even if they are 
not. you will he the gjiiner by the change. 
.\f. R. n. 
Cleaning Wooden Sap Buckets 
How iu;iy wooden sap buckets be treat¬ 
ed so the syrup will not taste strong? 
Is it pos.sible to paint them? F. R. w. 
Ivoseboom, N. "Y. 
Wash and scald the buckets till they 
are clean and sweet, and then keep them 
so. This- may necessitate gathering and 
scalding them once or twice during the 
season. Then gather the sap every day, 
and boil it as qnickly as possible, being 
careful to keep all utensils well scalded. 
The strong flavor in maple .syrup re¬ 
sults from the souring of the sap during 
some stage of manufacture Sour sap 
is a result of the development of bac¬ 
terial organisms, and sap is as suscep¬ 
tible to bacterial influences as milk. 
Therefore, prevent the growth of bacteria, 
and there will he no trouble of this sort. 
The only point of superiority, so far as 
the making of a high grade of maple 
syrup is concerned, that buckets made 
of tin. or any other material, have over 
those made of wood, is the ease with 
which they may be kept clean. Wooden 
buckets were used exclusively in mak¬ 
ing .some of the finest maple syruj) that 
I evt'r saw. If the buckets are thoroughly 
cleaned :ind dried, and then painted both 
inside and outside with a good oil paint, 
it will help materially about keeping 
them sweet :nid clean, though it is not 
ess<‘ntial. But don’t attempt to paint 
over a dirty or bacteria-impregnated sur¬ 
face. c. O. OR^rSREF.. 
Vermont. 
Climate for Asthmatic Patient 
My wife luis been a sufferer from asthma 
for years; the doctors told her to move 
to a 'different climate, which she has done, 
with good results. Still, she has to take 
morphine, which they used on her a year 
before they sent her away. It is so hard 
to get; it costs so much for prescriptions. 
Can you tell of any substitute which 
might take its place? I was reading 
where they said it was going to be fur¬ 
nished for such patients from the Gov¬ 
ernment some way. Could you tell of 
any climate good for such disease, as my 
wife suffers terribly and has tried all 
kinds of medicine? I want to take up 
farming, but do not want to settle until 
I try to find a place to help her. Some 
say go to California. I would do so if she 
could be helped. Do yon think that would 
be good for her, and is it a good place for 
a poor farmer? I have always farmed 
on Long Island. G. c. P. 
Waterbury, Conn. 
It is true that a change of climate, or 
at least of location, will often help a suf¬ 
ferer from asthma, but it is also un¬ 
fortunately true that no one can prescribe 
the change for the sufferer; only actual 
trial will determine the suitability of any 
particular location for an individual case. 
There can be no guarantee whatever that 
a trip to California would help your wife. 
California is a land of varied climate, 
and owes much of its glamour for the 
Easterner to the fact that it is far away. 
A change of location of a few miles might 
easily do as much, or more, for a sufferer 
as one of several thousands of miles. The 
Government does not furnish morphine to 
asthmatics; in fact, it is doing all possi¬ 
ble to make it difficult for morphine to be 
obtained, except for direct use by physi¬ 
cians. While this works hardship and a 
certain amount of suffering upon many, 
it is a matter of absolute necessity if the 
race is to be preserved from evils which 
only those acquainted with the baleful 
effects of the indiscriminate use of nar¬ 
cotics can appreciate. Among drugs found 
useful in the treatment of asthma is 
adrenalin. Ask your physician aTiont it. 
It may or may not be suited to your wife’s 
case. Any good physician will be able to 
advise you. m. b. d. 
Filter in Cistern 
I have a ci.stern that was made without 
a filter, and would like to h.ave one made. 
What would be the be.st way to make a 
small box filter, and what is used in them? 
The cistern is bricked up and arched, '^’^e 
use the water for washing and it darkens 
white clothes. r. n. 
Mt. Oliver, Pa. 
I know of no simple way of making a 
practical filter for cisters already built. 
They are usually made by building a wall 
of porous brick across the cistern, leaving 
a small chamber on one side of the cistern 
from which to pump the water after it 
has seeped through the bricks. Two walls, 
eight or ten inches apart, the vertical 
joints between the bricks only being ce¬ 
mented. and the space between the walls 
being filled with fine gravel and sand, 
make a better filter, as the gravel can be 
removed from time to time and renewed. 
Loose bricks are left at the bottom of 
one of the walls for this purpose. Any 
.sort of chamber containing gravel, crushed 
charcoal and fine sand in layers, in the 
order named, through which the water is 
made to pass, will filter it. The charcoal 
is not necessary, but adds to the effi¬ 
ciency of the filter. If you wish to clear 
the water only, passing it through a layer 
of fine, clean gravel would probably ans¬ 
wer your purpose. A cut-off in the down 
pipe from the roof to shunt the first 
water during a shower will keep much 
dirt out of a cistern. A pound or two of 
alum dis.solved in water and stirred 
through the content.s of the cistern will 
help to settle the suspended matter in 
the water and clear it. M. B. D. 
Selling Produce to the Government 
How can I get in touch with govern¬ 
ment buyers of onions, potatoes, etc., for 
the various cantonments? reader. 
All the army cantonments buy onions 
regularly, a month’s supply in advance. 
The bulk of these supplies are obtained 
through competitive bidding, and are 
bought close to the market price. The 
onions must be good stock delivered at 
the camps. While most of the bidding is 
done by contractors, small lots may be 
offered at any time and the supply de¬ 
partments are authorized to consider such 
offer.s. if found to be advantageous. You 
could obtain full details by writing to the 
supply departments of the camps, a list 
of which is given below. Onions are sell¬ 
ing at the various country shipping points 
around $1 per l*0fl-lb. bag, and you could 
hardly expect to get enough to net you 
much more than that after paying for 
transportation from your shii)ping point 
to the camp. The chief advantage to you 
would be that you would effect a cash 
sale, saving dealer’s commission or profit. 
Gamp lepton, Yaphank, New York. 
Gamp Dix, Wrightstown. New .Tersey. 
Gamp Df'vens. .\yer. Massachusetts. 
Gamp jMills. Mineola, New York. 
Camp A. A. Humphreys, Relvoir, Vir¬ 
ginia. 
Naval Camp at Newport. Rhode Island. 
City Park, Brooklyn. New York. 
Pelham Park, New York. 
I’hiladelphia Navy Yard. 
Cape May, New .lersey. 
Some of the smaller forts and encamp¬ 
ments which buy siipiilies in limited 
quantities are Foi-t .lay. New York; Fort 
Niagara, New York ; Fort Ontario, New 
York; Fort Porter, New Y'ork; Fort 
Michie, New York; Fort II. G. M’'right, 
New York; Fort Hamilton, New York; 
Fort Slocum, New York; Fort Terry, 
New York; Fort Totten, New York; 
Fort Wood, New York, and Fort Wads¬ 
worth, New York. g. b. f. 
Corn and Potatoes. —On page .344 
The R. N.-Y. says that crows pulling 
potatoes “is a new one to us.” On Tug 
Hill, Lewis Go., N. Y., it is almost as 
old as the hills. 8ome years ago a farm 
family moved into town, reserving a piece 
of ground for a potato patch. The crows 
saw to it that no seed potato should stay 
underground, and after two seasons ihe 
ex-farmer concluded to raise his potatoes 
in he backyard. I usually coat my seed 
corn with pyrox. Spring of 1916 the 
crows pulled yards and yards of the corn 
plants and laid them down neatly be¬ 
side the rows—never eating a kernel. 
Since then I scatter some of the poisoned 
seed on the ground and they leave the 
young plants alone. Singularly enough, 
our hens have gobbled some of this 
poisoned corn, without showing any in¬ 
jurious results. ir! 
New York. 
Products, Prices and Trade 
NEW YORK, MARCH 28, 1918. 
BUTTER. 
The market has improved somewhat 
since the recent heavy decline, but buy¬ 
ers are taking hold rather slowly so as 
not to be caught with any surplus in case 
of a further drop. The market is fairl.v 
firm on most grades of city-made and 
packing stock. 
Creamery, fancy Ib. 42 (@ •(:( 
Good to Choice . 40 <» 41 
Lower Grades. 36 » 3i» 
Storage, good to choice,. 3 .'> % 4 i 
Dairy, best. 41 ® 42 
Common to Good. 39 @ 40 
City made. 31 @ 3.5 
Packing Stock. 27 @ 33 
Process . 3.5 © 40 
CHEESE. 
Business is very light both here and in 
the producing .sections, and prices re¬ 
main without change. 
Whole .Milk, fancy . 2.5 ® 2.5>.^ 
Good to choice. 23 ® 24 
Lower grades. 16 ® 23 
Skims, best. 19 © 
Fair to good. 9 @ 14 
EGGS. 
Receii)t_s have been extremely large, 
nearly l.oOO.OOO dozen on a single day, 
but demand is heav.v owing to the 
scarcity of poultry and Easter holiday 
demand. I’rices are not much changed 
from last week, the range on nearby run¬ 
ning from 43 to 47 cents. 
W hlte, nearby, choice to fancy. 44 @ 45 
Medium to good. 40 @ 43 
Mixed colors, nearby best. 40 @ 41 
Common to good. 37 @ 38 
Gathered, best, white. 42 ® 43 
Medium to good, mixed colors ... 38 @ 39 
Lower grades. 35 @ 37 
BEANS. 
Marrow, lUO lbs. 14 OO @15 25 
Pea. 1275 @14 00 
California, small white,.14 00 @14 25 
Bed Kidney.14 00 @15 00 
White Kidney. 16 00 @16 25 
Ijlma, CHliforiiia. 14 00 @14 50 
LIVE POULTRY. 
The arrivals at New York have been 
very small and ch'ared out (piickly at 
high figures. F:incy .Spring ducks have 
brought .5(lc per |)ouud, old roosters 27, 
chickens and gc»‘se 3.5. 
DRE.SSED POULTRY. 
Reci'ijits are light, but demand very 
•slow, as the retail prices are so high 
that people have got out of the habit of 
buying as they formerly did. There is 
no e.xpectation of an.v lower prices until 
May 1, when it will be lawful to sell 
cull fowl.s which the Food Administra¬ 
tion has embargoed for the present. 
Turkeys, best lb. 35 @ ;j6 
Common to good . 30 @ 34 
Chickens choice broilers. Ib. 45 @ .50 
Roasters . 33 @ 36 
Eowls. 28 @ 35 
Capons, best . 41 @ 42 
Smaller sizes . 33 @ 37 
Roosters.■.. 26 @ 27 
Ducks. 30 @ 31 
Squabs, doz. 1.50 @8 25 
LIVE STOCK. 
Native Steers.12 06 @14 25 
Bulls . 7 00 @10 25 
Cows . 5 00 @ 9 25 
Calves, prime veal, 100 lbs. 18 00 @21.50 
Culls.12 00 @15 00 
Sheep, 100 lbs. 8 00 @9 00 
Lambs .17 00 @19 50 
Hogs.18 00 @18 80 
FRUIT. 
The receipts nf choice barrelled apple.s 
are light, and high price.s olitaiiied for all 
choice stock. Strawberries selling well 
when of good (piality. 
Apples, York Imperial, bbl.3.50 @ 5.00 
Ben Davis. 3 00 @4 25 
Winesap . 4 00 @ 6 00 
Greening .. 3 ,50 @ 6 .50 
Baldwin. 3 .50 @ 6 00 
King. . 4 00 to 6 (lO 
Spy .. .. 4 00 @7 00 
Pears—Kieller. bbl. 1 50 @ 3 00 
Cranberries, bbl.14 00 @1800 
.strawberries, qt. 15 @ 40 
VEGETABLES. 
The potato market is a trifle stronger 
at Eastern interior markets, where stock 
of High quality still remains. Medium 
grades are (luite dull, and strong effort 
is made to effect sales wherever possilile, 
as they are not considered good property. 
.Vsparagiis from the Soutli is in imu'h 
larger supiily and lower. Kale and spin¬ 
ach very low. Onions hard to sell un¬ 
less choice. Some have gone as low as 
25c per hundred pounds. 
Potatoes—Long Island, 100 lbs. 2 00 @ 2 40 
Maine, 100 lbs. 1 80 @ 2 00 
Jersey, 100 lbs. 1 65 @ 2 00 
state and Western, 100 lbs. 1 80 » 2 00 
Southern New. bbl. 4.50 @6 50 
Sweet Potatoes, bu. 1 00 to 2 50 
Beets, new, bbl. 1 50 to 4 00 
Carrots, bbl. 1 00 to 2 HO 
Cabbage, new. bbl. 150 to 2 25 
Ton, old. ;.25 00 @35 00 
Lettuce, half-bbl. basket. 75 to 4 .50 
Onions, State and W'n., 100 lbs. 25 to 1 .50 
Pepp'jrs, bu. 3 00 5 00 
String Beans bu. 2 00 @ 4 50 
Turnips, bbl,. 50 to 1 25 
Squash,new, bu. 2 00 to 3 00 
Peas, bu. 2 00 @ 4 .50 
Egg Plants, bu. 2 00 to 4 00 
Tomatoes, Southern. 24-qt. crate .... 2 00 @ 4 50 
Asparagus, Southern, doz. 2 00 @6 00 
California.3.50 @12 00 
Mushrooms lb . 25 @ .50 
Horseradish, 100 lbs. 5 00 @7 90 
Cucumbers, hothouse, doz. 1 50 @ 2 00 
Salsify, 100 bunches . 1 00 @ 8 00 
Chicory and Escarol, bbl.1 00 @ 3 .50 
Kale, bbl.• 50 @ 2 00 
Spinach, bbl. I 00 @ 2 25 
Leeks. 100 bunches,. 2 00 @3 00 
Parsley, bbl.,. 2 00 @ 5 00 
HAY AND STRAW. 
Hay. Timothy, No. 1. ton . 29 00 @30 00 
No. 2.25 00 @27 00 
No. 3 .22 00 @24 00 
Clover mixed.24 00 @27 00 
Straw, Rye. 26 00 @27 00 
(Gontinued on page .541) 
