RURAL NEW-YORKER 
595 
Footwear in Wet Time* 
These are the days of wet feet on the 
farm. In the tightest of rubber foot¬ 
wear the wanning sun induces sweating, 
while under gray skies the chill air in¬ 
vites condensation of warmer air within 
the boot, until at the close of a working 
day the wearer of waterproof boots well 
may wonder wherein the exclusion of sur¬ 
face water made for drier socks, and the 
next morning, when he has used full 
force of his arms in forcing his feet into 
the sodden, cold linings of the night be¬ 
fore, he well may wear a wry face. But 
a gallon of oats in a metal pail, and 
nested somewhere in a convenient corner 
beside a stove or kitchen range, can be 
made to yield more comfort to the far¬ 
mer’s feet than ever a bushel of the grain 
could bring to consuming animals of the 
barnyard. 
No matter what the style or material 
of his footwear, or what the degree of 
damp or wet which they contain, these 
warmed oats poured into boots or shoes 
and shaken and pressed in to fill them 
full, will bring a revelation of warm, dry 
roominess to the person making the ex¬ 
periment. To the extent that the oats 
are warm and dry when poured into the 
boot, to that extent they will absorb the 
wet and, swelling, restore shape to the 
boot. 
It is doubtful if the average farm 
worker appreciates how a little attention 
to his footwear will increase its life and 
make for his comfort. In the writer’s 
home one of the first things done -with a 
new shoe of any grade is to place it in 
a shallow dish or pan into which a little 
warmed linseed oil has been poured. It 
is surprising how much of this oil the 
sole and heel of a new, or dry, shoe will 
absorb. When the linseed oil is dried 
and has done so much toward making 
the sole waterproof, no degree of wet in 
which the shoe is worn will make slip¬ 
pery walking for the wearer. Neither 
does the oil harden the sole appreciably, 
or take from its elasticity, while its re¬ 
sistance to wear is much increased. 
Neat’s-foot oil is one of the best soften¬ 
ers for upper leathers. Castor oil is 
better than any of the mineral oils which 
so frequently are used as lubricants on 
the farm. When leather footwear has 
become water-soaked, fill the shoe with 
the warm oats until it is distended, wipe 
off the wet and apply the warmed oil 
which, as the oats absorb the moisture, 
will find its way into the leather. The 
.swelling oats will restore the shape of 
the shoe. 
Brisk brushing of the most ordinary 
footwear is well worth the time and ef¬ 
fort. In soils where sands and silicates 
are found, a stiff brush applied with 
w'arming friction, will dislodge gritty 
particles which find seat in minute pores 
and breaks in leather, and which tend to 
cut the finished surface; further, this 
friction warms the oil dressings and 
closes these pores against invasion. As 
to footwear in a general way, workaday 
shoes just large enough to admit an insole 
with comfort are to be desired. Almost 
anything will suffice for insole material, 
but a scrap of heavy cotton duck is last¬ 
ing and serviceable. A pair of stout 
house slippers will release the outdoor 
shoe for its dry oats at evening, while 
they bring their cost in comfort for tired 
feet. II. w. F. 
Connecticut. 
A 20-Cent Potato 
Not long ago at a city restaurant we 
called for a baked potato without looking 
at the price. It was a good potato of 
medium size, dry and “mealy” and well 
cooked. It cost 20 cents. That meant 
about $1.5 per bushel for such tubers. At 
that time farmers were selling well-grad¬ 
ed potatoes at about $1,50 per bushel. 
We wondered at the time where the 17 
to IS cents difference between producer 
and consumer went to, and now this seems 
have been figured out by an expert ac¬ 
countant. In the Hotel Gazette, a mag¬ 
azine for hotel keepers, an accountant, 
Mr. Lee. figures it out, and, according to 
the New York Sun, he makes the follow'- 
ing statement for the baked potato: 
Cents 
Initial cost of potato. 3.93 
Expense of maintaining the restau¬ 
rant and payroll (prorated on the 
actual amount of business done) 
involved in the sale of that potato 
is. 5.21 
Purchasing, receiving and storing 
expense is . I.IS 
Preparation and cooking. 1.59 
Repairs to plant. 0.24 
Heat, light and pow’er. 0.49 
Rent and taxes. l.OG 
On sale of potato at. 
13.70 
.20.00 
Profit is. 6.30 
It is a pretty fine sort of bookkeeping 
that gets taxes or repairs in a big hotel 
This superintendent says: “I have no 
knowledge of this question having been 
passed upon by a court of competent 
jurisdiction and so believe that the pro¬ 
cedure in any hospital would rest upon 
the judgment of the superintendent, who 
is authorized by law to parole patients 
when the circumstances are such that, in 
his opinion, such parole is justified. 
“Under ordinary circumstances, a hus¬ 
band’s wishes would be consulted before 
such action was taken, but it sometimes 
happens that a husband does not exhibit 
the interest in his wife’s welfare that he 
ought, and, for reasons best known to 
himself, prefers not to undertake to look 
after her at home. In such a case it is 
clearly proper, in my judgment, for the 
superintendent of the hospital to parole 
the patient to custody of parents, broth¬ 
ers, sisters, or children, or even to friends 
when the condition of the patient war¬ 
rants parole and such friends are inter¬ 
ested to the extent of exercising satisfac¬ 
tory supervision while the patient is 
aw'ay from the hospital. I believe that 
the superintendent of a State hospital 
should exercise his judgment in determin¬ 
ing matter of parole, precisely as he 
should use his judgment in refusing 
This Man Has a Bee-keeper's Trust in Bees and Flowers Which Will Partly Offset 
the Sugar Trust 
down to a single potato, but the point is 
that this tuber after paying its share of 
all “overhead” expenses, pays the hotel 
man 80 per cent pi’ofit on the original 
cost. The middlemen who sohl to the 
hotel man got 19.6 cents of the hotel 
man’s dollar, and the farmer did well if he 
got 10 cents. This, of course, is an ex¬ 
ceptional case, but in this big city alone 
at least 1,500,000 people eat one or more 
meals each day at a restaurant. 
The Rights of Deranged People 
My wife became insane last Summer, 
and after consulting several of the best 
specialists it was decided to send her to 
a State hospital for treatment, which I 
parole when he deems refusal best for 
the patient.” 
This position seems to me reasonable 
and one that would probably be upheld 
if the matter were taken into the courts. 
The superintendent is charged with the 
responsibility of ascertaining the condi¬ 
tions under which the patient is kept 
while away fi*om the hospital, and if, in 
his opinion, these conditions are such 
as to contribute to the welfare of the 
patient, he should decide in that patient’s 
favor. In other words, the judgment of 
the medical superintendent of the hos¬ 
pital should be taken in preference to 
the opinions of any of the natural guar¬ 
dians of the one most concerned , 
In this connection it may be said that 
there has been a change in recent years 
in the medical profession’s conception of 
what should be the function of an asylum 
for the insane. This change is reflected 
This Ohio Woman Started- icith a Heifer Calf, Given Her as a Wedding Present. 
She Has Developed a Good Herd 
did. Later .she was put on parole and 
a relative went and took her home 
with her, where she has been since. I 
called at the hospital the same day to 
inquire about her health, and the doctor 
told me that the relative was there, and 
that she was going home. I told the 
doctor that I did not approve, and asked 
that he keep her at the hospital. I 
would like to know how to proceed to get 
her back to the hospital. I suppose, of 
course, she is yet on parole. j. K. 
Your question, involving the right of 
a State hospital to parole a patient 
against the wishes of the proper guardi¬ 
ans, and the right of a husband to the 
guardianship of his wife, if paroled, is 
one the legal aspects of which I am not 
competent to pass upon. I have, accord¬ 
ingly, submitted it to the superintendent 
of one of the largest institutions for the 
insane in the State, and can do no better 
than to quote from his reply. 
in the official title now given to those in¬ 
stitutions under the control of the State—■ 
State hospitals. These institutions are 
not to be considered prisons, or reform- 
atorie.s, but hospitals for the treatment 
of mental diseases. The insane are no 
longer thought to be possessed of devils; 
they are patients, suffering from disease, 
and the disease is ouite as real as though 
it affected the physical body instead of 
the mind. Diseases of the mind, in a 
very large proportion of the ca.ses, are 
curable, and whatever measures will best 
promote such cures are the ones which 
should be taken. This change in, or 
rather development of, the professional 
attitude toward the insane has brought 
about a like one in the popular attitude 
toward State institutions for them. People 
no longer feel that placing friends in an 
a.sylum is committing them to a living 
grave; it is, rather, putting them under 
skilled treatment with the hone that a 
cure will be effected; and this hope is 
realized in a surprisingly large number 
of cases. 
Mental disorders, like those of the 
body, are most easily cured in their early 
stages, and. if the friends of those who 
are losing their mental balance would see 
that proper care and treatment were 
given early, a much larger number would 
be saved from life-long mental invalid¬ 
ism. Our State hospitals, with their spe¬ 
cially trained physicians, are offering 
their facilities for diagnosis and treat¬ 
ment of beginning mental diseases pre¬ 
cisely as other hospitals invite those suf¬ 
fering from physical disorders. They are 
encouraging voluntary visits from those 
w'ho feel the need of their skill and ac¬ 
cept voluntary patients. When the pub¬ 
lic learns to take full advantage of these 
facilities offered, and to avail themselves 
of the privilege early, a very great step 
forward in the care of the mentally un¬ 
fortunate will have been taken. 
In accordance with the changed public 
attitude toward the proper care of the in¬ 
sane \yhich I have mentioned, health offi¬ 
cers, in New York State, have recently 
been given oversight of these patients iii 
their jurisdictions. It is not now con- 
fitting that the mentally sick 
should be made a charge of the local poor 
authorities, as they formerly were. Those 
who may wish to know what steps they 
must? take to secure proper care of men¬ 
tally incompetent friends, or to secure 
expert advice for themselves, should con- 
sult the health officer of their munici¬ 
pality. He is the link between the pub¬ 
lic and the State institution. m. b. d. 
Care of the Canary Bird 
I have a canary bird about three years 
old, and she will not wash at all. I put 
her in the water, but she won’t wash 
herself. The feathers have nearly all 
come off her head. d. g. 
Birds are as whimsical as children 
about bathing, and often, for no apparent 
reason, refuse to bathe. Very likely your 
biixl has not t.he_ physical strength to take 
a proper bath in her present condition. 
You know you can drive a horse to water 
but you can’t make him drink! It is 
about the same with birds and bathing. 
It does no real good to put the bird in 
the water, and causes real harm to try 
to force her to bathe. A friend of ours 
had a liird that was very troublesome 
about his bath and one day she com- 
polled him to bathe, and thought she was 
as gentle as possible. Inside of an hour 
her pet was dead. I do not know the 
reason, only the fact. We have a wee 
boarder. Sweetie, whose mistress is in the 
city for the Winter. At home Sweetie 
insists on a daily bath ; here he will flirt 
with the water occasionally, but will 
take a regular bath only once in two or 
three weeks. He is well and happy, and 
his mistress prefers a live bird with gray 
wing and tail tips, to a possible dead one. 
My .Timmie takes to water like a fish and 
has only bothered me once for a few 
weeks about bathing. Then I found a 
way that would work and did no harm. 
Fill a rubber plant-sprinkler with water 
that is as warm as your hand and very 
gently sprinkle the bird for a couple of 
minutes. Birdie will shake off the water, 
preen his feathers and be all right again. 
^ Loss of feathers about the head is occa¬ 
sioned either by mites, bird lice, or old 
age generally, though it may be caused 
by general physical weakness. The best 
cui-e is removal of the cause. For treat¬ 
ment, in addition to the usual food, give 
twice a week a little bread moistened 
with milk that has been dusted 
with a mixture of two parts sulphur to 
one of potasrium chlorate. At the same 
intervals rub a little carbolized vaseline 
on the bare places. You had better ex¬ 
amine the bird and cage carefully for 
traces of either bird lice or mites. The 
bird louse is gray, with a long, slender 
body and a large head armed wtih strong 
jaws. They feed on the feather structure 
of the bird’s outer covering, and their 
sharp claws make the bird very uncom¬ 
fortable. _ Their eggs are attached to the 
bird’s skin by a sort of gum and are very 
hard to remove. The best treatment is 
to blow insect powder, pyrethrum, into 
the bird’s feathers two or three times a 
week with a small bellows or blower. 
This will be sure to kill any young that 
may hatch. The other canary pest is so 
small that even when fully grown it is 
hard to see without a microscope. Its 
natural color is white, but when it is full 
of blood sucked from the bird it appears 
bright red. They feed at night and are 
seldom found on the bird’s body during 
the day. They are found in the slits-at 
the ends of perches or in the round piece 
of metal forming the top of the ordinary 
wire cage. All that would show would be 
very tiny white spottings. If you find or 
suspect they are there, take your bird out 
of the cage and either clean the cage 
with a solution of one ounce of carbolic 
acid in a gallon of water, applied with 
a small brush, taking care to reach all 
crevices; or fill your wash-boiler, get the 
water to boiling, put in the cage, cover 
and keep covered for several minutes. In 
addition, you can also use insect powder 
as for the louse. 
I suppose you are careful in daily 
treatment and food for your pet. The 
probable cause of baldness in a young 
bird is parasites, and I have given you 
directions for treatment in that case. 
But if you find no traces of them, and 
your bird still pines and loses feathers, 
write to me again, for the little thing is 
probably sick. edna s. knapp. 
