• 1212 
October 26, 1918 
will make it airtight. That is all there 
is to it—the bisuljihide will do the rest. 
When left expo.sod in this way fuine.s 
are formed inside the bin as the chem¬ 
ical evaporates. The.se fumes being 
heavier than air, work down through the 
grain or beans and will kill every living 
insect. If exposed in an open room or 
outdoors, there would be little damage to 
human life, unless one got down close 
over the pan and purposely breathed the 
fumes. If there is any fear or danger, 
however, the plan we have suggested will 
be perfectly .safe, and wdll surely kill the 
weevils. 
proved so often that it should never be 
lost sight of. 
■She RURAL N E W-Y O R K E R 
Countrywide Produce Movement 
Flannel Moth Caterpillars 
I am sending you in a separate pack¬ 
age some kind of a worm caterpillar or 
moth that I found cn one of my young 
apple trees eating the leaves. They arg 
new to me. Will you tell me what they 
are? I noticed the leaves were eaten and 
I found these worms upon examination. 
Connecticut. E. M. w. 
The “worm caterpillars’* referred to in 
the foregoing letter proved on examina¬ 
tion to be very interesting. They were 
the caterpillars of the famous flannel 
moths and are of peculiar interest, not so 
much because they devour apple leaves, 
as that they possess the power of nettling 
or poisoning human flesh with which they 
may come in contact. The caterpillars 
are short, thick, and fleshy, and covered 
with a dense coat of long, silky, brown 
hairs that project upward and meet to 
form a ridge or crest along the middle of 
the back. Mixed in among these long 
hairs are short, stiff, hollow spines con¬ 
taining a poison secreted by certain cells 
in the skin of the caterpillar at the bases 
of the spines. When the caterpillar 
comes in contact with the flesh of a per¬ 
son’s body the tips of the spines pene¬ 
trate the skin and evidently set free in 
the wounds thus made a poison. The re¬ 
sult is a distinct irritation varying in its 
IFEAVY ST'PPr.IE.S AXD POWXWARD TREND 
OF PRICE.S-. 
The recent features are the heavy move¬ 
ment in apples and potatoes and the 
downward trend of prices for most lead¬ 
ing lines. Volume of apples has equaled 
that of potatoes much of the time. These 
two lines comprise about one-third of the 
full produce movement. 
WINTER APPI.ES DOING WELL. 
Fruits are holding prices better than 
vegetables. Baldwin and Greening apples 
bring .$4 to .$4.50 per bbl. in Eastern ship¬ 
ping sections, and .$4..50 to .$5.75 in lead¬ 
ing wholesale markets. Southern cities 
are paying goo<l prices for Virginia Yorks. 
Btilk apples bring .'!:i..50 to $1.75 per 100 
lbs in Eastern and Southern producing 
sections, and $2 to .$.2 per 100 lbs. in the 
, ...... West. Considerable choice stock is sold 
house so the odor would do" no’harm,' shot "i owing to 
them. This method has never failed with ^“ortage of boxes or other containers, 
me, and once I caught one and dragged ^Oc per 100 lbs. 
him out from under the shed that con- — 
Odorless Death For Skunks 
I notice the recent query, how to get 
rid of skunks, really how to get rid of the 
odor they leave behind them. I have 
found a very efficient remedy to be burned 
lime applied freely to the perfumed places. 
The lime kills the odor very quickly. 
New York. f. m. smith. 
On page 1161 J. E. G. asks how to get 
rid of skunks. I have disposed of quite 
a number by setting a small steel trap 
with a line 15 or 20 feet long attached. 
When I find him in the trap I go to the 
other end of the rope, unhitch it from its 
fastenings, and walk off with it, and the 
skunk will follow, and as long as you 
keep going there will be no odor. 1 have 
dragged them into a brook and drowned 
them, or when I was far enough from the 
nected my home and barn. ii. w. M. 
The best way to poison skunks is to 
pick a hole in the small end of an egg, 
pour out part of the contents (small or 
rotten egg will do) and place a little 
in the West to 60 to 6.5c in Western New 
York and Virginia. Northwestern boxed 
apples .sell from $1.75 to $2.25 for top 
grades of choice varieties in producing 
.sectioms, and range .$.2 to .$.3.75 per box 
in Eastern city markets. 
Grapes were the only other fruit in 
strychnine in opening. This is a sure heavy supply and prices, especially in the 
shot, as skunks are fond of eggs. I have East, have been going up .steadily, reach- 
used this remedy for years, and it always ing nearly double the figures of last year, 
gets Mr. Skunk if placed where he is Concords in 4-qt. baskets range 41 to 48c 
most likely to find the egg. in city markets, and 35 to 37c in Eastern 
Oklahoma. r. p. eli.iott. 
*rhe question has been raised as to the 
be.st manner of catching skunks without 
damaging the neighborhood. I spent con- 
.siderable time in the old Indian Territory 
in my youth, where skunks were very 
numerous. I give you the result of my 
experience: 
The defensive odor of the .skunk come.s 
from a yellow liquid secreted by a special 
gland, the orifice of which is inside of the 
anus. In order to eject this liquid, it is 
necessary to raise the tail higli so as to 
evert the anus and give a clear exit. If 
the tail, for any reason, cannot be rai.sed, 
the orifice of the duct is closed and the 
liquid cannot be ejected. The application 
of this is to catch the skunk in a figure 
Intensity aocording to the snswptibillty When" the skniik Is "insMe of "ihe 
of the person attacked. In the worst box, he cannot raise his tail; consequently 
ca.ses an intense burning, itching sensation *1® cannot eject the liquid. I have carried 
is produced and the hand or arm may be¬ 
come considerably swollen. Probably in 
the majority of instances no serious effect 
is produced. These flannel moths lay 
their eggs on blackberry, oak, apple, 
plum, pear, cherry, and birch at least, 
and on these trees the caterpillars may 
be found. They do not usually appear in 
sufficient numbers to cause serious injury 
to the plants, and doubtless can easily be 
killed with a spray of arsenate of lead. 
GLENN W. nERRICK. 
skunks ill such a box under my arm 
safely, and have put the box in a bathtub 
With a stone on it to hold down the lid 
i be water was then turned on, and the 
skunk quietly drowned without iiiiy par¬ 
ticle of odor or injury to the skin. ‘There 
IS iinother advantage over a .steel trap in 
that Avhen one’s neighbor’s cat is caught 
by_ mistake it can be released without 
in^uiy. SCOTT 
Major Gen., TJ. S. A., Commanding. 
Fertility in House Wastes 
Some people keep a pig to utilize the 
hou.sehold wa.stes. Others put anything 
IS eatable in the chicken yard. 
that 
Spontaneous Combustion 
Within the past few years there have 
been two fires in my neighborhood which 
Others have neither pigs nor poultry, but 
they have a garden, which must be fer¬ 
tilized. bo they burn such waste as they 
I m.v iiciKiimfiiJoou wiucu In +L There is some 
destroyed farm property worth several and we find peojile who real- 
thousand dollars. The conditions under f' fitted up little out- 
which both fires occurred were quite simi- *■ large 
lar. Both occurred in the evening before ^innno^fn. >*^ Pmce would be called an “in- 
it was fully dark. In each case there nmio a small scale a little con- 
was an entire absence of evidence that i,. bricks may 
the buildings were set afire either purpose- 
ly or accidently. Both fires were discov- ^ ^ ashes and 
ered within a short time after they setting buildings 
started, probably within 15 minutes. 
Weather conditions had been similar for 
several days previously. In each case 
there had been damp, muggy weather 
with continued light rainfall. Both fires 
started at or near a small icehouse at¬ 
tached to one of the barns. In one case 
the fire w'as discovered just above the 
icehouse, in the other the barn adjacent 
was discovered to be on fire. In each case 
the icehouse roof was leaky, the sawdust 
was old and there was no ice in the build¬ 
ing. G. u, c. 
New Jersey. 
The story of these fires fits in with 
many others which have come in from 
time to time, and there seems to be no 
doubt that “spontaneous combustion’’ ac¬ 
counts for a fair proportion of these acci¬ 
dents. But when we have said that we 
have merely named our ignorance. Just 
why damp sawdust, fresh hay, and like 
bodies get so hot we do not know. In 
the case of manure piles there is no doubt 
that it is the life of infinite numbers of 
germs of many kinds which either raise 
the temperature or provide something 
which unites so fast with the oxygen of 
the air that an ignition point is reached. 
Most of us have seen a rotten stump glow 
in the dark. We do not know the exact 
reason, but this is a case .where germs 
make something which unites with oxygen 
and gives off light while doing it, and if 
one sort of germ can make heatless light, 
it is not unlikely that others can make 
ligbtless heat. That there is a chance of 
a fire in every mow of fresh hay has been 
on fire. At the Connecticut Experiment 
Station analysis of .some of tbe.se hou.se¬ 
hold wastes have been made, and we give 
below, some of the figures: ’ 
Water- 
Potash. 
11.74 
41.76 
12.21 
16.81 
0.16 
Apple skiu ash. 
Phos¬ 
phoric 
Acid. 
3 08 
Banana skiu ash. 
3.25 
Cantaloupe rind ash. 
0 77 
Cigar and cigarette ashes 
2.57 
Coal ashes, sifted. 
0.32 
Coffee grounds (percohit- 
ed) . 
0.36 
Cucumber .skin ash. 
11.2.8 
Eggshells, burned . 
0.43 
Grape fruit skiu ash.. . . 
3..58 
Orange skin ash. 
2.00 
Peach skin ash. 
6.31 
Peach stone ash. 
3.25 
Peanut shell ash. 
1.23 
Pea pod ash. 
1.70 
String beans ash (stems 
and strings) .. 
4.00 
Sweet potato skin (boiled) 
ash . 
3.29 
Tea leaves ash. 
1.60 
White potato skin (raw) 
ash . 
Wood ashes . 
1.06 
0.67 
27.20 
0.20 
30.64 
27.04 
30.76 
6.04 
6.45 
9.00 
18.00 
13.80 
0.44 
27.54 
6.41 
There is some nitrogen in the coffee 
grounds and lime in the eggshells. Of 
course there would be only a small quan¬ 
tity of plant food in the wastes from an 
ordin.ary family, but every little helps in 
war time. Old paper and dry trash will 
help burn up these wastes, or the stuff 
may be thrown into an ordinary fireplace. 
At any rate, the ashes are worth saving, 
especially for the home garden. It is as¬ 
tonishing to see how much potash accu¬ 
mulates in the skin of fruits and veg¬ 
etables. We see from this the advantage 
of eating the skin, instead of the peeled 
fruit. 
producing section;?. 
potatoes lower in the WE.ST. 
Heavy shipment of potatoes from the 
West cau.sed much weakness in We.stern 
and Middle Western markets. Lowest 
jirices wei’e in Idaho, where growers get 
only $1 per 100 lbs., including bags; Wis¬ 
consin growers receive about the same 
price without bags. Maine potatoes have 
held up fairly well at around $3 per bbl., 
in bulk, or $2 per 1(X) lbs. Eastern whole¬ 
sale markets fell 5 to 10c per 100 lbs dur¬ 
ing October. Middle Western city markets 
weakened almost daily, reaching close to 
$1.50 per 100 lbs. for carlots. 
onions still declining. 
The feeling is a little better in some 
shipping .sections because of decreased vol- 
uine of supplie.s, but prices have been 
going down at a rate di.scouraging to 
growers for this costly crop. At mo.st 
points onions are .selling considerably 
lower than potatoes, ranging generally 
$1.2.5 to $2 per 100 lbs., sacked, in leadipg 
Eastern and ]\Iiddle We.stern cities, but 
.somewhat higher in Far We.stern markets. 
The government is buying very few onions 
for November consumption by the Army. 
OAURAGE, REANS AND FRUITS WEAKER. 
The cabbage situation show’s no special 
improvement, neither is it much worse. 
Wholesale prices in the East range from 
% to l)4c pi'r lb. The crop is turning 
out well in mo.st sections, both in quantity 
and quality. 
The outlook for field-bean prices is none 
too good. The crop is even larger in the 
West than it was last year, and there is 
still some old stock held over. There is 
reported to be a big crop in Manchuria 
ready to be sent here if prices warrant; 
also a good-size crop and acreage in West- , 
ern t’anada. A few new Colorado and' 
California beans are in the market, and 
the Michigan movement is just starting. 
Prices show a tendency to sag off in the 
West, but, so fah, the Eastern markets 
have held unchanged values for old and 
new stock. 
New England and New .Jersey cran¬ 
berries have tended toward slightly lower 
prices, ranging generally $7.50 to $9 per 
bbl. in Ea.stern and Western markets. 
Scarcity of .sugar limits the demand. 
Northern fruits except apples, grapes and 
late pears are about done. Oranges and 
grapefruit are beginning to move from 
Florida. g. b. f. 
E. FRANK COE’S 
Fertilizers 
1857-1918 
'T^HE Business Far- 
mers’ Standard for 
over 60 years, and more 
prog-ressive than ever. 
Better Facilities, Bet¬ 
ter Goods. Ask for new 
books on soils, crops 
and fertilizers, 
WE WANT MORE AGENTS 
Address Crop Book Department 
The GOE-MORTIMER GO. 
51 Ghamliers St., New York 
SUBSIDIARY OF 
THE AMERICAN AORICULTURAL CHEMICAL CO. 
Grape=Nuts 
A ConpooiKl made ef Wheat 
Barle;, Salt and Yeast. 
ill Vosfum Cereal Company^ d 
1 ) CnA. Mkh.. U. a. a. "f 
Y -—-- ’W 
A FOOD 
Ca«l*Mac M* Mmral —tm iw -“T-titi 
ECOMOMY 
» * —»«■< «i—e»a«d»>a W OBAr«.KVTt 
WCT WCIOKT TWCCVW Tfc 
Saving Sugar 
and Wheat 
is comfortably 
done when one 
uses 
This cereal food 
is composed part¬ 
ly of barley and 
contains its own 
sugar made from 
its own grains. 
A truly wonder¬ 
ful Food, ready 
to eat. 
" There's a J^ason ** 
HIGHEST PRICES 
i:r. Paid for all kinds of tVftW rlirS 
I need large quantities of all 
kinds of furs, and it will pay 
you to get iny price list. 
I especially solicit furs from 
all nortliern and central 
sections. Write for iny price 
list end Bhippins tARS today to 
O. L SLENKER 
P.O.Box M-2. East Liberty, O. 
Health—Comfort—Convenience 
Don’t go out in the snow or nasty weather to an 
unsightly, germ-breeding, disease-spreading, 
outdoor privy. No more colds, rheumatism, etc. 
Wolverine Chemical Toilet 
Endorsed by health oIRuials, Odorless, Sani-d 
tary. Germ Proof. No water, sewer or | 
cesspool. Easy to install. Upkeep less 
than cent a day. Pays for itself many times 
i n a year. Thousands in use. Price remark¬ 
ably low. Write for free book. 
DaU Steel Products Co., 210 MaiaSL.lansing.Midi.' 
Tree Protectors 
Protect your Trees from Ilabbits and .Mice with 
our Protector. It affords perfect protection at a 
little more than one cent per Tree. .Satisfaction 
guaranteed. Write for prices. 
CALL’S NURSERIES, Perry, Ohio 
Established In 1877 
Pot-Grown and Runner 
STRAWBERRY PLANTS 
For Fall i)Ianting. Will bear fruit next snnuner. Also 
ItAHl'KKKRY, RI.ACKREKKY, OOttSKIlFItliy. (P It It* NT, *.S 
I’AHAOrS, RIIIUIAIIII. WITI.OOK (IIICOItY. PRAPK PI.A.MS 
khi’It thkks, uosks, privet, siiitrns. catalogue free 
HARRY L. SQUIRES, - Good Ground, New York 
5,000 KIEFFEK PEAK, 2 and 3 ve.ar. 
5,000 YEI-I.OW TKANSP. APPLE, 3-year. 
5,000 IlELICIOUS “ 2and3-j'ear. 
500 MONTMORENCY CHERRY, 3-year. 
BRIDGEVILLE NURSERIES, MyerS Son, BRIDGBVnXB, DEL 
Practical 
Live Stock Books 
FOR SALE BY RURAL NEW-YORKER 
FEEDS AND FEEDING— 
Henry . 
$2.50 
MANUAL OF MILK PRO¬ 
DUCTS— Stocking 
2.00 
DISEASES OF ANIMALS— 
Mayo . 
1.75 
PRODUCTIVE SWINE 
HUSBANDRY—Dai/ . 
1.75 
BREEDING OF FARM ANI- 
MALS— Harper . 
1.50 
CHEESE MAKING — Van 
Slyke . 
1.75 
BUTTER MAKING—Pui/otn 
.60 
MILK TESTING — Publow 
and Troy . 
.60 
