1398 
•The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
small onion sets for another year. These seven rows 
took up ground .seven feet wide and 31 feet long. I 
sold .$19.80 worth of green hunch onions and har¬ 
vested 11/^ bushels small .set onion.s. then put this 
ground out to Grand Itapids lettuce, 0x0, in Sep- 
teml.er. Sold in October ,$22 Fall lettuce, over .$41 
off that small strip of ground. 
A GOOD KFGOKI).—I have a ready sale for all 
or more than I can raise. I have in plant season 
.sold as high as ,$14 in one day right in the back 
yard. I am interested in the oil busine.ss for a liv¬ 
ing. and u.se my garden as a side line, but do, all my 
own work in the garden, as I take great ])rlde in 
seeing Avhat I can do in rai.sing fine vegetables. 
This $440.19 is ready cash sold, be.sides all vegetables 
used for the house, such as beets, carrots, tomatoes, 
.string beams, cucumbers. ])eas, etc. Every morning 
r counted cash in my pocket, and at night I counted 
it again, and all over the amount garden got the 
credit, .so this amount is no gue.ss. I raised a good 
many beets, as I put four to five beets (size of an 
egg) in a bunch, and get 10c. and cannot ral.se them 
fast enough. My vegetables ai-e all washed well to 
catch the eye. It is one thing to raise a vegetable 
and another thing to get it ready for market, to get 
the best lu.ice. n. ii. wili.iams. 
McKean Co.. Pa. 
An Old Indian Mine 
The old folks toll nio that the Indians know of load 
oro on my farm noar a brook which has cut a dooj) 
gully, but that they kept the place well hidden, so the 
white men would never find it. Do you think then* is 
any truth in the story, and is there any way to find 
the place? c. T. 
New York. 
I F all the “Injun mines” which are scattered about. 
with fairly reliable legends attached, over the 
Eastern States, could he found and worked accoial- 
ing to the stoide.s, the resulting output of metals 
would astonish the world, and we understand that in 
the West there are at least a dozen .similar mines foi‘ 
every one that has ever been discovered since ’49. 
Rut if those who have treasured the tales of their 
gr.andfathers would look into the known facts of the 
life and habits of the red men. they would see.that 
a very .small mine would go a long way in those 
times. The fact is that the native North Americans 
knew nothing of mining in the civilized sense. Some 
of those in the Middle West had made use of fiakes 
of coi)i)er which were discovered now and again, and 
had even put a sort of edge on them, but it s(‘ems 
unlikely that they ever considered it other than a 
slightly soft and flexible stone. Rut they did Avant 
small, Jieavy stones for clubs and fishnet .sinkers, 
and they wanted bright things for ornament. Now 
it happens that one of the ores of lead, the sulidiide. 
galena, is .soft and easily Avorked. though someAvhat 
brittle, and is both heavy and .shiny. So it Avas a 
desired article, .and the places Avhere it could be 
found Avere naturally kept secret, perhaps .since that 
sort of knowledge AA-as sooner or later the propert.A’ 
of chiefs and priests, they Avere more or less holj' 
places. 
That accouut.s. ino]-e than any ideas of c.ash A’alue, 
for the dislike of telling the Avhite men of them. 
Rut a number of such loc.alities have been found, 
.sometimes in the course of in\'estigatiou of the abo¬ 
riginal life and habits, and .sometimes by chance. 
In nearly every case thei'e Avas merely the casual 
use of the outcrop, whatever it Avas, and no mine in 
the modern sense at all. In fact, the mechanical 
skill of the North Americans of the most adA’anced 
tribes Avas not equal to any effort of this sort. .So 
you may as Avell abandon the “mine” if you had any 
idea of anything in the modern meaning of the 
term. Rut this is not saying that there Avas no 
foundation for the legend. If there is any galen.a in 
your neighborhood it is not unlikely that there Avas 
a place Avhere they scratched around once in a Avhile 
and found a few chunks, and. of course, kept the 
exact locality to themselves, a secret from others of 
their sort as Avell as from the Avhites, no doubt. 
Rut the.v Avere a childish and a careless lot. as likely 
to throAV aAva.v as to keep Avhat the.v had long striven 
for, and so there are bits chijiped off. and half made 
and broken articles about all their usual camping 
grounds and resorts. 
Noav, if there Avas an.v regular source of galena 
in your locality, you and jmur neighbors have prob¬ 
ably found these bits and chips and half-made and 
broken-in-the-making articles from time to time in 
the fields as you plowed, or in the Fall and Spring 
Avhen heavy rains had Avashed the surface. If such 
things have not turned up once in a Avhile .von may 
be pretty sure there Avas no “mine” about there, no 
matter Avhat the story. And if you have found them, 
there is no reason to think fi’om that that there Avns 
any large supiily of the ore, for a A-ery thin seam 
or even a good-sized boAvlder Avould keep those fel- 
loAvs in raAA^ material for many year.s. On the other 
hand, if you are inclined to think there is .some 
foundation for the old story, the only thing you can 
do is to size up the lay of the land and hunt the 
likel.A" spots. There is no chance of finding any¬ 
thing in this case Avith a magnetic needle, and, Avhile 
there are methods of locating large ore beds b.v 
magnetic induction and resonance, the.v would not 
apply in .vour case. Rut avc can tell you Avith abso¬ 
lute certainty that there are no magic Avays of doing 
it. no matter how many people inform .aou that they 
Northern Neic York in Winter. Fig. 6oJf 
haA'c a friend aa'Iio is a second-sighted seer aa’Iio 
infallibly locates a mine AA'ithin 13 rods. 8teer clear 
of all such talkers. f. d. c. 
A Party-colored Apple 
With this I am sending you a small package con¬ 
taining tAvo apples, variety “Delicious.” The smaller 
one is so peculiarly marked I thought you might like 
to figure it in The R. N.-Y. The other is just a nice 
specimen in color, size and shape, to show hoAV this fine 
apple may be grown here. I leuA'e it to you to judge 
the quality. MOSES B. grifei'xg. 
Long Island. 
A PICTURE of the smaller apple, made from a 
photograph, is shown at Fig. (555. Almost one- 
third of the skin Avas colored a dark crimson. Avhile 
the balance shaded off into pink and yelloAA’. The 
difference in color Avas clearly marked by a straight 
line. It seemed as if part of the apple had been 
covered Avith paper or cloth, as is done in “sun 
printing.” Many groAvors ai'C familiar Avith that 
].i-oc(>ss. .V luiper or cloth. Avith initials or figures 
cut out of it. is ]»:ist(‘d on the .side of the apple. The 
Delicious Agple. Ptirtlg Fun Painted. Fig. 655 
surface beneath this covering fails to color properl.v. 
Avhile the exj)0.sed surface Avill .sIioav. the letters or 
figures in the natural color of the fruit. The other 
specimen of Delicious Avas remarkably fine and high 
colored. We have been agreeably surprised this 
.vear to lind Long Island producing apples of the 
highest class. 
The Feeding Value of Acorns 
T he use of acorns as a food for both man and 
beast dates back to ijrimiliA'e man. The Ameri¬ 
can Indian made much of it as a foodstuff, for him¬ 
self and family. In the earl.v .‘settlement of America, 
the sturdy colonists hailed Avith delight a large acorn 
croi) (mast as it Avas called). The.v kneAv that the 
me.at of the Avild hog would be sAveetest and fattest 
by reason of the lai-ge sui)ply of acorns. 
Dur fertile soils, large crop yields, and the great 
desire to try out neAV things, have cau.sed us almost 
Avholl.v to neglect man.v of God’s richest .gifts to man. 
IMie acorn is one of them, and I am .glad to say that 
its value as a stock food is being revived, and I trust 
the time is near when we shall save every bushel of 
this fine foo't.sfuff nnd turn it into the choicest of 
December 21, 1018 
animal products. The folIoAving table shows the 
fattening value as compared Avith corn: 
.\corns—Avith shell—tfresh) : 
7c 
% 
7c 
% 
% 
% 
1 )ry 
Carbo¬ 
Crude 
Mattor 
Protein 
Fat 
hydrate 
Fiber 
Ash 
49.3 
2.2 
2.0 
34.7 
9.4 
1.0 
('orn : 
88.9 
10.5 
4.8 
70.2 
1.9 
1.5 
Difference in faA'Oi 
• of 
corn : 
7c 
7c 
7c 
7c 
% 
7c 
Dry 
f’arbo- 
Crude 
Matter 
Protein 
Fat 
hydrate 
Fiber 
Ash 
OO Ii 
8.3 
2.8 
35.5 
It takes but a glance to sIioav Iioav acorns compare 
Avith corn as a fattening food. In the Fall of 1898 
the Tuske.gee Institute Experiment Station purchased 
nearly 1.000 bushels of acorns, and fed tljem to both 
ho.gs and milch coavs, Avith positively good results to 
the fattening hogs, and no noticeably ill effects to 
the milch coavs. 
In feeding the ho.gs Ave made the acorns take the 
place of .grain. This AA-as supi)lemented Avith kitchen 
slops. An excellent quality of pork Avas prodm-ed. 
We did not feed an.v coi-n. and the meat and lard 
Avas .soft. This could haA'e been hardened b.v feeding 
C(»rn tAvo or three Aveeks before butchering. Within 
recent yeai-s much attention has been given, botli at 
home and abroad, to the feeding of acorns, and inso¬ 
lar as the experiments haA'e been brought to m.A- 
attention no bad effects have folIoAved the rational 
feeding of acorns, but positively good results. 
The International Institute of Agriculture. Rome.' 
Ital.v, after a series of very careful experiments, has 
this to say concerning the (piality of acorns. Avhicb 
may be beneficially fed daily to animals as indicated 
beloAv: 
Name' of Fresh Acorns Dry Acoi iis 
Animals Fed Daily Fed Daily 
. 9.9 (t.KJ 
Dairy coavs . fl.O fi.lfi 
Reef or draught oxen. 1.3.2 8 14 
Rigs. , 3.3 22 
8heep au(\ goats. 1.65 l.’l 
The Journal of the Roard of Agriculture. London, 
England, publishes a very exhaustive report on the 
feeding of acorns to chickens, b.v' Prof. Harold T. 
Granfield. a.gricultural chemist to the Midland A.gri- 
cultural and Dairy (’olle.ge. His report is as folloAvs; 
.Seventeen birds in full lay Avere .selected—12 pul- 
U‘ts and fiA'e tAA’o-.A-ear-old bird.s. Refore commencing 
the acorn feeding, the birds received the folloAving 
ration per bird per da.A-: Soft food, one ounce of 
tish meal, one ounce of sharps (Avheat middlings), 
cooked A-e.getables. Hard food, one-half ounce of 
wheat .screenings, oats and maize. In the first Aveek 
of the exiieriment the corn AA'as reduced to one ounce 
per bird per da.A-. and one-half ounce of liulhHl and 
crushed acorns Avere substituted. The .second Aveek 
the remainder of the grain Avas stopped, and one 
ounce of hulled and crushed acorns Avas given, each 
bird thus receiving tAvo ounces of acorn kernels per 
day. The birds Avere Avatched very carefully for any 
adver.se effects, but none appeared. The egg record 
Avas as folloAvs: 
Two weeks previous 
to experiiiieut 
Acorn Feeding. 
No. of eggs. 
Ki r.st 
77 
Second 
78 
V> oz. 
1st Wk. 
73 
% ozs. 2 ozs. 
2d AA'k. 3d AVk. 
71 7.3 
2 ozs. 
4th AVk. 
72 
No. of birds in lay 
17 
17 
16’^ 
15t 
15t 
15t 
No. of eggs per 
bii'd i)('r Aveek. 
4..5.3 
4..59 
4..56 
4.73 
4.87 
4.80 
*Ono bird brood.v. tDne bird broody and one sitting. 
It Avould api»ear from this record that the acorns 
had no adverse influence on the egg iiroduction and. 
although one cannot druAV too hasty conclusions 
from this brief experiment, .A-et it is quite certain 
that if this food had pos,sessed unsuitable properties 
(»!■ a ver.v Ioav feeding v.-ilue, the egg production 
Avould Inn e suffered. 'Phis experiment interested me 
ver.v much because in many respects it Avas in accord 
Avith a series of experiments made at this Station a 
few years ago. 
It is a curious fact that the birds fed on acorns 
in large (piantities had the eggs colored a .sort of 
dark greenish color, becoming more pronounced Avhen 
cooked. Many Avere tlie iiKpiiries made as to Avhat 
was the matter with the.se eggs, and .some of our 
customers returned them as unfit for use. OAving 
to the bitter element quercite (acorn sugar) and 
tannic acid, both of Avhich are capable of producing 
gasti'ic troublc.s. particularly constipation, if fed con- 
tinuou.sly in lar.ge (iuantitie.s. plenty of laxative food 
should form a part of the daily ration. 
While it is true that there is yet much to be 
learned about the real feeding value of acorns, it is 
e(iually true that enough experimental Avork has 
been done to convince us that the acorn is one of 
the richest blessings that nature provides for us free 
of charge: and Ave hojje that Avherever one is favored 
Avith this splendid crop, it Avill be harvested and 
turned into ])ork, eggs and other useful products. 
-M'drima. ‘o. v.'. c 
