272 
How Do Rats Carry Eggs? 
("an The It. N.-Y. or any of its readers 
toll us liow rate manage to carry off eggs 
without breaking them? A woman in 
this city had 15 dozen eggs stored in a 
box in her cellar. The box stood about 
18 inches from the floor. Having occa¬ 
sion to move the box. she found to her 
amazement that rats had cut a hole in 
it and carried off every egg! Further in¬ 
vestigation found all the eggs but four, 
stowed safely away behind boxes and 
jars on the opposite side of the cellar, 
which lias a cement floor. A two-quart 
glass fruit jar was completely filled with 
eggs. Only four were missing, and these 
had been sucked. The rats had not only 
taken them through the hole in the box 
and lowered them to the* floor, but had 
carried them some distance, up and over 
a pile of boxes, down to the floor again. 
It seemed such an incredible occurrence 
that the lady called in several persons 
who fully investigated the matter, and 
vouch for the truth of this statement as 
given above. The entire story was then 
referred (bj letter) to John Burroughs, 
and that eminent naturalist replies as ltd- 
lows : 
I thank you for your interesting letter 
of the 7th. The way of a rat with an egg 
is to me past finding out. I have heard 
of such things as you relate, but have 
never had such an experience. This is all 
a mystery to me. how rats can transport 
eggs and not break them. An old farmer 
tells me that one rat clasps the egg in its 
arms and another rat drags him by the 
tail, but he has never seen the feat done. 
I give, it up. JOHN BX RKOUGHS. 
I hope you can find room for this in 
The R. N;-Y. All my life (and I am past 
the Scriptural three score and ten) 1 have 
wanted to know how rate carry off eggs! 
Surely some amongst your thousands of 
readers must know. c. G. Vincent. 
Minnesota. 
R. N.-Y.—Now then, are there a in R. 
N.-Y. readers who will rush in where 
John Burroughs fears to stand? If so, 
we welcome them. 
CONTENTS 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, FEB. 15, 1919 
FARM TOPICS 
Curing Cow Pea Hay. 
Plowing Wet Land... 
Beans as a Fertilizer.,. 
Seeding Oats With Spring Wheat. 
Making Maple Products.257, 
Crops and Farm Nows...265, 
Coming Farmers’ Meetings. 
Hope Farm Notes. 
Frost-proof Cabbage Experience. 
The Farmer and War Prices. 
The Outlook For Wool Growers. 
Red Polled Cattle. 
Ration For Cows: French Canadian Cattle.. 
Corn Fodder in Silo. 
Potatoes For Brood Sow.. 
Growing Ration For Heifer. 
Cow With Warts: Dairy Ration. 
Feeding Farm Team. 
Caring For 250 Sheep. 
LIVE STOCK AND DAIRY 
The Percheron Horse as Farm Power...253, 
About Raising Guinea Pigs. 
Lice On Rabbits. 
More Milk Investigation. 
Milk Buyers’ Bonds For All. 
Letters From Dairymen. 
Preparing Cow For ■Test. 
Feeding Buckwheat: Destroying Lice and 
Mites . 
Price For Wintering Horses. 
Pea vines For Silage,. 
Dry Lot Pig Feeding. 
Preparing a Hog Ration. 
Moving Brood Sows. 
Handling a Fighting Ram. 
Ration For Breeding Ewes. 
Sheep In the East. 
Acorns For Sheep... 
Grain For Cows. 
Rations For Cows and Pigs. 
Breed of Cow... 
Improving Dairy Ration. 
Milk-producing Ration . 
Dairy Ration . 
Improving Dairy Feed. 
Experience With Cross-bred Cows. 
Sick Calves . 
Hard Milker . 
Cattle Lice; Raw Linseed Oil. 
254 
256 
256 
256 
258 
267 
268 
274 
275 
277 
277 
280 
280 
280 
280 
280 
282 
282 
282 
254 
254 
258 
277 
277 
277 
284 
284 
284 
2:4 
286 
286 
286 
288 
288 
288 
288 
290 
290 
290 
290 
290 
290 
290 
293 
293 
293 
294 
THE HENYARD 
Eggs and 17-year Locusts. 261 
Sprouted Buckwheat . 285 
War Rations For the Hen.....292, 293 
Egg-laying Contests . 296 
Ailing Hens as Breeders. 296 
Hens With Twisted Necks. 297 
A Village Hen Lot....... . 297 
Brief Story of Duck Raising. 29 1 
HORTICULTURE 
Chicken Manure For Peas. 256 
Dynamite For Tree Planting. 258 
Notes From a Maryland Garden. 260 
Fertilizzer Cover Crops: Spraying.261 
New York State Horticultural Society—Part 
III. 266 
Orchard Questions . 275 
The Hundred Tree Orchard. 285 
One Hundred Farm Fruit Trees. 285 
WOMAN AND HOME 
From Day to Day. 278 
Simplicity Filet Lace. 278 
The Rural Patterns. 278 
Conserving Men’s Clothing—Part II. 278 
Chop Sack Dresses. .. 278 
Community Leagues in Virginia.278, 2(9 
Cake and Cookies Without Eggs. 27 9 
A Cure For Chilblains. 279 
Fruit Parivgt For Vinegar. 279 
The RURAL N 
Time Saving Sausage Making. 279 
Yankee Doughnuts . 279 
Peanut Cookies . 279 
MISCELLANEOUS 
Military Roads in Europe. 254 
Up-State Farm Notes. 262 
Problem in Water Supply. 264 
Trouble With Pump. 264 
Operations For Tongue-tied. 264 
Events of the Week. 268 
Government Cabbage Report.270 
Dysentery in Bees. 272 
Clearing Muddy Water; Field Silo: Changing 
•Water Course .271. 273 
A White Muskrat .. 273 
Box Trap For Rabbits . 273 
Tanning Small Skins . 274 
Editorials . 276 
A Reso ution on School Matters. 277 
Sanitary Toilets and New York Schools.... 277 
Publisher's Desk . 298 
Dysentery in Bees 
What is dysentery in bees, cause and 
cure? I notice sometimes when my bees 
have been flying on one of these warm 
Winter days, little patches of yellowish 
matter on the alighting board, and some 
of these little patches have mixed in what 
looks like very .small worms. Is this 
dysentery? What is the best Spring 
treatment for a mild case of foul brood? 
Indiana. c. t. f. 
Dysentery or diarrhoae in bees is shown 
by brownish yellow stains at the en¬ 
trance of their hives, or, perhaps, upon 
the snow in front of them. In bad cases, 
the combs within the hives may be soiled 
with the discharges from the bees, and a 
filthy condition of the hive interior may 
thus result. There are probably many 
causes of this diarrhoae, but unsuitable 
food and cold, damp hive interiors, with 
(•'•lonies too weak to maintain the warmth 
and healthfulness of their clusters are be¬ 
lieved to be the chief occasions of this 
trouble in the Winter. There is little that 
can be done in the way of treatment. 
The approach of warm weather with op¬ 
portunities for the bees to fly and void 
their excrement away from the hive will 
put an end to the trouble in colonies that 
are sufficiently vigorous; weak,* depleted 
colonies will probably perish anyway. 
EW-YORKER 
The trouble should be guarded against by 
seeing that the bees have an ample quan¬ 
tity of suitable Winter stores when placed 
in their Winter quarters, that each colony 
is of sufficient strength to maintain itself, 
and that the hives are packed, or stored, 
in such a way as to be suitably protected 
from extremes of weather. As with many 
other diseases of domestic animals, treat¬ 
ment is far less satisfactory than preven¬ 
tion. It is much easier to prevent serious 
troubles among bees than it is to cure 
them after their ravages have been made 
manifest. Strong colonies, sufficient 
stores of suitable food, and ample protec¬ 
tion against severe weather are the best 
preventives of diarrhoea in one’s apiary. 
The “small worms” that you observe at 
the entrance of the hive may be chilled 
or dead brood removed from the brood 
combs by the bees and carried from the 
hive. 
Foul brood may be cured by providing 
new, clean hives with full sheets of foun¬ 
dation in the frames and setting these 
xipon the stands of the affected colonies. 
The frames from the diseased colonies 
should then be removed and their bees 
shaken in front of the new hives upon the 
old stands. In drawing out the combs of the 
new hives the bees will use up all the 
infected honey in their honey sacs. This 
shaking upon new foundation should be 
done at night when all field bees are in 
aud robbers are not about. The old 
combs containing infected honey should 
be burned. If carried by robbers or other 
bees to clean hives, the disease will be 
spread. The old hive body may again be 
used after thoroughly scalding out the in¬ 
terior with boiling water. The bees 
shaken into new quarters should not be 
fed for three or four days, thus compell¬ 
ing them to use all the honey carried with 
them in their honey sacs in drawing out 
February 15, 1019 
comb. After that time they may be fed 
if honey is not coming in fast enough for 
their requirements. M. B. D. 
Feeding Carrots 
I raised a quantity of carrots last 
Summer to feed to my horses in order to 
cut down my grain bill. 1 am feeding 
about three quarts once a day to each 
horse. They are driving horses and 
weigh about 1,000 IBs. apiece. A neigh¬ 
bor tells me that I am feeding too many, 
lie says that they act on the kidneys, 
and that two quarts twice a week is all 
that should be fed. I have plenty of 
rutabagas, but the horses do not like 
them. By cutting them very fine aild 
mixing them with the carrots I am able 
to make them eat some of them. C. P. C- 
Maine. 
No rule can be laid down for the 
feeding of carrots to a horse. They are 
fed to regulate the bowels and keep the 
coat glossy, but have little value, other¬ 
wise, as a substitute for oats. Watch 
the condition of the bowels and lessen the 
amount of this food if the feces become 
too soft. Carrots safely may be fed 
daily, in moderation, but scouring should 
not.be caused. A. s. a. 
Coming Live Stock Sales 
Feb. 18-21—Shorthorn Congress Show 
and Sale, Chicago, III.; F. W. Harding, 
manager. 
March 7—W. C. McGavock, Duroc- 
Jerscys. Mt. Pulaski, Ill. 
March 11—-Iowa Shorthorn Breeders' 
Association. Des Moines, la. 
March 12—New England Berkshire 
Club, bred sows, Brattleboro, Yt. 
March 12—Southern Iowa Breeders’ 
Association, Percherous, Oskaloosa, la. 
March 13-14—Nebraska Shorthorn 
Breeders’ Association, Shorthorns, Grand 
Island, Neb. 
April 1-12—Holsteins, Purebred Live 
Stock Sales Co.. Brattleboro, Vt. 
April 9 — Central Illinois Shorthorn 
Breeders’ Association, Paris, Ill. 
April 17—John H. Fitch, Angus. Lake 
City. Ia. 
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