The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
A most interesting 
announcement 
concerning the 
SHARPLES 
MILKER 
The Sharpies Milker Company 
has been formed to take over 
from the Sharpies Separator 
Company , the exclusive manu - 
facture s sale and development 
of the Sharpies Milker . 
D URING recent years, the demand for the Sharpies 
Milker has increased so tremendously that the 
intensive effort of a separate and complete organi¬ 
zation is required. Additions to our manufacturing facil¬ 
ities are now in process, as up until a short time ago the 
company was several hundred milkers behind in delivery. 
The development of the new company will be under 
the personal direction of Laurence P. Sharpies, well- 
known engineer, inventor of nearly all recent improve¬ 
ments of Sharpies, and formerly treasurer of the Sharpies 
Separator Company. All the men of the organization 
are the same expert workmen and individuals who know 
the milker business from the inside to the outside and 
the same high mechanical efficiency of the Sharpies 
Milker will be maintained. 
The Sharpies Milker Company will stand behind 
the Sharpies Milkers that are now in use on nearly 
% of a million cows. 
This vast number of Sharpies Milkers now in use 
is absolute assurance of its value to the future buyer. 
The Sharpies is the only milker with a positive 
air-pressure squeeze—a patented feature 
that no other company dare use 
Due to this air-pressure which gives the all im¬ 
portant squeezing and n assaging to the teats, cows 
? ive their milk down r uch faster to the Sharpies 
v lan to any other milk' r. 
The daily experience of thousands c f rmers, as 
v/ell as Government tests on 108 herds, p*oves that 
the Sharpies milks 25 to 45% faster tht n any other 
milker. Write for a Government bulletin. 
And now back of this remarkable milker is an individual, central 
responsibility and the determination to make the Sharpies Milker an 
even more important factor in the development of America’s great 
pride—its dairies and dairy products. 
Write for any information desired to Dept. 103 
Sharpies Milker Company 
West Chester, Pa. 
General Manager 
LAURENCE P. SHARPLES 
(Formerly Treasurer of the 
Sharpies Separator Company) 
BRANCHES: 
CHICAGO TORONTO 
SAN FRANCISCO 
M-DC-1 
Live Stock Matters 
Conducted By Prof. F. C. Minkler 
Fighting Lice on Horses 
I notice that Prof. Minkler recommends 
linseed oil for lice on horses. While I 
have no doubt that this will kill the lice, 
I would like to know what condition it 
leaves the coat of the horse in. If any 
of your readers have tried it I would like 
to see their report ou same. When we 
were buying grade Pereheron colts and 
fitting them for sale we occasionally got 
one that was covered with lice. The first 
method of treatment that we tried was 
so satisfactory that we never tried any 
other. We got some Persion insect pow¬ 
der and a little puff box, and puffed the 
powder into the hair nil over the body 
thoroughly, then put on an old blanket 
and fastened it on with two small sur¬ 
cingles and left it on all day. This cleaned 
the lice out so that we never had any 
occasion to give the colt n second appli¬ 
cation. 
Nearly every colt, we bought had thrush 
iu all four feet. We cleaned out the feet 
with a hook we had our blacksmith make 
for the purpose, and poured a little kero¬ 
sene oil around the frog and wherever 
there was any sign of thrush. We found 
this a very simple remedy, and it was a 
very bad case that required more than 
oue application to effect a cure. 
Morris Co., N. J. M. A. B. 
Weaning Pigs 
I would like very much to know what 
is the best process to wean a Berkshire 
sow of her nine pigs. All are in good 
healthy condition; have plenty of sour 
milk to give. E. G. A. 
New Jersey. 
Our own plan is to build a little pen 
or creep either in one corner of the pen 
or just outside. The creep is made so 
that the sow cannot got in, while the 
little pigs can run in and out at will. 
Inside tins creep we have a small trough 
and the little fellows are fed four or five 
times a day with milk or a thick slop of 
grain. They run iu and out. and soon 
learn to drink the milk or slop, and in 
this way are gradually weaned from the 
sow without trouble to either. It is sur¬ 
prising how quickly these little follows 
will learn to drink milk or slop, and how 
much of it they will consume if they 
have the chance. 
Sheaf Rye and Wheat for Sows 
I have one acre of Winter rye and 
wheat sown together ; it is making a won¬ 
derful growth. My idea is. when ripe, to 
out and stack it in the field and cover the 
top. I expect to have several brood sows 
next Winter, and to let them burrow in 
the stack and pick off the grains. Will 
the sows do themselves any harm from 
eating too much rye during the period of 
gestation? Of course they will be fed 
other grain. I have no place to thrash 
the grain out. T. w. T. 
Massachusetts. 
Rye and wheat, ripened and stacked 
and used as a roughage for swine, as you 
propose, would be ve"y likely to prove 
disappointing, for it Is neither safe nor 
palatable to be used as you suggest. True 
enough, it will yield considerable grain, 
hut there would be co isiderable wastage, 
and rye, after it has gone through the 
sweat in the stack, is scarcely a safe feed 
for sows in pig. It would be better suit¬ 
ed for feeding dairy cows, and in any 
event it should he cut relatively early; 
that i6. while the rye is iu the dough 
stage, rather tlmu permit the grain to 
harden and ripen on the stalk. 
Value of Reground Oat Feed 
Can you give me some information 
from practical feeders who have used 
reground oat feed? I use considerable 
grain in the course of a year, and while 
I do not think that reground oat feed 
would be satisfactory for milking cows, 
yet one of my neighbors has had excellent 
results with it in feeding calves and 
young stock, and recommends it quite high¬ 
ly. Considering the present quotations, 
which are from $27.50 to $34. the latter 
for what is called a fancy grade, I should 
be inclined to buy some of it for the 
coming Winter if you can recommend it. 
As I understand.it, reground oat feed is 
oat hulls with some of the grain left in. 
If it is the same, however, as Henry’s 
analysis of low-grade oat feed, it ought 
to be fairly good stuff, and I should think 
would be quite worth the prices at which 
it is now quoted, compared with the other 
feeding stuffs. Would it not be possible 
to make part of the grain ration for young 
purebred Ilolsteius from something like 
reground oat feed and molasses? As to 
the rations for dairy cows I was told 
some years ago that a large farm making 
a high-grade milk, near Boston, was feed¬ 
ing the cows nothing whatever for grain 
rations except brewers’ grains and mo¬ 
lasses. With practically nothing on the 
market today quoted at loss than $00 a 
ton, except bran and regrouud oat feed, 
cannot something of the sort be worked 
out? Brewers’ grains could be bought 
recently at $60 a ton, although I presume 
it will be difficult to pick it up from now 
on. e. D. c. 
Connecticut. 
Unless black-strap molasses is substan¬ 
tially reduced in price it does not provide 
an economical source of carbohydrate. 
Usually it is determined that a pint of 
molasses is equivalent to a pound of corn 
or hominy, although, of course, the mo¬ 
lasses contains no fat. There is no doubt 
that the molasses would materially in¬ 
crease the palatability and feeding value 
of the ground oat feed as you suggest, 
yet it is not an easy material to mix. and 
there are many who doubt its usefulness. 
It is true that dairy cows have been main¬ 
tained exclusively on rations consisting of 
wet brewery grains and molasses, or wet 
brewery grains and cornmeal. Iu fact, 
dairies that were located adjacent to 
breweries where their owners could se¬ 
cure the wet grains at ridiculously low 
cost produced milk most economically. It 
must be remembered, however, that mo¬ 
lasses at that time was selling at six or 
seven cents a gallon, as compared with a 
market valuation now of 25 or 30. If 
you can secure molasses in barrel lots at 
anything like reasonable prices there is 
no doubt that your scheme has merit. 
Molasses does form the basis of a great 
many of tlie so-called specialized horse 
feeds, and it is evident that the ground 
oat feed, as well as the ground Alfalfa, 
forms a substantial portion of the base 
of such feeds. 
A Fair Exchange of Cornstalks and Hay 
IIow can I exchange good Timothy and 
clover hay mixed, for green cornstalks? 
The cornstalks are a few doors from us. 
We have to cut the hay and put it iu the 
other man’s barn. The_hay is cut young 
and the cornstalks are good. We want 
them for silage. Should the exchange be 
pound for pound or how? F. v. s. 
Pennsylvania. 
As you have stated your problem, it 
appears that you have cut and harvested 
the hay and stored it in your neighbor’s 
barn, and that you propose to cut his 
green corn to be used as silage, and de¬ 
sire to have suggested a basis of exchange 
that would he fair to both parties. Tim¬ 
othy and clover hay of good quality ought 
to be worth at least $25 a ton in the 
mow. Green corn silage, standing in the 
stalk iu the field, would be worth ap¬ 
proximately $5 per ton. Therefore, it 
would be reasonable for you to harvest 
any silage corn on this basis at five tons 
of silage in the field for oue ton of Tim¬ 
othy and clover hay that you have put 
in the mow. The greatest cost of corn 
silage is in the handling of it. and it is 
my judgment that this would bp a fair ex¬ 
change. 
Ration for Pigs 
In what proportion of water (by 
weight) should I mix white middlings to 
feed two pigs 10 weeks old. and how 
often should this be fed if I supply them 
with oue pailful of kitchen scrap per 
day? b. n. D. 
Connecticut. 
White middlings alone, even though 
mixed with water, would not make a sat¬ 
isfactory ration for gro.ving pigs, and I 
would advise a little n >re variety, and 
suggest the following i aterials: Five 
pounds of white middlirgs, two pounds 
of ground oats, one pouu of ground bar¬ 
ley and one-fourth pouu 1 of oilmeal or 
digester tankage. There is no advantage 
in diluting this material to a thin slop, 
therefore only enough water should be 
added to this grain mixture to make 
the mixture of about the consistency of 
buttermilk. Any additional water that 
the pigs require should be given them by 
itself. Invariably too much water is 
mixed with the feed, so that it is diluted, 
to such a degree that a pig has to con¬ 
sume too much of the material iu order 
to satisfy his appetite. I would not mix 
the grain with the kitchen slop, rather 
feeding the grain twice daily, and allow 
the pig to have as much of the kitchen 
slop as he would select once a dav. 
* _ 
Feeding Calves 
Will you advise me as to the proper 
treatment of calves after weaning? I 
have them running at large in the or¬ 
chard. and they should thrive, but they 
do not. m. M. T. 
Pennsylvania. 
It is necessary to feed calves consider¬ 
able grain throughout their first growing 
seasou. It is not possible to grow them 
successfully on grass that would be 
found in an orchard unless this was sup¬ 
plemented by a palatable grain mixture. 
A useful ration would be equal parts of 
oats, barley, bran and oilmeal,' although 
equal parts of corn or hominy could be 
added to advantage. A calf weighing 200 
pounds should be fed about three pounds 
of grain per day. If you have some 
second cutting Alfalfa hay to supplement 
the pastures during this season of the 
venr much would be gained, although the 
grain ration itself would supplement the 
pastures sufficiently. 
