Iht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
of the water applied will be wasted. This 
is one of the most important kinks in 
succcessful orchard irrigation, c. o. o. 
Early Molt; Fattening Belgian Hares 
1. What is the cause of White Leg¬ 
horns molting in May. some old hens and 
some pullets which laid only a few eggs 
last Winter? No changes in feed, only 
sifted some line scrap out for chicks, and 
put balance in liens’ mash. I have been 
at the egg business 15 years, and this is 
a new one. Another flock, under electric 
light, laid heavily all Winter and molted 
iu March; birds were fat at the time, 
2. What is a good fattening ration for 
Belgian hares, confined? Mine prefer 
clover to any grain. I wish to put meat 
on quickly, if possible, so thought grain 
would be better. d. a. b. 
New York. 
1. Molting is a very variable perform¬ 
ut-yeuus upon uie way 
been kept and the amount of litter or 
other foreign matter in it. The price 
varies with the local demand, of course, 
and I do not know what it might be in 
your locality. It will be best to find this 
by inquiry Among your neighbors if you 
have any considerable quantity to sell. 
2. Diarrhoeas may or may not be con¬ 
tagious. True bacillary white diarrhoea, 
the most serious form of the affection, is 
both contagious and transmissible through 
the egg to chicks from infected stock. 
Your own healthy breeding stock would 
not convey this disease to their young, 
but the latter might pick it up with drop¬ 
pings from other infected fowls. This is 
a disease, however, which shows within 
the first few weeks from hatching. If 
your old fowls have contracted diarrhoea 
in their new quarters, these latter should 
be most thoroughly cleaned up and disin¬ 
fected as far as practicable. The hoe and 
broom should be vigorously used in the 
buildings, followed by the whitewash 
brush or sprayer. All utensils should be 
cleaned and disinfected with boiling wa¬ 
ter. It is .difficult to renovate old poultry 
runs; their use should be discontinued 
for a time and the plow and cultivator 
A Country Road 
Propagating Currants 
I wish to propagate some currants 
from cuttings. Can I set the cuttings in 
the ground this Fall, as I have heard 
should be done? I am somewhat skept¬ 
ical. If so, when should the cuttings be 
set out, and should they be of this season’s 
growth? o. F.i\ 
Winsted, Conn. 
As suggested with gooseberries, page 
1344, currants can be set successfully iu 
the Fall. The cuttings should be. taken 
from the present season’s wood as early 
in the Autumn as possible, that is, just 
as soon as the leaves fall. To callus, 
invert the bundles of cuttings and cover 
with two or three inches of soil. Plant 
in rows before the ground freezes, leaving 
but two buds above the surface of the 
ground. A light mulch of straw < >.* 
manure should be applied along the rows 
or a furrow could be plowed over them 
and this soil raked off in the Spring. This 
practice has always proven successful in 
New York. t. ii. t. 
Yam Culture in the West Indies 
In a note to the Proceedings of the 
Agricultural Society of Trinidad and To¬ 
bago, quoted in Bulletin No. 170 of the 
Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Intro¬ 
duction. LI. II. Morton writes as follows: 
“I dug my last yam of the 1919 crop 
on the 2d day of February. From a 
space measuring 37 square rods 4.051 
lbs. were dug, of which 1.440 lbs. are 
very fine Chinese, or ‘potato’ yams. My 
largest ‘Lisbon* weighed 31 lbs. net. From 
experience I find that planting in trenches 
is more profitable than other methods. 
Each morning a grass-cart load of stable 
stuff is unloaded into the trenches for the 
next crop. It is also found that planting 
2 y <2 ft. apart pays better than 3 ft; in¬ 
tensive cultivation and weeding the banks 
regularly once a month, from May to 
October, are very worth while. Seed se¬ 
lection is also most important. Yams 
planted near trees, or that get shade of 
any kind, give poor results. Yams keep 
very well for one year. When shoots ap¬ 
pear early in March. April and May. 
break off carefully. The longer yams are 
kept, the more mellow they get. and are 
at their best by October or November. 
Chinese yams, when well cooked, boiled, 
roasted, etc., are better than potatoes 
that have been imported here.” 
Transplanting Oriental Poppies 
Will you inform me whether Oriental 
poppies can be transplanted without loss 
in the Spring, or is it wiser to do Fall 
transplanting? They have very long tap¬ 
roots. MRS. W. D. T. 
Rutherford. N. J. 
Oriental poppies are difficult to trans¬ 
plant. because of their long tap-root. The 
best time to move theta is in late July 
or August, when the leaves die down after 
flowering, and clumps may be divided at 
this time. They may also be increased 
by root cuttings Plants transplanted or 
divided at this time will start growth in 
the Autumn, but will not flower as freely 
as usual the m xt Spring. We have never 
been able to keep plants alive when moved 
in the Spring, though plants are often set 
at that season. Our best success has been 
from Oriental poppies sown where they 
were to remain, but we are aware that 
careful gardeners do transplant them af¬ 
ter blooming with fair success. 
Norway Maple with Leaf-spot 
I have a Norway maple tree on which 
the leaves are affected with black spots, 
dry up and fall off. Will you inform me 
what can be done, and what disease it is 
affected with? r II. A. C. 
Hammonton, N. J. 
T hardly think that the tree is affected 
with any particular disease. If so. there 
is nothing that can be done to correct 
the trouble during the present season. 
All that can be done is to try and prevent 
the recurrence of the trouble for next 
season. This can be done by carefully 
raking and destroying the dead leaves, 
in which leaf-spot disease is carried over. 
This may be done at any time before 
growth of the leaf-buds begins next 
Spring. A thorough application of lime- 
sulphur solution about the time the leaves 
attain full growth will also have a 
greater or less tendency towards killing 
any spores that may escape destruction 
with the leaves. 
The trouble is probably caused by the 
failure of the tree to obtain a sufficient 
supply of water, and the best way to 
remedy this is to take a sharp-pointed iron 
bar and make a series of holes, about 
two feet apart each way. and IS inches 
deep, over the entire area that is over¬ 
hung by the branches of the tree. Then 
turn the hose upon the ground and let 
the water run until the holes are all filled 
and water stands in them nearly to the 
surface. Then, after three or four days, 
repeat the operation. The fact that we 
have had an ample rainfall this season 
ls n ° indication that the tree has been 
able to retain and use a sufficient quantity 
supply its needs. The surface or the 
condition of the soil may be of such a 
nature that the rain water will run di¬ 
rectly into the sewer without benefiting 
the tree. In applying the water, do not 
1 to make the holes, or a large part 
ance. both as to time and extent. While 
it normally occurs iu full after the sea¬ 
son's laying, preparatory to the beginning 
of a new year, it may be brought about, 
at least to a partial extent, by anything 
that t produces a marked change in the 
fowl's habits or surroundings. A change 
in feeding, in location or even in care¬ 
takers may induce molting, and the new 
system of Winter lighting has upset the 
hen’s habit in this respect to a marked 
degree. The fact that your flock molted 
in the Spring, after a period of heavy 
laying under lights, should by no means 
condemn it to market, though it may have 
materially interfered with the current 
season’s egg production. liens that molt 
under natural conditions, after a short 
period of Winter and Spring laying, give 
one of the chief evidences of inferiority as 
egg-producers, however. A high producer 
is a late mol ter. limiting from October to 
December. liens that molt in August, or 
before, under natural and normal con¬ 
ditions, are the hens that have made the 
poorest egg record for the year. 
2. I know of uo better fattening ration 
than clover and oats for Belgian hares, 
and doubt if you will gain anything by 
cutting out the former. It is best fed in 
a wilted condition. H. b. d. 
Value of Hen Manure; Diarrhoea 
1. Could you give me the price on hen 
manure per barrel? 2. Would you give 
me information on contagious diarrhoea? 
I moved here last June with a perfectly 
healthy flock and in less than a month 
they had contracted it. the doctor said, 
from the houses on the premises. Will it 
return this season, and what can I do to 
prevent it? I have separated my flock 
and am going to use eggs for setting. Do 
you think there would be danger of this 
disease showing up in the baby chicks? 
Massachusetts. mrs. d. f. nv. 
1. The real value of poultry mauure 
used to renew the upper layers of the 
soil. M. B. D. 
Confinement of the Insane 
My case, I believe, is unparalleled. But 
it is not in order to enter complaints, 
rather one of asking whatever provision 
the law makes so as to straighten my life 
to normal conditions of right living in the 
performance of the activities for which 
I am fitted'—teaching, translations, plus a 
wee bit of verse and prose-writing. The 
medical opinion has repeatedly pro¬ 
nounced me well enough to leave. In 
closing, may I ask what becomes of pat- 
tients who, momentarily ill at some crit¬ 
ical period of life, have no one to stand 
sponsor for them, yet who, as myself, are 
qualified to earn a living upon return to 
health? That, to me, is the all-important 
question. x. Y. z. 
The above questions from a patient in 
one of our State hospitals for the treat¬ 
ment of mental disorders will interest 
many who have friends iu these institu¬ 
tions. or who may, perhaps, fear that they 
themselves may sometime become such 
patients. There are undoubtedly some, 
too, who have a lurking dread of possible 
unnecessary and unjust confinement at 
the instance of relatives, or others, who 
may wish to obtain control of their prop¬ 
erty and get them out of the way. To 
such people a brief description of the 
safeguards thrown by law about the men¬ 
tally incompetent should be both inter¬ 
esting and reassuring. 
General supervision over asylums, both 
public and private, is maintained iu New 
York State by a State Hospital Commis¬ 
sion, with headquarters .at Albany. No 
one may be confined in any institution 
not under the direct inspection and super¬ 
vision of this commission, and no one 
may be confined iu any institution with¬ 
out having first been committed by a 
judge of a court of record or a supreme 
1477 
court justice. The law rightly makes the 
commitment of an insane person to an 
institution a somewhat complicated mat¬ 
ter, properly safeguarding his rights. 
The first official to whose attention an 
alleged insane person must be brought 
prior to commitment is the local health 
officer. This official is a local physician, 
acquainted in most instances with the 
patient and pretty apt to know something 
about the family relationships. If this 
health officer believes, after investigation, 
that further steps should be taken in the 
matter, he will appoint one or two other 
physicians qualified to act as medical 
examiners to seVke alone or with him as 
an examining board. These physicians 
may not. be experts in the diagnosis of 
mental diseases, and they usually arc not, 
but it is unnecessary that they should be, 
for an examination by experts will come 
later. This examining board will ordi¬ 
narily be composed of fairly shrewd men, 
however, well acquainted with human na¬ 
ture, and it would be pretty difficult for 
designing, persons to put anything over 
on them in the way of securing an unjust 
confinement. 
If this ^examining board believes that 
the interests'of he patient and his family 
require his detention—and it very fre¬ 
quently does not, even though some de¬ 
gree.of mental incompetency is evident— 
it will make a written report of its find¬ 
ings to the county, judge, and the patient 
and his near relatives, or guardians, will 
be served with a written notice that an 
application will be made to this judge 
for . an order committing the patient to 
an institution.. The day and hour of this 
proposed application must be mentioned 
in that notice, and an opportunity thus 
be given the patient or his friends to ap¬ 
pear also before the judge and dispute the 
findings of the examining board. 
. The matter is now in the hands of the 
judge. He will give a hearing to the 
patient or his friends, or may order one 
and summon witnesses, if he ‘is not fully 
satisfied with the report of the examining 
board. In rural counties, at least, the 
county judge is more than likely to know 
some of the family involved, and he is 
given full discretion in the matter of or¬ 
dering a commitment. Llere again is a 
point at which any attempted crooked 
work will be likely to strike a snag. Any 
attempt to “railroad” a person to an asy¬ 
lum will find a station stop at the county 
judge’s office, with ample opportunity for 
an. explanation of its purpose before the 
trip is continued. Granting, however, 
that the judge is satisfied and orders the 
patient.committed, a rehearing of the case 
may still be had by an application to a 
supreme court justice on the part of the 
patient or any of his friends. Upon re¬ 
ceiving such an application, this iustice 
will order a jury trial of the question of 
the patients’ insanity. Such a request 
for a rehearing must be made within 30 
days of the date of the original order of 
commitment. 
When a proper order for the commit¬ 
ment of an alleged insane person is re¬ 
ceived by the superintendent of a State 
hospital, a transfer officer is usually sent 
for the patient, and this officer makes 
some inquiry into the circumstances of 
the case.. After reaching the hospital, the 
patient is . examined by the physicians 
there, and if there are any indications of 
his having been sent there from improper 
motives, a social worker connected with 
the hospital is detailed to make an inves¬ 
tigation of conditions at the patient’s 
home. Financial conditions are reported 
to the Attorney General’s office at Al¬ 
bany. and if the patient has any consid¬ 
erable amount of property a committee 
is appointed to look after his interests. 
It will be seen from this that there 
are a number of serious obstacles in the 
way of any improper commitment to a 
State hospital for the insane; now. how 
about the continued detention of patients 
once committed? When recovery of a 
patient has taken place, it is. of course, 
promptly recognized by the caretakers 
and physicians in charge, and the super¬ 
intendent of the institution will secure 
the patient’s release Should he fail to do 
so, the patient, or any of his friends act¬ 
ing in his behalf, may apply to any judge 
of a court of record for a write of habeas 
corpus, and thus bring a review of the 
case before the judge granting the writ. 
This judge, if satisfied of the patient’s 
recovery, may then order his release. 
Power to release a patient also resides 
in the State Hospital Commission. 
As a matter of fact, our State institu¬ 
tions for the insane are so overcrowded, 
and the cost of maintenance is so high, 
that the officials are constantly on the 
lookout for patients whom they may dis¬ 
charge with reasonable prospects of their 
being able to get along at home. If such 
patients have no relatives or friends to 
look after them, the poor authorities of 
their home towns are requested to take 
them in charge. Many patients are re¬ 
leased on parole, giving them opportunity 
to demonstrate their fitness to again ad¬ 
just themselves to life in their own com¬ 
munities. If they fail, they may be re¬ 
turned to the institution for further care 
and treatment. m. b. d. 
A British consul, stationed in an Af¬ 
rican village, just after the outbreak of 
the war, received the following telegram 
from his bureau chief: “War declared. 
Arrest all enemy aliens at once.” Two 
days later the bureau chief was handed 
the following reply: “Have arrested two 
Frenchmen, a Dutchman, three Germans, 
two Americans, a Polander, three Rus¬ 
sians and an Italian. Please tell me 
whom we are at war with.”—Evervbodv’s 
Magazine. 
