1666 
t hey may rest. All those kindred spirits that lisetT 
to go over the hills to the little white schoolhouse 
somehow escaped while I was at college. Being a 
safe distance from the village, one has to seek his 
own entertainment, and it is usually a case of “one’s 
a company.” 
FUTURE OPPORTUNITY. — Ideal work must 
offer a chance for advancement. I am surrounded 
by living examples of what farming stands for to 
altogether too many people. I refer to the idea that 
it is a sort of necessary evil that must be undergone 
for 30 or 40 years, until by dint of hard work and 
very careful saving one has accumulated enough 
wealth to be able to putter around the rest of his 
days. There may be a sense of having accomplished 
something in such a life, but why should one sacri¬ 
fice so much in order to be able to move to town? 
Will not the farm offer opportunities that will make 
them want to see the results of their Avork after they 
retire? 1 am not afraid to Avork, but I want to see 
a bigger goal at the end than to move to town and 
hang around. Can you blame the young man for 
being sceptical when old-established farmers are 
losing faith, and Avlien there is a world of oppor¬ 
tunity before him? 
IS THERE A CHANCE?—In short, has college 
spoiled me for farming? We are told that a large 
percentage of college men make good in business. 
Agriculture, the foundation upon which all business 
and trade rests, certainly needs college men and 
college Avomen. It also needs the man who has not 
been to college and the woman who has not been to 
college. We have but to say the magic Avord. 
Opportunity, and they Avill come. Perhaps I am 
wrong, but I feel that it is somewhat lacking in the 
real operation of the farm. Opportunity in organi¬ 
zation Avork is boundless, but the 30-cent dollar of 
real production looks pretty small. v. a. 
Description of the Cosgrove Henhouse 
Your correspondent, Geo. A. Cosgrove, once spoke of 
a poultry house that it would only be necessary to clean 
out onee a year. I wish be would more fully describe 
it. The idea, I think, was not to have a dropping board, 
but to edge up a board in front of the droppings to keep 
them separate from the litter, and then add absorbents 
to the droppings from time to time. If be lias such a 
house. would lie tell hoAV deep it is, and bow high,*back 
and front? How is the front made; that is. windows 
and openings, and how high are the roosts above the 
floor? Where does Ik* place the nest boxes? The scheme 
looks practical for a busy farmer. A. B. F. 
Ambler. Pa. 
ENERAL CONSTRUCTION.—A. B. F. has the 
idea exactly. I have two houses, each 20 ft 
square. The roosting and nest part is S ft. wide. 5% 
ft. high in rear and S ft. high in front. .Roof slopes 
to the north. The roof of the front part commences 
2 ft. below the top of the back, or roosting part, and 
slopes to the south. That leaves a perpendicular 
front 2 ft. wide and 20 ft. long. Tn thig front arc 
six “cellar” Avipdows, 1 ft. wide by 2 ft. long. These 
windows swing on tAVo screws put through the win- 
ooav casing into the sash, so they can be tipped at 
angle desired for ventilation. BeloAV the windows I 
put two 2x4-in. scantling 20 ft. long across the front, 
one of Avbich av«s put IR> in. below the other. The 
scantling to support the front roof Avas nailed to the 
lower one of these 20-ft. pieces. Then the roof 
boards of the front part put on with the slope of 
the roof, not crosswise, were shoved up into the I y s - 
in. space between the two 20-ft. scantlings. Then 
the front between the windows Avas boarded up, the 
lower ends of the boards not quite touching the front 
roof boards, so 1 could push the roofing paper up 
under them. This makes a Avater-tigbt front, no 
possible leakage Avhere the front roof joins the part 
under the top Avindows. The front roof slopes to 
the south down to 4 ft. high at the front. This front 
is boarded about 4 ft. at each end, the rest of the 
front is open, a space 12x4 ft 
NESTS AND PARTITIONS.—The S-ft. wide back 
part is partitioned off from tlie front part. The par¬ 
tition does not go clear down to the ground, but 
stops about 3 ft. from it. Two stout posts support 
the 20-ft. front scantling to prevent sagging, and they 
are the frame for a Avide door in the partition, Avhieh 
is closed only on cold nights. Against the partition 
a Avide shelf is placed; on this shelf are the nests, 
separate boxes, with a passageway between them 
and the partition. To prevent hens roosting on the 
nests is a slanting roof of thin boards, the loAver part 
of Avhicli is hinged to the upper, so as to give easy 
access to the nests by the egg gatherer. 33)6 liens 
enter at the open end near the partition door. It is 
much bettor to use separate boxes for nests as, if one 
got very lousy, it can lie taken out and burned, but 
there is not the slightest necessity of a lieuhouse ever 
getting lousy. I will tell how to prevent that later. 
J'UIO ROOSTS.—Three roosts made of 2x4-iu. 
scantling Avith the top edge slightly rounded, 19^ ft. 
W* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
long, so that the ends do not touch the sides of the 
house, are supporPn by two hoards in which slots 
are cut. The roosts, dowh in these slots, cannot 
turn over, or be moved sidewise, yet can be lifted 
out. of the slots when so desired. These slotted 
boards are nailed to the studs at back, and to posts 
in the front, the posts being nailed to the wide board 
at bottom, which keeps the droppings from the litter. 
The roosts are about 4 ft. above the ground. There 
is a sliding window in the Avest side of the roosting 
part, the entrance door being <m the east end. 
THE UNSANITARY DROPPING S BOARD.—I 
Avas led to doing away with droppings boards for 
two reasons. One because of its unsanitariness; the 
fowls face to the front praclieally always. When 
one A-oids droppings, the one snst behind her cannot 
avoid breathing the rising fumes from the drop¬ 
pings, and this repeatedly during the long night. 
Another thing was the fact that the droppings boards 
Avere a breeding and hiding place for hen lice that 
could not be got at and cleaned. 
FEED BIN.—The house sits on a stone and cement 
foundation Avhicli extends down into the ground 
about 20 in., and the sides are laid in cement. This 
makes a house practically rat-proof; that is, if they 
do not come in at the door. Just in front Avas 
a feed bin 6 ft. long, divided for the different grains. 
On the outside of the bouse a door the length of the 
bin is binged at the bottom and has two swinging 
legs hinged near the top. AVhen this door is dropped 
the swinging legs hold up the outer edge, thus mak¬ 
ing a line table on which the bags of grain are 
opened and the contents let slide into (lie bins; then 
the door is lifted up and held in place by a button 
at each end. There are two of these bins, one on the 
Avest side for ground grains, one on the east for 
A Well Rooted House Culture Bulb, Fig, 531 
cracked corn, wheat, etc. When tlie grain dealer 
tills these bins, two months’ supply is in the house. 
The only thing to be carried is the water. Tlie 
houses were tilled with sand and sifted loam so they 
are higher than the ground outside. They were al¬ 
ways dry and free from frost. On the east end, 
from the front to the end of the feed bin, is boarded 
off, a place for a dust bin, and windows let the sun 
shine directly into it. 
OTHER (’<)NVKNIENCE-S.—A great convenience 
was a post set near the middle of tlie front part, 
about 3 ft. above tlie ground. On this post,. Avith a 
sharp ax, kept in the house for the purpose, I shaved 
up or crushed bones, cut meat or vegetables, etc., 
Avithout having to bend over to do it. On the west 
side a Avide shelf extends from tlie ground grain 
bin to tlie front, and on this shelf, Avhieh is about 
15 in. above Ihe ground, there is a box for tlie dry 
mash. My problem Avas, bow to avoid wasting the 
masli. 1 solved it by making the back and ends of 
the box 3 in. higher than the front, and putting on a 
cover. Noav the hens could reach in and eat the 
mash, but if they attempted to flip it out they would 
bump their combs against the cover. It worked beau¬ 
tifully; I don’t think a pound of mash was wasted 
in a year. 
IIEN LICE.—Now about the hen lice, and this 
long story is done. Simply greusc; that’s all.. Once 
a year I melt up in an Iron pot, beef tallow, mutton 
tallow; one year the butcher brought‘some fat pork 
that be didn’t dare salt down. I cut it into small 
pieces, tried it out, and Avliile hot painted the roosts 
on all but the top side; also the roost supports and 
Hie corners of each nest box; put it on liberally, and 
then for a year you won’t find a red mite or ben 
louse in your bouse. To free Hie hens from lice, take 
some blue ointment, mix it thoroughly with an equal 
quantity of lard; then take a piece the size of a pea 
and rub it in under Hie vent; also a little in the hol¬ 
low spot over the vent; often there is a hunch of lice 
there. Then Avipe your lingers under her wings, and 
you can bid farewell to hen lice for six months or a 
year. uiio. 4, cobukovjs. 
October 30, 1020 
Humidity in Fruit Storage 
NE of tlie most satisfactory storages for farm 
fruits and vegetables that I have ever seen is 
that of a neighbor, who has arranged to run a stream 
of water from bis Avater system through tlie base¬ 
ment of the house. The water comes from a spring 
into Hi*, house, and tlie overflow is arranged so that 
in the Winter it will Aoav through a long tub in the 
basement vegetable storage, and then into the Avaste 
line. This running water keeps the storage at the 
proper temperature during the Winter months. 
Vegetables and apples keep much longer under these 
conditions than in Hie dry storage. 
This system of storage warming and humidifying 
would be adapted to any farm that had running 
water from a spring or hydraulic ram. It would 
only be necessary to have a cut-out in the overflow 
pipe from a reservoir from spring or ram so that 
it Avould flow through the basement during the Win¬ 
ter months, and arranged, of course, so that it could 
not freeze easily. This neighbor Avas able to pipe 
the water through the storage at a cost of about 
$14 for pipe and water tank. There is no danger of 
freezing Avith the running Avater in the storage, nor 
of the vegetables or fruit becoming too dry from the 
basement heat. c. m. b. 
Wavne Co., O. 
The “Wonder” of Potato Seed 
I X some seasons we rarely if ever hear of the de¬ 
velopment of potato seed, so that a potato ball at 
such times becomes something of a novelty. This 
year Hie season seems to have been favorable for 
Hie production of these seed balls, and there are 
many reports from people Avho say that they think 
there must be some great value attached to them. 
A. T. Cook seems to have made something of a busi¬ 
ness of collecting this seed, and in one of his recent 
advertisements lie makes some remarkable state¬ 
ments about them. 
For instance, he says that these seeds are “a 
puzzle to scientists.” That is nonsense or worse. It 
is absolutely no puzzle to a scientist or anybody else, 
for these potato Dalis have always been produced in 
favorable seasons. He goes on to say that bis seed 
is “the wonder of tlie vegetable world.” Such a 
statement is Avliat the boys call “bunk.” There is no 
“wonder” about it, but simply a plain development 
of seed on the potato vine. Then lie says: “Get this 
rare and vanishing seed while you can. It will soon 
be gone forever.” Very likely this particular batch 
of seed will soon be gone, for there are plenty of 
people left in the world avIio believe such statements 
"ben they would not listen to plain common sense. 
But there is plenty more seed in Hie world just 
exactly as good, and 110 one should pay high prices 
for potato seed this year, expecting that anything 
wonderful is going to result from the planting. 
We have explained at least 50 times all about this 
matter of potato seed. The tuber, which is the part 
of the potato we eat. is not a seed at all. It is not a 
root, but an enlargement of the underground stem. 
Bhat we call the eyes of the iiotato are buds or 
sprouts which will grow much after the plan of a 
bud from a tree, and of course as they grow, being 
a part of the plant, they will produce the same kind 
of a potato that they came from. Seed halls, how¬ 
ever. contain true seeds, and when these are planted 
they are no more likely to come *■•.» and produce 
the same kind of a plant tha: .; ..eeic of peach pits 
would be likely to produce a standard variety of 
peaches. Of course, everybody knows that if you 
take a dozen pits from a Carman or an Elberta 
peach tree, plant them and let them grow, naturally 
you will get a dozen different kinds of fruit, most of 
it not Avorth propagating. The same is true of these 
potato seeds. A feAV out of every batch will prove 
superior, and most of our new varieties of potatoes 
have been produced in that way. There is, how- 
ever, nothing wonderful about it, and there is no 
scientific puzzle. There is plenty of potato seed this 
year, owing to tlie favorable season, and let no one 
imagines that there is anything mysterious or ex¬ 
ceedingly profitable in planting this seed. 
Corn Harvester with Gasoline Power 
Owing to the rank growth of weeds and grass in the 
corn this year, it lias been very difficult to handle the 
crop with a corn harvester. When tlie horses were 
fresh and could keep up a good gait, the machine worked 
fairly well, but after they had worked an hour or two, 
and slowed down, the weeds and grass would clog, calm¬ 
ing considerable inconvenience. We have seen potato 
pickers equipped with a small gasoline engine. Have 
any of the readers had experience in equipping a corn 
harvester in this manner? If so, how large an engine 
was used? K. H. S. 
Massachusetts. 
These questions must be answered, if at all, by 
eapuricuce, Cuu uuy y£ our readers tell? 
