October 30, 1920' 
1668 
•Pie RURAL NEW-YORKER 
It is unquestionably true that the price 
of wheat has often been low in propor¬ 
tion to the cost of producing it. This 
was partly because enormous areas of 
new land were being opened up, and over¬ 
production frequently resulted. There 
are now practically no large areas of 
new land to be opened up for wheat 
growing in North America. The nation 
must have wheat to eat, and therefore 
will necessarily pay in the future high 
enough prices to draw out the supply 
needed. This fact, together with the 
plans now under way for more efficient 
marketing of wheat, indicate a brighter 
outlook for the wheat grower in the 
future. It would seem also that instead 
of dropping the growing of wheat, the 
sensible thing would be to work it into 
a good rotation, secure the best adapted 
varieties and undertake to secure larger 
yields through better farm practices. This 
will automatically cut down cost of pro¬ 
duction. 
Hear Something! Have an Apple! 
Your suggestion of using apples for a 
tip is good. I took a 7-lb. sugar hag of 
Jonathan and Russet apples with me to 
Kingston more than 10 years ago (a 
party of us). Wherever we had refresh¬ 
ments anywhere, I gave an apple as tip. 
Friends laughed at them. It was July, 
and I think those apples were appreciated 
more than the 5c or 10c, as at that time 
a good apple was not in market. 
New York. ella m. z. winters. 
We could tell some amusing stories 
about our experience in “tipping" people 
with apples. In most towns and cities 
such "tips” are expected. You will not 
get very far unless you give something in 
exchange for little favors. It used to 
be a drink or a cigar when doing busi¬ 
ness with people who would not accept 
money. Some years ago the writer did 
a little business with a young man, and 
when it was finished we said : 
“And now come and ‘have something.’ ’ 
“All right. Thanks. Happy days!” 
he said, but there Avas no joy on his face. 
“Hare someth inn. Have an apple.” 
and we pulled out a big, red Baldwin 
You should have seen the look of re¬ 
lief on that young man’s face. He said 
CONTENTS 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, OCT. 30. 1920 
FARM TOPICS 
Shall I Take the Path of Least Resistance ? 
1665, 1666 
The "Wonder” of Potato Seed. 1666 
Corn Harvester with Gasoline Power. 1666 
Raw Phosphate Rock in Manure. 1667 
Hill Farms and Prosperity... 1667 
Changes in Wheat Growing. 1667 
Hope Farm Notes .1672, 1673 
A Good Friend of the Farmer. 16X5 
The Troubles of a Silo Filler. 1675 
The Same Old Story. 1675 
LIVE STOCK AND DAIRY 
Latest Developments in the Milk Business. 1675 
Various Swine Questions. 1682 
Rations for Cows and Swine. 1682 
Ration with Cut Fodder. 1684 
Compounding Feed Mixture . 1684 
Com and Oats as Ration Base. 1684 
Feeding Grade Cows. 1684 
Feeding Freshening Cows. 1684 
Blood in Milk . 1686 
Catarrh . 1686 
Dropsical Swellings . 1686 
Lump on Jaw . 1686 
Feeding Heifers . 1688 
Feeding Canning Factory Waste. 1688 
Improving Dairy Ration. 1688 
Feeding Cow and Heifer. 1688 
Ration with Shredded Fodder. 1688 
THE HENYARD 
Description of the Cosgrove Henhouse. 1666 
Acorns for Chickens . 1670 
Winter Laying Indian Runners. 1678 
Egg-laying Contest . 1689 
Formula for Mixed Chicken Feed. 1689 
HORTICULTURE 
Humidity in Fruit Storing. 1666 
A Thirteen-cent Dollar . 1675 
Selling a Small Apple Orchard. 1675 
WOMAN AND HOME 
A Good Dinner of Lamb... 1673 
Canning Records . 1673 
Boys an- 1 Girls .1676, 1677 
Pastoral Parson and His Country Folks.... 1678 
Old-time Teachers and Certificates. 1678 
Care of Chow Dogs and Persian Cats. 1678 
The Wife's Share . 1678 
Thoughts of a Plain Farm Woman. 1680 
Opinions of a Hill Farm Woman. 1680 
The Home Dressmaker . 1681 
Keep the Hands Soft. 1681 
Cocoanut Drop Cookies. 1681 
MISCELLANEOUS 
Small Septic Tank for Private Homes. 1670 
Plastic Stove Lining. 1671 
Keeping Cider Sweet . 1671 
Galvanized Water Tank . 1671 
Permanent Magnets . 1671 
Explosion in Sprayer: Measuring Drams,.. 1671 
Bariur "Sulphate . 1671 
Remov Apple Stain . 1671 
Sulphur Bleached Molasses . 1671 
Orangeade . 1671 
Soap for Alkaline Water. 1671 
Cleaning Shellac Brushes . 1671 
Editorials . 1674 
What Has Become of Charles H. Betts?... 1675 
Feeding Chickens on Diamonds. 1679 
Homespun Woolens . 1679 
Legality of Note. 1679 
Publisher’s Desk ; ....... .... 1690 
that bo had boon compelled to drink more 
than was good for him, and to smoke too 
many bad cigars because the men he did 
business with thought they had to “have 
something.” He did not dare protest 
against the foolish habit, and so it was 
kept up. though most people knew the 
folly of it. But an apple! That did him 
good. Now that prohibition has come, 
there is less of the “hard stuff” used, but 
cartloads of bad cigars are handed out to 
men who know they are using too much 
tobacco. If a lot of this stuff could he 
cut out and good, juicy apples substi¬ 
tuted. the world would be far better off. 
Amorphophallus Rivieri 
How should I care for a tuber of 
Amorphophallus Rivieri? I have had this 
tuber for some time, and it is now about 
as large as a dinner plate; produces beau¬ 
tiful foliage about 3 ft. tall. How can I 
care for this so as to get it to bloom? 
New Brunswick, N. J. e. h. t. 
The Amorphophallus requires a resting 
period, and if effort has been made to 
keep it in continuous growth it. would be 
unlikely to flower. As the flower has a 
strong and disagreeable odor, it is not 
very desirable in the window garden. The 
root, if it has been planted out during 
the Summer, should be taken up and pot¬ 
ted before frost; use rich soil, and place 
in a warm greenhouse or window to ripen 
off the leaves. When- they die down, store 
tubers in any dark place where the 
temperature will not fall below 50 de¬ 
grees ; florists usually lay the pots on 
their sides under a bench. During the 
Winter give just enough moisture to keep 
the tubers from shriveling. About the 
end of March the plants should be taken 
from their Winter quarters and put in a 
warm window or greenhouse. Keep 
moist, and if the tubers are strong enough 
they will soon come into flower. The 
leaves do not grow until flowering is over. 
About the end of May they may be plant¬ 
ed out in the open ground, where they re¬ 
main until lifted and potted in the Fall. 
The large leaf, on a stout stalk, is hand¬ 
some in subtropical bedding. The large 
spathe is very showy and interesting. It 
is a native of Cochin China. 
New England Notes 
Potatoes and Kerosene.— Amateur 
gardeners have some queer experiences. 
One of them was telling me the other 
day about some wonderful potatoes which 
he had grown. The plants were taller 
than those of any lie had ever seen, and 
the tubers were remarkable for their size 
and quality. The treatment which these 
potatoes received differed only in one 
respect from that of other potatoes in the 
patch. The seed had accidentally been 
soaked with kerosene. It had been a 
question whether the seed would grow at 
all. but the question which the grower 
now wants answered is: Is the kerosene 
responsible for the unusual quality of the 
crop? To make the story a good one, I 
may as well add that the grower told me 
that while he had to fight potato bugs 
morning, noon and night throughout the 
season on the rest of his vines, not a 
single bug appeared on those grown from 
the kerosene impregnated tubers. Of 
course no special claims are made for the 
efficacy of the kerosene treatment, but 
this man plans next year deliberately to 
soak some of his seed to see if the results 
are the same. He thinks that he may 
have stumbled upon a discovery of real 
value. 
Bulbs For the Garden. —Doubtless 
it will be noticed that some of the Fall 
catalogues are minus the usual lists of 
Scillas. snowdrops and others of the so- 
called lesser bulbs. There is a certain 
amount of stock in the country, but the 
stock is dwindling, and under the present 
ruling of the Federal Horticultural Board 
at Washington no more bulbs of these 
kinds can be imported. Of tulips, hya¬ 
cinths, Narcissi and Japanese lily bulbs 
there probably will be plenty, although 
American buyers have hesitated to pay 
the high prices charged. The .Taps and 
Dutchmen apparently have been afflicted 
with the profiteering fever, which has 
been so much in evidence here for the 
past few years. Even with higher prices, 
though, these bulbs are such an addition 
to the garden and to the living room in 
Winter that they should still be planted 
freely. 
A Goon Potato.— The best potato 
which I have heard reported upon this 
year is Spaulding’s Rose. A neighbor of 
mine planted this variety in a patch ad¬ 
joining Irish Oobbler. Both varieties re¬ 
ceived the same cultivation and the same 
amount of fertilizer, but the Spaulding’s 
Rose gave a very much heavier yield than 
the Irish Cobblers, and the potatoes were 
more uniform in size. A number of other 
varieties have tested out well, but seed 
has been hard to obtain. I think there 
is no great difficulty in getting Spauld¬ 
ing’s Rose, however, and it would appear 
to be a very good variety for the home 
garden. No doubt Irish Cobbler and 
Gireen Mountain will continue to be 
planted, but repeated experiments have 
proven that they are inferior to many 
other kinds both in size of yield and 
character of the tubers. 
Storing Kohl-rabi, —Kohl rabi is a 
vegetable to which many gardeners have 
been introduced for the first time during 
the past few years. It ha« only lately 
come into favor here, although in England 
and Scotland it. is grown by the acre and 
used for feeding cattle, as well as for 
human consumption. Last year some 
gardeners lost, their surplus kohl-rabi in 
the Fall because they did not realize that 
it could be stored for Winter in the same 
way as beets and carrots. As a matter 
of fact, it. can be handled like any root 
crop, and will keep for months if placed 
in boxes of sand. It is not worth while, 
though, taking in specimens which are 
very large, because they are almost cer¬ 
tain to prove tough and woody. This 
vegetable is best when no larger than a 
baseball. Still, if the garden-maker also 
is a chicken-keeper, he may find it worth 
while to use the old, tough specimens of 
kohl-rabi for feeding them. Indeed, kohl¬ 
rabi makes an excellent, vegetable for 
poultry in midwinter, and I understand 
that across the water it is commonly 
grown as a Winter chicken ration. I 
find that few gardeners are familiar with 
the Winter radish, and yet it. makes a 
very good vegetable to store, keeping 
quite as well as beets or turnips. If 
should, however, be buried in boxes of 
sand in a cellar which is inclined to be 
dry. 
Bulbs For Winter Blooming. —Bulbs 
are exceedingly easy to grow in the house, 
if the right kinds are chosen, and the 
right treatment given them. The most 
common fault lies in not having them 
properly rooted. Pots containing the 
bulbs should be set on a bed of ashes or 
sand on the cellar bottom, and after 
being given a thorough wetting should 
be covered several inches deep with the 
sand or ashes. The latter should always 
be coal ashes, not wood ashes. This cov¬ 
ering serves to exclude the light and also 
to prevent, the roots from pushing the 
bulbs out of the soil. Five or six weeks 
are usually needed to root the bulbs pro¬ 
perly. _ Oftentimes if you lift up the pots 
you will find some of the roots protruding 
through the hole in the bottom. Other¬ 
wise you can easily knock out the ball of 
earth, catching it in one hand at the 
same time. If you find the bottom of the 
ball a mass of roots the bulbs will be 
ready for bringing upstairs. Tulips, hya¬ 
cinths. daffodils and the Poet’s Narcissus 
are to be handled in this way. It should 
be remembered, though, that tulips can¬ 
not be forced until after the first of the 
year, except the little Due von Thol tulip, 
which while dwarf is very handsome', and 
can be had in bloom for Christmas. 
Freesias and Oxalis should be planted 
early, for they take a long time to de¬ 
velop. It is not necessary, though, to 
bury them in the cellar. Simply keep 
them in a north window, for the roots 
and leaves develoj) at the same time. The 
Paper White Narcissus and the Chinese 
lily are the easiest of all bulbs to grow, 
and will do well in bowls of water if held 
in upright positions with pebbles. Do 
not put them in a closet, but keep them 
in a cool place out of the direct sunlight 
until the roots penetrate the pebbles in 
all directions. The Due von Thol tulips 
and even Crocuses can be grown in water, 
too. Keep all of your bulbs away from 
the radiator or the register, and do not 
expose them to sudden drafts of air. Tf 
you follow these directions and do not 
have the room too wa'rm you will have no 
difficulty in getting good results. The 
one most important thing of all is to get 
the bulbs thoroughly rooted, for otherwise 
you will have poor blossoms, and only a 
few of them. e. i. farrington. 
Bean and Pea Threshers 
FOR SALE 
Very Efficient—Low Price 
Immediate Delivery 
BROCKETT, SHAW & LUNT CO. 
1 Washington St., Boston, Mass. 
MALONEY TREES 
For fall planting. Fruit and Ornamen¬ 
tals. Vines. Shrubs. Maloney A-l Quality 
selected from the choicest stock grown 
in our 400-acre nurseries. Direct to von 
at cost plus one profit only. Hardy 
fresh dug, healthy, true to name— 
Write for free catalog. We prepay trans¬ 
portation charges on all orders over *7.50. 
MALONEY BROS. SWELLS CO., 57 West St..0insville.N Y 
Danxville's Pioneer Ntlrscrirs 
strawberry raspberrry. black 
15 errv rlants berry, dewberry, gooseberry, cur- 
J RANT plants: also ASPARAGUS. RHU¬ 
BARB, and WITLOOF CHICORY roots; ROSES and SHRUBS for fall 
planting. Catalogue free. HARRY L. SQUIRES, Good Ground NY 
Layer Strawberry Plants f nfS ; 10 varieties t0 select 
from, including the fall bearing. Ask for catalog. 
J. Keifkord Hall, Route z, Rhodkkuale, Md. 
Annual White Sweet Clover 
Garden grown, from Prof. Hughes’ original stock, Guar- 
anteed genuine. Price. 60c per ounce or 35 per ll> Post 
paid. HENRY FIEI.D, Shenandoah, Iowa 
F OR SALE— Wildtr Perfection Black Champion Currants 
Perfection Raspberry plants. J. F. WYGANT, Morlboro. H I. 
WANTFn in evpr >' town, agent familiar with farming 
II nit 1 L.U to sell article every farmer needs; exclusive 
territory. The Reliable Company, Poughkeepslo, N. Y. 
Agents 
Wanted 
Active, reliable, on salary, to 
take subscriptions for Rural 
New-Yorker in Ohio. Prefer 
men who have horse or auto. 
address 
J. C. MITLHOLLAND 
74 North Champion Avenue 
Columbus, Ohio 
OR 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
333 W. 30th St., New York City 
Nature 
Responds 
Nature is on your side 
every time you eat 
Grape »Nuts 
For this sturdy blend of wheat and 
malted barley supplies body and 
brain with just the elements oF 
nutrition that Nature demands 
For health and vigor. 
Grape =Nuts is a Sugar Saver 
"There's a Reason" 
FKellrs' 
TREES 
Place Your Order This Fall 
Although we have our usual fine assortment of high grade 
fruit trees to offer for Fall delivery, the demand is ex¬ 
ceptionally strong and we recommend that our old and 
new customers place their orders early this season. 
You will never regret planting Kelly trees. Our trees are 
all perfect specimens and our guarantee is your protection. 
We offer you a big money saving and reliable stock. 
Send for 1920 Free Catalogue 
KELLY BROS. NURSERIES 
805 Main Street. Dansville. N. Y. 
