990 
under natural conditions which require a minimum 
of labor, cheap lumber, cheap green food the year 
around and freedom from disease. These conditions 
result in higher average egg yields with a corre¬ 
spondingly lower cost of production than is found 
in the East. The chief disadvantage is the distance 
from markets. 
SANDY SOIL.—The soil upon which poultry is 
kept in Petaluma is either a sandy or gravelly loam, 
either of which seems to furnish almost ideal condi¬ 
tions for poultry. At Petaluma there are miles of 
this sandy or gravelly soil upon which are kept, in 
round numbers, six million White Leghorn hens, 
while lying adjacent to this large poultry tract there 
are thousands of acres of heavy land which is not 
suitable for poultry farming, and which can he pur¬ 
chased as low as .$50 per acre, while good sandy 
soil for poultry is not sold much less than $250 near 
Petaluma, and many improved farms are held at 
$500 to $2,000 per acre, depending upon location and 
improvements. 
THE POULTRYMEN ORGANIZE.—These poultry 
farms are owned by all classes of poultrymen, many 
being new at the business. Some are thoroughly 
experienced and have made great successes, while 
a large class are foreigners, who have different 
standards of living from our average American 
farmers. Five or six years ago, when this colony 
of poultrymen was in its infancy, the question of 
finding an adequate market for the products gradu¬ 
ally forced the producers to seek an outlet in other 
States and in Alaska. At first a local dealer would 
watch the Eastern markets, and when a surplus of 
eggs came onto the San Francisco market at a time 
when prices were much higher in Nd\v York thin 
dealer would simply go out and buy enough eggs on 
the open market to make a carload with what he 
had on hand, and ship this car to a New York com¬ 
mission man. Of course, these eggs were not graded, 
and were therefore a sort of unknown value after 
their rough ride to New York, but they were pur¬ 
chased very cheaply, and no expense was added 
except to load the car and pay the transportation 
charges to New York. This practice usually resulted 
in a loss when tiie car arrived in bad condition, or 
when it struck a falling market. While fills method 
relieved the congested markets on the Pacific coast 
to some extent, it was not very satisfactory for the 
producers, as the dealers got all the profit and did 
nothing in a constructive way for it. That is, they 
did not do this business in such a manner that the 
quality of these Western eggs would reflect any 
credit upon the producers, or create a hotter demand 
for future shipments, so in the Fall of 191(i, after 
several unsuccessful attempts, they organized the 
Poultry Producers of Central California and started 
doing business early in 1917 with the product of 
over one million hens to begin with. They recog¬ 
nized a few very important basic principles in start, 
ing this organization, the carrying out of which has 
brought them their wonderful success. Their sales 
this year are expected to reach the respectable total 
of $10,000,000, or an increase of about 50 per cent 
over last year. About 00 per cent of the eggs pro¬ 
duced in the Petaluma district are sold through Ibis 
association. There is a branch of the association 
in Santa Cruz, one at Palo Alto, one at Haywards 
and one near Sacramento. Without this organiza¬ 
tion of producers it is safe to say the poultry in¬ 
dustry could not have been brought up to its present 
magnitude here in so short a period of time, as local 
markets would be unable to handle the products at 
a fair price. When the poultry producers began to 
market their own produce the local prices advanced 
from four to seven cents per dozen eggs in one week 
as a result of an effort made by the local dealers to 
break up the organization by offering the producers 
more than the association could afford to pay. As 
members of the association join for three years 
attempts to get them away and break their con¬ 
tracts are not very successful ns a rule. 
C. K. GREENE. 
(Continued Next Week) 
Killing Out Alder Bushes 
Have you any data in regard to cutting alder bushes 
at a time in the year to prevent their growing again? 
H. t. 1. 
ITE best time to cut any bushes or young trees 
so as to weaken their vitality is during the lat¬ 
ter part of Summer, usually the last of August or 
the first of September. The reason for this is the 
fact that such bushes and trees make their growth 
through the Summer, usually at the expense of their 
roots. \t I be end of the season nature proceeds to 
strengthen the plant by stopping growth of the top 
fht RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
and storing up nourishment in the roots for the next 
season. Thus, under ordinary conditions, the bush 
will stop growing the latter part of August. If it 
is cut off at that time the tendency will be to repair 
the damage by starting a new top. With the roots 
feeble after -the long Summer growth, this second 
growth will not be a strong one, and the roots will 
not have opportunity to fit themselves for the Win¬ 
ter, and the result is that they are quite (as : ly 
killed out and will not start vigorously in the 
Spring. We have had many cases where brush and 
young trees have been completely killed out 1 y this 
process. Some varieties and some very vigorous 
plants will live over Winter in spite of this treat¬ 
ment. but, as a rule, if they are thoroughly cut off 
at this time they will be greatly weakened, if not 
destroyed. 
Notes on Whitewashing the Barn 
Will vou give advice about whitewashing burns so as 
to keep cattle clean in Winter? The men are busy these 
limes on farms, and it is hard to get anything done. 
If you will give something on this subject I am sure it 
will do a great deal of good. a. s. 
T seems like a very useless job to me, to be 
writing an article on the advantages of white¬ 
washing the cow stable. Such an article seems 
about as necessary as one advising the spraying of 
the potato patch to kill the bugs. I’ut I 'suppose that 
there are a good many farmers who have never sold 
market milk, and, in fact, have never given very 
much attention to the dairy department of the farm, 
who have never whitewashed their stables or even 
swept down the cobwebs and other dirt that natur¬ 
ally accumulates with the passing years. I went 
into the barn, this Spring, of one man who produces 
milk and retails it In the nearby village, and found 
that this barn had never been whitewashed, and the 
dirt-laden cobwebs hung in festoons from the beams 
overhead. IIow he managed to get away with it is 
more than I can guess, unless he has some especial 
pull with the local board of health. 
But the average farmer does not need a board of 
health to make him clean up his cow stable, any 
more than he does to make him wash himself or 
shave and get an occasional hair cut. Still, I hardly 
believe that all who do not keep their stables in good 
condition are filthy in their habits, but rather that 
they have never got in the habit of cleaning up, and 
don’t understand the comfort and general satisfac¬ 
tion one gets from working in pleasant surround¬ 
ings. 
A good slick-talking agent will come along and tell 
one of these men about llic great advantages and 
satisfaction he will receive from installing a light¬ 
ing plant on his farm and, like as not, the man will 
invest several hundred dollars in such a plant, which 
I am not saying is an unwise thing to do. But I will 
say that such a lighting system installed in a dirty, 
unwhitewashed barn, will give no more light than 
two gqod lanterns with clean globes will in a clean 
barn where the overhead and side walls are gleam¬ 
ing with fresh whitewash. 
And then the whitewashing is such an easy and 
inexpensive thing to do. A bushel of lime and a peek 
of salt will furnish the material to whitewash a 
good-sized stable. Of course the salt may be left out, 
but it pays to put it in. The wash gives off a more 
glistening light, and stays on much better with the 
salt added. The regular government formula is 
probably the best to use. Slake half a barrel of lump 
lime with hot water. Strain and add a peek of salt 
dissolved in warm water; 3 lbs. of ground rice put 
in boiling water and boiled to a thin paste, J /4 lb. 
of Spanish whiting and 1 lb. of glue dissolved in 
water. Mix and let stand for several days. Apply 
hot. 
Of course one should use a spray pump to apply 
the wash. There is always one in the neighborhood 
that can be borrowed or hired for a small sum. 
Then the cost of labor is very light, for a rainy day 
is just as good as any for this job. Remove all the 
windows from the stable and then thoroughly sweep 
down the ceiling and side walls. Go over t! e whole 
thing with the wash, and after it dr'es go over it 
again and touch up the spots that got only a sprink¬ 
ling the first time. Then give the windows a good 
cleaning and put them hack. 
If you don’t get a good thrill of satisfaction every 
time you step into that barn for at least a week 
afterwards, you had better sell the farm and hire 
out in a coalyard. J. grant morse. 
Feeding Young Figs 
E find that it is good practice to start pigs on 
a self-feeder even before they are weaned, as 
this gives them-a good growing start and plenty of 
August 0, 1921 
bone- and muscle-building feed so needed by young 
pigs may be provided. We have a little creep in the 
swine pasture which will allow ouly the small pigs 
to slip through where they have access to the 
feeder. The ration given to young pigs may vary to 
some extent, yet it should contain plenty of protein 
feedstuffs, such as tankage, if skim-milk is not avail¬ 
able. Middlings are commonly used in a self-feeder 
for swine. These make a fairly good feed, but are 
somewhat deficient in mineral matter, as compared 
with tankage. 
A satisfactory ration is composed of corn, seven 
harts, middlings two and tankage one part. If pos¬ 
sible the corn may be ground, and all of these con¬ 
stituents mixed together; or, if the corn cannot be 
ground, shelled corn is quite satisfactory. Usually 
it is not necessary to grind feed for young pigs. 
Another ration is corn nine, linseed oilmeal two, 
and tankage fine part. Linseed oilmeal is not always 
palatable to pigs, and it. is sometimes necessary to 
mix it with tankage or ground corn in order to get 
the pigs to eat it. 
7f the pigs have <.11 the skim-milk they care to 
drink, shelled corn is the only extra feed necessary 
to put in the feeder. Pigs fed in this way may be 
easily weaned from sows, and the sows got into bet¬ 
ter condition for raising tbe Fall litters. Fig. 429, 
on next page, shows a standard type of feeder with 
the pigs at work. c. m. baker. 
Wayne Co., O. 
The Value of Orchard Trees 
What do you think is the value of 25-year-old apple 
t w, Northern Spy and Baldwin? I have 11 trees that 
have been burned by a fire set from the New York 
Central Railroad, and before I put in a claim I would 
like to have your opinion on the matter. These are 
good, healthy, young trees, that have good care, large 
enough to pick 10 barrels per tree, with a half crop of 
apples on this year. There are two Baldwins, one Ben 
Davis and eight Northern Spy, and as near as we can 
get at it there is no chance of recovery. n. ii. h. 
New York. 
I T is practically impossible to state the exact com¬ 
mercial value of an apple tree. It all depends 
upon a number of conditions; the age and health of 
the tree, its locality or nearness to market, the char¬ 
acter of the soil and the ability of the owner to keep 
it well pruned and sprayed. These and other things 
would have to be considered in figuring the value of 
such a tree. For example, suppose a tree averaged 
five barrels a year of good fruit. It might be located 
near a village where all the apples could be sold in 
basket packages at tbe rate of $6 or $8 per barrel. 
On the other hand, suppose the tree to be back in 
the country, four or five miles from market. In that 
case the fruit would have to be picked and packed, 
hauled to town and properly shipped some distance 
by rail, in which case it would be doubtful if the 
apples would net the owner over $2.50 per barrel. 
Of course the tree near the town and close to these 
market facilities would be worth much more as a 
commercial proposition than the tree in the country. 
Many efforts have been made to figure out the value 
of Such trees from their yearly income, but it is 
almost impossible to do that with satisfaction. A 
general rule endorsed by many fruit growers and 
frequently used in efforts to settle cases of damages 
is to call a good apple tree, one year planted, worth 
$1. For each succeeding year of its growth it gains 
$1 in value, up to the age of 20 years. That valua¬ 
tion has been worked out in a number of cases 
where it was necessary to settle damages. Of 
course most fruit growers would readily see that this 
is not adequate payment for the destruction of f 
good tree. We have a number of McIntosh trees in 
our own orchard which pay each year a large inter¬ 
est at a valuation of $50 per year, and we would not 
have them destroyed for that amo .nt of money. On 
tbe other hand, the value < f the tree depends very 
much on the personality of the owner and in spray¬ 
ing such trees. Supposing the case went into court, 
no jury would he expected to consider any such valu¬ 
ation. This is probably as fair an arrangement as 
could bo made from loss by fire or flood. Tn New 
York State the courts have settled that the damages 
where peach trees did not come true to name was the 
difference between the value of the land before tin* 
trees were planted and the value of that same land 
in case the trees had come to maturity and were 
true to name. This measure of damages has been 
applied in cases where peach trees at fruiting time 
proved to 1 e misfits so that the owner was obliged to 
pull them out. It would be next to impossible to 
apply that rule to mature apple trees, and while we 
do not consider that it is fair compensation for good 
trees, it is probable that the valuation of $1 for 
each year is about all that you can reasonably ex¬ 
pect 
