The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
935 
Nature Notes 
Care of Turtle Doves 
Would you give me some information 
about turtle doves? Is it all right to feed 
them crackers? In the Summer is it all 
light to give them a little grass? Let me 
know of any other kinds of food suitable 
for such birds. In the Winter, about 
what temperature should the room be? 
What dimensions of cage in the Summer, 
to be placed out of doors. G. A. L. 
Warren, Pa. 
Turtle doves should have about the 
same feed as ordinary domestic pigeons. 
I am told they will not eat meat. Breed¬ 
ing birds have some peas if they will eat 
them. A little grass is all right, but they 
will not eat much of it. It is reported 
that one group of these birds in Chicago 
prefer rolled oats. Most feed stores carry 
a special grain mixture for pigeons, which 
is all right for feeding turtle doves. 
Crackers would be all right for feeding, 
but should have some other foods added. 
A little chopped lettuce or cabbage might 
be useful as an appetizer. 
These little doves will almost stand the 
climate of Chicago out of doors the year 
around. I am told of one man who kept 
his birds outside for several years, but 
they were all killed by the unusually se¬ 
vere Winter just passed. A cage 4 ft. 
square and G ft. high, partly protected 
so that they can have shelter from the 
worst storms, is all that is needed. Young 
turtle doves can be left with the old 
ones until the next setting of eegs 
hatches. By that time they will have 
learned to eat and the old ones will drive 
them away. Alfred c. weed. 
Taking Care of Goldfish 
Could you give me any advice on the 
care and food of goldfish? I had four 
small ones given me in February and 
since that time they have all died except 
one. They seemed all right at night and 
in the morning they would be dead. Some¬ 
one told me to change the water every 
other day, which I did, and I gave them 
fish food that I bought in the drugstore. 
They were in a two-gallon fish globe. Do 
you think the globe was too small? 
Oyster Bay, N. Y. mrs. e. w. 
It is very hard to tell what causes 
goldfish to die. They are in general 
highly artificial breeds and subject to as 
many troubles as any other domestic ani¬ 
mals. In the present case, it is evident 
that the fish were too crowded. The gen¬ 
eral rule of good aquarists is one gallon 
of water per inch of fish. That would 
allow one fish two inches long for an 
aquarium holding two gallons of water. 
In the ordinary globe aquarium holding 
two gallons when filled up to the neck 
there is not enough water surface in 
contact with the air, and the amount of 
fish to be allowed should be reduced to 
correspond. 
In the present case the globe might be 
enough for one small fish if filled only 
a little more than half full and the wa¬ 
ter changed frequently. If the fish com¬ 
monly swim at the top of the water it 
is usually an indication that the aquar¬ 
ium is too small. Wild fish or fish re¬ 
cently taken from an aquarium where 
they had running water will sometimes 
swim at the surface until they become 
accustomed to the changed conditions. 
Frequent changing of the water in an 
aquarium is a general cause of trouble. 
If the vessel is large enough and proper¬ 
ly supplied with plants and sunlight it 
will not need to have the water changed 
oftener than once a year. Where the 
aquarium is so small that the water must 
be changed often it is well to have an¬ 
other jar holding enough water for the 
change. Leave the water in the jar for 
several hours until it has the same tem¬ 
perature as that in the aquarium. Sud¬ 
den changes of temperature are very bad 
for any fish. Goldfish stand them better 
than some other kinds. 
If the fish seemed all right through 
the day and did not show ’distress by com¬ 
ing to the surface or by lowering the 
dorsal (back) fin, it is possible that they 
were killed by coal gas. In many houses 
heated by furnace there is more or less 
of an escape of gas at night. This gas 
is readily dissolved in water and is very 
injurious to fish. 
In this case I should try the effect of 
putting about an inch of coarse clean 
sand in the bottom of the globe, planting 
tape grass, foxtail or anacharis and fill¬ 
ing the globe not more than two-thirds 
full of water. Tape grass or wild celery 
and water foxtail grow in streams and 
ponds near you. Anacharis and other 
water plants can be purchased from any 
dealer in aquarium supplies. 
ALFRED C. WEED. 
A Tame Woodchuck 
The picture shows a woodchuck and 
Mr. Hoffman, the man he boards with. 
They call him Jimmy Chuck. He has 
been with Mr. Hoffman two years. The 
first year he had the habits of the ground 
hog, but last year he did not go to .sleep 
in the Winter time. He is very tame and 
likes to sleep under the kitchen stove. 
Mr. Hoffman has two dogs and cats and 
a gray squirrel. When Jimmy wants to 
get under the stove, and the cats and dogs 
are there he will bite the cat’s tail, and 
when she gets out, he will crawl under 
with the dogs. His chief food is bread 
and milk and that he will eat with the 
cats out of the same dish. He is very 
fond of lemon pie and chicken. He will 
not eat any fruit or green food. When 
he gets hungry he will pull on Mrs. Hoff¬ 
man’s dress. Mr. Hoffman lives in Hun¬ 
terdon County, N. J. 
An Owl Decoy for Hawks 
The New York Conservation Commis¬ 
sion gives a report of hunting hawks 
with a stuffed owl for a decoy. It is 
said that this works very well. The 
great horned owl is best for the purpose. 
A stuffed specimen of this owl is put at 
the top of a long pole and set up against 
a dead tree, usually on a hill where 
hawks are known to congregate. The 
hunter hides behind a tree or rock and 
waits for the hawks to come. It seems 
that the hawks have some reason to show 
great anger against the owl, and they 
will come and attack the stuffed bird 
with great energy. Their anger is so 
great that they seem to forget their usual 
caution, and put themselves in a position 
where they can be easily shot. An owl 
put up in such a place will decoy almost 
any hawk remaining in that locality. 
The month of April or early May is the 
best time for practising this form of 
hunting. It is said that the crows will 
also come and attack the owl. although 
they ai - e more cautious than the hawks, 
and spend more time in investigating. 
The hawks, however, have such a hatred 
for the owl that they become quite fear¬ 
less and expose themselves recklessly. 
Colonel Worth Robinson of West Point 
seems to have originated this plan of us¬ 
ing stuffed owls as decoys. He is said 
to have had 57 hawks attack the decoy 
in one morning, so that he killed 27 of 
them. 
Birds and Suet 
I was interested in the bird letter in 
The R. N.-Y., pages 662, 745, and I 
thought I would write about what I have 
observed here. I live in a Massachusetts 
country town, perhaps 100 yards from a 
railroad. There is a small apple orchard 
back of the house, and a row of lilacs 
planted on the north side of the house. I 
have seen in the trees orioles, robins, 
Summer warblers, blue jays, blackbirds 
and many of the brown birds. In the 
Winter I tie pieces of suet to the lilacs, 
and I have enjoyed seeing the blue jays 
eat it. Last Winter, however, the suet 
hung there untouched until the bushes 
had leaved. Then one day I noticed a 
pair of catbirds picking at the suet. I 
hunted in the pantry for an old tea 
strainer (the dangling kind), filled it 
with mutton fat and suspended it to the 
branch of the lilacs. It was not long be¬ 
fore one catbird found the fat. I was 
amused to see him dip in with his long 
beak and eat the fat, and then wipe his 
bill upon a twig. He kept that up until 
a large piece which he picked up fell out 
of his mouth and he went down after it. 
I hope they will stay around. There is 
a bird house hanging from an apple 
branch, but I have not seen a bird near 
it. s. H. 
Foxboro. Mass. 
Black Mustard, a Troublesome Weed 
I am sending you specimen of a weed, 
which I think is very injurious. The 
farms of this section, St. Lawrence Coun¬ 
ty, do not lack much being over-run with 
it. I do not know the name of it, nor 
how to exterminate it, except to use the 
scythe before it is ready to seed. In hay 
or uncultivated land is where it flourishes 
the best. My neighbors are paying no 
attention to it whatever, with the result 
that they are without sufficient hay for 
their needs, and my farm between them 
with hay in abundance, for I do my best 
to keep it down. c. P. 
New York. 
The specimen sent was black mustard. 
Brassica nigra, an annual or biennial 
propagated by seeds. It is a tall branc- 
ing plant with bright yellow flowers, and 
is often confused with charlock or wild 
mustard, but the seed pods are quite dif¬ 
ferent. Black mustard has short, smooth 
slim pods, while those of charlock are 
long, knotted and wavy. The control 
methods are the same as for charlock. 
Hand pull or cut closely when flowers are 
first noticed. In grain fields seedlings 
■should be harrowed out with a light har¬ 
row or weeder when the grain is a few 
inches high. Later, but before the grain 
begins to head, the mustard may be en¬ 
tirely destroyed by spraying with sul¬ 
phate of iron or sulphate of copper. Iron 
sulphate (copperas) for this spray is 
dissolved in water at the rate of 100 lbs. 
of the chemical to a barrel (52 gallons) 
of water. Copper sulphate or blue vit¬ 
riol is dissolved at the rate of 8 to 12 
lbs. to the barrel, using 50 to 75 gallons 
to the aci-e. The spray should be used 
in clear weather, when the chemical is not 
likely to be washed off for at least 24 
hours. This spray will not hurt grass, 
but will destroy the mustard. Late Sum¬ 
mer cultivating of stubble fields will de¬ 
stroy many young seedlings. As the plant 
is propagated by seeds, early cutting of 
the tops will destroy it. Black mustard 
is a very noxious weed, and efforts shouW 
be made to destroy it. 
Birds and Thistledown 
I was interested in the note on page 
856 regarding that lawsuit over weed seed¬ 
ing. If I were judge and had the power I 
would give Mr. Yeager a permit to go 
on the other farm and destroy the weeds, 
but it doesn’t appear to me that the 
other farmer should be compelled to kill 
the weeds purely for Mr. Yeager’s bene¬ 
fit. 
In “Birds of New England,” by E. A. 
Samuels, sixth edition, published in 1875, 
on page 288, is this heading: “Yellow 
bird; thistle bird.” The nest is de¬ 
scribed as lined with soft down from the 
thistle and sometimes a few feathers. 
That proves that birds do carry thistle¬ 
down. I have examined hundreds of 
nests of yellow birds at Rochester. N. Y., 
and never saw one in that locality that 
was not lined with thistledown. 
New York. james pillow. 
Galls on Maple Leaves; Spraying 
Ornamentals 
1. I enclose a leaf from my red maple, 
curled, as a sample of all others. Last 
Spring the same thing happened. Nor¬ 
way maples are not affected at all. The 
surface of the street each Summer is 
oiled. Could it be the oil that affects 
the roots? 2. What kind of spray should 
I use on my Rhododendrons? The old 
wood is scrubby and last year’s wood is 
covered with that which usually attacks 
new apple wood ; the same on my snow¬ 
ball, and Rose of Sharon. j. c. V. 
New York. 
1. Maple trees are frequently affected 
by gall-forming insects and mites which 
are so small as to be invisible to the 
naked eye. The foliage of affected trees 
becomes covered with tiny knots and 
puckerings and galls, giving an appear¬ 
ance of some dire calamity. As a mat¬ 
ter of fact these galls are seldom of se¬ 
rious consequence, and they may come 
for several years and then disappear en¬ 
tirely. We doubt that the oil has any¬ 
thing to do with the trouble. Soft maple« 
seem more often attacked than hard 
maples. 
2. Probably your ornamentals are trou¬ 
bled with some scale insect. Spraying 
with lime-sulphur, 1 :8, when the plants 
are dormant, will control the scale eakily. 
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Farm Co-operation 
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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
333 West 30th Street, New York 
