The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1003 
School Children and Labor 
Could you give me the school law relative to a boy 
working? The boys are 13 to 17 years old. Is there 
any law, whatever, prohibiting children working after 
school. is out? This will settle an argument. A says 
there is a law and B says there is no such law. 'F. e. 
New Yoi’k. 
N O child linden 14 years of age shall be employed 
in or in connection with or for any factory, 
mercantile establishment, business office, telegraph 
office, restaurant, hotel or apartment-house, theater 
or other place of amusement, bowling alley, barber 
shop, shoe-polishing establishment, or in the distri¬ 
bution or transmission of merchandise, articles or 
messages or in the sale of articles, 
Nothing contained fn this article shall prohibit a 
person from permitting his children- to do farm work 
for him upon his farm. 
Boyg over the age of 12 years may be employed 
in gathering produce for not more than six hours 
in any day, subject to the requirements of the educa¬ 
tion law. 
No child between 14 and 16 years of age shall be 
employed in or in connection with or for any fac¬ 
tory, establishment, or business specified above un¬ 
less an employment certificate as provided by Sec¬ 
tion 631 of the education law is kept on file in the 
office of the employer at the child’s place of em¬ 
ployment. 
No child under 16 years of age shall be employed 
in operating or assisting in operating any of the 
following: 
Circular or band saws? calender roljs; corrugat¬ 
ing roll making machines; cracker ma¬ 
chinery; dough brakes; drill presses; 
laundering machinery; metal cutting 
or stamping machines; paper bon cor¬ 
ner staying machines; paper cutting 
machines; paper lace machines; picker 
machines or machines used in picking 
wool, cotton, hair or upholstery ma¬ 
terial ; planers; power punches or 
shears; printing presses, job or cylin¬ 
der, with power other than foot; roll¬ 
ing mill machinery; sand paper ma¬ 
chinery ; steam boilers; washing, 
grinding or mixing machines; wire or 
iron, straightening machinery; wood- 
jointers, woodpolishers, woodsliapers, 
wood turning or boring machinery. 
No child under the age of 16 years 
shall be employed in or assist in: ad¬ 
justing belts to machinery; cleaning, 
oiling or wiping machinery; manufac¬ 
turing or packing paints, dry colors, or 
red or white leads; manufacturing, 
packing or storing explosives; match 
dipping or dyeing; preparing any composition 
going subdivisions the board when it finds upon in¬ 
vestigation that any particular trade, process of 
manufacture, occupation or method of carrying on 
the same is dangerous or injurious to the health 
of minors under 18 years, may adopt rules prohibit¬ 
ing or regulating the employment of such minors 
therein. 
There are also certain prohibitions of the em¬ 
ployment of children under the age of 16 years 
provided In Section 4S5 of the Penal Law. These 
cover dangerous occupations, also indecent and im¬ 
moral occupation. n. t. 
A Quarter Acre Cape Cod Farm 
A N article in the Farm Bureau Notes published at 
Hyannis, on Cape Cod, Mass., tells of how C. 
B. Smith, of Provincetown, makes three blades of 
grass grow where the average man would have trou¬ 
ble in producing one. Provincetown, as anyone who 
looks at the map can realize, is far down at the end 
of Cape Cod. and there is not very much except 
sand for some miles around it. There are a few 
little patches of loam, but for the most part it is an 
area of pure sand. There are some gardens in 
Provincetown that yield fairly well. It used to be 
said with much truth that these gardens were 
started by old sea captains, who brought back quan¬ 
tities of soil as ballast for their vessels. This soil 
was mixed with the sand, and by the use of seaweed 
and green crops a soil of reasonable quality was 
finally produced. In the following article we shall 
Working in the rye field. Rye is an old-fashioned crop formerly progtable. There, 
is now a good demand for the straw and the crop will still pay on many back fields." 
in 
or 
which dangerous or poisonous acids are used; 
about any distillery, brewery, or any other estab¬ 
lishment where malt or alcoholic liquors are manu¬ 
factured, packed, wrapped or bottled. 
No female under 16 years of age shall be em¬ 
ployed in any capacity which compels constant 
standing. 
No male under 16 years of age shall be employed 
tc have the care, custody or operation of a freight 
or passenger elevator. No male under IS years of 
age shall be employed to have the care, custody or 
operation of such elevator running at a speed of 
over 200 ft. a minute. 
No female under IS years of age shall be employed 
to have the care, custody or operation of a freight 
or passenger elevator. 
No male under 16 year of age nor any female 
shall be employed in or in connection with a mine 
or quarry. 
No male under IS years of age nor any female 
under 21 years of age shall be employed or directed 
to clean machinery while it is in motion. 
No male under IS years of age. nor any female, 
shall be employed in operating or using any emery, 
tripoli, rouge, corundum, stone, carborundum or any 
abrasive or emery polishing or buffing wheel, where 
articles of the baser metals or iridium are manu¬ 
factured ; provided, however, that females more than 
21 years of age may be employed in operating such 
wheels for wet grinding under conditions specified 
by the industrial board in its rules. 
No female under 21 years of age shall be employed 
as a conductor or guard on any street, surface, elec¬ 
tric, subway or elevated railroad. 
No female under 21 years of age shall be em¬ 
ployed as messenger for a telegraph or messenger 
company in distributing, transmitting or delivering 
goods or messages. 
In addition to the cases provided for in the fore¬ 
see that it is claimed for Mr. Smitli that his land 
has been improved largely by ashes obtained from 
burning boxes and crates in which goods were 
shipped into Provincetown. Those who have used 
wood ashes know that the lime contained in them 
helps to bind the sand together, so as to make it 
hold water, while the potash helps to produce grass, 
weeds, or cover crops, which provide organic matter 
for the soil. At any rate, Mr. Smith has produced 
great things on his small place which is less than 
one-fourth of an acre. If the whole of Cape Cod 
could be improved and cultivated in that way this 
sandy arm of the sea could be made to produce food 
enough to supply the whole of New England. 
Sixteen dollars was the total gross income from C. B. 
Smith’s first year at farming. That, however, was many 
years ago when Mr. Smith of Provincetown launched 
out on his one-eighth acre farm. 
In order to visualize what it means to utilize every 
available inch of ground, it will be necessary to de¬ 
scribe Mr. Smith’s place of business. He is located on 
a corner lot in the congested center of Provincetown, a 
lot approximately 125 by 00 feet in dimensions. With¬ 
in this area there is his house and ell, five henhouses, 
four chicken-houses, two greenhouses, a garage, wood 
shed and cold frame. Between these buildings there 
are 22 fruit trees, and in the space between the walks, 
under the trees and by the side of the fence, he grows 
his market garden crops. One visiting his farm must 
be cleared-eyed and steady, for a misstep might ruin 
more crops than the profit from a dozen tomatoes could 
replace. And yet from this cramped area three crops 
a year is the rule and gross sales today go well up into 
three figures. For instance, over $50 has been received 
from the fruit, mainly apples and pears, and this may 
be considered an income supplementary to the main 
crops of the land. 
Another illustration, which will help to understand 
Mr. Smith’s ability in getting a sizeable gross income, 
relates to a single hill of squash. Eight dollars and 
forty-one cents was the amount received from the sale 
of squash from this one hill, and marvelous as this may 
seem, it is only part of the story, for the vine grew 
over a compost pile thus utilizing no valuable ground 
and the squashes averaging from 6 to 10 lbs. filled a 
big wheelbarrow. The last squash was disposed of on 
May 2, which illustrates the remarkable keening quali- 
ties of this variety. 
Mr. Smith was born in the house which he now oc¬ 
cupies, and except for a few years in Boston has been 
farming in Provincetown ever since . When Mr. Smith 
planted his first lettuce seed in 1905 his soil was rather 
poor, but today, by the continual addition of humus, its 
character has been completely changed. Where it was 
once white sand and unfertile, today it is dark, rich, and 
productive. As Mr. Smith says, he has imported soil 
from all countries of the world, for much of his land 
has been improved by the use of ashes from the burned 
boxes and crates that bring our tea from Japan, our 
figs from India, our grapes from Spain and our nuts 
trom Africa. No commercial fertilizer has ever been 
used on Mr. Smith’s farm, but hen manure, weeds, 
ashes and sods are composted and go to'enrich the land. 
Market garden crops do not occupy the entire farm, 
tor poultry holds an important place. Last year 65 
chickens, were hatched, of which 27 were pullets. Two 
hundred dozen eggs were produced from these pullets 
during the last eight months, and over $100 received 
trom the roasters sold. Poultry diseases, that are so 
common these days, are unknown at Smith’s farm. He 
neyer loses a chick, which in itself is most remarkable, 
but may be due in part to the fact that he has never 
changed his stock and thereby offered opportunity for 
™f ase t0 , c ? me ,‘, u - Iu his “ ytate of Maine House” so 
called, which although made of box boards, serves its 
purpose well in housing 20 layers, there flutters a five- 
SmiHwi heQ f’r Wel1 and heart y. proving that Mr. 
‘ in ' L d °n uot , dlspo , se of a g°°d layer even though she 
may be old and tough. 
I he eggs are collected four or five times a day and 
the flock fed as often Oats and cracked corn constitute 
the scratch grain and bran and middlings supplemented 
by fiesh meat from the local stores, the dry mash. 
Weeds and thinnings from the garden make up the 
green food. 1 
^ mith bas worked up a profitable business and 
a h arge - “ um . ber of people. He has made it 
a business principle to give service, and if a whole 
diessed fowl is too much for a customer, he will sell 
® balf °r a quarter. The customer who wants one egg 
one wh?, stalks o f rhubarb gets as much attention as the 
one who buys in larger quantities. 
No elubomte system of farm bookkeeping keeps Mr 
Smith awake nights, and yet complete records are kept 
of every transaction. It is mainly through the close at¬ 
tention to details, the recording of every 
penny received, the utilization of every 
available inch of space, and the determi¬ 
nation to make the most of the opportuni¬ 
ties at hand that has been t’he means of 
raising the first year’s gross income of 
to its present satisfactory figure. 
Raw Leather as Fertilizer 
Of what value as a fertilizer for as¬ 
paragus and apples, is the fine" leather 
dust from shoe factories? e s ir 
Pennsylvania. 
r T'HE fine leather dust would be of 
A very little value to asparagus as 
a fertilizer. The asparagus needs more 
available' plant food than can ever be 
found in raw leather dust. For the 
apple orchard the dust would give bet¬ 
ter satisfaction if used with muriate 
of potash, although it would not he as 
fully satisfactory as fertilizer. It is 
sometimes possible to use unavailable 
material like leather dust, raw phos¬ 
phate rock or similar things, and then 
sow such crops as buckwheat or tur¬ 
nips. Some of these crops have the 
utilize these unavailable materials", 
they do, the crop can be plowed 
under and thus furnish available food for an apple 
orchard. Buckwheat has been called in a joking 
way, “the goat among agricultural plants” because 
of its supposed ability to utilize such materials as 
leather.. It has long been a popular joke that goats 
mn.\ be fed on old tin cans, rubber boots and pieces 
ot leather, and on such a ration, give large quanti¬ 
ties of rich milk. That, of course, is nothing but a 
pleasantry, for the goat is really a delicate animal, 
and requires good food in order to give milk prop¬ 
erly. It is true, however, that buckwheat or tur¬ 
nips can make use of forms of plant food which 
many other crops could hardly utilize, and some ad¬ 
vantage has been taken of this fact in using leather 
crushed or ground in an orchard, and then seeding 
buckwheat. It would be a slow way to fertilize an 
orchard, but it may be done. With the asparagus 
crop, however, we have a very different proposition. 
That plant requires available fertilizer, and the raw 
leather would be of very Jittle value for such a crop. 
Leather may be ground and roasted or treated with 
sulphuric acid so as to make an ingredient of the 
mixed fertilizer. It is generally quite rich in nitro¬ 
gen, but when used raw it would be very slow to 
break up and give any results. 
power to 
and when 
Lettuce Culture; Mushrooms 
1. How can I make lettuce head? I set it out and 
it will not head up. 2. .Also, how to grow mushrooms 
and is there any money to be made at it? t n m ’ 
Pottstown, Pa. 
T ETTCJCE plants of the right varieties will 
J—/ usually head, if the plants are wintered over 
and not too much nitrogen is given them. The best 
large head varieties are Big Boston, White Cabbage 
Head or Unrivaled and New York. The seed should 
be sown broadcast in cold frames the last week in 
October. Protect with sash during the Winter and 
