1344 
October 25, 1924 
tendencies characterize the poor iayer. The toes of 
the good layer will be straight and muscular with the 
nails well worn from industry in foraging for food. 
The poor layer on the other hand, will likely have 
fatty or deformed toes and extremely long nails, in¬ 
dicating a poor forager. 
As regards color this refers to the depth or the 
amount of yellow color in certain parts of the hen, 
such as beak or shank. It is said that this yellow 
color is vegetable material which is stored in the 
fat tissues of the body and secreted through the 
very sloping body, excessively beefy comb and wattles 
and weak posture are evidences that this fowl will not 
prove a heavy producer. 
ekin when the hen is not laying. When the hen be¬ 
gins laying this color is deflected to the ovaries en¬ 
tering into the development of the egg yolks and 
giving them their yellow’ color. In the bulletin is 
developed a table showing how the different shades 
of yellow in the body of the hen indicate the num¬ 
ber of eggs the bird has laid. 
This pamphlet will be very useful to anyone who 
is interested in culling, and that should include 
every commercial poultryman, for there is absolute- 
evident. 
3y no sense in feeding a lot of drone birds when it is 
j-ossible to detect these drones and throw them out 
of the job. 
A New Potato Country 
HIS great country of ours is constantly pro¬ 
ducing dazzling wonders which 
must startle some of the old-timers. In 
1849 a company of Cape Cod men start¬ 
ed for the gold diggings in California. 
They organized a company, hired a 
vessel and took the long journey 
around Cape Horn. They were nearly 
IS months on the trip, and they fin¬ 
ally located in a mining camp near 
Stockton, Cal. We have seen records of 
their business transactions. One item 
showed that some of the more luxurious 
members bought mince pies at $10 a pie, 
while others bought potatoes at 50 
cents each. These improvident miners 
used up about all the gold they dug in 
satisfying their appetite. Then men 
who lived on boiled beans, rabbit meat 
and bread saved their gold dust, 
brought it back to New England and 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
laid the foundation for comfortable fortunes. 
Again in General Grant’s Memoirs we are told 
that the General was located in Oregon. Army 
work did not occupy much of his time, and finding 
that potatoes were very high in price General 
Grant and another officer proposed growing a crop 
in order to make a little profit outside of their army- 
pay. They obtained a couple of army borses and 
raised a good crop, but the trouble was that dozens 
of other soldiers had thought out the same plan, 
with a result that the crop was so large that it 
could hardly be given away. 
Some of the old-timers, who are familiar with 
such things, would be much interested in the coming 
celebration at Stockton, on October IS. This will be 
called "Potato Day,” and it will celebrate the grow¬ 
ing of a tremendous crop of potatoes in a country 
which formerly did not produce 10 per cent of the 
food required by its inhabitants. It seems that 
these potatoes are grown in a peat sediment found 
in the river bottoms and along the valleys. This 
rich land permitted growers to produce enormous 
crops. It is said that when the market conditions 
are not satisfactory these growers simply- let their 
tubers remain in the ground until the conditions 
are right for digging. The tubers keep perfectly in 
this rich muck soil and can often remain undug 
all through the Winter. Another curious thing 
about this soil is the fact that from time to time 
the upper part of this peat sediment can be burned 
off, thus thoroughly sterilizing the ground and de¬ 
stroying all disease germs, besides adding a quan¬ 
tity of available plant food. Irrigation is followed 
by bringing the water through siphons from nearby 
streams. In fact, these Californians seem to have 
upset many of the old theories about potato grow¬ 
ing, and it is not impossible that within a few years 
these potatoes can be grown so cheaply in such good 
quality that they may even be shipped to some of 
our eastern markets in the event of a short crop 
here. 
Is More Farming Land Needed 
T HE It. N.-Y. can see no sense in spending money 
to bring new western land under irrigation at 
this time. There is already too much land under 
cultivation or ready to cultivate. This idea is not 
confined to the East. Here is a letter from Califor¬ 
nia : 
It seems that Wheeler, in his desperate effort to get 
votes, is promising the farmers everything—even to a 
rope to hang themselves with, which his irrigation 
schemes would amount to. If the time ever arrives 
when extra production is needed there is plenty of 
land in the East which needs no irrigation. If some 
of our eastern farmers could drive through Western 
Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico 1 
think that they would be more contented with their 
lot. C. M. M. 
All over the Eastern States today tons and tons 
of food will rot in the ground or be fed as waste 
because it cannot be absorbed profitably by the mar¬ 
ket. There are, within 150 miles of the Atlantic, mil¬ 
lions of acres of good land which may be quickly- 
made ready for the plow whenever needed fox- 
crop production. Why then spend public money to 
make more land available? 
More About Calcium Cyanide 
| We continue to have many questions about this 
chemical, so the following may help some of our peo- 
ole.] 
AliCIUM cyanide on exposure to the air is acted 
upon by the water vapor of the air, which 
causes the calcium cyanide to decompose into hydro¬ 
cyanic acid gas and ordinary slaked lime. Hydro¬ 
cyanic acid is naturally poisonous to animals. The 
decomposition of the material is not immediate, but 
continues for some period of time before the ma- 
A Modern Rural School Building. See Next Page. 
teifial is completely broken down. By- placing the 
required dose of this matei-ial in the burrow of a 
woodchuck or rat, the calcium cyanide breaks down, 
giving off the poisonous gas. The concentration of 
gas is sufficient to kill an animal which attempts to 
emerge from the burrow. 
It is perfectly safe for anyone to handle with or¬ 
dinary precautions. Inasmuch as this gas would 
be poisonous to hens, it naturally could not be used 
safely on the droppings board under pei-ehes. Cal¬ 
cium cyanide, liowevei-, may be used to fumigate a 
henhouse, but should only be used when the hens 
are at a safe distance fi*om the house, and the 
This shows our kudzu vine which covers our 50-ft. 
tower and water tank. My husband is 5 ft. 10 in. tall, 
which gives you an idea of its height. It is not only 
ornamental but useful as it shades the tank and keeps 
the water cool.— MRS. O.R. 
house should be thoroughly aired out before the hens 
are permitted to enter the house. Birds are very- 
susceptible to hydrocyanic acid, and in treating a 
henhouse this fact should be remembered. 
In addition to other uses we have had consider- 
able success with the dust form, using it as a con¬ 
tact dust in the control of such insects as psylla, 
various plant lice, leaf hoppers, etc. In this work 
the material is used in the same way as the or¬ 
dinary nicotine dust. Entire orchards and groves 
have been treated, using a power machine, without 
any injurious effects on the operatoi*. wm. moore. 
Storing Fruit in Waxed Wrappers 
I have seen a statement about using oiled or waxed 
paper for lining bushel baskets for apples in cold stor¬ 
age to prevent the fruit from scalding. Can you give 
any information on this subject? E. L. L. 
New Jersey. 
I LED paper wraps have been used very success¬ 
fully on the Pacific coast for apples. Scald is 
held in check very satisfactorily by this simple ex¬ 
pedient. Last season about 60 per cent of the western 
apples were wrapped in the oiled paper 
wraps, and this season the percentage 
will be even higher. Such varieties as 
Rome and Grimes Golden, which scald 
badly, will be wrapped almost entirely in 
these wrappers. 
The eastern barrel and bushel pack¬ 
ages do not lend themselves readily to 
this method of preventing scald because 
the fruit is not wrapped. Some recent 
experiments carried on in the Middle 
West, however, indicate that protection 
may be secured by scattering oiled paper 
kraut throughout the barrel, as it is 
packed. Oiled paper liners are also being 
used in bushel baskets, but the kraut is 
more positive so far as present experi¬ 
ence has shown. The cost is not great 
and the time and labor spent in scatter¬ 
ing the oiled paper among the apples as 
the barrel is being packed is not much. 
For Rome, Grimes Golden, Greening, and 
other varieties that scald easily the oiled 
paper offers good insurance against scald 
in storage. B - T - 
