1444 
Ihe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
November 15, 1924 
IWfllDATADC 4800 Wishbone— 0450. 3200 Wishbone— 
ll’IViUDA 1 UIvJ Upper Deck, with heater— $200. 4800 
Candee 1923, like new— 0875. 390 Cyphers—#88. No. 11 
Newt’ll Br'ders— 022 each. Jusli PoullryFarm, Southampton, K.T. 
500 May Hatched S. C. White Leghorn Pullets 
from heavy Lying stock. These birds have been 
reared on free range and are in good condition. 
Price. SI. 50 to $2 each, according to size and age. 
KIRKUP BROS. Mattituck, L. I., N.Y. 
Annnna and While Wyandotte Pullets and C’kl». Spec- 
AllbUlla ial price now. Ownland Karm,B«i 497,Hammond, N.Y. 
s.°il 500 April Hatched S. G. White Leghorn Pullets 
Well developed. From heavy laying strains. 
Tarbell Farm* - Smlthvllla Flats, N. Y. 
290 W. Leghorn Pullets tv H #» 
each. O. F. MATJ1K8 II. F. D. 4 Somerville. N. J, 
S. C. and R.G. Brown Leghorn (Light and Dark.) State 
Fair and Garden Winners. 1LUE RII80N FARMS. Urraina. N.T. 
RHODE ISLAND TTKTHITES [ SINGLE 
TRAPNESTED STOCK (COMI 
Winners in the national contests. Pullets, April hatched, 
98.5V; May hatched, 88; yearling hens, 88.50; choice 
cockerels, #5, #7.5(1, #10. Show birds a matter of cor¬ 
respondence. SatPn guarant’d. O. 0. L. LEWIS, Paoll, Pa. 
stock. Elee Alder Farm Weat Cornwall, Conn. 
J oraoy Black Q lants— Growing stock, pullets and cocker¬ 
els, $1.65 each and up. IR00KC8EST FARM, Cranliury, N. J. 
J ersey Black Qlant Cockerels —6 raos. old ; fine large 
birds. #4 each. Blauvelt Holmdel, N. J. 
• 
W.H. TURKEYS 
June hatch breeders, for 
sale NOW! Dandy 
youngsters. Hens #7; 
Toms $8. Also two and three-year old breeding Hens, 
$10.00. Fine three-year old Tom #12.00. 
\V. ORAN IIAI.I,, ANGELICA, N. Y., R. ». 2. 
FOR SALE—Pure Bred MAMMOTH BRONZE TURKEYS 
Bred from a 48-lb. tom and 25-lb. hens. Enclose stamp. 
Mrs. Fred Eysaman Moravia, N. Y. R. D. No. 2 
KH White Holland Turkeys T? IXZlWi 
Colored and Blue Muscovy Ducks 
State Fair Winners. Blue Ribbon Farms, Lorralne.N.Y. 
B 1.UK SWEDISH, East India, Call and Pekin Ducks. 
BLUE RIBBON FARMS Lorraine. N. Y. 
B ourbon Rod Turkeys. Toms. *8 : Hens, $7. Toulouse 
Geese, $t0 a pair. Itlro FTIIKI, TOOMBS, Adamt Center, R.Y- 
n„.L Purebred Pullets and Cockerels. 
UarK uornisn FAIRMOUNT APIARY, Livingston, N.Y, 
IIIIMIIlllllillllllllIIIMI1III1IM lllllllllllI III 
Edmonds’ 
Poultry 
Account 
Book 
A complete record. 
Easy to keep. Start 
any time ; results 
shown any time. 
Price, postpaid, $1. 
FOR SALE BY 
The Rural New-Yorker 
333 West 30th Street, New York 
□ 
□ 
□ 
IMMIMIMI MillII11IIIMIMM null mill mini II 
Farm Co-operation 
is a protest against the monopoly 
and other oppressive methods of 
organized distributors and the 
capital stock companies. Can 
farmers afford to adopt the policies 
in their own organizations that 
they denounce in others ? 
ORGANIZED 
COOPERATION 
By 
JOHN J. DILLON 
T HIS SUBJECT is treated fully 
but concisely in the new book 
“Organized Co-operation.” Farmers 
must understand these questions if 
they are to direct their own organiza¬ 
tions, and no organization can be 
co-operative unless the members direct 
it themselves. 
The book will be sent 
postpaid for $1.00 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
333 West 30th Street, New York 
The Henyard 
Decombing the Roosters 
The accompanying picture shows my 
S. C. White Leghorn roosters in their 
Winter quarters. As you will notice, 
they are decombed and dewattled. a prac¬ 
tice which ought to be as general as dis¬ 
horning of cattle. A S. C. W. Leghorn 
rooster, whose comb and wattles are 
frozen in January or February will lose 
in the three days lie is unable to eat and 
exercise, more than he can pick up in a 
month to be in full vigor for the early 
breeding season. Furthermore, they can 
fight all they want without hurting one 
another much, the fertility is better, and 
they can stand a change of a cold to a 
warm climate favorably ; in fact, when I 
imported the Mediterranean breeds from 
Europe and America into Java, I insisted 
upon this operation before shipment, as 
without it they invariably died. 
The operation can be easily performed 
with a sharp razor, cutting not too close 
to the base of the comb and wattles; just 
so far as where they meet each other. A 
patch of absorbent cotton, soaked in bi¬ 
sulphate of iron, will stop the bleeding, 
and it does not look as if it hurt them 
much, the way they act after the opera¬ 
tion, which has to be done before cold 
weather sets in, when the flies are gone. 
The only disadvantage is that it makes 
them unfit for the show room, but how 
many do show their roosters? c. K. 
It. N.-Y.—We have reports which show 
that this practice of decombing is being 
quite freely practiced. It is hardly like 
cutting the horns from cattle. The comb 
seems to have some definite part in the 
animal economy of poultry. Some scien¬ 
tists think its function is to admit the 
violet rays to the body and thus increase 
the deposit of lime needed in making egg 
shells. 
Cod Liver Oil and “Leg 
Weakness” 
Bulletin 116 of the Storrs Experiment 
Station, Storrs, Conn., discusses the feed¬ 
ing of young chickens in confinement. 
There are many cases where young birds 
must be raised inside; they cannot be sent 
outdoors during cold or stormy seasons. 
It seems that this problem of indoor rais¬ 
ing is very largely a matter of feeding. 
Everything that the chick gets outside 
must be in some way supplied to him if 
he is raised indoors, in order to make a 
success of such feeding. The difference 
between indoor feeding, as contrasted 
with that of outdoor work, consists in the 
food which the outdoor chick finds for 
himself, the greater amount of direct sun¬ 
light to which he is exposed, and the 
greater opportunity for exercise. It 
seems that natural food and sunlight are 
the" chief causes of superiority and better 
growth of the outdoor chicken. If a good 
substitute for these can be supplied the 
chick growing indoors may be reared to 
maturity with but little space for exer¬ 
cise. The chief problem seems to be that 
of supplying the necessary food elements 
of which the indoor chick is usually de¬ 
prived. 
This bulletin states that the most com¬ 
mon ailment of confined chickens is leg 
weakness. Practically every poultryman 
has had experience with this trouble. It 
has been attributed to many different 
causes; lack of exercise, a scratching 
place that is too dry, overfeeding or lack 
of green feed or minerals. The investi¬ 
gators now believe that this leg weakness 
is what is called a deficiency disease, like 
rickets, and they think it is generally due 
to the lack of proper vitamines in the 
ration. There may be. of course, other 
causes entirely responsible, but it is ap¬ 
parently essentially due to the vitamine 
lack and it has been found that the dis¬ 
ease can usually be cured by feeding cod 
liver oil or by exposure to direct sunlight. 
There must be, of course, in addition to 
this, a full supply of minerals and rough- 
age in the ration. The bulletin goes on 
iuto close details with regard to handling 
and feeding these little chicks in experi¬ 
ments to determine the value of cod liver 
oil and yeast. In practically every case 
where cod liver oil was added to the ra¬ 
tion the chicks escaped the trouble and 
made a satisfactory growth. The feed of 
the chicks in this experiment is described 
as follows: 
2d and 
4th through 
3d weeks 
8th week 
Bran. 
58.5 
43.5 
Meat scraps. 
8.0 
11.0 
Cornmeal. 
s.o 
11.0 
Standard middlings. 
s.o 
11.0 
Gluten feed . 
8.0 
11.0 
Ground oats . 
8.0 
11.0 
Calcium carbonate.. 
1.0 
1.0 
Common salt . 
.5 
.5 
100.0 
100.0 
Part of the chicks were fed on this 
mash with no addition, while other pens 
received a mash with the addition of cod 
liver oil. The chicks that were fed on 
the grain ration alone were afflicted with 
leg weakness after a brief feeding period. 
In most cases where this trouble appeared 
great relief was obtained by feeding the 
chicks one or two drops of cod liver oil 
each day, given through a medicine drop¬ 
per. Some almost miraculous cures were 
noted as a result of this treatment. Where 
the cod liver oil was added to the ration 
the chicks went through the treatment for 
the most part without any trouble, and 
this experiment has led to the conclusion 
given above, that if the proper vitamines 
are supplied to a well-balanced ration, 
chicks can safely be grown in good health 
indoors. The article printed on page 
1401 shows that exposure to direct sun¬ 
light prevented most cases of rickets. 
Cod liver oil and yeast fed to the chicks 
properly, and well “sunned” carried them 
safely through. 
Countrywide Situation 
FILLING A MILLION CARS-TWO KINDS OF 
PRODUCERS—MORE FERTILIZER USED— 
IIOW GRAPES ARE RAISED AND SOLD. 
Shipments of fruits and vegetables in 
1023 were 031.000 cars, and 1024 will be 
another big year. The gain has been 
steady for the past four years, amounting 
to about 20 per cent increase over 1020. 
Dried and cauued food brings the total 
above 1.000.000 cars. There were over a 
quarter million cars of potatoes moved iu 
1923, nearly half a million cars of fruit, 
and the rest was miscellaneous vegetables. 
These are all product's of the United 
States: imports not included. 
Besides the million cars there was 
about twice as much more raised and not 
shipped, but used or sold near the farm. 
There was a carlot shipped for about 
every six farms, or one car to about every 
50 city people. It might be said that 
the average farm supplies the family with 
fruits and vegetables; also a dozen fam¬ 
ilies in distant cities and half as many 
others nearby. But the average farm 
does nothing of the kind, because the 
greater part of the shipments are from 
regions that specialize on some of these 
products. Thus one-tentli of all the car- 
lots are oranges, grapefruit and lemons 
from Florida and California. There are 
a dozen big apple sections, and less than 
that of cabbage or of onions, grapes, mel¬ 
ons, cantaloupes. Pears or grapes, let¬ 
tuce, celery, etc., mostly from three or 
four States, carrots and turnips from 
two or three, and so on. As a rule only 
a few counties in each State do much 
business. Potatoes are shipped more 
generally than anything else, but 20 
States ship about three-fourths of them. 
CLOSE OR DISTANT MARKETS 
Most farmers are in one of the two 
general classes. One class raises many 
things and sells the surplus close by. and 
the other class raises a few main products 
and ships them to distant markets, filling 
the majority of the million cars of pro¬ 
duce yearly. One class has low cost of 
marketing, while the other has some kind 
of advantage in climate, or fertile soil, or 
low-priced special skill. The distant spe¬ 
cialist risks more and gains more in boom 
times. This kind herds together in fa¬ 
vored districts, securing whatever advan¬ 
tages there are in the line of carlot 
freight rates, co-operative effort and 
group progress. They have their troubles, 
bad years after good years, and plenty of 
ups and downs. The other kind of farm¬ 
er lias less to excite him, but relies safely 
on the steady demand of an increasing 
nearby population, and the limited but 
fairly sure returns of a small business 
well in hand. 
MORE FERTILIZER USED 
The world is beginning to use fertilizer 
again, owing to th recovery of agriculture 
in Europe, and the rise of cotton and 
wheat. The fertilizer companies have seen 
hard times since 1020. None of them 
made much money, and some are bank¬ 
rupt because of old bills they could not 
collect. They used to say their main 
trouble was not to find customers, but to 
find enough suitable raw material for 
manufacture. Lately their trouble was 
to get back a new dollar for an old one, 
or in some cases to get anything back at 
all. They are not prosperous now, but 
getting on their feet and using more cau¬ 
tion in urging goods upon the market on 
a credit basis. To much credit is bad 
for all concerned. It leads buyers and 
sellers upon dangerous ground. The old- 
time farmer regarded debt as a calamity 
and would pare expenses to any limit to 
keep free. He made less money in good 
times, but he was never reduced in bad 
times to the condition of a tenant, paying 
interest instead of rent. - ■ 
IN THE GRAPE COUNTRY 
The leading center of the grape indus¬ 
try of Western New York is in the region 
of the beautiful Finger Lakes—narrow 
bodies of water bordered by steeply slop¬ 
ing hillsides almost covered with vine¬ 
yards. The small lakes, and Lake On¬ 
tario not far distant, afford some natural 
frost protection, and the crop often hangs 
until November without much injury 
from freezing. Most vineyards cover only 
a few acres and are a leading feature of a 
general farming business, but thertL are a 
few plantings as large as 100 tn 200 
acres. 
The grape growers are scattered 
through Yates County and adjoining ter¬ 
ritory. Penn Yan, on Lake Keuka, is 
the center of the industry. The Concord 
is a standard variety, comprising about 
three-fourths of the total. The rest in¬ 
cludes the Niagara, Catawba, Delaware 
and Worden. 
The vines are set 8 ft. apart both ways 
and trained on three wires. Each Win¬ 
ter the vines are cut back close to the 
stump, leaving only enough wood on the 
lower wire to .start the next season’s 
growth, and each year’s crop is made 
from the new growth, which starts from 
the few buds left along the lower wire. 
This new growth is trained to the upper 
wires. Even the stump is renewed as 
often as once in 10 years by allowing a 
new stem to start from the ground. The 
hard pruning limits the wood growth, 
thus reducing the set of fruit to what the 
vine can properly carry and mature, and 
insuring large bunches of fine fruit. Lack 
of pruning is the most common weakness 
of farm grape crops elsewhere. Most 
farmers have overgrown vines and strag¬ 
gly. half-ripe bunches. 
Growers in this region have been re¬ 
ceiving $60 to $80 per ton this season. 
Some years the price has been higher— 
sometimes much higher. The price paid 
growers ranged $65 to $70 during the 
writer’s visit the last week of October. 
Frozen grapes sell about $20 lower 
than sound stock, but are available for 
juice making. Some manufacturers hold 
off until late in the season in the hope of 
buying cheap grapes of this kind. In a 
season like the present a good many late 
grapes, including Catawbas, fail to ripen. 
All varieties, except Concord and Dela¬ 
ware, are inclined to be a bit acid under 
the conditions. The growers of this region 
seem to have no trouble in disposing of 
the crop, although there is complaint of 
the price, as compared with the higher 
figures obtained in boom years. g. b. f. 
Laying Qualities of Rose 
Comb and Single Comb 
Is there any difference in the laying 
quality between a Rose Comb and a Sin¬ 
gle Comb Leghorn hen? b. G. 
Spencertown, N. Y. 
The style of comb has nothing to do 
with the laying ability of the hen; that 
is determined by her breeding and care. 
The Single Comb Leghorn has the ad¬ 
vantage over the Rose Comb variety, 
however, in that she has been the most 
popular producer of white eggs upon 
poultry farms for many years and has 
had, accordingly, more attention paid to 
her breeding th..n has her Rose Comb 
sister, that is, more attention in the ag¬ 
gregate, though individual hens or in¬ 
dividual flocks of Ajther varieties or breeds 
may excel individual flocks of Single 
Comb White Leghorns in this respect. 
M. B. D. 
Teacher : “Children, can any of you 
tell me what is the most dangerous part 
of an automobile?” Tommy: “Yes, 
miss, I can! It’s the driver.”—-London 
Answers: 
A Bunch of Decombed Roosters 
