•Pie  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
January  27,  1923 
I  16 
gallons  of  deadly  spray 
at  less  than  *2*  a  gallon 
Next  to  its  deadly  certainty,  the 
best  thing  about  Hall’s  Nicotine 
Sulphate  is  its  very  low  cost.  It 
can  be  diluted  with  water  800  to 
1000  times  to  make  a  deadly  spray 
costing  less  than  2  cents  a  gallon. 
Hall’s  Nicotine  Sulphate  con¬ 
tains  40%  pure  Nicotine  —  the 
most  powerful  contact  poison 
known.  Being  a  vegetable  ex¬ 
tract,  it  will  not  harm  fruit,  flower 
or  foliage.  But  it  will  wipe  out 
aphids,  thrips  and  similar  insects. 
Use  it  next  season. 
Buy  from  your  dealer.  If  he  is 
net  supplied,  send  us  your  order 
along  with  his  name. 
NICOTINE  SULPHATE 
HallTobacco  Chemical  Co. 
114  East  16th  St..  New  York  City 
10  lb.  tins —  $13.50 
2  lb.  tins —  3.50 
Yt&  lb.  tins —  1.25 
loz  bottles —  .35 
10  lb.  tins  make 
800  to  1000  gallons 
of  spray. 
“BROOKLYN 
BRAND ” 
COMMERCIAL  FLOUR  SULPHUR,  99}4%  pure,  for  spraying — insecticide 
purposes,  potato  blight  and  scab. 
SUPERFINE  COMMERCIAL  FLOUR  SULPHUR,  99/2%  pure  )  for  dusting 
FLOWERS  OF  SULPHUR,  100%  pure . )  purposes. 
Also  Crude  Nitrate  Soda  and  Crude  Saltpetre. 
BATTELLE  &  RENWICK 
80  Maiden  Lane,  New  York 
Write  for  price  list 
KINKADE GARDEN  TRACTOR 
and  Power  Lawnmower 
A  Practical,  Proven  Power  Cultivator  for 
Gardeners,  Suburbanites,  Truckers, 
Florists,  Nurserymen,  Fruit  Growers. 
American  Farm  Machine  Co. 
2565  Uni. Av.S.E., Minneapolis, Mina. 
Catalog 
Free 
mCFRIEND”  SPRAYERS 
GASPORT.  N.Y 
© 
Catalog  Tree 
Only  Clean  Fruit  Pays 
In  small-crop  years,  only  sprayed  trees  yield  a  crop;  in  big-crop 
years,  only  perfect  fruit  gets  a  good  price. 
A  Hardie  Sprayer  pays  a  profit  each  year,  because  it  sprays  thor¬ 
oughly  and  at  low  cost.  It  is  light-running,  accessible,  d  vendable. 
It  is  always  ready  to  go,  maintains  adequate  spraying  pressure,  and 
requires  very  little  attention. 
Hardies  are  made  in  twenty  sizes,  both  hand  and  power. 
Get  our  illustrated  catalogue  of  the  complete  line. 
HARDIE  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY 
Manufacturers  of  Hand  and  Power  Sprayers 
HUDSON  MICHIGAN 
Wind  and  Snowflakes 
The  loug,  solitary  days  have  come.  The 
house  is  my  stronghold,  beleagured  by  the 
Storm  King  with  his  snow  embankments 
and'  keen  zero  weather.  Armed  with 
shovel  I  may  level  the  enemy’s  defenses 
— make  paths  to  wood  and  water — but 
they  last  only  while  the  foe  sleeps,  for 
when  he  wakes  he  snaps  frosty  fingers 
and  fills  up  the  gaps  in  a  swirl  of  snow¬ 
flakes. 
The  procession  of  the  days  is  not  mon¬ 
otonous.  There  are  bright  ones,  brilliant 
with  the  sheen  of  sun  on  snow,  that  fit 
into  the  scheme  like  a  diamond  in  a  case 
of  gray  velvet.  Wonderful  days,  when 
the  fields  are  vistas  of  dazzling  white, 
endless  squares  of  them,  rimmed  by  tall 
hedges,  dimly  seen  through.  The  sun, 
blazing  down  out  of  the  clear  sky,  starts 
the  icicles  on  the  south  eaves  dripping 
with  soft  liquid  pattering.  Cows  appear 
around  barnyard  straw  stacks,  basking  in 
the  sunshine,  leaving  dark  footprints  that 
look  as  if  the  earth  were  a  chocolate  cake 
with  white  frosting.  Crows  from  the  far 
swamp  roosting  place  wing  noiselessly 
overhead,  or  drop  to  inspect  a  bit  of 
gravel.  The  very  air  waits  in  drowsy  si¬ 
lence. 
A  light  breeze  creeps  up  softly  from  the 
southeast.  It  catches  the  wires  of  our 
telephone  system  and  sets  them  faintly 
humming.  The  interior  of  the  house  re¬ 
sponds  like  a  violin  to  its  strings,  to  this 
grand  march  of  the  Storm  King  when, 
more  and  more  insistent  with  growing 
the  year  excessive  rainfall  makes  good 
drainage  a  necessity,  the  dry  season  offers 
the  opposite  extreme.  This  part  of  Flor¬ 
ida  lies  between  the  ocean  and  St.  John's 
River  in  an  artesian  water  belt.  F°re 
exists  probably  the  cheapest  irrigation 
system  known  in  the  world.  All  that  is 
necessary  is  to  open  a  valve.  The  im¬ 
pervious  clay  subsoil  and  flatness  of  the 
land  do  the  rest. 
But  perhaps  the  strangest  sight  of  all 
was  the  spectacle  of  a  doctor  and  under¬ 
taker  going  about  together  soliciting  or¬ 
ders  for  funerals,  guaranteeing  to  dupli¬ 
cate  any  $250  funeral  anyhere  at  dearb 
for  the  small  sum  of  $5  down  and  $1  per 
year  until  death.  The  subscribers  were  to 
be  formed  into  a  club  or  burial  society — 
already  there  were  250  members!  Where 
in  the  North  would  a  doctor  and  under¬ 
taker  exploiting  such  a  proposition,  be 
taken  seriously? 
The  wind  from  the  southeast  has 
brought  snow.  The  mail  man’s  little 
white  mare  must  be  struggling  along  the 
filling  trail  a  mile  or  two  below.  She  is 
24  years  old  this  Winter,  and  yet  the  best 
horse  he  ever  drove  on  the  route.  Frail 
body,  thin  legs,  with  perhaps  a  weight  of 
000  lbs.,  she  carries  through  where  one  of 
larger  build  and  muscle  would  fall  from 
exhaustion.  Is  the  little  mare  not  often 
at  the  point  of  giving  up  the  fight?  Per¬ 
haps  so,  but  there  is  a  gleam  in  her  eye 
that  does  not  suggest  a  task  unfinished. 
While  I  stand  dreaming  over  the  brave 
Ready  to  Go  Home  from  Church.  See  Pastoral  Parson,  Page  12^ 
|  volume,  it  resolves  into  a  rhythmic 
|  tramp  of  many  feet,  with  a  drumming 
undercurrent  that  runs  through  the  head 
like  a  strain  of  harmony,  “Dum-a-dum- 
dum-dum ;  Dum-a-dum-dum-dum.”  Hear 
it  at  dusk,  when  the  moon  is  coming  up 
under  a  film  of  gauze — it  is  most  impres¬ 
sive.  There  is  all  the  suspense  of  im¬ 
pending  storm — the  surprise  of  noisy 
;  winds  buffeting  doors  and  windows.  It  is 
the  sure  herald  of  the  Storm  King’s  next 
advance — of  the  dun-colored  days. 
My  experience  this  Winter  smacks  of 
the  primitive.  I  am  all  things  to  two 
small  children.  I  doubt  if  any  primitive 
mother  could  feel  a  stronger  sense  of  the 
dangers  that  exist  in  the  slipping  of  a 
halter  rope,  an  error  of  balance  of  lag¬ 
ging  footsteps,  while  working  at  barn 
chores.  It  takes  a  certain  type  of  cour¬ 
age  to  face  a  northeaster  without  shrink¬ 
ing — another  to  walk  alone  in  darkness. 
But  the  bravest  of  all  is  the  courage  of 
the  cheerful  spirit  that  does  not  droop 
under  monotony. 
Letters  from  Daddy  come  up  from  the 
South  twice  a  week — an  occasional  box 
of  citrus  fruit.  The  oranges,  tangerines, 
mangerines,  kumquats,  peeping  out  from 
their  packing  of  long  gray  moss,  form  a 
color  scheme  that  is  new  to  our  North¬ 
ern  eyes.  There  are  the  navel  oranges, 
huge,  luscious,  and  sweet  as  we  have 
never  known  oranges.  In  our  part  of  the 
State,  oranges  from  Florida  have  been  of 
thin,  sour  flavor..  About  the  only  thing 
that  could  be  recommended  about  them 
was  the  thin  skin.  We  never  have  seen 
the  large  navel  oranges  offered  for  sale.  I 
am  curious  about  them.  Can  it  -be  pos¬ 
sible  that  they  are  all  sold  in  Florida,  be¬ 
cause  people  have  learned  to  discriminate 
against  the  smaller  fruit  which  has  al¬ 
ways  been  shipped  north? 
Daddy  has  passed  through  the  Hastings 
potato  section  and  seen  Northern  seed 
fields  waiting  for  planting.  These  growers 
are  not  squeamish  about  using  fertilizer. 
It  is  the  common  thing  to  see  it  used  at 
the  rate  of  a  ton  to  the  acre.  The  soil  as 
in  most  parts  of  the  State,  is  a  very  light 
sand,  with  a  stiff  clay  subsoil  at  varying 
depths.  The  sand  is  so  poor  that  fer¬ 
tilizer  must  be  applied  every  year;  is  ac- 
tually  quite  as  essential  on  land  just 
cleared  of  timber  as  on  that  cropped  con¬ 
tinuously  for  10  years.  Some  growers 
discriminate  against  barnyard  manure  be¬ 
cause  it  is  said  to  poison  the  land  and 
cause  potato  scab,  besides  spreading  weed 
seed. 
The  land  in  the  Hastings  district  is 
very  flat.  Although  at  certain  times  of 
little  mare,  and  watching  down  the  road 
for  the  first  sight  of  the  mail  man's  small 
red  cutter,  I  become  aware  of  the  tall, 
slender  figure  of  a  young  girl  approach¬ 
ing  from  the  other  direction.  She  is  just 
coining  in  at  the  driveway.  Why,  it  is 
Cathy !  The  familiar  leather  bag  and 
the  rich  black  hair  peeping  from  under 
the  tarn,  give  me  the  first  inkling  of  this 
good  fortune.  Not  an  ordinary,  short- 
call  visitor,  but  someone  come  to  stay 
for  weeks,  I  opine.  How  little  Jane 
hops  and  laughs!  I  had  not  dreamed  the 
dear  child  was  so  lonely.  Elsie  cries. 
“Oh  !  how  I  do  love  Cathy  !”  And  the 
door  pops  open  to  admit  our  dear  young 
friend  herself. 
“Business  is  so  dull,  and  I  knew  you 
were  alone,”  is  her  explanation.  “Aren't 
you  glad  to  see  me?” 
It  has  been  over  a  year  since  Cathy 
left  us  to  go  to  business  college.  I  can 
see  very  little  change  in  her  face  or  man¬ 
ners.  Some  people  can  take  up  an  inter¬ 
rupted  friendship,  like  a  book  part  pe¬ 
rused,  at  the  very  spot  where  it  was  dis¬ 
continued.  Cathy  is  like  that.  The  chil- 
dred  trail  at  her  heels  as  she  goes  up¬ 
stairs  to  change  her  dress  and  put  on  an 
apron. 
Eater,  emerging  from  the  cellar,  where 
I  have  an  imperative  though  unwritten 
appointment  with  the  furnace,  I  find  lit¬ 
tle  Jane,  her  hands  and  knees  on  the 
kitchen  table,  gazing  out  into  the  snow. 
And  out  there,  sure  enough,  is  Cathy  in 
my  old  coat  and  mittens,  cutting  a  pas¬ 
sage  way  through  the  deepest  and  hardest 
snow  bank.  As  she  sees  me  she  laughs 
and  waves  her  shovel.  My  eyes  are  sud¬ 
denly  moist. 
A  good  fire,  a  true  friend,  a  stout  little 
house  and  little  children.  What  more 
has  the  world  to  offer? 
MRS.  F.  II.  UNGER. 
What  About  Raising  Puppies? 
Will  those  who  have  made  a  regular 
business  or  a  side  line  of  raising  puppies 
for  sale  tell  their  experience?  This  would 
be  much  more  valuable  if  all  the  bad  luck 
should  be  told  as  well  as  the  glowing  suc¬ 
cesses.  Personally.  I  am  interested  in 
Boston  terriers,  and  have  found  a  ready 
market  for  the  limited  number  which  I 
have.  I  should  like  to  know  the  possi¬ 
bilities  of  this  breed,  and  Airedales. 
Massachusetts.  n.  w.  r. 
We  would  all  like  to  know  about  that. 
There  are  many  questions  from  people 
who  want  to  start  a  new  farm  side  line. 
We  would  like  the  truth. 
