468 
The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
March  24,  1923 
Many  follow  tlie  practice  of  sprinkling  a  part  o'f  the 
Moor  with  water  to  prevent  leg  weakness.  Semi¬ 
solid  buttermilk  need  not  be  diluted  except  for  the 
first  two  or  three  days.  It  is  best  fed  in  paste  form. 
Spread  in  a  thin  layer  on  the  side  Avails  or  on  boards 
set  up  on  edge  for  that  purpose.  Be  careful  not  to 
overfeed  if  this  practice  is  followed.  Milk  powder 
is  better  fed  in  the  mash  than  diluted  with  water. 
Some  poultrymen  practice  feeding  all  milk  and  no 
water  for  the  first  six  weeks.  This  can  be  done  to 
advantage  with  skim-milk,  provided  the  chicks  are 
on  range  and  the  supply  is  absolutely  assured. 
Changing  from  milk  to  water  on  a  warm  day  may 
cause  considerable  mortality.  It  is  best  to  keep 
water  before  the  chicks  all  the  time  to  avoid  this 
possibility  of  loss.  Some  of  the  large  feed  com¬ 
panies  are  placing  a  milk  starting  feed  on  the  mar¬ 
ket  with  feeding  instructions  entirely  different  from 
tiiose  outlined  above.  If  their  rations  are  used  their 
instructions  should  be  folloAved.  As  a  rule  such 
feeds  contain  enough  milk,  and  additional  milk  feed¬ 
ing  is  not  only  unnecessary,  but  will  cause  trouble. 
Green  food  is  important  for  little  chicks,  and  it  is 
advisable  to  start  when  they  are  only  two  or  three 
days  old.  Cut  the  green  feed  fine  and  feed  like  chick 
feed  until  they  know  what  it  is  and  develop  a  taste 
for  it.  Sprouted  oats,  cabbage,  mangels,  lettuce  or 
potatoes  are  all  good  to  start  Avith  before  the  chicks 
can  get  out  on  the  ground.  Clover  chaff  as  litter 
has  a  distinct  advantage  in  its  green  food  supply. 
CROWDING. — The  first  night  is  really  the  critical 
period  of  a  chick’s  life  in  the  brooder.  Habits 
formed  then  are  very  apt  to  stick.  See  that  the 
chicks  settle  down  in  an  even  ring  under  the  outer 
edge  of  the  hover.  If  they  croAVd  to  one  side  place 
them  around  evenly.  If  they  insist  upon  crowding 
to  one  side  look  for  the  cause  and  remove  it.  It  is 
often  a  strong  draught  or  direct  light.  The  dis¬ 
tance  out  from  the  stove  that  the  chicks  will  take 
is  determined  by  the  heat.  Let  the  chickens  be  your 
thermometer,  and  run  the  stove  to  keep  them  just 
under  the  edge  of  the  hover.  After  the  second  day 
the  guard  should  be  taken  dOAvn  to  give  the  chicks 
more  room,  but  it  should  be  replaced  for  three  or 
four  nights  until  the  chicks  are  Avell  hover-broken. 
Much  of  the  corner  crowding  that  often  occurs  can 
be  avoided  by  placing  the  stove  in  the  center  of  the 
lloor,  keeping  the  fire  high,  the  room  cool  and  not 
letting  the  habit  get  started.  While  a  Ioav  fire  Avill 
sometimes  start  crowding,  an  overheated  room  is 
more  often  the  cause. 
EXERCISE  AND  OUTDOOR  LIFE.— Exercise  is 
first  eneou raged  by  feeding  the  chick  feed  in  a  thin 
layer  of  litter.  The  practice  of  keeping  them  hun¬ 
gry  at  feed  time  encourages  activity.  Chicks  are 
more  actiA’e  if  the  room  is  kept  reasonably  cool  and 
the  heat  is  reduced  as  rapidly  as  possible,  consistent 
Avith  the  chicks’  comfort.  It  is  advisable  to  get  the 
chicks  out  on  the  ground  before  they  are  a  week 
old  almost  regardless  of  weather.  If  there  is  snow 
on  the  ground  shovel  it  aAvay  and  spread  some 
chaff.  They  may  not  stay  out  long,  but  that  little 
is  worth  while.  Do  not  be  afraid  of  snow  and 
mud.  Wet  feet  do  not  harm  if  the  litter  in  the 
house  is  kept  dry.  The  hardening  process  must  be 
carried  out  one  AAray  or  another,  and  the  earlier  it 
is  started  the  faster  the  feather  growth  will  be. 
Early  roosting  is  advisable  for  the  same  reason.  A 
chicken  Avell  feathered  and  sitting  on  a  roost  is  out 
of  the  danger  zone  and  safely  on  the  home  stretch. 
CLEANING.— Frequent  cleaning  is  an  important 
step  in  maintaining  health.  Use  only  a  thin  layer 
of  sand  and  litter,  and  change  it  often.  If  the  floor 
gets  foul  around  the  milk  and  Avater  dishes  clean  it 
out.  If  the  floor  gets  Avet.  from  a  rain  or  the  chicks 
running  out  in  the  mud,  clean  house.  If  you  over¬ 
feed  and  there  is  grain  left  in  the  litter  that  the 
chicks  refuse  to  eat,  clean  house.  Many  of  the  chick 
diseases  can  be  avoided  by  consistent  cleaning. 
Egg  production  in  the  Fall  and  Winter  is  in¬ 
fluenced  by  the  way  the  chicks  start  off  in  the 
Spring.  It  is  hard  to  make  up  lost  growth,  to  say 
nothing  about  mortality.  Errors  in  brooding  are 
far  reaching  in  their  effect,  and  every  detail  is 
Avorthy  of  careful  consideration.  *  roy  e.  jones. 
Connecticut  Agricultural  College. 
Interest  in  Clingstone  Peaches  in  the  East 
THE  peaches  that  are  canned  in  the  East,  name¬ 
ly  in  Michigan,  New  York,  New  Jersey  and 
Canada,  are  almost  without  exception  freestone  va¬ 
rieties.  On  the  other  hand,  the  bulk  of  the  Cali¬ 
fornia  product  is  made  up  of  clingstone  sorts;  and, 
incidentally,  California  controls  the  canned  peach 
market. 
Quite  recently  the  canning  associations  in  New 
York,  Michigan  and  Canada  have  been  investigat¬ 
ing  the  possibility  of  growing  in  the  Eastern  States 
the  clingstone  varieties  commonly  canned  in  Cali¬ 
fornia.  Unfortunately,  it  has  been  the  custom  in  the 
East  to  cut  out  a  tree  immediately  its  fruit  was 
Peach-pitting  Spoon.  Fig.  172 
found  to  be  a  clingstone,  and  the  result  is  that  infor¬ 
mation  in  regard  to  varieties  of  clingstone  peaches 
that  will  do  well  there  is  completely  lacking.  It 
might  be  thought  that  the  freestone  peaches  Avould 
The  Blue  Lace  Flotoer.  Fig.  173.  See  Page  1/70 
be  much  more  easily  handled  than  the  clingstones, 
and  certainly  they  are  characteristically  more  ten¬ 
der  and  melting,  and  frequently  of  higher  dessert 
quality.  But  the  qualities  desired  in  a  canning 
peach  are  far  different  from  those  for  eating  in  the 
fresh  state. 
The  first  prerequisite  for  a  canned  product  is  at¬ 
tractive  appearance.  Freestone  peaches  leave  rag¬ 
ged,  discolored  centers,  and  are  not  firm  enough  in 
texture  to  retain  a  clean-cut  outline.  Consequently, 
though  they  may  be  of  higher  flavor  than  other  sorts, 
I  send  this  picture  to  show  the  Avay  Ave  do  things  up 
here  in  bleak  New  England,  now  the  land  of  snow. 
There  are  many  things  that  we  cannot  do  Avhen  the 
fields  are  covered  to  a  depth  of  3  to  4  ft.  “on  the  level,” 
but  Ave  can  prune  the  young  fruit  trees.  We  buckle  on 
snoAvshoes  and,  as  you  can  see,  are  right  up  among  the 
branches  of  a  12-year-old  pear  tree.  Then  Avith  prun¬ 
ing  shears  or  clippers  Ave  can  very  easily  do  Avork  on 
the  upper  branches  that  Avould  require  the  lugging  about 
of  a  ladder  in  the  Spring. — george  f.  morse. 
they  cloud  and  discolor  the  syrup  and  present  a 
ragged  appearance.  The  pack  that  is  desired  by  the 
fancy  trade  calls  for  a  peach  having  no  red  at  the 
pit  to  discolor  the  syrup,  and  Avliich  is  firm  enough 
not  to  cloud  the  syrup  by  sloughing  off  in  processing. 
Moreover,  the  variety  must  produce  a  large  per¬ 
centage  of  shapely,  fair-sized  fruit — eight  halves  to 
a  can  is  preferred— of  clear,  beautiful,  unblemished 
color,  Avhicli  Avill  not  interfere  with  the  clear  golden 
color  of  the  syrup,  and  it  must  also  have  a  small  pit, 
and  be  of  good  quality,  a  slight  sprightliness  being 
desirable. 
It  is  not  so  difficult  to  cut  out  the  pit  of  a  cling¬ 
stone  peach  as  might  be  imagined.  The  first  opera¬ 
tion  is  to  make  a  cut  entirely  around  the  fruit. 
Then  a  pitting  spoon,  one  type  of  which  is  shown  in 
Fig.  172,  is  inserted,  and  the  pit  cut  out  neatly  and 
quickly.  The  method  of  removing  the  peeling  is  also 
interesting,  the  old  method  of  removing  the  skins  by 
hand  being  now  largely  replaced  by  a  lye  process. 
The  peaches  are  first  dropped  into  scalding  Avater 
for  about  20  seconds  and  then  for  a  like  period  into 
a  lye  bath  consisting  of  one-fourth  of  a  pound  of 
concentrated  lye  to  a  gallon  of  water,  folloAved  by 
an  immersion  for  a  similar  length  of  time  in  a  sec- 
only  lye  bath  of  one-ninth  of  a  pound  of  lye  to  a 
gallon  of  water.  The  skin  is  loosened  by  this  pro¬ 
cess  and  the  fruits  are  then  thoroughly  Avashed,  so 
that  there  is  no  injury  to  the  fruit  from  the  lye. 
Tuskena,  or  Tuscan  Cling,  is  the  variety  now  most 
highly  prized,  with  Phillips  or  Phillips  Cling,  also 
greatly  esteemed.  The  former  is  a  large,  yelloAv, 
early  mid-season  peach,  ripening  about  Avith  Early 
Crawford ;  and  the  latter,  somewhat  later,  i*ipens 
progressively,  so  that  picking  is  extended  over  two 
Aveeks.  Among  other  varieties  of  importance  are 
Levy,  Orange  and  Sellers  Cling.  It  is  not  known, 
that  these  varieties  Avill  do  well  in  the  East,  and 
therefore  the  canners’  associations  and  the  various 
experiment  stations  interested  are  making  planta¬ 
tions  of  the  more  promising  yellOAv-fleshed  cling¬ 
stones.  From  now  on  interest  in  peaches  of  this 
type  will  be  much  increased,  and  it  is  likely  that  the 
next  10  or  15  years  will  see  a  change  in  the  varieties 
of  canning  peaches  planted  in  the  peach  sections 
east  of  the  Mississippi  River.  h.  b.  tukey. 
Thawing  Pipes  by  Electricity 
ON  page  159  is  an  inquiry  and  your  reply  in  re¬ 
gard  to  ‘‘Thawing  an  Underground  Pipe.”  In 
regard  to  the  “electric  device  Avliich  quickly  heats 
the  pipe  to  a  high  degree  of  heat,  so  that  the  ice 
AA’ithin  quickly  melts,”  aAA’ay  back  in  the  late  eighties 
or  early  nineties  a  man  named  H.  O.  Cook  Avas  super¬ 
intendent  of  our  city’s  electric  and  Avater  plant,  and 
he  devised  a  method  of  using  an  electric  current  to 
open  up  frozen  water  pipes.  This  method  has  con¬ 
tinued  in  use  in  this  city  ever  since,  and  scarcely  a 
Winter  Avhen  this  simple  device  has  not  been  called 
upon  to  perform  its  silent  but  effective  Avork.  Time 
consumed  is  from  a  feAV  moments  on  a  short  line 
of  pipe  to  the  longest  of  record,  Avhere  the  current 
AAras  left  applied  to  a  4-in.  Avater  main  for  the  entire 
night,  hut  the  water  Avas  running  in  the  morning. 
Every  little  Avhile  I  am  surprised  to  see  items  in 
the  newspapers  reciting  the  discovery  of  a  neAv 
method  of  thaAving  out  Avater  pipes  with  an  electric 
current.  Such  a  discovery  was  made  and  published 
in  the  local  papers  of  our  neighboring  city,  Ashland, 
a  feAv  days  ago,  Avhen  Ave  had  been  using  it  every 
Winter  for  over  30  years.  As  soon  as  I  saw  your 
article  I  took  the  matter  up  Avith  our  old  superin¬ 
tendent  of  water  and  light,  and  asked  him  for  in¬ 
formation  which  Avould  be  of  assistance  to  “V.  L.” 
of  New  York  and  your  numerous  readers  avIio 
Avould  avail  themselves  of  such  a  simple  remedy. 
Underground  pipes  may  be  thawed  by  the  fol- 
loAving  method :  Use  two  5-K.W.  transformers. 
Connect  the  primaries  in  series  and  the  secondaries 
in  multiple.  Connect  the  secondaries  to  the  pipe  on 
both  sides  of  the  frozen  section,  using  as  much  pipe 
as  possible,  so  as  to  obtain  necessary  resistance. 
Mr.  Herrick,' this  superintendent,  tells  me  that  it  is 
a  mistake  that  the  electric  current  “heats  the  pipe 
to  a  high  degree.”  but  just  warms  and  expands  it, 
Avhich  detaches  the  ice  and  alloAvs  the  water  to 
force  its  way  between  the  pipe  and  ice,  and  soon  cuts 
the  ice  away.  frank  v.  holston. 
Wisconsin. 
It  is  said  there  are  less  than  5,000  coavs  in  all  the 
land  of  Greece.  Goats  supply  the  needed  milk,  outside 
of  imported  condensed  milk. 
We  have  a  reader  who  tells  of  putting  a  cork  jacket, 
like  a  life  preserver,  around  his  milk  cans  and  floating 
them  in  the  deep  Avater  of  a  spring! 
