548 
The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
April  7,  1923 
Pound  Sweet  and  Pumpkin  Sweet 
On  page  443  mention  is  made  that 
Pound  Sweeting  is  distinct  from  Pump¬ 
kin  Sweet.  We  do  not  wish  to  start  an 
argument,  merely  to  call  attention  to  the 
fact  that  there  are  some  half-dozen  ap¬ 
ples  known  by  the  name  of  Pound  Sweet 
and  as  many  more  by  the  name  Pumpkin 
Sweet.  In  fact,  Pumpkin  Sweet  is  often 
called  Pound  Sweet.  The  point  is  that  it 
does  not  matter  so  much  just  what  a  va¬ 
riety  is  called  so  long  as  the  other  fellow 
knows  what  is  meant.  Fortunately  there 
is  a  court  of  appeal  in  the  form  of  Beach’s 
‘‘Apples  of  New  York,”  but  no  Pound 
Sweeting  is  there  recognized  as  a  distinct 
variety.  We  should  like  to  see  specimens 
of  the  variety  that  H.  H.  H.  has,  and 
see  if  we  can  find  a  recognized  name  for 
it,  or  whether  he  has  a  variety  that  has 
not  been  properly  recorded.  H.  B.  T. 
Restricted  Immigration 
On  page  445,  under  the  title  “Restric¬ 
tion  of  Immigration,”  you  say,  among 
other  things,  that  the  farmers  would  favor 
an  increase  of  immigration,  if  that  meant 
an  increase  of  farm  labor.  Farmers  do 
not  need  more  help ;  tEe  surplus  of  farm 
products  show  it.  What  they  do  want  is  a 
better  demand  for  their  products  so  as  to 
keep  out  the  15  per  cent  surplus,  which 
is  always  with  us,  and  which  also  gov¬ 
erns  the  prices  of  the  rest  of  the  85  per 
cent.  On  the  other  hand  an  increase  of 
the  city’s  industrial  population  will  in¬ 
crease  the  demand  for  farm  products,  and 
will  also  cheapen  the  manufactured  ar¬ 
ticles.  which  the  farmer  has  to  buy. 
■  M.  M.  K. 
“Pigs  Is  Pigs” 
This  title  came  to  my  mind  as  I  was 
thinking  of  the  sad,  or  rather  unfortunate, 
case  of  one  of  my  husband’s  red  pigs  dy¬ 
ing  last  night  from  over-eating.  As  my 
husband  is  very  blue  about  it,  and  has 
not  much  time  outside  of  drawing  milk 
to  look  after  them,  and  neither  has  the 
schoolboy,  he  has  to  help  him,  I  am 
going  to  try  to  take  care  of  the  remaining 
one,  and  see  if  with  the  biggest  one  gone, 
she  will  have  a  better  chance.  My  theory 
on  the  subject  is  that  either  there  was 
some  disturbing  element  in  the  feed,  like 
beef  gristle  in  the  water  in  which  it  was 
mixed,  or  too  big  a  ration.  The  pen  is 
warm,  but  quite  dark. 
There  is  a  humorous  as  well  as  a  sad 
side  to  the  circumstance,  as  the  one  that 
died  was  named  after  a  sister  of  mine, 
who  is  always  full  of  fun  and  teasing  my 
husband’s  brother.  He  is  at  the  bashful 
age  of  17,  and  was  much  bothered  by  the 
fact  that  the  kitten  she  named  for  him 
died,  so  he  named  one  of  the  pigs  for  her. 
As  the  pig  is  dead  they  will  have  some¬ 
thing  in  common  to  talk  aEout  over  the 
telephone.  I  thought  I  would  write  to 
The  R.  N.-Y.  to  warn  other  inexperi¬ 
enced  pigkeepers  not  to  allow  a  larger  pig 
to  take  the  “lion’s  share,”  and  for  house¬ 
wives  to  be  careful  what  they  save  for 
dishwater  to  mix  feed  in.  mbs.  h.  o.  p. 
New  l7ork. 
Water  to  the  House  Boiler 
My  house  is  of  two  stories  and  attic, 
and  has  water  piped  to  it  from  a  spring 
about  200  yards  away  through  a  %-in. 
(inside  measurement)  lead  pipe.  The 
pressure  will  lift  the  water  just  about 
to  the  ridge  of  the  house.  I  am  consider¬ 
ing  putting  in  a  hot  water  system  with  a 
a  range  boiler,  and  would  like  to  know 
if  the  pressure  as  described  will  be  suffi¬ 
cient  to  make  the  system  work  properly 
if  connected  directly  to  the  range  boiler. 
Would  the  results  obtained  be  changed  if 
the  water  was  first  C'^ried  to  a  tank  in 
the  attic  and  from  there  led  to  the  boiler? 
Would  the  results  be  changed  if  the  pipe 
from  the  spring  was  larger?  The  boiler, 
of  course,  would  be  located  on  the  first 
floor  in  the  kitchen,  and  I  plan  to  have 
hot  water  on  both  first  and  second  floors. 
The  amount  of  hot  water  required  at  any 
one  time  would  not  be  large.  The  boiler 
will  be  of  30-gallon  capacity.  t.  c.  p. 
Scotland,  Conn. 
We  have  been  through  this  experience, 
and  have  found  a  tank  on  the  upper  floor 
best.  Our  water  is  piped  from  a  spring 
to  the  house.  When  connected  directly 
to  the  boiler  there  was  constant  trouble. 
The  pressure  was  evidently  too  great.  WTe 
then  put  a  tank  in  the  attic  and  connect¬ 
ed  the  spring  pipe  so  the  water  would 
flow  into  this  tank.  The  boiler  is  now 
fed  from  the  tank  with  very  satisfactory 
results. 
A  Concrete  Poultry-house  Floor 
On  my  farm  I  have  tried  three  kinds 
of  floors  in  the  poultry-house,  and  find 
the  cement  floor  by  far  the  best.  An 
earth  floor  is  hard  to  keep  clean,  and 
always  uneven,  and  in  general  very  un¬ 
satisfactory.  The  wooden  floor  is  liable 
to  harbor  vermin,  such  as  mice,  rats, 
weasels,  etc.,  unless  it  is  very  high  from 
the  ground.  When  I  was  going  to  make 
a  cement  floor  I  was  warned  not  to  c!o  it, 
as  it  would  be  too  damp,  but  I  made  it 
cheaply  and  successfully.  The  foundation 
around  the  floor  was  made  first  and  then 
I  filled  up  a  few  inches  where  the  floor 
was  to  be  made  with  earth,  and  then  with 
very  coarse  gravel  or  slate  a  few  inches 
deep,  and  then  on  top  of  this  slate  the 
concrete,  not  over  2  in.  thick,  and  this 
gives  excellent  stisfaction.  The  floor  is 
brooding  conditions ;  showing  themselves 
by  apparently  overgrown  wings  that  drag 
upon  the  ground  from  lack  of  strength 
to  hold  them  in  proper  position.  De¬ 
formed  wings  may  come  from  crowding 
in  brooders.  In  the  case  of  goslings,  one 
is  apt  to  overfeed  upon  grain  mixtures, 
forgetting  that  geese  are  grass-eating 
bii'ds  and  foragers.  More  greens  and  less 
grain  may  solve  your  problems.  M.  b.  d. 
Top-working  Kieffer  Pear 
A  question  was  asked  recently  in  re¬ 
gard  to  top-working  Kieffer  pears  By 
grafting.  It  can  be  done,  as  I  have 
Kieffer  pear  trees  top-worked  to  Clapp, 
which  is  the  only  kind  that  can  be  suc¬ 
cessfully  put  on  Kieffer  stock.  I  have 
trees  which  are  25  years  old ;  they  are 
large  now  and  have  born  fruit  annually 
more  or  less.  I  am  well  pleased  with  the 
outcome,  and  it  is  much  better  than  to 
have  the  original  Kieffer,  which  is  of 
but  little  value  commercially.  J.  J.  H. 
Webster,  N.  Y. 
The  Story  of  the  Seckel  Pear 
( 6  A  BOUT  eighty  years  ago,”  wrote  Charles  Downing  in  1869,  “there 
was  a  well-known  sportsman  and  cattle  dealer  in  Philadelphia 
who  was  familiarly  knowm  as  ‘Dutch  Jacob.’  Every  season,  early  in  the 
Autumn,  on  returning  from  his  shooting  excursions,  Dutch  Jacob  regaled 
his  neighbors  with  pears  of  an  unusually  delicious  flavor,  the  secret  of 
whose  place  of  growth,  however*,  he  would  never  satisfy  their  curiosity 
by  divulging.  At  length  the  Holland  Land  Company,  owning  a  consider¬ 
able  tract  south  of  the  city,  disposed  of  it  in  parcels,  and  Dutch  Jacob 
then  secui*ed  the  ground  on  which  his  favorite  pear  ti*ee  stood,  a  fine 
strip  of  land  near  the  Delaware.  Not  long  aftei’wards  it  became  the  farm 
of  Mr.  Seckel,  who  introduced  this  remai'kable  fruit  to  public  notice,  and 
it  received  his  name.  Afterwards  the  property  was  added  to  the  vast 
estate  of  the  late  Stephen  Girard.  The  original  tree  still  exists  (or  did  a 
few  years  ago),  vigorous  and  fruitful.  Specimens  of  its  peax*s  were  quite 
lately  exhibited  at  the  annual  shows  of  the  Pennsylvania  Horticultural 
Society.” 
The  new  variety  was  not  long  in  making  a  name  in  this  country,  and 
by  1819  it  had  been  introduced  to  the  London  Horticultui*al  Society  by 
Di*.  Hosack  of  Hyde  Pax*k  on  the  Hudson,  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
amateurs  and  patrons  of  gardening  of  his  time.  In  London  it  was  pro¬ 
nounced  surpassing  the  richest  of  the  English  Autumn  pears. 
This  is  the  cui’ious  stoi*y  of  the  oi’iginal  Seckel  pear  tree  which  stood 
on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware  River  just  opposite  League  Island,  and 
about  3*4  miles  from  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  How  it  came  there  nobody 
knows,  but  its  similarity  to  the  Rousselet  de  Rheims,  a  well-known  Ger¬ 
man  pear,  suggests  that  it  may  have  sprung  from  seed  of  that  variety 
brought  by  Germans  settling  near  Philadelphia. 
Seckel  mex*its  the  praise  it  has  i*eeeived.  Thei'e  is  no  pear  grown  in 
America  that  can  compare  with  the  wonderfully  exquisite  richness  and 
delightfully  refreshing  aroma  of  this  little  sweetmeat.  Walt  Whitman 
preferred  Seckel  to  all  other  pears.  In  1869  Downing  said :  “We  do  not 
hesitate  to  pi’onounce  this  American  pear  the  richest  and  most  exquis¬ 
itely  flavored  variety  known.  In  its  highly  concentrated,  spicy  and  hon¬ 
eyed  flavor  it  is  not  surpassed,  nor  indeed  equaled,  by  any  European 
variety.”  Were  it  lai’ger  it  would  be  supreme. 
Small  in  size,  obovate,  evenly  and  handsomely  shaped,  yellowish- 
brown,  often  blushed  with  red  on  the  side  next  the  sun,  and  with  flesh 
buttery,  melting,  and  juicy,  and  with  a  i*ich  and  unusually  aromatic 
flavor,  it  is  loved  by  all.  The  tree  chax*acters  rival  those  of  the  fruit.  It 
is  hardy  and  productive,  and  makes  a  low,  compact,  and  broadly  pyra¬ 
midal  tree — an  ornament  whei*ever  grown.  The  leaves  hang  well,  and 
the  foliage,  turning  a  solid  purplish  or  russet  brown,  makes  a  most  hand¬ 
some  appearance  in  the  Fall.  Moreovei*.  the  tree  suffers  but  little  from 
blight.  Unfortunately,  it  is  a  very  slow  grower,  and  is  tardy  in  coming 
into  bearing.  Its  long  life  and  slow,  stocky  habit  of  growth,  is  vouched  for 
by  the  fact  that  when  nearly  100  years  old  the  original  tree  stood  30  ft. 
high  and  measured  6  ft.  in  circumference  a  foot  fi*om  the  ground,  and 
4  ft.  9  in.  at  5  ft.  from  the  ground. 
As  a  pear  for  the  home  orchard  or  garden,  Seckel  unquestionably 
holds  first  rank.  No  one  should  be  deprived  of  a  taste  at  least  once  a 
year  of  this  most  delicious  of  fruits.  h.  b.  t. 
always  perfectly  dry.  Now  no  rats  can 
harbor  in  our  chicken-house.  My  neigh¬ 
bor  has  a  wooden  floor  and  he  has  trouble 
with  a  wet  floor ;  his  litter  gets  wet,  while 
mine  is  always  dry. 
My  floor  is  cheaper  than  a  wooden 
flooi*,  and  permanent.  I  had  intended  to 
use  tar  paper  between  two  layers  of  con¬ 
crete  to  keep  the  top  dry,  but.  as  indicated 
above,  it  is  not  necessary.  Just  raise  the 
floor  a  little  higher  than  the  surface  out¬ 
side  and  then  some  coarse  gravel  on  top 
to  break  the  capillary  action  of  moisture 
from  below*,  and  you  will  have  a  dry  floor. 
Pennsylvania.  C.  R.  bashore. 
where  they  run.  When  the  sponge  is  full 
of  ants,  drop  in  boiling  water,  then  press 
out  and  bait  with  the  syrup  again.  Raw 
meat  bones,  well  scraped,  will  also  make 
effective  traps,  the  bone  being  dropped  in 
the  stove  when  covered  with  ants.  Such 
trapping  will  weaken  the  colony  very  ef¬ 
fectively,  and  result  in  the  disappearance 
of  the  ants. 
Wing  Trouble  in  Goslings 
What  can  be  done  for  the  following? 
I  have  several  goslings,  and  their  wings 
are  growing  outward  (the  last  joint  on 
the  wings),  and  they  stick  out.  Is  there 
anything  I  can  do  to  get  them  to  grow 
properly  ?  w.  F.  c. 
Big.  drooping  wings  usually  mean  small, 
weak  bodies.  Not  too  much  wing,  but  too 
little  body  for  its  support.  Improper 
feeding,  inherent  weakness  or  improper 
Watertight  Cistern  Making 
I  want  to  give  P.  O.,  Titusville,  Pa., 
suggestions  in  reference  to  his  water  tank 
by  telling  what  I  did  years  ago,  when  I 
built  a  cistern  at  one  corner  of  our  house. 
I  du-*  a  round  hole  next  to  the  foundation 
wall,  about,  as  I  recall  now,  8  ft.  across 
and  8  ft.  deep.  I  used  no  stone  whatever 
in  it,  but  I  mixed  A1  Portland  cement 
with  a  good,  clean,  gritty  sand,  and 
smeared  that  on  the  earth.  The  mixture 
was  one  of  cement,  two  of  sand,  about  3 
in.  thick.  I  thoroughly  cleaned  the  wall 
of  the  foundation  (house),  covered  the 
bottom  of  cistern  with  the  same  mixture 
(one  to  two),  4  in.  thick,  on  dirt.  When 
this  coat  was  dry  enough  I  took  a  kalso- 
mine  brush  and  went  over  all,  foundation 
wall  included,  with  a  mixture  of  clear  ce¬ 
ment  as  thick  (pasty)  as  the  brush  would 
work,  twice,  then  a  thinner  coat,  like 
whitewash,  of  clear  cement,  twice,  and 
the  cistern  never  leaked.  Ten  years  later 
I  saw  the  cistern,  and  the  folks  living 
there  said  they  “always  had  water.” 
Suffern,  N.  Y.  i.  s.  w. 
Destroying  Red  Ants 
How  can  I  get  rid  of  those  little  red 
ants  that  always  find  where  the  pantry  is? 
Coldwater,  N.  Y.  mbs.  e.  c.  p. 
The  little  red  ants  may  be  poisoned 
with  tartar  emetic  mixed  with  lard  or 
unsalted  butter,  or  with  sugar  and  honey. 
With  the  large  black  ants  either  flour  or 
sugar  is  advised  to  mix  with  the  poison, 
but  the  little  red  ants  are  always  at¬ 
tracted  by  fat.  Mix  the  tartar  emetic 
one  grain  to  a  tablespoonful  of  the  fat. 
It  may  also  be  mixed  with  honey.  These 
ants  may  also  be  trapped  by  moistening 
a  sponge  with  thin  syrup,  and  placing  it 
Curing  Egg-eating  Hens 
Here  is  a  sure  cure  for  hens  eating 
eggs,  tried  and  proved  :  For  25  hens,  feed 
daily  two  heaping  tablespoons  of  sulphur 
and  a  handful  of  bonemeal.  In  a  week 
or  10  days  quite  a  proportion  of  the  birds 
lose  their  interest  in  the  egg  diet,  and 
the  rest  soon  follow  suit.  Have  cured 
several  flocks  with  sulphur  alone.  The 
first  time  I  used  it  I  had  a  flock  of  25 
laying  well  and  eating  all  unless  I  was 
on  hand  to  take  them  away.  In  a  week 
I  could  gather  10  or  12  eggs,  and  soon 
had  no  more  trouble.  e.  d.  gibson. 
Controlling  Fleas  on  Dog 
If  S.,  page  409,  will  take  half  and  half 
sweet  oil  and  oil  of  sassafras,  and  put  a 
few  di’ops  on  the  dog,  the  fleas  will  leave 
unless  they  are  different  from  York  State 
kind.  Five  cents’  worth  of  the  mixture 
will  start  all  the  fleas  moving  that  there 
are  in  a  township.  May  have  to  use 
some  more  oil  in  six  to  eight  days  to  get 
the  second  crop.  w.  B.  H. 
New  York. 
Skim-milk  for  Cows 
I  see  on  page  90  that  C.  P.  N.  is  in¬ 
quiring  about  feeding  skim-milk  to  cows. 
I  will  give  my  experience  in  the  same 
line.  As  I  had  more  skim-milk  than  I 
could  feed  to  my  pigs,  calves  and  chick¬ 
ens,  I  offered  it  to  the  cows,  and  found 
but  two  that  would  drink  it.  I  also 
found  that  those  two  cows’  milk  flow 
increased  from  two  to  three  quarts  each 
daily.  Don’t  think  I  gave  more  than 
seven  or  eight  quarts  to  each  cow  daily. 
Will  say  to  anyone  situated  as  C.  P.  N. 
is  in  regard  to  skim-milk  to  experiment  a 
little  along  that  line ;  it  will  surely  do  no 
harm.  C.  B. 
Eldred,  Pa. 
Treatment  for  Lice  on  Cattle 
I  often  see  questions  as  to  what  will 
kill  lice  on  cattle.  Use  dry  sulphur 
rubbed  along  the  back  and  around  the 
neck.  An  infallible  cure.  E.  l.  s. 
New  Yoi*k. 
Sudan  Grass 
I  have  seen  many  articles  on  Sudan 
grass.  I  have  also  corresponded  with 
people  who  say,  what  papers  say,  that 
this  is  fine  for  pasture.  I  am  a  close  ob¬ 
server,  and  will  give  you  my  experience. 
I  have  had  four  years  with  it.  It  is  # 
good  feed,  but  to  pasture  it  you  want  to 
mow  it  once  or  twice,  as  this  gives  a 
heavy  root,  and  it  will  not  pull  out  by  the 
stock  eating  it.  It  roots  too  light  to  pas¬ 
ture,  and  stock  will  pull  it  out.  I  put 
hay  in  barn,  and  it  was  fine.  I  stacked 
some  of  four  days’  drying  and  it  molded 
nearly  one-half,  so  stock  could  not  eat  it. 
These  two  points  are  worth  a  lot  to  farm¬ 
ers.  \V.  F.  S. 
Vienna,  Va. 
Effects  of  Grit  in  Digestion 
I  have  a  flock  of  600  S.  C.  White  Leg¬ 
horns.  I  had  an  argument  with  a  friend 
upon  what  size  grit  should  be  for  laying 
pullets,  and  on  how  the  grit  worked  upon 
the  digestive  organs  of  the  birds.  He 
claimed  that  there  was  an  acid  from  the 
birds  which  dissolved  the  stones,  and 
same  acid  cut  the  food.  I  claimed  that 
the  grit  was  the  hens’  teeth,  and  ground 
up  the  food  after  eaten  in  the  crop  or 
gizzard.  Will  you  enlighten  us? 
Creek  Locks,  N.  Y.  a.  w.  h. 
Here  is  a  case  where  both  disputants 
are  right,  as  far  as  they  go,  but  in  which 
neither  tells  the  whole  story.  The  food 
swallowed  by  a  fowl  is  first  received  into 
the  crop,  merely  an  expanded  portion  of 
the  gullet.  Here  it  is  mixed  with  the 
fluids  of  the  crop  and  more  or  less  soft¬ 
ened.  I  do  not  know  whether  any  actual 
digestion  takes  place  in  the  crop,  but 
think  it  likely  that  the  digestive  process 
begins  here.  After  having  been  softened 
in  the  crop,  the  food  enters  the  proven- 
triculus,  or  true  stomach,  a  long,  almond- 
shaped  organ  attached  at  one  end  to  the 
crop,  and  here  it  is  mixed  with  gastric 
juice.  Leaving  this  true  "stomach,  the 
food  nasses  into  the  gizzard,  where  it  is 
subjected  to  a  grinding  action  by  the 
strong,  muscular  walls  of  that  oi’gan. 
Having  been  ground,  it  passes  on  into  the 
intestinal  tract,  and  meets  the  secretions 
of  the  liver,  nanc-reas  and  other  glands. 
Here  the  process  of  digestion  is  finished. 
You  will  see  that  the  food,  contrary  to 
the  plan  in  other  animals,  is  acted  upon 
by  the  digestive  fluids  of  the  stomach  be¬ 
fore  it  reaches  the  “teeth”  of  the  birds, 
though  full  digestion  is  not  completed  in 
the  stomach.  If  there  is  no  grit  in  the 
gizzard,  the  food  will  be  ground  just  the 
same,  but  grit  in  some  form  aids  the 
grinding  pi-ocess,  while  some  portion  of 
it  is  dissolved,  as  your  friend  says,  and 
is  utilized  as  mineral  food.  Grit  evidently 
serves  two  functions,  that  of  grinding  ma¬ 
chinery  and  that  of  food,  the  former  prob¬ 
able  the  most  important.  But  fowls  will 
live  and  thrive  without  grit  longer  than 
is  usually  supposed.  m.  b.  d. 
