Tht  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
605 
Poultry  and  Livestock 
J  Fattening  Geese. — There  was  a  time 
when  thousands  of  geese  came  to  the 
Boston  market  every  year  from  different 
sections  of  New  England,  especially  from 
Rhode  Island.  Now  very  few  geeseare 
raised  in  the  New  England  States.  When 
the  local  supply  disappeared  the  buyers 
turned  to  Canada,  and  especially  Prince 
Edward  Island,  from  which  as  many  as 
20,000  geese  have  been  shipped  in  one 
season.  The  buying  has  been  done  mostly 
by  a  firm  having  a  big  fattening  plant 
in  Mansfield,  Mass.  This  season  only 
0,000  geese  were  brought  to  this  farm 
from  the  island,  mainly  because  of  the 
high  prices  charged  by  the  farmers  there. 
Fewer  geese  are  being  raised,  and  Cana¬ 
dian  markets  are  now  taking  a  good 
many  of  them.  With  this  change  in 
goose-growing  conditions.  New  England 
has  been  looking  to  the  West,  and  several 
cars  of  live  geese  have  come  to  Mansfield 
this  season  from  States  as  far  west  as 
South  Dakota.  Illinois,  however,  is  send¬ 
ing  the  greatest  number  of  geese  to  Bos¬ 
ton,  supplementing  the  already  large  sales 
of  live  birds  in  New  York  City.  The 
geese  are  received  in  Mansfield  in  a  very 
lean  condition,  and  are  driven  over  the 
road  to  the  fattening  farm,  where  they 
are  kept  for  several  weeks,  being  stuffed 
hard  in  the  meantime.  The  largest  sales 
are  at  Christmas  time,  but  a  good  many 
geese  go  into  cold  storage. 
Trade  in  Ducks. — Ducks  also  are  now 
being  brought  over  the  road  from  the 
West,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  duck¬ 
growing  is  a  big  industry  in  New  Eng¬ 
land.  The  demand  for  ducks  is  much 
larger  than  is  commonly  realized,  and 
New  England  growers  have  had  an  excel¬ 
lent  season.  Probably  they  have  made 
more  money  than  anybody  else  in  the 
poultry  business,  some  of  them  turning 
out  40,000  to  50,000  green  ducks  in  a 
season.  New  England  products  were 
pretty  well  cleaned  up,  however,  before 
any  Western  ducks  were  brought  in. 
Moke  Milk  Being  Used. — It  was 
rather  an  encouraging  report  which 
Richard  Pattee,  managing  director  of  the 
New  England  Milk  Producers,  gave  in 
his  annual  report  this  year.  Mr.  Pattee 
declared  that  in  spite  of  wholesale  boot¬ 
legging,  milk  is  rapidly  displacing  intoxi¬ 
cating  liquors  as  a  beverage.  He  finds 
several  reasons  for  this  fact,  including 
prohibition,  lower  prices  for  milk  and 
better  advertising  on  the  part  of  milk 
producers.  New  England,  according  to 
Mr.  Pattee,  ranks  first  among  the  States 
in  the  amount  of  milk  consumed  per  per¬ 
son.  With  one  exception  Boston  takes 
first  rank  among  the  cities  in  this  respect, 
being  topped  only  by  Hartford,  Conn., 
which  is  the  banner  milk-drinking  city  of 
New  England.  In  Boston  1.2  pints  are 
consumed  by  the  average  man  daily.  In 
Hartford  the  amount  is  1.4  pints  per 
person.  In  spite  of  the  increased  con¬ 
sumption  Boston  saved  $2,000,000  last 
year  on  milk,  according  to  Mr.  Pattee, 
while  all  New  England  paid  about  $5,000,- 
000  less  for  its  milk  in  1922  than  in 
1921.  E.  I.  FARRINGTON. 
Pigs  Have  Fits 
We  are  having  trouble  with  our  Duroc 
Jersey  pigs.  One  day  one  of  our  pigs 
had  something  like  a  fit.  When  he  comes 
to  the  trough  to  eat  he  takes  two  or  three 
mouthfuls  of  food,  then  backs  and  goes 
through  a  good  many  performances.  They 
had  some  black  teeth.  After  a  while  an¬ 
other  pig  had  the  same  thing.  They  eat 
little  and  have  these  spells  just  at  feed¬ 
ing  times.  They  had  skim-milk  and  red 
dog  and  flour  middlings,  but  now  the  feed 
is  lighter.  F.  A. 
New  York. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem,  too  fast  drink¬ 
ing  of  milk  or  slop  sometimes  causes 
spasm  of  .the  gullet  in  little  pigs  and 
calves,  and  that  sometimes  is  followed  by 
convulsions  or  a  fit.  The  fast,  drinking 
is  encouraged  by  letting  the  young  ani¬ 
mals  become  very  hungry  and  thirsty. 
There  would  be  far  less  trouble  from  fits 
were  feeders  to  keep  pure  water  con¬ 
stantly  available  to  young  animals  and 
feed  milk  or  slop  three  times  daily,  in¬ 
stead  of  once  or  twice  a  day.  Calves  espe¬ 
cially  should  be  made  to  drink  slowly.  It 
may  be  added  that  nervous  excitement 
has  much  to  do  with  the  cause  of  the 
firs.  Next,  it  is  safe  to  assert  that  indi¬ 
gestion  usually  is  present  where  calves 
or  pigs  are  subject  to  the  fits  mentioned, 
and  worms'  are  a  common  cause.  On  gen¬ 
eral  principles,  therefore,  we  should  ad¬ 
vise  you  to  treat  the  pigs  to  rid  them  of 
worms.  To  that  end,  withhold  feed  for 
24  hours  and  then  give  to  each  pig,  from 
a  bottle,  30  drops  of  oil  of  ehenopodium 
and  %  oz.  of  castor  oil  for  every  50  lbs. 
of  body  weight.  Repeat  the  treatment 
in  two  weeks.  Then  move  the  pigs  into 
new,  clean  quarters,  if  that  can  be  man¬ 
aged,  and  keep  all  feeding  and  watering 
utensils  clean  and  sweet.  Pigs  will  not 
then  be  so  likely  to  become  reinfested 
with  worms,  but  it  is  also  a  fundamental 
principle  of  modern  successful  swine  man¬ 
agement  to  wash  the  udder  and  teats  of 
the  sow  with  a  disinfecting  solution  at 
farrowing  time  before  the  pigs  are  al¬ 
lowed  to  nurse  for  the  first  time,  and 
then  to  move  the  sow  and  her  litter  into 
a  clean  colony  house  on  new  grass  as 
soon  as  she  has  recovered  from  the  effects 
of  farrowing.  After  that  she  and  her 
pigs  should  be  provided  with  a  succession 
of  fresh,  green  grazing  crops,  preferably 
legumes,  throughout  the  growing  season, 
and  should  be  kept  absolutely  away  from 
wallows,  watering  places,  and  all  houses, 
pens,  yards  and  pastures  used  by  adult 
hogs.  Black  teeth  have  no  special  sig¬ 
nificance.  They  are  not  an  indication 
of  disease  and  do  not  cause  it.  There¬ 
fore  they  need  only  be  removed  when 
very  sharp  and  causing  lacerations  of 
the  sow’s  teats  or  the  faces  of  the  litter- 
mates  during  fights.  Improve  your  methods 
of  feeding  by  supplying  skim-milk  as  well 
as  mixed  meals,  and  allowing  pigs  at  all 
times  access  to  clover  or  Alfalfa  hay, 
when  green  crop  is  not  available.  Also 
allow  the  pigs  and  adult  hogs  to  help 
themselves  to  salt,  ground  limestone  and 
wood  ashes  or  bonemeal.  a.  s.  a. 
—  -  -  "  . 
EVENTS  OF  THE  WEEK 
DOMESTIC. — Five  armed  bandits  in 
a  stolen  automobile  attacked  two  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  contracting  firm  of  John  N. 
Duncan,  Inc.,  at  noon  March  30  at  Van 
Dam  and  Nelson  Streets,  Long  Island 
City,  and  after  killing  the  secretary  of 
the  company  and  wounding  the  vice- 
president,  escaped  with  a  little  black 
satchel  containing  the  company’s  payroll 
of  $3,500.  Thomas  R.  Phillips,  35,  of 
1121  Avenue  P,  Brooklyn,  secretary  and 
paymaster  of  the  firm,  was  shot  twice  in 
the  back  before  he  had  a  chance  to  draw 
his  gun  and  was  dead  before  he  realized 
what  was  happening.  Charles  C.  Cain, 
32,  of  238  75th  Street,  Brooklyn,  vice- 
president  was  struck  on  the  head  with  a 
blackjack  and  was  blinded  by  glass  from 
the  windshield  of  his  own  automobile, 
splintered  by  one  of  the  bullets  that 
passed  through  Phillips’s  body.  As  Cain 
lay  beside  the  body  of  Phillips  in  the 
street  one  of  the  bandits  from  the  auto¬ 
mobile  in  which  they  were  speeding  away 
leaned  out  and  deliberately  fired  two 
shots  at  him..  Cain’s  hat  has  two  bullet 
holes  in  it,  one  for  each  of  these  shots. 
No  arrests  were  made. 
Announcement  was  made  March  30  of 
the  completion  of  an  agreement  whereby 
the  wages  of  between  8,000  and  10,000 
building  trade  union  workers  will  be  in¬ 
creased  $1  a  day  throughout  Westchester 
County,  N.  Y.  Under  the  new  arrange¬ 
ment  wages  will  advance  from  $8  to  $9 
a  day  and  will  go  into  effect  April  1  and 
go  until  July  1,  1924,  under  the  contract 
drawn  up.  This  new  arrangement  abro¬ 
gates  a  contract  already  in  existence  and 
not  due  to  expire  until  next  July.  A 
half  day  Saturday  and  an  eight-hour  day 
during  the  week  are  also  stipulated. 
Fire  which  originated  in  a  building  at ' 
337  East  20th  Street,  New  York,  within 
the  shadow  of  Bellevue  Hospital,  March 
30,  caused  the  death  of  two  firemen,  the 
injury  of  14  others  and  destroyed  prop¬ 
erty  valued  at  $000,000.  The  flames 
spread  from  the  Universal  Circle  Paper 
Box  Company  to  the  five-story  factory 
building  occupied  by  the  Triangle  Sheet 
and  Metal  Company,  335  East  20th 
Street,  thence  to  the  four-story  structure 
of  the  Madison  'Wet  Wash  Laundry,  339 
East  20th  Street,  the  two  upper  floors 
of  a  tenement  house  at  341  East  20th 
Street  and  throough  the  block  to  the  .T. 
II.  Tooker  Show  Print  and  Lithograph 
Company,  340  to  342  East  27th  Street. 
A  five-story  old-fashioned  brick  build¬ 
ing  at  39  Eldridge  Street,  New  York, 
near  Canal  Street  and  the  Bowery,  which 
was  being  torn  down,  collapsed  March 
30,  burying  about  20  workmen  under  tons 
of  brick,  mortar  and  wood.  Joseph 
Lieppa,  aged  35,  of  510  James  Street, 
West  Hoboken,  was  taken  from  the 
wreckage  dead.  Nine  men  were  injured 
seriously. 
Seven  persons  were  killed  and  15  in¬ 
jured  near  Columbus,  O.,  March  30, 
when  a  Big  Four  Pullman  train  struck 
an  automobile  and  was  derailed  in  a 
grade  crossing  accident.  Running  an 
hour  late  the  heavy  Pullman  train,  en 
route  from  Boston  and  New  York  to  Cin¬ 
cinnati,  was  thrown  from  the  rails  by 
the  impact  and  the  sudden  application 
of  the  'brakes  after  the  engine  had 
plowed  through  the  automobile  at  the 
northern  edge  of  Columbus. 
The  carelessness  of  a  tenant  in  throw¬ 
ing  a  lighted  match  among  waste  paper 
in  a  closet  on  the  fourth  flooor  of  the 
five-story  tenement  at  134  Seventh  Street, 
New  York,  March  31,  cost  the  lives  of 
two  of  the  tenants  and  resulted  in  bums 
and  injuries  to  eight  other  persons,  in¬ 
cluding  two  firemen.  Firemen  rescued  a 
dozen  of  the  occupants  by  means  of  ex¬ 
tension  ladders.  All  of  the  tenants  were 
made  homeless. . 
Eleven  men  were  killed  and  four  were 
seriously  injured  following  the  collapse 
March  31  of  the  big  square  tower,  160 
feet  high,  forming  the  entrance  and  ele¬ 
vator  shaft  of  the  new  factory  of  the 
Fuller  Brush  Company,  Hartford,  Conn. 
The  cause  of  the  crash  was  the  upsetting 
and  bursting  of  a  150-ton  steel  water 
tank  which  was  being  filled  for  the  first 
time  and  whose  50,000  gallons  maximum 
capacity  made  an  additional  weight  of 
about  370  tons  on  the  upper  floor  of  the 
tower.  The  tower  was  being  constructed 
in  the  center  of  the  main  factory  build¬ 
ing,  which  occupies  a  large  area  on  Wind¬ 
sor  Avenue  on  the  main  road  from 
Springfield  to  Hartford. 
After  one  of  the  most  sensational  trials 
in  Indiana  since  the  Volstead  act  became 
effective,  55  persons  were  convicted  in 
the  United  States  District  Court  at  In¬ 
dianapolis,  Ind.,  March  31,  on  a  charge 
of  conspiracy  to  violate  the  liquor  law. 
The  defendants  are  all  residents  of  Gary 
and  Lake  County.  The  majority  are  of 
foreign  birth,  but  leading  the  list  of  those 
found  guilty  on  the  conspiracy  charge, 
which  carries  with  it  a  sentence  o'f  one 
day  to  two  years  or  a  maximum  fine  of 
$10,000,  or  both,  was  Roswell  O.  John¬ 
son,  mayor  of  Gary;  City  Judge  William 
M.  Dunn  and  Prosecutor  Dwight  M.  Kin¬ 
der,  William  II.  Olds,  sheriff  of  Lake 
County ;  Lewis  E.  Barnes,  former  sher¬ 
iff;  Clyde  Hunter,  former  county  prose¬ 
cutor;  Blaz  A.  Lucas,  a  .prominent  at¬ 
torney,  and  John  Bennett,  treasurer  of 
the  Republican  City  Committee  of  Gary. 
Two  of  those  found  guilty  were  women. 
All  were  permitted  to  remain  at  liberty 
on  their  original  bonds.  In  all  62  per¬ 
sons  were  put  on  trial.  Seven  were  ac¬ 
quitted. 
_  Five  persons  were  killed  at  Ashland, 
Ivy.,  April  1,  when  the  automobile  in 
which  they  were  riding  struck  g  passen¬ 
ger  train  at  a  crossing.  The  dead  are 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  F.  Tinsley,  their  eight- 
year-old  daughter,  Ernestine,  J.  R. 
Saunders,  all  of  Ashland,  and  Miss  Car¬ 
rie  Keevler  of  Greenup  County.  Mrs. 
Saunders,  her  two  children  and  a  baby 
of  the  dead  couple  escaped  serious  in¬ 
jury. 
One  man  was  shot  and  instantly  killed 
and  another  probably  fatally  wounded  in 
a  fight  at  an  election  of  Bridge  and  Struc¬ 
tural  Iron  Workers’  Local,  No.  17,  at 
Cleveland,  O.,  April  2. 
Governor  Smith  of  New  York  has  ve¬ 
toed  the  bill  which  would  prohibit  cities 
and  villages  from  enforcing  an  automo¬ 
bile  speed  limit  of  less  than  20  miles  an 
hour.’  The  minimum  under  the  present 
law  is  15  miles  an  hour.  Complaint  had 
been  made  that  many  small  villages 
adopted  the  15-mile  limit  and  maintained 
speed  traps  to  hold  up  motorists.  Gov¬ 
ernor  Smith  said  he  opposed  increasing 
the  speed  limit  until  the  Legislature  takes 
some  action  to  regulate  operation  of  mo¬ 
tor  vehicles.  One  of  the  bills'  recom¬ 
mended  by  the  Governor  provides  for 
Statewide  licensing  of  all  operators. 
Three  of  the  10  men  indicted  on 
charges  of  using  the  mails  to  defraud  in 
the  sale  of  stock  of  the  Great  State  Pe¬ 
troleum  Company,  Inc.,  of  Texas,  bank¬ 
rupt,  pleaded  not  guilty  April  3  before 
Judge  Goddard  of  the  United  States  Dis¬ 
trict  Court  in  New  York  and  were  released 
in  $5,000  bail  each.  They  were  Alexander 
C.  Parker,  president ;  Harry  A.  Hurt, 
treasurer,  both  of  Dallas,  and  Wilbur  F. 
Sims  of  Corsicana,  Tex. 
Anothei*  vexation  was  added  to  the 
career  of  Dr.  Frederick  A.  Cook  at  Fort 
Worth,  Tex.,  April  3,  when  he  was 
brought  up  in  the  net  spread  for  Fort 
Worth  oil  stock  promoters  by  the  United 
States  Government.  Cook  and  eight  of 
his  associates  in  the  Petroleum  Pro¬ 
ducers’  Association  are  among  the  25 
promoters  charged  in  Federal  Court  com¬ 
plaints  with  using  the  mails  to  defraud. 
Dr.  Cook  was  released  on  $25,000  bond. 
In  1920  Cook  consolidated  the  Texas 
Eagle  Oil  Company  and  the  Texas  Eagle 
Producing  and  Refining  Company  into  the 
Texas  Eagle  Oil  and  Refining  Company, 
capitalizing  the  latter  at  $5,000,000.  Cook 
launched  the  Petroleum  Producers’  Asso¬ 
ciation  in  April  of  last  year  as  a  so- 
called  “merger.”  He  offered  to  exchange 
its  stock  for  the  stock  of  small  companies 
which  had  become  crippled  or  defunct, 
upon  the  stockholders  of  the  small  com¬ 
panies  putting  up  more  money. 
FARM  AND  GARDEN.— A  warning 
against  the  buying  of  weed  seeds  has  been 
sent  out  by  the  Bureau  of  Plant  Indus¬ 
try,  in  which  attention  is  called  to  the 
importance  of  the  seed  laws  of  the  dif¬ 
ferent  States  and  the  advisability  of  buy¬ 
ing  in  the  State  of  residence.  “Buy  your 
farm  seeds  in  your  own  State,”  says  the 
statement  after  emphasizing  the  high  cost 
of  weeds,  “and  get  the  protection  of  your 
own  State  seed  law.  This  requires  all 
seeds  sold  in  your  .State  to  carry  a  label 
giving  the  quality  of  the  seeds  you  buy. 
and  if  you  'buy  from  a  dealer  outside,  you 
do  not  have  the  same  protection.  If  yon 
want  to  do  all  you  can  to  insure  a  good 
crop  through  the  use  of  good  seed  :  Buy 
in  your  own  State ;  buy  early  ;  examine 
the  label  carefully  for  statement  of  pure 
seed,  weed  seeds  and  germination ;  buy 
the  best  grade  you  can  get ;  send  a  sam¬ 
ple  to  your  State  seed  testing  laboratory 
for  test,  if  you  have  any  .doubt  about 
quality.” 
Appointment  of  a  legislative  committee 
to  investigate  marketing  and  transporta¬ 
tion  problems  is  provided  in  a  resolution 
introduced  March  29  by  Senator  Nathan 
Straus,  Jr.,  of  New  York,  chairman  of 
the  Senate  Committee  on  Agriculture. 
Senator  Straus  called  attention  to  the 
wide  difference  between  what  the  farmer 
receives  for  his  products  and  what  the 
consumer  in  the  city  pays.  The  proposed 
committee  would  be  made  up  of  three 
Senators  and  three  Assemblymen  and 
would  have  $15,000  to  spend  on  an  in¬ 
vestigation  to  be  completed  by  February 
15,  1924. 
A  report  was  issued  March  30  by  the 
Department  of  Agriculture  which  is  in¬ 
terpreted  in  official  circles  as  sufficient 
evidence  that  the  recent  spectacular  rise 
in  the  price  of  sugar  is  not  due  to  a 
shortage  of  that  commodity.  The  report 
estimated  that  the  world  production  of 
sugar  for  the  last  year  was  200.000  tons 
more  than  the  year  before  and  2,600.000 
tons  more  than  in  1913.  Although  beet 
sugar  production  in  the  United  States 
decreased  'by  about  347,000  tons,  the  De¬ 
partment  of  Agriculture  estimated  that 
the  increased  European  production  of 
506,000  tons  more  than  makes  up  for  the 
i  shortage.  It  was  said  that  the  consump¬ 
tion  of  sugar  in  this  country  has  in¬ 
creased  rapidly  in  recent  years,  due  to 
the  low  price  charged  for  it.  The  De¬ 
partment.  of  Justice  is  pursuing  two  lines 
of  _  investigation  to  determine  responsi¬ 
bility  for  the  increase  in  the  price  of 
sugar.  .  YS  hile  there  were  few  develop¬ 
ments  in  the  governmental  investigation, 
it  was  said  “the  householder  may  be  as¬ 
sured  that  something  will  be  done  to 
lower  sugar  prices. 
WASHINGTON.  —  The  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  Mr.  Mellon,  has  again  re¬ 
minded  owners  of  called  Victory  notes _ 
Victory  notes  bearing  the  distinguishing 
letters  A  to  F.  inclusive — that  they  ought 
to  collect  what  is  due  them  from  the 
Government.  Although  interest  on  these 
notes  ceased  absolutely  on  Deeethber  15 
1922,  the  holders  of  $80,000,000  of  them 
have  not  presented  them  for  payment. 
The  interest  loss  on  this  sum  is  estimated 
bv  the  Treasury  Department  to  be  $10,- 
000  a  day  to  the  holders  of  the  notes 
Mr.  Mellon  figures  that  over  $1,000  000 
m  interest  might  have  been  collected  bv 
those  neglectful  Victory  note  owners  if 
they  had  got  their  money  when  it  was 
ready  for  them  and  promptly  put  it  at 
work. 
Recommendations'  of  the  recent  Na¬ 
tional  Radio  Conference  for  reallocations 
of  ether  wave  lengths  as  a  means  of  re¬ 
ducing  interference  will  be  accepted  with 
certain  slight  modifications  by  the  Com¬ 
merce  Department,  Secretary  Hoover  an- 
nounced  April  1,  but  will  be  put  into 
effect  gradually.  Broadcasting  stations 
will  be  given  time  to  adjust  equipment 
to  their  wave  length  assignment,  and  no 
station  will  be  forced  to  cease  use  of  the 
present  360  meter  band  unless  it  so  de¬ 
sires. 
Coming  Farmers’  Meetings 
1‘  eb.  t  -April  23  —  Courses  in  agricul¬ 
ture  and  horticulture,  Columbia  Univer¬ 
sity.  New  York  City. 
May  15-16 — American  Guernsey  Cat¬ 
tle  Club.  New  York  City. 
July  30-Aug.  3 — Farmers’  Week,  Con¬ 
necticut  Agricultural  College,  Storrs, 
Conn. 
Oct.  6-13- — National  Dairy  Show  and 
World’s  Dairy  Congress,  Syracuse.  N.  Y. 
Dec.  13-15  - — North  Bergen  County 
Poultry  Association,  fifth  annual  show, 
Westwood,  N.  .T. 
One  morning  Uncle  Ed  was  shaving 
himself  while  his  little  nephew  was  an 
interested  spectator.  “Robert,”  said  his 
uncle,  “don’t  you  want  me  to  shave  you, 
too?”  “No.  uncle.”  replied  the  little  fel¬ 
low.  “My  whiskers  ain’t  ripe  yet.” — 
New  York  Globe. 
