Vh  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
767 
stalks  above  ground.  In  a  few  days’  time  it  is 
ready  to  cut.  and  taking  it  all  in  all.  if  a  person 
does  not  mind  work,  there  is  money  in  it. 
NEAIi  DEM  a  REST. 
Wormy  Apples  on  the  Pacific  Coast 
TELE  picture  at  Fig.  2S5  shows  a  small  mountain 
range  of  wormy  apples  at  a  place  near  Spokane, 
Wash.  We  see  five  specimens  of  the  husky  chil¬ 
dren  that  are  grown  out  in  that  country.  There 
seems  to  be  no  blemish  about  this  child  crop,  but 
it  is  evident  from  the  pile  of  apples  that  the  Pacific 
coast  men  have  their  full  share  of  insect  enemies. 
Perhaps  this  picture  will  help  show  the  main  rea¬ 
son  why  last  year's  Western  apple  crop  proved  a 
disappointment  to  many  growers.  The  apple  men 
out  in  that  country  are  good  sprayers,  and  they 
know  how  to  do  the  work.  Now  and  then  there  will 
come  a  season  when  weather  conditions  are  so  bad 
that  the  fruit  grower  does  not  have  a  chance  to 
put  up  a  good  fight  against  the  worm.  There  may 
be  a  long  succession  of  winds  and  rain  which  make 
it  impossible  to  put  on  the  spray  properly.  Then, 
of  course,  there  will  be  much  wormy  fruit,  and  we 
certainly  have  a  part  of  it  shown  in  this  picture. 
These  Western  growers  are  wise  enough  to  keep 
all  such  apples  out  of  their  boxes,  even  though  the 
fruit  should  prove  a  loss.  A  few  wormy  apples  in 
the  boxed  fruit  would  soon  break  down  the  effect 
of  long  and  expensive  years  of  advertising,  and, 
therefore,  they  do  everything  possible  to  keep  im¬ 
perfect  fruit  off  the  Eastern  market.  Many  of  our 
readers  appear  to  think  that  all  the  apples  grown 
on  the  Pacific  Coast  are  just  like  what  we  find 
when  we  open  a  box  bearing  the  pack¬ 
er’s  name.  That  is  not  true  in  any 
way.  Probably  not  over  30  per  cent 
of  the  total  crop  in  that  section  would 
be  considered  good  enough  to  come  to 
this  trade.  It  is  hard  for  our  Eastern 
people  to  realize  how  carefully  the 
Western  fruit  is  gone  over,  and  the 
pains  that  are  taken  to  put  only  high- 
class  apples  in  the  boxes.  Our  Eastern 
growers  have  not  yet  realized  the  full 
importance  of  such  work. 
We  have  had  one  case  where  an  ap¬ 
ple  man  was  advertising  to  sell  hand¬ 
picked  fruit  in  boxes.  He  sold  a  good 
many  apples,  but  after  a  while  com¬ 
plaints  began  to  come  in.  Investiga¬ 
tion  showed  that  this  man  was  running 
a  cider  mill.  Farmers  brought  their 
cider  apples  from  all  over  the  section, 
and  several  men  were  employed  to  pick 
out  the  best  of  these  apples  from  the 
cider  fruit,  wipe  them  with  a  cloth,  pack  them  in 
boxes  and  send  them  out  as  hand-picked  fruit.  They 
evidently  were  “hand-picked”  out  of  the  cider  press, 
but  that  kind  of  hand-picking  will,  in  the  end.  pick 
the  man  right  up  by  his  coat,  and  throw  him  out  of 
all  confidence  and  respect  on  the  part  of  apple 
buyers. 
A  Pugnacious  Pheasant 
We  have  recently  had  a  ring-necked  male  pheasant, 
turned  loose  by  a  game  warden  in  our  vicinity.  About 
this  time  we  began  losing  large  hens,  sometimes  two 
a  day,  until  at  present  we  have  lost  seven  nice  ones.  At 
first  we  thought  it  was  our  shepherd  puppy,  but  when 
he  was  tied  up  we  still  found  the  hens  were  killed. 
About  this  time  a  neighbor  where  the  pheasant  had  been 
staying,  saw  it  grab  one  right  by  the  head.  lie  rescued 
the  hen  and  the  pheasant  later  made  a  second  attack. 
Later  we  saw  it  catch  another  hen  and  pull  it  under 
a  porch,  and  pretty  soon  it  came  out  and  made  for 
another.  Our  children  chased  it  away,  but  it  keeps 
one  busy  as  it  only  comes  back  again. 
We  understand  it  is  fully  protected  by  the  State  game 
laws,  and  they  say  we  have  no  right  to  shut  it  up.  Has 
a  game  warden  any  right  to  send  it  here,  when  they 
say  it  had  killed  five  hens  in  a  near-by  village?  The 
game  warden  says,  send  a  bill  for  the  hens  to  a  man  by 
the  name  of  Hamilton  and  the  State  will  pay  the  bill. 
Can  you  tell  me  anything  about  this?  Have  you  any 
record  of  a  pheasant  killing  chickens?  I  was  very 
much  surprised,  and  would  not  believe  it  did,  until  I 
saw  it  grab  a  hen  three  times  its  size  and  found  the 
dead  hen.  It  took  them  all  right  by  the  head. 
New  York.  mrs.  e.  e. 
We  sent  this  letter  to  the  State  Conservation  Com¬ 
mission  at  Albany.  They  tell  us  that  this  is  the 
first  complaint  they  ever  received  of  a  pheasant  kill¬ 
ing  chickens.  The  bird  has  never  been  known  to  do 
this  before.  Persons  who  have  raised  pheasants 
for  30  years  say  that  they  have  never  known 
such  a  case.  On  the  game  farms  of  the  State,  where 
chickens  and  pheasants  roam  together  through  the 
fields,  there  is  rarely,  if  ever,  any  trouble.  The  only 
thing  that  can  lie  done  in  this  case  is  for  the  game 
protector  to  come  and  capture  this  pugnacious  pheas¬ 
ant  and  take  it  away.  Of  course,  these  birds  are 
protected  by  law,  and  under  the  circumstances  they 
cannot  be  legally  killed,  even  though  they  might  do 
the  damage  stated  in  the  above  letter.  The  commis¬ 
sion,  however,  now  knows  about  this  case,  and  will 
send  a  gamekeeper  to  take  the  pheasant,  away.  If 
any  of  our  readers  know  of  other  cases  where  pheas¬ 
ants  have  acted  in  this  way,  we  want  to  be  told 
about  them.  The  State  should  pay  for  the  damage 
done  by  this  murderous  bird. 
Nux  Vomica  for  Chicken  Hawks 
Will  nux  vomica  fed  to  chicks  kill  hawks  and  yet  not 
harm  the  chicks?  Can  you  tell  me  how  much  to  feed  and 
how?  j.  a.  p. 
North  Bennington,  Yt. 
N  spite  of  all  we  have  printed  on  the  subject, 
people  are  still  coming  to  ask  if  they  can  kill 
hawks  and  crows  by  feeding  nux  vomica  to  their 
chickens.  We  have  tried  to  explain  this  many  times. 
All  we  know  about  it  is  that  a  good  many  of  our 
Southern  readers  state  without  reserve  that  they 
have  succeeded  in  killing  hawks  and  crows  in  this 
way.  They  feed  the  powdered  nux  vomica  in  the 
chicken  feed.  We  have  been  unable  to  learn  just 
how  much  they  feed.  They  generally  state  that  they 
use  about  one  tablespoonful  in  enough  feed  for  50 
chickens.  This  is  as  definite  a  statement  as  we  can 
get.  They  claim  that  after  a  week  or  10  days  of 
this  kind  of  feeding  the  flesh  of  the  chicken  is  thor¬ 
oughly  filled  with  the  poison,  and  that  when  the 
hawk  or  crow  eats  the  chicken  he  is  quickly  killed. 
The  theory  is  that  the  chicken  is  immune  to  the 
effects  of  nux  vomica,  while  the  hawk  is  susceptible 
to  it.  We  have  asked  practically  all  the  scientific 
men  about  this.  Most  of  them  say  there  is  abso¬ 
lutely  nothing  to  it,  although  they  admit  that  the 
belief  is  general  all  through  the  South.  We  do  not 
recommend  the  plan.  It  is  a  thing  to  be  experi¬ 
mented  with,  if  the  individual  cares  to  try  it  and 
take  the  risk. 
We  have  told  several  times  of  the  case  re¬ 
ported  to  us  where  a  Southern  planter  was  greatly 
troubled  by  the  loss  of  his  hogs.  They  were  stolen 
and  eaten  by  the  negroes.  He  tried  the  plan  of  bring¬ 
ing  up  several  hogs  and  mixed  nux  vomica  in  their 
feed.  This  went  on  for  a  couple  of  weeks,  and  then 
the  hogs  were  turned  loose  with  the  others.  As  they 
were  fat  and  in  good  condition,  they  proved  favor¬ 
ites  with  the  colored  people.  Not  long  after  several 
of  these  people  were  taken  violently  sick,  and  they 
thought  they  were  going:  to  die.  They  sent  for  the 
doctor  and  the  minister  and  confessed  that  they  had 
killed  and  eaten  one  of  the  white  man’s  pigs,  and 
this  sickness  was  attributed  directly  to  the  nux 
vomica. 
This  story  is  vouched  for,  and  we  have  many 
others  of  the  same  nature,  going  to  show  the  possi¬ 
bilities  of  feeding  this  drug.  We  think  it  is  of  im¬ 
portance  enough  to  warrant  some  of  the  scientific 
men  in  making  a  full  investigation.  Some  experi¬ 
ments  have  been  reported  to  us  in  which  it  was 
stated  that  chickens  were  fed  in  the  way  described 
and  then  given  to  hawks  and  crows.  These  pests 
had  a  good  chicken  dinner,  and  came  back  for  more. 
This  might  show  that  there  was  nothing  whatever 
to  the  plan,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  it  might  show 
that  these  particular  hawks  were  tougher  than  the 
average.  We  merely  give  what  is  reported  to  us, 
and  our  readers  can  take  their  chances  on  trying  the 
method. 
The  Cost  of  Growing  Apples  on  a  Farm 
in  Western  New  York 
ETTING  THE  FACTS. — Frequently  fruit  grow¬ 
ers  are  asked  the  rather  pertinent  and  often¬ 
times  embarrassing  question  as  to  the  cost  of  this  or 
that  operation  on  their  particular  farms,  with  per¬ 
haps  the  view  in  mind  of  learning  what  it  actually 
costs  to  produce  and  deliver  at  their  shipping  point 
a  bushel  of  peaches,  a  pound  of  cherries  or  a  barrel 
of  apples.  During  the  past  10  years  these  costs  have 
often  run  so  high  in  comparison  to  the  selling  price 
of  fruit  that  such  figures  would  not  be  pleasing  for 
the  prospective  fruit  grower  to  contemplate. 
AVERAGING  EXPENSES.— Because  of  the  rela¬ 
tively  large  percentage  of  young  and  non-bearing 
trees,  the  writer  has  felt  that  the  cost  of  producing 
a  barrel  of  apples  on  this  farm  has  been  relatively 
high  in  comparison  with  that  of  other  growers  in 
Western  New  York.  However,  during  the  past  sea¬ 
son  the  apple  orchards,  both  young  and  old,  yielded 
an  average  of  53  bids,  per  acre,  and  upon  this  basis 
the  following  cost  production  figures  are  presented: 
Cost  per  barrel — 
Nursery  stock  . $  .025 
Fertilizer  . 030 
Spray  dope  . 110 
Barrel,  nails  and  caps . 024 
Insurance  on  fruit  and  barrel . 015 
Cover  crop  seed . 000 
Trucking  fruit  to  storage . . . 053 
Man  labor,  2  hours  and  3  minutes .  .000 
Horse  labor,  1  hour  and  13  minutes . 183 
Equipment  use,  1  hour  and  13  minutes . 120 
00  per  cent  farm  overhead  charges . 380 
Total  . . . $2,263 
Credit  for  cull  and  windfall  apples  to  each  barrel  .111 
Total  cost  per  barrel . $2,152 
ITEMIZING  COSTS.— From  these  cost  accounts 
it  will  be  seen  that  everything  is  included  except 
rent  of  land  or  interest  charges.  Of  course,  the  cost 
per  barrel  will  vary  greatly  from  season  to  season, 
and  the  factor  of  heavy  average  crop  yields,  as  is 
pointed  out  by  Folger  and  Thompson  in  “The  Apple 
Industry  of  North  America,”  is  the  one 
most  affecting  the  cost  per  barrel  of 
apples.  The  item  of  nursery  stock  is 
for  filling  in  trees,  which  occurs  every 
year;  the  spray  cost  includes  the  ma¬ 
terial  in  six  double  spray  applications; 
the  man-labor  item  includes  the  five 
cultural  operations  of  tree-pruning, 
cultivation,  fertilizing,  spraying  and 
thinning,  as  well  as  the  harvest,  pack¬ 
ing  and  hauling  to  storage  labor. 
Horse  labor  and  equipment  use  go 
hand  in  hand,  and  it  might  be  worth 
while  to  mention  that  the  horse  s 
worked  an  average  of  1,366  hours  dur¬ 
ing  the  year  on  the  farm.  Horses  can 
put  in  quite  a  full  year  on  a  fruit  farm, 
where  they  are  used  at  everything, 
from  hauling  brush  in  the  Spring  to 
cultivating,  hauling  the  sprayer,  and 
the  fruit  from  orchard  to  the  packing 
house  and  thence  to  storage  in  the  Fall. 
MAN  LABOR. — Sixty  per  cent  of  the  man  labor  of 
the  farm  is  devoted  to  the  growing  of  apples,  and  so 
this  charge  for  general  overhead  items  seems  rela¬ 
tively  large.  It  includes  such  items  as  taxes,  repairs 
for  buildings,  tile  drainage  systems  and  the  upkeep 
of  a  running  water  system  on  the  farm,  which  is  ex¬ 
tremely  important  in  giving  facility  to  the  spraying 
work.  It  also  includes  the  cost  of  operating  a  Ford, 
telephone,  insurance  and  the  man  and  horse  labor  re¬ 
quired  in  performing  general  tasks,  such  as  cutting 
fence  rows,  buzzing  wood,  etc.  On  the  farm  there  is 
a  fairly  good  distribution  of  the  apple  harvest  work, 
as  the  season  opens  with  Duchess  and  is  followed 
by  Wealthy,  McIntosh,  Northwestern  Greening, 
Greening,  Hubbardston,  Baldwin,  Spy  and  Ben 
Davis.  c.  w.  w. 
Wayne  Co.,  N.  Y. 
Sprays  to  Kill  Fruit 
STRANGE  as  it  may  seem,  avc  have  had  a  number 
of  inquiries  this  year  for  some  spray  that  can 
be  used  to  kill  the  bloom  on  apple  and  peach  trees. 
At  first  thought  this  will  strike  most  of  our  readers 
as  a  curious  thing,  for  the  general  idea  of  a  spray 
is  to  increase  and  improve  the  crop  by  destroying 
plant  diseases  or  insects.  In  one  case  a  reader  said 
he  has  a  pasture  in  Avhich  there  are  A  number  of 
old  apple  trees.  The  fruit  is  not  of  much  conse¬ 
quence,  but  if  the  cattle  are  left  in  the  pasture  con¬ 
tinuously  they  frequently  eat  too  many  apples  and 
go  down  with  bloat.  There  have  been  several  deaths 
from  that  trouble.  This  man  does  not  want  to  cut 
the  trees  down,  for  some  reason.  He  thinks  there 
can  be  some  spray  used  when  the  apple  trees  are  in 
bloom  to  kill  the  fruit,  so  that  there  will  be  no  dan¬ 
ger  to  the  cattle.  It  is  possible  that  a  strong  solu¬ 
tion  of  lime  and  sulphur  with  arsenic  added  per¬ 
haps  twice  as  strong  as  the  combination  generally 
used  to  destroy  the  codling  Avorm  might  destroy  the 
bloom.  Probably  any  of  the  strong  caustic  sprays 
used  several  times  as  strong  as  recommended  would 
