Iht  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
773 
Pastoral  Parson  and  His  Country  Folks 
By  Rev.  George  B.  Gilbert 
Last  Words. — The  Parson  has  had  to 
do  a  deal  of  talking  lately ;  in  fact,  he 
has  to  do  a  lot  of  talking  all  the  time. 
This  week  it  has  been  three  nights  out, 
besides  two  big  country  socials.  The 
other  night  we  had  company,  or  the  Par¬ 
son  would  have  been  away.  If  this  keeps 
up  he  will  be  worse  than  the  man's  wife 
whose  husband  died  while  the  minister 
was  away.  The  minister  was  anxious  to 
hear  what  this  good  Christian  s  last 
words  were.  He  met  the  man  s  little  boy 
one  day.  “I  hear  your  father  has  passed 
away?”  “Yes,”  said  the  boy.  “And,  my 
little  man,  I  am  so  anxious  to  hear  what 
his  last  words  were.  Can  you  tell  me . 
“No.  no.  I  can’t,”  said  the  boy.  “because 
he  didn’t  have  any.  Mother  was  with 
him  till  the  end.” 
The  Goslings. — The  Parson  has  just 
this  minute  rescued  the  goslings  from  the 
cold  rain.  It  will  not  do  to  let  a  gosling 
get  wet.,  especially  its  little  stomach. 
Never  put  it  out  on  the  wet  grass.  *>  e 
had  10  nice  ones  come  off  about  a  week 
ago,  and  have  not  lost  any.  M  e  put 
them  out  in  a  pen  in  the  sunshine,  and 
every  night  bring  them  into  the  kitchen 
and  put  them  back  of  the  stove  with  a 
covering  over  the  box.  You  know  wheie 
they  are  then.  Rats  are  terribly  crazy 
over  goslings;  they  make  tender,  juicy 
feeding  for  them.  Do  not  think  the  old 
goose  can  protect  them.  A  woman  down 
county  thought  that  last  year  and  lost 
five  one  night.  Be  sure  they  have  sand  in 
the  water,  and  the  Parson  does  not  give 
them  much  milk.  There  is  no  rush  about 
a  goose,  like  a  chicken,  and  give  them 
their  time  to  grow.  If  they  act  stunted 
and  do  not  seem  to  grow  look  for  nee ; 
many  have  lost  their  goslings  after  well 
started  with  lice.  We  didn't  intend  to 
sell  any  of  these,  but  a  man  came  last 
night  who  wanted  two  of  them  so  badly 
at  a  dollar  each  that  the  Parson  let  them 
go  “A  bird  in  the  hand  is  worth  two  in 
the  bush,”  and  it  is  a  good  long  time 
before  Thanksgiving. 
Setting  Geese. — We  hear  all  sorts  of 
opinions  about  setting  geese.  Some  pre¬ 
fer  hens.  The  old  goose  will  lay  again 
if  you  break  her  up  in  the  early  season. 
We  broke  up  one,  and  she  laid  10  more 
eggs  and  went  sitting.  A  goose  egg  will 
certainly  stand  a  lot  of  cold.  One  night, 
about  a  week  before  hatching  time,  the 
old  goose  got  off,  went  down  the  brook 
and  came  back  up  under  the  fence  into  the 
henyard.  From  here  she  did  not  know 
how  to  get  back  to  the  nest.  The  night 
was  cold — almost  a  frost — and  the  Par¬ 
son  found  the  eggs  there  next  morning, 
“as  cold  as  stones.”  He  certainly  was 
upset.  He  had  set  a  lot  of  store  on  that 
hatch  of  goose  eggs.  He  could  not  be¬ 
lieve  it  possible  one  could  hatch.  He 
broke  one,  and  there  seemed  to  be  a 
least  bit  of  life.  He  let  the  old  goose  go 
on  again.  She  actually  hatched  seven 
out  of  the  11  eggs.  Goose  eggs  hatch  out 
very  slowly,  and  often  you  have  to  help 
them  out  of  the  shell. 
Living  With  Them. — When  you  have 
little  chicks  or  little  geese  you  have  just 
got  to  live  with  them,  often  night  and 
day.  The  Parson  never  knew  anything 
like  the  death  rate  that  seems  to  have 
existed  among  young  chicks.  People  have 
gone  daft  over  buying  day-old  chicks.  A 
man  actually  told  the  Parson  the  other 
day  that  he  saw  a  great  white  field  and 
wondered  how  there  could  be  so  much 
snow,  and  when  he  went  to  examine  it, 
it  was  all  dead  White  Leghorn  chicks. 
He  said  he  never  saw  such  a  sight  in  his 
life.  There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  cold 
windy  weather,  and  the  windy  nights 
draw"  up  the  coal  fires  in  the  brooders, 
and  then  they  go  out.  In  many  cases  it 
is  a  matter  of  staying  up  all  night  when 
the  chicks  are  very  small.  Just  now,  as 
said  above,  the  goslings  were  wet.  The 
Parson  filled  a  jug  with  hot  water  and 
put  it  in  a  box  and  covered  it  over,  leav¬ 
ing  a  little  space  for  air,  of  course,  and 
soon  these  goslings  were  as  dry  and 
happy  as  you  please.  A  hot  jug  is  a 
great  thing  to  remember  when  you  have 
some  cold  or  wet  chicks. 
Over  the  Counter. — A  new  store  here 
in  town,  sort  of  a  5  and  10,  that  sells 
things  up  to  about  a  dollar — a  chain  store 
— began  to  sell  day-old  chicks.  They  came 
from  a  company  in  Pennsylvania.  This 
has  been  a  very  interesting  venture. 
They  sold  the  chicks  for  20  cents  each, 
and"  now,  in  May.  they  are  18  cents.  Up 
to  now  (May  12)  they  have  sold  some 
15.000.  They  expect  to  keep  selling  till 
July  and  to  total  some  60,000 — a  most 
astonishing  thing.  One  man  bought  600 
of  these,  and  has  on  the  whole  had  very 
good  luck  with  them.  Another  man  has 
an  order  for  5,000.  He  is  a  new  one,  and 
is  going  into  the  chicken  business.  Even 
the  manager  of  the  store  says  he  has  ad¬ 
vised  him  not  to  plunge  quite  so  deep. 
The  Parson  fears  there  will  be  another 
snow-white  meadow  like  that  other  one. 
Better  grow  into  it,  starting  with  one  old 
hen  and  watching  her  method  of  doing 
business.  'Will  this  sale  of  chicks  make 
a  difference  in  the  egg  market  of  this 
vicinity?  Another  year  will  tell. 
Western  Competition. — Night  before 
last  a  man  from  Storrs  College  gave  an 
illustrated  lecture  out  here  in  our  little 
community  hall  on  his  trip  through  the 
Western  egg-laying  country.  He  showed 
pictures  of  the  famous  Hollywood  Farms 
and  many  other  places.  Then  he  took 
us  through  the  Petaluma  section.  We 
certainly  came  away  with  the  impression 
that  we  in  the  East  have  got  to  get  up 
and  hustle.  Can  we  fellows  around  these 
little  villages  and  around  the  cities  in 
Connecticut  organize  and  sort  and  pack 
our  products  the  way  the  fellows  on  the 
Pacific  coast  do?  A  small  village  nearby 
started  this  among  its  boys’  clubs,  and 
got  a  merchant  to  take  their  products. 
The  trouble  seems  to  be,  however,  that 
farmers  go  in  town  and  get  in  a  hurry  to 
get  home,  and  have  a  few  dozen  left,  and 
“dump”  these  at  a  reduced  price.  This 
reduced  price  for  a  few  remnants  is  told 
all  over  the  neighborhood,  and  kills  a  de¬ 
cent  price  in  the  stores.  This  matter  of 
co-operation  among  farmers  is  excellently 
written  up  in  the  May  World's  Work  by 
Aaron  Shapiro,  and  every  farmer  ought 
to  read  it  who  can.  As  farmers,  this  co¬ 
operation  is  our  only  hope,  and  we  ought 
to  study  all  phases  of  it  just  as  much  as 
we  can.  You  will  see  there  about  the 
new  processed  egg  that  California  ex¬ 
pects  to  flood  our  Eastern  markets  with. 
They  claim  up  hill  and  down  that  no  one 
can  tell  one  of  these  eggs  from  our 
“nearby  hennery”  product.  They  pass 
the  egg  through  hot  oil  for  five  seconds 
and  it  cooks  that  little  filament  under  the 
shell  and  makes  it  impervious  to  air. 
They  claim  this  egg  will  keep  two  years. 
According  to  the  man  who  spoke  to  us, 
these  people  have  an  advantage  of  about 
12  eggs  a  year  per  hen  over  us  on  ac¬ 
count  of  their  climate — the  hen  can  be 
out  of  doors  so  much  longer.  The  freight 
gives  us  an  advantage  of  about  seven 
cents  a  dozen.  There  is  no  reason  why 
we  cannot  successfully  meet  their  com¬ 
petition,  but  we  have  to  organize  better 
and  pack  better  and  learn  to  advertise 
our  goods  better. 
The  Tractor. — The  Parson  was  much 
interested  in  an  article  a  short  time  ago 
in  The  R.  N.-Y.  about  the  tractor — the 
man  over  the  fence  with  a  tractor  having 
a  talk  with  the  man  driving  the  horses.  Up 
through  the  central  part  of  Vermont,  where 
the  Parson  was  getting  a  taste  of  syrup  on 
the  old  home  grounds,  the  farmers  have 
seemed  to  go  machinery  crazy.  They 
plunged  too  deep  in  potatoes  last  year, 
anyway,  and  many  of  them  were  just 
about  financially  ruined.  It  would  ap¬ 
pear,  just  as  the  tractor  man  said  in 
this  article,  that  a  tractor  wears  out  a 
good  deal  quicker  than  you  think  for, 
that  it  costs  a  lot  to  run  it,  that  you  have 
got  to  keep  about  as  many  horses,  any¬ 
way,  and  that  unless  the  crop  depends 
on  getting  it  very  early  and  quickly,  you 
would  better  think  twice  before  buying 
one.  You  reckon  the  depreciation  per 
year  and  the  short  time  you  use  it  in  the 
Spring,  and  you  will  be  surprised  to  see 
how  much  your  Spring  work  is  costing 
you.  We  must  still  remember  that  a 
team  costing  half  as  much  as  a  tractor 
will  last  ordinarily  four  times  as  long— 
quite  likely  six  times  as  long — and  that 
you  can  raise  all  its  fuel  if  you  set  about 
it,  and  there  is  a  comeback  to  raise  more 
with,  while  you  have  to  buy  every  ounce 
of  the  tractor’s  dinners,  and  there  is 
nothing  left  over. 
College  and  Hens.— The  Parson  was 
over  at  Storrs  College  the  other  Sunday, 
and  after  the  service  he  and  George 
looked  around  a  bit  among  the  poultry. 
We  ran  across  a  young  fellow  from 
our  town  who  is  keeping  some  poultry  on 
his  own  hook.  It  seems  that  the  college 
furnishes  him  with  a  place  to  keep  them 
in.  He  bought  a  hundred  pullets  last 
Spring  when  eight  weeks  old  for  $1.30 
each.  He  kept  them  through  the  Summer 
at  home  and  took  them  to  college  with 
him  in  the  Fall.  Three  have  died,  so  he 
now  has  97.  He  plans  on  selling  these 
hens  for  a  dollar  each  at  the  end  of  the 
college  year.  They  will  have  to  be  good 
big  hens  and  in  good  condition  to  get 
that,  but  perhaps  he  will.  _  He  has  kept 
accurate  account  of  everything,  of  course, 
and  thinks  now  he  will  clear  up  just 
about  $150.  This  is  of  course  a  great 
help  in  paying  his  expenses. 
Seed  Potatoes.  —  We  have  just  had 
about  75  bu.  of  seed  potatoes  come  for 
our  people  down  county.  We  got  these 
potatoes  from  the  seed  growers  in  Ver¬ 
mont.  They  are  a  little  too  small  for 
their  first  quality  sale,  but  cut  once  in 
two  they  make  fine  seed.  It  is  all  cer¬ 
tified,  and  not  a  scab  to  be  seen.  We 
supply  all  our  people  with  this  seed  for 
just  half  the  price  it  would  cost  them 
in  the  city.  In  fact,  they  can  sell  their 
eating  potatoes  for  half  as  much  again 
as  these  potatoes  cost  them.  We  want 
them  all  to  change  seed  every  year,  as  it 
certainly  pays,  and  we  have  got  most  of 
them  to  doing  it. 
Saving  Seed  Potatoes. — Many  of  us 
cannot  realize  what  a  job  this  saving 
seed  potatoes  is  in  Vermont.  Last  Fall 
they  had  a  perfectly  terrible  time  with 
the  cold  weather  coming  on  so  soon.  When 
you  know  that  if  you  leave  these  acres 
of  certified  seed  in  the  ground  the  bulk 
of  them  will  be  frozen,  and  you  go  and 
dig  out  a  lot  with  a  digger  and  then  try 
to  pick  them  up  with  the  ground  begin¬ 
ning  to  freeze  under  you,  and  your  hands 
so  numb  you  can  hardly  hold  a  potato, 
rand  there  are  rows  and  rows  of  smooth, 
5 lovely  potatoes  all  dug  out  and  the 
weather  is  getting  more  and  more  biting 
all  the  time,  it  is  something  terrible. 
That  night  with  wood  sheds  and  wagon 
sheds  and  barn  floor  and  two  porches 
covered  with  sacked  seed  potatoes,  the 
thermometer  kept  dropping.  In  the  early 
night,  on  the  Parson’s  brother’s  farm, 
they  carried  out  straw  and  hay  to  cover 
them  with.  Then  as  the  weather  showed 
no  let-up.  but  grew  worse,  they  began 
to  use  all  the  blankets  and  old  carpets 
they  could  find  in  the  upstairs  back 
room.  A  little  after  midnight  they  began 
on  the  bed  clothing  of  the  unused  beds, 
and  also  to  pull  up  the  rugs  and  floor 
coverings.  Still  the  weather  grew  worse. 
About  three  o’clock  they  took  the  cover¬ 
ings  from  their  own  beds,  knowing  that 
it  meant  being  on  the  jump  all  night  for 
everyone  of  the  household.  By  these 
fairly  strenuous  methods  they  saved  the 
bulk  of  the  crop.  People  who  grumble 
over  the  price  of  a  potato  in  the  city 
little  realize  how  much  work  and  worry 
there  may  be  back  of  it.  Potatoes  have 
had  a  big  jump  in  the  market  here,  re¬ 
tailing  for  60  cents  a  peck  for  eating  po¬ 
tatoes. 
A  New  Venture. — We  have  long  had 
dinner  after  each  morning  service  in  one 
of  our  churches  down  in  the  country,  but 
we  have  never  tried  out  regularly  having 
supper  after  a  rather  late  afternoon  ser¬ 
vice.  At  one  place  at  the  last  service  it 
was  voted  to  begin  next  time  to  have 
a  supper — one  that  would  take  the  place 
of  the  regular  supper  at  home — right 
after  the  service,  or  as  soon  as  the  table 
could  be  got  ready.  It  gives  the  minister 
a  good  time  to  have  a  Sunday  school 
while  the  ladies  are  setting  the  table.  It 
is  so  nice  for  people  to  eat  together — you 
never  get  acquainted  in  the  same  way 
until  you  have. 
The  Unexpected. — What  things  are 
liable  to  happen  at  any  time  with  children 
in  the  family.  Just  this  minute,  as  the 
Parson  writes,  George  has  had  a  bad  fall 
from  his  wheel  coming  home  from  school 
(it  is  Monday),  and  the  Parson  must 
close  this  letter  and  hurry  away  to  the 
doctor  with  him.  He  has  either  broken 
or  dislocated  his  wrist. 
Farm  Mortgages 
that  die  in 
thirty -three  years 
T  TNDER  the  government  in- 
stallment  plan  of  reducing 
farm  mortgage  loans,  your  loan 
never  comes  due.  With  the  last 
payment  you  have  completely 
paid  up  principal  and  interest. 
We  are  making  these  loans  from 
$1,000  to  $45,000  for  thirty-three 
year  periods.  If  you  are  inter¬ 
ested,  write  us. 
New  York  and  Pennsylvania 
Joint  Stock  Land  Bank 
61  BROADWAY  -  -  NEW  YORK 
TOY  SNAKES  AND  BIRDS 
It’s  a  Snake  Dream 
I  have  been  reading  the  article  on  page 
713.  “Toy  Snakes  and  Robins,”  by  Moun¬ 
taineer  ;  I  also  read  in  an  article  about 
two  years  ago  how  to  make  toy  snakes 
out  of  old  rubber  hose.  I  followed  direc¬ 
tions,  sewed  on  buttons  for  eyes,  and  put 
red  yarn  in  the  mouth  to  represent  the 
tongue,  placed  the  snakes  in  the  trees  by 
twisting  them  around  the  limbs,  and  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  watch  the  result.  To  my  sur¬ 
prise,  the  robins  came  and  helped  them¬ 
selves.  They  would  pick  cherries  close 
to  the  snakes.  My  experience  is  they 
do  not  do  any  good  in  my  trees.  I  am 
discouraged  trying  to  raise  such  fruit.  I 
am  cutting  the  trees  down,  as  they  are 
a  lure,  for  we  are  not  allowed  any  pro¬ 
tection.  To  apply  for  permit  to  shoot 
them  requires  a  lot  of  red  tape.  I  have 
a  great  call  in  the  city  for  them,  but  the 
robins  get  them  all.  I  think  for  my  part 
the  person  who  proposes  the  remedy  has 
snake  dreams.  JAMES  iiankin. 
New  York. 
The  Plan  Ought  to  Work 
On  page  713  “Mountaineer”  suggests 
toy  snakes  to  keep  the  birds  away  from 
fruits.  This  looks  to  me  like  a  big 
idea,  and  hope  it  will  be  tried  out.  I 
have  a  lot  of  trouble  from  robins,  black¬ 
birds  and  doves  destroying  my  early  gar¬ 
den,  corn,  strawberries,  etc.,  although  no 
hens  have  access  to  my  garden.  I  have 
seen  a  hen  make  a  by-pass  at  the  sight  of 
a  small,  harmless  snake.  I  think  if  this 
thing  works  out  right  there  would  be  a 
worth-while  demand  for  the  snakes. 
Scarecrows  are  worthless,  and  I  find  that 
often  the  papers  around  on  the  ground 
fail  sometimes  to  keep  the  birds  'away. 
The  good  old  R.  N.-Y.  is  guilty  of  bring¬ 
ing  out  a  lot  of  good  and  useful  things, 
and  good  things  ought  to  be  passed  along. 
New  York.  H.  e.  cox. 
Jake  was  a  worthless  and  improvident 
fellow.  One  day  he  said  to  the  local 
grocer :  “I  gotta  have  a  sack  o’  flour ; 
I’m  all  out,  an’  my  family  is  starvin’.” 
“All  right,  Jake,”  said  the  grocer.  “If 
you  need  a  sack  of  flour  and  have  no 
money  to  buy  it  with,  we’ll  give  you  a 
sack.  But,  see  here,  Jake,  there’s  a  cir¬ 
cus  coming  to  town  in  a  few  days,  and 
if  I  give  you  a  sack  of  flour,  are  you 
sure  yon  won’t  sell  it  and  take  your  fam¬ 
ily  to  the  circus?”  “Oh.  no,”  said  Jake, 
“I  got  circus  money  saved  up  already.” — 
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