1146 
•Jht  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
September  S,  1923 
Notes  From  New  England 
Water  Cart  for  Colony  Houses. — 
On  still  another  poultry  farm,  this  one 
south  of  Boston,  I  found  a  plan  in  use 
which  was  interesting  and  perhaps  sug¬ 
gestive.  The  owner  raises  his  birds  by 
wheels  and  broad  tires.  He  also  had  sev¬ 
eral  galvanized  iron  tanks  built.  Now 
these  tanks  are  filled  with  water  at  the 
house  and  carried  around  the  yards  in 
the  low  wagon.  The  drinking  dishes  are 
Tiie  Corn-borers. — It  would  seem  as 
though  the  European  corn-borers  were  as 
great  a  plague  as  could  well  be  inflicted 
upon  the  farmers  of  New  England.  This 
season,  however,  this  foreign  pest  is  be¬ 
ing  reinforced  by  the  native  American 
borer.  And  what  they  are  doing  to  the 
corn  crop  is,  to  use  the  expressive  phrase 
of  my  small  youngster,  a  plenty.  It  is 
only  now  and  then  that  the  American 
borer  does  serious  damage  in  this  section, 
and  even  at  his  worst  he  would  not  be 
looked  upon  as  a  great  menace.  When 
bis  devastations  are  added  to  those  of  the 
European  borer,  however,  farmers  and 
backyard  garden  makers  alike  are  about 
ready  to  throw  up  their  hands.  As  is  nat¬ 
ural,  most  persons  who  find  a  borer  in 
their  corn  take  it  for  granted  it  is  the 
European  variety,  for  which  reason  re¬ 
ports  keep  coming  in  about  the  spread  of 
the  borer  to  sections  where  it  is  not  sup¬ 
posed  to  have  penetrated.  One  who  is 
familiar  with  the  two  kinds  can  readily 
tell  them  apart.  The  American  borer 
has  a  stripe  along  its  back  and  rings 
around  its  body.  The  European  borer 
has  no  such  markings,  but  has  a  coal- 
black  head.  These  borers  not  only  ruin 
the  corn,  but  get  into  many  other  vege¬ 
tables,  and  even  invade  the  flower  gar¬ 
den.  They  are  exceedingly  prevalent  in 
Gladiolus  and  Dahlia  fields.  They  have 
done  much  damage  in  greenhouses  devot¬ 
ed  to  Chrysanthemums  and  have  even  de¬ 
stroyed  great  numbers  of  rose  plants. 
One  rose  grower  reports  that  he  will  be 
obliged  next  year  to  cover  his  entire 
greenhouses  with  mosquito  netting  to 
save  his  glassed-in  crops.  It  is  the  Amer¬ 
ican  borer  which  is  causing  innumerable 
complaints  from  backyard  Dahlia  grow¬ 
ers.  The  pest  bores  into  the  stalks  and 
works  upward.  If  not  discovered  in  time 
the  plants  will  be  ruined.  The  best  meth¬ 
od  of  dealing  with  the  borer  in  Dahlias 
is  to  insert  a  small  piece  of  wood  into  the 
hole  through  which  he  entered  and  then 
to  make  a  slit  downward  from  a  point 
one  or  two  joints  higher.  If  there  is  no 
obstruction  the  creature  will  drop  to  the 
bottom  of  the  stalk,  but  when  the  piece 
of  wood  is  used,  as  indicated,  it  will  fol¬ 
low  the  knife  blade  down  to  the  hole, 
where  it  can  be  removed.  It  is  considered 
a  good  plan  to  clean  out  some  of  the 
waste  matter  if  the  borer  has  been  work¬ 
ing  in  the  stalk  for  several  days.  It  may 
be  necessary  to  make  a  somewhat  larger 
opening  for  this  purpose,  but  the  stalk 
can  be  bound  together  again  with  rags  or 
twine,  and  the  plant  will  not  suffer  much 
injury. 
The  Fruit  Situation. — This  has  been 
a  season  where  the  value  of  cultivation  in 
the  fruit  orchard  has  been  manifested  very 
clearly.  Trees  in  sod  have  suffered  badly 
because  of  the  long  dry  period  which  has 
characterized  this  unusual  season.  This 
result  has  been  fully  as  apparent  with 
peaches  as  with  apples.  Peaches  that 
have  been  cultivated  have  done  much  bet¬ 
ter  than  those  in  sod  land.  On  the  whole, 
fruit  prospects  are  reasonably  good,  al¬ 
though  reports  indicate  a  very  uneven 
crop.  Strangely  enough,  there  may  be  a 
good  crop  of  apples  on  one  farm  and  a* 
very  small  crop  on  farms  adjoining.  The 
explanation  probably  comes  in  different 
exposures  to  frosts,  some  orchards  hav¬ 
ing  been  hit  badly  in  the  Spring.  Prob¬ 
ably  the  apple  crop  in  Massachusetts  will 
be  slightly  larger  than  that  of  last  year. 
The  Federated  Fruit  and  Vegetable  Grow¬ 
ers,  Inc.,  is  functioning  well,  and  is  add¬ 
ing  a  potato  distribution  sales  office  in 
Boston,  selling  for  the  Maine  Potato  Ex¬ 
change.  It  is  expected  the  first  ship¬ 
ment  by  the  exchange  will  be  made  about 
August  20,  although  the  season  in  Maine, 
as  elsewhere,  is  late,  so  that  general  dig¬ 
ging  will  not  commence  until  several 
weeks  later. 
Poultry  Matters.  —  Coming  down 
from  New  Hampshire  recently  I  was 
much  -interested  in  a  poultry  plant  along¬ 
side  the  road.  The  birds  themselves  were 
arranged  so  that  they  were  certain  to 
catch  the  eyes  of  the  motorists  who  were 
passing,  and  the  large  number  of  chickens 
running  in  the  yards  made  a  pretty  pic¬ 
ture.  The  opportunity  for  catching  tran¬ 
sient  trade  w*as  being  made  the  most  of 
by  the  proprietor,  who  had  devised  one  of 
the  most  unique  signs  I  have  ever  seen. 
It  consisted  of  a  nicely  painted  back¬ 
ground  of  boards  fastened  to  the  side  of 
the  porch  close  to  the  street.  On  the  sign 
the  picture  of  a  huge  egg  had  been  paint¬ 
ed,  the  egg  resting  apparently  in  a  nest  of 
hay.  The  egg  bore  the  words,  nicely  let¬ 
tered  :  “Get  ’em  from  under  the  hen  at 
Brackett’s.”  When  I  stopped  my  ma¬ 
chine  Mr.  Brackett  came  to  the  side  of 
The  Water  Wagon  on  a  Massachusetts  Poultry  Farm 
the  road  and  sold  me  a  dozen  eggs  at  a 
price  somewhat  lower  than  city  stores 
were  charging  at  the  time.  He  told  me 
that  he  was  building  up  a  nice  trade,  and 
could  sell  all  the  eggs  his  hens  produced 
without  leaving  the  premises. 
An  Unusual  Poultry-house. — As  I 
neared  Boston  I  passed  another  poultry 
plant,  and  was  so  interested  in  a  building 
which  I  saw  there  that  I  stopped  again. 
This  building  was  a  two-story  poultry- 
house  about  20  ft.  square.  The  owner 
was  not  at  home,  but  a  relative  told  me 
that  the  house  was  giving  perfect  satis¬ 
faction.  The  illustration  of  page  1143 
shows  the  general  construction.  The  ar¬ 
rangement  of  the  windows  admits  an 
abundance  of  fresh  air,  while  keeping  out 
the  rain.  With  windows  on  four  sides, 
the  house  can  be  kept  cool,  even  in  the 
hottest  weather.  The  wind  baffles  on 
each  side  of  the  upper  door  allow*  air  to 
enter  freely,  even  when  stormy  weather 
makes  it  desirable  to  close  the  windows. 
There  are  no  divisions  inside  the  house, 
the  fowls  having  full  run  of  both  the  up¬ 
per  and  the  lower  floors.  Two  separate 
flocks  are  confined  in  the  house,  however, 
and  only  one  flock  at  a  time  is  admitted 
to  the  yard.  The  hens  which  occupy  the 
second  floor  go  up  and  down  the  long 
flight  of  steps  readily,  having  been  accus¬ 
tomed  to  this  form  of  entrance  and  egress 
since  chiekenbood.  A  house  like  this  may 
have  its  faults,  but  it  makes  possible  the 
keeping  of  a  large  number  of  hens  on  a 
limited  area,  and  is  inexpensive  to  con¬ 
struct,  compared  with  the  type  of  long 
narrow  houses  commonly  seen  on  New 
England  farms. 
the  colony  system,  having  small  houses 
scattered  over  several  acres.  Water  is 
not  piped  to  the  houses,  and  the  problem 
of  watering  the  young  stock  was  a  diffi¬ 
cult  one  for  some  years.  Then  the  owner 
had  a  low  cart  constructed,  with  iron 
filled  by  means  of  pails,  the  water  being 
drawn  from  the  tank  through  a  spigot  at 
the  back.  Mash  for  young  chickens  can 
be  carried  on  the  wagon  and  distributed 
at  the  same  time.  This  plan  has  proved 
a  labor  saver.  e.  I.  Farrington. 
i 
i 
Let  Livestock  Put  Your  Com 
Crop  in  the  Bank 
The  corn  crop  will  soon  be  ready — 
and  there  is  one  best  way  to  turn  the 
crop  into  money.  Sell  your  corn  on  the 
hoof !  Low-priced  grain  produces  cheap 
pork  and  beef,  yet  the  livestock  market 
promises  fair.  By  harvesting  your  corn 
with  the  least  possible  man  labor,  and 
putting  both  ear  and  stalk  into  shape  for 
feeding,  you  can  fatten  livestock  this 
winter  and  sell  it  at  a  profit. 
Big  factors  in  the  success  of  this  plan 
will  be  McCormick-Deering  corn  ma¬ 
chines.  Corn  binders  and  ensilage  cutters 
are  doing  the  early  work  on  many  farms. 
Later  you  can  pick  the  corn  with  a 
mechanical  picker  that  enables  two  men 
to  do  the  work  of  from  five  to  seven  men. 
Pick  your  own  crop  quickly,  then  pay 
for  your  McCormick-Deering  Com 
Picker  by  helping  some  of  your  neigh¬ 
bors  with  their  crops. 
Many  acres  of  fodder  will  be  fed  in 
the  coming  winter.  As  soon  as  the  com 
has  dried  in  the  shock,  put  it  through  a 
McCormick-Deering  Husker  and 
Shredder.  You  can  gauge  your  feeding 
better  when  you  feed  ear  com  and  rough- 
age  separately.  McCormick-Deering 
Huskers  and  Shredders  are  built  in  sizes 
for  home  or  custom  work. 
This  fall  hundreds  of  enterprising 
farmers  will  feed  the  corn  and  sell  the 
crop  on  the  hoof.  And  they  will  have 
McCormick-Deering  Corn  Ma¬ 
chines  ready  for  many  more  years  of 
good  work — both  at  home  and  in  the 
fields  of  their  neighbors.  Good  machines 
save  man  power,  cutting  your  operating 
costs  and  adding  to  your  profits.  Talk 
it  over  with  the  McCormick-Deering 
dealer  in  your  town. 
International  Harvester  Company 
606  So.  Michigan  Ave. 
of  America 
(Incorporated) 
Chicago,  HL 
