1242 
The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
PUBLISHER’S  DESK 
All  letters  to  Publisher’s  Desk  depart¬ 
ment  must  be  signed  with  w-riter’s  full 
name  and  address  given.  Many  inquiries 
are  answered  by  mail  instead  of  printing 
inquiry  and  answer,  hence  unsigned  let¬ 
ters  receive  no  consideration. 
I  understand  that  you  collect  old  debts 
for  subscribers.  I  sold  books  last  Sum¬ 
mer  (1922)  and  have  a  little  money  out 
on  them.  At  present  I  have  my  hands 
full  running  a  farm,  and  should  like  to 
put  the  matter  in  your  hands.  Please 
write  me  about  it  and  ask  for  what  infor¬ 
mation  you  need.  L.  k.  at. 
New  Jersey. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  misunderstand¬ 
ing  about  our  service  in  collecting  claims 
for  subscribers.  The  It.  N.-Y.  is  not  a 
collecting  agency  in  any  sense,  and  has 
no  means  of  collecting  bills  in  which  the 
farming  public  is  not  interested.  In  the 
same  mail  we  received  a  claim  for  wages 
alleged  to  be  due  a  subscriber,  and  an¬ 
other  claim  for  traveling  expenses  which 
the  employer  agreed  to  pay.  Buch  cases, 
if  disputed,  can  only  be  collected  through 
a  collection  agency  or  attorney.  Such 
cases  of  collection  as  we  report  are  of 
such  a  nature  that  the  farming  public 
generally  has  an  interest,  usually  in  trans¬ 
actions  between  a  subscriber  and  some 
business  house,  corporation  or  public  ser¬ 
vice  corporation,  etc.  We  desire  to  be  of 
service  to  subscribers  in  any  way  possible, 
but  The  R.  N.-Y.  has  no  influence  in 
cases  of  private  or  local  claims. 
An  agent  Representing  the  Minneapolis 
Portrait  Company,  907  to  912  North¬ 
western  Bldg.,  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  called 
at  our  place  today,  while  I  was  at  a  neigh¬ 
bor’s  trashing,  and  induced  my  wife  to 
give  him  a  picture  to  enlarge ;  the  price 
being  $2.96.  The  slip  he  left  looked 
suspicious,  so  I  took  ray  car  and  drove 
around  among  the  neighbors  till  I  found 
him,  and  demanded  the  return  of  the  pic¬ 
ture,  and  I  got  it,  together  with  about 
one  hour  of  solid  argument  in  which  I  am 
sure  that  this  same  agent  will  not  bother 
my  place  again.  Did  I  do  right?  Is 
this  company  reliable?  If  not  please 
publish  same  in  Publisher’s  Desk  so  that 
I  can  clip  out  same  and  have  it  printed 
in  Farm,  Stock  and  Home,  Minneapolis. 
Minn.,  for  the  guidance  of  the  many  peo¬ 
ple  here  who  bit  and  will  be  biting  on 
this  scheme. 
Minnesota.  a.  r. 
We  never  heard  of  the  Minneapolis 
Portrait  Company  before.  The  company 
is  not  rated  by  commercial  agencies,  and 
we  can  only  assume  that  it  is  on  a  par 
with  the  Chicago  Portrait  Company,  and 
others,  the  methods  of  which  have  been 
repeatedly  exposed  in  this  department. 
You  did  perfectly  right. 
As  we  observe  that  you  will  insist  on 
giving  us  free  advertising  space  in  your 
publication  we  have  decided  to  notify  you 
that  there  is  no  longer  any  need  of  your 
service,  as  the  matter  referred  to  regard¬ 
ing  the  sending  of  carpet  from  Mrs.  Day 
of  Platt^burg  has  been  settled  with  her 
several  weeks  ago.  economy  rug  CO. 
'Syracuse,  N.  Y. 
We  gladly  give  the  firm  credit  for  hav¬ 
ing  finally  settled  the  complaint.  Had 
the  firm  used  common  business  courtesy 
in  answering  our  letters  there  would 
have  been  no  occasion  for  any  unpleasant 
publicity. 
I  am  enclosing  a  circular  of  the  Butler 
Tractor  Co.,  1440  Broadway,  New  York 
City,  agents  of  which  concern  are' selling 
stock  in  this  vicinity.  Will  you  look  this 
material  over  and  give  me  your  advice  as 
to  this  concern?  Ts  the  stock  worth  any¬ 
thing.  and  what  do  you  think  of  the 
tractor?  M.  R.  T. 
New  Jersey. 
'We  never  heard  of  the  Butler  Tractor 
Co.  before.  It  is  apparently  a  new  cor¬ 
poration  organized  under  the  laws  of  the 
State  of  Delaware,  capitalized  for  $G50,- 
000.  If  any  reader  of  The  R.  N.-Y.  can 
be  induced  to  part  with  his  money  for 
stock  in  such  an  organization,  he  has 
only  himself  to  blame  for  his  ultimate 
loss.  'We  have  advised  against  putting 
money  into  such  enterprises  or  proposed 
enterprises  often  enough.  Tractor  manu¬ 
facturers  already  have  more  capacity  for 
manufacture  than  there  is  demand  for  the 
very  useful  machines.  The  surviving 
manufacturers  are  well  financed  and  or¬ 
ganized,  and  for  a  new  concern  of  this 
sort  without  manufacturing  facilities  and 
depending  upon  selling  stock  to  country 
people  in  order  to  finance  its  operations, 
to  hope  to  become  established  in  the  trade 
requires  a  very  large  degree  of  optimism. 
T  noticed  your  inquiry  as  to  Knicker-** 
bocker  Merchandising  Company,  144  East 
25fh  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  and  beg  to  in¬ 
form  you  that  their  claims  are  untrue. 
All  invested  in  them  is  lost,  and  no  sav¬ 
ing  as  promised  by  representatives  at  all. 
They  sometimes  quote  good  prices,  but 
when  you  send  them  an  order  for  it,  it 
will  be  out  of  .stock.  They  send  no  mer¬ 
chandise  on  credit,  they  say,  till  member¬ 
ship  fee  is  paid  in  full,  but  when  it  is 
paid  in  full  they  inform  you  that  grocer¬ 
ies  will  not  be  sent  unless  check  is  in¬ 
closed  with  your  order,  by  a  new  set  of 
directors.  Here  in  Pennsylvania  they 
worked  with  limit  $100;  they  hooked  me, 
too,  and  I  can  give  anyone  all  informa¬ 
tion  how  they  work  it.  They  will  not 
allow  any  membership  fee  toward  pay¬ 
ment  on  bill ;  they  make  you  sign  a  letter 
or  paper  to  that  effect  before  they  send 
anything  on  credit.  Then  they  give  you 
credit  of  90  days,  for  notions  only,  to  the 
amount  of  $50,  and  there  is  where  I  got 
back  $50.  I  sent  in  an  order  for  $50 
worth  of  Coats’  cotton,  and  refused  to 
pay  for  it.  They  wanted  to  arrest  me, 
but  I  just  invited  them  to  come  to  Le¬ 
high  Co.,  Pa.,  courts  and  tell  the  judge 
their  “game.”  and  I  never  heard  from 
them  since.  If  this  inquirer  would  stop 
making  payments  he  might  be  able  to  save 
some  of  his  $900.  F.  J.  M. 
Pennsylvania. 
The  above  refers  to  a  “membership 
scheme”  which  was  discussed  in  The  R. 
N.-Y.  some  time  ago.  This  subscriber’s 
experience  only  confirms  what  we  know 
of  such  schemes  in  general,  that  while  the 
theory  of  them  is  beautiful  on  paper,  in 
practice  they  all  prove  a  delusion  and  a 
snare. 
The  inclosed  letters  and  affidavits  are 
self-explanatory.  I  sent  to^  Syossfet 
Farms,  1125  Lexington  Ave.,  New  York 
City,  two  cases  of  high-grade  white  eggs. 
They  were  absolutely  fresh.  The  two 
cases  shipped  by  Syosset  Farms  to  me 
were  not  the  two  cases  I  sent  them;  they 
merely  took  the  lids  off  the  two  cases  I 
sent,  reversed  them  and  nailed  them  on 
two  cases  containing  brown  and  duck 
eggs,  and  both  rotten.  I  am  holding  the 
above  lids,  as  evidence  that  they  received 
my  fresh  white  eggs,  also  as  evidence  that 
the  duck  and  brown  eggs  came  from  them. 
You  have  a  great  many  subscribers  in  the 
chicken  business,  so  you  would  not  only 
be  doing  me  a  great  favor,  but  others, 
likewise,  should  you  take  this  tip  and 
see  what  you  can  make  of  if.  If  neces¬ 
sary,  can  get  many  more  who  saw  the 
eggs  the  Syosset  Farms  sent  me,  and  will 
swear  they  were  not  the  eggs  sent  by  me. 
Delaware.  R.  R.  m. 
Notwithstanding  the  affidavits  of  the 
subscriber.  S.vosset  Farms  maintain  the 
eggs  returned  to  the  subscriber  are  the 
ones  shipned  by  him.  Undoubtedly  a  mis¬ 
take  has  been  made  in  the  Syosset  Farms 
store,  as  it  does  not  seem  probable  that 
anyone  would  change  the  lids  on  the 
cases  of  eggs  while  in  transit.  The  affi¬ 
davit  proves  conclusively  that  R.  R.  M. 
did  not  ship  the  eggs  returned  to  him  by 
Syosset  Farms.  The  shipper,  however, 
can  secure  no  redress  unless  he  brings 
court  action,  which  would  cost  more 
than  the  value  of  the  two  cases  of  eggs. 
Syosset  Farms  has  been  in  business  a 
good  many  years,  and  the  previous  record 
of  the  concern  is  not  entirely  clear,  this 
department  having  had  complaint  from 
shippers  previously. 
Boston,  Sept.  1. — The  State  Public 
Utilities  Commission  today  forbade  the 
sale  of  stock  by  the  Leavitt  Lusitania 
Salvage  Company  of  Philadelphia,  organ¬ 
ized  to  raise  the  Lusitania,  on  the  ground 
that  the  firm  had  not  supplied  informa¬ 
tion  required  under  the  Massachusetts 
Blue  Sky  law.— Daily  Paper. 
Massachusetts  is  making  an  enviable 
record  in  barring  get-rich-quick  invest¬ 
ment  schemes  from  the  State.  This  is  a 
valuable  service  -to  the  citizens  of  that 
State. 
The  receiver  of  the  King  Hatchery 
fraud,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  has  sent  out  a 
circular  letter  advising  claimants  that 
the  affairs  of  the  concern  will  be  definite¬ 
ly  closed  up  on  October  15,  1923.  The 
receiver  advises  that  some  checks  have 
been  returned  because  of  improper  ad¬ 
dress  and  others  have  failed  to  cash  the 
checks  they  received.  Those  who  have 
filed  claims  and  for  any  reason  have  not 
received  dividend  checks  should  commu¬ 
nicate  with  the  receiver,  Harry  L.  East¬ 
man.  Williamson  Bldg.,  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
at  once. 
A  weary-looking  fellow  who  had 
opened  all  the  doors  looking  for  work 
happened  to  see  a  huge  police  advertise¬ 
ment  headed ;  “Murderer  Wanted.” 
“Well.”  he  said,  scratching  his  head, 
“it’s  better’n  nothing,  anyhow.  I’m  go¬ 
ing  in  and  ask  for  the  job!” — Houston 
Post. 
News  From  the  Ox-team  Express 
We  are  now  passing  over  the  trail 
which  was  originally  known  as  the  Den¬ 
ver,  Salt  Lake  and  Oregon  trail.  Today 
men  camp  at  the  place  where  the  Mor¬ 
mons  named  it  Ilook-up  Gulch.  The 
reason  for  this  was  that  at  this  point  it 
required  more  motive  power  to  pull  their 
wagon  trains  up  the  mountains  over  the 
Great  Divide,  so  the  order  would  pass  to 
hook  on  more  oxen.  It  is  here  we  are 
resting  for  the  day,  because  one  of  our 
motors,  “Jack,”  is  not  feeling  quite  well. 
It  seems  the  extra  fat  he  put  on  in  the 
six  weeks  we  were  set  back  waiting  for 
our  new  acquisition,  the  white-faced 
faker,  either  to  get  well  enough  to  walk 
or  secure  another  in  his  place,  he  put 
on  so  much  extra  fat  that  traveling  the 
up-grades  is  taking  some  of  the  stamina 
out  of  him.  A  few  days’  rest  and  short 
rations  will,  I  hope,  bring  him  back  to 
normal. 
The  peak  of  this  range  of  mountains 
is  topped  off  with  a  series  of  rocks  miles 
long,  which  appear  from  the  highway 
like  a  stone  wall.  In  fact  the  ranchers 
use  it  for  that  purpose ;  in  places  where 
there  was  a  gap  they  have  filled  in  rocks 
so  as  to  make  it  impossible  for  stock  of 
any  kind  to  get  to  either  side  from  the 
highway,  This  looks  like  a  stone  fence 
four  or  five  feet  high,  but  in  reality  they 
are  15  to  20  feet  high.  This  wall  was 
not  made  by  human  hands  except  in  such 
places  where  a  gap  would  permit  stock 
to  get  from  one  side  to  the  other.  The 
elements,  frost,  quakes  or  shifting  of  the 
earth  has  broken  off  pieces  of  rock  which 
tumbled  away  and  rolled  down  the  valley. 
I  climbed  up  on  top  of  this  ridge,  and 
looking  east  there  is  a  beautiful  valley 
stretching  out  for  miles,  with  here  and 
there  small  lakes  or  water  holes,  as  they 
call  them  here,  and  the  big  Thompson 
River  in  the  distance.  On  the  other  side 
are  chains  of  mountains. 
A  considerable  part  of  these  mountains 
is  owned  or  controlled  by  two  men  who 
live  in  Fort  Collins, 'and  are  reputed  to 
be  quite  wealthy.  They  have  10  sections. 
As  640  acres  constitute  one  section,  it 
will  be  seen  they  have  about  6,400  acres 
of  real  estate.  Certainly  a  great  many 
acres  of  the  land  is  non-productive  for 
feeding  stock.  Some  of  it  produces 
Christmas  trees,  on  side  hills,  but  on  the 
plateau  there  are  good  meadows.  These 
men  buy  calves,  brand  them  and  in  a 
couple  of  years  ship  a  lot  of  beef  to  mar¬ 
ket.  Some  years  they  feed  sheep.  A  few 
cowboys  with  horses  and  camping  wa¬ 
gons  with  fixings  is  about  all  the  expense 
of  maturing  the  stock  for  market.  The 
taxes  they  pay  I  presume  are  very  little 
compared  with  other  taxable  property. 
Now’  we  go  through  Owl  Canyon, 
through  which  a  creek  runs.  The  road 
is  just  about  wide  enough  for  a  team  or 
car  to  go  on ;  at  intervals  there  are 
pockets  cut  into  the  mountain,  w’here 
the  car  or  team  can  pull  aside  to  let  the 
other  pass.  As  we  approach  the  plateau 
we  see  two  rocks,  perhaps  a  mile  away  : 
from  the  angle  from  where  we  stand  rest¬ 
ing  the  motors  we  have  a  skyline  for 
background.  One  of  these  rocks,  the 
largest,  has  the  appearance  of  a  bunga¬ 
low  or  cottage,  the  other  is  like  a  smoke¬ 
house  or  other  farm  building.  At  first 
glance  we  thought  this  surely  was  a 
ranch  but  to  our  amazement  when  we 
trained  the  binoculars  to  the  spot,  we  saw’ 
they  were  simply  rocks.  As  we  travel 
farther  on  and  get  a  different  angle,  it 
loses  «its  aspect. 
Next  we  come  to  Steamboat  Rock.  This 
is  a  mountain  far  above  the  level  of  the 
highway.  It  takes  its  name  because  a 
sky-line  view  gives  it  the  appearance  of 
an  old-fashioned  steamboat,  although 
now  it  is  somewhat  deformed.  Some  years 
ago  a  man  squatted  near  this  mountain 
to  prospect  for  minerals,  and  for  some 
reasons  of  his  own  he  chipped  or  blasted 
off  the  rock  which  was  the  fo’castle. 
Next  we  _come  to  Lover’s  Leap.  This 
is  a  rock  500  feet  high,  stands  almost 
perpendicular.  The  legend  is  that  a 
Cheyenne  Indian  warrior  became  en¬ 
amored  of  one  of  the  Ute  Indian  squaws, 
and  by  a  tribal  law’  the  Utes  were  not 
allowed  to  marry  outside  of  their  own 
tribe.  So  thes<*  .two  lovers  held  a  clan¬ 
destine  meeting,  and  w’hen  discovered  and 
hunted  they  locked  their  arms  together 
and  leaped  over  the  precipice. 
About  a  mile  distant  we  come  to  the 
old  log  cabin.  Virginia  Dale.  This  still  is 
the  post  office ;  the  building  isipractically 
in  its  original  condition  except  the  out¬ 
side  has  been  sheathed  with  weather- 
boards.  The  ceiling  and  side  walls  on 
the  inside  still  have  bullet  holes  that 
were  made  back  in  the  sixties  when  the 
old  stage  coach  wras  the  means  of  trans¬ 
portation.  Here  a  notorious  character, 
Jack  Slade,  held  forth.  As  the  post¬ 
master  and  also  the  superintendent  of 
the  stage  coach  company,  he  kept  himself 
informed  when  large  shipments  of  gold 
were  to  go  via  stage.  He  would  “tip 
off”  his  bandits  when  to  make  the  raid 
on  the  mail,  and  they  would  take  then- 
loot  nearby  here  on  a  mountain  named 
“Crow’s  Nest,”  w’here  they  divided  the 
spoils  and  w’aited  for  another  opportuni¬ 
ty.  Finally  the  government  laid  a  trap 
and  caught  Slade  and  his  gang,  and 
eventually  hung  Slade.  The  natives  now’ 
point  out  to  us  the  top  of  the  mountain 
we  shall  have  to  ascend  ;  it  is  six  miles 
of  up-hill  going.  How  wre  make  it  I 
will  tell  in  my  next  installment. 
j.  c.  berrang. 
September  29,  1923 
A  Pre-cooling  Plant  for  Small  Fruit 
We  have  a  small  fruit  farm  of  17 
acres,  set  out  to  500  cherry  trees,  3,000 
currant  bushes,  apples,  pears,  quinces, 
plums,  prunes  and  grapes,  and  next  sea¬ 
son  are  putting  in  berries,  both  raspber¬ 
ries  and  strawberries ;  we  ship  our  cur¬ 
rants  to  Buffalo.  Our  other  fruit  has 
not  yet  come  on  in  sufficient  quantities  to 
bother  us.  Of  course  when  we  pick  the 
cherries  and  the  currants,  also  when  we 
pick  the  berries,  is  our  hottest  weather 
and  we  had  thought  that  a  small  pre¬ 
cooling  plant  would  make  the  fruit  look 
so  much  nicer  and  hold  its  keeping  qual¬ 
ities  that  it  might  pay  us.  It  would 
cost  us  practically  nothing  for  the  ice. 
Could  you  give  me  some  advice  regarding 
a  pre-cooling  plant  of  this  kind?  About 
how  large  would  it  have  to  be  for  a 
capacity  of  75  crates,  construction  of 
same,  about  how  much  ice  would  we 
have  to  put  up  to  take  care  of  it,  and  at 
what  temperature  should  it  be  kept?  It 
will  be  our  aim  to  put  up  fancy  fruit, 
and  we  believe  the  pre-cooling  feature 
will  be  a  good  point.  l.  m.  h. 
East  Bethany,  N.  Y. 
A  temperature  of  36  to  40  degrees  is 
satisfactory  for  holding  berries,  though 
a  temperature  of  32  degrees  is  better. 
Theoretically,  since  the  melting  point  of 
ice  is  32  degrees,  it  should  be  possible  to 
keep  the  temperature  of  an  ice  house  at 
32  degrees,  but  practically,  due  to  loss 
through  walls  and  through  the  introduc¬ 
tion  of  warm  packages,  a  temperature  of 
38  to  42  degrees  is  about  the  best  that 
can  be  done.  If  you  desire  the  low 
temperature  you  will  have  to  install  a 
system  similiar  to  a  gravity  brine  sys¬ 
tem.  It  would  seem  to  us.  however,  that 
a  simple  storage  plant  of  the  type  shown 
in  the  picture  would  give  adequate  satis¬ 
faction  at  a  minimum  of  attention  and 
expense. 
A  o2-quart  berry  crate  will  take  up 
about  three  cubic-  feet,  so  that  an  esti¬ 
mate  of  five  cubic  feet  ought  to  be  ample 
allowance  for  ventilation  and  waste 
space.  Figuring  on  that  basis,  a  room 
lOxlOxS  should  accommodate  the  75 
crates  and  not  necessitate  stacking  more 
than  five  feet  high. 
The  ice  may  be  placed  either  overhead 
or  at  the  sides  of  the  room,  but  a  more 
efficient  plant  will  be  realized  if  the  ice  is 
overhead,  for  it  must  be  remembered 
that  the  cold  air  settles  and  the  warm 
air  rises.  The  structure  must  be  so  ar¬ 
ranged  that  there  is  a  free  circulation  of 
air  between  the  ice  chamber  and  the 
storage  room. 
Lumber  2xS  or  2x10  will  give  suffi¬ 
cient  insulation  space.  Dry  sawdust  or 
mill  shavings  are  good  insulating  mater¬ 
ials,  though  the  latter  is  the  better  of 
the  two.  The  walls  must  be  made  al¬ 
most  airtight,  or  otherwise  condensing 
moisture  will  soon  moisten  the  insulating 
material  enough  to  destroy  much  of  its 
effect.  _  A  double  siding  both  inside  and 
out  with  a  heavy  wall  paper  between 
the  layers  and  with  especial  attention 
given  to  lapping  the  paper  at  the  cor¬ 
ners  and  edges  will  accomplish  what  is 
desired. 
The  amount  of  ice  that  will  be  used 
will  vary  so  with  the  season,  the  use  of 
the  storage,  and  the  insulation,  that  an 
estimate  is  nothing  better  than  a  guess. 
However,  several  cold  storage  men  have 
ventured  the  opinion  that  a  half  a  ton 
of  ice  a  week  would  be  the  consumption 
of  the  plant.  It  would  be  well  to  double 
this  estimate  so  that  in  case  of  an  emer¬ 
gency  a  little  “leeway”  would  be  afforded. 
H.  B.  T. 
Hens  With  Depraved  Appetite 
What  makes  my  chickens  eat  their 
droppings?  We  have  kept  hens  'for  some 
time  and  never  saw  them  do  that  before 
They  have  enough  to  eat;  mash  before 
them  all  the  time  and  grain  fed  to  them 
twice  a  day,  morning  and  night. 
Haverhill,  Mass.  e.  h.  h. 
Give  the  fowls  some  salt  in  their  mash, 
one-half  pound  to  each  100  lbs.  of  mash, 
some  charcoal  or  burned  bones,  and.  if 
they  are  not  on  range,  give  them  access 
to  the  ground  where  they  can  pick  up 
bugs  and  worms  and  dig  up  delicacies  as 
they  crave.  m.  b.  d. 
