The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1393 
Nature  Notes 
Red  Squirrels  a  Nuisance 
The  daily  papers  have  printed  reports 
from  Essex  Co.,  N.  Y.,  showing  that  red 
squirrels  have  become  a  pest.  It  is  said 
that  they  enter  houses  and  steal  food  and 
destroy  apples  and  other  fruits.  Some 
of  our  readers  from  the  North  Country 
tell  us  about  it : 
The  papers  do  not  exaggerate  about 
the  red  squirrels  having  become  a  nuis¬ 
ance  in  certain  localities.  They  certainly 
are  here  in  this  district  one  way  if  no 
other,  and  that  is  the  destroying  of  the 
song  birds’  eggs  in  the  nesting  season 
and  also  the  ruffed  grouse  eggs.  I  have 
to  watch  very  closely  to  keep  them  away 
from  robins’  nests  that  are  placed  close 
to  my  dwelling-house  in  shade  trees  and 
trees  around  my  bee-yard.  I  have  shot 
three  from  one  tree  in  one  day.  The 
tree  is  a  maple  and  28  ft.  from  my  front 
door.  They  are  not  very  destructive  in 
the  apple  trees,  as  it  is  the  seeds  they 
eat  and  beechnuts  and  butternuts  are 
plentiful  most  every  Fall.  In  the  ab¬ 
sence  of  both  these  nuts  they  take  the 
apple  seeds,  or  pine  cones,  as  they  dif¬ 
fer  a  great  deal  from  the  chipmunk  in 
not  laying  up  a  food  supply  for  Winter 
of  any  account. 
This  little  fellow,  the  chipmunk,  will 
gather  beechnuts  and  shuck  two  quarts 
unkindly  tactics  we  must  deal  with  them 
with  a  stronger  hand.  Let  us  be  sure, 
however,  before  we  kill  and  destroy,  that 
we  know7  for  a  certainty  our  acts  are  jus¬ 
tified. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem,  there  are 
those  who  would  kill  the  last  squirrel, 
destroy  the  last  survivor  of  the  deer 
family,  blow  up  the  last  remaining  beaver 
dam,  and  fell  to  earth  the  last  giant  tree 
of  the  great  woods,  leaving  this  Adiron¬ 
dack  playground  a  barren,  desolate  vraste, 
instead  of  a  fertile  oasis,  in  the  northern 
part  of  New  York  State. 
WILLET  HAND  ALL. 
Controlling  Burrowing  Animals 
This  is  the  easiest  w7ay  to  rid  your 
farm  of  animals  that  burrow  in  the 
ground  :  Take  an  old  sack,  sprinkle  with 
gasoline  and  shove  into  the  burrow,  keep 
your  face  awaya  from  danger,  and  throw 
in  a  lighted  match.  Cover  the  grave, 
quickly,  with  dirt.  A  painless  death, 
easily  done.  And  next  to  a  good  dog 
who  gets  them  you  cannot  find  a  better 
way.  It  is  sure  death.  F.  M.  P. 
Merrifield,  N.  Y. 
Cats  and  Babies 
In  regard  to  your  question  about  a  cat 
taking  one’s  breath,  may  not  the  whole 
This  is  the  way  many  farmers  handle  the  corn  fodder — hauling  it  in  as  needed. 
It  may  seem  like  a  great  waste  to  keep  the  fodder  out  in  the  snow7,  but  that  is  not 
always  so.  When  the  fodder  is  securely  tied  in  big  shocks,  with  the  top  drawn  in 
tight,  there  is  less  loss  than  w7hen  the  fodder  is  bunched  in  the  barn.  Unless  the 
fodder  is  powder  dry  when  it  goes  under  shelter  there  will  be  considerable  mold. 
By  using  a  sled  such  as  is  shown  in  the  picture  the  hauling  is  easy  and  the  fodder- 
feeds  out  well. 
or  even  more,  and  other  nut  meats  also, 
but  it  is  for  food  alone,  and  he  has  not 
the  mischievous  nature  of  the  red  squirrel. 
The  red  squirrel  is  a  bitter  enemy  to  the 
gray  and  black  squirrel,  and  compares, 
around  here  to  about  one  gray  to  50 
reds.  They  are  a  bold  and  intelligent 
little  animal,  and  will  steal  into  a  back 
room,  cellar,  or  barn  and  carry  off  grain 
and  nuts,  but  it  is  mostly  eaten  where 
found.  The  pine  cones  are  destroyed 
to  a  great  extent,  and  you  would  have  to 
be  quick  to  gather  the  tree  of  butternuts 
just  after  a  hard  frost  to  stop  him  from 
hiding  the  nuts  and  eating  them. 
I  do  not  think,  and  do  know7  in  fact, 
that  now7  the  red  squirrel  is  not  plen¬ 
tiful  enough  to  do  a  great  deal  of  damage 
to  an  apple  orchard,  but  our  white  pine 
seed,  birds’  eggs,  butternuts  and  beech¬ 
nuts,  are  being  destroyed  fast. 
FEED  A.  DUNNING. 
Red  Squirrels  Are  Pirates 
As  to  the  x’ed  squirrels  of  the  Adiron- 
dacks,  this  is  the  first  I  have  heard  of 
their  being  a  menace  to  the  dwellers  of 
the  Adirondack  park,  but  I  have  no  doubt 
as  to  this,  since  their  numbers  have 
greatly  increased  within  the  past  few7 
years,  and  we  do  know7  that  they  are  very 
destructive  to  our  bird  life.  All  through 
the  breeding  season  for  migratory  birds 
the  squirrels  are  active  in  searching  out 
the  nests,  especially  those  of  the  smaller 
birds,  such  a  bluebirds,  which  always 
nest  in  holes,  and  the  flickers,  or  “high- 
holds,”  as  they  are  more  commonly 
know-n.  These  little  rascals  not  only  car¬ 
ry  off  the  eggs  of  such  birds  as  they  can 
attack,  but  they  also  kill  and  devour  the 
young  in  the  nests.  I  have  seen  them  rob 
a  nest  containing  four  young  robins  in 
front  of  our  house,  and  w7e  have  also  seen 
them  kill  young  Jersey  Giant  chickens 
when  a  few7  days  old.  This  they  did  re¬ 
peatedly  this  past  season  at  our  farm. 
When  we  finally  discovered  who  the  real 
culprits  were  we  dispatched  them  with  a 
gun,  and  that  ended  the  mystery  of  for¬ 
mer  disappearances. 
However,  there  is  another  side  to  the 
question.  God  placed  the  w-ild  things 
about  us  for  a  living  purpose — not  a  dead 
one — and  so  long  as  they  do  not  do  us 
serious  damage  we  prefer  to  let  them 
live  but  w7hen  they  do  resort  to  these 
query  have  started  from  this?  Perhaps 
(many  years  ago)  a  cat  crawled  into  a 
cradle  and  lay  upon  a  tiny  baby’s  chest. 
The  child  could  not  cry,  etc.  It  died,  and 
folks  all  said  “The  cat  took  the  baby’s 
breath,”  meaning  it  smothered  it. 
Sandw7ich,  N.  Y.  O.  M.  B. 
CONTENTS 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER,  NOV.  10,  1923 
FARM  TOPICS 
Sudan  Grass  and  Soy  E::.ns  for  Hay  Crops  1390 
A  Plague  of  Locusts  . . .  1394 
Hungarian  Vetch  .  1394 
Coming  Farmers’  Meetings  .  1397 
Hope  Farm  Notes  . .  1398 
Here  Is  a  Wonderful  Boy  . . .  1401 
LIVE  STOCK  AND  DAIRY 
Young  Champions  .  1390 
Wm.  Goat — Miniature  Tractor  .  1391 
Increasing  Popularity  of  the  Mule  .  1404 
“Taking  Children”  on  the  Farm  .  1404 
Ration  With  Buckwheat  .  1404 
Rye  and  Wheat  for  Cows  .  1406 
Feeding  Cow  and  Heifer  . 1406,  1407 
Round  Worms  in  Milk  . .  1407 
Repairing  a  Silo  .  1407 
Ailing  Hens  .  1408 
HORTICULTURE 
Electric  Light  and  Plant  Growth  .  1391 
Observation  on  the  Cortland  Apple  .  13°° 
Japanese  Barberry  from  Seed  .  1392 
New  England  Notes  . . . . . . . .  1394 
A  Short-stemmed  Sunflower  .  13°5 
Gar’en  Truck  for  Boarders  . 139B 
Treatment  of  Gooseberry  .  1395 
Death  of  the  Washington  Elm  .  1401 
“Official  Figures”  and  Apple  Prices  .  1401 
WOMAN  AND  HOME 
From  Day  to  Day  .  1402 
Lard  Making  . 1402 
The  Rural  Patterns  .  1402 
Notes  from  a  New  Hampshire  Farmhouse  .  1409 
Autumn  in  the  Green  Mountains  . 1402,  1403 
Buttermilk  Pop  .  1403 
Embroidery  Designs  .  1403 
Crabapple  Mincemeat  . . .  1403 
Oatmeal  Macaroons  .  140-3 
Editorials  .  1400 
Country  People  and  the  Schools  .  1401 
Local  Feeling  on  the  School  Bi'l  .  1401 
Taxation  and  Tax  Exempt  Bonds  .  1401 
Keep  the  Mind’s  Door  Unlocked  .  1401 
MISCELLANEOUS 
The  Problem  of  Fuel  Peat  .  1391 
A  Sensible  School  Trustee  . 1391,  1392 
Events  of  the  Week  .  1397  t 
Countrywide  Produce  Situation  .  1407 
Publisher’s  Desk  . .  1410  j 
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Dinsville's  Pioneer  Nurseries,  36  Mein  St  ,  Dansville,  N.T. 
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RANSOM  SEED  S  NURSERY  C0-.  Boi  2.  Geneva, 0- 
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For  Sale-Certified  Green  Mountain  Seed  Potatoes 
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stock,  $1.50  per  bushel  here.  Giants.  $1  per  hush. 
Satisfaction  guaranteed.  F.  C.  NELSON,  West  Pawlet.Vt. 
MENOTOMY 
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Met ormkkh^Roii Improved  Husker  &  Shredder 
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Will  sell  cheap.  Apply  to 
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ACETYLENE  FIXTURES 
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C.  A.  BROWN  •  Manrtsville,  N.Y. 
THE 
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Rural  New-Yorker.  335 
W.  30th  St.,  New  York. 
A  Man  Who  is  Deaf  Has  Many  Strange  Experiences 
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the  life  of  one  who  is  hard  of  hearing. 
Adventures  in  Silence 
It  tells  of  many  amusing  incidents  and  exciting  adventures 
that  the  writer  has  experienced  because  of  his  inability  to 
hear.  It  pictures  the  lonely  life  of  those  who  are  unable  to 
hear  the  voice  of  their  friends,  the  song  of  the  birds  or  the 
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The  Rural  New-Yorker,  333  W.  30th  St.,  New  York 
