Iht  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1461 
Farm  Mechanics 
Conducted  by  Robert  H.  Smith,  of  the  Canton  Agricultural  School 
Canton,  New  York 
Ventilation  in  Cooler 
The  accompanying  sketches  show  a 
small  cooler.  There  is  no  outlet  or  inlet 
of  air.  The  air  simply  passes  down  from 
bottom  of  icebox  to  top  of  cooling  room 
on  one  side,  and  then  back  from  opposite 
side  of  top  of  cooling  room  to  bottom  of 
icebox,  which  is  supposed  to  keep  up  a 
circulation  of  cold  air.  Should  I  have 
some  vent  from  cooling  chamber  to  out¬ 
side?  If  so,  how  or  where  should  it  be 
placed,  and  not  interfere  with  circulation 
of  cold  air  from  icebox  to  cooling  room? 
Highland,  N.  Y.  L.  M.  T. 
From  a  study  of  your  sketch  I  would 
say  that  ventilation  is  not  necessary. 
There  is  a  considerable  change  of  air  in 
the  cooling  room  every  time  the  door  is 
opened,  and  as  there  are  no  living  ani¬ 
mals  housed  in  it  this  should  give  satis¬ 
factory  ventilation.  Such  moisture  as 
may  evaporate  from  material  stored  in 
the  cooler  can  be  condensed  on  the  ice 
Ice  Box 
Cooler 
Ice  House 
chimney  might  be  partially  closed  some¬ 
where,  and  it  seems  to  me  I  have  been 
told  that  the  only  place  to  choke  a  flue 
was  at  or  near  the  top  of  the  chimney. 
Can  you  advise  me  in  regard  to  this?  I 
have  thought  of  taking  an  iron  plate  and 
laying  it  on  top  of  the  chimney  so  as  to 
close  the  opening  half  or  two-thirds. 
Would  that  be  the  proper  way  to  go  about 
it?  E.  R.  H. 
Winsted,  Conn. 
From  a  study  of  your  letter  it  would 
seem  to  me  that  the  trouble  lies  with  your 
furnace  rather  than  with  the  chimney. 
Most  of  us  have  trouble  in  the  other  di¬ 
rection — to  get  sufficient  draft.  It  seems 
probable  that  the  gassing  comes  from  de¬ 
fective  seams  in  the  furnace.  Most  fur¬ 
naces  are  assembled  with  a  form  of  fire¬ 
proof  cement  that  makes  the  seams  gas- 
tight.  After  a  time  this  loosens  up,  due 
to  heating  and  cooling,  and  permits  the 
gas  to  leak  through.  A  hardware  man 
can  take  this  down  and  reset  it  for  you, 
making  it  tight  here. 
I  would  also  suggest  that  the  furnace 
be  run  with  a  deep  fire ;  that  is,  do  not 
shake  it  down  to  any  extent  when  putting 
on  fresh  coal,  but  carry  a  good  depth  of 
ashes  under  the  burning  coal.  Also  see 
that  the  door  fits  tightly,  and  as  soon  as 
the  gas  is  burned  off  after  replenishing 
the  fire,  keep  the  door  and  Intake  drafts 
closed.  With  the  check  draft  open  at  the 
base  of  the  smoke-pipe  this  should  control 
the  fire. 
I  have  never  heard  that  the  top  of  the 
chimney  was  the  proper  place  to  check 
the  draft,  and  am  rather  skeptical  as  to 
its  working  out  successfully,  but  the  plan 
you  mention  is  not  very  difficult  to  try. 
I  would  be  very  glad  to  hear  from  you 
relative  to  results  secured.  The  trouble 
appears  like  a  loose  and  open  furnace. 
Diagram  of  Cooler,  End  View 
pile  and  removed  in  the  drainage  water. 
To  this  end  the  wall  of  the  passage  down 
which  the  cold  air  passes  from  the  ice 
pile  should  be  well  insulated  to  prevent 
the  moisture  condensing  on  it.  If  not 
well  insulated  it  is  likely  to  be  wet.  Care 
should  be  taken  to  see  that  your  icehouse 
or  ice  pile  is  tight  around  the  bottom,  to 
prevent  the  flow  of  air  down  through  it 
from  the  ventilator  above,  causing  melt¬ 
ing. 
Siphoning  from  Deep  Well 
_ About  700  ft.  from  my  house  on  a  hill 
So  ft.  high  I  have  dug  an  artesian  well 
SO  ft.  deep  ;  have  a  flow  of  three  gallons 
per  minute  with  a  rise  of  30  ft.  of  water 
in  the  pipe.  Can  I  have  running  water 
in  my  house  by  siphoning?  If  not  which 
in  your  opinion  would  be  the  better  and 
more  economical  in  years  to  come,  a  wind 
mill  or  a  motor,  as  I  have  electricity 
throughout  my  buildings?  My  neighbor 
tells  me  siphon  won’t  raise  water  over 
28  ft.  In  my  case  it  would  have  to  come 
up  45  ft.  before  it  would  start  down  the 
hill. 
Stockport,  N.  Y. 
Your  neighbor  is  right  in  regard  to  the 
siphon.  It  would  not  carry  the  water 
over  the  45  ft.  lift  from  the  surface  of 
the  water  in  the  well  to  the  ground  sur¬ 
face.  A  siphon  is  limited  in  lift  to  the 
height  water  can  be  raised  by  “suction,” 
theoretically  nearly  34  ft.,  but  in  prac¬ 
tice,  due  to  unavoidable  imperfections, 
the  practical  working  lift  is  much  less. 
If  you  have  central  station  current  at 
your  disposal  I  would  suggest  the  use  of 
an  electric  motor  and  deep  welx  pump 
located  at  the  well.  This  can  be  arranged 
to  start  when  a  faucet  is  opened  and  stop 
when  it  is  closed,  thus  supplying  water 
at  the  house  without  the  necessity  of 
storage  other  than  the  water  contained 
in  the  pipe  between  the  well  and  the 
house  » 
Due  to  the  distance  from  the  buildings, 
if  low  voltage  storage  battery  current 
only  is  available,  it  might  be  better  to 
install  a  small  engine  and  air  compressor 
at  the  building  and  pipe  the  compressed 
air  to  the  well  to  operate  a  pump.  This 
pump  would  start  automatically  on  the 
opening  of  a  faucet  in  the  same  way  as 
the  electrically  driven  one  described 
above. 
Checking  Chimney  Draft 
Our  furnace  chimney  is  very  high,  prob¬ 
ably  45  or  50  ft.  from  the  cellar  bottom. 
It  has  a  large  flue,  and  it  is  almost  im¬ 
possible  to  control  the  furnace  fire.  There 
are  two  dampers  in  the  smoke-pipe,  and  a 
check  draft.  We  have  also  carried  the 
smoke-pipe  down  nearly  to  the  cellar  bot¬ 
tom  before  connecting  it  with  the  chim¬ 
ney.  These  various  schemes  check  the 
draft  somewhat,  but  when  checked  suffi¬ 
ciently  to  hold  the  fire,  we  get  a  good 
deal  of  gas.  It  seems  impossible  to  check 
the  fire  sufficiently  without  getting  an  un¬ 
bearable  amount  of  gas  a  good  deal  of  the 
time.  It  has  occurred  to  me  that  the 
Cleaning  Rusty  Pipe 
I  have  a  spring  piped  to  the  barn  with 
Tin.  galvanized  pipe  that  has  just  about 
closed  up  with  rust.  Do  you  know  of  any 
way  to  clean  it  out  without  digging  it  up? 
Rochester,  Pa.  j.  e.  m. 
When  a  water  pipe  in  a  gravity  line  be¬ 
comes  clogged  with  rust  or  a  growth  in¬ 
side  of  it  I  know  of  no  solution  that  is 
used  commercially  to  clean  it.  Commer¬ 
cial  hydrochloric  acid  will  dissolve  rust, 
but  it  unfortunately  has  the  property  of 
attacking  iron  as  well,  and  its  action  can¬ 
not  be  controlled  inside  the  pipe. 
The  common  practice  is  to  take  the 
pipe  up  in  sections,  or  at  least  open  up 
the  ditch  at  intervals,  disconnect  the  pipe 
and  run  a  stiff  wire,  such  as  is  used  for 
telephone  brace  wire,  through  the  pipe  to 
open  it  up.  Any  pipe  that  is  so  badly 
rusted  as  to  nearly  close  it  would  prob¬ 
ably  be  rendered  worthless  by  a  solution 
that  would  dissolve  the  accumulation.  It 
is  likely  that  the  material  in  your  pipe 
is  a  form  of  growth  that  resembles  iron 
rust,  to  a  large  extent,  rather  than  rust 
alone. 
“Eye  Doctors”  and  Their  Methods 
Many  of  our  readers  doubtless  saw  in 
the  daily  newspapers  a  statement  about 
the  brace  of  eye  doctors  who  visited  the 
home  of  Wm.  Van  Horn,  a  New  Jersey 
farmer.  Very  likely  our  people  have  won¬ 
dered  how  much  of  real  truth  there  was 
in  this  report.  We  did,  and  so  we  asked 
Mr.  Van  Horn  to  give  us  the  facts.  He 
gives  them  in  the  following  letter.  Mr. 
Van  Horn  was  wiser  than  many  who 
have  entertained  these  eye  doctors.  He 
refused  to  pay  cash,  and  stopped  payment 
on  the  check : 
I  am  sending  you  a  story  of  what  hap¬ 
pened  at  our  home.  On  Wednesday  aft¬ 
ernoon,  Oct.  24,  a  red  four-passenger 
coupe,  sport  model,  with  trunk  on  back. 
New  York  license  No.  1438906.  came 
here.  The  car  had  two  men  in  it ;  one 
got  out  and  introduced  himself  as  Dr. 
Barker  of  Easton,  advertising  crystal 
lenses.  He  asked  Mr.  Van  Horn  to  see 
his  lenses,  so  they  came  on  in  the  house, 
Mr.  Van  Horn  not  having  had  his  eyes 
examined  for  glasses  in  some  time.  Dr. 
Barker  examined  his  eyes  and  wrote  on  a 
piece  of  paper  the  number  of  glasses  he 
wanted,  and  told  him  if  he  took  this 
paper  to  Dr.  Cummins,  their  agent,  he 
would  give  him  a  pair  of  glasses  for  $3.50. 
He  then  began  examining  Mrs.  Van 
Horn’s  eyes.  He  said  her  glasses  did  not 
fit  her  eyes  at  all.  He  kept  trying  dif¬ 
ferent  lenses  on  her  left  eye,  but  none  she 
could  see  through.  He  told  her  she  could 
get  a  pair  of  glasses  from  their  agent, 
Dr.  Cummins,  for  nothing.  He  then 
looked  in  her  eye  with  a  magnifying  glass, 
asking  her  if  anyone  in  her  family  was 
blind  or  if  anyone  had  paralysis.  He 
said,  “Mrs.  Van  Horn,  I  don’t  understand 
your  case.  Dr.  Beil,  a  specialist  of  New 
York,  is  out  in  the  car.  He  came  to 
Easton  to  operate  on  an  old  Mrs.  Ran¬ 
dall,  age  91,  for  cancer  of  the  brain,  using 
radium,  being  called  to  Easton  by  other 
doctors.  Just  call  him  in  to  see  if  he  can 
tell  what  Mrs.  Van  Horn’s  trouble  is.” 
Mr.  Van  Horn  called  him  in.  When 
he  examined  her  eyes  he  said  she  was  in 
a  very  serious  condition ;  that  the  nerves 
that  lead  to  the  brain  were  crossed,  caus¬ 
ing  blood  to  cloud  on  the  brain,  and  that 
there  was  a  growth  on  her  left  eye  which 
was  sure  to  cause  paralysis.  Mr.  Van 
Horn,  believing  all  he  said,  asked  him  if 
he  could  cure  her.  He  said  he  could 
cure  her  in  five  minutes,  but  didn’t  dare 
to,  as  he  belonged  to  a  doctor’s  associa¬ 
tion,  something  like  the  union ;  didn’t  dare 
to  do  work  outside  of  the  hospital.  But 
he  finally  said  he  pitied  Mrs.  Van  Horn, 
so  he  would  operate  on  her  eye  if  we 
would  not  say  anything  about  it  to  any¬ 
body. 
.  He  sent  Dr.  Barker  out  to  the  car  for 
his  satchel.  He  showed  us  a  bottle  which 
he  said  had  $7,000  worth  of  radium  in 
it.  He  asked  Mr.  Van  Horn  to  get  him 
a  glass  with  'some  warm  water.  He  then 
put  a  drop  of  something  in  her  eye  and 
told  her  to  hold  it  shut  for  a  moment. 
He  then  took  a  hollow  glass  tube  and  re¬ 
moved  something  from  her  eye  that  looked 
like  wet  tissue  paper,  which  he  put  in  the 
stove.  He  then  told  Mrs.  Van  Horn  her 
trouble  was  now  ended.  Mrs.  Van  Horn, 
being  a  cripple  with  rheumatism,  he  left 
her  something  in  a  glass  to  bathe  her 
spine  with.  He  told  her  in  30  days  she 
would  be  able  to  walk  straight  and  be 
cured. 
Mr.  Van  Horn  then  asked  what  the 
bill  was.  He  said :  “I  am  not  going  to 
charge  anything,  only  for  the  radium  I 
use,”  so,  pretending  to  figure,  he  said, 
$425.  Mr.  Van  Horn  said  to  his  son, 
“Get  the  check  writer  and  write  a  check.” 
Dr.  Beil  asked :  “Do  you  always  use 
check  writer?”  Mr.  Van  Horn  said,  “Al¬ 
ways.”  The  doctor  said :  “Maybe  you 
have  some  cash  or  Liberty  bonds  that 
you  can  give  me ;  I  don’t  know  what  to 
do  with  a  check,  for  each  day  I  have  to 
send  Rockefeller  money  for  what  radium 
I  use,  for  he  controls  all  radium.”  Then 
Dr.  Barker  said :  “I’ll  drive  Mr.  Van 
Horn  to  town  and  get  the  money.”  Mr. 
Van  Horn  said  the  bank  was  closed,  so 
finally,  Dr.  Barker  said :  “I’ll  cash  the 
check  for  you  when  we  get  to  my  office 
in  Easton.  I  have  that  much  money 
there.”  So  they  left,  after  telling  us  not 
to  tell  the  nearest  or  dearest  friends  we 
had.  Believing  they  were  fakes,  we  went 
right  away  to  our  home  town  and 
stopped  payment  on  check,  and  asked  Dr. 
Cummins  if  he  was  agent  for  any  com¬ 
pany  like  that.  He  said  they  were  fakes, 
the  names  were  not  registered  at  the 
county  clerk’s  office  as  doctors.  So  he 
’phoned  to  Prosecutor  Smith  of  Philips- 
burg  at  once,  and  the  State  was  soon 
looking  them  up.  At  last  reports  check 
was  put  in  Union  Trust  Company  Bank 
at  Elizabeth,  and  the  car  with  that 
license  put  up  one  night  at  a  hotel  at 
Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  but  that  license  was  not 
given  to  Dr.  Beil  or  Dr.  Barker. 
A  Talk  About  Parrots 
How  should  I  cars  for  a  parrot —  food, 
bath,  and  to  teach  to  speak?  I  have  one 
that  can  speak,  but  screams  and  is  vic¬ 
ious  ;  tries  to  pick,  tears  up  his  covers 
and  perches.  MRS.  J.  H.  p. 
Morristown,  N.  J. 
By  far  the  best  talking  parrots  are 
young  birds  taken  from  the  nest  and 
brought  up  by  hand.  They  are  much  more 
expensive  than  trapped  birds,  but  the 
trapped  birds  rarely  learn  to  talk.  When 
taken  from  the  nest  and  brought  up  by 
hand,  young  parrots  readily  become 
household  pets. 
Most  people  keep  parrots  in  cages  that 
are  too  small.  The  Cuban  may  get  along 
in  a  12-in.  round  cage,  but  that  would 
be  too  small  for  a  Mexican  yellow-head 
or  African  gray  parrot.  The  birds  will 
learn  to  talk  better  in  confinement. 
Perches  should  always  be  of  hard  wood 
not  easy  to  destroy. 
The  cage  should  be  kept  scrupulously 
clean  and  well  supplied  with  sand  and 
gravel,  or,  what  is  better,  the  sharp  grit 
such  as  is  sold  for  poultry.  This  acts  as 
litter  for  the  birds  and  helps  to  grind  the 
food  and  keep  the  bird  in  good  health. 
Birds  will  do  better  on  a  plain  die*\ 
and  should  never  have  meat,  fresh  bread 
or  greasy  food.  The  best  food  consists  of 
sunflower,  hemp,  padda  and  cracked  corn, 
but  it  is  well  to  give  them  one  soft  feed 
each  day,  consisting  of  pilot  crackers  or 
stale  bread  soaked  in  coffee  or  boiled 
milk.  Most  parrots  like  an  occasional 
piece  of  dry  cracker,  nuts  and  fruit. 
Bread  three  or  four  days  old  is  in  the 
right  condition  to  feed. 
Parrots  drink  but  little  water.  Dealers 
never  give  the  freshly  imported  birds  wa¬ 
ter  for  several  weeks,  giving  them,  in¬ 
stead,  a  drink  of  boiled  milk  or  coffee, 
without  sugar  or  milk,  as  the  bird  prefers. 
After  the  bird  has  been  here  several 
weeks  they  give  a  small  drink  of  water 
once  or  twice  a  week.  If  that  does  the 
bird  no  harm,  leave  a  dish  in  the  cage 
constantly,  keeping  it  fresh. 
Young  parrots  get  soft  food  twice  a 
day.  Some  bird  dealers  feed  their  parrots 
with  ordinary  yellow  or  white  corn, 
soaked  over  night  and  boiled  several 
hours.  Parrots  like  an  occasional  fresh 
ear  of  sweet  corn.  Hard-boiled  eggs, 
mixed  with  an  equal  quantity  of  cracker 
crumbs  and  some  cayenne  pepper,  are  rel¬ 
ished.  Cuttle  bone  is  good  for  them  as 
well  as  canaries.  A  bit  of  raw  onion 
will  do  as  a  tonic  when  moulting. 
Few  parrots  will  bathe  in  water ;  most 
prefer  a  dust  bath,  as  a  hen  does.  It  is  a 
good  plan  to  sprinkle  the  bird  with  soft 
tepid  water  in  which  a  small  quantity  of 
borax  has  been  dissolved,  once  a  week 
during  the  Summer,  and  once  a  month  in 
Winter.  See  that  the  bird  does  not  get 
chilled  and  is  not  exposed  to  any  draught. 
Keep  plenty  of  gravel  in  the  cage,  and 
the  cage  should  be  washed  frequently  with 
soap  and  water.  It  is  better  to  scrape 
perches  than  to  wash  them. 
Trapped  birds  cannot  be  taught  to 
speak  ;  young,  hand-raised  birds  can.  The 
secret  is  to  move  slowly  and  quietly  and 
let  the  bird  know  you  are  friendly.  Move 
slowly  around  the  cage  and  never  poke 
anything  at  the  bird.  If  it  tries  to  bite, 
bloAV  in  its  face  or  tap  it  lightly  with  a 
pencil.  Teach  the  bird  it  is  against  rules 
to  squawk  or  scream.  Giving  the  bird 
some  toy  to  play  with  will  often  stop  its 
noise. 
Parrots  will  learn  to  talk  quicker  from 
a  woman’s  voice  than  a  man’s,  and 
quickest  from  a  child.  Keep  out  of  sight 
or  cover  the  cage  when  giving  a  lesson. 
They  usually  learn  best  about  sundown. 
Half  an  hour  will  do  for  a  lesson,  and 
be  particular  about  clear  enunciation. 
All  this  is  very  general,  but  I  do  not 
know  the  kind  of  parrot,  its  age,  or  any 
particulars.  edna  s.  knapp. 
The.  reply  from  the  “authority  on  par¬ 
rots”  is  so  good  it  has  helped  so  much 
to  give  “Polly”  proper  care.  “Polly” 
came  to  us  in  a  small  12  in.  round  cage, 
dirty,  and  neglected.  We  had  watched 
him  in  a  second-hand  furniture  shop  for 
many  months.  Nobody  wanted  him  so 
we  purchased  him  cage  and  all  for  $10. 
At  first  all  he  did  was  scream  and  eat, 
but  now  after  a  year,  he  talks,  whistles 
and  tries  to  imitate  our  canary.  We  got 
a  large  square  cage  for  him,  and  in  Sum¬ 
mer  he  did  try  to  bathe  in  his  drinking 
water,  that  is,  he  dipped  his  bill  in  the 
water  and  threw  it  over  his  head  with 
a  great. fluttering  of  his  wings.  He  says, 
“Polly  is  a  good  polly  now,”  and  when  I 
cage  after  a  screaming  fit 
lolly  go  goodnight”  which  means  to 
bed  I  suppose.  “Get  the  car ;  hurry  up  ; 
stop  that;  come  in  (to  a  knock)  ;  scratch 
my  head,”  and  generally  bends  and  lets 
me  do  this,  but  any  minute  he  may  sud¬ 
denly  raise  his  head  and  give  my  finger 
an  awful  bite.  He  loves  peanuts  and 
takes  one  in  his  claw  and  eats  it  after 
breaking  the  shell  with  his  beak.  He 
can  use  his  foot  as  well  as  I  can  my 
hand.  He  comes  out  of  the  cage  when 
I  leave  the  door  open,  flies  on  my  head 
and  laughs,  just  like  I  do,  but  I  am 
afraid  he  might  pick  me,  so  I  seldom  let 
him  out.  He  never  gets  down  on  the 
floor  of  his  cage,  but  I  am  going  to  try 
putting  the  poultry  grit  there  and  maybe 
he  will.  I  gave  him  the  cracker  soaked 
in  boiled  milk  and  he  enjoyed  it  very 
much.  I  am  sending  you  a  few  feathers 
he  dropped  when  molting.  He  is  green 
with  red,  blue  and  yellow  feathers  in  his 
wings  and  tail,  but  these  colors  are  only 
seen  when  he  spreads  his  wings  and 
tail.  I  cannot  trust  him  and  am  afraid 
of  him,  he  gives  such  awful  screams  and 
bites  so  viciously.  He  loves  boys  and 
used  to  put  his  bill  into  our  little  boy’s 
mouth  when  he  was  here.  When  a  boy 
comes  into  the  room  he  tries  to  get  out 
and  flutters  his  wings  as  if  to  fly. 
MRS.  J.  H.  PARCEIXS. 
Those  Bargain  Books 
No  more  orders  can  be  filled  for  the 
bargain  package  of  books,  as  the  supply 
is  exhausted.  The  Rural  New-Yorker. 
The  fifth  year  of  the  campaign  for  the 
eradication  of  the  common  barberry  in 
order  to  control  the  black  stem  rust  of 
wheat  has  drawn  to  a  close  with  an 
additional  area  equivalent  to  197  coun¬ 
ties  completely  surveyed,  says  the  De¬ 
partment  of  Agriculture.  Of  these,  15 
counties  in  Minnesota  and  one  county  in 
Iowa  were  surveyed  with  funds  furnished 
by  these  States.  A  total  of  729,721 
bushes  was  removed  from  6,400  proper¬ 
ties.  Investigations  of  the  time,  rate 
and  manner  of  spread  of  rust  from  bar¬ 
berries  made  during  the  Summer  give 
additional  evidence  of  the  enormous 
losses  directly  traceable  to  individual 
bushes  and  hedges  and  further  emphasize 
the  necessity  of  removing  the  last  bush 
if  the  greatest  measure  of  success  is  to 
be  accomplished  in  the  control  of  this 
wheat  disease. 
