M, 1924 
Out of the Editor’s Mail-Bag 
We Liked This Stuff, Maybe You Will 
SOME MUSHROOM 
This youngster is holding a 
giant 9 pound edible mush¬ 
room, grown on a ranch near 
Santa Cruz, California. It 
measured 20 inches from base 
to top and 16 inches from 
tip to tip. 
I NOTICED in a recent market report in American 
Agriculturist that apples are very low in the 
market. I stepped into a small grocery store re¬ 
cently and asked the price of some fancy apples 
that were on display. The reply I got was ten cents 
each. This was double the price asked for oranges and 
is the same price asked for grapefruit. 
I have priced apples in perhaps a dozen retail stores 
within the last few weeks 
and the price was either 
five or ten cents each. 
These stores are located in 
the coal fields of West Vir¬ 
ginia. There has been little 
if any work all winter and 
the people have had but 
little work all winter and 
they are not able to pay 
such prices. The result is 
that they have to do with¬ 
out apples. 
I ventured to ask a re¬ 
tailer why he did not buy 
barreled apples and sell 
them at a price that the 
people could afford to eat 
a few apples. He said he 
was afraid they would rot 
on his hands. He; said he 
could buy Rome Beauties 
and other apples at from 
$2.50 to 3.50 per barrel 
but he just kept a few 
fancy apples. He could 
have sold barrel apples at 
a fair profit by the peck or the half bushel and the peo¬ 
ple would have bought them, but they were more trou¬ 
ble to handle. 
The people in the vicinity I speak of did buy apples 
from the farmers who brought them in at from forty 
to fifty cents per peck, but there was a very poor crop 
in this locality last year and it did not hold out long. 
The retail dealers seemed to be in the fancy apple 
business and the result was that the working people 
and their children had to do without apples because 
they could not pay the fancy prices asked. They were 
left to ponder over the enormous profits farmers were 
making raising ten cent apples, while the farmer was 
left to ponder over how he was going to manage to 
make ends meet and make his books balance without 
even a profit.—-A. J. Legg, West Virginia. 
* * * 
Training the Farm Dog 
E VERY farmer needs a dog—not a sheep-killing 
cur, but a trained dog that earns his keep, tax, and a 
profit besides. Otherwise he is better off without a dog. 
For best results it is necessary that the training begin 
when a pup. After sep¬ 
aration from its mother 
confinement at night is 
necessary. His confi¬ 
dence is next to be se¬ 
cured. Unless the dog 
has confidence in the 
trainer, the training is 
useless. Give him a 
name, and teach him to 
know it. No two persons 
should attempt to train 
him. Drill well on one 
command before at¬ 
tempting another. Teach 
him to come when told. 
Then teach when and where to stop. A good way to 
teach this is to use the words “Stay there,” and 
“Watch” when shutting him up at night. 
Just when to begin training for stock should begin is 
a matter that needs to be handled by the trainer. If 
the dog exhibits signs of courage, it may begin earlier 
than when he is timid. The valuable stock dog is a 
“ heeler.” When young he may be spoiled by the stock 
hurting him. When first driving stock, let him follow 
gentle stock. Keep him with you as you follow and 
let him learn by observation that driving stock means 
following it. Usually an early desire manifests itself 
to assist. Then is the time to allow him to assist and 
to encourage him. If the matter is handled judiciously 
he will soon become a driver at the heel. It is important 
that the dog be impressed that the place to drive is at 
the heel. Then he will not run wild when stock needs 
turning or urging. 
Never be too anxious for the dog to know it all at 
once. Don’t be too hasty in scolding for some error in 
his work. He may not have understood what was 
wanted. Do not scold him for your own mistakes. 
bent this and nailed securely around the disk with 
heavy carpet tacks. The other sheet I bent but did 
A valuable dog may be ruined iu this way Remember ^^u“’ “ Then 
the reply the lmie boy gave the mmister whendm^ked f“ J * J i « & a 1 door the 
how his dog learned so many tricks, ^ You ve got to ^ ^ Thjs door wa , for the purpose of 
putting the corn in and pouring out the pops. 
Next, I hunted up an old discarded cook stove and 
taking out the fixtures, all but the fire box, I punched 
a hole in each end and in the middle and taking two 
small iron rods I put them through the holes and into 
the ends of the drum and 
By A. A. READERS 
know more than the dog.”—W arner E. Farver. 
* * * 
Why New York Is Some Market 
N EW YORK is often called the Hotel City because 
of the amazing number of hostelries, both small 
and large, which accommodate hundreds of thousands 
of visitors and many residents as well. Among the 
largest of the famous city hotels is the McAlpin, which 
is celebrating its tenth anniversary. In summarizing - 
the record of the McAlpin during the past decade, the had my popper done and 
Manager, Arthur L. Lee, has compiled some very was very anxious to try 
on one end I fastened 
a crank and when the 
crank turned the drum 
would revolve. Now I 
interesting statistics. These figures shed much light 
on the enormous quantities of materials used by one of 
the great modern hotels, and the figures may be multi¬ 
plied many times over to give an idea of the total con¬ 
sumption of food in all New York’s hotel restaurants. 
During 1922, the McAlpin accommodated 702,224 
guests, and served 1,914,036 meals. The last ten years 
Pop-corn capper - 
The Collie Is the Ideal Farm Dog 
it out. So I put some 
corn in the drum and 
built a fire in the fire 
box. Then the fun be¬ 
gan. Oh boy, how I did turn out big luscious, fluffy, 
crisp pops that fairly made your mouth water! 
My next move was to hunt a market. I made a few 
i'uCbLS, dllU. bcl VcU LjtJ J-LlCdlO. J-AAV^ ^ J P l1 * L 1J* £ 4-U J 
have a total of 7,249,631 guests and served 20,370,560 neat moulds out of thm tin holding one-fourth pound of 
. . n i . i I P l!_ _ T Cl 1 Uv4 L/\cia nnn r* I rr Trill onn fnPn TIAlirPn CllCfflT 
pops. I filled these nearly full and then poured sugar 
syrup over them, enough to stick them together and 
give them quite a sweet flavor. I added a dash of salt 
to give them zest. Wrapping them in fancy tissue 
paper I went to town with my samples. The first 
confectionary store I went into contracted for all that 
I could furnish them. I marketed my last pops just 
before Christmas and here is my gross earnings from 
my garden; Vegetables, $83.75; Pops, $138.20. 
The 1st of January I began to set out a short trap 
line, just enough to keep me employed after school 
hours. I have caught a few fine martin, mink and rat— 
but that’s another story.—D. C. Ray. 
* * * 
What Teazles Look Like 
It is about a year ago that I recall seeing an article in 
American Agriculturist about teazles. Would you kindly 
print a picture of a teazle. What is the teazle used for and 
would it pay a man to raise them?—C. W. E., New York. 
I N compliance with C. W. E.’s request we are printing 
a picture of a teazle head. The article referred to 
was printed in the issue of American Agriculturist 
of June 16, 1923, and was 
written by Mr. Weatherby 
who is now our circulation man¬ 
ager. While Mr. Weatherby 
was engaged in county agri¬ 
cultural agent work, he had an 
opportunity to get very well 
acquainted with the teazle¬ 
growing industry which is 
centered around the village of 
Skaneateles. 
Teazle burrs or the heads of 
the teazle plant, are used by 
the manufacturers of woolens 
and other textiles to bring up 
consisting oi one-iourm ucie. u w«,o T| ua l J ' mac ' 1 ' ne ^ as 
in fine shape for gardening. The first pretty spell in been devised thus far that will do the job as well as the 
March I planted it in frost proof vegetables—peas, teazle plant, which is in reality a weed, 
radishes, lettuce and spinach, also set out onion sets It is not very likely that it would pay you to try this 
and cabbage plants venture for several reasons. In the first place it takes 
I cultivated them thoroughly and got them on the a man with experience to cure the teazle properly and 
very earliest market at fancy prices. Then along mid furthermore it takes a certain amount of experience to 
June I reharrowed thejplot and planted it in rice pop- grow and handle the crop. The marketing end also pre¬ 
corn I listed it two feet apart and planted the corn sents many problems. In view of the experience of 
eighteen inches in row. When it was well up I began several growers it does not seem wise for any one to 
cultivation with wheel hoe. I cultivated it every week believe that a man would get rich growing teazles, 
till the tassels began to appear. The 15tli of October although once in a while they have come in as a very 
I gathered a fine’ crop of well matured ears, putting handy cash crop, 
them up in the grainary 
loft to dry (pop corn must 
be dried thoroughly as • 
soon as gathered, other¬ 
wise it will not produce 
good pops). Along the 1st 
of December I made a 
popcorn popper as follows: 
I took a board one inch 
thick and long and wide 
enough to make two disks 
eighteen inches in diam¬ 
eter. This done, I pur¬ 
chased from the tinsmith 
two sheets of thick tin, 
twenty inches in length. 
One sheet broad enough 
to reach two-thirds the 
way around disks, I 
meals, exclusive of banquets and such functions. 
Small wonder that for this almost incredible number of 
meals, the food bills included the following, the other, 
startling terms: 
2,825,000 heads of lettuce 
44,600 barrels of apples 
28,000 boxes of grapefruit 
528,125 bushels of potatoes 
2,095,000 chickens 
8,095,000 pounds of butter 
16,650,000 eggs 
4,190,000 quarts of milk 
1,760,000 “ “ cream 
Mr. Lee figured that it required 18,300 hens to pro¬ 
duce the eggs, 1782 cows to supply the milk and cream, 
and more than twenty-seven miles of cattle cars to 
carry the meat demanded by the McAlpin patrons. 
And this is just one hotel—one of the very largest, it 
is true, but the Commodore, Pennsylvania, Plaza, 
7 Waldorf-Astoriaj Biltmore, Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, 
' Gotham, Astor and Vanderbilt, to name only a few of 
the more prominent hotels, all could produce equally 
surprising figures from their own ledgers. 
Then, in addition to the floating population, a city 
in itself, there are the thousands of smaller hotels, 
apartment houses, clubs, and private homes, which use 
certainly as many supplies and probably a great deal 
more. 
Is it any wonder that New York is the greatest market 
in the world and that “fancy” products—well chosen 
and packed—can command high prices from this fastid¬ 
ious and numberless patronage?—G. E., New York. 
* * * 
How I Made Money on Pop Corn 
I AM a farm boy fifteen years old and I want to tell 
you how I made my spending money last year. 
Father plowed, harrowed and gave me a plot of ground 
consisting of one-fourth acre. It was very fertile and 
How’s that good for nothin’ colt of yours gettin’ on over to 
the Agricultural College? 
Second Farm Horse: Why, haven’t you heard? He’s made the team. — Life. 
