THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



69 



gained a little more than those without the 

 grass, but not enough to pay for the extra 

 feed in the grass. 



10. With the pigs confined in the hog 

 house pens, the grass proved beneficial, 

 while with those in the yard it proved det- 

 rimental, the latter requiring more grain 

 to make a pound of pork with the grass 

 than without it. 



11. Pasturing either with full or with 

 part grain rations appeared to be by far the 

 cheapest and best way of making pork. 



THE BUSINESS HEN. 



In 1890 there were in this country 258,- 

 871,125 chickens and 26,738,315 other 

 fowls. In that year the hens laid, 9,836,- 

 674,922 eggs. There are now about 350,- 

 000,000 chickens which will produce 13,- 

 750,000,000 eggs worth at least, $165,000,- 

 000; and the poultry meat sold during the 

 year will bring $125. 000, 000, which gives 

 a total of $290,000,000 as an estimate of 

 the earning? of the American hen for one 

 year. The 350,000,000 chickens are worth 

 $105,000,000. 



Compare the poultry product with the 

 following: 



Value of silver production, $72,510,000; 

 value of wool clip, $38,146,459; value of 

 all sheep, $65,167,725; value of all swine, 

 $186,529,745; value of mules, $103,204,- 

 457; value of horses, $500.140,186; value 

 of petroleum products, $62,383,403; value 

 of potato crop, $78,984,901; value of to- 

 bacco crop, $35,574.220; value of cotton 

 crop, $259,164,640; value of oat crop, 

 $163,655,068; value of wheat crop, $237,- 

 938,998; imports of coffee one year, $84.- 

 793,124; imports of tea one year, $12,704,- 

 440; total of pensions, $139,280,078; total 

 of school expenditures, $178,215,556; total 

 interest on mortgages, $76, 728,077; cost of 

 Post Office Department, $90,626,206; net 

 earnings of railroads, $323,196,454; divi- 

 dends on railroad stocks, $18,365,774. 



The values of all gold produced in Amer- 

 ican mines in 1895 was $46,610,000, and of 

 all silver $72,051,000. The value of all 

 minerals, including iron, gold, and silver, 



taken out of American mines in 1894 was 

 $208,168,768. Americans are given to 

 bragging about our immense mineral re- 

 sources, and yet you will notice that the 

 hens paid for it all in one year and had 

 enough left to just about pay the interest 

 on all mortgages. 



COST OF EGG PRODUCTION. 



P^stimates have placed the cost of a doz- 

 en eggs at as high as 12 cent, but some ex- 

 perimenters find the cost to be 6 cents. At 

 the experiment stations, where every pound 

 of food is weighed and but little waste 

 material can be used the cost is greater 

 than the average on the farms. It has long 

 been accepted among poultrymen that five 

 pecks of corn or wheat, or the equivalent 

 thereof, will maintain a laying hen one 

 year. At present prices this would be 

 about 65 cents a year. We do not believe 

 that the cost is so much when hens are on 

 ranges, as they need little or no feed in the 

 summer. The prices of ail kinds of grain 

 of course regulate the cost of eggs, but in 

 our experience the cost of a dozen eggs at 

 present prices for feed, provided (and that 

 is the main point) the hens are good lay- 

 ers, should not exceed 6 cents. This does 

 not include shelter or labor in caring for 

 the flock. If the hens are indifferent lay- 

 ers and the egg production is small, the 

 cost may reach as much as 15 cents a doz- 

 en, but such is an infrequent occurrence. 

 Hartford Times. 



APPLES AS MEDICINE. 

 The apple is such a common fruit very 

 few persons are familiar with its remark- 

 ably efficacious medicinal properties. Ev- 

 erybody ought to know that the very best 

 thing they can do is to eat apples just be- 

 fore retiring for the night. Persons uni- 

 nitiated in the mysteries of the fruit, are 

 liable to throw up their hands in horror at 

 the vision of dyspepsia which such a sug- 

 gestion may summon up; but no harm can 

 come to even a delicate system by the eat- 

 ing of ripe and juicy apples just before go- 

 ing to bed. The apple is an excellent 



