California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



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Dark Brahma Fowls. 



ii^jrHE Light and Dark Brahma fowls are 

 1 1rl among the most popular breecis of pul- 

 '\h try kuowu. Side by side, through their 

 %J^ excellence alone, they have worked their 

 ^Sy way into public favor until no poultry 

 yard is considered complete without one or 

 the other of these varieties. As regards the 

 merits of each, there are different opinions. 

 One of our best poultry breeders, W. H. 

 Todd, of Ohio, thus speaks of the Darks in 

 an article in the NorlhavMern I'ouUiy •hninud : 



For practical purposes we find little differ- 

 ence between Dark and Light Brahmas. The 

 objection to keeping light or white fowls in 

 town in consequence of their plumage getting 

 soiled and dingy, is obviated with Dark Brah- 

 mas, as the dust, soot and smoke do not soil 

 their color, and thereby injure their appear- 

 ance. Comparatively we consider the Dark 

 more vigorous and hardy, better foragers and 

 earlier maturing. Their eggs are more fertile 

 and the chickens seem hardier and more rajiid 

 in growth when small than any other of the 

 large breeds. 



In setting an equal number of eggs of dif- 

 ferent varieties in midwinter, the Dark Brah- 

 mas have hatched and lived, on an average, 

 6U per cent, better than any other. When 

 matured, the best specimens are shorter in 

 leg and more broad and stocky in shape than 

 the Light, though we have seen first prizes 

 given to leggy, long, round backed, ungainly 

 birds, for what reason we could not surmise, 

 unless it was for color alone, or else a special 

 favor to their owners; but want of symmetry 

 and style does not meet with public favor.and 

 we hope it never will. 



Many who keep poultrj' for eggs and mar- 

 ket claim that Dark Brahmas are the most 

 profitaVile. The hens make careful setters 

 and good mothers, and the pullets begin lay- 

 ing quite young and continue with scarcely a 

 day's cessation for several months, and es- 

 pecially during the Winter, when eggs are 

 high and "dunghills" are weather-bound. In 

 annual product of eggs perhaps no variety 



excells them. 



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Clipping Wings. — Clipping the wings of 

 fowls to prevent their flying is a necessary 

 operation sometimes, but never necessarily 

 disfiguring. It generally is, however, since 

 the farmer's shears almost always make 

 a clean sweep of all the quills, and an ugly 

 wing is the result. Besides the ugliness, there 

 are also other disadvantages in such a sweep- 

 ing operation. A setting hen uses the outer 

 end of her wing to retain the eggs under her 

 in place, and those near the body protect the 

 skin from being torn by her mate's claws. 

 The proper way is to only trim the feather 

 partly off with a pair of scissors, except about 

 one inch at the end. It shows but little when 

 the wing is closed, and does not disfigure the 

 fowl, and lets the wind through so as to pre- 

 vent flying. 



Fresh Eggs. — Eggs can be kept fresh and 

 good for months by the following method: 

 I'lace a convenient number in a smull liasket, 

 and immerse them in boiling water, taking 

 out almost instantly, then pack in salt with 

 the small end do%vn. By this process the en- 

 tire surface of the white of the egg under the 

 skin-like membrane, is congealed, thus form- 

 ing an impervious coating, which prevents 

 the evaporation of the contents, and the ad- 

 mission of air. — 1'. 



Very little corn should be fed in the giain, 

 as the same quantity of grain converted into 

 soft food, is worth one-third more than the 

 grain, either for fattening or egg produ(^tion, 

 as all the force of the system required to di- 

 gest or grind up the grain in the iTop of the 

 owl, lessens the egg producing qualities or 



Manaoement or Geese. — I take my pen to 

 reply to Miss Heywood's inquiry about geese 

 in Rural Xew Yorker oi March 6. Geese are 

 naturally great wanderers, and for that reason 

 they require a home of their own; especially 

 when harvest time approaches does this need 

 most appear. If allowed to run they destroy 

 much more than they are worth. A small 

 piece of pasture land, through which runs a 

 lorook, is best calculated for geese; even if the 

 brook is small, they will love it, and with 

 sticks and leaves dam it up until they have a 

 convenient place to wash and dive; they love 

 to keep clean. Inclose their home with a 

 good fence. During the laying season, which 

 commences as early as March, feed corn, 

 buckwheat, oats, etc. ; if cooked and fed warm 

 it is much better. Geese also dearly love 

 crumbs from the table, such as pancakes and 

 potatoes, cut into small jiieces and fed warm; 

 feed this once a day, and the above mentioned 

 once a day, as much as they will eat without 

 leaving any. A little salt in their food im- 

 proves it; also a quantity of loppered milk, if 

 you have it, added after the food is cooked. 



If you have no nice little house for the 

 goose to make her nest in, place a barrel in 

 an elevated part of her lot or home, turn it on 

 its side, place the open end of it toward the 

 south; put in a few quarts of horse manure; 

 over this place plenty of straw; she requires 

 enough to lay her eggs upon and cover them 

 with, for she never leaves them uncovered. 

 My word for it, Goosie will not refuse such a 

 place for her nest, at least I never knew her 

 to. She generally lays two litters of eggs each 

 season — from 5 to 1"2 in a litter. When she 

 shows signs of sitting, give her from 12 to 13 

 eggs to sit upon ; do not let her sit before the 

 middle of April, or, better still, the first of 

 May. Goslings are a tender bird and do not 

 thrive well in chilly weather. After the goose 

 has been sitting one month look out for the 

 goslings; they are of a handsome green color; 

 as they come out of the shell and sit close to 

 their mother they are a pretty sight. About 

 that time the gander will fight as if he meant 

 to kill anything that comes near. — liernice 

 Better. 



Save the Feathers. — As the time is draw- 

 ing near when poultry wiU be killed in large 

 numbers for market, large quantities of feath- 

 ers are thrown away which, if taken care of 

 and dried and sacked, could be put away for 

 trimming in the AVinter evenings. Then all 

 the chicken and turkey feathers can be nicely 

 trimmed; that is, take a poir of scissors and 

 trim the plume or down from each side of the 

 stem or ril) of the feather. This down cut off, 

 if put into a bag and kneaded for ten minutes, 

 is eqal to the best soft goose feathers. Try it 

 and make money out of the poultry feathers. 



Weight of Eggs. — The Canndinn Farmer 

 says that after careful examination, it has 

 been ascertained that the average weight of 

 eggs was '22^2 ounces per dozen, the largest 

 ones weighing '28 ounces per dozen, and the 

 smallest one 14 J^ ounces per dozen. I have 

 just had a dozen eggs from my Light Brah- 

 mas that weighed 32 ounces. Can any one 

 beat this? The largest one weighed over 

 three ounces. — i'. W. JS., in jV. W. F. Journal. 



An Old Goose. — William Atwood. of Big 

 Flats, Chemung county, N. Y., has the old 

 goose "Constitution" now in his possession, 

 said to have been hatched in the year 1803. 

 Her feathering is pure white, her weight six- 

 tci^n pounds, and her roihslitiition unimjntired. 



Every man or woman in the land will ad- 

 mit drunkenness to be an evil if they are pos- 

 sessed of good sense, and yet a great many of 

 them close their eyes to the great cause of 

 drunkenness — bar-rooms. 



When a man saves his cigar money to buy 

 his wife a new bonnet, and the children new 

 shoes, it indicates a spell of sunshine. 



Thinking Farmers. 



The opinion stiU lingers in the minds of 

 many of the ignorant that any fool can be a 

 farmer. Once the notion was universal. Any 

 fool can follow a plow by holding on to the 

 tail, and any fool can plant whatever and 

 whenever he sees his neighbor planting. But 

 to call this farming, or such unthinking ani- 

 mal a farmer, is to libel the first and noblest 

 calling of man. The truth is, as the world ia 

 beginning to understand it, it takes as much 

 brains, and brains of as fine quality, to make 

 a first-rate farmer, as it does to make a first- 

 rate specimen of any other business, learned 

 or unlearned. Now we know that none but a 

 man with a cood share of live brains can 

 make a first rate farmer. 



A new era has been inaugurated in the 

 farming world — the era of thinking farmers. 

 The time has gone by when farmers live by 

 main strength and ignorance. The strength 

 is still needed, but it must be directed by 

 thought. Henceforth, farmers will have to 

 use their heads as well as their hands. The 

 old dig and drudge, hap-hazard mode must 

 give place to labor saving machinery, and an 

 intelligent application of the laws of nature to 

 the wants of the farm. 



The first step, and the hardest, is for farm- 

 ers to learn to think. It is always much 

 easier to work than to think. Indeed, it is 

 astonishing how little real thinking is done in 

 this world, in the ordinary course of working 

 Ufe. 



We are not disposed to quarrel with the 

 general results of the system that prevailed 

 under the old regime. Perhaps it was the 

 best that the labor of that time was capable 

 of working. Undoubtedly an immense deal 

 of work was done, as the wealth accumulated 

 was ample proof. But the work was almost 

 exclusively that of man and mule muscles, 

 and not at all the work of brains. But the 

 day of exclusive muscle farming is passed. 

 Henceforth there must be brain work as well. 

 Machinery of all kinds must be called in to 

 save labor. As a consequence, the labor that 

 is used must be more intelligent, better skill- 

 ed. But neither machinery nor improved 

 labor can be introduced or used profitably, or 

 with satisfaction, by unthinking farmers. 

 Henceforth a farmer must not only know how 

 to work himself, but how to direct others. 

 He must be a man of thought as well as of 

 action. Ho must study closely the climate 

 and soil that he has to work in, and the mar- 

 kets that he has to depend on. He must have 

 the relative values and adaptabilities of the 

 various crops and stocks to his farm, and farm 

 with some definite purpose. He must study 

 out and arrange for himself a rotation of crops 

 adapted at once to the steady improvement of 

 his farm and remuneration of himself and his 

 laborers. And when this rotation is decided 

 upon, he needs must keep his thoughts busy 

 about the numberless little details that make 

 up the current work on a farm. He must 

 plan work ahead for all kinds of weather, so 

 that no crop shall suffer for waiting on other 

 work, that there shidl be no conflicting crops; 

 and all the time the farmer must be steadily 

 advancing in knowledge as well as in experi- 

 ence; in judgment as well as practice. The 

 fruits of such a system will be the manifold 

 increase of all the products of the farm, and 

 the elevaticm of the calling of the farmer to 

 its legitimate rank and dignity. 



For the full ripening of these fruits, we 

 must needs deiu'iid on time and the young 

 men. The best of the old fanners can but in- 

 dift'erently and with uitticulty adapt thi'inselves 

 to new ways; while the majority of those who 

 have passed the uuridian of life must, of ne- 

 cessity, contiu\ie as they have begun. But 

 in the young men of the farm we have full 

 faith. They will catch the spirit of the age, 

 and with a force of young blood, will develop 

 the ground wealth of this goodly land beyond 

 the most sanguine dream of any muscle far- 

 mer that ever lived. This is the work set for 

 thinking farmers. — Furai Sun. 



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