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California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



Not Eemakkablb. — A Massachusetts 

 farmer says: "My cattle -will follow me 

 until I leave the lot, and on the way up 

 to the barn-yard in the evening stop and 

 call for a lock of hay." Smithson says 

 there is nothing at all remarkable in that. 

 He went into a barn-yard in the country 

 one day last week, where he had not the 

 slightest acquaintance with the cattle, 

 and the old bull not only followed him 

 until he left the lot, but took the gate off 

 the hinges, and raced with him to the 

 house iu the most familiar manner possi- 

 ble. Smithson says he has no doubt that 

 the old fellow would have called for 

 something if he had waited a littJe while, 

 but he didn't want to keep the folks wait- 

 ing for dinner, so he hung one tail of his 

 coat and a piece of his pants on the bull's 

 horns and went into the house. 



Bunches in the Backs of Cattle. — A 

 correspondent of the Maine Fiirmer says: 

 Bunches in the backs of cattle are caused 

 by thebot, or gad-fly, wslrus bovis. They 

 may be peevented liy procuring three 

 ounces of pure carbolic acid, which can 

 be obtained at any apothecary's, and di- 

 luting with one gallon of water; shake 

 well^and place in a jug. keeping it closely 

 stopped, and apply daily with a swab to 

 the backs and sides of the young stock. 

 Apply after the flrstof July, as it is about 

 that time that the gad-fly apjieara. 

 *-•-»■ 



In stock breeding no real advances have 

 ever beeu made except by in-and-in 

 breeding. The famous Vermont Merino 

 sheep were produced in that way, and it 

 is said that .all the successful breeders of 

 sheep in Australia have pursued the same 

 course, and with the best results. While 

 those imbued with the idea that stock de- 

 teriorated under close breeding and have 

 spent much money to prevent it, have al- 

 most without exception ruined their 

 flocks. No strain can become fixed ex- 

 cejjt by close breeding. 



"Too Poor to Take a Paper." 



Moore, of the Rural New Yarlier, was 

 sitting in his office one afternoon some 

 years ago, when a farmer friend came in 

 and said: 



"Mr. Moore, I like your paper, but 

 times are so hard I cannot jiay for it." 



" Is that so, friend Jones? I'm very 

 sorry to hear that you are so poor; if 

 you are so hard run I will give you my 

 paper." 



" O, no, I can't take it as a gift." 



" Well, then, let's see how we can fix it. 

 You raise chickens, I believe?" 



" Yes, a few; but they don't bring any- 

 thing hardly." 



" l)on't they ? Neither does my paper 

 cost anything, hardly. Now, I have a pro- 

 jjosition to make to you. I will continue 

 your paper, and when you go home you 

 may select from your lot one chicken 

 and call hor mine. Take good care of her 

 and bring me the proceeds, whether in 

 eggs or chickens, and we will call it 

 square." 



"All right, brother Moore," and the 

 fellow chuckled at what he thought a 

 capital bargain. He kei>t the contract 

 strictly, and at the end of the year found 

 that he h'ld paid about four prices for his 

 jiaper. He often tolls the joke himself, 

 and he never has had the face (o say he 

 was too poor to take a jiajier since that 

 day. 



Tlio qui'Klion of reveniic must novor stand 

 iu the way of uuudod reform. 



How to Keep Poultry. 



CORRESPONDENT, who, by long 

 experience and continued success, 

 knows whereof he speaks, sends the 

 Rural Press the following on this 

 subject: 



The health of our chickens has always 

 been in accordance with the house we 

 gave them. Roup, pip, and other dis- 

 eases have frequently i)ut in an appear- 

 ance, but by giving them plenty of vege- 

 table diet and sulphur, they soon disap- 

 peared. Were the houses and yards are 

 kept free from dirt and filth, there has 

 never been any material loss; hence, this 

 is the most important consideration. We 

 make the houses tight np to within three 

 feet of the eaves, and the balance is slat- 

 ted. Roosting poles are placed from 

 three to four feet apart, equal distance 

 from the ground, so there will be no soil- 

 ing of each other's feathers. The walls, 

 outside and in, are whitewashed twice a 

 year. Roosting poles and nest boxes are 

 scrubbed with lye frequently, to destroy 

 insects. If this" is not found suflicii-nt, 

 fumigation with sulphur and tobacco is 

 resorted to, which is certain death to all 

 lurking insects and vermin. 



A very important item is clear water, 

 and an abundance of it. If a running 

 stream can be provided, so mnch the bet- 

 ter. The next thing is to provide a good 

 wallowing place, and for this there is 

 nothing better than dust gathered uj) in 

 the road. Never keep more than fifty 

 fowls in one enclosure. Give an occa- 

 sional feed of meat. There is money iu 

 the poultry business, but not without 

 labor and attention. 



Lice on Fowls. — There are such a 

 number of recipes for killing lice on hens 

 that it is difficult to determine which is 

 best. We use only one thing, and that 

 is sulphur, and in the following manner: 

 Whenever a hen takes a nest for sitting, 

 fresh, clean hay is put under the eggs, 

 and one tablespoonful of sulphur scat- 

 tered over it. This will sift in among the 

 hay, and the warmth of the hen will be 

 just sufficient to cause slight fumes to 

 arise and kill all the vermin which may 

 be on the hen or in the nest. We have 

 practiced this plan for the past twelve 

 years, and neither a lou.sy cliicken nor 

 mother has ever been seen iu our yard 

 during the time named. 



This is our preventive for lice on young 

 chickens' Every spring we have our 

 poultry house and roosts thoroughly 

 cleaned and whitewashed inside, and then 

 Bcattej flour of sulphur in every crack 

 and corner and liberally over the floor. 

 Du this and repeat it in the autumn, and 

 we will venture to say that you will have 

 no vermin on your fowls. 



To kill the lice on tlio old fowls imme- 

 diately, mix a little sulphur iu lard and 

 grease their heads with the compound, 

 and put a little under oa(^ll wing. 



Sulphur is death to all kinds of lice, 

 and not at all injurious to higher animals. 



If scattered i)lontifully about barns and 

 other out-buildings, it will destroy many 

 kinds of vermin besides hen lice. Wo 

 have had no "pip" among our chickens 

 since wo commenced the sulphur treat- 

 ment. — Rural Nen^ Yorker. 



A MoDEii Hen Farm.— Of a hen farm 

 near Marietta, Ga., the Atlanta Herald 



says: Laubere keeps his fowls in flocks of 

 fifty. With these fifty hens are four 

 cocks. To each flock of fifty he gives 

 one acre of grain; i. e., he allows them 

 the run of one-half acre this year and the 

 other half next year, cultivating the un- 

 occupied half acre every year. The farm, 

 with its 800 occupants, occupies sixteen 

 acres. Half of this is all the time under 

 cultivation, so that only eight acres are 

 really detracted from agricultural pur- 

 poses. The farm lies pretty level, and is 

 a beautiful sight; its regular succession of 

 fences, its alternation of cultivated spots, 

 its scores of shade and fruit trees, its 

 hundreds of crowing cocks and clucking, 

 matronly hens, make a picture worth go- 

 ing to see. 



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There is an egg on exhibition at Gog- 

 gings drug store, opposite the plaza, that 

 defies the genus of the hen kingdom, and 

 completely sets at naught all former ef- 

 forts of the genus hen to ijroduce odities 

 in their line. This egg has a moveal)le 

 lidat its apex, one-half inch in diameter, 

 leaving an opening in the shell of the 

 same dimensions, from which its contents 

 was poured. The egg itself measures six 

 and a half by seven and a half, and is the 

 effort of a young Black Spanish fowl. — 



S. V. Ag. 



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Brahma vs. Black Spanish Hens. — A 

 correspondent of the Country GeuUmau: 

 I have had as much experience with Brah- 

 mas and Spanish as any other variety, and 

 I am confident that I can keep twenty 

 Brahmas one year in good flesh with the 

 same quantity of food that is required for 

 twenty Spanish. Brahma chicks will at- 

 tain a weight of six pounds each in the 

 same length of time that a Spanish chick 

 will attain four jjounds. I can get as 

 great a number of eggs in a year from 

 ten Brahmas as I can from ten Spanish. 



f0itmc. 



Breeding Better Pigs. 



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E are glad to hav& a question from 

 "a working man," as to how, with- 



, ,,r, out going into new-fangled l>reeds, 

 V'/^-i he can make the best of his pig- 

 ^ i styes, because, while the sneer at 

 "new-fangled breeds" is a mistake, we 

 hope wherever an interest in such things 

 is felt, to Vie able to do some good iu 

 helping our readers to make more money 

 out of what they keep, without the great 

 expense many of them are so afr.aid of. 

 And much may be done by any working 

 man in pig breeding, if he will only use 

 common sense. 



Suppose, then, your present breeding 

 sow is in pig — if she is not, you will of 

 course put her to the best boar you can 

 get — but we take her as she is, and her 

 litter as it is, or is to be by-aud-bye. The 

 first thing you have to do is to watch that 

 litter, esjiecially the females. You will 

 find a ditference; some are more good-na- 

 tured than the rest, and get on better on 

 that account; all seems to come kindly to 

 them. There will also be a difference in 

 form, ono cariying more flesh tkan an- 

 other and of liner quality — not on ac- 

 count of a long, flabby belly, but because 

 she is broad in the back and loins, has 

 more barrel for her head and legs and so 

 on. It is not rare to see one or two of a 

 litter clearly ahead of the others. Now 

 this good humor, tliis ample barrel, tliis 

 greater quantity of good pork to ullal, 

 mark out such as your stock sows for the 



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