1885. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



CONDENSED POULTRY NOTES- 



Long iicrks sliow inferiority. 



Fowls dou't pay stingy feeders. 



Spare some wlieat for baekuaril chicks. 



Give soft food in the inorniii}^. liard at nijfht. 



In France inoval>le i>ouItry houses are popular. 



Hen manure when dry loses httle strenj^th with 

 a^e, 



Pick out the l)est cockerels for stock, market tlie 

 othei"s. 



Small potatoes niay he turned into larj^e ej^j^s, by 

 feeding- 

 Delay is especially dangerous, when ai>plied to 

 puttint^ coops in order. 



In our 3'ard we notice the cocks displa.^■ the ego- 

 tism, the liens the eggs. 



Don't go into the winter with a flock of fine fowls, 

 and a miserable cold house. 



Air-slacked lime is a simple and elticient deodor- 

 izei- about the hen house. Use it frequently. 



Closeness of the poultry 

 hovise is important in winter, 

 but it must not be at the ex- 

 pense of good ventilation. 



Where lime in every other 

 forui is unavailable for fowls, 

 bone-dust or even pulverized 

 chalk mixed with the food will 

 answer. 



The product of one hen for 

 a slKirt time will pay for Pop- 

 ixAR Gardening for a year. 

 Really, at such a price you 

 cannot afford to be without it. 

 Suppose you subscribe now, 

 while the thought is on your 

 mind. 



To be a raiser of fancy poul- 

 ti-y. there is one thing more im- 

 portant than some others to lie 

 <lone. and that is. that j-ou look 

 to their wants yoursei/ every 

 day without fail. Fix this fact 

 in your mind if you go no fur- 

 ther. 



In keeping geese, fall is a 

 good time to buy. The com- 

 pact birds are the best; even 

 the neck should not be long. 

 A chief point when buying is 

 to note the size of the abdomi- 

 nal pouch, for the larger it is 

 the less is the value, because 

 the gi'eater is the age of the 

 bird. 



A chicken louse is a minute 

 affair, but multitudes together 

 are enough to cause failure in 

 any poultry growing venture. 

 We read in Our Countrif Home 

 lately, how a hen that seemed 

 to be dying with lice, was '^ 



caught, sprinkled with Persian 

 insect powder, and rolled into 

 a newsjiaper for HO minutes. 

 When shook out there was a 

 full t^^aspoouful of these red 

 coop lice, gorged with the hen's blood 

 a lousey hen looks pale. 



Poultry in Russia. Poultry breeding is univer- 

 sal, and a very important adjunct to peasant life; 

 statistics are not to be had, tiiough the product is 

 valued at 75,OO0.OiX) dollars. The people are great 

 egg consumers, besides j'early exporting more than 

 KK1.00(J,000. The millions of large eggs and poultry 

 coming to St. Petersburg are mostly from beyond 

 Moscow. Estimates based on the annual egg pro- 

 duction indicate the existence of 52,800,000 chickens. 

 —Orloff. 



Mr. Lang, the Cove Dale, Ky., poultrj- grower, 

 recommends a good device for catching the drop- 

 ings from roosts. It consists of a V shaped trough, 

 but with only one end piece. This is made of two 14 

 inch wide boards, the length of the perch, nailed to- 

 gether. One of these troughs sprinkled on the in- 

 side with a little dirt and lime is hung under each 

 pole. Every morning or everj- second one it is emp- 

 tied of its contents into a barrel and replaced. 

 Cheap, simple and cleanly. 



To keep large tlocks of poultry free from lice, 

 the following method, according to the Poultry 

 Monthly, is adopted by not a few extensive breed- 

 ers. With a gallon of crude petroleum and a 

 spraymg bellows, or a brush if you have nothing 

 better, saturate everj' part of the inside of the 

 houses. This will rid them of every vestige of lice, 



large or suuill, and as the small ones mostly leave 

 the fowls in the nu)rning, it will soon kill all. A 

 touch of lard oil and kerosene, half and half, under 

 the wings will kill any large lice. Hut every per- 

 son who has many fowls should have a sjiraying 

 apparatus, and with this, spray the house once a 

 month with kcroseru' frnulsion. This can be quickly 

 done at niglil, wlieii tbr fowls are at roost. 



Preparing Poultry for Market. The prices one 

 can coiiimand depend laiKfly on how the billing 

 and preparation is done. The birds should be fat 

 and have empty crops. No one is liable to be de- 

 ceived into jiaying the price of poultry for the little 

 corn that may be in the crop, while its presence 

 may prejudice good customers against buying. 

 Don't catch the bii-ds liy running them down, and 

 then after chopping off their heads allow them to 

 "tlop'"about violently, to bruise and disfigure them- 

 selves. Catch (juietly; hold each liird (iriul>' and 

 tie the wings and legs, and hang them alive one 

 after another on a pole. When a few are thus sus- 

 pended, take a sharp knife and sever the head of 

 each fowl closely, letting them hang afterwai'ds 



threi' Ut three and a half feet apart and twelve tt^ 

 eighteen inches in the rf)ws. I cultivate with a horse 

 when 1 lind the hoe is too tedious. Such a distance 

 between the ro«s atToi;*l*«-H»itu»tilent space for the 

 coops of hens with, tlii-irlDroOds. ""Yhti-iJlants make 

 excellent shade aufl Up- occasitMKiJ i,idliv;ni4.'U gives 

 the chicks fresh w^i^ih t»j enjoy themsehxs in. 

 When the seeds jV* ^"'^'^"'''Vly ripmed f.jr fo<)U, 1 

 bend the stalks o^tlu* smaller/ J'njads over; so tftv 

 (lowers will hang ih^x^T Uvelve ificljeH'/rotii Jht*. 

 gruunil. Tliis allows nu.'Cliiwks and fowls ti»dot heir I 

 own harvesting of these; but leaves Uie larger ones' 

 to'i'i]H'n fidly. when thi-y may begalbered treshod 

 with a Hail, run through the fanning luUl^.auil kept 

 for future u.se. No other food will at al! compare 

 with them to pi'<.dii<-e eggs or to give a tine glossy 

 plumage. 



No wonder 



THE AMERICAN TURKEY. [See Opposite page.] 



until all the blood is out of them. If the fowls are 

 to be shipped, plucking the feathers should be done 

 di-y, conunencing at once while the body is still 

 warm. Pidl a few at a time, the way the featheis 

 lay and they will come easily. Let the birds hang 

 until cold, when they should be wiped with a damp 

 cloth. For marketing near home, the fowls may be 

 more easily cleaned of feathers by first dipping in 

 scalding water, for not over five seconds. By this 

 course they will not keep so well, but will look 

 plumper, because of the skin shrinking slightly. 

 The fat on the surface is also melted, perhaps by 

 this jjrocess, for by it the birds take on a clean, 

 yellow look, wln'ch is attractive. 



The Sunflower for Poultry. This stately, if 

 somewhat coarse looking plant, has some claims on 

 the attention of those who keep poultry, aside of 

 its use for ornament, in the value of the seed for 

 feeding. The (juick growth of the plants, and the 

 ample shade they soon afford if planted where fowls 

 assemble, is also an argument in their favor. An 

 enthusiastic grower of the plant in coimection \\ ith 

 poultry keeping, thus speaks of it in the September 

 Poultry Journnl: 



As a sha<le for fowls and growing chicks the plants 

 are unequaled; the birds preferring them to corn- 

 field, shrubbery or artificial shades of any kind. 

 Again a given quantitj-of gi'ound will produce more 

 bushels of sunHower seed than of corn, and it iscer- 

 taiuly superior as poultry foo*,!. I plant it in rows 



ABOUT THE PLACE. 



Plan to have an ice hou.se. 

 Leaves make good stable l)edding. 

 Granulated sugar is the l»esi bee food. 



A smooth animal coat indi- 

 cates health. 



House all tools, stakes and 

 portable trellise. 



Extracted honey keej.sthe 



best in open vessels. 



In selling honey, a neat ap- 

 l)earance is one half. 

 \r Let neatness adorn all parts 

 of the home grounds. 



Eye may yet be sown for 

 early spring cow feed. 



In building stables, make 

 sure of the future comfort of 

 the animals. 



Posts or stakes, with their 



gi'ound ends charred, and dip- 

 ped in boiling coal tar. will be 

 more lasting than if not so 

 treat, -d. 



For calves and yearling 

 cows, bran and oat meal are 

 t he best gra in food . These 

 should be treated for keeping 

 thrifty without forcing. 



Bees, to be wintered on the 

 stands, either in chaff, hives or 

 in packing, need little care 

 after this, beyond seeing that 

 the entrance is kept clear of ice 

 or snow. 



Pasture lots need manuring 

 as well as any other land from 

 which crops are taken. This 

 is the best month to apply top 

 dressings to these. The manure 

 should be old and fine; if fresh 

 it will not have so good effect, 

 l)esides this will render the 

 gr'ass distasteful to the animals 

 ~=^^^T:^^^ when next turned out. 



'''■^ Fattening of swine or any 



<tther animals should now be 

 jjushed. The farther the mat- 

 ter is deferred into cold weath- 

 er, the greater will be the consumption of feed 'to 

 secure the same gains. The cooler weather does 

 not yet make great draughts on the feeding to 

 secure additional animal warmth, while it does 

 stimulate the ai^iietite, 



Late Pasturing. Now when the frosts affect the 

 gi-ass unfavorably for feed, is a tiying time for 

 milch cows or other animals, unless foddering in 

 addition to pasture is freely practiced. Without 

 this the cows are apt to fall away rapidly, and may 

 meet a condition not fitting them for wintering 

 well, or even disease l>e contracted. The wise 

 course is to be on the alert with careful, systematic 

 feeding, according to the actual needs of the case. 

 But to feed carefnily, anil then neglect proper 

 sheltei- from chilly or wet fall weather, would not 

 be wise. Shelter shoidd accompany the feeding. 



Swarms <»f bees to be wintered in the cellar should 

 be taken in during this month. Thej- should be dis- 

 turbed as little as possible in the moving. Once in 

 jilace, the covei" sliouM be taken olT the hive and a 

 piece of carpet ov other coarse clitth. that will admit 

 ofthcescapeofmoisture.be thrown over instead. 

 If the cellar be dark, well ventilated, and of a tem- 

 perature within live degrees above or below 42* 

 Fahrenheit, the bees will need ver>- little care until 

 April. So long as they are ipiiet they are all right. 

 if ivstle.ss and loud bu//ing proceeds from the hive, 

 allowing them to Hy *ni the fii-sl warm, pleasant day 

 is desirable. 



