112 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



the occidental Pactolus. in ■which exotics are usu- 

 ally planted,) not readily found in any other ge- 

 ological district ! His botanical initials are B. 

 B. When he first began to write for the Fanner 

 I supposed him to be a spurious French — an in- 

 ferior species of the genus that had been falsely 

 labelled — but I am now convinced of my error, 

 and feel satisfied that he is a regular — "Yankee 

 doodle dandy." 



New England is not so grave as formerly. The 

 bustle and business of her great cities and ex- 

 panding villages, together with more wisdom, 

 have dissipated her "physiognomy of grace." She 

 now looks with a smiling face upon her embel- 

 lished farms and industrious workshops, rather 

 than with a sad one into her churches. She has 

 become as independent, if not more so, than any 

 other section of the Union, and her stability is 

 not likely to be disturbed. Read the following ex- 

 tract from a speech of Hon. Tristam Burgess, de- 

 livered in Congress in the times of southern nul- 

 lification, when much sectional feeling was exhib- 

 ited against the north respecting a protective tar- 

 iff. Read it. New England men, and if you 

 eannot heartily respond to it, search for some- 

 thing more sublime elsewhere in the English 

 language. 



"O no — place New England in a region of 

 rock, without earth or water, our labor shall drill 

 the solid stone, and like the staff of the Prophet, 

 let out the gushing stream. Our perseverance 

 shall beat the flint into small dust, and cover the 

 whole surface with soil The dews and the rain, 

 and the sunshine of Heaven, the only creatures 

 of God left by you in amity with us, shall give to 

 our new earth moisture and fertility ; and time, 

 and labor, and God's blessing, shall cover the 

 whole region with verdure." D. "W. L. 



W. Medford, Jan., 1859. 



For the New England Farmer. 



DISEASED HENS—IiOW ROOSTS, 



Mk. Editor : — I notice a communication in 

 your January number, from C. T. Paine, respect- 

 ing diseased hens, and with your permission, I 

 will give what I think the main cause of it is // 

 is in the constnidion of the roost. I was former- 

 ly troubled in the same way, and it was some- 

 time before I discovered a remedy. My roosting 

 room is 12 feet square, and 8 feet high in the 

 clear. My roosts were formerly constructed like 

 ladders, two of them, say 7 feet wide, placed lean- 

 ing against each other, at an angle of 45°, the 

 rounds or roosts 2 feet apart, the top one being 

 7 feet from the floor. I noticed that the hen was 

 never satisfied unless she could place herself on 

 the topmost round, this being the height of her 

 ambition. In the morning, instead of jumping 

 to the next roost below, and so on, in order to 

 get down, she would almost invariably jump the 

 whole 7 feet, hitting herself against the building, 

 or striking hard upon the floor. Some of the 

 oldest and fattest hens would at times not come 

 down all day, for fear of hurting themselves, and 

 occasionally I found eggs broken, and soft eggs 

 under the roost dropt from these fowls. I some 

 times took them down from the roost by hand 

 that they might eat, or I believe they would have 

 remained on the roost until compelled by hunger 



to come down. I accordingly had the roost al- 

 tered, the top one not over 4 feet from the floor, 

 and the hens then came down in the morning 

 without diflSculty. Since that time, I have not 

 been troubled with diseased fowls, or eggs brok- 

 en under the roost. 



Should a hen lay soft shelled eggs, put chalk, 

 refuse lime, pounded bones or shells within her 

 reach, and you will have no more of it. 



I also find another bad feature among persons 

 who keep fowls, which I think brings on disease. 

 It is in allowing too many cocks to run with the 

 hens. Many cocks are large and heavy, and they 

 not only worry the hens badly, but frequently 

 break them down, and cripple them. I have seen 

 them with their spines so badly hurt, as to lose 

 the entire use of their legs from this cause. In 

 no case should there be m.ore than one cock to 

 eight hens. I have at this time but one to twenty 

 hens, and I find an increased supply of eggs in 

 consequence of it, but in the breeding season, 

 keep more. My rule for some years being, to 

 purchase the best cock I can find in the spring, 

 never using one raised by myself as a breeder, 

 and never keep a hen over one, or at most, two 

 winters. By adopting this plan, and giving them 

 plenty, and a variety to eat, with care and clean- 

 liness, I am never without good poultry, ana 

 plenty of eggs, and the case is rare with a dis- 

 eased hen, and a soft-shelled egg. 



Canton, Jan., 1859. Low Roost. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 SHAPE OP SLEIGH BUNNERS. 



Nearly all our sleighs are made with one de- 

 fect. The hind part of the runner should slant 

 upward to correspond to the forward part. The 

 cast iron sled shoes used on the heavy Boston 

 sleds are shaped right in this respect. They are 

 alike at each end. 



Whenever a sleigh, whose runners are straight 

 clear out, goes over a hollow place in the road, 

 the runner at the extremity ads in, sometimes 

 into the hardest road ; because, perhaps, nearly 

 the whole load presses down upon an abrupt cor- 

 ner. Now, if the runner were bent up, instead 

 of cutting in, as so often noticed, thereby greatly 

 increasing the draft, as well as jarring unpleas- 

 antly the occupants of the vehicle, it would glide 

 smoothly along, and go through the cradle holes 

 without cutting them deeper. w. D. B. 



Concord, Mass. 



Every Inch of rain falling in the course of a 

 year, is equal to a weight of rather more than 

 100 tons of water per each imperial acre. The 

 mean annual quantity of rain in Detroit, is 

 28.300 inches ; equal to nearly 2,900 tons of wa- 

 ter falling annually on each acre of land. At 

 Dearbornville Arsenal, Mich., the mean annual 

 rain is only 21.610, the smallest quantity, or the 

 dryest place, given in the Army Meteorological 

 Register, for the whole United States. The high- 

 est mean or wettest place is West Point, N. Y., 

 where 64.670 inches of rain is the annual mean 

 quantity, equal to 6,467 tons of water on each 

 acre. — Farmer's Companion. 



