114 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



of the medicaiueuts or nostrums employed. When 

 poultry is properly sheltered and fed, disease will 

 only be the exception to the rule of general health. 

 Want of proper food, irregular feeding, too many 

 occupying a small space, exposure to cold, and 

 more than all these combined, exposure to ivet, are 

 the prolific sources of disease in the poultry-yard. 

 We believe that exposure to wet and cold is the 

 principal cause of loss of the young of all kinds 

 of domestic fowls, including even ducklings. 

 Nearly the whole dismal catalogue of diseases — 

 the pip, or gapes, diarrhoea, indigestion, asthma, 

 fever, consumption, moping, rheumatism, roup 

 and vermin, may be traced to this. We have lost 

 50 chickens in a single storm where wind and 

 rain has found its way to broods which we sup- 

 posed were safe, — and it was 20 years before we 

 discovered a remedy. Now we rarely lose a 

 chicken by disease. After taking young chickens 

 or turkeys from the nest, place them upon a tight 

 scaffold in the barn, and tie the mother there, 

 where they will be kept from wind and rain, and 

 if fed regulai-ly upon a variety of food, they will 

 remain healthy, and grow with wonderful ra- 

 pidity. Keep them in this position until some- 

 time in May, and then if they are placed in 

 coops, do not let them run at large during rainy 

 weather, or while the grass is wet with dew in 

 the morning. Observing these simple rules, there 

 is no difficulty whatever in rearing young turkeys 

 ox chickens. 



1. Protection from loet and cold. 



2. Sufficient room, or range, so that they may 

 not be crowded. 



3. A variety of wholesome food and water, 

 •with access to broken bones, oyster shells, gravel 

 or old mortar. 



4. Perfect cleanliness. 



But turkeys must have a wide range ; to con- 

 fine them would be about as great a departure 

 from nature as to expect the pear from a willow, 

 or a fleece of fine wool upon the back of a calf. 

 Feed the flock of turkeys habitually at night near 

 the buildings, and thus induce them to come to 

 roosts prepared for tiiem in high places, to which 

 they may have convenient access. Cared for in 

 this way, tlie loss will ha trifling, while the profit 

 will usually be larger than from any other item 

 on the farm where the same amount of capital is 

 invested. 



If fed lil)erally as autumn approaches, and con- 

 tinued until market time, there will be no need 

 of shutting them up for fatting ; they will not 

 only become fat enough, but their flesh will be 

 tender, juicy and sweet. These statements grow 

 out of an actual experience of many years in 

 rearing turkeys and other fowls. 



To Prevent Iron from Rusting. — Warm your 

 iron till you cannot bear your hand on it with- 



out pain to yourself. Then rub it with new and 

 clean white wax. Put it again to the fire till it 

 has soaked in the wax. When done, rub it over 

 witli a piece of serge. This prevents the iron 

 from rusting afterwards. — iV. Y. Far. 4" Mech. 



For the New England Farmer. 



LABOR IN STATE ALMSHOUSES. 



Simon Brown, Esq. : — Dear Sir, — Since your 

 election to the State government, I have desired 

 to say a word or two to you in relation to the 

 agricultural department of the new State Alms- 

 houses, the more as I am aware of your experi- 

 ence in all that belongs to the culture of the 

 soil. 



Gov. Gardner, in his message, expresses the 

 proper views in regard to these institutions, espe- 

 cially in what he says of work-shops, and of prac- 

 tising strict economy. 



"Industry and Economy" should be a motto to 

 be engraven on the door-posts of every work- 

 shop, kitchen and bakery, in every pauper estab- 

 lishment in the country. 



To ensure the most economical and productive 

 management requires a very considerable degree 

 of skill on the part of the superintendent, in the 

 adaptation of the crops raised, to tiie wants of 

 the inmates, more than to the demands of a 

 neighboring market, — and at the same time, in 

 addition to this, to provide, in a portion of the 

 agricultural operations, opportunity to employ 

 that kind of light labor which is always to be had 

 in abundance in pauper and reformatory estab- 

 lishments. 



Attention should be given to raising such sta- 

 ple crops as go to make the food of the inmates. 

 Herbs have been found profitable to raise for mar- 

 ket ; most of the labor necessary for their culti- 

 vation can be done by boys, and a whole large 

 crop may be sent to market at one time. 



It has been the custom at some of our city es- 

 tablishments, to engage in market gardening, 

 sending quantities of green produce to our mar- 

 kets, in daily competition with our neighboring 

 farmers. This is not good management, because 

 this class of produce requires the hiring of skilled 

 laborers, while some of the inmates, who might 

 have been employed on coarse or staple crops, 

 are compelled to remain compai-atively idle. 



I am aware that there must be shops for the 

 picking of oakum, hair, &c., to furnish employ- 

 ment for the winter, and for those who are par- 

 tially disabled, but for the health of those in the 

 establishment, as much out-door labor as .possible 

 should be done. 



These institutitions should be conducted so as to 

 save the expenditure of money in every jjraetica- 

 ble manner. No money should be paid out for 

 staple crops which can be raised in Massachu- 

 setts. 



In the management of institutions of this class, 

 much can be saved, by a careful supervision of 

 the matron over the store-rooms from which tlio 

 clothing and provisions are given out, — sometimes 

 these departments leak in such a way as to make 

 the expense of their support unnecessarily in- 

 creased — but this does not come within the sub- 

 ject Ave are considering. 

 I I am very respectfully, yours, &c., 



Cambridge, Januari/ 30, 1S55. G. 



