1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



235 



•winter. In this room the hens eat, wallow, j they will be dry and warm and away from dan- 

 sing, cackle, and lay during the day, and at ; ger by hawks and rats. A sunny room in the 



night they go to a smaller underground room 

 where they roost. 



Every morning they have a pail of dough, 

 made of one-third each in bulk of Indian meal, 

 wheat bran and ship stuff" or fine feed. This 

 is generally eaten by noon, when they are fed 

 with a few fresh-boiled potatoes and a small 

 quantity of beef scraps. They have a feeding 

 of corn two or three times a week, and oats 

 and pounded oyster shells are constantly be- 

 fore them. They have plenty of water car- 

 ried to them, warm, once or twice a day. I 

 have had no sick fowls and have fed no pepper 

 or drugs of any kind during the winter. If 

 any of the hens want to sit earlier than is 

 thought advisable I put them in a room by 

 themselves with a rooster. After a few days 

 they commence laying again. 



For their nests I use soap boxes partly 

 filled with sand and covered with fine straw or 

 hay. When I am ready to have them sit, 1 

 move them, in the evening, in their boxes, to 

 a room used solely for a sitting room. If 

 they continue to sit for a day or two on false 



south side of the barn, where it is comfortable 

 without a fire, is a good place. They should 

 have a variety of feed and plenty of fresh 

 water. A good way to give water is in a plate 

 with a bowl inverted in the plate. The bowl 

 prevents them Irom wetting themselves in the 

 water, as they can only get at it with their bills. 



A sod of tender grass or a bone with a little 

 fresh meat on it, will give them very pleasant 

 employment, as often as it is convenient to fur- 

 nish either. During the growing and fatten- 

 ing season I find cracked com, with the fine 

 sifted out, an excellent feed before they are 

 old enough to eat whole corn. If fed dry, 

 they must have plenty of water at all times. 

 Fine meal, if mixed with coarse wheat shorts, 

 is good for a change, especially if wet up with 

 thick milk. 



They ought to have a comfortable place 

 where they will learn to go every night, after 

 they are old enough to take care of themselves, 

 and as soon as old enough, should be put on 

 roosts a few evenings in succession, after which 

 all they will want will be plenty of good feed 



eggs, I put good ones under them in the even- | till large enough for market 



mg. Hens just beginning to sit can be 

 handled much lietter in the evening than in 

 other parts of the day. But after they have 

 been sitting a few days, if the weather is very 

 cold, they maybe taken oflFand fed with warm 

 dough, and after a few minutes exercise, put 

 on the nest again. I keep oats in the sitting 

 room all the time. 



After the eggs have been under the hen 

 nine or ten days, they may be examined in the 

 evening by holding each egg before a bright 

 light, when the unfertile ones may be taken 

 away. They will look light and semi-trans- 

 parent, and never vvill hatch, but are as good 

 for other uses as fresh ones. Those having 

 germs in them will be quite opaque, and ought 

 nearly all to hatch, although the embryo chicks 

 will sometimes die in the egg. 



When the young chickens begin to hatch, 

 the box is taken to another room where thev 

 will not disturb the other sitters. As fast as 

 the chicks are strong enough, they are carefully 

 taken away from the hen and kept in a basket, 

 in a warm room. In a day or two they com 

 menceto pick, when fine cracked corn is given 

 them, in small quantities. By the time they 

 fairly learn to eat they are fed and watered 

 several times a day. I feed very little fine 

 meal dough, as I think it is apt to cause gapes. 

 I feed coarse meal, mixed with sour milk, and 

 give them cheese curd as often as they like it. 

 Chickens thus kept from the hens and well 

 cared for, will have fewer crooked-backs and 

 breast bones and crushed hips, and probably 

 fewer lice. 



When the weather is suitable and the ground 

 is warm, they are allowed to be out of doors 

 in the middle of the day ; but early chickens 

 should be kept indoors most of the time, where 



Children and women can do much of the 

 work of taking care of poultry, as well or bet- 

 ter than men. I am well satisfied that corn 

 and milk fed to poultry last season, paid much 

 better than that fed to swine. And I think 

 large, handsome white Brahmas are quite as 

 desirable stock to show your friends as Suflfolks 

 or White Chesters. A. W. Cheever. 



SheldonviUe, Mass., March, 1868. 



CHEAP LAND IN" MASSACHUSETTS. 



The following letter was written by J. A. 

 Barclay, of North Spencer, Worcester Co., 

 Mass., to the New York Farmers' Club. The 

 facts stated we believe are substantially true 

 of other sections of New England : 



I often read in your reports descriptions of 

 places, accounts of farms and farming lands, 

 the great advantage to be had in some far-off 

 place, where, away from home, from friends, 

 irom all the pleasures and satisfaction to be 

 had in a civilized and enlightened society, in 

 some nook or corner, or in some desolate God- 

 and-man-forsaken place, the great desideratum 

 can be had — cheap land. Did it ever occur to 

 you that land and farms could be had at a very 

 low price in our own happy New England. 

 We often hear of land in the South and West 

 that can be bought for from 12^ cents to $5 

 an acre, and express our wonder and aston- 

 ishment at so small a price. 



Having recently seen farms sold in this vi- 

 cinity, I could not help asking myself the 

 question, what would be the price per acre for 

 the farm after deducting a fair value for the 

 buildings and the cost of the other improve- 

 ments. I know a farm that has been sold for 



