THE GENESEE FARMER. 



31 



»■ CAN HENS BEST BE KEPT SO AS TO PEO- 

 CUEE EGKJS m WINTER? 



jiLD a commodious hen house upon some plan, 



that there be a roosting apartment, a phice 

 36(1 ing, with boxes for nests. A good plan is 

 uild in the shape of a parallelogram, with the 



ing place across one end. The central portion 

 be used for feeding, the boxes for nests being 

 :d around the sides of the building, with a 

 I place between them and the wall, that the 



may enter the nests on the back side. Build 

 lOuse either of sLone, wood or other material, 

 ay be thought best ; but let it he warm and 

 ortable in the coldest weather, and so made 



it can be well ventilated. Procure some of 

 arge Asiatic breeds, as I have found, by my 



ience, that they will lay in winter when the 

 non varieties will not, with the same treat- 

 But the person who expects his hens to lay 

 I in summer, after laying all winter, will be 

 pointed. Give them as great a variety of 



as possible, such as corn, buckwheat, oats, 

 y, &c., with pure water, daily. Give them 



meat once or twice a week, or oftener, if 

 juient, with an occasional feed of boiled 

 oes or apples. In short, make their feed as 



as possible what it is in summer, and not 

 t to give them a free supply of oyster shells 

 ded tine, or lime and sand. Mix lime and 



as for plastering a house, let it dry and place 

 : filled with it in one corner of the hen-house, 

 it is surprising how fast it will disappear. — 



will lay some in winter without being to all 

 trouble ; they must have good, comfortable 

 ,ers. There are other advantages from having 

 )d hen-house aside from hens laying in winter. 



or three wagon loads of good home-made 

 0, every year, will soon pay the expense, and 

 to raise corn to feed them. And then, again, 



meat cannot always be procured. They will 

 f they have plenty of corn ; and as this con- 



a large portion of oil or fat, it may perhaps 

 ibstituted for meat to some extent. 

 wfa/ne, N. F., Nov., 1858. C. C. WILSON. 



GEAFTING OLD APPLE ORCHARDS. 



it better to ingraft old apple orchards of an inferior kind, or 

 at new ones of improved varieties ?" 



orchard with trees of the usual size. These are 

 now just beginning to bear; but I believe I have 

 not as yet gathered a bushel from any one tree in 

 this orchard, while from the grafts I have gathered 

 as above stated. The grafts on the old trees are 

 equally thrifty, if not v^ore so., than the young trees, 

 and the apples of as good quality. But renovating 

 tlie tree and regenerating the fruit by gratting, re- 

 quires experience and attention. In the case of 

 large trees, not more than one-third of the top 

 should be grafted in oue season. Hence it would 

 require three years to complete the operation. 



Grafting large trees is also attended with some 

 expense, it is true ; but then it pays. I have set 

 over seventy grafts in one tree. One tree, grafted 

 seven years ago, has a top sulBcient to bear, in good 

 seasons, trom twelve to fifteen bnsbels of apples. 

 It is of the Golden Sueet variety. This, however, 

 is not an unaided result ; it requires some little at- 

 tention — not a large amount, however, if given at 

 the proper time — in preventing the growth of 

 sprouts from the original stock from robbing the 

 grafts of their projjcr nourishment. For want of 

 this trifling care, 1 have known several instances 

 where the grafting of aji old orchard resulted in but 

 little benefit to the owne«'. Proper care, or knowl- 

 edge, and a judicious application of that knowledge, 

 is mdispensable to success in the different callings 

 and occupations of life. d. lott. 



Lctt^lle, Wwr-ren Co., Pa., Dec,, 1S58. 



CULTIVATION OF LIMA BEANS. 



Though it may not be in my power to give you 

 the best method of raising Lima beans, I will fur- 

 nish you with my metliod, which has for several 

 years resulted successfully. 



It is not worth the trouble of trying to raise 

 the beans, unless it can be done on good soil. I 

 prefer a warm gravelly or sandy loarn, which should 

 be tilled deep, worked up v^fy fine and mellow, 

 and mixed with well decomposed manure that may 

 be incorporated with the soil, if possible, two or 

 three feet deep. I take great care to select a place 

 that dries ofi" early, and remains free from standing 

 water or any unnecessary wet after showers. It 

 improves the soil to turn and stir it two or three 

 times during the spring, to assist in getting it warm. 

 Some of my neighbors stir in fresh horse manure 

 because it is warm, but my experience is against 

 fermenting manures in the bean patch. 



For a part of my patch, I start the beans in the 

 hot-bed, on an inverted sod about four inches 

 square. They root well and commence a strong 

 growth in a thick, rich sod. It is very necessary 

 to expose them to the air to get them well tem- 

 pered before planting out. Remove them in the 

 sod to the place prepared for the hills, which should 

 be not less than four feet apart each way, and so 

 made that the whole of the sod, now quite tender, 

 can be placed in, and not on top of tlie ground. — 

 Place one good pole to each hill ; and some times, 

 where the runners are strong, two poles may be 

 used. These I i)refer to put down before the roots 

 get large, and have them well settled so as to stand 

 firm. I have some difficulty in getting the run- 

 ners to cling to the stakes ; but, as it nmst be done, 

 I stick to them until every one has fastened and 

 begun to climb. I find T.inia beans requu-e a great 



