1878. 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



95 



liim whatever yon please lie will not. leave you in 

 Jilliiulty. 4. "Olieerve your liorsc when lie is ilrink- 

 iiii; at a lirook. 11' in lirinyins liowii his lieaJ he re- 

 nuiiiis s(|uarc, williout henJin!; his linilie, he pos- 

 sesses stcrlini; qualilies, and ali parts of liis hoily are 

 liuilt syninietrieally. .1. Four tliinL's he must have 

 liroaii — front, chest, loins ami liinl>s ; I'our Ihin^rs 

 loiii; — neck, chest, forearm ami croup; four things 

 sliurt — pasterns, back, cars ami tail. 



The Perfect Sheep-Dog. 



The I^omlon Fanciers* Jottrnal gives the following 

 description of the Scotch coUey titled to win a prize 

 in a first-rate English dog-show : "The head has a 

 great rescmblauee to the wolf's — bfing rattier coni- 

 cal, and going otV gradually sharp to tlic nose, with 

 a long jaw — only hinger, and witli a foxy and intel- 

 h^a'iit look, ami wider and longer ears, which are a 

 little feat tiered and pendant; eyes have a sort of 

 flashing 'miss-nothing' look, always on the alert; 

 ■ jaw long; nose sharp: neck long, and well furnished 

 witli apron ami rutllc ; sliouldcrs tine and deep; 

 ehest well let down ; legs straight and lull of muscle, 

 with cat-like feet. A good, broad back, thick over 

 the loins, w ith well-bent hocks; stifles well develoiied; 

 tail feat tiered and not carried over the back; coat 

 long and straight, wiry to the Icnich, with a pily coat 

 underneath the 'overcoat.' Color various ; that most 

 in vogue is blaek-and-tan — the tan Jiale, not rich. 

 This is the present fashionable sheep-dog." 



Success in Breeding Fine Stock. 

 It is folly for a man to think of beeoining a suc- 

 cessful breeder of live stock unless he takes a pride 

 in the business and likes the stock he is raisina:. To 

 he successful he must lieconie enamored with the 

 business. lie must feel nearly the same interest in 

 his stock that he does in the members of his family. 

 He must always have a kind word for them, and 

 feel a lively interest in their comfort and well-lieiug. 

 lie must provide for their wants, jiet them, cultivate 

 an acquaintance with them. He must be ambitious 

 to excel in raising the very best specimens, and hence 

 must procure the choicest animals as breeders. He 

 must have his business "on the brain," give it his 

 chief attention, study how to excel in it, post himSelf 

 in regard to it by taking the best papers devoted to 

 it. H' he will no this his future as a breeder is bright 

 and promising. — C'ubnan^s Rural World, 



Curing a Sick Hog. 

 While on a visit to an old farmer's in Mass.a- 

 chusetts, a fattening pig was taken violently sick 

 from no explainable cause. Some soft, rotten logs 

 or chunks of wood were at once olitaincd and placed 

 within reach, of which he ate most ravenously, his 

 owner assuring nie that he had no doubt as to its 

 effecting a cure, which it did in the course of a few 

 hours. I asked for the theory of this strange prac- 

 tice, to which he lauirhingly replied th.at some tilings 

 were too deep for science to fathom, but that he ac- 

 counted for it as a craving need of the originally 

 wild nature of the hog, which domestication does not 

 root out . 



The Keep of a Horse. 



In various stables where powerful dray horses are 

 kept, the food given being hay, straw, oats, corn, 

 beans, bran in varying jiroportions, the ration at the 

 Lancashire and Yorkshire Railroad Company is 11 

 pounds hay, 16 pounds grain. The Municipal (iuard 

 of Paris allows each horse 11 pounds of hay and 8 

 pounds of oats daily, with 11 pounds of straw daily 

 for litter. The forage ration of the United States 

 cavalry horse in IWill was 14 pounds of hay and V2 

 pounds of oats, corn or barley ; 100 pounds of straw 

 monthly being allowed for bedding. Tlie mule ration 

 is 14 pounds of hay and 9 pounds of grain. 



Number of Stock. 

 A farm in high condition and kept so will support 

 twice as much stock as auollier in good condition. 

 The general rule on farms devotecl to sheep hus- 

 bandry exclusively, is three sheep to an acre of cleared 

 land ; in mixed husbandry two shecj) to every such 

 acre, and in grain farming one sheep to every acre of 

 cleared land. A horse is estimated to eat as much 

 grass as eight sheep, and a cow as much as eight or 

 ten sheep (no grain considered). These are averages 

 only, both of animals and land, and fine wool sheep 

 are understood, the coarse wools requiring more feed. 



If Cows are Kept 



In a half-starved condition they yield but little if any 

 milk, and this of poor quality. The food they get 

 under these eircumstanees may not even he suflicient 

 to meet the more immediate requirements of the 

 body, so that little, if any, is available for milk. 

 Not only is there no profit gained by keeping cows 

 under these circumstances, but the food thus con- 

 sumed may be said to be wasted, since, if given to 

 fewer cows, it might yield a proper quantity and 

 quality of milk. 



POULTRY. 



Onions for Poultry. 



In ISOO I joim d my husband down in .Southweslern 

 Virginia, and was there during the war. and I was 

 engaged in raising poultry. I went to the clilckcn- 

 housc one morninir for eggs, and when I came out 

 had to make a complete eliange of apparel. I recol- 

 lect of readiim- in the Cnuulnj (,'iiitlii,i(iii tha.1 the 

 feeding of oniims to poultry wonlil exterminate 

 poultry lice. It t>egan atonee iiy cliopping the onions 

 fine, and niixiui; with cornmeal and liot watir. 

 After standing a short time it was fed to the poultry, 

 and in less than lliree weeks the little pests had en- 

 tirely disappcMr.d. I used to take onion tojis and 

 cut them up line ami mix with the meal, wetting it 

 with sour milk, or clabber (when I had it), to feed 

 to the chickens one or two days in a week, until they 

 were large enough to eat grain or small corn. 



I never lost a chicken with the gapes during the 

 five years I was there. I asked a Yankee refugee 

 from the border in what way lice on chiekens caused 

 the gapes. He said it weakened tlioin so that they 

 could not sneeze and throw out the worms. The 

 feeding of onions will not cure the gapes, but is a 

 preventive. My neighbors would say that liccau.se I 

 was in a new place was why I had such good luck in 

 raising chickens. I told them about feeding the 

 onions, and tliey found them very good. I told them 

 I should lose many of my early chickens, just as 

 they did, if I Ibllowed their example, in giving 

 twenty-two chickens to one hen the first of April. 

 There would he half a dozen or more little chickens 

 on the outside of the hen that her feathers coulil not 

 cover, in a cold, frosty morning. Three feedings a 

 week in the spring and a part of the summer is 

 sufficient. I seldom fed the onions in fall or winter. 

 One of your correspondents thought the eggs w(mld 

 taste of the onions but they do not. I have noticed 

 their flavor in butter early in the spring, when the 

 cows (down .South) ate leeks, which were more for- 

 ward than the grass, but there is not a particle of 

 this taste in the eggs from the hens eating the onions. 

 My neighbors have had the same good results in 

 feeding onions. — Correspondciit Country (Icnllt'inan. 



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Number of Eggs that a Hen Can Lay. 



\Vc copy the following item, which has been, for a 

 long time, going the rounds of the agricultural press, 

 showing how little scientific attention has been ordi- 

 narily bestowed upon the subject of poultry-keeping: 

 "It has been ascertained that the ovarium of a 

 fowl is composed of 600 ovules or eggs ; therefore a 

 hen, during the whole of her life, cannot possibly 

 lay more than 600 eggs, which, in the natural course, 

 are distributed over nine years, in the following pro- 

 portion : 



First year after birth 16 to 20 



Second do 100 to 120 



Third do 120 to 135 



Fourtb do 100 to 115 



Fifth do 60 to Stl 



Sixth do PO to 60 



Seventh do a.") to 40 



Eiglh do 18 to '20 



Niuih do 1 to 10 



It follows that it would not be profitable to keep 

 hens after their fourth year, as their produce will 

 not pay for their keeping, except when they are of a 

 valuable and scarce breed." 



To begin with, we may doubt the possibility .of 

 making any accurate count of the number of ovisacs 

 in the ovaries, or of aflirining that no new ones m;ike 

 their appearance out of minute germs or cells in the 

 course of the life of the hen. 



In the next place, such a limitation must have 

 reference to the actual constitution of the fowl, and 

 this either in its wild or tame condition. If to the 

 former, the number of ovisacs, even if definitely as- 

 certained, can have no connection whatever with the 

 real habit of the hen, since she laye in a wild slate 

 only as many eggs as she can cover ; if to the tame 

 fowl, it is strange to find so definite a rule laid down 

 for an animal tliat is, in the highest degree, of an 

 artificial character, and whose nature is, in so many 

 points, constantly being remade. — Poultry World. 



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Feeding for Eggs. 

 For the production of eggs the food should contain 

 an ample supply of those ingredients that make up 

 the egg. An averaire egg weighs about 1,000 grains, 

 divided as follows : Shell 107, while 604, of yolk'^TO. 

 The shell is composed of it7 per centum eartjonate of 

 lime, one per centum of phosphate of lime and mag- 

 nesia, and two per centum albumen ; the yolk of Mi 

 per centum w.ater, 28.6 per centum yellow oil, and 

 17.4 per centum albumen ; and the while, .S.") per 

 centum water, 2.7 per centum mucus, 0.:! per centum 

 salts and 12 per centum altiumen- Therefore a food 

 containing albuminoids and fat should be employed. 

 The natiiral food of the fowl consists of insects, 

 seeds, vegetable matter, etc. Therefore there should 

 be a variety of grains, animal matter in the form of 

 scraps of nieat, etc., or, as has been practiced, finely 

 cut and steamed clover hay. There sliould be great 

 varietv at all times, and Indian meal scalded and 

 well seasoned with pejiper or choiiped horserailish 

 will be very effective. A recent writer prescribed 



Indian meal made into a miisli, which was cooked an 

 hour or two and then fed hot with horseradish. It 

 was recommended to cook food of all kinds and feed 

 hot. This might lie well as a stiniiilant, but corn- 

 meal must be conit)iiicd with animal fooil to produce 

 egcrs. A supply of powdered shells or bones sliould 

 be provided, not only to aid digestion but furnish 

 egg-shell material. A eorrcspfindcnt of I he Plymouth 

 Chronicle mixeil hog's lard with the dougli he gave 

 his hens, and assorts that a piece as large as a 

 hickory nut will set a hen to laying immediately 

 after she is broken up from setting, and that liy feed- 

 ing a little oecasloDally hens may be made to lay all 

 winter. 



How to Keep Eggs Fresh. 



A lady correspondent writes : " It Is sometlmeB 

 desirable to store away eggs in tlie summer or fall, 

 when prices are so low that we cannot afford to sell 

 Ihcm, and kiep them till in the winter, when they 

 are often very scarce, and will be keenly relished or 

 can be disposeil of at a good ))iice, if good and fresh. 

 To keep them thus we do not believe there is a more 

 simple and cflicient way than the one wc have alwaj-s 

 practiced, and which was sueecssfully practiced by 

 my father for the last thirty or forty years. This Is 

 by simply taking none but perfectly fresh and sound 

 eggs and setting them in layers on the tip or small 

 end, in a box or baBki't,or anything that will hold 

 eggs. Wc do not put anythinir between them, nor 

 do we put them up " air lii:h,," but wc always keep 

 them in the cellar. Eggs that we have put away in 

 this position last fall are to-day— after six months — 

 as fresh and good as the day tiiey were laid, and wc 

 have never found one that was spoiled or stale 

 among them, when thus served. We feel confident 

 that they would keep good and fresh for one year. I 

 wish some of your readers would try this method 

 aiui see how long they can keep them, and then re- 

 port the results." 



Feed Fowls a Little and Often. 



It is a very careless method of fecdiiu; fowls which 

 we see so often adopted, where the grain is thrown 

 down in great heaps on the i.'round or floor. It is not 

 only wasteful, but injurious to the fowls, because 

 they get over-fed, and it is in an important respect 

 contrary to their habits. For their nature is to 

 "scratch." Watch the old hen with a brood when 

 she is just let out of the coop. She hardly stirs from 

 the spot, but as soon as she has realized her freedom, 

 down go her claws into the soil, and afterward, 

 whenever you see her, she Is at it. 



Always feed, then, no more than can be eaten at 

 once, aiid take care that is so scattcicd amongst some 

 light rubbish, that they may have the luxury of 

 scratching for it. If feed is buried in in fresh earth 

 then they get, with their mouthfuls of grain, some- 

 thing of use to their peculiar digestive organs, 

 drain, however, .should not be allowed to come in 

 contact with the filthy tainted soil too often found In 

 the poultry-yard.— 7'/ie Poultry World. 



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Cooked Food for Chickens. 



Todd's Ilaiid-Book on Fvirh gives good rules for 

 feeding fowls in winter, as follows: "We think 

 fowls cost less and return more, if fed warm, cooked 

 food once a day, early in the morning. A mixture 

 of corn, oats aiid bran, and middlings, ground fine is 

 good ; or the corn may be boiled unground. It is 

 well to add a portion of boiled ]>otatoes, apples or 

 turnips, and vary tlie mixture occasionally, for a 

 change. The feed should be well cooked, ami not 

 made thin. In breeding season, fine bran and oats, 

 with vegetables, make a feed sutlicieiitly rich for 

 Asiatics, which are disposed to get so far as to pre- 

 vent laying, increase broodiness and render eigs un- 

 fertile. In fact, they should be fed very sparingly, 

 and kept ' hungry and lively.' I prefer whole grain 

 in variety for riiiil-day and evening feeding. In 

 cooking daily, there is quite a savins, as much stuff 

 and scraps can be converted into fooii that would go 

 to waste. There is nothing but what fowls will eat, 

 if properly ' dished up.' " 



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Grain for Poultry. 



There is no other grain that is relished so well by 

 fowls as Indian corn. It must always continue to be, 

 as now, the American poulterer's main reliance, for, 

 although too fattening to use in certain cases, pos- 

 sesses more nutriment for the price than any other 

 grain, and is always to be obtained. Corn can be 

 given crround and unground, raw and cooked. Oafs 

 we prefer ground fine, as otherwise the hulls are too 

 harsh and bulkv. With wheat-bran and middlings, 

 wheat in the kernel, barley and buekweat, there need 

 be no dilllculty in avoiding monotony. Rye, though 

 the i>oorest grain of all, may be given occasionally, 

 and brewers' grains, if convenient.— T/if Poultry 

 World. 



Good setters among hens seldom or never leave 

 their nests more than once a day, provided they are 

 well fed when they come off; while they seldom re- 

 main away from a quarter to half an hour, rarely 

 exceeding the latter period, unless food has not been 

 supplied and they have to forage for themselves, 



