176 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[November, 1878, 



They may be reared by placing the egge under a 

 hen ; but the chicks are extremely tender, and very 

 often a sudden change of wind in March will sweep 

 off a whole brood in a few hours. The young should 

 be fed the same as for fowls. 



About Canary Birds. 



Place the cage so that no draught of air can strike 

 the bird. Give nothing to healthy birds but rape 

 and canary St ed, waier, cuttlefish bo-e and gravel- 

 paper or sand on the floor of the cage. No hemp 

 seed. A bath three times a week. The room should 

 not be over-heated — never above seventy degrees. 

 When moulting (shedding feathers) keep warm, 

 avoid all draught.s of air. Give plenty of Germin 

 rape seed; a little hard-boiled egg, mixed with 

 crackers grated fine, is excellent. Feed at a certain 

 hour in the morning. By observing these simple rules 

 birds may be kept in fine condition for years. For 

 birds that are sick or have lost their song procure 

 bird tonic at a bird store. Very many keep birds 

 who mean to give their pets all things to make them 

 bright and happy, and at the same time are euilty of 

 great cruelty in regard to perches. The perches in a 

 cage should be each one of different size, and 

 the smallest as large as a pipe stem. If perches are 

 of the right sort no trouble is ever had about the 

 bird's toe-nails growing too long. And of all things 

 keep the perches clean. 



The American Bird Trade. 



The bird trade in America seems to be in a flourish- 

 ing condition. Over forty thous.Tnd canarici are 

 brought in every year, ai.d probably ten thousand 

 more are raised in this country for the purfjose of 

 sale. The number of bullfinches, goldfinches, 

 thrushes, robins and larks, annually imported, rise 

 as high as five or six hundred for each variety. 

 There are fully three thousand Java sparrows brought 

 to the United States by vessels from that region, and 

 fully as many parrots are yearly sold in this city 

 alone. Waxbills and other minute varieties are 

 scarce, and seldom arrive in quantities of more than 

 one or two hundred each year. Parroquets and love- 

 birds, from Australia, follow parrots in their relative 

 importance. In native birds there is no reliable data 

 to go upon. It is roughly estimated that about ten 

 thousand mocking-birds find their way from the wild 

 nest to the cage each succeeding year. 



Mateing Fowls for Breeding. 



On this subject G. M. T. Johnson, of Broome 

 county, N. Y., an experienced poultry raiser, writes 

 as follows : " This is a branch of the business that is 

 hand-lek very carelessly. In manv cases a yard will 

 be stocked with finely-marked birds, but the owners, 

 not knowing the points of merit and demerit in the 

 fowls, will often kill the best-marked birds and keep 

 the 'largest' or 'pre'fiest,' til! after a few years they 

 are far from the standard. Get acquainted with the 

 particular variety, and breed to thos.5 points. We 

 will take the light Brahma, for instance. Throw 

 out all the birds with single or lop combs, or that 

 carry the tail a little to one side, or too much over 

 the back, or that have legs not bright yellow, and 

 well feathered, or whose light and dark feathers are 

 not properly distinct, or that lack in size or sym- 

 metry, or have not a good get-up to them, or that 

 seriously lack in any of tjie requirements. With 

 hens that have dark neck hackle and tail, put a cock 

 with light neck hackle and tail, and so guard against 

 the loss of any of the points. We are often asked 

 how many hens to let run with one cock. That will 

 depend on the vitality of the cock, and you must 

 judge from actual observation in each "individual 

 ease. Some will do well with five, but as a general 

 thing eight hens are enough. The vitality of chicks 

 often depends in the number of hens with the cock. 

 If from a yard where there is an active bird with six 

 or eight healthy hens, the chicks will be strong and 

 vigorous, but if from a yard of fifteen hens with one 

 cock, many of the eggs will be worthless, and those 

 that do hatch will be puny and die oflT one after an- 

 other, before they are grown." 



LITERARY AND PEROSNAL. 



A Good Income for Some Energetic Lady ou 

 Gentleman.— The Ohio Scale Works, of Cincinnati, 

 have just completed and are now introducing to the 

 public, under the title of the Universal Family Scale, 

 an article that has always been needed in every 

 household; and, in a communication addressed to 

 the publishers of this paper, the proprietors ask us 

 to refer them to some reliable party who will repre- 

 sent them in introducing it to the people of this 

 county. It is very seldom that a new article stepsso 

 suddenly into universal favor. Housekeepers are 

 loud in its praise, for it possesses the merit of beinar 

 ahvays ready ; there are no weights to hunt up and 

 adjust, is ahvays reliable — will not get out of order— 

 and is an ornament to the kitchen. The description 

 is simply a base surmounted by a hollow column, in 

 which works a spiral spring so scientifically gauged 



and adjusted as to weigh anything up to twelve 

 pounds with perfect accuracy. On the top of the 

 column is the platform on which the articles to be 

 weighed are placed. By the mere turning of a screw 

 the tare of the dish, plate, or whatever you maj' use 

 in weighing, is taken out and the net weight given. 

 Housekeepers at once see its value in weighing sugar 

 or fruit, in making preserves or jellies, or in testing 

 the butcher's or grocer's weight, and the thousand 

 and one cases that occur where something that 

 should be weighed accurately is necessary. The 

 scales are handsomely painted and bronzed, and are 

 sold at about one-third the price charged for the in- 

 ferior scales of the same capacity. It seems to us 

 that nearly every family in this county would want 

 one, and it is certainly a rare opportunity for some 

 smart and energetic party to pick up quite a nice 

 little income during the next few months. The 

 company has agents in no more favorable location 

 who are making -?.5. 00 to §6.00 per day, and there 

 are certainly several in this vicinity who can do as 

 well. We recommend such to address the Ohio 

 Scale Works, Elm and George streets, Cincinnati, 

 Ohio, and all information, etc., will be cheerfully 

 given them by mentioning our paper. 



The Amateur's Handbook op Practical In- 

 formation for the Workshop and the Laboratory : 

 Containing clear and full directions for Bronzing, 

 Lacquering, Polishing Metal, Staining and Polishing 

 Wood, Soldering, Brazing, Working Steel, Temper- 

 ing Tools, Case-IIardcning, Cutting and Working 

 Gliiss, Varnishing, Silvering, Gilding, Preparing 

 Skins, Waterproofing, Making Alloys, Fusible Metals, 

 Cements, Glues, etc., etc. Price 10 cents. New 

 York : Industrial Publication Company. 1878. This 

 is not a mere book of recipes clipped from old jour- 

 nals and encyclopcedias, but a carefully compiled 

 book of instructions for performing those little 

 technical operations which are so frequently required 

 in everyday life, and in the workshop of the amateur. 

 In most of these operations the recipe is but half the 

 battle ; when we come to put it in operation we are 

 apt to fail from ignorance of some general principle, 

 or from inattention to some important though ap- 

 parently trifling detail. In the hook before us this 

 defect is avoided, and minute practical directions are 

 given, so that any one may be able to put the recipes 

 in practice. This is specially apparent under such 

 headings as glass-cutting, lacquering, steel working, 

 brazing and soldering, silvering, staining woods, 

 waterproofing, etc. 



Science News, published |semi-monthly by S. E. 

 Cassino, Salem, Mass., at f'2.00 a year. This is a 

 10-page 8vo. periodical, edited by Ernest Ingersoll 

 and Wm. C. WyckolT, H Howard street. New York, 

 to whom all communications should be addresseil, 

 but matters relating to subscriptions and business, 

 should be sent to the publisher. We have received 

 the first number of this periodical (Vol. I, No. 1, 

 November 1, 1.87S), and judge from its contents that 

 it will supply the place in our scientific literature, 

 that llardwich^s Science Gossij) does in England. 

 The prompt publication of scientific news, infbrma- 

 tiou relating to scicntiflc literature, and popular 

 " notes and queries," are to be specialties in the 

 " make up " of this journal, and many of its articles 

 will be freely illustrated by competent artists. It 

 has long seenn^d to us that there was, or ought to be, 

 a place for such a publication among American 

 students in the natural sciences, and we therefore 

 hope it may be scienlifleally and financially sus- 

 tained. The yearly volume will give the reader 

 about one hundred pages more than there is in a 

 volume of Science Gossip, and it will cost $1.00 less. 

 Its advertising pages alone (not embodied in the 

 work) are matters of a good deal of interest to men 

 of literature. 



An Omission. — At the October meeting of the 

 Agricultural and Horticultural Society there were 

 two varieties of wheat on exhibition, sent to Hon. A. 

 Herr Smith, from the department at Washington 

 City, but which the reporters failed to take any 

 notice of in their proceedimrs. Namely, the " Red 

 Winter" and the " White Winter." A third variety 

 was "Groff's Clawson White," and a fourth the 

 "Amber." Both the latter were of a better quality 

 than the varieties from Washington, and were grown 

 by Mr. Henry Kurtz, of Mount Joy. Mr. Kurtz had 

 also some fine specimens of tobacco on exhibition, 

 grown in forty days. We not only regret that the 

 reporters omitted to notice these articles, but we still 

 more deeply regret, that after we were informed of 

 these reportorial omissions by Mr. Kurtz, that we 

 mislaid his card and could not find it until too late 

 to insert it in the October number of The Farmer. 

 We attach too much importance to the material re- 

 sults of agriculture to omit a notice of them, either 

 through willfulness or neglect. In order to avoid a 

 repetition of such neglect we would suggest* that 

 each depositor would make a transcript of his de- 

 posits and place it in the possession of the reporters. 

 This would facilitate the work and forestall omissions. 



Book of Advertisers — For 1878 and 1879. Pub- 

 lished by E. N. Freshman tS: Bros., newspaper and 

 advertising agents. No. 186 West Fourth street, 

 Cincinnati, Ohio. This is a volume of 92 pp., 8 vo., 



in paper covers, and printed on fine buff calendered 

 paper, and includes advertisements of all the princi- 

 pal business houses of all the States and Territories 

 of the American Union, and, no doubt, the best 

 medium in our country for the purpose it is intended 

 to serve. The publishers are advertising agents and 

 keep themselves posted in all that relates to mercan- 

 tile, mechanical and agricultural interests. 



L. B. Case's Botanical Index for October, 1878, 

 of new, rare and beautiful plants, 28 pages 8vo., 

 splendidly illustrated, Richmond, Ind. 



Price list and description of pure bred Cotswold 

 sheep, Cotswold-Merino sheep, .and pure bred Essex 

 pigs. Riiised and for sale by Joseph Harris, "More- 

 ton Farm," Rochester, New York, 1878, 24 pp. 8vo. 



Address of the General Council of the Petroleum 

 Producer's Union, i pages octavo. 



Wholesale Price List of small fruit, plants, 

 itc. Fall of 1878, and spring of 1879. Grown and 

 for sale at the Pleasant Valley Small Fruit Nursery, 

 Moorestown, N. J. Jno. S. Collins, proprietor, io 

 pages octavo, beautifully illustrated. 



Description of Orange and Vine Lands, Los 

 Angeles county, California. "Lake Vineyard Land 

 and Water Association." Address F. W. Woo(i,Sec'y. 



P. K. Frederick's Patent Hay Press and B,all. 

 82 pages, 16mo., profusely illustrated. Albany, 

 New York. 



Grafton's Patent Galvanized Cap Sheet Metal 

 Roofing. Patented June 2.5, 1878. Grafton & Han- 

 vey, proprietors and manufacturers, Steubenville, 

 Oliio. 



Hooker Nurseries, Rochester, N. Y. Autumn 

 of 1878. The Brighton grape, 8 pages, 8vo., illus- 

 trated. 



Harper's Magazine for December opens with 

 four old Cliristmas poems, by Ben .lonson, George- 

 Wither, S. T. Coleridge and Giles Fletcher. Abbey 

 illustrates these with three remarkable pictures : 

 The Christmas Waits, the Shepherds, and the Ma- 

 donna in the Stable. 



An illustrated article on " England's Great Uni- 

 versity," contributed by M. D. Conway, gives a 

 satisfactorily comprehensive view of the various col- 

 leges of Oxford, the social life of the students, the 

 most eminent of the professors, and the work accora- 

 plislied by the University in promoting scholarship 

 in England. The illustrations are picturesque and 

 interesting. 



The most interesting paper in the number — because 

 of its humor — is the fun-provoking narrative of B. 

 Munn Chowson, of Dedham, concerning the peculiar 

 institutions of Knnware — an island upon which he is 

 thrown by shipwreck. The article is by l?ose Terry 

 Cooke, the author of "Cal Culver and the Devil," 

 in the October Harper. The illustrations are as 

 humorous as the letter-press. 



The thrilling adventures of the "Red River Colony" 

 belong to the early pioneer history of the West, and 

 are told by General Chetlain, a descendant of one of 

 the colonists. The article is effectively illustrated. 



Lovers of music have a rare treat given them in 

 the beautiful paper on Mendelssohn and Moscheles, 

 covering a remarkably interesting era in the progress 

 of music, both in England and Germany. The paper 

 contains finely engraved portraits of Mendelssohn, 

 Moscheles, Handel, Von Weber, Bach, Thalherg, 

 Robert and Clara .Schuniaiui, Beethoven, and Mozart. 



An illustrated paper by Charles Barnard describes 

 the mining of silver in all its stages. The brief 

 paper on storm signals, by E.H. Knight, is also very 

 timely. 



Ex-Governor Seymour, under the title "Crime and 

 Tramps," makes some important suggestions as to 

 .the punishment of minor crimes. Dr. Coan, in 

 "Some Peculiarities of Yellow Jack," presents ve.-y 

 curious facts as to the migratory character of yellow 

 fiiver epideniics, and other features of the disc ase. 

 A. A. Hayes, jr., contributes an interesting and 

 piquant description of the "First Railroad in China," 

 the Woosung Railway — recently demolished by the 

 Chinese. 



Besides Mrs. Cooke's i"Knoware," already men- 

 tioned, there arc three capital stories. " Two Hun- 

 dred and Two " is contributed by Elizabeth Stuart 

 I'hclps ; " Helen," by Alice Perry ; and " A Rescue 

 from Cannibals," by Mrs. Frank M'Carthy. 



Poems are contributed by E. S. Phelps, Will Wal- 

 lace Harney, Frances L. Mace, Paul Haync and W. 

 H. Babcock. 



The serial novels by Black and Hardy, continued 

 in this number, will be concluded in January, to be 

 followed immediately with a new novel by Miss 

 .Mulock. 



The Editorial Departments — including a fuller 

 literary record than usual— are up to their usual 

 standard. It must not be overlooked, in any proper 

 notice of this magazine, that whatever may be the 

 variety and interest of any number, there is also an 

 additional element of peculiar value in the always 

 timely and admirable contributions making up tli% 

 " Editor's Easy Chair." 



