176 



tHE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ November, 1879. 



old, on short rations through the winter under the 

 mist,iken notion of^ economy, are legion. Such 

 feeders pursue tlie unwise policy of saving at the tap 

 and letting run at the bung. 



Sugar Beets for Fattening Swine. 

 An experiment was tried some time ago by a New 

 England farmer in fattening a pig which fed largely 

 on suirar beets. The animal was about a year old 

 and the feeding on boiled sugar beets, tops and roots, 

 began on the 10th of August, and was continued 

 three times a day until the 1st of October, after 

 which ground feed was given, consisting of two parts 

 of corn and one of oats, three times a day until the 

 animal was slaughtered, the meal being mixed with 

 cold water. The result was, on the 1.5th of August, 

 when sugar beet feeding was begun, that the weight 

 was S06 pounds; September 1. -520 pounds, October 1, 

 4.50 pounds; November 1, .520 pounds. This is the 

 substance of the statement given, by which we per- 

 ceive that the increase the last of August, when fed 

 on boiled sugar beets, was at the rate of two pounds 

 per day; the rate of increase on the same food con- 

 tinued through September. When feed on ground 

 corn and oats, made into cold slop, the gain for the 

 next fifty days was less than a pound and a half per 

 .day. 



Poultry, 



Winter Care of Fowls. 



Now that the cold weather is coming on, those 

 who keep poultry should see to it that everything 

 practicable is done to make their fowls comfortable 

 while the fall and winter last. I assume that pro- 

 fessional poultry-raisers will attend to this matter 

 without any advice or hints from others, but it is a 

 fact that a great many people who keep hens and 

 other fowls only as an accessory to their farming or 

 other occupations, are accustomed to show some de- 

 gree of neglect to their poultry during the winter, 

 letting the hens, lor the most part, take care of them- 

 selves and do the best they can, without being care- 

 ful to funi'.^h them with proper food and quarters. 

 Now, if poultry is worth keeping at all it is worth 

 keeping well, and no kind of livestock will pay better 

 proportionally for proper care in winter weather than 

 is the ease with poultry. 



To a certain extent, the warmer the quarters for 

 the fowls the better. If it can possibly be helped 

 they should never be kept in a place where water 

 will freeze, and it would be all the better if their 

 quarters could be kept ten or twelve degrees above 

 zero all the time. It is shameful to keep poultry as 

 some of our New England farmers do, in old, rickety 

 barns, with chinks an inch wide or more between the 

 boards, where the snow can drive in and the wind 

 whistle through. In such cases the hens cannot do 

 much, if anything, in the way of egg making. The 

 man who expects that his hens will lay eggs when 

 they are obliged to expend nearly all of their vital 

 force in their ciTort to keep warm, and to stand on 

 one leg in order lo keep the other from freezing, will 

 find himself sadly mistaken, and no little disap- 

 pointed in the size of the egg-product. If you wish 

 to have your hens lay in winter, above all things 

 keep your hen-houses warm, even if you have to 

 burn a little wood in them on the coldest days. The 

 good effects of warm quarters will be seen not only 

 in winter but in spring as well, for it will not then 

 take the poultry so long to recuperate from the in- 

 jurious etfects of the winter weather. 



If the ]ii.uUry-l]()Uses are warm enough it will not 

 so mucli iiKLitir wliat kind of food the hens have, 

 provided ji i^ u lu'lr-orne and adapted to egg-making. 

 But it i.s wi'll IM niia.sionally feed them with warm 

 mashed potatoes and boiled apples, which the hens 

 will eat voraciously. If, however, the hen-houses 

 are as warm as they should be, the necessity for fur- 

 nishing the poultry with warm food will be so much 

 the less, although it will do them good in any case. 

 As to drinking, the hens should have all the water 

 they need, but the quarters should be so warm that 

 the water will never be in danger of freezing. Give 

 the fowls good quarters, good feed and plenty of 

 water, and they will amply repay you for your ex- 

 penditure of time and money. Otherwise, you will 

 probably find poultry keeping a dead loss in winter. — 

 AtncHcari Cultivator. 



Poultry Habits. 

 Of all stock, hens are the most easily taught. The 

 education of hens can be commenced at any age ; 

 but best while young. They should be housed and 

 shut in every night, and not be allowed to roost 

 on sheds, well-sweeps, or trees; even a neglect to 

 shut the door on them for one night will cause the 

 timid ones to seek a higher roost the next night, 

 and that can only be found out of doors. This 

 leads to laying out of doors— a great nuisance — 

 and to constant loss from night enemies. At 

 sunrise every morning call the hens around you, 

 and scatter a full feed for them; let this always 

 be done on the same spot of ground. Keep in a 

 convenient place, a reservoir of fresh clean water, 

 if you have no running stream. At certain and 

 regular limes in the day, you will find the whole 



flock there. Throw no scraps of food around the 

 dwelling, or you will teach them to become a house 

 nuisance. Burn all the egg shells, or you will 

 teach the hens to eat eggs in the nests. If you 

 coop youi- chicks, take hen and brood to the hen 

 house as soon as the crop is dispensed with; other- 

 wise, when winter sets in you will have to spend 

 hours every night for a week before they will house 

 well. Protect hens while sitting, by a light board 

 or lattice cover to the nest, so "that they shall not 

 be annoyed by other hens wishing to lay with them. 

 In fact, any bad habit, or any which does not 

 suit your surroundings, may be entirely broken up 

 and changed by reasonably preventive measures. — 

 Sural New Yorker. 



Salt for Poultry. 



The question as to whether salt is injurious to 

 poul'ry has often been mooted. To get at the facts, 

 1 have been feeding salt to all my poultry, young and 

 old alike, and closely watching the result. I have fed 

 it in cold mush and hot ; in bran and everything else, 

 all the spring and summer, so far, w ith the follow- 

 ing result : The poultry will eat all kinds of salted 

 food in preference to unsalted; they are better in 

 general health ; not a louse of any kind in young or 

 old (the first year I have been able to say so), and 

 they are beginning to molt, many of them laying as 

 though not molting. Eggs are cheap now, and the 

 hens will be ready for fall laying when the weather 

 is cold and eggs scarce. This may or may not be 

 the result of feeding salt, but I am compelled to 

 believe this to be so, as are some other peculiari- 

 ties. I have noticed one feature, which may not 

 be in favor of salt — the hens have seemed to be 

 more persistenlly inclined to sit, it being very diffi- 

 cult to break off the inclination ; they sit much 

 closer than usual. All seem voraciously fond of 

 green food of any kind, and have eaten a large 

 quantity of clover, grass, young corn and other 

 similar food. My observations lead me to the con- 

 clusion that salt is a needed condiment for all our 

 poultry, and in all points beneficial to them. Pigeons 

 are excessively food of salt in any form, and why 

 should not our poultry also ? Such being the status 

 it behooves us to consider their needs and attend to 

 them. 



Eggs From Different Breeds. 



A correspondent of the Ohio Farmer says : After 

 repeated experiments with the different varieties of 

 fowls, and comparisons with others who have exper- 

 imented in the same direction, I have concluded that 

 the laying capacity of the principal varieties is about 

 as follows : 



Light Brahmas and Partridge Cochins — eggs seven 

 to the pound, lay loO per annum. 



Dark Brahmas — eight to the pouad, 120 per an- 

 num. 



Black, White and Buff Cochins— eight to the 

 pound, 125 per annum. 



Plymouth Rocks — eight to the pound, 115 per 

 annum. 



Houdans — same as Plymouth Rocks. 



La Fleche — seven to the pound, 130 per annum. 



Black Spanish — seven to the pound, 130 per an- 

 num. 



Leghorn — nine to the pound , IfiO per annum 



Hamburgs— nine to the pnunl, 1.50 per annum. 



Polish— nine to the pound, 125 per annum. 



Bantams— sixteen to the pound, 90 per annum. 



Whole Wheat for Fowls. 



The PouUry ^yor}(l says: "There is more solid 

 nutriment in whole wheat, as a feed for poultry, 

 than in any of the cereals, weight for weight. It 

 is an excellent kind of grain for this use, "though 

 somewhat more expensive than other sorts: but too 

 much of this hearty feed is detrimental, particularly 

 when carelessly fed to Cochins, Brahmas, etc. 

 Fowls are very partial to wheat. It helps the laying 

 capacity of hens, but. it should not be used except 

 with discretion as to the quantity allowed them daily. 

 An excess of this raw grain will induce a looseness 

 in the bowels very frequently. It is easy of diges- 

 tion, and should be furnished in moderation, as a 

 needful and most desirable variety, in conjunction 

 with other dry grains, such as cracked corn, oats, 

 barley, buckwheat, etc. If not more than one-third 

 or one-fourth of wheat is allowed with the other 

 cereals mentioned, for ordinary purposes in the lay- 

 ing season, hens will do quite as well, and they 

 can thus be kept in better average condition than 

 by a greater allowance." 



Literary and Personal. 



Land and Home. — "For land owners and home 

 lovers every where. — farmers, gardeners, stockmen, 

 village folks and city people with rural tastes." 

 Terms $2.00 a year in advance, 37 Park Row, New 

 York. No. 1, vol. 1 of this beautiful 16 page quarto 

 monthly has reached our table. The quality of the 

 paper and the typographical execution are faultless, 

 and nothing has come within the focus of our vision 

 for a number of years that is so easily read by those 

 advanced in life. This may be no special merit with 



the young, but it is a mighty great one with the old. 

 Single numbers may be obtained for five cents, and 

 we feel satisfied that those who are interested in the 

 line of its specialties cannot do a better thing than 

 to send for a number and judge for theniselves. 

 The articles are crisp, short and able, and are on 

 various subjects within its line of specialties. It is 

 solid all through, in the style of The Farmer, and 

 has only one column more than a single page of 

 advertisements. The great increase, emigration, 

 and great expansion of our population would seem 

 to indicate an opening for such a journal, and if 

 there is, we deem Land and Iloine a worthy candi- 

 date for it. 



The Naturalists' Directory for 1879, contain- 

 ing the names, addresses, special departments of 

 study, &c., of the naturalists, chemists, physicists, 

 meteorologists and astronomers of North America. 

 Edited by Samuel E. Cassino, Boston, Mass., 299 

 Washington street, S. E. Cassino, publisher. This use- 

 ful little 12 mo. volume — which, only three years ago 

 was only issued as a pamphlet — has already assumed 

 the dimensions of a clever sized book of 278 printed 

 pages, exclusive of a number of blank pages (for the 

 pui|if>,4r oi lilliii- ill such names as may come to the 

 knowlr^ljr .,i 11. r i„,s,sessor.) The edition 1879 con- 

 tains :.i::'.i niniirj., together with a copious index 

 arruii-iil alplialntirally in States. Price $1.00 in 

 paper covers, and from |1.25 to §1..59 in other styles 

 of binding. The army of naturalists seems to be 

 increasing, or at least their whereabouts are becom- 

 ing known, creating a community where there had 

 previously only been isolation, and in this consists 

 the main usefulness of the work, not only to natur- 

 alists themselves, but also to the public who may 

 desire to be in communication with them. 



Illustrated Home Almanac for 1880.— Price 

 10 cents. Published by C. W. Leach, Concord, Mass. 

 This is a remarkably well executed 12 mo. of 32 

 pages, containing the usual calculations adapted to 

 the various latitudes in the United States and Canada, 

 besides thirty interesting literary articles and fifteen 

 finely executed illustrations, exclusive of an orna- 

 mental title page on the cover. How forcibly the 

 illustrations on the cover represent two prominent 

 periods in human life, both of which we have often 

 experienced. Old Father Time is represented driving 

 a horse and sleigh, with a single passenger in a seat 

 behind him. In the first tablet he is accompanied 

 by a youth, who is urging him forward and says, 

 "Do drive on. Father Time, I never saw such a 

 wretched old slow poke as you are in my life." In 

 the second his passenger is an old man, and he says, 

 "Hold on ! hold on my friend, don't drive so fast, I 

 am not in a hurry." Some of the other illustrations 

 are equally characteristic, especially that entitled 

 "April fool— Boys will be boys." 



The Fruit Recorder and Cottage Gardener. 

 —"To till and keep, and of the fruit to eat, and the 

 bi'autiful to enjoy," monthly at $1.00 per year, A. 

 M. Purdy editor. Palmyra, New York, published at 

 Rochester. This is a 16 page royal quarto, similar 

 in style to the foregoing, and devotes eleven columns 

 of the October number to "Questions and Answers," 

 a very instructive feature where people are suffi- 

 ciently inqui-sitive to ask the questions, which is not 

 always the case. This journal is exclusively devoted 

 to fruit anl garden vegetation, and contains a great 

 amount of practical information on these useful 

 subjects. The question and answer department, 

 wliioh is even more extensive than that of the Neien- 

 lifie American, we regard as a most useful feature in 

 horticultural literature. 



The Journal of Science.— An illustrated peri- 

 odical of practical information, designed for popular 

 i-eading and devoted to the diffusion of knowledge. 

 A demi folio published monthly, at ?1.00 a year in 

 advance, by the " Journal of Science Publishing 

 Company," Toledo, Ohio, E. H. Fitch, editor. A 

 very handsome little paper and just what its title 

 indicates it to be. Its matter is mainly original, and 

 is written with scientific ability, and the illustrations 

 are ample and of a superior order. Typographically 

 it is faultless and easy to read ; in this respect it is 

 admirably adapted to the vision of the advanced in 

 life, which is a gre&t desideratum. 



The Bee-Keepers Exchange. — A m<agazine de- 

 voted exclusively to the best interests of producers 

 and consumers of honey. Published monthly at 

 Canajoharie, New York State. J. H. Nellis editor 

 and publisher. Seventy-five cents a year in advance 

 with liberal deductions for clubs. This is an octavo 

 of 14 pages, exclusive of tinted covers, and seems to 

 cover the ground iiTdicated by its title, and is liberally 

 embellished. Its matter is practical and instructive. 

 Eclipse Era. — "Something good for everybody." 

 A demi-octavo of 34 pages. Published by Frick & 

 Co., quarterly, at Waynesboro', Franklin county. 

 Pa., "U. S. .\." Contains, in a condensed form, a 

 widely diversified quantum of solid literary matter. 

 No. 5, Vol. I, for October, has been laid on our table 

 and we like it. 



Case's Botanical Index and illustrated Quar- 

 terly Botanical Magazine, Richmond, Indiana, comes 

 laden with its usual freight of fruit and floral riches, 

 30 pp. 8vo., finely illustrated, and only $2.00 for five 

 copies, or 15 cents for a single number. 



