186 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ December, 



HOW TO KEEP FOWLS. 



There are always a number of people living 

 in large towns or in the suburbs, who would 

 very much like to keep a few fowls for the 

 sake of a new laid egg, and who at the same 

 time would like to enter into the excitement 

 of exhibiting their birds, but for want of 

 sufficient room, and the absence of aerassrun, 

 are deterred from making a start. Now it is 

 astonishing what a small space is sufficient to 

 keep Spanisli in the most perfect liealth and 

 the brightest of plumage. A run only a few 

 yards square will be ample if proper attention 

 is paid to tlieir wants, and they are kept 

 clean, and theirsleepingplaces well ventilated. 

 When poultry can be kept, and even success- 

 fully exhibited under such conditions, it is not 

 surprising tliat all the best Spanisli are bred 

 in or near to large towns, as there are so very 

 few varieties of fowls which can be kept sat- 

 isfactorily by an amateur not living in tl)e 

 country. We do not wish to mislead our 

 readers, or for them to imagine that there are 

 no difficulties in breeding and rearing these 

 birds, and we will at once state that Spanisli 

 require more attention and care than any 

 other variety we know of, tliat is, if a fancier 

 intends to enter into successful competition; 

 and unless he is endowed with an unusually 

 large amount of patience and perseverance, 

 and a real love for poultry, we should not 

 advise him to attempt to l^eep them, as these 

 qualities will be well tested when the birds 

 get heavy in face, large in comb, and in 

 trimming them for exliibitiou; but to tlie 

 fancier who is found of being with his birds, 

 and studying their habits, they will be a con- 

 tinual source of amusement and relaxation. 



For eating, their flesh is somewhat drier, 

 and wanting the luscious flavor of the Dorking, 

 eame and French breeds ; but, as egg pro- 

 ducers, there is not another fowl that can 

 equal them, although they do not begin to lay 

 quite so early in the season as some other 

 varieties. Pullets, however, if well fed and 

 eared for, will mostly commence to lay when 

 about six or seven months old, and they will 

 continue laying almost without intermission 

 for eight montlis, producing from four to five 

 eggs per week. Hens do not lay quite so 

 freely, but with good feeding they will gener- 

 ally 'lay every other day for seven or eight 

 months in the year; and when it is remem- 

 bered that any one living in the midst of 

 London can obtain a plentiful supply of very 

 large new laid eggs, and can successfully 

 compete for prizes, it is not surprising that. 

 Spanish are such great favorites with town 

 fanciers. 



To exhibit this variety with a degree of 

 success, it is necessary that they should be 

 sent out in the very best condition, for with 

 Spanish this is of greater importance than 

 most other breeds. Many times have I seen 

 inferior birds carry ofl a prize entirely owing 

 to the capital condition in which they were 

 exhibited, although there were far better 

 birds in the class. It is, therefore, absolutely 

 necessary that these birds should be exhibited 

 without being pinky or shabby in the face, 

 and with a bright coral redness in tlie comb, 

 hard, glossy appearance on the featliers. 

 which can oiily be accomplished by having a 

 house properly constructed for them. Tliis 

 must be so 'arranged that the birds are 

 sheltered from tl)e cold winds, the heat of the 

 sun, and from damp or rain. but. more espec- 

 ially, from the eflects of the sun during tlie 

 summer when tlie weather is very hot; while 

 in tlie winter they require to be liept moder- 

 ately warm, though at the same time plenty 

 of fresh air is most essential, or their combs 

 will lose the ruddy appearance and turn pale. 

 —From "The Spanish Fowl," in Fanciers' 

 Journal of December. 



THE GRAIN CROP. 



Tlie grain crop of the United States is 

 greater this year than ever before. In Europe 

 till total deficiency is estimated at 7,000,000 

 tons, viz. : Great Britain, 2,850,000 tons; 

 France, 2,700,000 tons; Italy, 426.000 tons; 

 Spain; .570,000 tons; Holland, 285,000 tons; 



Switzerland, 169,000 tons. To meet this de- 

 ficiency there will be required supplies to the 

 amount of 5,570,000 tons, which will be drawn 

 from various countries in tlie following ratio : 

 From the United States, 3,750,000 tons ; 

 Hungary, 180,000 tons; India, 280,000 tons; 

 Australia, 500,000 tons; South Russia, 650,000 

 tons; Danubian Principalities, 140,000 tons; 

 Egypt, 70,000 tons. 



The crop of this country this year is said to 

 be equal to 400,000,000 bushels, and, there- 

 fore, the foreign demand for 140,000,000 

 bushels can be easily met by us without 

 causing a material imiMTisc of (irice at lionie. 

 The deficiency to be siii.i.lird to Great Bri- 

 tain alone willam<iniii in value to not less 

 than $200,000,000; to France over $100,000,- 

 000; Holland, Belgium and Switzerland to- 

 gether $125,000,000; or a total of over $425,- 

 000,000, nearly four-fifths of which come from 

 tliis country. These figures are not tlie mere 

 guess of irresponsible persons, but are sup- 

 plied by official antliority, and may, there- 

 fore, be depended upon to be pretty nearly 

 correct. They demonstrate, at least, one 

 reason for belief in an advancing era of 

 prosperity, for they show that our farmers are 

 to find a good market and excellent prices for 

 their grain, and, when the farmers do well, 

 so do all the rest of tlie people. 



COMPARATIVE VALUE OF WOODS. 



It is a great convenience to kiiow^ tlio com- 

 parative value of different kinds of wood for 

 fuel. Slielllxirk liickory is regarded as the 

 lii.Ljbost standard of our forest trees, and call- 

 ing that 100, other trees will compare with it 

 for real value as fuel for house purposes, as 

 follows: Shellbark hickory, 100; pignut hick- 

 ory, 92; white oak, 84; white ash, 77; dog- 

 wood, 75; scrub oak, 73; white hazel, 72; 

 apple tree, 70; red oak, 67; white beach, 65; 

 black birch, 62; veilow oak, 60; hard maple, 

 59; white elm. 58; red cedar, .56; wild cherry, 

 .55; veilow pine, 54; chestnut, 52; yellow pop- 

 lar, "54; butternut and white birch, 43; white 

 pine, 30. It is worth bearing in mind, that in 

 wood of the same species, there is a great dif- 

 ference according to the soil on which they 

 grow. A tree that grows on a wet, low, rich 

 ground will be less solid and lesfe durable for 

 fuel, and therefore of a less value than a tree 

 of the same kind that grows on a dry and poor 

 soil. To the ordinary jiurehaser, oak is oak 

 and pine is pine, but for house use the tree 

 grown on dry upland, and standing apart from 

 all others, is worths great deal more. 



SUGAR 



Sorghum and Corn Stalks Being Made to 

 Yield an Excellent Crystallizable Syrup. 



A leading feature of the report of the Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture will be a dissertation 

 on the manufacture of sugar from sorghum 

 and corn stalks. 



The chemist of the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment has been experimenting this year, in 

 order to ascertain at what age the different 

 varieties of plants give the best re.sults. The 

 Early Amber variety of sorghum proves to be 

 the most profitable. Stalks of this iilant were 

 gathered on the 18th of July and cut in 

 halves. The tops gave .0420 per cent of suc- 

 rose, or crystallizable syrup, and .0465 percent 

 of glucose, or uucrys'tallizable syrup. The 

 experiments were continued with stalks gath- 

 ered about once a week until August 30, when 

 the seeds were just beginnhig to become dry. 

 The sucrose or valuable matter at the last ex- 

 periment had increased to .1482 per cent, and 

 the glucose had decreased to .0115 per cent. 

 The experiments made with the lower halves 

 of the stalks gave .0465 per cent of the sucrose 

 and .0288 of glucose on the 18th of July, and 

 .1471 per cent of surcose and .01.50 of glucose 

 on the 30th of August. 



Commissioner Le Due has just returned 

 from the West, whither ho went to inspect 

 the processes of various sugar growing and 

 manufacturing enterprises. He reports that 

 the most promising results have already been 

 obtained. He visited one manufactory in Illi- 



nois, where 43,000 pounds of sorghum sugar 

 iiave been made this season, equal in every 

 respect to the best product of the sugar cane; 

 and this enterprise has been carried on under 

 exceptional difficulties. He visited or received 

 reports from many other loculities to whicli 

 he had sentsorghum seeds, all speaking in the 

 most favorable terms of the prospects. Indi- 

 vidual farmers in Texas, Minnesota, Virginia 

 and intermediate States report having made, 

 at very little expense, their own yearly supply 

 of sugar from seeds supplied by the depart- 

 ment. 



"You may ridicule the project to your 

 heart's content," said the Commissioner to a 

 correspondent, "and call me as many names 

 as you like; but I tell you that it will not be 

 many years before this country will raise 

 sugar to export." 



STATISTICAL. 



Our Agricultural Products. 

 Mr J. R. Dodge, the statistician of the 

 Bureau of Agriculture at Washington, has 

 prepared a table to show the quantity and 

 value of our main products for the past ten 

 years. The figures are startling in their enor- 

 mous aggregates. The average quantities and 

 values (at home) of our crops per year for ten 

 years are as follows : Corn, 1,068,959,550 

 bushels; value, ,$525,211,602. Wheat, 273,- 

 831,746 bushels; value, .$301,481,540. Rye, 

 18,016.030 bushels; value, $15,091,207. Oats, 

 291,036,670 bushels; value, $156,810,592. 

 Barley, 30,606,609 bushels: value .$25,385,459. 

 Buckwheat, 10,938,070 bushels; value. $9,204,- 

 801. Hay, 35,000.000 tons; value, $300,000,- 

 000. Cotton, 4,000,000 tons; value, $360,000,- 

 000. The total annual products, reduced to 

 pounds, aggregate 173,343,320,500 pounds; 

 valued at $1,553,175,201, or nine-tentlis of a 

 cent per pound for all products. The aggre- 

 gate value of the products for ten years is 

 $15,637,752,010, or very nearly one-half of the 

 total valuation of the country by the census 

 of 1870. The improved lands of the country, 

 which were 188,000,000 acres in 1870, now 

 exceed 200,000,000 acres, and upon this basis 

 the average product of each acre of. arable 

 land in cultivation is .43 of a ton of all sorts 

 of agricultural returns, the avenge home 

 value of the ton of products being $17, on the 

 basis of a ten year valuation. By this it ap- 

 pears that the average annual product for ten 

 years ot improved lands in the United States 

 has been $7.37 per acre, including of course, 

 a good deal of produce consumed at home. 

 The butter products this vear are estimated 

 at .$170,000,000; cheese aiid milk, $1.30,000,- 

 000; beef and its products, $270,000,000; iiork 

 and its products, $250,000,000; cotton, $270,- 

 000,000; corn, $410,000,000; wheat, $410,000,- 

 000. The increase this year in production of 

 cereals over the averatte of the past ten years 

 promises to be about 28 per cent, but tlie ag- 

 gregate value will not be greater. 



Our Local Organizations. 



LANCASTER COUNTY AGRICULTU- 

 RAL AND HORTICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY. 



The stated meeliug of the Lancaster loiiuly Agri- 

 cultural and Horticultural Society was held in Iheir 

 rooms in City Hall, Monday afternoon, December 7, 

 the following members hein? present : 



Henry M. Engle, Marietta; Joseph F. Wiimcr, 

 Paradise; Dr. S. S. Rathvon, city; John C. Liuville, 

 Salisbury; Casper Hiller, Conestoga; I. L. Landis, 

 Miinheim; George W. Mason, city; Jacob Bollinaer, 

 Warwick; Henry Kurtz, Ml. Joy; Levi S. Heist, 

 Manheim; Johnson Miller, Warwick; John H. Lan- 

 dis, Manor; Wm. H. Brosius, Drumore; Ephraim S. 

 Hoover, Manheim; J. M. Johnston, city; M. D. Ken- 

 dig, Manor; W. W. Grieet, city; Elias Hershey, 

 Leamau Place; Harry G. Rush, Pequea;Tind John H. 

 Moore, Donegal. 



The President, Calvin Cooper, being absent. Vice 

 President Henry M. Engle was called to tlie chair. 

 Crop Reports. 



Casper Hiller said the growing wheat Ijelween 

 Lancaster and Conestoga Ccutie looks well, with 

 here and there a field sllishtly injured by the fly or 



