80 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[May 1884. 



ounces cloves ; allspice, one ounce ; nutmeg, one 

 ounce ; the riud of two lemons, one dozen eges, one 

 one-half pint strong; ale, one-half teaspoonful salt, 

 one quart warm milk, and as much brandy as you 

 please. It requires to be boiled twelve hours. This 

 is the real English recipe for plum pudding, and 

 makes a number of puddings, which may be kept 

 for months and steamed up when wanted. 



POULTRY. 



Points About Raising Turkeys. 



The one thing that has paid the past year is 

 turkeys. They had quick sale at Thanksgiving for 

 20 cents a pound, and at Christmas for 21 to 23 cents, 

 and the farmers could have had 25 cents at the last 

 season if they had known as much about the market 

 three days before Christmas as they did three days 

 after. And this price is not exceptional. The aver- 

 age for good New England turkeys for the last 

 twenty years, I believe will exceed 18 cents a pound, 

 if it does not reach twenty cents. 



If a farmer has reasonable " luck " — that is, if he 

 has as good luck as generally comes of intelligent 

 care — he can make 1,000 pounds of turkey meat for 

 $100 easy, and sell the same for $200, or, putting it 

 better : A flock of 100 turkeys will not cost him in 

 grain fed out, over $75, if they are killed before 

 Thanksgiving, and they ought to average twelve 

 pounds each, which makes twelve hundred pounds 

 in all, and to sell for 20 cents a pound, or $340. I 

 have raised turkeys for many years, most years with 

 fair success, and, whatever the success, they have 

 always been the best paying production of the farm. 



This is my plan : Keep over ten hens and a tom ; 

 the hens the best birds in the fall flock ; part old 

 and part young. Old hens of good habits are to be 

 preferred. Feed lightly all winter. About March 1 

 increase the feed and provide places f»r their nests 

 near the house When they begin to lay be careful 

 that the eggs do not get chilled. Do all you can to 

 get your turkeys to setting as early as possible. 

 Early turkeys are twice as likely to live as late ones. 

 When the young come off put them in little board 

 pens in a warm place for a week or more, 

 feeding them six or eight times a day with 

 coarse meal and chopped hard boiled eggs, 

 mixed with water, or, what is better, sour milk. 

 As soon as the are strong enough give them a pas- 

 ture range at first, then turn them into a meadow^ 

 but by all means seed them at noon, and to this end 

 drive them up to the house. This will get them ac. 

 customed to coming up for their dinner, and so they 

 will notrgo far away from home. See that they are 

 always fed and safely housed at night, so that foxe^ 

 and skunks will not and cannot destroy them. Make 

 it a matter of thought to see that your turkeys are 

 safe all summer. Begin to fatten in September and 

 kill for Thanksgiving, and you will be able to put a 

 few dollars in some near savings bank which you 

 may honestly call pay for your care and work and 

 profit in the grain feed. This business cannot be 

 overdone, and I advise farmers to put a few dollars 

 into turkeys for next season (if they can find them ) 

 at once . — Farm and Home. 



Fowls Must Have Green Stuff. 



It must not be forgotten that our poultry need 

 some sort of green food at all seasons of the year. 



In winter we can give them cabbages or chopped 

 turnips and onions from time to time ; short, late 

 dried hay (or rowen) is very good for a change ; 

 corn-stalk leaves chopped fine, they will eat with a 

 relish . 



In early springtime, when the ground first softens 

 from the frost, pasture sods thrown into their pens 

 will be ravenously eaten by them ; and as soon a 

 the new grass starts (unless they have free access t 

 the fields or lawn) they should be supplied with thi 

 excellent succulent daily. For the young chickens 

 nothing is so beneficial and so grateful as a run upon 

 the newly grown grass ; and next to this indulgence 

 they should have an ample supply of cut or pulled 

 grass every day. 



But of course while Jack Frost bears sway " this 

 sort of truck " is out of #he question. Some careful 

 poultry keepers sprout oats in boxes of earth, and 

 allow choice birds to pluck the tender blades. The 

 common Swedish turnip and the carrot are excellent 

 for winter green poultry feed, and probably the most 

 available and the cheapest vegetables that can be 

 procured. If the fowls do not "take kindly" to 

 them, when offered in a raw state, cook and mash 

 and mix with bran and meal. 



Change the Food. 

 Confining any kind of stock whatever, whether 

 poultry or animals, to one particular kind of food, is 

 not only a very careless system of management, but 

 it is sure to be a very unprofitable one. Keep a flock 

 of fowls, especially the Bramas or Cochins, supplied 

 with corn regularly and they will soon cease to lay. 

 They will lay on fat, will grow heavy and sluggish, 

 but the production of eggs will gradually lessen 

 until not a one can be found. This is caused by a^ 

 undue accumulation of fat or adipose matter in the 

 ovaries or egg sacks, and effectually prevent the for- 

 mation of eggs. While other grains, such as oats, 

 wheat, buckwheat and other foods are not quite so 

 bad, yet no one kind of grain should be fed to the 

 entire exclusion of other kinds of feed. Give them i. 

 change of food as often as it can be conveniently 

 done, if you wish to secure plenty of eggs, as well as 

 to keep your fowls in good growing condition. Over- 

 fat fowls are apt to contract disease much more 

 quickly than those in Oiily a thriving condition, 

 while they almost invariably succumb to the attack 

 when disease does overtake them. The mortality 

 among over-fed specimens is^far greater than among 

 those which always have a keen appetite for their 

 regular meals and meals for their appetites. It re- 

 quires but little experience to fnlly demonstrate this. 



Poultry Keeping for Women. 



While most farmers' wives find enough to do to 

 give them all necessary physical exercise, there are 

 many women and girls in mechanics' houses as well 

 as in farmers' that would find pleasure, profit and 

 health in taking care of a fiock of fowls. It wo uld 

 afi'ord outdoor exerciee and relieve the strain of house- 

 hold cares, instructing the mind in things outside of 

 self, and add many days to the life of many a one. 

 The instruction and training they get by studying 

 the habits and needs of fowls and caring for their 

 wants is excellent — much more valuable probably 

 than they would obtain at the sewing circle or from 

 attending a female suffrage meeting. 



Literary and Personal. 



Pamphlets Received.— " Fertilizers in general, 

 and the green marl of King William County, Va., in 

 particular," compiled by Dr. C. A. Gretn, of Har- 

 risburg. Pa.; 29 pp. 8 vo. " An essay on insects in- 

 jurious to vegetation, and how to get rid of them," 

 by the same, 12 pp. 8 vo. Whatever merit may be 

 accorded this pamphlet, it is practically " the play 

 of Hamlet with the /jorf of Hamlet left out." 



" Report of the area of winter grain, the condition 

 of farm animals, and the freight rates, for April, 

 1884;" 48 pp. 8 vo., from the Department of Agri- 

 culture. 



" Catalogue of the valuable Entomological Li- 

 brary of the late John L. Le Conte, M. D., of Phila- 

 delphia ; being the most important Library on Ento- 

 mology ever offered for sale, either in Europe or 

 America," May 6, 7, 8, 1884, 1117 Chestnut street, 

 Philadelphia, Pa., .52 pp. royal octavo, comprising 

 7:17 separate lots, some of which are composed of 

 numerous volumes, pamphlets and parts. 



Maryland Fakmek. — A monthly magazine de- 

 voted to agriculture, live stock, and rural economy, 

 published by Ezra Whitman, Baltimore, Md.; Vol. 

 21, March, 1884, claims to be " the oldest agricul- 

 tural journal in Maryland, and for ten years the 

 only one;" 70 pp. royal octavo, 51 of which are ad- 

 vertisements, with an index and tinted covers. 



Fairly gotten up and handsomely illustrated ; $1 a 

 year, with valuable clubbing advantages ; valuable 

 as an agricultural education and an advertising 

 medium. 



The Human Educator — Vol. 1, No. 2, Cincin. 

 nati, March, 1884 ; $1 a year; 10 pp. imperial quarto 

 superbly Illustrated, fine material, and first-class 

 mechanical execution. Published monthly by the 

 Ohio State Society for the prevention of cruelty to 

 animals; Oscar B. Todhunteo, editor; 200 Vine 

 street. An able advocate of the cause to which it is 

 devoted, and worthy of the practical sympathy of all. 



The Housewife.— a domestic journal devoted to 

 the interest of American housewives. Rochester 

 N. Y., April 1, 1884. $1.00 a year in advance ; pub- 

 lished monthly by the Housewife company. No. 2 

 vol. 1 of this excellent journal is on our table, and 

 its moral tone is the most fragrant and healthful 

 of the season. It is an eight-page quarto, and 

 everything in its columns leaves us wiser, better, 

 and more charitable than we were before we 

 perused it. It does much to fill a great vacuum 

 unconsciously existing in the domestic world, and 

 insinuates its influence so gently that we cannot but 

 be captivated by its wholesome inculcations. Oh, 

 how much there is yet to be developed in this field 

 of humanizing literature. How far the domestic 

 establishments of our country have been wandering 

 from the ways of peaceful bliss. How certainly our 

 derelictions of duty " will come day come back upon 

 us." Man and wife, subscribe for it and read it- 

 yea, brother and sister, son and daughter also. 



The American Sheep-Breeder and Wool 

 Grower. An illustrated magazine. Published 

 monthly at Chicago, III.; $1.00 a year. No. 1, vol. 

 1 of this 24-page quarto is now before us, from, 

 which it will be perceived that it is an entirely new 

 candidate for public favor, but, although infantile as 

 to age, its " virtuous vigor " may be inferred from' 

 the fact that it threatens to issue 100,000 copies of 

 its June number, containing the proceedings of the 

 National Wool Growers' Convention, which meetg 

 in the city of Chicago on the 19th of May, 1884. U. 

 S. Bureh Publishing Co., 75 and 77 Market streeti 

 " With its fund of useful and valuable information 

 on all possible topics relating to sheep and wool, \ 

 pared by the ablest authorities and most successfu' 

 sheep-ireeders and wool growerf, it will, of itself, be i 

 volume of education to the readers." Its materialj 

 quality, and make up, isunexpectionally first-class in 

 all its details, and its specialty one of the most hope- 

 ful in the country. 



The Northwestern Farmer.— A monthly jour- 

 nal for the farm, orchard and liousehold, published 

 by Edward A. Webb, No. 15 Seventh street, FargOj 

 Dakota Territory, U. S., at $1 a year, invariably in 

 advance ; and edited by J. P. Daily. A 16page, 

 royal 4 to, fairly illustiated and interspersed by con' 

 spicuous advertisements, a kind of "logrolling" ar 

 rangement between the advertisers and literary ( 

 tributors. Even with this objectionable feature, 

 this journal is one of rare merit, and we who remain 

 in the " old stamping grounds" of our country, can- 

 not but look with wonder and admiration upon the 

 literary advances that are being made, " away out'' 

 on the borders of our national civilization. "Frigid 

 Dakota" — why, the farmers were seeding " out 

 there," in Brown county ,'on the last week in March 

 — more than they were doing in Lancaster county at 

 that period. 



Farm, Field and Fireside.— Devoted to agriJ 

 culture, horticulture, gardening, dairy, live stock,- 

 literature and home entertainment. Published by 

 W. V. R. Powis, Chicago, III., at one dollar pet 

 year. A splendidly executed and illustrated impe- 

 rial quarto (if not a demi-folia) of 26 pages, in em- 

 belished tinted covers, subject to the same objection 

 alluded to in the notice above. We may be peculiar 

 in tMs respect, but it always reminds us of the itin- 

 erant preacher, who always announced the sale 

 his wife's " infallible corn salve," at the close of his, 

 sermons. We dislike to see such beautiful publica- 

 tions so egregiously disfigured by temporary adver- 

 tisements. 



The Foreign MissiONARr.^IUustrated royal- 

 quarto of four pages; a Sabbath School journal pub 

 Ushed in the interest of foreign missions, and dis- 

 tributed gratuitously. 



Le Citoven Americain, Liberte, Egalite, Fra- 

 ternite. The only English and French paper, trans-] 

 lated in alternate columns, published in America; 

 Minneapolis, Minn., $3 a year. A medium folir 

 published weekly, and devoted to " eversomany" in 

 terests, " wise and otherwise" — although a little 

 " Red." 



