Proceedings of the Fae3ters^ Club. 379 



The tool does not operate as well with tlie slow movement of oxen. 

 7. Tlie inventor acts wisely in selling the castings for a small sum, 

 and not requiring every purchaser to take a complete harrow or noth- 

 ing. With the castings and a set of harrow-teeth, any farmer expert 

 enough to shape a good plough-handle can get out the timber and 

 frame this harrow in his workshop. 8. Your committee specially 

 commend to the attention of farmers any implement the use of which 

 will make the mixing of soils and fineness of tilth easy and cheap. 

 Few fields are as thoroughly prepared for grain crops as they should 

 be. By the use of this and similar improvements in tillage the crops 

 of the country might be greatly increased." 



Lakge Poultry Yards. 

 Mr. W. E. Clarke wrote as follows : May not the failure of the 

 numerous experiments of keeping large numbers of hens have been 

 rather from lack of knowledge of their habits and wants and a proper 

 attention to them than from any inherent difHcnlty? It seems to me 

 that the success of one such practical experiment as Mr. "Warren 

 Leland's ought to outweigh twenty such as that related by Dr. J. V. 

 C. Smith, which " presently began to look shabby, then fell sick and 

 drooped, ate each other's eggs, pulled out each other's feathers, then 

 died by dozens." ,J^ow may not all of this have been caused by want 

 of proper food. Eggs and feathers contain much sulphur, and as 

 these hens were fed on " chicken dougli," containing little or none 

 of that element, they were compelled to resort to the eggs and feath- 

 ers of each other for a supply. Mr. Leland feeds largely with meat, 

 probably a large proportion of which is animal livers, furnishing a 

 full supply of sulphur and albumen, hence his success. I have kept 

 hens in a small way, say from a dozen to forty, and have always aimed 

 to give them such food as would furnish them with the material to 

 build up and clothe their bodies, keep up combustion, and aid them 

 in the manufacture of eggs. I have, therefore, given them grain, 

 meat, including the livers of animals, chopped bones, and when con- 

 fined, chopped turnips and cabbage ; and when I have found them 

 infested with vermin, I have done for them thoroughly what nature 

 prompts them to do for themselves, but which they can do but very 

 imperfectly, viz., dust them, and have always had good success. 

 Sometimes, little chickens suffer greatly, and are denuded of their 

 feathers, and die before they have learned to dust themselves. They 

 should be thoroughly dusted two or three times and oiled about the 



