150 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



EXPERIMENTS WITH POULTRY. 

 Below I give you the result of a few experi- 

 ments in keeping hens. The first was with 1,3 

 hens and a cock. My hens are what is called the 

 "common fowl." I sold 



172 (loze-n eggs, for $28,0S 



Sold poultry .5,67 



Kept 40 pullets... , 10,00 



$43,75 

 For cost of keeping , '29,55 



Profit..,. $14,20 



Second experiment with 55 hens. 



5203J doz. eggs antS poultry sold, with value of thos^ 



left for my own use, $155,70 



Cost of feed, &c 101 ,2S 



Profit ..$54,42 



Third experiment with 159 hens. They laid in 

 a, year l,5o6\ dozen eggs. Average to a hen one 

 year, 11745-100, and thirty of them had chickens 

 to bring up. From Dec. 1 to June 1 average to a 

 hen 64 eggs. 



By eggs and poultry sold $292, GO 



By pullets, extra from what I commenced with 9,81 



By Leghorn cocks for sale 12,00 



$314,47 



To cost of feed $102.74 



To rent, tools, interest , 11,50— $174,24 



Leaving profit of. $140,23 



I now have to keep 226 hens and 1 7 cocks. I 

 find the Leghorn white fowls the best I have got 

 for laying and eating, as their flesh, being yellow, 

 sells better in market than the Bolton Greys, 

 which lay quite as well. I have the Leghorn fowls 

 for sale at $2,25 a pair, and eggs for hatching at 

 75 cents per dozen. 



In trying to raise chickens without the hens 

 going with them, I found that v/bat I raised cost 

 when hatched, 7i cts. I find I have much the best 

 luck in raising chickens in letting the hen have 

 25 to 30 each, in a coop. In the above experi- 

 ments I have not given any credit for manure, 

 which will sell, I think, for about 33 cts. a hen, or 

 as some think, it will raise a bushel of corn, if 

 properly taken care of, and applied to the ground. 

 John M. Merrill. 



Bristol, K //., Feb., 18G2. 



TURNIPS FOR SHEEP. 



I would like to inquire through your paper 

 whether the flat English turnip is good for sheep 

 in the winter months, when they can be raised at 

 a small cost ? Sulscricer. 



Mechanicsville, Vt., 1862, 



Remarks. — Excellent, no doubt. Cut them in- 

 to small pieces, and feed them once a day, a quart 

 or two to each sheep. 



ATTACHING A SAW TO A THRESHER. 



Will some of the readers of the Farmer inform 

 me how to attach a large saw to a common thresh- 

 ing machine 2 E. B. P. 



Mechanicsville, Vt., 1862. 



TREATISE ON THE SILKWORM. 

 Will some of your readers inform me what is 

 the title of the best treatise on the culture of the 

 silk-worm in New England, and where it is to be 

 obtained ? C. 



LADIES' DEPARTMENT. 



WINTER SCEISTES. 



That old red sleigh, with its long box that never 

 was full, for down in the straw, wrapped in the 

 robes, or on one or another of the four seats it 

 contained, there was always room for one more ! 

 What a grouping of bright, j'oung faces there used 

 to be in it — faces in hoods, in caps and in blank- 

 ets ; hearts that have loved since ; hearts that have 

 broken ; hearts that have mouldered. And away 

 we went over the hill and through the vale, under 

 the moonlight and under the cloud ; Avhen the 

 stars were looking down ; when the sun kindled 

 the world into a great, white jewel. But those 

 days have gone forever away, and the sweet old 

 necklace of bells, big in the middle of the string, 

 and growing small by degrees, has lost its power 

 over the pulses. 



In that old sleigh, brides have gone away before 

 now — those that were married to manhood, those 

 that were "married unto death." Great ships 

 have gone over the waters with less of hope and 

 happiness than that rude craft has borne over the 

 billows of winter. Swan-like shapes now glance 

 along the arrow}' way, but give us, for its sweet 

 memories of yesterday, the old red sleigh. 



Then, the days when we were "coasters," and 

 down the big hill, by the majale M^ood, through 

 the little pitches, far into the valley, we came with 

 merry shout, each the solitary Palinurus of his 

 own small craft. How like a flock of swallows 

 we were, dashing down the declivity, in among a 

 group of sleds, side by side with a rival, shooting 

 by like an arrow, steering in gallantry ahead like 

 a jockey, and on our way up with a sled in tov/, 

 ere the party had reached the valley below ! 



And then it was, when the wind had swept away 

 the snow from the pond and stream, and the ice 

 was glare, that we put on the "rockers," and dart- 

 ed hither and thither, and cut sixes and eights, 

 and curves without number, and drew the girls 

 we loved, and whirled them hke leaves over the 

 highway of crystal. 



And the schools where we spelt each other dowTi, 

 and the schools where we sang Windham and 

 Mear, and the schools where we ciphered and 

 wrote, and "went up" — gone, all gone, teacher 

 and taught, like the melting snow under the rain- 

 bows of April. 



And when, sometimes, after the great snow, the 

 winds came out of the north for a frolic, what 

 wreathing and carvings of cold alabaster there 

 were ! AV^hat Corinthian adornings surmounted 

 the fenc2 posts ! what mouldings were fashioned 

 beside the way! what fairy-like caves in the drifts! 

 what flowers of rare finish and pendants of pearls 

 on the trees ! 



Have you quite forgotten the footprints we used 

 to find in the damp snow, as delicate, some of 

 them, as a love-letter ; the mysterious paths down 

 to the brook or by the old hollow tree, that we 

 used to wonder over and set "figure fours" by, if 

 perchance we might catch the makers thereof? 

 Have you quite forgotten how sorry you were for 

 the snowbirds that fluttered among the flakes, and 

 seemed tossing and lost in the storm ? 



And there, in the midst of that winter, Christ- 

 mas was set, that made the Thanksgiving last all 

 thi'ough the night of the year — and what wonder 



