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90 



THE ILLINOIS PARMER. 



THE POULTRY YARD. 



Poultry. 



Nearly every family can, with very little 

 trouble, have eggs in plenty daring the 

 whole year; and of all the animals domesti- 

 cated for the aae of man, the common dung* 

 hill fowl is capable of yielding the greatest 

 profit to the owner. 



The Hen-Hoase should be warm in win- 

 ter, well ventilated in summer, whitewashed 

 and kept clean. Rootts of sassafras poles 

 are less infested with lice. Have no 

 ground floor. Supply slacked lime, fine 

 gravel or ashes, or burnt oyster shells, &c. 



Feeding. — They will sing over Indian 

 corn with more animation than any other 

 grain. The hen must have secrecy and 

 mystery about her nest, watch her, and she 

 will forsake her nest and stop laying. 



[This is not always the case. We have 

 known hens to come into the kitchen, when 

 permitted, and lay upon the mats, or in the 

 wood-box.] 



They eat less, if allowed to help them- 

 selves to what they want, than if fed in the 

 usual way, for, in the latter case, each tries 

 to get as much as it can, and thus burdens 

 itself; but finding in the former case, that 

 they have an abundance, they eat but little, 

 and that generally in the morning early, and 

 in the evening before going to roost. 



A farmer may keep an hundred fowls in 

 his barn, may suffer them to trample upon 

 and destroy his mows of wheat and other 

 grain, and still have fewer eggs than the cot- 

 tager who keeps a single dozen, who pro- 

 vides secret nests, chalk eggs, pounded 

 brick, plenty of Indian corn, a few oats, 

 lime, water and gravel, for them; and who 

 takes care that his hens are not disturbed 

 about their nests. Three chalk eggs in a 

 nest are better than a single nest egg, and 

 large eggs please them. 



A single dozen fowls, properly attended, 

 will furnish a family with more than 2,000 

 «gg8 a year, and 100 fall-grown chickens 

 for fall and winter stores. The expense of 

 feeding the dozen fowls, will not amount to 

 18 bushels of corn. They may be kept in 

 cities as well as in the country, and will do 

 as well shut up the year round as to run at 

 large, with proper care. 



A Fact. — Eggs the nearest to roundness, 

 produce females, and those pointed at one 

 end, always produce males. 



For Fattening. — Boiled Indian corn, 

 wheat and barley, are better than oats, rye 

 or buck wheat. One-third is gained by 

 boiling . — [The Orator . 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



AST'Tbe attention of the reader is in- 

 vited to two valuable articles in the first 

 pages of this number of the Farmer, — from 

 the Plow, Loom and Anvil— the first head- 

 ed, "American Farmers," and the other, 

 "On the means of securing the advantages 

 of Climate,'' from Hovey's Magazine. 



Chinese Sugar Cane. 



The time is fast approaching for putting 

 in the seed of this new plant, and a few re- 

 marks in regard to planting, &c., will be in 

 season. 



The seed can be planted from the period 

 when we commence corn planting until June. 

 Those who design to grow any considerable 

 quantity for the manufacture of syrup, 

 should so plant that the canes will mature 

 from late in August until they are killed by 

 frost. Even after heavy frost the juice will 

 make syrup, though as with the Louisiana 

 cane, it may not make sugar. 



We do hope that our farmers will 

 thoroughly experiment with this plant the 

 present season, so that they will be ready 

 with seed and experience to go more 

 thoroughly into the cultivation of the plant 

 and the manufacture of its juice the next 

 They will then be one year ahead of their 

 neighbors; and this is no trifling matter in 

 Illinois. 



We learnt a few days ago that Mr. 

 Thomas, of Waverly, intended to plant 

 thirty acres of land the coming season with 

 the Chinese sugar cane. He experimented 

 with the cane the last season and is satisfied 

 of its saccharine qualities. Messrs. Ham- 

 mond & Co., of Jacksonville, iron founders, 

 are at this time building for him a mill for 

 expressing the juice from the cane stalk. 

 He supposes his mill will do the work per- 

 fectly. 



The failure of the sugar cane in Louisiana, 

 the great and increasing demand for sugar 

 and molasses, and the high price of these 

 articles, which will not probably be much 

 lower at present, have drawn the attention 

 of enterprising men to the cultivation of 

 the Chinese sugar cane, to supply sugar and 



