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THE ILLINOIS FAEMER. 



THE POULTRY YARD. 



Laying Hens. — Just about this season of the 

 year, when eggs are an indispensable ingredient 

 in the good things to be got up for thanksgiving 

 and Christmas, laying hens are a valuable and 

 profitable portion of a farmer's stock. The 

 propensity for laying, seems to belong to dis 

 tinct families of the same breed. We know of 

 a farmer whose chickens are a cross of Shanghai, 

 Brama and the common ducghill. The pullets 

 lay when four months old, and they keep on 

 laying with little intermission, through the 

 whole year. No especial pains are taken to 

 feed them. Other persons having precisely the 

 same cross, get but very few eggs. Why is 

 this? We occasionally find a scrub cow an ex- 

 cellent milker, while some cows of the same 

 stock are worth nothing for the dairj^ 



To Prepare Poultry for Market. 



Preparing. — Make them fat. A grain-fed 

 plump, fat fowl will sell for double the price per 

 pound of a lean one. A liberal feeding, for a 

 few weeks before killing will nearly double the 

 weight and double the price, making a quad- 

 ruple return for the finishing oS food. 



Killing. — Keep them from bruising tbema 

 selves. Secure the wings the instant they are 

 caught, and tie them behind the back. Tie the 

 legs together, hang them npon a pole, and then 

 cut off the head with a sharp knife, leaving as 

 loHg a neck as possible. Let them hang until 

 they bleed clean. Keep them from food for two 

 or three hours before killing. Any grain left 

 in the crop sours and materially injures the flesh 

 if kept long before cooking. 



Dressing. — Pick them dry, taking particular 

 care not to tear or bruise the flesh. If scalded 

 at all let it be done quickly and in water not 

 quite boiling hot. Be careful not to rub off the 

 outer thin skin from the legs. If not to be 

 packed in boxes, after picking dry or scalding, 

 wash them in clean warm soap-suds, and 'plump' 

 them, that is hold them in boiling v/uter about 

 five seconds. If to be packed for carrying a 

 long distance do net wet them at all, except to 

 wa?h the neck. Strip back the skin on the 

 neck bone, draw the loose skin over, tie it 

 tightly, cut 03 the bloody portion a little way 

 beyond the string and wash oft any blood, wip- 

 ing dry. This will keep them clean and blood- 

 less, and increase their saleableness. 



-«♦»- 



Currants and Gtooseberries. — These can 

 now be trimmed. Cuttings for new plants can 

 be planted out now, or when the ground is in 

 order, or kept for spring planting. In the lat- 

 ter case, they should be covered with sand or 

 earth, to prevent the-Ji from drying up. 



-«•»- 



When pork sells for 5c per pound, it brings 

 ^5 c per bushel in corn. ,, .^^ 



Famons Englisr 



The King Oak, Windsor Forest, |MDore than 

 1,000 years old, qaite hollow. Professor Bur-* 

 net, who once lunched ioside this tree, said it 

 was capable of accommoflatiag ten or twelve 

 persoAs comfortably at a dinner sittinar* 



The Beggar^s Oak, in Bagshot Park, is 20 

 feet in girth five feet from the ground; the 

 branches extend from the tree 48 feet in every 

 direction. 



The Wallace Oak, at Ellerslie, near where 

 Wallace was born, is 21 feet in circumference. 

 It is 67 feet high, and its branches extend 45 

 feet east, 36 west, 30 south, and 25 north. Wal- 

 lace and 300 of his men are said to have hid 

 themselves from the English, among the branch- 

 es of this tree, which was then in fall ^ leaf. — 

 Downing' s Landscape Gard. '<r' 



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Handsome Ornamental Hedge, 



In passing through a nursery recently, we ob- 

 served a long row of purple Althea, in full flow- 

 er. The plantg were about 4 feet in bight, one 

 foot apart, and thickly branched from the ground. 

 They formed a close, compact hedge, of hand- 

 some form, and the flowerd gave it a very gay 

 appearance. The Althea is much more com- 

 pact than the Privet; will bear the shears well, 

 and is easier kept in form, not being apt to 

 throw out long, straggling branches. It will 

 not, of course, do for keeping oat animals, and 

 neither will the Privet; but for a small ornamen- 

 tal hedge, we know few plants that will com- 

 pete with it, and cutting in the spring, will in- 

 crease the show of blossoms. 'We may, however, 

 remark that it is not well adapted to very dry 

 soil, as it will lose its leaves in such a situation, 

 in a dry time; but it will grow finely in good, 

 rich loam, and all the better if somewhat moist. 

 — Ohio Farmer. 



-*9f~ 



Colossal Walnnt Tree. 



On the road from Martel to Gramant (Lot) is 

 to be seen a colossal walnut tree, at least SOfti 

 years old. The bight of this tree is about 55 

 feet; its branches extend to a distance of 125 

 feet; the trunk, 14 feet in diameter, is only 20 

 feet high, but it sends out seven immense bran- 

 ches- 

 It bears on an average each year 15 bags of 

 V7alnuts. Older trees grow near, but they are 

 of very moderate dimensions. — Galignani's 

 Mess. ' _.-■_ .^i/ ■ 





i®i.Tallow may be hardened by mixing one 

 pound of alum in the lamp, with every twenty 

 or thirty pounds of tallow, when "trying" or 

 rendering it. This is said to secure an exempr 



tion from soft greasy candles. J / / - ::;j:*!;^* ;■ 



.#■' 



JS^'Mr. Frederick Hecker, of St. Clair coun- 

 ty, in this State, has produced one hundred and 

 fifty gallons of wine from his vineyard, this 

 season. The quality is said to be superior to 

 the Cincinnati wine. .-"-v?^\ 



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