n^ 



YOL. lY. 



SPRINGFIELD, AUGUST, 1859. 



NO. 8. 



PUBLISHED MOXTULY, 

 - BT' 



BAIL II ache: <b BAKER, 



JOURN'AL OFFICE SPRIXGFIELD. ILL 



<♦• 



S. FRANCIS. Editor. 



*•* 



TERMS OF SDBSCUIl'TIOX. 



One copy, one yenr, in advance .— « $1 00 



Five copies, " " 3 75 



Ten " and one to the person getting up club 7 50 



Kifteen cn[)ib8 and over, 62)/^ ccdIs eacli, aud one to person 

 getting up club. 



C'.«H KA.TE3 OF ADTERTISING: 



One dollar per siitiare of ten line", eacli insprtion. 



Premium K«s-'y. — [From the fortlicming volunip of Xransac" 

 tions of the State Aj^ricultiirul Society.] 



Domcstie Fowls — Tiieir Rearing and Manage- 

 ment. 



BY c. K. BEMEXT, of PdULitikoepsio, New York. 



CONTEJiTS. 



Domestic Fowl* 2S9 



Wire Vermin Proof Corn Crib 30fl 



^Vill jou EviT Learn „....309 



Kemarliuble Fountain in Fl)rida 309 



The Dairy 310 



Price of Wheat in War 310 



The Corn Crop 311 



OommunicitinD ; 311 



The Manny Premium forlS60 311 



Raising Chickens 311 



Cropi in L"n land 311 



A Qiieati >n 311 



Our Stiito Fair 312 



S'r.4w:)errioi ...^ 312 



Cheat 3i:j 



Blackbi'rries .IIS 



Attoniiiinco at Fa'rs 313 



Manny I'rtmlum for Twenty Acres Winter Wheat 311 



To the Fiirmeriof Illinois 314 



Prcmiwm Crop of Wheat for 1860 31-1 



Wheat 314 



The Sugar Cauo 314 



Timothy Grass 315 



Eastern Tree Pedllers 316 



Norton's Seedling Grape 317 



Hints fjr the Season 317 



Worth Recollecting 317 



About IhePrjperTimefoCut Timber 317 



Valuable Ri-ceipts 317 



What is Expected of the F.;rmer 318 



Potatoe Bread %\'^ 



Dejp CuItureaMeans ofWaimiugthe Soil 3is 



C.)mmuuii;!rtioa 318 



Hessian Fly — Uow to trap him 319 



It is an old and trite axiom that, "the 

 tiling worth doing at all, is worth doing 

 ttv'//," and this may wcil be applied to the 

 keeping of fowls and other small stock, which j 

 too often, if kept at all, are a pest, nuisance { 

 and positive loss to the farmer, when they i 

 coultl, by a little attention, be made a source { 

 of much pleasure, comfort and profit. It is j 

 our object, in this little essay, to attempt to : 

 sliow how this des-irable object may be attain- i 

 cd. The writer has had many years per- | 

 sonal experience in these matters, and has | 

 always considered that the comfort, both j 

 vvmI and (apparent, of a country residence, I 

 depends much upon the order, variety and 

 taste displayed around the dwelling, cxliibit- 

 ing an index to discover the character of its 



inmates 



Most farmers think turkeys, ducks, geese 

 and chickens are things entirely beneath 

 their notice; but we are satisfied, from long 

 practice, it may, under proper management, 

 be made as profitable, according to the 

 amount of capital invested, as any other 

 branch of farming business. We have 

 known the occupants of beautiful farms obli- 

 ged to send to a neighbor for a poultry din- 

 ner, and to the store for all the eggs neces- 

 sary in the culinary department. Of this 

 fact we have had sufficient proof in our vis- 

 its, where we have found a sufficiency of 

 poultry could nut be raised for the use of the 

 family, nutwithstanding large numbers were 

 kepi; but no attention was paid to their con- 

 veniLince, or aceoaimodation. It is true, the 

 poultry come iuore particularly to the car-CL 

 of tiie gooil house wife: but the farmer should 

 furnish means to obtain the best sort, con- 

 venient sheds, or other places to keep them ' 

 in, and not too rigidly guard the corn crib. 

 K. few additional ears of corn will pay com- 

 pound interest, aud the leisure hour in pro- 

 viding them comfort M'ill be far from mis- 

 spent. 



But, though most farmers keep fowls and 

 raise their own eggs, there are many who 

 have not learned the difference there is in 

 the richness aud flavor of eggs produced by 

 fat and well fed hens and from those birds 

 th;;t have been half. starved throuiih our win- 

 ters. There will be some difference in size. 



but far more in the quality. The yolk of 

 one would be large, fine colored and of good 

 consistence, and the albumen or white clear 

 and pure; while the contents of the other 

 will be watery and meagre, as though there 

 were not vitality or substance enough in the 

 parent fowl to properly carry oat and com- 

 plete the work which nature had sketched. 

 In order, therefore, to have good eggs, the 

 fowls should be well fed, and also provided, 

 during the months they are unable to come 

 to the ground, with an abundance of lime, 

 oyster shells and fine gravel, that they may 

 be able to grind and prepare their food for 

 digestion. . ' 



The way in which farmers in sreneral, in 

 this country, manage their poultry, is not 

 the best for them or the fowls. They are 

 allowed to go where they please, to lay and 

 sit at any time they may deem expedient; 

 when the hen comes off with her chickens, 

 she is suffered to ramble about, exposing the 

 young brood to cold and wet, which thins 

 them offrapidly; no suitable accommodations 

 are provided for their roosting places, and 

 they are allowed to find"^ place to roost 

 where they can, probably in some exposed 

 situation in a tree or out-house; no attention 

 is given to feeding theiu; and, under such 

 circumstances, it is not to be wondered at 

 that few or no eggs are produced, that few 

 or no chickens are raised, or that fowls are 

 sickly or unprofitable. 



When, with so little expense to himself, a 

 farmer may have an abundant supply of eggs 

 and raise one or two hundred chickens, it 

 would seem strange that the poultry business 

 should be so little attended to bv the owners 

 of the soil. Where crops are sown immedi- 

 ately around barns, it may be inconvenient 

 to have fowls run at large, but in many cases 

 fifty to one hundred of these birds may be 

 kept, not only without injury, but with ben- 

 efit. There are generally large quantities of 

 grain scattered in the barn ytsrds and lost 

 unless eaten by fowls; there are myriads of 

 insects, such as flies, bugs, worms, grasshop- 

 pers, &c., which require to have their num- 

 bers diminished by the cock and his follow- 

 ers. 



If the fowls be suffered to roost out in the 

 tree tops, winter and summer, and made to 

 scratch for a living the best way they can, 

 it could scarcely be expected they should 

 prove thrifty and profitable. Yermin and 

 inclement wcatherwould blight expectations; 

 neither are all locations favorable to raising 

 poultry; there are many situations where 



