136 



THE ILLmOIS FARMEJR. 



Mat 



Baising Poidtry as a Business. 



Can this be done, and done profitably, inside 

 of city limits? This is a question of a female 

 friend, «'in want of something to do to aid in 

 the support of her family." She says: 



" Would it be proper for a woman to establish 

 a henery anywhere on the face of the earth, and 

 would it be profitable in the small city where I 

 live ? My friends (?) assure me that it would be 

 exceedingly improper and indelicate for me or 

 any other woman to enter into anything of the 

 kind; they say, "all the town will laugh at you." 

 But if this is the only objection I can manage 

 that." 



Unfortunately, that is not the only objection. 

 The grand objection is that it don't pay, as a gen- 

 eral thing. That this is so, is proved more to 

 our satiafaction than in any other way, by the 

 fact that almost every one who has started the 

 business has given it up after years of trial. 

 The most successful poultry manufacturers that 

 we know of in the United States, are the Messrs. 

 Beatty of Aurora, N. Y., but they are not strictly 

 manufacturers, but finishers. They buy the 

 manufactured article and finish it off ready for 

 market, by careful feeding and neat cleaning and 

 packing This they do profitably to an immense 

 extent. But we do not know of a great poultry 

 manufactory anywhere in this country, and do 

 not believe one can be established within the 

 limits of a town that will be profitable, because 

 the birds are not healthy in a state of confine- 

 ment. 



Poultry raising and the production of silk, be- 

 long to the families of farmers, by right, and 

 can never be taken from them. Neither can be 

 manufactured on a large scale; both belong to 

 the country. Poultry raising, as practiced by 

 the females of some farmers' families, is a de- 

 lightful rural employment, and is sometimes 

 profitable. It is much more often a bill of ex- 

 pense, so far as it relates to direct profit. But it 

 is v«ry profitable to keep poultry on a farm, on 

 account of the aid the birds are in destroying 

 insects. In some cases, keeping poultry is prof- 

 itable, mainly in the value of the manure. 



Our correspondent inquires if there is not 

 some particular breed of fowls that will produce 

 a sort of " golden plumage" profit ? 



That breed sickened in the hight of "the hen 

 fever," and is now nearly extinct. The hens 

 that "lay two eggs a day" always cost as much 

 aa the eggs come to, and a little more. If our 

 fair friend still desires to establish a city poultry 

 market, we advise her to confide her efforts en- 

 tirely to ducks, and never let them see water 

 enough to swim in. Set the water for them to 

 drink where the young can only get their heads 

 in. Water is for country ducks; city ducks can 

 do without it. 



In conclusion, we doabt the chance of our fair 

 iriend to make a henery profitablCi though emi- 

 nently proper. — N". T. Tribune. 



Bl^"Thecity of New York consumes ten thous- 

 and dollars a day in cigars, and only eight thous- 

 and five hundred in bread. 



(From th» North Weatorn Farmer.) 

 Beversing Fence Posts— Striped Bugs. 



The time is fast approaching when farmers 

 will be engaged in building and rebuilding fences. 

 As the plank and wire fence is taking the place 

 of the old zig zag rail protector, I ask a spaee 

 in your Monthly Visitor, to give my exporience 

 in setting posts. In the year 1845 I made some 

 new paling fence, setting the posts a portion of 

 them top end down, and others but ^d down. 



After twelve years the fence was rebuilt and 

 aU those posts set top end down, were sound and 

 took their place in the new fence, for another 

 twelve and twenty years ; while those butt end 

 down were entirely rotted off. 



Farmers, try the top end down if not quite BO 

 large. 



Now for the striped bug, that invete- 

 rate destroyer of cucumbers, melons, and 

 squashes in their early growth. Year after year 

 I have combatted them with thumb and finger, 

 sulphur, chimney soot, boxes, etc. Last spring, 

 I had a few fine hills of early frame cucumbers, 

 just coming into fourth leaf, and as necessity has 

 created the motto, " eternal vigilince or no 

 safety," I went out as usual to examine my 

 patch, and lo! and behold! not less than a 

 thousand to a hill were working away and the 

 air full of new recruits, I felt all was over with 

 that planting. But my wife came to the rescue ; 

 saying she would give them a dose such as her 

 old grandmother used to give. What could it be! 

 A little bunch of cotton saturated with spirits or 

 oil of turpentine, placed in each hill; and such a 

 scattering I never did see. 



In three minutes not a bug was to be seen, evi- 

 dently not liking to deal in spirits. They next 

 attacked the Autumn marrow squash you sent 

 seeds of. I applied it again and from five seeds, 

 had forty fine squabhes, a portion of which I 

 sold two weeks since at twenty cents each. 



J. A. P. 



Bunker Sill, Ills., March 22d, 1862. 



Fun Granaries in the West. — There never 

 was a time in the history of the grain trade, re- 

 marks the N. Y. Tribune, . when such large 

 amounts of produce were stored, waiting the 

 opening of navigation to move eastward. There 

 was instoreat Chica£o, March 23th, 1862, 3.050.M 

 000 bushels wheat, Toledo, March 15th, 293,561 

 do; Buffaloo, March 20th, 768,208 do; Milwau- 

 kie, March 2l8t, 3,300,000 do; Detroit, March 

 21st, 402,300,000 do. 



Of corn in store, the following is the estimate: 

 Chicago, 2,356,784, Toledo, 524,175; Buffolo, 

 233,917 ; Detroit, 104,000. 



The Illinois Central Railroad has in store over 

 1,000,000 bushels. In the city of New York 

 there is already stored 1,250,000 buehelsof corn. 

 Millions of wheat and corn are s'ored at differ^* 

 ent points on the lakes, waiting the evening of 

 navigation, which would swell the above aggre- 

 gate to an almost fabulous amount. Present in- 

 dications are that the grain movement of 1862 

 will far exceed that of any previous year. 



