Early Chickens. 
BY THOMAS D. BAIRD. 
From my experience in poultry raising 
I find the earlier the chickens are hatched 
in spring the more profitable they are, 
whether they are sold as frying chickens or 
kept for stock. As we have always been 
successful with fowls it may be of interest 
to your leaders to write how we manage 
our fowls. To raise early chickens requires 
pains and good attention. The first year 
after we adopted the plan to set very early, 
my wife had several hens set by the first 
of February. Our neighbors would tell 
her that it was not at all economical to set 
hens when eggs were at the highest price. 
Moreover, it was too cold, the hens would 
come off their nest for food and water, the 
eggs would chill and be lost; but my wife 
went ahead, determined to have chickens 
to fry while her neighbors hens were setting. 
She watched her hens closely, and when 
they came off she placed a warm flannel 
cloth on the nest, which would keep the 
warm until the hen would get on 
again, then the cloth was taken off. After 
the chicks came off they were fed three times 
a day, with corn meal dough, for the first 
four or live days, then they were fed on 
wheat screenings. When the ground was 
free from snow and the sun was shining 
they weie let run at large. The eggs hatch¬ 
ed well and we hardly lost a chick, and by 
the middle of April we had chickens large 
enough to fry when they sold at the best 
price. Early cold weather will not hurt 
little chickens like summer dew, and to 
keep them confined until the dew is dried 
off the chickens are restless, which works 
against them, but in cold weather they 
lather like to be confined in warm quarters. 
Early chickens are more annoyed by the 
hawks, 01 at least there are more chickens 
later and the hawks have more places to 
visit, but we find that large bottles placed 
on poles and set around the poultry yard 
will keep the hawks scared off, especially 
if the sun is shining; any thing that will 
glisten will answer. We endeavor to get 
as many chickens hatched as we want for 
stock by the 20th of March, and sell off the 
cockerels at good prices. The pullets will 
begin to lay early, and if properly fed and’ 
housed will lay all winter while eggs are at 
the best prices. About the first of March, 
there is a demand for the young -hens. We 
then sell off all except those we need for 
stock chickens. I have found this way of 
managing poultry to be the most profitable. 
We get their manure and eggs all winter, 
which pays for all they eat, then the hen 
is sold as clear profit. 
A Chapter on Cabbages. 
The experienced Market Gardener of 
course knows already just what varieties 
of cabbage he wants to plant, and his only 
anxiety concerning the purchase of seeds is 
to get pure stock and from good selected 
strains of the kinds that he fancies. But. 
as there are thousands of inexperienced 
cultivators who do not know exactly what 
they want, we will give a brief description* 
of varieties: 
EARLY BLEICHFIELD. 
For first early use, to be sown in liot-bed 
and set in the garden as soon as the weath¬ 
er will permit, the Early Jersey Wakefield 
is used more than all others. The Early 
Favorite and Early York are fully as early 
but are smaller and neither of‘them are- 
American varieties. Next in earliness- 
comes the Early Bleichfield Giant, which is 
a German variety, as hard, and with a 
1 oundei head and ten days earlier, than the 
well-known -Winningstadt. Our seed of the 
Bleichfield is of our growth from German 
stock. We particularly recommend it fo* 
