1881.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
231 
to turn. I turn ’em over every day bottom 
side up, because the bird duz that when she 
is settin, and I take it there is no improve¬ 
ment upon natur. If you bring in the eggs 
every night the frosts don’t crack them, and 
the skunks don’t suck them, and I alters 
know just where they be. If I keep ’em 
in the pans marked 1, 2, 3, etc., and put 
them into the numbered pans, I know just 
how old they be, and can set eggs of the 
same age under one hen. There will be a 
difference in the hatching of fresh laid eggs, 
and those that are two or three weeks old, 
sometimes of a day or more. I allers like 
to have the chicks git eout of the shell on 
the same day. As the hen-turkey keeps her 
eggs covered with leaves or grass, I allers 
keep mine covered with a cloth to keep ’em 
from gettin chilled, and to keep the light 
from ’em. Sometimes I put oats into the 
pan, and cover the eggs with oats, which 
answer jest as well as a cloth. They should 
be kept where there is no danger of freezing, 
and where there is no fire. After May comes 
in, there is not much danger of freezing, and 
if the nests are in a safe place, it is not so 
important that the eggs should be brought 
into the house. The hen understands her 
business well enough, and will take good 
care of the eggs. If any of the eggs get 
fouled with the yolk of a broken egg before 
or after setting, the shells should be carefully 
cleaned with tepid water, to secure their 
hatching. Two or three turkeys will some¬ 
times lay in the same nest. This will not do 
. any harm in the early part of the season, but 
they should be separated before setting, and 
only one bird allowed to the nest. This may 
be done by making nests near by, and put¬ 
ting a porcelain or addled egg in each new 
nest. Turkeys are not apt to crowd on to an 
occupied nest, when a vacant ©ne is close by.” 
Setting the Hen-Turkeys 
was discussed by Mrs. Bunker. She took off 
the gold-bowed spectacles that Josiah gave 
her, and seemed to be talking to one of her 
neighbors in the kitchen, who had come in 
to get light on setting turkeys. She said : 
“ Nothing on the farm required more gump¬ 
tion than the setting and management of 
turkeys during the brooding season. When 
I get turkeys out of the shell and through 
the first three weeks of their life, I consider 
them more than half raised. As turkeys re¬ 
quire a good deal of attention, while they 
are upon their nests, they should be in one 
yard, or building, or at least not far distant 
from one another, to take up as little time as 
possible in the frequent visits. In making 
the nests, study nature, and build upon the 
bare earth, lined with leaves or hay, or any 
convenient soft substance, give the eggs room 
enough, and yet have the nest deep enough 
to prevent their rolling out of the nest. A 
hen will lay from fifteen to thirty eggs at a 
litter, but they cannot always cover the 
whole litter. Very large old birds will cover 
twenty eggs. Smaller birds will cover from 
fifteen to eighteen and this is about the right 
average. If you have a dozen turkey hens 
in your flock, which is about the right num¬ 
ber for a good range, it will not be difficult 
to set several birds at once, and these may be 
arranged in nests within a few feet of each 
other. With artificial or addled eggs you 
can keep a part of the hens upon their nests 
a few days, until three or four are ready. 
Then select eggs of as near equal age as pos¬ 
sible, and put them under the hens. If the 
hens, close together, are not set at the same 
time, there is danger when the first begins to 
hatch that her neighbors will hear the peep 
of the first chicks, and become uneasy, and 
perhaps forsake their nests. If all in the 
group of three or four nests are hatching at 
the same time, there is no trouble of this 
kind. Before putting the eggs into the nest, 
it is well to sprinkle a little snuff among the 
hay to guard against insects. The group of 
hens that sit together, and bring off their 
young at the same time, will naturally feed 
and ramble together, and this will save a 
good deal of time in looking after them. 
The turkey is a close sitter, and will not leave 
her nest for several days at a time. Grain 
and water should be kept near the nests.” 
Ilookertown. Ct., I Yours to command. 
May 1,1881. I Timothy Bunker, Esq. 
above the base into which it is tenoned. 
The lever, c, is of inch and a half stuff, 5 1 /- 
feet long, 3 inches wide at short end, and 1 ‘/ 2 
inch at the long end, and fastened in place with 
a loose bolt, needing no nut or key. There is 
a series of holes to accommodate the jack to 
the different hights of axles. The ratchet, 
d, is 2 feet long, bolted at the top, and shaped 
to fall securely into the notches in the lever. 
Condensing Values.—Saving Freight. 
The profits of farming depend somewhat, 
but by no means wholly, upon getting, at the 
lowest expense, the largest product from the 
field, without lessening its capacity as 
a machine for future production. For 
example, we can not afford to pay out 
more money for interest on the soil, for 
seed, labor, in sowing or planting, cul¬ 
tivating, harvesting, and marketing, 
than the crop will return to us after 
its sale. Marketing has much more 
to do with the actual profit than most 
cultivators stop to consider, and this 
question is daily assuming more im¬ 
portance as foreign markets are open¬ 
ing for the products of both our eastern 
and western farms, especially the lat¬ 
ter. That our products go abroad best 
in the form of flour, meat, wool, but¬ 
ter, or cheese, are practical questions 
of interest to every farmer. When in 
the form of meat, shall it be from 
common, native cattle, or from im¬ 
proved stock? We commend to careful and 
thoughtful consideration the suggestions on 
these points that are given on another page 
by President Welsh, of the Iowa A’g’l College. 
Another Wagon Jack. 
It is not many months since the last Wagon 
Jack was published, but here is another, a 
drawing and description of which comes from 
Mr. S. M. Wherey. Cumberland Co., Pa. It 
has been in use by him for fifteen years 
“ and never found wanting. It is light, easily 
A Wagon Box Lifter. 
Mr. G. W. Stoddard, Wayne Co., N. Y., has 
an arrangement for removing the box from 
the farm wagon. It consists of a wooden 
shaft with a wheel at one end, hung to the 
joist overhead in the wagon house, the wheel 
being at the side of the building. Three ropes 
run from the shaft, two directly downward 
to hook on to the rear end of the box, and 
the third horizontally forward and over a 
pulley, and then down to the front end of the 
box. Another rope is wound around the 
wheel, which has a flange on each side, and 
should be about two feet in diameter. By 
handled, quickly adjusted, firm, and does not 
shove in lifting.” It should be made of good, 
strong, hard-wood, such as white oak, sawed 
and planed. The base, a, is 4 by 4 inches, 
and 14 inches in length ; the upright, b, needs 
to be 3'/ 2 bv 3‘/ s inches, and 2‘/ 3 feet long, 
A METHOD OF RAISING A WAGON BOX. 
pulling upon the rope attached to the wheel, 
the box is raised free from the running-gear, 
and is readily put out of the way. The shaft 
can be made from a 3 by 3-inch scantling, 
and the wheel from plank marked out with 
compasses. The engraving shows the con¬ 
struction of this Wagon Box Lifter with the 
box raised up out of the way. 
When to Cut Hay. —It will soon be 
time to cut the early crop of hay. There are 
a number of things to determine the proper 
time to do this work ; first as to the feeding 
value of the hay. For this, as far as quality 
is concerned, there is no doubt that the grass 
and clover should be cut a trifle before the 
period of full blossom. From this time on 
to near the end of blossoming, though there 
may be an increase in the weight of the hay 
gathered, it is of much poorer quality ; the 
nutritive elements have not increased ma¬ 
terially, but there is a much larger per cent 
of undigestible woody fibre. Secondly, the 
value of the aftermath is increased by the 
early cutting, as it has ten or twenty days 
longer to grow. Thirdly, there is a practical 
advantage in cutting the hay early, as it 
prolongs the haying season and permits of 
less huny and therefore more care in gath¬ 
ering the crop. These points apply equally 
equally well to the grain crops, they being too 
frequently harvested later than is best for the 
richest fodder and the finest quality of grain. 
