1882 .] 
AMERIOA^ AGRICULTURIST. 
369 
food up from the subsoil, which wheat 
or oats can use to advantage during their 
short period of growth. A variety of crops 
permits the farmer to cultivate the soil and 
keep it clean of weeds, and deep and mel¬ 
low. A good, five-year rotation is wheat, 
clover (two years), com followed by oats. 
Rearing Pure-Bred Fowls. 
BY D. Z. EVANS, JR. 
During the prevalence of the so-called 
“ Hen Fever,” fabulous prices were paid for 
very poor specimens of fowls. Until breed¬ 
ers of poultry called a meeting, and devised 
and formally adopted the “ standard of ex¬ 
cellence” for poultry, each breeder carried 
out his own views in regard to shape, size, 
markings, and name, and confusion reigned 
supreme. Method, knowledge, and experi¬ 
ence now rule, and it is owing to the “ stand¬ 
ard ” that we now have such a uniformity in 
the aims and results of breeders of pure¬ 
bred poultry. 
There are very many business men in the 
cities who live in suburban places, or in 
towns near by, who could raise fine pure¬ 
bred poultry for the pleasure and recreation 
it affords. It diverts the mind from the 
heavy strain of business, affords a profitable 
way of employing the leisure hours, and 
often adds greatly to the attractiveness of 
the home. The expense of keeping a flock 
of pure-bred fowls, of from ten to a dozen 
breeding birds, is not much of an item, espe¬ 
cially when so much that would otherwise 
go to waste from kitchen and table can be 
utilized as poultry food. Even where all the 
food has to be purchased regularly for the 
fowls, and such cases are very rare, the eggs 
and young chicks will far more than pay for 
it, leaving a snug little surplus with which 
to purchase new breeding stock from time to 
time, as may be required. Good breeding 
birds, of almost any of the pure-bred varie¬ 
ties now so generally bred, can be bought at 
from $1.50 to $5 each, according to age, sex, 
and quality, though it is always economy to 
start with a flock, however small, of extra 
fine birds, as the progeny will be more satis¬ 
factory, and if offered for sale for breeding 
purposes, will sell at satisfactory figures. Ten 
per cent of extra fine chicks is about as many 
as can reasonably be counted on each season, 
some few of the remaining birds being fair 
birds for ordinary breeding, and the remain¬ 
der excellent for the table or market. To 
prove conclusively that the birds have paid 
well for the care and food bestowed, keep a 
regular debit and credit account, and it will 
surprise a novice with what a small flock is 
capable of doing when properly cared for. 
As most persons living in country towns 
or in the suburbs of the large cities have but 
a limited amount of ground, fowls must put 
up with but little exercise room, as a rule ; 
and while the Brahmas and Cochins, and 
perhaps the Plymouth Rocks, may do well 
in small enclosures, under the care of a pains¬ 
taking person, all fowls should have the 
largest possible space to roam in. Where 
the birds are necessarily kept in a small yard, 
everything should be done to make up for 
the loss of room and absence of a grass run, 
by supplying scratching material, fresh, 
short grass, or other green rood daily, winter 
and summer, and by strictly adhering to 
cleanliness in every particular. Close con¬ 
finement invites and engenders disease or 
disorders—lice, mites, and other parasites, 
which so annoy and destroy the birds. The 
houses, nests, etc., must have especial and 
frequent attention, and everything kept neat 
and clean. This is conducive to healthful¬ 
ness, and gives the place an air of neatness. 
The choice of breeds is a matter of much 
annoyance to the novice, who, not having 
any experience, is guided generally by mere 
chance in the selection, and not by any sys¬ 
tem of reasoning. Where mere beauty is 
the consideration, then some breed which is 
noted for that quality should be obtained, as 
the Polish, especially the White-crested Black 
variety. Where eggs are the desideratum, 
the White or Brown Leghorns will give sat¬ 
isfaction, the latter breed being very hand¬ 
some in plumage when properly bred. For 
heavy weights, where plenty of flesh is 
wanted, the well-known light Brahma, or, in 
fact, any of the Asiatics (Brahmas and Co¬ 
chins,) are the ones to choose. Where proud- 
bearing, and quick, active birds are wanted, 
the several varieties of the Games should be 
considered in detail, the Black-breasted Red 
Games being universal favorites. Where 
something neat, pretty, and small is desired, 
the Bantams “fill the bill” exactly, the pref¬ 
ence being about equally divided on the 
Black-breasted Red Game Bantams, and the 
Silver and the Golden variety of Sebrights. 
A Non-Slipping Chain for Boulders. 
BT L. D. SNOOK, YATES CO., N. Y. 
One great trouble in hauling boulders or 
large stones with team and chain is the lia¬ 
bility of the chain to slip off, especially if the 
stone is nearly round. By the use of the con¬ 
trivance shown in the engraving, nearly all 
of this trouble is avoided. It consists in 
passing two log chains around the stone and 
connecting them a few inches above the 
ground by a short chain or even a piece of 
rope or wire. Connect the chains in a similar 
manner near the top of the stone. The ends 
of the draught chains are attached to the 
whiffletrees in any way desired. In hauling 
down an incline, or where the ground is very 
rough, it will be best to wrap each chain 
clear around the stone, connecting with 
whiffletrees by a single chain, thereby pre¬ 
venting a possibility of the chains becoming 
detached or misplaced in any way. 
A Pitchfork Holder. 
J. E. H., Emporia, Kansas,writes us: " Hav¬ 
ing occasion to go into the bam one night, 
I received a very bad wound trom a pitch- 
fork which had fallen trom its standing po¬ 
sition. This led me to construct a Holder, a 
sketch of which is here sent. Tne f ork-holder 
is made of an inch board, ot a semi-circular 
shape, with five holes large enough to admit 
a fork handle, bored near the curved side. 
'This board is nailed to a standing post in the 
barn. A strap or curved bolt is placed some 
distance below to hold the handles in place 
Fig. 1.— FRONT VIEW. Fig. 2.— SIDE VIEW. 
as they rest on a bottom board fixed for the 
purpose.”—Figure 1 shows the front view of 
the holder ; figure 2 gives the side view. 
Muck.—What is Muck? 
In England, muck means manure. In 
“Pilgrim’s Progress,” “the man with the 
muck-rake ” was searching for good in the 
gutter’s filth; but not finding that for which 
he searched. “Muck is money,” is an Eng¬ 
lish farmer’s proverb, the meaning of which 
is clear enough. When agricultural writers 
in America talk about muck, they mean 
swamp muck, and by this, a substance of a 
peaty character, rich in humus, of a dark 
brown or nearly black color, consisting of 
the remains of plants which have undergone 
partial decomposition under the constant in¬ 
fluence of water. This has no constant com¬ 
position or appearance other than indicated. 
In peat-beds, the true peat is often several 
feet deep, and there may be a good deal of 
similar material which is crumbly, more or 
less mixed with earth or sand, and unfit for 
fuel. Other deposits abound in which there 
is no peat fit to use as fuel, but with an abund¬ 
ance of other material useful to farmers, and 
properly enough called muck. This is black 
soil, at least half of which will burn away 
when dry. It often dries hard, like clay or 
bricks. It crumbles under the influence of 
frost and air, and often simply by drying. 
This substance, including all varieties of 
peat, is or may be made useful in every 
upland soil, indeed in eveiy soil not of a 
peaty nature to begin with. It is often rich 
in nitrogen, the most costly ingredient of 
fertilizers, often contains phosphate of lime 
and other valuable ash-ingredients. By its 
decomposition in the soil, its absorbent ac¬ 
tion, its promotion of other decompositions 
and changes in the soil, its presence is always 
beneficial. Under some peculiar circum¬ 
stances, these effects are hinaered, probably 
by the presence of organic acids in the peat. 
To such peats and mucks the term “sour” 
is fitly applied by farmers. They may, how¬ 
ever, be neutralized, or, so to speak, sweet¬ 
ened by lime. Fresh-burnt lime rapidly ab¬ 
sorbs water, ana tails into a fine dry powder. 
The muck is spread in layers, a lew inches 
m thickness, and lime in this form is spread 
thinly over it. It is not necessary to be ac- 
