254 
ameeicak ageioultijeist. 
[June, 
choice chicks, small wooden wheels can be placed 
on the side near the rear end, so that the coop and 
contents can be trundled under a shed, or on to the 
barn floor until a shower is over. Touns; chicks 
should be fed in small quantities, and as often as 
once in three hours. Give only what they will eat 
clean at each feeding. A mixture of com-meal, 
and ground oats is very nourishing, and should 
be either wet with boiling water, or baked in a 
cake and then soaked in warm milk. Feed no hard 
grain until six weeks old, and up to this time chicks 
A MOVABLE CHICKEN COOP. 
need no drink, though they will enjoy sour milk 
occasionally. The most critical time in the growth 
of chickens, is when the stiff wing feathers begin 
to grow. After this period is passed, they will 
push along rapidly, and should be ready to dress as 
broilers in ten to twelve weeks, when at from 
thirty-five to forty cents a pound, they will bring 
as much as if fed until six months old, and sold at 
fifteen to twenty cents. Save large, finely colored 
eggs for hatching; it pays well to choose the best 
product of the hens for improvement of future 
stock, as in saving seeds from the best vegetables 
and flowers. If the best layers, and the layers of best 
eggs are chosen from year to year, the poultry stock 
will greatly improve. This rule applies as well to the 
fancier who wishes to improve the appearance of 
his fowls by breeding for marking and symmetry, 
as to the farmer and producer who keep a few fowls 
for home consumption only. H. C. B. 
Pasture and Meadow Grasses. 
COL. F. D. CUBTIS. 
A variety of grasses is best for pastures, so that 
there may be a continuous growth. The seeds of 
grasses, as well as other seeds, when buried at 
such depth that they do not germinate, remain dor¬ 
mant for a long time, and will grow when brought 
by tillage near the surface. There is always more 
or less self-seeding, as the earth is filled with seeds 
which have acumulated and only waiting favorable 
conditions to show themselves. It is not always ne¬ 
cessary to sow a variety of grass in order to have 
such a sort represented in a pasture, but of course 
a variety is more certainly secured by so doing. If 
the soil is made rich before seeding, it will help 
to increase the-yield of self-seeded grasses. Making 
the surface smooth and fine will also aid in bring¬ 
ing out the latent seeds. 
For a pasture, variety of grasses should be se¬ 
lected adapted to the land and the purpose of the 
pasture. Timothy {Phleum pratense), is the poorest 
of the cultivated varieties of pasture grasses, as it 
makes very little leaf herbage, and after the stems 
have matured the after growth or after-math is 
small. It is the best grass for meadows of any single 
variety, both for yield and market, being better 
suited to horses than cattle. It is among the poor¬ 
est for sheep. The best single grass for pasture 
is orchard grass {Dactylis glomcrata). This is 
also the earliest, except the small blue grass {Boa 
praiensis), so common in old pastures, dooryards, 
and along the highways. Orchard grass is valua¬ 
ble for its prompt renewal after either cutting or 
grazing, and for its permanency, being superior to 
Timothy in this respect, and not excelled by any, 
unless it is Red-Top {Agro.ttis vulgaris), on rich land 
it will furnish a fresh bite in three days. No other 
grass is equal to it in this respect. It should al¬ 
ways be allowed to produce an after-math before 
cold weather sets in, or the crowns will freeze and 
die. The after-math acts as a protection and is nec¬ 
essary in a cold climate. It ■will not, however, cut 
so readily as either Timothy or clover, owingto the 
form and tenacity of the roots, which are long and 
fibrous, and grow in bunches. The sod makes 
more enriching material than any other grass. 
An orchard grass sod always makes mellow land, 
as the roots penetrate to a great depth and loosen 
up the sub-soil. The roots of Timothy are small 
and of shallow growth, hence are easily thrown 
out by frost and make a weak sod. Orchard grass 
is not so well adapted for meadows as other varie¬ 
ties. It ripens at an inconvenient time, before the 
spring work is finished, and does not produce so 
large a crop or as good a quality. Unless cut 
when in blossom it is hard and woody. Timothy is 
much better if cut when the seed is beginning to 
form. Timothy will flourish either on dry upland, 
or low land if it does not heave with the frost, so as 
to throw out the bulbs. Orchard grass is also adapt¬ 
ed to any variety of soils, except very wet land. 
Red-Top grows well on moist land, even if it over¬ 
flows, and it will also do well on dry land. It 
makes hay of excellent quality, good for any kind 
of stock, being softer in its texture than either 
Timothy or orchard grass, and lighter in propor¬ 
tion to the bulk. It is next, if not equal, to orchard 
grass in value for pasture, with the exception of 
extreme earliness and quick renewal after croping. 
Silk Culture—Food Plants. 
MRS. M. J. G. HAMMACK. 
There are hundreds of thousands of women who, 
being unable to do hard work, have no means of 
converting labor into capital, and to these silk cul¬ 
ture is really the creation of a new industry. For the 
infirm, the invalid, and the child, it is the open door 
to a competency, with no burden of drudgery. Let 
no one suppose that the cultivation of silk is a diffi¬ 
cult pursuit, for it is a very simple one, and as 
instructive and interesting as profitable. There is 
no real obstacle to its success in America, for the dry 
and bracing atmosphere of this country is extremely 
healthy for the worms. One of the advantages of 
the silk industry is that a comparatively small 
amount of capital will yield a large income, so that 
to a person with limited means and a family of 
children, the culture of silk holds out encourage¬ 
ments of extraordinary promise. Women and chil¬ 
dren can make one hundred dollars the first year 
after planting the trees, and the second, from 
one hundred and fifty to three hundred dollars, 
with one acre of mulberry trees. 
The gathering of the leaves and feeding the 
worms may be done by the children, one adult per¬ 
son always directing 
the business. Itshould 
be borne in mind that 
in silk culture the brain 
is of more importance 
than the hand. The 
first important step is 
to prepare the proper 
food for the silk worm. 
The leaf of the mulber¬ 
ry is the best, and this 
tree will grow and the 
silk worm thrive upon It 
throughout the United 
States. The maclura or 
osage orange, is a substitute for the mulberry, and 
a fair crop of silk can be raised from it, but any 
one hoping for complete success in its use may be¬ 
come discouraged. The danger in handling the 
thorny osage, the difficulty in securing sufiicient 
leaves on account of the thorns, the danger of the 
succulent leaf at the last stage of the worm, and 
the great care to be observed in not using the up¬ 
per end of the shoots, should prevent any one from 
relying entirely upon the osage as principal food. 
It will answer to experiment with while the mul¬ 
berry trees are growing, but to use osage entirely, 
doubles the expense, both in gathering leaves and 
using the branches. Worms fed on branches are 
the most healthy, as that is their natural way of 
living, and they enjoy creeping about on the twigs. 
The mulberry will ever retain its superiority as a 
reliable and continuous food for the certainty of 
yielding an unexceptionable quality of silk, and its 
vigorous growth and production of suitable foliage 
invest it with properties not combined in any other 
plant. One-year-old trees can be used to make a 
crop of silk, and where the plants are set out close 
together as for a hedge, the clipping of the twigs 
and branches will favor the growth of numerous 
shoots which will become valuable leaf-bearing 
branches the next season. 
For standard trees they should be set out twelve 
feet apart each way, and in this mode of cultivation 
the trees interfere but little, if any, with the use of 
the land for other purposes. Corn and small fruits 
may be grown between the rows of trees. Planting 
in hedge rows is the most approved mode of cul¬ 
tivation for convenience in gathering the leaves. 
The Moretti mulberry is profitably grown for a 
hedge, as the large size of its leaves make it a very 
desirable variety. The Italian mulberry is generally 
preferred to all other kinds. It grows rapidly, and 
is clothed with leaves fifteen or twenty days earlier 
than the other varieties. The Russian mulberry has 
taken a veiy prominent place, and owing to its 
hardiness and rapid growth is in great demand; it 
produces fine, strong silk. The trees make excellent 
timber and are prolific fruit-bearers. The aromatic 
and juicy berries are often more than an inch long, 
one half inch in diameter, and vary in color, from 
jet black to light red. The fine fruit more than pays 
for the labor and expense of growing these trees. 
All the varieties of mulberry trees mentioned are 
hardy, grow rapidly, attain a hight of twenty or 
thirty feet, and make beautiful shade trees. 
A Pig-Pen in the Pasture. 
The pig pasture should be near the house for con¬ 
venience in feeding. But wherever located, it 
should have a good pen for feeding and shelter. 
A pen is an economical arrangement in the matter 
of feeding alone. When pigs are fed on the ground 
much of their food is trampled into the ground and 
wasted. Loose troughs placed in the open field are 
insecure, and the strongest hogs usually get more 
than their share if they do not succeed in over¬ 
turning the whole mess. It is a bad policy to leave 
pigs exposed to all sorts of weather, even during 
the summer season. When animals seek the poor 
protection of a fence or a tree, one can easily under¬ 
stand that shelter is needed. Farm animals are 
good guides to follow in supplying their wants in 
this respect. A shelter should be provided that 
will exclude cold rains, frost, and the hot sun. 
This may be done at small expense. Two or three 
A CHEAP PASTUEE PIG-PEN. 
hundred feet of lumber and a few hours’ labor, will 
erect a pen that answers all the wants of the case. 
The accompanying cut represents sueh a pen sit¬ 
uated on the line of the pasture fence, with feed 
spouts accessible from the outside of the pasture. 
The frame for this pen is made by setting posts 
in the ground, and spiking sleepers, girts, and 
plates to them. These posts should be of some 
durable timber, cedar and tamarack are excellent 
for this purpose. Any timber may be made more 
durable by pouring hot tar over the portion that 
is to enter the ground. The posts should be set 
about three and a half feet in the ground. Where 
the boards are put on horizontally, no girts are 
needed. Plates or overlays spiked to the end 
posts, and extending the length of the building, 
are needed to hold the roof boards, which run up 
and down, and are battened with narrow strips. 
