1871.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
373 
have been given a nutritious but not especially 
stimulating food—like a colt at pasture. When 
they arrive at the laying age, they are kept like 
the horse—broken to work, and put to constant 
and severe labor, and fed as high as he will bear. 
The sitters are of a breed chosen for persist¬ 
ence and regulari¬ 
ty in incubation, 
fidelity to their 
chickens, and gen¬ 
tleness of disposi¬ 
tion. The Light 
Brahmas are our 
resource, and can 
not be excelled for 
hatching and rear¬ 
ing (see fig. 3). 
Pure bloods, how¬ 
ever, are not used; 
but to give less 
awkwardness and 
greater spread of 
wings, they are 
crossed with snow- 
white barn-yard 
fowls (see fig. 4). 
The half-bloods 
produced are rep¬ 
resented very ac¬ 
curately by the 
artist (see fig. 5). 
They resemble the 
Brahmas the most 
in form and other 
characteristics, and are almost uniformly docile. 
The half-blood Brahmas are extremely valuable 
for hatching and taking care of chickens. The 
results of the labors of poultry fanciers in pro¬ 
ducing two such breeds as the White Leghorns 
and Light Brahmas are enough to compensate 
for all the humbug practiced by many members 
of the guild. The sitters are not kept at de¬ 
tached stations like the layers, for several rea¬ 
sons. One is, they should be all near together, 
because of the great amount of attendance 
necessary in con¬ 
nection with hatch¬ 
ing. Then the build¬ 
ings should be large 
enough for the 
keeper to enter, in 
order to take care 
of the nests and 
chickens, but the 
size of the structure 
and the risk of jar¬ 
ring eggs will pre¬ 
vent moving. Nor 
can the system of 
indirect feeding 
and no j’ards be 
pursued, for the 
sitters should be 
fed at the attend¬ 
ant’s feet, and 
tamed so as to sub¬ 
mit quietly to the 
handling they must 
receive while 
hatching and rear¬ 
ing. Their jnards 
are sufficiently 
large to admit of 
exercise, and for the same reason their dry grain 
is buried in the ground or under straw. In 
very cold weather they are confined to their 
houses for warmth, and are given a stimulating 
diet to promote winter laying, not so much for 
the value of the eggs as to render it certain that 
there shall be a considerable number of birds 
ready to sit in February, and many more in 
March. The fowls chiefly depended upon for 
this, consist of the earliest pullets of the pre¬ 
vious year, and also the old hens that have been 
employed much of the time the preceding sum¬ 
mer in hatching two or three broods. The pre¬ 
vention of laying by hatching and rearing, 
causes birds thus occupied to lay earlier the 
next season. By a little management there is 
no difficulty in procuring plenty of offers to sit 
from February to June. One half the sitting 
stock are kept until two years old, and of the 
pullets of the sitting class raised yearly, some 
are hatched in February and March, and some 
in the first week in September, the better to se¬ 
cure sitting at various parts of the year. Ex¬ 
Fig. 5. —HALF-BREEDS FOR SITTERS. 
cept in winter, the sitters should not be fed with 
a view to encourage laying, but the aim should 
be to keep them on as moderate an allowance 
as possible, and not have them become poor. 
Their specific purpose is incubation, and they 
should be made to do as much of this as possi¬ 
ble. By uniting broods, when a hen has hatch¬ 
ed one nestful of eggs she may be given anoth¬ 
er immediately, and if managed rightly she will 
not be injured by sitting a double term. Each 
hen must hatch two broods per year at least, 
and some will hatch three. In this way the 
stock of 500 sitters 
will produce 10,000 
chickens yearly, or 
an average of 20 
apiece. 
Manuring 
Meadows during 
the Autumn. — 
The importance of 
properly caring for 
the preservation of 
mowing lands dur¬ 
ing winter can not 
be overestimated. 
In proportion to 
the yield of hay, is 
the feeding capa¬ 
city of the farm; 
and in proportion 
to the amount of 
stock kept, is the 
size or richness of 
the manure pile or 
compost heap. 
Want of care may 
lead to serious 
damage if the 
winter should happen to be unfavorable. To 
avert ill consequences, a coating of manure 
should be spread upon the meadows before 
winter sets in. No fear of waste need be en¬ 
tertained. The soil will absorb all soluble fer¬ 
tilizing matter that may be carried down by the 
rains into it, and the coarser matter left will re¬ 
main as a protection for the roots from severe 
freezing. Rotting, as soon as exposed to the 
warm rains of spring, it will form a layer of 
fertile soil near the roots of the grass or clover 
plants, just where 
it is needed. If 
mowing lands have 
been closely pas¬ 
tured, a great risk 
is run of destruc¬ 
tive freezing, un¬ 
less a liberal 
amount of covering 
is supplied to them. 
A good stand of 
clover. unwisely 
pastured too close, 
has often been to¬ 
tally destroyed for 
want of protection 
during winter. The 
natural protection 
having been eaten 
a substitute 
must be furnished, 
failing which, total 
loss may result. 
But whether pas¬ 
tured or not, no 
harm can result 
from a liberal dress¬ 
ing of manure. On 
the other hand, a good return may be confi¬ 
dently looked for next season. If sod ground 
intended for corn next spring is thus treated, it 
will not only gain the benefit of the protection 
afforded, but also of the manure added, and 
an important work will have been attended to 
Fig. 4.— snow-white barn-yard fowls. 
