1869 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
125 
Tlie “ Hen ff’crcr.'’—Why should not 
people have the “ hen fever ?” The hens are happily 
free from it. From Christmas time to near spring, fresh 
laid eggs are worth three to sis cents each—40 to 00 cts. 
per dozen—and rarely less than $3.00 per hundred. From 
May to September, “Broilers,” that-is, full-fledged chick¬ 
ens that will weigh one to two pounds each, and usually 
three pounds to the pair, will sell for $1.00 to $2.00 a pair, 
alive, which is quite as much as we used to pay for 
sucking pigs for roaster's. The demand for eggs is insa¬ 
tiable. The “ transactions ” in this city alone are estima¬ 
ted to amount to some $3,000,000 or $4,000,000 per month ; 
and during the cool weather from September to April, 
the sales in the dead fowl market, not exclusively chick¬ 
ens, however, probably exceed those figures. The value 
of poultry-yard products in the whole country is said to bo 
not less than $100,000,000 a year. The best breeds for 
eggs are -not the best as winter layers. The best for 
flesh are not the best for eggs, nor are those which quick¬ 
ly attain marketable size the best for fattening for the 
fall and winter market. The most beautiful fowls are 
found among those famous as layers, yet this class in¬ 
cludes also the homeliest. Each breed has its uses, each 
has its fanciers, some are in fashion now, others will be 
two years hence. Fowls which sell for $100 or $200 a 
pair are not rare. These are the phases and symptoms 
of the hen fever • the cure, a liberal investment in hens. 
Fowls—In>ancl-in Breedingf.— Geo. 
C. Van Allen, Henry Co., Iowa. The subject of in-and-in 
breeding cannot be briefly discussed. In the writer’s 
opinion, you may, without fear of deteriorating your 
stock, breed the old cock to his own pullets as long as he 
is vigorous; and, probably, selecting every year one or 
two of the very finest cockerels, use them also, keeping 
the best pullets with the old cock for your breeding stock 
of each year. After he dies, or is too old, you will need 
fresh blood, and of course you will try to get a cock a 
little better in size, form, and markings, than any 
thing you have in your own yard, and you can afford to 
pay a good price for a pair or trio of such birds. 
Buying and Selling Eggs lor 
Hatching.—A hen will lay during the best season for 
raising chickens about three dozen eggs. If the hen is 
a valuable one, and any of the eggs are sold, the owner 
knows he is likely to sell chickens which may, if well 
cared for, win prizes away from his own. Hence he is 
perfectly right in putting a high price upon them. It is 
reckoned that the eggs a hen lays in the spring arc worth 
as much as she is herself. A choice breeding hen of any 
breed, such as a discriminating fancier is willing to breed 
from, is worth $8 to $10, usually; hence $3.00 a dozen for 
eggs is reasonable. It is safe to calculate that not over 
30 per cent of eggs that are sent 300 miles by express will 
hatch. It is good luck if out of a setting a trio or pair of 
good fowls are obtained. Sometimes all hatch, some¬ 
times none. The packing has much to do with success. 
The best way is to wrap each egg in paper, laying them 
in a box with cotton or tow, closely packed, not allow¬ 
ing the eggs to come near the sides of the box any¬ 
where. If an egg be broken, it is the packer’s fault; 
if it be jarred, it is probably the fault of the expressmen. 
There is no redress unless obvious violence to the 
box shows inexcusablo carelessness of the carrier. 
House Buihling {Questions.—Many 
letters, concerning minor points, have been received 
respecting the houses described last month, from those 
now building dwellings for themselves. We answer 
these letters together : The Tank, X, is made with top 
and bottom frame of 3x6-inch pine, cased or lined with 
tongued and grooved pine plank—the side planks set per¬ 
pendicular- — planed side out in front. It is lined with 
heavy sheet lead, with plumber’s “ tacks ” at several 
points around the sides, to keep the lead from settling 
down. On three sides it is protected, first by the brick fill¬ 
ing in, between the wall studding of the house, and then 
by double lath and plastering, with an inch space be¬ 
tween each coating. Heavy studding from the ground up 
supports the great weight. The whole is covered, having 
a trap-door on hinges; the front has ornamented panels 
and mouldings... .The filtering cistern is 4*4 feet deep, 
and 4*4 feet in diameter, with brick center partition hav¬ 
ing several holes at the base. The receiving side is filled 
with alternate layers of 2 to 3 inches of charcoal (at 
the bottom), then thoroughly washed gravel, and coarse 
sand, ending with gravel at tlic top — giving 314 feet of 
filtering material, and a free space at the top. As the 
rain water falls pure, the chief object of a filter is to take 
out dust and leaves lodging on the roof... .The Oriental 
furnace is “ 24-inch,” from J. E. Liddle, 250 Water 
Street, New York City... .The wall studding is 4 inches 
thick, and the filling, brick on edge, leaving %-inch space 
on each side. The siding is of 1-inch board. The filling 
is carried up to the roof. The walls thus havo two air 
spaces, an inch board, and the plastering, which give a 
very effective protection against cold and dampness.... 
The working plans and specifications in full, asked for by 
several, would occupy too much of our space. Any 
items of this kind, in part or in full, will be cheerfully 
furnished by the builder, Mr. John Donald, Flushing, N. 
Y., at the bare cost of time and labor required to prepare 
what maybe wanted by any one.... We shall from time 
to time furnish plans of cheap houses, as we have done 
in past years, although it is often difficult to get common- 
sense plans from architects, who are usually too apt to 
consult style at the expense of convenience. It is no 
small matter to combine the two well. The following 
numbers of the American Agriculturist contain plans 
and hints on smaller houses: May and October, 1859; 
March, 1S60; April, 1861; September and December, 
1S63; April and July, 1S54; February, March, and June, 
1S65; February, 1S66; January, February, and March, 
1S67. For more expensive houses see Feb., 1859; Feb. 
and December, 1860; March, 1867. (These and other 
single backnumbers arc sent post-paid for 15 cents each). 
Hydraulic limns, —Mr. Finning, of River- 
liead, asks about the use of hydraulic rams, to throw 
spring water to farm buildings on elevated ground. He 
desires to convey the water about 25 rods to a level 100 
feet above the spring, and asks how it should be arranged, 
what material is required, what the cost would be, etc. 
It may be stated, in general terms, that for so high a lift 
a large pipe should be used to lessen the friction, and 
that the drive-pipe should have a length of about 40 feet, 
and a fall, if possible, of 10 feet, although even 5 or 6 will 
answer. Probably it will not be possible to throw up 
more than one-tenth of the flow of the spring, the other 
nine-tenths being wasted. We should recommend, for 
such severe work as this, two medium-sized rams work¬ 
ing in connection with the same drive-pipe, believing 
that the strain will be much less than upon a larger ma¬ 
chine, and the cost not materially greater. As to tho 
pipe, it would probably be best to use for the first 50 feet 
of elevation one-inch iron gas pipe, and for the remain¬ 
der of the lift, as being cheaper, one-and-one-half-inch 
wooden pipe, such ns is made at Elmira, New York. In 
addition to the cheapness, the extra size would make the 
flow somewhat more easy. If the hight is less than 100 
feet, the amount of gas pipe maybe reduced; if not 
more than 50 feet, it need not be used at all. Rams may 
be purchased in New York City. The cost depends upon 
the size and outfit of pipe. The American Agriculturist for 
Nov., 1858, contains a lengthy article, with illustrations. 
Irrigation.—“M.,” of Monticello, Arkan¬ 
sas, asks directions for irrigating a cultivated garden 
with a living spring, situated 150 yards distant, and 15 
or 20 feet higher than the garden ground. The water 
may be brought through an open ditch to the highest 
point of the garden, where there should be a small reser¬ 
voir having a copious outlet away from the garden, so that 
surplus water will flow off without doing harm. The 
reservoir should have, just at the level of the ground, one 
or two small openings, through which to discharge, at 
the will of the operator, a small quantity of water. It 
will be better to distribute the water, if the land can pos¬ 
sibly be so graded as to receive it, by a gentle flow over 
the banks of small ditches. The most satisfactory, as 
well as the cheapest means for discharging the water 
from these ditches, is by simply opening their banks with 
a hoe, so as to allow a small stream to be discharged at 
each point from which it is desired to take the water. 
The ditches themselves should be accurately leveled, and 
should remain permanently undisturbed. All the rest 
may be easily done by the gardener himself, whenever 
watering is necessary. This is the system that has been 
adopted in the very extensive experiments with the sew¬ 
age water of the city of London, it being found much 
cheaper, and in all respects much more satisfactory than 
any complicated system of pipes and movable gutters. 
Hydropults and water engines, with the pipes and hose 
that their use requires, are expensive and troublesome ; 
and ho must be a persistent man in whose garden they 
would not very early fall into disuse. 
Tlie Eclipse and the CornCrop.— 
A good many honest souls really believe that there will 
be a short com crop because there will be an eclipse of 
the sun next August. 'We cannot prove that there will 
be a good crop, but these are facts. The moon will cut 
off the light of the sun partly, for less than half a day, 
because it will be exactly between the sun and the earth. 
Once in every month the moon always comes near the 
same relative position, and almost every year it eclipses 
the sun to some part of the earth. The only difference be¬ 
tween this year and any other is; therefore, that the corn 
crop, and every other, will get perhaps a quarter of a day’s 
less sunshine than if the eclipse did not occur. The sun 
and moon, separately and conjointly, influence the tides; 
perhaps, also, aerial tides and storms, and the weather 
somewhat. They may, or may not. Somebody guesses 
so ; but it is no guess-work to say that the eclipse will 
iu no way affect the corn crop for good or ill. 
dwj’pssjuiOT. is Sulphate of Lime—Plaster,or Land 
Plaster. It is sometimes confounded with Plaster of 
Paris, which is made from ground gypsum by heating it. 
This drives oft' water, and reduces it from a granular con¬ 
dition to that of an impalpable powder. Gypsum is tho 
best name for the agricultural article, for it is not in con¬ 
dition to be used as plaster, and no confusion can occur. 
Gypsnsn oaa dover. —Gypsum seems 
never to come amiss to clover. Early spring is a favora¬ 
ble time to apply it. A good time is just after mowing. 
Eiquid Mannrc.—In ordinary use, this 
term applies to all manures in solution in water, and not 
to urine alone. The application of dung to the land may 
be most economically effected by spreading it on the sur¬ 
face, when its soluble parts' will become liquid manure 
during the first heavy rain, and the whole of it must bo 
dissolved before the plants receive it. The dissolving of 
the manures of the stable and their distribution by means 
of solution in water is troublesome, but there is no doubt 
that when judiciously used such dissolved manures are 
the best of all applications for grass lands. The amount 
of water required for sewage irrigation is something 
fabulous. At the London sewage farm nearly 300,000 tons 
were applied in a single season to 50 acres of land. 
Jr. 
Buck. —The best way for “Tyro” to convince 
his “man” of the value of muck is, to compel him to 
use it. The plan suggested of mixing it with the liquid 
and solid droppings of the animals in a concreted cellar, 
there to be worked over by hogs, is the best. Some 
muck, when properly prepared, is worth as much as sta¬ 
ble manure.—some is not worth nearly so much,—but. all 
swamp muck is worth using, and the simple tact that it 
dilutes the manure, and gives a greater bulk of material 
which may be more evenly distributed over the ground 
is, of itself, almost enough to make its use profitable. 
Mamire from the t’attlc Ears,—A 
farmer who receives annually many car loads of manure 
from the cars on which live-stock are transported to 
market, asks if there is any danger of his stock taking 
disease from it. We are not a little startled by the ques¬ 
tion, as the fact is, there is danger. No great danger, 
perhaps, because the great proportion of cattle, sheep, 
and hogs which come to market are sound, and of those 
which are not, very few are diseased in such a way that 
their droppings could cause disease in other animals; 
but there is some risk. Such manure ought to be at once 
well composted with muck orsoil, before it is put wlicro 
cattle can graze over the land where it is applied, or stand, 
lie, or work over it. With horses there is no danger. 
C'ttiintlii Earming-—Peas insfend 
of Corn,—Henry Strange, of County Wellington, Out.., 
puts Canadian farming in a “nutshell” when he writes: 
“Nearly all the best farmers here devote themselves ex¬ 
clusively to raising fine cattle and sheep, and fattening 
them in the most profitable manner; hence turnips are in¬ 
dispensable, and corn unnecessary, peas taking its place.” 
Is It 'Well ? —“Is it well to mix cow’s feed 
with their own milk Yes. Why not ? Milk is as good 
feed for cows as for pigs; and a cow will often suck her¬ 
self if she can, and no harm ever came of it, to our 
knowledge, except the loss of the milk. 
Sassafras and Saw-Brier.—G. A. 
Gowin, Chicamauga Co., Tenn., writes, that the sandy 
soils thereabouts are infested with sassafras sprouts and 
“ saw-briers,” which are very hard to kill, and asks how 
to destroy them. The only way is to keep the ground 
fallow one year, plowing and harrowing it so often that 
neither has any chance to breathe. If thoroughly done, 
one season will finish the sassafras, according to our ex¬ 
perience, and we presume the brier would go too. 
Roofing' Materials. —“E.W.” (no nddress 
given) has 12,000 square fcet of roof to cover, and asks 
which is best—Plastic Slate, Asbestos, Gravel, or Tin. 
We think the Asbestos roofing the best of those, having 
a basis of coal tar; the gravel is immensely heavy, but. 
good if well applied. The tin excellent, and safest of 
all, if kept well painted, and not used as a promenade. 
Increasing- Pasture Eands.— “Tyro.” 
Rather than add more acres of pasture to the little farm, 
creating a greater demand for manure, it will bo better 
to make the pasture already in use as riGh ns possible, 
and then cut for feedingin tho barn, instead of pasturing. 
