78 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
January  30 
Laying  In  a  Supply  ok  Coal! 
(Smith  &  Gray’s  Monthly.) 
Poultry  Yard. 
Horse  Feed  for  Hens. 
While  my  neighbors  have  been  com¬ 
plaining  of  the  laziness  of  their  hens  in 
producing  eggs  this  winter,  our  hens 
have  been  remarkably  prolific.  About 
the  second  week  in  December,  our  boys 
began  to  give  them  what  they  call  ‘  ‘horse 
feed”  every  morning  for  breakfast.  The 
stuff  is  warmed,  and  flavored  with  a 
small  quantity  of  Cayenne  pepper.  Table 
scraps  are  also  given  them,  and  they  eat 
all  with  a  good  appetite. 
Now  for  the  result.  We  have  nine  lay¬ 
ing  hens,  but  up  to  the  time  when  we  be¬ 
gan  to  give  the  “horse  feed,”  we  got 
only  an  egg  now  and  then.  Since  that 
time  our  success  has  been  wonderful. 
During  the  last  three  weeks  of  Decem¬ 
ber,  by  the  daily  record,  we  have  gath¬ 
ered  86  eggs,  all  of  good  size.  The  hens 
still  continue  their  laudable  work,  and 
yesterday  one  of  my  boys  brought  from 
the  coop  six  eggs.  Some  of  my  friends 
keep  from  10  to  20  hens  each,  but  they 
don’t  get  a  single  egg,  and  have  not  for 
a  long  time.  edward  M.  skidmore. 
The  Profitable  Hen. 
Before  I  had  read  an  article  in  The 
Rural  telling  how  the  chickens  had 
cleared  the  farm  of  debt,  I  had  been 
keeping  40  fowls,  and  found  that  the 
picture  representing  the  profits  of  keep¬ 
ing  poultry,  as  shown  on  paper,  and  also 
the  practical  side,  bringing  the  owner  in 
debt,  were  true.  I  killed  them  all  except 
five  two-year-old  hens,  a  cross  between 
the  Plymouth  Rock  and  Brown  Leghorn, 
and  three  pure  Brown  Leghorn  pullets, 
and  one  Leghorn  cock.  The  result  has 
been  as  follows  from  January  1,  1891,  to 
January  1,  1892  :  1,401  eggs,  realizing 
$20.64  ;  16  chickens,  $4,  making  a  total  of 
$24.64  ;  cost  of  feed,  $7.53  ;  profit,  $17.11. 
There  was  but  one  day  in  the  whole  year 
on  which  I  did  not  get  an  egg.  There 
has  been  no  trusting  to  memory  ;  for  each 
day  the  eggs  were  gathered  and  booked 
by  me.  The  feed  also  was  booked  every 
time  it  was  brought  from  the  mill.  s.  F. 
An  Onondaga  County,  N.  Y.,  Egg 
Record. 
I  do  not  make  a  specialty  of  the  poul¬ 
try  business,  but  engage  in  it  to  make 
the  farm  profitable,  just  as  I  keep  sheep 
and  other  stock.  All  get  the  very  best  of 
care.  I  commenced  on  January  1,  1891, 
with  40  hens.  About  April  1,  10  fall  pul¬ 
lets  began  to  lay,  so  there  was  an  increase 
in  record  at  that  date.  In  June  the  record 
was  lowered,  because  1  set  so  many  hens. 
I  set  120  turkey  eggs,  of  which  80  were 
covered  by  hens.  I  raised  to  maturity  40 
pullets,  and  on  July  20  I  bought  14  year¬ 
ling  hens,  which  raised  the  record  in 
August.  In  September  and  October  came 
the  moulting  season,  and  in  November 
and  December  the  pullets  began  to  lay. 
The  following  is  a  record  of  each  month  ; 
all  fractions  of  dozens  are  carried  into 
the  next  month  : 
Doz.  Doz. 
January . 
. 52 
August . 
. tiS 
February . 
. itf 
September . 
. 44 
March . 
. 59 
October . 
. 10 
April . 
.  79 
November . 
.  12 
May . 
.  78 
December . 
. 26 
June . 
.  44 
- — 
July . 
Total . . 
I  sold  508  dozen  at  an  average  price  of 
18  cents.  I  also  sold  70  turkeys  for 
Thanksgiving  and  20  cockerels  and  kept 
some  for  family  use.  I  have  on  hand  100 
hens.  I  have  just  received  one  of  Mann’s 
bone  cutters,  which  does  the  work  to  per¬ 
fection.  j.  v.  CLUTE. 
Largely  Due  to  Leghorns. 
Many  people  say:  “liens  don’t  pay.” 
By  asking  them  a  few  questions,  you  will 
find  out  why  they  don’t.  Here,  in  Steuben 
County,  N.  Y.,  I  have  kept  an  account  of 
the  eggs  from  my  flock  for  the  last  four 
years.  This  year  we  had  56  hens,  of 
which  six  were  killed  during  the  fall, 
and  from  April  20  to  November  20  we  got 
4,817  eggs.  The  first  two  years  of  the 
four,  we  had  all  Plymouth  Rocks  and 
mixed  breeds,  and  but  eight  Leghorns, 
and  for  the  last  two  we  have  had  more 
Leghorns,  and  this  year  nearly  all  are 
Leghorns,  and  this  fact  I  think  accounts 
for  an  increase  in  the  number  of  eggs. 
The  number  for  the  four  years  is  as 
follows : 
No.  Hens. 
Year. 
Eggs. 
50  . 
_  1888  . 
....  4,710 
50  . 
....  1889  . 
....  4,417 
60  . 
.  1890  . 
_ 6,384 
56  . 
....  1891  .... 
. 7.576 
The  following  is  the  number  per  month, 
with  the  average  price  : 
Average 
No. 
Eggs. 
Average 
per  day. 
Average 
per  hen. 
price 
per  doz. 
January  .. 
.  333 
10  23-31 
5  53-56 
26  12-13 
February  . 
.  542 
1910-28 
9  38-56 
19  11-45 
March  .... 
.  879 
28  11-31 
15  39-56 
18  3-58 
April . 
.1057 
35  7-30 
18  49-56 
15 
May . 
.1017 
32  25-31 
17  55-66 
16  9-11 
June . 
.  848 
28  8-30 
15  8-56 
16  9-20 
July . 
.  815 
26  9-31 
14  31-56 
16  21-4.) 
August. .  . 
.  753 
24  9-31 
13  25-56 
16  13-41 
September, 
.  685 
22  25-30 
12  13-56 
18 
October  . . 
.  297 
9 18-31 
5  17-56 
19  15-22 
November 
.  60 
2 
1  4-56 
None  sold 
December  , 
.  290 
9  11-31 
5  10-56 
24  11-26 
7576 
20  296-365 
135  16-56 
18 
Seven  thousand  five  hundred  and 
seventy-six  eggs  or  631%  dozens,  at  18 
cents  per  dozen,  amounts  to  $113.64  or 
$2.02  13-14  per  hen.  Of  the  feed  I  did 
not  keep  an  exact  account,  but  it 
amounted  to  nearly  120  bushels  of  oats, 
wheat  and  buckwheat  mixed,  so  as  to 
make  it  worth  50  cents  per  bushel  or  $60 
for  the  feed.  m.  s.  woodruff. 
KEROSENE  A  GOOD  “VERMIN  DOG.” 
A  few  days  ago  a  farmer,  who  had  re¬ 
cently  moved  into  this  neighborhood, 
anxiously  inquired  of  me  whether  minks, 
skunks  and  other  poultry  destroyers 
abounded  in  this  locality.  He  wanted 
to  raise  a  good  many  chickens,  he  said, 
and  preferred  to  do  the  slaughtering  him¬ 
self  when  any  was  to  be  done.  I  asked 
him  why  he  did  not  erect  a  good,  vermin- 
proof  house  for  his  fowls. 
“Why,”  said  he,  “that  would  be  a 
foolish  waste  of  money  !  On  the  old  farm 
I  did  build  a  nice  one,  but  it  got  so  full  of 
lice  that  I  had  to  burn  it.  No  fowl  could 
live  in  it.  After  that  1  had  sense  enough 
to  make  the  houses  out  of  cheap  stuff,  so 
that  I  could  burn  ’em  every  two  or  three 
years. 
“  What  did  you  make  them  of,”  I 
asked  ?” 
“  Rails,  straw  and  cornstalks,”  said  he. 
“Didn’t  the  rats  and  minks  trouble 
of  lime  whitewash  is  applied  it  will  be  of 
some  benefit.  Lice  will  occasionally  get 
into  the  best  and  most  carefully  managed 
poultry  house,  but  a  good  application  of 
kerosene  about  once  in  three  months  will 
settle  the  business  for  them  and  the  hens 
can  rest  in  peace.  Don’t  be  stingy  with 
it,  there  is  no  danger  of  putting  on  too 
much,  and  be  sure  to  get  it  into  every 
crack,  chink  and  corner,  both  above  and 
below.  F.  GRUNDY. 
Pickings. 
Hen  House  Floors. — I  was  interested  in  reading 
Mr.  Wyckoff’s  article  in  THE  Rural  of  January  9,  on 
“  The  Best  Poultry  House  Floor.”  I  have  used  earth, 
and  single  and  double-board  floors,  and  in  building 
my  last  house,  three  years  ago,  I  laid  a  double  floor  of 
one-inch  hemlock  boards  with  tarred  paper  between. 
I  also  lined  the  roof  and  sides  with  tarred  paper.  My 
house  is  50  by  13  feet  with  a  three-foot  alley  on  the 
north  side.  It  contains  live  pens  10x10  feet.  My  sills 
are  one  foot  from  the  ground,  so  that  in  summer  there 
Is  a  good  circulation  of  air  underneath.  1  cover  my 
floor  with  gravel,  four  to  six  inches  deep,  and  on  top 
of  that  place  leaves  or  cut  straw  in  winter  for  the 
fowls  to  work  in,  and  the  gravel  is  always  dry,  and 
the  building  warm,  so  that  water  will  not  freeze  in  it 
unless  the  mercury  runs  down  nearly  to  zero.  In  the 
three  years  during  which  I  have  used  this  house  I 
have  yet  to  see  the  first  case  of  roup,  or  to  hear  one 
of  my  fowls  sneeze.  Rats  will  not  eat  through  hem¬ 
lock.  M.  c.  E. 
The  poultry  business  has  developed  wonderfully 
during  the  last  year  in  southeastern  Iowa.  Eggs  and 
poultry  nave  brought  unusually  good  prices  the  entire 
season.  Farmers  are  opening  their  eyes  to  the  fact 
that  with  a  very  little  care  the  chicken  crop  will  pay 
the  running  expenses  of  the  house,  and  something 
more.  Middlemen  are  apparently  as  keen  after  poul¬ 
try  as  after  hogs  and  cattle.  E.  b.  h. 
Manitoba  Hen  Notes.— I  don’t  want  white  hens; 
they  are  more  easily  seen  by  wolves  and  hawks,  and 
too  smart  a  hen  will  wander  too  far.  White  Leghorns 
are  all  right  in  a  pen,  but  I  wouldn’t  keep  them.  The 
Asiatic  fowls  are  liable  to  gout;  their  feet  swell  and 
they  get  too  lazy  to  move.  My  favorite  rooBter  has  a 
a  rose  comb,  a  dark  coat  and  spotted  waistcoat,  the 
hens  are  from  Black  Spanish  and  Game  stock— black 
or  brown  with  white  or  yellow  pencilling.  A  light- 
colored  hen  would  soon  die  here  of  wolf  or  skunk. 
I  have  no  use  for  the  red  flag  the  Spaniards  carry : 
otherwise  I  think  them  very  go&d. 
F.  F.  L.  HARVARD. 
S.  G.  S.,  of  Quarry  Glen,  Pa.,  will,  I  think,  find  that 
instead  of  his  fowlB  having  been  injured  by  eating  too 
much  poultry  food,  they  have  been  eating  ants,  for 
when  once  my  chickens  have  taken  to  eating  them, 
they  eat  nothing  else,  are  always  hungry,  and  have 
an  insatiable  craving  for  ants  only,  eating  until  their 
heads  are  drawn  to  their  backs  and  then  they  die. 
N  A.  W.  SMITH. 
The  London  Live  Stock  Journal  quotes  from  an  old 
book  printed  in  1727,  by  Prof.  Bradley,  a  botanist  at 
Cambridge  University.  Here  is  his  distinction  be¬ 
tween  fowls  and  birds: 
*•  A  fowl  always  leads  its  young  ones  to  the  meat, 
and  a  bird  carries  the  meat  to  its  young.  For  this 
reason  we  find  fowls  always  make  their  nest  on  the 
ground  ;  while  birds,  for  the  most  part,  build  their 
nests  aloft.  So,  then,  common  poultry  are  fowls.” 
He  says  that  he  has  known  a  common  “  poultry 
hen”  to  lay  30  eggs  before  wanting  to  sit.  He  uses 
the  term  “  pullen  ”  for  hens  and  “  pullet  ”  for  young, 
half-grown  female  chickens.  He  says  that  the  flesh 
of  white-feathered  and  white-legged  chickens  is  the 
most  delicate,  tender  and  digestible;  and  that  of  dark 
fowls  hot  and  stimulating.  He  especially  praises  the 
flesh  of  the  Game  breed  as  white  and  tender;  but 
affirms  that  the  fowls  light  so  much  that  it  is  difficult 
to  rear  a  whole  brood. 
Why  Run  Any  Risk  with  Your  Cough,  Cold, 
Hoarseness,  or  indeed  any  Pulmonary  or  Bronchial 
Complaint,  when  a  remedy  safe,  thorough,  and  so 
easily  obtained  as  Dr.  D.  Jayne’s  Expectorant  can  be 
had?  If  you  have  contracted  a  severe  Cold,  save 
your  Lungs  from  the  dangerous  irritation  and  inflam¬ 
mation  which  frequently  bring  about  Consumption, 
by  promptly  resorting  to  the  Expectorant;  and  if 
troubled  with  any  Affection  of  the  Throat,  you  will 
find  this  remedy  equally  effectual  In  affording  relief 
from  obstructing  phlegm,  and  in  healing  the  inflamed 
parts. — Adv. 
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Screened  and  in  store,  for  direct  shipment  on  short 
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other  information  sent  on  application.  Agents 
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Mention  this  paper.' 
MADE  ONLY  BY 
PORTER  BLANCHARD’S  SONS  CO.} 
Now  located  at  NASHUA,  N.  H. 
QM'f’T  4  T  TTff!  Factory  and  Family  Churns  and 
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POTATOES 
560  BUSHELS  PER  ACRE. 
You  can  produce  the  same  yield  if  you 
will  follow  the  advice  and  buy  the  seed  of 
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rQ  I  r*ll  I  \D.C.  No  attorney’s  fee  until  patent  it 
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30  NEW 
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DeLOACH  MILL  CO.,  Atlanta.  Ca. 
you  ?” 
“  Yes  ;  we  lost  a  good  many  chickens 
every  year,  but  that  couldn't  be  helped, 
you  know.” 
“  Why  didn’t  you  destroy  the  lice  in 
your  good  house  ?” 
“  I  did  try  to.  I  tried  whitewashing 
and  fumigating  with  sulphur  and  tar,  but 
it  did  no  good.  Lice  would  be  as  plenti¬ 
ful  as  ever  a  few  days  afterward.” 
I  informed  the  old  fellow  that  he  might 
just  as  well  try  to  whistle  the  lice  out  of 
a  poultry  house  as  to  try  to  drive  them 
out  or  destroy  them  with  whitewash,  or 
fumigations  of  sulphur  and  tar.  I  know 
of  blit  one  article  that  will  thoroughly 
“  settle  their  hash,”  and  that  is  kerosene. 
Every  part  of  the  interior,  including 
nests,  perches  and  other  furniture,  must 
be  thoroughly  and  forcibly  sprayed  with 
it  at  least  three  times  in  succession,  about 
two  days  apart ;  and  then  if  a  good  coat 
TO  SHERWOOD  HARNESS  CO., 
SYRACUSE,  N.  Y.,  for  particulars  how  to  get  the  Sherwood 
Celebrated  Double  Harness  for  ten  dollars,  with  CASH 
Prizes  offered  for  January,  February,  March,  April  and  May,  1892. 
PLANTS 
Corn, 
Beans, 
Ensilage, 
Etc.,  Etc. 
ASPINWALL 
DISTRIBUTES 
FERTILIZERS. 
Absolutely  Guaranteed. 
Illustrated  Circular  sent  Free. 
(Mention  ihi t  paper.) 
i  Three  Rivers,  Mich. 
