i89i 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
59 
INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS. 
A flock of hens, though only one flock, 
and looked upon as a collective number is 
really composed of individuals that may 
differ as widely in characteristics as so 
many human beings, and this fact is nearly 
always overlooked, though it is a matter 
demanding as much consideration as any 
other. We are all familiar with the feed¬ 
ing of animals, and know how one of them 
may be fastidious, refusing to eat certain 
foods; while around the family table we 
find some of the members are very partial to 
particular dishes that are rejected by others. 
With the knowledge of these things, so far 
as they apply to animals, poultrymen seem 
to conduct the feeding of their flocks as 
though every hen in the flock was exactly 
like every other hen, and each ate exactly 
the same kind of food, and the same quan¬ 
tity, with the same relish. To attempt to 
estimate “ how much feed a hen should 
have ” would inflict upon the party mak¬ 
ing the estimate the duty of first learning 
the desire of that particular hen as well as 
her surroundings, whether confined or run¬ 
ning at large. Then he should take into 
consideration the season, her production 
of eggs, and many other details, and when 
such thought has to be extended to the 
whole flock it is only by daily observation, 
and weighing the food, and noting the 
variety, and a study of each individual’s 
characteristics, that perfect familiarity 
with the matter can be gained. 
But if the poultryman is to become 
familiar with the individual characteristics 
of his hens, and attempts to keep large 
numbers, how is it possible for him to do 
so ? It is doubtful if he can, even over a 
long period of time, accomplish such a pur¬ 
pose, but he can at least feed in a manner 
to cater, to some extent, to the desires of 
his flock by varying the food frequently, 
and feeding such foods as may be required 
for his purpose. Nature prompts the hens 
in their selection, to some extent, and the 
poultryman should at least separate his 
hens into flocks that are as uniform as pos¬ 
sible. He should not have the laying hens 
and the non-layers in one flock, or the old 
hens and the pullets together. The laying 
hens, when producing eggs, need a nitro¬ 
genous diet, and a little care in providing 
them with food rich in the elements that 
compose the eggs will keep them in good 
condition. To leave them with hens that 
are being fatted for the market will induce 
them to eat the more carbonaceous food in 
lieu of the nitrogenous, and thus seriously 
interfere with the duties of both flocks. 
The poultryman has another privilege. 
He can breed for uniformity. By careful 
selection of those hens that are hardy and 
have good appetites, he can cull out many 
of the delicate ones, and by using some 
preferred breed, and selecting males that 
will, in his opinion, transmit their qual¬ 
ities, a greater uniformity will be secured, 
production will be increased, and the labor 
of feeding more or less reduced by reason 
of a more general approach to some indi¬ 
vidual type on the part of all the members 
of the flock. The failures of many are due 
to the non-recognition of individual char¬ 
acteristics, and it may require a complete 
change of the stock in order to secure uni¬ 
formity. The person who uses the pure 
breeds, and knows their points of excel¬ 
lence and peculiarities, has a great advant¬ 
age over him who breeds his fowls in a 
haphazard way, without regard to individ¬ 
ual merit or the uniformity of the flock. 
P. H. JACOBS. 
I started nine years ago with five 
thoroughbred Plymouth Rock fowls—a 
cockerel and four pullets—and I now have 
over 4,000 hens. None of those I now have, 
however, are thoroughbreds. I got over 
that craze quite early in the business. 
w. H. s. 
Cooking Poultry Food.— Mr. A. F. 
Hunter tells the New England Farmer how 
he makes a hot mash for morning feed 
for hens. The meal is prepared as follows: 
“Take, 1st, a scoop of germ meal: 2nd, a 
scoop of shorts; 3d, a scoop of animal meal 
(or beef scrap and dessicated fish, mixed 
half and half), then a handful of bone meal 
and another of linseed meal, and repeat till 
the bag is full, mixing well, of course. For 
300 hens Mr. Hunter cooks a three-gallon 
kettle full of small potatoes (or beets, tur¬ 
nips, carrots or other vegetables) and into 
it go potato and apple parings, table leav¬ 
ings, etc., etc., and all is thoroughly 
cooked. The mess of cooked vegetables is 
divided equally between three common 
wooden pails (buckets) and mashed up fine 
with half a teaspoonful of salt to each pail. 
Boiling hot water is added till the pail is 
three-fifths full and the vegetables and hot 
water are thoroughly stirred into a soup 
and then the mixed meal is stirred in, care 
being taken to stir up the bottom until the 
whole is as stiff as a strong hand can stir 
it. Care should be taken not to have the 
mash moist and sloppy, as sloppy food soon 
upsets the fowls’ bowels, producing diar¬ 
rhoea, etc. It is mixed up in the afternoon 
and set aside to cook in its own heat till 
next morniDg, and if the water is scalding 
hot the meal will be considerably cooked 
and swelled before it is wanted. 
THE FARMER IN POLITICS. 
Proper Farm Politics.— The Farm 
Journal goes right to the point regarding 
government irrigation. We sincerely trust 
that Congress will sit down hard on the ir¬ 
rigation schemes now being nursed by in¬ 
terested parties. “There’s millions in it,” 
but we believe it is all for the engineers, 
land grabbers and transportation com¬ 
panies, and not a cent of it for farmers. If 
the government is going into the ditching 
business the Farm Journal suggests that 
it drain the numerous swamps in the al¬ 
ready settled States of the Union. The 
land thus drained will be more valuable 
than the irrigated land, and the job once 
done will stay done. Besides, the farmers 
of this country do not wish to be taxed 
just yet to set up in business several hun¬ 
dred thousand competitors, most of them 
foreigners. Let the farmers call a halt in 
this matter, and make their influence felt 
in Congress to prevent the sqandering of 
millions of money and millions of acres of 
land that Uncle Sam’s boys will need for 
themselves in the not distant future. 
Not Wanted on the Pacific Coast.— 
The most absurd thing proposed by the 
Farmers’ Alliance is the Sub-Treasury 
scheme, better known as the “ corn-crib ” 
bill. The result would be to tie up all the 
produce until a panic was created, and then 
knock the bottom out of the market by 
suddenly opening up great storehouses. It 
would tend to greatly increase speculation 
and place the farmers in the position occu¬ 
pied by all other speculators. They would 
be rich one day and poor the next. The 
scheme is impracticable.—Puget Sound 
Mail. 
Congress cannot help the farmer who 
does not help himself, and the Lord will 
not.—Farm Journal. 
Farmers may easily control the prices 
on their own products by organizing under 
the laws of the several States authorizing 
corporations, elevators and warehouse as¬ 
sociations. Here the law authorizes the 
formation of these associations, the build¬ 
ing of warehouses and elevators, and the 
management of them. Grain, pork, lard, 
etc., can be received in them, Inspected and 
graded, and warehouse receipts can be 
issued for the same. An association may 
be formed, with the capital stock at any 
amount agreed upon, in shares of $50 each. 
The capital stock may be paid in gradually, 
by occasional assessments as needed. The 
members of such associations may in their 
rules provide for selling wheat and other 
products only at fair prices to be agreed 
upon. To enable them to hold their pro¬ 
ducts in store, they can do as dealers now 
do, viz: Negotiate loans on their ware¬ 
house receipts if they need money, and hold 
their products for better prices, selling 
only when they can fix the price as a reas¬ 
onable one. The law referred to makes 
these warehouse receipts negotiable and 
the basis of loans.—Indiana Farmer. 
And if Not, Why Not ?—The farmers 
are very generally opposed to class legisla¬ 
tion, and the Alliance very properly de¬ 
nounces it. Yet they demand the enact¬ 
ment of laws the very essence of which fav 
ors a particular class. Why single out 
farmers as the special recipients of govern¬ 
ment favors ? Why not lend money to 
manufacturers on their mills and machin¬ 
ery and on their products ? Why not loan 
money to merchants and to the owners 
of valuable city property ? It is gravely 
proposed to set aside by positive law the 
good old doctrine of “ equal rights to all 
andspecial privileges to none.”—Cincinnati 
Enq uirer. 
Speaks From Experience.— When it 
comes to wool we know pretty well what 
we are talking about. We own 130 sheep 
on a farm of 160 acres, from which the re¬ 
turns are not large, and we are interested 
in getting a fair price for the fleeces. We 
know, however, from a careful computa¬ 
tion of reliable statistics for nearly 100 
years, that wool has averaged lower under 
high tariffs than under low tariffs. We 
have no faith, therefore, in trade restric¬ 
tions as an agency for making money on 
wool. We believed, when the McKinley 
Bill was enacted, the price of wool would 
be lower. The result is as we expected. 
The Wool on the backs of our 130 sheep is 
reduced in price. It costs more to keep 
sheep than usual, owing to the higher price 
of grain this year. But what of that ? The 
tariff, we are told, regulates the price of 
wool. Grant it. We read in the report of 
the Boston wool market for last week this 
statement: “ The prices now ruling are 
comparatively low and from one cent to 
two cents less than those quoted a month 
or a few weeks ago.” In Philadelphia, a 
great wool market on account of its exten¬ 
sive woolen manufactures, though money 
is easier, says a market report, “lower 
prices are expected in wool.”—Jackson 
(Mich.) Patriot. 
No thoughtful person needs to be told that 
a schemed reform enacted into law, which 
would break down in practice, would be 
fatal to the present movement of the farm¬ 
ers, and of other working people. Hasty 
legislation is always imperfect legis 
lation, and very often it is absolutely 
bad legislation. If all farmers and other 
laboring men in this country are to take 
any large and honorable part in governing 
themselves in the future, they must make 
so sure of every step forward that there 
can be no successful demand made upon 
them for retrogression. Retreat will be a 
disaster. For one, we believe in the Al¬ 
liance. We think its principles are just and 
righteous; and we want to see those prin¬ 
ciples so perfectly embodied in the institu¬ 
tions of the country that no member of a 
future generation shall have cause to re¬ 
gret the rise and reign of the Farmers’ Al¬ 
liance.—Progressive Farmer. 
The Southern Alliance would greatly 
serve Its own interests if it would take its 
headquarters out of Washington. It is a 
very common belief—and one that is not 
entirely unfounded—that an angel would 
become corrupt if it remained in the City 
of Washington a few months.—Western 
Rural. 
Educational work is always slow work. 
Views, opinions, convictions, and the mind 
itself grow as the tree grows, slowly and 
imperceptibly. Growth cannot be forced. 
While the introduction of partisan ques- 
tions is the sure way to disrupt an Alliance, 
the discussion at the proper time of ques¬ 
tions having no partisan bearing and which 
constitute a majority of the public ques¬ 
tions will do very much to shape and mold 
public sentiment.—Iowa Homestead. 
The New South will be There.— That 
the South will send its best State and in¬ 
dividual exhibits to the Columbian Ex¬ 
position of 1893 does not admit of a doubt. 
The wonderful material progress of the old 
Southern States during the last decade is 
ripe for illustration to the world. “ The 
New South ” will take part in the Expo¬ 
sition in a way befitting the magnitude of 
the occasion and its great incentive to 
further development.—Chicago News. 
(Tnd.) 
Pi,$ccUattt0U$( 
Readers of The R. N.-Y. will please the 
advertisers and benefit the paper by always 
mentioning it when writing to advertisers. 
BOOKS FOR FARMERS. 
By A. J. COOK. 
Silo and Silage.-Third Edition just 
out. Contains the latest and fullest on the sub¬ 
ject. More than 20,000 sold in less than two 
years. This work is praised by such men as 
John Gould, Colonel Curtis, Professors Shelton 
and Gulley, and Dr. C E. Betsey. The author 
has proved the silo to be a very valuable aid on 
his own farm. Mailed by the author for 
25 cents. 
Bee-Keepers’ Guide. -15,000 sold. 
460 pages ; 222 Illustrations. Praised by Bee- 
Keepers in every land. The science and prac¬ 
tice of modern bee keeping fully explained. 
Every Bee-Keeppr should have it. Mailed by 
the author for $1.50. 
Maple Sugar and the Sugar 
Bush. —Very full and fully illustrated. 
The only treatise of the kind ever published. 
It contains a full ''etail of the methods practiced 
iu the excellent and very profitable bush of the 
author. Sent by mail for lO cents. 
Sold by A. J. COOK, 
Agricultural College, Michigan. 
I rtt. ICUUNULK * MAMnUW ’ LLSUJ I inm ALL ■ 
Sells best, Works best, Warranted best, 50,000:0 
use. One at wholesale if you send now for i 11 u 3 - 
tratedcircularto G. H. Pounder, Ft. Atkinson,Wis. 
Six days earlier than 
any variety tested at the 
Agrlcult’l Ex. Grounds 
at Geneva, N. Y. Color 
greenish white : pulp 
tender, sweet and de¬ 
licious. The only grape 
that ranks first both in 
earliness and quality. 
Each vine sealed with 
our registered trade¬ 
mark label. Send for 
circulars giving runner information. Agents wanted 
Address STEPHEN HOYT’S SONS, New Canaan, Ct. 
Prettiest BOOK 
Ever Printed. I h 
TYheap as d irt 
ul l .1 J 1 /by oz. & 1b. 
One cent a pkg. Up if rare. 
Cheap, pure, best. 1000 000 extras. 
Beautiful Illustrated Catalogue free 
It. H. Sliumway, Rockford, III. 
SEED POTATOES WANTED. 
Parties having the following varieties to offer will 
write quoting prices: Rural No. 2, Summit, Badger 
or Empire State. 
THE STEELE BROS. CO., L t d. 
Toronto, Canada. 
GRAPE VINES 
Plants of Bast duality. Warranted trtio to namo. Lowest 
Pricos. Largest Stock and Assortment of Old and Now 
Variotios. Sond for Prioo List. 
BUSH & SON & MZISSNEB, Bnshborg, Mo. 
SEEDS 
ttpkfn Flower 10c. 5 pkt*.Vegetable Heeds, 10c. Full 
sizopkts. All different. lOOOagentfl wanted n . . 
at 85a day, cither n*x. Catalogue Free. Mila P|c|/U 
F. 11. MILLS. Rode Hill. Onou Co.. N. Y. UIU ■ illA.1- 
“ THE FLORIDA REAL ESTATE JOUR- 
IV A L,” Liverpool, Florida, free one year to readers 
of Thk Rubai- For particulars and sample address 
as above. 
CURRANT 
HEADQUARTERS. 
GRAPES 
BEST & CHEAPEST 
■M niif n a Esther, Itock wood, Eaton, Moyer and all others New and Old. SMALL 
1m L.W kariMr't.O HtUITS. Catalogue Free. CEO.S. JOSSELYN, FREDONlA, N.Y. 
ERRARD’S SEED POTATO CATALOGUE 
MY SEED POTATOES are grown from the Choicest Stock, in the virgin lands 
x A of the cold North-East. I have the best New and Standard Sorts, and warrant 
them superior to all others for seed. I raise my SEED CORN 150 miles Farttnr 
North than the North lineot Vermont,and for Early Crops my CARDEP SEEDS 
have no equal. i 
I offer this season my new HARBINCER POTATO, wh'ch I believe win be 
the Great Market Potato of the future. And my new EARLY BRYANT CORN, 
a handsome yellow variety, the Earliest of All. I have Special Low Freight Rates 
everywhere. My fine new Catalogue Mailed Free. |»"Name this Paper and addresf 
CEORCE W. P. JERRARD, Caribou, Maine, 
SPRAY YOUR FRUIT TREES AND VINES. 
Wormy Fruit and Leaf Blight of Apples, Pears, Cherries, Plum Cur- 
culia prevented by spraying with the EXCELSIOR SPRAY 
PUMP. GRAPE and POTATO ROT prevented by using EXCELSIOR 
KNAPSACK SPRAYER; also injurious insects which infest 
Currants Gooseberries, Raspberries and Strawberries. PERFECT 
FRUIT ALWAYS SELLS AT GOOD PRICES. 
Catalogue showing all injurious insects to fruits mailed free. Large 
6tock of Fruit Trees, Vines and Berry Plants at Bottom Prices. 
Address, WM. STAHL, Quincy, Illinois. 
AGENTS 
WANTED 
Send for 
Circular 
and 
PriceList 
UNIVERSAL WEEDER^CULTIVATOR 
Greatly improved for 1891. Endowed by leading agri¬ 
culturists throughout the country. 
“ I must have two next year.”—T. 15. TERRY. 
“ I regard Breed’s Universal Wecder as one of the most valuable 
implements a farmer can afford to employ.” J. J. THOMAS, inventor 
of the Smoothing Harrow. 
“ We are using the Weeder to-day on a field of potatoes a foot high, 
and does the best work it has done yet.”—WALDO F. BROWN. 
“ Your Weeder is about all that can he asked for as a weed killer 
and surface pulverizer.”—JOHN GOULD. 
THE UNIVERSAL WEEDER CO., North Weare, N. H. 
Where we have no Agents, Machines will be DELIVERED at retail price. 
