i89i 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
6o3 
A DEFENSE OF THE BIRDS. 
( Continued .) 
sure things we already have, among them 
the insect destroying birds, and let us pro¬ 
tect and encourage their increase and make 
sure we are not mistaken when we think 
they do us an Injury. 
The Division of Economic Ornithology 
and Mammalogy of the United States De¬ 
partment of Agriculture is doing a grand 
work in studying up the facts as to the 
economic food habits of our birds and ani¬ 
mals, and deserves the hearty support of 
every one interested in agriculture. It has 
already collected valuable Information as 
to the food of hawks, owls and crows and 
shows plainly the damage to farming inter¬ 
ests by the Indiscriminate slaughter of 
hawks and owls. Some of our States nave 
appointed ornithologists and it would be a 
good thing if every one of our experiment 
stations could have a practical ornitholo¬ 
gist connected with it to look after the in¬ 
terest of the feathered friends of the farmer. 
Worcester Co., Mats. F. A. putnam. 
Poultry Yard. 
THE ROASTER. 
More Profitable Than the Broiler. 
Every one who ha3 attempted to grow 
beef, pork or poultry for market knows that 
during the latter half of the work, flesh is 
put on much more easily and at less cost 
than at first when the creatures are young ; 
especially is this the case with poultry. 
When chicks arrive at the broiler age, when 
all risk from early mortality is over, the 
thing is under better control, the chicks 
naturally take less exercise and are more 
quiet in their habits and their food should 
be of a more carbonaceous nature. The 
flesh can be put on at a much less cost to 
the grower than In the earlier stage of 
growth. 
Discrimination must be used in this as in 
all other things and advantage most be 
taken of the market. For instance, during 
September, October and November larger 
quantities of heavy poultry are rushed into 
the market from all parts of the country 
and Canada—enough to meet the demand 
and produce a large surplus besides. This 
surplus which can be rated at hundreds of 
tons is placed in cold storage for future de¬ 
mand during the winter and early spring 
months. As there are very few small chicks 
In this vast accumulation, the demand for 
broilers is naturally great and that for 
roasters correspondingly small until about 
the first of May, when the iced poultry is 
about exhausted and the demand for roast¬ 
ers begins. Growers anxious to take ad¬ 
vantage of the market before it falls, force 
everything in that will weigh a pound and 
a half; consequently by the first of June 
there are no roasters to bs had and the mar¬ 
ket is full of broilers and the price—which, 
during the winter and early spring months 
had been from 10 to 15 cents per pound in 
favor of broilers—is gradually changed 
until by the first or middle of June the dis¬ 
crepancy is in favor of roasters. During 
the past June the price of roasters has 
varied from 40 to 44 cents in the Boston 
market; while that of broilers has been 
from 30 to 35 cents, having sunk even as low 
as 25 cents, and this discrepancy was greater 
still before the close of July. 
This is a state of things that the poultry 
grower should take advantage of and cater 
for. He should arrange to get out his 
chicks during January, force them for all 
they are worth, and so be able to put them 
on the market during May and June at the 
weight of from five to seven pounds each. 
The Leghorn tribe and all the small varie¬ 
ties are worse than useless, as they never 
attain the required weight. I have tried 
all the different varieties of the larger 
breeds and find that the Light Brahma 
will take on more flesh in a given time than 
any other breed, unless it is the Dark 
Brahma; but the color of their feathers is 
a little against them. The greatest trouble 
the grower will have to contend with at 
first is to obtain an abundant supply of 
good, fertile eggs in the dead of winter, 
and what he must aim at eventually is to 
produce his own eggs, as he can do it not 
only much cheaper than he can buy them, 
but he can in a great measure control 
their fertility, which is of greater import¬ 
ance than all the rest. This great question 
of the fertility of the eggs in the dead of 
winter when fowls are necessarily confined, 
is rather an obscure one to most people 
and would require a long chapter of itself, 
but after years of experiment I am more 
than ever satisfied that it is under control. 
Most poultry growers know from bitter 
experience that the welfare, thrift and 
precocity, as well as the mortality of their 
chicks depend largely upon the condition 
in which they are Introduced into the 
world. With some machines no amount 
of petting and coaxing can induce the 
chicks to live; with others they seem 
bound to live at all hazards until the knife 
ends their days. When things are conducted 
favorably a loss of from one to two per 
cent is all that is necessary in growing 
chicks. 
It is well for all to understand that chicks 
can be forced to a greater weight in a given 
time when hatched and grown artificially 
than can possibly be done under hens. I 
was never able in a 30 years’ experience 
with hens, to grow chicks at four months 
old as I am now doing artificially ; for in¬ 
stance, on April 10 last I put 300 chicks 
right from the incubator into two of my 
outdoor brooders. The loss among these 
was less than one per cent up to 10 weeks 
old when quite a large number of them 
tipped the scales at four pounds each. In 
a previous hatch I put 20 pairs on the mar¬ 
ket when 11 weeks old, quite a number of 
which weighed five pounds each when 
killed, and I must say that they were the 
heaviest chicks of their age that I ever 
grew. It was a special test with me to 
make the conditions as favorable as possi¬ 
ble to see how heavy a Brahma chick could 
be forced to weigh at a given time. For 
the first six weeks the food given was 
largely nitrogenous, after which I gradual¬ 
ly fed more corn meal together with raw 
ground bone. I always start my chicks 
with bread crumbs—three parts, into which 
I mix one part of infertile eggs boiled hard 
and chopped fine. I do not feed any more 
than that, as an exclusive fee l of eggs will 
surely give them the diarrhea like one of 
meat. I also feed granulated oat meal two 
or three times a day, and after the first 
three days, two parts of corn meal and one 
part of bran should be substituted for the 
bread crumbs and egg. It is well to scald 
for a while. Keep water by them con¬ 
stantly. Care should be taken to feed no 
more than the chicks will eat clean, as food 
kept constantly by them will always get 
more or less mixed up with their excre¬ 
ment and an abundance will sooner or 
later clog them. It is well to scatter a 
little sharp sand upon their feeding 
troughs so that they will naturally eat a 
little with their food until they are old 
enough to supply their own wants. 
If brooders are used, great care should be 
taken not to overheat them, as chicks when 
uncomfortable will usually crowd and if 
too warm the inside ones will be in a sorry 
plight before morning. It is necessary to 
examine them just before dark when large 
numbers of the chicks are put together, 
and gently push them apart with the hand 
for a week or so until they get over the 
tendency to crowd. Be sure to keep your 
brooders clean and well disinfected. A 
great deal depends upon this, and if the 
chicks are necessarily confined during cold 
and snowy weather keep plenty of green 
stuff by them in the shape of green rye or 
refuse cabbage chopped fine; in fact, no 
kinds of vegetables come amiss. It Is a 
good rule to keep the chicks a little hungry 
when confined and not to feed too highly of 
concentrated foods, as the youngsters are 
apt to get weak in the legs. They can be 
put upon the market at a weight of from 
four to six pounds. 
I usually watch my opportunity and sell 
during a scarcity. A good Brahma chick 
when four months old should dress from 
five to six pounds, and if well fattened and 
nicely dressed will readily command from 
20 to 40 cents per pound. During one week 
in June this season roasters sold quickly 
at 44 cents per pound in Boston. Now, as 
these chicks can be grown for from five to 
six cents per pound, the margin of profit is 
large. Too much cannot be said in favor 
of dressing chicks neatly and putting them 
up in clean, tasty packages and assorting 
them carefully, as one or two inferior 
chicks in a package will oftentimes cut the 
price of the whole. james ranking 
FROM ALL PARTS. 
Farmers’ Trusts—Pro and Con.—I f it 
is possible to operate successfully such an 
immense organization as is projected, and 
thereby for farmers to obtain a large 
share of the profits that otherwise would 
go into speculators’ pockets, consumers on 
this side of the Atlantic would not regret 
the fact. Farmers have just as much 
right to establish trusts as any other class 
of producers.—Boston Transcript. 
The most dangerous enemy whom the 
farmers have at this moment Is the man 
who tells them that it Is possible for them 
to corner the wheat market to such an ex¬ 
tent that they can get the prices they want. 
—St. Louis Globe-Democrat. 
* * * * 
The Treasury Muddle.— Men have lost 
the confidence that formerly kept money 
in circulation and gave an impetus to en¬ 
terprise. The sense of security no longer 
exists because the United States Treasury 
Is in such a condition that, should a com¬ 
mercial panic occur, it could not, as in the 
past, come to the rescue of the banks.—New 
York News. 
A dispatch from Washington says: “The 
Secretary of the Treasury is going to dis¬ 
continue the daily statement of the net cash 
balance in the Treasury.” Considering the 
downward course of the “ net cash bal¬ 
ance,” this looks like a wise procedure. 
The Secretary will thus get ahead of the 
cash balance, which threatened to discon¬ 
tinue itself.—Philadelphia Ledger. 
It Is very difficult for the average citi¬ 
zen to fully comprehend the National 
Treasury statements. The only fact about 
which there is certainty is that the money 
is gone and that Uncle Sam has only a hand¬ 
ful of loose change in his pockets.—Mem¬ 
phis Appeal-Avalanche. 
The new style of bookkeeping by which 
the present administration seeks to show 
that it still has a few dollars in the Treas¬ 
ury reminds one of the very ancient story 
of the depositor whose bank notified him 
that he had overdrawn: “ The blank, you 
say 1 How much ? ” “ Oh, something 
like $200.” “ Is that so t Well, I’ll give 
you a check for it.”—Cincinnati Enquirer. 
* * * * 
Immigration Must Be Restricted.— 
I do not believe in the spirit of Know- 
Nothingism. America is the home of the 
free, the asylum of the oppressed. Our 
doors should swing wide open to the 
liberty-loving of the world. Instead of 
swinging open the doors, however, we have 
knocked the end of the house out. We 
have opened the floodgates, aDd the sewers 
of Europe have poured in upon us the 
pestilence-breeding refuse of the Old World. 
These methods must be changed. We must 
draw the line at the port of New York and 
every American port more strictly than 
ever before. Paupers and criminals and 
elements that are destructive of the life of 
society and irreconcilable to honesty, in¬ 
tegrity, truth and freedom must be elimi¬ 
nated. If we do not take this matter in 
hand, and that vigorously. New Orleans 
will be but the preface of fiercer battles 
that will be waged, sooner or later, in every 
center of American life.—Rev. Thomas 
Dixon, Jr. 
A Serious Question North, Too.—The 
labor question is getting to be quite a seri¬ 
ous one in agricultural districts in many 
parts of the South. The consequence is 
that the farmers are finding it more diffi¬ 
cult every year to get sufficient labor to 
plant, cultivate and harvest their crops. 
More of them go into the fields and work 
with their laborers than ever before. And 
the time is not very distant when the larger 
plantations will be divided into small 
farms, which the farmers can cultivate with 
very little assistance outside of that which 
their families can give.—Savannah News. 
Whose Head? —President Huntington, 
of the Southern Pacific Railroad Is on 
record as saying that he desires to see all 
the roads In the country under a single 
business head. Now comes Mr. Gould, who 
is quoted as follows : “ The greatest stroke 
of economy in the American railroad sys¬ 
tem would be to operate it all under a gen¬ 
eral management. Excessive competition, 
invasion of parallel districts by other lines, 
the multiplication of officers—all that is ex¬ 
pensive, and a true economy would find 
some way out of it.” Very true; but on 
the question of who shall be owner and 
general manager, we differ widely. Mr. 
Gould apparently thinks that he would 
just about fill the requirements, while we 
believe that Uncle Sam is the proper one to 
own and manage the roads.—Farm News. 
3 
Years’ Subscription Free. 
i. e., a Three Years' 8iil>Hcri|>tion and a Serviceable Fruit 
Drier for the price of the latter. 
3 
The U. S, Cook Stove Fruit Drier or Evaporator, 
Thoroughly Tested and 
Approved. 
Latest, Cheapest. Best. 
A Veritable Little Bread- 
Winner. 
Weight, 25 Pounds. 
Handsome Metal Base. 
Can be used on any kind 
of Stove. 
Dimensions : Base: 22x16 
inches; Height, 26 inches. 
Eight Galvanized Wire- 
Cloth Trays, contain¬ 
ing 12 square feet of 
tray surface. 
No Extra Fire. 
Always ready for use, and 
will last a lifetime. 
Easily and quickly set on 
and off the stove as 
needed, empty or 
filled with fruit. 
Facsimile of Machine 
Price, 87. 
Complete. 
With it you can, at odd times, summer or winter, evaporate enough wasting fruit, 
etc., for family use, and enough to sell or exchange for a large portion of your groceries, 
or provide yourself with much desired pocket money. 
As a Great Economizer and Money-Maker it is Without a Rival. 
Has it ever occurred to you that, with a little labor, wasting apples, berries and vege¬ 
tables can be quickly evaporated, and are then worth pound for pound for flour, sugar, 
coffee, butter, rice, oatmeal, etc , or go far towards purchasing clothes and little luxuries 
and necessities ? 
To the Women of the Household it is a Little Gold Mine. 
No labor you can perform for cash returns pays as well as that of converting wasting 
fruits into evaporated stock. These products are among the highest priced luxuries in 
food products. Evaporated peaches, cherries and raspberries, 20 to 2> cents per pound; 
apples, pears, blackberries, etc , 10 to 15 cents; all salable to or may be exchanged with 
your grocer for anything he sells. 
Recall the Waste of Fresh Fruit on the Farm or Town Lot for Seasons Past. 
This wasted fresh fruit, with a little labor added, represents just about one-tenth as 
many pounds or bushels of evaporated fruit. No other business than farming now al¬ 
lows such a large waste, or could be long sustained. 
Its Capacity is Ample for Domestic Use. 
Up to two bushels of fresh fruit per day. It is just what thousands of careful, prudent 
economical household managers need and want, even if they do not have time or neces¬ 
sity to engage in evaporating fruit as a business. 
Price of the Drier alone, $ 7 . Price to our 
subscribers, together with a three years’ 
subscription, $7 ; this will pay your subscription for three years 
from the date of expiration of time already paid for. Or we will 
give it free to any present subscriber who will send us four new 
subscriptions at $2 each. Subscriptions to The Rural New-Yorker 
count the same as The American Garden. 
B3F* If you want a larger fruit drier (prices $25 to $350), write 
us for terms, stating capacity desired. 
OUR OFFER: 
