2 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Jan. 7 
dently has no taste for reading, for he could not afford 
the luxury of hooks and papers while he was making 
money. Does he put in his time looking after his 
mortgages and telling his mortgagors how to make 
money farming ? Would the United States he better 
off if all her farmers were like this prosperous (?) 
man ? If we were all like him, would we care for 
anything except dollars? How many subscribers 
would The Rural have if it had men of that stripe to 
deal with ? 
But what is the use of asking these questions. If a 
man chooses to take such a view of farming as that man 
did, why, let him ; when he dies who will miss him ? 
A millionaire once told me an anecdote about a farmer 
who had the reputation of making money when no 
one else could, and some one asked him how he did it. 
He replied: “Raise all you can; sell all you raise; 
what you can’t sell give to the hogs; what the hogs 
won’t eat, eat yourself.” This millionaire had a very 
poor opinion of farming as a money-making pursuit, 
if the farmer expected to enjoy life while farming. 
I am tired of hearing men who ought to know better 
preaching economy, industry, frugality to farmers. 
Why should farmers live more sordid lives than any 
other class ? We are following a calling on which is 
based the prosperity of the whole country; should 
those who engage in it do the hardest work, live the 
meanest lives and be content to take just what other, 
and more prosperous classes choose to leave them ? I 
believe the farmer is entitled to sit on a cane-seated 
chair—and to have rockers under it too. 
A. L. CROSBY. 
BLACK SCOTCH CATTLE. 
The R. N.-Y. is not the organ of these cattle, but at 
the same time we do not hesitate to say that were we 
to breed cattle for beef we should select the Aberdeen- 
Angus or the Galloway. There is no 
need of a saw or “dishorning fluid” to 
keep the horns off their heads. They are 
neat, handsome and quiet, quick growers, 
yielding prime beef and giving a small 
percentage of offal. We know that they 
can endure cold and exposure that would 
kill other stock while the writer found 
them highly praised in Mississippi be¬ 
cause their tough hides and shaggy fur 
made an excellent protection against flies 
and other insects. As beef cattle, they 
have won more than their share of prizes 
whenever matched against other breeds. 
We are now using a carriage robe made 
of Galloway fur that has given us greater 
admiration than ever for these cattle. 
The hide from such animals will sell for 
four or five times as much as the ordinary 
cattle hide and is well worth it, for no¬ 
where else can one find such a warm and 
beautiful substitute for the buffalo. As 
we have before stated, these hardy cattle 
would be very useful stock on the hill¬ 
side pastures of upper New England 
and New York. The animal shown at Fig. 2, which 
is reproduced from the Mark Lane Express, has won 
many prizes both in England and Scotland. At 32 
months old she weighed over 1,600 pounds and is a 
remarkably perfect specimen of the breed. 
WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH THE FARMER 
AND HIS HEN? 
Partnership with “the Business Hen;” Why Hen Part¬ 
nerships Fail; Ho w to Make Them Succeed. 
C. H. WYCKOFF. 
PART II. 
First Sign of “ Improvement." 
Occasionally one of these men after reading some 
article on the profits of poultry keeping, or hearing of 
some one who is reported to be making a success in 
that line, decides to make an improvement in his 
methods, and proceeds to build a hen house, as it seems 
to him that this is all that is necessary to make his 
hens lay the year round—if any ever do—and after 
spending considerable time in looking up a suitable 
plan (which he finds a difficult matter, as he has never 
given the subject any attention before and hardly 
knows what he wants), he usually builds a very good 
house for this purpose, except that it is hardly ever 
large enough for the number of hens to be kept. The 
hens are put in and soon learn to roost there. The 
owner gives them no more attention than before. The 
house soon becomes as filthy and overrun with vermin 
as the old one. The hens do little if any better than 
before, and the owner is more than ever convinced 
that what he read and heard regarding the profits 
from hens was “all nonsense.” 
I have in mind one of this class, a prosperous farmer 
in other respects, upon whom I had occasion to call 
late last winter. When I reached the house I was 
informed that the proprietor was away from home a 
short distance, but was expected to return soon. 
So while waiting for him, I strolled out to the barn 
with the intention of looking over his cows, knowing 
he kept a fine dairy. I found them all in the barn, 
looking well, and the stables were nicely cleaned, and 
in fact everything about them bore the appearance of 
comfort and cleanliness, but as I came out of the barn 
I noticed a small, but snug-looking building across the 
barnyard which I at once concluded was a hen house, 
and as I had a curiosity to see the inmates I stepped 
across and opened the door, and oh ! what a change 
from the cow barn ! Confined in a space of not over 
12x14 feet were no less than 80 hens, a half dozen 
turkeys and as many ducks; under the perches and 
upon the floor were not less than 25 bushels of their 
droppings, scattered among which was a quantity of 
grain intended for their feed during the day. As the 
building was well constructed and warm, owing to the 
large number of fowls in it, readers can imagine some¬ 
thing of the odor that greeted me as I opened the 
door. The owner returned about this time, and in the 
course of our conversation I remarked that he had a 
very nice hen house, and asked him if he found keep¬ 
ing poultry profitable. His reply was, “ No indeed, 
there is no money in keeping hens. I have tested that 
to my own satisfaction, but the women folks will 
insist upon keeping them.” He then went on to tell 
how much it had cost him to build that ben house the 
year before, and that his hens hid not laid an egg all 
that winter. The great wonder to me was that they 
had lived so far through the season. 
No Mysteries about the Hen Business. 
This is only one instance among many of a similar 
nature that have come under my notice. Some of the 
people have the idea that the secret of success lies en¬ 
POLLED AbERDEEN-AnGUS HEIFER PRINCESS. FlG. 2. 
tirely in the feeding, and while they study this matter 
thoroughly, and give proper feed in suitable quantities, 
they so wholly neglect the other details of the busi¬ 
ness that their success at the best will be but partial, 
which is all that could be expected. 
There is still another class which labors under the 
impression that there is a great mystery about the 
successful management of laying hens, that there is a 
secret connected with it, which, if revealed to them, 
would open wide the door to wealth. I know this to 
be the case, from the numerous letters I receive bear¬ 
ing upon this point, and also from those who apply in 
person, asking if I am willing to reveal the secret of 
making hens lay. Of course t his latter class are not very 
numerous, as any person of average intelligence 
must know, if he give the matter any thought at all, 
that the only secret of this business is to thoroughly 
study it, find out what is needed to keep the hens in 
the best condition as to health and comfort, with a 
proper regard to feeding for the object desired—eggs, 
or growth—and then see that the knowledge gained is 
put in practice, when it will be found that the same 
principles required for the successful carrying on of 
the mercantile, banking, newspaper, or any other 
business are required for the successful management of 
laying hens if the best results are to be obtained. 
Those Who Use “Improved Scrubs." 
There is still another class of farmers who manage 
to make some profit from their hens, and whose stock 
are what may be called improved scrubs, and who 
usually begin the improvement by buying a thorough¬ 
bred male of some variety which seems to suit their 
fancy at the time, and grade up their flocks from 
him, which is really an improvement, if from no other 
cause than the introduction of fresh blood and the in¬ 
crease in strength and vigor in the chicks from this 
mating ; but instead of going on in this line, drawing 
fresh blood and grading up their flocks from the same 
breed, they usually make the second draft from some 
entirely different breed, whose characteristics are 
often as foreign to those of the first as possible. They 
seem to get the idea that there is some best breed, 
and that by changing to another every year or two 
they will be sure to find it. The result is that they 
soon get to a mixed flock, consisting of heavy and 
light birds, sitters and non-sitters, and their various 
grades and crosses—a flock for all the members of 
which it would be simply impossible for any one to 
study out a suitable line of feeding and management, 
and in the end the owners know but little more about 
the good or bad qualities of the thoroughbreds they 
have used than if they had never seen them, and about 
the only successful way to manage their flocks would 
be to divide them into different sections, according to 
their many different characteristics, as nearly as could 
be done, and treat each separately, according to their 
wants. This would entail an expenditure of time and 
trouble that but few would be willing to make. 
Neglecting 1 Hens on a Vacation. 
Another mistake I have often noticed is in the case 
of farmers who have fairly good flocks and buildings 
for them, which, with a little care and labor at the 
approach of fall and winter, could be made comfort¬ 
able just when comfortable quarters are most needed; 
but as the hens cease to lay in order to moult at aoout 
this time, and as the pullets are hardly ever mature 
enough to begin to lay until toward spring, their 
owners take but little interest in them and seem to 
think that they will lose about so much time anyway, 
before beginning to lay again, and so they only try 
how cheaply they can carry them through this period. 
In the meantime the hens suffer from cold and ex¬ 
posure and the lack of sufficient food, as the wind 
whistles and the storms beat through 
the cracks and broken windows of their 
quarters until midwinter, by which time 
they are in a most miserable condition. 
Then their owner wakes up with the 
idea that it is about time the hens should 
begin to lay, as it must soon be spring. 
Accordingly he goes at it as though his 
life depended upon the result. The hen 
house is put in proper shape, the cracks 
are stopped up; the broken windows are 
replaced by new ones ; the house is thor¬ 
oughly cleaned, and the hens are feasted 
morning, noon and night upon the best 
the farm affords. The owner thinks 
nothing of the trouble of cooking vege¬ 
tables and mixing a warm mash for their 
breakfast, and keeping them supplied 
with pure water slightly warmed. In 
fact, he gives them everything he has 
ever heard recommended as good for in¬ 
ducing hens to lay. He finds, however, 
that they respond but slowly to all his 
good treatment, and he sometimes gets 
nearly discouraged, as it seems to him that 
with the good care and generous feeding he is giving, 
they should begin to lay at once. Finally, as their con¬ 
dition improves and the wastes of their bodies caused 
by neglect, cold and hunger in the earlier part of the 
winter arc repaired, they begin to lay, and, as the care 
and feed are kept up, continue to do so through the 
spring and summer until Nature’s demands must be 
met, and they gradually stop laying to change their 
coats. Then their owner neglects to feed them and 
takes up the problem of how cheaply he can keep 
them, which is one of the greatest and yet most com¬ 
mon mistakes in keeping hens—to drop off in care and 
feed because they fail to lay enough eggs to pay for 
proper attention at the most critical time of their lives, 
for it is well known that moulting and the growing of 
an entire coat of new feathers are much more of a 
strain upon them than the laying of an egg nearly 
every day, and often occur so late in the season that 
even the weather is against them, being often cold and 
stormy at this time. As to the economy of neglect at 
this time, a single trial will convince any one that to 
continue with the best of feed and care throughout 
the winter and see to it that the hens are kept warm 
and comfortable when denuded of their feathers, will 
greatly lessen the time otherwise required for moult¬ 
ing, and result in a far greater profit for the year, as 
they will finish their growth of new feathers in good 
condition and in time to lay many eggs that will sell 
at winter prices. 
(To be continued.) 
* * * 
Choice of Potatoes. —For the earliest and best the 
Sunrise potato suits me, as it yields far better than 
most other varieties with me, and for a later variety I 
would select the Rural New-Yorker No. 2; for it is 
delicious. I planted mine early and got a good crop ; 
there were no rotten ones to speak of, but the late 
ones I left in the ground, and did not get seed, as they 
were all rotten. J. f. p. 
