716 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
October 28 
yellow, and a similar white. The most curious were 
five plants that were dwarfs indeed ; not nearly so 
large as D vsrf Champion. It may not be valuable, 
but was certainly a novelty. I have tried the Ban¬ 
quet muskmelon, and find it not so good as Emerald 
Gem in quality and but a little larger. I have tried 
the Yosemite wax bean two years, and pronounce it 
a failure. It sets very few pods and doesn’t fill well. 
Country Gentleman sweet corn doesn’t come up to 
Shoepeg in quality, but it is somewhat larger. The 
dry weather may have lowered the quality, j H v. 
BRAINS IN FARMING. 
A GOOD FARM REVISITED. 
[EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.] 
Three years ago last spring I visited and described 
for the readers of The R. N.-Y. the farm and nursery 
of Isaac Hick 3 & Son, at Westbury Station, L. I. I 
think that the intelligent methods employed, and the 
systematic and business-like management displayed 
upon this farm are without exception the best exem¬ 
plification of the possibilities of the brain-working 
farmer that I have ever seen. Ever since my first 
vi%it, I have wished for an opportunity for another. 
It came in mid October, and, in company with the 
artist, I gleaned many more ideas from this fru ’ful 
field which, aided by the artist's pencil and camera, 
will be placed before the readers of The R. N.-Y. 
from time to time. For the benefit of newer readers, 
1 will say that the farm comprises about 100 acres of 
good soil inclining to sand. The nursery part of the 
business engages a large part of the attention of the 
Messrs. Hicks. Then a dairy of some 24 or 25 head of 
cows is kept for the sale of milk. A small amount of 
poultry is kept, less than would be the case if there 
were more time to attend it. Some hay is sold, and 
potatoes and fruit add to the receipts. Some grain is 
grown, but much more in various forms is purchased. 
A silo was built several years ago, before silo construc¬ 
tion was so well understood as at present, but the 
parties purchasing the milk objected, on general prin¬ 
ciples, probably, to the feeding of ensilage, so that it 
is not used for its intended purpose, but is now filled 
with vinegar. It was built in the ground like a huge 
cistern, 24 feet deep, cemented. It is too large, too 
much surface being exprsed at once, so that some 
of it would spoil before it could be fed, and it was too 
much work to get the ensilage out. 
The buildings on this farm are all old, but have been 
rearranged and made more convenient for modern re¬ 
quirements. They well illustrate what may be done 
in remodeling old and inconvenient barns. Mr. 
Edward Ilicks remarked that if he were to build 
anew, he would build far differently. A noticeable 
thing in looking over the barns is the way in which 
all lofts and corners are utilized for storage purposes. 
In a little space over the stables the chicken coops are 
stored away, while on the second floor a binder was 
safely housed, being drawn up by means of pulleys, 
which are everywhere utilized for elevating purposes. 
“Storage on the upper floors is always cheaper than 
on the ground floor,” said Mr. Henry Hicks. 
Mr. Hicks is a recent graduate of the Agricultural De¬ 
partment of Cornell University, lie is an enthusiastic 
botanist, an amateur photographer, whose work would 
shame many professionals, a landscape designer by 
profession, having already done much work upon sev¬ 
eral large estates in the vicinity. A large collection of 
photographs, some of them of landscape effects pro¬ 
duced in his work, illustrate correct and incorrect 
methods of grouping and arranging trees. One was 
the arrangement of evergreens, especially large ones. 
They should be grouped so as to form a back-ground 
to the buildings, to shut off the view of unsightly 
objects, and also to act as a wind-break. Lawns 
should be arranged so as to have a broad green clear 
space instead of having trees scattered indiscrimi¬ 
nately about. One photograph showed what might 
have been an unsightly windmill, arranged in a cluster 
of trees, so that the outline of trees and mill was un¬ 
broken, while the latter was painted an olive green, 
renderirg it a pleasing feature of an attractive land¬ 
scape. This young man has a future before him in 
his chosen vocation, and is the kind of a farmer’s boy 
for whom the city has no charms. 
Our readers are familiar with the name of Isaac 
Hicks through his occasional practical and always 
valuable horticultural notes. He takes great pride in 
the nursery which he was led to start in middle life 
simply from love of trees and plants, and an ardent 
desire for investigation and experiment. It was a 
rare treat to be shown through the nursery by this 
venerable and reverent student of Nature, and to 
listen to his descriptions of the beauties and virtues of 
the new and the old in tree, shrub and plant. He is 
now in his 80th year, and is as hale and hearty as 
many men in middle life, a splendid example of those 
who in the love of Nature hold communion with her 
visible forms, and to whom she speaks a various, but 
always harmonious language. F. H. v. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address of the 
writer to Insure attention. Before asking a question please see If It Is 
not answered In our advertising columns. Ask only a few questions at 
one time. Put questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
HOW MANY EGGS FOR A PULLET? 
1. On the average, counting *11 Irsses, how many eggs must you 
actually put under hens or In Incubators to raise one good pullet ? 2. 
What difference do you find in breeds In regard to this matter ? 3. Is 
the proportion of roosters greater among the Leghorns than with 
some ot ier breeds '! 4. To reduce the proportion of Infertile eggs, 
how many hens would you put In one breeding pen ? 
1. In winter it takes about 2)4 eggs, on an average, 
to hatch one chick. Allowing equal sexes, it would 
be five eggs to hatch one pullet. Some eggs, how¬ 
ever, give better results, and some less. In summer 
the hatches are 75 or 100 per cent better. 2. The more 
active the hens, the better the eggs hatch. 3. No; 
sexes are nearly, if not quite, equal. 4. Of Brahmas, 
one male to 10 hens ; of Leghorns, one to 15 Too 
many hens, when birds are confined, reduce fertility. 
On the range twice as many hens may be allowed. 
P. H. JACOBS. 
1. The number varies with persons, breeds and loca¬ 
tions. 2. With Leghorns and other active breeds 
there are more fertile eggs, while other breeds are 
hardier and fewer of the chicks die. 3. From my per¬ 
sonal experience years ago, yes. We have had no 
Leghorns here. 4. Six or eight Brahmas if confined. 
The number varies with the breed, location, age, feed 
and amount of range. • samuel cushman. 
1. One good pullet to every four eggs is a good aver¬ 
age. 2. I find but little or no difference. 3. I find 
but little difference in that respect. 4. This depends 
much upon the breed used. For Leghorns I would 
say 25 or 30, but for Brahmas I would not put more 
than 10 or 12 in one pen, while for Plymouth Rocks, 
15 to 20, and so on These numbers, with a change of 
roosters every week, give good results. J. H beely. 
1. Taking the average for several years when I 
have hatched and raised 1,000 to 1,200 chicks each 
year, I find that for every good pullet raised I have 
used within a small fraction of four eggs. 2 and 3. 
From my experience with other breeds I do not find 
much difference between them and the Leghorns in 
regard to this matter, for while it is a fact that the 
Leghorns, as a rule, will throw a larger per cent of 
males than some of the larger breeds, it is also true 
that usually a larger percentage of their eggs are 
fertile and hatch better than most other breeds, 
while their chicks are as hardy and easily reared. 
4. The number of hens that should be allowed with 
one male in order to insure fertility in the eggs, de¬ 
pends upon several things, three of the most impor¬ 
tant being : 1. Strength, vigor and general condition 
of the birds, especially the male. 2. The breed to be 
used. As is generally well known, the smaller and 
more active breeds, like the Leghorns, will bear mat¬ 
ing in a larger proportion of hens to the male than 
will the larger breeds. 3 The age of the birds to be 
mated, as those from one to three years old that have 
received proper care should be in better condition for 
breeding, and produce a larger per cent of fertile eggs 
than those under one year and scarcely matured, or 
those that are losing vigor from old age. My practice 
is to mate 20 hens with each male, using great care 
to have both male and female in the best of health 
and condition, and when thus mated and properly 
cared for throughout the season, I rarely fail to get 
from 94 to 9(5 per cent of their eggs fertile. 
C. H. WYCKOFF. 
Some Actual Experience. 
1. I can answer from this season’s work only, as I 
never kept an account of the sexes of chicks hatched. 
One hatch is, I believe, a fair average one for the sea¬ 
son. I put 120 eggs into an incubator and 18 of them 
proved infertile. From the 102 remaining I got 87 
chicks, and raised 75 of them. This was doing well, I 
think. Out of the 75 chicks left I have just counted 
27 pullets. This is just 22% per cent of the total num¬ 
ber of eggs used. If by ‘‘good pullet” is meant one 
that would do to use as a breeder, I have I think about 
15 in the lot under consideration that will pass when 
matured. My neighbor says they are a good lot, but 
by that he means they are well grown and healthy. 
His standard and mine differ very materially in regard 
to the value of a chicken. 2. It is my impression that 
the larger breeds produce a larger per cent of pullets 
than the smaller ones. In my Light Brahmas this sea¬ 
son the pullets are two to one in comparison with the 
number of cockerels. I have been told that this is be¬ 
cause I had a two-year-old cock with my Light Brahma 
yearling hens, but I am not satisfied in my own mind 
that this is the true reason. I have heard this theory 
advanced before, but I had a two-year-old Leghorn 
cock with my yearling hens and the above result seems 
to contradict the theory. 3. I know that among my 
Leghorns I always have more cockerels than pullets, 
and as this is a sort of a Leghorn center, and mine 
seems to be a common experience, I should say that 
Leghorns produce more cockerels than pullets, as a 
general rule. 4. I have had good hatches when I had 
but one cock with 35 hens (Leghorns). I would prefer 
one cock to that number of hens to two if all were 
allowed to run together, for they will watch each 
other and interfere with each other’s usefulness. I 
had a bit of experience this season that makes me feel 
quite certain that too few hens with a cock is as bad as 
too many. I have a theory about this, but do not feel 
like elaborating it just now. I know that in a large 
number of pens, of a number of varieties, where 
just five hens were kept with one cock, the eggs 
were largely infertile, though all the conditions 
seemed favorable. I should say that 20 hens could be 
kept with one Leghorn cock and the eggs would hatch 
well. I have known 12 Plymouth Rock hens to be 
kept with one cock and the eggs were fertile almost 
to the last one. I shall put 12 Light Brahmas with 
one cock next season, and 15 Plymouth Rocks with 
another. harry carew. 
SELECTING 100 PLUM TREES. 
WHAT THE NURSERYMEN WOULD SELECT. 
The Question. 
If a customer were to write to you and say, “ I want 100 plum trees, 
and will leave It to you to select the varieties that will prove most 
profitable for my market.” what selection would you make for him, 
and why would you make the selection ? In other words, please tell 
us what your part of starting such a customer would be. 
Abundance, and Test Newer Varieties. 
I would suggest that he name the varieties that suc- 
ce?d best in his section, and make a choice from them. 
If he were not familiar with the best varieties in his 
section, I would refer to the report of the American 
Pomological Society for the varieties succeeding best 
there. Of the newer sorts, I would advise planting, 
say, 25 per cent of the orchard with Abundance, and 
two each of newer varieties for testing, wm. parry. 
Selections “for Revenue Only.” 
The locality in which the customer resided, and the 
market for which he intended the plums, would, to a 
large extent, govern. If the customer lived south of 
Baltimore, and intended the plums for that market, 
and “for revenue only,” I would advise him to plant 
50 Wild Goose, 25 Newman and 25 Mariana. The rea¬ 
sons for such selection are : certainty of fruit; freedom 
from Laf blight, black knot, rot and serious injury by 
the curculio ; the fruit will sell as readily—if not 
more so—and for as much money per 10-pound basket, 
as that of either the Japan or Domestica type ; my 
own experience has satisfactorily demonstrated that, 
with such selection for the Baltimore market, the 
fruit can be grown profitably for three cents net per 
quart. 
If the customer resided north of Baltimore or west 
of the Alleghany Mountains, I would advise differ¬ 
ently. For New England, New York and Pennsyl¬ 
vania, the Japan type, all things considered, would be 
preferable, and for 100 trees of such. “ for revenue 
only,” in the sections indicated, my choice would be 
50 Sweet Botan, 25 Burbank and 25 Chabot. The rea¬ 
sons for this selection are : surety of a crop ; prolifi¬ 
cacy and early bearing of the trees (by early bearing 
is meant that the trees bear while quite young); ex¬ 
emption, to a great degree, from injury by disease 
and insects ; for the New York, Philadelphia, Boston 
and other Northern markets, the fruit sells readily at 
profitable prices ; the Japan plums are not destroyed 
to the same extent by rot in the latitudes indicated as 
they are farther south. West of the Alleghanies, I 
would want 50 of the 100 trees to be of the Americana 
type—25 American Eagle, 25 Cheney—25 Sweet Botan 
and 25 Burbank, because the Americanas succeed 
better West than they do East or South ; the size and 
earliness of ripening of the two named above make 
them desirable and profitable, while the “Japs” in 
many sections of the West have proved their adapta¬ 
bility and profitableness. I have no use for any varie¬ 
ties of the Domestica type, where “ revenue ” is the 
main consideration. If I were planting west of the 
Rockies, I would use them and only them. j. w. kerr. 
Avoid the Mid-Season Sorts. 
I assume, first, that the party writing such an in¬ 
terrogatory would wish to plant his plums on land 
fitted for plum growing, and I should know what 
market he designs to patronize, as I have found that 
different markets require different varieties of plums. 
Under the circumstances I must answer in a general 
way. In planting plum trees for market, I would so 
arrange my varieties as to have those that ripen the 
very earliest and the very latest, avoiding the mid¬ 
season sorts that are brought more directly into com¬ 
petition with Delaware fruit. To this end I would 
plant the Field as the earliest large dark colored plum 
