VOL. LIII. No. 2297. NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 3, 1894. 
PRICE, THREE CENTS. 
$1.00 PER YEAR. 
^‘HENS BY THE ACRE/’ 
NEW CULTIVATION FOR THE EGG CROP. 
Giving the Boy a Start. 
Thing's are going on much the same as usual at the 
Electric Poultry Yards. If a man think that he knows 
“all about hens” just let him become the^owner of 
1,000, more or less, and try to make them lay an egg 
apiece every day. How quickly he will discover that 
he has a thing or two to learn yet. We started 
the New Year with 15 flocks of 40 each mak¬ 
ing 600, besides one flock of 40 that belongs 
to my boy. After I had set all the hens I 
cared to last spring, about May 20,1 told him 
that he might set 10 bens for himself and try 
his luck. He succeeded in raising 39 pullets. 
Of course, after he had demonstrated his 
ability in such a practical way, he had to 
have a place to keep them, so I built him a 
house and traded him a pullet for one of his 
cockerels. He buys his own feed and has got 
them on a paying basis already. From his 40 
pullets hatched in June, he gets from six to 
ten eggs a day (January 3 ) At the prices we 
get at present three eggs a day will pay for 
the feed, giving him a chance for pocket 
money of his own. 
A Chapter on Egg Cleaning. \ 
The Deacon came in the other evening as I 
was cleaning up my eggs, and getting them 
ready to ship. “Why!” said he; “do you 
wash your eggs ? ” 
“ Certainly, if they need it. It would never 
do to send dirty eggs to a fancy market.” 
“ How do you manage to clean up those 
that are so badly stained ? ” 
“ Just watch me a minute and you will see. 
Here are five or six dozen in this dish pan. 
The first thing to do is to pour warm water 
over them and let them stand a few minutes. 
I usually keep adding water that is a little 
hotter till the eggs are brought to about 
blood heat. Here is an old linen table cloth 
which I fold to several thicknesses and spread 
on the table beside the pan. As you see, 
most of the dirt and stains are easily washed 
off and the heat of the egg as it lies on the 
soft table cloth dries the shell and gives it 
that bright, fresh appearance peculiar to a 
new laid egg. The linen cloth absorbs the 
drop that naturally forms under the egg. 
Otherwise that drop would be apt to leave a 
stain.” 
“There is ohe that is badly stained, and 
does not wash clean. How do you manage 
that ? ” 
“ No trouble about that. Here is a bowl of 
strong vinegar. We will dip it in the vinegar 
a minute.” 
“ Well, I vum,” said the Deacon as I laid it 
beside the rest as bright as a new dollar. 
The acid of the vinegar will eat the stains 
away, shell and all, in a short time if left 
immersed. There is no easier way to test the 
freshness of an egg than to place it in a pan 
of water. If it be a strictly new laid egg, it will sink 
to the bottom and lie on its side as quietly as a stone. 
The air chamber at the big end of the egg soon begins 
to develop and if, after a few days, it be again im¬ 
mersed, it will bob about on the slightest agitation of 
the water, and act as though it were trying to stand 
on the little end. After a few mere days, the air 
chamber becomes so large that it actually will stand 
on the little end in water, and it is not long before it 
will float. After this stage is reached, beware ! 
Holding Eggs in Salt. 
I have been experimenting a little with held eggs. 
I had a surplus last July, and as the grocers would 
pay only 18 cents per dozen, I thought it a good time 
to try an experiment. I got a sack of salt and a sugar 
barrel, and packed them in dry salt. First a layer of 
salt then a layer of eggs, being careful to stand each 
egg on the small end. I filled a sugar barrel and a 
washtub in this way, and kept them in the cellar. 
California Quince. Fig. 23. See page 67. 
No. 80 Quince. Fig. 24. See page 67. 
vSome were packed the same day they were laid, and 
some were left a week or more before packing. 
October 15, I took a sample to a reliable grocer in 
town and asked him to try them telling him when 
they were laid and how I had kept them. Next time 
I saw him he wanted to know what I asked for them. 
I thought they ought to be worth 25 cents per dozen. 
“ 1 will take the whole lot at that price,” said he. 
I told him that I put them up as an experiment, 
and wanted to leave some of them in the salt a while 
longer, but that he might have a hundred dozen at 
that price. We found a few with cracked shells that 
were spoiled, but those with perfect shells seemed as 
sweet and good as new-laid eggs. The whites, how¬ 
ever, were a little thin, and part of them would float 
in water, particularly those that were not packed the 
same daj they were laid. December 15,1 took another 
sample to a different grocer and asked him 30 cents 
per dozen. He took them home and tested them and 
bought the balance at that price. About half 
of this lot would float in water and when 
they were hard boiled, the yolk would be 
found close to the shell. I had some boiled 
for my breakfast December 20, five months 
from the time they were laid, and found them 
very good eating. I don’t recommend such 
eggs to take the place of new-laid ones, but 
in December, when most hens are on strike, 
they beat spoiled eggs or no eggs all to pieces. 
The Hens Have a New Carpet. 
One day when the Deacon called, he said : 
“ How did you like that dry earth, with 
which you covered the floors of your hen¬ 
houses last season ? ” 
“ That proved to be one of the difficulties 
that confronted me. It worked like a charm 
early in the fall, when the hens spent most 
of their time out of doors; but when freez¬ 
ing weather came, and 40 hens were kept 
confined in a space 10 x 12 feet during a long 
spell of cold weather, their droppings soon 
formed a frozen coating on top of the dry 
earth. The result was that the first thaw 
made it muddy and sticky on the floor. This 
would never do for the hens, so it had to be 
cleaned out. It would probably have worked 
all right, if I had larger houses or smaller 
flocks.” 
“ What did you use then ? ” 
“ I tried several substances before I found 
one that was satisfactory. Come over to 
No. 13, and see what you think of my pres¬ 
ent arrangement.” 
“ My I ” said the Deacon as he stepped in 
among the biddies. “ It is like walking on a 
velvet carpet. Where do you find so many 
buckwheat hulls ?” 
“There is a flouring mill in town where 
they burn thousands of bushels every winter.” 
“ Everybody does not happen to have a 
buckwheat mill so handy,” said he. “What 
would be a good substitute ?” 
“ Rye straw or even wheat straw cut to 
very short lengths should answer nearly as 
well.” 
A Cure for an Egg Eater : Turnips. 
“I struck another difficulty up in No. 8. 
They were laying six or eight eggs a day, 
and all at once they stopped entirely. I 
watched to see what was the matter, and 
found that they were eating the eggs as fast 
as they were laid.” 
“ How did you get around that difficulty ? 
I am anxious to know, for Susan’s hens are 
eating all our eggs.” 
“ Come over to No. 8 and see,” said I. 
As we stepped quietly inside and closed the door, 
I asked the Deacon what he thought of my automatic 
hens’ nests. As soon as a hen steps into the nest, the 
entrance is automatically closed, thus preventing the 
rest of the hens from disturbing her, and giving her 
almost total darkness. I got 10 eggs from this pen 
the first day after I gave them these nests, and I have 
seen no signs of egg-eating since.” 
“ Well! Well 1 ” said the Deacon; “hen nature must 
