66 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
February 3 
bo different from hnmm nature. I was reading in 
the third chapter of John last night that ‘men lo^ed 
darkness rather than light because their deeds were 
evil.’ In the case of the hens they seem to prefer the 
light for their evil deeds” 
“ Those nests are the soul of simplicity, too. Not a 
pulley or a lever about them to get out of order.” 
“ Where did you learn to make them ?” 
“ You know that necessity is the mother of inven¬ 
tion. I had the necessity, and the nest is a native of 
the Electric Poultry Yards. Three cents’ worth of 
lumber and a few minutes’ time will convert any old 
packing box of suitable size into the best automatic 
nest I have ever seen or heard of. I shall use them 
largely for sitting hens. I have lost lots of sittings 
of eggs from having other hens lay in the nest with 
the sitting hens. On this account I usually carry the 
sitting hens into a room by themselves. We have to 
watch them, even then, a good deal, or when they 
come off to eat, two hens will go back into the same 
nest, leaving the other nestful of eggs to chill. With_ 
these nests I can set 50 hens in a row if I wish to. 
They can come off to eat at pleasure, and if one hap¬ 
pen to take the wrong nest, the rightful occupant 
will be shut out and compalled to take the vacant 
nest.” 
“ What is this that looks so much like an empty 
ball cover ? ” said the Dsacon. 
“That is the remains of the turnip I gave them 
yesterday morning Here is one that is not 
picked out so clean, which was given them 
this morning. I raised a lot of Yellow Stoce j,v -3 
turnips on purpose for them last season be- ^ 
tween my rows of currants. J give each pen 
one large or1wo small ones every morning, ‘t 
and they find both exercise and vegetable [iL 
food inside the skin. They pick out the in- M' 
side and leave the skin as you see.” mi 
Bill of Fare for the Hens ! | 
“ Do you use the same mixture for morn- 1 
ing feed that you did last summer?” M 
“ Yes. excepting that I make it more bulky. H 
When the grass began to fail in the fall, I H 
looked around for some chopped clover hay H 
I could find none for sal'^ cheaper than 830 a H] 
ton, with freight added. I thought that too 111 
expensive, so I set my wits to work for a sub- 
stitute. They suggested malt sprouts and I | 
am giving them a trial.” I 
“1 should think,” said the Deacon, “that 'I 
they would be first rate. They come the 
nearest to young grass of anything I can 
think of. How much do they cost ? ” 
“ Only $17 a ton. My present mixture con¬ 
sists of eight bushels of ground oats, four 
bushels of ground wheat, 150 pounds of meat 
scrap, 300 pounds of wheat bran, 300 pounds 
of malt sprouts. For 600 hens I take about 50 \\ 
pounds of this mixture in a water tight box | 
that sets on the rear end of a buckboard I 
wagon and pour over it a 40-quart canful of i 
sour skim-milk The can of milk is set in a 
box of hot water over night and in the morn¬ 
ing it is hot whey and pot cheese instead of 
skim-milk. The hens eat it greedi y, and 
seem to be thriving on it. You ought to see 
them pick out the chunks of pot cheese. At 
n’ght I give them whole grain, either corn or 
wheat. I question the propriety of giving 
any whcle grain at all in winter. My hens are getting 
very plump and fat, although they lav reasonably well. 
I think I shall try keeping some of them entirely on 
the more bulky food. I cannot always get the skim- 
milk in sufficient quantities. In that case I use hot 
water to mix the feed.” 
My colony of smill houses scattered about over the 
farm and connected by a telegraph wire causes lots of 
comment from passersby. My man overheard the con¬ 
versation of four men the other day as they were 
driving by in a carriage. One of them seemed to be 
spokesman and was explaining to the rest that the 
wire was for the purpose of conveying the eggs down 
to the house. His companion happening to spy one of 
the wnite porcelain insulators which break the circuit 
over each building in order to send the current down 
into the buildings, suddenly grasped the others arm 
in great excitement: “Great Scott!” said he, “if 
there don’t come one now.” o. w. mapes. 
What Plow ? —The k’nd of moldboard to be used, 
depends on the condition of the clover sod soil. If the 
THROWING AWAY YOUR PROFIT. 
now GOOD CELERY WAS RUINED. 
Over and over, and over again has The R N -Y. 
sounded the changes on the imperative necessity of a 
proper preparation of farm products for market in 
order to secure the best prices. It has given examples 
innumerable of the loss occasioned shippers because 
of neglect of this principle of plain business common 
sense. The subject becomes monotonous to us, what¬ 
ever it may be to our readers, for we like better to dig 
up new things. But the necessity exists, and so long 
as it does, we shall keep at it. 
In Fig. 25 is shown an object lesson on this subject. 
It represents sample roots from two lots of celery re¬ 
ceived the same day by the same commission mer¬ 
chant. The lot from which the one on the left was 
taken was properly trimmed, washed and tied up in 
neat bunches, packed in new, clean boxes, covered with 
paper, and was in the nicest kind of shape to sell well. 
The lot from which the other was taken had not been 
trimmed or washed at all, except that the tops had 
been chopped off. It looked a great deal worse than 
our illustration shows, for all the earth which adhered 
to the roots was packed in the box, and this had rat¬ 
tled all over the whole mass, giving it a most disrepu¬ 
table appearance. The whole was packed into the box, 
roots and tops together, evidently any way to squeeze 
it in, and its appearance when opened would have made 
- 
The Spoiling of Good Celery. Fig. 25. 
any fastidious customer hesitate to accept it as a gift. 
Then all the outside stalks were valueless, and not only 
injured the appearance, but added so much useless 
weight upon which transportation charges must be 
paid. So far as quality was concerned, the celery on 
the right was the better. It had evidently grown rap¬ 
idly, was crisp and tender, and was superior to the 
other. If it had been properly prepared, it would have 
sold for a first-class price. As it was, it would sell only 
to the wagon boys and other like venders who buy only 
what they can buy cheap, and who fix it up and make 
their profit by the improved appearanee. So it is easily 
seen that the proper preparation in this case would 
have made a big difference. 
The receiver of this celery said that he would have 
to sell it for what he could get. He said : “ We can 
never give satisfaction to shippers of this class of 
goods, Of course we are obliged to receive whatever 
shippers send us, but it does seem as if we got more 
of this class of goods in answer to our advertisments 
than almost any other house on the street. People 
who are in the business of buying shipping stuff, know 
THE SHAPE OF THE MOLDBOARD. 
WHAT PLOW WILL BEST HANDLE A SOD ? 
Which Is the best plow for tiirolDi; pnder clover sod on smooth 
land, one with a short, a medium, or a long moldboard? Can a 
jointer be successfully used on a sulkv p'ow in turning under corn 
hills and stalks, placing them In the bottom of the furrow where they 
will not Interfere with the cultivation of subsequent crops 7 
Larrabee, Iowa. h. b. s. 
Railro id Iron for Corn. 
A long moldboard sometimes rolls the sod twice 
over, leaving much of it grass s'de up, while a very 
short one breaks it up, stands it on edge, and leaves it 
very rough. A medium is best—one that will just fiop 
f'e sod over. A jointer is of little use among stalks. 
Bjtter chop the stalks up with a stalk cutter if the 
land is to be planted to corn. For oats, break them 
down with a heavy pole or railroad iron, in the direc¬ 
tion the plowing is to be done, when the ground is 
frozen hard on the surface. Most of them can then be 
turned under with a good sulky plow, fred grundy. 
The Clover Should Be Well Covered. 
A long moldboard lets the soil and clover slip by 
without inverting it much. I consider a medium one 
better, because it throws the furrow further, and 
hence, covers the clover better. Some contend that 
the clover rots quicker if left partly exposed to the 
air, but it is too much in the way in after cultivation. 
I never used a jointer, but have a favorable opinion of 
them from what I have seen. They seem to 
cjgar the track for the plow, and move the 
trash towards the previous furrow, so that it 
is well turned under. g. m. 
Harlan, Ind. 
How the Stalks are Covered. 
The plow now in general use throughout 
ii wiv section of country has a moldboard of 
jl||M medium length compared with the special 
mjm stubble plow and the prairie breaker. It 
f'OT is a general-purpose plow, sold by all the 
Mf leading makers, in different styles—sulky, 
j||l| tricycle, gang and walking—but the general 
lllll outline of the moldboard and the class of 
111/ work done are about the same in all. It 
I does equally good work in stubble, sod and 
III corn stalks. In plowing clover sod, the short 
lljl moldV-oard of the stubble plow, with its 
||f necessarily sharp turn, breaks the furrow 
jl slice in pieces of different lengths, some of 
I which are left at right angles to the furrow, 
f making an untidy looking field and a very 
poor seed bed. We plow our clover sod 
about seven inches deep ; and at this depth 
the long moldboard of the breaker does not 
invert the sod sufficiently, while the draft is 
greater than when a moldboard of medium 
length is used. I have never used a joirter 
in plowing under corn stalks, nor do I think 
- / a jointer can be used for that purpose. If H. 
R. S. will pull up a hill of corn stalks he will 
\\ have a ball of earth and roots nearly as 
rA wide and deep as his furrow. While the 
_ ^ ’ plow share will cut those rcots near the bot¬ 
tom or pass under them, the j linter will not 
cut them near the surface, but clog the plow 
instead. I always use a wheel coulter, and, 
in plowing corn stubble, am very particular 
to cut close to the row ; then with the next 
furrow the corn hills are completely inverted 
and do not interfere with the cultivation of subsequent 
crops. One end of a five eighth-inch rod of iron or steel 
fastened under the coulter clasp, the other end project¬ 
ing over the furrow with a downward curve, holds all 
stalks and trash in a position to be completely buried 
by the turning furrow. We go over the corn fields in 
winter—le^ecting a cold day—with a team hitched to 
each end of a piece of railroad rail, and break off the 
stubble even with the surface of the ground. This is 
a short jib and one that pays. p. h. munroe. 
Illinois. 
The Quick Twist Throws the Sod. 
The shortest possible moldboard, that is, the one 
that has the quickest twist which allows the fun ow 
to lie still when it is tu'*ned over is the one that does 
the most perfect work; of eou'*se the twist must not 
be so sharp that it will tend to throw the furrow at 
right angles to the line of the furrow. Tough sods 
require longer moldboards than clover sods. Stubble 
may be plowed to g, 0 od advantage with short mold- 
boards with rapid twists. I doubt if a jointer can be 
successfully used on ary plow to turn under corn hills 
sod be very tough and the soil stiff, a regular breaking 
plow moldboard such as the Western farmer uses for 
breaking prairie, is the easiest on a team and, in my 
opinion, does the best work. The plowed ground is 
left more uniformly level and the pulverizer or disc 
harrow will do its work more quickly from the fact 
that a larger per cent of the discs are cutting. If the 
clover sod be on a semewhat loose or sandy soil, the 
short moldboard is the best. j. n. muncey. 
that the profit comes from the very best quality of 
goods, packed in the best and most attractive manjer; 
but many of our shippers ship in small quantities of 
their own growing, and each one thinks that his stuff 
is of the best quality.” 
We hope that none of The R. N.-Y. readers will be 
guilty of shipping such produce. Don’t do it; it 
doesn’t pay ! Leave that to those too poor to take a 
paper which instructs in these matters. 
or stalks unless the corn be of the smaller variety, al¬ 
though a large jointer set deep might turn under some 
of them, if the plowing be deep enough. The jointer 
is a great institution and is not used nearly so much 
as it should be. There are only a few places where it 
cannot be successfully operated. Then, too, the 
jointer needs to be set rather deep in order that the 
entire furrow slice may be well pulverized. Plows 
with short, abrupt moldboards, draw a little harder 
