4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
NEW JERSEY FARMERS’ INSTITUTES. 
Pioneer Work Being Done. 
SOME OF THE THINGS TALKED ABOUT. 
Fob Farmers to Consider. —The New Jersey State 
Board of Agriculture with but a small appropriation 
is pressing forward and doing much excellent work- 
Many one-day meetings have been arranged for local¬ 
ities where no regular farmers’ institute has ever 
been held. Secretary Franklyn Dye has called several 
efficient men to assist him in the campaign. While 
in New York I remarked to my brother that the farm¬ 
ers were complaining that they did not make any 
money. “They ought not to !” “Why not ?” “They 
do not put enough in the business ! An editor in his 
notice of a recent bulletin said, ‘It’s full of facts and 
will well repay a day’s study.’ A day’s study, indeed! 
A year’s study would be scarcely enough to get all the 
knowledge in it which could be made available. I 
shall have to spend eight years in study and as many 
thousand dollars before I can earn a dollar at my pro¬ 
fession. No farmer that I know of studies enough.” 
These institutes are schools in which the older men 
can study without books, and the young men can be 
inspired to start in new lines. 
In the Somerville meeting Secretary Dye said: 
“ Farmers have complained of the hard times until 
they have nearly ruined their credit. The banks do 
not care to lend them money. Fire insurance com¬ 
panies are canceling farmers’ policies. Destroying 
one’s credit is a poor policy. The farmers have drawn 
fertility from their bank (the soil) until their drafts 
are heavily discounted. The whole system must be 
changed or farmers must make an assignment.” 
A Talk About Hogs. —Geo. T. Gillingham, Moores- 
town, N. J., spoke on swine : History and tradition 
show that the flesh of swine has always been used for 
food. They are the only animals that are raised for 
meat alone. The best hogs are those that combine 
early maturity, rapid growth, aptitude to fatten young, 
health, a vigorous appetite, and quiet disposition. 
Keep no hogs over winter except for breeding pur¬ 
poses. The heat of the body must be obtained from 
food, and unless summer conditions are maintained 
pork made in winter will not be profitable. The hog 
is a grazing animal, and a clover field or an orchard is 
the proper place for him in summer. The sow should 
not be given food for 24 hours after farrowing, and 
then a few quarts of warm water in which has been 
stirred a quart of fine wheat bran. Increase till the 
pigs are a week old, when she should have all she will 
eat of a swill made of wheat bran and milk. Watch 
the pigs carefully, and if they are troubled with in¬ 
digestion, the mother should have a tablespoonful of 
sulphur twice a day and the bedding be cleaned out. 
The little pigs should have a pen where they can run 
out and eat. They will eat wheat at two weeks. They, 
if fed well, need not be weaned at all. A hog about 
1% year old, quite thin in flesh, was weighed Septem¬ 
ber 1. She had just weaned a fine litter of pigs, and 
weighed 216 pounds. She was fed ground wheat ex¬ 
clusively, adding water sufficient to make a thick slop. 
After feeding for 40 days, she weighed 320 pounds. 
In this time she had eaten eight bushels of wheat, 
less the toll taken for grinding. This is 13 pounds of 
pork for a bushel of wheat. After 27 days more, she 
weighed 366 pounds, and had eaten five bushels of 
wheat, an average of 11% pounds of meat for a bushel 
of wheat. She was sold for six cents per pound, which 
gave 60 cents per bushel for the wheat. She dressed 
302 pounds—losing but 64 pounds, which is less than 
the usual loss. This proves 1, That wheat is a cheap 
food for swine. 2, That wheat makes solid and good 
flesh. 3, That there is a point beyond which we feed 
at a loss. Breeding stock should be handled and kept 
docile, by going among them. If you have any that 
will not respond to kind treatment, better kill them. 
C. E. Chapman said : I would have sows drop their 
first litters at one year, and take good care of them 
Any hog which has been allowed to get fat will be a 
poor milker. The young pigs will be much better for 
future usefulness if fed oil meal, milk and wheat 
bran, than if fed corn. The mineral elements must 
be supplied, or the bones will be weak. A man must 
study out a cheap ration to make the business profit¬ 
able. Our hogs are fed nothing when turned on the 
fresh clover, the last of May, until the dry weather 
stops growth. Fodder corn is then given till fall feed 
comes on. I shall sow flat turnips in early spring to 
feed during A ugust next year. “Will they eat them 
raw ? ” Certainly. We winter mature stock on them, 
fresh water and a few hundred pounds of wheat bran 
each. They should be cut up. There is not much 
warmth in a turnip. If the hogs are outdoors, or are 
obliged to sleep on a frozen or wet bed, they will not 
do well. Warmth is supplied cheaper by fixing the pen, 
than by feeding corn. We never sit up with a sow at 
farrowing time, or have a sow eat her pigs when fed 
this grass and turnip ration. 
Poultry on the Farm. —The poultry business fur¬ 
nishes a home market for everything grown on the 
farm, and in the sale of eggs, takes little fertility 
from the soil. A long head goes a great way in pre¬ 
venting a long face. Any kind of a house, providing 
it is warm and dry, is as good as another. A cold hen 
never lays, and boards are cheaper than corn. A man 
who keeps P. Rocks because Leghorns’ combs will 
freeze, will not succeed. If pullets do not begin lay¬ 
ing before April, they cost too much for profit. They 
should pay all cost in eggs before this, and will lay 
just as many eggs the next season. The feed must be 
as cheap as possible and answer all needs. It must 
be adapted to the condition of the house, the hen, the 
weather, the kind of egg wanted, and health. It should 
be composed of some corn, more bran, a greater 
amount of wheat, and meat, milk, green food and 
shells. Have a trade mark. I was offered eggs in 
the city for 15 cents per dozen. They represented 
crude effort in every particular. The hen that laid 
those eggs gathered the material from the gutters be¬ 
hind the cows. Her dirty foot put a sign on the small, 
poor egg. The man sent it along without cleaning. 
The same day Mr. Wyckoff's eggs were worth 40 
cents. The large, pure, washed clean eggs bore the 
trade mark of applied intelligence. Here you have it 
—crude effort 15 cents, skill 40 cents. Every man’s 
products and prices are a photograph of his intelli¬ 
gence. Are you ashamed of yours ? c. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address of 
the writer to insure attention. Before asking a question please 
see whether it is not answered in our advertising columns. Ask 
only a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate 
piece of paper.1 
That “Nutritive Ratio” for Laying Hens. 
0. W. M., Middletown, N. Y .—Please hurry up that 
Balanced Ration discussion till you come to the hen. 
I am astounded at the statement in a recent R. N.-Y. 
that laying poultry require a ratio of one to two. I 
am anxious to see how you will set at work to make 
up a ration with that proportion, unless you confine 
her to grasshoppers and linseed meal. I had supposed 
that the requirements for egg production did not 
differ materially from those of milk production. 
Ans. —The difference between an egg and milk is 
that milk is a production, and while the same is true 
of an egg, it is also an embryo chick ; that is, it con¬ 
tains all the elements for producing young. In round 
numbers, the white weighs about 600 grains, the yolk 
300 grains, and the shell 100 grains, though all eggs 
are not of the same size and weight. Of the white, 84 
per cent is water, and about 12% per cent albumen, 
and there is also mineral matter, sugar, etc. Hence 
there is in the egg, albumen to the amount of 75 
grains. The yolk also contains some albumen, 45 per 
cent of fat, and 52 per cent of water, as well as mineral 
matter, etc. The total egg contains about 80 grains 
of albuminoids, 135 grains of fat and oil, nine grains 
of mineral matter, 26 grains of sugar, coloring, etc., 
and the lime of the shell, which is really about 50 per 
cent pure lime. The remainder is carbonic acid, water 
of crystallization etc., as the shell is a salt-carbonate 
of lime. 
It will be seen, then, that the albuminoids are more 
than equal to one-half of the fat, oil, etc., and hence 
the ration should be about two to one, as has been 
stated. Of course it is difficult to feed the exact pro¬ 
portions. The hen will lay on any food that contains 
sufficient albumen, but the excess of carbonaceous 
matter is stored on the body as fat, and as she will eat 
a large quantity of food daily, she can always secure 
sufficient albumen if the food is not exclusively car¬ 
bonaceous, as with grain. A variety will provide 
sufficient albumen. Lean beef contains about 21 per 
cent of albuminoids to nine per cent of fat, or heat¬ 
forming elements, which gives an excess of albumin¬ 
oids, which may be balanced by any food that is more 
carbonaceous. Red clover hay contains about 11 per 
cent of flesh-formers to about 35 per cent of heat- 
formers, hence it is a valuable egg food, as it contains 
about one to three. Cotton-seed meal is as 32 o f heat- 
formers to 41 of flesh-formers, and is considered ex¬ 
cellent food for poultry. Bear in mind that a large 
portion of the carbon is consumed in warming the 
body, and should the ration be three to one, it will be 
more appropriate, but two to one is recommended, as 
the spring and summer are really the laying seasons, 
at which period the hens secure a large proportion of 
insect food. 
No one can feed a flock the exact proportions, as no 
two hens are alike, and do not eat the same amount 
to-day that they may to-morrow. One may weigh the 
food for a cow, but if he weigh it for the herd, and 
keep no record of each cow, his labor is lost. There¬ 
fore, to weigh the food for a flock, gives no indication 
for each hen. The laying hen requires more food than 
the non-layer. About four ounces of food is considered 
an allowance for one hen per day, but some hens will 
eat eight ounces. To feed hens by rule is impossible, 
owing to the flock containing so many different in¬ 
dividuals, hence it is customary to depend on a variety 
—lean meat, clover, grain, vegetables and linseed or 
cotton-seed meal, being provided. A ration of one 
pound of lean beef, four ounces of cotton-seed meal, 
and one pound of wheat, is a fairly balanced ration in 
winter for 10 hens, one day. In summer, the ration 
should be reduced to one-fourth if the fowls are on a 
range. For dietary purposes, the cotton-seed meal 
should be replaced by linseed meal every other day, 
and twice or three times a week a pound of finely 
chopped, scalded clover hay should be substituted for 
the grain. With warm quarters, and the hens kept 
busily at work, they should lay on the ration sug¬ 
gested above. p. h. Jacobs. 
Description of Various Potatoes. 
F. H. R., Wyoming, N. Y .—Does The R. N.-Y. know 
anything about the Home Comfort potato, where it 
originated, how it yields, etc. ? Also about the Char¬ 
ter Oak ? Will it describe the Carman No. 1 ? Is it 
a longer potato than the No. 2 ? What color is the 
vine stalk and the leaves ? Do the potatoes grow hol¬ 
low, and how many tubers, on an average, set per 
vine ? Do they grow compact in the hill or scattering ? 
Ans. —Charter Oak was introduced by B. K. Bliss & 
Sons, in 1884. In 1886, we tried it in our rich garden 
soil, and the yield was, one lot, at the rate of 816.75 
bushels to the acre ; the other 786.50. It is of the 
Peachblow class, roundish, often russeted, buff skin, 
eyes often pink ; flesh slightly yellow, dry and of ex¬ 
cellent quality. Home Comfort was tried by The R. 
N.-Y. during the season of 1884. It was sent to us by 
W. E. Weld, Ingleside, N. Y. It yielded during that 
favorable season, at the rate of 968 bushels to the 
acre. It is a late intermediate. The skin is pink, the 
shape long, tapering at each end. The eyes are a 
trifle deep, making the potato hilly. The Carman 
No. 1 may be a trifle longer than the No. 2, but only 
a trifle. The vines and foliage are a medium green. 
It is a rank grower. Whether a potato grows hollow 
or not, depends, as we believe, upon season, quickness 
of growth and size. The No. 1 is inclined to grow to 
a large size. This is easily remedied by plant¬ 
ing closer together. With us, the tubers grew close 
to the stalks ; others have said that they “ straggle.” 
The number of tubers to the hill depends upon climate, 
soil and cultivation. 
Will “Potato Scab” Spread? 
E. B. C., Chaffee, N. Y .—Will scabby seed potatoes 
produce scabby potatoes, or are they as good for seed 
as smooth ones ? 
Ans. —Most of the blemishes or scars on potatoes 
(called scab) are due to a skin disease which is “catch¬ 
ing ”—that is, if the conditions in the soil be favor¬ 
able, this disease will spread from one potato to an¬ 
other, much as “scab” in sheep would spread. Other 
blemishes are said to be caused by a very small insect. 
Naturally, therefore, it is not safe to plant scabby 
seed if you wish clean potatoes. Your seed potatoes 
are not likely to spread the disease if you soak them 
in the solution of corrosive sublimate—so often de¬ 
scribed in The R. N.-Y. Before potato planting time, 
we shall give the details of this process again. 
Soaking Potatoes in Ammonia. 
J. M., Intercourse, Pa .—Will soaking potatoes in am¬ 
monia, make the sprouts stronger and make larger 
stalks ? 
Ans. —No, it will not. That statement went through 
the papers some years ago as the result of some 
great Frenchman’s experiment. As well expect a 
baby to have larger legs as a result of soaking it in 
beef tea. 
Why are Western Potatoes “ Big " ? 
B. B., Farmingdale, III. —Why is it that potatoes 
grow larger west of the Rocky Mountains than in the 
East ? Is it not possible that nitrogen, potash, phos¬ 
phoric acid and water are not all that the potato re¬ 
quires ? Surely the difference cannot be in the 
mechanical condition of the soil. Would the low 
night temperature of the Pacific States influence their 
growth ? 
Ans. —The extremely large size to which potatoes 
sometimes grow in the West, is due to several causes. 
Potatoes thrive best in cool climates and in loose, 
loamy, rich, moist soils. Irrigation, properly prac¬ 
ticed, furnishes the desired mechanical conditions, 
and in rich soils, brings into proper solution and con¬ 
sequent availability, quantities of plant food which 
the potato, being a grass feeder, fastens on to, and ex¬ 
pands itself accordingly. All irrigated potatoes are 
not seven pounders. Many fields are drenched with 
water, others are dried up. The profits are the same 
