1895 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
855 
" HENS BY THE ACRE," ONCE MORE. 
Part II. 
[EDITORIAL correspondence.] 
W II A T T II K HOUSES ARK LIKE. 
Some Facts About the Birds. 
After mixing and warming up the mess described 
last week, it is loaded on a wagon and driven around 
to the 35 houses. These houses are all alike. They 
are 10x12 feet on the floor, eight feet high in front, 
and five feet four inches in the rear. This gives space 
for 40 hens, allowing three square feet of floor space 
for each bird. The floor and roof are of matched 
spruce, and the siding of matched pine. The roof is 
covered with two-ply tarred roofing paper, and the 
sides lined with single-ply paper. The houses all face 
to the east, with door, window and small hen door on 
that side. Each house is raised from the ground on a 
foundation wall of loose stones, which gives perfect 
drainage. 
The inside fixtures are very simple. Two roosts 
run the whole length of the house at the back, three 
feet nine inches from the floor, with a hinged manure 
shelf just under them. Mr. Mapes says that when he 
builds again, he will make this roost lower. A cov¬ 
ered feeding trough stands on the floor in front of the 
roosts. A bin at one side contains corn. Two boxes 
furnish nests; another box for a dust bath, and the 
electric hopper spoken of last week, are fastened to 
the wall. The whole thing is very simple, and gives 
the hens the greatest amount of space possible in a 
house of 
that size. 
The floor is 
covered with 
planing-mill 
shavings. 
Mr. Mapes 
formerly 
used buck¬ 
wheat hulls, 
but finds the 
shavings 
cheaperand, 
so far as he 
can see, just 
as good. The 
houses are 
well venti¬ 
lated. Pure 
air is wanted 
here. The 
windows 
slide from 
side to side 
so that, 
when open, 
there is a 
crack up and 
down almost 
the entire 
height of 
the front. 
Except in 
the very 
coldest 
weather, 
this window' 
is kept open a little day and night. Mr. Mapes likes 
this better than special ventilators or windows that 
drop or raise, and thus give all the open space at the 
top or bottom. 
Inside these little houses, the hens will stay all 
winter. On the warmest days, they will be let out, 
but for the most part they will be constantly boused. 
No special attention has been paid to breeding yet, 
though a start with improved stock has been made. 
The Brown Leghorns predominate, but White Leg¬ 
horns and Black and White Minorcas are being tried. 
Divided as the hens are into 35 flocks, it will be easy 
to see which breed pays best. There are several pens 
of mixed hens, with more or less Brahma and Ply¬ 
mouth Rock blood. These birds do not lay as many 
eggs as the Leghorns, but they do lay at a time when 
the others are loafing. It may be necessary, there¬ 
fore, to keep half a dozen different breeds in order to 
get a perfect rotation of eggs. 
At the time of my visit, the early pullets were just 
beginning to lay, and the old hens were getting in 
trim after their moult. Mr. Mapes has been studying 
this matter of moulting with great interest. Written 
on the walls of each house, are dates showing when 
the first hens completed their moult—went under 
“ bare poles.” The object is to see how long they are 
in recovering, and how many days they pass before 
they lay their first eggs. 
Can we shorten the moulting period by using certain combina¬ 
tions of foods ? 
What breeds moult quickest? 
Is there any drug that will induce an earlier moult ? 
Do individual hens recover quicker than the rest of the flock, 
and-go any of them lay during tlje moulting period ? 
If they do, will it be of any advantage to select them for breed¬ 
ing stock ? 
These are a few of the things that Mr. Mapes is 
considering. Any one can see that they are of in¬ 
terest and value to him, and it is only by close 
observation and study that he can ever find out what 
he wants to know. There is as much chance to make 
observation and study count, in the hen business, as 
in any other. While most farmers would have used 
the hen manure for growing crops, Mr. Mapes found 
a tanner who will pay cash for it—cash enough to 
enable him to buy twice its value in other forms of 
manure. 
The study of a flock of hens just recovering from 
their moult, is very interesting. Whether this process 
is harder on the lazy and heavily feathered Asiatics 
than on the light and nervous Leghorns, is a problem. 
Should a hen, during her moult, be fed more meat or 
other animal food ? She seems to crave it, but why ? 
Again, why should this process be so exhausting to 
the hen ? When a cow sheds her coat, she does not 
shrink much in her yield, if well fed. This whole 
matter is one of great interest. If there is anything 
that will force the hens to early winter laying, we 
want to know what it is, because at that season of 
the year, eggs are highest in price. A hen’s comb is 
a pretty good egg thermometer. Notice how, as she 
gets over her moult, the comb gets larger and redder. 
There were two Red Caps in one house with little 
pinched-up light-colored combs that, in a few weeks, 
will be swelled out as large as your fist, and blood 
red in color. I don’t want to say anything more 
about these birds until Mr. Mapes has told us how he 
killed off the roup. It is an interesting business all 
through, and ahead of any poultry experiment station 
we have in the country. H. w. c. 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS IN JANUARY. 
" From the standpoint of the practical florist, what 
work is advisable for January ?” I asked Mr. Voll, a 
florist, lately : 
“ In the dead of winter, there is not much to be 
done. The chrysanthemum season is just closed, and 
it might be well to select stock for next year while 
the beauty of each variety is still in mind, as by spring 
they may be forgotten. I would advise buying what 
florists call ‘stock plants that is, plants which have 
bloomed, but are still in the pots. Put these plants 
in an ordinarily warm cellar now, where they will 
not freeze and where it is not too warm, and leave 
them there until about May 10. At that time you 
will find that they have already started to grow. 
Divide each of the new plants carefully from the par¬ 
ent stock, and plant them in the garden in any good 
soil ; a well-enriched clay soil is best, as it holds the 
moisture better than sandy soil. Should the season 
be dry, it might be well to mulch the plants some¬ 
what, as that would help hold the moisture. Leave 
them in the garden until, say, about August 15 ; then 
take them up and put them in five or six-inch pots, or 
if the plants are very large, larger ones. Of course 
the amateur must be guided by the size of the roots. 
“After taking them up, water them well and set 
them in a shaded situation for several days, being 
careful not to let them dry out too much in the mean¬ 
time. After several days, bring them to the sun¬ 
light, never letting them get so dry as to wither. 
Liquid fertilizer made of cow manure, is excellent ; 
it should be diluted until it is of about the color of 
good, strong tea. The rule with all stock plants of 
this class is to keep down all side shoots. They must 
be trained to one stalk only, and if large flowers are 
desired, must be kept down to the one terminal bud. 
“Of the varieties, the Mrs. J. G. Whilklin is the 
best early yellow. Mrs. E G. Hill is a light pink. 
G. W. Childs is later, but is the best red. The Queen 
is still queen of the white varieties. The Ivory is a 
valuable white variety somewhat dwarfed. Golden 
Wedding is a very pretty pot plant, but is not good as 
a cut flower. Vivian Morel is a pink of surpassing 
loveliness, and lasts well as a cut flower.” j. d. 
Ohio. 
GOOD ROADS MADE BY BAD MEN. 
WHAT SOUTHERN CONVICTS DO FOR HIGHWAYS. 
While in Georgia last summer, I had an opportunity 
of examining a road made by convicts. Half way 
out from Fort Valley to the Hale’s peach orchard, we 
came upon the “chain gang” at work. The first 
thing we saw was a white man sitting under a tree 
with a loaded rifle in his hands, while up the road at 
some distance sat another similarly armed. Between 
them worked a squad of 12 or 15 colored convicts. 
Each worfi 
a striped 
suit,and had 
an iron ball 
chained to 
his leg. 
While they 
worked, this 
ball and 
chain were 
fastened 
around the 
waist. Sev¬ 
eral were 
driving 
m ules and 
s c r a j) e r s , 
while others 
worked with 
pick and 
shovel. They 
were all 
hard at work 
and, appar¬ 
ently, good 
natured and 
happy. Later 
we saw 
where they 
spent the 
night. A 
large tent 
was pitched 
at the edge 
of a wood, 
with small, 
open fires 
burning near it. After their supper of corn bread 
and molasses, salt pork and fruit, the convicts crawled 
into the tent where they were chained together for the 
night. After an hour of singing and talking, they fell 
asleep and snored contentedly till daybreak, when 
they were crowded out for breakfast and another 
day on the road. 
It was said that all the roads in Houston County 
were made by convicts. There were no jails for 
petty offenders ; but as fast as convicted, they were 
sent out to the chain gang and put to work. At first 
thought, the sight of that armed guard and the 
stories of whippings that were told, made the whole 
thing seem like a relic of a barbarous age. Yet, I 
saw enough to convince me that those convicts were 
better off working on that road than they would 
have been cooped up in a hot jail, and subject to all 
the evils of idleness. I would be glad to see the fat 
and lazy inmates of our Northern jails out on the 
roads at work. If a drunkard, a thief, or a wife- 
beater, were made to understand that jailing meant 
hard and constant labor on the road, such people 
would think a good many times, before they dupli¬ 
cated the crime that forced them into such service. 
As to the character of the work done by these Geor¬ 
gia convicts, there can be no doubt of its value. I 
have never seen neater work done on a country road. 
They-went straight through a rough country, cutting 
through hills, and filling low places in a thoroughly 
workmanlike manner. The cost to the county was 
ridiculously small as compared with the usual sys¬ 
tem of contracting. At Fig. 280, is shown a picture 
of a road in North Carolina made chiefly by convict 
A MACADAMIZED ROAD IN NORTH CAROLINA, MADE LARGELY BY CONVICTS. Fig. 280. 
