1472 
November  25,  1916. 
HOPE  FARM  NOTES 
Those  College  Hens — My  Red  hens 
finished  their  college  coai-  mri  got  Home 
curly  in  iNovember.  An  jut  with  chem 
came  the  record,  such  as  zhe  boys  and 
•girls  bring  ouch.  This  is  the  way  it 
finally  came  out; 
Pocahontas . . 
Pose  . . .  I'il 
Polly  .  234 
Betty .  1*25 
Betty  M .  209 
Hope  Farm  Beauty .  118 
Scarlet  Runner .  121 
Bergen  Co.  Belle .  130 
Mary  Jane .  87 
Bronze  Girl  .  141 
After  looking  it  over  I  concluded  that 
college  education  bad  at  least  been  a  suc¬ 
cess  in  proving  that  Poeohontas,  Betty, 
Hope  Farm  Beauty,  Scarlet  Runner, 
Mary  Jane  and  Bergen  Co.  Belle  are 
failures.  So  they  will  promptly  round  up 
their  career  in  the  frying-pan.  My  con¬ 
viction  is  that  75  per  cent,  of  the  hens 
we  might  find  in  a  day’s  journey  fail  to 
lay  10  dozen  eggs  per  year.  Yet  what  is 
the  use  in  breeding  from  such  birds  after 
you  find  them  out?  They  and  their  de¬ 
scendants  are  kept  through  ignorauee — 
we  do  not  know  their  record.  When  we 
do  know  it  we  are  ignorant  ourselves  if 
we  keep  them  going.  For  what  is  edu¬ 
cation  anyway  if  not  the  power  to  cast 
out  the  evil  spirit  and  the  evil  shirker  in 
our  midst?  So  these  failures  will  go  into 
the  only  success  of  which  they  are  capa¬ 
ble — the  frying-pan,  or  chicken  pie. 
Blue  Rirbons.  -The  contest  managers 
send  me  two  fine  blue  ribbons  in  honor 
of  Polly  and  Betty  M'.  Now,  of  course  I 
know  that  plenty  of  breeders  will  start 
up  and  say  they  have  entire  flocks  which 
make  a  flock  record  which  will  make 
Tolly  (with  her  234  eggs)  look  like  a 
piker.  Polly  doesn’t  care  how  she  looks 
— she  is  a  layer— not  a  looker.  If  these 
gentlemen  (or  ladies)  with  the  wonderful 
hens  will  get  out  into  the  sunshine  of  an 
egg-laying  contest  we  will  listen  to  their 
hen’s  talk- — we  do  not  care  much  for  the 
human  cackles  and  crows.  We  shall  give 
Tolly  a  chance  to  make  a  name  for  her¬ 
self  in  Red  history  somewhat  like  old 
“Coomassie”  in  Jersey  cattle  annals.  I 
am  after  the  best  utility  Red  cockerel  I 
can  find.  By  that  I  mean  a  bird  of  good 
color  and  type  -the  son  of  a  hen  of 
known  egg-laying  ability.  We  iutend  to 
mate  him  with  Polly,  keeping  them  by 
themselves  with  good  care.  Then  we  in¬ 
tend  to  use  every  egg  Polly  lays  for  incu¬ 
bation.  and  raise  as  many  chicks  as  possi¬ 
ble  from  her.  Another  year  I  want  to 
enter  10  of  these  pullets  in  the  egg-laying 
contest.  I  expect  to  mate  Rose  and 
Bronze  Girl  to  one  ot  our  best  cockerels. 
While  their  egg  records  are  not  high,  they 
are  good  individual  specimens,  and  they 
were  late  in  starting  at  the  contest. 
Another  Pen.  -This  year  we  entered 
a  pen  of  Reds  at  the  Vineland,  N.  J.,  con¬ 
test.  Mrs.  Merrick,  who  bred  Betty  M., 
wanted  that  blue  ribboner  as  foundation 
for  a  strain  of  Reds,  so  I  exchanged  for 
three  pullets  closely  related  to  Betty  M. 
These  went  to  Vineland,  and  one  of  them 
started  right  in  the  first  week  with  six 
eggs.  Then  I  have  three  half  sisters  or 
nieces  of  Polly — one  of  them  laying  three 
the  first  week..  When  it  came  to  com¬ 
pleting  the  pen  1  hardly  knew  what  to 
rlo.  We  had  two  grades  of  pullets.  The 
larger  ones  were  not  as  good  breeding  as 
the  smaller-sized  birds.  The  latter  I 
knew  were  from  “Redman”  and  the  old 
contest  pen  with  a  couple  of  those  hand¬ 
some  drones  cut  out  These  pullets  were 
email  and  undeveloped,  hut  I  finally  took 
them  on  the  strength  of  their  breeding. 
They  will  be  slow  to  start,  but  when  they 
do  go  I  think  blood  will  tell,  and  that 
they  will  justify  my  choice.  The  first 
week  of  the  contest  our  Reds  laid  12 
eggs.  Last  year  we  did  not  furnish*  an 
egg  for  three  weeks ! 
The  “Unknowns.” — At  the  Connect¬ 
icut  contest  we  have  a  pen  of  White  Leg¬ 
horns  which  are  to  be  called  the  “un¬ 
knowns,”  You  might  compare  them  to 
the  various  “masked  marvels”  who  go 
around  meeting  all  comers.  Our  birds 
have  yet  to  show  that  they  are  “marvels,” 
but  they  are  masked.  I  thought  I  would 
try  to  pick  up  a  pen  of  Leghorns  abso¬ 
lutely  “made  in  America” — with  no  blood 
S />»  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
KEROSENE 
_  OIL  ' 
STANDARD  DllCdSH.Y. 
>////#! 
Poultry  Progress. — In  former  con¬ 
tests  very  few  eggs  were  laid  during  the 
first  week.  This  year  at  all  the  contests 
the  great  majority  of  the  pens  started 
from  the  first  day.  At  Vineland  one  peu 
laid  44  eggs,  with  every  hen  laying.  This, 
to  my  mind,  shows  two  things :  The  con¬ 
tests  have  taught  people  how  to  train 
and  Keep  their  birds  up  to  the  minute. 
That  means  better  care  and  skill  in  hand¬ 
ling  pullets  for  egg  production.  The 
breeders  find  that  it  was  necessary  to 
train  and  feed  these  pullets  for  an  early 
start  Now  they  know  more  about  doing 
the  same  thing  to  fit  a  hen  for  laying 
high-priced  eggs.  Then  again,  wo  have 
now  had  several  years  of  careful  public 
trap-nesting.  This  has  given  a  chance  to 
breed  from  well-selected  sons  and  daugh¬ 
ters  of  trap-nest  performers.  These 
daughters  are  now  appearing  at  the  con¬ 
tests,  and  their  records  begin  to  prove 
that  the  egg-laying  habit  is  inherited.  I 
think  this  is  going  on  until  we  shall  have 
strains  or  families  of  hens  with  the  egg- 
laying  habit  bred  into  them  just  as  the 
butter-producing  habit  is  firmly  bred  into 
certain  families  of  Jersey  cows.  Take  our 
two  hens  Polly  and  Betty  M.  We  have 
now  had  three  generations  of  these 
strains  at  egg-laying  contests.  Two  have 
excelled,  while  the  third  starts  off  in  the 
same  way.  In  starting  out  with  Polly  to 
establish  such  an  egg-laying  family  I  am 
up  against  a  problem.  Shall  I  take  a 
cockerel  out  of  much  the  same  strain — 
though  not  closely  related ;  shall  I  take 
a  full  brother  of  Polly  or  shall  I  go  out¬ 
side  and  get  an  entirely  unrelated  bird 
with  a  good  mother?  Personally  I  feel 
inclined  to  follow  the  first  plan.  At  any 
rate  I  am  sure  these  egg-laying  contests 
have  proved  of  immense  value  to  the  poul¬ 
try  industry  by  showing  what  a  profita¬ 
ble  hen  ought  to  do  and  also  how  to  train 
and  brepd  her.  JI.  W.  C. 
The  Sullivan  Law 
Will  you  kindly  print  a  resume  of  the 
Sullivan  “concealed  weapon”  law?  What 
penalty  is  attached  to  having  revolvers  or 
other  firearms  in  possession,  i.  e.,  in 
owner’s  house?  TIow  much  arc  licenses? 
Has  a  farmer  the  right  to  shoot  on  his 
own  premises  in  their  seasons  obnoxious 
animals,  such  as  skunks,  owls,  etc.,  with¬ 
out  a  gunner’s  license?  L.  H.  W. 
Mt.  Morris,  N.  Y. 
1.  The  so-called  Sullivan  concealed 
weapons  law  is  contained  in  Section  1897 
of  the  New  York  renal  Law.  It  is  a  mis¬ 
demeanor  to  have  possession  of  a  re¬ 
volver  or  other  firearm  of  a  size  which 
may  he  concealed  upon  a  person  without 
a  written  license  therefor.  If  the  offender 
has  been  previously  convicted  of  any 
crime,  it  is  a  felony ;  if  under  the  age  of 
10  years,  the  offender  is  guilty  of  juvenile 
delinquency.  Any  magistrate  (which  for 
most  inquii-ers  is  a  justice  of  the  peace), 
must  issue  to  a  householder,  who  is  a 
citizen,  a  license  to  have  such  a  weapon 
in  his  house.  If,  in  addition,  proof  is 
made  that  a  proper  cause  exists  for  car¬ 
rying  the  weapon  elsewhere,  the  license 
may  give  that  privilege.  The  usnal  cost 
of  such  license  is  25  cents  and  most  jus¬ 
tices  of  the  peace  are  supplied  with  the 
blank  forms.  If  affidavits  are  needed,  the 
justice  is  entitled  to  additional  fees. 
2.  A  farmer  has  the  right  to  hunt,  kill 
or  trap  fur-benring  animals,  on  his  own 
premises,  in  their  seasons,  without  a 
hunting  license.  A  rather  full  summary 
of  the  game  law  is  contained  in  the  issue 
of  The  R.  N.-Y.  for  October  28,  1910.  A 
little  booklet  containing  the  complete 
laws  and  hunting  regulations  can  be  ob¬ 
tained  from  any  Assemblyman,  or  by 
writing  to  the  Conservation  Commission, 
Albany.  N.  Y. 
Hosiery  Made  to  Stand  Everyday  Wear 
You  find  it  hard  to  get  hosiery  that  will  stand  the  house¬ 
wife’s  everyday  wear.  The  heels,  soles  and  toes  wear  full  of 
holes;  it  ravels  quickly  and  loses  its 
shape  after  the  first  washing.  Here’s 
the  solution  for  the  problem — buy 
DURABLE 
DURHAM  HOSIERY 
FOR  MEN,  WOMEN  AN QjCH I LDREN. 
Made  strongest  where  the  wear  is  hardest. 
Look  at  these  stockings.  Notice  the  deep 
elastic  rib  top  that  is  garter-pull-proof  ana 
ravel-proof.  Like  all  Durable  Durham  Hosiery 
the  heels,  soles  and  toes  are  heavily  rein¬ 
forced.  Made  in  both  regular  and  wide  width. 
Durable  Durham  Hosiery  is  made  for 
everybody  in  the  family.  Price  10c,  15c  aad 
25c.  Every  pair  is  fully  guaranteed. 
Ask  your  dealer  to  show 
you  the  Durable  Durham 
25-cent  Mercerized  Hosiery 
DURHAM  HOSIERY  MILLS 
Durham,  N.  C. 
Many  doctors  recommend 
Tte  /Sayfr  Lamp 
for  reading-  and  work.  Its  clear,  soft 
light  is  steady  and  easy  on  the  eyes, 
saving  eye-strain.  Easily  lighted, 
without  removing  globe  or  chimney. 
For  best  results  use  Socony  Kerosene 
STANDARD  OIL  COMPANY  §f  N.  Y. 
56  New  Street,  New  York 
7! 
When  you  write  advertisers  mention  The  R.  N.-Y.  and  you’ll  get 
quick  reply  and  a  “ square 
of  any  other  foreign  strain  or  breed. 
These  birds  are  American  Leghorns  of 
good  type.  They  come  from  flocks  where 
the  hens  lay  big,  chalk-white  eggs  with  no 
tint  or  taint.  The  blooo  ot  ;h*  no*-  1 
American  strains  is  ceorcsentco  in  :nis 
nen.  1  doubt  it  vou  can  tinu  rairer  rep¬ 
resentatives  ot  what  we  call  American 
Leghorns.  Only  a  tew  ot  ns  Know  whore 
they  came  irum,  ami  we  won’t  tell,  it  is 
a  straight,  clean  entry  ot  purebred  Amer¬ 
ican  birds — just  to  see  what  they  will  do. 
We  do  no  bluffing  or  betting  or  beating 
around  the  bush.  The  “unknowns”  are 
right  out  in  the  limelight- — keep  your  eye 
on  them !  They  laid  16  eggs  the  first 
week. 
