474 
Jht RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
trol. With us the crows and foxes cause much 
havoc, and we are compelled to yard all breeders 
until the laying is over, but each afternoon after the 
hens have laid we open the yard doors and let. them 
out for the remainder of the day. At uight they are 
called to the yards and fed where they roost. A few 
lessons will teach them to come in and you won't 
have any trouble. Crows will attach themselves to 
your place if they see a turkey on it in Spring 1 , no 
matter where you live, and if you are not on guard 
they will get the best share of the eggs, and later 
the young turks. If we can reduce the crow popu¬ 
lation and keep down the lice we don’t have much 
trouble to bring up a family of nice fat turkeys for 
Thanksgi ving. 
REPELLING LICE.—Last year we tried a new 
remedy for lice—gasoline. It was applied with a 
feather very sparingly between the wing quills as 
often as we could discover even one louse. You must 
keep the lice off, or the turks will droop and die, and 
you call it blackhead, and let it go at that, when in 
reality it is only lice or mites—lice usually. Dust 
all sitting hens and turkeys with good fresh insect 
powder or sulphur. Don't grease young birds. At 
this time of the year don't forget to cut the toe nails 
of all gobblers, as if not done they may injure the 
hacks of the hens. A new flat file is flue for reduc¬ 
ing the nails and spurs, which must not be pared 
down close enough to bleed. 
FEEDING SUGGESTIONS.—Scald the feed pans 
—don't feed on the ground, nor give food that has 
stood in a pall, or any that has become the least 
sour. Water is best supplied in a two-gallon jar; 
this the birds cannot tip over, and if kept in the 
shade will answer the purpose well. Re sure to 
scald the jar often. Keep birds on new ground. 
Never coop poults long in any one location ; change 
often. Supply gravel and shell material; this is 
important, else the hens, if confined, may lay soft 
eggs. Don’t keep two toms running with the flock 
at the same time. They interfere with each other 
at uniting time, and may result in infertile eggs or 
injured females. Let out one at a time, and keep 
the other cooped away where they cannot fight. 
After the laying is over they can he allowed to run 
together. We raise most of our young turkeys with 
ihe toms; they make ideal nurses, and will always 
come hack at night with their broods. An old tom, 
who has raised one or more broods, is the very best 
“brooder” in the world. He boats the turkey mother, 
Ihe hen and the kerosene lamp. There is a marked 
increase in the number of people who will try to 
raise these good birds the coming Spring. Nearly 
all the available breeding stock has been picked up, 
and they bring a very good price. 
Warren Co., N. Y. willett ra.ndall. 
A “Rock” Man Has His Say So 
N OW that so many of the White Leghorn men 
have had their say and their opportunity to 
advance the good points of their favorite fowl, 1 
should like to tell a little of my experience raising 
tin; White Leghorns and the Barred Plymouth Rocks. 
As we are all keepiug chickens for the money there 
is in the business, the question of which is the more 
profitable bx-eed ay keep is the first one to be con¬ 
sidered. And right here is where your marketing 
facilities will have to he reckoned with. If you 
locate your poultry plant on cheap land far away 
from a big city, and intend to ship eggs by the crate, 
then you will no doubt do very well with a bunch 
of Leghorns, but if, like ourselves, you locate near 
a small town or village, and intend to work up a 
house-to-liouse trade in both eggs and market fowls, 
then, I say, choose the Rock or the Red or any other 
of the standard breeds that carry something on their 
bones besides skin and feathers. 
I like the Leghorn because their eggs are easy to 
hatch, the chicks are easy to raise, and the flock is 
easy to cull. But I cannot say that the Leghorn is 
such a wonder at laying. This is our eighth year 
raising Rocks and Leghorns (pure Barron strain) 
side by side, and in looking over our records (two 
last years all trap-nest) I find that the Rocks have 
made a better average six years out of seven. The 
highest producer lias been a Rock pullet every year. 
The Leghorns are without doubt the cheapest to 
feed, and on range in Summer pick up a better liv¬ 
ing from the fields than do the Rocks. 
But T like the Rocks best, because they are in¬ 
comparably the most profitable of the two breeds in 
our location and with our market. Just spread the 
word along in June that you have Barred Rock 
broilers for sale and people will come miles (one 
party came 40 miles) to buy them, and last Summer 
we were getting 75 cents per lb. for the Rock broil¬ 
ers, when people wouldn't deign a look at Leghorn 
broilers of the same age and practically same weight. 
“No, we like the gray ones best, please, no white 
ones,” was the comment we heard day after day. 
until the Rocks were all gone, and we had to be 
satisfied with 40 cents per lb. for "the crows,” as 
one party called them. 
It is all very well to say that when your Leghorns 
are through laying you can afford to chuck them in 
the manure pile, but can you? All the big Leghorn 
Wo recently printed the picture of a machine ice saw. 
G. Wj Easton of Depauville. N. Y., thinks that saw is 
“out of date,” and sends us the picture of a circular saw 
attached to a Ford. This saws a cut 14 in. deep and 
travels four miles an hour. 
plants that I have visited surely sell their birds 
when they are through, and most of them, as far as 
I can gather, sell to peddlers at a most ridiculously 
low price. When a Rock is through laying it is no 
unusual thing for us to sell it as soup chicken at 
from $1.75 to $2.50 each. You have to smile and be 
happy if someone offered you a dollar for a laid-out 
Leghorn. We do not force our birds in any way or 
manner, as we want a good bunch each year to breed 
Some yehrs ago this man has piled a big load of 
Lay in his wagon and hauled it to town with his 
horses—taking a day and more for the job. Now 
the bay is baled at home and the little truck whisks 
it to town in an hour. The bales are unloaded in 
one tenth of the time required to pitch the hay off 
the wagon. 
from, but I can see no reason why you cannot force 
a Rock or a Red just as well as a Leghorn. Surely 
they are every bit as good layers, and have as much 
vitality as any other breed of chickens, and are not 
as susceptible to weather changes as the Leghorns. 
April 3, 3 922 
All in all, I am satisfied that with the Leghorn you 
can earn a profit, but with the Barred Rock you can 
earn a greater profit. n. t. b. 
Smothering Out Quack Grass 
I have about an acre of quack grass which was 
plowed last Fall, and has remained in the rough state 
until now. I would like your advice as to the method 
of getting rid of this pest. Would it be possible to sow 
this to oats and pens this Spring, and harvest the .op 
when the oats are in milk and the peas ripe, then rk 
the ground frequently until the time to sow buckwheat? 
Would the quack grass choke the oats and peas and 
prevent me from getting a crop, or could you suggest 
some other method by which I would be able to get a 
crop of hay suitable for cows, at the same time prevent 
the quack grass from spreading? If in your opinion 
you think the oats and peas would be the proper crop, 
will you give the best method for sowing the same? 
Illinois. F. G. n. 
HE plan you outline will destroy most of the 
quack grass, but our experience is that it is 
impossible to smother it all in this way. We sir old 
work that ground thoroughly in early Spring with 
a spring-tooth harrow. That will rip out many of 
the roots, which should be raked and burned. Then 
seed ihidlii to oats and Canada peas. Cut this crop 
early and chop up the stubble with a disk or cut¬ 
away—or if more convenient, plow the ground. 
Work again with the spring-tooth and seed thickly 
with buckwheat—adding about throe pecks of rye. 
Cut the buckwheat if you need it, or let it mat iown 
on the ground. The i - ye will grow up through it. 
If lliis plan is carried oxit most of the quack vL] be 
killed, but we have never been able to kill it .!! in 
this way. A crop like corn, kept clean with hoe and 
cultivator, the following season, will usually fixd sh it. 
What Does a Poultry-house Cost? 
D URING the past year three of the boys L rho 
class in agriculture, in the local high s -bool 
here built poultry-houses. Anyone intending to uild 
will he interested in the cost. 
House No. 1 is 15x20 ft., concrete flooi*, shed <>f. 
clapboarded on the outside, and fitted inside . a 
thoroughly up-to-date manner. The cost of i> ate- 
rials was $143.40. Allowing 4 square feet per bird 
rhis would mean $1.70 per bird. The total cost T«n* 
materials and labor was $243.40, or $3.08 per bird. 
House No. 2 is 00x20, dirt floor, two-thirds span 
roof, roofing paper on the outside, and thoroughly 
fitted inside. The cost per bird for material was 
$1.52. Total cost per bird, $1.90; total cost for the 
house. $589.60. 
House No. 3 is 10x18. The cost for materials was 
$80.42. or $1.92 per hen. The total cost per hen was 
$2.04. The total cost for the house was $118.90. 
Prof. Warren, in his “Farm Management,’ says that 
a house should not cost over $1 per bird. That, of 
course, was at pre-war figures. It seems quite evi¬ 
dent that the cost, at present figures, must be con- 
sidei’ably higher. h. l. cosline. 
New York. 
Strawberries on Sod 
Would it be a good plan to set a strawberry patch 
on old sod? I have two acres of sod that has not been 
broken for the past eight years, and would like t<> turn 
it into a strawberry patch in the Spring, The field has 
been used for a hog lot all this time, and is of a loamy 
nature. A. E. B. 
New Jersey. 
N general principles we would rather plant corn 
on this field, and take at least one year to 
clean it up. There are two objections to planting 
strawberries on an old sod. One is the white grub 
and the other the difficulty in keeping such a field 
clean of weeds and grass. Most old sods are filled 
with the white grub, and this is one of the worst 
enemies of the strawberry plant. They live in the 
ground, and it is almost impossible to find them. 
This last year we planted one-half acre of berries 
on such a sod. and the season was one constant fight 
at hand work against them. In your case, however, 
this field has been used as a hog lot, and the 
chances are that the hogs have cleaned out most 
of the white grubs. One of the best methods of 
killing out this pest is to turn a bunch of lively 
hogs into the field. The pigs are very fond of the 
grubs, and will hunt for them everywhere. We 
have known them to dig two feet into the ground 
after these insects. The chances are, therefore, that 
this pest has been largely removed from the field. 
The other objection of weeds and grass is a serious 
one, and unless you have ample help to do hand 
work on the berries, we would advise you to wait a 
year and clean up that sod with a corn "crop worked 
both ways and thoroughly hoed. If you do use this 
bog lot, you will probably find it rich in nitrogen, 
and we would advise you to use at least 500 lbs. of 
acid phosphate to the acre. 
