, I>r* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
I 167 
A Railroad Man on the Track of Hens 
I read an article by Moorge A. Cosgrove mi making 
a living l>.v Uf*«»ping liens. I am interested in poll Itry. 
and would like In Know liow he started his business, if 
he bought ehiek.s or halehed his mvn, and what kind of 
poultry-houses he used, I own a little place of 11 
acres, and have a line place tor hens and close to ex¬ 
press office. 1 have worked for railroad company as 
agent at this place for 10 years, with less than two 
weeks' vacation in the whole l«» years. la fuel. I 
worked within two weeks of eight years without miss¬ 
ing it titty, Sundays included, ami I thought when I 
read this article it’ 1 could do as well 1 would try it. its 
l tint getting tired of railroad work. I have long hours 
’lucre, its 1 tint not off duty until N:3o p. m. I think I 
could gradually work into the lieu business and hold 
this job until I fouml out how I was coming out, I 
think the Spring the best time to start. I have always 
had a few hens for my own use. and like the Marred 
Rocks or Rhode Island Reds. ismi.uoad man. 
or hay. instead of letting it go to grain. The Alsike 
will not feetl Itself. We should use .".On lbs. or more 
per acre of :t good fertilizer. Seed rye now anil it 
will la 1 large enough to plow tinder for fertilizing 
strawberries. You can ltd it grow at least 1! ft. 
before plowing under. 
M V start in tin 1 poultry business began with 17 
hens, bought, with the farm. They were it 
mixed lot of half a dozen breeds, hut very good 
layers. The farm was bought in September, and 
though some of the liens were molting, others were 
laying. There never was a day in the whole Whiter 
Unit no eggs were laid, though there were two or 
three days when only one egg was laid. Mat that 
one egg saved the record, and that record held good 
for the next 20 years. 
IHiring that time I kept about till of the ulilitv 
breeds, trying out one kind after another, and dis¬ 
carding them for various reasons, finally settling on 
White Wyandottes as best for both table ami egg 
producing. As Winter layers the Whitt* Wyamlotles 
:i■ Stores egg-laying contests have far excelled all 
other breeds. Calling 
the average Winter lay¬ 
ing of all the breeds in 
this contest as 100. the 
Wyandotte grade as 
134, the next highest 
breed grading 10*1, aiul 
running down to O'! for 
I.eghoim This is for 
tin* first four Winter 
months only, but a* 
everyone knows, that is 
when eggs are worth 
three to four times the 
Ku miner price. 1 al¬ 
ways raised my own 
chicks; never bought a 
“day-old” chick in my 
life. So I always knew 
what they were bred 
from. 
Tin* idea was current 
in those days that small 
flocks did much better 
titan large ones, so I 
devised it “take-down” 
poultry-house 10 ft. 
square on the ground, 
housing comfortably 23 Q 
to 30 birds. Each side. 
back, front and root were separate parts, hooked 
together across the corners inside. These coops 
could be taken apart and loaded on a wagon ami set 
iii> again in five minutes. There were no “sills" or 
“plates” to them. It would make this article too 
long to describe here how they were made, but if 
readers are Interested I will stole how in a subse¬ 
quent article, with a picture of a row of these houses. 
“Railroad Man" will be wise to Increase bis Hock 
slowly and learn the business as he goes along. The 
worst feature about buying stock from outside is 
the danger of disease or unhealthy birds. When 
you raise your own from healthy stock you avoid 
Mint. This is the point where most amateurs break 
down. Sick hens are unprofitable, while the great 
majority of hens of flu* utility breeds will pay a 
profit, if well. okokqk a, comokovk. 
Rye and Alsike Clover 
I have a lull field of two or three acres which now 
contains weeds, briers, etc- 1 wish to convert this into 
a patch of Alsike to furnish nectar for our bees and t" 
litter mow for httv. Whitt would he the best way t<> 
get a good stand? Should the ground he fed up, or 
will the Alsike fertilize itself? The ground has not 
been farmed for several years. I think buckwheat was 
the last crop grown. If I plant or sow rye for a green 
crop to plow under in the Spring as a sod builder, will 
i; he largo enough to do much good hy the time of the 
Spring planting of strawberries? J. i.. w. 
Pennsylvania. 
W E should plow tin* ground ;tl once and put on 
a ton of ground limestone to tin* acre. Har¬ 
row It in well anti lit the land as well as possible. 
Then seed one bushel of rye and 7 lbs. of Alsike 
seed per acre. My seeding the Alsike Ibis Fall you 
will get an earlier start ami a better growth than 
by seeding next Spring. As the Alsike is chiefly tie 
si ml. we should cut the rye early for green fodder 
Handling Soy Bean Hay 
M ANY of our readers art* trying Soy beans and 
Sudan grass for tin* first time this year, and 
now that the crop is nearly done growing some of 
them arc at a loss just how to handle the vines 
properly for hay. The Sudan grass is generally 
handled about the same as millet, which means cut¬ 
ting it. if possible, on a bright, clear day. leaving it 
ft a a day or so to wilt on tin* ground, and then cur 
ing it in good-sized haycocks. In this way we gen¬ 
erally get a fair quality. The Soy beans are harder 
to cut and require some experience to handle them 
just right. Prof, (Jeorge M. Mriggs of tin* Wisconsin 
College of Agriculture lias had long experience in 
this work, and he sends ns the notes below about 
handling these bean vines. 
Mriefly stated, the vines should be cut with a 
mower if possible, after tin* dew is off. Ii is best 
to use ;i side attachment on the mower if possible. 
Prof. Mriggs says that water does not seem to bother 
tin* vines in curing as much as it does clover. After 
the* vines have stayed in the swath for a short time 
it is better to put them in small bunches, turning 
these hunches over from lime to time to let the air 
w 
nulhiy New Yorl; State Wools. In ferine of Wnet hoitxe 
thoroughly through litem, and if the weather is bad 
it wiR take some little time to curt* tin* vine-! thor¬ 
oughly. As suggested before, if the weather con¬ 
tinues bad it is belter to stack the vines and run 
layers of bay or straw through the stack, and list* 
*t little salt over tin* vines. We know front exper¬ 
ience that the first sight of Soy bean hay is not 
attractive, ami most people will wonder what it is 
good for. The hay often looks like a collection of 
dry sticks or the brush which most New England 
boys remember was used for kindling the tire. When 
the cattle get at these dried vines, however, they 
will quickly show their value as fodder. 
There is no special knack, only it is important to cut 
tit time of good weather, and d<> not wait too long. \Ve 
cured out* Soy beans the same as we would clover this 
year, cutting with mower, leaving two days in swath, 
iunl then with liny-rake putting in windrow s and trick¬ 
ing in medium-sized cocks. Had we a aide-delivery rake 
it would have been still better. After standing in cocks 
two days the hay was splendid, being quite Huffy, how¬ 
ever. a ml a little deceptive when weighed. If rainy 
weather should overtake a farmer in curing hi.- beaus, 
it is true ibey tire hard carers, but in stacking, if some 
stilt and layers of other bays will be used, no hay will 
be Wasted. Some farmers in small fields use a scythe, 
others use an old-fntdiioned reaper, but regardless of 
tool used methods for caring Soy beans are about the 
same as in i tiring clovers in Fall, ottOlitiK u. mtit.tiS. 
Tank to Hold Fuel Oil 
1 am figuring on a plan to beat my orehard. If I 
can raise the temperature two or three degrees, aided 
by smoke. 1 believe it wilt pay me. 1 can get a large 
amount of oil that hits been taken from autos brought 
in for repairs, and am in a position to get a large 
number of used gallon fruit cans. 1 filled one of these 
cans ubout full of oil, made a w ick of waste, and lighted 
stunt*. It burned for six hours, with consider.*!hie smoke 
amt heal. 1 want to know how to build a cistern hold¬ 
ing 30 barrels. This oil is said to contain sorue gnso 
line, ami that <l common brick cistern would not hold 
it. 1 have read of cisterns for oil, but never saw any 
specifications for same, and am in a hurry to build same. 
Ohio. ii.. i. a. 
I T might work very well for the purpose for which 
II. J. Ii. proposes to use it—that of heating his 
orchard—but as lie will have to keep this for long 
periods of time I doubt if anything but an iron tank 
that is good and tight will be satisfactory, unless he 
wants to lose the value of his gasoline and a good 
part of tin* kerosene, of course a cement cistern 
would hold this oil. lie must use a rich surfacing 
coat. There is a cement hardener which can be used 
i:t the cement and makes it impervious to acids, 
alkalies or oils. I think, however, that your cor¬ 
respondent, if he has not already done so, should 
make a test and see whether this oil will burn in 
the heaters. It may be possible that he will have 
ilillieitlty in lighting it and keeping it burning. The 
nature of cylinder oil is to make it as highly non- 
burning as possible. r. o. p. 
I can sci* no reason, myself, why a concrete cis¬ 
tern. if carefully made, could not he utilized for this 
purpose. There arc some records of concrete disin¬ 
tegrating under Hit* action of oil, but ns far as I 
am abb* to learn they were largely eases where the 
concrete was in contact with animal or vegetable 
oils and greases rather than the mineral oils. 
A mixture of one part cement, two parts clean, 
well-graded sand and three parts stone ranging In 
size front 'i to 1 in. in size should make a tight, 
wall if properly laid, so that stone pockets, shrink¬ 
age. cracks, ele.. a it* 
avoided. The walls 
should be from t! to 10 
in. in thickness, depend¬ 
ing upon the shape of 
the tank, and should la* 
reinforced with woven 
wire or small steel roils. 
As soon as the Inside 
forms can be removed 
tin* cistern should be 
given a brush coating 
of cement and water 
mixed to about the con¬ 
sistency of thick cream 
further to seal the 
pores. 
It would seem to me, 
however, that a tank 
for this purpose could 
be made more cheaply 
from galvanized iron. 
A tank of 30-barrel 
capacity would hold, 
roughly, 100 cubic feet., 
or would be 4 ft. deep. 
5 ft. wide and 8 ft. 
long. The shell for the 
tank is made from 2-in. 
plank, properly stayed 
in the center and at tin* ends to resist, spreading. 
The galvanized iron lining is simply nailed inside 
this shell with common threepenny shingle nails, 
lbe edges of the sheets overlapping. When the nail¬ 
ing is completed the seams are cleaned anil soldered, 
making a tight job. As the oil contained would have 
considerable weight, the tank must lie supported so 
that it will not be distorted by the pressure, and so 
cause leaking. Heeause of the nature of the mate¬ 
rial stored there would be no danger from rusting, 
ami it would seem to me that this would be a better 
tank for the purpose than one made from concrete. 
u. ir. s. 
Growing Dill Pickles 
T ill! previous season the field was planted t<> 
potatoes, 2.000 lbs. 4—S—4 fertilizer applied 
per acre in the drill. After the crop was harvested 
two bushels of rye was sown broadcast to the acre 
and disked under, the ground not being previously 
plowed. This was on September 27. and made a 
rapid growth during the Fall. 
Early in May. 11*22, tin* same was plowed under, 
using a chain attached to plow to drag rye under 
the furrow, then harrowed twice with spike-tooth 
harrow with tooth set very slanting so as not to 
drag any of the rye to the surface-. Then we sowed 
two hags of seed oats pci* acre and harrowed in. 
going over the field both ways. 
About May 15 we spread broadcast about 25 
bushels of wood ashes and poultry manure mixed, 
and dining tin* second week in June plowed under 
a ver\ luxuriant growth of oats, using chain at¬ 
tached to plow as for rye. then harrowed over every 
few days till the ifith. when the ground was marked 
