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a'he |JoaItrg-|)iTrii. 
FOOD FOR POULTRY. 
Never stint poultry in the variety or 
quality of iheir food. Good food is a posi¬ 
tive economy. The best, and heaviest corn 
is the cheapest. The best food is that which 
give; 1 the most of what nature demands for 
the formation of muscle, bone, and fat. Fine 
bran or middlings is richer in two of these 
important ingredients than any other one 
kind of food, but being deficient in gluten, 
is not warmth-giving, and is better when 
combined with tho whole grain, which, 
when mashed, forma a most wholesome and 
nutritious food. 
Barley is much used in Europe, but should 
never be the only food In the poultry-yard. 
Fowls do not fatten on it. 
Oats arc good as a change, but are inferior 
in nutriment. 
Buckwheat, is much liked by poultry, is 
greedily devoured, and is more productive 
of eggs early and in abundance than any 
other grain. 
Hemp seed is also productive of eggs ami 
is also very strengthening. The latter is one 
of the best tilings that can be fed during 
moulting. 
In preparing birds for exhibition, flaxseed 
may be given occasionally; it increases tho 
secretion of oil, and gives luster to their 
plumage. In giving soft feed it should he 
mixed stiff, i. c., not mushy ; fowls do not 
relish it in this state. A good food of this 
kind is composed of equal quantities of tine 
bran and Indian meal. This should bo mixed 
wit h hot or Molding water, of such consistency 
that it breaks or orwiribles when thrown on 
the ground. Another good soft feed is made 
of small potatoes, washed clear, boiled, and 
mashed with an equal quantity of Indian 
meal. 
In giving soft feed never use a feeding dish 
or trough. If tho yards are dean, as they 
should be, the ground is the best place to 
feed from. Tho gravel and sand swallowed 
with the food is necessary for digestion ; be¬ 
sides, poultry prefer to pick their food from 
the ground. 
Don’t neglect green food. Wo have spoken 
of it before in a former number, and only re¬ 
fer to it now to Impress more forcibly the 
necessity of it if you wish to succeed with 
your poultry; a little chopped vegetables of 
some kind, — whether cabbage, lettuce, 
spinach, onions, or other greens—is better 
given ewry day than a great deal once or 
twice a week. 
If you wish perfect eggs,lime in some form 
must be furnished. Broken bones, lime rub¬ 
bish, pounded shells (oyster or clam) are all 
good. 
Beef or pork scraps are productive of good 
results. In tho winter when the fowls do 
not get worms and grubs, a cake laid in the 
yard for them to pick at, or a little chopped 
off and broken up and fed to them, adds to 
their health and to the contents of the egg 
basket. So also an occasional dish of raw 
meat ehoppud into pieces about as large as 
hazel nuts. 
-—- 
GAPES IN CHICKENS. 
1 will give your readers throe years’ ex¬ 
perience raising chickens and keeping them 
from the gapes. Forty-six years ago, when 
I was a hoy, I wont to live with a gentleman 
at the foot of Cazenovia Lake, and had the 
care of fowIs. I had three paries, with plenty 
o\ room, a nioe poultry-house, and soon had 
sixty chicles, all doing well; but, to my 
astonishment, one morning tho oldest ones 
began to gape, and not knowing what was 
the matter I supposed they were choked; 
but T was told it was the gapes, and that the 
distemper was In the ground and buildings, 
and I must wail throe years for it to get out; 
but I was bound to raiso chickens, and 1 did 
for three years; but l lost tho most of my 
original sixty chicks. 
1 soon had more hens setting; and as soon 
as they hatched the chicks, I put, them in 
coops some forty rods or more from the 
park, and kept thorn thoro for throe weeks, 
and then put them in tho chicks’ park, and 
not one had tho gapes. Now I want some-1 
body to tell me what became of the ticks; 
jfor they were hatched in the same house and 
tlfe first wore treated in tho same way except 
the removal. N. H. Martin. 
—--- 
WHAT ONE FARMER WANTS. 
« 
X want to make an Inquiry. I keep twenty 
or thirty'* fowls of the common or barn-yard 
kind, fort the purpose of destroying the larvae 
of Insects, bJlgs, worms, grasshoppers, &c., 
in the orchards’ and fields adjacent to the 
bam. They range out. twenty-five or thirty 
rods from the barn. They pay well for their 
keep for this purpose ovOt'e; they are fed in 
winter, but not much, if my, in summer, 
unless shut up on account of tfytf sowing or 
ripening of some piece of grain the 
barn. They average about foitr dozen eggs 
each per annum. 
Now, the question is (and I ask for a large 
class of farmers who lack the ability or in¬ 
clination to go into the poultry business ex¬ 
tensively), is there a breed of fowls that arc 
as great workers as the common kind—that 
will keep our barn-yards and dung-heaps free 
from foul seeds in winter, and our orchards 
and fields free (or comparatively so) from 
injurious insects in summer, and then lay 
more eggs than the common fowl? There 
are breeds, I know, that will lay more eggs 
when well fed, housed, and cared for. But 
they won’t fill the bill, unless they will lay 
more eggs when obliged to hunt for them¬ 
selves; for they will not work when full fed. 
1 want a little light on the subject; I want 
to improve my fowls, or got an improved 
kind, if 1 am certain I can do so. What 
breed would you prescribe? I want first, 
good workers (I don’t mean scratchers); then, 
all the eggs and chickens possible. 
Reading in Rural of Jan. 2d, the article 
on “ Common m Improved Fowls,” has led 
to the above inquiry. I would like to see 
some articles on the leading varieties of 
fowls, their characteristics, and the purposes 
to which they arc adapted, their degrees of 
hardiness, and so on. e. j. b. 
Murray, Orleans Co., N. Y. 
-*-*..*- 
A POULTRY YARD. 
Mr. J. II. S., Williamsport, Pa., writes for 
advice concerning the poultry business. He 
proposes to start with five hundred fowls, 
has a piece of ground two hundred feet 
square, with a stream of water ruuning 
through it. 
We can give no better plan of building the 
houses than that given in No. 1 of present, 
volume of Rural. Let him put his house 
on one side of the yard, and run his fences 
across tho stream, and to the other side of his 
yard. His ground should be divided into 
not less than ten yards—allowing fifty fowls 
to a yard. His house room should be not 
less than ten feet square for each fifty 
fowls. And every particle of the dropping 
should be cleaned out daily. Or, instead 
of th e above, wo would suggest he lay out 
his yards somewhat on this plan : 
Jja .3 4 5j6|7la|9|lO| 
3 4 5 6 7 0 
8 S is supposed to be the stream, X X is 
a fence following the course of the stream 
across the lot, and leaving P P one large 
green park. The houses and yards are num¬ 
bered coriespondlngly. 
Each lot of fowls are to be given a run in 
tho grass lawn for one or two hours every 
day. Plenty of lime rubbish, shells and 
gravel must be always supplied. 
inrsttmm. 
BREEDING HORSES. 
Can Brecdinsr be Made to Pay. 
Bennington, in Turf, Field and Farm, 
discusses this question In the following man¬ 
ner ._ “ To ‘ make breeding pay,’ we must 
first decide what we wish to produce, and 
then to secure peculiar excellence, whether 
in speed, beauty, size, constitution or tem¬ 
per, both parents (and tlieir fhmiUcs, as far 
hack as possible,) should possess the desired 
trait. Where a defect occurs in one parent, 
it should bo counterbalanced by correspond¬ 
ing superiority in that particular point In the 
other; except in disparity of Bize, which 
can only be corrected very gradually in sev¬ 
eral successive generations. 
“ Thus, to breed racers and saddle horses, 
the thorough-bred sire and dam, of medium 
size, from fifteen to fifteen and a half hands, 
are necessary. Their natural gait and grey¬ 
hound like shape being adapted to the enn- 
ler and run, fast trotting thoroughbreds are 
very rare. 
“For the road and trotting horse, I think 
well of the cross between the half-bred mare 
and the trained trotting stallion, both of me¬ 
dium size, combining great power with mod¬ 
erate weight. In attempting the breeding of 
trotters from splendid mares, sixteen hands 
high and aver, I bought my experience, and 
failed in producing horses that would weigh 
1,200 pounds and trot in 2:40. 
“ To produce couch homes, l like the large 
thorough-bred stallion, (of sixteen bands;) 
With compactly built, Morgan-shaped mares, 
also sixteen hands, and weighing about 
1,200 pounds, with heavy manes and tails to 
overcome the lightness of the thorough-bred 
in this regai-d. Such animals are hard to find. 
“ For the draft horse, both parents should 
be heavy, 1,300 pounds and over, strongly 
coupled, short legged, good tempered ani¬ 
mals. 
“ It is for the breeder to decide winch ef 
these classes he wishes to produce, and 
whether Ids location is adapted to it. It 
will not pay to raise draft and carriage 
horses in Vermont, where grain is high and 
pastures rough and rocky, but flat or gently 
rolling lands with rich food at low prices 
are suited to them; while the Green Moun¬ 
tain pastures produce nimble, rough-footed, 
muscular little horses, full of life and fire, 
that are admirably adapted for the road or 
for trotters. For instance, the Morgans, un¬ 
til, by in-breeding, they degenerated into the 
flat-sided, delicate little Black Hawks, the 
best of which went to Kentucky and the 
West. To restore the Vermont horses to 
their quondam superiority, larger half-bred 
mares must be introduced and tired to good, 
medium sized trotters. Until then, Ken¬ 
tucky and the Middle States will bear the 
palm for speed, and Pennsylvania, Ohio, and 
the West must produce henceforth our coach 
and draft horses.” 
I think the stallion should be kept only in 
fair flesh during the season, and the breeding 
mare, (if highly bred,) kept on good short 
grass, with as little clover in as possible. 
But if of cold blood, a little grain, before 
receiving service, will do good, more espe¬ 
cially if desirable to have the foal partake 
more after the sire. Tho extent of heat in 
t he mare appears to influence the greater or 
less resemblance of the foal to the sire— the 
more amorous she is, the stronger the like¬ 
ness. To produce a good breeder, let. her be 
bred young, and develop her milking quali¬ 
ties. I-Iard training of either parent injures 
their propagating powers. Take good care 
and feed well the first year. Plenty of hay 
and carrots will suffice after breaking time. 
Colts can earn their keeping on a farm after 
four years old, and tire fit to sell at five, not 
earlier. 
First rate animals of either class will pay, 
the proximity to market dertermining some¬ 
what the profit. 
In conclusion, I would advise against too 
much experimenting in crossing breeds. I 
speak from experience. 
- *++ - 
SAWDUST FOR BEDDING. 
The London Field contains the following 
account of an experiment with this material: 
“ Having used sawdust as bedding for horses 
for a length of t ime, results of my experience 
may not be. unacceptable to some of your 
inquiring readers. 1 litter the horses on it. 
to tho depth of six and nine inches, raking 
off the damp and soiled surface every morn¬ 
ing, and spreading evenly a little fresh, re¬ 
moving the whole only four times a year. 
Tts advantages appear to he many, of which 
I will state a few which give it, In my esti¬ 
mation, its great superiority over straw. It 
is much cleaner and more easily arranged, 
and of course much cheaper at. first cost, 
making, in tho end, excellent manure. It. is 
peculiarly beneficial to the feet., affording 
them a cool, porous stuffing, n substitute for 
the soil or earth we always find in the hoofs 
of a horse at grass, and present the nearest 
resemblance to the horse’s natural footing— 
the earth. 
We have never had a diseased foot since 
the introduction of sawdust in the stable, 
now some years since. Horses bedded on 
sawdust are also freer from dust, and stains 
than when on ordinary litter, (simply be¬ 
cause sawdust is abetter absorbent, perhaps,) 
and testify their own approval of it by fre 
quently rolling and lying down for hours in 
the day. It. has also the recommendation of 
being uneatable—an advantage which all 
in charge of homes with the habit of con¬ 
suming their litter, will readily admit. Be¬ 
ing free from pungent smell, which Is apt to 
accompany straw, (unless scrupulously kept.,) 
it is innocent to weak eyes, and its slight 
turpenttno odor is rather a sweetener than 
otherwise. It makes (when converted into 
a manure) the best possible foundation for 
hot-beds, and, unlike other stable manure, 
forms no harbor of refuge for vermin. Pine 
sawdust is the best., and oak the worst, as the 
latter turns black the second day.” 
-» ■ 
Hcanlng Colt*.— Wo find tho following mode 
uneredited In an exchange“ I put the colt in 
a good pasture, and if I can do so I give it some 
company that It Is acquainted with. Hut. at any 
rate, I put the mare In the adjoining field; thou 
they bot h feel as t hough they were not separa¬ 
ted, and do not wear off any Hesh by anxiety 
and running. And I take the mare in to the 
colt twice a day for two or three days, and let it 
suck. After that I let it sunk once a day, for 
two or three days: then I let it suck for every 
other any for two or three days; and if neces¬ 
sary to dry up the mare, I will perhaps let it suck 
one© or twice in the course of the next week. 
By that course the colt will get weaned, and the 
mure will be.dried up, and neither or them lose 
Hash or be punished, which is both to my in¬ 
terest and their muti ud comfort.'' Another cor¬ 
respondent advises to take the colts from the 
dam, tie in stables by themselves and give them 
cow's milk which they wilt drink after a trial 
or two if they get no water. Then give a few 
oats and all the hay and green clover they will 
eat. 
Sla t itc - % 
4 ? 
before having pigs. Grass will affect the 
it will i 
MANAGEMENT OF SWINE. 
Directions for Brocdintt nud Fcedintr. 
In breeding hogs or any other animal the 
breeder should first form a correct idea of 
the kind of hog or animal he wishes to pro¬ 
duce ; its size, form and quality. In breed¬ 
ing he should always have his imaginary 
model in iiia mind. 
Asa general rule the hoar has more to do 
with the size and form, and the sow with 
the vital powers and general health of their 
pigs. 
Never breed from two animals that have 
the same defect. Where one is deficient in 
a point the other should be prominent. In 
England, where breeding is nicely pursued, 
a sow and boar are not bred together until 
they are measured in several different parts. 
The relationship, also, between them is al¬ 
ways kept entirely distinct. Whole in-and- 
in breeding begins, degeneration In the stock 
commences. It will be scarcely perceptible 
at first, but if persisted in, it will bo at the 
expense of the form and general health of 
the stock. It is better, by far, to breed 
from perfect animals on both sides. The 
main qualities and points to be desired in a 
hog are strong feeding and quietness of dis¬ 
position. A hog should have a long and 
round body, and heavy quarters, should have 
symmetry of proportion. 1 le should, in good 
condition, measure as many inches around 
the brisket as he measures inches from end 
of nose to root of tail. Overgrown, slab- 
sided, coarse-boned hog's should nhcays lie 
avoided. They require too much food. 
Symmetry of proportion and finality are very 
desirable in hogs. As much size, quality and 
symmetry of proportion combined as can he 
obtained should be amduomly sought after. 
The great secret in raising pork, to make it, 
profitable, is to keep the hog lhat will make 
the most pork in the shortest time, always 
keeping the quality of it in view. It three 
hundred pounds can be made from a hog of 
good breed in a year, it is better than to 
keep a hog of a poor breed eighteen months 
for the three hundred pounds. 
A sow should never have pigs before she 
is a year old. It, is better if she is eighteen 
months old. If allowed to breed before she 
is a year old she will have but very few pigs 
and but little milk for them. An old sow, 
like an old cow, will give more milk than a 
young one. Hence it is that an old sow will 
have larger and better pigs than a young one, 
because they get a bounteous supply of that 
which is most natural to them, to wit: the 
milk of their dam. As soon as it is ascer¬ 
tained that a row is in pig, which will be 
known between tho nineteenth and twenty- 
second days after taking the boar, (if In pig 
she will not brim, if not site will,) she should 
be fed lightly, and allowed to have plenty oi 
exercise. She should run to grass and the 
ground. A sow will run four months less 
nine or ten days from the time she takes the 
IK>ar to her time of liltering. Sows will vary 
a little. Old sows will run longer than young 
ones, and some breeds will run longer than 
others, Imt they will not,, in any instance, 
vary a week. A sow should be put upon a 
floor in a dry and warm place to litter, with 
a very little cut straw or hay for a bed. A 
railing or board should be fixed against the 
sides of her pen and around her nest about 
eight inches above the floor, and it should 
jut out from the sides of the pen from eight 
to ten inches. When a sow lies down, if a 
pig or two happens to be under her, they 
will generally slide out and get crushed be¬ 
tween the sow and the sides of the pen. If 
this railing is fixed around the nest, the 
sow’s back, in lying down, will strike it, and 
the pig or pigs, in sliding from under her, 
instead of getting crushed between the sow 
and the sides of the pen. will escape injury 
by sliding under the railing. 
A sow should be put up three or four days 
before her time to have pigs, and fed on 
milk, and wheat or rye bran or middlings 
made into a thin slop, to bring her to her 
milk. If a sow has plenty of milk when 
she litters, her pigs will not bo likely to get 
killed, because they will get all they want 
and lie down in a pile and sleep; whereas, 
if the sow is scant of milk tho pigs will be 
hungry and will ho scattered around her, 
constantly working at her, and are, there¬ 
fore, quite likely to get killed. She should 
lie kept up until her pigs can run smartly,— 
say ten days or two weeks,—but not longer,. 
If confined too long and fed on strong feed, 
— to wit, dry corn or raw com meal,—she 
will become ravenous, and eat her pigs., 
There is so much of the oleaginous or grease 
in coru, that hogs will get fevered easily on 
it and become bilious and ravenous. They 
are not so likely to become so on slop feed. 
While closely confined they should be sup¬ 
plied with plenty of fresh dirt daily. To 
counteract the effects of oleaginous food, 
something of an alkaline or vegetable nature 
must be given them. A sow should always 
run to grass and the ground a week or two 
milk of a sow the same as it will ihat of a 
row, —increase the quantity, and lessen its 
strength, — which is very essential when the 
pigs arc quite young. A sow should never 
be allowed to have pigs before April in the 
spring, nor after October in the fall, because 
cold weather is very bad for young pigs. 
Hogs should be grained lightly in tho win¬ 
ter, and have free access to ashes or charcoal; 
and as soon as tho ground becomes soft in 
the spring, they should have a lot. or yard 
where they can be at liberty to root as much 
ns they choose. They root for something 
that their nature requires, I have frequently 
noticed where the subsoil is clay they would 
root down to it and eat. it. I suppose they 
eat it because there is something gritty in it. 
In winter, the ground being frozen, they 
subsist entirely on what is given them, and 
if fed nothing but corn, and plenty of it, they 
become fevered and foundered. If slaught¬ 
ered in this condition, they are but a mass of 
disease, and unfit for food. Raw potatoes 
are good for hogs in winter, and they are 
fond of them. They are loosening. 
Hogs nre apt to root, when there is plenty 
of grass on the ground. They should be fil 
lowed to have all the grass they will eat as 
early in the. spring as possible, and clover or 
tame hay is good for them in winter. They 
are fond of it. Ilogs that have run to grass 
nil summer can bo shut up in a pen and fed 
to advantage six weeks or two months, but 
not longer. Bummer is tho time to make 
pork; making it. in winter is much like run¬ 
ning a boat against wind and tide, it requires 
too much food to keep up the supply of ani¬ 
mal heat. If hogs have plenty of grass in 
summer, and about, half tho corn they will 
cat, they will fatten rapidly; and my belief 
is that three pounds of pork can be made 
from less grain in this way than one pound 
can be in cold weather, with a hog in a dose 
pen. The grass is cooling and loosening, 
and counteracts tho feverish properties of 
the corn. Hogs will never melt in summer, 
however fat, if they have access to water 
and mud to lie in. Mud is very had for 
hogs in cool or cold weather. It absorbs too 
much animal heat. Milk is a very cooling 
drink, and almost indispensable in raising 
young pigs. 
But very little com and no com meal 
should be fed t© young pigs, before they are 
four months old. The effects of corn and 
raw corn meal on young pigs are these •— 
The pigs will first be costive, and then they 
will scour. They will begin to rub against 
everything they can got against, will rub 
their hair off. Their skin will have a red 
and dry appearance*. A dry black scurf wifi 
begin to form on them ; amt t he more of the 
com and meal they eat the poorer they will 
got. The best thing that can be done for a 
pig in this condition is to give him a thorough 
washing iti warm rain water or sour milk, 
sour milk is best. Course flour or middlings 
from rye or wheat, when made into a thin 
drinkable slop with milk, is the best feed for 
young pigs, except bread and milk. Bread 
is good for very young pigs, because it has 
been leavened. Food has to ferment before 
it will digest , and if fed to a young pig should 
be put with Uie milk at night, after the feed¬ 
ing has been done, and allowed to be in the 
uiilk through the night, never allowing the 
swill tub to get quite empty, always leaving 
a little in the bottom for yeast. The swill 
should never bo permitted to get stale. Slop 
feed should be fed often, and never more fed 
at a time than will be eaten up at once. 
Slop feed will make larger hogs than dry 
feed. After the pigs get to be from three to 
four mouths old their food can be made 
stronger, but a pig will not bear much strong 
feed until he begins to change from a pig 
into a liog, -which will be known by bis 
voice. 
In the West, where hogs are raised on a 
large scale, but one litter of pigs should be 
raised from a sow' in a year, and the sow 
should have them in the months of May or 
June. Tho sows should run to grass and 
may be fed com. The pigs should suck 
thein us long as they will. In this way the 
pigs require but little care, and they get age 
so that they will winter well on corn. None 
but breeders should try to get more than one 
litter from a sow in a year. The fall litter 
will require too much care for the farmer. 
One litter can be got in April and another in 
September or October following, from one 
sow, but the spring pigs will have to be 
weaned from four to six weeks old, and fed 
on clear, sour milk for two or three weeks 
after weaning, and fed often. New r milk 
once a day will keep them from scouring. 
Sour milk is better than new milk. New 
milk will first make the pig costive, then 
scour him. It will curdle in his stomach, 
but sour will not. The late fall pigs should 
suck the sows as long as they will, and the 
sows should be fed ou warm slop feed, and 
fed often. The slop can be warmed by pour¬ 
ing hot water into the swill tub. A breed¬ 
ing sow should never be fed much dry corn. 
She will get foundered on it and spoiled. 
John Haight. 
Naperville, Du Page Co., III. 
