i222. 
SVfOOBE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
OCT. 4 
iptrtr trf ;t UtoraM 
DAILY RURAL LIFE. 
From the Diary of a Gentleman near New 
York City. 
A RIDE OVER THE PLAINS. 
Aug. 17.—At Ogden, some thirty-six miles 
from Salt Lake City, we come upon the 
Union Pacific Railroad, and start- Eastward 
again, up through Weber Canon and out 
upon the plains once more?. Buffalo, ante¬ 
lope and prairie dogs appear u ion all sides, 
and we never tire at gazing upon these in¬ 
habitants of the great American Desert. The 
old geography was not far from right, after 
all, iu marking this region as a desert inhab¬ 
ited by roaming tribes of Indians and herds of 
■wild animate. It may be a little better than 
Sahara Desert, still the name “desert” is 
not fur wrong, for dwarf sage bush and scat¬ 
tering clumps of grass not more than three 
or four inches high, cannot be counted us 
much of a show in the way of vegetation. 
Here arc millions of acres of this land, which 
are really good for nothing, except to hold the 
earth together or run railroads over, and if 
our Government can give it away, it would 
make a good bargain. It is true that where 
water ean be had in sufficient quantities for 
irrigation, these plains ean be made to pro- I 
| duce good cr ps, but streams a re scarce after 
we leave the mountains for at. least five hun¬ 
dred miles eastward, consequently cultivat¬ 
ing the lands is out of the question. In the I 
few small valleys through or over which we I 
Pass the grass is better than on the hills, and 
G. P. It. James’ “Lone horseman in thedis-1 
tanee” is frequently brought to mind by 
seeing a poor fellow sitting, half asleep, in 
liis saddle watching a herd of cattle. 1 had 
a good mind to stop over and try to get a I 
situation as herdsman, because such an oco.u I 
pation would give a fellow a grand chance I 
to study, and 1 really began to picture to 
myself the good time 1 could have reading 
the hundreds of books which want of leisure 
compels me to lay unperused upon the shelf. 
But 1 have not as yet seen a book or news- I 
paper in the hands of one of those “lone 
horsemen,” and it is to be feared that they 
are not given to cultivating their brains more I 
than they do the land. 
There js one thing of which the pioneers of ■ 
this section may well be proud, and that is ' 
the Union Pacific Railroad, for without it I 1 
there could be little progress here, even in 1 
the raising of .Tattle, which is about the only ’ 
industry the country is capable of or ever I * 
will be. I < 
THROUGH NEBRASKA. I t 
Aug. 18. — From Evanston on the west t 
border of Wyoming Territory to Pine Bluff f 
on the east, we have seen very little land t 
worth cultivating, even if there was water I t. 
lor irrigation and a demand for the crops f 
produced; but as we strike the borders of <1 
Nebraska, at the latter-named place, there is l 
a slight change, for t he better, but we do not. h 
come upon any that is good until we roach Ft ( 
Kearney, and thence along the Wood and s 
Platte River Valleys. From this point for- v 
ward the country improves with every mile a 
traveled, and we soon come upon some of as o: 
fine prairie lands as one could desire. That ci 
this country is appreciated and the value of 
the land fully understood is shown by the 
rapidity of its settlement and the price tl 
charged by the railroads as well as iudividu- I pi 
als for good farms anywhere near the settle- I d< 
ments. I ot 
BREAKFAST AT GRAND ISLAND. pi 
We are now getting down among the good w 
farmers, rich lands and in a comparatively tr 
old-settled country, where one might expect th 
to find good, wholesome food in abundance tr, 
if not the luxuries of civilized life. But if si< 
one makes up his mind to find all this here in gc 
a land of abundance, he will he disappointed, to 
for we could scarcely get a glass of milk at pr 
the eating house this morning, and this was nr 
of the poorest quality, resembling the stump- an 
tail sort found in New York. The price of ou 
meals, it is true, has dropped from one dollar su: 
to seventy-five cents, but the quality has 
gone down more than fifty per cent., and we 
looked back with regret, to the eating houses a f 
in the mountains and plains where every- an 
thing had to be purchased in markets dozens to 
or hundreds of miles away, for if we were Ho 
charged a good price we always got the cos 
worth of our money. We did not sit down lar 
to a table at any hotel creating house during An 
our visit-, among the mountain cities and vil- hei 
lages without finding plenty of the choicest wi 
fruits of the season upon them ; but. now as gei 
we get down among the very orchards which "'a 
supply those Western towns, we shall prob¬ 
ably see no more of such luxuries. Where a j. 
thing costs but little it is hot appreciated, 
hence the scarcity of good, rich milk and 
sweet butter where hay, grain and cows are 
a drug in the market. 
A RIDE ABOUT THE COUNTRY. 
At Grand Island we were met by a few of 
the citizens of Columbus, who invited us to 
stop a few hours and take a ride out into the 
surrounding country, a special train having 
been provided to take us forward to Omaha. 
On arriving at the station we entered the 
carriages in waiting and drove out some nine 
or ten miles, visiting some large farms where 
corn and wheat is raised in such quantities 
as to glut the market; the former now only 
commands nine cents per bushel, and, from 
the appearance of the old Crop still on hand, 
the price is not. likely to go up after the pres¬ 
ent crop is harvested. Columbus Is certainly 
a thriving town, and the country about it 
just rolling enough to give variety and make 
it, beautiful in the full sense of the word. 
Here, lor the first time during our trip, we 
had an opportunity Of seeing what the hate 
ful grasshoppe-is* can do in the way of eating 
up corn and oats, for there were several large 
fields “sailing under bare poles,” not a green 
leaf, tassel or grain of com or oats to be seen 
upon the stalks. 
WANT OF FOREST TREES. 
The want of trees is seen everywhere, and 
we have passed through no woods in the 
thousand miles over which we Itave rode 
since leaving the mountains. Many of the 
farmers have planted out groves of cotton¬ 
wood and maple for both protection and tim¬ 
ber, und, judging from the way.tho trees lean 
towards the southeast, northwest winds 
must be both constant and powerful. The 
great want of this entire region of country is 
timber trees, und the farmers here should 
make a special effort to get, good kinds start¬ 
ed as soon as possible after breaking up their 
land. There is far too much grain growing 
for market and too little fed out at home, 
hence its low price. Butter, cheese, pork and 
beef, and perhaps mutton, should be pro¬ 
duced in greater quantities, then there would 
be no necessity of selling com at ten cents 
per bushel. It is all for the want of calcula¬ 
tion tii at farming here is so unprofitable. 
Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway, stopping 
at Pittsburgh over night in order to ride 
t hrough Pennsylvania by daylight. Probably 
inosfc of our party had done the Keystone 
State many times; still the grand scenery 
along the route is sufficiently interesting to 
be enjoyed over again. Then we had another 
objects and it was to examine one of the best 
railroads in the country—one, too, that is 
bidding for and obtaining the greater part of 
the through passenger traffic between the 
East and West. There are not many rail- 
rouds in this or any other count ry over which 
one can ride at the rate of forty miles an 
hour, as we have to-day, and not hi ve the 
shirt bosom soiled with dust. This Pennsyl¬ 
vania Central Railroad is a model which 
other lines would do well to copy. The road¬ 
bed is ballasted with smull stone broken up 
by machinery for this very purpose, conse¬ 
quently one of tile greatest annoyances of 
railroad t raveling in summer (dust) is entire¬ 
ly avoided. The success of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad line been a marvel to many, but a 
very slight acquaintance with the managers 
and employes will show where the secret, 
lies; and this can be told on one line— i. c., 
all work to make the road perfect and popu¬ 
lar with patrons. 
AT HOME. 
At ten minutes to nine o’clock w r e reached 
Jersey City, just that number of minutes 
ahead of our programme which was pub¬ 
lished before we departed on our journey 
five weeks sinee. We have traveled during 
the time nearly 8,000 miles, without an hour’s 
delay or an accident to any of the party, all 
of which Is u grand commentary upon the 
safety of railroad traveling in America. 
jJoullri! ihil 
WHITE EAR LOBES ON BROWN 
LEGHORNS. 
AT OMAHA. 
No one, I presume, need to be told that 
Omaha is one of the handsomest of tile, many 
beautiful Western cities. Groves of oaks 
abound on all the bluffs along the river, and 
one appreciates their dark green foliage more 
than ever after crossing the great prairies to 
the westward. On arriving at the station we 
were met by a number of the citizens, with 
carriages to take us on a tour around the 
city, a favor which wo accepted. The resi¬ 
dents here either brought out the pick of all 
their stables, else they keep very fine horses, 
for I never saw a bettor show of horse flesh 
than the dozen spans drawing our carriages 
this afternoon. Georoe Francis Train’s 
folly, iu t he shape of a great hotel with closed 
I floors is passed in going from the station into 
the city. After visiting the various public 
buildings, including the new post-office and 
Grand Central Hotel, in the course of con 
struotioii, also several private residences, 
which showed both taste and wealth, we 
again iv.lnrued to the station, dining at one 
of the best eating houses on the Union Pa¬ 
cific Railroad. 
THE DES MOINES VAIIEY. 
Aug. Ip.—Southern Iowa, and particularly 
the Des Moines Valley, is probably not sur¬ 
passed as an agricultural region. The evi¬ 
dences of thrift and prosperity are to be seen 
on all sides, for with bountiful crops and fair 
prices, I cannot, see how it should be other¬ 
wise. If the people would plant a few more 
trees about their churches and school houses 
these structures would be a little more at¬ 
tractive to both worshippers and scholars, be¬ 
sides giving a. stronger a better opinion of the 
good taste Of the people. Perhaps trees are 
too easily grown here, hence the want of ap¬ 
preciation. The ministers should preach 
arboriculture and horticulture a few years 
and see what effect ii would have in making 
our earthly temples more beautiful in their 
surroundings. 
DAVENPORT TO CHICAGO. 
Aug. 30.—In these days of express trains 
a few hundred miles is nothing to a traveler, 
and a few hours’ ride has brought us across 
to the State of Illinois via the Chicago and 
Rock Island Railroad, and we find ourselves 
cosily ensconsed in the Grand Pacific, the 
largest and probably the best hotel in 
America. If a man cannot be made happy 
here, it is not because T. B. Gasgill, Chad¬ 
wick and several other equally well-known 
gentlemen do not know how to attend to the 
wants of feeble mortals. 
ON THE HOME STRETCH. 
Aug. 33.—Yesterday we passed over the 
)_ Tuts subject having been discussed some- 
(1 what in the Rural New-Yorker we copy 
b from the Bulletin the following from Frank 
k J. Kinney :—Wishing to enlighten inquirers 
who are constantly writing me in relation to 
White Ear Lobes on Brown Leghorn Fowls, 
t I will say that I don’t consider because a 
y bird has an extra amount, of loose skin on his 
s face, and some of it a little white, that he 
1 lias a white ear lobe at all. 
? The Black Humburga have white ear lobes, 
> that is, good birds have—and there are a few 
j stocks of White Leghorns that also have, 
i An ear lobe or deaf ear, to be a distin- 
i gmshing feature of a fowl should be distinct 
from the face. An ornament attached to the 
I side of the head below the car, that looks as 
though it was made after the head, and then 
attached to it. 
After nine years of careful breeding for t he 
purpose of getting an ear lobe—like the one 
described above—that would be a fixity with 
my Brown Leghorn stock I have succeeded ; 
and have also succeeded in learning how to 
mate my fowls, so as to retain the beautiful 
penciling of the feathers on the hens, and 
have black-breasted cocks, or mottled-breast¬ 
ed —as six hundred chicks in my yards will 
show. 
There is a good deal of talk about the size 
of Leghorns, brown and white-and some 
breeders want size to enter into the count in 
the standard of excellence. There are a good 
many things that affect size in fowls. 1st. 
The age of the hen you breed from. 2nd. 
The manner of feeding. 3rd. The way 
chickens are raised. I have an 
ORIGINAL WAY OF RAISING CHICKS, 
that seems to work just as well ou a large as 
on a small scale. 
I choose heavy feathered hens that will 
weigh six or seven lbs., and are not very fat, 
I and sit them as early as I want to—and when 
once they commence sitting they make a 
business of hatching chickens. I confine them 
in roomy boxes, taking them off twice a day 
to eat. drink, wallow, &c„ and I don’t find 
one hen in fifty, but will sit just as long as I 
want them to. I have had them to hatch 
seven clutches of chickens without leaving 
the nest, except when taken off, and are > 
moulting and doing just as well as any ot hex- 
hen. They need care, as everything else 1 
does, but I can tend 20 hens that will batch I < 
ltd chickens sure, and generally over200, and 
cost 15 to 20 dollars, easier than an incuba¬ 
tor ; and there is no worry or vexation about < 
it. f 
I put 100 chicks together at first (.all young c 
chickens need is warmth and sand for 13 a 
hours—then egg, &c.,—and then separate i 
them as they grow, getting down to about i 
25 to a run at laying time. In the winter I 1 
keep 50 laying hens in rooms 8ft. by 20, and l 
seldom have a sick hen, or chick. t 
tg I separate pullets and cocks at 3 weeks old, 
ie and feed different chickens hatched from my 
ly eggs by farmers around me, where they have 
ie “good farmers’ fare” but never get to weigh 
•\ as much by 3 lbs. each as my fowls kept at 
:<■ home. And they don’t lay quite so many or 
;r so large eggs. I am speaking of brown 
st Leghorns. 
is It is the little extra care and feed that 
>f fowls get that make the profit for those who 
ie give it. To illustrate :—I am feeding daily 
1- 34 sheep’s plucks, that is, lights, livers, hearts 
Ii and gullets, that weigh an average of 8 lbs. 
n each, or 73 lbs., boiled tender. I throw it 
e into the runs in large pieces that the chicks 
1- and fowls may exercise while eating it. 
Ii Farmers think it “sheer waste,” and have 
I- thought our statements in regard to number 
p and weight of eggs per hen, “t choppers,” 
but they come to see, and seeing they believe, 
f 1 have kept, debit and credit accounts with 
fowls for a score of years or more, and I 
i know whereof I affirm. I can make a flock 
i of Brown Leghorn hens—well-bred ones will 
s stand forcing—and pay $5 profit apiece, each 
t, year for 4 years and longer. 
, I have one hen, Signora, that has laid 
- nearly 1,300 eggs, and I have 1(H) of iter chick¬ 
ens hatched from eggs laid in 1878—have a 
clutch of chickens off to-day, hatched from 
i eggs Signora laid in March 1873. 
3 I had one old hen, Old “ Red Ribbon,” that 
laid over 3,200 eggs and died from breaking 
an egg iu her at the age of nine years and 3 
" months—she was as healthy looking and as 
; good a laying hen as was on my yards at the 
I time of viso accident. I merely state these 
' extreme cases, and might state more, to show 
that “ facts are stubborn things.” 
The best chickens on my yards tills year, * 
are from Ileus 3 years old and upwards, 
mated with young cocks. 
I have twenty-live Brown Leghorn hens 
hatched Aug. i)th, 1872, that commenced lay¬ 
ing Jan. 6, 1873,—did not force this lot at all 
as chicks, as I wanted to drive them hard as 
hens—that have laid up to Aug. 0, 1878, 3,750 
eggs, or 150 each- have runs of two-year-old 
hens that have laid to average 240 eggs ea;h 
in a year—or t wenty dozen. These eggs have 
averaged us in Worcester Market, sold to 
private families, 38 cents per dozen, or $7.60 
per hen per year. 
-♦♦♦-- 
TONIC FOR FOWLS. 
In addition to the well-timed advice of J. 
S. Ives in your issue of the 13th ult., I might 
say for the benefit of those interested that 
Douglass’ Mixture, put in the drinking water 
during the moulting season will help the 
fowls through wonderfully, not only acting 
as a tonic in their weakened condition, hut, 
as a preventive of disease. I have found it 
so beneficial in my yards that I continue 
using it the year round. It may be mere 
fancy, but it seems to me the fowls having 
access to the medicated water have much 
more lustrous plumage than others. 
The mixture has been used in England by 
t he best breeders for many years, and being 
so inexpensive should be kept on hand by 
every one possessing poultry. The mixture 
is composed of Sulphate of Iron, \{ lb.; 
Sulphuric Acid, 1 oz.; Water, 5 pints ; cost¬ 
ing in all about five cents. To every pint of 
drinking water add one teaspoonful of the 
mixture. R. H. Knapp. 
Forest Lawn Poultry Yards, Atlanta, Ga. 
--- 
POULTRY NOTES. 
An Egg inside an Egg.— Inclosed you will 
find a sketch of the size and shape of an egg. 
My wife broke an egg to-day which was as 
natural as any egg ; and inside of it was 
another egg of the size and shape delineated. 
It has a natural shell on it. It is It/ inches 
in circumference and two inches long. I 
cannot tell the breed of the hen that laid it. 
—S. T. J., Auburn , Ind. 
Wisdom .for You /—A respected Chicken 
contemporary offers it in this wise;—“For 
fowls to take premiums is not always a proof 
of good breeding. For instance, a pullet at. 
an early show may seem all right, and after¬ 
ward develop a crooked or lopped comb, or, 
if a Cochin, a big tail and slipped wing.” 
We cont ribute the following spark of wis¬ 
dom additional, to witThat many fowls 
that are not well-bred, and are known not to 
be, “take premiums.” 
