30© 
MAY S 
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PEPPER FEEDING. 
I witnessed for the first time, at the late 
Crystal Palace Bird Show, the results of 
pepper feeding, and was both greatly pleased, 
as well as surprised, at the wonderful im¬ 
provement in the color of the numerous 
specimens so treated. 
I look upon the treatment as perfectly fair 
and legitimate, and in no way deserving the 
term “trick,” which I am sorry to say has 
been applied to it ; such a term of reproach 
should be reserved for all dishonest interfer- 
ance with the outside of competing birds, 
such as drawing, trimming, or staining feath¬ 
ers. Whatever can bo effected through the 
medium of the secreting organs of any bird 
cannot fairly be termed artificial or unnat¬ 
ural, unless everything be 00 named which 
differs from the mode of life and food of the 
bird in its original state. The object aimed 
at in the treatment of all domesticated ani¬ 
mals is an improvement upon their natural 
or wild state, and in the case of the canary 
bred in Confinement, Cayenne pepper, volun¬ 
tarily eaten, is no more unnatural to it than 
the egg and cake with which show birds 
have been regularly fed for years. The sys¬ 
tem of mounting birds in close, warm cages, 
feeding them at the same time on more stim¬ 
ulating food than simple seed, has long been 
recognized as a necessity, where depth and 
richness of color are desired. The new mode 
of feeding on Cayenne pepper is simply an 
extension of this rule; and whether discov¬ 
ered accidentally, or as the result of experi¬ 
ment, is, in my humble opinion, the greatest 
improvement in the treatment of our favor¬ 
ites that I have witnessed. If it could be 
shown that the health of the birds was in¬ 
jured by such food, there would be some 
ground for objection on the score of cruelty, 
but as, from all I can learn, such is not the 
case, but rather the contrary, I for one hail 
the discovery with great satisfaction. Depth 
of color lias been the point chiefly aimed at 
in many varieties of the canary, and here it 
is, beyond the expectations of the oldest fan¬ 
ciers, and permanent or not entirely accord¬ 
ing to the continued treatment of the bird. 
I would in conclusion lay down one simple 
rule for all—viz., “Put whatever you like 
inside the bird that it will willingly take 
without injury, but forbid under the strictest 
penalties any interference with the outside.” 
—W. Broderick, in Poultry MetHew (Eng.). 
-- 
TREATMENT OF YOUNG TURKEYS. 
Can you, or your readers tell me, how to 
feed aiid care for young turkeys to make 
them thrive ? Here they seem to do well 
till about two weeks old—or till they put. out 
pin feathers, when they droop and die,—M rs. 
C. V. S. T., Buck Head , Morgan Co., Go. 
Young turkeys require a great deal of 
careful attention. They should be placed in 
a close coop, where they can be confined at 
will. This coop should be in a dry place and 
on no account should the chicks be permit¬ 
ted to get wet, either from exposure to night 
or morning dews or to rain. They should 
be kept warm and dry (.he first six weeks. 
It is asserted that it is a good plan, as soon 
as the young ones are removed from the 
nest, to immerse them in a decoction of 
tobacco, taking care that the fluid does not 
enter the mouth or eyes of the chicks ; 
and repeat the operation whenever they 
appear to droop. Good authority recom¬ 
mends this practice, but we cannot vouch 
for it from personal experience. The young 
chicks should not have slop food of any kind 
—no loppered milk should be given. Some 
milk, hulled to a thick curd, mixed with 
cooked Indian meal and seasoning the whole 
with black pepper is recommended. They 
require feeding often. When six weeks old 
feed boiled eggs, wheaten flour and bruised 
hemp seed. Throw the food on the ground 
—not in grass nor in a trough. Never feed 
uncooked Indian meal. The main thing iu 
rearing young turkeys is to keep them dry 
aud worm—not exposing them to a hot sun 
nor to rain or dew—and giving them dry, 
cooked food. 
- +■*■■* - 
A POULTRY AND PHEASANT FEEDER. 
Herewith is given an illustration of a 
pheasant, grouse aud poultry feeder highly 
approved in England. We have a very 
meager description of it. It is made of wood 
lined with zinc. The corn is entirely pro¬ 
tected from the weather, and by a novel 
application of glass the corn is always visible, 
which instantly attracts the attention and 
arouses the ingenuity of the birds the first I 
time, and in less than a minute they find out 
how to help themselves, and never after¬ 
wards forget. 
It is rendered vermin-proof by so arranging 
and balancing a platform that it requires the 
length as well as the weight of a pheasant or 
grouse to lift, up the covers, while the troughs 
are self-feeding ; and the moment the birds 
step off the platform the lid of the feeding- 
trough instantly closes. 
They are. made to hold about a bushel and 
4p 
„ 
—.A-V -f-' 
~*zr~ - , 1 /n 
a half of Indian or other corn, and, as there 
is a trough on each side, a dozen birds can 
easily feed at a time. We publish the illus¬ 
tration as a suggestion to poultry breeders 
and feeders. 
-•» »♦- 
POULTRY NOTES. 
Brahmas' Leg-Weakness. —In answer to a 
correspondent, the Cottage Gardener says : 
We are seldom troubled with leg-weakness. 
We attribute much of it to the use of bad 
food, and to bad feeding in the earlier stages. 
Birds of large growth require much while 
they are young, and should have it frequent¬ 
ly. We adhere entirely to plain food, and 
seek as much as possible to choose it as nearly 
like that which a bird finds when at liberty 
as possible—ground oats, barley meal, .and 
some whole corn; plenty of green food. 
Some when young get lanky and knock- 
kneed, we eat them. Birds that show leg- 
weakness at this time of year are ill or 
under-fed. 
Diseased Liver in Fowls and Rabbits. —The 
Cottage Gardener says : — Liver disease in 
fowls is caused by over-fattening or by inju¬ 
dicious feeding, it is also caused by poor 
food. Potatoes cause liver disease, but they 
make fat liver. Rice, bad corn, constant 
stimulating food produce the liver you men¬ 
tion in fowls. Rabbits are very subject to it, 
and it may be traced to the same cause- 
improper feeding. They want variety, and 
when they have not a supply of root food, 
such as swedes, mangold &c., they should 
have water. We believe many of the dis¬ 
eases to which they are subject would be 
avoided if they were supplied with water. 
Shipping Bogs by Steamer and Rail.—A 
correspondent of the Queenslander cautious 
poultry breeders against shipping by steamer 
eggs that are intended for hatching. The 
steady jar of the machinery or the rocking 
motion of the boat seems to destroy the 
germ, and the eggs are sure to be addled. 
The same person also says that eggs are best 
prepared for shipment by rail, by being first 
coated with varnish and then packed in 
safety packages. Eggs will hatch, if so pre¬ 
pared, after being kept two months, if the 
varuish is washed off by the use of warm 
water at the time they are put in the uest. 
Turnips for Chickens. —A correspondent 
of the Country Gentleman says:—I have 
found that the white sweet swede turnip is 
good for big chickens — cooked, and then 
mashed, and mixed with about an equal 
amount of corn meal. Mix it so that it will 
be as near dry as you can. The same when 
you mix a potato mash—mix it too thick to 
pour. Potatoes cooked aud mixed with corn 
meal I think cannot be beaten to feed to 
laying hens. 
Yellow Deposit on the Tongue and in the 
Mouth. — I noticed a question in a late Rural 
New-Yorker. The chickens are troubled 
with the yellow deposit ou the tongue aud in 
the mot til. I used successfully ground mus¬ 
tard. Mix it rather thin, open the mouth of 
the hen or chicken, pour it in with a spoou 
so that it will get some down, I have tried 
it several times and each time with perfect 
success.—R. B. Freeman, Blossburg. Pa, 
Brahma Cock's Foot Swollen. —M.’s Brah¬ 
ma cock may have a hard floor to jump upon 
from the perch ; or he may keep him upon 
a hard floor. If a plank floor is used in a 
henhouse it should be well littered with 
earth. If this is not the cause of the swelling 
we are unable to tell him what is. Such 
swellings of the feet of fowls are not infre¬ 
quent when they are compelled t© live upon 
hard floors. 
^kricultural. 
ENGLISH BUCKTHORN HEDGE IN MIN¬ 
NESOTA. 
S. D. L. Baldwin, Cedar Mills, Minn., 
writes the Farmers' Union concerning this 
plant as follows :— 
That it is the coming hedge plant of this 
climate, I have no doubt, as it is perfectly 
hard}' and free from the ravages of insects, 
notwithstanding my plants were killed half 
way to the ground the first and second win¬ 
ters, having grown very late, so that the 
wood was not well ripened in the fall. I 
confess that I was very much di'couraged at 
first, but the last three winters they 
came through uninjured, the wood hav- 
ing ripened perfectly before freezing 
i‘A weather. 
The fifth year they averaged about 
Wj/f/ one-fourth pint of seed per tree. Each 
W^U pellet contains three seeds as grown. 
One pound of seed contains about 6,934 
seeds, which will produce plants enough, 
if all grow, to set lhl) rods of hedge. 
Directions for germinat ing the seed.should 
be given by the party furnishing them, as it 
requires careful management, and from 
thirty-five to sixty days to germinate, when 
they should be planted in drills, as you would 
carrots or beets, only they should be where 
fowls will not have access to them, as they 
will devour the young plants greedily. They 
should be about one inch apart in the drills. 
Cultivate thoroughly, and the next spring 
cut down near the ground and transplant to 
the hedge-row and cultivate five or six years 
before turning out. 
They have no thorns for two or three years, 
make a beautiful hedge, and will not require 
near so much prunniug as the Osage Orange, 
but in my opinion, should not be turned out 
before the sixth year. 
-♦♦♦- 
ARBORICULTURAL NOTES. 
—— 
How to Make Pcaclt Trees Bear Large , 
Smooth, Luscious Peaches .—Several years 
ago a gentleman owned a farm in Ulster Co. 
He had upon it several peach trees, which 
bore a small quantity of peaches, altogether 
enough for his family’s use. This gentle¬ 
man one day sold his farm. His wife was 
much displeased about it, and said the new 
corners should not have any benefit from the 
peach trees. Accordingly, she heated a large 
kettle of water until it boiled, aud turned it 
upon the roots of a peach tree, and so con¬ 
tinued to do until she had been to each tree. 
“There,” said she, “I’ve killed them all.” 
(This was an ignorant, revengeful old lady ; 
let. us hope no such ones exist at the present 
day.) Mark the result. The following sum¬ 
mer the new comers had an abundance 
of large, smooth, luscious peaches, such as 
the trees had never borne before. This 
teaches us a lesson, and I think it Is this. 
The hot water killed insects about the roots 
of the trees, aud made them more healthy, 
and the fruit also at the same time. The 
water was so cooled before it reached the 
roots of the trees it did not hurt them.— 
Bernice Betters. 
Orange Trees from Seed.— A correspon¬ 
dent of the Louisiana Home Journal, after 
trying two years to raise plants from seed 
and failing, finally succeeded in the following 
manner :—I half filled a can with water, and 
put it in some convenient place. Whenever 
any oue about the house ate oranges, I had 
it generally understood that they must bring 
the seed to me, if the oranges were firm and 
large. I then put all the nice large seed iu 
the can of water, rejecting the small and 
worthless ones, Whenever the can was filled 
with seed 1 would have them planted, then 
half fill the can with water and put it back 
in its old place to be again filled with seed. 
By adopting this plan the seed were never 
dry, as the water supplied the place of the 
juice in the orange, and I am sure I have a 
plant for every seed I planted, and now have 
five thousand plants a year old, to prove that 
my method of planting is a good one. 
To Make Cuttings (Dow .—A correspond¬ 
ent of the Western Pal mer says I used 
to have a great deal of trouble to make cur¬ 
rant and gooseberry cuttings or slips grow, 
until 1 tried the following plan : 1 boiled 
some potatoes until they were nearly done, 
and then stuck one on each slip and put it in 
the ground. Every slip sprouted and grew 
well all summer, with one or two exceptions. 
The idea of putting the boiled potatoes to 
the end of cuttings was to f urnish and keep 
moisture enough for them to grow until the 
roots become large enough to gather this 
moisture and substance from the soil. 
The. Illinois Legislature and Tree Plant¬ 
ing.—The Illinois Legislature has passed an 
act to encourage the planting and growing 
of timber by authorizing county boards to 
pay $10 per annum for three years for each 
acre of forest trees planted and cultivated. 
The act goes into effect on July 1st. 
patrons of gusbmtdrg. 
ITEMS FROM THE GRANGES. 
Orange Fairs. —A Mississippi Grange is 
offering $25 for the best com and the largest 
number of bushels from one acre of land ; 
$15 for the best and largest number of gal¬ 
lons from one acre of cane ; and $10 for the 
largest and best hog of any age raised in 
Winston Co. 
Life Insurance by Oranges. —A Patron 
proposes a life insurance upon members of 
the Order as follows A BCDE, represent¬ 
ing from one to five thousand dollars, consti¬ 
tutionally prohibit any larger amount on any 
one’s life. Five dollars on the thousand is 
ample to produce a cash capital of one mil¬ 
lion or more. Now, when death occurs, tax 
each member enough to replace the amount 
drawn. A pro rata call on, say fifty thou¬ 
sand members, could not be more than one 
cent to twenty-five, to raise the largest 
amount that could be drawn. Again, that 
large and accumulating capital put at even 
six per cent., could be applied, in part, to 
those constitutional unfortunates that could 
not be insured, which the order is pledged to 
aid and assist through a lifetime, and our 
capital remain at. home. 
Politics in Oranges. —The Rural Sun ad¬ 
vises Patrons as follows :—Have no G range 
candidates, but vote for the men who will 
do most to protect and foster agriculture, 
but do not vote for one simply on the ground 
and for the reason that he is a Patron. The 
farmers and Patrons in their individual ca¬ 
pacity, should use their influence to bring 
about a return to the good old rule, “ the 
office should seek the man and not the man 
the office.” To pursue any other course, will 
be to introduce strife and dissensions in their 
organizations, and imjwiir, if not destroy, the 
usefulness of such organizations with no re¬ 
sulting beneficial effects. Resolved into a 
separate body, the Patrons would unify and 
strengthen the opposition. Move slowly ; it 
is far better to hold on to what we have, than 
imperil it by trying to get more, before wo 
are able to hold it. Agriculture needs friends, 
and friends cannot be won in the manner 
proposed by some. 
Manufactories to be Established. —A Mis¬ 
souri Patron writes:—I hope the result of 
the agitation of the plow question will be to 
establish manufactories of agricultural im¬ 
plements all through Missouri. I believe 
every county can manufacture its owu im¬ 
plements. We are now, here in Linn County, 
taking steps to forma co-operative factory, 
with a capital of $60,000, and I think we will 
succeed. I think the solution of the western 
farmers’ difficulties will be found iu estab¬ 
lishing manufactories all over the West, thus 
bringing the producer and consumer togeth¬ 
er. If we could induce the skilled workmen 
of the East to come amongst us and trade 
their products for our produce, there would 
be no trouble about cheap transportation, 
and railroad companies would be forced to 
repudiate their watered stock. 
Temperance Resolutions. — The Pulaski 
Co,, (Ind.) Patrons, have adopted the follow¬ 
ing resolutions: 
Resolved, That we hereby pledge ourselves 
that we will not support any man for office, 
of whatever kind, who will attempt to in¬ 
fluence liis election, either directly or indi¬ 
rectly, by or through the influence of intoxi¬ 
cating drinks of any kind. 
Resolved, That we will not support any 
man for office who is an habitual drinker, or 
who is known to be in the habit of getting 
intoxicated, though it be only occasionally. 
Resolved. That we, and each of us. pledge 
our houor that we will not purchase intoxi¬ 
cating drink for any one, neither will we ac¬ 
cept a drink purchased by another for politi¬ 
cal influences. 
Patrons Starting Fashions. —A Tennessee 
Patron urges the sisters especially to buy as 
few goods as they ean possibly get along with 
and being substantial ones, adding:—I know 
the ladies like to keep up with the fashion. 
If I understand how fashions come, the peo¬ 
ple start them, and why should we not start 
a fashion that will be neat, and a great sav¬ 
ing, aud enable us to get out of debt, and 
stay out ( We should try to make such 
fashions as would be neat, cheap and com¬ 
fortable, so the honest, industrious laboring 
class can feci contented and happy. As 
trying to keep up with fashion, involves 
many in debt and ruin, let us pay as we go; 
and not have the merchant saying, “ there 
goes a granger dressed in my goods, not paid 
