selves. Our apples are not, sufficiently sour 
to makegood cider, nor for cooking purposes, 
nor sweet enough for rich, delicious baking 
apples. Besides, there are many fruit eat¬ 
ers, who, for a common eating apple, require 
one or the other of these extremes. Could 
we supply these wants, addiug the minute 
differences of flavor alluded to above, the 
satiety which follows the eating of fruit, 
which is “ neither very sweet nor vary sour,” 
would disappear, and there would be vastly 
more fruit eaten ; the advantage being as 
great to the consumer as to the producer. 
This “ toning down” of the flavor of apples 
is undoubtedly produced by change of cli¬ 
mate ; and such being the case, we must not 
expect a “perpetual cure,” even were we 
to introduce the most radical change. And 
in order to successfully compete with our 
Eastern rivals, we shall probably be com¬ 
pelled to keep up an importation of trees and 
cions belonging to varieties which possess 
these characteristics. 
know ; she is four or five years old ana 1 am 
confident that she used to lay. I should 
think she would weigh about five pounds. I 
do not know what breed she is ; her color is 
buff and white. Now comes what I consider 
the funny part of the thing. 1 do not know 
what the hen is going to be, but if she keeps 
on she will pass for a rooster by-and-by. The 
other day I noticed that she has oil one leg a 
spur, 1 think a good half inch long ; the one 
on the other leg is fairly started, but is only 
FLAVOR OF CALIFORNIA APPLES. 
The Pacific Rural Press, in a recent article, 
says But with regard to California apples, 
there can, we think, be but one opinion ; 
namely That they are, in a remarkable 
degree, lacking in strength and variety of 
H0UDAN8—SETTING TOO {MANY EGGS 
We have derived many times over the 
subscription price of the Rural New-York¬ 
er, and being very much interested in the 
Poultry Department, and also having some 
experience with poultry keeping, with a view 
to profit from the production of eggs in win¬ 
ter, have come to the conclusion that all 
kinds of fowls must have a warm house, and 
plenty of good food in winter to make them 
pay. By proper care, chickens may become 
a great profit, no matter what kind arekept, 
though, of course, some kinds are better than 
others. It has been a great mistake with us, 
many times, in setting hens too early and 
upon too many eggs. Thirteen are plenty 
for a common hem The eggs in turn become 
exposed to the cold and the loss of the whole 
brood has frequently been our reward in the 
place of uu extra chick or two. 
We arc now breeding the Houdans, and 
find them hardy, fair size and prolific layer* 
of large, white eggs; they occasionally sit 
and make good mothers ; if set will always 
lay in the same nests. The chicks arc hardy, 
easily reared, grow fast, are rather mis¬ 
chievous, and at four months are ready for 
the table, and t he flesh fit for any epicure. 
The superiority of this breed of fowls, ac¬ 
cording to our own experience, consists not 
only in laying ten per cent morn eggs, but 
they are. very hardy and winter well in our 
Northern climate. We keep a few Brahma 
hens for setting. Our Houdans came from 
G. W. Warner ; 1 see he keeps them in 
preference to other breeds. 1 do not wish to 
advertise, have none to spare. N. 
P. 8.—We have taken the Rural New- 
Yorker for thirteen years, missing two 
yearn in the time, and wish it came twice a 
week ; shall take it as long as wc live, if we 
don’t fail, and hope our children will take it 
after we are gone. n. 
Ben Davis Apple in Illinois.— At a late 
meeting of the Warsaw, Ill., Hort. Soc. Mr. 
Walker said if he were going to plant a 
commercial orchard, one-third of it should 
be Ben Davis. Mr. Willis said he would 
plant 700 out of 1,000 trees of Ben Davis ; Mr. 
Gregg would plant 000 Ben Davis out of 1,000 
trees. Mr. Sanford explained this prefer¬ 
ence for this variety by saying “ it is a sure 
bearer, the best keeper and brings more mon¬ 
ey than any other. 
flavor. Apple consumers here universally 
acknowledge It, and so little is expected 
from California apples in this respect that 
the growers give little consideration to the 
question of flavor ; and as a consequence of 
this indifference, in regard to all fruit quali¬ 
ties excepting size and beauty, varieties have 
become so confused that dealers, and even 
producers, scarcely know what they are 
selling, further than that they are apples. 
A gentleman, lately from New York, 
wished to purchase some apples from a fruit 
grower, who was selling his stock of beauti¬ 
ful apples, 
“What have you here?” asked the cus¬ 
tomer. 
“Why, apples, of course,” replied the 
owner, rather pitying the greenness of his 
new customer. 
“ Yes, I see they are apples,” said the gen¬ 
tleman, “ but what kind are they ? ” 
He was told that there was no particular 
name for them. 
“ There is one more question I want to ask 
about them,” said the stranger : “Are they 
sweet or sourY ” 
“ Well,” said the patient owner of the ap¬ 
ples, “they arc not very sweet nor very 
sour.” 
Here we have a just estimate, properly 
expressed, of the character of California ap¬ 
ples. They are neither very sweet nor very 
sour, for as we cannot produce as sour ap¬ 
ples as are grown in the East—some of 
which, to use a standard expression, would 
make a pig squeal to eat them—neither are 
our sweet apples so very sweet as theirs. 
Not only are these extremes of sweet and 
sour wanting in California apples, but we 
fail to secure the varied delicacies of flavors 
which characterize the scores of varieties of 
apples sold in the Eastern markets, and those 
varieties possessing marked individuality of 
flavor. The Spitzenberg, for instance, are 
greatly modified in flavor, when acclimatized 
here. Those who are familiar with the apple 
instanced above, as it is grown at the East, 
know that a plate of them placed upon the 
table in winter (and they should not be 
brought forth for eating until mid-winter) 
will fill the room with their invigorating 
odor; and they will also testify that the 
flavor is fully equal to the odor. 
The most partial of Californians will 
scarcely claim t hat our Spitzenberg apples 
are up to this standard, though with us they 
are large, smooth and shapely ; while at the 
East they are small, warty and one-sided. 
about half as long as the other. Her tail 
seems to be lengthening out; her comb re¬ 
mains about the same size as it was ; but on 
one side of the neck the wattle has grown 
and is more than an inch long, while the 
other does not appear to have, grown at all. 
Now, if any of the Rural New-Yorker 
readers can beat this, let us hear from them. 
A. S. Nash. 
Westport, Conn 
HOW TO DRESS A TURKEY. 
Take a board four feet long, one and a-hnlf 
feet wide, bore an inch hole in the center, 
about eight inches from one end, saw out a 
strip from this end to the hole, about one 
Inch wide, or wide enough to admit the neck 
of the turkey. Place this board on a barrel, 
with one end against your hips. Lay the 
turkey OH this board on its back, with its 
neck in the slat and head underneath ; then, 
with a sharp kuife, cut its throat under the 
board (that the blood may be out of the way); 
take the turkey by the legs, draw steadily, 
10 keep its neck in place, raise it from the 
board, that it need not be bruised, anu com 
mence at once to pull out the tail and wing 
feathers, and by the time it is done kicking 
you will liavn nearly all the feathers off. You 
will find that they will come off nearly as 
easy as if scalded. Thu pin-feathers, if any, 
should be taken out at once. When dressed, 
carry to the house, lay the carcass upon the 
table, on the back, with its wings in position, 
wipe dry, and when you get through, call in 
your wife, and you may be sure of her ap¬ 
proving smile.— Mr. N. W. Hardy of New 
Hampshire. 
BRADLEY’S HORSE HOE 
Syracuse, the “ Central City” of the Em¬ 
pire State—so long celebrated for the pro¬ 
duction of a superior quality of that saving 
element known and designated as Salt—has 
of late, and indeed for many years, been 
somewhat noted for its manufactures, nur¬ 
series and other brandies of business which 
materially increase both urban and suburban 
population and prosperity. Whether it ever 
becomes the capital of the State, as its citi¬ 
zens have aforetime insisted that it ought, 
and still anticipate in the future, is perhaps 
a mooted question, mow that a new State 
House is being erected in Albany,) yet Syra¬ 
cuse must continue to advance in growth 
and wealth, for its manufacturing business 
is annually augmenting, we are assured, and 
proving profitable to participants and ad¬ 
vantageous to the city. 
Among the jiromiueut establishments that 
reflect credit upon the Central City, and add 
to its material prosperity is the Bradley 
Manufacturing Company, which has for 
some years been extensively and successfully 
eugoged in the manufacture of agricultural 
machines, implements, etc. This Company 
is know n co all who peruse our advertising 
columns as the manufacturers of and deal¬ 
ers iu various tools, implements and machines 
of great utility, several of which have be¬ 
come very popular with soil cultivators over 
a wide extent of country. But our present 
purpose is not to specially eulogize either 
Syracuse or the Company alluded to, but 
rather to speak of—aye, commend as it mer¬ 
its—one of the implements manufactured by 
the latter. We refer to Bradley’s Horse 
Hoe, two illustrations of which are given 
herewith, one representing it as a cultivator 
and the other as a shovel plow—thus “ filling 
the bill,” or doing the work, of two import¬ 
ant implements. 
In the circular of the manufacturers Brad¬ 
ley’s Horse Hoe is claimed to be “a perfect 
hiller, and good cultivator.” It is “ adapted 
to every soil; has adjustable wings ; is very 
light, durable and desirable.” Assuming 
that these claims are substantially correct, 
the implements must prove of great value 
to farmers, gardeners, etc. But let us quote 
a further description in this wise:—"The 
rear teeth can be contracted or expanded to 
suit the width of the rows, 
POULTRY STATEMENT FOR 1878 
As the Poultry Department in your paper 
is very interesting to mu, anti to call out 
more items upon the subject, I send you my 
poultry account for 1873, showing the value 
of poultry under ordinary circumstance*. 
Our losses by disease were trifling. Now for 
the figures : 
Du. 
To 100 hens, at 70c.$ 70 00 
“ a roosters, at 80c. 2 40 
“ 12 turkeys, at $2. 24 00 
14 Food from Jan. 1, 1873, to Jan. 1,1874, 104 79 
Or. 
By 492 dozen eggs, at 23c... 
“ 348 chickens, nt&Oo. 
“ 84 turkeys, at $1.70— 
“ 88 hens on hand Jan., li 
“ 8 turkeys on hand Jan 
Total. 
POULTRY NOTES 
Sexes at Will —A cynical correspondent of 
the Prairie Farmer says My rule, so simple 
and easy of application, that any one living 
within the regions of modern civilization can 
have the means of practising it—was given 
me by a good old lady, who was famous in 
her day as a successful chicken-raiser. I am 
so well satisfied with it that I never trouble 
myself any more by testing the theories of 
others on this subject. My mind is perfectly 
at rest on this point at least in the manage¬ 
ment of poultry, and now my chief study is 
to produce the finest specimens of the breed 
of my choice, lie they either cockerels or 
pullets. The rule is : after you have picked 
oat the eggs to be set, by whatever other 
rule you may fancy, carry them to the nest 
Profit.... »$30o 37 
Tim hawks caught 30 chicks early in the 
spring, and in August I had chickens and 
turkeys stolen to the amount of about $100. 
None of these are included in the above ac¬ 
count. I give my fowls their liberty, and 
they have all the run they want, having ac¬ 
cess to a stream of pure running water. The 
grain was principally corn; but some oats 
were fed occasionally. Cracked corn was 
fed to the chicks, but the turkeys were fed 
corn meal, curd and mustard. Pepper w as 
also mixed with the feed. The old fowls 
laid but few eggs during the winter, but did 
well in the spring, 1 kept oyster shells 
broken up before t hem at all times, I always 
select the largest eggs to set, as small eggs 
produce small, puny, and unhealthy chicks ; 
while large eggs produce large, healthy 
chickens. N. R. Shuster. 
Frenchtown, N. J. 
CROWING HENS 
I would like to relate a few facts in regard 
to a hen, now in our possession. About a 
year ago, we had n dozen hens and a rooster 
or two that did not live with the rest of our 
chickens, but loved to live in the barn. 
Wishing to sell some for market, 1 killed all 
the roosters there were in the flock. A day 
or so after, I happened to bo waiting in the 
barn and thought I heaj'il a rooster crowing, 
and knowing that I had killed them all, 1 
was somewhat surprised, so going carefully 
along towards the spot where the sound 
came from, I was more surprised to see an 
old lien crow. It sounded just about like a 
young rooster making his first attempt at 
crowing. She has kept it up ever since, hav¬ 
ing her regular crowing spell in the morning. 
I do not think she lays now, but I do not 
The wings will 
admit of being raised or lowered, according 
to the amount of earth It is desirable to 
throw around the liill, or they can be taken 
off, according to the height and condition of 
the growing crop. The wings and rear teeth 
can be taken off entirely, leaving the im¬ 
plement a single Shovel Plow—in fact it can 
be adapted to the successful cultivation of 
corn, tobacco, potatoes, or any crop that is 
planted in hills or rows. It is easily adjusted, 
and a little practical experience will enable 
any one to handle it to advantage.” 
Those of our readers desirous of further 
information, can undoubtedly obtain it, by 
letter or circular, on application to the Com¬ 
pany. 
Bradley’s Horse Hoe as a Shovel Plow, 
For the fruit growers of California to 
deny that their apples lack the extremes of 
sweet and sour, and also the finer points in 
flavor and odor, would be but another in¬ 
stance of the unwarrantable sensitiveness to 
criticism, so characteristic of new country 
producers. And to neglect to supply this 
want as far as possible, would be short¬ 
sighted, and would spite nobody but our¬ 
in a hat if you desire cockerels, or in a sun- 
bonnet if you wish to obtain pullets. 
Trouble with Hens .—I have had a number 
of hens taken ill and die in a very short 
time. They Beem well as usual, then are 
taken suddenly ill, droop their wings; a 
greenish substance oozes from the head after 
they die. Can any of your readers help me ? 
—r. p. s. 
