®he $) oultr^ Hard. 
THE POULTRY-KEEPER.-NO. 17. 
THE BREAOA fOWL.-HEN CUCKOO VARIETY. 
The weight and form of a good hen of 
this variety, called also the Gueldre, are 
nearly the same as those of the Houdan. 
-—V 
Figure 69. 
She should weigh 6 lbs. 10 ozs. Her head is 
almost exactly like the cock’s in regard to 
comb, tuft, &o., only differing in the wattles, 
which are rather small. The foot is feather¬ 
ed like that of the cock, but the lengthening 
of the feathers of olie hock is less apparent. 
(fi'J 69). 
Plumage,. —In each variety the plumage of 
the cock and hen is alike. In the Black they 
are all black, in the White all white, and in 
the Cuckoo variety it is entirely cuckoo. 
Figure 70. 
Each feather has four grey regular marks 
visible on the white ground (fig 70 ), except¬ 
ing the sickle feathers of the cock, the marks 
on which take the form of grains of oats. 
With the hen the large feathers of the 
wings and tail are often less clear than on 
the other parts, and the marks of these 
feathers vary from six to seven. 
The Breda and Gueldre are excellent lay¬ 
ers. Their eggs are very large and excellent. 
They are seldom broody. 
This beautiful fowl is much esteemed in 
Holland, where it comes from. In France 
the Black variety is believed to be much 
used in producing the Black Cochin-Chinas, 
and it is thought that the Cuckoo (Gueldre) 
is used much iu the production of the Cuckoo 
Cochin China. It is certain that this variety 
is justly praised for cross-breeding, and 
traces of it are found in the principal French 
varieties. 
--. 
SET THE HENS. 
Early chickens pay the best because you 
cau get more money for less birds. The 
main help with the first broods is to have 
some nice, warm coops to confine the hen, 
with a front to shut up at pleasure and make 
quite dark as in cold spells by closing the 
front it causes the hen to nurse the chickens. 
I have hundreds in February nJl in ooops 
without bottoms and had to dig away the 
drifted snow, which completely covered 
and hid the whole row ; on being brought 
to light they were more lively than usual, 
for the suow had kept the cold wind from 
penetrating, and they were hungry, as it 
took time to set them at liberty, as there 
were more than sixty coops, each one having 1 
a hen with irom eleven to thirteen chickens, ' 
This has occurred m several seasons, on some | ' 
occasions when the ground was wet from the 1 
air being thawing. I bad some salt hay, 
short chaffy straw, or sawdust, put on a fresh 
place and the coop slided along and put on 
: it. The bare ground is always best when 
dry enough, and on old sod. My coops were 
always put about sixer eight steps apart and 
in a rc\/, and moved every day on to a clean 
place ; and I have thus gone over several 
acres which have shown the effects of the 
droppings from the chickens by the deep 
green shade and the stronger growth of the 
grass. The loss from casualties and disease 
has never been so great from early chickens 
and the only extra trouble is the necessary 
closing of the coops on stormy and very cold 
days and the feeding oftener than in mild 
weather. I never gave water so early in the 
year, but instead fed alternately with soft 
food, which answers the purpose and saves a 
deal of trouble ; meat once a day or once iu 
two days will do, and then grain and split 
corn, varied with scalded meal or bread and 
milk, when very young, as most convenient. 
I never pay any attention to old women’s 
quackery—never give peppercorns or uught 
besides the common everyday food which 
comes readiest to hand ; for with little chick¬ 
ens, as with fowls in general, the main con¬ 
sideration is to have them always on the 
ground, (plain mother earth,) with a good 
sward the better, and clear of poultry dung. 
A Working Farmer. 
- - - 4 -- 
RED PEPPER AND POULTRY. 
A lady correspondent of the Poultry Bul¬ 
letin says “ I do not know if other persons 
who raise poultry and pet birds are as much 
dependent as i am on red pepper but 1 have 
found 80 much benefit from its use In my 
poultry yards and bird cages, that it may not 
be amiss to cull the attention of others to its 
good properties. I do not speak of the ari l 
cle that is sold in the drug stores (and some¬ 
times not remarkably fresh) but of the cap¬ 
sicum that grows in our gardens. I lmvc 
tried ail the different varieties, and that the 
most pungent and efficacious is the small kind 
usually known by the name of * bird’s pep. 
per.’ The plant in itself is a beautiful object ; 
it grows about two feet high, and in autumn 
its bright little scarlet berries look like coral 
beads peeping from under the dark, groen 
foliage. Indeed, one plant in a pot forms a 
very pretty ornament for a flower stand. 
The seeds possess a stimulating and reviving 
property, and I And that two or three given 
to newly-hatched chickens, especially if they 
are weakly, have a most happy effect. If a 
hen looks feeble after moulting, six of those 
berries or pods, given daily in some corn 
meal and sweet milk, improve her wonder¬ 
fully. Last summer two of my finest cana¬ 
ries began to droop. Every day 1 gave them 
each one seed of the ‘ bird’s pepper,’ and in 
less than a week they were quite well. The 
same remedy is invaluable for mocking 
birds.” 
PREMIUM FARM GRIST MILL. 
In answer to an inquiry about Portable 
Farm Grist Mills we give the accompanying 
illustration of a very superior one manufac¬ 
tured by Wii. L. Boyer & Bro. of Phila., 
Pa. This mill has been before the public for 
over a decade of years, and is largely In use 
throughout the United States, as well as in 
Canada, South America, Cuba, &e. It Is 
highly commended by those who have it in 
operation. The mill is easily adjusted to any 
kind of power, and but little experience is 
required to run it successfully. “The grind¬ 
ing surfaces, being ciadc of chilled iron, are 
of the most durable character, being so ar¬ 
ranged as to possess self-sharpening quali¬ 
ties, which completely removes the objec¬ 
tion that iron mills soon wear out; hence no 
sharpening is required and the mill can run 
for years without any repairs, thus saving 
much time and expense, and being always 
ready for work.” 
But this mill is also efficient and durable, 
as well as simple. As the manufacturers 
say, “it is just what every farmer needs 
for grinding any kind of grain for feed, 
either fine or coarse, making good corn meal 
for family use ; for grinding and bolting 
wheat in one operation, producing good fam¬ 
ily flour, and for grinding corn in the ear. 
“It is adapted to one or two horse railway 
power, or two or four horse lever power, or 
gin, steam or water power, and will grind 
Corn, Rye, Oats, Wheat, etc., fine or coarse, 
as may be desired. Driven by a two-horse 
railway power, or four-horse lever power, it 
will grind from eight to twelve bushels per 
hour and crack from fifteen to thirty bush¬ 
els per hour ; and driven by a one-horse rail¬ 
way power or a two-horse lever power, it 
will grind from four to six bushels line per 
hour, or crack eight to fifteen bushels per 
hour. The grinding parts of the mill can be , 
replaced at a small expense. It is also ar¬ 
ranged with steel cutters to grind corn in the | 
ear. It occupies a space of about three feet 
square, and weighs about 27f» pounds.” 
The Messrs. Boyer state, in their circular, 
that “ First Premiums have been awarded 
for our Premium Grist Mill by all the State 
and County Fairs, wherever placed in com¬ 
petition a fact which does not militate 
against their claim as to its superior simpli¬ 
city, durability and efficiency. 
have at least, one inch pitch, and then it will 
wear on the top of the point, leaving the 
bottom flat as when new. The point from 
landside to the end of the share, should not 
be over seven or eight inches wide. The 
mold-board should be about three and one- 
half feet long, including the point, and from 
three-fourths inch to one inch, rounding at 
the point, and convex instead of concave. 
The beam should be of cast iron, not wrought 
iron, or wood, that will bend or warp. 
Mr. Hodge gave some hints as to the best 
method of plowing. If flat land-plows are 
used, commence with turningabackfurrow, 
and plow not over three inches deep : then 
drop the plow one inch on each subsequent 
furrow until you get the desired depth, and 
it will show (he plowed land. In turning 
the sod, it should be made to lie at an angle 
of about forty-five degrees. The coulter to 
be set even with the landside or Bhare, to 
prevent cutting two slices. There are ad¬ 
vantages in using a swivel or reversible 
plow ; it equalizes the working of the team 
as well as the man who holds, and will plow 
four acres as quick as a flat laudside plow 
will three acres, cutting the same width of 
furrows, and avoid all dead furrows. 
-■♦♦♦- 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
llexamers Pronged Hoe is pronounced by 
practical gardeners and small fruit cultiva¬ 
tors an exceedingly useful implement. It 
has grown in popularity ever since its first 
introduction to the public by its exhibition 
at the American Institute Farmer’s ulub. 
There are few of our market gardeners and 
suburban horticulturists who do uot use and 
esteem it. Our Associate, Mr. Fuller, 
J commends it highly, and he is not in the 
habit of commending anything which he 
doe3 not find useful. 
OriUn With Fertiliser Attachments.— (D. 
W. R.) Yea, there are excellent grain drills 
made with attachments for sowing fertili- 
, zero. Probably they have been, are, or will 
j be advertised in our columns. We know 
that they are used and highly esteemed in 
many localities in this state ; and you are 
advised, if you are going to purchase a drill, 
and do use or design using superphosphates 
or any of that class of fertilizers, to buy a 
drill with such an attachment, f r we know 
they are highly regarded by those who have 
used them. 
ABOUT A GOOD PLOW. 
<#i|m (Bcanomn, 
Tallow for Gapes.—A correspondent of t he 
Field says :—“ One day I noticed a flock of 
eleven pure-bred Creve-Cceur chickens very 
bad with wJiatIscalled ‘gapes.’ I remarked 
to the man who had them in charge that lie 
would not have many chickens out of that 
lot. ‘Oh, never mind,’ said he, ‘I have got 
a cure for them from a neighboring woman, 
A letter from Mr. E. Hodge, Oneonta, 
N. Y., was recently read at a meeting of the 
Franklin Harvest Club, in which he said : 
The selection of a good plow is one of the 
most difficult talks a farmer has to perform, 
because as a rule, they are not in market. 
The plows that have been made for the last 
twenty-live or thirty years ure about the 
same thing the world over. For a good 
plow, the beam should be short, not over one 
foot beyond the point, for the shorter the 
beam the less leverage the team lias over the 
plowman. The handles should be long, 
pressing well back so as to give the plowman 
F’FtHHVIITJJVl FARM GRIST NULL, 
which is a common half penny tallow candle nearly twice the advantage of the team 
melted and mixed into about a quart of oat- The landside* should be about, say two feet 
meal stirabout.’ The remedy was resorted 
to and the Creve-Cceurs have every one re¬ 
covered and grown into finely developed 
chickens. I have since tried this cure with in¬ 
variable success on Brahmas, Dorkings, &c.” 
from the end of the point to the hind end of 
the landside, because the plow must run its 
length before it cau get its depth; the 
shorter the landside, the easier it adapts 
itself to uneven ground. The plow should 
THE BLOOD AND BONE FERTILIZER. 
* 
b In response to your inquiry about the 
: merits of the blood and bone fertilizer manu- 
b faetured from the refuse of the Abbatoir at 
, Comraunipaw, I would say that it has been 
, used by nearly all of the market gardeners 
t from Bergen Point to Jersey City Flights, 
• [ a,, d the best evidence of its merit is the fact 
I of the continuance of its use to the exclusion 
of nearly all other commercial fertilizers, 
except Peruvian guano ; but most of us be¬ 
lieve mat tile blood and bone fertilizer is 
cheaper at $65 per ton than guano is at $80, 
oi, in other words, that a ton of the one 1 is 
about equal to a ton of the other. 
I may state that wo rarely trust a crop ex¬ 
clusively to any commercial fertilizer, pre¬ 
ferring to use about half the value in stable 
manure. The stable manure is plow'ed in in 
spring in the usual way, and after plowing 
the fertilizer is sown on at the rate of 1 ton 
to the acre, where 21 tons of stable manure 
have been previously plowed in ; but where 
no manure lias been used, not less than 8,000 
lbs. per acre should be used if for the usual 
early spring crops of vegetables, such as 
beets, cabbage, lettuce, onions, &c. 
Greenville. N. J. I. mcD. 
-*«-*-- 
DEODORIZING NIGHT SOIL. 
_ 
Permit me to give my mode of deodorizing 
and handling night soil. All of us do not 
have charcoal, &c., to use, lienee I write 
these few lines. In the fall, when muck is 
dry, L get a load and keep it ary until spring • 
drive a log boat with a box on it large enough 
to hold what muck and manure I want to 
mix along side of the privy, turn the privy 
half way over and prop, put some muck in 
the bottom of the box and shovel some into 
the vault and mix it in the vault and then 
shovel into the box ; keep some muck around 
the edge until done ; then drive into the 
barn-yard, and shovel it out in one pile; take 
a hoe and hoe it over until it is thoroughly 
mixed ; then shovel it all over three or four 
days, once a day. I then have a Reap of r ich 
manure for corn, and it can be dropped by 
haud without any unpleasant odor or stick¬ 
ing to the hands. My practice is to drop 
what I can take up on my hand for one hill. 
There is a large amount of night soil wasted 
that might be used with great profit and 
prevent exhausting the soil with the corn 1 
crop as at present. A. Smith. 
--- 
