THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
\%7 
mal affected this way and dried her. She was 
all right after her next calf. But in another 
case whore the cow was six years old, she came 
on to give bad milk after having calved subse¬ 
quent to the injury, and she was then disposed 
of by drying her and making hoof of her. It 
would bo proper to call in a good veterinary sur- 
goon if the heifer is valuable enough to render 
it desirable to keep her in the dairy. 
Sir. Grant, the groat stock farmer out West, 
has tried hornless bulls against Short-Horns, 
and the result was 100 lbs. per head in favor of 
no horns. I have advocated the breeding away 
of such dangerous weapons for many years, but 
like many other evils, they will be allowed to re¬ 
main so long as they are fashionable. 
A Working Farmer. 
®ljc fonltrjr jjari). 
RAISING POULTRY. 
I intend to go into the country to invest in 
Poultry. Now, as I have had no experience 
in that line, I thought you might be kind 
enough to assist mo. When would bo the best 
time to start, and whore ; and what sort of chick¬ 
ens and how many would it ho host to start with ? 
Anr :—There are not very many ways by which 
a man can lose money so easily, while diligently 
attending to his business, as by attempting 
to succeed in poultry farming without having 
any experience in the occupation. It looks easy 
enough to the novice to rear a number of chick¬ 
ens, while a little figuring on the eggs and the 
poultry for market promises results delusively 
enticing. A little experience, however, is certain 
to darken the bright prospect, and a shrewd man 
instead of incurring this experience himself 
should profit by that of others. The lesson 
taught by this, is that not quo iu ten of those 
who have tried to realize, not a fortune, but even 
a livelihood, in this way, has boon successful. 
Every one who keeps poultry ou a small scale 
knows that it is a risky business, and the dan¬ 
gers from disease and other causes increase in 
disproportionate ratio whore a largo number of 
fowls are kept. The mau who is resolved to try 
the experiment, should therefore, as an indis¬ 
pensable precautionary measure, visit some farm 
where many birds are kept, and then thoroughly 
post himself on the multitude of ailments to 
which they are subject, and tho boBt system of 
managing them. It would bo well also to get 
one of tho numerous works treating of tho sub¬ 
ject aud study it carefully, so that on tho first 
appearance of any disease among his flock, ho 
may know at onco what remedies to apply, and 
so have a good chance to prevent it from spread¬ 
ing. The preliminary outlay of ten dollars 
Rpent in this manner will frequently prevent the 
loss of as many hundreds during tho progress of 
the undertaking. 
If it is intended to supply eggs to th6 market, 
fall would be the best time to begin operations, 
and then, by judicious management, the heus 
could easily be brought to lay all winter when 
tho Bale of eggs is tho most profitable. If rais¬ 
ing poultry, however, is the end in view, early in 
spring would he a better season to start In the 
business ; for in this way the numerous dangers 
from inclement weather, would bo to a great ex¬ 
tent avoided, while there would be ample time to 
hatch as many broods of chicks as desirable, to 
find their way to the markot as spring chickens 
in due season. 
On the supposition that the poultry and eggs 
are intended for markot, the best place for es¬ 
tablishing a poultry farm would be in the neigh¬ 
borhood of some large town or city, or at any 
rate at a point from which transportation to 
market is quick and cheap. Besides the saving 
in freight thus made, cheap food in the shape of 
various kinds of offal cau then bo procured. In 
locating the site, it would be unwise to purchase 
or rent good ground, as very inferior land is 
quite as favorable for the purpose and can be 
had at a much lower figure. With regard to the 
choice of birds, there is a great diversity of 
opinion oven among men who have been very 
succeshfulin tho business; but White Leghorns 
are generally considered to be, on the whole, the 
most profitable as layers ; while the offsprings of 
a cross between the Light Brahmas and the com¬ 
mon barn yard fowl, make excellent sitters. 
Brahmas mated with large Dorking cocks pro¬ 
duce a fine, large fowl, which cannot be excelled 
by any pure breed for hardiness, quick growth 
and ease ot fattening. Houdana and Polands 
are also profitable birds and great favorites with 
experienced poultry keepers. It would be highly 
imprudent for a tyro in the business to start 
with a large number of birds, and a novice, if 
wise, would do well to purchase no more than two 
or three dozou at the outset, and increase his 
stock when he had served au apprenticeship to 
the business. In any ease, there ought not to 
be more than from 50 to 75 birds to oacli acre in 
the run, nor should there bo a greater number 
than this allotted to each poultry house. 
£ 
CRAMMING FOWLS. 
Cramming fowls, to fatten them quickly, is ex¬ 
tensively practiced in Europe, especially on the 
large poultry farms that supply towns and citios. 
I For this purpose either tho finest and healthiest 
birds are taken from t he coops where they have 
already been undergoing the proceBB of fatten¬ 
ing, or the choicest young fowls from the poul¬ 
try yard are selected. The food used is oatmeal, 
mixed Btiff with milk aud made up into boluses, 
just largo enough to be put down tho chicken’s 
throat without danger of choking it. To fatten 
more rapidly ; mutton suet may be boiled in the 
milk used to mix the oatmeal. The person em¬ 
ployed in the cramming process opens the ohick- 
on’s beak, and puts six or eight boluses down its 
throat morning and evening. If the fowls seem 
to wish for food at noon, a little can be given 
them in the trough, which must alHo he supplied 
with water and gravel. Those taken from the 
camps will bo finished off in a week; those which 
have to bo fatted entirely by tho cramming, will 
take fourteen to sixteen days. While fattening 
by either process, they must be kept free from 
draft, as they will fatten all the better for 
being comfortably warm. 
tflmijlulmr. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Chicago, ill., Aug. 25. 
The story is very monotonous out hero all 
through this section. Tho cropH are wonderful. 
Wheat is running from 1H to 25 bushels per 
acre in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northern 
Illinois, well filled and good weight. Two 
weeks ago it looked bad, but through the infiuence 
of lino rainB (for the past ten days ) it has greatly 
irnprovod and will now yield a full avorago. Oats 
are an extra heavy crop, running from forty to 
ninety bushels per acre and from thirty to forty 
cents per bushel. Flax seed, the heaviest ever 
known in the West. Potatoes are looking well 
and promise a largo yield. The fruit crop is 
very small, there being no apples t.o speak of ex¬ 
cepting in Western Iowa and Southern Illinois, 
Indiana and Minnesota. There the crop is 
large. k. 
WAURESKA, WlS., Ang. 14. 
We had a fine rain last night and to-day which 
was sadly needed iu this locality. Corn and po¬ 
tatoes were suffering Borne, but now promise to 
yield largely. We have a fine crop of wheat all 
harvested. Oats are extra heavy and a large 
crop. Farmers are holding wheat for better 
prices j oats will probably be fmt on the market 
at onco as they are now bringing 40 cents, whioh 
is a good price for this country. Fruit is almost 
a total failure. h. w. 
Sandwich, Ill., August 17. 
Corn and oats are the principal crops in this 
section, very little wheat and rye being raised. 
Wo have the heaviest crop of oats ever seen 
here, running from 40 to 60 bushels to the acre, 
and from 30 to 40 pounds to the bushel. The 
corn crop looks excellent, and promises a large 
yield ; apples are very light. Wheat, 90 oents, 
oats, 17 cents, aud eggs 10 cents per dozen. 
Butter, 16 cents per pound. k. 
Watertown, Wla., Aug. 13. 
No rain here of any account for the past four i 
weeks. Corn and potatoes are feeling the effects I 
of the drought, but a good rain will bring them 
out all right. Wheat all in, and oats nearly so. 
We have had a fine season for harvesting and 
have one of the best crops of wheat aud rye— 
and the heaviest yield of oats ever seen in this 
section. The fruit crop is light; no apples to 
speak of. a. w. o. 
A cyclone passed over tho town of youth 
Bend, Indiana, Aug. 14th, and carried off part of 
the roof of the Oliver Chilled Plow, Works, 
(about 40x60 feet.) There were seven hundred 
men at work in the shops at tho time, but for¬ 
tunately none was injured. The damage cau be 
easily repaired, and will not interfere with the 
businesa of tho oonoern k. 
Batavia, III. 
We havo had a very fine growing season here. 
Wheat is all in and proves a good large crop. 
Oats are very heavy aud extra good. Corn looks 
well. Potatoes a large yield. There is no fruit 
of any account. Wheat #1; Oats 20c.; Corn 
45c.; Eggs 10c. per doz.; Butter 20c. per pound. 
Straw at tho paper mill $6 per ton. k. b. 
ijacinb, Wis., Aug,, Us. 
We have had excellent harvest weather. 
Wheat and oats are all in ; wo have an extra fine 
crop of wheat, running from twenty to twenty- 
five bushels to the acre, and well filled and 
ripened. Oats are also extra heavy this yoar. 
No fruit to speak of. Wheat, *1 20; Oats, 40 
cents. c. b. it. 
Fort Wayne, Ind,, Aug. 17. 
With the exception of corn and apples, wo 
have an abundance of every crop. A. l. 
-♦♦♦ 
Muskegon, Mich., Aug. 20 . 
Saw-logs short for want of water; strike of 
the boom hands delayed their delivery some two 
weeks. Settled eventually by concessions of one 
side as much as tho other, and a little more. 
Corn, what little is planted, all dried up and pro- 
niaturely ripe, with two or f.liroo inches of bare 
cobb. Cut up half an acre of sweet corn which 
looked fine .Inly 1st and put all the earn in a half 
bushel basket. Graws all dry and crackles under 
tho feet like frozen sleet. Grapes shriveling 
with thrips ou them in clouds. Such a drought 
never known, and all this mischief caused by 
tho want of water which is so plentiful clime by 
us, in Muskegon Lake, with an inland ocean 
(Lake Michigan) just west of us. p. 
West Cuazy, Clinton Co., N. Y. 
We have beou Buffering in this part of the 
State, from tho most severe drought whioh has 
been known for years. Everything was very dry 
until the past two weeks. Since then we havo 
had plenty of ram that will help corn, buckwheat 
and potatoes. Very little trouble lias been ex¬ 
perienced on account of tho Potato beetles, as 
people waged a general warfare against thorn. 
Wheat, oats, and bay about half a crop. The 
drought seems to ho local, as wo hoar of plenty 
or rain and good crops in other parts of tho 
County and Slate. The grasshoppers have in¬ 
jured grain and pastures in this section. As for 
fruit, very few apples, and not many pears, 
•f. Anderson. 
Spring Valley, Bergen Co., N. .1., Aug. 20. 
Now that the potato crop is secured, farmers 
no longer use 1’aris-grecn to destroy the myriads 
of beetles that were permitted to feed upon tho 
haulm, and are now to be found upon every liv¬ 
ing plant, post aud picket. As if deprived of 
the last friend, or a confusion of tongues had 
suddenly arisen among them, they are wander¬ 
ing in all directions. But little trouble on the 
part of farmers and gardeners would have all 
but exterminated them for another season. As 
it is, unless parasites or a season unfavorable to 
their increase should kill thorn off, we may rest 
assured of a plentiful crop for the summer of 
1878. o. s. k. 
-■ ♦- 
Buffalo, Wilson Co., Kan., Aug. 17. 
This has been a very favorable year for Kan¬ 
sas. Wheat was damaged to some extent by 
rains in Jnne; nevertheless there will bo a fair 
crop. Corn was retarded by spring rams, and 
unless we have frequent showers tills month, the 
crop on tho uplands will bo light. Other crops 
look promising. Farmers arc now busy prepar¬ 
ing llioir ground for wheat, of which a great 
deal will probably be sown. Price of wheat SOo. 
<§>$1.00 per bushel. Tho applo and peach crops 
are good. W. M. Duff. 
Humbolt, Tonn., Aug. 15, ’77. 
We havo had abundant rains Up lo this date¬ 
line for plowing stubble and grass land. Tbo 
corn crop is now socuro ; can’t say as to cotton 
and tobacco crops. Sorghum is line ; cholera, or 
some disease iB fatal among hogs, especially 
those that ran on the marsh last winter. Of those 
kept in orchards and having plenty of fruit, 
scarcely any have been lost. The apple crop 
will be short—too wet. R. f. t. 
-« ♦ • ■ — 
El Dorado, Cal. 
We are having a terrible time of it with fires 
in tho woods. Not a day last week but men 
were called to fight fires in tho woods, and still 
they are burning. I am so tirod from lighting 
firo I can hardly Hit still to write. d. 
Industrial Implements, 
CORNELL’S A. B. C. THRESHER AND 
CLEANER. 
The farming communities have long felt the 
need of a threshing machine which will produce 
good work at a minimum of expense. A ma¬ 
chine which, it is claimed, moots those require¬ 
ments, is illustrated in this issue. Tho manu¬ 
facturer, O. H. P. Cornell, of the Albany 
Agricultural Works, has labored with great en¬ 
ergy and intelligence to produce one of tbo best 
threshing machines extant ; and thoprosont ma¬ 
chine simplified by tho rigid rejection of cum¬ 
bersome and useless parts, and rendered more of- 
octual by bringing every movement strictly within 
the best mechanical principles is the result of 
his efforts. It is called tho (Jounll A It. C. 
Thresher and.Cleaner. It is claimed that it does 
its work with a very small expenditure of power 
and that it loaves tho grain as clean as it can bo 
delivered from tho fanning mill, and that it does 
this without wasting grain among the straw and 
chaff. It requires little help to operate it and 
its parts are so few that its liability to got out 
of order is reducod to tho smallest ohanco. 
The machine is of tho class known as “ vibra¬ 
tors." Tho separator and cleaner shoe vibrate 
lengthwise with the machine, the straw being 
thoroughly tossed up and ejected by fingers 
vibrating with the separator aud driving mo¬ 
tion therefrom. Tho upper and lower shoes 
are so nicely balancod, and tho machine itself so 
oasy in its movements that it is said it may bo 
safely run while standing upon the floor with 
unblocked wheels. 
The machine is provided with a dust fine 
which thoroughly takes away the dust from (ho 
feeder, and is also provided with the customary 
tailings, elevator and straw-carrier. The fan 
shaft is entirely free from other work than sim¬ 
ply driving the blast. 
Another improvement In these machines is the 
rubber cushions which, attached to tho shoes, 
take tho force required to stop them and give it 
out again as they get under motion on tho suc¬ 
ceeding stroke. This device not only saves 
[tower, bnl it relievos tho pitman boxes from 
great strain and wear. 
Those Threshers and Cleaners are manufac¬ 
tured of various sizes, and are uapidly wiuniug 
their way into popular favor. The manufactory 
from whioh they emanate, owned by Mu. Cor¬ 
nell, was established in 1847 by Horace L. 
Embry and has long enjoyed a high reputation for 
tbo excellence of its work. Its machines have 
been widely introduced, uoliu this country alono, 
but in Europe, Mexico, South America and 
Australia, and tho present proprietor will, we 
have no doubt, maintain the position already 
secured. 
-M-*- 
THE HALLIDAY MILL, 
Editors Rural New-Yorker — Gentlemen: I 
have in use a Halliday Standard 13-foot geared 
mill which far exceeds my most sanguine expec¬ 
tations. I consider it the cheapest piece of 
machinery on my place and far the most profita¬ 
ble. It is capable of grinding all my corn, pump¬ 
ing all the wells dry on the place, and doing a 
good deal of work for the neighbors. I havo 
shelled and ground forty bushtds during the day, 
and when 1 get my elevator attached and things 
made handy, have no doubt it will shell and grind 
fifty. I have a two-hole sheller and a Batavia 
feed mill. When the wind blows strong and 
steady, we can run both at the same time. 
Every farmer who raises corn and feeds it, will 
make the mill clear in one yoar. This is my 
opinion. Knowing what little I do about them, I 
would not run a farm on which 1 feed stock with¬ 
out. one. The power is much cheaper than horse 
fiesh. I feel highly pleased becauso tho mill 
does so much more work than I expected it could 
do. No one span of horsos cau do so much in 
twenty-four hours. These mills must come more 
generally into use, or feeders will certainly bo 
behind the age. Yours truly, John P. Fox. 
GeneBeo, ill., June o, 1877, 
CORNELL’S ABO THRESHER AND CLEANER. 
