N OV.43 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
7 Si 
as plant-food. Knop and other experimenters 
were unable to grow seed-bearing plants, by 
way of water-cultnre, when the nitrogenous 
food was given in the form of ammonium salts 
alone, though with nitrates, and with mixtures 
of nitrates and ammonium salts, they succeed¬ 
ed well enough. In many cases it appeared 
that ammonium salts were not at all fitted to 
directly supply the plants with nitrogenous 
food; but it wub argued that the fact was 
probably of no great importance as regards 
field crops, since ammouia is known to change 
to nitrates in the soil. More recently several 
attempts have been made to determine, in re¬ 
spect to particular kinds of plants, whether 
ammonia salts or nitrates are preferred as 
food at one or another stage of growth, and 
this is the point which is now of special inter¬ 
est. 
Some valuable suggestions have been gained 
already, and no doubt the problem will be 
solved in process of time, in spite of certain 
difficulties which have beset it hitherto. Not 
the least amoug these difficulties was the liabil¬ 
ity of the ammonium salts tochange to nitrates 
in the actual course of the experiment—a ten¬ 
dency which can probably be counteracted 
henceforth ; for it has recently been discovered 
that the change of ammonia to nitrates is not 
a matter of mere chemical oxidation as had 
been supposed, but is caused by certain minute 
organisms whose life, or whose activity at 
least, can readily be destroyed by the vapor of 
chloroform and various other chemicals. Among 
these vapors there will doubtless be found 
some which while keeping the ammoniacal 
fertilizer intact during the whole course of the 
experiment, will have no influence whatsoever 
upon the growth of the plant. As an instance 
of this kind of perturbation, an experiment ot 
Bayer may be mentioned. He sought to grow 
oats, by way of water-culture, in a solution of 
fertilizers where the nitrogen was in the form 
of bicarbonate of ammouia. The plants started 
in a miserable, crippled way, and most of them 
died after a short time. Some of them grew, 
however, in a feeble way until the time of 
blossoming, and even bore a few seeds. But 
when the experiment was just about to 
be concluded the plants suddenly began to 
grow freely, and on examination it ap¬ 
peared that almost the whole of the am¬ 
monia salt had been changed to a ni¬ 
trate. Ou repeated trial he was unable to 
grow healthy oat plants with ammonium salts, 
though the oat9 grew readily under the same 
conditions when supplied with nitrates. In 
field experiments made recently by Professor 
Heiden, to test this point, it appeared that 
crops of oats did better with nitrate of soda 
than with sulphate of ammonia. 
Some of the most noteworthy experiments 
upon this question are those of Julius Leh¬ 
mann. He grew a large number of plants of 
buckwheat and of Indian corn in solutions 
which were all of similar composition in re¬ 
spect to the ash ingredients, but which differed 
from one another in that soma of the solutious 
contained nitrate of irou while others contain¬ 
ed sulphate of ammonia. The buckwheat 
plants grew very well in the solutions that 
contained uitrates, as well Indeed as they would 
have grown in a garden, but they grew very 
badly in the solutions that contained the am¬ 
monium salt. ThiB result does but confirm the 
observations of previous observers, who found 
that buckwheat succeeds when fed with ni¬ 
trates and that it does not need ammonia. 
Indian corn, on the other baud, behaved in 
a very different way from buckwheat. The 
plauts were placed in the jars on the 19th of 
June, just after they had germinated, aud in a 
week’s time all the plants fed with the nitrate 
seemed to be in a starving condition, while 
those fed with ammonia grew freely from the 
first aud exhibited most conclusive evidence 
that they were getting the right kind of food. 
But at the end of six weeks the appearance of 
all the corn-plants suddenly changed, both 
those which were getting the nitrate aud those 
fed with the ammonium salt. The nitrate- 
plants became green all at once, although no 
change had occurred in respect to the outward 
conditions under which they were growing, 
and from that time forth the nitrate-plants 
grew well aud rapidly. But with the am¬ 
monia-plants the precise reverse ol this oc¬ 
curred, and at the very same time. The leaves 
of these plantB lost their healthy color and the 
plants took on a sickly appearance ; while the 
nitrate plants grew continuously and developed 
normally uutil the i. r nb of September, the am¬ 
monium-plants ceased to increase in size, they 
remained stationary In a miserable condition. 
Moreover, ou chaoglng some of the sickly 
nitrate-plants, during the first period, into jars 
that contained the ammoniacal food, they re¬ 
vived immediately and took on a lively green 
color in two days' time; and so, conversely, 
on putting some of the healthy ammonia- 
plants Into a eolation that contained nitrate of 
soda they became at once pale and sickly. So, 
too, durlug the second period, when, as it ap¬ 
peared, the corn-plants had need of nitrogen 
in the form of a nitrate, such a ehlftlng of the 
plants from one kind of jar to another imme¬ 
diately exhibited the advantage of tbit kind of 
food. Lehmann changed some of his plants 
repeatedly and found that he had it completely 
in his power to make the plants pale and sick¬ 
ly or green and healthy, as he might will.—To 
be continued. 
fottltrg fkrii. 
MANAGING AN INCUBATOR. 
L. S. HARDIN, 
I have no desire to take issue with the mak¬ 
ers of Incubators, but I must, nevertheless, as 
a faithful chronicler of facts, warn my readers 
against the ease and luxury with which an In¬ 
cubator can be managed—according to several 
pamphlets before me. This is evidently a mis¬ 
take, that is, so far as it relates to the citizen 
of average capacity. Some people have a 
knack ot making things go without an effort, 
but the chances are that you are not one of 
that class. 1 was told to-day of a neighbor who 
nsed up 250 eggs before he got started. That 
reconciled me to my mishaps, for it has cost 
me 45 eggs to get four chicks, and they are 
but five days old, though they are very flue 
specimens. My next batch are now hatching 
out, and I expect far better luck with them. 
But more of this auon. 
Suppose the incubator has arrived. If It is 
not a self-regulator, all you have got to do is 
to buy a lamp if none comes with the machine, 
light it and put in the eggs, and then sit down 
and watch it until you get the lamp to burn 
regularly und at the proper temperature. Re¬ 
member the whole machine must get thor¬ 
oughly warmed, say four or five hours after 
the lamp is first lit, before you can depend upon 
a steady heat in the oven. It is a better plan 
not to put in the eggs until the machine has 
been run a day or two. If the incubator has 
a thermostatic bar for a regulator, it will 
need but little adjusting before it is ready to 
start. The room selected to work in should be 
as free from superficial atmospheric changes 
as possible, and the warmer the better for 
Winter work, as the warmth saves oil and the 
less changes of atmosphere the less danger of 
the machine failing to protect the eggs. The 
above requirements are be6t found in a dry, 
warm cellar, but a more convenient room up¬ 
stairs will do. 
If the incubator has a battery to work it. you 
should know something of the principles in¬ 
volved. Such knowledge will save you a world 
of trouble and explain errors and avoid mis¬ 
haps that you could not otherwise discover or 
avoid. The printed instructions that came 
with my machine were of no value to me at all 
outside of my previous knowledge of the prin¬ 
ciples governing a battery and the hints I for¬ 
tunately got from the last owner of my ma¬ 
chine. The only advice I can give is—should 
the battery stop working, don’t get discour¬ 
aged, bnt tinker with it and change things 
around until it starts again, when you will 
wonder that you had not thought of “ that ” 
before. Build a good strong bench or table 
against the wall to handle the eggs ou. If you 
do not buy one with the machine, then make 
an egg-tester. You can do this easily 
enough by taking an old pasteboard hat-box 
and cultiug a hole in the end, the &ize of an 
egg, and pasting a piece of black velvet or silk 
around this hole on the outside. Place a kero¬ 
sene lamp in the box, cut a hole in the cover 
to let the lamp chimney pass through, and put 
it on. Air holes must first be made in the sides 
of the box near the bottom, or the lamp will 
not burn when the cover is on the box. The 
incubator should rest upon a strong, firm 
stand, so that it will receive as little jarring as 
possible. At first I bought the most expensive 
keroseueoii, but afterwards found this needless, 
as the cheaper quality, 112® proof, burned just 
as long to a given quantity. Tt then cost 13 
cents a gallon. You should have two oil cans 
holding two or more gallons each, so as to 
have ouo on hand full all the time, as you 
sometimes cannot get oil at the store just when 
wanted, as storekeepers often refuse to draw 
it at night or on Sundays. If you have a good 
place to keep a barrel, it is cheaper to buy in 
that way, as it makes a difference of about 
four cents a gallon, though it is well not to go 
bo deep into the oil trade until yon get better 
established in business, as the first barrel and 
faucet will cost something like two dollars. 
The barrel will afterwards be exchanged. 
Either the types or my pen made a mistake 
in the estimate in my first article. I find 
that a 500-egg machine burns five instead of 
three gallons of oil a week, which, at 16 
cents, preseut price, Is SO cents a week, or $2 40 
for each hatchiug, which is much less than 
the cost of corn would be for heHs enough to 
cover tbat number of eggs three weeks. 
If sand is used in the pans, get the cleanest 
you can, aud let It be thoroughly dried if to be 
used a second time. Sift all the gravel ont of 
it, as it is apt to crack the eggs. Have 
a good pair of shears to trim the lamp with 
and a small tin bucket to heat water in. A 
small oil stove is invaluable In this business, as 
yon often require warm water when it would 
be ruinous to wait to kindle a fire. This, 
by the way, is one of the most inexpensive and 
delightful conveniences about the house. A 
lady who has ever used an oil stove will not be 
without one. 
If the supply of sand is at all convenient, the 
same panful should never be nsed more than 
once, as the old eggs taint the sand, which ren¬ 
ders the air impure In the oven. Air heated to 
104 degrees draws all the bad odors out of 
anything. Heat must be economized as much 
as possible, and to accomplish this all pipes 
leading into the oven should be wrapped with 
several thicknesses of feltiDg, and all openings 
about the bottom of the furnace not absolutely 
needed to give adtaft to the stove or lamp, 
should be closed, while extra sand or blankets 
may ba put on top of the stove or oven and 
heater. By keeping everything clean aud 
sweet-smelling in the oven much of the pre¬ 
scribed ventilation can be dispensed with, to 
the saving of much kerosene. The lamps 
should be burned jnst high enough to give the 
required heat, with a sufficient surplus to 
guarantee against a cold snap just before day¬ 
light, when we sleep soundest and are therefore 
most off our guard. Excessive heat not only 
wastes oil, bnt uses up the battery and causes 
more rapid and frequent changes of the atmos¬ 
phere over the eggs. 
In regard to the battery, the only supply 
necessary to keep on hand is a sufficient quan¬ 
tity of blue-stone (blue vitriol) to add a hand¬ 
ful to the jar once in two weeks. This is quite 
inexpensive, costing only 25 cents a pound— 
about six handfuls. 
In selecting eggs get the freshest possible, as 
they will stand rough u-age and erratic tem¬ 
peratures best, and this is a virtue you will 
probably stand in need of with your first batch. 
It is hardly neeessary to call attention to the 
economy of using the eggs of common fowls 
to begin with; but to illustrate the risks—while 
I have sat up with my machine night and day 
for something over a month, I have but II 
chicks out of 70 eggs, and those who pre¬ 
ceded me Bay I have done remarkably well 
with my first hatches. I look for better luck 
as I proceed. Medium-sized eggs should be 
chosen. Get them in the oven as soon as pos¬ 
sible after they are laid. Though it is more 
convenient in haudling the chicks that they 
should come out in clutches, yet if long delays 
occur in getting the different lots of eggs, they 
had better be put in the oven in smaller num¬ 
bers. Mark in figures the day of the month at 
one end of the egg. It is needless to pnt the 
month on, as that will be remembered. On oue 
side of the egg make several marks with a 
soft pencil, so as to be able to tell when each 
egg is turned. If sand is used, it should he 
kept so damp that the top never dries, while it 
should not be so wet that it will leave the print 
of the sand on the egg. Water slightly discol¬ 
ors eggs and they should be watched, for too 
much dampness drowns the chicks. The eggs 
should be turned morning and night; my in¬ 
structions say three times a day, but I am 
satisfied this would keep the eggs in the oven 
cold too long, as it requires several hours to 
get them back to the proper temperature after 
taking them out for the shortest time possible 
to turn them. At first, in turning them It is 
well to dip the fingers ki water to make them 
stick to the egg and prevent breaking; but as 
you become accustomed to it, after a few acci¬ 
dents, you can become quite expert. It is best, 
of course, to have drawers that turn the eggs, 
which saves time, labor and oil. Some use a 
small garden sprinkler for wetting the eggs, 
but I prefer my hand dipped in water heated 
to about 100 degrees, aud each egg should re¬ 
ceive some of it. As the chicks in the eggs reach 
“maturity" the sprinkling should be more 
liberal, and the last day dip each, one in the 
water. Once a day the eggs must be aired. 
Good judgment is your best guide here, the 
length of time to let them remain out depend¬ 
ing upon the outside temperature, from 15 
to 30 minutes .being usually required. Let 
them feel a little cool, hut not cold, to the 
hand when you lay it on them. Do the sprink¬ 
ling just before returning the eggs to the oven. 
The longer within reason they remain out 
without getting too cold, the better. 
Weed out the old Stuck. 
The great mass of fowls kept by farmers are 
used, so to speak, as scavengers; that is, they 
live simply by picking up what would other¬ 
wise be lost about the farm. Feeding them 
is rarely thought of, unless what is thrown out 
to them from the scraps in the kitchen in cold 
weather be called feeding. In Summer It 
would not be wise to feed much, if any while 
in Winter it is the part of wisdom to feed, not 
only a little bat liberally. When this is done 
some discretion must be used or all the pains 
and cost of the operation will be thrown away 
on a lot of ••dry/' old hens that have long 
since laid out their last eggs, or only retain 
enough to make an apology for sitting ou 
other hens' eggs after laying a clutch of two 
or three at most. When a hen is born into 
the world she holds within her body the em¬ 
bryos of all the eggs she will ever lay, no mat¬ 
ter' how long she may live. The first twelve 
months after she begins laying she will yield 
almost one-fourth of her full complement of 
etrgs, and by the end of the second year nearly 
three-fourths of all she will ever yield, while 
the remainder of her life is occupied in deliv¬ 
ering the last quarter of her full yield. So it 
will be seen that the first and second years of 
her busy life are the most profitable ones to 
her owner. It is, therefore, economy to weed 
ont the old hens with a severe discrimination. 
Keep nothing over three years old, and if the 
greatest economy is practiced and the largest 
profits demanded, as they should be, then 
nothing over two years old will remain on the 
farm. As the Fall months merge into Winter» 
chicken feed becomes more scarce and all of it 
should be reserved for the hens that do the 
work. Old, superannuated cocks should go 
into the pot along with the old hens. I recom¬ 
mend the pot in preference to the market, as 
the farmer will get more real money return in 
this way than by selling old chickens at ruin¬ 
ous rates, as the store-keeper is certain to force 
him to. t 
ijtr&sman. 
THE BOOM IN JERSEYS. 
RICHARD GOODMAN. 
Last Spring the first of the combination 
sales of horse3 and thoroughbred cattle of 
Kellogg & Co., took place in New York city, 
and was a decided success as to the Jerseys, of 
which alone I write for various reasons. 
Primarily the animals were all selected from 
the herds of the best breeders, who consented 
to spare some of their choicest cattle, and they 
were sold as belonging to such owners whose 
names, in connection with that of Mr. Kellogg, 
guaranteed that each animal was as represent¬ 
ed. Secondly, at that time there was quite 
a furor, now dying out, about certain lines of 
breeding, and the judicious managers of the 
sale were careful to have several animals of 
those strains on hand for competition, and the 
result justified their foresight. Unexampled 
prices were given for a few cows, and the av¬ 
erage of the wholesale was better than that for 
imported animals direct from the island of 
Jersey, and plainly proved that when the same 
care is taken to cull from home-bred herds the 
best products, as is taken by the dealers 
abroad, we can successfully compete with the 
latter, and that buyers of Jersey cattle are no 
longer ensnared by the word “ imported ” any 
more than ladies are iu the purchase of silks 
for dresses, but tbat home production it equally 
good will be chosen in preference, and if better 
will always be in demand. The report was 
current that the Kellogg sale was uuder the 
fostering care of the American Jersey Cattle 
Club, but that was a mistake caused probably 
by the faetthat Mr. Hand, the Treasurer of the 
Club, and a most competent judge of Jerseys, 
was in his individual capacity interested with 
Mr. Kellogg in the enterprise, and the success 
of the undertaking was owing in a large 
measure to their joint judgment and manage¬ 
ment. 
Another sale under the same united direction 
has recently taken place—in the middle of 
October—and the results, so far as the Jerseys 
were concerned, was again a success, though 
there were no animals of any of the special 
“boom" strains and no such extraordinary 
prices as before for individual cows, but all 
were disposed of npon their real merits. The 
highest prices were for “Easter Flower,’’ 
owned by Mrs. Jones, of Canada, a most en¬ 
thusiastic lady breeder, who within a few years 
has got together an excellent herd of butter¬ 
making cows, whose product she utilizes with 
profit; and “Sanmarey Lass,” owned and im¬ 
ported by Mr. George A. Beck, of Stockbridge, 
Mass., a few years since, with many others, to 
stock his fine farm then recently purchased. 
Easter Flower bronght $510, Saumarey Lass 
$430. The herd of the estate of the late Wil¬ 
liam Redmond, whose farm was at South 
Orange, New Jersey—an early and prominent 
breeder of Jerseys—though showing that thev 
had not received since his decease the same at¬ 
tention he was in the habit of having bestowed 
upon his favorites in hiB lifetime—sold for very 
fair average prices, and the herd bred with 
care by the late H. S. Paike, of Bayside, Long 
Island, and kept up in good ooudition by 
his executors, made the excellent average 
of $275 each, several ranging from $300 to 
$400 apiece. 
The herd of Mr. Parke was an excel¬ 
lent example of judicious breeding from a 
well-selected bull—a continuance of the same 
struggle for excellence not only through one 
8 ummer but several seasons—and the n aif ormi- 
ty of the herd In color, shape, good adders and 
other prominent “points" made it attractive to 
purchasers, and must have been gratifying to 
the amiable gentleman who was so earnest as 
& breeder and whose loss Is so sincerely 
mourned by his associates. The bull “Gold- 
dnst,” imported by Mr. Parke through Mr, 
