MARCH 8 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Poultnj 
PROFIT FROM POULTRY. 
HENRY STEWART. 
I promised some time ago to give an account 
of tbe cost and income of my flock of 20 hens 
for the whole year. The figures from January 
1 to December 81, 1888, are as follows: 
January 1, 20 bens and 1 cock.. 
December 81, whole cost of feud. $41.15 
1,683 eggs sold u .. .. . 
65 egga for setting.“old. 
9 chickens sold...... 
2 trios sold .. ... 
17 cockerels sold. 1051b, at 13c. 
38 cockerels sold, 251 !b, at 18c. 
8 pullets sold, at 82.50. 
15 pullets sold. HI It., at 20c . 
Value or 3 cocks and 26 pullets on hand, 
1701b, at 20c. . 
Balance... . 156.61 
39.38 
4X0 
8.10 
10.00 
18.90 
•15.18 
20.00 
18.20 
34.00 
$197.76 $197.76 
These fowls are Light Brahmas. It is seen 
that, not counting the eggs set, tbe average 
product is very low, being only 84 for each 
hen; 182 eggs were set, only 14 of the hens 
having brooded. With these the average 
yield was about OS eggs. From the 182 eggs set, 
123 chicks were hatched; one only of all these 
was lost; and this died of cholera when quite 
young. This fact is interesting, because I am 
quite sure this chick was from a diseased egg 
laid by a hen which was taken with cholera 
and laid several eggs while i a a coop by herself 
when under medical treatment. I had another 
hen sick about the same time, but cured both 
by giving a solution of hyposulphite of soda in 
teaspoonful doses three times a day. The eggs 
laid by the sick hens were set by themselves 
and of two broods only this one chick was 
hatched out; every other oue was dead in the 
shell or died as soou as it came out. This chick 
had the yellow discharge from the first, but a 
few drops of the hyposulphite seemed to cure 
it and it grew to be a mouth old, when it lost 
the use of Its legs, but still ate and was other¬ 
wise hearty for a month longer. It was kept 
by itself in the garden and grew, but was com¬ 
pletely paralyzed. On kilhug it, I found the 
liver enormously large and the spinal marrow 
so soft as to be almost semi-liquid, so that I 
concluded the eggs were diseased aud could 
not produce healthy chicks. This seems 
to be quite reasonable, aud 1 believe may 
account for many losses of eggs and chicks 
that seem inexplicable to many persors. 
These 20 bens have paid a net profit of 
$7.80 each, aud yet have done nothing remark¬ 
able as to their product, which is an average of 
84 eggs and six chicks each Deducting what 
was received extra for setting eggs and for 
the 14 sold for breeding, it still leaves about 
$7 as the profit from each hen. It is better 
than I have ever doue before. I have made 
$5 and over per hen previously with some of 
this kind of fowls, but never had fowls to do 
as well as these. Perhaps a short description of 
the way they were kept will be of interest to 
some readers. 
These fowls are kept in a yard 150 by 50 feet, 
or about one-sixth of au acre. They have the 
run of the cow yard adjoining. They have a 
tight, airy, dean house, with tarred roof; 
walls of novelty siding but no lining, two 
large windows in front, and the earth for a 
floor. The house is 30 feet long and 10 feet 
wide, 5]^ feet high in the rear, aud 8 feet in 
the front. It faces the south, and is par¬ 
titioned off in the middle with laths. It is 
cleaned out once u week, and is then well 
dusted all over with air-slaked lime, of which 
a barrel is kept in the house for this purpose. 
The nests are boxes 18 inches long and 12 wide 
aud deep; open at the front with a narrow 
bar two inches wide at the l>ottom to keep the 
nest in the box. The boxes are made of two- 
inch strips with about one inch spaces. They 
are in fact small crates iu which small 
wooden pails (live pounds) for packing butter, 
come. They cau be lifted up easily, aud when 
a hen sits, the nest is taken up at night with 
her in it, and moved into the separate half of 
the house, which is smaller than the other, 
and is kept for the sitting hons. The fowls 
are let out every afternoon, and have the 
run of a grassy lawn of about uu acre, and the 
shelter of some groves of spruce and Arbor- 
vitaes. They eat and spoil half ns much grass 
as would keep a cow, and this is not charged 
to them. In the Fall they have the run of the 
garden, and eat as many grapes and melons 
and apples as they want to. Perhaps this is 
good for them. They do a wonderful deal of 
scratching iu the garden, and want very little 
grain at that time. 'They have plenty of coal 
ashes, and about once a week the whole flock, 
chicks uud fowls, eat clean half n peck 
of fresh bones from the butcher, crushed 
small with a hammer ou a stone. The small¬ 
est chicks will fight for these fragments, aud 
hop on to the stone, so that they ran great, 
risk of getting smashed with the hammer, 
until I raised the stone ou a box. This fresh 
bone is, I think, much better thau the dry 
bone oue buys, or the burned bones or shells. 
When the chicks are hatched two broods 
are put together and given to a hen in a 
roomy coop which is put in the garden, in the 
melon-patch, or among the corn or peas. The 
young chicks will soon wander off to the fur¬ 
ther end of a three-acre garden, and when 
sudden heavy raius come on have to be 
hunted up and driven home. Sometimes 
when the chicks are a month old the ben is 
turned into the yard and the chicks will care 
for themselves and nestle in the coop all 
alone. Strange cats are treated to a little 
rifle ball as soon as one is seen about, and my 
own cats have been trained to leave the chicks 
alone, and will sit near a coop and watch 
them, but. they oever do this a second time 
if they are seen near, ns I don’t trust cats any 
more than some two-legged animals. The 
chicken-house is kept locked day and night 
and at night the entrance holes and the wire 
net fence gates are closed to keep out an oc¬ 
casional possum, of which I bad caught two 
in the house previously. The chicks are fed a 
thick, dryish mush made of corn and bran in 
nearly equal parts ground together, and also 
coarse cracked com, wheat, and some meat 
scraps with the crushed bone; and this is the 
main feeding of the hens. I should not forget 
that plenty of clean water is given in clean 
iron-wire covered troughs every morning. 
When the yard becomes foul it is plowed up 
with a small hand-plow or Bpaded over, and 
wheat is scattered over it. There are several 
plum trees iu the yard, and for some reason— 
perhaps curculies—the fowls scratch under 
these trees so as to lay bare the roots. To en¬ 
courage this some corn-meal is now and then 
scattered under the trees. One profit not 
counted is a good crop of plums of which I 
got none until they were inclosed in this yard. 
Now’ if this can all be done one year and with 20 
(I have done nearly as well with 50), why 
cannot it be done every year, and with 10 
times 20 or 50 { It takes time, of course, but not 
half an horn’ a day for a flock, aud 50 would 
take no more time than 20 to feed and care 
for, and one person could care for 90 flocks if 
the whole time were given. Thera are persons 
w’ho say special poultry-keeping will not. pay. 
1 feel confident it will if any person will man¬ 
age it properly and not crowd the fowls. Some 
day I will try what cau be done by turning 
the whole farm to poultry, just as I have done 
with this small flock; 50 acres would cer¬ 
tainly keep l,(XX) fowls as well as this flock is 
kept on one acre, and if each fowl will only 
pay half as much as this flock has done, the 
farm will yield as much profit as 50 cows will. 
There are some indispensable requisites, as 
a dry, clean house, freedom from vermin and 
damp, a clean yard w’hen it is necessary for 
them to be shut tip, moderately good feeding; 
a quart, of grain is enough for 10 fowls every 
day; plenty of clean water, a sufficient run at 
liberty, common sense and tact on tbe part 
of the keeper, kindness and gentleness to 
make tame fowls (1 can take any of mine up 
like a kitteu and feed them from tny baud), so 
that there is no worry with the sitting hens, 
and the right breed of fowls. It. is eeen that 
ail the profit comes from the chickens sold,and 
if there had been 50 per eeut. more eggs and 
no chickens, the profit would have been but 
small. I would say I believe the Plymouth 
Rocks are the next best to the L. Brahmas, 
but thev will not make such heavy cockerels 
for sale at holidays. Some of the earliest of 
mine weighed 11 pounds, which is equal to 
nearly $2 each at 18 cents a pound, and sell 
for as mueh as a turkey and are just as good. 
Lastly, one must have a near market. A sum¬ 
mer resort, or a hotel or country boarding 
bouses are next to a large city ; but this last is 
the best, and if one cau have a good number 
to ship about the holidays he can get a good 
price. The poultry business can be carried ou 
extremely well with fruit growing, as with 
pears, or apples, or plums, or grapes, and with 
the two iu connection the whole ground cau 
be occupied with remarkable profit, if the 
mau or woman is the right one. If not it 
must fail, for it is an unusually particular and 
peculiar business. 
COST OF RAISING COLLEGE POTA¬ 
TOES. 
The following carefully kept record may 
have some practical value to those interested 
in potato growing: 
705i bushels seed for 7.7 acres estimated per 
bushel value Iu is®}, $i,sk ..... 
Marking ground and covering the potatoes.. 
Sorting, cutting aud dropping... 
Cultivating before and after potatoes came 
up five days .. 
Weeding and •• bugging"... 
Digging and hauling to cellar, 1 mau. 687 h’r's. 
at I2vie.. 
Ifsoof one team for plowing and hauling 23 
days. 
$133,60 
16.87 
43.09 
11.35 
15.19 
85.87 
17.25 
Total...$323.13 
The above does not include superintendence 
or expense of manuring a portion of the 
ground. 
Total number bushels raised.1,680.3 
Average yield per acre. 213 
Average bushels seed used per acre. 9.18 
Distance between the rows. 3.26 feet 
Average cost per bushel...19.2 cents 
Now, though all the figures given are exact, 
it should be remembered that the expense is a 
great deal more than it would have been had 
only one or two varieties of potatoes been 
raised, instead of about 84. For it is easily 
seen at times an economical management, of 
the labor of 10 men is almost impossible. The 
varieties must all be sacked and kept separate. 
This absorbs considerable time. j. n. muncey, 
Assistant Farm Experiments, Agricultural 
College, Ames, Iowa. 
farm Cccmcnmj. 
MARKER FOR CORN GROUND. 
A marker for laying off corn ground has 
become a necessity upon the farm where the 
check-rower is not used. A good one that can 
be easily and cheaply constructed is shown at 
Fig. 85. The runners are of two-inch oak 
plank, five feet long and 10 or 12 inches broad, 
cut as shown in Fig. 85, and the lower edges 
rounded and smoothed. The three cross-pieces 
are of two by four scantling, let into the run¬ 
ners and pinned or bolted. Usually the run¬ 
ners are put three feet 10 inches apart from 
center to center; therefore the cross-pieces 
should he seven feet 10 inches long. The two 
braces also serve to receive the tongue whic h 
fits loosely and is secured by an iron rod pass¬ 
ing through it, and the braces and secured by 
a nut. These braces should be of two by three 
stuff, and, like the cross-pieces, of tough wood. 
By this arrangement the marker is not turned 
by every irregularity in the walking of the 
horses, and short crooks in the rows are avoid¬ 
ed, and the marker will always touch the 
ground in front, no matter how uneven the 
field may be. The double-trees are fastened 
on by a bolt passing through an iron strap 
above them and the tongue beneath. State - 
chains should extend fi om the double-trees to 
the front cross-piece, as shown in the cut, to 
aid in turning. This marker lays off three 
rows at once; requires only the simplest and 
cheapest material; can be made by the farmer 
himself; and is light, strong, durable, and 
easy on the horses. 
But it will not do for stumpy ground, be¬ 
cause it will not pass over the stumps and is 
inconvenient in getting around them. A 
marker for stumpy ground is shown at Fig. 
86. It is easily made by the farmer himself. 
All that is required are two wagon wheels and 
two poles. Very likely the farmer has old 
wheels which will answer the purpose very 
well. If he has not, he may take the wheels 
from his wagon, but he should he careful to 
keep the axles of the marker well greased or 
soaped to prevent wear. The axle is best 
Corn Marker. Fig. 86. 
made of a stout white oak pole. It must be of 
such a length that the wheels will be just the 
desired distance apart. The ends of the axles 
are shaved down to enter the wheels. No 
skeins or bauds are necessary. The wheelsare 
held ou by wooden pins passing through the 
ends of the axles. The tongue is split for 
about eighteen iuches, and the ends of the 
halves are shaved down to enter holes iu the 
uxle, where they are secured by wedges in the 
ends. A leather strap should tie nailed around 
the tongue just iu front of the split, to pre¬ 
vent it from extending further. A stout pole, 
not too heavy, makofc a good tongue. Fix a 
seat on the axle and ride; the wheels will then 
make a plainer mark. The larger wheels of 
the wagon are best. This marker will pass 
over any ordinary stump, and it is easily 
453 
turned should any stump be immediately in 
the way of a wheel. It is very easy and light 
upon the horses, and with it twenty or twenty- 
five acres can be laid off in a day. 
J. M. STAHL. 
♦ ♦ »■ 
PLAN OF WHEEL JACK. 
The wheel-jack, shown in Fig. 87, is made of 
three pieces of any tough, hard wood, say 2x 
IH inches. No. 1 is 30 inches long, No. 2 39 
inches, and No. 3 48 inches, with a bolt hole 
10 inches from the end. No. 4 is a catch or 
latch made also of hard wood, about 11 inches 
Wheel Jack. Fig. 87, 
long, to be joined to No. 3 with a small bolt or 
rivet; it also needs a bolt about five inches 
long. Notches are made as shown in No. 3 
for the catch to rest in. To put the jack to¬ 
gether take No. 2, then No. 3, the handle be¬ 
ing to the left, as shown; put No. 1 on top, 
bolt through all three, and the job is done. 
When not in use it can be shut; so it takes but 
little room. It can be slung under a wagon 
and carried all the time if desired, j. h. t. 
Medford Center, Me. 
THE EYE-OPENER. 
In spite of a great deal of caution, a few 
notices have slipped into our advertising 
columns, which would not have been ad¬ 
mitted, had their character been noticed. 
First of these comes the advertisement 
of “ Miss Carrie Cook,” of Houston, Texas, 
who kindly offers for $1 a “ recipe for 
making eights pounds of nice butter from one 
gallon of milk.’* A short time back we told 
how a farmer near Elgin, Ill., sold 50 pounds 
of butter a week, though he owned only one 
old cow—but a great deal of oleomargarine 
was carted to his farm. His recipe beats 
“Miss Carrie Cook’s:” but we would not ad¬ 
vise our readers to have anything to do with 
either party. 
There is a very great number of humbugs 
all over the country who profess to work 
wonders in one way or another, by means of 
electricity. Several of these we have already 
exposed, anti now we pitch the Eastern Elec¬ 
tric Manufacturing Company's advertisment 
out of our columns. We do not advise any of 
our friends to invest a cent with this concern. 
It is now over two months since we first 
pilloried here the Standard Silver-ware Com¬ 
pany of 17 Batterymarch Street, Boston; but 
as the concern is still flooding the rural dis¬ 
tricts with deceptive circulars, we repeat that 
its promises and representations are not trust¬ 
worthy. 
We have received a large pile of the cir¬ 
culars and advertisements sent out all over 
tbe country, but most extensively in the West, 
by the Farm, Field and Fireside of Chicago, 
Ill., offering 100,000 presents for distribution 
among its subscribers. This has been stig¬ 
matized as a humbug by Chicago papers, and 
it is evidently at best a lottery scheme, like 
that of the Household Magazine, whose 
collapse by tbe arrest of its manager, we re¬ 
lated here in the Rural of February 16. 
Such concerns should be left severely alone 
by all who have regard for their integrity or 
their pockets. 
The following letter, dated February 20, 
needs no comment: 
In the “Eye-Opener*’ of February 2d, is a 
statement concerning the “Monarch Lighten¬ 
ing Sawing-Muchine.'* I wish to say that the 
Company is not what it represents itself to 
be. My neighbor, Mr. Stran, sent for a ma¬ 
chine and au agency. He received the ma¬ 
chine and tried it, as did also myself and 
