466 
fHE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
MAR 44 
require two lamps. As the water evaporates 
the tank can be refilled through one of the 
moisture pipes. A thermometer must be kept 
in the egg drawer, and the eggs must be put 
in when the machine can be kept at a uniform 
temperature of 104 degrees. Eggs should be 
turned two or three times daily. When near 
the end of the term, the temperature may be 
lowered gradually to 108 degrees; and if there 
does not appear to be enough moisture in the 
egg chamber, a little sprinkling with tepid 
water, on alternate days, a week before batch¬ 
ing, will be beneficial. The size of the moisture 
pipes will depend upon the size of the box- 
inch pipes for the ordinary-sized box. 
I have left the important subject of ventila¬ 
tion till the last, as it is the most essential 
thing to be observed. The egg chamber 
should have a piece of half-iuch pipe through 
the ceiling to the outside for the escape of 
foul air. The door of the lamp chamber 
should be perforated, to admit air to make 
the lamp burn Many incubators have a small 
opening into the egg chamber on two oppo¬ 
site sides, with wire gauze over it, and a little 
solid slide to fit over when required, As this 
moisture and ventilating business is very es¬ 
sential to success, it must be studied by the 
builder to suit the size and shape of the box; 
a large one is much harder to arrange per¬ 
fectly than a small one. 
YOUNG CHICKENS IN MARCH AND 
APRIL. 
Those who raise poultry for home use or 
market are already thinking of the fluffy balls 
that are to be liberated from numberless eggs 
as the Spring advances. It is very important 
that such chicks as are intended for early mark¬ 
eting, be hatched early, and given such care 
as will keep them growing and vigorous until 
ready to be killed. When hens are to be set 
early, there will be need of care in gathering 
the eggs, so that they will not get chilled; the 
nests must be watched, and the eggs brought 
in as soon as laid, and kept from chilling until 
needed. When bens are set in March, it is 
well to put only nine eggs under each, for if 
a larger number is used, the hen cannot keep 
them warm. The nests for sitting hens should 
be placed where they will be undisturbed; 
and if in boxes, earth covered with straw 
makes a good nest. The eggs may need 
sprinkling with tepid water during the last 
week of incubation, as moisture as well as 
warmth is a necessary factor in the hatching. 
When batched, the broods can be doubled up, 
giving all the chicks from two hens to one. 
These early broods should have a coop with 
a sunny exposure and. if possible, inclosed on 
the south by glass, and if the nights are cold 
the coops should be covered with old carpet¬ 
ing or rugs. 1 have knowu a brood, so pro¬ 
tected, to be buried in a deep fall of snow 
and suffer no harm. The first 24 hours after 
the chickens leave the shell they are nourished 
by the yelk of the egg from which they have 
come; at the end of this time they should be 
fed bread crumbs or corn-meal rubbed up 
with a hard boiled egg, giving them this for 
eight or ten days. They should be fed often 
once in two or three hours; but the feed 
should not be left in the coops to sour or to be 
trampled by the little chickens. Chicks 
hatched 90 early, before the grass starts, will 
need green food. Lettuce, oats and grass can 
be grown in a box in a sunny window, and 
cabbage, sweet apples, and onions, chopped, 
will be relished by them. The coop will not 
be large enough to give them the exercise 
needed, and a small, sunny, sheltered yard 
will be neccessary. Here they should be pro¬ 
vided with plenty of fine gravel. 
As they grow larger, give them barley, oats 
and bran moistened with milk or water, 
cracked and whole corn and buckwheat 
screenings. At noon they may be fed boiled 
potatoes, with some meat mixed with them. 
From the first, they must have pure cold 
water to drink, or if milk can be given them 
instead, they will grow faster in return for It. 
There is often a loss befoie the chickens leave 
the nest, caused by the hen tramping on them; 
this can be avoided by removing the chickens 
as fast as they are hatched, and returning 
them to the hen at night; for if they are given 
back by daylight, she is almost certain to dis¬ 
own and persecute them to death. When 
chickens get chilled, and it is necessary to re¬ 
vive them in warm coverings by the fire, the 
same precaution must be followed when they 
are returned to the hen. 
A LARGE EGG YIELD. 
My eleven pure bred Plymouth Rock pul¬ 
lets were hatched April 26. 18»3; commenced 
to lby November 14, 18*3, and on November 
13, 1884, bad laid 2.017 eggs-or 183 4-11 per 
chicken—or 15dozens each They laid in 
November, 1888, 75 eggs; in December, 166: 
in January. 1*84, 60; February, 146; March, 
183; April, 252; May, 200; June, 188; July, 
220; August, 186; September, 176; October, 
181; November 13th, 39—2.017. Account wa s 
taken in a book each day, of the eggs laid, so 
that there can be no mistake about the mat¬ 
ter. 8. N. MARSHALL. 
•»«- 
WHITE LEGHORNS. 
We have wintered 50 white Leghorn hens— 
35 pullets, the remainder being one year old. 
They have been fed buckwheat, barley and 
some com, with a mess of corn meal twice a 
week, early in the morning. They also got 
apple parings from the house, chopped fine, 
and also cabbage leaves, with a warm drink 
every bom’ in the forenoon and twice in the 
afternoon. The bouse is not very warm. 
During January they laid 216 eggs, which I 
think is doing very welt for White Leghorns, 
I have never considered them good winter 
layers. “B,” 
number of times. A neighbor of mine has 
trees of this variety, ana notwithstanding 
frosts, be invariably has fruit. On the night 
of the 28 of May last, when the apples in this 
vicinity were almost totally destroyed, his 
Spies were about half the size of small peas. 
He supposed they were killed; but on looking 
at them 1 found to mysurpiise, that more than 
half of them were uninjured. In the same 
orchard, upon the same level, are interspersed 
trees of other varieties, on many of which the 
apples were of about the same size at the time 
of the frost, but not one of them escaped. I 
have seen the same thing in this orchard, 
and also m another, two or three times before; 
and, while it is a mystery to me. which I would 
like explained, I am satisfied that the North¬ 
ern Spy is about the most valuable apple in 
the world in all Northern sections subject to 
late Spring frosts. 
It may be, as you say, a tardy bearer; but 
in the catalogue mentioned above, it is de¬ 
scribed as a remarkably rapid, erect grower, 
and great bearer; but, like all trees of the 
same habit, requiring good culture and an oc¬ 
casional thinning out of the branches to admit 
the sun and air. If it is tardy at first, it 
makes amends later on,by its greater fruitful 
ness, vigorous growth and long life. The fruit 
is described as large, striped, and quite cover¬ 
ed on the sunuy side with dark crimson, and 
delicately coated with bloom. Flesh juicy, 
rich, highly aromatic, retaining its freshness 
of flavor and appearance till July. That some 
apples will stand more freezing than others 
1 think my be observed also in the case of Tol- 
man’s Sweet, which has many of the charac- 
apples, a likeness of an average specimen of 
which we show at Fig. 104, and a cross section 
at Fig. 105, are medium sized, quite regular, 
of a pale waxen yellow color, with a 
brownish-red, and on specimens fully exposed 
to the sun, a bright carmine-red cluge. The 
skiu is quite thickl}’ but irregularly covered 
with small, brownish dots, and on the sunny 
side these are a deep dull-red. The stems vary 
greatly from stout and short in large speci¬ 
mens, to moderately long and slender in those 
of smaller size, the average length being 
about half an iuch, set in a deep quite irregu 
lar cavity. Calyx nearly closed, set to a small, 
shallow basiu somewhat corrugated. Core 
medium-sized, open and well filled with small 
seeds. Skin thin and tough. Flesh yellowish- 
white, quite sweet, juicy and pleasant, a.> 
sweet as the Tolman’s Sweet which it much 
resembles in flavor. 
A considerable time ago the Rural New- 
Yorker cautioned the public against W. V. 
R Powis and his Farm, Field and Fireside, of 
Chicago, (now Farm, Field and Stockman). 
Mr. Powis wrote us a letter statiug t hat if we 
did not retract our statements he would 
sue us for damages. We replied at once that 
we much desired he would do so and that we 
would be glad of the opportunity to show him 
up or to fail in the attempt. To this Mr. Powis 
wrote a kindly, half-apologetic letter. The 
suit against us has never been brought. The 
following is taken from a late N. Y. Tribune: 
“A Western person named W. V. R Powis, 
of The Farm, Field aud Stockman, and, we 
believe, of certain poultry publications also, 
advertised’$25 watches tor 15.27’ -‘superior for 
speculative purposes which can be sold for $20, 
or traded for hor-es, cattle,etc., so as to double 
this amount.’ This shows his moral tone,and 
the Chicago Tribune says; ‘innocents of the 
country are his especial meat’; that some of 
them applied to the Chief of Police of that 
city when no return was received for their re¬ 
mittances; and the advice is given that they 
send their claims to anattoruey, with instruc¬ 
tions to prosecute, if settlement is not made.” 
Our opposition to the above paper, we vrere 
told by one coirespondent, was instigated “by 
jealousy.” But be is mistaken. It was in¬ 
stigated by a feeling of sbnme that farmers 
could be induced tosupporta journal that had 
rushed into a great circulation by lottery 
schemes; while it admited all sorts of fraudu¬ 
lent advertisements and its columns were fill¬ 
ed with matter that merely catei-ed to an ex¬ 
tensive advertising patronage. 
WHICH MAY REMIND YOU. 
“Surely,” says Mr. E. P. Roe, “it would 
be bard to find two men who have brought 
more of Eden into our modern world than 
Charles Downing and Marshall P. Wilder.... 
Charles Downing considerately distin¬ 
guished between men who were honestly try¬ 
ing to furnish something better than what was 
already in cultivation aud those who would 
unscrupulously herald any untested kind in 
the hope of making money. 
W hy not prepare your kerosene emulsions 
now for use in Spring and Summer?. 
Tne chief good that itinerant tree peddlers 
do is in inducing people by personal solicita¬ 
tion to buy plants which they would not pur¬ 
chase otherwise.... 
Chemistry of Food. —The Sun quotes 
Prof. W. O Atwater, of the Connecticut State 
Board of Agriculture, as saying that a quart 
of milk and a quart of oysters contain about 
the same amount of nutriment. Dessiccated 
codfish gives the most concentrated food in 
the market. Salmon is the most nutritious 
of fresh fish. Oat-meal, beaus, wheat flour, 
and Indian corn-meal afford nutrition in the 
order named. Potatoes furnish very much 
less. The experience of past ages has taught 
mankind to select, when compelled to exercise 
the strictest economy, those forms of food 
which furnish nutrition at the lowest price; 
hence the poor of different countries live on 
oat-meal, beans, peas, and dried fish of vari¬ 
ous kinds, although it cannot be said that such 
food is preferred to that which is less nutri¬ 
tious ... 
The English seedsmen. Carter & Co., make 
the statement that their Stratagem, Tele¬ 
phone, and Pride of the Market, are the three 
best peus In the world. The Rural has dis¬ 
seminated the first tw'o. Wo tried Pride of the 
Market when first announced, but preferred 
the Stratagem. 
Dr. de Klknse, of Muuieh, Bavaria, is of 
the opinion that silage will have to be given 
up because of its variable effects, as shown in 
milk and cheese... 
For trial, we recommend, among straw¬ 
berries, the Parry, Henderson, Amateur ami 
Jewell. .. 
Is the evidence accumulating that the 
Rural’s estimate of the great Kieffer Pear 
was correct or false? Have we saved any of our 
readers the price of the Rural for one year by 
advising them to “stop a bit” before ordering 
largely ? If the editor has no axes to grind, u 
well-conducted experiment farm is of some 
use to the readers of his journul. 
Mr. Felch advises iu Our Country Home 
to set nine eggs uuder hens iu Feb. aud March., 
11 in March and April, aud alter that 13. 
The Rural wants a good, trusty agent in 
every township in Ametiea. Bend for the 
Rural posters for 1885—three in number. 
We will send any number of specimens free to 
----- 
Gibson Sweet. Fig. 104. 
Pontcrlxrgicfii 
THE NORTHERN SPY APPLE. 
In the Rural of February 7tb, page 92, you 
speak of the almost unequaled excellence of 
the Northern Spy Apple, You mention its 
handsome appearance and delicious flavor ; 
but there is one other fact about this fruit 
which I wish to notice briefly, for the benefit 
of the younger readers of the Rural who may 
be intending to plant an apple orchard, espec¬ 
ially those residing in districts subject to late 
spring frosts—a fact well known, no doubt, to 
all pomologists,and which is mentioned in the 
excellent and trustworthy catalogue of Ell- 
wanger & Barry—the leaf and blossom buds 
open a week later than those of other varie¬ 
ties. But there is one other fact not so well 
known, perhaps —the fruit is not so easily 
killed by frost as most other kinds, even after 
its set. I have seen this demonstrated a 
teristics of the Spy in this particular, as well 
as being a late blossomer, and, like it, it is a 
valuable variety in places subject to late 
frosts. ANDREW SHERWOOD, 
Tioga Co , Pa. 
GIBSON’S SWEET. 
A really good, long keeping, sweet apple 
is a thing to be desired. Of course, the Tal- 
man Sweet is good enough; but for some rea¬ 
son it does not succeed in many places. On 
December 13th we received a box of apples 
from Connecticut, and with it a letter from 
the donor, Mr. C. B. Gibson, from which we 
quote: “These apples were borne on a tree 
that originated on my father’s farm at Wash¬ 
ington, Conn. It has never been disseminated 
beyond this neighborhood, and is one of the 
most profitable apples we have, as it bears 
good crops every other year, and keeps well 
till April, being in good eating condition after 
November, and it is much sought after.” The 
Gibson’s Sweet. Half Section. Fig. 105. 
