THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
7©l 
assistance of his two daughters, aDd UDder the 
watchful eyes of the father and daughters 
over 3.000 chicks were hatched in incubators 
and marketed. This season preparations have 
been made for batching and raising three 
times that number, the great Beeret of failure 
having been discovered and the following rule 
applied: “Give poultry the same care bestow¬ 
ed od other classes of stock, and a fair profit 
is sure to be the result.” 
Careful experiments on this farm show that 
the cost of feed, labor, interest on capital, 
and all other expenses, including the eggs for 
hatching purposes, is nine cents per pound, 
and if the chicks are hatched early, and an 
average he made of the prices obtained for 
both earlv and 'ate chicks, over 100 per cent, 
profit may be secured, or ratber, the average 
is 18 cents ppr pound up to the weight of two 
pouuds. If we will look into the matter 
closely, it will be noticed, upon comparison, 
that the best-managed dairy farms do not be¬ 
gin to realize sncb profits, aud yet there is 
plenty of hard work ‘‘every day and Sunday 
too.” on a dairy farm, while large amounts of 
capital are required. On the poultry farm 
mentioned, onl y oue acre of ground is required, 
and all the food is purchased, while on a dairy 
farm, large areas are devoted to pasture. 
Surely if the poultry were given the same 
attention “from early dawn till late at night,” 
that is exercised on a dairy farm, the result 
would be much better than that from “looking 
after" the birds occasionally. The fact is, no 
one, so far as I kuow, has ever tried the 
poultry business as it should have been tried, 
so far es large numbers are concerned, and it 
must be acknowledged that until the Industry 
is given the consideration and standing it so 
richly deserves, we shall continue to hear of 
failures and reverses. That the business can 
be made profitable is certain; but business 
methods are required, and it opens avenues to 
many of limited means who may not have 
opportunities in other directions. It also re¬ 
quires knowledge, and large profits should not 
be expected suddenly, nor before experience 
has assisted in realizing expectations. Too 
much should not be required. There are 
obstacles in the poultry business, but there 
are also advantages. Every business does not 
always pay at first, and poultry comes under 
the same rule. But, if rightly managed, it 
will pay large profits in proportion to capital 
and labor invested. 
Hammouton, N. J, 
A CHEAP PORTABLE ROOST. 
The advantage of having a flock of chick¬ 
ens in a portable roost, which can be conven¬ 
iently' moved from one field to another as the 
various crops are taken off, is very great. 
One of the most complete and at the same 
time cheapest roosts which we have seen, is 
the invention of Mr. F. W. Wilson of Chat¬ 
ham, Ont, Canada. It may be constructed 
of old boards, scantling, or any sort of old 
lumber. It requires no framing, and any 
ordinary farm laborer can make it. As 
shown at Fig 498, it is built in the form of a 
Fig. 498. 
triangle, and may be mounted on runners or 
small wheels. 
It may be made of single boards and bat¬ 
tened, or of double boarding throughout; iu 
the latter case, it may be made extremely 
strong. The nests are arranged on the floor, 
on the sides, or they may be placed across the 
end opposite the entrance. The location of 
the perches and the window for the outronce 
of the fowls will depend upon the materials 
used, the kind of fowls, etc. Mr. Wilson has 
the place of entrance near the top of the 
house, nu admirable arrangement for Leg¬ 
horns or flying breeds; but a lower entrance 
would probably be better for the heavier 
fowls. The roost cau be built almost any 
where for $10 It is not patented. 
&\)t i)ert'smaih 
STOCK NOTES AND NOTICES. 
R. F. JOHNSON. 
RED COLOR OS' SHORT HORNS. 
I suppose one of the reasons why red is so 
favorite a color uniODg Short-horn men aud 
breeders, is that an animal of no other color 
shows keep, condition, good blood aud high 
pedigree sosoon. To the expert aud specialist, 
it does not matter so 'much whether the 
animal is red, white, light or dark roan; 
he can see at a glance what its special and 
general merits are, but for the average buyer, 
the fine condition of the creature needs to be 
made salient; aud nothing does this like a 
deep red. 
PUNCH AS CAUSES OF ABORTION. 
I see by the English agricultural and 
live stock papers that veterinarians and 
breeders are recognizing the important 
part, ergoted graiu, bay and straw, may play 
in producing abortion, and they are warning 
breeders to look well to what they feed, and 
be careful that grain, hay and straw are free 
from ergot and other fungi; for they all have 
a similar disorganizing effect on the animal 
economy. Some facts in this relatiou which 
came under my observation, may be worth 
recording. The Summer of 1»81 was both 
hot and very dry; the drought lasting into 
September. Toward the end of this month, 
heavy rains fell, and early in October, we bad 
in this latitude a week or 10 days of mid¬ 
summer heat and tropical humidity. Begin¬ 
ning before this hoc and humid term ended, 
fungous growths showed themselves on the 
surface of straw, hay and grain stacks and 
on corn standing in the field, so that by the 
20th of the month all these exposed surfaces 
were so covered with dark fungous germs as 
to be almost black. 
The following Spring, abortion in cows, 
mares, ewes, and sows, prevailed to an alarm¬ 
ing extent and without auy generally known 
or admitted causes for it. Referring the 
subject to an aged physician of extensive 
experience in the line of obstetrics, and 
putting the two facts before him, he said the 
conclusion was a logical and reasonable one, 
that the fungous growths of the previous Au¬ 
tumn, were responsible for the unusual 
epizootic of abortion. I have recently heard 
of 
A NEW REMEDY FOR HOG CHOLERA, 
no less, and nothing more than to give the sick 
hogs compulsory exercise. So long as there 
are life and strength enough left in a sick bog 
that he can be compelled to move about, it Is 
claimed by those who have tried it, that lu 
nine cases of cholera in ten, the patient will 
recover. The usual method pursued is to put 
a man on a horse, with a long whip, and drive 
the bogs for an hour or two around the yard 
or field, if it is large enough, or into the high¬ 
way if it is not. Under the whip they soon 
begiu to scuur aud ofteu to vomit, and w hen 
both are copious the patients are pretty sure 
to recover quickly. That this heroic treat¬ 
ment may be proper and beneficial in some 
cases and forms of hog diseases (everything a 
hog is sick with, is called cholera) there is 
little doubt; but it still remains a question 
which of the two modes of treatment is the 
more humane or inhumane—to suffer a sick 
hog to lie as he likes and die; or to drive him 
about under whip and spur with a fair chance 
of recovery. 
VARIETY IN FEEDING. 
Does the average man in feeding farm ani¬ 
mals—the horse and cow, for example—give 
a sufficient variety to produce the best results, 
the most and best work in case of the horse 
and the largest milk yield iu that of the cow.' 
How many think that anything more than 
generous rations of corn and hay, or oats and 
hay indefinitely prolonged, is necessary for 
the health, strength anti comfort of the horse, 
and how few there are who feed rn'lcb cows 
anything more tbau one sort of supplementary 
food from oue year’s end to the other? 
And yet, with the exception of milk for the 
young and grass eoutainiug plants of many 
kinds for the aged, no one single food sub¬ 
stance can be fed for any considerable time 
without weakening and shortening the life of 
the animal. Oats have been thought to be of 
all others the best of food for horses; and so 
they are, when fed not too long or too exclu¬ 
sively, But it has been found, by actual ex¬ 
periment, that wheu horses are fed oats and 
oats only, they gain and do well for two or 
three months, remain in statu ?wi> another 
three months, then begin to decline and die 
near the end of the third period. No one sub¬ 
stance, except milk and grass as above stated, 
is capable of furnishing all the elements es¬ 
sential to vigorous and continued health—a 
fact to be borne iu mind by every breeder. 
Corn, oats and rye and. wheu it is to be had, 
barley, each ground aud uuground, together 
with bran and shorts, Timothy and clover 
hay, roots of all kinds, vegetables and fruits 
when cheap, should compose the alternating 
ration of the horse, and even a wider range 
should be afforded the milch cow. The result 
would theu be bright eyes, a sbiniug coat and 
a readiness to do good and quick work iu the 
horse; and, iu the cow, eyes equally bright, a 
coat uearly as shining and, in addition, an 
overflowing milk pail. 
CRACKLINGS AS FEED. 
The cool season is now approaching when 
cracklings (the meat residue after the lard has 
been dried out aud pressed) may be had for a 
few cents per pound from almost any 
butcher’s shop in the country, the suggestion 
is .offered that experiments be made with 
them in feeding horses and cattle which bav e 
been run down thin, when it is desirable that 
they should recuperate quickly. Cracklings 
represent nitrogenous foods in one of the mo3t 
condensed forms. They sure therefore very 
nutritious, and experience shows them to be 
easily digested, when not used In too large 
quantities. They are reported to have worked 
wonders in cavalry horses, in the exigencies 
of war. suffering to the point of starvation 
wheu the digestive organs had become too 
weak to receive immediate benefit from grain 
and hay. Half to a full pound, divided into 
two equal messes, fed daily, would be a fair 
quantity for a full grown horse, ox, or cow, 
at the start. 
ARTICHOKES FOR MILCH COWS. 
After a trial of almost everything within 
the reach of people of average means and 
opportunities, I have found nothing superior 
to artichokes for increasing aDd sustaining a 
large yield of milk of excellent quality, aDd 
improving the condition of the cow at the 
same time. Sugar beets, mangels, carrots, 
parsnips, sweet aud Irish potatoes, fed in con¬ 
nection with enough shorts or middlings to 
hold them in the stomach, so they will be com¬ 
pletely digested and assimilated, are good; 
and perhaps with the same additions, second 
crop clover is better than either, so far as the 
flow of milk is concerned; but for increasing 
tbe flow of milk and keeping it up. at the same 
time causing tbe creature to lick herself (an 
infallible sign of improving condition) there 
is nothing equal to the artichoke. And, by 
the way. I have been assured by old settlers 
that the so called Jerusalem Artichoke is 
indigenous to Central Illinois.and forty to fifty 
years ago it was often met with occupying 
considerable areas, in the rich, moist land, on 
the edges of tbe counties along the stream. 
Champaign, Ill. 
Prof. J. W. Sanborn, of the Missouri Ag. 
College, freely indorses what we have claimed 
for the Rural Branching Sorghum, seeds of 
which were sent to our subscribers in the Free 
Seed Distribution of several years ago. He 
says, in bi3 last report, “The Rural Branch¬ 
ing Sorghum or Millo Maze, brought promin¬ 
ently before tbe farmers by the Rural New- 
Yorker. claims a favorable notice as a forage 
plant. It has remarkable tillering propensi¬ 
ties, and a very large proportion of leaf to 
stem growth. When cut to the ground, new 
and often an increased number of shoots 
spring up aud gain a luxuriant leaf develop¬ 
ment for a second crop. which cows are very 
fond of. It made a good growth on the 
College Farm, and will warrant attention by 
those who are looking for some substitute for 
our common corn and clover. 
Wintering Beks —Bulletin No. 8 of the 
Michigan Agricultural College is giveu up to 
a discussion of the above subject by Prof. A. 
J. Cook. After reviewing the importance 
and profit of bee culture, the writer rightly 
states that the one great drawback to its most 
successful prosecution is the danger of loss, 
which comes with every severe Winter. In 
tbe most trying Winters there will often be a 
loss of more than 75 per cent. This great loss 
is not necessary. Many of our bee keepers 
have no more fear of losing tbeir bees than of 
losing cattle or horses. Bees are natives of a 
warm climate. In southern countries, win¬ 
ter losses are unknown. In confinement, if 
kept very quiet, bees eat very little, and keep 
themselves in a very neat condition. When 
kept in a uniform temperature at from 
40° F. to 45 c F., and well supplied with 
enough good food, experience has shown that 
the Winter can be passed without loss. 
Strange to say, bees have been known to 
winter well in a damp atmosphere. Such a 
condition is not the best, yet it will not of itself 
produce death. Little heed need be given to 
veutilation, unless it is impossible to secure 
just the condition to enforce quiet. The cover 
of the hive should be a non conductor of beat. 
The Winter’s food may be either honey or 
cane sugar sirup. Bees should never go into 
winter quarters with less than 3u pounds of 
food. Tbe temperature must never go below 
38 tf F., nor above 4l c F. The first can be se¬ 
cured iu a good underground cellar; but it is 
uot always easy to protect against too great 
heat. Where many Monies are stored to¬ 
gether, the heat is apt to become excessive. 
This trouble Is overcome by the use of water, 
either in runing streams or in tile drains, or 
by sub earth ventilation. This last is secured 
by connecting a small-sized stove pipe, open 
near the bottom of the cellar, with the pipe 
of ou« of the stoves in the rooms above. A 
ine of * tcur to. six-inch tile pas-ses l( fiom the 
