(Continued from page 152.) 
plow could be put into the ground after De¬ 
cember 6. This shows what a variety of cli¬ 
mates one State can have. “The Farmer Sup¬ 
plying the World” is a fine picture. My wife 
will paint it. I like the Rural's reply to the 
person who asked: “why take a farm paper?” 
There are plenty of farmers everywhere who 
think a farm paper is of no value to them. 
They plod along in the ruts marked out by 
their great-great grandfathers. The longer 
they travel in such ruts the deeper they get 
and the harder it is to get out, and the more 
the power they apply is retarded by friction. 
Catonsville, Md. Of. w. G. 
The wire-worm nnLsance—for really they 
are a great nuisance—is in my estimation 
easily destroyed or driven away. For years 
I was greatly' annoyed with them, but by ex¬ 
perimenting I think I have found a remedy. 
My soil is black-muck clayey loam and grav¬ 
elly loam—the worm showing most destruction 
upon the clayey loam. When lam to plant 
corn or potatoes the following year, I endeav¬ 
or, if sod, to turn over and sow to buckwheat. 
The following year I plant to corn or pota¬ 
toes, and I have yet to see a crop following 
buckwheat injured by the wire-worm. This 
may not prove a remedy in all cases, but for 
12 years it has not failed with me. w. a. t. 
The article on variation in ripening by C. 
Mills in the Jau. 8 number, made me think. 
One of our best grape-growers spoke last fall of 
the different methods followed by himself and 
his neighbor—just across the way. The neigh¬ 
bor cultivates thoroughly' and keeps the 
ground clean from spring to fall. His crop 
was fine but so late on account of late culti¬ 
vation, that he got the poorest price. My 
friend’s practice was to cultivate thoroughly' 
early' in the season, and during the latter part 
let the weeds grow. By so doing his Dela¬ 
wares ripened nearly two weeks ahead of his 
neighbor’s, and be had them all marketed be¬ 
fore those of his neighbor were ready to pick. 
He said most people were afraid of weeds, but 
with him it was “blessed be the weeds!” His 
theory was that too much moisture for the 
grape when maturing its fruit retarded the 
ripening process, and that the weeds drank up 
and retained the excess. The grape by mid¬ 
summer has nearly attained its full size—the 
vine by this time has stored up nearly all the 
elements necessary' for the full development 
and perfection of its fruit, and from this time 
on is digesting its food and wants to be l>e let 
alone. A severe drought duriug the latter part 
of the season might require that the surface 
of the ground be lightly stirred or the weeds 
clipped off that the vine might get a little 
more water “for its stomach’s sake.” 
East Paris, Mich. s. s. b. 
IjusbanDn). 
Notes from the Western New York Farm. 
SHEEP BREEDING. 
Should Ram Lambs be Castrated when 
being raised for a winter or early spring mar¬ 
ket, or for being fattened the succeeding win¬ 
ter? And how much less will ram lambs bring 
thau wethers provided each are equally fat 
and •nice? These questions asked by' A. F. B., 
Ovid. Mich., contain the gist of several letters 
recently received from sections widely separ¬ 
ated. 
All ram lambs not desired to be retained for 
breeding purposes should be castrated, and es¬ 
pecially so if to be grown for winter feeding 
when coming one year old. If they are not, 
they become uneasy and continually chase and 
worry each other and especially' the ewe 
lambs, and wkeu killed it will be found that 
they are not “equally fat and nice” and their 
meat will not look as well as that of the ewes 
or wethers, and must be sold for several cents 
per pound less than carcasses of either ewes or 
wethers. Where only one or two are included 
in a large flock of ewes or wethers, the buyer 
may not object very strongly to include them 
in the bunch; but will certainly make proper 
allowance for their presence when estimating 
the value of the whole. But of a bunch com¬ 
ing one year olds, if all bucks, the price would 
be from one to two cents per pound less than 
if the lot were straight ewes or wethers. Even 
when raising them for sale as winter or early 
spring lambs it pays to castrate them. Iu all 
cases where dressed the ewe liunbs will be 
found to “kill the best” showing most fat 
aud having the best “caul.” Next are wether 
]ambs. Ram lambs are often found with so lit¬ 
tle “caul” that it is a hard matter to make 
them look firsLelass. Besides this, by their 
continual chasing and teasing of the ewes aud 
each other, they really cause all iu the flock to 
run off much flesh aud this is equivalent to a 
loss of just so much profit to the feeder. 
The Best Age for Castration. —When 
this necessary operation is postponed, as is too 
often the case, till the lambs are several weeks 
or mouths old, the organs have become pretty 
fully' developed. The nerves with which they 
are filled are large aud extremely' sensitive-, 
aud a large flow of blood goes in that direc¬ 
tion, so that castration is a very painful oper¬ 
ation and, unless performed by one well 
skilled, results in the death of from one to 
sometimes as much as 10 or 15 per cent.; and 
even when not fatal, it results in the lamb’s 
system being so shocked as to deprive it of all 
desire for food for several day's, resulting in 
considerable loss of flesh. A better way by 
far is to castrate w hen from four days to a 
week old. At thus age the organs are exceed¬ 
ingly' immature; there is yet no great flow of 
blood to them, and the nerves are so feebly de¬ 
veloped that, the lambs suffer very little pain. 
I have often seen them playing about and 
nursing the mother within half an hour after 
being castrated, as though nothing had hap¬ 
pened. When done thus early' no skill or sci¬ 
ence is needed; the whole scrotum, including 
the testicles, may be cut off with a knife or 
pair of sheep shears with perfect safety and 
very little paiu to the lamb, and with the loss 
ofjonly' a few drops of blood. In faet,this meth¬ 
od is less painful and the wound sooner heals, 
than it' the common plan is followed—making 
an incision in each side of the scrotum and re¬ 
moving each organ separately and pulling out 
the cord; and, besides, it does not take one- 
tenth of the time, nor does it need an assist¬ 
ant. A lamb can be caught, with his head 
down, between the knees of the operator, and 
its scrotum can be grasped with the lingers of 
the left hand aud cut with one clip of the 
shears, held in the right hand, aud the little 
fellow released by opening the knees, all 
within one minute. 
* * * 
A Good Feeding Ration.— Mr. B. also 
asks if clover, hay and, for grain, a mix¬ 
ture of corn oats and bran, is a desir able 
food for winter lamb raisiug or for lamb 
feeding? No better forage for either of these 
purposes can be desired than medium clover 
bay, the clover being cut when just reach¬ 
ing full bloom and cured mostly in the 
cock and drawn to the barn while still 
so damp as not to lose its leaves. I 
have seen it come from the mow so fragrant 
as to make one think that Nebuchadnezzar if 
his ration was such hay as this, did not have 
so hard a time after all. The mixture of 
corn, oats and bran makes a very good ration, 
providing some sort of succulent food is 
daily given; if not, I should much prefer to 
substitute linseed meal in place of the oats, 
and even with the roots, I am quite sure the 
linseed meal will be cheaper than the oats. I 
am sure this would be the case were account 
to be taken of the value of the manure which 
would be made, and this should never be 
omitted when considering the desirability of 
using any particular kind of food. 
♦ * * 
Full Feed should be now Given to 
last spring’s lambs intended for the early 
spring market. By r this I mean that they 
should be receiving all the grain they can be 
made to eat aud digest. But in order that 
they may digest the largest quantity they 
should have a daily feed of at least three full 
feeds a week of mangels, carrots or other 
roots or some other succulent food. They 
should also have been treated before now 
for ticks or, what is better, if in warm sta¬ 
bles they should have been sheared aud then 
treated. 
* * * 
It is a Great Fallacy which pervades the 
minds of so many good breeders even, that 
breedingewes must have no grain before lamb¬ 
ing. Ours have been full-fed since the middle 
of December, aud many are fat enough for 
mutton and still vve have no trouble. 
Niagara C'o., N. Y. J. s. woodward. 
HOG troughs. 
In the issue of January 8th you represent a 
method of feeding hogs, but it is very de¬ 
fective, as the hogs are crowding uround, 
while the feed is being put in the trough. In 
the issue of January 29th you represent an im¬ 
proved method, but it also has serious ob¬ 
jections. It is a great trouble to fix it per¬ 
fectly, especially if you have a uumber of 
hogs. My method is an improvement on 
either of the preceding. Figure 118 represents 
the door raised, giving the hogs access to the 
trough. Figure 119 represents the door 
dropped, leaving the trough entirely outside. 
The mode of fastening the door either way is 
simple. Nail a cleat on the door, so that an 
old bolt can be slid up and down. On either 
side of the trough place a staple, and all you 
have to do is to lift the bolt, raise the door 
aud drop the bolt in the other staple. The 
door may be easily raised by nailing a piece 
of strap to grasp as a handle. 
A Friend. 
R. N.-Y.—We have seen this arrangement 
used with a wooden pin for a fastening. This 
pin drops down at the back of the trough. 
The objection to this is that the hogs some¬ 
times learn the trick of rooting up the pin 
aud letting the door swing back before the 
trough is ready. 
LOOKING AHEAD FOR EGGS. 
HENRY HALES. 
The great complaint this winter among 
poultry keepers is scarcity of eggs. From all 
quarters come complaints that eggs are very 
scarce. The farmer or poultryraau with a 
large stock of hens to feed finds it a trying 
time when eggs are very dear if he fails to re¬ 
ceive but little return. In some winters this 
is the case much more than in others. The 
great consideration is how to manage poultry 
to bring about the best results for winter lay¬ 
ing, for eggs iu most cases are of more im¬ 
portance thau chickens for market. It is not 
wise to defer this question till spring or sum¬ 
mer. It is then too late, but it must Lave at¬ 
tention now, if we are to expect better results 
next winter. The best way to be well sup¬ 
plied with flue, early-laying pullets is to breed 
them yourself; for they are generally so scarce 
that any persons who may have such extra 
stock, will generally ask more than one 
can afford to pay for them. I have found the 
best way is to keep a few of some sitting 
hardy variety, to lay in fall and win¬ 
ter and sit early in spring. If raised very 
early the previous spring, they will generally 
lay out their first clutches and be ready to sit 
by the time older birds are about to com¬ 
mence to lay. The breed selected may be 
Light Brahmas, Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes 
or any cross having half Asiatic blood: but I 
would prefer one of the last two mentioned, 
as the birds are not so clumsy as the large, 
feather-legged Brahmas, The eggs to be 
hatched should be mostly Leghorns, with a 
few from some sitting breed (as before men¬ 
tioned) for next season. 
Now comes the difficulty of hatching enough 
chicks at one time, us it is the general exper¬ 
ience that early sitters do not hatch as large a 
percentage us lions that sit later. T here are 
several reasons for this: in the first place, the 
heat of the hen in cold weather will hardly 
reach the outer edges of the nest, so that some 
eggs do not receive sufficient heat; and an¬ 
other reason is, neglect or difficulty in col¬ 
lecting the eggs from the nests before they be¬ 
come chilled, so that from these or other 
causes often not more than 50 per cent, of the 
eggs ar e hatched by early batchiug hens, and 
most of them could cure for six or eight more 
little ones. This is where an incubator comes 
in to the best advantage in my estimation, for 
these extra chicks can be artificially hatched 
and distributed to the hens. It must be re¬ 
membered that the same cure must be taken 
in procuring eggs that will prove fertile as in 
procuring the right sort of hens. 
I will now give an experience that might 
have saved many a disappointment and also 
avoided much misunderstanding as to the 
quality of the machine. 
It is of no use trying to hatch these early 
chickens in February or March with an incu¬ 
bator in an outbuilding subject to all the 
various changes of temperature of these try¬ 
ing months. The machine must be iu a pro¬ 
tected building, warmed with as even a tem¬ 
perature as possible—the more even the 
temperature which surrounds the incubator, 
the bett.-r the prospects of success; even a 
cellar is better than any shed. Although a 
good machine is furnished with appliances for 
regulating the heat, these cannot be relied on, 
especially when subjected to severe changes, 
as the eggs will be so much affected as to pro¬ 
duce poor results. Not many farmers have 
time to attend to incubators; but where there is 
a family it will sometimes prove a source of 
amusement as well as of profit to one of its 
members to attend one or two hatchings, at a 
time of year when other employments are not 
pressiug. Of course, proper management 
must be studied, and the removal of infertile 
eggs aud the substitution of fresh ones after 
the first few days will be rather an advan¬ 
tage, as then all the egg won’t be hatching at 
ouce, as in all probability the hens will be set 
one after another. When the heus and chicks 
are ready each mother tnay receive twelve to 
fifteen chicks. These muse be kept iu a warm 
place; or an outbuilding with windows facing 
south will be good for the first few weeks, 
afterwards they should be kept in sheltered 
places iu coops. It is best to have a small 
wire inclosure before each coop to keep the 
chicks from straying too far in the cold; hut 
principally to teach them to keep their own 
coops till such good habits are formed. 
FEEDING BOX FOR HENS. 
Mr. Richard Rallston,o£ Sullivan Co.,N. 
Y., sends us a sketch of the device shown at 
Figs. 120-121. It will be readily understood. 
Fig. 121. 
The feed is placed within the box, as at Fig. 
120. The platform is so balanced that a very 
light weight will press it down aud,by means of 
the wires and lever at the side of the box, 
raise the door aud enable the hens to eat. 
When the fowls step off, the platform rises, 
the door falls, and the feed is preserved from 
rats. We are inclined to thiuk this arrange¬ 
ment will work better iu theory than iu prac¬ 
tice. The hens must be taught to step upon 
the platform, and if anything about the ma 
chinery should break, the hen’s ueck would be 
worth but little. 
WATER DISH FOR HENS. 
I use a dish like that showu at Fig. 122 iu 
my poultry house. Take a sheet of heavy tin. 
W.WrN. 
Fig. 122. 
Turn up one end to make it as deep as desired, 
and solder iu the end pieces which may be cut 
from the other end of the tin. It is to be hung 
up to the side of the house on two nails. The 
hens do not get their feet into it, and it will 
not break by freezing. a. d. m. 
Central Villuge, Mass 
fbruMilluiTil. 
HANDY DEVICES. 
Fig. 11(5 shows a plant protector which we 
have reproduced from Peter Henderson's cat- 
