best prices, and it pays to give the labor in 
that direction. Scalded poultry appears as if 
undergoing decomposition. 
A dollar’s worth of tarred paper, placed on 
the walls of a poultry bouse to keep out the 
cold, will return its cost tenfold in a few 
weeks. 
The best material for fatteniag fowls is 
sweet potatoes and cornmeal. 
It is better to give the hens warm water 
three times a day than to keep vessels of ice- 
water before them all the time. 
Keeping food before the fowls continually 
removes all inducement for them to scratch. 
Ihey should be so fed as to be compelled to 
work. 
An excellent egg-producing food is one part 
corn meal, t wo parts bran, two parts ground 
oats, one part ground meat and one part mid¬ 
dlings, to which may be added a small pro¬ 
portion of bone-meal and salt; scald it and 
feed early in the morning. 
It pays to clean out the coops every day, 
provided the droppings are carefully pre¬ 
served. The droppings begin to deteriorate 
in quality as soon as they reach the floor, 
fc.Cover the floor with dry dirt or sawdust, in 
order to absorb the dampness from the feet, 
thus adding to the comfort of the poultry 
house. 
The wise poultryman sends his yellow-legged 
fowls to market, as such are preferred, but 
the dark-legged fowls he uses on his own 
table, in which respect he secures an ad van- 
age, as the best table fowls do not have yel¬ 
low legs. 
The fresher the egg the smaller the air-sack 
in the large end, and when cooked the stale 
egg cau be peeled like au orange, but the con¬ 
tents of a fresh egg adhere to the skin when 
hard-boiled. 
Ic is better to keep the hens confined in the 
poultry house than to allow them outside in 
stormy weather. 
Avoid ventilation from the top in winter 
Openings only let out the warmth while the 
impurities remain near the floor. Top venti¬ 
lation also causes swelled heads and eyes, aud 
invites roup. 
Snow is no substitute for water in winter, 
and will cause throat diseases if the fowls are 
compelled to use it. 
Cut off the heavy leg feathering of the 
Asiatics in winter, but do not pull out the 
feathers, as others will grow on the legs 
again. 
April is the month when the broilers will 
command the best prices. Last April they 
sold for 00 cents per pound, for sizes of three 
pounds per pair, or 9J cents for each broiler. 
There is no necessity for feeding red pepper 
or other condiments, if the fowls are fed on a 
variety of food; but do not give grain exclu¬ 
sively; cooked turnips or potatoes will be 
highly relished. 
Improving a Flock— Pour years ago I 
started out to increase the egg product of my 
hens. We got some White Leghorn eggs of a 
neighbor and raised the chickens. We had a 
few Black Hamburg taeus to go with them. 
Iu the fall we got a Brown Leghorn rooster. 
We have raised a strain of hens which have 
very large combs—so large that they hang 
over the eyes. Our house is so warm that the 
combs never freeze. We have picked out the 
best layers, as nearly as we could tell them, 
an i set their eggs. Every fall we got a new 
Brown Leghorn rooster. From 12 of these 
hens we got. iu one year, 2,037 eggs, and 
raised two broods of chickens. We never 
keep a hen over one year and a half old. YV e 
feed boiled potatoes, corn meal and wheat 
bran wet with uiillc, warm in the morning, in 
equal quantities by measure, in the afternoon 
we feed oats. We never feed corn. We give 
slaked lime, ashes and gravel aud boiled cab¬ 
bage twice a week. t. G. 
Arcade. N. Y. 
A hen-woman’s experience. 
We did a little better during January tbau 
the “Hen Man” at the K, G., with our 40 
fowls, including three cocks, having gathered 
370 eggs, which, at the average price for the 
month, pays £5.05. As will he readily seen, 
we received no such prices as he obtained. 
We cannot tell what were the expenses of 
feeding for the single] month: neither do we, 
nor can we well keep our account in such a 
shape as to know bow much to charge to each 
individual bird: but at the end of each year 
we know just how much per bushel they pay 
for the grain fed—mostly corn. Lost year 
they paid three cents less, and the year before 
4X cents more than £2 per bushel. However 
it may be with the “Hen Man,” I can’t drop 
the butter ladle, or leave my dish-water to get 
cold, while 1 run every time u hen cackles, 
and thus be able to determine which are the 
laying hens. The idlers are certainly not the 
fat ones, as we keep them all fat, and all the 
time, too. We deem this notion about fat 
hens, as well as fat cows, being unproductive, 
sheer nonsense. It is quite unreasonable to 
suppose that the same hen will lay more eggs, 
or the same cow give more milk, when poor, 
from any cause, whether it be from starva¬ 
tion, exposure or a body covered with vermin. 
“HEN WOMEN,” AT VINE COTTAGE. 
form 
CORRESPONDENTS’ VIEWS. 
Good Seed from the “Washington Seed 
Store.— 1 think that probably 1 shall be a tar¬ 
get for the Rural and some of its readers; 
but, notwithstanding, I will stand up to be 
counted as one who received a good thing 
from Commissioner Le Due. While be was in 
office he wrote to me asking me if I wished to 
test some seeds, to name them aud he would 
send me samples. 1 wrote him that if he 
would scud me a bushel of some good variety 
of winter wheat I would like to test it, but I 
did not want a quart or two, as that would be 
too small an amount. In due time for sowing 
fall wheat, I received from him one bushel of 
nice clean wheat, labelled “Washington Glass 
Wheal," which has proved in this section one 
of the best sorts now grown here, aud I think 
it the very best, when its yield, hardiness and 
good milliug qualities are all taken into ac¬ 
count. Last June a Canadian farmer was on 
th“ farm for the purpose of purchasing Short¬ 
horn cattle, and as he was growing wheat 
quite largely he said he would send me a bag 
or two for seed, of the best wheat he had ever 
grown, and among the new sorts he was ac¬ 
quainted with he mentioned Landreth and 
Martin’s Amber. He said his was better than 
either of these sorts. I took him to the grau- 
ary and showed him the Washington Glass 
Wheat as grown ,on my farm: a'ter examin¬ 
to grumble at hard times, but to bear up for 
our family’s sake. My experience is that this 
grumbling is not by any means confined to 
poor aud shiftless farmers. There are plenty 
of croakers among those who have plenty to 
help them along. Many a farmer with all the 
comforts of life and money in the bank, will 
croak aud sulk for days. If the weather is 
dry a week or so, everything is going to burn 
up. If it is wet, everything is going to be 
drowned out. If any article of produce is 
lower than usual, they use that as a club to 
beat down the lured man, or merchant, or 
whoever they deal with. If it is mean for a 
poor man to growl, it is a crime for a man 
with comfortable means to do so. 
Calhoun Co., Mich. JOHN mclean. 
Down with the Rum Shoes. —The farmer 
is directly injured by the liquor traffic. He 
must arouse aud put down the evil, or in a 
few years the saloon interest will have us iu a 
corner with its hand on our throats. The 
saloons lure the farmer’s boys away from the 
farm. They ruin the hope of bis old age, and 
they make the farm home a regular bell on 
earth, instead of a peaceful haven as it 
should be. 1 believe in Prohibition, and I am 
not iu favor of dealing with the question with 
gloved bands. Thousands of men think just 
as 1 do at heart, but they lack the courage to 
stand up and be counted. Temperance men 
iu many States have a chance this spring to 
show at the polls just where they stand. 
May they improve the opportunity. 
Green Bay, Wis. T. G. K. 
Grasses for Feed, —We consider prairie 
hay worth twice as much as oat or any other 
straw. We preftf it to Timothy, clover or 
any tame hay for dry feeding; but for pasture 
Red Top, Timothy or Blue Grass is preferred. 
This is because they are both earlier and later 
SUNBEAM CULTIVATOR. 
Fig. 143. 
Pago 209. 
ing it, he said, “You don’t want any of my 
wheat: yours is better than mine.” Till I can 
get a better wheat than this I for one must 
give credit to Commissioner Le Due for hav¬ 
ing received it from him. 
Rome, N. Y. J - ' r - 
“As We Dream of It.”—I must thank the 
Rural for its manly words about the scamps 
who adulterate maple sugar. We farmers 
here iu the sugar region know something of 
what their rascality costs us. The picture, 
“As we dream of it," iu the Rural of Feb. 2<i, 
made me smile, I am an old baud and can 
well remember how sugar-making was done 
in the old days. It, tempts me to “drop into 
poetry.” I suppose, though, that that picture 
is a good representation of the idea some of 
the folks who buy our sugar have of the busi¬ 
ness. 
“As we dream of It." Well, I declare! 
If he dreamed like that he hail nightmare. 
Woman! Oh dear! Just think, compare, 
When did your grandma hang In r hair? 
A figure like naught in those days you could find. 
Excepting stage coach with baggage behind. 
The sLroug man bears, with staggering gall, 
Three gallons of sap a terrible weight! 
See how the sap-yoke springs aud bends 
With half-filled polls hung on Its ends; 
Log chains for strings, they're plenty strong; 
We used to use u leathern thong. 
Kettle and contents, weighing a ton, 
On a carpeutcr'8 ten-foot pole Is hung. 
Where’s lug pole, hack log, fore-log, all 
That memory swiftly can recall? 
No spout e’er made but wlmt would fail 
To bear on lis end a well filled pall. 
In those old days they hollowed rough 
The useful wooden spile and trough, 
Aud In the tree Incision mndc 
With sturdy stroke of keen axe blade. 
Dut never, even In their dreams, 
Expected sap to run m streams. 
Waitsfield, Vt. D. A. K. 
The Immemorial Farmer’s Right to 
Grumble.— The Rural told us last year not 
inch rope, whieh’should be. 20 feet long. Tie 
a large knot in the’ end off, the" rope, pass the 
other end through the clevis, and then.fasten 
to a single-tree; hitch up the old roatfand you 
are ready to haul hay. Drive up to a shock, 
Fig. 144 
force the pole under it in the center, back up 
the horse, ppss the rope over the center of the 
shock, pass itaround the small end of the pole 
once or twice, aud tie with a slip loop and 
start on line with the pole, G. vv. f. 
Corneau, Mo. 
ONION HOE. 
I made a hoe like the. one shown at Fig. 145 
which does good work. The plank on which 
the handles rest is IX inch thick. A wheel 
can be cut out of wood. Miue is 14 inches in 
diameter. The board is 2(1 inches long, cut in 
enough to permit the wheel to play in it. The 
handles are from an old plow. These are mor¬ 
tised into the plank and fastened with wooden 
wedges. The tooth is made from an old saw 
Blue Grass is the best grass for all kiuds of 
stock, including hogs. Red Clover in dry sea¬ 
sons will bold out longer tbau any other grass. 
Hogs will leave Red Clover for Blue Grass on 
the double quick. These facts have been 
proved to me during a residence here of 17 
years. F - R - 
Sioux Falls, Dakota. 
That Last Cartoon is a fine one. 
A. B. ALLEN. 
The first-page picture in the Rural of 
March 12 simply “takes the cake.” It truly 
shows the position of the American farmer. 
Passaic Co., N. J. peter spear. 
The Wandering Tree peddler has been 
through here. Mauy farmers have been “sold,” 
how badly they won’t know till the fruit 
conies. I took the Rural’s advice and bought 
trees of a home nursery* 1 have the fruit and 
my friends have experience. I am satisfied 
with my share of the "divide.” R. c. H. 
Hadinsville, Ky. 
farm Ccoiiomij. 
HAY POLE. 
The pole for drawing hay shocks shown at 
Fig. 144, is a very handy tool for small farm¬ 
ers or others who wish to draw hay iu the 
shock. Its advantages are, that it is easily 
handled and shocks can be drawn before they 
settle, a thing that can’t be done by use of 
rope, chum or grape-vine. The pole should be 
of oak or hickory, three to four inches in di¬ 
ameter at the large eud and 10 feet long, 
sharpened at small end. Chamfer the large 
eud to two inches; bore a % inch hole four 
inches from the end and put on a small clevis 
with enough space to receive a % or % 
■ r Y.UrV. 
Fig. 145 
plate cut as shown iu the illustration, and the 
sides are turned up aud sharpened for cutting. 
This is fastened to an iron rod hammered flat 
so that it can be riveted. The point of the 
hoe is placed about au inch below the wheel, 
so that when it is in the ground it will run 
nearly level. In working strawberries a piece 
of au old scythe can be fastened at the front 
to serve as a cutter. subscriber. 
Jntuisfl Societies. 
OSWEGO FARMERS’ INSTITUTE. 
Wcu'm stables fur stock; hints on fruit grow¬ 
ing; purification of fair grounds; destroy¬ 
ing insects;cross-bred sunne most profitable; 
science on the farm; in favor of ensilage ; 
about cream-raising and churning; canals 
as freight regulators; uneven taxation; 
horse breeding; the Ayrshire the “coming 
The third Institute held by the State Agri¬ 
cultural Society convened at the Court House 
iu Oswego, at 10:30 a. m. March 2nd; 
but owing to the large crowd that 
over-tilled the place the Institute was 
forced to adjourn to the large hall of 
the Normal School building aud even this 
was crowded almost to suffocation. Mr. J. 
S. Woodward spoke of the importance of 
warm quarters for farm stock. He condemned 
in the severest terms the too common practice 
of allowing stock to run in open yards or 
fields exposed to the zero temperature and 
piercing winds of winter, lie said that the 
live stock of this country, by unnecessary ex¬ 
posure. shook off more flesh than the value 
of the national debt. He i n stated that the only 
way to make money wintering stock is to keep 
them in quarters so warm that no frost ever 
enters. He also advised the use of warm 
water (30 degrees at least) for drink, and if 
cattle must go out at all for exercise, he would 
have them blanketed and driven briskly un¬ 
til sufficiently exercised and then at once re¬ 
turn them to their stables. 
Mr. Fenner of Erie Co., in “Hints to Fruit 
Growers,” would have no one go iuto fruit 
growing, who had not a gemline love for it. 
An undulating surface is the best for an or¬ 
chard. Clay is the best soil, and it should be 
reasonably dry. The trees should not be less 
than two rods apart- 10 feet would be better- 
Trees two or at most three years old are the 
best. Potatoes are the best crop to grow iu au 
orchard. No sowed grain should ever be al¬ 
lowed. He favors packing apples as soon as 
they are picked, and advised selling them as 
soon as they are ready. The principal cause 
of unfruitfuluesu he thinks is a lack of fertility 
iu the soil. With the use of poisons aud by 
pasturing an orchard with hogs and sheep, it 
is easy to keep insects iu check. 
