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IMPORTANT POULTRY SUGGESTIONS 
AND INSTRUCTIONS. 
HENRY HALES. 
Losing a Hundred Hens.— I have several 
times been told by people keeping poultry 
that they have lost many fowls; sometimes 
100 out of 200, and the appearance of those 
that were left would testify for the truthful¬ 
ness of the statements After inquiries I have 
generally discovered that the less of so many 
has been more from a want of knowledge of 
how to check and keep diseases under control 
than from any other cause. All poultry are 
liable to take cold, no matter how much they 
are fed and cared for. If they are not then 
treated in the right way, and if the colds are 
not taken m time, the birds get out of condi¬ 
tion. and weakness and then cholera or roup 
will follow. When a florist walks through 
any green-house he can tell at a glance just 
the condition of the plants; and so can an ex¬ 
perienced poultry man see the state of health 
of any yards of poultry by a little careful ex¬ 
amination. A nnld application of tonics, dis¬ 
infectants, etc., generally brings up the fowls 
to their normal condition. Should the trou¬ 
ble prove a little more stubborn, take more 
decided means at once. Cull out the ailing 
ones, work at the rest with the mild treatment 
and give the quarantined birds stronger reme¬ 
dies. This will generally suffice, but should 
the sick birds not quickly recover, kill them, 
unless they are valuable birds. 
keep harrassing the hens, depriving them of 
that peace and quiet which are necessary to 
all hens in a laying condition. 
If you want plenty of eggs, change the food 
of your stock. Substitute wheat for oats, 
buckwheat or barley, and vice versa; but al¬ 
ways give some corn at night. 
Do not let the eggs remain in the nests long 
after being laid, as they will get chilled, es¬ 
pecially if they are intended for hatching in 
an incubator. 
Table Scraps are much more profitably 
fed to hens than to hogs: it is so as to butter¬ 
milk and any vegetable refuse during winter 
months.- 
Warm cooked food early in the morning, 
with a little pepper in it, will warm up the 
hens and assist their laying in winter. 
The lice in a poultry house can be read¬ 
ily killed by spraying every crack and crevice 
with kerosene, but I still like the sulphur-fume 
method better. The sulphur can be burned in 
a flower-pot saucer. Close all the doors and 
periments. The seed pieces were placed in 
the bottom, exactly a foot apart, and lightly 
covered with soil, and the various quantities 
of fertilizer, as stated below, were evenly 
strewn in the trenches. The fertilizer used 
in this series of experiments was the “Stock- 
bridge Potato Manure,” the analysis and 
cost of which are approximately given above. 
The variety planted was the Rural Blush, a 
late potato. 
first series of 1887. 
No. 1. 220 pounds to the acre. The yield 
was at the rate of 276.83 bushels to the acre. 
No. 2. 440 pounds of fertilizer to the acre. 
Yield 330 bushels to the acre. 
No 3. 880 pounds of fertilizer. Yield 397.83 
to the acre. 
No. 4. Natural soil. The yield was at the 
rate of 163 16 bushels to the acre. 
No. 5. 220 pounds of fertilizer to the acre— 
duplicate of No. 1. The yield was at the rate 
of 245 66 oushels to the acre. 
No. 6, 440 pounds of fertilizer to the acre— 
duplicate of No. 2. The yield was 370.33 
bushels to the acre. 
mealy or loose-grained and the flavor some 
thing between nutty and earthy, agreeable to 
some who ate them and distasteful to others. 
For experiment purposes, or as curiosities, 
these may have some value. The following is 
a verbatim, copy of the announcement of the 
Cetewayo Potato in the last catalogue of Car¬ 
ter & Co , together with an exact reproduc¬ 
tion of its protrait as presented therein— 
Fig. 5: 
“a veritable black potato—carter’s 
CETEWAYO. 
Black skin—black flesh when cooked. 
This potato is a great novelty, and is quite 
distinct from all black-skinned potatoes in 
commerce. 
Our original stock came direct from Zulu- 
land. wnere we are informed ibis potato forms 
the staple food of tne Zulus for a certain por¬ 
tion of the year. 
The flesh is of a purplish-black color slight¬ 
ly veined with while—both in a raw and in a 
cooked state. The flavor is very good. This 
potato is an enormous cropper and perfectly 
free from disease (so far as our experience, 
extending over four years, goes). 
It is indispensable in all exhibition collec¬ 
tions. 
Price Is. 6d. per sample box; 7s. 6d. per four 
pounds; 10. 6d. perseveu pounds.” 
SEEDLING POTATOES. 
It is some years since the Rural gave its 
experience in raising potatoes from seeds, and 
it has not failed, as each season has returned, 
to advocate that its readers save seed balls 
and raise new varieties, some of which might 
prove better suited to their land than the 
new kinds every year offered by seedsmen at 
a high price. What we have learned by our 
later years of experience will be placed before 
our readers at an early day with 15 illustra¬ 
tions from nature, some of which will show 
72-A 7 - Y. 
THE CETEWAYO POTATO. From Nature. Fig. 4. 
Watering Fowls. There are many kinds 
of utensils recommended for giving fowls 
drinkmg water, such as portable stone and 
metal fountains, troughs, etc. Some of the 
fountains have a lamp attached to keep their 
contents from freezing in winter. I have 
tried most of these devices and found objec¬ 
tions to them. No vessel can be kept quite 
clean that cannot be got at inside. Of course, 
these fountains may be cleansed with lime 
shot, or anything of that kind; but that sort 
of work takes time. I find that the best and 
easiest vessels for this purpose are bottom 
ends of white-lead kegs, cut off to four or six 
inches, taking in the sicond hoop. I burn 
them out with shavings, and clean them well. 
These are easily rinsed and cleaned out every 
day with a birch brush. During cold weath¬ 
er they are easily turned over to empty at 
night to prevent freezing. When they get 
frozen, as they sometimes will, I turn them 
over and bang them on the ground by which 
means the ice will fall out, and these strong 
tubs will stand this usage for a long time. 
For summer use I cut a large hole in the side 
of the keg instead of cutting it entirely off at 
the right depth. I turn this open side to the 
north, and the rest of the keg shades the 
water from the sun. 
Exercise For Poultry in Winter. —The 
throwing of grain amongst hay or straw for 
fowls to scratch in their houses when confined 
during hard weather is often recommended for 
the exercise it gives the birds. This is very 
commendable in very clean houses with few 
hens, When a large number of fowls are 
kept together and the dirt cannot be avoided it 
is a dangerous experiment. Much the best 
place to do this is under a dry outside shed 
This can be thoroughly cleaned and fresh 
earth laid on before the gram and litter are 
put in. This will insure cleanliness and there 
will be no danger of local roup, commencing 
at the corners of the mouth, often caused by 
eating contaminated food. 
Fresh Blood For Vigor.— With common 
as well as fancy poultry it is very essential for 
vigorous and healthy stock to change blood. 
The easiest way to do this is to procure fresh 
male birds that are pure-bred, of healthy 
stock and of the kind desired. The majority 
of people put this off till spring when the birds 
are dearer and good ones are hard to get. The 
sharpest people buy them early—long before 
hatching time. 
Feather Eating is one of the greatest an¬ 
noyances about keepmg poultry in winter. 
A good supply of animal food, granulated 
bone and oyster shells should be supplied in 
early winter before the habit is contracted. 
After they once commence it, nothing will 
stop them, at least for that winter. 
Combs Freezing.— Fowls with large single 
combs should be kept in while the thermome¬ 
ter is below 15° above freezing; at 18° always 
let them out, providing they have ground 
clear of snow to run on. The houses should 
be well ventilated every day when it is not too 
cold to let out the stock. 
Too many cockerels should not be carried 
over the winter with laying hens and pullets. 
They make a great commotion and continually 
windows and set the sulphur burning, and 
there won’t be any lice left. k. j. b. 
Passaic County, N. J. 
(Svuundjs of tho 
|UtD-^yorkM. 
POTATO FERTILIZERS. —THE CETE¬ 
WAYO. 
What amount of potato fertilizer can be 
profitably used ; first of a series of experi¬ 
ments during 1887; estimate of crop as 
judged by ratings of the vines during early 
growth ; a new salad potato , black skin 
and dark flesh; seedling cultivation. 
What amount of potato fertilizer can I 
profitably use on my land for this crop? By 
potato fertilizer we mean that sold as such by 
all fertilizer manufacturers, costing about $45 
per ton and analyzing about four per cent, of 
nitrogen, ten per cent, of phosphoric acid> 
and seven per cent, of potash. It is a 
question which the farmer must answer for 
himself, and that the question may be an¬ 
swered it is the object of these experiments 
to show. The Rural experiment land, as has 
been shown, needs all kinds of plant food. 
Nothing less than a “complete” potato fertili¬ 
zer will materially increase the crop. For ex¬ 
ample, if the above fertilizer be deprived of 
either potash, nitrogen or phosphoric acid, no 
matter in how great quantities the remainder 
is applied, no material increase in the crop 
will be given. This is true of this particular 
land. Upon other farms, any one or two 
might increase the yield as much as if all 
were used, in which case the cost of the omit¬ 
ted ingredients would be saved. Whether 
special or complete fertilizers will prove more 
profitable depends entirely upon what the 
land needs, and this vital question is what 
each farmer must find out for himself. 
The trenches were dug about 18 inches wide 
and four inches deep,as in all of our potato ex- 
No. 7. 880 pounds of fertilizer to the acre- 
duplicate of No. 3 The yield was at the rate 
of 476.66 bushels to the acre. 
Averaging the two separate trials we have: 
220 pounds fertilizer. Yleld 261 24 bushels. 
440 ” ” ” 350.16 ” 
880 ” ” ” 437 24 ” 
Natural soil 163.16 
It appears, then, that 220 pounds of this fer¬ 
tilizer strewn in the trenches, as above ex¬ 
plained , increased the yield over the unfertil¬ 
ized soil at the rate of 98 bushels to the acre: 
440 pounds, 187 bushels; 880 pounds, 274 
bushels. 
The above experiments show that thus far 
880 pounds of the fertilizer may profitably 
be used to the acre. How much more than 
that amount can be profitably used will be 
shown by our next report in which the com¬ 
parative results of stable manure will also be 
given. 
The promise of the yields, as judged by the 
growth and appearance of the vines is shown 
by ratings made by two persons, June 27. 
Ten (10), as in trials previously reported, 
was fixed as the highest rating. 
From Carter’s Catalogue. Fig. 5. 
Plot 1. 
rated June 27 (220 pounds fert.) 
4 
77 
2, 
77 
n ’i 440 ” 
77 
6 
77 
3, 
77 
” ” 880 ” 
'7 
8 
77 
4, 
77 
” ” 000 ” 
>7 
2 
Duplicates. 
77 
5, 
77 
” ” 220 ” 
7 ? 
5 
77 
6, 
77 
” ” 440 ” 
7 ) 
7 
77 
7, 
77 
” ” 880 ” 
77 
9 
NEW POTATOES CONTINUED. 
Cetewayo. —Seed potatoes were imported 
from Carter & Co., of London, England. The 
color of the skin is black, or a purplish-black, 
while the flesh is of a very dark color. The 
illustration from nature, Fig. 4, shows the 
largest size, typical shape, number of eyes, 
etc. Four hills were planted and yielded 
seven pounds, which is at the rate of 423.50 
bushels to the acre. The whole number of 
potatoes was 128, few, if any, of which were 
of marketable size, judged by the standard of 
other potatoes. When boiled we found that 
the flesh, though not dry, was nevertheles 
that potatoes of a marketable size may be 
produced directly from seed; that is, the first 
season. _ _ 
ONE SECRET OF GOOD WHEAT 
YIELDS. 
JONATHAN TALCOTT. 
The best yields of wheat I remember to 
have seen here were on three adjoining farms 
in this town, two of them fields of seven acres 
each, one of three acres. The two fields of 
seven acres were grown by my neighbors and 
the three-acre field by myself. All the fields 
were a fine, gravelly, or perhaps some would 
say a sandy, gravelly soil. All were sown 
after an oat crop had been harvested. The 
oats were grown on a corn stubble. Readers 
will see that three crops were grown on the 
land such as are considered exhaustive. All 
the crops in succession were abundant, in fact 
quite large. The ground was well manured 
for the corn crop; the sod was turned under 
in the spring before planting and the crop 
tilled by level cul'ivation. The oat crop fol¬ 
lowed without manure of any kiud. We 
top-dressed slightly with fine manure for the 
wheat, and the wheat was put in with a drill 
bushel per acre—early in September. 
The season proved a very tavorable one in this 
vicinity and the crop on each field was consid¬ 
ered remarkable, as two of them thrashed out 
over 40 bushels to the acre: the other—the 
writer’s—a little less. What caused the 
above yield to quite an extent, was the nearly 
perfect cleaning of the seed sown, conse¬ 
quently at the harvest no foul seed was found 
in the crop to depress the yield or to depreci¬ 
ate the quality of the grain. Two of the 
fields were on land adjoining the highway, 
and from their excellence, they were the 
cause of remarks by many passers-by 
who stopped to comment on their ex¬ 
cellent quality and the clean appearance 
of the grain. I had purchased a new 
fanning-mill that cleaned all grain much 
better than the mills heretofore in use in this 
section, and the seed had all been cleaned in 
that mill before being sown. One of the par¬ 
ties bought his seed as extra clean aud when 
he told the farmer he bought the seed wheat 
from, that he was going to have it recleaned 
before sowing, he expressed great surprise that 
any person should think of cleaning such 
nice seed wheat as that was. I told him, 
when he came to have his seed cleaned, to 
wait till we had run it through the mill before 
he decided that it was already clean—the 
look of surprise on his countenance when he 
saw the foul seed cleaued out was pleasant to 
see __“I W iH take back this refuse” he said, 
“and show the man I bought the wheat of 
how foul it was.” These three fields of wheat 
were the best I ever saw, and the cleanest 
grain. The great secret of success was clean 
seed , and good soil, well tilled, and a favor¬ 
able season. Clean seed will work wonders 
on the farm of every farmer who practices 
the cleaniug of all the seed he sows, whether 
wheat or coarser grains. The variety of wheat 
was called Jarvis in this section. The ordi¬ 
nary farm implements were used—plow, cul¬ 
tivator and Scotch harrow, and grain drill— 
£or the fitting and seeding, and the self-rak¬ 
ing reaper for harvesting, which was done 
THE CETEWAYO POTATO. 
