THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
APRIL 28 
ovary. I cannot say positively at what age they 
begin to appear; that would probably depend 
upon the breed. Those that are precocious, 
as Brown Leghorns, would show an earlier 
development than most larger breeds. I have 
never counted how many eggs there were in 
the ovary of a laying hen; but I have noticed 
two or three clusters that appeared to be di¬ 
vided. While a hen is in a laying condition 
the most advanced bunch varies in size from 
the smallest to one very large egg, three or 
four times the size of the next largest. This 
large one matures very rapidly, for in the 
course of a few hours it makes its full growth, 
passes through the shelling operation and is 
laid, while the next largest advances to the 
size and position of the egg laid on the day 
previous, so that one full egg is produced in 
about 24 hours by a hen in full laying capacity 
in spring; while at other times of the year the 
process is slower in proportion to surrounding 
circumstances and conditions. I have no 
doubt that the egg-producing capacity of hens 
is, to a great degree, dependent upon condi¬ 
tional advantages. Some persons think a hen 
will lay a certain number of eggs in a year 
under any ordinary circumstances, and no 
more or less; that a hen has no power, 
of her own will, to add or dimin¬ 
ish the number. That this idea is a fallacy is 
easily shown. All through nature the female 
birds have a power to reproduce their comple¬ 
ment number of eggs for a sitting. Some 
species possess this quality to a greater degree 
than others, those that lay the largest number 
of eggs to the greatest degree. The Yellow- 
shafted Flicker, if the nest is robbed and one 
egg left in it, is said to go on laying until it 
lays 30 to 40 eggs. Most birds, if robbed of 
their eggs, will go to work, build and 
lay again if early enough in the sea¬ 
son in an incredibly short time. Even 
in the case of birds that bring up only one 
brood in a season, there are several things 
which contribute to a hen’s laying—first are 
proper food and care, age and season, and 
the favorable facilities given in good nests, 
and quiet from other hens; for it is well-known 
that a few hens with these advantages, will 
lay many more eggs per hen than a large 
number in more crowded quarters. This 
shows clearly what favorable conditions will 
do, and that the egg-producing organs are to 
some degree dependent upon management. 
Many such proofs are known to most breeders. 
In shipping fowls to exhibitions it is a com¬ 
mon thing for them to lay in the coops going 
or on the first day or two after arriving. 
Then they generally with a few exceptions, 
stop several days, even after returning into 
quiet quarters. Yet during this time they 
may have been highly fed and kept warm too. 
This shows that the eggs last laid were too far 
advanced to be retained in the ovary and 
must be expelled; and it also proves that the 
eggs in the upper part of the ovary did not 
advance in size and position during the un¬ 
suitable conditions. I have no doubt that 
removing the eggs, only leaving a nest-egg, 
will induce hens to lay, and I have often 
noticed the stray nests about a farm seldom 
contain too many eggs to hatch, even when 
several hens have contributed to the number, 
Hens evidently know when a nest contains 
enough eggs, for one will take possession at 
that time, and not allow any other hen to add 
to the number, if she can help it. 
There is a great difference in the pro¬ 
duction of eggs by different breeds. The 
number laid by Cochins and the greater lay¬ 
ers differs greatly. The Asiatics are only 
profitably kept during their first two adult 
years. The same is the case with their crosses, 
such as Plymouth Rocks and Wyandottes. 
Most small breeds (not Bantams) are good till 
they are four years old, while Dorkings are 
long-lived birds and will lay as well at five as 
most breeds at three years of age. At a fair 
average I should say Asiatics and their crosses 
are least profitable after two years of age for 
eggs; Hamburgs and many such breeds after 
three; the Spanish class, including the Leg¬ 
horns, after four; Dorkings after five; but I 
would say that all breeds are at their best in 
their first and second laying years. 
FROM H. S. BABCOCK. 
I DO not believe that any definite number of 
eggs can be assigned to any hen. I see no 
reason why there should be such a limit. 
Specimens will vary in the number of eggs 
they will produce, and good care and proper 
food will tend to increase the number. Gen¬ 
erally speaking, hens are less profitable for 
laying after the second year. Pullets will, as 
a rule, lay more in number than hens two or 
three years old. By pullets I mean, in fact, 
yearling fowls—those which have passed their 
first winter, or, in other words, females 
hatched in 1887 and kept for laying in 1888. 
immature state all the eggs that are ever there. 
Thus, if this be correct, a hen never has more 
eggs than she has the day she is hatched. 
These eggs afterwards will grow or develop 
as the time approaches for them to pass from 
the ovaries. They develop in crops. Thus 
certain ones enlarge about the same time, and 
these will all be deposited about the same 
time. 
Still I think even if the above is a fact that 
food may do much to stimulate egg produc¬ 
tion. It is the rich, fully prepared food, which 
is fed to the queen bee that makes it possible 
for her to lay at times twice her weight daily 
of eggs. This is full of practical suggestion. 
May we not do for the hen what unaided na¬ 
tural law has done for bees, and by better 
feeding, make her much more prolific? It is 
well known that good food will greatly stimu¬ 
late egg production; is it not possible that by 
proper preparation of the food, so that the 
stomach would not have to use the vital foi ce 
in digesting it, this extra force might be turn¬ 
ed to the ovaries, and multiplied eggs result? 
I believe that road is big with prospects. At 
what age the hen ceases to be profitable as an 
egg producer, is not easy to answer. Bo much 
depends on the breed. The Asiatics, like the 
Light Brahmas, are most profitable the second 
season; but the smaller, more active breeds 
may be kept, profitably, much longer. 
FROM C. S. COOPER. 
I believe there is not an egg formed or the 
germ thereof at the chick’s advent into the 
world. I think such a thing contrary to the 
laws of nature. Can the feathered kind be an 
exception to the other animal kind? I believe 
they are so formed by the Creator that as they 
develop they are provided, at a proper age, 
w ith the faculty of egg production, and no 
egg production takes place until that period. 
Most breeds of egg producers will lay 140 eggs 
the first year; 100 the second, and from 00 to 
70 the third; total, 310 to 820. Can a young 
chick contain that number of incipient eggs 
in its ovary? I am of the opinion it cannot, 
although aware that many differ from that 
opinion. Then why are they not produced if 
they are there? Do not care, attention to their 
wants, cleanliness, and exercise tend to great¬ 
er production? I believe there are no two 
opinions on that point. Then, again, why, 
under such treatment, does a hen become 
broody, and egg production cease if the hen 
is set upon a clutch of eggs, whereas if not 
allowed to sit, she will commence laying again 
in 14 days. On the other hand, if a hen raises 
three broods of chickens in one season, she 
will perhaps lay only 60 or 75 eggs, under the 
best treatment. Then, again, hens appear to 
have control over their egg production. Re¬ 
move a hen from her accustomed pen into an¬ 
other, and egg production will cease until she 
becomes reconciled to her new quarters. I 
find the study of nature and its laws a great 
mystery, and those that profess to be the most 
expert judges thereof are very liable to be 
mistaken. 
As to the question of age for profit in lay¬ 
ing hens, my experience would lead me to 
keep only yearling pullets for that purpose. 
The first year is always more profitable for 
eggs. Where it is desirable to keep hens for 
both eggs and chicks, I would keep a sufficient 
number of hens two years old for breeding; 
but no more than necessary for that purpose. 
They are more mature, and will produce 
stronger chicks than pullets. They should be 
mated with a vigorous cockerel. 
BREEDING FOR SEX. 
effort to control the sex in breeding. The Bi 
ble, of all books, shows both sides even of its 
best men, but I have never learned that the 
use of those peeled rods by means of which old 
Jacob produced his Holsteins with “belly, legs 
and end of the tail white” was a sin of pre¬ 
sumption, however wide it may have been off 
the square thing in other ways. 
The theory of physical and mental heredity 
was held by the old philosophers, one of 
whom asserted that the accident of drunken¬ 
ness in the individual case produced a drunk¬ 
ard on the general principle of heredity. We 
expect to improve the character of our domes¬ 
tic animals, and although we may not be alike 
successful in every case, we do not give it up 
as being forbidden ground. 
Prof. Roberts, although the least positive, 
seems to cover the ground most clearly, point¬ 
ing in the direction whence success may be 
expected, and could we hedge in the theory 
he indicates by the rules of an exact science, 
we might expect success; but since we cannot, 
I submit there are many facts and analogies 
which give us strong ground for a posteriori 
argument. 
Groping my way along in the line indi¬ 
cated by Prof. Roberts, of 12 calves dropped 
from the 9th of July to the 28th of February 
ult. (all we have had hitherto), 10 are heifers 
(and this from cows which had gone undesirab¬ 
ly beyond the Stuyvesant theory), which leads 
me to believe that what has been may be, all 
things being equal. cl w. Thompson. 
Stelton, N. J. 
R. N.-Y.—In making up its special articles 
the Rural has no desire to strengthen any pet 
hobby or to make a case of special pleading. 
It only aims to get all th6 facts obtainable. 
How the case may be decided is a matter of 
small importance besides the hope of record¬ 
ing the results of exact and careful experi¬ 
ments. In the case of the “Breeding For Sex’’ 
we sent the same questions to those whom we 
knew had had large experience with stock 
breeding and who would gladly pay a large 
sum of money for any rule that would enable 
them to produce either sex at will. The re¬ 
plies were surprisingly unanimous against the 
possibility of such a rule, but that is no rea¬ 
son why expei iment and study in the matter 
should be abandoned. Among the many in¬ 
teresting letters 'called out by the articles in 
the Rural of October 8 was one from a 
Texan, who gives an account of some experi¬ 
ments made by a neighbor who proposed to 
guarantee calves of either desired sex from 
his bull. His theory is that the sex is deter¬ 
mined by the weaker parent. To produce a 
heifer calf he feeds the cow sparingly for the 
month before her heat. She is fed but little 
grain, but gets mostly green food, roots and 
so-called “cooling” food. The bull is fed upon 
more stimulating food and is kept in a high 
state of vigor. To obtain a bull calf this con¬ 
dition is reversed. If there is anything in this 
theory it would appear that the practice pur¬ 
sued in many dairies of “keeping the bull a 
scrub”—that is, keeping him in poor condition 
while the cows are highly fed, is unwise 
IMPORTATION OF ARABIAN HORSES. 
A. B. ALLEN. 
FROM PROFESSOR A. J. COOK. 
It is supposed that all female vertebrates 
contain in their ovaries at birth even in an 
The Rural’s course in marshalling its host 
of correspondence on a given subject is one 
which commends itself to its many readers, 
but I think it sometimes has the effect of the 
“previous question” in cutting off debate. We 
common folks do not like to attack a battery 
bristling with such big guns, even though we 
see a weak place in the defense. Of this class 
are the array of arguments in the Rural of 
October 8,1887, on “breeding for sex,” which 
would be formidable enough so far as names 
go, were it not true that even good men some¬ 
times get into questionable company. 
That the method of breeding for sex is terra 
incognita to a great extent, is true, but that 
it is a terra sacra, in approaching which we 
must cast off our shoes, I cannot see. They 
were “in the beginning” “created male and 
female,” and pronounced by the Creator 
“very good.” Now there is no evidence that 
there was a Ruker or an Aaggie amongst the 
cattle, or if there were, is it probable or as¬ 
sumable, even, that Noah picked up scrubs 
and left the Aaggies to get overthrown with 
the wicked, and if to try to make “very bet¬ 
ter” what God pronounced very good is not 
treading on forbidden ground, neither is the 
English, although some are quite equal to the 
latter on the hunting field, except as weight 
carriers. But with English feed and atten¬ 
tion their size is increasing, and they may in a 
third generation prove themselves equal to the 
stoutest home-bred class of hunters. It is use¬ 
less for Americans to import Arabian horses 
hereafter; the English Thoroughbred is bet¬ 
ter in every respect, and can be easily procur¬ 
ed any time at a lower figure and at less 
risk of importation. 
UjukiI 
I observe a notice in the Rural, page 218, 
of the failure of Senator Palmer’s agent in Da¬ 
mascus, to obtain any Arabian horses free 
from disease. For a considerable time past, 
the Arabians have not sent horses for sale to 
towns on or near the Mediterranean, except 
those that were unsound, worn out with age, 
or too vicious for safe usage. The only way to 
get good animals is to go far into the interior, 
and then it requires so much chaffering, and 
overcoming difficulties of various kinds, as to 
prevent one from obtaining such as are desira¬ 
ble, unless at a most exorbitant price. But fox 
some time past, the Arabians have frequently 
resorted to Turkish and other Eastern stal¬ 
lions, and even to some few English Through- 
breds to cross on their mares for the purpose 
of increasing the size of the offspring, so that 
it is now difficult to find any pure-bred as in 
ancient times. The Anazeh have hitherto 
posessed the finest and purest breed of these 
horses, but latterly it is said they have also 
resorted to foreign stallions to some extent to 
cross on their mares. 
Sir Wilfred Scawen Blunt, of Cobbet Park, 
England, visited Arabia at three different 
times, and traveled extensively among the 
most famous breeders of horses there. He has 
given a full account of these in a work pub¬ 
lished on the subject. He imported quite a 
number of the finest stallions and mares to be 
had, and for some years past has been breed¬ 
ing these horses pure together on his estate, 
and also crossing them with the English Thor¬ 
oughbreds. None of their offsprings have as 
yet proved as fleet in the race course as the 
ICS. 
THE BLACK SIDE OF FARMING. 
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 
T. H. HOSKINS, M.D. 
Fai-ming , as a rule, doesn’t pay; the narra . 
tor takes a tip-top helpmate; other mem¬ 
bers of the family, and what became of 
them-, started farming early in life ; stock 
kept; farming to live ; early experience 
with pure-bred livestock-. Short-horns un¬ 
profitable. 
And well a man may be weary, after work¬ 
ing hard for 40 years, to find himself consider¬ 
ably worse off than when he set out, and his 
farm worth a good deal less money. If any¬ 
body ought to know whether farming pays, 
surely I ought. And let me tell you that 
farming, taking all the risks, does not pay. 
Here and there a man may have extra luck 
and get ahead, but he is always the exception 
to a general rule that farming doesn’t pay. 
At the age of 22 years I married, and though 
her and my hopes in life have been utterly 
disappointed and both our heads are gray, I 
will say that my wife was rightly called the 
handsomest, the best and the smartest girl in 
our neighborhood; and whatever may be 
thought of me and my management, nothing 
in our failure can be justly charged to her. 
She has done a wife’s part through it all, and 
if there is any blame, I want it understood 
that it belongs to me. 
My father was a farmer in Western Massa¬ 
chusetts. His family consisted of myself, two 
other sons and two daughters. I am the sec¬ 
ond son. My two sisters married and with 
their husbands both removed to the West—to 
Illinois—where they both died young, of what 
is now called malarial disease—chills and 
fever. My elder brother is a merchant in 
New York, the younger a lawyer in Michigan. 
They ore both well off—I might say that the 
younger has become very rich, but his money 
was mostly made in lumber-land speculations 
rather than by the practice of his profession. 
I stayed at home and took the home farm off 
my father’s hands to run it, support the old 
folks while they lived, and have the farm at 
their decease. I married to the satisfaction of 
all the family, and while my father and 
mother lived there was never anything but 
kindness between my wife and them. In all 
my misfortunes, if 1 may call them so, family 
disagreements have not been among them. 
My brothers and brothers-in-law willmgly 
consented to the arrangement by which the 
farm was to be mine, as above stated. My 
wife’s folks lived in the neighborhood, and we 
never either of us had any inclination to go 
away. We had a stay-at-home disposition, 
and I had no other ambition than to be a bet¬ 
ter farmer than my father. 
The farm was an old Connecticut Valley 
one, well watered, and well divided, in the 
language of the advertisements, into tillage, 
pasture and woodland. It lies within a mile 
of a small village. The buildings were rather 
old, but good, and in a fair state of repair. 
The stock was of the common sort, and com¬ 
prised the usual variety, cows, oxen, horses, 
sheep, swine and poultry. The entire farm 
comprised about 180 acres, and would carry 
what stock there was, comfortably. It was 
not new when my father came into possession 
of it, in 1820, some six or seven years before 
I was born. It had probably first been 
opened and partially cleared before the Revo¬ 
lution, but the buildings were mostly put up 
about the time of the second war with Eng¬ 
land. They were iu what is now called the 
“Colonial style” a square, bip roofed 
house with an ell, and plain, but strongly- 
built barns and sheds, sufficient for the crops 
and stock. 
My father had been a very strong, vigor¬ 
ous, energetic man, who worked early and 
late, and my mother had been equally effic¬ 
ient, so that before I was grown they had 
fully paid up for everything they bad. They 
lived and clothed themselves and their child¬ 
ren from the products of the farm, raising 
their own flax and wool, and manufacturing 
them in the house. Store bills were small ;what 
labor was hired was mostly paid from the 
crops, and cash was chiefly required for the 
tax-gatherer aod the blacksmith. From home- 
spun material, and the hides of our own cat 
