438$ 
428 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The bird shown at Fig. 230 is considered by 
the Fanciers’ Gazette a typical specimen of 
this breed. The Cochins are more popular 
in England than in this country. Some years 
ago birds of this breed had a “boom” that has 
never been equaled by any other breed. The 
excitement in our day over Wyandottes or 
Plymouth Rocks is very mild indeed compar¬ 
ed with that which signaled the introduction 
of the Cochins into England in 1847. Tre¬ 
mendous prices were paid for good specimens 
and the poultry public could talk of nothing 
else. This excitement reached this country in 
a mild form, but soon died out, when the real 
merits of the Cochins were developed. They 
are family rather than business birds. They 
live contentedly in small quarter:, grow to a 
large size, are hardy and gentle and are fair 
layers. They will never be popular with 
those who esteem such breeds as Wyandottes, 
Leghorns or Plymouth Rocks, but many 
towns-people with but small quarters for 
poultry will find them well suited to their 
wants. 
•--- 
THE GOLDEN-LACED WYANDOTTE. 
The Golden-Laced Wyandotte, now attract¬ 
ing the attention of the poultry-loving public, 
is the result of many years of systematic 
breeding, with a fixed purpose,and is not from 
sports of the standard variety or an accident. 
The first cross toward producing this valuable 
fowl was made by Joseph McKeen of Wis., in 
1880. Later, birds of the sort were bred and 
exhibited by E. S. Commings. Quoting from 
Mr. McKeen, “The Golden Wyandotte sprang 
from a combination of the ‘American Se¬ 
bright’ (now the Silver Wyandotte) and a 
large black red non-standard variety that was 
known to some extent by the name of Winne 
bago. I have been at work with the Golden 
Wyandotte with a definite object in view 
since the spring of 1880, although the 
foundation was well laid several years 
prior to that date in the production of the 
Winnebagoes.” 
This breed is as well laced as their cousins 
the Silver-Laced variety, the hens having a 
most beautiful groundcolor of gold and golden 
brown. The cocks, with all that rich irides¬ 
cent plumage of the B. 13. R. Game, with 
breasts beautifully laced on a ground color of 
golden bay, we think that they will average 
slightly larger than the Silver variety, al¬ 
though the Standard adopted by the A. P. A., 
for the revised edition of the American Stand¬ 
ard of Perfection, gives them the same stand¬ 
ard weight as Silver Wyandottes. They com¬ 
bine the many sterling qualities of a general- 
purpose fowl, while for the fancy they stand 
with few rivals. d. w. herick. 
£axm C.coiwhuj, 
PREPARING STOCK FOR MARKET. 
A good deal of produce that is sent to this 
market gets here in such poor shape that 
much of the profit is lost. The commission- 
men issue instructions for packers, which are 
not always followed by shippers. Those ship¬ 
ping calves or chickens wdl do well to heed the 
following instructions given by E.& O. Ward, 
New York: 
DRESSED CALVES. 
Calves from three to six weeks old and 
weighing about 100 pounds, or say from 80 to 
120 pounds, are the most desirable size for 
shipment to this market, and should be dress¬ 
ed in the following maimer: When all is 
ready for the killing, take the calf gently, (it 
must not be worried or chased, and should 
not be fed for a space of at least six hours 
previous.) Tie a rope to the hind legs, and 
hang it up clear of the ground or floor; then 
cut oil' the head just behind the ears; when 
thoroughly bled out, put In the gambrel stick, 
and cut off the legs at the knee-joint, then 
open the belly from just behind the kidneys 
to the breast-bone; then remove all the intes¬ 
tines, including the liver, lights and heart. If 
all this is well and properly done, the inside 
will present a clean appearance, free from 
blood or blood stains. Now balance evenly on 
the gambrel, and place a stick of suitable 
length in the opening, to hold it in proper 
shape; then hang in a cool, dry place until 
the flesh is “set”—say from eight to twelve 
hours;it must hang until the animal heat is all 
out. The stick which was placed across the 
opening should now be removed, unless quite 
warm weather. Mark for shipment by sew¬ 
ing a “Shipping Tag” to the bag-skin, between 
the hind legs; it will then be ready for ship¬ 
ment. As the time of shipment is also import¬ 
ant, we will repeat what we have communi¬ 
cated, namely—avoid shipping poultry, or 
fresh meats of any kind, to reach this market 
so late in the week as on Saturday, as it will 
be quite likely to remain unsold until the fol¬ 
lowing week, and if not spoiled, will be stale. 
Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays are the 
best days for selling. 
SPRING CHICKENS. 
If chickens are to be shipped alive, they 
should be fed on fine food just before shipping 
which will disappear from the crops before 
they reach market, but on no account should 
coarse food be fed to chickens immediately 
before shipping from near by points. Of 
course, provision must be made for feeding on 
the way if the chickens are shipped from a 
great distance. Chickens are often shipped 
too small and immature. Very early in the 
season small chickens sell because of the scar¬ 
city of lai ger ones, but as soon as the latter 
appear, the first named have to be sold low or 
not at all. Dressed chickens weighing three 
pounds to the pair sell best. Live chickens of 
three to four pounds to the pair are preferred, 
and none should be shipped not weighing 2>£ 
pounds to the pair. Later in the season, when 
the watering-place hotels are open, and the 
price of chickens is by the pound, the smaller 
sizes have a good demand. As to the profita¬ 
bleness of shipping chickens alive or dressed, 
the guide should be the quality of the stock. 
Choice, fat chickens will generally pay a pro¬ 
fit for the additional cost of dressing and icing, 
but lots not so desirable had better be sent 
alive. Of dressed chickens, dry-picked are 
much preferred to scalded. Great care , how¬ 
ever, must be taken in dry picking; the skin 
being very tender is easily broken, which 
causes a defective appearance which greatly 
injures the sale. For dressed chickens, barrels 
and half-barrels are by far the best packages 
if the poultry is to be iced. As the weather 
becomes warmer ice must be used, packing a 
layer of chickens, then a layer of finely brok¬ 
en ice, and so on until the package is filled. 
For live chickens crates should be used to hold 
20 to 30 chickens, which will require dimen¬ 
sions, say, 2X feet wide, tliree„feet long, and 
ten inches deep. Coops may be made with 
slats in the usual way, and the express com¬ 
panies generally return them free. The chick¬ 
ens should stand close, but not crowded in the 
coops. 
FUEL NOTES. 
It may appear that the summer is a cu¬ 
rious season for discussing the fuel question. 
Most of us at this season are seeking to tf- 
minish the heat rather than to increase it. 
Still it is true that some farmers’ families suf¬ 
fer more from a lack of proper fuel in sum • 
mer than they do in winter. The summer 
wood-pile is too often neglected, as many 
good housewives will gladly testify. 
FROM H. A. WHITTEMORE. 
In this part of the country wojjfl for family 
use is, in too many cases, cut at any time of the 
year when it is needed and used as cut each day 
—green. Were I to select and study strict econo_ 
my I would cut my wood,if soft—pine,homlock ) 
etc.—in June and pile it with the bark down 
and leave it until the following winter and 
then draw and house it for future use. If 
hard wood—beech, hickory, maple, etc.—I 
would cut it in February or early March and 
treat it in the same manner as the lighter 
kinds of wood. The average farmer cuts his 
wood with a cross-cut saw, usually 18 inches 
long. When wood is cut by the job, a pile 
4x8 and the length of the wood, is called one 
cord, even though the wood is but 18 inches 
jong. A few farmers are trying coal for par¬ 
lors and sitting-rooms, and although coal is 
worth $5.00 at the yarc^s in winter, they think 
it preferable to wood. 1 can see no economy 
in using coal where wood is as abundant as in 
Chautauqua Co., N. Y. A wood fire is al¬ 
ways cheerful and pleasant to sit by or to 
cook with. In a hurry it can be pushed to 
a better heat, and on a cold day it gives a 
quicker, healthier heat. Wood 18 inches long 
sells readily in our markets at from $2 to $2.- 
50 a cord. Very little of any other length is 
marketed. 
Chautauqua Co., N. Y, 
FROM A. L. CROSBY. 
Unless one has plenty of woodland, coal is 
the cheapest fuel, but even with abundance 
of wood on the farm, the labor of preparing it 
for the stove would probably make it cost as 
much as coal; but the labor is put in at odd 
times, and, therefore, is not counted at its full 
value. 
Wood is cut in the winter, not because that 
is the best time, but because it is the only time 
that can be spared from other work. It is 
corded up where cut, and after seasoning the 
following summer is ready for consumption 
If the trees to be cut are reasonably straight 
and free from limbs near the ground, one or 
two leugths of rails and posts can be cut off, 
or the log can be hauled to the null and sawed 
up into lumber. But as our wood is mostly 
hard, it makes very heavy lumber to handle 
for building purposes, except for studding and 
sills. One exception may be noted, that of 
the poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), which 
if properly seasoned makes No 1 weather- 
boaiding. But as for the time of cutting, the 
best time and manner is to cut while the trees 
are in full leaf, after the new wood has become 
hard; allow it to lie until the leaves have dried 
up before cutting up, then cut and split if for 
fuel, or saw if for lumber, and I think a large 
per cent of usefulness can be credited to this 
plan. But who, even if he had time, is pining 
to cut wood in June, July and August ? About 
18 years ago I had a hickory tree cut in 
August; the butt was cut off, split, barked—to 
keep the worms from eating it—and seasoned 
under cover. The following winter I made a 
set of double-trees out of it for plowing, and 
they are in use to-day, all hough they were the 
smallest in size of any I ever saw, and the 
single-trees were fully three feet long; yet such 
was the toughness of the wood cut and cured 
in that way that they never showed the slight¬ 
est sign of breaking until they became weath¬ 
erworn. 
SELF-OPERATING VALVE FOR 
WATERING TROUGHS. 
Often in using a watering trough in a barn, 
whether the water is supplied from a spring 
where the supply is unlimited, or from a wind¬ 
mill tank where none can be wasted, it is a 
great convenience to have some sort of an 
arrangement whereby the water supply can 
be kept at an unvarying hight. Such an ar¬ 
rangement is an automatic faucet or valve, 
and one form of the many in wbh h it may be 
made is shown at Fig. 234 This shows one 
end of a water-trough with the valve. The 
inlet-pipe coming from beneath, where it is 
presumed to be placed secure from frost, is 
shown at A. The top should project half or 
three-fourths of an inch through the bottom, 
and be filed even and smooth, and it can be of 
inch pipe or any other size most convenient. 
C is a lever made of three-eightlis by inch 
iron. The longer end is drawn out until it is 
about square. The other end is hammered 
down until it is about three-quarters of an 
inch square, and has a hole made through it 
to receivo a one-fourth-inch carriage bolt. 
This lever passes through a standard F, and 
has a bolt or rivet put through it. The stan¬ 
dard has a coarse thread cut on it, and screws 
securely into the bottom. The short end of 
the lever has a piece of tough board, half an 
inch thick and two inches in diameter, bolted 
to its under side, to which board is fastened a 
piece of rubber packing; or a piece of the sole 
of a rubber shoe will do. This is the valve 
for closing the inlet pipe. To the longer arm 
of the lever is attached a piece of brass chain, 
D, at one end of which is a float, E. The 
float can be made of two pressed tin basins, 
holding about two quarts each, soldered to¬ 
gether air-tight, as shown. The lever should 
have the long arm 24 inches and the short arm 
three. The chain should be long enough to 
allow the proper amount of water to run into 
the trough. The operation will be as follows: 
The water will run freely into the trough un¬ 
til its buoyancy will lift the float attached to 
the long arm, which will cause the valve on 
the short arm to press firmly upon the inlet 
pipe shutting off the water, even against heavy 
pressure. When the water is drank down the 
float sinks, allowing the valve to open and 
more water to enter. w. j. woodward. 
Dainj ijitsbrnuin}. 
HOUSE FOR DAIRY EXPERIMENTS. 
Bulletin No. 1, from the Experiment Sta¬ 
tion at Cornell, contains a description of a 
dairy house which was constructed in 1885 in 
order that practical illustrations in the manu¬ 
facture of butter and cheese might be given. 
Various changes and additions have from 
time to time been made, and the plans are now 
published in the hope that farmers and dairy¬ 
men, as well as those who wish to erect build¬ 
ings for the cold storage of fruits, may be able 
to get something of value from them. 
The four figures show the ground-plan, the 
construction of the floor and superstruc¬ 
ture. Durability, convenience for work, and 
a cheap wall capable of excluding cold, heat 
and moisture were made prominent features 
in its construction. The foundation walls 
laid below frost, were built by the farm hands 
TYPICAL BUFF COCHIN. (Re-engraved from the London Fanciers’ Gazette.) 
Fig. 230. 
