1889 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
761 
Now is the time to make everything snug 
about the poultry house. Have it warm, 
light and clean, so that the hens will be 
comfortable and happy. They should have 
protection from the cold rains of fall, 
especially if they haven’t finished moulting. 
The house should face the south or south¬ 
east, with plenty of windows on that side. 
Some people think that all the light a hen 
needs is enough to find the way to bed. 
The writer knew an intelligent farmer, one 
who made farming pay, who built a new 
hen-house, and put just one small pane of 
glass in it for light; he had plenty of old 
sashes, too, from an old house he had just 
torn down; but he “didn’t know as hens 
wanted much light.” A hen will not stay 
in a dark place unless compelled to. 
Another mistake farmers make is in placing 
the hen-house in some out-of-the-way cor¬ 
ner, like the north side of the barn, where 
nothing else would be expected to thrive. 
It should have the sunniest location possi¬ 
ble, and should be so placed that the hens 
may have access to the sheds and barn-yard 
without getting into the snow, and where 
they will be protected from the wind as 
much as possible. 
The HOUSE should be impervious to wind 
and water. If an old house, it should be 
thoroughly cleaned, whitewashed liberally 
with a good allowance of petroleum in the 
wash, the roosts saturated with petroleum, 
(the crude is as good for this purpose as auy,) 
the nests emptied and saturated, or burned 
with their contents, and everything made 
as clean as possible. The inside of the house 
should be lined with tarred paper, with the 
laps covered with laths to keep the paper 
snugly in place. 
The roosts should be placed low down, 
and all on the same level. The old fashion 
of building the roosts like a ladder is a very 
pernicious one. The hens all want the 
highest places like the Scribes and Pharisees 
of old, and crowd each other to get there. A 
board should be placed under the roosts to 
catch the droppings, sprinkled with land- 
plaster, dry earth or sifted coal ashes, and 
cleaned off frequently—every day is not too 
often. The roosts should not be too narrow 
especially if the fowls are heavy. Inch 
boards cut into strips three or four inches 
wide are best. Make everything smooth 
so as not to harbor vermin. 
The nests should be arranged so as to be 
dark to prevent the hens acquiring the 
habit of egg-eatiug. 
The feed boxes for feeding soft feed 
should be so placed that the hens cauuot 
get into them with their feet. The best 
arrangement is an alley two or three feet 
wide running the length of the building, 
separated by a lath partition, through 
which the hens may reach the feed placed 
in troughs in the alley. The nests and 
roosts may also be placed next the alley, so 
that the eggs may be gathered and drop¬ 
pings removed without going inside the 
pens. 
The floor should be covered with sev¬ 
eral inches of dry earth, and littered with 
straw among which the grain should be 
scattered. Provide also a dust-box, and 
box of bone, gravel or other grinding ma¬ 
terial. Don’t forget, also, to provide suit¬ 
able drinking vessels. The man still lives 
who claims that hens don’t need water. 
The man also lives who thinks hens don’t 
pay. Well, they don’t pay—some folks— 
and no wonder. 
Green food also, should be provided; 
cabbages are excellent, and soft heads may 
be utilized if buried. Clover is also ex¬ 
cellent either siloed or as hay chopped and 
steamed as wanted. 
Winter layers. Early-hatched pullets 
and early-moulting hens are best. Don’t 
be foolish enough to think they will not 
lay if deprived of a male companion. They 
will lay just as many eggs, if not more, and 
the eggs keep better if not fertilized. 
Breeding stock should be selected from 
the best layers. On most farms, one pen 
of a dozen or 15 hens will furnish all the 
eggs required for setting. One cock is suffi¬ 
cient for that number, unless he be a Brah¬ 
ma, when two will be required. Now, what 
earthly use is there in keeping a half-dozen 
or more roosters to worry the hens, and eat 
the provender when only one is need¬ 
ed ? Select a dozen or 15 of the best hens 
or pullets, and put them in a pen by them¬ 
selves : then get a rooster of different 
blood—a full-blood can usually be purchas¬ 
ed very cheap in the fall—and you are in 
a position to improve your stock at least 50 
per cent. The'old haphazard way of setting 
eggs from the flock at large should be a 
thing of the past. Decapitate the rest of 
the worthless cockerels, and hold a thanks¬ 
giving feast over the remains. You wouldn't 
think of raising calves from, your poor¬ 
est cows to replenish your dairy, now, 
would you ? Y r ou would most likely select 
the best cow for a breeder. Why not follow 
the same rule with the poultry and improve 
the stock ? 
f iei.tr Crops. 
BUCEPHALUS BROWN’S NOTIONS 
AND IDEAS. 
The potato crop has been harvested, 
and in New England is, to a great extent, 
marketed. The very early spring en¬ 
couraged extensive planting, and the ab¬ 
sence of frost after April 1, prevented an¬ 
ticipated losses from that cause; so that up 
to August 1 there was the general expecta¬ 
tion of an immense crop, with consequent 
low prices. I understand that many R. N.- 
Y. readers are anxious to know the out¬ 
come of the large area planted by one of 
my neighbors, to which I referred some 
time since. 
Sixty acres is a large area indeed for a 
single farmer to plant with potatoes in this 
section, and the experiment was regarded 
as extra-hazardous. The whole work of 
planting, cultivating and harvesting was 
done by machinery, and the first 18 acres 
were got in so early that they were fairly 
well matured before any disease appeared, 
the crop being about 200 bushels per acre, 
sold at 80 cents, less commissions and 
freight. 
The forty-two acres remaining began 
to blight very early in August, and soon 
the tops were entirely dead. The feeling 
was that the crop would be very small, and 
the tubers inferior. Rot was likely to 
make them not worth diggiug. This 
crowning misfortune, however, did not ap¬ 
pear, and, as digging proceeded, it was 
seen that things were not so bad as to leave 
no profit from the adventure. I have just 
received the figures of the entire crop on 
the whole 60 acres, which are as follows:— 
8,958 bushels sold at an average net price of 
49 cents per bushel: 800 bushels reserved 
for seed, 100 bushels on hand, besides the 
small potatoes from the whole crop. The 
entire expense of seed, fertilizer, planting, 
cultivating, and harvesting was £2,100, or 
£35 per acre. 
THESE figures show that even in so un¬ 
favorable a year a very fair profit was pos¬ 
sible ; and it seems to me evident that it 
was insured, under the circumstances, only 
by the liberal fertilization of 1,000 pounds 
of Stockbridge Potato Fertilizer per acre, 
at a cost of £1,140, which was more than 
half of the total expense. I say this with 
the more assurance, because my own crop 
of 10 acres, planted at the same time, on 
similar land, with 600 pounds of the same 
fertilizer per acre, did not quite reach 100 
bushels per acre. I do not see any reason 
why the extra 400 pounds of fertilizer did 
not give my neighbor his extra 65 bushels 
per acre. 
Taking account only of cash expendi¬ 
tures and receipts, there was a net profit on 
the crop of £2,289.42 Ido not understand 
that my friend’s personal labor, or the cost 
of the team work of his own horses, the 
wear of implements, etc., are included in 
the £35 per acre of expenses; but these are 
well offset by the potatoes left unsold and 
reserved for seed. 
Some lessons are to be learned by this 
experience, and the most striking one, per¬ 
haps, is that blight and rust may together 
destroy the life of the potato plant without 
causing the tubers to become diseased. 
This knocks over quite a number of theo¬ 
retical opinions on the subject. Allowing 
that the rot is really caused by the blight 
or rust, fungus running down the stems into 
the tubers, how can the fact that scarcely 
any rot appeared in this crop be explained ? 
It may possibly be said that if the rot is 
caused by the rust fungus, then the early 
advent and rapid work of the blight pre¬ 
vented the spread of that fungus to the 
tubers by suddenly killing the tops, allow¬ 
ing them to dry up so quickly and thor¬ 
oughly that the rust fungus could not reach 
the tubers. 
The past season lias been a very exeep 
tioual one, aud for that reason its teachings 
are of limited value as a guide to future 
practice. It has been a phenomenal year all 
around. No frost from April 1 to October 
5, in northern New England is a thing al¬ 
most if not quite unknown in past exper¬ 
ience. A very warm May was followed by 
a cool June and July, with much rain and 
very little sun. Early September was 
warm and dry, followed by three weeks of 
wet weather. Since October 7, fine harvest 
weather has continued up to the present 
date. October 21. 
MORE ABOUT SELLING CROPS. 
CANADA. 
OUR principal crop here is wheat, and as 
our prices are ruled by those in the Euro¬ 
pean markets and the quantity in view 
from other countries as well as our own, 
to ascertain these points we have to 
rely on the reports in what we think the 
most reliable newspapers at home and 
abroad. We study them and act accord¬ 
ingly. I have sometimes kept grain over 
two seasons when I thought it too cheap, 
and have gained by doing so sometimes, 
but as often lost, if not in price, by shrink¬ 
age in different ways. The market is so 
much ruled now by millionaire bulls and 
bears, that it is very difficult to tell how it 
will turn, and therefore I think that, taking 
one year with another, when we can get a 
fair price it is best to sell early; but when 
prices are very low I would risk keeping 
the product back. T. B. M. 
Hamilton. 
CROPS around here are generally sold as 
soon as harvested. The producers keep 
themselves posted by studying the daily 
papers and through commission merchants. 
St. Catharines. A. j. D. 
I RAISE only small fruits and market 
them at our home market in the city of 
Hamilton. I find that by growing number- 
one stuff I establish a ready sale to my own 
customers. I start with strawberries, 
raspberries, blackberries, plums and 
peaches, and close the season with grapes 
and apples. T. s. 
Grimsby. 
KANSAS. 
IN selling winter wheat we depend on 
papers from Kansas City and Chicago, to 
keep us posted. We generally hold till late 
in spring, as prices are then generally 
higher, though we are governed somewhat 
by the prospects of the next crop. 
Hogs, we sell as soon as they are fat, 
feeding all the year round, generally wait¬ 
ing to make a car-load, so as ship to Kansas 
City ourselves. Cattle we commence feed¬ 
ing in September or October and feed about 
six months till spring, and sell without 
lettiug them have auy green grass in the 
spring till sold. J. H. T. 
Chapman. 
Woman's Work, 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY LOUISE TAPLIN. 
CHAT BY THE WAY. 
W HAT are you going to do during the 
long winter evenings? Now is the 
time to plan amusements and occupations 
for the coming season. Crochet work and 
gossip,—we don’t mean ill-natured gossip, 
but just trivial talk about persons aud 
things,—will form the evening’s occupation 
in a good many households. As to the 
first, a little crocheted edging is all well 
enough, but it should not be allowed to ex¬ 
clude other work. Apart from the fact 
that change is desirable and bought edging 
cheap, it is tiring to the eyes. But individ¬ 
ual taste must decide this. 
CHANGE of work is desirable, so let the 
“pick-up” occupations vary from crochet 
work to embroidery or outlining or drawn 
work, or whatever may be chosen. And as 
a relief from aimless talk which may easily 
degenerate into ill-natured gossip (for few 
among us are above this occasionally,) let 
some book be chosen for reading aloud. 
Where there are several readers to take 
turns, this becomes both pleasant and 
profitable to all. We don’t recommend con¬ 
fining the reading to those books which are 
severely described as “ improving,” rather 
than anything else ; they should be pleasant 
also. In addition to history, travels, biog¬ 
raphy and general essays, some good novels 
should be read. Where there are young 
girls, Miss Alcott should have a place of 
honor; so should Miss Mulock. We wish 
that every romantic girl, who thinks she is 
suffering from crushed affections, could 
read the latter’s pathetic little story “ Miss 
Tommy,” or “My Mother and I.” But 
this authoress is so fully a woman writing 
to women, her purity and high-minded 
simplicity make her an educator among 
girls. 
* 
* * 
BOOKS are not always plentiful, but one 
may usually find something to read, and 
let it always be the best obtainable. After 
all, the girl with a taste for books which 
she can’t always obtain is better off than 
one with plenty of books and no apprecia¬ 
tion thereof. 
THE EAST WIND. 
O UR CORRESPONDENT, Docia Dy- 
kens, writes as follows in a recent 
letter: 
“ There was a criticism of some length in 
the paper on my remarks about the “ East 
Wind,” and it was just a little unjust to 
accuse me with having merely repeated 
remarks garnered from English books. The 
editor’s theory in regard to the east wind 
in this country may be correct as a theory, 
but practically it is not applicable to this 
particular spot on the globe. I live on an 
island in the lower end of Lake Erie. The 
lake is frozen over just about three months. 
When the ice breaks up in the spring it 
always floats down towards Buffalo and 
lingers there for weeks after this part of 
the lake is clear of ice, consequently the 
winds from the east blowing over all this 
ice are extremely cold and piercing, and 
often bring large fields of ice back to our 
channels here. We have more east winds 
in the spring than at any other season : but 
at any season a northeaster on the la e 
makes the roughest sea we have. Our pre¬ 
vailing winds through the summer are 
from the west and southwest, the latter be¬ 
ing especially mild and delightful.” 
THE FAMILY - PAPER. 
j. h. g. 
I HAVE noticed that many farmers’ 
wives and daughters oppose the taking 
of an agricultural paper in the same way 
as a professional or business man takes a 
paper. They do not think the men folks 
can afford to take a paper devoted exclu¬ 
sively to their calling. They want a story 
paper which contains acceptable stories; no 
matter what else it may contain, it is good 
enough for the family. In this they make 
a great mistake. From such papers the 
boys and the girls get false notions of life. 
Instead of fostering a love for the home¬ 
stead and the old folks, such papers tend 
to induce the boys to go out into the world 
and make their fortunes and marry an heir¬ 
ess, as the heroes in the stories do; or the 
girls want to acquire the bewitching ways 
of the heroines they read about and marry 
the son of a millionaire or a foreign noble¬ 
man. When it is too late the mother dis¬ 
covers that she has been nursing the Demon 
of Discontent, until her family has been 
ruined by him. There is no better or 
more exalted occupation iu life than that 
of agriculture aud home-keeping, and 
mothers should see to it that only such 
papers as exalt agriculture and home life 
should be allowed in their homes. Infidel¬ 
ity is doing its devilish work in American 
homes, as well as in American churches. 
The mother who is quietly aud unostenta¬ 
tiously teaching her boys and girls that 
there is no place like home, be it e%'er so 
humble, and who is tying them fast to her 
apron strings with the gulden chains of love 
and reverence, is doing a far nobler work 
than she who is trying to make her chil¬ 
dren brilliant. The one means it may be 
moderate success with an assurance of 
health and happiness; while the other 
means in all probability lamentable failure 
and misery. No farmer’s wife with the 
true interests of her family at heart will 
ever begrudge the price of a good agricul¬ 
tural aud home paper. If your husband 
will not subscribe for it, make your eldest 
