VOL. XXXV111. No. 1.5. i 
WHOLE M«. U‘i4. I 
NEW YORK CITY, APRIL \% 1879. 
r 
FIVE CENTS. 
PER YEAR. 
[Entered according- to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by the Rural Publishing Company, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.! 
bay, when cut in flower, yields the following 
percentage of ingredients : 
Water... 14.3 Carbohydrates. 48,8 
Organic matter.81.2 Crude liber. 28,7 
Ab& . 4.6 Albuminoids. 9,i 
-- FatJ&C. 3.0 
lou.u ■— 
The box should be so placed that the entrance 
to. it might be as much as possible away from 
storms. 
My hennery is above the ground enough to 
allow of two large boxes being put underneath, 
upon flat stones, to keep them from the ground. 
These are filled with gravel and ashes for 
winter use, thus making provision for cleanli¬ 
ness in the house above. J. Sagar. 
Ontario Co., N. Y., Feb. 17, 1879. 
work in this part of the interior, are narrow 
strips nailed to cleats on the floor, and carried 
to, or near the roof inside, fastened half way 
up to a cross frame, to make it firm. These 
strips are four inches apart. It will be seen 
that the feed boxes being placed on the side of 
this fencing opposite the fowls, the latter can 
readily put their heads through and eat out of 
A COUNTRY HOME 
According to C. L. Flint, timothy hay con¬ 
tains the following elements, economically con¬ 
sidered : 
Albuminoids, or flesh-formers. 11.36 
Fatty matter. 3.66 
Carbohydrates, or heat-producers. 53.3t> 
Woody fiber. 26.46 
Mineral matter or ash. 6-28 
Total... 100.00 
Analysis shows that timothy hay from grass 
cut in seed is more valuable than that from 
grass cut in flower, in the proportion of 23 to 
10; but, while I do not question the correct¬ 
ness of those chemical analyses, I do seriously 
question whether the chemistry of a cow's 
stomach will bear out the results of tests in the 
chemist's laboratory. In the production of 
seed, a large part of the nutritive matter— 
starch, sugar, etc.—is converted into woody 
fiber. In the process of analysis it is probable 
that a portion of this is reconverted into car¬ 
bohydrates, while in the animal’s digestion 
such a change does not take place. At any 
rate, I think every feeder will find in expe¬ 
rience that stock wiU do better on hay cut in 
flower, or just as it is going out of that stage, 
than on that which has matured its seed. 
The opinion has been quite general that the 
prevailing soils of this State are too light aud 
dry for the successful growth of timothy, and 
this has had its influence in holding men back 
from engaging in its culture. But the success 
that has crowned the early efforts to introduce 
and cultivate it, has proved that it will do well 
even on these light soils, and under our bright 
sunshine. The following table shows the acre¬ 
age, product and value of timothy meadow in 
Kansas for the years indicated: 
v&l. of crop. 
Quite too little attention is paid in this 
country to our country homes and their sur¬ 
roundings. Well-to-do farmers and gentlemen 
that live in rural districts are too often satis¬ 
fied with inconvenient and anything but orna¬ 
mental homes. The engraving represents a 
dwelling-house, plaiu, substantial and conven¬ 
ient, yet ornamental and not expensive. Its 
elegance does not consist in fanciful oi naments, 
but rather in the novelty of the desigu, aud its 
evident fitness for the surroundings. Iu front 
we find a few hot-beds, aud sashes under which 
flowers and vegetables may be grown, while 
the walls of the building are graced with trees 
aud vines, and ornamental shrubbery is iu 
close proximity. 
The ground floor (see Fig. 2) provides for 
the rooms usually found in the lower story. 
The bed-rooms are on the second floor, 
not here represented. The front entrance is 
by the porch, A, leading Into a short hall, 
from which doors lead to the principal rooms. 
On the right is the parlor, B. The sitting- 
room is at E and the dining-room at C. At D 
is a spacious kitchen. H can be used for a 
milk-room, andK is designed for a wash-room. 
The rooms are light and spacious, well suited 
to supply the occupants with all desired con¬ 
veniences. This engraving originally appeared 
in a late number of the Gardeners’ Chronicle, 
and is here reproduced with some alterations. 
CULTIVATED FORAGE PLANTS IN KANSAS 
L. J. TEMPLIN 
As was to he expected, the vast abundance 
of nutritious native grasses of the Western 
prairies furnish such a bountiful supply of 
both pasturage and hay, that people have been 
very slow to introduce the cultivated forage 
plants of the Eastern States. It has been a very 
prevalent opinion among people here that the 
cultivated grasses would uot succeed in this 
part of the country. But as the country is oc¬ 
cupied and people are compelled to keep their 
stock on closei range, it is found that the na¬ 
tive grasses will uot endure very close grazing. 
When closely grazed, most of these grasses 
gradually disappear, aud are replaced by dif¬ 
ferent species of worthless and troublesome 
weeds. The introduction of the cultivated 
grasses is, therefore, gradually becoming a ne¬ 
cessity. The most profitable meadow grass yet 
introduced, so far as I have learned, is com¬ 
mon 
timothv ( Phleum prafm.se.) 
This is considered the most valuable grass 
for hay in nearly all the Northern and Western 
States. It grows fairly on a great variety of 
soils, but succeeds best on moist, rich clay 
loam. On such soils it often produces from 
21 to 3A tons per acre, and has been known to 
produce six tons, or more, at a single cutting. 
It yields a large percentage of dry hay which, 
according to Way’s analysis, gave a larger per¬ 
centage of albuminous, fatty aud ealorifaeient 
matter than any other grass upon which he ex¬ 
perimented. According to Wolf and Knap, the 
scw-c cr itci 
Fig. 2.—Ground Plan. 
the troughs, thus keeping everything clean. 
Where the feeding conveniences on the floor 
are uot sufficient, a wide board may be placed 
at a proper bight above, and a feed box out¬ 
side, as below. 
The three 6x.fi feet square parks against the 
rear of the building, are for the purpose of 
doing away with the little inadequate “hen 
coop." The hatching box is placed iu one 
corner, so that during her sitting, the hen may 
step out occasionally into her neat little park, 
without being disturbed, shake herself aud 
partake of a little food, and then return to her 
nest. When the chickens are hatched, the 
hatching box is taken aw-ay. The hen will 
then have the mu of her park, while the chick¬ 
ens can run outside as much as they please, 
returning occasionally to greet her ladyship, 
and to retire with her at night into box No. 7. 
DESIGN OF A CONVENIENT POULTRY 
HOUSE. 
The following is a brief but clear description i 
of the ground-plan of a poultry-house, given 
on page 281: 
No. 1. Nest boxes, one foot square, aud nine 
inches high; made higher at one side than at 
the others so that when the boxes are placed 
against each other, with the higher side of 
each coming against the low side of the next, 
a hen is iu a measure, secluded. 
2. Roosts, consisting of Inch boards, three 
inches wide, two and a half feet from the 
floor. 
3. A slide door on the inside just large euough 
to admit of the droppings being shoved through 
it into a box or wheelbarrow on the outside, 
provided the building is high enough for that 
purpose. 
4. An opening for the entrance aud exit of 
the fow ls. The little trap-door on the outside, 
Is raised or lowered by a string passing inside 
over pulleys, and held by a nail when opeu. 
5. Feed boxes, three inches wide, two aud a 
half inches high, or deep. 
6. Sitting, or hatching boxes, after the style 
of an old-fashioned writing desk, with slopiug 
cover to shed rain, or to be lifted up when 
necessary. In one side is an opening large 
euough to pass in and out. If thought best, it 
may be without a bottom, the nest being on 
the ground inside. 
7. A box, open at ouc end ; tolerably long, 
aud other wise large enough for a hen to occupy 
with her brood during the night, or through a 
storm. 
8. The eutrauce to a long and narrow pas¬ 
sage, formed by strips nailed to cleats under 
the floor at the rear end of the buildiug. This 
is the prison for heus it may be desirable to 
break of their sitting propensities. 
9. A square iron dish for water. 
D. doors; W, windows—sliding. 
My principal objects in this desigu have 
bcou cleanliness, and a quick and easy adapt¬ 
ability. On entering the building, you enter 
an apartmeut quito fit for anybody’s reception, 
it beiug perfectly cleau. You have oulv to 
stoop a little, slip your baud between the slats 
in front of the nests, and take out the eggs. 
The short white fines seen along the frauie- 
Aeres. -,. 
29.601 $252,817 
21.218 170,466 
16,259 129,093 
As the assessment is made on the first day of 
March, the figures of each year show the pro¬ 
duct of the year before; 1874 was the great 
“grasshopper year," which resulted in the de¬ 
struction of much of the meadow and the dis¬ 
couragement that caused a decline in this 
product for the uext two years. But in 1877 
the acreage had bounded back to 25,212 acres, 
and in 1878 to 40,121. This rapid increase in 
the amount of this crop shows that the late 
experiments with this grass have been satisfac¬ 
tory. In addition to this, there was of timothy 
pasture in 1877—4.202 acres; and iu 1878— 
8,820. This gives an aggregate acreage of tim¬ 
othy for these two years of 29,414 iu 1877 ; and 
48,941 m 1878, being an increase of 19,527 acres, 
or over 6fi per cedt. 
Auother important forage crop is 
red clover (Trifolium pratense.) 
Wherever this crop cau be grown, there good 
farming aud the renovation of poor soils are 
possible. Where clover enters into the fist of 
cultivated crops to a large extent, it is generally 
found that remunerative crops are produced, 
and the soil does not suffer serious deteriora¬ 
tion. When two crops of hay have been car¬ 
ried from the field, it still leuves more fertiliz¬ 
ing matter in the field than is carried away. 
But it is more as a forage than a fertilizing 
crop that it is to be regarded in connection with 
the agriculture of Kansas. The great amount 
of hay this will produce, and the excellence of 
the quality, make clover a favorite forage crop 
without regard to its excellence as a fertilizer. 
Rod clover has produced, under extra favora¬ 
ble conditions, over six tons of dry hay per 
acre. This, according to experiments made iu 
England, gives nearly one ton of nutritive 
matter per acre. This, according to Wolf aud 
Knap, contains of water, lfi.7; organic matter, 
77.1; ash, 6.2 The organic matter is com¬ 
posed of albuminoids, 13.4; carbohydrates, 
29.9; crude fiber, 35.8; fat, &c\, 3.2. This 
Tons. 
31,067 
A COUNTRY HOME. —Elevation 
