L903. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
767 
PLAIN TALK ABOUT COATS 
You ask if the New England farmer 
should raise Angora goats. With us, 
most emphatically no, and so I think 
with most farmers. First, because of 
the cost of fencing, for they will climb 
any wall ordinarily, and crawl through 
holes in rail fences, so in order to keep 
them in place it is necessary to have 
wire fencing or close board. Second, 
care and feeding: the “wise men” who 
sit in easy chairs telling what farmers 
ought to do say they will live on brush, 
keep easily, etc. So they will, but death 
follows. While the goat will eat some 
brush, he wants a variety of other feed; 
grass, briers, weeds, etc. They do not 
stop to crop, as cattle do, but are on the 
move all the while As an old man of 
40 years’ experience told me one time, 
you can make goats eat brush. I have 
found that in confining them to it 
wholly they would run down, and when 
a goat runs down from any cause, ho 
never regains his good condition again 
with the best possible care. Some have 
said a simple shed for Winter is enough, 
but I would rather have a nice one to 
close nights when necessary. I knew of 
one man who lost 40 in one rainstorm 
Of course, the goats wili go throueb 
with little shelter. They need a variety 
of feed through the Winter; need feed¬ 
ing six months in New England, more 
or less. While some think they can be 
kept on roughage they want hay, straw, 
corn fodder or millet. Then at kidding 
time they need constant personal care 
if one has a large flock. 
It takes three years for a goat to get 
his full growth. You can shear at one 
year old. They will sometimes breed at 
six months, but for best results should 
not brnig kid until coming two years 
old. With sheep, a nice lamb at six 
months will bring the farmer $6. lie 
will have to wait more than a year for 
the kids to bring that money. The 
profit from sheep will double that of 
goats. This talk Of clearing brush land 
ready for the plow is utterly false. They 
will kill brush to a certain extent, but 
I would put men and teams on to do 
the same at a nominal sum as compai’ed 
with using goats. The goat is all right 
where he belongs, not in New England. 
The expense of his keep is too much for 
what he returns; cost ?6, sometimes re¬ 
turns $4, sometimes $2; some die, many 
have pneumonia. Take the Southern 
Pacific Railroad and run down through 
Texas and Mexico; you will see those 
lazy Mexicans lying around on the gra.ss 
watching large herds of goafs, day by 
day, and at night lodging in their small 
tents; so on up through to California. 
These countries are warm, the cost in 
various sections to keep these goats per 
year ranges from 25 cents to $1.25 per 
head. Breeders have so many low- 
grade goats to sell that they are putting 
up these large untruthful stories to 
make a sale of their stock. If farmers 
want to fool a little with four or six 
that may be well till they decide 
whether they want more, but on the 
whole they would best go slow. 
Westerly, R. I. ^v. n. u. 
HENS THAT FEED THEMSELVES. 
I.ast Fall I sold off all the old hens 
but one that got away, so I let her live. 
1 had 60 pullets, all mongrels, in a house 
10x24, and yarded. They were hatched 
from April 1 to the last of May. I was 
av/ay a good deal, and could not give 
them the attention that I would like, 
and I was about discouraged, thinking 
they would never commence to lay, so 
along in November I put in some feed 
boxes and gave them corn and oats; 
corn on the ear while it lasted. I saw 
that they had shells and water and a 
mash on«e a day of bran, meal and ani¬ 
mal meal, and left them to their own 
devices. They needn’t scratch if they 
didn’t want to. I was surprised at the 
small amount of corn that they ate, and 
that they were alwaj-^s hungry fo; their 
Main Office 
Bloomfield 
N. J. 
Western Office 
Chicago^ 
Ills. 
mash. I got the first egg December 1. 
I will give the egg record for 10 months: 
December, 33; January, 685; February, 
1,023; March, 1,397; April, 1,221; May, 
1,029; June, 963; July, 716; August, 680; 
September, 459. They are laying yet, 
but dropping off fast. Two of them 
died suddenly during the Summer; 
otherwise they have been healthy and 
happy. This is not as big an egg re¬ 
cord as we hear of, but is a little over 
II dozen apiece; besides this they 
hatched and brooded 180 chicks. I have 
only 30 pullets out of those 180 chicks. 
I have commenced to feed them in the 
same way; one has commenced to lay, 
and I expect to keep the yearlings. Now 
I am wondering what the result will be 
this Winter. Will these pullets do as 
well? Will these yearlings lay again 
before Spring when once they stop? I 
should like to hear Mr. Mapes com¬ 
ment, or any of the experts. If I had 
seen Mr. Mapes’s letter printed in the 
issue of March 7 before I should not 
have dared try it. I notice that the 
young pullets which are running yet 
eat about twice as much corn as oats, 
and do not care so much for the mash. 
The yearlings eat about two-thirds as 
much oats as corn. o. t. .r. 
Bristol, Conn. 
TROUBLE WITH BREEDING SOWS, 
I would like a little light on the pig 
question. I have seen several plans of 
breeding pens where several sows are 
supposed to farrow, with only a board 
partition between them, and Mr. Mapes 
tells of 10 or 12 sows with their pigs 
(about 75 or 80) all in one pen, although 
I believe he now says he separates them 
to some extent. I bought four young 
sows last Fall and bred them to farrow 
this Spring. I cleaned their pen every 
other day, and always took pains to 
handle them when among them, and 
they became very tame. When near 
farrowing time I placed two of these 
sows in a shed with a board partition 
about 3f/^ feet high between them and 
watched them closely. I was on hand 
when the first one came to farrow, and 
she had seven pigs. She seemed all 
right, and I was about to leave her, 
when one of the pigs squealed. At this 
the sow in the other part of the pen 
began to bark and jump against the par¬ 
tition. Then the one that had the pigs 
jumped up and began throwing pigs 
all around the pen. By the time that 
I could get a club and a basket there 
were four live pigs and three dead ones. 
We removed the other sow to another 
barn and in a few days she also had 
seven pigs. She was very quiet and they 
all lived. Now 1 am convinced that 
neither of these sows would have raised 
a pig if left within hearing distance of 
each other. Then how can 10 or 20 
sows be kept at farrowing time all under 
one roof? .i. oua.vt morse. 
BEFORE YOU BUY A NEW HARNESS 
Send 4 cents postage for Illustrated Catalogue; full 
description and prices. Single and double. 
King; Harness Co., lO Church St., Owego, N. Y. 
PRESCOTT’S S 
_ Wn 
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'TANCHION 
KEEPS COWS CI.EAN 
Swings forward while get¬ 
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Wilder 8 Stanchion 
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Implement Co., Box 20, Monroe, Hich. 
BELLE CITY Feed 
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(hleasro. III. >Te8tCh«(iter« Pt* 
EHPIRE 
There is no royal road to suc¬ 
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Ntvtr 
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jOQ mention this papt 
8«k 23 
rniuc 
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MARVIN SMITH GO. CHICAGO 
