1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
SOFT- SHELLED EGGS. 
The Cause and Remedy. 
Have you ever thought that soft-shelled 
eggs are sometimes the result of over-feed¬ 
ing the hens? We think this trouble is 
generally attributed to a lack of lime, but 
we think that in some cases a condition in 
the hen caused by over-feeding may be re¬ 
sponsible for the trouble. 
We think that soft-shelled eggs are 
more prevalent among old fowls than 
young ones, especially among the 
Asiatic breeds, as they are likely to get 
plethoric ana fat. This condition is a 
sequence of too highly-concentrated 
food, and perhaps too little exercise, and 
can be obviated in a measure by feed¬ 
ing heavily on green feed, with a liberal 
supply of animal food, bran, oat-feeu, 
etc. JAMES RANKIN. 
There are several causes. Over-feed¬ 
ing would, have a tendency to cause it, 
and also a lacK of shell-form'ing mater¬ 
ial, oyster-shell lime, etc., but when the 
poultry have all those things that seem 
to be necessary, we still have an occa¬ 
sional soft-snenea egg, and I think some¬ 
times a severe fright is the cause of 
some of the trouble, making tne egg 
drop before the shell is formed. I also 
have had extra-large hens, turkey hens, 
especially, t-^at have never laid any¬ 
thing but soft-shelled eggs. 
D. A. MOUNT. 
Soft-<shelled eggs and double-yolk eggs 
are nearly always the result of overfeed¬ 
ing, tne hens being then excessively fat. 
In fact, to test tne matter, I experiment¬ 
ed with several lots, feeding especially 
to cause hens to lay eggs with soft 
shells, and easily succeeded, although 
such hens hau, at the same time, shells, 
bone, and lime in various forms, in 
abundance. I fed on grain mixed, three 
times a day. Another lot had grain be¬ 
fore them all the time. Thousands of 
hens in this country never see oyster 
shells or lime, and exist on sandy soils, 
yet tiiey do not lay soft-shell eggs unless 
they are overfed. There is an abund¬ 
ance of lime, in a soluble condition, in 
a variety of food. Clover and bran are 
rich in lime. I see no advantage in 
giving insoluble carbonate of lime to 
fowls. I find that oyster shells, if hard, 
serve as grit, out I would not give one 
cent per bushel for them, so far as as¬ 
sisting the formation of the shells of 
eggs is concerned. This is no theory, 
but the results of actual tests. I can 
make any hen lay eggs with soft shells, 
or with normal shells, by the mode of 
feeding, without allowing oyster shells, 
chalk, limestone, or any other insoluble 
carbonate. r. h. Jacobs. 
MUSCOVY DUCKS. 
Have the Muscovy ducks any value in 
the poultry yard other than as a curiosity? 
We frequently have questions from readers 
regarding this breed of ducks, and we 
would like to know from practical men 
just what they are good for. 
Muscovy ducks nave very little value 
in market, and are more ornamental 
than useful, being high fliers and quar¬ 
relsome. A cross of Muscovy and any 
of the ordinary ducks makes a plump 
bird, but the Peain is better than such 
cross-bred birds. The Muscovy is really 
not a duck. The progeny from mating 
a Muscovy and Pekin (or any other 
breed) is sterile, being a “mule,” and the 
eggs of me Muscovy require the same 
period for hatching as those of the 
gOOSe. P. H. JACOBS. 
The Muscovy ducks are not considered 
quite as profitable as the Pekin duck for 
market, as they are not only longer in 
maturing, but lay later in the season. 
There 'is a great discrepancy in the 
weight of the sexes, the female weigh¬ 
ing about six pounds, while the dcake 
weighs from nine to 12 pounds. They 
bring from one to two cents per pound 
less in market than Pekins. Some of 
our growers supplement their season’s 
work by growing Muscovys, as they 
come in later, and thus protract the sea¬ 
son for them. J. rankin. 
Muscovy ducks do not lay as early in 
the season as the Pekin, and where per¬ 
sons raise ducks for retail trade they 
find tne Muscovys very profitable by 
using the Pekins for early ducks, and 
when they have slacked off in laying 
the Muscovys will fill in the gap and 
supply mem with ducks for the late 
Summer and Fall trade, after the young 
Pekins are practically out of the mar¬ 
ket. They have a much plumper and 
nicer carcass than the Pekins, and are 
preferred by many to any other duck. 
They certainly make a very nice roast, 
with generous slices of breast meat, 
which all know the Pekin lacks. 
D. A. MOUNT. 
Oafs and Peas and Corn in Silo. 
Would it be practicable partly to fill a 
silo with oats and field peas, and then to 
complete the filling a month or two later 
with corn? If a silo filled with oats and 
peas is partly fed, would it be practicable 
to refill with corn? a. m. l. 
McMechen, W. Va. 
A silo can be safely filled with oats 
and peas, and may then be allowed to 
remain for a month or two, and then be 
filled with corn. Whatever has spoiled 
upon the surface of the oats and peas 
should be removed before the corn is 
put in. It should be remembered that 
oats and peas in the silo are uncertain 
as to keeping qualities. They sometimes 
keep well, and sometimes do not. The 
larger the percentage of peas the greater 
the uncertainty as to the keeping qual¬ 
ity of the material. If a silo partly filled 
with oats and peas is filled with corn 
there would be no danger whatever of 
the material spoiling. This, of course, 
means that any oats and peas which 
may have spoiled should be removed be¬ 
fore the corn is put in. If the silo was 
being fed from every day it is probable 
there would be no spoiled material on 
top, and the corn could be put in safely. 
u. a. c. 
A Well-Built Silo. 
In connection with a large barn we are 
building a new stave silo, which will be 
hooped with steel wire rope, which, I 
anticipate, will have equal supporting 
power as iron rods, and greater flexi¬ 
bility. I have never seen but one silo 
hooped with Page fence, and that did 
not suit me; it was otherwise cheaply 
and poorly built, which partly accounted 
for its shabby appearance. I want to 
apologize for saying so much in the past 
about cheap silo building. The system 
is a permanent one, and silos should be 
'well built. I am satisfied that the stave 
silo is the best now in common use, but 
it should be constructed as well as a 
water tank; that is, jointed, grooved and 
tongued, and put together with lead. It 
would be useless to tongue if the silo 
was full all the time, but it is not, and 
it is impossible to hold a vat or tank in 
place under these conditions. No one 
would think of hooping water tanks 
with Page fence. Many very good silos 
have been built without tongues. I think 
that where the staves are only jointed 
the structure might be much improved 
by putting in doweling pins at inter¬ 
vals of say six feet. 
I do not know that wire rope has ever 
been used, but it seems to me it should 
combine strength and flexibility, the two 
essentials for silo hoops. While cheap 
jobs usually appeal to the masses, and 
perhaps many things would better ~e 
done cheap than not at all, yet life is too 
short to be building over all of the time, 
as I have learned to my sorrow by doing 
things cheaply. h. e. cook. 
Harness the Rooster’s Crow. 
A man in Rochester, N. Y., was recent¬ 
ly fined $10 for imitating a rooster on 
the street. He had some grudge against 
another man, and whenever the latter 
passed him on the street, the “crowing 
man,” so-called, would crow as loud as 
he was able. He did this to annoy his 
enemy, and succeeded so well that suit 
was brought against him. In addition 
491 
to the fine he was placed under $100 
bonds to refrain from crowing for one 
year. That was all very well, but if the 
court has power to restrain men from 
crowing it ought to extend its influence 
to the roosters themselves. Let us think 
for a moment,'what a great thing this 
would be. There are thousands of peo¬ 
ple in this country who get out of the 
wrong side of the bed three mornings 
out of seven. A large proportion of 
them awaken too early, and their sleep 
is rudely broken by a rooster’s crowing. 
The rooster, therefore, is responsible for 
a large proportion of the quarrels, the 
hard woras and more serious sins com¬ 
mitted by these people during the day. 
If restrained by law from crowing, these 
men would obtain a better start, and the 
day would be happier and more profit¬ 
able for all. Then consider the industrial 
side of the matter. There are in round 
numbers, 90,000,000 roosters in the coun¬ 
try. Let us suppose that each one emits 
on the average 25 crows during the day. 
This is really a low average, but we wish 
to be fair. A .skilled engineer has esti¬ 
mated for us that the power exerted by a 
single rooster in crowing calls for a force 
capable of lifting 18 pounds, one foot. 
Each rooster in the 365 days of the year 
will crow 9,125 times. This means a total 
force of 164,250 pounds. The 90,000,000 
roosters will in crowing perform a work 
equal to the lifting of 14,782,500,000,000 
pounds one foot. This is equal to 447,- 
957,575 horse power and is no small pro¬ 
portion of the work actually done by the 
Falls of Niagara. We all understand 
how wonderfully this force could be util¬ 
ized if it could be applied for some use¬ 
ful purpose. By all means let the roost¬ 
ers be enjoined from crowing. 
Connecticut Oxen. —There are but 
few farmers around here who use oxen 
for farm work. They are too slow to 
suit this hustling age. Then the price of 
good ox teams has been growing higher 
of late years, while beef has at same 
time gone down. Of course in the past 
year or so heef is higher; but the change 
from oxen to horses was made several 
years ago. We formerly kept an ox team 
on this place but have had none for sev¬ 
eral years. When beef sold at a good 
price, and there was not the western 
competition, many farms used oxen and 
after a few years’ use turned them off for 
beef. This, of course, was an induce¬ 
ment to many, as it reduced the total ex¬ 
pense of the team considerably. This 
county used to be famous for its oxen, 
and the county fair offered, and still 
offers, prizes for best town team, which 
would consist of 12 or more yoke of 
oxen. Every town would be represented 
with teams so uniformly good that it 
was hard to judge, now but few towns 
are represented, and not so well. There 
are a few of the rough back farms on the 
hills that still raise oxen—say a yoke 
every year, and consequently sell a yoke 
every year, usually the oldest. These 
will not usually be over four or five 
years old. The youngest working yokes 
will be sandwiched in between two older 
yokes in Winter drawing wood, etc., and 
receive some “breaking in” that way, 
and at same time do considerable work 
at not much expense or trouble. Good 
oxen have sold at from $150 to $175 per 
yoke. e. e. b. 
Central Village, Conn. 
SCRAPS. 
The exports of butter from the Tomsk 
district of western Siberia for the month 
of March, says Chicago Dairy Produce, 
aggregated 372,000 pounds. 
Live Stock Journal, says that all cattle 
taken to Argentina are tested with tuber¬ 
culin. Out of an importation of 45 animals 
last year 10 failed to pass and were thus 
debarred. This shows the necessity of 
carefully testing all cattle before shipment. 
I think we were the first to build the 
tub or round silo in this part of Hampden 
County. We have two, one 28 feet high 
and 12 feet in diameter, the other, 25x12, 
and we think that they are almost perfect. 
Wilbraham. Mass. e. b. 
I have just read a Dumbbell Egg, on 
page 458, of The R. N.-Y. All of the dif¬ 
ficulties mentioned are due to the hens be¬ 
ing excessively fat. The odor, however, of 
an egg, may be affected by the food, such 
as from the manure heap, etc. p. h. j. 
Milkmaids. —We "find the following item 
floating about: A milk seller in Birming¬ 
ham, England, has been engaging girls to 
go round with his float to serve his custom¬ 
ers. He says he finds that they take 
less time than men, as they do not waste 
the precious moments talking to the ser¬ 
vant girls. Not long ago we were told 
that housekeepers were engaging men to 
do housework. If this practice becomes 
general the women milk peddlers will have 
to go. 
Buffalo Bill’s views as to the future of 
the horse are thus given in the Western 
Agriculturist: “I am going to give most of 
my attention after this to raising horses. 
I have 150 head in one place up in Wyoming. 
It is my opinion the horse has a future. 
The bicycle is a dead fad; it’s not going to 
interfere with equine prospects any more, 
and as to the automobile, it is doomed to 
a short life: it is nothing but a fad, the 
same as the bicycle was. For this reason 
I am going to anchor my faith to the 
horse.” 
Keeps Milk Sweet 
Send for our big 
free catalogue 
coolers and 
TRADE 
MARK 
aerators. 
dairy 
sup- 
BESTOVj 
plies. 
DAIKTMK.V8 SUPPLY CO., 1037 H.rk.t St. Philadelphia. 
Cream Separators. 
Oe Laval “Alpha " and “Baby " Separators. 
First—Best—Cheapest. All 8tyles—Blies 
Prices, S50 to $800. 
Bare 110 per oow per year. Bend for Catalogue. 
THE DE LAVAL SEPARATOR CO., 
Randolph and Canal Streets, I 74 Cortlandt Street 
CHICAGO ! NEW YORK. 
CREAM SEPARATORS 
always the best. 
TUB SIIAK PLUS CO. P. JL SHAKPLBS, 
Chicago, Ill. West Chester Pa. 
DON’T BE 
A ROBBERY 
Jtusbaiul the fertility of your famt 
anti every time you plant neetl 
you trill yet a paying crop. 
Strange how a man will take crop after crop off the farm, putting nothing back, and then expect 
to be prosperous. If you handled the manure you have on the farm properly, results 
would be different and you should not need to be be buying commercial fertilizer. 
The KEMP MANURE SPREADER 
Will Double and Treble the Value of the Manure Heap. 
It spreads all kinds of fine and coarse manure evenly; makes no “skips;” does not dump a great 
load in one spot, but covers the entire ground evenly. Tears up coarse and lumpy manure and 
makes it fine. Better than anybody can do it by hand. Spreads lime, wood ashes, salt, etc., equally 
well. With the drill attachment it puts the manure direct into the open drill. Made in three con¬ 
venient sizes. Ask the opinion of anybody that uses one. Write for illustrated catalogue. 
Kemp & Burpee Mfg. Go., Box 38, Syracuse, N. Y. 
