1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
7i5 
The Chicken Yard. 
Old Hens. —There seems to be a gen¬ 
eral opinion among leading poultrymen 
that hens, after reaching an age of two 
years or over, are almost worthless. The 
farm poultry-keepers that I have met 
do not take this view. They say that 
they prefer a hen a year old, but would 
rather have one two or three years old 
than a pullet that was not early hatched. 
After the first one or two hatches it is 
difficult to get pullets to lay before 
Spring. If they do not begin before the 
weather becomes cold it is difficult to 
induce them to lay so early as the old 
hen will, and the old hen lays a larger 
egg, which helps to hold the special cus¬ 
tomer through the flush of the season, 
when he is getting rather more eggs 
than he knows what to do with. I have 
known hens to be kept till six or seven 
years old, and I saw one a few days ago 
that is 11 years old, and she is laying. 
The idea seems to be to get rid of hens 
when they do not prove so profitable as 
others that can be had, no matter 
whether they are one year old or a half 
dozen. h. h. l. 
Fight The Vermin. —The hens have 
increased their egg production by a half 
dozen a day, worth 20 cents a dozen, 
and this right in the moulting season. 
Just why I may not know, but I feel 
pretty sure it is owing to the use of a 
gallon of kerosene, costing 10 cents. I 
have one of those little sprayers for use 
in the cow stable, to spray for the flies, 
and I thought I could use it to advan¬ 
tage in the henhouse. It is excellent to 
force the kerosene into crevices in the 
side of the house and nest boxes, but 
for destroying Red mites on the roost¬ 
ing poles it isn’t so good. I use a small 
pitcher, and pour the oil on in liberal 
doses. Sprinkling may be all right in 
some church service and elsewhere, but 
for the Red mites of the henhouse pour¬ 
ing is the only sure remedy. Now I 
suppose some one is saying that we have 
no business to let the mites get in at 
all. That is good talk, but I have been 
around among the practical poultry- 
keepers too much to be badly frightened 
by it. Lice and mites must be fought 
with eternal vigilance, or there is no 
profit in poultry, out even then there 
will be a few just where you know there 
were none. h. h. l. 
Bantam LnicKS Are Strong. —Your 
note at the close of my article on ban¬ 
tams in The R. N.-Y. of September 15 
was a surprise to me, and I wondered 
why you should have found the Golden 
Seabright bantams a delicate fowl, for 
my experience has been so very differ¬ 
ent. My bantam chicks hatch well, 
grow fat and have always been a very 
satisfactory fowl. I cared for them in 
same manner that I cared for my other 
chicks. I believe that there are some 
causes that v/ould produce the results 
you speak of, and one is “like begets 
like.” Weak stock will be unsatisfac¬ 
tory, and "blood will tell” even in the 
bantam family. Should the male bird 
be weak or should the female be want¬ 
ing in vitality the chicks will be very 
apt to show the defects of the parent 
birds. I believe that more trouble comes 
from inbreeding than from any other 
source. You will soon produce weak 
chicks if you do not secure male birds 
that are wholly unrelated. A bird with 
so much vitality will need particular at¬ 
tention along these lines. I would ad¬ 
vise you to try again. I have always 
compared my bantams with the Leg¬ 
horns when I spoke of their rapid de¬ 
velopment and their hardiness. June- 
hatched birds from good stock will 
grow fast and develop well, carina. 
consumption cured. 
An old physician, retired from practice, had 
placed in his hands bv an East India missionary 
the formula of a simple vegetable remedy for the 
speedy and permanent cure of Consumption, 
Bronchitis, Catarrh, Asthma and all Throat and 
Lung Affections: also a positive and radical cure 
for Nervous Debility and all Nervous Complaints. 
Having tested its wonderful curative powers in 
thousands of cases, and desiringto relievebuman 
suffering, I will send free of charge to all who wish 
it. this recipe, in German, French or English, with 
full directions for preparing and using. Sent by 
mail, by addressing, with stamp, naming this pa¬ 
per, W. A. Noyes, 835 Powers' Block, Rochester, N. T 
How to Use Hen Manure. 
How would you advise using the drop¬ 
pings in my hennery? It is a well-known 
fact that this is a very strong fertilizer. 
Last year I threw it over my ground every 
time I cleaned my henhouse. Would it be 
better to put it in barrels, then scatter it 
after the ground had been plowed and just 
before planting In the Spring? carina. 
Springfield, N. J. 
The best way to handle hen manure 
is to use it as the base for mixing fer¬ 
tilizer. It is quite strong in nitrogen, 
but needs potash and phosphoric acid 
to make it rank with good fertilizer. 
Keep the manure dry and hard. Sprinkle 
plaster or road dust under the roosts. 
Scrape the manure up frequently and 
store it in a dry place. In the Spring it 
should be in dry, hard chunks. Smash 
these up with a heavy shovel or grind 
them in a small mill and sift through 
a wire sieve. Mix 1,000 pounds of the 
manure, 700 of dissolved rock, 100 ni¬ 
trate of soda, and 200 of muriate of pot¬ 
ash. This will make a fair fertilizer for 
most crops, and is the best way to dis¬ 
pose of the hen manure. It may not be 
the most convenient. We have taken 
the manure fresh from the house and 
spread it in the garden during the Win¬ 
ter. We could always tell where It was 
put. We think it pays to keep it over 
Winter and use as here described, or 
even to fine and use without mixing. 
SCRAPS. 
Watch for head lice on chicks— oil or 
grease the heads. 
Never nail a roost down. Make It as 
easy as possible to lift It up. 
Be ready for frosted combs. If the combs 
are nipped apply vaseline at once. 
Paint the under side of the roosts with 
lard or other fat. Smear it on. The mites 
can’t stand It. 
We want to hear from parties who have 
fed oats In large quantities to hens. Ever 
know a death from this cause? 
The so-called "Douglas mixture” for 
hens is a small quantity of sulphate of Iron 
dissolved in the drinking water. Some 
poultrymen believe that rusty nails are 
just as good. 
The National Provisioner in enumerat¬ 
ing the various performances of the poul¬ 
try tribe, gives the following: An old hen 
knocked a youngster down in the road in 
defense of her brood, its father killed the 
miscreant, the owner burned his barn and 
horses, and a lynching mob was organ¬ 
ized. 
The old theory was that exercise was 
necessary for hens. Thus we were advised 
to throw the whole grain into the straw 
and make the hens scratch for it. People 
seem to think this theory was true because 
it ought to be. Experiments at the Utah 
Experiment Station show that the hens 
did rather better without this exercise. 
HOW SOME DAIRYMEN GAMBLE. 
The business of every dairyman ought 
to be to produce the largest amount of 
the best milk, butter or cheese, as the 
case may be, at the least possible ex¬ 
pense. We are not doing this In New 
England to-day and the great North¬ 
west is head and shoulders above us in 
dairying. One of the main essentials of 
the successful dairyman is the cow, and 
the most important thing is, don’t gam¬ 
ble with the scrub cow. She is the ruin¬ 
ation of many of us. "But I haven’t any 
scrub cow,” some one says, "so you 
don’t hit me.” Well, that’s where nine 
out of ten dairymen are gambling. They 
are going on chance. How do you know 
that you haven’t any scrub cows? How 
many actually know what their cows 
are doing? Do you weigh your milk, 
and if you are making butter, do you 
test your cows? "No, that’s too much 
bother.” Is it? It is sometimes worth 
time and money to know what you are 
doing, but to find out these facts takes 
but little time and less money. 
I can almost hear some one say: "I 
kind of keep the run of my cows.” Do 
you? You have to have something in 
this country to grow corn with, so don’t 
gamble away your manure by having it 
under the eaves or in a pile in the yard 
to be washed away by every storm. 
Keep it under cover if you cannot get it 
immediately into the field. The ma¬ 
jority of the farmers in our section have 
already gambled on their next year’s hay 
crop, and in all probability will lose. 
They turned their cows Into all the 
rowen fields, and they are gnawed so 
close that the roots are bare ; there’s no 
mulch to hold moisture for the roots 
next Spring, or to catch leaves and other 
fertilizing material. If they happen to 
get a fair crop next year they will let 
it ripen until the stalks are tough and 
woody, and the valuable part of the food 
has gone into the small seed, to rattle 
away during haying, or if perchance it 
happens to stay in the grass head It is 
too hard and tough to be digested. Over¬ 
ripe hay may feed farther, as farmers 
say, but it is not very palatable, and to 
get the best results please the cow’s pal¬ 
ate. Don’t gamble on the question 
whether there will be a scarcity of pas¬ 
turage next July and August. You will 
probably lose if you do. Prepare for the 
drought anyway, by growing some crop 
to feed green, as oats, oats and peas or 
corn fodder. Perhaps you can grow a 
crop of sweet corn, sell the ears at a fair 
price and have the fodder as clear gain 
to feed while green. 
Better fix up the fences. This Fall is 
the time to do it the cheapest. It will 
not pay to run any risks with poor 
fences, but you will find farmers whose 
cows are continually breaking into the 
cornfield or bothering their neighbors, 
when a few hours’ extra work would 
have made a fence that would keep them 
in, and prevent their getting the unruly 
fever. I hope you don’t gamble here on 
the apple-tree question in your pastures. 
Cut them down. The apples are of some 
food value, but a few cows drunk during 
the season will knock out their food 
value in a pretty short time. Take 
pride in your dairy. Have the best one 
in your neighborhood; take the best care 
of your cows, run it on business prin¬ 
ciples, and you ought not to have any 
longing for Klondike. h. g. m. 
Connecticut. 
Cream Separators. 
De Laval “Alpha " and “Baby " Separators. 
Fir*t— Best—Cheapest. All Styles—Sliei 
Prloes, *50 to *800. 
Bare 110 per cow per year. Bend for Catalogue. 
THE DE LAVAL SEPARATOR CO., 
Randolph and Canal Street*, I 74 Cortlandt Street 
CHICAGO I NSW YORK. 
TRADE 
MARK 
BnsToy 
BUTTER PROWS 
More money comes with the use 
of improved machines—and easier 
work. Send for our big illustrated 
catalogue—mailed free. 
••BESTOV” every¬ 
thing for dairymen. 
THE DAIRYMEN’S 
SUPPLY CO., 
1937 Market St. Phila. 
EMPIRE 
Cream Separator. 
Each of the many Cream Separators and creaming systems exhibited at 
Paris was subjected to practical and most exhaustive tests that comparative 
merit in construction, skimming qualities and earning capacity to the user 
might be determined. 
THREE GRAND PRIZES 
were awarded. One to the EMPIRE or "CROWN” SEPARATOR; another 
to a machine of foreign manufacture and not marketed in this country, and a 
third to a machine assembled and sold here but many parts of which are 
made abroad. The EMPIRE is the only Cream Separator therefore of purely 
American manufacture which captured the 
Grand Prize at Paris. 
The Grand Prize is absolutely the highest award, the Gold Medal ranking 
next in merit. 
U. S. Butter Extractor Co., 212 Orange Street, Newark, N. J. 
Dairy Sweepstakes at Iowa State Fair of 1900 
wo Sf bv h us ER improved u. s. separator. 
! , West Branch, Ia., Sept. 28, 1900. 
I purchased a No. 6 Improved U. S. Separator a year ago and can say 
J .][ ‘S a grand success. Would not do without it. 
1 milk on an average 8 cows, and have made enough over and above what I 
m.i e with the same number of cows when using the gravity system to pay for 
my separating outfit in one year. 
1 exhibited butter made from U. S. Separator cream at the State Fair this year 
ana received Highest Award, including Sweepstakes, in the Dairy Class and 
t premiums amounting to $56. WRIGLEY SMITH. 
£ For full information and de- 
scriptive catalogues write the VERMONT FARM MACHINE CO., Bellows Falls, vt. 
DISPERSIOINT SALE 
OF THE FAMOUS 
Locust Grove Herd of Holstein Cattle. 
ESTABLISHED IN APRIL, 1879. 
Owing to the recent loss by fire of our large barn, together with its entire con¬ 
tents of Winter provender, we will sell the entire herd, consisting of about 40 
head, principally females, the result of nearly 22 years careful breeding, and 
representing most of the popular strains. Herd tuberculin-tested, sound. Sale will 
be held on the 
Fair Grounds, Washington, Pa., October 23, 
At 1 p. m., sharp, rain or shine. 
Locust Grove Herd has been extensively and successfully exhibited at State and 
District Pairs, East and West. This is a bona tide sale, no reserve, prize winners 
and their descendants. A rare opportunity to secure foundation stock. Sale cata¬ 
logue ready on day of sale. Shipping facilities, B. & O. and Penn. R. R. 
Col. A. W. CUMMINS, Auctioneer. J. L. HENDERSON &. SON. 
Also a few choice Berkshires from our last year’s importation, 
and a good Farm Engine. 
