1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
MAPES, THE HEN MAN. 
Live Topics for Poultry Raisers. 
OYSTER SHELL FOR GRIT.—A reader writes: 
"Will you tell us your experience with oyster shells? 
Do you believe they are essential, and what has been 
your experience when you kept them away from your 
hens?” In view of the fact that many writers of 
poultry literature claim that a hen cannot use the 
lime from oyster shells for egg shells, but must get 
it from her food, my hens have always acted in a 
very unorthodox fashion. I have bought ton after 
ton of crushed shells, and the hens have eaten_them 
all with a relish. We generally throw out a bag of 
shells on the ground, where several flocks can get 
easy access to them. If the bag does not burst when 
it is dropped from the wagon a stroke of the knife 
soon gives the hens a chance at them. I said in a re¬ 
cent article that “only one egg can be found in the 
oviduct at a time. The white and shell of an egg 
must all be deposited on it, in the brief time which 
elapses between the laying of two eggs. She must 
therefore be supplied with albumen in its most avail¬ 
able form,” nothing being better in this respect than 
skim-milk. What is true of albumep. for depositing 
the white of the egg, is equally true of lime for the 
shell. It must be supplied in its most available form, 
and in abundance. Oyster shells for lime, and skim- 
milk for albumen, make the strongest combination I 
know, cost considered. Refuse egg shells from the 
incubator are the only thing that can compare with 
them. My hens can be depended on to empty 
those bags of shells, once they can get a hole 
started, even if they have to scratch the bag 
all into fringe, before they get the last mor¬ 
sel. If I neglect to renew the supply in time 
they fairly eat the ground on which it lay. As 
soon as they have eaten their breakfast, and 
the door is opened, they invariably make a 
rush, either for a drink at the brook, or for 
a pull at the oyster shells. I have frequently 
watched them when they seemed to stop and 
consider which they wanted most urgently, 
and then start for the oyster shells and grab 
a few, before going after their water. Ortho¬ 
dox hens may act differently. So long as 1 
can buy crushed shells for 40 cents per 100 
pounds they shall be indulged in their unor¬ 
thodox appetites. When 1 deprive them of 
their supply we can notice a great difference 
in strength and thickness of the shells they 
put on the eggs. It is a common occurrence 
for our egg washers to ask whether the oyster 
shells are not getting low. “Egg shells are 
getting awfully thin.” If I wanted proof tnat 
the hens use the oyster shells for manufactur¬ 
ing egg shells, 1 would find it in the fact that 
just as soon as they stop laying they also stop 
eating oyster shells. 
SMOKY BROODER LAMPS.—I said a few 
weeks ago that we had a couple of brooder 
lamps that began smoking. No damage was 
done, since it happened during the daytime. 
Had it occurred at night, serious trouble 
might have resulted. Watching closely, in 
order to discover the cause, I notice that from 
the formation of soot, or from some other 
cause, the flame is apt to run up, especially 
at the corners, after burning a long time, 
without trimming. A house lamp is not often 
allowed to burn 24 hours continuously, or we should 
probably notice the same result there. These corners 
of flame are liable to touch the sides of chimney and 
start the lamp to smoking. My tin chimneys were 
made with sides tapering slightly towards the top, 
augmenting the danger of corners of flame touching 
the sides, so as to start the lamps smoking. I have 
had new chimneys made with bulging sides like the 
ordinary glass chimneys, and believe them to be much 
safer. The makers of glass chimneys doubtless knew 
what they were about when they adopted the shape 
so generally used. 
SELECTING A POULTRY FARM—A reader is 
looking for a location for a poultry farm, and wants 
advice A few points to be considered may be noted. 
One of the first is market facilities. It is hard to find 
a place in the civilized world where poultry products 
cannot be sold; still some locations are better than 
others. In centers of great wealth there is always 
to be found a class of customers willing to pay more 
than usual market rates for the very best goods. 
Proximity to a class of wealthy consumers is there¬ 
fore an advantage. Cheap land is another point to be 
considered. It is often desirable to give hens a free 
range, and land enough should he secured, so that 
they will not roam upon other people’s land and cause 
annoyance. Few want a lot of hens or chickens tres¬ 
passing upon ground devoted to other purposes, par¬ 
ticularly if the hens belong to some one else. Trans¬ 
portation facilities are very important, if possible 
to locate where more than one railroad and express 
company can be reached so much the better. Human 
nature is much the same the world over. You will 
always get better accommodations where there are 
rival companies competing for your trade. The farm 
should be as close as possible to railway station. 
Transportation by wagon is expensive, even over the 
best of roads. Our farm is four miles from the rail¬ 
way, over a poor road. A man and team are kept on 
the road hauling feed, etc., to the farm, and carting 
produce to market a good share of the time. This 
constitutes a heavy and needless expense. Locate in 
a dairy country if possible. Skim-milk is a valuable 
addition to the bill of fare for poultry, but it is too 
bulky and heavy to ship or haul long distances. It 
can be produced on the farm if land in sufficient 
quantity and suitable quality is chosen. A dry, sandy 
soil is generally supposed to he best for poultry. I 
am a little skeptical about that. Sharp grit is better 
than round grit, and I have seen healthy and profit¬ 
able flocks on almost all kinds of soil. Sickness and 
disease can also be found in all kinds of locations. 
SUITABLE NEST BOXES.—Visitors at our place 
often wonder how it happens that our hens do not 
steal their nests, and lay out of doors in the weeds 
and bushes. This sometimes happens, to a slight ex¬ 
tent, during the hot weather of July and August, but 
not at any other season. Not one hen in a thousand 
fails to go inside to lay, with the exception just noted. 
What kind of nests do we use? Any old box of suit¬ 
able size. I like a box big enough for half a dozen 
hens to use at once, without crowding. If the nest is 
small, suitable only for a single hen, ten chances to 
one that half a dozen will try to crowd into it, even 
if there are plenty of empty nests right beside it. 
The result is apt to be' broken and soiled eggs. I 
have been all through the list of patent nests, etc., 
and found nothing better than a good-sized soap box, 
with plenty of clean shavings. o. w. maces. 
A GOOD POINT IN STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 
There is one point in strawberry culture, by the 
matted row system, that is rarely understood as it 
should be, and this is, in regard to not allowing the 
plants to set too thick in the row. A strawberry 
plant is a weed in a strawberry patch, where it is not 
needed. It is the first or earlier plants that set that 
produce the big berries, while the late plants make 
the little things that are a nuisance to the grower, 
the picker, the dealer and the consumer. The average 
strawberry grower is too apt to let the rows mat so 
rlosely that none of the plants can do its best, nor 
nearly what it should do. After the plants have pass¬ 
ed about the first of August they probably will have 
set enough new ones to fill the rows 20 inches wide, 
or a little more: provided the runners have been 
trained lengthwise of the rows and placed so as even¬ 
ly to fill the spaces properly allotted to them. About 
six inches apart is close enough for them. When they 
are thus set it is a mistake to let any more take root 
43 1 
between them, as they are sure to do if not prevented. 
Instead of spending time in keeping the middle spaces 
between the rows clean of weeds and strawberry 
plants it is better to let these spaces alone for a 
month or two and give close attention to the centers 
or bearing spaces. With a fork hoe pull loose or dig 
up whatever tries to grow between the early plants, 
and drag the runners into the spaces between the 
rows. Sometimes it may be necessary to cut them off. 
This may need to be done more than once, in order 
to prevent the thick mat of plants in the rows that 
are to do the bearing. Those that are set in the middle 
spaces will do no harm, nor the weeds either, for the 
time being. When the cool weather of Autumn comes 
on plow or cultivate the middles thoroughly, leaving 
the bearing spaces about 20 inches or two feet wide, 
and let the field go into Winter quarters so, except 
that a light mulch the first of December may be ap¬ 
plied. ir. e. v. D. 
THE CLIMAX STRAWBERRY. 
Specimens of this new variety were received from 
Maryland on May 24. Though packed in cotton they 
were somewhat bruised, but we were able to obtain a 
fair reproduction in Fig. 168, first page, which shows 
the shape and size of the fruit. We have not seen the 
variety in the field, but the following notes are made 
by a reliable observer: 
“The Climax strawberry originated with Henry W. 
Graham, Wicomico Co., Md. I saw it on May 20. Mr. 
Graham planted seed of Bubach fertilized by 
Hoffman, and raised two plants. From these 
he finally got 1,100 plants, which he set on less 
than a quarter of an acre. The rows were five 
feet apart. From this plot in 1901 he shipped 
105 60-quart crates of berries—6,300 quarts, or 
about 20,200 to the acre. His first berries in 
1902 were shipped on May 10. Michel’s Early 
was ripening at this time. I should judge the 
crop would have been off by May 25 to 30. 
The berry is hardly as large as the best speci¬ 
mens of Bubach, but I think averaged larger 
than the average specimens. There is not a 
single imperfect berry; at least, I failed to 
find one in the patch. Every one looks as if 
it came out of a mold. There is one big berry 
on the stem, then one a size smaller and so on 
down. The stalks are very heavy. Mr. Gra¬ 
ham says every blossom makes a berry. The 
blossom is perfect. The plants are very 
strong, the foliage rougher than Bubach, and 
not so deep a green. It was knee high, and 
the beds were three or four feet wide. The 
soil is a black sandy loam. He has it on high 
and low land. The soil naturally is poor. He 
used one bag of fertilizer (200 pounds) on the 
plot, costing about $30 per ton, running about 
three per cent ammonia, three to four 
per cent potash and eight to 10 per cent phos¬ 
phoric acid; no other manure. The specimens 
I sent you were brought in a basket over 40 
miles by boat before I shipped them to you. 
Alongside was a good patch, as good as you 
usually see, of Michel’s Early, Tennessee, Day- 
ton, Wm. Belt, Cursican and other well- 
known kinds, but there was no comparison 
between these and the Climax. It begins to 
ripen nearly a week ahead of Bubach and 
other leading kinds, and you can readily see 
what it means to growers. The berry is firmer than 
Bubach, with better flavor, and never misshaped.” 
GREAT VALUE OF COW PEAS.—We have shown 
pictures of the seed and the little cow-pea plants, 
now at Fig. 170, an idea is given of the full-sized 
plant! The way the crop grows when the conditions 
are right is enough to make a lazy man get up and 
beat the dust out of his own clothes. We do not all 
agree as to the best plan to follow with cow peas as 
the following note from J. II. Hale will show: “I read 
with interest everything you print about the cow pea, 
and you are all right to feed it on poor land, but when 
you say ‘no one should think of sowing cow peas on 
good soil’ you are ’way, ’way off. They are worth 
many times their cost in the way they improve the 
mechanical condition of the soil, and I have seldom 
seen much of our good lands in the East that are not 
somewhat improved by the addition of a little nitro¬ 
gen. I sow cow peas on every inch of good land, as 
well as poor, that I can find available for this plant 
during its season. Just now I am clearing up a 
rough, rocky, brush pasture that is too tough to plow, 
so with an extra heavy Cutaway I am chewing it up 
and seeding it thickly with cow peas.” What we 
meant was that on the average farm it Is better to 
grow corn or some similar crop when the soil is al¬ 
ready good enough to grow it. Put the cow peas on 
the poor land and make it good enough to grow what 
you need! 
3 
WELL-DEVELOPED COW-PEA VINES. Fig. 170 . 
