526 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
August 2 
potash and nitrate of soda, according to directions in 
my grass circular. 
I am now in my fourth year in the cultivation of a 
plum orchard of 1,425 trees. I am trying to find out 
whether fruit can be grown successfully without the 
aid of any fertilizer except that which can be obtained 
from intense cultivation. Three years ago last April I 
bought 1,425 plum trees. At the time of setting out 
these mere sprouts they were cut off to a uniform 
height of three feet above ground, and set 12 feet 
apart on centers, in true lines. I used two pounds of 
fine bone mixed with the soil, to each tree when set¬ 
ting. Since that time there has been no fertilizer 
used, nothing but intense cultivation, resulting in an 
annual average growth of over four feet, cutting back 
to within one foot each year. The cultivation has 
been six times per month each way with the double 
action Cutaway harrow. I am not growing weeds, noth¬ 
ing but plum trees. What a growth of wood and fruit 
on that dry knoll! The third year there were 500 
large peach baskets of plums, the finest ever grown 
in this section. The estimate for this year is for a 
very large crop and of large size. I have just com¬ 
menced thinning out the plums, July 2. It is an off 
year for plums in this section, and from less than 400 
trees I have taken 50 bushels. They will double up 
from this time on very fast 
MfiPES, THE HEN MAN. 
HOUSING T1IE HENS.—This question is often 
asked: 
Mapes, the hen man, says he puts 50 hens in a house 
10x12 feet. Does he keep them housed in all Winter in 
this small house, or do they have a scratching shed or 
outdoor liberty daytimes? N. a. b. 
Victor. N. Y. 
During the Summer the flocks get depleted from 
various causes. Some die, some are marketed, some 
are removed for hatching purposes, etc. Soon after 
the weather gets cold enough, so that the houses do 
not get uncomfortably warm during sunny days (early 
in November), we make a general round-up, placing a 
uniform number in each house, grading them accord¬ 
ing to age as much as possible. This gives some 
empty houses, which we fill with pullets exclusively. 
If we should let them out again soon after this gen¬ 
eral round-up, many of those which have not been 
carried a sufficient distance from their old quarters, 
would go back home to roost, with the result that 
some houses would contain more than others. For 
convenience in feeding, it is desirable to have the 
flocks uniform in size as nearly as possible. For this 
reason the doors are closed at the time of this Fall 
round-up, and are not usually opened again until 
Spring weather opens. By the time the hens are suf¬ 
ficiently accustomed to their new quarters to make it 
safe to give them free range, the ground is often cov¬ 
ered with snow. A hen is about as helpless in the 
snow as a hog on ice. There are no scratching sheds 
in connection with my houses; simply a plain build¬ 
ing 10x12 feet. The large window, on the south side 
or front of the house, is thrown wide open every 
pleasant morning, and left open all day. This gives 
pure fresh air in abundance, without exposure to cold 
winds. What other benefit is secured by a scratching 
shed? We put 50 hens in most of our houses last No¬ 
vember, and they were not allowed to step foot out 
of doors again for nearly four months. A good many 
of the flocks laid 30 to 35 eggs a day before ever they 
stepped on bare ground. 
AN UNORTHODOX HEN.—I know this is contrary 
to generally accepted theory, but facts are stubborn 
things. I am getting accustomed to seeing my hens 
upset pet theories. My experimental Wyandotte hen, 
White Betty, is a case in point. How often have we 
read and said that green food of some kind is essen¬ 
tial for best results—that exercise is as necessary as 
fooa; “Make her scratch” is the alpha and omega of 
many poultrymen’s gospel. Betty cannot be very or¬ 
thodox. She is still happy and contented in her small 
exhibition coop. She gets no green food whatever, 
and no opportunity for exercise, only a wet mash 
twice a day, by reaching her head through the slats 
of her prison, and eating it out of a basin. She can¬ 
not even “get her foot in it.” Still, she laid 27 eggs 
from May 20 to June 20. This was on Balanced Ra¬ 
tion wet with skim-milk. 
A BROODY SPELL.—On June 23 I put her on a dry 
mixture which is simply wet with cold water, two 
ounces night and morning. On June 26 she took to 
her nest (or corner), with-an attack of the broody 
fever. She had a violent attack, which did not yield 
readily to treatment which usually “cures” in case of 
Leghorn hens, so I turned her loose among some 
broilers. The change proved a thorough remedy, and 
she spent her holiday, July 4, back in her old quar- 
. ters. She has not been out since except as I took her 
out once for a few' minutes in order to dust her feath¬ 
ers full of Persian insect powder. She commenced to 
lay July 5, after a skip of only eight days, and has 
laid 10 eggs in the 11 days since. At this writing it 
looks as if my first experimental mixture, simply wet 
with w r ater, is going to give as good results as the 
Balanced Ration wet with skim-milk. She laid a 
group of four eggs (July 5 to 8) then a group of six 
eggs (July 10 to 15). This is equal to her best per¬ 
formance last month. 
MILK SUBSTITUTES.—What did I try as a sub¬ 
stitute for the skim-milk? Skim-milk solids in dry 
form. When I began to look about for albumen, etc., 
in dry form, as a substitute for milk, this was the 
logical solution of the problem that first suggested it¬ 
self to my mind. I fear it cannot be secured com¬ 
mercially, at a price that is reasonable. Milk scorches 
so easily, that evaporation is expensive. Not enough 
of it can be procured at any one point, so practical 
men tell me, to warrant the necessary outlay for 
vacuum pans, kilns, etc. I am experimenting on a 
new process which may remove these objections, and 
require less outlay for an evaporating outfit. 
HEN THIEVES.—“I should think thieves would 
steal all your hens from houses so far removed from 
28 >T T. 
PRESENT PLAN OF BARN. Fl . 211. 
vour dwelling.” That remark has been fired at me 
hundreds of times, 1 suppose. Still, we are not often 
troubled in that way. On one occasion two men came 
with a horse and wagon and stole 65 in one night. 
They were smart enough not to take many from any 
one flock. They failed to latch the door properly at 
one of the houses, however, and did not count on a 
small snow squall which came up before tney got 
aw r ay from the premises. The judge thought a chicken 
thief about as bad as a bank robber, and gave them 
each three years in State prison. We made out a 
case of burglary in the third degree. If they had con¬ 
fined their operations to chickens and turkeys from 
the limb of a tree the sentence must have been 
lighter. On another occasion a man took what he 
could carry in a bag. I believed that whisky was 
the cause of his downfall, and at my request the 
judge suspended sentence, on his giving me a tem¬ 
perance pledge. I then gave him a job, and he made 
the best help with the poultry I have ever employed. 
He has now rented a small place, has several hun¬ 
dred birds of his own, and has apparently learned the 
value of money and the danger of drin±c. He now 
“swears by Mapes the Hen Man,” instead of “at 
him,” as he would doubtless have done, if I had al¬ 
lowed the judge to pass sentence on him. We now 
keep a large St. Bernard watch dog, which prowls 
about the premises day and night. He weighs more 
than an ordinary man, and a thief would stand a bet¬ 
ter chance of escaping from a dozen armed men in 
the dark than from Lion. o. w. mapes. 
CHANGING A DAIRY BARN. 
As I desire to raise my barn another year. I send a 
plan of it as it stands now, asking if you will give best 
plan and arrangement for eight or 10 stanchions, three 
horse stalls and some box stalls, marking where the silo 
should be placed and size and dimensions of silo for 
eight or 10 cows. The shed I shall leave standing, using 
it for a straw barn. The main barn is what I desire to 
raise. Would you advise having a cement floor over the 
entire basement? J * l b - 
Fig. 212 may give some hint of value in remodeling 
this barn. I concluded from the dimensions given 
that there must be abundance of room for the stock 
kept. I have therefore drawn for a square silo inside 
the building, not that it is the best, but will be much 
cheaper. The cows are given the advantage of the 
south side. That shed mentioned is in the way, pre¬ 
venting a free inflow of sunlight. It might improve 
matters to place silo in the southeast corner and ex¬ 
tend the cows to the west end, giving them the ad¬ 
vantage of more sunlight. Three box stalls and three 
horse stalls are provided, leaving a space 20x28 feet, 
that can be partitioned for a carriage or tool barn, or 
for more stock at the pleasure of the builder. A drive 
is provided through the barn seven feet wide at the 
narrow point, wide enough for team and wagon. The 
silo is large for eight cows, but in all probability, 
after the barn is completed, and it becomes a pleasure 
to work in it more cows will be added, or there is 
plenty of room for a small flock of sheep. Most cer¬ 
tainly build a cement floor over the entire surface, 
box stalls, horse stalls, cow platform and the whole 
thing. No matter what some one may advise who has 
no experience, go ahead. Put in the “King” system of 
ventilation; use matched lumber outside and inside 
the studding or girths; put in not less than 12 9x13 
lights every 15 feet all around the barn; have stable 
eight or nine feet high; keep the stable whitewashed 
and there will be some fun in doing chores. 
it. E. COOK. 
FRUIT ON A COTTON PLANTATION. 
The excessive drought has about ruined the corn 
crops in this portion of the world. Cotton, being a 
drought-loving plant, is very fine and promises a 
grand yield. I have been paying a good deal of at¬ 
tention to fruit growing. I live not far from Vicks¬ 
burg, Miss., a town of about 20,000 inhabitants. Very 
little extra grade fruit is grown in this section, and I 
thought it possible to build up a good trade in that 
town. By great care, and by adopting the rules prac¬ 
ticed by the California fruit growers, I have now cap¬ 
tured the Vicksburg trade in fruit, and am making 
money out of it. My fruit money pays all the run¬ 
ning expenses of the house and family besides the 
plantation, and has put me out of the hands of the 
cotton factors, a blessing to be greatly desired. I send 
my fruit over to town by wagon, and retail it through 
a good old negro man. It may open the eyes or some 
of our northern friends, who think the negro is 
starved, when I say that I pay this old darkey $75 a 
month for his services. When I broached this sub¬ 
ject, it was with the object of saying that the Mamie 
Ross peach is far ahead of all early peaches as a mar¬ 
ket variety. In fact, it is worth all the other varie¬ 
ties combined. It has every quality that a peach 
needs to make it perfect. I know of no other early 
peach that can hold a light to it. s. r. james. 
Louisiana. 
L. L. COE—AN OLD RURAL FRIEND. 
During the coming season we hope to print pic¬ 
tures of many of the old stand-bys who have taken an 
active part in making history for The R. N.-Y. This 
week we are pleased to show a good likeness of L. L. 
Coe, of Montour Falls, N. Y. Mr. Coe sends us the 
following notes: 
“I was born in 1833 in what was then the town of 
Catharine, County of Tioga; later the County of 
Chemung, and now the town of Montour, County of 
Schuyler, on a farm owned by my father, and re¬ 
mained with my parents until 1855, when I was mar¬ 
ried and began farming for myself. I have lived in 
three counties and two towns, all on the farm on 
which I was born, which I continued personally until 
1893, when we moved to the village of Montour Falls, 
but I still retain the farm and attend to the manage¬ 
ment of it. I adopted the mixed line of farming which 
I continue to the present time; I have always found 
it profitable to experiment with new varieties of grain 
and vegetables, and have had the pleasure of intro¬ 
ducing many valuable varieties that have been suc¬ 
cessful in this vicinity. 1 was the first to introduce 
the Rural New Yorker and Carman potatoes in this 
section, and many of those are raised here now. 1 
have also been on the alert to procure the most mod¬ 
ern and labor-saving machinery as farm helps. I have 
found farming to be a reasonably remunerative and 
successful industry. I have raised some small grains 
with success, but my main crop has been hay. 1 
usually kept but a small amount of stock, and sold 
the principal part of the hay. You may ask how 1 
kept my farm up; in the first place I have a hay or 
grass farm, and I do not plow my land as long as it 
will raise good grass; I do not pasture my meadows 
as soon as the grass is cut; in fact, I do not pasture 
them at all; I give them the aftermath, which I find 
is a great help to them for the next Winter. I use 
clover and Timothy for seeding, and find they will 
both stay with me longer for leaving the second 
growth on them. Since leaving nine years ago I have 
kept no stock on the farm, and I think I do just as 
well as when I kept stock. Whatever success I have 
had in the past 1 credit partly at least to having read 
The R. N.-Y. all these years, and to following the 
rule to pay as I go, or not go at all.” 
