6o6 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 6 
yield in the order of the increase of acid phosphate. 
The phosphoric acid in the tankage seems not to have 
been of any avail: the same might be said of the pot¬ 
ash. The potash and nitrogen of the tankage may 
have been utilized by the rag weed, as it is a great 
gatherer of potash and necessarily of nitrogen. We 
may have taken off the potash in taking off the rag 
weed. Potash and phosphoric acid, it is understood, 
remain in the ground until taken up by the growth 
upon the land, while the nitrogen or ammonia is car¬ 
ried off and lost to some extent if not soon utilized. 
We gather from the foregoing that by the use of 
phosphoric acid on our lands we get a paying increase 
of hay. How much more benefit we may derive from 
the fertilizer already used, can only be found by con¬ 
tinually weighing the hay from these plots from year 
to year. Had we had a wheat crop in 1900 on this land 
we might not have had the increase of hay. We do 
not know what we started out to learn; what increase 
of wheat we can get from the use of commercial ferti¬ 
lizers and what fertilizer we need for it. The writer 
fearing the fly did not put out any wheat in 1900, and 
thus did not use commercial fertilizers, but others 
that did use them that have come under his observa¬ 
tion had results as follows: One farmer using a com¬ 
plete fertilizer at the rate of about 100 pounds to the 
acre harvested 27 bushels of wheat per acre, while a 
neighbor just across the road with a better prospect, 
who said that when he had to purchase his fertilizer 
he would quit farming, had 10 bushels per acre. In 
another instance 100 pounds of a complete fertilizer 
gave 22 bushels, while an adjoining field not 50 yards 
away yielded but 12 bushels. Another with $1.25 
worth of fertilizer to the acre had a yield of 27 bush¬ 
els, while on the same farm, in another field with ap¬ 
parently better natural conditions without fertilizer 
but 15 bushels per acre were harvested. In one in¬ 
stance where a fertilizer was used on a part of a field 
nine bushels per acre more were harvested than from 
that which did not have the same advantage from 
its use. In 1899 a farmer in Fairfield County, Ohio, 
who used 200 pounds of fertilizer per acre had his 
wheat frozen out, but fared better than the writer in¬ 
asmuch as he had in 1900 a ton and a half of Timothy 
to the acre and over a ton in 1901. In Madison 
County, O., in a field where a commercial fertilizer 
was used in the Fall of 1900, there was not a crop of 
wheat, yet this year over iy 2 ton of hay to the acre 
was harvested. It seems that on the fields where a 
stimulant has been used as in the use of commercial 
fertilizers, the wheat is not atttacked to the same ex¬ 
tent by the fly as on other fields where it has not been 
used. Perhaps where it has been used the wheat 
stalk is stronger, and can stand the attack without 
falling down to the same extent. It is also claimed 
by some that the depredations of the Chinch bug are 
not so great where a commercial fertilizer is used. 
Columbus, O. g. w. o. 
MAPES, THE HEN MAN. 
TEXAS POULTRY PROBLEM.—One of my corre¬ 
spondents in Texas asks advice about embarking in 
the poultry business. He says: 
About the only grain here is corn and oats. Corn is 
90 cents per bushel and oats 55 cents. The price of 
chickens is from 15 to 35 cents each according to size. 
Now, is there any money in it at these prices? 
I should say decidedly that in such a locality there 
is not. There is not a wide enough margin between 
the value of the grain required to raise a chicken, and 
the value of the chicken, to leave any profit, or even 
reasonable compensation for the labor involved. Most 
people who are likely to go into the poultry business 
are still under the curse of Adam. “In the sweat of 
thy face shalt thou eat bread.” What many people 
look upon as the profits of farming, really represents 
the daily toil of the farmer and his family, and is 
better described as wages. I consider that there is no 
real profit in poultry, or any other line of farming, 
until after a fair wage for the labor expended is de¬ 
ducted. According to the last census returns there 
are about 5,500,000 farms in the Nation. Farms, stock 
and implements are valued at about $20,000,000,000, 
and annual farm products over $4,000,000,000. Some 
figure that this shows a profit of 20 per cent on the 
value of investment. They forget that the wages of 
those 5,500,000 farmers and their families must first 
be deducted, before there is any actual profit, and 
also the wages of all the hired men, etc., employed on 
said farms. In the case in question the price of 
grain, which is the chief item of cost in producing an 
egg or a chicken, aside from the labor, is out of all 
proportion to the price of chickens, to expect any pro¬ 
fit. He says nothing about the price of eggs, but 1 
infer that they are not higher in proportion than 
chickens. 
ENLARGING THE HEN BUSINESS.—Here is an 
entirely different case: 
I have 300 hens which do well, and wish to increase my 
flock to 1,000. I have 55 acres of land, most of it tillable. 
How large should the poultry houses be, how built and 
how arranged? How many hens can be kept to ad¬ 
vantage in one house? How closely can the plant be 
concentrated? I am willing to raise broilers or devote 
the whole business to eggs; have good markets for both. 
I would like the advice of poultrymen -who have been 
in the business on a large scale, as I wish to start on 
the right lines. 
This man is located near a good market where eggs 
and poultry of best quality will always command a 
better price in proportion to cost of feed. I see no 
reason why he cannot carry out his wish with every 
encouragement to success. In the first place, he al¬ 
ready has “300 hens which are doing well.” That one 
sentence speaks volumes for encouragement. He has 
only to duplicate his present arrangements 3 1-3 times 
and his wish is accomplished. There is hardly any 
need to offer such a man any advice. His arrange¬ 
ments may be better than mine. I have kept 1,000 
hens or over successfully for a number of years, and 
do not believe from my experience that there is any 
cast iron rule as to size of houses, or number of hens 
in one flock. I have kept 50 hens in my small houses 
10x12 feet, recently described in The R. N.-Y., and ex¬ 
pect to increase the number to 6u instead of diminish¬ 
ing it. A small flock can be fed so that each indivi¬ 
dual is more likely to get its proper proportion of 
food, than in the case of a large flock. Aside from 
that, I see but very little argument in favor of small 
Hocks. If I were to. take a hundred hens, and try to 
get best possible results from them I should want 
each hen by herself, so that I could study and humor 
the individuality of each hen. This I presume would 
require too much expense for labor and buildings to 
make it profitable. When my buildings were erected, 
i 
S?s 
THREi FAMILY FRIENDS. Fl9. 216. 
they were placed about eight rods distant from each 
other, thinking that this was as close as it was safe 
to attempt to keep different flocks allowed to run to¬ 
gether during the day. Some of the houses have since 
been moved, so as to concentrate more closely, and 
no difference is noticed in cases where they are only 
three or four rods distant from each other. My son 
once rented a house that was 336 feet long and placed 
nearly 1,000 hens in it. They were all let out to¬ 
gether each morning, with all creation before them, 
so far as fences were concerned, but each night found 
the same hens on each perch, or nearly enough so 
for all practical purposes. I have long thought that 
if I should rebuild it would be on some such plan. It 
looks simple to say that a two-pound chicken will sell 
for from 40 to 75 cents, and that only about 10 to 15 
cents worth of feed can be eaten before it will reach 
that size. All you have to do is to raise so many 
thousand a year, and you have a big income (on 
paper). How about that question of wages we were 
talking about a few minutes ago? Then, too, there is 
the question of loss from mortality which is liable to 
be very heavy in young chicks. It is a serious drain 
at all stages of the business, but I have found it much 
more serious in chicks than in mature hens. I think 
my experience corresponds in that respect with that 
of others. Until broiler raising is better understood 
than at present I would advise the novice to go slow 
and stick to egg production for cash returns. 
Here is a question from Canada: 
I would like to ask Mr. Mapes whether he ever tried 
buckwheat as a feed for hens? Would buckwheat do in¬ 
stead of corn in his system of feeding, that is, keeping 
the feed in front of them all the time? Corn is not a 
certain crop in this section, and buckwheat is, next to 
oats, our chief grain. s. b. h. 
I have never fed buckwheat to any extent, but be¬ 
lieve it to be the best substitute for corn of any of the 
grains. Fed in connection with oats and if possible 
a little wheat or barley. I should expect good results 
from it. With buckwheat and oats lying before them 
all the time, and skim-milk to drink, a big yield of 
Summer eggs should be assured. Still, a trial might 
result in disappointment. The chemist tells us that 
hominy chop and cornmeal are very similar in anal¬ 
ysis. With this fact in view and also that hominy 
chop was $4 per ton cheaper, we tried substituting it 
for cornmeal, in mixing a balanced ration, for a short 
time this season. For some unexplained reason our 
hens began to die right away, losing at least three 
times as many as our usual number, for the few 
weeks we kept it up, although we saw no particular 
difference in the egg yield. We then went to using 
cornmeal and cracked corn again, in place of the 
hominy, and since then have had comparatively few 
dead hens. o. w. mapes. 
STRINGFELLOW METHOD OF PLANTING. 
On page 349, R. N.-Y. of May 17, an account was given 
of trees planted on the Stringfellow plan, viz., roots 
pruned and planted in small holes with the earth packed 
hard around them. How did these trees come out? What 
is their condition now? 
The apple orchard of one-year trees which I plant¬ 
ed here last November is doing as follows: 
Russets, 38 with roots cut off.21 died 
Russets, 3 for check, roots on. 0 died 
Baldwins, 37 with roots cut off. 3 died 
Baldwins, 4 for check, roots on. 0 died 
R. I. Greenings, 39 with roots cut off.11 died 
R. I. Greenings, 3 for check, roots on. 0 died 
Wild apples from hedge, 6 with roots off.2 died 
Apples, root grafts, 2 with roots off. 0 died 
Total planted, 132 of which' lost...37 
The apples were never touched from the day they 
were planted until August 10, 1902, except that they 
were mulched and had a little stable manure early 
in the Spring after planting. The tops were cut down 
to one foot late in March. These were as nice one- 
year trees as I ever saw. The soil was a poor thin 
one. We planted in an old dried up sod, open and 
exposed situation with no preparation. We were 
badly scared by the reports of 17-year locust, and I 
had them all covered with mosquito netting, but no 
locusts appearing this was removed in 30 days, or 
about June. On August 10 I went in and removed 
weeds, where necessary, using a hoe for the purpose. 
A few of them are doing remarkably well, but on the 
average the growth so far is not more than one-eighth 
to one-fourth of normal, while the check trees planted 
with whole roots, and all other conditions the same, 
show' a growth of about 75 per cent of normal with 
one exception. By normal I mean results expected 
from regular cultivation, preparation of soil, etc. 1 
am much interested in following the matter further, 
and expect to replant all vacancies this Fall, with 
trees of the same age, but I shall dig tree holes and 
plant full roots, and keep the replants well hoed. The 
orchard will never be plowed. In some years we ex¬ 
pect to find out whether the trees which made their 
own roots anew are more resistant than those planted 
with roots. I also planted in the same field a vine¬ 
yard, two-year vines, with roots cut off, and cut back 
mostly to one bud. Varieties as follows: 
Planted. 
Lost. 
Diamond . 
28 
Brighton . 
21 
Worden . 
15 
Total planted . 
64 
should be said 
that we never plant 
grapes in 
Fall, but heel them in and plant in Spring. These 
were planted in Fall to give the roots time to form. A 
few were planted with whole roots for check, of which 
I have at this writing mislaid the record. Of the 
vines which are alive a few are doing very well, most 
of them are 25 to 40 per cent of normal in size. They 
were not touched until August, when I removed weeds 
with a hoe where necessary. The mortality was where 
the vines were exposed, and most of those doing well 
are protected from weather by wild bayberry or sweei 
fern around in clumps. We made no preparation of 
ground except to make the holes as already explained 
with crowbar. We gave most of them a little manure 
and a mulch of salt river grass. Put mosquito nets 
over them in Spring to ward off 17-year locusts, whicn 
dia not appear here, and removed same in June. I 
shall replant next Spring all the vacancies, using two- 
year whole root vines, dig holes, and keep these well 
hoed tor three years, but the vines I planted last No¬ 
vember have not been hoed until this month, and then 
only when necessary to kill out weeds. 
I also planted an orchard of 160 peach trees on same 
field. They are mostly alive but look thin. Planted 
in April, 1902, and rather late at that. Their color is 
so poor I would not trust them. I expect more of the 
apples and grapes. I intend to plant a pear orchard 
on the same plan this Fall. We have had the wettest 
and coolest Summer here in 20 years, and several of 
these trees were undecided about growing, but the 
season was such they had to. To go out into a tough 
old sod and make erowDar holes in which to set the 
stubs of one-year trees with all roots cut off, is as 
near a recipe as would usually be looked for, for kill¬ 
ing trees and vines, and the fact that 25 per cent of 
them are healthy looking though small is sunicient to 
encourage me to further experiments, in view of the 
low cost of bringing this 25 per cent to present stage. 
Rhode Island. w. b. w. 
