124 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
February 10 
HOPE FARM NOTES. 
January went out like a roaring lion 
in our part of the country, and February 
came in at the same door. A still, in¬ 
tense cold was followed by a severe bliz¬ 
zard. We have not yet invested in a 
thermometer at Hope Farm, and cannot 
say just how low the mercury fell. About 
three miles away, it is said that a ther¬ 
mometer registered 11 degrees below 
zero, and we are not willing to dispute 
it. The old house was pretty cold, but 
we kept the fires going, and put in some 
hearty meals of baked beans, buckwheat 
cakes and sausage, and let the blizzard 
howl. We tried hard to keep the stock 
comfortable. Just at this time, we like 
to feed the horses a little oil meal. They 
have had no roughage all Winter but 
sweet corn stalks, and now and then a 
feed of oat hay. A handful of oil meal 
mixed with their grain does them lots of 
good. It’s about time to think of feed¬ 
ing them up for the early Spring work. 
The hens stayed by us during the cold, 
running up to 24 eggs one day. Our big 
rented house is cold and uncomfortable, 
but we managed to carry the hens 
through without a frosted comb. A 
warm morning mash, with a little red 
pepper in it, kept them as lively as crick¬ 
ets. Eggs are still bringing three cents 
each, and our hens seem likely to more 
than make up the December loss in their 
February earnings. 
This is the month for mating poultry. 
We have already started the 100-egg in- 
HOPEjFARM BEAUTY. Fig. 45. 
cubator with eggs from the pen of 
mixed Plymouth Rocks. This pen is 
most likely to give fertile eggs, though 
we are not expecting a very large per 
cent. How to mate our Black birds 
properly has been a problem. We kept 
one beautiful cockerel from the 1897 
hatching, and it was a great temptation 
for us to breed him with the pen of 10 
Black hens, one of which was his mother. 
I doubt whether there would have been 
much danger in this breeding, but we 
finally let him go. We now expect to 
use a cockerel containing a dash of 
Brown Leghorn blood, though he would 
score well as a Minorca. We want him 
chiefly because his sisters are excellent 
layers, while he is a vigorous and active 
bird. The number of points on a bird’s 
comb doesn't concern us half as much as 
the number of eggs his female relatives 
will lay. It is high time that the breed¬ 
ing pens are mated. Hatch early ! That 
is our watchword this year. We have 
waited too long for late-hatched pullets 
to start into the egg business. 
We are so well pleased with our Blacks 
that we shall hatch every egg we can 
from them. At the New York poultry 
show last week, we spent most of our 
time studying the Minorcas. Several of 
our pullets rank pretty well, but we have 
nothing that would have won a prize. 
When it comes to laying, however, I will 
match old Wry-tail and her daughter, 
Hope Farm Beauty, against any hen and 
pullet in the show. Fig. 45 is a picture 
of Hope Farm Beauty, which will show 
something of the type we are breeding 
for. When the photograph was taken, 
she was crouched down a little, and thus 
she looks a little more squatty than she 
really is. This is not the true Minorca 
type, by any means—she is too chunky 
—her neck and legs are too short, and her 
comb is too small ; but it is the type we 
are after for layers. This little hen was 
hatched in early May, and laid her first 
egg September 10. With an occasional 
vacation, she has kept at it ever since, 
and has already laid over 45 eggs. She 
led all the other Black pullets by nearly 
three months, and her mother was also 
the first of the old hens to start laying 
in December. It’s in the family, and you 
may be sure that we shall try to hatch 
every egg we can get Beauty and Wry- 
tail to lay. For three or four genera¬ 
tions. those Black birds have been noted 
layers. Mr. A. Johnson, who sold us the 
old hens, tells me of one that is now six 
years old and still budding out the eggs 
at a great rate. That is our type for a 
family of practical laying hens, and if 
they don’t improve with each generation, 
it won’t be our fault. 
But what part is the male expected to 
play in this improvement ? My notion 
is that the greater part of the gain in 
egg-laying inclination must come from the 
hen. The father will give color, size 
and general shape to the pullet, and if 
any trait or habit is strongly fixed in 
him from his mother, the daughter will 
inherit a share of that, too. I would not 
care for one of these fine show birds to 
head our breeding pens unless I knew 
what sort of layers their mothers and 
sisters have made. Their beautiful combs 
are too large for practical purposes. I 
can’t sell tail feathers, and long legs are 
of no particular use to me. Breeders 
have told me very frankly that they pur¬ 
posely keep their hens from laying early 
in the Fall and Winter, so as to have 
more eggs in March and April when the 
demand for hatching eggs is larger. That 
destroys just the habit I want to encour¬ 
age—viz., early laying. We want our 
pullets so bred that they can’t help start¬ 
ing in early November. We will take 
the responsibility after they start of pro¬ 
viding the right food and warm houses. 
That is why we want to put the brother 
of known and reliable layers at the head 
of our breeders. Very likely we shall 
have some pullets off-type in shape or 
feather. Let them get off so long as they 
get on the nest at regular intervals. It 
is high time to pick out your breeding 
stock for this year’s hatching. Pick out 
your best layers and mate them with a 
lay rooster from some flock where you 
know the owner keeps a correct record 
and makes his flock pay. Of course, this 
does not apply to those who are breeding 
for standard markings and fancy points. 
The best point we recognize in the hen 
is her egg. We don’t expect to win any 
(<Continued on next page.) 
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If you get the one made for 
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Get the Index. 
Write Macbeth Pittsburgh Pa 
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