1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
575 
have in a jog in the henhouse, a box coop sent with a 
Wyandotte rooster by express, and the hens show a 
strong liking to it when they can get out where it is. 
One hen is bound that she will not lay anywhere else, 
and to reach it, she flies up on the greenhouse and 
walks over (it's shingled for a couple of feet where it 
joins the potting room), walks across the potting 
room into the henhouse, goes into the coop and lays. 
Then goes through the 60-foot walk to the east door 
of the henhouse, and then takes a 20-foot flight over 
the fence to the henyard, and she 'does it regularly, 
flow did she figure out that the coop could be reached 
in this roundabout way ? F. c. c. 
Maine. 
Down Come Fences. —The removal of fences such as 
The R. N.-Y. records on page 519, is becoming quite 
general in northern Ohio, and on many a farm, fully 
50 per cent of the fencing of 10 years ago has dis¬ 
appeared. Farm after farm has practically abandoned 
the road fence, and the plowed land often comes down 
to the very wagon track, a plan which, gives a neat 
appearance to the roadside in contrast to the far too 
often line of briers, brush, and dilapidated fence con¬ 
cealed within. I do not rocall any damage to these 
open fields from the trespass of marauding animals or 
passing droves of stock. The interior fences are fast 
being taken down, and larger fields are found to be 
not only in the interests of economy, but of better 
and cleaner farming. This season, I have noticed 
several hedges which have been pulled up and out, 
and neat Page, or other like fence, substituted. The 
crooked rail fence has about disappeared, and with it 
the huge road snow banks of the Winter. If the light, 
“ airy ” wire fence would 
give us as complete im¬ 
munity from Spring and 
Fall mud, great happi¬ 
ness would result. On 
our own farm, we are 
displacing the barb-wire 
fence with Page and 
similar fencing, and are 
greatly pleased with the 
change. The rapidity 
with which they are 
being erected every¬ 
where, attests the same 
opinion. joiin gould. 
Ohio. 
The Standing of 
“ Oleo.”—F ig. 268 tells 
the story about hog but¬ 
ter. The Supreme Court 
has opened the gate, and 
the greasy fraud has 
taken a new lease of life. 
The decision of the court 
amounts to this: that 
manufacturers cannot be 
compelled to color the 
stuff pink or blue or any 
distinctive color, so that 
its manufacture and sale 
are perfectly legal so long 
as it is sold under its own name. Laws of different States 
have been at variance on this matter, and the decisions 
of State courts have been conflicting. But it seems 
now to be well established that the manufacture of 
oleomargarine cannot be interfered with, and that its 
sale under its own name is perfectly legitimate. This 
is reasonable enough, but the trouble is that all the 
courts and all the ofiic'als cannot prevent its being 
substituted for butter by hook or crook. IIow much 
of it would ever be sold if it were sold honestly for 
just what it is ? Very little. Legislation now must 
be along lines that shall check this substitution. The 
penalties must be severe, the prosecutions swift, con¬ 
victions sure, and punishment certain. 
Introduction of Lima Beans. —On page 466, the 
credit of the introduction was given to Captain John 
Harris, in 1824. It appears that the bean was offered 
for sale in the catalogue of David Landreth in 1823. 
Who brought the beans to Mr. Landreth cannot be 
ascertained, but they must have been grown by him 
in 1821 or 1822, to appear in his catalogue of 1823. 
Probably, they were brought to him by some trader or 
traveler. Mr. Charles Pickering was under the im¬ 
pression that the Lima bean came from India, and 
was known to botanists as far back as 1779, under 
the name of Phaseolus lunatus. He was also under 
the impression that it was grown by our early New 
England colonists. He says that neither Brackenridge 
nor he could find that it grew in Peru. That it was 
grown in New England is denied by our best authori¬ 
ties. That it grew in Peru is given on the authority 
of Captain John Harris, who was always under the 
impression that he first introduced and grew it ; but 
as I have shown, some one was a few years before 
him. It may never be known now who gave the beans 
to the late David Landreth, as there is nq record o£ 
the transaction extant. Wherever known in Europe, 
the name Lima is part of its title, and Henri Vilmorin 
credits it to South America. ROBERT i*. HARRIS. 
Value of Crimson Clover. —Prof. Geo. W. Carver, 
of Tuskegee, Alabama, writes us of an experiment 
with Crimson clover. Last year, they sowed the clover 
on an acre of very poor land. It did only fairly well, 
but was plowed under last Spring and the land planted 
to corn. The drought was very severe, there being 
two months when there was not rain enough to lay 
the dust. It was hardly a fair test for any fertilizer 
experiment, but strange to say, the corn planted at 
the same time and in the same way except that no 
clover was plowed under, literally burned up. This 
certainly showed the value of the small amount of 
humus in the clover. It, evidently, conserved the 
moisture and thus kept the crop alive. This need of 
humus is particularly noticeable in many of the 
southern soils. We have observed that Crimson clover 
decays far more rapidly in the soil than a crop like 
rye, and thus has a value in addition to the amount 
of n trogen it adds to the soil. 
THE CALIFORNIA LEGHORN HEN . 
HOW SHE TAKES CARE OF HERSELF. 
She Lives in a Colony. 
The center of population in this country is said to be 
somewhere in Indiana, and it has been gradually 
moving westward for several years. Since the annexa¬ 
tion of the Hawaiian Islands the geographical center 
has been lost in the Pacific Ocean. Like many other 
good things that have moved west, the center of 
population of the Leghorn hen is no longer east of the 
Mississippi River. It is said that, within a radius of 
20 miles of Petaluma, California, there are more Leg¬ 
horns to a square mile than in any other territory of 
equal size, in the world. Our readers have, probably, 
heard more or less about the California poultry busi¬ 
ness. In order to give them some authentic facts 
about it, we have interviewed one of our subscribers, 
Mr. C. Nisson, who runs a typical poultry ranch near 
Petaluma. Mr. Nisson modestly says that he doubts 
whether eastern readers will learn very much from 
his methods of poultry keeping. California methods 
differ greatly from those of the East, and the differ¬ 
ence is caused by the different conditions under which 
Californians live. It is not likely, therefore, that 
western methods will be copied largely by eastern 
men. 
Leave Eastern Methods Back East. —“But 
do not eastern methods work well in California ?” 
“All I can say is that many eastern poultry men 
come here and utterly ignore our peculiar conditions; 
consequently, they lose money. The people east of 
the Rockies, are accustomed to get five to 20 cents per 
dozen for eggs, while the Californians obtain 12 to 
45 cents and have a very favorable climate. Eastern 
people do not see how California poultrymen can help 
getting rich on these prices, and if they don't, it must 
be because they do not know how to manage. So they 
will rush over here to make the money, which we 
California henmen have not the wit to make.” 
“ Well, how do they usually come out ?” 
“ Within 10 miles of my farm, are two large poultry 
plants, started a few years ago on the true eastern 
methods. Everything was calculated and figured out 
before starting.” 
“ Where are they now, planted ?” 
“ Only the ruins of these large poultry farms are to 
be seen. Probably, their owners have sunk $100,000 
in these few years. At the same time, within the 
same distance, I can count a score of poultry fatjms, 
where from 500 to 5,000 hens are kept in the seemingly 
slipshod fashion of California. But these men are all 
doing well. They are not getting rich very fast, it is 
true, but they make good wages and have a good time.” 
The Colony Scheme. —“ Well, what do you call 
the California slipshod method ?” 
“ I will describe my own methods briefly. My hens 
are kept in colonies, of about 100 hens to each colony. 
These are scattered over my farm with no restricting 
fence between them. I have followed this plan for 
many years, and before I made poultry a specialty.” 
“ Where did this idea come from ? ” 
“ I may say right here that I got it from a con¬ 
tributor to the old Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. This 
man simply suggested it as the only practical way of 
keeping large numbers of hens. So, you see, we Cali¬ 
fornians have made use of this eastern idea to great 
advantage. All poultrymen in this section who have 
sufficient space, follow this plan.” 
“ How are your hens housed ? ” 
“ One colony is supplied with two roosting houses 
and one nest house. In the latter, is a compartment 
for feed hopper, water fountain, also a coop for sitting 
hens. These houses are all built on runners and with 
no floors to them. Once or twice a month, these houses 
are moved a few feet ahead on to fresh ground, always 
in a given direction, usually regulating the distance, 
so that at a given time, two or three colonies will 
meet and come together to be combined in one.” 
“ What is the object of 
that ? ” 
“We find that when 
even a colony of pullets 
is started during the 
year, the number will 
decrease, some will die, 
some, perhaps, be stolen, 
some which show un¬ 
thriftiness are taken out, 
and others which seem 
undesirable, are culled 
and sent to market. 
Therefore, by moving the 
houses so that several of 
them will eventually 
come together in the 
end of the season, we 
take the best in each 
colony to be put together 
in a new one. When the 
houses are on poor 
ground, we move them 
so as to fertilize the land 
as much as possible, but 
the main idea is to keep 
the colony on fresh 
ground and get it always 
farther away from its 
starting point.” 
Feed and Water.— 
“ How are these hens fed and what grains are used ? ” 
“ The feeding is done by filling the hoppers with the 
grain, giving a week’s supply at a time. Wheat is 
used when it does not cost more than 20 per cent more 
than corn, otherwise corn, and rarely barley.” 
“ Do you feed any mash or soft food ? ” 
“ Every other day, we feed a mash consisting of 
middlings or shorts mixed with skim-milk or other 
fluid. We also use meat, beans, peas, potatoes, and 
whatever we have or can buy, cooked or uncooked, as 
seems best. We try to mix this soft food so as to give 
a balance to the grain ration, using a more nitro¬ 
genous mixture when feeding corn than when feeding 
wheat. We also aim to make it more bulky in Sum¬ 
mer and more concentrated in Winter.” 
“ How often do you water ? ” 
“ On the same day this soft food is fed, the water foun¬ 
tains are refilled. A 10-gallon water fountain full lasts 
a colony two days at any time of the year. One boy 
with a team will do all the feeding and watering. 
Eggs are gathered every day, and shipped to San 
Francisco, where they are sold as fancy ranch eggs.” 
“ What makes the best run for a colony ? ” 
“ We like to put colonies on either the pastures or 
grain fields. In the grain fields, barley is sown very 
thickly around the houses, and as soon as a good-sized 
space is eaten bare, the land is again plowed and 
sown to barley. This is kept up to about May, when corn 
is sown, as that keeps green all Summer, besides giving 
some shade and shelter.” 
“ Then, your so-called slipshod California method 
consists chiefly in making the hen take care of herself?” 
“ That’s just about what it amounts to.” 
How to liaise Leghorns.—“ What breed of hens 
work the best with this method 9” 
“The breed used hereabouts is tb<? Leghorn, the 
WELL! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? Fig. 268, 
