366 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
May 21 
stone for the wall, and $ 2.25 for one day’s plastering 
by a skilled workman. The material and fixtures for 
the kitchen and cellar combined cost $81. 
I hope that none of Thk R. N.-Y. farmers will say 
of this as one said of my plan of growing strawberries, 
“ It will do well enough for a rich man!” Please do 
not accuse me of being rich! Our little home lias 
been built up in just this manner—piece by piece— 
each piece representing the value of just so many 
baskets of small fruits, plenty of hard work, and 
“ whole barrels ” of economy. f. h. BALLOU. 
A PRACTICAL HEN MAN. 
SOME SENSIBLE FOULTKY FIGURES. 
Our older readers will remember the accounts we 
have printed of the little 18-acre farm of Mr. A. John¬ 
son, Lincoln Park, N. J. Mr. Johnson makes a 
specialty of strawberries, hens and general fruit, with 
potatoes and hay. He is one of the men who have made 
farming pay. He started on his little place about 20 
years ago, loaded down with a heavy mortgage and 
with little practice in farming. The farm has been 
paid for, several thousand dollars’ worth of buildings 
erected, and he now has a comfortable nest egg laid 
aside for investment. Besides all this, the farm is in 
the best possible shape, capable at a season’s notice lo 
produce the heaviest crops. The singular part of it is 
that most of the crops have been sold in the wholesale 
markets, as Mr. Johnson has not made much effort to 
establish a local trade. 
During the strawberry season, we hope to tell some¬ 
thing about the strawberry crop. Just now we want 
to speak of the hens. Early in February, we went to 
Mr. Johnson’s place and found the 225 hens averaging 
from 60 to 70 eggs per day. They are mostly Brown 
Leghorns, Black Minorcas and across between the two 
breeds. Some of the best birds on the place are pullets 
obtained from crossing a Black Minorca cockerel on 
Brown Leghorn hens. These seem to mature earlier 
than the Black Minorcas, and to lay larger eggs than 
Brown Leghorn pullets. One singular thing about 
Mr. Johnson’s poultry is the fact that they have paid 
him over $1 profit per year on an average, of late 
years, of only 85 eggs per hen. lie gave us the follow¬ 
ing statement concerning some items of his poultry 
management : 
No. of hens. 
Cost of feed. 
No. of eggs. 
Income 
1897 
200 
8149.35 
19,713 
8382.21 
1896 
225 
175.76 
24,394 
486.00 
1895 
200 
229.00 
23,444 
496 64 
1894 
260 
199.40 
33,921 
660.37 
1893 
260 
407.43 
32,052 
790.28 
1892 
325 
278.65 
35,938 
818.20 
1891 
350 
439.00 
40,064 
991.93 
The income includes the sales of poultry as well as of 
eggs. The items of cost for 1893 and 1894 should 
really be added together and averaged, as Mr. John¬ 
son bought a large quantity of feed at one time and 
simply gave the items of cash sales. 
It will be seen that Mr. Johnson’s hens have not 
made any such laying records as are claimed by some 
of the fanciers. It will be seen, however, that one 
year with another, they have paid a good square profit 
of over $1 a bird. There have been no fancy prices 
for the eggs, as they were all sold at wholesale prices 
in Paterson and Newark. It seems to us that these 
figures are very encouraging, and far more reliable 
than the figures quoted by some of our poultrymen 
who claim to make $3 and $4 profit per hen. It will 
usually be found, in these cases, that a good many of 
the eggs were sold at high prices for breeding pur¬ 
poses. Mr. Johnson’s success with poultry was what 
induced us to attempt poultry keeping at Hope Farm. 
In fact, our original stock of hens was obtained from 
his place. 
Mr. Johnson has not changed his method of feeding 
very greatly of late years, except in regard to the 
feeding of whole wheat. Formerly he believed that 
whole wheat was a necessary part of the hen’s ration, 
and he fed it even when the prices went up to a high 
figure. He now thinks that, in bran and middlings, 
he can obtain a cheap substitute for the Avhole grain. 
The way he puts it is about as follows : “ Whole wheat 
costs 134 cent a pound ; a mixture of bran and mid¬ 
dlings can be bought for one cent a pound. For that 
one cent, we obtain more nutriment than is contained 
in the pound of whole wheat costing 134 cent.” This, 
1 think, is sound reasoning, not only in the feeding of 
hens, but in feeding other live stock as well. The 
refuse of our grains laid aside in preparing human 
food, often contains the best part of the grain, and 
there is certainly no need of feeding the whole grain 
when in refuse we obtain more nutriment for a dollar. 
Mr. Johnson says that his poultry have not been 
doing so well of late years as they did when on newer 
ground. He thinks that this is partty due to the fact 
that the yards have not been changed for many years, 
so that the upper soil is completely covered with the 
droppings. He now wants to scrape the yards and 
cart out three or four inches of the upper soil upon 
the cultivated fields, and fill in with three or four 
inches of light sand and gravel. This will not only 
give the hens fresh soil, but it will provide a large 
amount of fine manure for use on the other fields. 
This plan of scraping out the large henyards every 
year and filling up with fresh soil is just as sensible 
as it is to scrape out the barnyards in the Spring and 
put fresh refuse and litter to absorb the liquids for 
another season. 
During the strawberry season, we shall try to tell 
how Mr. Johnson handles and markets his crops. He 
has a larger area than usual this year, and it has 
been well cared for. Another new thing on Mr. John¬ 
son’s place is a heavy growth of Crimson clover. This 
was sown during the Summer, and has made a re¬ 
markable growth, living through the Winter, so that 
it may be plowed down for strawberries, or, in fact, 
any crop. There is much to be learned by a visit to a 
PLAN OF A FARMER’S KITCHEN. Fig. 157. 
small place of this character, for it is run at full 
steam, and in a way that puts it within the means of 
a large majority of farmers. h. w. c. 
EXPORTATION OF CREAMERY BUTTER. 
WIIAT THE ENGLISH MARKET REQUIRES. 
Last July, at the request of the Department of 
Agriculture, the Mt. Pleasant, O., Creamery Company 
prepared a small consignment of butter for trial ship¬ 
ment to London. The instructions sent out by the 
Department were extraordinary in the main, as com¬ 
pared with the ordinary modes of preparing our butter 
for market. To start with, patrons were requested to 
give their milk thorough aeration, keep it absolutely 
away from bad odors and deliver it to the creamery in 
the best condition possible. It was promptly separated 
at a lower temperature than usual, the cream then 
cooled down to 45 degrees with ice, and held there till 
ready for ripening, when it was warmed to 65 degrees, 
ripened quickly with a starter, and churned at a 
temperature of 54 degrees. It was salted with one- 
lialf ounce of salt to each 16 ounces butter, worked 
sufficiently to reduce the salt to, at least, one-third 
ounce, and the percentage of water to 10 per cent or 
below, even as much as nine per cent if possible. The 
butter, after working, was packed in Australian 
boxes furnished by the Department, each containing 
a net weight of 57 pounds of butter. The boxes 
were each lined with parchment paper, and the lids 
screwed on, not nailed. Each box was covered with 
burlap sacking to preserve the markings on the boxes, 
and to keep them clean till their arrival in London. 
Fig. 158 shows the butter as it left the creamery. 
A 30-pound tub of the same butter was packed and 
accompanied the shipment as far as New York, and 
AN OHIO CREAMERY; BUTTER FOR ENGLAND. Fig. 158. 
was there held for scoring. An eight-pound box was 
forwarded by order of the Department to Wooster, O., 
to be analyzed and scored by the officials at the Ohio 
Experiment Station. These packages were prepared 
for shipment with no other markings upon them to 
identify them than a letter of the alphabet, and were 
numbered in Roman numerals. Analysis in London 
showed water, 10.17 per cent; fat, 88.21; casein, etc., 
1.07; salt and ash, 0.55; total, 100. At Wooster, 
water, 11.44 per cent; fat, 87.16; casein, etc., 0.53; 
salt and ash, 0.87 ; total, 100. The scoring in London 
averaged only 72 per cent, while in both New York 
and Wooster it was 93 per cent. The same butter 
scored one month later in New York went only one point 
lower, while one of the boxes sent back to New York to 
be scored there, made 89 points as against the average 
of 72 per cent in London. The greatest cut was made 
on the grain, owing to a salvy condition, at all three 
places scored. This condition was brought about by 
overworking in attempting to reduce the percentage 
of water, of which we were aware at the time, when 
the Department demanded such a low percentage of 
moisture. The exceedingly low score secured in Lon¬ 
don was a disappointment, not only to us, but also to 
the Department, as Prof. Alvord was dissatisfied with 
the wonderful difference made by the English over 
two American experts. 
When this butter was placed on sale and sampled 
by purchasers, it went like hot cakes, and received 
high compliments through several channels, and Eng¬ 
lish dealers asked for sample shipments. Charles R. 
Valentine, the English expert, regardless of his heavy 
cutting in scoring our butter, said “I am very much 
pleased with the general turnout of this shipment, 
and with more attention to details referred to, there 
would be no difficulty in creating a demand for butter 
of this description, and prices obtainable would be 
equal to the finest Australian, New Zealand and Cana¬ 
dian butter. I find the turnout is more satisfactory 
than the St. Paul shipment.” 
At the time English produce merchants were want¬ 
ing trial consignments, our butter was selling in a 
retail way at two to three cents above Elgin, which 
was apparently better than it was possible to do in 
English markets, hence the matter was dropped at 
that point. Creamery work is never at a standstill ; 
it lias done wonders toward the improvement of 
buttermaking, and has, also, created the demand for 
large quantities of fine butter that otherwise would 
never have been made. The march of progress lias come 
with the advent of the creamery, later by the centrif¬ 
ugal separator, newer and better methods called into 
action, and transmitted from stations to the press, 
thence to the intelligent factorymen. Later the 
Government took up the cause in our behalf, to re¬ 
lieve our apparently crowded markets, and so demon¬ 
strate whether or not exportation of our butter could 
be made successful. geo e. scott. 
Ohio. 
ALMOST A CURE-ALL. 
GREAT VALUE OF CRUDE PETROLEUM. 
A few weeks ago, we reported the experience of 
Mr. O. H. Smith, of Cattaraugus County, N. Y., in the 
use of lime. Mr. Smith is a dairyman, and always on 
the lookout for some simple and practical method of 
making life easier for his cows. For several years 
past, he has been using crude petroleum with consid¬ 
erable satisfaction. This crude oil is used just as it is 
secured from the ground. In reply to a question as 
to what he uses the oil for. Mr. Smith says : 
“ By its use, I can relieve the pain and torment to 
which dairy cows are subjected through the horn fly 
and other biting or stinging insects.” 
“ How do you use it ? ” 
“ 1 take a piece of sacking, such as is used for grain 
sacks, and double 10 thicknesses into about 8 inches 
square, put some stitches in to keep it together, put 
the oil in an open dish that is large enough to receive 
the cloth handily, and wring or squeeze the oil from 
the cloth so that it will not drip. With the fiat of the 
hand, I spread the cloth on the animal, and push and 
pull the cloth so as to dampen the hair with the oil.” 
“ What then ? ” 
“It will be good-bye flies, for two or three days. 
All dairymen and dairywomen who are interested in 
cows ought to try this simple thing. The work of 
putting on the oil will not amount to a fraction of one 
per cent of the work done by the cow in trying to fight 
the flies. Comfort for the cow always means profit 
for the cow’s owner. It does not take much time, for 
I can dampen the hair on a dairy of 20 cows, in less 
than half an hour.” 
“ For what other stock can the oil be used?” 
“I have kept this crude oil in constant use for 25 
years, and from my experience, would advise every 
farmer to secure a barrel of the oil and keep it con¬ 
stantly in use. The same application on horses gives 
them great comfort in working or driving.” 
“ Do you treat horses in the same way ?” 
“Care should be taken in bathing the horse, not to 
wet the hide too much with the oil, as this will loosen 
the hair, especially if it is new oil. There is no 
danger of this with cattle ” 
“ Is oil good for wounds or sores?” 
“ Excellent. Use it on galls and scratches on 
horses ; for a caked udder in a cow ; for rough or sore 
teats; or warts; or hoof rot, use plenty of the oil. 
Stand the foot so as to be covered with the oil, 30 min¬ 
utes twice a day. Anything that has vermin, such as 
chickens, hogs, calves, or colts, will be helped by 
dampening the hair or feathers with the oil. In set¬ 
ting a hen, saturate a cloth and put it under the sit¬ 
ting hen’s nest. No lice will trouble her while it is 
there. For burns, chilblains, frost bites, chapped 
hands, use the oil freely.” 
