1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
wheat sown this year in central New York. He says 
that Spring wheat succeeds fairly well in Tompkins 
County, if sown very early, say in March or very early 
in April, on Fall-plowed, fertile land. He says that, 
in that county, much land this year will be put into 
buckwheat, and that considerable Hungarian grass 
will be sown. This will take the place of potatoes, 
oats and corn on low fields which were so wet that 
they could not be worked early. The Spring wheat 
myth seems to belong to the daily papers, and like 
much else that they print, there is nothing in it.” 
A FARM BOUNDED BY WATER. 
FEATHERS AND FUR ON FAMED FISHER’S ISLAND. 
[EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.] 
Part II. 
The Foundation Principles. —The poultry division 
of Fisher’s Island Farm comprises about 60 acres all 
inclosed by a fence of wire netting. The poultry are 
mostly confined inside this, but outside it are miles of 
moorland with a very broken surface of well-drained, 
gravelly or sandy soil, and abundantly supplied with 
cover, an ideal place, especially for turkeys. The 
fundamental principles of this farm, adhered to ever 
since its establishment, are these : Few varieties of 
conceded excellence; highest perfection in those 
varieties. Rigid guarantees to purchasers of purity 
of strain and of standard quality in all points. This 
specializing is the secret of success, and in turkeys, 
this farm is, probably, without a rival. But of tur¬ 
keys, more at another time. 
Hatching the Chicks.— This is done both arti¬ 
ficially and naturally. The incubator house is 24x40 
feet, entirely above ground, triple boarded, with 
double air spaces. It is ceiled inside and overhead 
with matched pine, and has double windows with 
shades so that it can be darkened. The entrance is 
through the office which is at one end, and is 14x16 
feet. Inside are several different makes of incubators 
—Prairie State, Pineland, Monarch, and Cyphers. Mr. 
Crangle says the latter is a good one for beginners, 
because it eliminates the moisture problem, and this 
is often a stumbling block for this class. He says 
that he wants not only a machine that will hatch 
chicks, but one that will hatch chicks that can be 
raised. The temperature is kept as near 102 as possi¬ 
ble. Every incubator contains two thermometers, 
usually of different kinds. The eggs are turned three 
times daily, and the temperature taken. On top of 
each incubator is a record blank like the following, 
which shows a complete history of each hatch : 
Fisher's Island Farm Incubator Record, Season of ’96 and ’97. 
Set. 
Incu¬ 
bator. 
Kind 
of 
Epps 
Total 
No. 
First 
Test. 
Sec’d 
Test. 
Total 
Fer¬ 
tile. 
H’ched 
Remarks. 
TEMPERATURE. 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Total. 
Morning 1 1 I I I I 1 I I I I I I 1 I I I I I 
Noon. | | I I | | | | I! I I 1 I I I I I I 
Night, i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i y r | 
The eggs are tested first after being in about 8 or 10 
days, and again a few days later. Mr. Crangle attends 
to the incubators personally, ne doesn’t attach so 
much importance to turning the eggs, and says that 
he believes many germs are killed by careless turning. 
He doesn’t care whether the large end of the egg is up 
or not, and some of the trays of eggs are simply 
shuffled over enough to stir them somewhat without 
turning completely over. He is a firm believer in the 
natural method of incubation, but says that it is im¬ 
practicable to depend upon it entirely when doing 
business on such a large scale, and that the two 
methods work together admirably. 
Nature’s Incurator.— An interesting place is his 
natural hatcher. This is a small building, the inside 
of which is lined with nests, tier upon tier, the front 
of each covered with a movable slatted gate. Broody 
hens are first tested on a few eggs elsewhere, and if 
their intentions seem honorable, are given a nest here 
and a sitting of eggs. Each morning, the hens are 
removed from the nest, fed and watered and given an 
opportunity for a dust bath, and then put back, if 
they do not go back properly otherwise. If a hen 
should weary in well doing, her eggs are given to an¬ 
other hen. or are put in an incubator. The latter can 
be used at any time to hatch eggs that have been left 
from any cause. In one case, a turkey’s nest was 
washed completely away by heavy rains, and the eggs 
were saved by putting in the incubator. The floor of 
this sitting house is thoroughly cleaned every morn¬ 
ing, and disinfected with Sanitas. The nests are 
cleaned every time a hen is removed with a litter, new 
nesting material is put in, and insect powder is freely 
used. A great point here as everywhere about the 
place is to keep everything scrupulously clean: 
Brooding and Feeding the Chicks.— Almost any 
one can hatch chicks, but the thing that troubles 
many people is to raise them. Some weakly ones are 
bound to succumb anyway, sooner or later, but if 
from vigorous, healthy stock such as is found here, 
nearly every one should be raised. The main difficulty 
with those who fail seems to be from improper feed¬ 
ing, or from allowing the chicks to become damp or 
chilled. Just before starting to visit this farm, the 
following letter was received, and I took it along and 
showed it to Mr. Crangle. I believe that it expresses 
the trouble of a good many chicken raisers : 
Why do the Chicks Die ? 
We are having serious trouble with our chicks this year. Lice 
have heretofore been one of the worst troubles with them, but the 
free use of tobacco dust has about canceled that part of the 
game. It is looseness of the bowels—perhaps dysentery. When 
the chicks are about a week old, the trouble begins. Some of 
them dwindle along for several days before dying, and a few get 
well, but one or two days usually iinishes them. They are fed 
regularly of various foods, beginning with oatmeal and boiled 
eggs, and clear water to drink. The main food after two or three 
days is a mixture of corn meal, wheat bran, wheat middlings and 
a little animal meal moistened with hot water, or sweet milk. 
Sometimes a little salt and coarse sand are added. The proportions 
of foods are such as are recommended by the makers of the 
animal meal. Sometia-.es we bake a big cake of this mixture, 
and crumb it for the chicks. The animal meal is sometimes left 
out, and is never over one-twentieth of the bulk. My neighbors 
who feed none of it have similar ti-ouble. The chicks run with 
hens, and in good weather, get all the grass, bugs, etc., that they 
want. Maybe the disease germs are on the ground, and are taken 
with the food. There has been no such trouble with the old 
fowls or the older broods, those two or three months old. Pos¬ 
sibly it is overfeeding and resulting indigestion; but we give only 
what they will eat up clean each time. We also give boiled milk 
instead of water almost every day. 
Mr. Crangle read it and said, “ He’s away off all 
around, and is feeding nearly everything wrong. The 
oatmeal is all right, and so is the bran, hut the prob¬ 
ability is that the eggs are hard boiled, and little 
chicks should have very few of those, as they are too 
constipating. They should have no middlings, no corn 
meal for the first few days, and while sweet milk is 
all right after a little, I prefer to wet up the feed with 
water at first. Then the boiled milk is enough to up¬ 
set any flock of chickens, and should never be given. 
He has given them middlings and meat which have 
given them the diarrhea, then has given them boiled 
milk to counteract the effects, and has killed his 
chicks. They shouldn’t have any meat any way until 
several days old, and with milk, need none at all. 
The milk should always he perfectly sweet, and no 
sour or sloppy feed should be given. As for the direc¬ 
tions given by the makers of these animal meals, few 
of the latter know anything practical about feeding 
chickens,"and they are not to be depended on.” 
Chicks in Coops. —The chicks hatched by hens are 
still kept with them in small coops, mostly the old- 
fashioned A, widely scattered over the farm. Mr. 
Crangle is a firm believer in giving growing stock 
plenty of room under as nearly natural conditions as 
possible. The hens are allowed to range in pleasant 
weather. A little vaseline is rubbed on the heads of 
the chicks, and a little Lambert’s Death to Lice is 
sifted through the hen's feathers. The incubator 
chicks are raised in brooders until several weeks old. 
The brooder house is 300 feet long and 20 feet wide, 
with a four-foot alley running the whole length on 
one side. The foundations are of cut stone, the floor 
of cement on a deep stone bottom, and all above 
ground. The house is double-boarded outside with 
paper between, and is ceiled inside and overhead with 
matched pine. It is heated by a regular Ilitchings 
hot-water greenhouse heater, which is located in the 
center. One-half the house is fitted with brooders 
heated by the overhead system, the other half is filled 
431 
with detached hot-air brooders. A coil of pipes runs 
along the back of the house to keep it comfortable in 
cold weather. Mr. Crangle likes, the latter well 
enough to start the chicks in, hut keeps shoving them 
along until, when a few days old, they are in the hot- 
water brooders. He doesn't like bottom heat for 
chicks, and says that they are extremely subject to 
leg weakness if raised in such brooders. The brooder 
house is divided into narrow pens, and each has an 
outside run which was seeded to rye last Fall. The 
chicks are allowed to run outside, even in quite cold 
weather, provided it is pleasant. A cord running 
from the alley over a pulley opens or closes the little 
door through which the chicks go in and out, and 
another opens and closes the windows. 
Handy Little Houses. —The chicks are kept in the 
brooders until well feathered, when they are sorted 
out. Large numbers of the least promising are used 
for broilers, and those which give promise of making 
good breeding stock are put out around the farm in 
small houses built for this purpose. The latter are 
about four feet wide and seven feet long, three feet 
high at the back, and 4% at the front. These houses 
are not of definite dimensions, but are built as the 
lumber cuts to best advantage. Each has a floor and 
two roosts, a small door at one end, for the attendant, 
a small door at the other for the chicks, and over this 
a sash with four lights, hung on hinges and swinging 
inward. This house can be drawn anywhere on a 
sled by one horse. The farm is dotted with these 
little houses, and in them, the chicks can remain until 
severe weather if necessary. Similar houses would 
find a useful place on many a farm. 
The Feed. —The chicks are fed first with oatmeal 
and bran. The bran is wet up and the oatmeal stirred 
in sufficient to make it so dry that it will not stick to 
the fingers. A few days later, corn meal is added, 
and cracked corn later forms a part of the daily ration. 
When feathering begins, a very little meat is added, 
but great caution is necessary with this, as too much 
is liable to upset the chicks. If milk is fed, meat is 
not needed. Charcoal and grit are furnished. The 
floors of the brooder house are deeply covered with 
clean sand. Pure water is given. Stale bread is 
sometimes fed. Thus handled, with plenty of range, 
they are almost sure to grow into strong, vigorous 
fowls, and of these there will he something to say 
next week. f. h. v. 
ROCKLAND FARM ECONOMY. 
Fight Weeds Early. —Strategists tell us that the 
science of warfare consists largely in getting there 
first with a superior force. If we add to this the 
qualification of least expense, we have the cardinal 
point in our warfare with weeds. Contrast two fields, 
one worked just previous to planting, and one worked 
several days previous to planting, and we shall see 
how this idea works. The one just worked has no 
weeds ready to grow, while the other that has lain 
without cultivation for a few days, has millions of 
weeds germinated and just ready to put their heads 
above ground, and thus win their first battle by getting 
there first with a superior force. But if to the field 
cultivated just before planting, we add a cultivation 
with a weeder or smoothing harrow after the corn or 
potatoes are planted and before they are up, we have 
the corn or potatoes getting there first. But they 
“HERE’S YOUR FRESH VEGETABLES ! ” Fig. 195. 
See Page 437. 
