448 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
June 25 
A FARM BO UN DID BY WATER. 
FEATHERS AND FUR ON FAMED FISHKK’S ISLAND. 
[editorial correspondence.] 
Part III. 
The Plymouth Rocks. —As previously stated, the 
aim of Fisher’s Island Farm is to keep few varieties 
of the highest degree of excellence. The leading breed 
of fowls is the Barred Plymouth Rock. This seems to 
be the leading business breed of the country at 
large, and probably, cannot be excelled as an all¬ 
purpose fowl. I asked Mr. Crangle why he kept 
this in preference to other breeds. He said because 
they are the best for the conditions existing there, 
lie believes that certain fowls are better suited to 
certain localities than others, and that the Plymouth 
Rock meets just the conditions on their place, that 
bring it to the highest degree of excellence. They 
certainly have grand specimens of the breed. 
In addition to the Barred Plymouth Rocks, they also 
have Buff and White Plymouth Rocks, Indian Games, 
and White Indian Games. Mr. Crangle considers the 
Buff Plymouth Rocks equal to the Barred in all re¬ 
spects, and if anything, better for Winter layers. The 
White Plymouth Rocks fill the bill for those who desire 
a white fowl, but the great demand is for the Barred 
variety. 
Thk Indian Games. —Mr. Crangle says that the In¬ 
dian Games are magnificent birds for those who know 
how to feed them. But the great trouble with most 
breeders is that they get them too fat, and then they 
are poor layers. Their tendency seems to be to take 
on fat. He overcomes this largely, by feeding them 
mainly on oats, giving very little corn. The Indian 
Game is one of the most deceptive of breeds, so far as 
apparent weight is concerned. Some of them which, 
from appearances, would not weigh over five or six 
pounds, actually weigh nine or ten. They are very 
closely feathered, and the bodies are very solid and 
compactly built. It is said that, as a table fowl, the 
Indian Game is without a rival, because of its delicate 
flavor and tenderness. The quantity of breast meat 
is extremely heavy, with heavy thighs and small bones, 
and very little offal when dressed. Mr. Crangle says 
that they are mainly breast and thighs. It is an ex¬ 
cellent breed. The White Indian Games are, also, 
excellent birds, and please some people better than 
the others, because of their color. 
Houses for the Fowls. —After the season for eggs 
for hatching is over, the fowls remaining are scattered 
over the farm in the small houses of which there are 
a large number. Here they remain until they are 
brought back in late Autumn, many of them being 
put into the house for breeding stock. The house is 
20 x 300 feet, with a four-foot walk extending the 
whole length of one side, and is divided by wire net. 
ting partitions into pens, 12 x 16 feet. This house is 
built entirely above ground, having a cement floor 
with a stone foundation, and is very warmly and 
solidly constructed. It was first sided with hemlock 
siding, then covered with paper, and this covered with 
novelty siding. On the inside, it is ceiled up with 
matched pine, leaving an air space. The roof is 
shingled, and along the ridge are five Star ventilators 
which may be opened or closed to suit the weather. 
On the front of the house, a window lights each pen, 
and a small door gives access to the run outside. Both 
window and door may be opened and closed by a rope 
running from the alley over a pulley. The roosting 
platform is in a corner next the outside, and against 
the partition between the pens. Over each of these 
are two wide, flat roosts. Boxes containing grit and 
shell are convenient of access. The nests are simply 
open boxes, placed on the floor. The feed trough is a 
flat board with a slight molding about the edge, which 
is laid down in the pen, and soft feed placed on it; 
after 10 minutes, it is removed, so it is kept perfectly 
clean for the next feeding. The idea is to give the 
fowls about 10 minutes for eating, and any feed left 
at the end of that time is taken from them. The 
attendant cleans the roosting platforms while the 
hens are eating. The water dish, is placed in a rack 
above the floor so that the fowls can drink from it 
conveniently, and is slipped through a slit cut next 
the alley, so that it may be replenished easily. Be¬ 
sides this main poultry house, there are 24 houses, 
each 12 x 18 feet, scattered over the farm, and some of 
these have scratching sheds in addition. 
Feeding tiie Fowls. —The old stock are fed a mash 
in the morning three times a week. This mash con¬ 
sists of bran, middlings and corn meal, with beef scrap 
and charcoal. On two other mornings of the week, cut 
green bone is given ; usually, on the other mornings, 
boiled oats. They are also fed cut clover hay which is 
put into the steam jacket kettles and cooked before it 
is fed, the water being used to mix the mash. When 
wheat was low in price, considerable wheat was fed, 
but since it has been so high-priced, little of it is 
given, as Mr. Crangle says they cannot feed it profit¬ 
ably. The older fowls are fed twice daily, the feed 
at night being of grain, largely corn in cold weather, 
and being given about two hours before the time for 
them to go to roost, so that they have plenty of time 
to scratch for it. The floor of the house, besides being 
covered deep with sand, is heavily bedded with clover 
hay, and in this, grain is given, so that they have to 
do considerable scratching to get it. Considerable 
quantities of cabbages are fed, and a variety of other 
feed is given. 
Disposing of the Products. —The main object of 
the farm, of course, is to produce eggs to sell for 
hatching, and fancy stock for sale as breeders. But 
a large business is, also, done in market eggs, besides 
many broilers and roasters, which are sold mainly 
from the surplus cockerels. These are sorted out 
as they grow, and the most promising of them are 
kept either as breeding stock, or for sale as fancy 
stock. Something like 30 or 40 or more are put in 
each pen as breeding stock, and from these, birds are 
selected as needed to fill orders. When breeding time 
comes in Spring, the number is greatly reduced, but 
if not sufficiently so, others are taken out to bring the 
number down to 12 or 15 hens in each pen. Everything 
is kept scrupulously clean, and this, probably, accounts 
to a large degree, for the extra health and vigor of 
the stock. _ f. h. y. 
ROCKLAND FARM ECONOMY. 
LOSING MONEY ON PEAS. 
Last Spring, I planned to have a number of small 
crops of different vegetables to help pay the running 
expenses of the farm. My first venture, an acre of 
peas, has just been marketed, with the result of my 
receiving 50 cents a bushel for the peas, and paying 25 
cents a bushel to have them picked. I had 30 bushels, 
which made $0.25, to pay for seed ($1.25), cultivation, 
and two trips to town to sell them. Not a very cheer¬ 
ing prospect, but as I am not dependent upon the peas 
for my living, I can stand it. With others, however, 
who depend upon peas for money with which to pay 
their rent, the prospect is not cheering at all. The 
second day I picked, a woman came to pick who I 
knew was picking for a neighbor. I asked why she 
left, and she said his peas were so small that his 
pickers were leaving him. I know how he is situated, 
and I think it is worth while to spend a few minutes 
in considering his condition. He rents 15 acres of 
land, a house and outbuildings, paying $96 a year 
rent, not an exorbitant rent, as the place is within 
eight miles of the City Hall of Baltimore. He had 
about five acres of peas. The ground was poor ; he 
had neither money nor manure. In a good season, he 
would have had a fair crop, so he sowed the peas in 
the best way he could. The dry weather came, the 
peas were small and few, and were not salable ; neither 
could he get pickers because of their smallness. I 
doubt whether he got over 40 cents a bushel for his 
peas, and whether he got more than 10 bushels to the 
acre, which means for him only $1.50 an acre when 
he pays $6 for rent! It is easy to find fault with this 
man, saying that he should have done this, that and 
the other, but the hard facts in this case, as I know 
them to be, are that he and his wife are both indus¬ 
trious people, both work in the field all day, both did 
the best they could, and as a result, went into debt 
$4 an acre on account of their raising a crop of peas to 
feed their fellow men. P. b, crosby. 
Maryland. 
R. N.-Y.—We pay 20 cents a bushel for picking peas, 
and can follow the pea crop with sweet corn, cabbage 
or even late potatoes. It is not fair to charge the 
entire rent for the tend against the pea crop. 
BY WORD OF MOUTH. 
WHAT WE HEAR FARMERS SAY. 
Lively Potato Bugs. —“Last Friday, we hoed 
those potatoes. There were no young bugs to be seen 
then. Going past the field Sunday, I thought it had 
a different look, and found that the bugs had hatched 
out, and were stripping- the plants. We doctored them 
with Paris-green Monday morning, but they are con¬ 
siderably damaged. In one day, a good crop of young 
bugs will about clean up a potato patch.” 
Skim-Milk for Farmers. —“ If the milk consumers 
got the benefit of the low prices, we dairymen would 
not kick. The people who use milk in the city, pay 
from 4 to 12 cents a quart. We get now 1 1-10 cent. 
Where does the difference go ? Largely to the mid¬ 
dlemen, who do the least work and get a profit out of 
all reasonable proportion.” 
Potash and Grass. —“ Do you see the grass on 
those knolls ? ” The knolls in question were dark 
green, and showed a heavy growth of clover. “Those 
were the poorest places in the field. Last Fall, I put 
on a liberal sprinkling of sulphate of potash, and 
there is the result. I shall use some more this year.’’ 
Study Your Farm. —“A farm is like a book; you 
have to study it to know what is in it. It takes time 
to learn what crops to raise, and where and how to 
raise them. There are no two farms just alike. Some 
call themselves good farmers because they can plow 
or do other mechanical farm work well. These things 
are important, but unless each man carefully studies 
his own book, the highest success cannot be gained.” 
Those Same Old Stones.— “These same stones are 
scraped into the road every Spring, and I throw them 
out. I’ve done it for the last 20 years. They ought 
to be worn out before long.” The stones could have 
been removed in a half hour with team and wagon, 
and all this extra labor saved. w. h. 
The Farmers’ Club 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address of 
the writer to insure attention. Before asking a question please 
see whether it is not answered in our advertising columns. Ask 
only a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate 
piece of paper.] 
A Check on Unfair Milk Testing. 
C. 11. L., Meadow Brook , N. Y. —I take the milk from eight cows 
to a creamery, and the proprietor says that the milk does not 
stand the test. When I put a sample in a cream gauge glass, it 
stands at 17, 18 and 19; that was before turning out to grass. I 
am feeding two quarts of corn meal twice a day per cow. I have 
one full-blood Jersey and four grade Jerseys. What is the cause, 
and where could I get an official test ? 
Ans. —In reply to this question, Geo. A. Smith, of 
the New York State Department of Agriculture, says 
that farmers in this position can write to the Assistant 
Commissioner of Agriculture, at Albany, N. Y., asking 
that an inspector be sent to the creamery to examine 
the milk. But if the milk from his dairy did not reach 
the standard, they would be obliged to come to the 
farm, and get a sample direct from the cows, which 
would settle the matter. If the farmer does not wish 
to do this, he should purchase a lactometer and Bab¬ 
cock milk test, and test the milk himself, which would 
give him proof in case of any difficulty with the 
creamery. The latter course is being followed by a 
large number of dairymen, for this test, carefully 
carried out, not only indicates the quality of the herd 
milk, but also shows which cow is paying a profit. 
In Wisconsin, such matters are very carefully taken 
care of by the Dairy and Food Commissioner, H. C. 
Adams, Madison, Wis. In that State, inspectors are 
sent on applications, not only to protect factories 
against watered milk, but to protect farmers against 
dishonest factory tests. 
The Dairy Commissioner of Iowa says that the Iowa 
law does not give the Dairy Commissioner authority to 
enter and test milk in order to see that the creamery 
is making and recording a proper test. He says that 
it seems strange that the law should give him power 
to punish the farmer for selling milk that is below 
standard, while the creamery managers may make 
dishonest tests. 
In Ohio, the State Dairy Department will take sam¬ 
ples of the suspected milk, and have it analyzed by 
competent chemists, to settle any questions of dis¬ 
pute. In case the sample falls below the legal stand¬ 
ard, they usually prosecute the offender. The Dairy 
Commissioner says that they have had no complaints 
from patrons that their milk was not fairly tested, 
but should they receive any, they would promptly 
give them the benefit of an investigation. 
Prof. C. S. Plumb, of the Indiana Experiment Sta¬ 
tion, says that there is no method by which a dairy¬ 
man can secure an official test of milk in Indiana. 
They have no dairy or food commissioner, and the 
State dairy laws are inoperative, owing to the lack of 
officials to enforce them. The nearest approach to an 
official fat test in that State would be through the 
Experiment Station, and the great difficulty would 
be in securing fair samples of milk. The station could 
not guarantee its samples unless taken by a capable 
representative. 
The Steely Beetle on Grape Vines. 
C. S. B., Kendall, N. Y— An insect like the one inclosed is doing 
considerable damage in my vineyard. What is its name, and the 
best way to exterminate it ? 
ANSWERED BY M. V. SLINGERLAND. 
The insect proved to be the common Grape-vine flea- 
beetle, sometimes called by grape growers, the Steely 
beetle. It is a small, shining, dark-blue beetle, about 
one-third as large as the Colorado Potato beetle. It 
comes from its hibernating place early in the Spring, 
just as the grape buds are.swelling, and, when numer- 
