1904 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
265 
Hope Farm Notes 
The Hen Business.— I have spoken of 
the little boy’s three hens. He keeps them 
in a house separate from any others, ihe 
children keep records of the eggs, and 
they know just what is fed. During the 
seven days ending March 12 those hens 
laid 15 eggs, which is nearly 73 per cent of 
a* full lay. I saw that the boy had begun 
to take a real interest in the hens, and 1 
felt that when he got to 60 per cent yield 
it would be time to let him extend his 
business. So I went to the city with the 
boys to see what we could lind. We didn’t 
intend to take any of the other hens on 
the farm, and no neighbor wants to sell 
at this time at a fair price. We have an 
idea that almost anything that dresses in 
feathers feels in her bones the necessity 
of laying when the March lion begins to 
grow wool on its back. If we can buy a 
young hen at a fair price then we think 
we can feed her for 30 or 40 eggs and then 
make her into chicken pie at a profit. At 
least, it w’as a part of our scheme to see 
if this is so. Why not have a little prac¬ 
tical knowledge of this sort with your 
fried eggs? We went to a dealer in live 
poultry, and, as luck would have it, found 
a lot of really good hens which had been 
shipped, I think, to close up an estate. 
After much discussion the boys bought 
three Brown Leghorns, three White Wyan- 
dottes, one White Leghorn and one big 
Light Brahma. They thought they would 
try a breed test while they were about it! 
These hens were sent home by express. 
In New Quarters.—I got home as early 
as I could, and found the crate of birds at 
the barn. Our boys, with two from a 
neighbor’s to help them, were watching the 
hens and trying to pick names for them. 
I got a can of insect powder and we took 
the hens out one at a time and dusted the 
powder through their feathers—through 
the tail and neck and under the wings in 
particular. The boys had .cleaned the hen¬ 
house until it was fit for any hen. There 
was a nice carpet of clover chaff on the 
floor, the nests were better than some beds 
I have slept in, and the roosts were so 
comfortable that it made you sleepy to 
look at them. We put our new hens in 
gently, for the boys learned in that poultry 
store how foolish it is to run after a hen 
and scare her. They had their three hens 
so that you can pick them up and pat them 
as you would a cat. The little folks had 
to stop and see what the new birds would 
do. There was something about the big, 
clumsy Light Brahma that set every 
feather of our three original hens on edge. 
They let their other guests alone, but the 
way they jumped at old “Fatty” and 
picked her comb was against all the rules 
of Hope Farm hospitality. When he saw 
his small and spunky White Leghorn mak¬ 
ing such a show of the big Brahma the 
boy was reminded of the fact that Japan 
is a small but spunky nation, while Russia 
is slow and big. As an indication of what 
may come later on in the war the big 
Brahma finally moved her slow brain to 
realize that the other hen was after her. 
She turned, and with one clumsy and 
powerful lick sent the Leghorn half across 
the henhouse. This blow only made the 
Leghorn more cautious, and back she came 
again with a better guard. The Brown 
Leghorns had no time to fight. They 
looked over the nests where their eggs 
are to go and then, for lack of other food, 
began to eat the clover chaff. I am satis¬ 
fied from their actions that they addressed 
the other hens about as follows: 
“Now, ladies, chance has thrown us to¬ 
gether into this house. We find it a pleas¬ 
ure to lay eggs, and have no time to fight 
or find fault. If any lady here wishes to 
engage in an egg-laying contest for the 
next 50 days we are ready to start at once. 
As I see a dry dust box yonder, and as 
my bathing facilities have been somewhat 
limited of late, it is now—me to the dust 
box!” 
Feed and Care.— The 15 eggs which the 
three hens laid in seven days were worth 
about 40 cents at the grocery, but they 
cost less than two cents in actual cash. 
I am not trying to start any great poultry 
boom—I am giving facts. All the hens 
had was a little wheat bran mixed with 
the table “scraps”—which had no value. 
One reason why I write about this is to 
bring out the possible value of scraps or 
house wastes. In many families these 
wastes would, if properly handled, pay 
half the egg bill and a share of the meat. 
No doubt one reason why the White Leg¬ 
horn felt so scrappy toward the Light 
Brahma was the fact that she had lived 
on scraps. These scraps consist of parings, 
little pieces of bread and meat, a few bones 
and the few fragments that go through 
Ida’s frugal fingers. She studied the food 
problem in Finland, where it is a sin to 
waste that which will support human life. 
I wish more women could be brought to 
see the sin of making useless "scraps.” 
There will now be a contest between Ida 
and the boys as to what constitutes a 
“scrap,” but I do not want it said that the 
wastes of our food will feed a flock of 
hens. I have made up the following bal¬ 
anced ration for the boys—one part each 
by weight of cornmeal, wheat bran and 
wheat middlings, and one-half part of 
animal meal well mixed. Ida will rinse 
the dishes with hot water before using 
soap and this extract of dishwater will be 
used to mix our balanced ration. We shall 
use plenty of this liquid, and add enough 
clover heads and chaff to make a crumbly 
mass. A little of this with the table 
scraps and some shelled corn will be the 
bill of fare at our hen boarding house— 
with clean water and a clean house. Now, 
let’s see what happens. Can a little boy 
with a few common hens run a scrap and 
dishwater factory that will turn out eggs? 
I am glad to get the boys started at a 
business that interests them. 
“How the idea of possession does stir up 
human nature!” says the Madame. 
' It is not the idea of ownership entirely. 
If that were all there is in the ambition of 
a child I should care less about feeding 
it. I think it is more a growing sense of 
power—ability to control or master forces 
of nature or actions of animals that lack 
true reasoning powers Once let a boy un¬ 
derstand that he can supply brains and 
skill to animals, and direct their efforts— 
even though they may possess greater 
brute strength than he, and you start the 
boy into a cruel, useless dominion over 
brutes or a nelpful self-restraining mas* 
tership. This sense of the power of the 
human mind to direct the lower animals 
comes to us all with a glorious feeling of 
mastery. I hope our little boys will grow 
up to realize why man was given this 
power over brutes, and what he should 
pay for the privilege. 
Home Notes.— “What did Japan do to¬ 
day?” That is the question I hear every 
night. Our little folks are great a'dmirers 
of the Japs. When Russia sinks a ship or 
makes a good stand somewhere the little 
faces are sad, and they go with halting 
steps to break the news to Ida. When 
the Japs make a base hit they are smiles, 
and they make Ida see the sun shining 
on the dark hills of Finland. I do not 
quite like the idea of Russia and the Rus¬ 
sian people that Ida is giving our little 
folks. The Japanese are not angels by any 
means! The smallest boy wants Japan to 
win a big victory every day. When I tell 
him that the army is getting ready he is 
impatient, because a child cannot under¬ 
stand the need of thorough preparation. 
They want results at once, when results 
are only the outcome of long service on 
the part of somebody.The Bud, 
my little girl, was reading her book the 
other night when I saw her stop suddenly 
and strike at the volume—a hard blow 
with her little fist. Being curious to know 
whether the motive ’for the blow came 
from her father or her mother, I went to 
see. She was reading David Copperfield, 
and had come to a picture showing Uriah 
Heep! The story had taken such a hold 
upon the little girl, and the character of 
that wretch seemed so detestable to her. 
that she could not resist the desire to hit 
him. Oh, but what wouldn’t we older folks 
give for the power to feel these things 
over again as we read our book? I have 
known the time when I lay awake far into 
the night so angry at some book char¬ 
acter or so sorry for another that I could 
not sleep. It’s bad. but still the truth, 
that as we get away from the spell of 
such'paper characters we grow callous to 
the sorrows or injustice of real life. I 
have felt a desire more than once to kick 
a flesh and blood Uriah Heep and then 
failed to do it “because it was not the 
proper thing to do!” 
Farm Notes.— I ought to answer some 
of the questions that have been pouring 
in, but we have had two or three glorious 
sunny days that take hogs or fertilizers 
or crops out of my head. The new wood 
along the brooks begins to show the color 
of Spring; there are only a few snowdrifts 
along the stone walls, a faint shimmer of 
green is coming over the brown grass in 
fact, “Spring’s on her way.” Oh, how 
grateful we are that this long and fearful 
Winter is nearly over. The frost is going 
out of the ground, and the sap is getting 
ready for business. It will soon be time 
to sow the clover seed and get the rape 
started. Before we know it the oats and 
peas must be seeded, and the little mounds 
around the young fruit trees must be hoed 
down.As the ground thaws out 
we find that our water pipes are in better 
shape than we thought, and we shall be 
able to have them running freely soon. At 
present the water for the kitchen boiler is 
forced directly from the pump or tank. 
This pressure seems too much for the 
water back in the stove. I feel sure we 
will do better to put a small tank in the 
upper story and feed the hot water system 
from that. We hatve that change in mind, 
but may not be able to do it this Spring. 
.... I cannot see at present that a 
single one of the 600 apple trees we planted 
last Fall has been killed. It is too early 
to tell that yet, but they seem all right. 
We shall hoe down the mounds around 
the trees, and be in no hurry to put the 
mulch back around them. With bearing 
trees I would put the mulch around while 
the ground is frozen, and try to keep the 
soil cold as long as possible. I would hold 
back the development of the tree—especi¬ 
ally with the peach—so that the fruit buds 
will be slow to start. The late frosts after 
the buds have started often do us great 
damage. I think one reason why mulched 
trees are thought to be hardier is because 
the mulch prevents the soil from warm¬ 
ing up too soon and thus holds the tree 
back. With the young tree, which is to 
make wood alone, we want all the growth 
we can get, and I shall keep the mulch 
back until the ground is well warmed up. 
• ... I have told about our double 
chicken yard. The original plan was to 
have two large yards side by side—the 
hens to run in one for an entire season, 
while the other was used as a garden. 
The next year the hens were to go where 
the garden was, and the garden to be made 
where the hens had run. This worked 
well, for if a hen and a garden are to 
occupy the same enclosure there should be 
a year between them. They can occupy 
the same space, burt the garden will be 
inside of the hen. We have now decided 
to move the hens to one of the orchards, 
and plant Lima beans in last year’s yard. 
There have been an average of 150 hens in 
it more or less for three seasons, and the 
time has come in our economy to get back 
what they left in the soil. The weakness 
of some systems of permanent pastures is 
that crops' are not rotated with stock. 
h. w. c. 
Pulverizing Harrow,Clod Crusher* Leveler 
SENT ON TRIAL 
I will send an “Acme” to any responsible 
farmer in the United States, and if it does 
not suit he may send it back, 
I paying return freight. I 
don’t ask pay until tried on 
his own farm. 
Catalog and Bcokiet, “An Ideal Harrow,” 
by Henry Stewart, tent free. 
SIZES 
3 to 13 M feet. 
The “ACME” subjects the soil to the action of 
a Steel Crusher and Leveler, and to the Cutting, 
Lifting, Turning Process of DOUBLE GANGS of 
Cast Steel Coulters, the peculiar shape and 
arrangement of which give immense cutting 
power. Thus the three operations of crushing 
lumps, leveling off the ground and thoroughly 
pulverizing the soil are performed at the same time. 
The entire absence of spikes or Spring Teeth avoids 
pulling up rubbish. It is especially adapted to 
inverted sod and hard clay, where other Harrows 
utterly fail; works perfectlv on light soil, and is 
the only Harrow that cuts over 
the entire surface of the 
ground. 
“The judicious use of au implement 
like the “Acme” Pu veriziug Harrow, 
Clod Crusher and Leveler, in t he pr e- 
paratiou 
of the 
soil, will 
increase 
the yield 
from five 
to Te u 
Dollars 
per 
acre.’ 
I Deliver Free on Board 
at Branch Houses at 
I 110 Washington St., CHICAGO. 240 7th Ave. So., MINNEAPOLIS. 1316 W. 8th St., KANSAS CITY, MO. i 
I 215 E. Jefferson St., LOUISVILLE. KY. Cor. Water and W. fiaj Sts., COLUMBUS. OHIO. 1 
DUANE H. NASH, Sole Mfr., 
Millington, New Jersey 
