208 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
March 21 
FEEDING A HEN. 
Part XI. 
Two weeks ago, Myra V. Norys fired 
a volley of questions at J. A. W., the 
“ revolutionary” hen man. Men who 
start revolutions are not easily fright¬ 
ened, and it is not strange, therefore, 
that J. A. W. “comes hack” at his critics 
in defense of his methods. We cannot 
do better than to give his reply in full 
this week : 
“ Is that Revolution a Success ?” 
The above question was answered in 
my first article, when I showed a profit 
of $348 on 200 hens for a year. If that 
amount of money for the labor ex¬ 
pended, does not constitute success, then 
I am afraid that there are but few in 
the poultry business that attain it. 
That large bump of curiosity on the 
head of Myra V. Norys deserves atten¬ 
tion, and although I do not expect to 
convince her that my method is better 
than hers, I can, at least, I think, satisfy 
her curiosity. After carefully reading 
her letter several times I find that I am 
asked to answer the following questions : 
1. Why did I not feed oats instead of wheat? 
2. Of what did suudries consist ? 
3. Did it cost ine $1.50 a year to feed a lieu ? 
4. What do I call the cold months ? 
5. Isn’t October generally considered a cold 
month ? 
6. What became of the houses and fences used 
before the revolution ? 
7. Does “ cared for at one-fourth the expense” 
refer to time, housing or feed ? 
8. Where did the saving of three-fourths the ex¬ 
pense come in ? 
9. How much cheaper is the barn space than 
small houses would be ? 
1. I did not feed oats instead of wheat 
for several reasons. Previous experience 
had taught me that I could get more 
eggs by feeding wheat. Oats cost more 
per pound here much of the time, than 
wheat. Hens do not “ like” oats and, 
besides, they are liable to cause trouble 
in the crop. 
2. The sundries consisted of “ Death 
to Lice,” kerosene oil, shells and grit. 
The cost of sundries should not be de¬ 
ducted from the cost of keeping. 
3. In copying the total receipts and 
expenditures from my book, the value 
of the hens ($100) was added to the ex¬ 
penditures, and also to the receipts. This 
makes no difference in the profit, but I 
should have said paid for stock, grain 
and sundries $332. In figuring the cost 
of keeping the laying hens, the cost of 
feeding the chickens should be deducted. 
There were 240, which were kept till 
they had consumed grain to the value of 
$60, when they were sold at an average 
price of 42J^ cents each. Deducting the 
value of the hens and the cost of feeding 
the chickens, it will be seen that the 
actual cost of feeding the hens, outside 
of the grass, was $172, or 86 cents per 
hen. This year I am keeping a like 
number of hens, and feeding them daily 
25 pounds of wheat, and 10 pounds of 
corn, which cost, at retail prices in this 
town, 42 cents, which is at the rate of a 
fraction over 76 cents per hen for a year. 
“ Scientific” feeders will be obliged to 
do considerable figuring in order to pro¬ 
duce 136 eggs for less than 86 cents, not 
to mention the much larger amount of 
work to prepare their rations. Why 
don’t the mush-makers publish their 
total receipts and expenditures so that 
one can see what pay they are getting 
for all their extra work ? 
three cold months and five warm 
months when eggs are high, leaving a 
clear gain of two months of high prices 
in warm weather. Furthermore, the 
scientific feeder gets but few eggs in 
November and December. W. says that 
a hen has got to lay any time if properly 
run, unless she be moulting. The trouble 
is to get a man who can “ run” a hen so 
that she will not be moulting in Novem¬ 
ber and December. There are scores of 
bone cutters in this community, and tons 
of animal meal are fed to hens ; yet I 
know of no one who gets more eggs 
from an equal number of hens, even in 
the dull months, than I do. 
6. The houses and fencing were not 
thrown away. The houses, of which 
there were 17, were sold and moved 
away. The yard fences were taken 
down, and the material used to inclose 
the five-acre lot. 
7. I mean one-fourth the expense of 
labor in feeding, watering and keeping 
quarters clean. 
8. The saving of three-fourths the ex¬ 
pense of time came in through the ease 
with which a large flock, fed on grain, 
could be attended. I formerly kept 
from 10 to 20 hens in a flock. It actually 
takes less time to feed 200 hens on dry 
grain, than it did to feed 20 on mush. 
Instead of having 17 watering places, I 
have one. Keep an account of the time 
required to boil vegetables, cut bones, 
scald meal, and make mush, and one will 
readily see where the saving of time 
comes in. One other objection to mush : 
No matter how much care be taken, 
hen mush on a kitchen stove is an in¬ 
tolerable nuisance. If a stove be set up 
in an out-building for the purpose, there 
is another expense of time and money. 
9. Under the circumstances, the barn 
space was as much cheaper than the 
small houses, as what the small houses 
cost; for the barn was already on the 
premises, and one-half of it unoccupied. 
When the small houses were erected, I 
was laboring under the delusion that it 
was impossible to keep hens at a profit 
in large flocks. Myra V. Norys declares 
that she cannot figure the thing out 
any way to show that I have proved the 
point which I set out to prove. I don’t 
see why. I undertook to show that I 
was getting more out of my hens in pro¬ 
portion to the labor expended, than 
those who were keeping their fowls in 
small flocks, and feeding them on meat 
and mush. I am certainly getting more 
now than I formerly did, and doing less 
than one-fourth as much work. Let 
those who are doing better say what 
they are doing, and how they are doing 
it. Science in farming is good, but I 
wish to emphasize the point that, while 
scientific feeding ought to bring suc¬ 
cess, practice is a fact —has already 
achieved it. 
I have a neighbor who knows no more 
about the science of farming than does 
one of his cows. He may be able to 
read his own name, but he couldn’t read 
a column in The R. N.-Y. if it would 
save his life ; yet he is one of the most 
successful farmers in the town. He 
keeps 30 cows and five horses, raises 
immense crops of hay and produce, and 
is continually improving his buildings 
and land. 
During the late war, my father says 
that he kept a close watch on the move¬ 
ments of the various generals in order 
to discover evidence of “the coming 
man.” All of them began by telling 
what great things they were going to do, 
but they never did anything. Finally 
General Grant took command, and he 
says that the first news he heard of him 
was something he had done. Now, my 
friends, what have you done ? I have 
received $348 m cash for less than two 
weeks’ labor among my hens. Until you 
can do better, you would do well to take 
lessons, rather than give them. 
Amesbury, Mass. j. A. w. 
R. N. Y.—J. A. W. spells jaw, but in 
this case the letters represent results 
rather than talk. In fact, J. A. W. has 
just about whittled one side of a pretty 
theory into kindling. A good dose of 
roup, though !-! 
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