Vol. LV. No. 2436. 
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 3, 1896. 
*1.00 PER YEAR. 
FARM NOTES FROM ELLERSL/E. 
CHEAP EGG-LAYING MACHINES. 
Some Striking Experiments With Corn. 
[editorial correspondence.J 
On page 426, I referred to the trouble experienced 
at Governor Morton’s farm in obtaining strong chicks 
to feed for broilers. The eggs hatched well, but the 
little chicks were not strong enough to stand the 
heavy feeding required to push them into rapid 
growth. The parent stock lacked vigor. They had 
been weakened by inbreeding exclusively for comb, 
feathers and other exterior points demanded by 
fanciers. The eggs from this feeble stock produced 
feeble chicks, and the result was a large per cent of 
deaths before the chicks were 20 days old. All sorts 
of experiments with different breeds were tried, and 
the most successful results were obtained from cross¬ 
ing an ordinary 
scrub rooster 
on the pure¬ 
bred hens. The 
chicks from 
this cross were 
strong and 
thrifty, and a 
large propor¬ 
tion of them 
lived. The ob¬ 
jection to this 
cross is that the 
chicks are of all 
shapes, sizes 
and colors. 
They develop 
at all ages, and 
result in a bad¬ 
ly mixed lot of 
broilers. If the 
scrub blood is 
to be used at 
all, it seems de¬ 
sirable to have 
it on the side of 
the hen. That is 
the principle 
upon which 
they will breed 
this year. 
Some weeks 
ago, Mr. Seely 
went to New 
York among 
the dealers in 
live poultry, 
and picked out 
700 pullets for 
n e x t year’s 
layers. They 
were Kentucky- 
raised birds and will be ready for laying about the 
middle of November. The price was 14 cents a pound, 
live weight, which was one cent above the regular 
market price. This was paid for the privilege of re¬ 
jecting all that did not come up to the required 
standard. As the crates were opened. Mr. Seely stood 
by and examined the pullets, one by one, taking only 
those that suited him. His ideal was a long, slim 
bird, with yellow legs and skin, and showing more or 
less of P. Rock markings. TheP. Rock blood is widely 
scattered throughout Kentucky and Tennessee, and a 
large proportion of each crate showed the character¬ 
istic plumage or markings. The result of this selec¬ 
tion is a remarkably even lot of pullets, so far as size 
and shape go. They are not so uniform in color of 
plumage, but skin and legs are uniform, and they are 
large and thrifty. These birds cost, delivered at 
Ellerslie, an average of 24 cents each. The thorough- 
red birds that were used last year, cost $2, and it is 
difficult to see why these strong and active pullets, 
costing only one-eighth as much, will not produce 
just as serviceable chicks as the aristocratic hens that 
ruled the roost last year. A difference of $1,238 in 
the first cost of 700 hens is a remarkable showing. 
It has been decided to use Silver Wyandotte roosters 
on these hens. Active young birds, selected for vigor 
and shape rather than for “standard” markings, will 
be used. Good results are expected from this cross ; 
at least, it is reasonable to suppose that the eggs will 
produce strong chicks. This manner of buying poultry 
is another illustration of the way one farm supplies 
another. Mr. Francisco has found that the farmers 
in Delaware and Sullivan Counties, N. Y., can raise a 
good dairy cow cheaper than he can ; therefore, he 
buys the New York State cow and crowds her hard 
for a season on his higher-priced land. You might 
say that he buys the vigor and health of the back- 
country hills, and sells it to his milk customers. The 
fruit grower does the same thing—buys his plants 
from some locality where trees and vines can secure 
their best start. So it is with these pullets ; they are 
hatched early on the Kentucky farms, and grow so 
well that, when brought to the North and well cared 
for, they will start laying just when eggs are most 
needed. There is a chance for some one located near 
our large cities to buy these southern birds at a 
bargain, push them along for two months, then sell 
roosters for roasters and the hens for laying stock. 
Lessons from a Corn Crop. 
The 175 acres of ensilage corn at Ellerslie this fall, 
will average over 13 tons to the acre. This will fill 
the three great silos which hold 700 tons each, and 
leave a quantity for dry fodder. This corn is all 
grown with fertilizers alone—no manure is everoused 
on the corn, and one crop follows another on the same 
ground. The fertilizer contains four per cent of 
nitrogen, eight of phosphoric acid, and seven of 
potash. It is stipulated that one-third of the nitrogen 
must be from nitrate of soda, and one-third each from 
sulphate of ammonia and fish, bone and tankage. 
This year, the regular supply of fertilizer was used 
up before the planting was finished. A home mixture 
was substituted with just the same analysis, except 
that all the nitrogen was in the form of nitrate 
of soda. This was put on a hillside just exactly as 
the other fertilizer was applied. Not long after 
planting, there came a soaking and washing rain. 
The corn on this hillside where the nitrate was used, 
grew well until about knee-high, and then it stopped, 
turned yellow, and simply dwarfed along through the 
season. It will yield hardly two tons to the acre of 
sickly yellow 
stuff, with no 
substance to it. 
Right in the 
same field, are 
little patches 
where some of 
the regular fer- 
tilizer was 
shaken out of 
the bags. On 
every one of 
these patches, 
the corn stands 
up like a giant, 
green and 
thrifty with 
large and well- 
formed ears. 
It is a won¬ 
derful object- 
lesson — but 
wiiat does it 
show? The 
nitrate of soda 
is the most 
soluble form 
of nitrogen, 
where it was 
used alone on 
that hillside, 
the heavy rains 
washed it out, 
for it was all 
put in the 
upper three 
inches of soil. 
On level land, 
it would have 
been carried 
down into the 
soil, but on this 
hillside, it was simply leached out like the potash in 
a leach full of wood ashes. The corn stopped growing 
at two feet high, because there was no more soluble 
nitrogen left in the soil. There were ample supplies 
of potash and phosphoric acid right at hand, but they 
were of no use without nitrogen, any more than good 
food and pure water would nourish a man if he were 
deprived of air. The corn did not grow, because 
the rain was able to dissolve and wash away all the 
nitrate of soda. 
The other fertilizer contained three forms of ni¬ 
trogen—part of it in an organic form. This could not 
be dissolved and washed out until nitrification took * 
place, which does not usually occur until the hot 
weather after June. So it happened that, in spite of 
the rain, there was a supply of nitrogen left wher¬ 
ever this organic form was used, and this gave the 
corn a good chance to grow into a big crop. For a 
A TYPICAL GUERNSEY COW. “A BARN BUTTERMAKER.” Fig. 203, 
