2 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January <\. 
they will eat up in an hour or less. Then at night an¬ 
other feed of the grain, with a small feed of the hay. 
Be sure to gauge the amount of all feed by the appe¬ 
tite of the lambs. They will need a good bit more next 
February than the}' do now. By feeding the grain first 
in the morning, and then a second feed at night, they 
will eat and digest more than if they have one grain 
feed in the middle of the day. If roots are obtainable 
POULTRY HOUSE FOR COCKERELS. Fig. 2. 
or silage, feed the grain on this. So looked after and fed, 
the lambs should gain not less than five pounds a week. 
Be sure to keep them in a dry, well-ventilated place. 
EDWARD VAN ALSTYNE. 
A BRACE OF HEN NOTES. 
ELASTICITY OF NEW-LAID EGGS.—These short 
Winter days do not give my hens time enough to lay 
their eggs. Nearly every morning I find eggs on the 
droppings boards that were laid during the night, and 
I thought of writing about that as an additional argu¬ 
ment in favor of a droppings board; but some recent 
experiences have rather upset that idea. Having insuffi¬ 
cient room in my regular poultry houses I fitted up some 
roosts in my brooder house and put some pullets in 
there. These roosts have no droppings boards under 
them, and an egg laid at night has to fall about 2]/ 2 
feet. Several times I have found eggs under these 
roosts in the morning that were evidently laid at night, 
and in no instance were the eggs cracked. I don't know 
that any writer on poultry matters has ever noted the 
fact that the fresh-laid egg just extruded from the hen, 
■—wet, varnished over with a sticky substance, that when 
it dries leaves a “bloom” on the egg—is much more 
clastic as to shell than the same egg is after it becomes 
dry and cold. I don’t think it would be possible for 
me to drop eggs from these roosts to the ground with¬ 
out breaking at least nine out of ten. Old Mother 
Nature has some tricks that we haven’t found out yet. 
HANDY CHICKEN HOUSE.—At Fig. 2 is a 
picture of a house I built this Fall to keep cockerels 
in, which has proved very satisfactory, and was easily 
made. It is 20 feet long by eight feet wide, four feet 
six inches at the eaves and seven feet at the peak. I 
dug two trenches with the narrow edge of a hoe, about 
eight inches deep and eight feet apart, with cross 
trenches at each end and one across at the middle, and 
set some wide chestnut boards edgewise in these 
trenches, nailing them to short posts at the corners and 
in the middle. When this “foundation” was completed 
it had the appearance of a box 8 x 20 feet sunk in the 
earth, and about eight inches higher than the ground, 
with a partition across the middle, making two parts 
to it each 8 x 10 feet. Then I banked it up all around 
outside so that water would shed away from it, carted in 
two wagon loads of dry earth, sifted from my potato 
patch, into the half designed for the roosting room,— 
and was ready to start the building. I had some long 
scantling 2x4 inches x 20 feet. Laying one of these 
on the foundation two inches from the edge, and an¬ 
other parallel to it and four feet four inches from it I 
nailed on boards cut four feet six inches long, letti-ng 
them project two inches beyond the first scantling. 
While it was still flat I nailed battens over all joints. 
Lifting it to a perpendicular position, the scantling 
rested on the chestnut foundation, while the boards 
extended two inches below the top of it and outside. 
Holding it in place with a brace strip at each end, there 
was the whole back of both coop and scratching shed 
completed. Making the front in the same way, except 
leaving spaces for windows and for the open front of 
the scratching shed, it was also raised and braced to a 
perpendicular position. With scantling connecting 
front and back together at the ends and in the middle 
it was ready for the rafters. With one of the 20-foot 
scantling serving for ridgepole, three pairs of rafters 
only were used. Four pieces of 2 x 8 inch x 10 feet 
stuff were toe-nailed between the rafters half way from 
the ridgepole to the eaves. Roof boards 10 feet long 
were sawed across the middle on a bevel, so that the 
two beveled edges met at the peak of the roof. After 
the roof boards were all nailed on. I planed off the 
sharp edge of the peak, rounding it so as not to cut the 
Ruberoid roofing with which it was then covered. I 
made a frame of 54 x 3-inch stuff, and covered it with 
bagging, hinged it at top, and in stormy weather it can 
be let down to keep out snow or rain from the scratch¬ 
ing shed, while a window in the south end lets in suffi¬ 
cient light. This little house accommodates 25 White 
Wyandotte cockerels, and being low it is surprisingly 
warm. What I wish to emphasize is the easy way in 
which it was made. It is lots easier to nail on boards 
that are lying flat than where a frame is put up and the 
boards must be nailed on perpendicular. The wide 
chestnut boards sunk in the ground keep out moisture 
and frost, and will last for a good many years. 
GEORGE A. COSGROVE. 
THE FARM SUPPLY OF ICE. 
A New York Method. 
Of course the first thing necessary to preserve ice is 
an icehouse. This may be very cheap, or quite expen¬ 
sive, according to one’s means or inclination. There 
are but two real essentials to an icehouse. These are 
the exclusion of air from the bottom and sides, and 
ventilation at the top. Of course the sides must be 
thick enough to exclude the heat of Summer, which is 
generally done with sawdust. A permanent icehouse 
should be built upon a good stone and mortar wall of 
sufficient height to 'prevent the rotting of the sills. 
The wall should have an underdrain filled with stone, 
well pounded in. There should be no floor to the ice¬ 
house; but the ice should be packed upon the ground 
with but a few inches of tanbark or sawdust under it. 
The situation should have good drainage, that no water 
will stand in the bottom to melt the ice. The sides of 
the icehouse may be made of any old boards that will 
retain the sawdust or tanbark, and no double walls 
are needed. In an icehouse of this sort, at least 18 
inches of tanbark or sawdust should be well packed 
between the wall and the ice. The roof should be 
watertight, but should be provided with a good large 
ventilator. 
I have in mind a case of a man who wrote me a few 
GETTING OUT THE FARM ICE. Fig. 3. 
years ago that his ice was melting badly. He made 
his roof double, with a foot of sawdust between, and 
no ventilator. The vapor from the ice collected on the 
underside of his roof, and dropped back and melted the 
ice. I told him to chop a big hole in the peak of his 
fancy roof and put on a cupola. This he did, and saved 
the remainder of his ice. As the non-conducting mate¬ 
rial, tanbark and sawdust, is very scarce in most places, 
I would advise one to build his icehouse with double 
walls, and each wall made as nearly as possible air¬ 
tight, and close at both bottom and top to make a dead- 
air space, which is cheaper than sawdust, and does not 
have to be handled over several times a year. Of couse 
it would be necessary to use some sawdust around the 
ice anyway. The amount would depend on the thickness 
of the dead-air space. As to the amount of ice one 
should put up, of course that depends upon the amount 
to be used and the amount of waste by melting, etc. 
There will be a greater percentage of waste in a small 
house than in a large one. When we used a creamer, 
and no separator, we needed much more ice. Another 
great waste is sometimes caused by people pouring 
water on the ice when filling, and causing the ice to 
freeze into one gigantic cake. Then when one comes 
to chop out the ice much more will be wasted than if 
the cakes were separate. 
We are rarely troubled about the ice getting thick 
enough in this section, (central New York) and the past 
two years it has got too thick. Ice from 10 to 1G inches 
thick handles best, and the size of the cakes should 
depend upon the amount used at one time. Large cakes 
cost less per hundred pounds to cut and put in than 
small ones; but if only a small quantity is used, I 
would prefer to cut them to weigh not over 150 pounds 
each. One should figure on the size of his icehouse, and 
cut the cakes to fit. We have always cut our ice with 
saws, but if I had much ice to cut I should certainly 
have a plow. We always take the ice from the water 
with a pair of common ice tongs with good long 
handles. I have seen a contrivance made of hard-wood 
sticks about eight feet long and two inches square, 
bolted to cross pieces about a foot long, and having 
pins in one end to catch behind the ice cake to draw 
out the ice. Then the front end is placed on the sled, 
and the cake of ice drawn up the incline. In this way 
a person not used to pulling ice from the water will 
probably get along better than he would with the tongs, 
and one man can load quite a heavy cake. At the ice¬ 
house we use a set of pulleys attached to a pair of 
tongs to pull the cakes up an incline as we fill the 
house. If one puts up much ice it would be better to 
use a car to hold two cakes, and pull it up with a 
team. One should be careful to have everything in 
connection with his hoisting arrangement made per¬ 
fectly strong and safe, for ice being so heavy, serious 
accidents may happen. A young man was killed a few 
years ago at a nearby milk station by a pulley giving 
way and a “car” of ice falling on him. 
J. GRANT MORSE. 
Keeping Ice in Stacks. 
My method of putting up ice for my dairy is so simple 
and free from scientific perplexities that, if it will sat¬ 
isfy one to do things cheaply, no one need be without 
an abundance of ice on a farm. I don’t claim my 
method to be the best known, but I doubt if it can be 
beaten for cheapness. I have no icehouse to begin with, 
yet I successfully house ice. Poles are laid on the 
ground and old boards placed thereon for a floor with¬ 
out being nailed. About one foot in depth of sawdust 
is then put on the floor. Upon this the ice is corded, 
being laid as compactly as it can be placed, and all 
crevices filled with broken pieces of ice. You see there 
need be 1.0 limit to the amount of ice this plan will 
store. I usually put up 10 cords. The pieces, or cakes, 
as we call them, arc two feet wide, four feet long and 
almost always two feet thick. After the packing heavy 
posts are placed around the pile and upon these a shed 
is erected, one thickness of the cheapest kind of rough 
boards are used for the sheathing, while the roof is 
favored with two layers of a better grade of lumber, 
to prevent, as much as possible, rain from getting on the 
ice; however, mine are not always waterproof. About 
two feet of space is left around the ice, which is filled 
with sawdust. It is needless to say that I am careful 
to place my ice pile where there is good drainage. I 
aim to put up the ice during a cold spell, as it will 
then cement, making the pile one solid body of ice. The 
shed should open to the north, and there should be 
plenty of ventilation in the top. I leave the top open 
all around except the eaves’ side. For six years I have 
put up my ice this way, and have lost none through 
waste from .heat. I have used the same shed year after 
year until more room was needed;; then I would build 
larger, using the same primitive design. In handling 
ice I am governed by three principles, namely, good 
drainage, air exclusion and unnatural moisture. I have 
the ice cut, and loaded on my sleighs V/2 mile from the 
farm on a mill pond, by the city ice dealer, lie charges 
$1 a cord. This I consider cheaper than having my 
own help do it. The ice is both loaded and unloaded 
by horses, using block and rope. This plan of keep- | 
ing ice might not work as well where there is a scarcity 
of sawdust. Here it is plentiful, and can be used un¬ 
sparingly. JOHN A. OGDEN. 
Wisconsin. _ 
A LOAD OF SWEET CORN.—The load shown in 
Fig. 4 includes 9,000 ears of sweet corn. They were 
all carefully selected ears of uniform size and were 
grown by Richard Lowden, Nassau Co., N. Y., for a 
Brooklyn cannery, to be canned on the cob. Mr. Low¬ 
den for several years has had the contract for growing 
th; corn for this purpose. Seven ears are put in each 
A LOAD OF SWEET CORN—9,000 EARS. Fig. 4. 
can, which retails for 35 cents. The photograph was 
taken by Miss Estelle Healey. j. Y. p. 
RANUNCULUS AND ANEMONES.-—We have never found 
these roots hardy in the latitudes of New Jersey and Penn¬ 
sylvania. If planted in the Fall, most of them perish 
before Spring and after they grow, the remaining plants are 
very susceptible to late frost. The only good results we 
have had in cultivating these very handsome flowering plants 
is to plant the bulbs in the early Fall, in beds of leaf mold 
in a cold frame, and protect them from drip by sash dur¬ 
ing the Winter. They do not appear injured by dry cold, 
but are very susceptible to rot when cold and wet. 
