78 
February 2, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER- 
more practical for each cripple to have a farm of his 
own with a good, rugged helper to do all such work. 
After potato planting is done the garden seed must 
be drilled in, and as we raise quite a variety of vege¬ 
tables and there arc no riding machines to do this 
work we have to thust to the men to do it, giving them 
the best machines we can buy, and stand guard while 
they do the work. I have a corn planter with a bean 
and pea attachment, and when planting peas, beans, 
corn, etc., I ride the horse so that I may watch the 
man manipulate the machine and know that it is drill¬ 
ing properly. Next comes the cultivating, hor this 
purpose I bought a Hudson single-brake pivot-wheel 
riding cultivator. I was much in doubt as to the possi¬ 
bility of using this tool. The former writer stated that 
his one-legged man could cultivate with a riding culti¬ 
vator, going close to the plants or otherwise by simply 
guiding the horses. This would be impossible, because 
the least side draft caused by a stone or packed soil 
on either side of the row would throw his cultivator 
teeth into the plants, in spite of any effort to prevent. 
That is the reason riding cultivators are made with 
pivot axles and foot levers to avoid such blunders, and 
consequently they must be guided by foot pressure. I 
was minus a foot, so I had this to overcome. As soon 
as this cultivator arrived from the factory I went to 
work to contrive a means to this end. My first attempt 
and the one that proved successful was a crutch I 
made to fit over the foot lever and running to my 
shoulder, the same as an ordinary crutch. With this 
I found I could guide the side minus the foot, and so I 
had no difficulty in operating this cultivator, and can 
cultivate 10 acres of potatoes a day. Thus I found I 
was capable of doing the greater part of the cultivating, 
which helped along the work quite materially. 
Next comes the spraying. I bought a machine which 
X run myself. Not being in a position financially to 
have a windmill or gas engine I did the next best thing, 
drove a galvanized pipe to water and extended it about 
i0 feet above ground. On this I put my pump; then I 
built a platform that would hold six barrels. 1 hese are 
high enough so that the bottom of the barrels is on 
a level with the top of the sprayer. These barrels are 
connected with piping. One barrel has a long pipe that 
leads out over my sprayer, and as I fill the sprayer 
from this barrel the water from the others Hows into 
it. The men pump water into these barrels in the 
morning and then I am able to do my day’s spraying 
without any more help. 
Next comes the digging. I own three diggers. One 
of these is a riding digger, with which I do a part of 
my digging, but as our method of farming is double 
cropping, most of the potato fields have a second crop 
growing in them when they are ready to be dug, which 
necessitates using a Planet Jr. plow digger. In seeding 
grass or grain I use a Cahoon seeder. This can be used 
while riding on horseback or riding in a two-wheel 
cart. From either position a cripple can sow as much 
grain in a day as the most robust farmer in the 
country. 
And so the first year of cripple farming went by. I 
tried to do all the work I could, but had to depend on 
hired help for all of the small crops, and I found it 
took the greater part of my time to buy and sell and 
keep the work going as it should go. In the last five 
years we have forged ahead somewhat, and find in 
place of the six acres we now own 22 acres, and in 
the place of our henhouse barn a barn 20x52; tool house 
and store house, V/ 2 story, 22x65, with cellar under the 
whole building; wagon shed, 16x27; shop, 12x22; wine 
cellar, corn-crib, man’s house, henhouse, etc. A good 
stock of wagons and harnesses, horses, cows, etc. Our 
house we have enlarged twice at an expense of $450, 
and so the work goes on. While we are not entirely 
out of debt, we feel we are on “easy street,” and if 
what health we now have shall continue, I hope to be 
able to write another encouraging sketch at some later 
period. I give crop report' on 22 acres for the last 
year, and later T may write an article on our style of 
farming and rotation of crops. 
Potatoes, 2,621 bushels; carrots, 2,467 bushels; sweet 
corn, 10.900 ears; field corn, 205 bushels; Lima 
beans, 620 bushels; Hubbard squash, 200; Crookneck 
squash, 1,175; tomatoes, 50 bushels; berries, 514 quarts; 
beets, earlx. 823 bunches; beets, late, 129 bushels; 
lettuce, 324 heads; onions, early, 159 bunches; onion*;, 
late, 1,623 bushels, sprouts, 10,500 quarts; shallots, 12 
bushels; peas, 31 bushels; string beans, 10 bushels; 
corn fodder, 1,200 sheaves. fred tabor. 
Long Island, N. Y. 
A PROFITABLE HEN BUSINESS. 
In the Spring of 1905 my son made a start in the 
chicken business. He had some experience when a stu- 
-dent at Cornell, both in theory and practice; and has 
been a careful reader of poultry literature, the “Business 
Hen” being an important text-book. His investment was 
eight setting hens, purchased from a neighbor at 75 
cents each. Their chief qualification was that they 
were anxious to sit. He also bought eggs enough to 
set them; these eggs were from pure Plymouth Rocks 
and R. I. Reds; the latter both Single and Rose Comb. 
From these he raised about 100 chickens. The cockerels 
and Plymouth Rocks and Rose Comb R. I. Reds were 
sold. With the money received he purchased enough 
Single Comb R. I. Reds, of the very best' strain, to 
bring his flock of hens up to 70. These, with five roost¬ 
ers, were his start January, 1906. With his sister, who 
was already in the poultry business, he built a 50-foot 
house, he having half, or 25 feet. Here the 70 hens 
were kept. 
DESCRIPTION OF HOUSE.—Fig. 32 shows the 
house set in the orchard, the front facing southwest. 
HENHOUSE IN AN ORCHARD. Fig. 32. 
It is 50 by 12 feet, divided into four parts. The 70 
hens had ample room in the two parts, 12x12 feet six 
inches. It was built on the plan recommended by White 
and Rice; 3x4-inch sills and plates, the siding being 
rough hemlock, as arc the roof boards. Both sides and 
roof are covered over with heavy tar paper, on which 
is put a coat of pitch. 1 think this is the same material 
referred to by Bro. Mapes in The R. N.-Y., page 806. 
There is not a pane of glass in the house; the doors 
and fronts are all of factory muslin. These fronts arc 
bung from above, so that they can be hooked up out of 
the way. A wire netting outside prevents the fowls 
from getting out, and animals from getting in. 1 he 
picture shows two portions, with the fronts up. 1 he 
nests with roosts above are hung from the roof, thus 
giving the fowls all the floor space. 1 lie floor was 
made of four inches of creek gravel, and answered a 
very good purpose last Winter, as well as saving some 
expense. As the rats have shown some disposition to 
burrow under the light wall, lie covered the floor with 
cement last Fall. This house cost, including labor at 
$2 per day (the price actually paid), $100, or $2 a run¬ 
ning foot, his share being $50. 
HOW IT TURNED OUT.—There was much specu¬ 
lation on the part of those who saw it (many, like the 
writer, with expensive double-walled houses), as to the 
practicability of such a house. Some said the hens would 
freeze; others, that it would answer until we get zero 
used hen manure under the hills; that from this house 
was dry and crumbling, that from my own house, wet 
and soggy, the latter house with double walls, ventilat¬ 
ing shafts, etc. So well has this worked that all who 
have watched it are pleased, and several neighbors arc 
building, or will build, theirs of the same kind. My 
son is also building another, to accommodate his in¬ 
crease, that is 112 feet long, the 12 feet to be devoted 
to a feed room. 
ALL ON A FINANCIAL BASIS.—Except for the 
small amount invested in hens and eggs, and feed for 
them, and the $50 put in the henhouse, there has not 
been a dollar spent that the hens have not paid, as will 
be shown by the financial statement that follows; the 
amount invested in the house has also been paid back. 
While my son and I are in partnership in the creamery 
business, this has been his own venture, and except the 
skim-milk and what has been picked up in the orchard, 
every bit of feed, whether grown on the farm or not, 
has been paid for and charged to the hens. 
FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS.—Last Spring he 
purchased a 220-egg incubator, four brooders and three 
colony houses. The incubator was placed in the cellar 
of his house; lie lives in the village, and his wife looked 
after the three hatches and brooders until the chickens 
were large enough to go in the colony houses, when 
they were brought down here, and the houses set in 
one corner of the orchard, a fence keeping the hogs 
and sheep out, yet allowing the chickens to have free 
run of the orchard. As intimated, he made three 
hatches, the eggs being largely from hens from his own 
flock, selected from the best layers, as well as those 
most true to type. The wisdom of this has been shown 
in the character and performance of the chickens and 
the sales lie has made from them. He also bought 280 
eggs from one of the oldest of the R. I. Red breeders. 
From the three hatches and some hens set he raised 
about 500 chickens. Pullets hatched the latter part of 
March and early Spring began to lay in September. 
He uses self-feeders for the hens,and keeps before them 
a variety of whole grains, oyster shells and grit; in 
addition they have had each day a mash wet up with 
skim-milk and plenty of beef scrap. It has not been 
all sunshine. A visit from a neighbor by the name of 
Reynard caused the untimely demise of several fine 
hens; said Reynard afterward suffered capital punish¬ 
ment. Heart disease (?) took some more. Some 
chickens were drowned, a few were smothered. There 
has been no luck about the business. He might have 
kept any sort of chickens and raised as many and at no 
greater cost, but having purebreds and that of the best 
the chickens and eggs have found a ready sale at good 
prices. It has meant regularity in feed and care, many 
odd minutes bei:'~ spent in looking after little details, 
when he was tired or would have preferred to do some¬ 
thing else, as well as not a few hours spent in the dis¬ 
agreeable task of cleaning up, but he has his reward. 
FINANCIAL STATEMENT.—The account runs 
from January 1, 1906, to the first of October, and is as 
follows: 
DEBIT. 
January 1st, to 70 hens 0} 75 cents..$52.50 
To 5 cockerels. 5.00 
HERDING THE TURKEYS. Fig. 33. 
weather, or a strong south gale. Our faith was strong, 
and has been justified by works. The hens laid all 
Winter, my daughter’s Plymouth Rocks much better 
than those in a double-walled house. In spite of zero 
weather and several strong south gales, there was never 
a frozen comb, although on cold nights the water would 
freeze. It was surprising how warm it was behind the 
muslin; the hens would be scratching about in the 
litter, as happy as could be, when “without the day was 
dark and cold and dreary.” On any ‘but extreme cold 
or windy weather the fronts were up all, or part of the 
way during the day. In this house there has never been 
any dampness. Last Spring I was planting melons and 
To half of 50-foot henhouse. 50.00 
March, to Incubators, brooders and colony 
houses . 02.50 
To 280 eggs for hatching. 
To feed for hens January 1 to October 1.... 
To feed for chicks. 
To advertising eggs. 
Profit after paying for home Incubator, 
brooders, hatching eggs and feed. 
CREDIT. 
By 32 hens sold.$20.80 
By 32 hens on hand. 24.00 
One rooster. LOO 
Ry 343 dozen eggs (fi> 25 Vi cents. 
By 60 dozen eggs for hatching.33.65 
By 52 dozen eggs self hatching. 13.26 
By 108 broilers 
By 41 pullets. . 
By 22 cockerels 
In addition, he has on hand 175 pullets, for which lie 
has refused $2.50 each, and 20 best cockerels kept for 
breeders, for which he is getting $3 each and better. 
To put it another way, the profit on the eggs from 
the 70 hens (or what is left of them), after paying 
for their feed and the cost of advertising eggs, was 
$54.71. The broilers paid all the feed bills for the 
young stock with $3.16 to the good, and the 175 pullets 
and 20 cockerels left. It will be noted that none of the 
prices received were fancy. 1 he man who bought the 
pullets afterward sold them for $5 each. While he sold 
some eggs from selected hens at $1.50 per setting, he 
sold many more from the remainder of the flock, at 
35 cents for 13 to neighbors and patrons of our cream¬ 
ery. Surely he should be and is truly thankful for 
ample returns, and what perhaps is more to the pur¬ 
pose, has the satisfaction of knowing it was for work 
well done. edward van alstyne. 
$57.50 
$142.50 
24.00 
72.08 
95 14 
5.65 
$396.87 
11.76 
$408.63 
$54.80 
$133.94 
95.14 
80.25 
44.50 
$408.63 
