348 
MAPES, THE HEN MAN. 
So much interest has been taken in my 
“big flock in the hen barn.” that on Janu¬ 
ary 1 I began keeping a separate account 
with that flock. The worst has happened 
in the shape of a genuine epidemic of 
roup. For a time it was a common thing 
for two or three to drop dead from the 
perches every night. 1 he Deacon’s title 
of “Hen Man’s Heaven” was far from 
appropriate just then. In spite of this 
they come up smiling March 1 with a 
clean balance sheet and a full house. Sup¬ 
plies purchased the first two months 
amounted to $68.82. This included wheat, 
oats, cracked corn, oil meal, meat scrap, 
milk albumen, cut clover, green cut bone, 
wheat middlings, wheat bran, cornmeal, 
oyster shells, and grit. In addition to 
this, 30 dead hens were replaced with 
others at 60 cents each, making $86.82 on 
the debtor side; 575 eggs were laid in 
January and 1,382 in February and 50 
bushels of droppings sold. The credit side 
of the account stands as follows. 
March 1 : 
300 eggs for hatching.$15.00 
1657 market eggs at 3c. each. 49.71 
50 bushels droppings at 30c. 15.00 
$79.71 
This only lacks $7.11 of equaling the 
debit side of the account, and there was 
fully that much of supplies carried over 
into March. 
I now begin to think I have been mak¬ 
ing a mistake in trying to force my hens 
to eat oats alone for morning feed, after 
the method of Mr. Brown, of Lakewood 
Poultry Farm. With nothing but oats 
and the dry mash to eat during the day 
(aside from mangels) they, do not eat 
enough to suit me. 1 hey simply do not 
like oats any better than they do the dry 
mash. Does this prove that Mr. Brown’s 
method is not all right? Not by any 
means. It simply proves that my hens 
have not been accustomed to an oat diet. 
Hens are largely creatures of habit. My 
hens are so accustomed to eating cracked 
corn that if I throw down whole corn to 
them they stand and look up at me, as 
much as to say, “Do give us something to 
eat.” This may seem strange to those in 
the habit of feeding whole corn, but it 
is surely true. 
Questions About Expenses. —I am very 
much iuterested in Mr. Mapes’s article on 
page 154. I am running a small poultry 
yard, and am always glad to get all the in¬ 
formation possible. If it is not asking too 
much I would like him to go a little further 
and explain how Mr. Brown practices so 
much economy both in feed and labor. How 
does $30 bear his entire expenses for one 
dav? At the rate I feed my flock one single 
feed of wheat would take 21 bushels at the 
cost of $17.85, saying, nothing of the warm 
noon mash, the evening feed, meat scrap, 
oyster shells, etc. I am still more inter¬ 
ested in his economy on labor. Do four men 
besides the manager feed, water, and house- 
clean for 7,000 chickens, gather, case and 
market 3,000 eggs in one day? I have to 
buy my cases in flat shape and make them 
up myself. They cost me $10 a thousand, 
(it is true a cheaper case can be got, but 
I don’t consider them suitable for fancy 
market). How many cases will one hand 
make and fill in a day? In my small ex¬ 
perience 500 a day would be good work for 
one hand. At this rate, if I calculate right¬ 
ly, it would take six hands a day to case 
Mr. Brown’s eggs, an interested reader. 
In the first place I think Mr. Brown 
uses the heavy returnable cases in which 
to pack his eggs. I did not ask him, but 
saw such cases in his wagon. These can 
be purchased from the manufacturers all 
readv to be used at about 80 cents each. 
This does away with the labor of nailing 
up the crates. According to our experi¬ 
ence it is no great trick to clean and pack 
30 dozen an hour. My daughter has 
packed thousands of cases at that rate, 
and every egg was washed and stamped 
before packing. This disposes of the 
cleaning and packing, and only takes the 
time of one hand. I can easily see how 
the manager and three other men can 
feed and clean house for 7,000 hens. 1 he 
houses were certainly clean the day I was 
there. Now, about the feed bills. We 
must remember that White Leghorns do 
not eat as much as the heavy breeds. I 
asked Mr. Brown how much grain he gave 
his hens. 
“A handful to two hens is the usual 
rule.” 
“That is rather indefinite,” said I. *“A 
handful with some people might mean an 
ounce, while with others it might mean 
a quarter of a pound.” 
While we were talking we walked over 
to the feed room, and I got Mr. Brown 
to throw 10 handfuls of wheat upon the 
scales. We would not expect his hand to 
hold more of oats or cracked corn than 
of wheat. The 10 handfuls of wheat 
weighed just 20 ounces. Here we have 
an ounce of oats in the morning, and an 
ounce of either wheat or cracked corn at 
night, with dry mash ad libitum. I doubt 
if they will eat more than an ounce each 
per day of the dry mash, but we will 
allow 1 V 2 ounce, and see where we come 
out with our figuring; 3 l / 2 ounces each for 
7,000 hens equals 1,500 pounds; $30 per 
ton is very near the average cost of feeds 
used, making the cost for feed $22.50, 
leaving $7.50 for the help and feed for the 
roosters in breeding pens. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
April 20, 
The help employed is mostly people 
who want to learn something about the 
business, and work cheap as apprentices. 
I judge that my first estimate is not far 
from the truth. Doubtless in the height 
of the hatching season and raising of 
young stock more help is needed. 
Seeing the card of “Mapes, the Egg 
Man,” in the advertising columns of The 
R. N.-Y. recently, has put me in a remi¬ 
niscent mood. Memory calls up a day 
some 15 years ago when that same son 
and I were at work together in the field 
picking stones from mowing ground. He 
was arriving at an age when he began to 
think about what he was to do as a man. 
“If 1 could only start out like Sam has, 
1 would not mind being a farmer,” said he. 
Sam was a young friend of his who 
had been in the habit of coming into our 
neighborhood as a city boarder each Sum¬ 
mer. He had recently fallen heir to about 
$ 8 , 000 , with which he had bought the 
farm adjoining ours, and started in to 
show the natives how to run a farm, 
though hardly more than a boy, and a 
little inclined to be wild. I remember 
answering the remark by telling him that 
the habits of industry and economy he 
was forming, if backeci by a character of 
sterling honesty, might prove a better as¬ 
set in later years than Sam’s legacy. 
Memory calls up another day about 10 
years ago when he started for New York 
City with less than $500, saved entirely 
from his own earnings, to try his for¬ 
tunes as a storekeeper. I parted from him 
at the station with a lump in my throat, 
fully expecting to see him back within a 
year, shorn of his little hoard of savings 
The start was necessarily modest, and 
involved the cooking of his own meals 
and sleeping in the rear of a little store 
on Columbus Avenue, with a push cart 
to deliver his goods. That fact is some¬ 
times stronger than fiction, is evident from 
the fact that Sam’s farm has long since 
been sold for debt, while the start with 
less than $500, the result of industry and 
frugality, has grown to a business amount¬ 
ing to over a quarter of a million dollars 
in eggs alone during the past two years, 
with a very satisfactory margin of profit. 
The lump in my throat was again in 
evidence last Summer, when instead of 
the homecoming of my fears, my grand¬ 
children sprang into my arms from a big 
automobile. How little we can forecast 
the future! I still think it was rather a 
foolhardy undertaking for a country-bred 
young man, with no experience, and little 
capital, to buy a store business in a great 
city. I should not advise country boys to 
try it. The road is strewn with the wrecks 
from such ventures. o. w. mapes. 
Chicken Notes. — I put a dozen eggs in a 
box, covered them warm, and set it on a 
radiator (not water). One chick hatched 
all right, but I think that will be all. Sev¬ 
eral others were two-thirds developed, then 
settled towards one side of the egg and 
stopped developing. I kept the eggs at about 
from 00 to 100 in heat: had a very hard 
thunderstorm when they had been boxed 
about two weeks. Do you think that killed 
them? I will give record of one old hen 
and four pullets. The pullets are about 
to months old now: began to lay last of 
December, and in the last 31 days (March) 
those five fowls have laid 100 eggs. Isn’t 
that a prettv good record? w. h. c. 
Litchfield. Conn. 
How to Know Paint 
that Will Wear 
The wear of paint depends on pure 
Lead and pure Linseed Oil. Ready- 
mixed paint containing substitutes will 
always crack, scale and chip. 
Paint that wears best, covers most, 
looks best and costs least is made of 
CARTER 
Strictly Pure 
White Lead 
More used than any other brand of 
lead because practical painters know it 
is every atom paint. Conies ready to 
be thinned with pure Linseed Oil and 
colored to suit your taste. Costs less to 
apply, and two coats does the work of 
three coats of other paints. Sold by 
reliable dealers everywhere. 
Booklet, “Pure Paint,” sent FREE. 
Tells how to save money on your 
paint bill; how to detect impure lead. 
Shows six beautiful color schemes. 
Address Dept. A, 
CARTER WHITE LEAD CO., Chicago, Ill. 
Factories: Chicago—Omaha. 
Get rid of your leaky roof 
once for all. 
Lay Genasco Ready Roofing. 
You know how shingles rot and warp ; how tin rusts ; 
slate breaks and blo.ws off; t-ar roofs dry-out and crack— 
you know all that. 
And then the roof leaks. 
Trinidad Lake Asphalt from which Genasco is made, is 
full of life-giving and water-shedding natural oils, which do 
not evaporate. Weather has no more effect on a Genasco 
roof than water on a duck’s back. 
Write for samples and common-sense Book 10 which tells 
facts and why. 
The most progressive dealers everywhere sell Genasco Ready Roofing. 
Several weights, smooth or mineral surface; cement and nails for laying 
packed in each roll. 
THE BARBER ASPHALT PAVING COMPANY 
Largest producers of asphalt in the world 
PHILADELPHIA 
New York San Francisco Chicago 
INDRUROID 
ROOFINC 
Before You Build 
Be sure you GET SAMPLES and prices of 
Paroid Roofing 
Just to compare with others to see how 
much more flexible and durable it is. 
Send your name to-day. 
Enclose 4 cents in stamps and we 
will send you our 48 page book 
‘‘Plans For Farm Buildings.” 
2911III 8t, FmI WalpoU, Mum 
F. W. Bird & SOII, 1429 llonndnuek Bldg.,Chie»KO. 
Established lHlj 
DOG POWERS 
■will run hand cream, 
separators. churns, 
fan mills, washing 
Box H n. RD CObYeSkilU°N. Y. ^ Cheapest- 
QUAKER CITY 
GRINDING MILLS. 
For Corn and Cobs, Feed and Table Meal. 
Send for all mills advertised, keep the best and return 
all others. We pay the freight and send mills on 
10 days’ free trial. 39th Annual Catalogue I BEE. 
THE A. W. STRAUB CO., Philadelphia, Fa. 
Requires no Coating: or 
Paint. 
Acid and Alkali Proof. 
Elastic and Pliable 
Always. 
Strong and Tough. 
Absolutely Waterproof. 
Climatic Changes Do Not 
Affect It. 
Practically Eire Proof. 
Can Be Used on Steep or 
Plat Surfaces. 
Any Workman Can Put 
It On. 
No Odor. 
Will not Shrink or Crack 
Light in Weight. 
£ Does not Taint Water. 
Write for samples, prices and 
circulars. 
H. F. WATSON CO. 
ERIE, PA. 
Chicago, Boston. 
Mention R.N.-Y. 
ROOFING 
“Old Style Iron” 
SEND FOR CATALOGUE 
,, CHICAGO, ILLS. 
Sykes Metal Lath & Roofing Co. niles, ohio. 
ffi 
mm ^ 
& 
y* if/i 
, 4 '! 
ft- 
How to Raise Young Chicks 
The difficulties encountered in raising young chicks are numerous. 
Disease and lice are said to destroy nearly 50 ^ of the annual p^u.try 
crop. Errors in diet and unsanitary conditions also help to decrease 
the poultry profit. But you do not need to suffer these losses if you. 
will give poultry half the care you give other stock. Besides 
DR. HESS 
POULTRY PAN-A-GE-A 
Is guaranteed to prevent and cure gapes, cholera, roup, indigestion, etc., allaying 
fermentation and destroying the germs of disease. By its special to“ic Prop¬ 
erties it increases the powers <sf digestion and assimilation and compels the sys¬ 
tem to appropriate the maximum amount of food to egg production, also making 
the young grow fast, healthy and strong. Besides increasing growth and egg 
production Dr. Hess Poultry Pau-a-ce-a has special curative properties peculiar 
to itself. Take no so-called poultry food as a substitute. Remember that 
Dr. Hess Poultry Pan-a-ce-a is the prescription of Dr. Hess (M. IF, D. V. S.) and 
bears the endorsement of leading poultry associations in the United States and 
Canada, and is sold on a written guarantee. It costs but a penny f Ly&w 
about xoiowls. Feed Poultry Pan-a-ce-a as directed, sprinkle Instant Louse Killer 
on the roosts, nests and into the dust bath, and we guarantee you will have no loss 
from disease. 
Except in Canada 
and extreme 
West and South. 
IK lbs. 25c, mall or express 40c. 
5 lbs. 60c. 12 lbs. $1.25 
25 lb. pail $2.50. 
Send 2 cents for Dr. Hess 48-page Poultry Book free* 
DR. HESS 6. CLARK, Ashland, Ohio. 
INSTANT LOUSE KILLER KILLS LICE. 
