110 
THE CULTIVATOR 
April. 
occasional change of boiled potatoes, (at something 
under a dollar a bushel,) because the digestive organs 
of fowls are not adapted to soft food. Corn may be 
parched, and its nutritive qualities thus mueh increased, 
and if corn-meal is fed it ean be mixed up with water, or 
with mashed potatoes, and then baked in rough cakes- 
Nor do we approve the plan of giving the fowis access 
to as much grain as they want at all times; they will 
be sure to suffer more or less, like some other bipeds, 
from a gluttony unrestrained by moral principle. 
And we have another objection to these labor-saving 
machines for feeding and watering fowls, which is that 
they will be neglected in other respects. Instead of 
visiting your fowls regularly to see what they need, 
and what is their condition, you will fall into the very 
bad habit of leaving them to themselves, taking it for 
granted, that because they have water and grain, they 
are doing well enough. When people take it for 
granted things are going right , that is generally the 
time they are going wrong. Feed your fowls regular¬ 
ly, and take time to do it, not throwing the corn down 
in a heap for them to snatch up in two minutes, but 
scatter it as much as possible a little at a time. Our 
own experience agrees with that of most poultry breed¬ 
ers whom we have known, that an average of one gill 
of corn a day, half in the morning and half at night, 
with such scraps as may be thrown to them at noon, is 
sufficient to keep fowls in a good laying condition. And 
though we have spoken of oats as containing more nitro¬ 
gen than corn, we prefer corn, (if meat is occasionally 
given,) as the rule, and oats as the exception, chiefly 
because the fowls themselves seem to prefer it. One 
writer in the same breath, condemns corn as heating 
and producing only fat; and meat as unsuited to fowls, 
evidently overlooking the distinction between fat which 
contains no nitrogen, and fibre and blood which do. 
Without a constant supply of fresh water, which 
some persons never think of providing, poultry will not 
thrive. Shallow earthen pans or those scooped out of 
stone, ace better than wood; cast iron ones we prefer 
as more durable, and the rust taken up by the water 
is rather an advantage to the fowls. A few drops of 
assafoetida, kept in solution in a vial, poured occasion¬ 
ally into their water, is of great benefit, both as a stim¬ 
ulant and a prophylactic. In the above suggestions, 
intended solely for the inexperienced, we have endea¬ 
vored to adhere to such principles of simplicity and 
economy as will make them easily available by all. H. 
Ellicott's Mills , Md. 
Another Good Day’s Work for a Boy* 
Messrs. Luther Tucker & Son —Seeing an account 
of a good day’s work for a boy, from Pleasant Ridge, 
Ill., I will just state to you what my son, who is not 13 
years old yet, performed in the month of July last. 
He milked eight cows before breakfast, and then walk¬ 
ed three miles to a field of wheat, and raked and bound 
with double bands 80 shocks, making 1,200 sheaves— 
walked home to dinner, and walked back, and walked 
home at night, making 12 miles walk, and got his eight 
cows milked before the sun was down. The next day 
the boy got his team, and went into the same field and 
loaded and pitched off on to the stack for a man to 
stack, 5,500 sheaves. The wheat when thrashed, mea¬ 
sured 425 bushels, weighing 62 lbs. per bushel, andtho 
boy got home and took care of his team before dark. 
I do not wish to boast at all, but just think him able 
to do as much of any kind of farm-work, as any boy 
of his age in Illinois. J. P. Mount Pleasant. 
New Pears —(Continued.) 
Theodore Van Mons. —Medium to large, obovate- 
pyriform, regular, greenish yellow, more or less cover¬ 
ed with distinct patches of russet; stem an inch long, 
scarcely gunk; calyx large, open; basin, none—some¬ 
times closed in a small basin ; flesh granular, juicy, 
and melting—sometimes slightly astringent.- Varying 
from “good” to “very good.” This pear is likely to 
prove valuable on account of its vigorous growth and 
great productiveness, when worked on pear or quince. 
A Good Farmer—Large Crops* 
A subscriber at Townsend, Canada West, writes us 
as follows :—“ I have been taking your paper for the 
last twelve years—in fact ever since I commenced 
farming, and I hope to be a life subscriber. I should 
like to give you some of my experience in farming, but 
I am not accustomed to writing for the papers. I have 
five hundred acres of land under cultivation, all in a 
block. I have grown whole fields of wheat that ave¬ 
raged 40 bushels per acre. I had one field of 14 acres 
that went 42 bushels per acre. I have grown 70 bush¬ 
els of shelled corn per acre. I raise from 10 to 14 
acres of Swedish turnips every year. Never had a 
failure. Last season 1 had 12 acres, 3 h of which pro¬ 
duced 4,000 bushels. This astonished the natives. I 
have a dairy of 25 cows, and a stock barn capable of 
accommodating 40 head of cattle. I cut all the feed 
for my stock. I give them a mixture of cut straw, hay 
and turnips, three times a day, measured to them with 
a basket. My cattle are all fat. I think it a very 
great saving to keep stock under shelter. Turnips I 
consider just the thing to keep animals healthy.” [We 
shall be glad to receive the results of the experience 
and observations of a farmer who raises such crops, and 
we hope to be favored with contributions from his pen, 
unaccustomed though it may be, to write for the press ] 
