1883.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
115 
hard conditions of climate. In all the north¬ 
ern part of our country, coasting is a popular 
amusement, which can be made more enjoy¬ 
able by introducing the “ toboggan,” and by 
the general participation of boys and girls, 
young and old, in out-door sports. These 
sports are just the thing for the children of 
our farmers, who need a freer social inter¬ 
course in their communities, and who cannot 
breathe too much fresh air. The illustration 
on the opposite page gives a vivid picture 
of one of these winter sports. 
Poultry Suggestions. 
It is well, in cleaning out the poultry 
houses, not only to take the droppings from un¬ 
der the roosts, but to rake up whatever feath¬ 
ers, etc., have accumulated on the ground. 
Turn up clean, fresh earth with the fork, and 
scatter over it chaff and hay-seed. The pleas¬ 
ure the fowls will take in scratching for seed, 
and in rolling in the fresh earth, will b% am¬ 
ple satisfaction for the labor spent. The best 
way to kill and dress fowls is to hang them 
by the legs, pass a sharp-pointed knife, with 
edge from you, through the throat, just below 
the “deaf ear,” cutting off the arteries run¬ 
ning to the head; then turn the knife to¬ 
ward the neck-bone, and while turning back 
the head with the left hand, press the knife 
until the neck is broken. Take the wings in 
the left hand, and strip off the feathers with 
the right. They will pull off quite easily 
while the body is warm. If care is taken, the 
:skin need not be broken. Never scald chick¬ 
ens in dressing, for, unless great care is used, 
the thin outside skin will be rubbed off, 
which injures their appearance very much, 
and reduces the value of the fowls. 
In selecting seeds for spring planting, do not 
neglect to get seed of the mangel beet, for 
these beets make the very best green food 
for fowls in winter. If the water in the 
dishes is thrown out each night, trouble and 
time will be saved in the morning. Give 
warm water to fowls if possible. H. C. B. 
Exercising Fowls while Eating their Feed. 
For years, I have been on the look-out 
for some method whereby chicken cholera 
could be warded off or entirely prevented. 
After long consideration I have devised a 
plan whereby chickens would secure active 
-exercise in gathering their feed, whether poor 
wheat, rye, or any kind of feed that was sound 
■enough to grow. The plan is to sow the 
-corn, or small grain, and plow or harrow it 
in deep enough to insure its germination. 
Poultry are fond of green tender sprouts, 
and if the corn or intended feed is ac¬ 
cessible to them, when sprouted just a little, 
there would be no material loss in feed from 
the sprouting, as they would eat the seed be¬ 
fore decay had commenced to any damaging 
extent. I therefore decided to sow the 
■corn and small grain feed for the hens and 
chickens on plowed ground, and cover it 
about two inches deep by plowing it under 
with a light single or double plow. 
I have been convinced for years, that 
deficient exercise was a main cause of 
chicken cholera and other poultry ailments, 
inasmuch as exercise controls the rate of 
breathing, and consequently the extent to 
which the blood is oxygenated, etc. In all 
^walking animals, whether quadrupeds, or 
hens, this is the chief process of blood purifi. 
cation in eliminating poisonous excretory 
matters from the circulation. Why could 
not this object be attained, by letting the 
chickens work for their living, by scratching 
their feed out of the loose earth, with which 
it was covered ? In this way they would get 
as much necessary exercise in gathering 
their feed, in a yard of one-eighth of an acre; 
as they would in roaming over a twenty-acre 
lot, in searching for food, as they do on 
many farms. 
Another, and by no means unimportant, 
object to be gained by a much greater 
exercise than fowls, confined in small pens 
and yards in the suburbs of towns and vil¬ 
lages, are usually permitted to indulge in, is a 
greater muscular growth in the fowls. And 
this can not be attained in any better way, 
than by increasing their exercise. All mo¬ 
tion and activity is made through and 
with the muscles, the size and strength 
of which must necessarily correspond to the 
force exerted through them, and the degrees 
of exertion made with them. The food value 
of the birds is increased by their regular daily 
activity in gathering the soil-covered food. 
Therefore, by simply sowing the feed of 
fowls in large yards, whenever the condition 
of the soil permits, a purer quality of blood, 
better health, a fuller growth of muscle, and 
increased food value, are very likely to re¬ 
sult. J. W. C. 
A Simple Fire-Escape. 
The horrors of the Milwaukee and other re¬ 
cent fires are deepened by the reflection that 
so many of the victims might have been saved, 
had they been provided with the simple ap¬ 
pliance of a rope, a pulley, and a hook ; the 
hook to be 
fastened to the 
window sill, 
the rope to be 
looped around 
the body, un¬ 
der the arms 
of the person 
using it, who 
will then let 
himself down 
on the outside, 
by the rope, 
which plays 
freely through 
the pulley. 
The engraving 
shows the ac¬ 
tion of this de¬ 
vice. Nothing 
could be sim¬ 
pler, or more 
certain. A con¬ 
trivance like 
this would oc¬ 
cupy but a 
small place in 
the traveller’s 
hand-bag. 
There are strong small wires enclosed in wrap¬ 
pings that can be made available for this pur¬ 
pose, and which are not larger than one’s little 
finger. They are quite large enough to sus¬ 
tain the weight of a man, and their value in 
saving life would be priceless. Hotels and 
similar buildings should be supplied with 
these fixtures, one for each room in the 
house, and there should be a permanent staple 
under the window sill, to which to attach the 
hook of the safety rope. There is quite as 
much reason for keeping these ropes and 
pulleys at hand, as there is for providing 
steam vessels with life preservers, and the 
law which makes the latter obligatory, might 
properly extend its mandatory provisions to 
the former, and require more safeguards for 
the security of the public from the dangers 
by which they are menaced. We advise our 
readers to move in a body on their representa¬ 
tives in the various State Legislatures, and 
force them to adopt the legislation necessary 
to secure the protection is so much needed. 
Who Inherits the Farm? 
BT HENRY A. HAIGH, LL. B. 
When the farmer dies, if he does not leave 
a will, the farm immediately becomes the 
property of his heirs, subject, of course, to 
the payment of his debts. Who the heirs 
are is determined by the statutes of the 
State in which the farm lies. There is 
some variation in the different State laws 
in this regard, but their first provision 
is practically the same in all, namely : that 
lands descend in equal shares to the children 
of the deceased owner. Daughters inherit 
equally with sons ; the children become ten¬ 
ants in common of the land and own it to¬ 
gether until partition proceedings have given 
to each his own share. In two or three States 
the widow is given a share with the children ; 
in all of the rest she is given an interest, 
called a dower, which is the use during her 
lifetime of one-third of the lands. This 
dower interest is not liable for the debts of 
the deceased husband. The children of any 
deceased child usually take their parents in¬ 
heritance by right of representation as it is 
called. If the farmer has no children or 
descendants, the land goes, in some States, 
to the father, if living, in others to the pa¬ 
rents equally, or to the surviving parent, in 
others to the brothers and sisters ; but accu¬ 
racy of general statement, is here impossible. 
Reference must be had to the statutes of the 
State wherein the land lies; for it is those 
that govern its descent and not the laws of 
the State in which the owner or his heirs 
live. These rules of descent, though in¬ 
tended to secure justice, are entirely arbitra¬ 
ry. They depend, therefore, somewhat on the 
condition and genius of the people among 
whom they prevail. Hence their difference 
in different States and countries and at dif¬ 
ferent periods of time. By the English com¬ 
mon law the oldest son inherits the land, to 
the exclusion of his brothers and sisters, even 
though his sisters are older than himself. The 
male issue was always preferred to the fe¬ 
male, in the English law. This arose mainly 
from the feudal necessity of developing 
strong military leaders, and it has been 
maintained by reason of traditional rever¬ 
ence, pride, and the fancied necessity of pre¬ 
serving great families, tc. More of justice 
and equity has characterized the American 
law, but the changes have been gradual. 
Massachusetts, in 1641, was the first of the 
colonies to divide the estate equally among 
the children, except that she gave the oldest 
son a double share. If a child is born after the 
father’s death it will inherit its share of the 
father’s .estate. If a will has been left, the 
advent of a posthumous child generally re- 
