6124 
the rural, new-'V'orkrr 
April f), 
A PET PHEASANT. 
Fig. 163 shows a picture of Ross 
Leavenworth, of Rensselaer Co., N. Y., 
and his pet pheasant. The State farm 
sent out settings of eggs last June, from 
which 20 were hatched and grew to 
A PET PHEASANT. Fig- 163, 
maturity. Some are very tame and 
stay around the barn with the hens. 
They are very beautiful, but inclined 
to he cross around the poultry, but 
great bug eaters. 
Blue Ribbon Birds Again. 
Mr. C. M. Gallup has a good idea as 
stated on page 322. It is unreasonable 
to expect breeders of show birds to lose 
the returns from them for a year. It Is 
equally unreasonable to doubt their laying 
powers just because prize winners are not 
in the laying contests. A contest as sug¬ 
gested before where the fowls could Is- kept 
at home would be best, but as such a con¬ 
test seems impossible to arrange a three- 
months’ contest would be next best, und 
would give some interesting facts. 
Hut why such a distinction between so- 
called fancy and so-called utility poultry? 
With the Single Comb White Orpingtons I 
find that these hens which rank highest 
according to the American Standard of 
Perfection are the best layers. Our poultry 
is Standard bred and very careful atten¬ 
tion js given to their “fluff and feathers,” 
nevertheless they are out-laying the hens 
at the Storrs contest by a good 10 per 
cent. And if the present results being ob¬ 
tained at Storrs are a fair sample of "util¬ 
ity” it is my opinion that a little “fancy” 
blood might improve their egg-laying abil¬ 
ity. However, 1 do not believe that it is 
a fair sample. It is impossible that all 
of these■ breeders who have entered poultry 
in this contest have been mistaken in their 
selection, and it must be the fault of the 
system of caring for the fowls. It would 
be interesting to know how the sisters of 
these hens are doing in their home yards, 
and I should like to suggest that a report 
be gotten from the various contestants and 
these reports published with the “records 
their birds arc making. at the contest. 
Maryland. hay.vswortii baldrey. 
Lazy or Active Hens. 
As to experimenting for 50 years with a 
cross-bred fowl of all the varieties to see if 
a better egg laying and utility fowl could 
not be found as suggested on page 155, we 
do not need to wait 50 years to get the re¬ 
sult. Take all the American breeds of to¬ 
day, Harred, and all the other Hock varie¬ 
ties, Wyandottes, It. I. Heds, Orpingtons, 
and so on through the list; they are noth¬ 
ing but cross-bred fowls, and the oldest of 
them, Harred Plymouth Rocks, have been 
bred for nearly if not quite 50 years. To 
produce all the varieties of Hocks, Wyan¬ 
dottes, Reds, etc., nearly every breed of 
fowl has been called into service to pro¬ 
duce the result required, and this process 
will doubtless continue so long as poultry 
keeping is profitable. The point I wish to 
make is, that we do not have to fear that 
blue ribbon quality will not also be egg and 
utility quality. I keep good flocks of eight 
breeds, all blue ribbon quality, and ranging 
from Hrahmas to Leghorns. 1 keep and 
have the egg records by pens for years past. 
I have also crossed Brahmas and Leghorns. 
I/’ghorns and Hocks and made several other 
combinatiods, and am pleased to say that 
not one of these experimental crosses, which 
were bred for several years, laid a bit bet¬ 
ter than my blue ribbon birds. Egg pro¬ 
duction in fowls Is not different from pro¬ 
duction in any other animal. It all comes 
in the strain bred. There are blue ribbon 
cows that have milk records ’way ahead of 
the record of any scrub cow I ever heard 
of, arid there are blue ribbon sows with 
records of more young to a litter than cross¬ 
bred swine. In the human race we have 
workers and drones, and just so with 
liens. An active hen is nine times out of 
ten a good egg layer, while a lazy hen 
is a poor egg layer. It does not matter 
so much the breed as the strain. Get an 
active strain of any breed and it will out 
lay a lazy strain of the same breed. Lazi¬ 
ness is both constitutional and habitual. I 
believe Brahmas and Cochins are constitu¬ 
tionally lazy, and know of no way to in¬ 
duce sufficient activity in them to make 
them compete with the smaller breeds ns 
egg layers. On the other hand, all Mediter¬ 
ranean breeds are constitutionally active, 
but may be made lazy by habit if they are 
overfed, too crowded hr not properly cared 
for. We can thus take any breed of fowls 
and by our care of it produce activity and 
eggs or laziness and less eggs. Naturally 
shape has considerable to do with egg pro¬ 
duction, and right here let me say that tills 
point has been well covered in the Ameri¬ 
can Standard of Excellence, the shape as 
adopted for the various breeds being that 
which will tend to produce the most eggs 
in that breed. 
The present egg-laying contests are all 
right, and will doubtless be improved In 
time, and the results from them will benefit 
the entire poultry industry. I agree with 
Mr. Cosgrove that at Storrs there are too 
few hens in a pen. Five is not a usual 
condition as found by the average poultry- 
man. Ten or 15 or 20 to a pen are more 
near standard pens as kept, the country 
over, though in large plants 500 hens in 
a flock is not unusual. It is a well proven 
fact that the fewer hens penned together 
the greater the egg returns, so that any 
results arrived at at Storrs cannot be taken 
as a standard except for five hens to a 
pen. I\ M. PRESCOTT. 
New Jersey. 
Blue Ribboners as Layers. 
I note the article of your correspondent 
who wonders why the breeders wild win the 
prizes at the large shows do not ever enter 
their birds in the yearly laying contests. 
As tlie egg-laying contests are practically 
only a good advertising medium, and as 
the man who can win at the large shows 
does not need that kind of advertising to 
sell ills fowls and eggs, I think the answer 
to your, correspondent may be easily 
guessed. If it were necessary for the large 
breeders to go into the contests in order 
fo sell their eggs and stock, it is a cer¬ 
tainty that they would do so, and it is 
also a certainty that they would make a 
good showing too. However, I am about 
to give tlie progeny of Madison Square 
Garden and Boston winners a yearly test 
in an egg-laying contest and will" take 
great pleasure in proving that prize win¬ 
ning stock at the big snows will also pro¬ 
duce equally well as layers. 
The Napa Valley Poultry Association, 
Napa, Cal., has just inaugurated a yearly 
egg-laying contest with every appliance to 
give the fowls a full and fair test. I 
have entered a pen of Buff Wyandottes, 
descended direct from Madison Square 
Garden and Boston prize winners. I have 
just received the returns from the pen ( 
for the first week of the contest, and their ! 
result was 24 eggs; inasmuch as they did 
not arrive till the day before the contest 
began, I am much pleased with tlioir 
record for the first week; particularly as 
they have been laying all Winter and their 
journey and strange quarters should have 
had a tendency to upset them. The highest 
score for the first week was 20 eggs, made 
by a pen of White leghorns from Peta¬ 
luma, Cal.; so my birds were only five 
from high score. These prize-winning strain 
fowls have shown themselves to be most 
remarkable layers. In an experience of 
over 20 years with various breeds of fowls* 
I have never had any so satisfactory in 
every respect as the Buff Wyandottes, and 
the fact that they come from blue-blooded 
parents only seems to make them the more 
persistent layers. In spite of the fact that 
the flock has been laying all Winter, I 
have been able to get only two of the 
older hens to sit. Speaking for the above 
strain of Buff Wyandottes, I hope your 
correspondent will admit that there is 
at least one breed that is not afraid to 
go into the yearly laying contests, and I 
am positive that they will give a more 
than good account of themselves. If they 
do as well abroad as they do at my home ! 
for me, I shall await results with full ■ 
confidence, and the fact that they are bred 
to win blue ribbons, docs not make any 
difference against them, but on tlie con¬ 
trary is all in their favor: "Blood will 
tell” in poultry as well as any other live 
Stock. W. II. I’EAHSON. 
California. 
I read in the Hope Farm Notes of a man 
who is troubled with his neighbor's hens. 
I think if this man would cut out a lot 
of wooden pegs about two or three Inches 
long, tie a short string to the center of 
each peg and a kernel of corn to the other 
end of the string, then scatter them around 
where the hens bother, the neighbor would 
get tired picking out sticks of his hen's 
mouth, for hens couldn’t eat anything till 
the sticks were removed. 
New York. Herbert alms. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you'll get a quick reply and a 
"square deal.” Sec guarantee editorial page. 
1913 niui- 
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HERTZLER & ZOOK 
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I _ \i 
63 
What Three Bushels More to the 
Acre Means 
E IGHT years ago the farmers in a central state 
averaged crops that ran three bushels less to the acre 
than they now get. 
Suppose each acre of farm land in the country were so tended that 
it produced an increase equal to that of this state. How much more 
money would you have with which to buy the luxuries of life that you 
earn and deserve? Your share in this prosperity depends entirely upon 
yourself. The first step for you to take is to fertilize your land prop¬ 
erly with manure spread by an 
I H C Manure Spreader 
Manure cannot bespread as it should be unless a machine is used. 
An 1HC spreader covers the ground with an even coat, light or heavy 
as may be needed, and pulverized so that the plant food elements in 
the manure combine with the soil to the best advantage. 
The spreader that does this work as it should be done must have 
many excellent mechanical features. The apron should move without 
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pulverize the manure without too greatly increasing the draft of the 
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I II C spreaders are made in high and low styles, narrow and wide, 
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The 1 H C local dealer carries in stock the machines best suited 
to your locality. See him for catalogues and full information, 
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International Harvester Company of America 
(lucorporatuU) 
Chicago USA 
