1913. 
861 
FROM DAIRY TO GENERAL FARMING. 
Recently .T. Grant Morse wrote that he had sold 
most of his dairy cows. The question arises what will 
he now do with the farm? What will he substitute for 
the cows? 
What are we going to do with the farm without 
the dairy? When I read the inquiry of The R. N.-Y. 
to the family, the six-year-old promptly exclaimed, 
-Tell him we are going to live on it just the same.” 
Of course I can draw out that answer somewhat, 
but that is just about what it amounts to after all. 
In the first, place, we are not going to eliminate 
the dairy entirely. I got a chance to sell nearly all 
of the registered Jersey cattle in. a bunch, and one 
of the strong arguments for selling them was that 
it would put me out of debt. Those of us who have 
been paying interest on mortgages for 20 years will 
have no difficulty in understanding that this was 
quite an incentive to sell. It was true that the 
cattle were paying a good dividend on the money 
that they brought, and years ago I might have bor¬ 
rowed the money to invest in them. But there was 
an element of uncertainty in their value which does 
not exist with the money invested in the often-too- 
solid soil of Madison County. 
In my farming operations of the future, I shall 
go in for the thing that I can get just as near to the 
one hundred cents on the dollar as possible. So we 
will keep a few cows, enough to supply the village 
ice cream trade and make a little butter from the 
cream that the ice cream folk do not need during 
the cool spells. The neighbors are glad to get the 
butter at any time. Then we shall add somewhat 
to our herd of registered Berkshire pigs. A good 
share of the pigs sell when young for breeding pur¬ 
poses, and the others will be made into pork on the 
farm. Home-cured hams and bacon are always in 
good demand, and so is lard. So here is another 
thing that will bring in one hundred cents on the 
dollar and puts the middleman one step nearer to 
going to work. We will raise a few acres of Canada 
peas for the pigs, and a number of acres of flint 
corn, both for the pigs and the chickens, of which we 
will keep some more than formerly. We will aim 
to have some corn to grind for the cows also, and 
there will be 10 acres of oats. A good share of these 
will go to the horses, and the rest we will grind with 
the corn for the cows. 
The best market in the world is one’s own family, 
and I shall aim to raise more of the things that we 
can use ourselves than we have been doing. With 
the dairy farm, the home garden is quite apt to be 
neglected. There is no reason why this should be 
so, but one is apt to feel that he is wasting time 
working in a small garden when he might be direct¬ 
ing a team across a 10-acre lot. There will also be 
an extra acre of potatoes. These are a hard crop 
to raise without an outfit of especial machinery, and 
1 do not feel like putting in such an outfit. So the 
operations along this line will be limited. 
We have started a half dozen young calves. Some 
of the cows that we have left were too old to make 
it pay to ship them nearly across the continent, and 
that is why they are here. These will soon be gone, 
and with grade cows selling as high as $100 each, 
it looks as if it would pay to raise them. 
If I had thought of it earlier in the season, I 
might have made a try at raising a little “baby 
beef." What would be the matter with picking up 
a few good big bull calves, such as go for bob veal, 
and making steers of them? My plan would be to 
start them early in the Spring, feeding them a little 
milk supplemented with gruel made from oil meal 
or some of the prepared calf foods. I would grow 
them as fast as 1 could, feeding them grain just as 
soon as they would eat it. I would winter them 
once, and give them the run of a good pasture the 
following Summer. I would raise some peas and 
oats and some corn to help out the pasture in the 
early Fall, and then sell them to the local butcher 
light off the pasture before snow came. I think 
ilmt I will try this in a small way next, season. 
I shall aim to make the farm horses a source 
of income aside from the work that they perform. 
I think that it has gotten to be too much of a habit 
with the average farmer to go out to the horse mar- 
bet and buy his team, for which he must now pay 
SjOO or $000, work them as long as they last, and 
then buy another. I now have four large mares, 
'hie of them has a colt at her side, and the others 
are bred to foal at different seasons during the jear. 
it is true that one must keep more horses around 
than he would if only geldings in their prime were 
used, but with plenty of land available at $30 per 
acre. I can't see why we can't raise horses cheaper 
than the Western farmer can. Besides, we will cut 
our the transportation charges and the rake-off of 
two or three middlemen. 
^e have a good little orchard of apple trees, of 
orer twenty varieties. Too many kinds to have 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
enough of any one kind to ship away, but a splendid 
variety for the home. It is seldom that the children 
cannot either go out into the orchard or down into 
the cellar and find a good eating apple. I think 
that the things that I have mentioned will keep us 
INSIDE ARRANGEMENT OF HOUSE. Fig. 308. 
going. In fact, I know they will, for we will con¬ 
form our expenses so that they will come within 
our income. j. grant morse. 
A MODERN POULTRY HOUSE. 
This picture shown at Fig. 311 represents a poul¬ 
try house after the design of Mr. A. L. Clark of the 
New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station at 
FEED BOX OPEN. Fig. 300. 
New Brunswick, with some additions of my own. 
It is 20 feet square, eight feet at highest point. 5 y 2 
feet at the rear and 3% feet in front The founda¬ 
tion is sunk into the ground about IS inches and all 
cemented tight so that it is rat-proof. It took about 
20 loads of gravel to fill in after the foundation was 
made. The sills are 4x4-incli stuff, also the corner 
DOOR TO FEED BOX CLOSED. Fig. 310. 
posts: the plates, rafters, studs, etc., are 2x4. The 
six windows in front are common cellar windows, 
three 6x8-inch glass. These are hung in the center 
at each end. with a screw that passes loosely 
through the frame, and is screwed into the sash. 
These windows can be tilted at any angle or tightly 
closed; and as they are double glass, there is very 
FRONT VIEW OF HOUSE. Fig. 311. 
little radiation of heat on cold nights. The parti¬ 
tion runs down, right under these windows, to 
within 213 feet of the ground: practically making a 
coop within a coop, hut it has a wide door—four 
feet wide—in the middle, which is only closed on 
cold nights. From the rear wall to the partition 
is 8% feet; from the partition to the front 11 y 2 
feet. The three roosts 2x4-incli by 19 feet extend 
clear across the back end, and a wide board nailed 
to the roost support keeps the droppings from being 
scratched forward into the litter. The row of rests 
is on a platform attached to the partition and they 
are entered by a passage next the partition. A 
slanting cover over nests and passage partly darkens 
the nests, giving the concealed look which hens 
like. The part of the cover over the nests is hinged 
so that it raises and gives easy access to the eggs. 
In the front part is set firmly into the ground a 
hard-wood post six inches in diameter to chop 
things on, and I keep a sharp ax hung on the par¬ 
tition which is used every day to chop meat, bones, 
cold potatoes, fish heads and grass, when it is too 
long. This post is simply indispensable, when you 
have once used it. A platform 2x3 feet, on legs a 
foot high, has a hole in the center into which the 
14-quart water pail sets. The hens cannot scratch 
litter into it. or upset it if nearly empty. 
Two feed boxes are built into the house just for¬ 
ward of the partition, six feet long, two feet wide, 
three feet high, with two or three partitions in it 
to keep different kinds of feed. The box on one 
side of the house is for ground feed, bran, cornmeal, 
middlings and beef scrap. The box on the other 
side of the house contains wheat, oats, cracked corn, 
barley. These boxes when filled contain enough feed 
to last 100 hens two months. These boxes are filled 
from the outside. A door six feet long, 2% feet 
wide, is hinged at the bottom so that it will fall 
outward, and being supported by two swinging 
braces, the door forms a platform the height of the 
wagon. The grain bags are rolled off the wagon 
onto this platform and emptied into the bins with¬ 
out any lifting to speak of. A woman or 12-year- 
old boy can handle the grain easily. 
To prevent rain from driving in through the joints 
of the matched siding there is a piece of roofing 
paper tacked on the side. On the inside the bins 
are covered with a slanting roof, the lower half of 
which raises to give access to the grain. On the 
east side a wide board is nailed to the feed box. and 
extends to the front of the house, dividing off a 
space 5%x2 feet for a dusting box, two windows 
letting the sun shine in. From the feed box on the 
other side of the house, a platform extends to the 
front, and on this platform, high enough so no litter 
can be scratched into it. is the dry mash box. This 
is accessible at all times. An automatic feeder sup¬ 
plies the dry grain when I am going to be away. 
There is but very little labor required in a house 
like this. A pail of fresh water every day is the 
only lifting required. All the feed is in the house. 
There is no droppings board to be cleaned off. A 
white clover sod near the house is clipped with a 
lawn mower and a pailful of clippings put in the 
house every day. The windows control the ventila¬ 
tion. The front is open all the year: there are no 
curtains. There is no outside run. Only one hen 
has died in eight months. Since February there 
have been but two days when they laid so few as 
•>0 per cent. The range is 60 to 80 per cent average 
now—June 25—63 per cent. The roof and sides 
are made of matched pine six inches wide planed 
both sides. It took just 1,000 feet, cost $26. Roof 
boards are put on with the pitch of the roof, not 
crosswise. With three rains before the roofing pa¬ 
per was put on it did not leak a drop. Put on cross¬ 
wise of the pitch, it would leak at every board. The 
dimension stuff required is: 
4 
pieces 
4x4 
in 
1 
4x4 
in. 
1 
a 
4x4 
in. 
4 
a 
2x4 
in. 
4 
a 
2x4 
in. 
5 
a 
2x4 
in. 
5 
a 
2x4 
in. 
1 
a 
2x3 
in. 
O 
o 
a 
2x4 
in. 
o 
o 
a 
2x4 
in. 
12 
ft 
2x3 
in. 
x 20 ft. for sills, 
x 10 ft. for 2 back corner posts, 
x 6 ft. for 2 front corner posts, 
x 20 ft. for plates and to connect 
middle posts, 
x S ft. for middle posts, 
x 10 ft. for back rafters, 
x 12 ft. for front rafters, 
x 20 ft. for under top windows, 
x 5 ft. for back posts, 
x 3 ft. for front posts, 
x 10 ft. for between rafters and for 
girders. 
This makes about 
which I can get here 
440 feet of dimension stuff 
at the mill for $22 per 1,000. 
This with three roosts 2x4 inches by 20 feet would 
cost about $10.36. roofing paper, $11; six cellar win¬ 
dows at 40 cents. $2.40; nails, about $2. brings the 
total cost for material to about $52, after the foun¬ 
dation is made. The cost of labor I could not tell, 
as I generally do that myself. 
The sketch. Fig. 308, shows the slots in which the 
2x4-incli roosts are held, and one end of the row of 
nests which extends from the door in the middle of 
the partition to the west side of the house. Fig. 
310 shows the door to the feed box closed: Fig. 309 
shows it open, ready to put in feed. Three feet of 
the front at each end is boarded up, and in Winter 
hinged doors close three feet more at each end, 
leaving eight feet of the front enclosed only with 
w i re - c.. a. COSGROVE. 
