071 
WINTER BROILERS AND TRUCK. 
Part I. 
Eastern farmers are paying more attention to the 
long despised chicken every year. If ignorant city 
men and quack secret method fakers had not found 
it such an ideal business for them to exploit the 
poultry business would be a recognized profitable 
branch of farming. However, conditions at present 
point to a much more promising future, and among 
the products which offer profitable inducements to 
the ordinary farmer is the Winter broiler. These 
broilers are simply young chickens hatched in the 
Fall and early Winter and sold in the large mar¬ 
kets at a weight of from three-quarters of a pound 
TJHCE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
during very severe weather that may he kept shut 
in for a few days, but ample ventilation must be 
provided; and some arrangement made as quickly 
as possible to give them more room and a chance to 
got used to cold fresh air. On many ordinary farms 
a regular brooder house, costing from $300 to $500, 
will prove to be a good investment. It can be kept 
full from October to May, and besides turning out 
$2,000 worth of Winter broilers, will serve as an ex¬ 
cellent means of increasing the profits of the busi¬ 
ness in other ways. I mean that with such a brood¬ 
er house early Spring chickens can be grown to the 
very best advantage, and this means that the cock¬ 
erels will sell for a good price (because they are 
ready for market before the market is filled), and 
dressed chick. Many raisers of long experience hold 
to the belief that only by crossing two breeds or 
varieties can the best broilers be secured. Doubtless 
there is considerable foundation for this, but the 
same results perhaps can be secured by selecting 
only the most vigorous stock each year to furnish 
eggs for hatching. a. l. clark. ' 
REDEEMING PINE BARREN LAND. 
Ten years ago a New York State man began to 
experiment with the pine barrens of Michigan with 
a view to determining whether they could be con¬ 
verted into profitable agricultural lands or not, 
and if so, the cost. He purchased a thousand acres 
of this land within one mile of the city of Muskegon, 
FOUR PULLS ON A STUMP WHICH HAS BEEN SPLIT BY DYNAMITE. Fig. 308. 
to two pounds each. The prices received are high; 
they must he to make the business profitable, be¬ 
cause of the scarcity of fertile eggs at the proper 
time and the heavy mortality brooding chicks in cold 
weather incurs. In New York, where the greatest 
demand for these chickens occurs, the wholesale 
prices vary from 25 to 00 cents per pound. The 
past Winter, owing probably to the mild weather, 
the prices did not go above 50 cents, and were only 
quoted at that for a few weeks in March and Feb¬ 
ruary. 
EXPENSIVE EQUIPMENT UNNECESSARY.—In 
INTO, when this Winter broiler business had its great 
boom, the reason for its failure was the large out¬ 
lay for equipment and the low degree of efficiency 
which the brooding devices attained. These condi- 
tions are different now. With the advent of some 
d our modern methods of brooding, mortality can 
be kept as low in the Winter as in any season of the 
year. As for cost of equipment, it can be as low as 
$■> > or as high as $500, and be depended upon to pay 
vest in a short time. The raising of little chicks in 
large numbers during such unnatural seasons is an 
<nt that can only be acquired to perfection by ex- 
perienoe. Hence a start should always he made in 
a modest way. The Cornell gasoline brooder offers 
"lie of the most. economical equipments for this 
"°rk- It has been tried and improved upon until 
now it certainly is a very satisfactory method of 
mising chickens at any season of the year. For 
Winter use not over 100 or 150 chickens should be 
lait in a house. After they are a week old some out¬ 
door or additional indoor room must he given them. 
A canvas tent can he used, or an old shed. Of course 
the pullets will be ready to begin laying in October, 
and consequently make the most profitable of Win¬ 
ter layers. It has long been known that these early 
chicks are more vigorous than the ones hatched 
later, and vigor is the most important factor in the 
profits of any flock. 
THE BEST BREEDS.—The White Leghorn has 
suffered much on account of its small size and the 
early maturing characteristic of the cockerels. Be¬ 
cause of this fact many do not think of the Leg¬ 
horn as a typical broiler breed, though it really does 
include more qualities that go to make a nice small 
broiler than any of our other popular kinds. It ma¬ 
tures early, consequently even the little chicks at 
eight weeks of age have considerable flesh. They 
are yellow-skinned, and have clean yellow shanks, 
which give them a clean, attractive appearance in 
the market. As a breed their eggs are uniformly 
fertile at all seasons of the year, often averaging 00 
per cent, the year round. The eggs hatch as well as 
or better than other breeds, and the chicks are hardy 
and grow well. For squab and small broilers there 
is no better breed, though some growers prefer the 
White Wyandotte. For medium and large broilers 
no breed is superior to the White Wyandotte. At 
the two-pound weight the Leghorns have begun to 
mature, and their high combs cause them to he called 
‘ staggy" in the market. The Wyandotte, on the 
contrary, is just plumping up at this age, and yet its 
flesh is as tender as ever. The Plymouth Rocks are 
used considerably for large broilers also. If Barred 
Plymouth Rocks are raised for this purpose a light 
undercolor should be bred for, otherwise the dark 
pinfeathers will detract from the appearance of the 
t 
land which had been sold for taxes, and was con¬ 
sidered absolutely valueless, and many criticized 
him for paying $1.25 an acre for this stump land. 
He was also a manufacturer, and a business man, 
and he' put business principles to work. He pur¬ 
chased the largest sized steam traction engine to 
pull stumps, and by using dynamite to split them 
so they could be readily handled when pulled out 
he was able to pull the largest pine stump in two 
minutes, as will be seen by Fig. 30,8, which repre¬ 
sents the four pulls on this pine stump. After the 
stumps were pulled the holes were filled in and 
the land plowed to a depth of six inches. Then the 
sixteen-ton traction engine, followed by a twelve 
hundred pound engine disk, and a large roller, 
crushed the sod. and a quantity of wild growth such 
as ferns, willows, etc., into the soil, and made it fit 
for a crop of corn. As soon as the corn was har¬ 
vested this ground was again disked, and seeded to 
vetch and rye, which the next Spring was turned 
under to add humus to the soil, and followed by Soy 
beans, to be turned under in time to seed vetch, and 
rye. which were harvested for seed. 
By filling this soil full of humus, and by the use 
of wood ashes, or ground limestone, to sweeten it, 
this manufacturing farmer has produced some won¬ 
derful crops, and those who have scoffed at the 
possibility of these pine barrens ever becoming of 
any value need simply to visit this farm to exclaim: 
“I never thought it possible!” Many experiments 
have been conducted on this farm, rye standing 
seven feet four inches, thickly laden with Sand 
vetch, shows what can he done with the poorest 
soil on earth. l. p. h. 
LEADING PEN AT NAPA, CALIFORNIA, EGG-LAYING CONTEST. Fig. 309. 
