Vol. LXXII. No. 4222. 
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 27, 1913. 
WEEKLY $1.00 PER YEAR. 
THE RHODE ISLAND RED FOWL. 
The Best General-purpose Breed. 
Nearly a year lias elapsed since the close of the 
National Egg-laying Contests at Storrs, Conn., and 
Mountain Grove, Mo., at which the Reds scored a 
clean victory over every breed that had enough pens 
entered to show a fair average, and yet the Red 
breeders have failed to make it generally known. 
Leghorns have been heralded far and near as the 
one great “egg-laying machine,” till it is considered 
a part of the poultry catechism. To lie orthodox is 
easy, to protest generally causes a disturbance; 
nevertheless I shall 
Not only did the Reds lay more eggs than any 
other leading breed, but they laid them at a time 
of year when they brought more money, and. as 
shown by Director Quisenberry, they brought more 
money after deducting for the slight difference in 
food eaten by the smaller but more nervous and 
active breeds. 
I have no protest, understand, against anyone's 
raising Leghorns or any other breed that his pecu¬ 
liar circumstances or situation makes best. This is 
a big country and circumstances alter cases. But it 
does seem to me that some one of the friends of 
The It. N.-Y. ought to draw attention in its columns 
V: ;; • , 
ft ; • >. - X . ■ ■ 
have to object when I 
see The R. N.-Y. falling 
into line and comfort¬ 
ably repeating the 
aforesaid well-thumbed 
catechism. The R. N.-Y. 
is the one paper that 
makes me neglect my 
work, get to bed too 
late or stop to rest on 
my way home from the 
postoffice, and I would 
much rather see The 
R. N.-Y. protest if right 
than be orthodox. It 
is the one paper that 
makes its readers sit up 
and take notice. 
Now what were the 
facts as to the relative 
egg-laying merits of the 
two leading breeds of 
fowls, Leghorns and R. 
I. Reds, at those two 
first national contests? 
Below are the official 
figures as reported in 
the poultry press. 
There are the facts, 
f e 11 o w farmers, and 
there is no g e 11 i n g 
around them. Whether 
the Reds will continue 
to outlay the Leghorns 
and all other breeds in 
future contests depends 
entirely on w li e t li e r 
Leghorns are continued 
to be bred for size 
(stamina) and laying, 
and the Reds inbred 
and line bred for color 
of beaks and shape of 
toenails (and a few in¬ 
termediate points) or not. They won this 
through the great vigor still inherent from 
: v j 
' X . ,v 
>* 
nothing but two-foot poultry wire on a six to 18-inch 
even up board (you can step over it most anywhere), 
yet I have never seen but one of them go over it. 
She happened to be on the wrong side of the gar¬ 
den when it came night, and she was bent on going 
home to roost if she had to go cross lots; and she 
did. Of course tlie Asiatics will stay put, too, pro¬ 
vided you put them in a circle around the kitchen 
door, but they don't fit the general farmer much 
better than the Mediterraneans. The Reds and 
Rocks are the general farmer’s fowl, and of the two 
the Reds are much the better layers, and especially 
the second and third years, thus saving the trouble 
_ of renewing your flock 
each year with pullets. 
The Rural being the 
most influential general 
farm paper published, 
seems to me ought to 
warn its general farm¬ 
ers at least,, against 
rushing into Leghorns 
just because the trained 
laying athletes from 
Europe are doing such 
great laying stunts at 
our contests. And, 
breeders of the Red, 
neither business nor a 
fair heart was ever won 
by bashful ness. Let’s 
claim the blue while we 
may. and by boldly out- 
crossing with good 
strains secure the vigor 
required to develop the 
eggs that heredity has 
thus given our stock. 
CIIAS. T. SWEET. 
Maryland. 
RHODE ISLAND RED 
victory 
the out 
crossing of those Yankee farmers down East. They 
are the ones who made “the great American dung¬ 
hill,” as the fanciers first dubbed them. The fan¬ 
ciers, if let alone, are likely to make a pretty bunch 
Leghorns (all varieties)_ 
Leghorns (8. C. White).. . . 
Leghorns (American-bred).. 
11. I. Ileds (Both Combs) . . 
of feathers fit only for the show 
> mi, brother farmers, who have Reds, preserve the 
vigor of this best farm fowl that was ever intro¬ 
duced by continuing the practice of those Yankee 
Lirmers, by “swapping roosters” or by buying high- 
grade pedigreed males from the bred-to-lay specialists. 
Birds 
Average 
titered 
Eggs laid 
per hen 
310 
45,454 
146.6 
240 
37,223 
155.1 
235 
36.241 
154.2 
150 
23,356 
loo. t 
room. I appeal to 
IIEN, 254 EGGS IN ONE YEAR. CHAMPION PERFORMER AT Tilt 
POULTRY CONTEST. Fig. 402. 
to the fact that mere egg laying is not the only thing 
to be considered on a general farm. Eggs, meat and 
docility are the general farmer's demands in a fowl 
to which nine out of 10 would add good sitters and 
mothers. The Leghorn is probably all right for the 
great “egg factories" close to large cities, where 
squab broilers are in demand, but a general farmer 
with a garden does not need a fowl that will with 
wings and claws go right up the side of a 10-foot 
fence to go where it pleases and do what it pleases, 
nor does he, nor his help with their country appe¬ 
tites get as much satisfaction from picking the little 
bones of a 30 cents a pound cockerel as of a bird 
that profitably grew to large size in a short time. 
As to docility, as everybody knows, the Reds “stay 
put, but I wish to add my evidence. My garden is 
protected from a flock of several hundred Reds bv 
A NURSERY OF 
EVERGREENS. 
I wish to start a small 
nursery of evergreens, 
such as pine, spruce and 
fir. Will you tell me at 
what time to gather the 
seed and about the plant¬ 
ing and care to be taken. 
How fast will they grow? 
Any other information 
concerning this subject 
will be welcome. 
Detroit, Me. h. w. p. 
Most of these conifers 
ripen their seeds from 
September to Novem¬ 
ber. and they are usu¬ 
ally gathered either just 
before or soon after 
ripening. The pines, however, take two years to 
mature their cones. The White pine seed ripens the 
first half of September, and the seeds are shed at 
once, the empty cones remaining on the trees. Fir 
cones must be gathered before fully ripe as they 
fall apart and lose seed as soon as ripened. Some 
of the pines keep their cones closed for years, and in 
collecting for commercial use heat is applied to 
make them open. This has to be done carefully 
to avoid injuring the seed. The seed of firs and 
larch is rather low in germinating power, and soon 
loses viability; spruce and pine has more vitality, 
and much of it will germinate from three to five 
years after ripening, though it has not the full 
viability of fresh seed. It is advised to keep the 
seeds in tight boxes, airtight if possible, in a dry 
cool garret. It is also thought well to give the 
