1910 . 
THE RURAL NEW-VORKER 
390 
HENS LAYING “PIGEON EGGS,” 
Why is it that my Leghorns lay so 
many pigeon eggs? Is there a way of 
preventing it? My hens will be laying 
well, say, for a month or six weeks. All 
at once they will begin to lay pigeon eggs, 
little hard-shell eggs with no yolk in it. 
When they commence it means that roost 
will lay less from day to day. Last Win¬ 
ter it was the first time it happened. My 
hens get for breakfast a mash composed of 
brewers’ grains, beef scraps, corn and 
cob meal, and middlings. Noon, oats and 
dry bran or wheat; night, barley. The 
hens are healthy, for I haven't lost any 
out of 300. Their combs look well; they 
are lively, but at the same time will lay 
less and less. They have grit, oystershells 
and all the charcoal they want. When they 
are laying 40 to 50 per cent I don't see 
why I cannot keep them there. I have 
one flock of about 00 pullets that were 
laying about 40 and 50 per cent for gome 
time. Now they are down to about eight 
eggs. w. k. 
Selden, N. Y. 
Small eggs are a sign that the hen 
has laid her clutch and is going to rest. 
We always notice more or less of them 
just before they rest. A hen does not 
lay continuously, but lays a clutch, as it 
is called, and then expects to incubate as 
nature would have it, but by breeding 
we have got them so that with a short 
rest and good feed they start laying 
again soon, and with Leghorns rarely 
care much about sitting at all. These 
pullets are probably about the same age, 
and are resting together, and in a short 
time will be doing better than ever. I 
would advise a change in feed, not be¬ 
cause of the small eggs but for 
economy’s sake; feed some corn with the 
wheat and barley. Corn is one of the 
best as well as the cheapest feed we 
have, if not fed too heavily. 
F. Q. WHITE. 
FEEDING BROOM-CORN SEED. 
Not Advised for Horses. 
J. G., ’Newport, O .—Is broom corn seed 
good feed for cattle or horses? If 60 , 
would it be better to grind it alone or 
mixed with corn? I have fed to chickens. 
Ans.— In my early days my father was 
a raiser of broom corn and a maker 
of brooms, and as an auxiliary to the 
plant I was a sort of right hand man in 
the operations of planting, cultivating, 
binding, cutting, drying and combing 
the product of acres of this necessary 
and much-used commodity of trade. I 
have spent sleepless nights from the 
itching caused by the penetrating dust 
that escaped from the agitation produced 
from the skillful manipulation in the re¬ 
moval of the seed from the thread-like 
stems that protruded from the main 
stalk. The memory is a lasting one that 
outlives other less tormenting influences 
that sometimes caused my boyhood some 
sorrow. The fact of dust adhering to 
the small balls of seed made it an unfit 
food for our horses, and we at all times 
keep it away from them, and would still 
do so at this time were we raising it 
on the farm. As a feed for cattle or 
sheep we utilized it as a part of their 
ration. For the cattle the seed was run 1 
through the fanning mill to clear it of 
straws and dust, then mixed with two 
bushels of shelled corn, one of oats and 
one of the broom corn seed, and the mix- i 
ture ground together, on old-fashioned 
burrs, and ground fine, especially for 
cows. For cows at this date I think it 
would be advisable to add one-fourth by 
weight of some high-class by-product 
well up in percentage of protein. For 
our sheep we used one bushel shelled 
corn, one of oats and one-half bushel of 
broom-corn seed fed whole or unground. 
While we knew of nothing about the 
analyses of broom corn at that time, we 
found that we got value out of the 
broom-corn seed raised on the farm. For 
hens they consumed the seed about the 
same as they did oats, but would not 
take it as long as there was corn or 
wheat by them. I think what they did 
consume was beneficial to them. I am 
presuming that its feeding value would 
fall some below that of Kaffir corn or 
sorghum. When broom corn is being 
raised it would be unwise to allow the 
seed to waste, and it should be turned 
to some feeding purpose and some cash 
value got out of it. geo. e. scott. 
Jefferson Co., O. 
ALFALFA WITHOUT “INOCULATION.” 
In the southern part of Germany, with 
Winters as severe as those of the New 
England States, everybody grew at my 
time and grows to-day most successfully 
Alfalfa (Lucerne, as called there), and no 
one ever heard anything about inocula¬ 
tion, though I think their ignorance as to 
nitro-culture is the cause of their great 
success with Lucerne as well as with 
Esparsctte, another great fodder plant, 
which we cannot raise successfully here. 
The soil in the part above referred to was 
calcareous, very stony, but these stones 
would freeze during Winter, fall to dust 
during the first few warm Spring days, 
and without any question provided the most 
necessary plant food for the Alfalfa. I well 
remember an evening in the Fall of 1864, 
when my father told the driver of a team 
who brought the third load of potatoes from 
a piece of land about the size of an acre, 
that he had potatoes on the same land for 
16 consecutive years without ever putting 
one ounce of manure or any other fertilizer 
there, and the smallest harvest had been 
218 bushels. On that occasion he showed 
me a piece of stone (marl) and marking it 
with a chisel, laid it in a place where it 
was sure of not being disturbed. The second 
Sunday of the following March—a beautiful 
warm Spring day—he took me with him, 
and coming to the field in question asked 
me to get the marked stone; I easily found 
the place and found the stone as, a small 
heap of powder, the chisel-mark showing 
distinctly. He showed me many other 
stones throughout the field in the same state 
of decomposition, always in fine powder, 
though many had a solid pit, the frost evi¬ 
dently not having penetrated deep enough. 
This, he said, is our most valuable fer¬ 
tilizer, supplied and donated to us by the 
Creator. We never had any beetles, nor 
diseased tubers. c. s. 
Massachusetts. 
The Simplest, Strongest 
And Most Convincing of 
Cream Separator 
A rgument s 
We cannot believe that there is 
a sensible man living’ who would 
put his own money into the 
purchase of any other than a 
HE LAVAL cream separator, for 
his own use, if he would but first 
avail of the opportunity open to 
everyone to SEE and TRY an 
improved DE LAVAL machine 
before buying any other. 
It is hardly possible to say 
more than this. It is hardly 
possible to put the simple 
truth in plainer words. It 
would hardly seem possible 
to say it more convincingly. 
The TRIAL of a DE LAVAL 
machine is free to every respon¬ 
sible man thinking of buying a 
cream separator. We have agents 
in every locality for this purpose. 
If you don’t know the agent in 
your neighborhood send to us for 
his name and address and it will 
be a pleasure to give your inquiry 
prompt and courteous attention. 
The De Laval Separator Go. 
168-167 BROADWAY 
NEW YORK 
42 I. MADISON 6T. 
CHICAGO 
DRUMM A SACRAMENTO STS 
SAN FRANCISCO 
178-177 WILLIAM ST. 
MONTREAL 
14 A 16 PRINCESS ST. 
WINNIPEG 
1010 WESTERN AVS. 
SEATTLE 
Why Made-to-Order 
Paint is Desirable* 
HAT are the advantages which the 
property-owner gains by using pure 
white lead and linseed oil paint mixed 
especially for his own work at the 
time of painting? 
•I First, he is sure that his paint is 
made of good materials. Paint to wear 
should be made of pure white lead and 
pure linseed oil. Many paints have been found by various 
State chemists to contain water and fish oil or kerosene 
instead of linseed oil, and chalk, barytes and other substitutes 
instead of white lead. The property-owner can protect him¬ 
self against these impositions if his paint is made to order. 
Second, by making it to order the property-owner can 
he sure his paint fits the work it is expected to perform. 
Every painter knows he must mix his paint differently 
for wood which is porous and wood which is dense; wood 
which is dry and wood which is sappy. What chance 
has a paint made for one condition to wear on a surface 
of entirely different nature? 
*1 See that your painting is done with pure white lead bear¬ 
ing the “Dutch Boy Painter” trade-mark, mixed especially 
for your work with pure linseed oil. The “Dutch Boy” 
guaranty costs nothing, yet is real paint insurance. 
Send for our “Dutch Boy Paint Adviser No. 8’ for 
valuable pointers on paint, including latest decorative ideas. 
Our Pure White Lead (“Dutch Boy Painter” trade mark) is now packed in steel 
kegs, dark gun-metal finish, instead of in oak kegs as heretofore. Ask your dealer. 
NATIONAL LEAD COMPANY 
An office in each of the following cilies: 
New York Boston Buffalo Cincinnati Cleveland Chicago St. Louis 
(John T. Lewis & Bros. Co., Philadelphia) 
(National Lead & Oil Company, Pittsburgh) 
FRANK MILLER’S 
SAVE 
YOUR 
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BY THE USE OF 
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HARNESS OIL 
HARNESS DRESSING 
Occasionally a dealer may try to substitute some¬ 
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will recommend the old reliable Frank Miller s. 
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We want you to have a copy of this wonderfully in¬ 
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Write us to-day, mentioning this paper, and en¬ 
close 6 cents in postage, to cover mailing expense, 
and we’ll promptly mail you a copy of ‘‘BLACK 
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Don’t delay. Supply limited. 
THE FRANK MILLER CO. 
ESTABLISHED 1836 
349-351 West 26th St., New York City 
TRANK MILLEB'S 
HARNESS DRESSING 
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THE JEWEL CARRIAGE GO. 
CINCINNATI, OHIO. 
Rfl Aproc - ® ev ® n ' room house: barn 32x40: fruit. 
jJU Mill Go Main road; location good. $1,500: 
$60(1 cash; balance yearly. HALL'S FARM 
AGENCY, Owego, Tioga County, N. Y. 
6 
00D FARMS— All sizes, reasonable prices: nearly 
all parts of New York State. Catalog free. 
NORTHERN REALTY CO.. Syracuse, N. Y. 
VIRGINIA—THE LANDS OF FORTUNE, 
The famous Piedmont Section. Finest fruit lands 
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Free Booklet 0. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. LYNCHBURG, VA. 
WESTERN CANADA 
Governor Deneen.of Illinois, Says About It; 
Governor Deneen, of Illinois, owns a section 1 
land in Saskatchewan, Canada. He 
has said in an interview: 
* 4 A s an American I am delighted 
to see the remarkable progress of 
Western Canada. Our people are 
flocking across the boundary in 
thousands, and I have not yet met 
one who admitted he had made a 
mistake. They are all doing well. 
There is scarcely a community in 
the Middle or Western States that 
has not a representative in Mani¬ 
toba, Saskatchewan or Alberta.' 9 
125 MillionBushelsof Wheat in1909 
Western Canada field crops for 1909 will 
easily brinsr $170,000,000.00 in cash. 
Free Homesteads of 160 acres, 
and pre-emption of 160 acres at 
$3.00 an acre. Hallway and Land Com¬ 
panies have land for sale at reasonable prices. 
Many farmers have paid for their 
land on t of the proceeds of one crop. 
Splendid cliinate, good schools, 
excellent railway accommodation, 
low freight rates, wood, water and 
lumber easily obtainable. 
For pamphlet “Last Best West,” particulars 
as to suitable location and low settlers’ rate, 
apply to Sup't of Immigration, Ottawa, Can., 
or to the Canadian Government Agent. (5) 
J. 0. Duncan. Canadian Government 
Agent, Room 30, Syracuse Bank Build¬ 
ing, Syracuse. N. Y. 
