44 
THE KURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 10, 
Hope Farm Notes 
Tite Hen Question. —My scrub pens 
are still at the poultry contest, apparent¬ 
ly thinking things over. They do not 
seem to be doing much of anything else 
thus far. Already a number of people 
are saying: “I told you so!” and having 
a good laugh at the scrubs. Just what 
they “told” I do not know. As for laugh¬ 
ing, the last laugh is usually happiest, 
and sometimes he who does not laugh at 
all—but merely smiles—has the best look- 
in at the end. The Hope Farm man has 
started near the end of many a proces¬ 
sion before now. The hearse may start 
off in front while the healthiest mourners 
may be far back. We are good-natured, 
whether we occupy head, tail, or middle 
of the race. 
At this time my scrubs are at the tail, 
with some good companions up to Dec. 
19. Seven pens out of 82 had not laid 
a single egg! These included two pens 
of White Plymouth Rocks, one of Buff 
Wyandottes, one It. I. Reds, one of White 
Laced Cornish, one of Silver Ccmpines 
and the Hope Farm scrubs! In addition 
five pens had laid only six or less. Thus 
■we have some blue-blooded company! In 
all 14 pens, or 17 per cent, have laid only 
one dozen or less. During the week end¬ 
ing Dec. 19, 15 pens never laid an egg. 
Out of a total of 820 hens, as I figure it, 
about 350 still stand at the zero mark 
with my scrubs! In the week I speak of 
these 820 hens laid 1,004 eggs out of a 
possible 5,740. During this week 546 
of the 820 hens never laid an egg! Why 
are the 10 Hope Farm scrubs more 
laughable than the 536 others? In only 
two of the pens did each of the 10 hens 
lay one egg or more. There were 79 
hens which each laid five eggs, 12 that 
laid six eggs and two laid seven eggs, ox- 
one each day of the week. Why not 
laugh at these petted and pampered blue 
bloods? They are “worth” 10 times as 
much as my scrubs, but they keep no 
one in omelette or custard yet! 
At the end of the seventh week GS of 
the birds were moulting, including two 
of our own scrubs. Last week I asked 
what these tough rangers would do with 
their food when fed all they wanted for n 
balanced ration. I presume these two 
scrubs have answered: “We found it too 
rich for our young blood, and the feathers 
had to go!” Over 30 yeai-s ago, out on 
the plains, I saw a man come to town 
to do jury duty. He was a dry-land 
farmer, times were hard and about all 
they could got that Summer was sorghum 
molasses and pancakes. This man told 
what great things he would do on the 
jury as compared with a lot of “dudes” 
from town. He boarded at the hotel 
where there was a full “balanced ration” 
of steak, ham and eggs, white bread and 
similar food befoi-q him ! Did he do great 
things? After a week he went to the 
judge and begged to be excused that he 
might go home to simple fare. Those 
“dudes” did well on the “balanced ra¬ 
tion,” but it was too rich for this dry¬ 
land farmer. Still I notice that in this 
hen contest seven out of 10 in two pens 
of White Leghorns are moulting, six out 
of another, and six out of a pen of Reds. 
One man who wants to give us a little 
New Year’s cheer writes: 
Why don’t you start something with 
your pen at Storrs? Never mind, cheer 
up; they will have to lay in the Spring 
anyway. 
Cheer Up.—W hy, we never got down! 
Thus far those hens, have kept light up 
to expectations—which was nothing. 
They will start all in good time and then 
several of them will be heard from. 
There is another hen contest on at 
Thorndale, Pa., and some remarkable 
things are being developed. A number 
of hens have laid an egg each day dur¬ 
ing November, December and January, as 
shown by past poultry contests. In one 
case a hen laid 60 eggs in 61 days. Mr. 
Pollard, who has charge of this Thorn- 
dale contest, says that four or live birds 
this year are laying practically every 
day. As egg producers and breeders to 
seiid along this Fall laying habit to their 
descendants such birds are worth 10 
times as much as Spring layers. Mr. 
Pollard makes this point: 
Each year further establishes the fact 
that more early Fall layers must be pro¬ 
duced ; 90% of the cold storage eggs of 
this country are laid in March and April; 
the season of high prices is October, No¬ 
vember and December. With the great 
object lessons taught the general poul¬ 
try breeder and egg farmer through these 
egg laying contests an adjustment of egg 
production will, in the very near future, 
be made. Hatching in January and Feb¬ 
ruary for early Fall layers, starting the 
Fall moult about the time prices begin to 
drop and balancing the output on a given 
plant by additional layers, to begin yield¬ 
ing in November, will be the solution to 
the problem of increasing the general 
average price the year round. 
That is only one of the things these 
poultry contests ax-e developing. I can¬ 
not say that my scrubs have contributed 
much toward a strain of Fall layers, but 
the game is young yet. 
In seeding down I always use with 
Timothy Red clover and Red-top. _ Is it 
advisable to use a little Alfalfa in the 
mixture? W. B. K. 
Bath, Me. 
I think this plan a good one, and ex¬ 
pect to follow it hereafter. It is not the 
nature of Alfalfa to do its. best in a 
mixed collection of seeds, but it will make 
some growth and help fit the soil later 
for a full Alfalfa seeding. We always 
use Alsike clover with the Red. Parts 
of our farm are very sour. When we 
sow Red clover alone there is usually a. 
thin seeding. The Alsike does better, and 
thickens out the stand. 
Will the Hope Farm man print a list 
of grapes that in his opinion would be 
suitable for planting a small vineyard in 
this part of Pennsylvania? We arc about 
100 miles south of Lake Erie. r. L. c. 
In this case I must play the part of 
horticultural moon and offer some reflect¬ 
ed light. I am not much of a grape grower 
though this is a natural grape section. 
When I do not know I go to some one 
who does and reflect some of his wisdom. 
This is what an expert tells me: 
“It seems necessary so far away froja 
the influences of large bodies of water 
that the early maturing sorts be planted. 
I would therefore recommend Wincliell, 
an early white grape. Early Daisy, 
black, early; Berckmans, red mid-sea¬ 
son ; Bindley, faii-ly early, red and pos¬ 
sibly Hartford, black, fairly early. I 
should further suggest that these be cov¬ 
ered by laying down in the Fall, as I do 
not know how sevex-e the Winters may 
be.” 
I just bought one of the old run-down 
farms, 60 acres. It has not been plowed 
for about eight years. It is all gone to 
running blackberries. It has been a good 
farm, but all run down; the building are 
in good shape. A creek runs through the 
barn. I wish to raise pigs and chickens. 
I am going to pasture the pigs on rye and 
oats as soon as I can get it in. IN hat 
do you think about it? J. H. B. 
New York. 
You can turn such fields into hog 
pasture, but it will take some time and 
hard work to get them going. I presume 
from what you say that these fields were 
not Fall-plowed. In the Spring start as 
early as possible to break them up. A 
disk or cutaway harrow will help in this 
by cutting off the roots of the vines. Put 
in oats and Canada peas first. Plow or 
chop under the peas and seed the oats on 
top of the furrows. Then sow an acre or 
two of Dwarf Essex rape with turnip 
seed mixed with it. Then seed a couple 
of acres of Early Amber cane or sor¬ 
ghum and follow with fodder corn. This 
will make a succession of pastures for the 
hogs, and as they eat it down the soil 
will improve. You will have to use some 
fertilizer to begin with, as these crops 
will not come to much on poor land alone, 
but if you can get them going and turn 
the hogs from one to another and keep 
some crop always coming on you will 
make pork and improve the farm. Wo 
have done the same thing here. There is 
no great profit in it, but a good way to 
improve the soil and handle it without 
great labor. You are not crazy, but have 
hold of a good idea if you can develop 
it within your means. 
When it comes to the tax problem, 
doubtless, this State will “take the cake.” 
Ixx our country town the regular tax rate 
is 79 mills, or one mill less than 8 %. 
And this does not include “special” taxes, 
as street grading, paving, etc. One-half 
goes to pay interest on indebtedness. In 
Seattle this interest charge is over $5 
a year for every man, woman, and child 
inhabitant. Of course, it is claimed that 
the assessed valuation of the town and 
city property is very low. But the fact 
is that it is only a nominal one, as very 
little of it would sell at all even at such 
valuation. Fortunately people don't rec¬ 
ognize confiscation when it comes. Some 
of our neighbors are paying $10 per acre 
annual tax on their farms here, three ox- 
four miles from town. In another county 
in State they are paying as high as $12 
I was told. J. F. cass. 
Washington. 
This beats New Jersey or any other 
State I have heard from yet. We ought 
to know more about this, and I would like 
to have the items which make up this 
enoi-mous tax. 
What is the best way to handle the 
droppings and litter from henhouses so 
as to get the most benefit from them, 
whether to haul direct to the field to be 
cultivated next year, or to store under 
cover tJIl Spring? The dropping boards 
are cleaned twice a week, and the litter 
from the flooi*s once a month. I have 
heard that sawdust sprinkled on the 
boards and kainit sprinkled over the 
droppings each day would hold the nitro¬ 
gen until put on the crops. J. b. s. 
Glencarlyu, Ya. 
In such a case we should take out the 
litter once a month as you do and either 
spread it on level ground or put it around 
the fruit trees. In our own case the lat¬ 
ter would be the best use for the litter. 
We should keep the droppings separate-— 
sprinkling land plaster, sifted coal ashes 
or dry dust over them to dry them out. 
Keep them in a dry protected place and 
in Spring crush line and mix with chem¬ 
icals as you will find described latex- 
on. The plan of using sawdust and 
Kainit is often recommended, but -ve like 
the dry line mixture better. ii. w. c. 
about 15 % in win^ 
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