630 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 4, 
Hope Farm Notes 
THE HOPE FARM SCRUBS. 
As Eaters. —There lias been some con¬ 
troversy about the food which a ben will 
consume and the cost of feeding her. 
The Hope Farm plan for gathering sta¬ 
tistics is to go right to your own prop¬ 
erty or companion when you want in¬ 
formation. 
“7/e is of age—ask him!” 
I shall keep on repeating that text 
through the year, for it is the founda¬ 
tion of investigation and thought develop¬ 
ment. Thus we will ask the 10 scrub or 
“cull” hens in the laying contest at 
Storrs. I confess that we do not weigh 
and measure the food given to our hens 
at Hope Farm, hut at this contest the 
grain and mash are weighed down to 
the fraction of an ounce. Prof. Kirk¬ 
patrick sends me the following state¬ 
ment of what the Hope Farm scrubs 
were guilty of during the first four 
months of the trial. 
Statement of food consumed by pen 
No. 78: 
MASH 
GRAIN 
Week Beginning 
LBS. 
LBS. 
November 1 . 
.. 5.0 
6-6 
N ovent ber 8 . 
.. 5.2 
5.0 
November 15 .. .. 
.. 5.1 
5.0 
November 22 . . . . 
9.6 
November 29 . . . . 
.. 4.4 
7.2 
23.1 
33.4 
December 6 . 
.. 4.5 
4.0 
December 13 . . .. 
6.0 
December 20 . . . . 
. . 6.0 
6.1 
December 27 .. .. 
.. 4.6 
6.9 
16.8 
23.0 
January 3 ...... 
.. 4.0 
7.1 
January 10 . 
.. 1.3 
14.0 
January 17 . 
.. 2.5 
9.4 
January 24 . 
.. 4.0 
9.6 
January 31 . 
. . 12.0 
7.3 
23.S 
47.4 
February 7 . 
.. 4.4 
12.0 
February 14 .... 
. . 4.0 
14.0 
February 21 _ 
. . 4.0 
16.2 
February 28 - 
. . 4.0 
12.0 
16.4 
54.2 
Total . 
. ..80.1 
158.0 
Figuring It. —This makes a total of 
238.1 pounds of mash and grain. In ad¬ 
dition to this these birds consumed char¬ 
coal, grit, shells and green food, which 
could not well be accurately measured. 
In carload lots the mash cost $31.75 per 
ton—the mixed grain $35. I think $1.75 
per 100 pounds for the mash and $2 for 
the grain would be a fair price. Thus 
those scrubs consumed $1.12 worth 
of mash and $3.16 worth of grain, or 
$4.2S in all during 110 days. That 
means 3.6 cents per day for 10 hens, or a 
little over one-third of a cent per day 
for one hen. Figured in another way 
each hen averaged a little over one ounce 
of mash and 2.12 ounces of grain per 
day, with a total yearly cost of $1.00 
per year for grain and mash. I will 
assume that these hungry scrubs con¬ 
sumed more than the well-bred, blooded 
birds—though I have no other figures 
now. As it stands, my scrubs were guilty 
of larceny during these first four months. 
Robber Hens. —Look right at their 
record. They consumed $4.28 cents 
worth of feed and laid 61 eggs during 
these 119 days. That means a food cost 
of sov< n cents per egg. I figure that 16 
of those eggs would have sold at four 
cents each, and 45 at three cents, or 
$1.99 in all. Thus these scrubs owed 
$2.29 on their feed bill on March 1. I 
can go through the 790 purebreds in this 
contest and find about 200 that make 
a worse showing than this, but the laugh 
is now on my scrubs. Now gentlemen, 
have a fine hearty laugh at the scrubs, 
and then listen to this. We are told that 
the thing to dp when you find a robber 
hen or cow is to kill her at once. Make 
pie of her! Instead of doing that I will, 
even now, back these scrubs to pay a 
profit on their feed before the contest is 
over! If some of you laughers think you 
are “sports” here is your opportunity. 
What It Means. —The odds may 
seem to be against these scrubs. They 
are for the most part inferior in breed¬ 
ing. and have made a bad start. The 
season for high-priced eggs is about over, 
while the feed will continue to be expen¬ 
sive. The instinct and breeding of the 
scrub will prompt her to lay a few eggs 
and then quit. Several of them may die 
with a large feed bill unpaid. Yet 
I will take these odds and hack them to 
pay a profit over the cost of feed before 
the contest ends on November 1. I will 
also back two of them to give at least 
one dollar profit over the cost of their 
food. I never bet on a horse race or a 
prize fight or an election or any other 
“chance game.” but I do not consider 
this as a bet. Frankly, I would like .to 
help a very worthy school for young col¬ 
ored people at the South. It seems to 
me that a chicken contest would be a 
very appropriate thing for collecting 
funds for educating colored boys and 
girls. If anyone wants to help the cause 
of education and the poultry business to¬ 
gether over this question of the ability 
of my scrubs to pay their board bill, I 
think they can he accommodated. 
THE MOST ECONOMICAL 
STUMP REMOVER IS 
(§OP0ND 
♦ RED CROSS* DYNAMITE 
Moke Snow. —The weather is no topic 
for consideration in Northern New Jer¬ 
sey. There was another snowstorm on 
Mawli 22, not enough to cover the bare 
spots on .the road, but quite enough to 
make outdoor work a nuisance. A year 
ago at this time we could plow and dig 
strawberry plants. This year there will 
be little chance for doing either for sev¬ 
eral weeks. The manure can be hauled 
out, trees trimmed and spraying started. 
The Summer’s fuel has been cut and 
piled in the shed, and now we wait for 
the snow to ge.t off the berry fields. 
There is a trade in Marshall plants, and 
some customers to the south of us can¬ 
not understand why we do not dig and 
ship. Could they come and see the snow¬ 
drifts over these plants they would be¬ 
lieve us. We are planning to set out over 
an acre of our own this year, and they 
should go in early. This planting will 
be on land which had mangels last year. 
It was a tough old sod, full of white 
grubs two years ago. Young hogs worked 
it over. It was plowed in the Spring and 
seeded to oats and peas. When these 
were cut, cabbage followed with rye 
seeded in September. This rye was 
plowed under last Spring and mangels 
were planted. With all this thorough 
working the white grubs seem to be 
killed out. We shall give it a good coat 
of cornstalk manure, plow deeply and set 
Marshall plants two feet each way in 
hills. This will give us a crop of potted 
plants and a crop of fruit next year. 
Humus. —This question of cover crops 
and chemicals seem to me to get down to 
the foundation of our Eastern farming. 
The greatest need of much of our oldest 
land is humus or vegetable matter. I 
will not quarrel with the statement that 
manure makes the best humus, hut when 
you can sell hay and straw at $25 or 
more per ton such humus comes very 
high. Then again, consider the cost of 
hauling manure up such steep hills as 
we have. I gave up hauling manure 
away from the lower farm levels long 
ago. Cover crops plowed in and limed do 
the business. Yet there are many who 
seem to dislike the thought that soil can 
be maiutained in fertility without ma¬ 
nure. I do not know why they should 
think so, but that seems to be their feel¬ 
ing. The little hoys and I intend to start 
an experiment this year at making a 
fair soil out of coal ashes, if we can. We 
intend to take sifted coal ashes for a 
start and use euough lime or chemicals 
to get the first crop going. This will be 
turnips or radishes. They will be spaded 
under when fully grown and buckwheat 
and rape seeded. This will be spaded 
under in September and rye and vetch 
seeded. We shall use enough chemicals 
to start these crops well and spade them 
under as they grow large enough. We 
expect, with this treatment, to see the 
ashc.s slowly change to “soil,” taking on 
color and character, ability to hold 
moisture and productive power. The 
great problem with many of our Eastern 
soils is how to stuff them with vegetable 
matter at a cost within reach of the 
average purse. Can we do it with coal 
ashes and not use manure? 
Roots. —We have learned that one of 
the most profitable side crops we can 
grow is mangels. Our cows had no 
roughage all Winter except cornstalks 
and mangels, and they kept up their 
flow of inilk until the loots were all 
eaten up. Then the cows fell away. 
These roots are fine for hogs and for 
hens or horses—in fact on a farm like 
ours, where the roughage is nearly ail a 
waste product, roots of some sort are 
nearly indispensable. Of course yellow 
turnips can be grown as a second crop 
following peas or even grass, but they 
are not equal to the mangels for feeding 
value. n. w. c. 
WHY? 
BECAUSE 
1. Any stump can be gotten out with it, no matter how large. 
2. It leaves the soil behind. No long, hard work cleaning 
roots of dirt. 
3. It delivers stump and roots split into pieces small enough 
to handle. 
4. It clears an acre of stumps much quicker than by any 
. other method. 
5. If help is scarce you can do it alone. 
6. The blasts mellow the subsoil, making plowing easy, and 
crops extra large. 
7. No machinery or horses needed. 
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