12G-4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 24, 
Hope Farm Notes 
H OPE FARM “HENS.”—Let us call 
them “lions,” out of consideration of 
the feelings of those who say they are 
not “scrubs.” I went up to Storrs on 
Oct. 10 to look over the contest and 
make arrangements for the “Favorite 
Hens.” My birds are there, happy and 
lively—though most of them are molting. 
Naturally they have tapered off on the 
egg yield, but it looks as if they would 
reach 1,300 eggs by November 1. Now 
I want to give their individual record 
up to Oct. 1 so that we may see that 
even “hens” as well as pure bloods may 
be drones or lazy members. 
THE IIOl’E FARM “HENS.” 
Record from Nov. 1, 1913 to Oct. 1, 1914. 
1 
2 
3 
4 
s 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
Nov. 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Dec. 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Jan. 
0 
f> 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
7 
0 
0 
Feb. ...... 
0 
10 
0 
(j 
1 
5 
0 
14 
9 
0 
Mar..'. 
10 
17 
(5 
14 
5 
12 
17 
17 
22 
15 
April. 
18 
23 
19 
14 
21 
21 
15 
17 
20 
20 
May. 
21 
22 
23 
21 
28 
25 
13 
19 
22 
19 
June. 
7 
19 
22 
19 
21 
19 
11 
18 
23 
9 
July . 
18 
21 
20 
18 
12 
15 
4 
10 
25 
22 
A.ug. 
13 
20 
17 
8 
10 
10 
15 
20 
20 
21 
Sept. 
4 
4 
0 
0 
12 
20 
4 
10 
22 
8 
Total. 
91 
142 
107 100 
110 
127 
79 
138 
169 
114 
There were enough eggs laid outside 
the nest to make a total of 1,250 up to 
Oct. 1. As for feed, these 10 hens con¬ 
sumed up to Sept. 19, 4S4 pounds of dry 
mash and G12 pounds of grain. This 
covers 313 days, and makes a little 
less than 25 ounces of mash and 31 
ounces of grain per day for the 10 hens, 
or 2 y> ounces of mash and a trifle over 
three ounces of grain per day for each 
hen. These hens also consumed a lit¬ 
tle over eight pounds of grit, four pounds 
of charcoal and 25^ pounds of shells. 
I will not figure profit or loss on the 
hens until Nov. 1, when the full year’s 
record is completed. 
There is a wide margin between the 
record of No. 9 and that of No. 7. No. 
9 is a good White Leghorn. Judge Card 
scored her 90 points. No. 7 is a mongrel 
showing marks of several breeds, with 
Brown Leghorn perhaps predominating. 
I picked her as the best one in the pen— 
she has turned put to be the drone. Yet 
you see she went about 140 days before 
laying an egg. That adds to the glory 
of No. 9. She went over 100 days with¬ 
out laying. Take her record since March 
L In 214 days she has laid 160 eggs. 
She is still laying, and will probably 
reach 175 eggs by Nov. 1. No. S began 
laying in January, but fell down later 
on. Here is another mongrel with Red 
blood dominating. The Leghorns aver¬ 
age 142 eggs, the Rock culls average 98, 
and the mongrels 122. As you see they 
all waited nearly 100 days before lay¬ 
ing an egg, for they were in very poor 
condition when they reached the contest. 
Their record is really for nine mouths. 
Now these hens are to be carried on an¬ 
other year under the same conditions of 
feeding and care. We shall see what 
they do next year. My belief is that they 
will lay more eggs by 200 than they have 
this year. I base this prediction on the 
fact that they are now in very much 
better condition than they were one 
year ago. They will, I think, start off 
promptly after recovering from their 
molt and keep it up. Now then, who 
says my “hens” will not reach 1.500 
eggs next year? I did not expect them 
to lay over 750 in this contest. Now, 
I am inclined to back them to double 
that fi gure. Remember they will be bred 
to two different cockerels during the 
season ! 
Double Cropping. —You will remem¬ 
ber that we plowed up a five-year-old 
strawberry bed after this year’s picking, 
and about July 4 planted potatoes on fhe 
sod. These potatoes were dug during 
the first week of October. It was a light 
yield, as we evidently did not use the 
right kind of seed. When the potatoes 
were dug we chopped up the soil with the 
harrows, fitted it well and set out strong 
layer plants of strawberries in rows 
three feet apart and two feet in the row. 
These plants are starting off, though the 
soil is very dry. I do not claim that 
these plants will give a crop next year. 
They w’ill bear a few fine berries, but 
will make a better growth if we can 
carry them through the Winter than 
Spring-set plants. But see what we are 
doing. On land very suitable to the 
strawberry we get five good crops. The 
ground is plowed and fitted by growing 
potatoes. Then it comes back, the same 
year, into strawberries again—the crop 
best adapted to the land. Next year, if 
we like we can run a row or two of let¬ 
tuce or early beets along the rows of 
strawberries while the latter are growing. 
Making Barn Into Henhouse.— 
As usual I am after information, and as 
usual I go right to the fountain’s head. 
Can I take a regular country barn and by 
lining it with tarred paper or anything 
else, make it comfortable for White Leg¬ 
horn hens in Winter, and make it so 
comfortable the hens will lay in cold 
Winter weather? Wha-t would it l>e 
best to line it with? a. k. p. 
New York. 
Yes, you can line such a house with 
thick tarred paper so it will be comfort¬ 
able. The chief thing is to keep out the 
wind and prevent draughts. We should 
batten the cracks over, and then tack the 
tarred paper over the inside so as to 
leave, if possible, an air space of about 
th ree inches between the wall and the 
paper. Make both airtight if possible. 1 
should try to make the walls of such a 
hen barn not unlike an icehouse—mak¬ 
ing the inside tight and warm, and then 
attending to the fresh air problem. 
While you can make such a building 
comfortable, it is another thing to make 
the hens lay. It is not the barn, but the 
man who becomes responsible for that 
Notices. —Several people have asked 
me to reprint a notice which is some¬ 
times pasted up on the barndoor at 
Hope Farm. I presume they mean the 
following. The suggestive treatment is 
often better than attempts at prohibi¬ 
tion. It surely seems to me ridiculously 
inconsistent for a man to try to prohibit 
others from doing just what he does him¬ 
self. For example, think of a man who 
uses tobacco freely commanding his boys 
not to smoke cigarettes! 
3VO T I CE 
THE HOPE FARM MAN 
is quite capable of drinking all the liquor, 
doing all the fighting and all the swearing 
that will ever be necessary on this Farm. 
He could also, if necessary, tell most of 
the stories and find use for all needed 
tobacco. _ 
Business Hours belong to the Boss! 
Cow On Bought Feed.—C an a cow 
be kept without a loss where all feed 
is bought and there is no pasturage on 
or near the home? o. b. g. 
Wilmington, Mass. 
T should figure in such a case that I 
should be obliged to feed the equivalent 
of 2 y> tons of hay and 3,000 pounds of 
grain to keep the cow one year. If this 
were all bought it would cost in this sec¬ 
tion about .$95. Tin' cost of a cow would 
be $75 or more. I should figure at least 
10 |K?r cent, for yearly depreciation In 
value. Labor, rent, medicines and sim¬ 
ilar expenses would come to $15 at 
least, or a total of $117.50 as year’s 
outgo. Now if your milk costs you 
eight cents a quart to buy, your cow 
would have to give, say 1,500 quarts, to 
pay her way. At six cents this would 
be 2,000 quarts. If you have a garden 
the manure could be used to advantage, 
and the wastes from corn and beans or 
the tops of roots or vines will all help 
cut down the cost of food. In our own 
case the cow will make use of much 
roughage which could not be otherwise 
used profitably. The chances are that 
it will cost you $125 or more to take 
care of a single cow. A good one ought 
to be profitable if you put little or no 
value on your own labor, and have shel¬ 
ter for her so that it will not be neces¬ 
sary to build. 
Crab Grass. —We have had consid¬ 
erable to say about crab grass lately— 
among the rest a note about this pest 
in a lawn. The following note is from 
Dr. W. J. Beal—the most noted farm 
botanist in the country. Years ago the 
Hope Farm man studied botany under i 
Dr. Beal, but as we see without much ! 
fame to student or teacher: 
“I mail a specimen of one common 
sort of crab grass, Digitarin humifusa, 
or Panicum glabrum, often bad in lawns, 
an annual grass, everything except seeds 
dying in the Fall. Your note on page 
1149 must mean witch grass or quack- 
grass. When I tell my son-in-law some 
points in botany or horticulture T say 
as I do to you. ‘This is instruction that 
T neglected to drill into you when vou 
were my student’ To get rid of either 
species of crab grass make the lawn 
richer and the better lawn grasses will 
keep Mi 1 . Crab out. Grab gras i is also 
known as finger grass.” w. j. real. 
I will testify that Dr. Beal did his 
full duty. He drilled hard with a strong 
arm and a good drill, but I fear he 
struck a head so hard that it turned the 
edge of the drill. n. w. c. 1 
The Comfort 
Baby’s 
Morning Dip 
« /^.OODNESS 
vJ KNOWS,” 
says the Comfort 
Baby’s Grand¬ 
mother, “what 
we’d do without 
this Perfection 
Smokeless Oil 
Heater. 
“if I’d only had one 
when you were a 
baby, you’d have been 
saved many a cold and croupy spell.” 
For warming cold corners and isolated upstairs rooms, and 
for countless special occasions when extra 
heat is wanted, you need the Perfection 
Smokeless Oil Heater. 
PERFECTION 
SM OKELE HEATERS 
The Perfection is light, portable, inexpensive 
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STANDARD OIL COMPANY OF NEW YORK 
Principal Stations 
NEW YORK 
ALBANY 
BUFFALO 
BOSTON 
.M1SU 
)sieis 
Mr, Business Farmer 
Stop! Read! Act! 
Xr/"\TT need the Excelsior engine on your fn 
you go without it you are losing money. You do not 
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Do Not Delay. Act Now. 
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202 Fulton Street New York City 
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Factory^—— 4 H-P, 69.75 
to 6 H-P. 99-35 
User Um 1 "! ™ 11 8 H-P. 139.65 
» J2 H-P, 219.90 
16 H-P. 298.80 
22 H-P, 399.65 
Portable Knoint-n 
Proportionally Low . 
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1808 Oakland Ave., Kansas City, Mo, 
Down South there 
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Cheap lamIs. fine climate, amp 
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Business ami industrial openings everywhere. "Sout 
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M. V. RICHARDS. L. &I. Agt. 
Washington. D. C 
Room 87 
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Ga.So.SFIdpy 
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HALla’S FARM AGENCY, Owego, Tiooa Co.. N. Y. 
Every manufacturer claim* till* engine* 
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Deyo Portable Engine 
HAS FOR YEARS BEEN PROVING ITSELF BEST 
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DEYO-MACEY SALES COMPANY 
24 Washinntnn St.. Binohamfon, N Y. 
Also Moneymaker Silo Fillers, Pumpinq Outfits. Pneumatic Water 
Systems, Feed Grinders, Saws, Pulleys, Beltinq, Shafting, etc. 
Write NOW lor printed matter and information. 
WANTED—Responsible party to take charge of 
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STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. - DOVER, DELAWARE 
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I JU I Ct I 111 o good railroad and trolley facilities. New cat a 
login*. Established 25 years. Ilorncc G. Header, Newtown, Pernio. 
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f BURROUGHS,Trenton. N.J 
It Will Cost 
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