380 
THE RURAL NEW-VORKEH 
March 6, 
Poultry, Fruit and Garden Combination 
Tom 
Barron's 
WORLD-WINNING 
WYANDOTTES 
arid LEGHORNS 
BARRONESS V. 
WYANDOTTE—LAID 282 EGGS 
At Thorndale Contest, Pa. 
PENNSYLVANIA PEN 
First Prize. Winners. Aver. 236 Eggs. 
Barroness V, laid. 282 
Barronoss VII. laid. 274 
Another laid. 252 
STORRS PEN 
2nd Prize eggs; 3 eggs behind winners. 
First prize value laid. Average 208J4. One 
bird laid 259 eggs. Most even layers known. 
MISSOURI PEN 
2nd Prize to Barron’s own Leghorns, 
which won 1st prize. Aver. 205. Beat all 
282 Pens at all contests in Sept., Oct.. Nov. 
BARRONESS VI. 
LEGHORN LAID 284 EGGS 
Her Cousins Laid 282, 262, 260, at 
Storrs Contest. 
A LL contest Pens mated to Special 
Cockerels sent me for the purpose 
by Barron. Pedigree 265 sire; 283 dam. 
Barron Leghorn. —My stock originated 
front Barron’s Storrs Winners, 1013, which 
produced the famous 282 and 262 egg 
layers. I have cockerels that improve. 
Barroness VI. laid 284 eggs on my farm. 
Storrs Buff Rocks. -Heaviest Laying 
Rocks and Finest Fancy Buffs in America. 
Pedigree 232, 220, 214, 207, 200. (I have 
a special pen of Barron’s Buff Rocks, 248, 
240 egg pedigrees). 
Morris S. C. Reds. —Three pens headed 
by Vibert cockerels out of 247, 239, 225 
egg liens. As fancy as an honest egg 
record permits. 
MORRIS FARMS 
R. 4, BRIDGEPORT, CONN. 
Member of Utility Poultry Club, England 
Owner of all pens and birds pictured 
and described here 
ABACK-TO-THE-LANDER/S STORY 
Hens and Tomatoes. 
A KING A START.—I hesitate to 
give my experience when I think so 
many will, in reading, lose sight of the 
hardships and dwell only on the suc¬ 
cesses. About 15 years ago I was on the 
verge of despair, my health had failed me, 
I had a hard racking cough that would 
not answer to medical • treatment, my 
pocketbook was empty and I had a large 
doctor bill to face. My wife and 1 
talked the matter over and decided to 
move out in the country, where I could 
got the benefit of the fresh air, and at 
the same time could work in the machine 
shop. We found a small place of one 
acre just two miles from my work. I 
began by making a study of early toma¬ 
toes and was fairly successful in grow¬ 
ing them, the first year making 20 cents 
per plant. After six years’ careful work 
on my tomatoes T found I had developed 
a tomato different in many respects from 
anything I had ever seen; they were then 
placed on the market as “Bonnie Best” 
and have made good all over the country. 
All this time I was working in the 
machine shop and doing my work at home 
in the evenings and on Saturday after¬ 
noons. Harrowing an acre of ground 
with small hand harrow was no small 
job, but I wish you could have seen my 
chest develop. My wife had to sew inch 
strips down the sides of my vest so it 
would fit me. The cough left me and 
never came back. 
The Start With Poultry. —The first 
Winter I bought a few chickens; my wife 
tended to them during the day, and we 
did very well with them. The next Fall 
we bought some White Wyandottes, built 
a brooder house 30 feet long, and tried 
to raise broilers and lost 400 or more 
before I realized my heating device was 
wrong. I made a change and have been 
successful ever since. 
A Change T.v Location. —We spent 
three years on this place, when some one 
came along, and bought it. and we had to 
get out. We found another place near, 
tore our brooder-house down and moved 
to that place. It had about an acre of 
ground which sloped to the north, and 
the soil was rather heavy for my purpose, 
but here we had our best successes. The 
first season here we had a dry spell just 
after putting out S00 tomato plants, 
About fifty yards from m.v place was a 
small pond. In (he evenings with wheel¬ 
barrow I hauled water from the pond and 
kept that up for three weeks. I believe 
I made more per hour wheeling that 
water than I ever made before, for our 
tomatoes did finely; we averaged G5 cents 
per five-eighths basket for our tomatoes 
that season, and 26 cents per plant. 
Results Secured. —We spent three 
years on this place. The last year on 
this acre of ground I cleared just 8113.97 
from SO White Wyandottes, raising 
about 600 chickens, and about $200 from 
my tomatoes. 8600 clear profit off an 
acre of ground. What a chance I missed! 
I could have written a book and charged 
one dollar per. and got rich, but no. 
I was too dumb to see it. But right 
here let me say that I would ratlmr 
leave my boys an untarnished name 
than any amount of money. That $600 
gave me a little capital and I bought a 
12 -acre farm nearer my work, and the 
following Spring I left the machine shup 
to devote all my time to my chickens 
and early tomatoes. Would you believe 
it, the very first year I fully depended 
on the tomatoes, a hailstorm came along 
on the 25th of June just as my tomatoes 
were ripening, and cut that patch of to¬ 
matoes all to pieces! I was a pretty 
sick man. I believe I would have given 
up right there, if it hadn’t been for my 
wife, who kept encouraging me. The 
struggle has been long and hard; about 
the time I would get on my "feet some¬ 
thing would happen, that I had no pow¬ 
er to prevent, and we would have to make 
a fresh start. After the first year on this 
place my oldest son. who was then about 
12 years old started to develop a pigeon 
plant, and at the present time our pigeons 
and equipment are valued at three thou¬ 
sand dollars. My two boys who are 20 
and 16 years of age, and have graduated 
from our township school, are going to 
make this their life work. I have prom¬ 
ised them a third share in the business, 
when they become of age, the oldest son 
developing the pigeons and the other help¬ 
ing develop the chicken end of the busi¬ 
ness. He is at the present time building 
trap-nests and keeping records of a few 
of our pens. 
A Comfortable Living. —We have 
about 400 White Wyandottes and 400 
White Leghorns, and have averaged about 
$1.50 clear profit per hen for the last 
four years. We are not getting rich, sim¬ 
ply making a comfortable living. We are 
not killing ourselves working either; in 
the busy season we get: up at five o’clock 
and we quit at six in the evening. The 
hoys and T play tenuis for our recrea¬ 
tion ; we never work on Saturday after¬ 
noon or on Sunday, only doing the ne¬ 
cessary work. I state this to show why 
I have held my boys on the farm. Some 
day, perhaps I will give you in detail, 
the way we handle our chickens. 
Pennsylvania. geo. w, Middleton. 
The Poultry-Small-Fruit Combination 
HE business of poultry raising is one 
that is too often beset with trials 
which end in disappointment and failure, 
but if one is-ltot easily discouraged, and 
will apply the same practical methods he 
would to any other business undertaking, 
bis chances of success arc good. For 
about 15 years previous to 1900 my 56- 
acre farm was devoted chiefly to the 
growing of small fruits, which yielded me 
a handsome profit every year, hut I be¬ 
came possessed of the idea that I could 
make the poultry-small fruit combination 
a success and reap a still greater profit 
from my small farm. In February- 1900, 
I made the start. I had the idea that 
it would be better to start with a few 
purebred birds, study them thoroughly, 
and add to tho number as desired. I 
bought, four breeding pens, the best that 
money could buy. as I wished my birds 
to conform to standard requirements in 
addition to general-purpose qualities. I 
attended poultry shows, and learned how 
to mate for color of plumage, results in 
egg production and size, and the general 
betterment of the flock all around. 
I kept my coops and buildings clean 
and fresh at all seasons, thus avoiding 
disease to a great extent, and my losses 
of young chicks were reduced to a mini¬ 
mum. I built two houses facing south 
each 10x12 feet, and in the Winter each 
contained two pens of 18 females and 
one male each. The structures were of 
rough lumber outside and ceiled inside, 
leaving an air space between the walls. 
Double windows were put in, each sash 
being 4x6 feet in size. This plan of 
building I have adhered to in all others 
of later construction and I am never 
troubled with dampness or wheezy or 
otherwise affected birds in the Winter 
time. My main poultry house is now 
situated at the rear of the poultry yard 
and is 20x40 feet, divided into four pens, 
each accommodating 15 to 20 birds. 
Board floors are provided, which are 
covered several inches deep with short 
straw into which the grain ration is 
thrown. Running south from the house 
is a lath-enelosed run for each pen, in 
which breeding birds are kept as long as 
eggs are wanted for hatching. Adjoining 
these runs is another enclosure shaded 
with small apple trees, into which the 
birds arc* returned from the* pens on alter¬ 
nate days. In this enclosure in the early 
Spring oats are thickly sown. In a short 
time this grain sprouts and furnishes a 
green ration, though small, long before 
the grass is up. and here I also yard my 
young chicks. 
Disease is practically unknown among 
my fowls. As soon as a bird is found to 
be ailing it is isolated in the “hospital” 
and given treatment. This “hospital” is 
a room situated at the east end of the 
poultry house. If the bird continues to 
grow worse I use the hatchet and burn 
the carcass, but my routine of care is 
such that sickness is reduced to the 
minimum. The droppings are carefully 
looked after and are used in fertilizing 
the small fruits. I would not want any 
better fertilizer for small fruits than 
poultry manure. Once a week in the 
Summer the perches and dropping boards 
are sprayed with an emulsion of kero¬ 
sene to keep away mites, and lime is used 
liberally in the shape of whitewash. 
Everything but the perches is given a 
liberal coat Spring and Fall. My small 
fruits consist of strawberries, gooseber¬ 
ries, red and black raspberries, black¬ 
berries and currants. This small fruit- 
poultry combination is one of the very 
best ways to make money on the farm, 
and especially the small farm. I am 
speaking from personal experience. I am 
delighted with the business. But it is 
absolutely necessary that one has good 
stock to work with. This applies with 
equal force to both the small fruits and 
poultry. Mongrel stock of either, simply 
will not do. 
I believe there is no better kind of a 
farm in the world than the one devoted 
to (lie production of purebred poultry 
aud first quality fruits. I know from 
practical experience that poultry and 
small fruits work together to a nicety. 
Almost any fruit grower, I am quite 
sure, can make purebred poultry breed¬ 
ing pay well in connection with his fruit¬ 
growing operations, provided he will give 
the matter careful study. The great ma¬ 
jority of farmers keep mongrel poultry, 
and why this is so I am unable to under¬ 
stand. I am very well contented that 
it is not because of lack of means to buy 
a pen or two of purebreds with which to 
start. When one feeds 10 bushels of grain 
to a flock of 50 mongrels that will dress 
an average of two to four or five pounds 
each, and a neighbor feeds the same 
amount to a flock of purebred birds that 
will dress from six to eight or nine 
pounds, it can readily be seen without 
figuring it out who will make the most 
profit. Then between the purebreds and 
the mongrels there is the great difference 
in price of eggs and birds sold for hatch¬ 
ing and breeding purposes. Lot me say. 
however, that no one should take up the 
work of raising purebred poultry and 
expect great returns right at the begin¬ 
ning. for if he does ho is mighty sure to 
bo sadly disappointed. Like every other 
business under the sun. it is best to 
gradually grow into it. rather than jump 
into it. as one then stands a much bet¬ 
ter chance of success, o. f. taylob. 
Illinois. 
A FRF IT GROWER’S HENS 
