470 
THE KUKAL NEW-VORKER 
AN ENGLISH EGG-LAYING CONTEST. 
W E have already mentioned the egg-laying com¬ 
petition now going on at Burnley, England. 
Francis F. Lincoln, whose Leghorns won 
first place in the Storrs contest last year, has en¬ 
tered six Leghorns at Burnley. This contest has sev¬ 
eral original features. The birds are divided. For 
example, three of Mr. Lincoln’s Leghorns are in a 
large house with other birds in competition with 
them; the other three are confined in a small place 
with the birds from three other competitors, thus 
making 12 hens in each small house. The object of 
AN UNPRUNED TREE IN THE INDIANA 
ORCHARD. Fig. 157. 
this is to test the colony plan of keeping poultry 
against the system which employs a large house. 
The liens are all trap-nested and accurate reports 
are given. 
The eggs are divided into four grades, first, sec¬ 
ond, third and unsalable, which would cover soft- 
shelled eggs and the small malformed specimens. 
Each week these eggs of various grades are valued 
at the market price, and the total value of each 
hen’s product is computed, and placed to her credit. 
For example, at the end of the fifteenth week, first- 
grade eggs were valued at 331/3 cents per dozen. 
There was 10 per cent, off for second grade, and 20 
per cent, off for the third grade. There were 00 
liens, or 300 birds in all. There were 27 pens of 
White Wyandottes, one of Buff Orpingtons, one of 
Rhode Island Red, three Ancona, two Black Leg¬ 
horns and the rest White Leghorns Mr. Lincoln’s 
birds are the only American representatives. They 
started in bravely, and then went into a full molt, 
standing still until this trouble was over. At the 
end of the fifteenth week the three Americans in 
the large house had laid 54 eggs, valued at $1.00. 
The three birds in the small house had laid 70 eggs, 
valued at $2.10, or a total of 124 eggs, worth $3.82. 
The Americans are now far behind the leaders, but 
there are 37 more weeks to go, and as these Yan¬ 
kee hens are “stayers” as well as layers, they are not 
out of the contest by any means. We expect to see 
them crawl up among the leaders yet. They have, 
however, a long distance to travel, since our old 
friend, Tom Barron, has both Wyandottes and Leg¬ 
horns in the contest. At the end of the fifteenth 
week the three Barron Wyandottes in the large 
house had laid 159 eggs with a money value of $5.10. 
His three birds in the small house have laid 1G4 
eggs worth $5.07. In most cases the birds in the 
smaller houses have outlaid their sisters in the large 
houses. 
The leaders at the time this report was made were 
six Wyandottes, owned by C. H. Metcalf. The three 
birds in the large house were credited with 141 eggs, 
worth $6.77, while the same birds in the small house 
had laid 190 eggs, worth $6.73, wliitfh is certainly a 
fine record. Barron’s Leghorns are not equal to the 
Wyandottes, and they have fallen behind another 
pen of Leghorns owned by William Cranshaw. These 
Leghorns laid 160 eggs, worth $5.30, in the big house 
and 87 eggs, worth $2.65, in the small house. Bar¬ 
ron’s six Leghorns laid 114 eggs, worth $3.58, in the 
big house, and 129 eggs, worth $4.55, in the small 
house. 
The Rhode Island Reds have made a nice showing 
in the small house, but have not done so well in the 
large flocks. There are a number of features about 
this contest which seem to us admirable. This 
scheme of figuring a money value is first rate, and 
might well he adopted in this country. 
In connection with this contest we are told of an 
effort to collect eggs for wounded British soldiers 
now on the battlefields in Europe. An “Egg Day” 
has been organized. On this day, everyone who can 
do so will come forward with fresh eggs, and give 
them for the benefit of the soldiers. The managers 
of this poultry contest have guaranteed 1,000 fresh 
eggs for that day. Egg Day occurs on April 3, and 
loyal hen-keepers will not only give up their eggs, 
but will also buy a daisy, and wear it, the money 
spent for the daisy being used to buy more eggs and 
other delicacies for the wounded soldiers. Thus it 
appears that all over England everything is having a 
hand in the war. The men are fighting at the front, 
women are doing the work at home, and even or¬ 
ganizing and drilling as companies of soldiers, and 
now come the hens shelling out for these soldiers in 
a far more acceptable fashion than they find as a 
result of the German shells thrown into their ranks. 
Let us all hope that not only will Lincoln’s Leg¬ 
horns come sailing in at the head at the home 
stretch, but that upon “Egg Day” they will lay at 
least six eggs and donate them to the wounded sol¬ 
dier. 
CONCRETE FOR STABLE FLOORS. 
T HE use of concrete for stable floors has been 
growing constantly in favor and it has nu¬ 
merous advantages but some disadvantages 
also. For cow stables the advantages far outweigh 
the disadvantages. They are more easily kept clean, 
there is less loss of fertility and the claim is made 
that they are much more sanitary, but for horse 
stables the disadvantages are still considered to out¬ 
weigh the advantages. The advantages of cleanli¬ 
ness. sanitation and economy of fertility hold good 
here, but horses are apt to slip on them unless thor¬ 
oughly corrugated, and even then they will slip in 
getting up in their stalls. Then they are very cold 
and must be well bedded with litter constantly or 
the animal will suffer. It is now considered better 
to lay a plank floor over the concrete in the stalls. 
This may be done by bedding 3x4 timbers in the con¬ 
crete so that the upper side will be flush with the 
concrete and on these laying two-incn plank, as indi¬ 
cated in the drawing which accompanies this para¬ 
graph. 
Some who constructed porch floors of concrete soon 
became so tired of them that they laid wooden floors 
over them in a few years’ time. I sometimes stop 
in one of our Ohio cities where the best hotel is con¬ 
structed almost entirely of concrete. Each time I 
would take a severe cold, until it occurred to me 
that it was due to the concrete construction and the 
cold and dampness which always was present. Final¬ 
ly I told the clerk that I would go elsewhere unless 
he could assign me to a room with a wooden floor. 
He said he could give me such a room if I did not 
object to going one floor higher up. I told him it 
mattered not how high it was so it had a wooden 
floor. After that I had no further trouble in taking 
cold there. Now if the human body suffers from 
contact with concrete floors will not the animal 
suffer more or less under similar conditions? A 
slope of one inch to 40 towards the rear is sufficient 
for good results, though it may be twice that if con¬ 
ditions permit. joiin l. shawver. 
THE FARM MANAGER AND TUBERCULOSIS. 
H AYING done considerable testing for tubercu¬ 
losis, also being a farm manager, I note with 
interest your article on “Farm Manager and 
Tuberculosis.” I have been employed on one farm 
where objection was raised to discarding cattle with 
this disease, the owner believing that this disease 
could not be transmitted to humans. I kept careful 
record on the milk production of these cows, and 
found except in two eases out of 12, that the second 
and third year after these animals contracted the 
disease their milk flow decreased to such an extent 
that they were kept at a decided loss. The milk 
scales can prove to any man who will follow it up, 
and makes farming a business and not a “game,” 
that cows which have tested out will soon begin to 
take toll out of the herd’s profits. I have in mind a 
Jersey cow that tested out as a four-year-old. giving 
20 quarts a day, and dropped in three years time to 
six quarts at time of calving. 
In regard to anyone’s idea that bovine tubercu¬ 
losis cannot be transmitted to the human race, we 
March 27, 
all know that it is a filthy disease in every sense of 
the word, and that a chemical action takes place 
which makes the product unfit for food. I doubt 
whether any of us would look forward with a great 
deal of pleasure, to a meal composed of infected 
meat, butter, cream and milk. After I had shown 
my employer the figures and the actual milk records 
of the cows which had the disease and proved they 
were a loss and not a profit in actual production, he 
thought it might be wise to destroy those which were 
about ready to die anyhow, and finally became so 
rash after reading a piece I wrote to The R. N.-Y., 
which he did not recognize as my handiwork, as to 
kill all diseased animals, which at that time com¬ 
prised nearly one-third of the entire herd. If taken 
in the first place it would have been only two or 
three. But the so-called “millionaire farmer” as a 
rule knows in his own mind more about farming 
than any manager he could possibly hire. Such men 
sometimes get untried managers, generally college 
men, who want and need experience, hut these cases 
are few, and the general run of managers are on 
the job 365 days in a year, and looking out for their 
employers’ interest. These employers have generally 
some pet scheme theory or hobby. If you are in the 
employ of these men you must make the same allow¬ 
ances for them you would for a child. You must 
explain everything down to the smallest detail. 
__ MANAGER. 
SOME BIG ONION STORIES. 
INCE we printed the picture of the big onion on 
page 331, many reports of great doings with 
this vegetable have come in. We might tell a 
good-sized story from our own experience, but others 
are better at it. It is possible to produce great 
yields of onions if one knows how, and is willing to 
make the soil fit and do the needed work. Our ex¬ 
perience is that hardly one in 10 would stay by the 
work to a successful finish. 
“The Gigantic Gibraltar is capable of much great¬ 
er things than your several correspondents imagine, 
and the enclosed photograph shown in Fig. 159, will 
show this. It is quite possible to grow them four 
pounds, and it should be possible to average one 
onion per square foot of an average weight of 2% 
pounds each. This upon an acre would yield 54 tons 
or 2.100 bushels per acre. Sold at Mr. Smith’s low¬ 
est wholesale rate this acre should bring in over 
$3,000. Of course, we must supply enormous quan¬ 
tities of plant food to grow such crops and they 
must be sown not later than February 1.” 
E. JENKINS. 
SIFTED COAL ASHES. 
HY do you always advise the use of sifted coal 
ashes? Why not use without sifting? j. l. 
We recommend sifted coal ashes for two chief 
reasons. The clinkers or cinders have no value for 
helping the soil. They are likely to contain acids, 
and are much better for use in paths or for concrete 
work. The chief reason for using the coal ashes at 
GIANT GIBRALTAR ONION. Fig. 159. 
all on the soil is that it gives a perfectly fine pio- 
duct to mix with the particles of soil. This works 
in the clays to loosen them up and open them for 
the sun and air. The effect on the open sand is 
exactly opposite. It closes up these open soils so 
as to prevent too much air from working in. The 
loose clinkers or cinders would not help with either 
soil, as we see from a moment’s thought, and there¬ 
fore, the finer we get the ashes, the better we can 
carry out our plan in using them. 
