502 
(TH PC RURAU &TPC W-YORKliR 
March 27, 
The Henyard. 
Care of Geese. 
I find plenty of information in your 
paper regarding feeding and raising of 
chickens and ducks. The information has 
been a great help to me. I am the most 
interested in geese, and I have been un¬ 
able to find any information regarding 
raising and feeding geese. Will you give 
me some such information? E. B. 
Danville, Ill. 
Mate the geese early in the season if 
possible, allowing not more than three 
geese to one gander. Provide a roomy 
pen will a low box for a nest in a corner 
where there will he the least danger of 
the birds getting lamed by stumbling over 
it. Collect the eggs as laid, and keep in 
a cool, but not cold, place and turn daily. 
Set the first laying of eggs under hens. 
When the goose gets broody put her in 
a dark place with water but no food for 
three or four days. Put her back with 
the gander and soon she will be laying 
again. Let her sit on the second laying, 
unless you have plenty of broody hens 
and wish to try for a third laying. 
Feed the goslings on a mash consist¬ 
ing of a variety of ground grains. Polled 
oats is one of the best feeds for the first 
few days. In every mess of mash put a 
little grit and a pinch of salt. Give them 
access to grass from the beginning, and 
ample runway. They need more exercise 
than almost any other young domestic 
bird. Drinking water should always be 
accessible. As the goslings grow, increase 
their runway and give all the food they 
will clean up. They can be allowed to 
get their living from grass after four 
weeks, but if one wishes the maximum 
size feeding is necessary. Hard grain 
may be substituted for mash as the birds 
approach maturity. About three weeks 
before they are to be killed they should 
he put into limited quarters and fed all 
they can be made to oat of mash made 
mostly of cornmeal. w. H. H. 
Shrinkage in Laying. 
Can you tell me what is the matter 
with my hens I had about 40 at the 
beginning of January. They had got up 
to an average of a dozen eggs a day, 
some days 15. Up to that time I had 
been feeding dry mash of equal parts 
bran and shorts, half of cornmeal and a 
little meal, also a little milk, a quart 
of wheat night and morning in litter. 
Then I read in The P. N.-Y. a formula 
which I thought might be better, bran, 
shorts, corn, and gluten feed and a half 
part meat meal. They ate it well for a 
few days. Then it became apparent that 
something was wrong; they almost ceased 
to eat, did not care whether they ate their 
wheat, also went back in laying, till now 
four weeks later they are down to half. 
They do not look red as they did, more 
like hens in the Fall; some also seem 
to be molting a little. Half are April 
and May hatched, the remainder one and 
two years old. After the damage was 
done I shut off the mash and gave mostly 
bran, some meat and a little of the other 
feeds mixed in so as to try to induce 
scratching again. That has had an ef¬ 
fect but bas not affected the laying. They 
have had sugar beets and oyster shell all 
the time. J. R. J. 
Canada. 
I cannot account for the refusal of 
your hens to eat unless they were over¬ 
fed. The mash which you gave them is 
a standard one much used, and in my 
own hands has given satisfaction. Win¬ 
ter molting has been a very common com¬ 
plaint for a year or two. It has been 
especially prevalent among early-batched 
pullets, and is believed by at least one 
authority to be due to any change in 
conditions of life which produces a shock 
to the fowl’s nervous system, such as 
change of quarters, shutting up fowls 
that have been on free range, etc. It does 
not seem possible that change of feed 
could produce this result, however. There 
is no remedy that I know of and time 
will have to be given the fowls to re¬ 
cover. M. n. D. 
Selecting for Egg Production. 
In selecting hens for breeding for egg 
production according to conformation of 
certain bones, what does length of keel 
or breast bone indicate? Would you 
choose long or short keels? Why? Would 
you select males along same lines? I 
can get a male whose pelvic bones are 
two fingers wide. Shall I use him with 
wide females? I can get him for noth¬ 
ing. Is he worth it? G. K. 
Barnesville, Pa. 
Length of body and length of keel 
shows root?) inside. A hen is a manu¬ 
facturer, and like any other, she can¬ 
not do much business in cramped quar¬ 
ters. To make an egg every day she 
must eat a lot of food, and her intes¬ 
tines will he distended by the amount of 
material which “the factory” is working 
up. Take a hen with a very short “keel”; 
the rear outline from base of tail to the 
legs, is a straight line. Evidently with 
gizzard, intestines, etc., inside, there is 
hardly room for an egg. She cannot do 
much business in that little shop. 
About selecting males with wide space 
between pelvic bones, I am not aware 
that any attention has ever been paid to 
that. Certainly there are many other 
things to.be considered before one could 
say whether the hird offered for nothing is 
worth taking or not. Is he free from all 
deformities? Is he active, vigorous, 
ready to fight? Is he up to size, and 
not too old? Nature keeps up nearly all 
animal life through the fighting instinct; 
the strongest and bravest male drives off 
the other males and takes possession of 
the females so next year’s progeny shall 
be out of the strongest and bravest male. 
1 like to see a lot of cockerels that are 
“scrappy”; it is a good indication. 
GEO. A. COSGROVE. 
Middlings and Potatoes for Hens and Hogs. 
What is the value of 100 pounds of 
middlings at $1.70, mixed with one bar¬ 
rel of white potatoes at $1.75 as a feed 
for chickens, and pigs, compared with 
two bushels of corn at $1 per bushel. 
Also state what quantity should be fed 
of this mixture to a flock of 50 chickens 
each day to keep them in good condi¬ 
tion and state the amount that should be 
fed to each pig every day. f. w. 
Anacostia, I). C. 
There are two ways in which you can 
compare these foods as to their value; 
first, as to their total content of nutrients, 
and second, as to their content of protein, 
which is the element of food specially con¬ 
cerned in animal growth and in the pro¬ 
duction of eggs, milk, wool, etc. Foods 
high in protein cost more than those low 
in that element, and, save for fattening 
animals, are more valuable. In ISO 
pounds of potatoes and 100 pounds of 
wheat middlings together there are ap¬ 
proximately 110 pounds of total nutri¬ 
ents, containing 19 pounds of protein. In 
112 pounds of corn there are 94 pounds of 
total nutrients, containing 8.75 pounds 
of protein. In the former combination, 
at the prices you quote, the total nutri¬ 
ents would cost three cents per pound 
and the protein 18 cents. In the corn 
alone the nutrients would cost two cents 
per pound and the protein 22 cents. Di¬ 
gestible protein alone is here considered. 
This gives you an idea of the relative 
value of the foods, but doesn’t tell the 
whole story. Laying hens, to do their 
best, should have a portion of their food 
high in protein, while potatoes are very 
low in that element and wheat middlings 
contain only a moderate amount. As a 
fattening food, your mixture is all right, 
but. for eggs, you should add other whole 
grains, like oats, barley, wheat and buck¬ 
wheat and in the mash such high protein 
foods as gluten feed, oil meal, beef scrap, 
and perhaps a small amount of cottonseed 
meal. Potatoes are of little value to lay¬ 
ing hens though they are good for fatten¬ 
ing pigs. You will find formulas for com¬ 
bining these feeds given from time to 
time in these columns and by using such 
combinations you will get better results 
with little or no increased expense. 
For growing pigs, such foods as wheat 
middlings, ground oats, ground barley, 
and small amounts of cornmeal and oil 
meal are best; one simple formula be¬ 
ing equal parts of wheat middlings and 
cornmeal, by weight, to each hundred 
pounds of which six pounds of oil meal 
are added. For fattening pigs, the corn 
meal and boiled potatoes are excellent, 
the high protein foods not being needed 
for this purpose. I cannot undertake to 
tell you how much to feed each pig or 
each hen ; there are no two animals just 
alike in their requirements and the same 
animal varies in its needs from time to 
time. As a general rule, feed domestic 
animals all that they will clean up readi¬ 
ly, without waste, and without showing 
by their flagging appetites that they are 
getting more than they need. Observa¬ 
tion furnishes the only guide to correct 
feeding and a little practice will enable 
the feeder to adjust the rations to the 
needs of the animal. m. b. d. 
Little Muriel, late for tea, hurried 
into the house breathlessly, exclaiming: 
“Oh, Mother, don’t scold me for being 
late! A horse fell down and a man said 
they would have to send for a horse doc¬ 
tor, and after I waited a long, long time, 
oh, Mother, what do you think? it 
wasn’t a horse doctor at all, it was only 
a man !”—Woman’s Home Companion. 
If ACTuACo by 
WAVERLY. N.Y. 
ANALYSIS 
r R OTtIN o to t 
rAT ion 
CMtttD COftNwnlAl BUCKWhtAl ka/NR COM. 
OAlMMUT StmiCMflRSaO 
ml* ftD TO HENS THEY CANT HELP UY1N6 
TI-O-GA 
POULTRY CRAIN 
MAKES HENS LAY 
MORE EGGS 
IT INCREASES THE CAPACITY OF 
GOOD HENS, AND MAKES EVEN 
A POOR HEN DO HER LEVEL BEST 
148 Chicks From 150 Eggs 
Osceola. Mo. 
I sorely praise the Sore Hatch incobators. I have a 160 egg size. The first settin 
62 eggs and broke two the first week which left only 15C 
I pot in 162 eggs and broke two the first week which left only 150 at hatching time. 
S it 148 chicks and never tested the eggs. We sorely have had fine luck with our ma- 
ine the paBt two years. Would not sell it and be without it for any money. 
My neighbors have other incubators and 1 beat them all. NELLIE GARDNER 
MONEY 
BACK 
GUARANTEE 
Our Uncle Sam 
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help you to succeed. 
It tells all about how 
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It is a compilation 
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LIBERTY STOVE COMPANY, 110 Second Street, Philadelphia, Pis* 
150 EGG 
WILLIAM 
INCUBATOR 
NOW 
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m 
Sas! 
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Ji 
8613 Store* Bldg., N»w York 
PARCEL. POST BOXES 
Ship Eggs, Dressed Fowls* Fruit, Butter, 
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“H&D” BOXES 
meet all Government requirements—guar* 
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"Mow to Peek it (or Pareel Post.’* 
The IIINDE d* DAUC11 PAPER Go. 
Dept, E. fisaduskjr, Ohio. 
Improved Parcel Post Fgg Boxes 
SEND 15 CENTS FOR SAMPLE 
New Flats and Fillers and Egg Cases 
CATALOGUE SENT FREE ON REQUEST 
H. K. BRUNNER, 45 Harrison Street, N. Y. 
MAKA-SHEL 
GRIT 
If you want plenty 
of eggs and strong 
chicks, feed a rough grit; feed a 
grit that grinds; feed “Maka 
Shel.” Used by the largest 
poultrymen. Askyourdeiiler 
or send §1.00 for two 100 lb. hags, f. o b. cars; 
Middle and New England States, ton §5.50; 
one ton §10, freight paid. Agents wanted. 
Edge Hill Silica Rock Co., Box J, New Brunswick, N. J. 
Ivin EG G INCUBATOR 
l*tUCH!CK BROODER 
$10 
Both are made of j 
Calif. Kedwood. 
Incubator is cov- __ 
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E w copper tank, nursery,; 
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FIVE BREEDS 
On 45 ACRES 
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Write for Circulars. 
YOU CANNOT BUY 
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1TY. Eggs for hatching. 
Day old chicks. 
Shohola Fruit and Poultry Farm 
Shohola, Pennsylvania 
PEANUTS-%,r Q VT LERS 
47 percent. Protein, 
isfaetion guaranteed. 
WM. R. POPE, 
$2.25 per 100 pounds. Sat- 
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MacKellar’s Charcoal 
For Poultry is best. Coarse or fine granulated, also 
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R, MacKELLAR’S SQjjrS CO., Peekskill, N.Y. 
-Send stamp for large folder. 
EAST DONEGAL PIGEON, POULTRY 
AND GUINEA PIG YARDS, Frank McMullen, Marietta, Pa. 
POULTRYMEN 
60 Varieties Si 
DUCKS, GEESE, TURKEYS, 
GUINEAS and HARES. Stock and eggs. 60 
page catalogue free. H. A Sender Box 29. Sellersville.Pa. 
Proof Against 
Rats and all Enemies' 
Circulars Free 
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-L[.. . 
] 
The Mapes Poultry House 
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first discovered this fact. My COMBINATION POULTRY 
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O. W. MAPES, MI DDLETOWN, N. T 
POULTRY Write for BARGAIN PRICES 
N p y — — | .■ ^ EXCELSIOR WIRE CO. 
* IlIvLa. 5 Cortlandt Street, Now York 
cnunm’C ILEUS. poultry, hark and dog 
ouuucn • CATALOG FREE. Hatching Eggs a 
Specialty. Kdwin Souder, Dept. It, Telford, Pa. 
HANDY BINDER 
TUST the thing for preserving files of 
The Rural New-Yorker. Durable 
and cheap. Sent postpaid for 25 cents. 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
333 West 30th Street, New York City 
