526 
THE RURAL N LC W-YORKER 
April :>, 1!»1 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Tiie “Scrubs.” — I have been expect¬ 
ing letters like the following: 
What has become of the Hope Farm 
“scrubs” that we heard .o about 
last year? I thought we were to have 
another recgrd from th» • 
The “scrubs” are all right. I left them 
at the college for another year’s test. 
The egg-laying contest was filled up and 
so these birds are kept, under exactly the 
same conditions as the contest birds, but 
in a separate place. They have the same 
feed and care. During their pullet year 
(he 10 birds laid 1228 eggs in one full 
year. One laid 70, another 102. 
I wanted to see what they will do in 
their second year. All sorts of guesses 
were made. Some of the experts said 
these birds of inferior breeding would 
not lay 50 eggs each this year. These 
authorities claim that the mongrel hen is 
only good as a pullet. Others took ex¬ 
actly the opposite view, and said the 
mongrel would not get fairly started un¬ 
til her pullet days were over. As men 
could not agree I thought I would ante llie 
hen, so these scrubs went back for an¬ 
other test. 
After being placed in their new quar¬ 
ters these scrubs took a nice long rest for 
six weeks or more. Then one of the l>eg- 
horns began to lay, and some of the 
others slowly started in. It became evi¬ 
dent that most of the mongrels take more 
time for “resting” than the purebred 
birds. I take it most of my mongrels had 
started and walked quite far along the 
rood that leads back to nature. The 
further they go the closer they seem to 
come to the egg-laying habits of wild 
birds, laying only about enough to pro¬ 
duce their own kind. Nature seems to 
be selfish, and rather begrudges man an 
omelet or a fried egg out of season. At 
any rate after several false starts and 
much delay the “scrubs” got going. At 
the end of the nineteenth week they had 
laid 157 eggs. Last year at this same 
period in the contest they had laid 121 
eggs. Now let us see whether these ma¬ 
trons can shame their record as pullets. 
I back them to do so. I think they are 
good for 1100 eggs this year. I rather 
think two or three which made very low 
scores as pullets will come back this 
year and do much better. One of them 
committed suicide by catching herself in 
the trap-nest after laying an egg. She 
was one of last year’s low performers. 
Possibly she was melancholy because she 
did not help ns out more. Perhaps she 
was eager to get out of the nest and eat, 
or perhaps she wanted to get out and 
cackle and then go back and break the 
record by laying another egg. 
“Dumpling” Wyandottes. —Last year 
1 started the word “Dumpling” as a 
description of standard shaped White 
Wyandottes. I had no idea the word 
would stick in poultry language, or that 
it would prove something of a test of 
temperament and character. We printed 
a picture of an “ideal!!. Wyandotte. She 
was a round, roly-poly, plump bird, and 
the word “dumpling” occurred to me the 
instant I saw the picture. I did not be¬ 
lieve such a hen could or would lay GO 
eggs per year, and I said so. This sent 
most of the “fanciers” up in the air on 
one foot, waving their arms and their 
free foot in protest. The Hope Farm 
man has been called “liar.” “grafter,” 
“ignorant” and a dozen other names 
which have been dropped like dumplings 
into the stew of his life. I have just 
kept quiet, after telling these gentlemen 
to bring their “dumplings” up to the 
rack and quit “talking about it.” The 
Hope Farm man has many serious faults 
and yellow qualities, no doubt, but run¬ 
ning away from hard names and abuse is 
not one of them. I have said repeatedly 
that most people would prefer to buy a 
beautiful and well-shaped bird. 
A SllOW-Dowx.—I kept quiet because 
1 felt sure that out of this crowd of talk¬ 
ers and raving bluffers there would be 
some man of sense and vision enough to 
see the point. That man has come in 
the person of T. J. McConnell, lie did 
not sulk in the corner or make faces and 
emit a lot of baby bluff, but he comes 
right out with the business “dumplings” 
and gives the only proof that the people 
will accept. At the Madison Square 
poultry show Mr. McConnell exhibited 
some “dumplings” that have made high 
scores in egg-laying contests and also a 
hen with a long back that made a low 
score. There is a picture of one of these 
“dumplings” at Fig. 182. This hen laid 
213 eggs in 329 days at the Sums con¬ 
test. Some hen, certainly—and consider 
her shape! He had another hen of much 
the same shape which laid 219 eggs in one 
year at Thorndale. 
Now in the face of this testimony I 
apologize to the “dumplings,” but I hope 
the name will stick. It is a good name— 
representing perhaps the best part of the 
stew, and if our Wyandotte friends are 
wise they will smile at it and keep it, 
instead of roaring as so many of them 
have done. T consider that Mr. McCon¬ 
nell has demonstrated that a hen may 
have the standard shape and still prove 
a good layer. 
The Sense Of It. —This does not 
prove that every “dumpling” will make a 
good layer. Nor is it true that every 
long-backed hen will excel at the nest. 
My observation is that a large majority 
of the tine layers are long-backed and 
built more like a Jersey cow or a race 
horse. I consider it settled, however, 
that because a hen is a “dumpling” she 
is not of necessity a drone at. the nest. 
I once owned a Canadian horse with con¬ 
siderable Morgan blood. lie was a 
“chunk” built like a small model of a 
Foreheron. He was a worker, and from 
his build I did not think it possible he 
could have any speed. One day on the 
road my neighbor undertook to go sailing 
by with his trotter. My friend from 
Canada suddenly woke up, and for a short 
burst, or until I could stop him, made 
that trotter ashamed of himself. How 
these short squat legs ever did it I never 
could understand, 
Fine Breeding Art. —Personally I do 
not care how a hen is shaped provided 
she lays the desired eggs. The Hope 
Farm man will play no favorites among 
men or hens. If any hen can prove a 
right to a superior record we would like 
to show our people what she looks like. 
The record, however, must be official and 
certified to by responsible authorities. I 
have been sadly belabored by our “dump¬ 
ling” White Wyandotte friends. One of 
them claimed that Mr. McConnell has 
really done more for the Wyandotte than 
Tom Barron. This man’s argument is 
that Barron has worked for egg produc¬ 
tion alone, and in succeeding has devel¬ 
oped great layers at the sacrifice of su¬ 
perior meat qualities. The “standard” 
Wyandotte, so this man claims, makes 
the finest roaster and broiler. He re¬ 
cently sold the carcass of a hen for 
$2.59! The carcass of a typical Barron 
bird would be worth barely $1 or less be¬ 
cause of its inferior meat shape. Now, 
you Barron gentlemen, keep easy and 
good-natured. I am simply giving the 
“dumpling” men a fair chance to state 
their case, which is that there is some¬ 
thing in this world besides eggs. McCon¬ 
nell has certainly shown that a “dump¬ 
ling” can lay a goodly number of eggs 
and then come forward with big, thick 
slices of white meat. Now it is up to 
the Barron men to show that their “bun¬ 
dle of nerves” can produce the “chicken.” 
Barron has produced egg-laying machines. 
McConnell has done the same thing and 
at the same time preserved the Standard 
or “dumpling” shape and given a fine 
broiler and roasting carcass. Which is 
the harder task? Which bird is more 
useful? That gets the argument down 
to a point where the Hope Farm man 
expects that “liar,” “grafter” and other 
pot names will fall off. Another year 1 
should like to see Barron enter a pen of 
his “bundle of nerves” and McConnell 
put up a pen of “dumplings.” Figure 
the eggs each week at market prices, and 
at the end let some expert value the birds 
for high-class market purposes. 
But here I am at the end of my space, 
when I intended to give the record of 
our Hope Farm Beds. While we have 
no wonderful record to present the Reds 
are doing well and promising better. The 
cackle of a hen is usually worth more 
than a man’s promissory note. Our Wyan¬ 
dotte friends may fight for their “dump¬ 
lings” or their “nerves,” and satisfy 
themselves with their own arguments. 
The Leghorn men may run their legs off, 
the “Rock” men may steer clear of argu¬ 
mentation rocks and all the rest may join 
in, but my boys and I are very well sat¬ 
isfied with our gentle friends from Rhode 
Island—the “Reds.” n. w c 
r 
v 
Seeing Is Believing 
W HFN reading of a potato crop of 450 bushels 
per acre or upwards, or of hay crops running 
over 4 tons of well cured timothy per acre, or of 
other crops in like proportion, how often have 
you said: “I am from Missouri; you have got 
to show me.” 
“Seeing is believing,” and we wish that you 
and a host of others might visit personally and 
inspect the wonderful crops that are being raised 
on many farms with 
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(The Business Farmers' Standard for over 57 1 ears) 
If you cannot do this, you surely will be 
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interesting but also instructive. They show that 
“it can be done.” 
Many of the pictures in this folio won prizes 
in our 1 ( J14 photograph competition for best views 
of crops raised with our fertilizers. It won’t cost 
you anything to see what ot.hers are doing, as we 
shall be glad to send you a copy free on request. 
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