134S 
Jah<£ RURAL NEW-YORKER 
November 24, 1917 
A Day on a New Jersey Poultry Farm 
Home-mixed Feed. —At this season of 
the year (October 15), the work on a 
poultry farm is much different from dui'- 
ing the Spring months, as there are no 
incubators to run now, and no baby 
chick.s to feed and care for, Thi.s day’s 
work begins at six o’clock, or about as 
soon as the fowls can see to emerge from 
their sleeping quarters and look for 
something to eat and drink. We always 
see that the water pans are at least partly 
filled at night, so there is some water for 
the early risers as soon as they arrive, 
so the first work is to feed the “range” 
where the growing chicks run wild all 
Summer and roost in small colony houses 
about 10 feet square. This is a simple 
matter, as we are mixing our own scratch 
feed with equal parts of wheat, oats and 
cracked corn, and about two pailfuls of 
this is scattered on the ground for COO 
j)ullets just nearing laying maturity. The 
cost of this scratch feed at present war¬ 
time prices is .$3.43 per 100 pounds, while 
ready-mixed .scratch feed is selling locally 
at $4.2.5 to $4..50 per 100 pounds, so we 
are saving SOc or more on every 100 
pounds used, which is, we think, worth 
con.sidering when we realize the fact that 
every economy must be practiced if we are 
to continue in business through the pre.s- 
ent crisis. The breeding cockerels are .sepa¬ 
rate on another range, and a proportion¬ 
ate amount of feed is given them. 
Xeeded I1ep.\irs. —The old stock and 
the early hatched pullets which have been 
in Winter quarters for some time are 
then fed a little more in proportion, as 
they are laying high-priced eggs, and all 
water pans are filled with fresh water. 
At this time (about 7 o’clock) the work 
has to wait while the workers get their 
breakfast, after which the regular work 
of the day begins. During the Summer 
several leaks were noted in the roof of 
the long laying hou.se, and as this roof 
has been in service for only two years, 
the two-ply roofing paper seemed to be 
in good condition, but by close examina¬ 
tion it was found that the action of the 
weather had loosened some of the nails, 
so that water would run under the caps 
and work its way into the house, just 
enough to cause dampness, which is so 
unde.sirable in a Winter laying house. 
To remedy this, another coat of lap ce¬ 
ment must be applied over the nails and 
caps, and this makes the roof watertight. 
Xext year we intend to give the whole 
roof a coat of paint to preserve it. 
Market Problems. —^While we were 
working on the roof the R. D. caiwier 
arrived with the mail, and a few minutes 
were spent in looking it over. One man 
out in New Mexico wanted prices on 
some cockerels for breeding—another 
man in Pennsylvania wmnted the price of 
day-old chicks in March, and a customer 
to whom we had shipped a crate of eggs 
in New Tork returned a check for same, 
but reported several broken by the ex¬ 
press company. This is one of the hard 
problems, on a poultry farm—to find a 
satisfactory method of packing and trans¬ 
porting the produce to market. No doubt 
there is a chance for some great reforms 
in this country along this line. A look at 
the egg market reveals the fact that prices 
are on the advance and prospects are good 
for high prices for strictly fresh eggs all 
Winter, while storage eggs are selling at 
very little more than cost. A glance at 
the head lines, and Fncle Sam is getting 
ready to give the Germans a dose of 
their own medicine. This reminds us 
again that every economy should be prac¬ 
ticed on a poultry farm so as to save for 
export as much of the staple cereals as 
possible. 
The Commissary. —The work on the 
roof was finished at noon and we were 
called to dinner, which consisted of stewed 
chicken, boiled potatoes, (creamed car¬ 
rots and sweet corn, with rice pudding 
for dessert. Nearly all of our food, such 
as eggs, poultry and vegetables, is raised 
here on the farm, and certainly tastes 
much better than when purchased from a 
stoa-e br huckster, after being carted 
around a day or two in hot weather. 
After dinner comes the next feeding time 
for the chicks. This time we feed dry 
mash in hoppers—enough to last until 
noon the next day, so the birds always 
have dry mash before them all the time. 
This mash consists of equal parts corn- 
meal and ground oats, bran and mid¬ 
dlings, with about 10 per cent beef sci’ap, 
5 per cent ground bone and 1 per cent 
charcoal added to make a complete ration, 
yet it is simple enough so that anyone 
can remember the formula and mix the 
feed with the least amount of labor and 
trouble, which helps wonderfully in do¬ 
ing a day’s work. Noon feeding time for 
the laying flocks calls for the same as the 
i-ange, except that a little scalded Al¬ 
falfa and beet pulp are added to the 
mash, and, of course, more beef scrap is 
fed to the layers. 
Direct Sai.es. —While feeding the noon 
feed an intei-ruption occurred in the form 
of an automobile from the city stopping, 
and the lady on the back .seat wanted a 
dozen strictly fre.sh eggs right out of the 
nest. Of course we complied with her 
request, and she told us that she had 
been buying eggs done up in fancy car¬ 
tons and sold at a fancy price, but she 
always purchased direct from the farm 
when she was in the country, and found 
them much better. 
Afterxoo.v Work.— The work of the 
afternoon was to be clearing up the range 
preparatory to seeding rye, so all hands 
took rakes and gathered the brush and 
sticks, which are naturally plentiful on 
new land, into large piles and burned 
them. The ashes help to fertilize the 
soil, and with the addition of poultry 
manui-e from the houses, a good growth 
of rye is expected. This will be u.sed for 
green feed for the range birds next sea¬ 
son. While the work is going on outside. 
Mrs. Greene helps with the testing and 
packing of eggs for shipment and takes 
care of the callers who just want to see 
the chickens and plant. At 4 P. M. the 
regular evening feed is given to all the 
birds on the place. This consists of 
scratch feed, the same as is fed in the 
morning, except that a larger quantity 
is always fed at night, so the birds will 
go to roost with full crops. After feed¬ 
ing, the water pans are inspected again 
and filled where required. Then the eggs 
are gathered and the dirty ones cleaned, 
ready for sorting and packing. For gath¬ 
ering eggs we use handmade oak baskets 
about seven inches high and large enough 
to hold about 2()0 eggs, which is a conve¬ 
nient size to carry. Wftion this work is 
finished, all hands are ready for supper, 
and hungry enough to eat a good meal 
with a relish that would make a city man 
wonder how much the next meal would 
cost. 
The E.nd op the Day.—A poultry 
man’s work, however, is not finished at 5 
o’clock, or at sundown, as he must see 
that the birds all go to roost in their 
proper places, and close up the houses for 
the night, to protect the birds from the 
numerous animals which prowl around 
at night, such as rats, weasels, skunks 
and opossums; akso owls, and occasionally 
a dog will do considerable damage to 
flocks which are unprotected. When all 
is secure for the night we sit down and 
write or read the daily paper and poul¬ 
try papers or books, not forgetting The 
R. N.-Y., which always comes first. The 
work on a poultry farm is made up of 
many details every day, which sometimes 
take part of the night to finish, and it 
has been our experience that the most suc¬ 
cessful men in this line of business are 
those who do their work well—never 
getting discouraged or stopping until the 
work is fini.shed. c. S. GREEXE. 
Human Traits in Turkeys 
Being a turkey raiser, I am much in¬ 
terested in your occasional articles on 
turkeys. Still, there seems to be but 
little actual benefit from these articles. 
There is hardly any uniformity among 
raiser.s. As C. S. Phelps says, on page 
1125, “There were nearly as many meth¬ 
ods as there were raisers of turkeys.” 
What proves successful with one does 
not succeed with another. In other 
words, there appears to be no standard to 
follow, as when raising nearly any other 
class of poultry. Here is a farm product 
W'hich brings much more than a 35-cent 
dollar, yet is steadily decreasing in quan¬ 
tity. Those of us who have the courage 
to continue from year to year make a 
very hand.some profit, especially so, con¬ 
sidering the small investment. The time 
spent during the period of getting the 
poults .started is quite confining; the rest 
of the year the labor item is so small 
it hardly counts. I am sending a pic¬ 
ture of several young toms, shown here¬ 
with, taking a lesson in display from the 
old leader. This is a common Fall affair. 
Vermont. R. M. ball. 
R. N.-Y.—The.se young fellows are cer¬ 
tainly making an effort to “look hand¬ 
some”—not unlike a group of young men 
at dancing .school. These birds think 
they have much to be thankful for, but 
the holiday dinner will decide that. 
Crops and Farm News 
Farm work is progres.sing nicely. Many 
silos are filled, or, more correctly speak¬ 
ing, are partly filled, as very few silos 
are filled full this year on account of 
shortage of corn. Hailstorms did great 
damage to corn crop during the Summer. 
Some potatoes are being dug and promise 
a fair crop. Quite a few new silos were 
built this Fall. Wheat crop was good 
and the oat crop fair, except where the 
hail struck. The .sowing of wheat was 
late on account of the wet weather and 
late harvesting of oats. Hay crop was 
good, but'late. Fruit is very short, there 
being practically no apples. Feed has 
been high all Summer and Fall, and other 
things accordingly. Cows are high, as 
well a^ hogs, .sheep and poultry. Ilorses 
are not as high as in former years. Farm 
help is very scarce and a very serious 
question. Farmers are having a hard 
time getting their work done, but are 
getting along nicely considering the great 
.scarcity of help. Dairying on a small 
scale is one of the chief engagements of 
the farmers in this section. Everyone is 
learning more and more that it is neces¬ 
sary to keep more live stock and feed 
what is raised on the farm instead ©f 
selling the feed. p. M. 
Mercer Co., Pa. 
Eggs, 50e; pears, Kieffer. .55c per bas¬ 
ket ; onions, 65 to 75c i)er basket. Pigs, 
26c lb. Cabbage. 8c per head; potatoes, 
$1.75 per bu. Chickens, 24c lb. D. A. D. 
Bucks Co., Pa. 
No dairy farms near here; plenty of 
scrub cattle through country. I do not 
know of one good cow that woull bring 
anything of a price; .$60 to $65 is about 
the limit. Cattle small, no good J)eef 
cattle. Pork scarce and high. Egg.s, SOc; 
butter, 50e in trade, and scarce. Not 
many apples; bring .$1.50 to $2 per bu. 
Hay, good pi-ice, advancing; baled, $18; 
loose, $15, at barn. Plenty of straw, .$10 
to $12 per ton, baled. Good ca^>bage, 2c 
cash; carrots, $1.75 per bu.; onions, 5c 
lb., cash ; retail 8c in stores. Parsnips, 
good crop. Potatoes, early good; late 
ones suffered from frost of September 10 
and 11, most about one-fifth crop. I 
sold 9 bu. yesterday for $1.60 cash. No 
help, so many will fi-eeze and rot. Beans, 
where taken care of, good; others, noth¬ 
ing at all. I sold 100 lbs. at 15c lb.; 
offered 18c in trade at store; retail 20c. 
Everyone, far and near, canned and dried 
all kinds of fruit and corn; chestnuts 
have no meat in shell; a failure. Oats 
not as heavy grain as last year; four- 
fifths of a crop. Buckwheat, 40 per cent 
of a crop; rye good, wheat good crop. No 
rye sold; wheat most all exchanged for 
flour. Best flour, .$3.,55 per sack. Last week 
in October, .5 to 6 in. snow, plenty of heavy 
storms, thunder and lightning, snowing 
and blowing; very discouraging, b. o. s. 
Elk Co., Pa, 
Population of Oxford is about .3.()00; 
four warehouses where the farmers bring 
their grain and hay, potatoes and also 
railk-shipping station. Not many apples 
raised for market here. Not much truck- 
ing._ There is not much stir in the milk 
business; prices about the same for the 
past two or three months. All prices 
given are private sales: Wheat, .$2; oats, 
60c: corn right from field, 72 lbs., .$1.10; 
baled hay, $20 to $22. Milk, 4 per cent 
butter fat, per ewt., $2.85; 3e extra for 
each 10 points over 4 per cent; 3c le.ss 
for each lO points under 4 per cent. But¬ 
ter, 44 to 46c; eggs, 40 to 45c. Pork, 
per cwt.^ dressed, $21. Veal, live \\’eight, 
$15. Young chickens, alive, 20o lb.; 
fowls, 18 to 20c. Good fresh cows. $8() 
to .$140; fat bulls, 7 to 8c. Feeders are 
being bought at Lancaster for $9 per 
C'Vt. ,j. 0. M. 
Chester Co., Pa. 
.8tock steers, 9 to 10c; potatoes. $1.4,5; 
milk, .$2.80 per cwt.; eggs, 43c: hay, 
Timothy, $23 ; clover, $22. x. c. M. 
Lancaster Co., Pa. 
Hay was a good crop, corn poor, silos 
about half filled. Oats about 30 bii. to 
the acre; buckwheat middling, mostly out 
in the rain yet. No apples to speak of, 
worth .$2 per bu. Pears quite plenty. 
Potatoes, about two-thirds of a crop, 
about half dug, $1.2.5 per bu. We get 
League prices for our milk. Fresh cows, 
.$80 to .$125; cows coming fresh in the 
Spring, from $50 to. $.80. Fat cattle 
scarce: very few hogs, 22c dressed. Chick¬ 
ens, alive. 22c. Meal, $3.90 per cwt.; 
cow feed, $2.90 cwt.; oats, 60c. j. ii. a. 
Chautauqua Co., N. Y. 
Potatoes, .$4.75 per bbl.; onions, $5..50 
per bbl.; cabbage. .$3.50 to .$6 per 1(X); tur- 
nips._.$2..50 to $2.75 per bbl.; apples, .$3 
to $.5 per bbl. Hay, 7.5 to 90e per cwt. 
Rye^straw^ $9 to .$10 per ton, loose; rye, 
,$1.95 per 50 lbs.; oats, 7,5c per bu. New 
milch cows, $75 to $125; pork, .$23 per 
cwt.; fowls, 2,5e per lb., live .weight; 
chicken.s, 25c; butter, 50c per lb.; eggs, 
55c per doz. f. w. 
Rensselaer Co., N. Y. 
The weather has been very wet for the 
past month, too wet for potato digging 
and curing buckwheat. Both are only half 
a crop. Dealers are paying $1.25 per bu. 
for potatoes and .$3 per cwt. for buck¬ 
wheat. Help is very scarce. Farmers 
are offering 30c an hour. Corn was near¬ 
ly a failure in place.s. Grasshoppers 
have appeared in this section, the fir.st 
time in several years. More Winter 
grain was sown this Fall than usual. 
Several carloads of lime are used each 
year, as the land is very sour through 
this section. Eggs, 60c; butter, 46c; hay, 
$12 per ton, I)res.sed pork, 21o per lb.; 
plenty of horses are for sale. L. W. R. 
Tioga Co., N. Y. 
Oats. 65c; wheat, $2.15 bu.; buck¬ 
wheat, $3 per cwt. Potatoes at Martville, 
$1.35; Cato, $1.50; Savannah, ,$1.40. 
Ilay, .$12 per ton; Alfalfa, $15. Wool, 
65c per lb. Lambs, 12 to 14c per lb., 
live weight. Hogs, 20c per lb., live; 27c 
dres.sed. Beans, $7 per bu. My milk and 
dairy products go to New York at League 
prices, but butter is 50e per lb., and a 
good milch cows sells readily for $100. 
Apples from $1..50 to $2 per cwt, 
Cayuga Co., N. Y. F. L. s. 
Potatoes, $4..50 to $5 per bbl. Dressed 
pigs, $24 per cwt. Apples from $3 to $4 
per bbl.; eggs. SOc. New milch cows, 
.^00; beef cattle high and scarce. I am 
selling sweet cream for $8 per 40-qt. can. 
Rensselaer Co., N. Y. _ s. G. F. 
Potatoes, per bu., ,$2; sweet, SVs to 6c 
per lb.; cabbage, per lb., 2c; apples, poor 
grades, $1 per bu.; good grades, .$2 per 
bu. Pears, per crate, nearly a bushel, 
$1.15. Butter, country, 65e per lb.; 
creamery, 60c. Eggs, 55 to 60c, seldom 
in stock. Sugar, 10c lb.; 2 to 5 lbs. to a 
customer. Wheat around $2.20 per bu.; 
eorn. shelled, $2.50 to $3; chicken feed, 
.$4 ..50 per 1(X) lbs. R. M. w. 
.Jefferson Co., Pa. 
Potatoes, $1.40 to $1.80 per bu.; ap¬ 
ples, $1; beans. .$9 per bu. New ear 
corn recently sold here at auction for 72e 
per bu. Cabbage, 114 and 2c per lb. 
Hogs, live, 15 and 16c; dressed. 20 and 
21c per lb. Butter, SOc; eggs, 45c, very 
scarce. Chestnuts, 15c per qt. Young 
hems, 25c; old hens and roosters, 20c. 
We have received these prices for nearly 
all of these products at Rossiter, our 
nearest miiiing town. Are having very 
bad weather, not over one-third of pota¬ 
toes dug yet. E. B. w. 
Indiana Co., Pa. 
Hay, as to quality, $10 to $18. Rye, 
.$1.90 per bu.; buckwheat, $1..50; oats, 
70c; corn, $2. Potatoes, $1.75 to $2 per 
bu.; cabbage, 5 to 8c per head from 
field; turnips, $1 per bu. Apples, $2.50 
to $.3 per bbl.; butter, dairy, 47c per lb. 
Eggs, 48c. Milch cows. $75 to $100; fat 
veal calves, 14c lb., live weight; pork, 
16e per lb., live weight; beef cattle, live, 
8 to 9e per lb. n. Q. p. 
Greene Co., N. Y. 
