B»e RURAL NEW-YORKER 
781 
The Henyard 
Cost of Home-Grown Grain 
The other day another young man and 
I were discussing the comparative cost of 
keeping hens on the farm and in the vil¬ 
lage. lie claimed the farmer had the ad¬ 
vantage because he raised his own grain. 
I claimed that the grain which a farmer 
fed to his hens should be charged up to 
them at the price he could obtain for it 
at the elevator. He .said, “No, it doesn’t 
cost you that much to produce it, so it 
isn’t fair to charge that price to the 
hens.’’ I used to look at it that way, but 
don’t now. Aside from the free range 
on the farm, the cost of keeping would 
not be much different in one place over 
the other, because as a general thing the 
village poultryman could obtain his grain 
from a farmer at the same prices the 
farmer gets at the elevator. I told my 
friend I would put it up to The R. N.-Y. 
New York. A. E. H. 
If the profit from the flock alone is to 
be considered, grain should he charged at 
its market value. If all farm operations 
are to be considered together, it is imma¬ 
terial whether the grain fed the poultry 
is charged at co.st or at market price. If 
fed at cost, the flock shows an increased 
profit and the grain field shows none. If 
fed at market value, the flock suffers on 
the ledger and the grain field shows a 
profit. The farmer gains nothing by sell¬ 
ing his grain to his hens at les^ than the 
market value, unless the expense of get¬ 
ting it to the hens is less than the ex¬ 
pense of hauling it to market, for what he 
gains in the egg basket he loses in the 
field. If he wants to show the greatest 
possible profit on his poultry, he should 
charge the gi-ain at cost, but he will have 
no more money to pay taxes with than he 
would if he got less for his eggs and more 
for bis grain. M. B. D, 
Eliminating Bird-Killing Cats 
Referring to Mrs. O. A. W.’s complaint 
on page (!r)4. it is suggested that some 
canned salmon or sardines be placed at 
inner end of an empty nail keg, laid 
lengthwise on the ground, and that two 
of the .smallest sized steel traps, spiked to 
a log, be placed on ground at entrance to 
keg and camouflaged over naturally with 
leaves or grass. The fishy odor attracts 
the bird-killing cat and a rap on the trap¬ 
ped animal’s head makes a noiseless finish 
that brings no neighborhood rows. There 
is some advantage in eliminating cats in 
Winter, when their tracks in the snow be¬ 
tray their route.s of travel, and before the 
Summer song birds have arrived. M.M. G. 
Mississippi. 
Cannibal Chicks 
The chickens I hatched last Spring got 
cannibal habits. They would pick a bird 
above the tail until it died. They would 
leave only the bones. During the Win¬ 
ter I had very little trouble with it, but 
since March they are killing as many as 
four in one day. Now, they bite a piece 
out of the vent and then deliberately pull 
out the intestines of the hen, and it soon 
dies. They try another hen, but they 
do not devour the flesh. The mothers of 
the flock never do it. J. F- F. 
New York. 
Cannibalism is a trait hard to accotint 
for in fowls. Once acquired, however, it 
is difficult to rid them of. The appetite 
for blood does not seem to be appeased by 
fresh meat, though many have reported 
that a i)iece of salt pork hung where the 
fowls can reach it will satisfy them and 
cause them to desist from attacking their 
fellow's. I have succeeded in stopping 
the losses by turning the flock loose- for 
a time and permitting them to scatter 
and forget each other. Close confinement 
conduces to the acquirement of these 
vicious habits and should be avoidt-d 
whenever possible. m. b. d. 
Making Feed Mixture 
I want to raise from l.oO to 200 chick¬ 
ens for home use. and to save some for 
eggs for the family, I am in position to 
raise sunflower, kafir corn, sugar cane, 
millet, and will also have on the place 
field corn, c*ow peas and Soy beams, and 
would like to know how to mix this up 
for something like a balanced ration for 
scratch feed. I thought of buying some 
oats, barley and wheat, but would prefer 
raising the feed' necessary on my own 
pliice. F. L, w. 
West Virginia. 
Of the grains you mention, corn is the 
best for your fowls and should form the 
you like, these being of about the same 
food value. Sunflow'er seeds are rich in 
oil and can be fed only in limited quan¬ 
tity. Wheat and oats are the other 
standard poultry foods, the wheat by¬ 
products, bran and middlings, being fed 
with cornmeal and ground oats as a mash. 
With all these you will need animal food 
of some kind to furnish needed protein 
for balancing the ration. This you can 
get in skim-milk or beef or fish scrap. I 
do not know what crops you can raise to 
best advantage, but presume that field 
corn will yield you the most and best 
poultry food per acre. By making the 
Fse of green or cured clover. 
Alfalfa, and the root crops, like mangels, 
you can reduce the amount of grain 
needed, and, at present prices, it is (|uite 
essential to economize in grain. 
M. B. D. 
Lame Fowls 
What is the matter with mv White 
Leghorn hens? At first they are taken 
slightly lame, but very graduallv grow 
worse until they can scarcelv ‘hobble. 
They continue to run down for two or 
three months perhaps, then die. Their 
combs do not lose color much, but be- 
oomes shrunken. A great many continue 
to lay for some time after they are taken 
lame. They are fed mainly corn and 
buckwheat, but more coni. They have 
a brook of nice running w’ater to drink 
from, and a nice henhou.se w'ell ventilated, 
but no draughts. AVould it be advisable 
to use their eggs for .setting? c. D. 
New York. 
I have never seen any satisfactory ex¬ 
planation of this lameness, or inability to 
use the _ legs. It has been ascribed to 
rheumatism, ^ probablj' without reason, 
and to over-feeding with consequent dis¬ 
order of the liver or other digestive or¬ 
gans. It seems to me quite probable 
that the latter exjdanation is the mo.st 
neavly correct, tliough, of course, it is 
not much of an explanation. In the case 
of your fow'ls, you are feeding them upon 
fattening food chiefly, and unless they 
have free range upon a farm they are 
quite likely to suffer from consequent di¬ 
gestive disturbances. You would have 
better results in egg yield if yon added 
oats and wheat, or wheat bran and mid¬ 
dlings, to their ration, together with an 
ample supply of skim-milk or some nfeat 
scrap. M. E. D. 
Business of a Country Neighborhood 
The money croj) here is milk. The 
League price for ^lay is .$2..50. The milk 
averages .$3.60, which adds 24 cents. 
From that is deducted 18 cents cartage, 
leaving $2.41. The Hurleyville co-op¬ 
erative creamery deducts 15 cents for 
expenses I do not seem able to find out 
what that is for; the farmers I talk to 
do not understand Some tell one story 
and some another, but it is 15 cents for 
expenses in some way; so the milk aver¬ 
ages .$2.41 per 100, or $2.0485 per can. 
Mo.st of the native farmers have a few' 
potatoes to sell. Some sell a little hay ; 
prime Timothy. $25 per ton. delivered; 
poorer quality down to $12. Each farmer 
raises a few oats, buckwheat, corn, and 
some have silos. They do not raise field 
corn. Every farmer keeps some hens. 
They did have 100 to 300 on almost every 
farm but fe<'d prices have driven us all 
out of the hen business Eggs .sell from 
30 to 35 cents per dozen, according to 
how much the people want them There 
are no month men to hire—a few loafers 
that will work a few days at a time for 
$2.,10 per day. The natives have boys 
under or past draft age and exchange 
work with each other. Crops are going 
in about as usual and about the same 
acreage, except potatoe.s—there will be 
fewer planted than last year. The farms 
here are not run to full capacity and 
have not been for 25 years. The city 
b<)arder:; ruined this country, together 
with the milk business. To give you an 
example I will .state my experience. 1 
have 140 acres. I could keep 50 cows. 
I can cultivate 120 acres, but by the 
time help is paid there is nothing left. 
My wife and I have had to milk 25 cows, 
take care of 300 hens and as many more 
ducks for weeks at a time when the 
men would leave. At present I have 13 
COW'S, about 7.5 hens, no ducks or tur¬ 
keys. I have seven calves. I was always 
in the milk business until 12 years ago, 
so I make my milk in pot cheese, sour 
cream and butter. Have a route seven 
miles, about 40 customers; go each Tues¬ 
day, except in .Tuly and August, then 
tw'ice a week. At present butter is 48c 
farmer cheese 14c, pot cheese 12c, sour 
per cent, .3Sc; sweet cream 
4oc. These are what I receive. When I 
do not produce enough I buy some milk. 
I can buy cheape-r than produce it. 
.Sullivan Co., N. Y. n. j. m. 
"Uow does your boy like life in the 
army?” “Not particularly well. He savs 
he’s been in it six weeks now and hasn’t 
once been ordered to do something glo¬ 
rious.”—Detroit Free Press. 
basis of your ration. To corn may be 
added kafir and millet in any 
rn may be “Hig feet kept him out of the army ” 
proportion JTlat?’!^ “No; cold.”—Buffalo Express. 
^ JuBt mail the coupon. That will brin^ 
^ these splendid Outing Work Shoes prepaid. 
A stunning bargain or you can sond them back. 
Don’t put off a day. Accept this offer and see 
what an unparalleled value these sho^s are. 
We’ll take the chances of your keeping them. 
We want you to see them—to try them on—to 
satisfy yourself that nowhere else can you get 
such a bargain. Don’t pay $3.60 or $4.00 for 
shoes when 'you can get these for $2.94. 
Special Offer Now 
We can’t guarantee to hold this offer 
open. So don’t miss it. You have noth¬ 
ing to lose. These are just the shoes 
you want. Built on stylish Outing Too 
Style, The special re-tanning process 
makes the leather proof against the 
acid of milk, manure, soil, gasoline, 
etc. Built to give the utmost 
in wear. Your choice of wide, 
medium or narrow. Easy on 
the feet. Made by a special 
process which leaves all 
the “life” in the 
leather and 
gives it won¬ 
derful wear- 
resisting qual¬ 
ity. Heavy 
solid double 
soles. Half 
bellows tongue. 
Tough .durable 
leather top. 
Color dark tan. 
See for yourself 
what wonderful 
shoes these are. 
Pay only $2.94 on arrival. If, after careful 
examination, you don’t find them all you ex¬ 
pect, send them back and we will return your ■ 
money. No obligation on you at all. I 
Sentf—^ I 
Only the coupon—no money. That brings ® 
these splendid shoes prepaid. You are to be ■ 
the judge of equality, style and value. Keep I 
them 9 nly if satisfactory in every way. Be sore 
give size and width. Mail the coupon now. ■' 
Leonard-Morton & Co. ! 
Dept. 714 ChicaKO I 
(Only One Pair 
To a Person 
At This Price 
LEONARD. 
MORTON & CO. 
Dept. 714 ChicaKO 
Lend the Len-Mort Shoes prepaid. I will pay 
J.94 on arrival, and examine them carefully. If I am 
not satisfied, will send them back and you will 
refund my money. 
Size.. Width. 
Name. 
Age......Harried ar single. 
Address. 
THE STOCKTON HATCHERY 
W E are producers of STRICTLY THOROUGHBRED chicks. 
Hundreds of this season’s satisfied customers prove that 
our dealings are square, that here they get full value, an 
honest transaction and satisfaction. 
The Rural New- Yorker backs up our reliability 
As the season is somewhat advancing, we give von the oppor¬ 
tunity of ordering chicks from tliis ad., as we will have but two 
more weeks of hatching tliis season, you had bi'tter order chicks 
1^^ immediately in order to secure prompt shipment. 
40,000 Chicks—Immediate Deliveries 
i^DO.OO per 1000 100 CHICKS oO chicks 25 cmCKS 
_ S. C. White Leghorns.$ 9.50 $6.00 $3.50 
Rhode Island Reds. 13.50 7.25 4.00 
White Wyandottes. 17.00 8.50 5.00 
Send 2()c per 100 cliicks for parcel-post charges. Our baby-chick 
catalog FREE upon request. Order before it is too late. 
EMMERY R. WILSON, Stockton Hatchery, STOCKTON, N. J. 
Don’t let 
your hens and 
chicks be pestered 
to death. Remember, 
lousy hens soon quit laying 
—and lice actually kill millions 
of chicks. Y ou can rid fowls and 
chicks of lice by using Instant 
Louse Killer. Dr. Hess authorizes 
evez-y one of his 28,000 dealers in 
the United States and Canada to sell 
it on a money-back guarantee. 
Sprinkle on roosts, in coops, sift in 
the feathers, put it in the dust bath. 
It kills lice on animals as well. 
Closing-out SALE 
A pen qf about 60 Barron S. C. White Leg. 
horn hens, imported from Thos. Barron, Catfor^, 
England, with positive guaranteed pedigrees run¬ 
ning from 250 to 283 eggs per year. Mated with 
cock birds of extra high pedigrees. Quoting from 
Mr. Barron’s letter, “these are the highest Barron 
Leghorns in the United States.” Also April, 1918 
hatched S. C. White Leghorn pullets and 
cockereis. Write for prices. 
THE DELAWARE EGG FARM. Milford. Del. 
1 /’'I • 1 OUR FAMOUS WINTER-LAVING 
DBDV VylllCkS barred rocks, REDS. S. C. 
LEGHORNS AND ANCONAS 
are the most profitable ones to buy. Write for spee- 
ial prices and a square deal on quality chicks. 
E. K. HUMMEK & CO., Erenchtown, N. J. 
-a=-Weeks Ol3.iol5LS 
S. C. W. Leghorns. Sires from tho 311-egg hen. 20 chicks 
for SI O; 10 chicks, $5.50. 
E. CLAUDE JONES, . Craryville, N. Y. 
pUinifC Buff Leghorns. Rocks, Broilers 8e and 
UIIIUIVw up. Safe delivery guiirauteed. Cir.free. 
Jacob Neimond, Box 2, McAiisterviile, Pa. 
S. C. W. Leghorns, 8c. and up. Money 
refunded for dead chicks. Circular free. 
W. A. liAUVER, McAiisterviile, Pa. 
CHICKS 
^■■1 JAM A BARRED ROCKS. On Free Range. Si 
l■H||.|lS Delivery Guaranteed. Booklet Fn 
ar ■■ ■ W IB W reliable hatchery. Box 12. R. J. McAlixterviHc. 
Stroke the hair the wrong way and 
sift in the Louse Killer. Excellent 
to use right now for killing bugs 
and worms on roses and vines. 
lib. 25c 2’/2lbs.50c 
(except in Canada) 
Dr. HESS & CLARK 
Ashland, 
L iffKt Rvalimag ONLY. Fifteenth year. Se- 
Igni r>ranmas Eggs-Settings-SI.SO : 
.00-54.50; 100—58. Haystack Mountain Farm, Norfolk, Conn. 
Pn-oo Erriro Lronze, B. Red. Narragnnsett and W. 
*■&&“ Holland turkeys tl per 12. B. P. Rocks 
and S. C. K. 1. lied chickens, SI.25 per 15. All eggs prepaid. 
Orders tilled promptly. Eatlerii OhiD Poultry Form. Beallsville, 0. 
S. C. R. I. REDS 
Vibert 231 to 251-egg strain. Eggs, $2 per 15 ; $7 per 100 ; 
*20 for 300. Chicks, .*18 per 100. AHHA M. JOHES, Craryville.M.T. 
Giant Bronze Turkey Eggs ^cl 
$3.50 per 10, delivered by Post. 
H. J, VAN DYKE, - Gettysburg, Pa. 
Pearl GUINEA EGGSi« 3 %^^ 
L. O . Q UIGLEY. - GOSHEN. NEW Y ORK 
I P(rhnrnPiillol« Yearlings, *1.50. Excellent stock. 
WHITE Legnurn rUIIGIS KOUEST FAKU, Kookaway, i. 
Books Worth Reading 
Animal Breeding, Shaw. 1.50 
Breeding Farm Animals, Marshall.. 1.50 
Principles of Breeding, Davenport.. 2.50 
Cheese Making, Van Slyke.1.75 
Business of Dairyiug, Cane. 1.25 
Clean Milk. Winslow.3.25 
Dairy Chemi.stry, Sn.vder. 1.00 
Dairy Farming. Michels. 1.00 
Handbook for Dairymen, Woll.1.60 
Milk and Its Products, Wing.1.60 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
333 "WEST 30th ST., NEW YORK. 
