1425 
A New Jersey Hen Man Talks 
| The picture at Fig. 616 shows the poultry plant of 
Fritz Walter in Atlantic County, N. .T. The Leghorns 
are in view, and Mr. Walter is busy trying to settle the 
Winter housing problem. He makes the following state¬ 
ment about his business.] 
AKING A START.—I started in the chicken 
business in 1917. Everybody told me then that 
it was foolish to start when prices for feed were 
high up, 'but the present condition shows clearly that 
it was a good time to start. Tn the Spring of that 
year T bought 500 Leghorn baby chicks from good 
stock and raised 150 pullets. Besides the income of 
the broilers it took 85 cents feed expense for each 
pullet up to the time they started to lay in October. 
The following year the flock was increased to ‘200, 
then for two years 400 were kept. 
INCREASED FACILITIES.—At the beginning of 
this year we succeeded in getting a more suitable and 
larger place, which is located in Atlantic Co.. N. J., 
in regard to climate, soil and markets a fine location 
for poultry. A laying and feed house !Sxl5S ft. was 
erected (see picture), and the flock at present con¬ 
sists of 750 pullets and 275 hens. I plan to keep 
about 1,500 to 2,000. 
YIELDS AND PRICES—The average egg yield 
per hen for the last 12 months was 151.7 eggs. The 
average price received for eggs throughout the year 
was 49.15 cents per dozen, $6.18 worth of eggs from 
each hen. A Leghorn consumes 55 lbs. 
of feed and 15 libs, semi-solid butter¬ 
milk per year; at the present feed 
prices about $1.75. 
BREEDING.—I breed my cockerels 
from a few selected hens, and always 
the same line, either from the sire's or 
dam’s side, but so that they do not get 
related too closely. By doing so it is 
very interesting to see how the flock 
from year to year gets more even in 
appearance and better in production. 
The first pullet this year started to lay 
when four months and a day old. I 
shall trap-nest some birds now to have 
a record for this kind of work. 
VALUE OF LEGHORN’S.— There 
were some interesting discussions in 
The It. N.-Y. lately in comparing 
horns with general purpose fowls, 
experienced poultryman, I think, would 
not try to call the Leghorn tribe down. 
They are more profitable, or at least 
just as profitable, as any heavy breed. 
The feed cost per dozen eggs from Leg¬ 
horns is considerably lower comparing 
with heavy breeds. Furthermore, hatch¬ 
ing and rearing pullets from Leghorns 
is 50 per cent cheaper and easier, al¬ 
though I kept White W.vandottes for 
nine years before I had Leghorns. It 
is also a fact that over 90 per cent of 
the commercial poultry farms in New 
Jersey keep Leghorns. My advice* is: 
“Keep the breed which you like best 
and stick to it.” fred Walter. 
New Jersey. 
Making Over Poor Soil 
I have just bought two lots adjoining 
my property, and would like to know the 
best means of preparing this land for cultivation, 
have had two farmers in this neighborhood look it oyer, 
with the idea of having it turned over, but after running 
two or three furrows both gave it up, saying the land was 
no good. To the best of my knowledge this land has not 
been cultivated or planted for 100 years or more, and is 
covered with sour grass, with a bed of sand and gravel 
as far down as 1 have been able to dig. I thought per¬ 
haps by having it filled in with good soil it might be 
made fit to use, but am afraid that would entail con¬ 
siderable expense. The land is ideally drained, and 
slopes down to a brook that borders the property. If 
I had it filled in, would it be necessary to plow the old 
ground up first? How deep do you think would be suffi¬ 
cient to cover with new ground? Would it be practical 
to set out some young fruit trees on the old ground by 
filling in around the trees with sweet soil? F. M.G. 
Long Island. 
RACTICAL farmers usually have good judgment 
about soils, and if they say this land is too poor 
to work we should *be inclined to believe them. Cer¬ 
tainly we would not risk our judgment against theirs 
without seeing the land. We'believe, however, that 
any kind of soil can be made fairly productive if 
you are willing to pay the price. We have seen a 
heap of pure sand or gravel, or a pile of sifted coal 
ashes, gradually change to “soil,” but it is a ques¬ 
tion whether this is worth the money and time re¬ 
quired to bring about the desired change in such 
materials. 
Lime and organic matter are the chief things 
needed to put the soil in good mechanical and 
chemical condition. The problem of plant food is a 
<D* RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
different thing. By improved mechanical conditions 
we mean the ability to hold water and to firm well 
about the roots so as not to let too much air into the 
soil. The lime helps to do this by compacting or 
holding the particles of soil together. The organic 
matter helps by acting like a sponge to hold water. 
By chemical condition we mean increasing the num¬ 
ber of useful bacteria in the soil. The lime helps in 
this by sweetening the soil, while the organic matter 
provides food and lodgement for the bacteria. Un¬ 
der a system of irrigation, where water can be sup¬ 
plied at any time, the lighter sands, well fertilized, 
are superior to the clay soils. In ancient times the 
world was fed, not from the richer soils, hut from 
the desert sands after they had been put under 
irrigation. 
If for any reason we wanted to make this poor 
soil into a garden, regardless of cost, we should give 
it a thick coat of manure in Spring and plow deep. 
Then use limestone at the rate of one ton per acre. 
Seed oats and Canada peas at the usual rate of 
seeding, and add 1 lb. of turnip seed per acre. Blow 
under such growth as you can get in early July and 
seed a combination of buckwheat, rye and Alsike 
clover. The buckwheat will grow until killed by 
frost. Then it will die down in the ground, and the 
rye and clover will work up through. Plow this all 
under in the Spring. You can then plant such crops 
as sweet corn and potatoes and by using fertilizer 
freely obtain a fair crop. Dig the potatoes early 
and seed a combination of rye and vetch. Also seed 
rye and vetch in the corn and let these crops cover 
the ground through late Summer and Fall. This 
plan of seeding cover crops of rye, buckwheat, clover 
or peas whenever possible and plowing them all into 
the ground and using lime and fertilizer will, in 
time, improve the soil. It will never be equal to a 
good clay loam, since the sand and gravel are too 
coarse, and even when filled with manure or organic 
matter they will leach and suffer in a dry time. We 
have known cases where sifted coal ashes were 
worked into such a soil with good effect. The fine 
ashes worked in between the particles of sand or 
gravel and held them compact, so as to make them 
hold water better. You can bring in soil from some 
other place and put it over this ground. We should 
plow it in and mix well. It is said that some of the 
best gardens at Provincetown, Mass., have been made 
out of soil brought by ships as ballast and mixed 
with the sand, so abundant on Cape Cod. The plan 
we have outlined will improve the soil of these lots, 
but it is a question whether the work will pay. 
Some varieties of apples and peaches grow quite 
well in sand if a “mulch” or cover of soil, manure, 
straw, weeds or similar material is kept on the 
ground around them. 
Making a Sanitary Well 
OINTS TO CONSIDER.—I have been much 
interested in the discussions relative to tin* 
water witch in connection with locating underground 
streams, and while there may be something to it. l 
have about as much faith in it as I have in planting 
by the signs of the moon or the accuracy of the for¬ 
tune teller. Ignoring the merits of the case on either 
side, from experience and observation I believe I 
can give valuable information to R. N.-Y. readers 
who are contemplating the digging of a well. In 
supplying a home with a good and efficient water 
system, as well as electricity, none is so good as a 
general or large central source, even at much greater 
expense, but in the suburbs or country such source 
is usually not at hand. Hence the purely local plants 
must be used, which have been developed to a very 
efficient stage. 
A DRILLED WELL.—Several years ago, when 
moving to the suburbs, it was necessary to provide 
a local water supply for the home. After the well 
had been properly located by a water witch, the 
driller, at a depth of 40 ft., stated there was a little 
water, but not enough for family use. He suggested 
going further, and at a depth of 80 ft. secured a 
flow of probably 15 or 20 gallons per 24 hours, the 
water being very full of mineral—salt, lime, mag¬ 
nesia, etc.—but very healthful after one became used 
to drinking it. but as a well almost a 
complete failure. 
ADVANTAGES OF DUG WELL.— 
Having sold the place last Spring, a 
few weeks ago it became necessary on 
a nearby acre to supply water for an¬ 
other place which I am now erecting, 
and I decided to try a dug well. It is 
claimed that sometimes in a driven 
well where water is unobtainable at 
one place by moving a foot or two in 
one direction or another it may he 
found in abundance. Therefore the 
difference .between a drilled well and 
a dug well may be likened unto the 
difference between a rifle and a shot¬ 
gun in the hunting of quail. (I am 
sure the reader will get the point.) 
Without having my last well located 
by a water witch (although I must 
confess that I tried out the idea with 
several prongs cut from a tree in the 
back of the lot, but failed to get the 
necessary magnetism downward at any 
place, even when over a neighbor's 
well), I had a well-digger undertake 
the work (cost $2 per ft. and cheaper 
than a drilled well), the diameter be¬ 
ing 4 ft. At a depth of 35 ft. an 
abundance of water was found. He 
went on down to 36% ft., but finding 
some heavy boulders late in the day. I 
told him to go no further. The follow¬ 
ing morning about 300 gallons were 
baled out. The digger then proceeded 
to put 6 in. of stone about the size of 
one’s fist in the bottom. Three sewer 
tile 2 ft. in diameter and 2 ft. long 
were then placed on end, the space 
around being filled with larger stone. 
A reducer was then used, making the 
diameter of the tile from there on up to 6 in. The 
joints, are cemented, which makes the whole job 
sanitary, and, I believe, as everlasting as the hills; 
certainly better than the steel casing that is ordi¬ 
narily used. 
PUMP AND CISTERN.—A deep well water pump 
will be placed in a pit over the well, the bottom of 
which will be on an even grade with and near the 
basement floor. The tank will be placed in the base¬ 
ment. with water pipe and electric wire underground. 
Everything will, of course, be automatic and the 
pressure of the water even and constant. There 
should be an abundance of water for family use in 
connection with the bath. etc., to say nothing of the 
soft water from the cistern, which will be kept at a 
constant pressure by a shallow well pump properly 
installed. 
MARKED ADVANTAGE'S.—I do not believe a 
driven well would be nearly so satisfactory, and do 
not know of a single one in our whole community 
that will supply sufficient water for family use: on 
the other hand, a dug well, constructed in the man¬ 
ner above suggested, not only supplies a reservoir 
for the storage of water, but gives more opportunity 
for the striking of the small subterranean streams, 
which no doubt are very numerous at the water 
levels. E. C. HENDRICKSON 
Ohio. 
