7h* RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
1451 
the blood flies to his head. When a pullet is laying 
her first eggs, she also strains hard, and the blood 
flies to her head; her face is red, too, and as this 
occurs nearly every day it is no wonder that her 
IIoiv the Mixer is Constructed. Fig. 590. 
comb increases in size then, nor is it strange that 
when she stops laying, and that daily stimulus is re¬ 
moved, that her comb shrinks in size, as we all know 
that it does. But, as I said before, the enlarged 
comb is the effect, not the cause of the laying. 
DEMAND FOR LARGE COMBK.-WVliile on this 
subject of “combs” I would like to give a little his¬ 
tory of what happened I guess 50 years ago, when 
Stoddard was running the Poultry World in Hart¬ 
ford, Conn. Some poultry breeders living along the 
Connecticut River clubbed together and sent a young 
man as passenger in a sailing ship over to the port 
of Leghorn, Italy, to import some Rose Comb Leg¬ 
horns. But he came back without any ; said he could 
not find a Rose Comb bird anywhere over there. 
And this was the reason: Every week a steamer 
load of fowls was shipped from Leghorn to Mar¬ 
seilles, France. A Frenchwoman would hold up her 
hands in horror at the shameless waste of throwing 
away the legs and head of a chicken. The legs are 
always used for a soup, and a special disli was made 
from the comb and wattles. The larger the comb 
and wattles, the more to be desired was the fowl. 
So when in Italy some fowl came with small rose 
comb it was kiiled and not used to breed from. 
Breeding from birds with large combs is possibly 
what fixed the large comb on the Leghorn. The 
Minorca, also a Mediterranean breed, has the large 
comb. But it can easily be bred off. When I was 
a “fancier” and bred show birds, I bred Leghorn 
liens with combs only half an inch high, so that I 
could get cockerels from them that would comply 
with the “Standard of Perfection” as to comb. 
GEORGE A. COSGROVE. 
It. N.-Y.—What The R. N.-Y. said is that certain 
scientific men say that the violet rays of sunshine 
are necessary in the deposits of lime in the body—• 
for bones or egg shells. These rays enter the body 
through the hen’s comb—which suggests a use for 
that organ. 
' Parsnip Cold Storage 
1 A SIMPLE, practical method of storing parsnips 
( Jtx is shown herewith. The container should be 
a flour barrel, or one similarly constructed. When 
staves swell, the hoops give, allowing for expansion. 
A sugar barrel is too strong when bound with the 
usual heavy wire or iron hoops. These hoops do not 
give, the staves buckle, allowing water to enter. 
Burying Vegetables in Barrels. Fig. 600. 
Cover should overhang for easy removal. The stone 
weight holds cover in place. Barrel is set half its 
height in ground, and earth mounded to top. Full 
depth, when so placed, makes it difficult to remove 
contents. We dig. cut tops as usual, and at once 
place in storage, without washing. Several neigh¬ 
bors have adopted this plan, and find the roots freeze 
and keep frozen all Winter, becoming fully as sweet 
as those undug. They do not shrivel, as there is 
sufficient dampness through and between staves to 
keep just right. It is well to locate barrel on land 
with good drainage, and conveniently near house. 
Massachusetts. Frederick ii. page. 
Mixers for Chemicals and Chicken Feed 
S EVERAL of our poultrymen have asked us to 
describe some machine which can be used for 
mixing poultry feed into a dry mash. The general 
plan for this matter of mixing grain is quite a chore, 
and means considerable labor, unless the mash is 
bought ready mixed. Most of our poultrymen seem 
to think that the average man can mix his grain up 
with a shovel easier and quicker than he can in any 
barrel or box. Some of them tell us that they can 
mix 500 lbs. of feed in 15 or 20 minutes by shoveling 
it over two or three times. To avoid the bother and 
labor of emptying bags of grain into a barrel or box 
and then turning it over to mix it, it would appear 
that most of the poultrymen simply throw the grain 
together on the floor, turn it over with a shovel two 
or three times and call it a job. There are a few of 
them, however, who use a mixing device which op- 
This picture was sent by Mr. Raphael Santor of West¬ 
chester Go., N. Y. He says his daughter raised this 
sunflower stalk—14 ft. 10 in. high, with flower 14 in. 
in diameter and leaves 18 to 20 in. wide. Surely “a big 
sunflower.” No wonder stockmen in the West are trying 
to utilize such immense growth for feeding purposes. 
erates much on the principle of a barrel or box 
churn. 
Some years ago quite a crusade was made in favor 
of home-mixing fertilizer, and a great many of these 
mixers were worked out to help along this move¬ 
ment. One such device was illustrated by the Rhode 
Island Experiment Station, and this may now be 
found in Bulletin No. 34, published in December, 
1895. This machine was constructed by E. G. Ma- 
comber of Portsmouth, R. I., and was used with 
great satisfaction for several years in mixing chem¬ 
icals. The picture, Fig. 603, shows a machine in op¬ 
eration, and Fig. 599 is a diagram showing how the 
machine was constructed. The following description 
is taken from the above-mentioned bulletin: 
(A) is the mixer, 3x3 ft. inside measurement, made 
of tongued and grooved pine boards (BB) % in. thick. 
Across the inside of each end at the center is spiked a 
2x8-in. plank (DD), and a belt of the same (CC) ex¬ 
tends around the middle of the mixer to make the trun- 
ions (EE) secure, and sustain the weight. Greater 
strength could perhaps be secured by extending an axis 
through the mixer with trunions at each end, but Mr. 
Macomber has found by trial that it interferes with 
perfect mixing and nyikes more work in clearing out the 
fertilizer. The trunions (EE and HII) are pieces of 
4x4-in. joist. (EE) are securely mortised into the cen¬ 
ter of the ends of the octagonal mixer (A), and arc 
turned down to about 3 in. in diameter, where they rest 
in the outer frame. The outer frame (FF) is made of 
pieces of plank 2% in. thick and 10 in. wide, securely 
spiked together, and is 4 ft. 5 in. square, measured on 
the outside. The two sides of this frame, which are 
Farther and farther out from towns, on available lots, 
are being built comfortable little cottages. The high 
rents are driving out the laboring man to his little plot 
of ground where he can build his home, add to it as the 
years go by, and grow a little garden to help keep down 
living costs. Many of these houses are built very 
cheaply; roofing material in some instances is used in 
place of siding. One reader of The It. N.-Y. used dry- 
goods boxes in building a good portion of his little home. 
Some day it will be turned into a chicken house or 
garage, and a new home will be started with money 
saved and earned in his less pretentious home. Home¬ 
building days are the happy days of one’s life, particu¬ 
larly if with the home building the little ones come along 
and grow to school age. The accompanying picture shows 
a neat little home which can be cheaply constructed, and 
is very attractive, This was taken between Conneaut, 
()., and Erie, Pa. The building to the right is an at¬ 
tached garage for the accommodation of the family 
automobile.—W. ,T., Ohio. 
mortised for the trunions (HII), are made of two thick¬ 
nesses of plank, separated by short strips of board so 
as to give a mortise of sufficient depth to hold the trun¬ 
ions securely in place and sustain the required weight. 
The trunions (IIII) are of the same size as (EE), with 
the bearing turned down to the same diameter. They 
revolve in the hollowed ends (KK) of the two upright 
4x4-in. joists previously mentioned. The trunions pro¬ 
ject sufficiently to receive the levers or arms already 
described, and each are bound with a band of strap- 
iron to prevent wear and splitting. When the mixer is 
revolved by placing the levers upon the trunions (EE), 
the outer frame (FF) is held in a horizontal position by 
a temporary leg at one corner held in place by a pin. 
When mixer and frame are revolved upon the trunions 
(IIII), the mixer is clamped to the outer frame by a 
button at one end. 
As will be seen, the mixer is really a large box. 
hung so that it can be turned over and over by put¬ 
ting it on levers attached to its sides. The grains or 
chemicals are put into this box, just as cream is pul 
into a barrel churn, then the opening is closed and 
the device is turned over and over until the grains 
are thoroughly mixed together. Probably some such 
device will be as good as any other for mixing grain, 
yet it is a question whether this method will really 
give any better service than the old-fashioned plan 
of shoveling the mixture over and over with a 
shovel. 
Lime with Manure 
What do you think of putting manure on the ground 
and liming it at the same time, without raking it in ; 
just leaving the ground rough? c. s. 
Elmhurst, N. Y. 
E think it far better practice to plow the ma¬ 
nure under and spread the lime on top to be 
harrowed in. What good can it do to mix the lime 
and manure and leave it on top? There would per- 
Fertilizer Mixer , Horizontal Position. Fig. 603. 
haps be no great harm if ground limestone were 
used, but with burned lime part of the ammonia in 
the manure would be driven off if the combination 
were left exposed on top of the soil. 
