m 
American Agriculturist, November 10,1923 
322 
NEW LAMP BURNS 
* 94% AIR 
Beats Electric or Gas 
More About Lights in the Poultry House 
Do They Really Increase the Total Egg Yield of a Bird ? - Fall Poultry Items 
A new oil lamp that gives an amaz¬ 
ingly brilliant, soft, white light, even 
better than gas or electricity, has been 
tested by the U. S. Government and 35 
leading universities and found to be su¬ 
perior to 10 ordinary oil lamps. It 
burns without odor, smoke or noise— 
no pumping up, is simple, clean, safe. 
Burns 94% air and 6% common kero¬ 
sene (coal oil). 
The inventor, R. M. Johnson, 642 N. 
Broad St., Philadelphia, is offering to 
send a lamp on 10 days’ FREE trial, or 
even to give one FREE to the first user 
in each locality who will help him in¬ 
troduce it. Write him to-day for full 
particulars. Also ask him to explain 
how you can get the agency, and with¬ 
out experience or money make $250 to 
$500 per month. 
DOG 
BOOK, 
32 page book—how to keep your 
flog well — how to care for him 
when sick. Result of 35 years’ experi¬ 
ence with every known dog disease. 
Mailed FREE. Write today. Dept. 311. 
H. CLAY GLOVER, V. S. 
1 °9 West 24th St. New York 
____i -- --- 
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potatoes, 35 acres woodland, balance pasture; only 1 
fruit trees; handsome 2-story 6-room house, furnace, fine 
bams, stable, 5 -room tenant hpuse, granary, new poultry 
house To settle affairs, all for $10,500; part cash. 
Details page 109, Illus. Catalog—Bargains many states. 
Copy free. ST ROUT FARM AGENCY, 150 R Nassau 
Street, New York City. ___ 
FARM WAGONS 
High or low wheels— 
steel or wood-wide 
or narrow tires. 
Wagon parts of all 
binds. Wheels to fit 
any running gear. 
t| _ . Catalog illustrated in colors freo- 
Electric Wheel Co., 2 Elm St., Quincy, Ill. 
Send for 
Catalo; 
Don’t Miss This 
Money-Saving Opportunity! 
As a service to our readers we now 
offer some of the most remarkable 
magazine clubbing bargains that 
have ever been offered by any maga¬ 
zine. By taking advantage of these 
cut-price offers you are able to get 
practically twice’as many magazines 
for the same money. Some of these 
offers .will be withdrawn January 
1st, so we urge every reader to lose 
no time in accepting one of these 
exceptionally attractive bargains. 
Today’s Housewife . • • $1.00 
Farm & Fireside (or Amer¬ 
ican Needlewoman) . .50 
American Agriculturist . 1.00 
I T is a questionable fact if artificial 
illumination in the henhouse increases 
egg production. The ability.or capacity 
of a hen to lay eggs is an inborn 
tendency, the result of good or bad 
breeding, while illumination is a purely 
external factor. It is simply one moie 
force in the surroundings of a hen 
which contribute to her comfort and 
well being. 
The confusion over the extra or in¬ 
creased egg production is natural 
enough to understand. Birds lay more 
eggs during the dark winter months, 
pullets especially lay more steadily and 
consistently because of illumination. 
It would seem, therefore, as if the pro- 
duction of the flock had been increased, 
and it is certainly a fact that more 
eggs are layed during the fall and 
winter. But it is also equally true that 
the spring and . summer production de¬ 
creases. Formerly birds layed them¬ 
selves out in the spring and summer 
months; now birds lay consistently 
from the time they start until they 
finally moult in the fall. Illumination 
equalizes and stabilizes egg production, 
and the hen lays her eggs during eight 
or nine months instead of jamming her 
full production into six short months. 
Illumination as a Tool 
It is perhaps better to look at illumi¬ 
nation simply as a tool and forget its 
so-called part in producing eggs. We 
can still make a hen lay about all the 
eggs she is capable of producing by 
feeding her in the right proportions. 
Likewise, our chances of keeping this 
same bird in good condition are in¬ 
creased because -of the use of illumina¬ 
tion. In the nights before its use was 
popular, the hen starved because her 
crSp was not large enough to hold all 
the food her body could consume during 
the fourteen or fifteen hours of a dark 
winter night. Every bit of fat or sur¬ 
plus she had went to keep the machin¬ 
ery of her body going; there was noth¬ 
ing left for egg production, so that 
when the longer days of spring came 
and relieved her she layed with the 
speed of a racing automobile to try to 
catch up with herself. Illumination, 
therefore, saves her a double hardship; 
the strain of overproduction in the 
spring and the tragedy of simple star¬ 
vation in the winter. 
But just as feeding is a tool used for 
good or evil, so, likewise, is the light 
in the henhouse. No working day of 
combined natural and artificial light 
ought to exceed fourteen hours, and 
that light ought to be used consistently 
day in and day out during the same 
part of every succeeding twenty-four 
hours. Hens. are great creatures of 
habit and irregularity can easily put a 
clog in the machine 
rest and good substantial feeding of 
the right sort. If she has laid late, 
if she is a bird worth saving, she will 
moult rapidly. Sometimes such birds 
are almost naked, they shed their 
feathers so quickly. By the last of De¬ 
cember or the first of the year her new 
plumage will be well grown in and her 
comb will show signs of blood ex¬ 
panding it. Now turn on the light and 
the flock will respond rapidly. If you 
handle your yearlings and breeding 
birds in this way you will get the best 
in production and also good results m 
the breeding pen. 
There is just one other factor oi 
great importance in the lighted hen¬ 
house and that is green and succulent 
feed. There is so much said and 
written about this one element that to 
mention it ought to be enough. There 
is one way of stressing the point, how¬ 
ever, that may still further show you 
its importance. By lengthening the 
day into fourteen hours, you auto¬ 
matically put the flock on a summer 
basis, barring the cold weather. There¬ 
fore, the hen must have the succulence 
and the greenness that goes with the 
summer conditions; otherwise she can¬ 
not do well. 
To sum up the situation; the proper 
use of light well applied together with 
proper feeding may not produce moie 
eggs, but it will insure a capacity pio- 
duction from the birds involved. By 
proper breeding and an increase in the 
laying ability of birds, the future in¬ 
deed holds great possibilities for every 
able poultry keeper.—L. H. Hiscock. 
ing on the character of the trouble. 
Flocks where scaly leg is not to be 
found are plenty. Hens seem to be¬ 
come immune to it through sanitary 
conditions and careful breeding during 
the course of several generations. 
Warner E. Farver. 
TURKEYS HAVE COLDS 
My turkeys act as if they had a cold. Their 
noses and eyes run. A lump twice the size 
of a kernel of corn comes in back ot tne 
nose and just below the eye. They eat good 
all the time.— Mrs. E. L. Y., New Tork. 
Catarrhal colds are quite common 
among turkeys in the fall and espe¬ 
cially when they roost in trees near 
farm buildings or room over wet or 
unsanitary yards. When a hard lump 
forms in the nasal passage from the 
eye, roup is liable to follow. Unsani¬ 
tary places should be cleaned up and 
limed and the affected birds given one 
teaspoon of epsom salts. It is also ad¬ 
visable to spray their eyes and nostrils 
with a 2% solution of boracic acid 
using a small nasal atomizer.—W. G. K. 
All 3 One Year f or Only $1.25 Safety Valves in the Use of Light 
Pictorial Review . . • $1.50 
American Poultry Advocate .50 
American Agriculturist . 1.00 
All 3 One Year for Only $1.90 
McCall’s Magazine . . • 
Farm & Fireside . • • *50 
Path.fi.nder (Weekly) ^ • • kOO 
American Agriculturist . 1.00 
All 4 One Year for Only $2.00 
American Needlewoman . $ .50 
Woman’s World (or Farm 
& Fireside).50 
Today’s Housewife . . . 1.00 
American Agriculturist . 1.00 
All 4 One Year for Only $1.65 
Woman’s Home Companion $1.50 
American Magazine . . • 2.50 
American Agriculturist . 1.00 
All 3 One Year for Only $3.50 
Christian Herald (or Mod- 
dern Priscilla) . . • $2.00 
American Needlewoman . .50 
Farm & Fireside . _ . - .50 
American Agriculturist . 1.00 
All 4 One Year for Only $2.15 
Farm & Fireside • • • $ *50 
American Poultry Advocate .50 
McCall’s Magazine . . . 1.00 
American Agriculturist . 1.00 
All 4 One Year for Only $1.65 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
Desk 60-N-10 
461 Fourth Avenue New York Lity 
Of course, in the lighted henhouse 
there is always a safety valve. Poul- 
trymen sometimes wonder at the moult¬ 
ing birds that show up in their flocks 
along in January or later. A bird that 
moults at, this time means that there is 
a wrong condition existing somewhere, 
and an immediate check of all details 
governing the hens ought to be made. 
This spasmodic moult (often it is not 
a truly general moult but confined to 
the neck of the birds) must not be con¬ 
fused with a spring moult, for this last 
is the result of pure carelessness in dis¬ 
continuing the use of lights in the 
spring. Too long a working day, 
irregular use of illumination, improper 
feed, disease,—in short, almost any¬ 
thing may throw some or all of the 
flock into a moult. . . 
As regards the use of electricity on 
the different ages of birds, it is well to 
keep a few general applications m 
mind. It is a mistake to use it on 
pullets other than those that are well- 
combed out or just about full grown, 
perhaps even laying a little. To use 
lights on birds before they reach this 
stage of maturity is sure to lead to a 
stunting and general unevenness in the 
flock. On older birds, that is, those 
one year or older, there is no gain in 
using light while the birds are in the 
moult. To do so is to weaken the birds. 
A moulting hen has done a year’s 
work; she has layed herself out, and 
what she needs during this period is 
BUTTERMILK FOR POULTRY 
Buttermilk is now recognized as one 
of the most necessary food digestive 
agents known for growing poultry 
due to the lactic acid it contains. This 
lactic acid acts on the grains consumed 
rendering more complete digestion. 
Buttermilk is an animal protein 
food. It has a nutritive ratio of 1 to 
1.6, and in each 100 pounds it supplies 
3.84 pounds of digestible protein, 1.05 
pounds of digestible fat, 3.92 pounds 
of digestible carbohydrates, and 0.7 
pounds of ash. 
Buttermilk is excellent for baby 
chicks, invaluable in cases of bowel 
troubles, both as a cure and preventa¬ 
tive. As they grow older the chicks fed 
thus show remarkable strength and 
vigor. For growing stock there is 
nothing better. It puts vim in them, 
their food digests better, there is an 
absence of bowel troubles, their appe¬ 
tites are increased, and the chicks grow 
rapidly, maturing much earlier than 
chicks fed on any other ration. 
It increases the fertility of the eggs, 
grows more eggs, imparts a richness 
to the meat making it more appetizing; 
prevents troubles with the digestive 
organs; lengthens the life of useful- 
n6 Milk in any form is valuable in poul¬ 
try diet; skim milk is very good; sour 
milk is better, BUT buttermilk is best 
of all.-^ELMER Whittaker. 
HOW TO MAKE WHITEWASH 
FOR THE HENHOUSE 
Slake half a bushel of unslaked lime 
with boiling water, cover during the 
process to keep in steam, strain, the 
liquid through a fine sieve or strainer, 
and add to it a peck of salt (previously 
dissolved in warm water), three pounds 
of ground rice boiled to a tnin paste 
and stirred in while hot, half a pound 
of Spanish whiting, and one pound of 
clear glue, previously dissolved by 
soaking in cold water and then hanging 
over a slow fire in a small pot hung in 
a larger' one filled with water. Add five 
gallons of hot water to the mixture, 
stir well and let it stand a few days 
covered from dirt. It should be applied 
hot, for which purpose it can be kept 
in a kettle or portable furnace. The 
east end of the White House in Wash¬ 
ington is embellished by this white¬ 
wash. It is recommended by the gov¬ 
ernment for whitewashing light-houses. 
A pint of this wash mixture, if prop¬ 
erly applied, will cover one square yard, 
and will be almost as serviceable as 
paint for wood, brick, or stone, and is 
much cheaper than the cheapest paint. 
Coloring matter may be added as de¬ 
sired. For cream color, add yellow 
ochre; pearl or lead, add lampblack or 
ivory-black; fawp, add proportionately 
four pounds of umber to one pound of 
Indian red and one pound of common 
lampblack; common stone color, add 
proportionately four pounds raw umber 
to two pounds lampblack. 
TREATING SCALY LEG 
Hens that are housed in damp quar¬ 
ters are the most apt to be infested 
with the mite which burrows beneath 
the scales of the legs causing the.condi¬ 
tion known as scaly legs. This can 
usually be cured in a short time by 
washing the legs with warm soap and 
water and then applying some coal-tar 
solution or with kerosene oil, rubbing 
in well. 
The mite causing this trouble may 
spread from one fowl to another either 
on the roost or on the nest. Really, it 
is not a dangerous condition, but it 
ruins the birds for exhibition purposes 
until cured. It is an appearance not to 
be desired and must cause them some 
discomfort resulting in retarded egg 
production. . . , 
In our opinion, prevention is the best 
system in combating this trouble. If 
the sanitation of the house is right, it 
will rarely occur. We dislike using af¬ 
flicted birds as breeders. This method 
helps to eliminate the pest, from a flock 
ouite rapidly and would indicato that 
there is some hereditary influence bear- 
USES KEROSENE TO KILL LICE 
In 1914 I bought a flock of fifty hens 
and began caring for them in a poultry 
house that for several years had been 
abandoned every summer because of 
the hordes of lice with which it was 
infested. . 
Early in last spring before the 
weather warmed up at all, I cleaned 
the house thoroughly and sprayed with 
kerosene. My only tool was a 50-cent 
hand spray pump and I used less than 
a pint of kerosene—the pump works 
best when not too full, so I didn’t quite 
fill it. I sprayed roof, walls, and floor 
giving special attention to joints and 
cracks. Every bit of furniture—nests, 
roosts, etc., was well dosed and I never 
saw a louse or a mite. There seemed 
to be no need so I never sprayed again 
that year. The one thorough drenching 
before the vermin thawed out at all 
seemed all sufficient. 
I believe there is nothing better than 
pure kerosene as an exterminator of 
such things and if I had ever discov¬ 
ered the slightest indication of any 
necessity for doing |so I should have 
repeated the spray as often as needed. 
It should be sprayed, however; not 
poured or sprinkled on.—M rs. E. M. 
Anderson, New York. 
Catch the chicken by lantern light 
and put it in a coop. Beats running 
it down with the children and dogs the 
next morning. 
