Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-09-06
Price Two Cents.
abe 9ailp SPY,
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 6, 1854.
ProfitabIe Farm PouItry.

Profitable Farm Poultry.
A farmer in the Mark-LGne Express, who
"goes for profit, not fancy says;
After much unmerited neglect, poultry have
become the fashion, and man can now pay
attention to their proper management, without
being called "hen-wife''
But although farmers are told on all hands
that they have neglected very profitable part
of their stock, they hardly seem to have got
many practically useful hints as to the most
profitable kinds and most profitable keeping.
Most of the essays and books upon the sub
iect are more fitted for the amateur and fanci-
er, who have plenty to spend, and do not care
for profits, than for tenant farmers. Being
doubtful upon the subject, l determined to
try whether they were profitable, and which
were the most useful kinds. l found that
they most certainly are profitable, and that
the black Spanish fowl, upon the whole, was
to be preferred.
Having stated what have found to be the
most profitable kind of fowl, | will describe
what l consider the most profitable manage
ment.
As to the number of fowls to be kept on
farm, l think about 40 or 60 to the 100 acres
sufficient; if more are kept, the extra food
they require will soon tell upon the profits
except near a town, where the profits are high.
The number l have mentioned, if allowed
! their liberty, Except during harvest), will
| pick up sufficient food to keep them in good
condition with but little extra keep. But
they should not be left entirely to chance for
their food they should be fed regularly twice
day. The food l found the most profitable
was light oats, about horse-teed to fifty hens.
Besides which had always box (made so
that they could not get into it with their feet),
tvb oh xxracG cd 1yitb nd
turnips and waste potatoes mixed with oat-
dust or bran. With this keep they will lay
well, and always be in good condition for the
table. In the neighborhood of large town,
where large prices are to be got, it would per-
haps pay to give them extra food, such as in
ferior or spoilt wheat or rice sc. / may men
ton that kept forty Spanish hens for I'D
week, giving them only boiled turnips and
potatoes mixed with oat-dust. The profits
stood thus:
40 hens at 15d. week. ........... 3 0 year.
Sold 100 egs week at Cd. dozen
for ten MONTHS. ..............5 10
Profit ...................9 10 o
We had Away sufficient eggs for the house,
besides the chickens, which were not sold for
want of a market
In the number of fowls 1 have mentioned,
40 for 100 acre, there should be four cocks
About thirty or forty chickens should be rear
ed, and never more than 100, as the extra
feeding Of so many chickens becomes serious
business on a farm. The crosses will be first
ready for killing, and they should all be killed
during the first season; then the extra cocks,
and lastly the pullets which are not required
to recruit the stock. The old hens should be
killed before they are three years old, as after
that they ale almost worthless. l need not
mention the rearing Of the chickens, as every
good housewife has way of her own.
With the management l have mentioned,
| the owner Of few dozens of Spanish layers,
and few Dorking nurses will always have
| plenty of eggs to sell, and no scarcity iof good
| chickens.
may state, in conclusion, that my opinion
in favor Of the kinds of poultry have recon-
mended, is founded upon experiment and
experience of their good qualities In fact,
after trying various kinds, have chosen them
as the good lady Of the Vicar of Wakefield
chose her gown-not so much for look as for
usefulness and economy"
YANKEE THRIFT AND ENTERPRIsE.-A cor
respondent of the Baltimore Patriot, writing
from Boston, speaks in glowing terms of the
evidences of prosperity seen in every part Of
the State, and asks
Why is this The common answer is, Yam
kee ingenuity and enterprise" The Yankee
is naturally 'c,9e" and thrifty. Place him
on barren sand bed in the midst of the ocean,
and it is said he will be sure to find some way
to turn penny. Yes indeed What more
rocky and barren than the shores of Nantuck-
ct and Cape Cod? but have not those Yankees
found fruitful field in Old Ocean, and from
her bosom drawn nutriment, until they have
become as fat as their oil and fish
1t is true that Yankee ingenuity and enter
boU nohn w Jia1 -
Nature; but how happens it that Yankees
should be so peculiarly ingenius and emerge
tic? The answer is plain enough-they are
forced to cultivate those qualities by necessity.
Their case is illustrated by the homely express
sion, ''root, hog, or die" With such scanty
internal elements of wealth they We're forced
to look abroad and sharpen their inventive
faculties in the effort to draw a revenue from
the fairness of other soils.
1t is the fault as well as the misfortune of
the other States, particularly of the Southern
States,) that the drafts have been permitted
to become altogether too extensive and heavy.
1t is not needful to the existence of Massachu-
sets or to the comfort and welfare of her sis
ter States, that she should be permitted to
send to them, annually, quite forty millions
worth of boots and shoes or four millions
worth of nais-or about eight or ten millions
worth of agricultural implements of various
kinds, or a thousand other notions too num-
erous to mention, the production of which
makes up the industrial interest of this State.
Why she Las been permitted to do so-schy
the South has allowed and honored such
drafts upon her income, and how prohtably
they might be diminished, will be the subject
of future letter, should opportunity occur to
write it. To the above extract the Cincinnati
Ga=ette appends the following just remark
There is one cause of the prosperity of Mas
sachusetts, that the writer avoids mentioning,
which is her system of Popular Education.
Strike from the old Bay State her school
houses and seminaries of learning, and allow
the generations which are TO follow the pres
ent one to be brought up in ignorance and
superstition, and her glories would fade away
as the light of day when the sun sinks to rest
behind her sterile mountain tops. The South
ern States can never compete with the free
States in the production of those articles of
use which require skill and knowledge to
make them, until they have an educated
working population. In Massachusetts, the
blessings of learning are not confined to GER
tain wealthy and distinguished families. but
they are diffused among all the people, from
which, in chief degree, her industrial gran
deur has arisen, and by which only can it be
continued.
A LAWYER PuzzLED.-A member Of the
bar, says, that some time ago, rough custom
er, or rather client came info his office and ba