Litchfield enquirer., 1858-01-28
AgrtsMitural.
To Have Eggs in Winter.

The question is often asked. Why cannot hens be made to lay well in winter as in snri- mer 7" They can. to certain extent; but they require as condition, that they be well provided With warm and comfortable lodging, cedn apart nents, plenty of fuod, pure water, gravel, liine' hue sand, and ashes to roll and bdthe Tn.
 There seem naturally to be two seasons of the year when hens lay early in the spring. ana a'- terward in summer indicating that It fowls were left to themselves. they would, like wild .birds, produce two broods in year.
 Early spring-hatched birds, if kept in warn place, and fed plenlifully and attended to. will generally commence laying about Christmas. or even somewhat earlier In cold and damp wealth CT this is not to be expected, and much may, in different seasons, depend on the state of the weather, and the condition of the bird.
 To promote fecunduy and great laying in the hen, is necessary that they be well fed on grain, pulled potatoes given to thein Uarn,, and oeca- sionaIy animal food.
 Old hens cannot always be depended on for eggs in winter, they scarcely being in full feather before the last of December; and then, probably. may not begin to lay till March or April. produ- cling more than twenty thirty eggs-and this IS probably the cause of the disappointment of those who have supplied themselves at the markets Wtth theiY siecK to commence with, and get few or no eggs. As pallets do not moult the first year. they commence laying before the old hens, and by attending to the period of matching, eggs may be produced during the year. An carry bfood of chickens, therefore, by being carefully sheltered from the cold and wet and fed once day on boiled potatoes, warm, with plenty oI grain, and occasionally little animal food, will begin to lay in the fall, or early in the winter.
 Poullerer's Con,pan.on. A First summer'r Farming.
 We find the following in the Rural Ne,o York CT, ai,d commend it to all our yo ung friends, as an example worthy their imitation. We are in- clined 10 the belief, however, that reports made by many sections of this State, could equal this instance, and all such reports we shall be glad to publish, and hope they may be sent in frequently. So, boys, look sharp next summer.
 As you want facts, l will give you my experi- ence in gardening for the first season. have produced from one acre of ground-Potatoes. one quarter of an acre, 40 bushels of Blue Mercers. Ca66age. l25 heads. Carrots, lO9 bushels of the long orange sort. Ruta-6agas, 20 bushels. Whte Iurn,ps, lG bushels, besides several bushels of onions. and radstres, lettuce, beans and tomatoes enough for our family of eight. ln addition to this, 1 had plenty of cucuuihers and melons, of which took no account. am only II years of age, and this was all done by my own labor. Now Ihave coanted up the value of what have on hand, as follows :-
 40 40 bushels of potatoes at ss cents, s2o % % 125 eabbageS at 7 cents. each, 5O l0l bushels of carrots, at l5 cts. pr. bu. 16 35
 20 bushels ruta-baga, at l5 cents, %
 l6 bushels of turnips, 100 Il did not think of keeping my account until so late in the season that the summer crops were all gone, or it would have been more than double this amount, think. However, this will do, for the first trial, and next year 1 hope to be able to send you a still better report. The expense was very little, being almost entirely labor except the potatoes for seed. and the value of the manure. Whole Potatoes cs. Eyes for Seed.
 An English paper, tie Ipswich Erpres,, gives the result of an experiment lately made to ascer- tain what would be the difference in yield, where whole potatoes were used for seed, or the eyes alone, and reports thus :ss 4 trial has been made in the vcarage garden, CoggeshalI, of potatoe eyes against whole potatoes, on perfectly equal terms, row of each side by side-a certain num- Der of whole potatoes were sown yard apart, the eyes of the same sort were sown at the usual dis tance--equal care was taken in all respects, tha, the trial might be fair. The result, as shown a few weeks back, was, that ths whole potatoes produced lf weight more potatoes, but tire nf weight was just equal 10 the weight of pota- toes from which the eyes had been taken, and which potatoes had gone into the kitchen for dressing; so that, as far as this experiment goes nothing is gained by sowing whole potatoes. Artificial Ponds.
 Every thrifty farmer should contrve to have on his farm an artificial pond well stocked whh fish, such as trout, perch, catfish, roach, &c. IL would not only furnish him with delicious food, hut serve for purposes of irrigation and the wa terng of his cattle. A depth of four feet of wa. ter would be amply sufficient. It would also be good ldea to adorn it's margin with aquatic trees and plants.