Maryland free press., 1862-12-12
80 Communications upon Agricultural sub
jscts will be thankfully received. '..
The Poultry House.

A correspondent of that excellent family
journal, the Germantown Telegraph, furnish
es the following useful hints on the manage
ment of Poultry Our lady friends may rely
upon our being constantly on the lookout for
every thing which our Judgment may deem
useful to them, in the discharge of their duties
in the great drama of life-and we shall ex-
poet from them rcciprocation by the dissem-
ination of the "Rurar' among their neighbors.
The writer, who is q practical farmer Of
Delaware, says: .,.s-. s,.s J.. s,s -.
We find the most profitable treatment of
Poultry is this: Keep four dozen hens and
four male chickens. Give them plenty of an
inal food in the winter, and they will general
ly lay enough eggs to keep a large family in
groceries. Don't be afraid to use meat for that
purpose. About the 25th of March, (sooncr or
later according to the seasonJ let them begin
to set, until one-half are supplied with from
twelve to fourteen eggs each. If they hatch
as well as ours did this spring, you may ex-
pect over two hundred and fifty chickens
which should be given to only fifteen mothers.
The other ten being kept up in an open, airy
pen, and fed on fresh beef, supplied with lime,
ashes and gravel, will soon go to laying
one-half should always be kept to produce
eggs for the market, as this will be found
probably more certain of success then allow
ing all the hens to set. If lice should become
troublesome and kill the hens or drive them
off their nests, onc-half would be saved. IF
any disease shouldprey uponithe young ones
or rainy weather set in, or rats become trou-
blesome, the layers would be doing their duty,
and yielding,a slow but sure profit 4
After all the hens have come off, no more
should be set for one month, during which
the house7should DO we'll yentilatedS water
washed and white-washcd inside, to ward of
the intrusion of lice, so fatal in warm weather.
About the first of June the summer setting
should commence, and continue until the other
half, if possible, can bo supplied with eggs
By the period of incubation the first broods
will be weaned and all old hens laying again.
Though we recommend this plan in order
that the family may have sufficient poultry
for home uso, tif there be ordinary sdceess,)
it will bo found in a majority of cases that the
egg crop, considering trouble and expense, is
most profitable. = I, .,.s Il, .c.s,
We may set it down as rule, that the few
er the number Of any kind of poultry the gea,
ter relative success. Thus, more is made
with one dozen chickens alone, than any
twelve out of four times that number together
Large focks of poultry, if not well attended
to by one who is skilled in the business, en-.
gender disease and do not rear. their young Sc
well as few dozen. as. 2. 81 a''a'59 a..
/, Much depends upon the size of the farm
and the quantity of worms and other inscct
within reach. 1t is really extrayagant to farm
without certain number of the featheret
tribe to aid the birds in devouring the enemie
to grain and vegetable crops. We have Otter
noticed that better corn potatoes, &c., ar,
raised nearest the house The reason is obvi
Gus. Watch the avidity with which CHECKER
or turkey will scratch among the freshl,
plowed furrows after those pests that feed upol
our embryo grain crops. What wise prov
sion in Nature is seen, when these depredator
are not only destroyed, but being annihilatet
by the fowl creation, are served up as tn
proper food of man. rf1s
During the period of incubation, domesti
fowls, and more especially hens, are liable t.
be infested with vermin. The annoyance oc
casioned by the depredations of these noxiou
lice, may, however, be effectually obviatcd b,
sprinkling the nests and wetting the fowls oc
casionally with decoction of tobacco. Tn
recipe for preparing it is as follows
On one handful of common leaf tobacco
pour boiling water; mix a little spirits of tur
pentine, Tor better still, perhaps, little alco
hol or new rum,) and some gunpowder Mi
the whole thoroughly together, till the powde
is dissolved, and sprinkle it freely over tn
nests and fowls and the vermin will vamost
sa'as ceremeaie, ,,