Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1870-03-11
FARM AND FIRESIDE.

FARM AND FIRESIDE.
BREEDS OF POULTRY When thinking OF
the immense amount of poultry and eggs
annually consumed in this country, the in.
quiry is forced upon US: Do we possess and
encourage the varieties of fowls best calcu-
lated to produce the largest quantity offesh
and eggs, with the least labor and expense
There is among many, a strong prejudice
against the improved or fancy kinds Of poul-
try. The belief exists that they are less
hardy and profitable, and more subject to
diseases, than the common barnyard fowl.
The introduction of the Asiatic breeds is as
cribed as the source of that pest of the chick
enyard, namely-The ''chicken cholera" or
Group. Owing to the many objections urged
the breeding of them is INDUCED in by only
a few persons. Now, 1 think. such should
not be the case. Why can there not be as
great an improvement wrought in chickens
as there has been in the different breeds Of
cattle, sheep and swine ? If it is profitable
to raise the small and ugly dunghill weigh
ing from p to 4 lbs, and which lay only
during warm weather-how much more so
would it prove to raise the large and hand
some Brahma, weighing at six or seven
months old, from seven to ten pounds, which
with a little care will give Q supply Of fresh
eggs during the winter?
My experience has been, that want of at
tention has been the source Of most Of the
diseases that infest the poultry yard. and
that one breed is not more liable than anoth-
er. / believe if any person will procure
either the Brahma, Dorking, Game, or any
other Of the improved varieties, and bestow
the care and attention that they deserve, he
will be amply repaid, and discard the old
common fowls as next to worthless -'Byahma'
IN the Rural World.
How TO Test MILK.-J. NJ. Mackle, Of
Great Darlington, Mass, gives the follow
ing method Of testing the quality of milk
"Every farmer who keeps lows ought TO
have some convenient instrument for testing
the quality of their milk, in order to Judge
correctly of its value, and Of the value of the
COWS producing it. [ use a very simple one
and / think there can be none better. It'll
a hollow glass tube, - inches long, and
open at both ends. In using it 1 insert It
well fitting cork into one end, then pour in
milk from a pail through a tunnel, and let
the tube stand until the cream has risen. 1t
is convenient to have several of these tubes
where a number of COWS are kept, and by
putting corks in both ends the tubes can be
carried to the dairy room without inconve-
nience. The corks being removed after the
experiment has been tried, the tubes can
easily be cleaned. By first measuring the
length OF the tube containing both milk and
cream, and then measuring the part contain
ing the cream alone, the comparative rich
ness Of milk can be ascertained beyond the
possibility of mistake. Some of my Alder
ney Or Jersey COWS yield 25 per cent. of
cream"
Sailing CABBAGE PlANTs.--"G. w.
T." Railway, N. J., considers salt necessa-
ry to the bes. development OF the cabbage,
especially in places far from the coast. He
finds them more crisp, Of better favor, and
to keep better when salt is used, than with
out. He uses it as follows "A few days
after setting out the plants, and when they
are damp, either after a rain or when the
dew is on, 1 take a small dish of fine salt
and walk among the rows, sprinkling a little
pinch of salt on the centre leaves of each
plant when the leaves begin to grow, |
repeat the sailing, and when the centre
leaves begin to form the head, apply salt
again. scattering it over the leaves; after
this l look them over occasionally. and if
l find and plants that do not head we'll or
appear diseased, l sprinkle the salt over
freely this will save all such plants. A
quart of salt is sufficient for 800 plants in a
season, although more can be used with
safety."-Anerican Aqriculturta.
SpAYINo COWS FOR MILK.-This practice is
is recommended by those who have tried it
as having several important advantages
1t secures more milk, of better quality, and
the flow is constant. The perils Of gesta-
ton and calving are avoided, 1t should not
be performed until the COW has reached her
full flow of milk-say six years old-and it
should take place just before she would
naturally come in heat the FIRST OF second
time after calving. She will continue to
give milk, if well fed, in a very gradually
diminishing quantity and improving quality,
until she becomes fat enough to kill. This
will be in from two to five years according
to milking and feeding, and her tendency to
fatten.-American A~gricultua1a.
Hoo CHoLERA.-Take the Polygonum
Punctatum, or common smartweed--ofwhich
there are two varieties, the large and small
use both combined, or the small variety
alone make a strong decoctien by boiling
add to this slop, and get the hogs to drink
an you can the effect is almost magical !;
your hog improves, sheds Of; and fattens
beyond expectation.
it is a fine thing to give logs that have
no cholera to make them improve faster
american Stock Journal.
Coon WHITEwAsH.- Take some clean
Jumps of we'll burnt lime, slackened, add to
five gallons a quarter of a pound Of whiting,
or burnt alum pulverized, half a pound OF
loaf sugar, one quart and a half of rice -four
made into a thia aad we'll boiled paste, and
half q pound of the ~cleanest glue, dissolved
and boiled out in water. This may be put OF
cold within doors, but hot outside. This
will be as brilliant as plaster of Paris, and
retain its brillianey for many years.
ADVANTAGE OF POWDERED LIME FOR NOR
Tara French engineer has made an able
report on the economy of using lime, ground
to a fine powder, instead of stacking it in
Jumps. He estimates the loss in using Jumps
at rs per cent. Besides this saving Of ma
t~erial, it is found that lime in powder is
spread with greater facility, and the mortar
thus made sets quicker and is more solid.