The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1871-11-23
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.


PLANK STABLE FLooRs FOR HORSES.
"A correspondent of the Cincinnati
Gazette prefers bare plank floors for
horses. He says =" have tried it for
fifteen years, and never Uttered stall
vet, nor have ever had horse or mule
to get lame by being so treated. 1 have
at times left stable floors without plank,
and afterwards planked them, for the
reason that horses do better on plank
floors, and the stables are more easily
cleaned. They do not wear in holes or
ever get wet. / got the idea from Pc
per many years ago, which stated that
in Holland Il think) they use stone
floors for their stables, and never litter
them, and they have sounder horses than
in any other country. Now, if were
going to build stable floor, l would
get two by four-inch oak scantling, and
lay them lengthwise of the stall, or the
same way the horses stand, and leave
small balf-inch cracks between them.
Setting them edgewise you will have a
floor four inches thick, and one that will
be always dry and cool. The reason of
laying it lengthwise of the horse is, if it
should ever wear out it is where the
horse stands; consequently only few
pieces need be taken up and repaired. 1
would also have the floor two feet above
the ground, if possible, for dryness and
ventilation. Whoever builds as above
directed will never regret it."
FEoUND1TY OF Ducks AND HENS
Some interesting experiments have been
made upon the comparative fecundlty OF
ducks and hens, 80 as to determine from
which of the two the larger number OF
eggs can be obtained in the same time.
| For this purpose three hens and three
ducks were selected, ,tall Matched in Feb
ruary, and nourished with suitable food.
In the following autumn the ducks had
laid two hundred and twenty-five eggs,
while the hens in this case laid none.
In the following February the laying
season began again with the ducks and
continued uninterruptedly till August.
They showed no inclination to set, and
became very thin, but subsequently fat
tening up somewhat. In the meantime
the hens had not been idle. The total
number of eggs laid by the hens was
two hundred and fifty-seven, or eighty
six eggs each and the ducks produced
three hundred and ninety-two, or one
hundred and thirty-one each. Though
the eggs of the duck were rather smaller
than those of the hens, yet they proved
to be decidedly superior in nutritive ma
terial, 80 the superiority in productive
ness appears to be altogether on the side
of the ducks.
GAME HENS AND DUCKs.-A writer in
the Canadian Poultry Chronicle gives the
following as his experience with the lay
ing qualities of game hens and ducks
"There are few fowls more prolific than
game, and where there is a good wide
range of any kind, no fowls will prove
more profitable, the black breasted red
variety being the best. They eat little
in proportion to larger fowls, and are
very good layers; but they cannot bf
kept in close confinement on account O.
their fighting propensities. No fanciel
that can find suitable place in hi
poultry yard but should have a few
ducks. Their appetite is such that al
most any kind of food will supply them
they pick up the waste food left by othel
fowls and grow fat on it. In the barr
yard, in gardens, and in pasture lan(
they are alike useful and beneficial
There are three kinds which now stanC
high among breeders, namely: Th
Aylesbury, which is pure white; tn,
Rouen, which in color resembles tn
wild Maillard; and the Cayuga, which
are pure black, except occasional whit
spots on the breast"
FARMING AS BUsINEss.-A maj
who is not smart enough to run stor
is not smart enough to run farm
Farmers are not to be made out o
what is left after lawyers, doctors
ministers and merchants are sorted ant
picked out. And if a man fails on
farm he is not likely to succeed in
store, for it requires more talent to b
thriving farmer than to be an aver
age merchant. The one great failur
is the disproportion between man
farm and his capital. A farmers capi
tai is skill, labor and his money. ]
he has little cash, he must have n
more land than he can thorough
{ manage by his personal labor. Ever
acre beyond that is an incumbranct
, One acre we'll worked is more profit
able than twenty acres SKINNED ovel
1t is this greed of land by farmers tina
have not the capital to work it tina
keeps SO many poor. Small farm
I. are better than large ones, simply be
: cause they are better suited to tn
capital of common farmers Farmer an
> artisan.