The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1873-12-29
Keep the Fowls Warm.

"Farmer Jones has an abundance of eggs,
no matter how cold the weather is" says
Mrs. Makedo; land don see how it hap
pens, with eggs at forty-fve or fifty cents a
dozen one feels too poor to make up such
Thanksgiving and Christmas patches of good
things as We used to, and | don't see what
poor folks are coming to-"
Farmer Makedo has thirty or forty fowls Of
all ages and breeds, which are permitted to
roost in the open wagon shed, on carts and
wagons, an. as for laying accommodations,
the hens do the best they can when they
have strength and vitality enough TO lay an
egg now and then.
Occasionally an egg is found in the horse
stall in the barn, or in the hay NOV, If the
| hen gets chance to visit so comfortable a
place, and last Sunday one of the boys found
two eggs under the seat in the carryall, just
as the family W about starting for church.
As for attention in feeding, these fowls are
about as favored as they are in roosting ac-
com noGations. Once a day they scramble
for some corn tina. is thrown out to
them, about enough for half OF them, and
during the rest OF the day they do they can,
in the pigstve, and horse manger.
Is it any wonder that Mis-. Makedo gets so
few eggs? The little food the poultry get Is
all used in keeping animal life and warmth in
the birds, and the idea of any ambition being
left to compete with Farmer Jones hens!
why the idea is absurd.
Is is unfortunately the case that nine out of
ten fiocks Of poultry throughout New England
are in the condition Of Mr.. Makedo's, and
| eggs, which might be abundant and cheap to
| all, are scarce and high.
Poultry require a abundance Of nutri-
tious food. and warm, dry quarters, not only
| by night but by day also. They should have
| all the meat and ash scraps they can eat, and
| a variety of grain. Indian corn, while being
| capital food to keep the birds fat and warm,
| is not the best grain. by any means, to make
| them lay. Oat meal favored with a little
| salt and pepper, is remarkably nutritious,
and one meal day off this with corn and
meat scraps for the other meal is vastly bet
! ter than any other food that can be placed be-
| fore them.
| We have found that wheat screenings, and
the refuse or small wheat such as all grain
dealers have sorted out, are god egg pro-
| ducing foods; but oatmea once a day, Indian
| meal once, and a luncheon of scraps will
make any hens lay, ifthey have a comfoIta-
BILE, warm house 10 live in.
| In the care of poultry many by strange
oversight neglect TO give their fowls green
| food in the winter; the avidity with which
| cabbage is eaten if thrown to the hens will
attest TO the necessity for such variety, and
we have found that rowen hay, if soaked two
or three hours in warm water, is much rel
| shed by poultry as green food.
! We hope that Farmer Makedo will see this
| Ploughmdn article and emulate Mr.. Jones in
fixing upa good comfortable poultry house
| and giving his hens an abundance of nutri-
| tious food. He may depend npon it that
| thev will richly ray him for his extra trouble
and expense .-Massdchusetts Ploughman.
|
PREMIUM PoTAToEs.-The New York
Tribune says: We lately interviewed piacti-
cal farmer who, for several years past, has
taken the first prize Tor his potatoes. In re-
ply to inquiries as to his mode of operations,
he said that the largest and best shlp,d tuo-
ers arr Always selected for planting at digging
time the previous year; and he find that they
have been gla1ual'y increasing in size uuiil
| his potatoes are now enormous. Sod ground
is chosen for the crop; it is very carefully aud
deeply plCwed and thoroughly puverlzed
with the spike harrow. Ppv.ous to break
ing up. however, the whole surface is heavily
manuieJ and this manure Iaked into the tIr
row as the plow passes round. The tubers are
cut into quarters a few days beiofe planting
and dropped in ibe rows sixteen lor eighteen
inches apart The rows are struck ou. with
the plow about three feet distant, and the seed
is covered with a good depth oi
soil. A roller passed over the ground
!eveling and smoothing the surface, to be fol-
lowed in a short time by the spike harrow.
AS soon as the young plants appear above
the ground the cultivator is started and sept
going frequently throughout the grown sea-
son. Every weed is pulled up as soon az II
makes its ap poearance; for, to use his own
expression, he is ''too poor to grow weeds"
As the plants wax strong, slight burrows are
thrown up to them with small plow, and
these are still further increased afterward by
repetition Of the same process. In digging,
great care is taken not to skin or bruise the
tubers, but to handle them all carefully, and
enables the owner TO preserve them much
better than the careless farmer who throws
his potatoes ABOUT as if they were cobble
stones. This is the only magic he employs
Careful. choice of seed, thorough preparation
OF the soil, frequent stirring of the surface
and total extinction of weeds-these are the
secr. It's of his success.