The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1873-12-04

One of our contemporaries lately re-
commended farmers to be more econom-
ical to buy no more broadcloths for
themselves, no more silks for their
wives, no more ribbons for their
daughters. We join in recommending
economy; but by economy we mean
good management-the making the
most of what we have not parsimony,
the denying the comforts or elegancies
of life. The department in which, we
venture to say, with all due submission,
more economy might be exercised, or
in other words, better management
might be displayed is the breeding and
rearing of fowls, and with this object
in view. we subioin some advice from q
book published in London a short time
ago. 1t is entitled, Glow the French
Make Fowls Pay" and is an answer to
the question how France, the land of
omelettes and fricassees, could export
to England every year six hundred mill
lions of eggs and thousands of tons of
poultry.
The secret of the success of the
French lies in early Matching, good
feeding, and early killing, and good
choice of stock.
For table purposes the Brahmas, or
Brahmas crossed with Dorkins, are re-
commended for egg-laying none can
in quantity or quality surpass the Ham
burg. The French Houdans possess
the desirable merit of fattening quick
ly; the Spanish are good summer lay
ers the Cochins and Brahmas good
winter layers. For general purposes
the breeds to be commended are Brah-
mas, Houdans, and uamburgs.
We think that less depends upon the
breeds chosen to stock the fowl-house
than Oh the treatment the fowls receive.
One great object to be kept in view is
to have eggs in winter, when the price
is high. To promote winter laying a
morning and evening meal should be
given. Buckwheat is very good; it
contains spirit, and is therefore stim.
ulating the midday meal should be
of cooked vegetable and animal food
One of the most successful egg -raisers
we ever knew used to stir up all his
fowls and give them q hot meal the
last thing before he went to bed. To
insure winter laying the hens must not
only be kept well fed, they must be
kept warm. Liberal feeding will be
lost labor unless the fowls are well
housed extra warmth both inwardly
and outwardly is required in winter to
make up for the carbon which then
goes to supply the frame with heat {;
therefore, while in spring and summer
the hens can be allowed to run around
and forage for themselves, in winter
warmth and stimulating food must be
supplied.
Always keep the stock young, and
hatch early. Pullets Matched in March
or early in April, if well fed, will begin
to lay in six months, and lay all through
the winter, if well housed. A pullet
from beginning to lay should give 100
eggs in the next twelve months; before
moulting time she ought to be fattened
for fortnight, and will weigh in the
market II pounds. Never keep old fowls;
they eat as much as young ones, do not
lay as well, and are great deal tough
er. The earlier chickens are Matched
the better they thrive; they get over
their moult in warm weather, and have
the summer to mature them. The male
fowls should be killed at four months :
they do not improve in winter, and at
nine months old will not pay for their
keep. 1t is advisable to hatch more
ROSTERS than pullets. The way to
know the eggs which will produce this
sex is as old as our Roman friend
COlumella; choose eggs with pointed
ends, having the air cavity at the apex
of the blunt ends and not towards the
side.-Llter Ocean.
Rats, Mice, and Moles.
have found the most effective way
preserving my trees from mice is to
keep the orchard cleanly cultivated, and
not to permit anything in it to make a
harbor for the creatures. Then in va
rious parts of the orchard I put q bun
die of straw, or cornstalks, and hand
full of pellets of corn meal paste, dosed
with arsenic each bundle. The mice
will gather beneath the buudles. and
eat the bait, and thus be DESTROYED in
great numbers. [ have also drawn the
loose earth up around the stems of the
young trees with a hoe, into hill about
the size and weight of peck measure.
Since taking these precautions 1 have
never had tree injured. Rats may be
killed off or driven away by clearing
away every haunt where they NAV gath.
er, raising the floors of sheds, pens, OF
stables, so that dogs and cats may get
beneath them, or by having concrete
floors to prevent their burrowing. Ii
cellars, where they have made burrows
beneath the walls, the holes should be
filled with dry powder of quicklime
The RAGS will not burrow through this
but will make new holes, and if these
are filled up a few times they retire il
disgust and abandon the place. BY
these means l cleared my farm of these
pests in the course of one summer; bu
for moles in a sweet potato patch I have
no remedy to offer, and believe there ii
none.-A Pennsylvania Farmer.
Myplan of keeping off mice and rabbits
is this: For young trees use lead tin
cutting the 14x20 sheets through til,
center each way, or for larger trees cut
ting but once, making a sheet 10x14
Bend these strips of tin around a forl
handle to give the desired shape, anC
slip them around the bole of the tree
pressing the tin down into the grounC
about one inch. This makes an effectu
al barrier to mice. Protection to tree
is only necessary in grass lands or wher
mulching is left around the tree. Whel
the land is free from grass or weeds hill
up little around the tree, leaving tn
ground smooth and hard, and you will
not be troubled with mice IVm. II
Randall, JVaShten0V Co. Mich.
Standard of 0unIity