The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-11-23
Keeping Poultry for Profit.

AuC ldGC W W. DiShClmdh Illus uCSCllUCu
his manner of keeping and feeding fowls in
winter, which will be found all right:
My winter quarters for them are not as
large as they ought to be, being only twelve
feet square for from twenty to thirty fowls,
but they have the run of the yard whenever
the snow does not forbid. Instead of clean
ing out these quarters weekly or oftener, as
is SO often recommended in the books, 1 &C.
casionaIly throw few shoves of earth from
the boxes before menti0ned) over the drop
pings. Their quarters are not as warm as I
should provide, were I to build a house ex-
pressly for them but have two large win
dows in the the south and east sides dds
carded sash from an old house, which gives
them all the benefit of the SUMS warmth and
makes up for considerable lack of batten-
ing. @
Cold weather is the trying time when most
people complain that their hens do not lay.
1t requires more attention to the fowls to get
eggs in winter than in summer but they can
be had. Give them sunlight and keep them
warm, in the first place, and secondly give
them varied food. l
1 feed principally corn through the winter
but vary il with wheat, oats, buckwheat, po-
tatoes and meat scraps. Part of the corn l
feed whole and part l have cracked or
ground into meal. l prefer the cracked. L
III
the morning on the principle that through the
long night they need something that will
stand by them, that having digested all their
nights feed by morning, they need some
thing that they can act upon quickly. For
the same reason in the very coolest weather,
when l get out to give them their mornings
feed, carry basin of warm water, from the
teakettle, and wet up their dough with that.
1t will warm them quickly and make them
fall 81 r 1, g.
said to supply of eggs. The wheat 1 feed is
screenings which can be had at any feed store
probably.
Mashed potatoes fed warm are just the veg
etable food they need, and were on a farm l
should carefully husband few bushels of the
small potatoes for this purpose.
The meat scraps buy of the butcher in
large cakes and l believe it is as cheap as
corn, while it answers purpose like that of
the bugs and worms of the summer.
Winterins Plants in Rooms and Cellars.
.. Those who grow tender plants in summer
for ornamenting the lawn and flower beds of
course like to keep them over the winter and
yet, in fully nine cases out of ten, but little
success is had with those wintered in rooms,
and perhaps fully as little with those wintered
in the cellar. Those that are to be kept on
much heat upon first being taken in. They
should be kept in the coolest part of the room,
but should lave plenty OF light until well es-
tablsihed, or until they begin to make new
growth. 1fOne have bow window that NAV
be closed at night, this answers good purpose
since the sun may be admitted above and the
plants may be kept shaded below. If you
have hot-bed sashes and frame. a little bot
tom heat, say ten inches of manure covered
i, oYn nd IN ,;ol>x
and keeping the sash pretty close and shaded
until the roots OF the plants begin to draw.
and send moisture to the tops, will answer
very good purpose. Keep them covered
warmly at night, and, as they begin to grow.
give air and water, and at the end of a month
they may be taken into the room, and with a
little care they will give much satisfaction. Do
not give too much water to window plants
or those kept on stand 10 the room. The
soil should be kept moist of course, but fire.
quent and light syrirgings will tend TO obyi-
ate the excessive dryness Of living rooms.
This is the great difficulty with plants wintered
IN this manner, and to assist in neutralizing
THIS trouble as much as possible, vase or ba-
SIN OF water should be kept constantly on
Inc stove or heater to supply this lack of mois-
lure. Gcranums, pelargoniums, tender roses,
ana other tender or half hardy, woody or
nan "ooay perennials, may be kept in light
COOL ury cehar that does not freeze, if some
care be laken. They do not need much wa
ter, put must oo be as cool as possible, without
fine weather and little water AT Iona ;ntar
walls, just enough so that the earth does NOT
become really dry, there will be but little tronb.
lie in wintering them nicely. Many plants
after being wintered all right are killed h
putting them out Of doors too early in the
spring. We have known large oIeanders to
be killed dead in the spring from exposure to
frost, single night, when the thermo meter
marked "a deg. The same plants had with
stood lower temperature in the cellar du-
ring the winter. When taken from the cellar,
they should be carefully guarded from frost I'M
til the last of May or first of June according to
latitude, and although tender plants will