The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1878-11-01
FARM TOPICS.

PROFITS OF PoULTRY.-If possible.
the buildings intended for poultry
should be placed in the orchards, and
should all be inclosed by fence, or not,
as the circumstances demand. Fowls
and pigs are the very best cultivators
and enrichers possible to find for fruit
trees. While the trees are Young. lit
tie protection of the bodies from the
swine is necessary, but fowls are not in
furious to young trees or growing fruit.
On the contrary, they are benefit and
protection. They keep the earth loose
about the trunks, and clear the premises
Of insects. When in health, fowls are
continually scratching and picking, and
tearing up the old sod. 1t is their ma
ture. They stow away in their gizzards
many noxious worms and insects that
damage either the growing fruit or the
tree itself. BY all means locate your
lighthouses in your orchards and fruit
yards, or plant orchards and fruit trees
in the yards.
An "egg farm!- And pray why not
Ten good hens will pay as large q per-
centage on the money invested as
good COW, and with less labor, and no
expenditure of utensils or fixtures, be-
yond a comfortable home, and quiet,
unmolested quarters. A single hen does
not require much ground for
range and forage, but where many
are kept, considerable area i
necessary. A hen will produce from
$50 to 200 eggs in her first year; and,
reckoning at the lowest number from a
single hen, amounts from 10 fowls 10
1000 eggs, or l25 dozen annually. AL /
lowing the average price Of lSc. per
dozen, it amounts to $22 so. A hen
will consume bushel OF grain annual
ly. (Some hens will not do it, and 9TH
ers will require more.) The hens
should be kept in good laying condi-
ton. No account is made, Of course,
Of the grass, or other green food or an
imal diet, as IL foots up little or nothing
in cash outlay. Allowing bushel Of
corn To hen, 10 fowls will need 10
bushels, and reckoning 1t at Coo. per
bushel (Which Is more than the farmers
have been receiving on an average for
the past, or will receive for the coming
amounts to &C., which, taken
rom the total yield, leaves 1880. This ,
might be called net profit. The first |
outlay for the hens, il purchased, should
not exceed SO. Good hens, choicely !
bred, can be bought for that sum. Of {
course fine hens, bred to feather, with (
inc points, will always command a I
higher figure, as their beauty fits them ,
or exhibition purposes, but their plain .
n sisters are equally rs good, il not bet {
er, for g-production. Besides, |
here is chance Of getting few fine Z
hicks. A still larger profit may be OBJ J
aimed where the fowls are raised in :
mes own yard. $
Eggs pay better than the raising Of >
hickens, but chickens must be reared, a
: the stock of hens should be kept up; Y
nd i the yearly supply Of pulleis il not
aised, the business runs behind. There b
re not many who follow the poultry z
usiness. Most lose their stock OF pa 9
ence from one cause or another the a
rst season. Hens give their owners q
uick cash returns. A good common v
COW is worth from $45 to $50. n
good COW will make two 80 pound n
rkins Of butter per annum, which, at p
cents per pound, amounts TO $32. q
his Is not clear profit. The keeping Il
the COW, at the lowest estimate, costs "a
} cents per week, which, for so weeks, Al
to $40, leaving 80 TO pay for ~
lc work. Beside this, the refuse milk
i'll keep pig growing through the v
immer, which, with the aid Of little y
Urn in the fall, will make from 100 10 4,
10 pounds Of pork. At cents per 4,
)und, the pork would be worth Sl4. G