The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-11-05
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD

FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD
Causes Of Failure with Poultry:
The successful and profitable keeping
and rearing of poultry, either for home
use or for market, and especially where
they cannot have their liberty, depends
wholly upon good management and upon
strict compliance with numerous essen.
tial though simple requisites, any Of
which being omitted only partial success
at most can be obtained.
Some give due attention to many Of
these requisites, and, for the want OF
necessary facilities, thought or informa-
ton, omit others. For instance, one
complies with all essentials except a
warm, dry house, yet wonders why his
fowls do not lay in winter; while another
builds good house, but with northern
aspect, or omits ventilation or cleanli-
ness, or perhaps has the ventilation so
arranged that the fowls are compelled to
roost in a constant draft; and he cannot
imagine why they have colds, Group, etc.
The house of another has no windows,
and the owner, ignorant of the great ben
eft of the suns rays, wonders why MS
fowls seem to prefer being almost frozen
to death out of doors rather than resort
to warm (but dark) house in daytime.
Another overcrowds, which, with want
of cleanliness, is n most frequent cause
of disease and failure.
Another so overfeeds his fowls that
they get too fat, cease laying and become
diseased; while another fails to provide
the natural requirements which they
obtain for themselves while at liberty.
Another neglects the supply of clean,
fresh water, and complains that his
chickens are afflicted with the gapes.
Another is unable to hatch more than
three chickens out of q dozen eggs, SIM
ply because the nests are not made on
tho ground. Another matches chickens
80 late in the season that they produce
nothing until whole summer, autumn
and winters expense has been incurred
in feeding them.
Each one of the above either fails en-
tirely or only obtains to a limited degree
of success, and zach in his turn comes to
the erroneous conclusion that fowls do
not pay. But we confidently assert that
few simple rules will, if properly OBJ
served, not only insure unfailing sue
cess, but that fowls, even when confined,
can thus be made to pay better in pro-
portion to their cost than any other class
of domestic animals, and that the 30
called "bad luck" we so frequently hear
of is simply bad management.-Bacon's S
Guide to Success in Poultry Keeping.
Putting Away Potatoes.
Every method has been tried by farm
ers to store and preserve their potatoes
through the winter, and we may say
until potatoes come again. 1t is the
most valuable of all vegetables, though
here and there we find person and a
writer who undertakes to tell us Of its
Embellishments. It is universally
consumed in all civilized countries, as
where it cannot be grown it is imported,
which can be done long distances with:
out injury when ventilation is attended
to. In storing potatoes several methods
are adopted, yet they are all practically
the same, the object being to protect
them against freezing, whether buried
in pits or stored in cellars. The first
consideration is to keep them in perfect
darkness; the next is the bins should
not be too deep-not over three feet-to
produce warmth and cause them to
sprout. When stored in the field,
straight trenches are dug, say twenty
feet in length and four or five wide,
which are filled to the depth Of three
feet with potatoes, then well covered
with straw, on top of which put eighteen
or twenty inches of earth. In pit
twenty feet long there should be about
threel gas escapes OF ventilating open
ings, which should be plugged with
straw and covered with board set at
an angle to turn the rain. If in cellars,
barn Or otherwise, the bins should be
covered with rugs, old carpetings or
straw. Those intended to be kept for
The spring sales should be frequently
examined and all sprouts removed, for
as soon as potato begins to sprout it
loses its solidity, dryness and quality
Germantown Telegraph.
Household Hints.
CEMENT FOR GLASS AND CHINA.-Lime
pu!verized, sifted through coarse muslin,
and stirred up tolerably thick In the
white of eggs, makes strong cement for
glass and china. Plaster of paris is still
better, particularly for mending broken
images of the same material. 1t should
be stirred up by the spoonful, as it is
| wanted.
"A CHEAP AND TRUE BAROMETER
Put q small quantity of finely pulverized
alum in q long, half-ounce vial, and fill
it with spirits Of wine. When the at
mosphere is dry and clear, the spirits
will be rs clear rs crystal; but on the
approach of rain or bad weather, the
alum will rise in the center in the form
OF spiral cloud, which is An infallible
indication of rain or bad weather.
DURABLE WHrrEwAsH.-Take bar
rel and slake a bushel of fresh lime with
boiling water. After it is slaked add
cold water enough to bring it to the
consistency of good whitewash; then
dissolve in water and add one pound OF
white vitrol (sulphate of zinc) and one
quart of fine salt. This will make a
whitewash that will stick as we'll rs
paint. 1t owes its durability chiefly to
the white vitrol, which hardens and
fixes the wash.
Salt OH Wheat.
The Montreal Gazette says: "In an
interesting series of experiments re.
Gently made on the farm Of the Roya
Agricultural Society, of England, the
manure value of salt was unmistakably
indicated. An acre of wheat dressed
with 300 pounds of common salt, yielded
thirty-ninc bushels of grain, with it,
proportionate amount Of straw, while
nm adjoining acre left unmanured, pro-
duced only twenty-nine bushels per acre
with the straw imperfectly developed
The entire cost of the crop is not stated
but this experiment shows that the ad
ditional ten bushels resulting from thu
salt were produced at cost of thirty
cents each. In another case a piece o
ground intended for wheat was plowet
the preceding fall, and again in May
when it was sewed with salt and after
ward plowed before seeding. On th'
lst and I'd ofSeptember wheat was sowr
mt the rate of two bushels to the acre
The crop, when harvested. yielded, &C
cording to the estimate of the owner
not less than forty bushels to the acre
with Luxurious growth OF straw. From
these and many similar cases, the infer
ence seems to be that salt is specific fol
the wheat crop. imparting solidity tt
the grain and frmness to the straw
But it must not be concluded that equal.
good results will always follow the mp
Dlication of salt"