Connecticut western news., 1880-01-07
FARM AND GARDEN.
PACKING EGGS FOR TRANSPORTATION.

DaCE1nR IDeu bO bNCJ Cdu O0 ba15- ly transported long distances. Produce
 commission merchants, who are equally
 interested with the farmers in having
 the packages pass through the perils of
 rough handling and many changes un-
 in jured, issue each year in circulars to
 their patrons directions for packing tbis
 very frail com modity. With one accord
 the rules lai d down in the various cir
 GU ars referred to discourage the en- pbyment of chaff as packing material,
 and recommend, among the more avail
 able substances, dry sweet straw or hay finely cut. Clean oats are admirably | suited to the purpose and gre advised
 when the quantity of eggs to be pack
 ed is not very large. otherwise this ma
 terial is somewhat costly. Whatever
 material is used it is imperative that the
 packing be sweet and dry.
 Either boxes or well-hooped barrels i may be used. Place three inches of | fne-cut straw, hay or oats, as the cage
 may be, at the bottom of the package :; follow this with layer of eggs remov-
 ed an inch or more from the sides of the
 barrel or box, and not touching each other; over these place several inches of the packing material, and press it down gently but surely, so as to fill all
 the interstices between the eggs, and
 cover thena about one inch in depth
 then put in another layer of eggs, talk
 ing care that the packing is pressed be-
 tween the ends of the egss and the side
 of the package, and 50 continue the al-
 ternate layers of eggs and packing ma-
 terisl until within three or four inches
 of the top of the package. Finish off
 with at least two inches of packing and
 an inch or so of hay. Press the cover
 of the package down closely and secure
 it firmly. With care the eggs can be
 thus packed so they will remain in the
 places they are put, and not move about
 to crush one another.
 Tn placing the eggs class of farmers
 hold to the old rule of setting them ht-
 tie ends down. A commission house in
 Boston advises this season that they be
 placed with the enc toward the side of the package. Either way, if so packed
 as to keep the eggs from coming in
 contact, will, with ordinary care in
 handling the package during it's transit, insure their safety long distance.
 LARGE AND SMALL F1ooKs OF SHEEP. F. F. Magee, in an address before the f Indiana Sheep Growers Association on , pasturing sheep, said:
 , There is ono thing that has been s overlooked, viz., the damage done tc the grass by bsing run over by the F flock. While believe one acre Of good . grass would keep ige OF may be eight ! sheep we'll, do not believe 100 acrei Q would keep 800 sheep. Five sheeE |, would probably do but little damage tt @ one acre, even though they were con @ fined to it they would put few track e over it in day and would easily fint e fresh grass each day. But suppose VI t put 800 sheep in 100-acre lot if eacf s five sheep would confine themselves t' D their own particular arce they would d probably do well in summer. But the. . will not do this. and right here Is wher s theory and practice part company. Gu t five sheep start out to graze, and tn e 495 go along with them. Now, sheel
 is 8 dainty creature, and likes cleal Q food. So the hindermost part of tn " flock keep pushing ahead, paying litt1 :, or no attention to what has been alread
 run over, and being in each others way < each would go over ten times as muel o ground before it is filled as it ought n And having so much moro work to ge # its food, it does not do so well as on e that can satisfy itself with little or n ,0 exertion. Going over the trail to- s frequently and picking about dung an' q urine for grass is doubtless what make a large focks so liable to disease.
 v POULTRY IN WINTER.
 6 Farmers often complain that thei
 poultry do not pay expenses Tn the win v fer time. From the way some farmer 1T manage their poultry it is no wonde f that they don't pay. If you make you ,- hens roost On trees they will render little v return th1s is not the fault of the hens d but of their keepers. If farmers want e eggs they must get 8 good breed, give F them comfortable quarters, and suitable g food. Hens may be called egg-makina ] machines, and they will turn out jus ] as many eggs in winter as in summer e they have proper care and feed. Egg q are worth tgica as much in winter as in S summer, so that it will pay to take good a 3are Of fowls. Some over-feed theil g poultry with corn, but they give no egg ! shell material Wheat is very good tc
 start hens to lay. But to furnish the
 raw material for manufacturing egg shells have Eeyer found anything bet , ter than bohes or oyster shells pounded fine. Farmers should give their hens mixed food, such as corn, oats, wheat, rye. buckwheat, etc. Thick sour milk, with wheat bran or boiled potatoes, fed warm, makes the very bast of feed in the morning for laying hens in winter. I have kept 8 greater variety ot breeds
 of poultry than any farmer in my neigh borhood. and have found out by long
 experience that the pure white-crested,
 black Polish fowls have more good
 points than any other breed. In the year 1877 I had 25 hens, and they laid
 4,575 eggs; in 1878 had 25 hens again.
 they laid 4,259. This year I had 15 hens, and they laid 2.625, or 175 eggs per hen. I also raised 80 young ones out of 85. The largest part of their feed was hulless oats.-D. ~. Kern.