The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1880-01-08
AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

SUPPLY OF EGGS DURING WINTER
All attempts to preserve eggs in the
state they are when dropped by fowls
have resulted in failure. The only way
to Eave supply of fresh eggs during
| the winter is to produce them. Pullets
will generally commence to lay when
they are about eight months old. With
warm quarters and suitable food chick
ems Matched in April will commonly
commence to lay in December. Brahma
hens OF almost any age will lay during
| the winter if they are well cared for.
Eggs are more likely to be produced,
however, by pullets that have Just
reached maturity. Warm and well
lighted quarters are essential to the pro-
duction of eggs during the winter.
Fowls that are allowed to run out in the
open air during pleasant weather are
more likely to lay than those that are
kept in close confinement all the time.
Egg production during the winter de-
pends as much on the quality of food
given fowls as on the kind of shelter al
lowed them. Corn is about the poorest
food that can be put to poultry with a
view OF producing eggs. Wheat and
oats are much superior to corn. Raw
cabbage, cooked potatoes, beets and
carrots and scraps of meat are all excel
lent. Chopped meat and vegetables
mixed with meal and fat and cooked
like boarding-house hash furnishes one
OF the best varieties of food for stimu-
lating egg production. Fowls derive
much benefit from highly seasoned food
during all weather.-Chicago Times.
GROWING PECAN NUTs-Prof. Stelle
OF Mobile says: 1t is certainly to be
regretted that our people can not more
fully appreciate the pecan as crop to
be cultivated. Thousands upon thou
sands Of well arranged and carefully
cultivated groves ought now to be COM
ing on in all parts of the lower Missis-
sippi Valley; yet, strange as it may
seem, they are just about as few and far
between as angels visits. WhyP 1
can not tell, unless it is merely another
case of the "prophet in his own coun-
try" the pecan being "only a wild
tree" you know. Possibly we would
all have English walnuts, would they
grow with us as readily as does the pc
can, and yet there is always demand
for the fruit of the pecan, and it is real
ly more profitable than that of the
English walnut. We ought to put out
pecan trees. Neglecting to do so may
be wronging ourselves, and it is un-
doubtedly wronging the generation to
come after us. There can be no doubt
OF the fact that the man who leaves to
his posterity flourishing grove of pc
can trees, leaves them a legacy almost
as good as a gold mine. That is what
they say concerning the olive groves in
the Old World, and pecan grove,
properly cared for, would be worth, all
things considered, just about as much
as an olive grove of the same size. The
pecan starts readily from seed; most of
the nuts offered for sale in the shops
will germinate promptly, if carefully
planted. 1t likes low, rich, bottom land,
not permanently wet, though it will do
very well on uplands, and in soil of al
most any character. In word, any
soil that will sustain an apple or peach
orchard will do for the pecan; and it
is tree of much wider range than is
generally supposed. have seen as fine
pecans growing in the woods along the
Mississippi River, 100 miles above St.
Louis, as ever grew in the State of
Texas.
WHEN TO FEED CORN FOR FATTEN-
ING HOGs.-This question has been
asked and answered many times, with
varying results, according to the breed,
the care and attention, the shelter, time
of year, etc. Store hogs in healthy
condition and of good breed should lay
on a pound of additional weight for ev-
cry five and sixteenth pounds of mer-
chantable corn fed to them, and will do
When they do not do it we think there
is a defect somewhere. If the above
statement, which in our experience we
have verified, be true, one bushel of
corn-a part meal and fed as slop, and
part, all the animal will eat, in the ear
or shelled, changing frequently-should
make 10 pounds addition to the weight.
Ten bushels of corn will then represent
100 pounds of pork. The following con-
clusion is then reached: 1t pays, when
corn is worth 80 cents per bnshel, to
convert it into pork when it sells for 50
per 100 pounds, as the manure will
abundantly pay for the care, when
properly saved. So, when cornis 40 cents,
pork should sell at $4 per 100 pounds !;
corn at so cents, pork $5; 60 cents,
pork Sc; corn IS cents, pork should sell
at $3.50. When corn is worth 81. so,
pork must sell at S15 per 100 pounds.
If the pork sells for less than is thus
represented by the corresponding price
of corn, it is fed at loss; if more, the
| advance is profit-in each case regard
ing the manure as pay for the trouble.
Fattening is accomplished most profita-
| bly, as the cool weather of autumn ad-
vances, the animals having plenty oi
water or mud in which to roll when they
choose, with good shelter and warm
quarters in which to lie. The feeding
place should be kept clean, and corn in
the ear or shelled fed night and morn.
ing, as much as they will eat up clean
and slop or meal at noon, with pure
clean water night and morning. The
fatter they become, the closer Their
| quarters may be. In the early stages