Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1888-11-17
AMATEUR FARMING.
How to Propagate Hens, Together with
Some Habits OF the Bird.

amateur farming-the raising OF caboaGes
at $3.50 head-although, to tell the TRUTH
never cultivated any quite so economical
| ly as that, writes Luke Sharp in the Detroit
Free Press His paper, excellent as it is,ought
| to have an amateur farming column. i
have felt that for some time, and now, as
the horniest-handed son of the soil on the
| sheet, throw myself into the chasm like
that Roman fellow, armor and all.
| My experiences in farming have been
somewhat different from those you read OF
| in the many excellent agricultural papers
! we have. The correspondents of those
| journals make money on their farms. l
never did. They show how $40 invested
IN chickens in the spring amount to ST.,
$3.50, besides having all the eggs the fami-
~ could use, and at the end of the year a
great many surplus fowls. l have gone
over these statements in detail and figured
them up and they were without flaw, but /
never could make the problem come out
right in practice. The dog ate up several,
to begin with. When killed the dog some
new kind ofepidemic that was fond Of chick
ems came along. Then some were stolen and
the rest got tired of mo and went
away to neighbor who could understand
and sympathize with their various moods
They refused to lay in the nice comfortable
boxes provided, but preferred to go out 10
the back fields, accumulate wealth ofeggs
and then sit on them. Finally the hen
would become weary Of the sedentary bust
ness when she found seclusion and lnactiv-
ity telling on her health, and would basely
abandon the eggs, when a little more close
attention to the occupation would have re-
suited in complete and lnultitudinous sue
cess. Their conduct in the matter of laying
/ was most ungenerous. When eggs were
/ twenty-five cents dozen the hens would
/ go on strike, when eggs were down to
/ about eight cents then they all became in
/ dustrious. Fowls seem much more fond OF
gardening than am. hate to work in u
| garden; they don't. Nothing delights hen
! so much as to undertake the entire super
vision and cultivation of newly-planted
! garden. If could only peg away with half
| the industry they do would be one of the
richest market gardeners in America. They
are at it early and late and they cultivate
| the ground in q beautiful way that leaves it
quite ready for planting something else.
| The first time planted seeds in the garden
| they never came up. 'Too Deep" neigh
| Dor told me. But that was before kept
| hens. When the hens got right down To
! business the seeds came right up every
| time. Hens always have great crop. /
never succeeded in raising any crop but
| weeds. Canada thistleS arc my specially.
! My neighbor says he never knew any one
who was so successful in raising Canada
| thstles as l am. In fact, my farming has
| caused great deal of comment in the neigh
| borhood l am surrounded by old-timc farm
| crs who never before saw agriculture
carried ON by scientific methods. go by
| the advice of the agricultural journals and
| hand-bool1s of horticulture. They don't
| They believe in planting certain things in
| certain stages of the moon. have ridiculed
| the moon theories a good deal, but as their
! crops come up and mine don't, except what
| the hens rcsurrect of them, am beginning
| to think that perhaps there is something i'll
! the moon besides the man.
But to return to the hens. My hens are
| q particularly heightened variety. 1t is al
! ways best to 90 in for the most expensive
| kinds (see Handbook of Fowl Culture, page
| 81. There is no money in the common
| kinds; every body raises them. l got a
| dozen of very much warranted eggs. The
| hens that laid those eggs had taken prizes
! at three State fairs and don't know how
many smaller shows. When you get ex-
! pensive eggs you can put cheap hen on
| them and the chickens are warranted to be
| Just as good as if ten-dollar hen did
sitting l bought a fifty-cent hen that =
| in the sitting business-so the man told me.
never found out just what objection that
| cheap hen had to those dear eggs, but she
| positively refused to sit On them. Prob
| ably she thought any thing so expensive
| should not be sat down on. l tried to coax
| and even to coerce her, but she persisted in
walking around on those eggs and protest
| ing at the top of her voice. assured her
hot rOF cd inf hot
way, but it was no use. She seemed to
| think it was an omelet we wanted, for she
broke several of the eggs. I noticed in
reading the agricultural journals that many
| of the best farming inventions have been
constructed first by enterprising amateurs.
| desire here to call the attention of those
useful papers to my setting hen attachment.
The eggs were in q nice nest that rested i'll
a wooden box. In the bottom of this box l
bored couple of two-inch auger holes.
Through these put the two legs of the flut-
tering and indignant hen and pulled on the
legs until the hen fitted uice and snug on
the eggs. Then L tied the legs together I'M
derneath the box. 1t was a great scheme.
Even if she flew away with the box and ali
she would still be sitting on the eggs. -
Unfortunately my summer vacation came
on at that time and went away and forgot
all about that hen for two weeks. She
stuck to the deck like Casabianca aud her
fate was similar. A farmer should never
take vacation. A hen is just as contrary
when she makes up her mind to sit as when
she makes up her mind not to. She gen.
orally resolves to go in sitting session about
the time when there isn't stable egg
within miles of the premises. She is mad
all the time and goes around with her wings
scraping on the ground.
1t is said that dousing sitting hen in
water will cure her Of the mania. 1t will if
you keep her under water long enough
say twenty minutes.
That's all know about hens.
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