Richland beacon., 1888-10-20
AMATEUR FARMING.
HOW to Propagate Hens, Together
with Some Habits of the BIRD.

ihienu TO discourse on the delight:
OF amateur farming-the rais ny o.
ca0bages at IS so head-athough,
10 tell the truth, ] never cultivated
any quite so economical AS that, writes
Luke Sharp in the Detroit Free Press
His paper. excellent as it is, ought to
have Al amateur farming column.
have felt that for some time. and now,
IS The hOrniest handed son of the sol
on the sheet | throw myself into the
chasm Ike that Roman fellow, armog
and al.
My experiences in farm have been
somewhat different from those you
read of in the many excellent agricult.
ural papers We have. the corrcspon
dents of those journals make money on
their farms. L never did. They show
how 81. 40 invested in chickens in he
spring amount 10 S1,36i 80, tesides
having all the eggs the family could
Use. and at tho end Of the year a great
many surplus fowls. | have gone over
these statements in detail and figured
them up and they were without flaw,
but l never could make the problem
come out ri ht in practice. Tho dog
ate Up several. to begin with. When
killed the dog some new kind or cpl
/ dcm!c tAat was fond of chickens came
along. Then some were stolen and
} .trf 4 q E 4
/ to a neighbor who could understand
/ and sympalbisc with their various
/ moods. They refused to lay in the
nee comfortable boxes | provided. but
/ preferred 10 go out TO the back fields,
accumulate 4 wealth OF eggs and then
SIT Oh them. Finally the hen would
become weary Of the sclcntary bLs.-
ness when She found seclusion and
/ inactivity telling on her health.
and woald ba>clr abandon the
eggs. when a Little more close
attention 10 the occupation would have
resulted n camDlctc and mult,tuiinouS
success. Their conduct in the matter
81 laying was most ungenerous.
When eggs were twenty five cents n
dozen the hens would 90 on strike.
when eggs were down to about eight
cents then they all became Industrious.
Fowls seem much more fond OF garden
ing than | am. hate TO work n a
garden; the don't Nothing delights
4 hen 50 much as TO undertake. The en-.
tire supervision and culiivat on Of n
newl planted garden. If could only
PEI away with half the industry they
10 would he one of the chest mar
ket gardeners in Amer ca. They are
III IL early and late and they cultivate
The grounl N beautiful way that
leaves it quite ready for plant ny some
thing else. The first time | planted
seeds in the garden they never came
up. TOO deep" n neighbor told me.
But that was before l kept hens.
When the hens 60, right down 10 bust
hens the seeds came right up every
lime. Hens always have a great CROP.
never succeeded in raising any crop
nut weeds. Canada thisles are my
specially. My neghbor says he never
knew any one vino was so successful
in raising Canada thistles as am. In
fact. my farming has caused n great
deal OF comment in the he ghborhood.
am surrounded by O!d-tlme farmers
VINO never before saw agriculture car
ried on by SC entiic methods. 90 bv
the advice Of the agricultural Journals
and hand-books of hort culture The,
don't They believe in planting Ger.
tam hings in certain stages of the
moon. ] have ridicuied the moon
theories good deal. but as their crops
come up and m ne don'L. except what
The hens resUrrect of them. 1 am be.
to think that perhaps there is
in the moon LesiIes tIe
man.
Bat to return 20 the hens. Nv hens
are particularly heightened varietc.
1t is always best TO 20 in for the most
expensive kinds (sec Handbook of !
Fowl Culture. page 9S). There IL no |
money in the common kinds; every
Iody raises them. | got dozen of
very much warranted eggs. The hens
hat lad those eggs had taken prizes
1t three state fairs and I don't know
low many smaller shows. When you
ret expensive eggs you can put cheap
zen on them aud the chickens are war
anted 10 be just az good ~ if ten.
lollar hen did the sitting. / bought a
itty-cent hen that was in the sitting
'usihess-sO the man tod me. l never
ound out just what objection that
heap hen had to those dear eggs. but
no positively refused TO sit on them.
'.obaby She thought any thing so ex-
'eusive should not be sat down on. |
RED 10 coax and even TO coerce her.
ut she persisted in walking around on
hose pVpS and Oroiastiuu ~ tho ,n,, os
cr voice. l assured her that chickens
we're not accumulated in that way, but
was no use. She seemed to think il
Tas an omclet we wanted. for she
rokc several of the eggs. | noticed
a reading the agricultural Journals
hat many Of the best farming
lventohs have been constructed
rst by enterprising amateurs.
desire here to call the attention of
hose useful papers to my setting hen
t,achmcnt. The eggs were i'm a n CO
est that rested n wooden box. In
ne bottom Of this box | bored couple
I two-lnch auger holes. Through
iesc ! put tie two legs of the flutter-
~ and ind gnant hen and pulled on
nc legs until the hen fitted nice and
mug on tie eggs. Then l tied the
rs together Underneath the box. 1t ,
as great scheme. Even if she flew /,
wa with the box and all she would ,
III be sitting on the eggs.
Unfortunately my summer vacation .
'me on at that time and l went away
nd forgot all about that hen for two
eeks. She stuck TO the deck like
a Il md lao. e.