Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1888-10-17
AMATEUR FARMING.
How to Propagate Hens, Together W,
Some Habits of the Bird.

AMATEUR FARMING.
How to Propagate Hens, Together with
Some Habits of the Bird.
intend to discourse on the delights Of
amateur farming-the raising of cabbages
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, sought
to have an amateur farm ng column. /
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, ar1nor and all.
Ny 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 !
never did. They show how s.. 10 invested
In chickens in the spring amount to ST.
Soi-5O, besides having all the eggs the fami-
ly could use, and at the 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 1
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 ofcpidemic that was fond of chick
ems came along. Then some We're stolen and
the rest got tired of me and went
away to neighbor who could understand
and ;ympathize with their various moods
They refused to lay in the uice comfortable
boxes provided, but preferred to go out to
/ the back fields, accumulate a wealth of eggs
and then sit on them. Finally the hen
would become weary of the sedentary busi-
ness when she found sccusion and Inactiv-
ity telling on her health and would basely
abandon the eggs, when little moro close
attention to the occupation would have re-
| suited in complete and multitudinous 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. I hate to work in a
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 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" a neigh
Dor told me. But that was before l kept
hens. When the hens got right down to
business the seeds came right up every
time. Hens always have a great crop. /
never succeeded in raising any crop but
weeds. Canada thistles are my speciality.
Ny neighbor says he never knew any one
who was so successful in raising Canada
thistles as am. In fact, my farming has
caused great deal of comment in the neigh
borhood- / am surrounded by old time farm
ers who never before saw agriculture
| carried on by scientific methods. go by
| the advice of the agricultural journals and
hand books of horticulture. They don't.
They believe in planting certain things in
certain stages of the moon have ridieuled
the moon theories good deal, but as their
crops come up and mine don't, except what
the hens resurrect of them, am beginning
| to think that perhaps there is something in
the moon besides the man.
But to return to the hens. Ny hens are
particularly high-toned variety. 1t is al
ways best to go in for the most expensive
kinds (see Handbook Of Fowl Culture, page
| 9S). There is no money in the common
kinds; every body raises them. I got
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
just as good as If ten-dollar hen did the
sitting. bought fifty-cent hen that was
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. tried to coax
and even to coerce her, bat she persisted in
walking around on those eggs and protest
ing at the top of her voice. / assured her
that chickens were not accumulated in that
way, but it was no use. She seemed to
think it was an omelet we wanted, for she
broke several Of the eggs. / 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 a nice nest that rested in
wooden box In the bottom of this box
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 nice and snxg on
the eggs. Then 1 tied the legs together un.
derneath the box. 1t was a great scheme.
Even if she flew away with the box and all
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 and her
tate 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.