The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1891-12-23


It costs the farmer less to produce eggs
than it does one living on the suburbs of
a town or village, as the hen on the farm
can pick up about one-third Of her food.
a bushel Of wheat or corn for a hen one
year should be sufficient, provided she
has opportunities for securing grass, seeds,
insects, etc. She will lay, under fair con-
ditions, ten dozen eggs a year. As to
how much profit to expect, it will depend
on the cost Of the wheat and the price Of
the eggs. The bushel Of wheat will cost
the Eastern farmer about 81, but in some
portions of the West the cost may not be
over 80 cents. At the same prices for
eggs. the Western farmer has the advant-
age of cheaper cost, but as the Eastern
farmer has the advantage of prices, his
opportunities are better.
Each section possesses advantages and
disadvantages, and when the farmer sells
Ills eggs he should be prepared to know
exactly how much expense was incurred.
If eggs sell for only ten cents dozen,
when wheat is fifty cents a bushel, he Sc
cures higher price for his wheat by con-
verting the wheat into eggs through the
agency Of the hens. Eggs have the adj
vantage of calling for cash in the markets,
and they can be produced in the winter
season, giving immediate returns, which
is very different from being compelled to
wait from one season 10 the next.
Feeding the hens on the farm is to take
possession OF the waste places with the
hens. There is food to be secured that is
not in the grain bin. Every clod turned
over by the plow affords a little and the
young grass and weeds, the scattered
grain in the barn yard, the stubble in the
fields, the scraps from the table, and the
manure heap, all afford the hens priv
ileges, and the eggs laid by them during
the summer season cost the farmer little
or nothing. The low cost of summer
should be considered and the average
made.
WIRE FENCES TO HEN YARDS.
The wire fence does not keep the winds
out OF the yards. When such a fence is
made, the lower part should be of boards,
and they should be put together so as to
be close. A fence seven feet high. COM
posed of three feet of boards and four feet
of wire, should be high enough to keep
nearly all breeds OF hens within bounds,
and the boards will make the yards much
warmer and more comfortable than when
wire only is used. 1t is an advantage for
the hens to be outside sometimes, for they
will not be content to remain in on clear
days; but TO send them outside on cold,
windy day, with the yards Enclosed only
severe test.
All yards should have wind-breaks of
some kind If the hens are to occupy them,
and this can be accomplished in several
ways; one by having boards at the bot
tom, and another by arranging corn
stalks on the north and west sides of the
fence. Anything that will break the
force of The wind win be found bene-
fetal.
HAY SEEDS FOR CHICKS.
When you have a brood of chicks. try
giving them the sweepngs of the hay
loft in which to scratch, and you will be
surprised to notice how busy the little
fellows will be and how industriousIy
they viii work to secure the seeds.
There is nothing that viii tempt little
chickens like small seeds, and they will
scratch from morning until night if they
can find thom. This scratching will do
more to keep them in health than any-
thing that can be done for them. 1t
makes them keep warm. compels them to
feed without filling their crops too rapid
~, prevents leg weakness and assists
them to endure cold. Their appetites will
also be greater and they will eat any
thing else provided, with avidity. If
chicks are fed four times a day when
young, and given hay chaff and leaves to
work in, they should grow rapidly. They
must be kept in a warm place. having
plenty of light, and carefully fastened up
at night.
FARM NOTES.
The great secret of proper pruning con-
sists in knowing the nature of the subject
to be operated upon, the future use of
each shoot and branch.
A teaspoonfuI of clean wood ashes on
each horses feed once a week is an ex-
cellent condition powder, and cheaper
than those sold in drug stores.-Seed-
Time and Harvest.
Sprinkling the plants with a decoction
of tobacco stems and soft soap, followed
by busting of lime, is recommended by
Z. L. Quinn as an effective preventive for
the fiea-beetle, so destructive in many
gardens.
Potatoes dug in dry weather, soon as
ripe, before the fall rains set in, which
causes the wet soil to adhere, will come
out of the ground so clean that they
scarcely soil the water they are washed
in.-Terra.
Sulphate of ammonia is one of the COM
mon sources of ammonia. 1t is formed
as by-product III the manufacture of
Illuminating gas, and contains about 20
per cent. ammonia, equivalent to 90 per
cent. nitrogen.
BLOOD will tell" Good blood tells a
good story, and bad blood tells a bad
story. So far as transmission of qualities
goes bad blood is even more apt to tell
more apt to meet c0ngenial blood in the
cross.
Is the house musty? 1t ought not to be.
Something's the matter Do the trees
overhang the roof? They ought not Cut
few OF them down nearest the house
and get that musty smell out of the cellar
and sitting room. just as like as not it
is in the bread and butter.
As a manure | have found tobacco
stems valuable in the garden, especially
for radishes, beets and melons. | scatter
them over the ground in the fall and in
the spring turn them under. then use
manure in the hills or drills.-T. n
Baird, in Indiana Farmer.
Indiana claims to be the greatest wheat
growing State in the world in proportion
to area. One farmer reports 1900 bushels
threshed from 800 acres. The average
yield per acre is above twenty bushels.
The aggregate for the State is put at from
55,000,0c0 to 100000 bushels.
Dead or decaying wood is always q
prolific breeding-place for injurious in
sects Those dead limbs in Your applc
trees may have been harbor for borers
all summer. 1t is by carelessness and
neglect of this sort that we make trouble
for ourselves in fruit-growing.
A fruit-growers avs that the white grape
currant. in his experience, is a fine berry.
but he could never succeed in making il
very profitable. He finds from careful
observation and comparison with other
varieties growing in his garden that a
greater percentage OF the cherry currant
is attacked by the borer than of the other
varieties.
The old canes and branches of black
berries are very convenient to cover
Strawberries in places where other cover
ing would be scratched Oft by hens They
do not blow of easily, and hens will not
disturb them. Potato tops are good COW