St. Landry democrat., 1892-05-21
FARM AND GARDEN NOTES.

Bran softens butter, corn hardensslt.
The best churning temperature issixty
degrees.
Dark feathers usually cover dark skin;
hence dark colored chickens are, unpop-
ular at the table.
Success with poultry does not come at
once, so do not get discouraged If things
don't come right as expected.
So far it has not been shown thatscow
do any better on chopped hay than on
that which has not been chopped.
Size and condition count far moro in
market than any particular shape or
color, especially with young poultry.
Fowls kept in small coops are always
healthiest, and pay the tsst. Twelve
hens to a coop ten feet square are quite
enough.
The hen that sings IS the hen that can
be depended upon to do her best to pay
her way. She has vlgor, and it comes
| out in her voice.
Boiled potato parings and cabbage,
with enough corn meal added to take
up the moisture, will be greedily eaten
by the chickens.
Geese will be more extensively bred
on the farms this season. Farmers have
their eyes on geese culture; it means
something and you will see it.
Feeding poor COWS poor food,to make
poor butter for poor prices, is the best
way of making certain that you will al
WAYS scratch poor mans head.
II cows toes get forced apart by
quantity of manure, corn co5s, or any
thing else in them, take it out and re-
lieve her pain. She will then give more
milk.
The COWS will soon begin to shed the
hair into the milk. To prevent this
brush them off on the side over the
udder where your head rubs against her;
also brush the udder.
Have you got those fences all in re-
pair? Now is the time before work be-
gins in the field to put them all in order.
Clear out the fence corners that are
checked with old briar stalks SO you can
cut the green ones when they come up
with a scythe.
Perhaps your flo; of poultry needs
new fresh blood for its inauguration. If
so the sooner the matter is attended to
the better. A good male bird has con-
siderable value and therefore it is folly
to expect to obtain such, save by the
payment of good price. A real good
fowl is cheaper at S. than poor one is
at seventy-ive cents or 81.
Bulk is great desideratum in grain
fed to poultry. This is obtained by mix
ing bran with ornmeal, and feeding
oats rather than much corn. Corn
meal alone is far too heavy. The di-
gestive organs cannot extract all the
nutriment contained in such solid SUD-
stances. Mix the same however with
light bran and the case is entirely
different.
There is nothing like keeping fowls
busy. Idle hens as truly as idle boys are
sure to 'sget into mischief" which in
the case of the hens consists very often
in the acquisition of that very annoying
and troublesome habit, "egg eating.
Keep the hens scratching most of the
time, thereby giving them something to
do and promoting their general health
and prolifcness.
A half dozen small "hen coops" are
much more useful than one massive
structure affording an equal area. We
all know that coop of ten or twelve
hens is usually profitable, whereas null
tiples of the same are rarely satisfactory.
This is the great secret of running a
large poultry farm. Divide up SO that
, each individual bird may have Gas good
show" and as much room as upon the
ordinary farm, where not more than
a score or two of fowls are usually bred.
Never omit oyster shells, charcoal,
pounded bone and lime from the ''bill of
fare" Shells furnish "grit," so neces-
: sary for the proper digestion of the food
of all birds. Charcoal is grand alb
sorbent, keeping the crop sweet and
healthy. Bone also supplies "grit' and
consists largely of phosphate of lime
which is doubtless available for the for
, nation of shell, as we'll as other parts oil
f the egg. Common lime is composed Of
carbonate of lime to a considerable ex
, tent, and this is also saell-formlng ma
, teriai.