The record-union., 1893-05-24
FARM And ORCHARD.
A Poultry Farm on a Large Scale
in Rhode Island.
"An Wool and a Yard Wide'' The
Young Chickens Food-A Profita bio
Garden - Recipe for Picking Ripe
olives Fruit Growers Are Pro-
Observation-Disclosures Items.

observation-disclosures Items.
On large poultry farm in Rhode Island
there is on sixty acres eighty hen-houses,
besides number of geese pens. These
accommodations shelter 5000 hens and
about 100 geese. The location is right on
the bank of the Seaconnet River. All
the buildings are built shed-shaped of
common rough pine boards, and all face
the south, having large windows on that
side. Coarse gravel form the floors, and
coarse thick coats of whitewash are
spread over the in and outside surface of
the buildings. The hens are not confined
to small yards, but are allowed their full
liberty over the sixty acres, and it is
claimed that they will at roosting time
individually seek their respective lodging
places. The varieties of fowl kept are
I Plymouth Rocks, Light Brahma, Buff
! Cochins and a cross made from Buff
| Cochins and Light Brahma, which lay
| eggs of very dark brown shade. The
! cross is said to be most excellent one,
/ and the hens lay equal to the Plymouth
| Rocks, but average when dressed heavier.
| There are but few feathers below the hook
/ Joint on the cross-bred bird in compari
son TO the feathers in either of its origi-
/ nators. Nearly all the incubation is
carried on with hens, there being but one
incubator on the place, and that Is only
brought into use when there is an un
usual dearth of sitting hens. Some of the
houses are used exclusively for the sit
ting hens.
An average of sixteen eggs is put un-
der each hen. The hens are fed and at
Q Il fn.g.ns
the nests if they do not come Off from
their own inclination. When the hens
hatch out their broods the chickens are at
once taken away from them and put into
a brooder machine. The smallest brooder
mothers 200 chickens. These brooders
are no elaborate affairs, but are merely
wooden boxes, in which, by means of
coal-oil lamps, either hot air or steam is
generated. The hens, it is claimed, cluck
around for a few daVs diSappOintedly,
and then commence laying again. In
this way reproduction Is kept pretty
we'll up TO a regular order. Most all the
Young cockerels are disposed of at broiler
age. a large cooking house is conspic-
uOus feature, where two large caldrOns,
each of fifty-gallon capacity, are used
every night in preparing mash, consist
ing of cornmeal, shorts, beef scraps and
various kinds of grains. These cal
drons are filled with the ingredients,
I
brick walls, and the mess is allowed to
slowly cook during the entire night. \
horse and cart takes the morning feed
around for distribution. 1t takes nearly
three hours to complete the feeding. The
evening meal consisting OF whole cracked
corn, Is distributed also from vehicle
that las q receptacle tor eggs and pa
troll" convenience for taking III the sit
ters. \ large barn refrigerator is on the
place. where dressed fowls are kept while
getting ready for large shipments, etc
II takes six prompt, expert poultrymen
and eleven horses 10 keep this poultry
farm in good running condition. Rhode
Island has long been famous for its Mar
ragansett turkeys, and Is now reaching
out for Iaurels in Oth0r branches of poul-
try in a very practical Way.-Ealtimor
Sun.
ALL WOOL AND A YARD WIDE"
At late meeting of the Southern Cali
fOrnia Pomologicdl Society NJ. Bald
ridge, a successful orange-grower of Los
Angeles County, read a paper from
which we quote the following good ad-
vice 10 fruit-growers: IF you have gone
wrong in selecting location, or in your
methods, and get as much fruit off grade
as up TO standard, brand it for what it is,
and sell it for what it will bring. If
trees have been neglected and fruit is
smutty, brand it smutty to be sold as
Z
culls. Ii you have so many goods of this
kind as to exhaust your margin for
profit, reform your methods, if the fault
Is there. If the trouble is in the condi-
tions and beyond your control, go out OF
the business, unless you are satisfied to
run it on a starvation basis. If great
WindStOrm should transfer half your
crop from grade No. ! to grade No. 2, put
it there, brand it there and sell it there.
fla cold wave should come and freeze
your oranges, you know they are utterly
worthless, and the man who buys them
will curse the man and the locality they
came from for all time to come. He
| bought them because that brand had
always heretofore given him just what
he called fOr. II oranges are frozen,
brand them as frozen and ship them
wild, If you think it will pay to handle
that kind of goods. If they must be To-
Gated, place them Just this side OF the
north pole, or what would be still better
pay the freight on them, ship them there
and dump them. We must be strictly
honest in a cold season as well as warm
one, if we expect purchasers to put up
their coin for our goods i'll preference to
any other III the market"
THE YOUNG CHICKENS FOOD.
AS to what is the best food for the
newly Matched chickens, we will not
claim to have found. There are so MANY
D
no breeder or faucier need feel alarmed if
he fails to have at hand the exact food
advised by writers on this subject. The
following is a list Of foods suitable for
the youngest peppers: Milk, rolled or
piuched oatmeal, cracker crumbs, stale
bread, hominy, cracked wheat, rice or
corn. millet, wheat, bran, cornmeal. All
the grain foods are best fed dry. Sloppy
food should always be avoided, especially
in very cold and very warm weather
Our own method of feeding chicks for the
past ten years is 10 mix one-third corn
meal, one-third ground oats and one
third wheat bran by measure. Make this
into a dough, and bake it. Grind the
bread into small granular Jumps, and
feed dry. We dilute fresh milk with
One-half its bulk of boiling water, and
place in a self-ieeding fountain. This
makes the best drink for young chickens
we ever tried. As soon as chickens are
one week old. cracked corn, wheat and
rice make good combination, and where
chickens run at large nothing more need
be added. When confined in small runs,
fresh cut beef bones should be fed two or
three times a week. The above are
simple directions, and can be modified to
suit the convenience of the pouitryman.
-Eanciers Journal.