The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1892-1907, 1893-12-02
AGRICULTURAL.
Information in the Interest Of
Thoughtful Farmers.
OBSTRUCTIVE POULTRY ITEMS

Short.Legged Fowls Will Fatten
More Rapidly Than Fowls
Well up on Their Pins.
Start ont with good stock.
Endeavor TO have your hocks uniform.
Keep everything clean; it will pay
you.
An extra dollar or two for . superior
breeding bird is money well spent.
A good supply of road dust or dry
earth and fine gravel are worth . good
many dollars to q poultry breeder dur
| ing the winter.
One of the best remedies for damp
pouI,ry-house foore, also m excellent
deodorizer, is air-slacked lime. Gas
lime il also good.
Do not neglect the water fountains.
Keep them filed with fresh, sweet. clean
water. In rainy weather keep the yarda
drained 60 that no impure water will b
| where the fowls may drink it.
Do not destroy eggs that have been
deserted by the hen. or in cases where
the incubator lamp has gone out and
they have become cold They often
hatch good percentage Of strong chicks.
Don't begin with too many breeds.
| Select the one that best quits your sur
roundings and stick to it. By careful
selection YOU can then build up strain
that will be satisfactory to yourself and
patrons.
Although damp roosting place il an
abomination, fowls prefer . wet rO0st
free from vermin to . dry one that is in
Tested with them. This may explain
why some peoples chickens prefer 70
roost on trees.
;! 1t may be taken Is very good rule
that short-legxed will fatten more rap
idly than fowls we'll up ON their pins"
This is important to the broiler raiser,
whose Object it is to get nice, plump birds
as coon as possible.
Keep thoroughbred fowls only. There
are enough breeds and enough sizes,
shapes and colors for any purpose. With
q mixed hock one cannot lay down any
Get OF feeding rules or CLEAN any reliable
information from his statistics. In other
words, he never knows where he ID at.
Always keep shells and grit before
your fowls, and for confined birds straw
or refuse hay, cut about one-third Of an
inch in length. should be furnished
them. Besides the much-needed exer-
and grain, they will eat large portion
Of it.
The turkev is an industrious forager,
and picks up the greater portion Of it,
food: therefore the difference in the
weight Of large and small bird lie an
important matter, bringing the actual
cost of production down to . low sum
when large and small weights are COM
> pared.
There is one advantage of Matching
. chicks during winter in California, and
1t is freedom from vermiu, which does
not increase nearly so rapidly ~ during
, late spring and summer weather. This
is where the incubator proves OF great
4 value to the poultry raiser, IS 1t 10 next
: to impossible to get satisfactory supply
!. OF setting hens before February and
often later.
LOOK AFTER THE MANURE.
1t Is not necessary for experimental
stations to tell US that msnlres kept
|, continually exposed to rain and sun
r must lose their essential elements, and
9 that, too, very rapidly. We see very often
., streams of dark, black liquid issuing
}; from fertilizer heaps, and perhaps rum
9 ming down some slope into pond or brook,
5, where the crops are not liable TO receive
s, much benefit from them. Why are
n these leaks permitted and how remedied
!, are the questions. The first is hard to
l. answer, but the second is Of no very diff
}; tcult solution. Mix manure literally
9. with absorbents. and keep under cover.
$, Many old-fashioned barns contain no
G 1 a. nd
g that matter, there arc very potent oblec-
tons to putting manure right under
3, stock. SO that poisonous gases will con-
l. tinually arise to befoul the air above.
5 Why not build . cheap "lean-to "
y. against the barn to cover the manure
(which is cast out? This may be made
very rongh and inexpensive and provided
|, only with a roof (sides would be BETTER.
!, The idea, of course, is TO prevent the wa
=, ter from caves and sky from leaking
: through the manure and removing the
= best and most available portions. Bed
:. the stock we'll with straw and absorb
a ents sufficient to retain all the liquid,
saws a writer in Practical Farmer. Land
plaster is excellent to Dix the ammonia-
h, that gas which is so easily lost and coal
ct ashes, as they come perfectly dry from
h, the stove or furnace, are good for the
c; same purpose. 1t is well known thai
at the ground beneath . manure pile be-
eI CONES saturated with fertility; % it il
L. wise to remove this soil to depth OF siz
+ to ten inches. cart it away and replacs
with q quantity Of new. dry soil. which
in turn should also be drawn out and
l. spread on field or meadow. The mat
az ter of saving manure cannot be looked
:, into too closely. 1t is folly to depend
" on commercial fertilizers when much oil
" our own manure goes to waste.
oil WATERING THE skkDBxD.
American Gardening says: 1t is com
mon among amateurs and some PROBES
a, SIGNALS who SOW seeds Of various kinds
: either in or out Of doors, whether the
~ soil is moist or not, 10 water it imme.
e diately after sowing. From repeated
trials have found the above practice r
n be a serious mistake. II the soil or com
post in which the seeds are sown 10 mois
at the time Of sowing, do not water, ~
the soil becomes stiff and forms . crusl
IN on the surface, which prevents the seed
al from pushing through. After sow'n,
TO the seed in any soil, except IN extremel,