The record-union., 1893-01-25

Hens should be mated at least ten days
before eggs are saved for Matching. In
some instances when cocks of different
varieties have been introduced into a
yard, the eggs laid by the hens after
three, four or five days, have shown that
these eggs were fertiliZed by the new
cocks. But few days are hardly sutfi-
cient where one wishes to be absolutely
certain OF the results, for instances also
have occurred where the influence of a
COCK was shown two or three weeks after
the introduction of a new one. To be
on the safe side, one should mate early in
January for the eggs which are to be
saved through February and March.
Study your matings carefully. Have
definite idea of what you wish TO produce,
and keep that idea steadily il view when
making your matings. Be careful to Sc
lect the right brood cock. All the chick
ems from a given yard will have him for
a sire, and will possess some, at least, of
his characteristics. If he be an inferior
specimen, then inferior characteristics
may be expected in all the chickens; if a
superior fowl, then superior character
istics will be found in the chickens. If
no other member of the flock is a
thoroughbred fowl, the cock should be
such. a thoroughbred fowl may be no
larger, no stronger, no more vigorous
and no handsomer than cross-bred or
mongrel, but he possesses one character
lstlc which the cross bred or mOngrel
does not, certainty of breeding. His
progeny can be relied upon to resemble
him in many characteristics. One knows
beforehand what to expect in the progeny.
If a cross-bred fowl be used, the chick
ems may inherit from either breed from
which he was produced, and if a mongrel
heads the yard the chickens may re-
semble many different breeds. The
thoroughbred controls the characteristics,
the others do not. The brood cock
should be typical specimen, in shape, of
the variety to which he belongs, and in
color if one wishes to breed to feather.
He should be neither dwarfish speci-
men nor great overgrown one. The
cocks of medium weight are the best,
having the necessary activity, well-knit
frames, and being neither so small as to
ruin the size of The chickens, nor so large
as to be awkward, coarse, ungainly,
and indifferent. He should be
in vigorous health, and bred from healthy
ancestry. Health, as well as disease, is
Unbeatable. His eye should be bright,
his comb red, his crow clear, and his
step active. He should be neither too
young nor too old-old enough to be well
matured, young enough not to have lost
his vigor. From ten months to two
years is the best age. He should not be
over fat, and yet should be well nour-
ished so as to have the muscles well filled
out.
The selection of the breeding hens
should also be made with great care.
Some farmers breed from their f1ocks
without any regard to the individual eX-
cellence OF the specimens, and set the eggs
from any of the hens. This is often due
to the want of suitable yard in which to
pen the breeding stock, or the stock not
wanted for breeding, but more often it is
due to lack of proper appreciation of the
fowls. But whatever may be the cause,
the practice is a bad one and deserves
only condemnation. The breeding hen
should be large. The size of the chickens
is best derived from the hen, and she
should be large for the breed. She should
be well matured-pullets, especially if
immature, should not be bred from. She
should be nearly two years old, from two
to three years old being the best age for
the hens. While such hens will not lay
so many eggs in season as the pullets,
and as egg producers are not so profit
able, yet they will lay enough eggs to
make them pay well for their keeping,
an d these eggs will produce larger
stronger, healthier and better growing
chickens.
Every poultry raiser should save few
of his finest hens each year, selected from
his laying stock of pullets, from which to
raise his chickens. The other old hens
can be killed off, their place being taken
by the younger and more prolific pullets.
But these breeding hens should be very
carefully selected to continue and renew
the flock. InaSmuch as a few hens only
are needed for this purpose, where one IS
not extensively engaged in raising poul-
try, even If the hens were much poorer
layers than the pullets, it would be profit
HI al
one breeds to feather, it is necessary to
make careful study of the art of mating
the particular variety that one has, but if
one only breeds for healthy, vigorous,
profitable fowls, whose products are to be
sold in the markets, then the color
problem is not so essential. For such
breeders there is always an opportunity
to buy thoroughbred fowls of either sex,
a little "otf' in color, at a much less price
than the finer specimens command.
Such specimens answer the needs of the
practical poultry raiser as well as the
finer specimens would.-American Agri-
culturiSt.
RENTING FARMS.
Have the lease in ''black and white. -
carefully written out in detail, duiy
signed and witnessed. Verbal leases are
profitable only to lawyers. Better pay a
lawyer to write lease than help enforce
a verbal one.
Make copy and let landlord and ten
ant each have one.
Know your tenant before you give him
a lease. 1t is just as well, also, for a ten
ant to know his intended landlord before
he signs lease.
Long leases are best for both landlord
and tenant. The latter feels a sense of
proprietorship when he has a long lease.
and, if wise man, will adopt the best
modes of cultivation and the best system
of rotation of crops, and will endeavor to
keep up the fertility of the farm. If the
lease is of a short term there is a strong
temptation to work it for all it is worth
while the opportunity lasts, and leave the
farm impoverished and the premises in
poor repair.
of the two methods of renting the
share system is in most cases the better
one. In renting for money the tenant as
sumes all risks; in renting on shares both
landlord and tenant share the profits
ing the profits as great as possible. Where
the rental is for money the interests of
both parties are not always identical, or,
at any rate, are not always so regarded.
Methods of renting must differ with the
modes of farming and vary with the
sections of the country. Market
gardeners around large cities usually rent
the land at certain sum per acre, retain
ing possession year after year. Truck
farmers lease their land on shares. When
the landlord furnishes tools, work horses.
seeds and stock the tenant gets one-third;
when the tenant furnishes one-half seed
and stock and all the work horses, he gets
one-half the crop. The landlord furnishes
all the stable manure, but generally the
tenants pay for one-half of all the chemi-
cal fertilizers used.
1t is always wise to have some pro-
vision in the lease for maintaining the
fertility of the land and keeping the
buildings in repair
1t is prudent to provide for settling
differences by arbitration. A clause like
this may be embodied in the lease: Each
ma rtU % thus Armament Shan s.nIon+ cr,,..l,