Rocky Ford enterprise., 1895-12-05
Avoid reo Much Corn.

my mems 10 stop laying at m0ultln8
time. and such was my experience in
the years when l fed great deal Of
corn and corn meal. remember that
one year got my last egg Oct. .. This
year I have been getting daily about
one-fifth as many eggs as have hens.
That of course Is not spring record.
nor can spring record be expected in
October. During the summer my fowls
were shut up aud were fed on oats and
wheat. Later in the fall the change
was made to corn and oats, in about
equal quantities by weight. I believe
my fowls are doing well now merely
because they have not had enough corn
to make them fat. /
have a neighbor who started in last
spring with about forty hens. He is
seventy years old and has been keeping
fowls about his whole life, SO far as
know. But he keeps them as his father
did before him, evidently stunning
what the books say as to food for hens.
Last week he came over to ask how my
hens were doing. and seemed aston
ished when / told him. To confirm my
words showed him dish full of nice
large eggs. He said his entire flock Of
hens was only laying one egg in five
days. He was discouraged and going to
kill them all of. They had been doing
nothing all through the summer. Dur
Ing the last three months he had killed
about 20 Of his old hens, and found no
sign Of egg development In them. The
embryoniceggs were SO very small that
he had no regret for having killed the
birds. HjE wife complained that the
fowls were too fat for good eating. AL
together he was disgusted. Asked what
he had been feeding, he replied corn
and some wheat. Tho solution was
plain. He had fed his flock ON food
that made them fat. had paid little
attention to my flock except to see that
the birds did not get fat. The result
of not getting fat was continued egg
production. Fat had stopped his hens
from laying.
OF the ability of fat to arrest the de-
velopment Of eggs I had an example
Last spring. One of my hens got her feet
hurt In the winter. so when we turned
out the hens last spring shesdid not like
to move about. She ate we'll and was In
perfect health. Yet on account of nom
activity she grew very fat. We let her
alone for months, to see II she would
show any sign Of laying, but she did
not. At last, four months after the
others had begun to lay. we killed her.
When dressed she weighed ten pounds,
but was 80 very fat that we could not
think of eating her till we had pulled
on much Of the fat. It came of in
great leaves, like leaf lard. except 1t
was yellow. The leayes- were found in
all parts Of her even under the skin on
the shoulders. When we had pulled on
what we deemed necessary, her eatable
carcass had been reduced to a weight
of five pounds. She had a great many
embryonic eggs. but they had doubtless
been of the same size for four months,
and would have been no larger had we
allowed her to live for four month,
more. Somehow or other when the fat.
tening qualities are unusually stimu-
lated the development of the eggs seems
to cease. The neighbor Of whom Just
spoke has four separate pens and
houses. II those fat hens were mine. I
would separate the old from the young,
and put the fat ones on short ration,
probably Of bran and oats. would not
dare to feed oats altogether, fearing to
make some Of them crop-bound by their
filling their crops with oats and then
water. But bran would have the effect
of bulky food that would not too
greatly expand. My neighbor says that
when he feeds oats his hens do not eat
them readily after a few days, and in
fact will not eat them at all unless
they are starved to 1t. Very well, that
Is Just what I would want-some food
that they would eat SO little of that
their fat would begin to be burned up
in keeping up the natural heat Of their
bodies.
The fall would seem to be good time
to begin a work of this kind, for the
cool weather would force a rapid burn
ing up of the fat. John Vinton.
Points In Celery Culture.-It is we'll
known that the celery plant delights in
a rich and moist soil, and those who
have the opportunity to use liquid ma
nure In the cultivation Of this plant
have a great advantage over others. In
addition to this some cultivators who
grow the celery for market are intro
ducing water artificially, and find 1t to
be profitable practice. In this con-
nection Meehan's Monthly cites a grow
er in Allegheny City, Pa, who has a
supply pipe from one of the city water
mains 80 arranged that at the end where
the flow commences guano or some
other artificial fertilizer can be placed
In the water pipes. He can get double
the crop from the same ground as by
the ordinary methods, and stalks that
bring a much higher price in market.
|
Sandy Soils-In sandy soils the sand
varies all the way from IS to 80 per
cent, the remaining percentage being
clay. They are easy to work, but do
not retain moisture and fertility to such
an extent as do the clay soils. Hence,
the rain waters have tendency to
wash out the fertility. Clay added is
an important factor of Improvement.
Exchange.
Stable Manure.-It Is not fair to esti-
mate stable manure upon the same bas-
is as commercial fertilizers. for the me-
chanical effect Of vegetable manure is
worth as much as the plant food con-
tained therein. In fact, rotten manure
promotes chemical action and plant
growth in several ways. Plenty Of veg