Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1902-01-16

! hours WITHOUT lOOu DeIOr6 klllIuS.
Stock dresses out brighter when we'll
wateredand adds to the appearance.
Full crops injure the appearance and
are liable to sour, and when this does
occur correspondingly lower prices
must be accepted than obtainable for
choice stock Never kill poultry by
wringing the neck.
| Kill by bleeding the mouth or
! opening the veins of the neck; hang
| by the feet until properly bled. Leave
head and feet on and do not remove
| intestines or crop. Scalded chickens
| sell best to shippers, so that either
manner of dressing will do if prop
erIy executed. For scalding chickens
| the water should be as near the boil |
/ ing point as possible without boiling;
pick the legs dry before scalding;
hold by the head and legs and i'm |
merse, and lift up and down three |
times; if the head is immersed it |
turns the color of the comb and gives |
| the eyes a shTUnken appearance, |
which leads buyers to think the fowl |
has been sick; the feathers and pin |
clearly and without breaking the |
skin; then plump by dipping ten sec
Onds in water nearly or quite boiling |
hot, then Immediately into cold water; !
hang in a cool place until the animal !
heat is entirely out of the body. To |
dry-pick chickens properly the work !
should be done while the chickens |
are bleeding; do not wait and let the |
bodies get cold Dry picking is much |
more easily done while the bodies are |
warm. Be careful and do not break |
or tear the skin.
Before packing and shipping, poul- |
try should be thoroughly dry and cold |
but not frozen; the animal heat should |
be entirely out Of the body; pack in |
boxes or barrels; boxes holding 100 or
200 pounds are preferable, and pack
snugIy. Straighten out the body and |
legs, SO that they will not arrive very
much bent and twisted out of shape;
fill the packages as full as possible to
prevent moving about on the way;
barrels answer better for chickens
and ducks than for turkeys or geese;
when convenient, avoid putting more
than one kind in a package, mark
kind and weight of each description
on the package, and mark shipping
directions plainly on the cover.
Advice to Young Farmers.
Buy farm if you can, the best
your means will permit. If you can
not buy, rent one, and neither buy or
rent one that is larger than you can
cultivate well. If it is new land,
clear it of stumps, if there are stumps,
so the machinery can be operated,
and if old land make all the manure
you can by using plenty of bedding
under your stock, leaving it till it is
thoroughly packed, and you will thus
save the liquid manure For bedding
use straw Of any kind forest leaves,
or any absorbent obtainabIe Haul |
it direct from the stable to the field,
and scatter regularly from the wagon
or sled on the already pIOWed ground
In this way you save rehandling the
manure and preserve its good quality.
Haul it during freezing weather if |
possible, and never unless the ground |
is dry or frozen.
Corn, Oats, Etc.
For oats or corn plow the land in
the fail. In the spring, when ground
is dry enough to work, disc and har-
row. Drill oats, using two bushels to
the acre. After discing and harrow
ing the ground, plant corn three and
One-haIf feet apart, and from sixteen
to twenty-five inches apart in the
rows. Harrow again, and as ssOOn as it
is up go over it with cuItivatoY or
double shovel Continue this once a
week until it is laid by. For wheat,
pillow the ground any time from harvest
to sowing time, but the earlier the bet
ter. Disc, if the ground becomes hard;
roll and harrow until the seed bed is
in good condition. Drill one and one
fourth bushels to the acre In SOW
ing timothy seed use one peck to the )
acre, if you want it in meadow.
Feeding Grain to Hens.
In order that hens may lay we'll,
they should never be allowed to have
LUZ CIOpo uuIIuS the udy. 1t IS all
right to feed them a light meal of
mixed warm food in the morning, in
troughs, but it should be only one
fourth the amount required Why?
Because if the hens go away from
their troughs unsatisfied as they then
will, they will seek food more eagerly,
devouring it grain by grain, and the
healthy exercise thus engaged in will
cause it to pass into the gizzard as it
should and be properly digested By
supplying rain in litter they will grad
ually accumulate enough to last them
through the night, and while they are
at roost, it can leisurely be forwarded
from the crop to the giZzard
1t is in the feeding of soft food that
the beginner is liable to make the
most mistakes. 1t leads him to over
feed and pamper the hens, and as a
consequence they reach a condition
sooner or later when they will not lay.
Even whole grain, without any varia-
ton, is sufficient for the morning feed
food; soft food, when fed. at all, should
be carefully measured AS matter
of fact a quart of mixed ground grain,
moistened and in a crumbly condi-