The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1907-06-12
Hen Egqs and En- Hens,


Voice, is wri item in humorous strain
but it contains a great deal of sound
good sense, and we commend it to
our readers. Of course, we do not
have the extremely cold weather
which is common at the North, but
we do have it cold enough to stop
many hens from laying when eggs
are most in demand.
I notice that the Farmers Voice
will take I'D in April, a discussion of
the various breeds Of poultry, writes a
correspondent in a recent number Of
that paper. 1t ought to make good
reading on account OF the great
diversity Of varieties of fowls, and
because Of the keen intel est the pub
lie is now taking in poultry raising.
l used to be a Leghorn fancier, and
| still admire the trim bodies and
business-like hustle with which the
Leghorns. gather together worms,
bugs, grit and any old thing that is
fed to them and turn this cheap raw
product into eggs. When it comes
to egg production, Leghorn has the
bunch beaten by several.
A Leghorn will lay more eggs in a
year on less feed than any other
breed. She's built for that speciality,
Just as Holstein or Jersey or Guern-
sey cow is built for milk. The Leg
horn is small and closely feathered.
She has no surplus feathers, nor sur
plus flesh. She doesn't fatten, and
it is said that it takes two to make a
meal.
But my! How she does turn her
c-,,o1 oo-,oooc+ corcocc into eoo nrO.
duction She's so stuck on her job
as the boss egg layer that her natural
instinct of maternity has become
atrophied. She's non-sitter-al-
though some S. C. Br. Leghorns I
had once set all right, and sometimes
stole away quietly and brought forth
big cluster of little quall-llke beau
ties from beyond the COW barn-away
up in the grape vineyard.
A Leghorn cock makes me thing Of
Napoleon. He was Mediterranean,
too, you know; born right out in the
middle Of it, so to speak, on a little
island named Corsica, and just on the
mainland of Italy is the nearest city
-Leghorn Napoleon was small,
compact, nervous, masterful, and he
certainly did lay some large plans
and Matched a tremendous lot Of
trouble for his neighbors. But he
met his Waterloo and died Of brok-
en- heart on another island, beaten by
beef-eating Britisher who wasn't
so quick on the trigger, but he got
there with both feet in the end.
A Leghorn rooster will scratch up
more garden-particularl " if it is your
garden and your neighbors rooster
than ten Brahmas or two Barred
Plymouth Rocks.
Now, if you please, note that happy
smile of mine-Mr. Napoleon Leg
horn and remember how the heavy
weight beat him out in the end, you
are ready to get the next thought,
which is that our little egg hustler
has met her Waterloo right now. l
settled it myself, and you can take it
from your Uncle Henry that, COM
pared with the steady old feather
beds, the Wyandottes, the Orp1ng--
tons, the Rock family and others |
can mention, but won't for fear the
editor will throw me out Of the six
teenth story window before I come
to the point Of what [ sat down to
write Gee! Where was !? Oh, yes!
Compared to the American breeds,
the Italian fowls look like thirty
cents worth Of cold storage.
Why, don't you know, dear reader,
that the closely-feathered Mediter-
ranean birds hustle and cackle in
Mediterranean weather? They lay in
summer, when eggs are worth fifteen
to twenty cents per dozen. But when
old ROreac UetS in hie fine frost work