Middletown transcript., 1908-10-31
FARM NEWS AND VIEWS


milking machine is advisable al well as
il profitable where the dairy contains as
le many as twenty-five COWS. The cost of
d such an outfit is about $3.50.
h The best way to treat plants that are
ls frostbitten is not to sprinkle them with
g cold water, as might seem natural,
e but to put them in cool place where the
frost will come out gradually. The water
: process makes this altogether too rapid.
, Poutrymen estimate that it costs one
, cent apiece to produce an egg. The esti.
i mate is based on the fact that the hen
lays l2O eggs in the year. In other words
where the fowls are confined to runs, and
feed must be purchased,i it cost 10 cents per
month, Or $1.20 per year, to maintain a
hen. If the hen is an Indifferent layer,
and gives but sixty eggs in year, her
eggs cost the poultryman two cents each.
1t is argued by some farmers that their
hens cost them practically nothing as
they have free range and can gather all
the food they need. There is some truth
in that, and there also is truth in the
fact that farmers focks seldom yield a
proft--at least compared with stock in
the hands of regular poultryman. There
are almost as many eggs lost on the av.
erage farm as are gathered. Hens hide
their nests, and what eggs are not stolen
by animals are subsequently found by
the farmer, generally after having become
stale or bad.
1t is mistake to allow laying stock
the freedom of the farm. Large runs and
comfortable houses and proper egg.pro-
ducing food, would soon be a revelation
to the farmer
An experiment conducted by the Cor
| nell Exeriment Station in 1902, showed
that the average cost of feed per dozen
eggs was 90 cents, or about three quarters
of a cent per egg. The cost per hen for the
was 800 cents. AT that time wheat was year
sold at.$l.45 per 100 pounds, while at
present it is 81; bran brought $1.15 per
100 pounds, and now is ST. 30; bran sold
at $l.55; bran sold at 81. .35 per 100 pounds,
and now is $l.80;and meat scraps cost 81
Is per 100 pounds, and now we pay
S2.4O. So at the present increased price
of feed the cost of feeding the hen is easily
twenty cents per year more than it was
in 1902.
To make poultry profitable on the farm
it is necessary to breed for better laying.
This is done by installing trap nests in
the hen houses, and each year picking
out the best layers and breeding only
such. The farmer must grade up his
stock; he must get rid of the mongrel
birds; he must drive out the drones, and -
encourage the workers. The farm must
produce better poultry and more of it.
There are advantages on thS farm for
poultry raising that the poultryman does
not have, and il the latter in many ways
Handicapped, can make poultry keeping a
successful business, the farmer should at
least make the work valuable adjunct
to bis income. Properly managed poul-
try can be made the most profitable crop
Ou GApGuSG duu
labor considered.
A successful Iowa hog raiser says be puts
a pail of coal ashes, a couple handfuls of
salt, and little air Stacked lime, all we'll
stirred together, in trough where the
hogs can help themselves. 1t helps to
make good bone in the growing pigs,
keeps the stomach sweet and prevents
scours.
The Nebraska Experiment Station has
demonstrated the fact that cow reaches
her highest production of butter fat before
she does her greatest flow of milk.
Milk should be gotten into its place of
permanence as soon as possible after being
drawn, as it gathers bacteria and odors
rapidly wherever it is, and should be pro-
ected as soon as possible.
Some of the swiftest mixers are the
worst to dry up COWS. One needs to be
rapid, and yet so gentle, so thorough, so
that the COW will regard
the process as a relief and luxury and
will increase in milk rather than dimin-
ish.
1t is claimed that goat milk gives con-
stitution to the child which cannot be OBJ
tanned from cows milk, and also that
both the milk and the meat are absolutely
free from any tubercular contamination.
- Poultry feeding experiments at the
Experiment Station includ-
ing rice, a feed which has very little fibre,
with wheat or oats. 1t results
in larger production of eggs, but was
not advised for feeding purposes ON &C.
count of the cost. However, it is often
possible to buy slightly damaged rice at
less even than the cost of corn and wheat,
and in such cases it is desirable food for
variety for either the laying hens or young
stock.
1t is wise to SOW potash in apple or
,hards as it is one of the most important
elements of plant food. If they can be
eeured in the unleached form wood
'shes are excellent. In buying potash,
,ot it in the muriate from, and apply
rom 200 to 800 pounds to the acres, sown
broadcast under the trees. 1t would be
lificult to get on too much wood ashes.
A recent writer explains the peculiar
Ittitude and Kissing of the goose some
hing as follows: When you enter a yard
where geese are they will stretch out their
lecks and hiss like serpent. They will
10 the same when sitting upon their nests.
This authority says that in the Far East
ong ago, geese nested in the tall grass,
md in some way unknown discovered
hat no sound would drive away the in
ruder as quickly as the kissing of the
make, the bite OF which is poisonous and
meant death. Therefore when the in
ruder approaches near the nest, the
reese would stretch out their necks max