The Green Forest tribune., 1913-03-21
BACK YARD FARMER
Interesting Pointers on Garden ing for the City Man or
 Suburbanite.
WHAT TO PLANT AND WHEN
Advice by an Expert on Agricultural Matters-chicken and Winter Layins-Raising Small Fruit
 Garden Information.
By PROF. JOHN WILLARD BoL7

Sy FhOT' oSTlN WIELAhD 6OL E.
 If you want eggs next winter, you must get some of this years chickens matched mighty soon. This Is the most important consideration in get ting winter eggs. Get the bullets matched early, keep them growing as fast as is safe, get them into their winter quarters before snow flies next fall. and you will have no trouble get ting the eggs from your flock while most of your neighbors are paying five cents apiece for theirs.
 Of course there are number of Joth- CT things that are of prime importance in securing satisfactory number of eggs during the off season, but the one great essential feature is early matching. With some breeds of chick early for the first hatches, and Ply mouth Rocks matched then will often begin to lay early in August, and will lay right through the winter without skipping. The smaller breeds can come along in March and early in April. but bullets matched later than this will frequently fail to mature be- fore cold weather sets in, and will often be delayed several months in starting to lay.
 The bullet that lays her first few eggs before frost stands an excellent chance of, keeping 1t up right through the winter. The bullet that does not lay before frost Is frequently discour- aged from exercising her acquired function until the advent of the nat ural laying season, and that is when we need her eggs least of all.
 Old hens do not, as rule, begin to lay until toward the end of the win ter. They mott late in the fall and are not in full feather before cold weather comes on. Getting, as they necessarily do, long rest, their eggs are usually larger, heavier shelled, those of bullets that have been laying during the cold weather. For this req son 1t is much preferable to set eggs from mature hens for matching pur- poses.
 When you are saving eggs for hatch possible after they are laid, so as to avoid the possibility of the germ get ting chilled. Eggs will freeze in re- markedly short time in the nest. Nev CT attempt to set eggs that have been chilled.
 ~{r tha fv,fn n oY even temperature above the freezing point, place them in a receptacle with the small end downward, and cover them up to prevent evaporation. Set them as soon as possible after laying. as 1t has been proven time and again that every day which passes lessens the chances of an egg to hatch strong lively chick.
 Unless you are going to set at least hundred eggs this spring an incuba- tor will not pay you, except in the fact that 1t will enable you to hatch your chickens whenever you desire to do so. instead of waiting for hens to feel inclined to set. For the average city poultry keeper an incubator is an extravaganza. The small flock will not lay eggs fast enough to fill up the smallest incubator, and 1t will be bet ter either to depend on hens for your matching under such conditions, or to buy day-old chicks from some of the large hatcheries in your vicinity. The setting. hen Is great nuisance in ev- cry way, and she Is persistent time killer, wasting not only her own time, but that of her owner, but man has never yet been able to develop breeding device that would take her place in the small flock. For this req son, even if you do buy your little chicks, it will be we'll to have hen about ready to come off when you get these chicks, slip them under her the night they arrive. and she will raise them as If they were her own-