The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1916-09-15

May. Make up your mind that you
are going to have these things, and
don't try to blame it all on the
country If you fail, for when a
family here and there all over the
valley can raise abundance Of good
garden truck, everybody else cal do
the same if they will but learn how.
If you would succeed, get the ground
ready this fall, and as early in the
fall as you can.
Chickens i'm Debt to You
Most of the farmers are bothered
a great deal with the chickens rum
ming at large in the yard and garden.
We have seen homes where the
housekeeper could never keep her
house neat and clean just because
chickens were forever missing up
the porch. We have seen homes
where garden, flowers, cleanliness
and comfort were all sacrificed be-
cause of a few dozen chickens; as if
the chickens were of more import
ance than the family. If the family
live for the chickens, then why not
give them the house and let the
family live in the coops. We have
seen a flock of chickens over-run the
door yard, the barn yard and the
garden patch and permit of little
satisfaction anywhere just because
they we're chickens. 1t was the plan
of the farm that the chickens should
CAD about and rustic their living. and
in order to have them do this they
were given the preference and the
liberty of the whole place, including
the kitchen and the pig pens. They
jump into the horses feed boxes and
bother the horses and muss up their
grain. They get in the way of the
hungry swine and get eaten; they
ruin the garden and walk out into
the sugar beets and eat off whole
rows of the tender plants while they
are just coming up. The chickens
are so starved that they will eat
anything that is eatable, whether it
is suitable for food or not. Who
wants to eat chickens that depend
upon getting most of their food from
the refuse from the bodies or horses
and cattle! And who wants to eat
eggs that are made from that kind
of food! Who would expect a fried
chicken to be really delicious II it
had led a precarious existence,
hungry all the time, and grabbing
UP such food as they can get by fol-
lowing the animals about! The
chickens that are raised on grains
and grasses and fresh clean meats
are the ones that anybody would
choose if they could get them. The
chickens that have had leisure and
happy lives and have lived fat are
the best eating. The animal OF any
kind that starves and suffers does
not make delicious food when
slaughtered. We have seen many
farms where they had a flock of
chickens that were not worth more
than $50. and they have eaten from
$25 to $50 worth of sugar beets in
the field while the beets were only
an inch or two in height. If a $50
flock of chickens damage the beet
crop $40 or $50 worth in the month
of May, when and how is the farmer
going to get even on the fowls when
they are eating and destroying some
thing all spring and summer! Would
he not have been better of II he
had chopped their heads off when
he started to plant seeds in the.
spring, even tho he did not get any
thing for them! We have observed
that some people keep a few chickens
around and regard them in the light
of a necessary evil. If they have
no garden truck they blame it to
the chickens and accept the situation
as final and necessary. II they can
raise no flowers on account of the
chickens they accept the situation as
necessary. If they cannot have any
thing neat and nice about the place
on account of the chickens they settle
down and become the slaves OF the
chickens. They do not seem to ques-
ton whether the chickens are OF any
account to them: whether or not the
chickens lay enough eggs to onset
the dana e they do and to pay for
the feed actually given them, They
do not seem to consider how much
would cost to buy as many eggs
they actually get from the flock.
The mere thought of buying eggs
seems to shock them, tho 1t does not
shock them to buy canned goods to
take the place of the garden truck
ell summer. They have become &C
customed to that and they do it as
it we're necessary. 1t might be
better to go out of the chicken bust
ness entirely and get busy growing
abundance of garden truck. 1t might
he that it would be pleasanter and
far more profitable. 1t should net
be any more of a shock to the family
to buy eggs with money received
from the sale of garden truck than
to buy canned peas and fruits with
money received from the sale of
eggs. It is a fair question to con-
slider which can be done the most
successfully. We have seen a flock
of geese going about a farm keeping
everything grubbed as bare as a
sheep pasture, and the geese yield
scanty income compared with what
they destroy. They are always busy
or grubbing OF cutting things
off just for the joy Of doing it. When
q goose gets all she can eat she goes
on cutting things off and dropping
the bits around. The owner Of the
geese may condemn sheep, but the