The Covington leader. (Covington, Tenn.) 18??-current, 1917-08-16
WEST TENNESSEE
FARM NEWS

No money is made by keeping lot
Of young cOckerels and feeding high
priced feed to them after they reach
marketable age.
The preferable weight at which to
dispose of them is when weighing
two to two and one-haf pounds each.
ANY stunted or poorly developed pull
lets should be marketed at the same
time as well as hens over two years
old. Get the flock into working shape.
Keep every hen and pullet Of any
promise, and only three of four Of the
best cockerels for next season. S
breeding.
Then, with proper housing, feeding
and management, the poultry will be-
come highly profitable.
Hens Do Not Control Egg Production.
"Last week / was asked" says R.
N. Crane, specialist in poultry hus-
| bandry, division of extension, Uni
versity of Tennessee, 81 was asked
how it was that a hen could stop lay
ing in so short a time as two days.
The questioner stated that two weeks
ago he had shut up sixty hens in a
house because they were eating off
his tender soy beans just up.
These hens did not stop laying to
spite this farmer, but when he smut
them up he cut off two essentials that
| his hens had obtained on free range
unknown to him-green feed and ami
NAL protein. They secured these es-
sentials in tender growing plants and
earth worms, grasshoppers and grubs.
Had he supplied these essentials in
waste vegetables and beef scraps,
with the corn and water he fed, the
hens would have kept on laying, and,
in all probability, their production
would have been normal.
Don't Market Under-Fat Stuff
An observation of happenings
throughout several parts of Tonnes
see indicates that many cattle are
now going to slaughter which should
be kept on grass until frost. These
habitat cattle are being shipped in
order that their owners may secure
the high prices now prevailing, under
the assumption that the present is
safe and the future uncertain. If this
movement continues during the re-
mainder of the summer, there cannot
be many feeder forthe fall trade
nor any fat cattle any time.
The outlook is good for large corn
crop and the fall pasture is promising,
all of which makes one wonder how
all this feed will be utilized if so many
cattle have already gone to the butch
er market.
No one knows what the future holds,
but it does not seem good policy to
hasten the marketing of under-fat
stuff, when the supply of feed is so
promising.
| Our supply of beef producing cat
tie is undoubtedly short and careful
conservation is necessary in these
war times.
Use Heavy Plump Seed.
| Buying seed every few years usually
grown in a different climate and
different soil is not wise. The run
ming out" of a variety of grain is
due to carelessness in selecting seed
grain and to poor tillage and not to
natural deterioration in the variety.
Select the best field of grain on the
farm for seed and use the tanning
mill to separate the best kernels. The
heavy, plump kernels are in most
cases produced by the strongest plants,
and these kernels will in turn pro-
duce stronger and better nourished
| plants than the light shrunken kerr
nels. Experiments with heavy and
light seed oats at the Minnesota ex-
pertinent station gave an increase of
IL per cent in favor of the heavy
seed. At the Nebraska station
experiments with winter wheat re-
suited in an average of 4.6 bushels in
favor of the heavy seed.
Eat Vegetables.
Dried vegetables and fruits are just
as wholesome as fresh ones and will
taste very similar if care is taken to
Thoroughly soak them before cooking,
and if they are cooked in the fireless
cooker or slowly over the fire.
The water, which is evaporated, will
be replaced and the woody fbers
softened.
Cereals, such as oats, rice, barley
and wheat, can be placed very prop
erly with starcy vegetables, as they
contain a large amount of starch.
Beans and peas are composed Of pro-
TEN or muscle-building food, and also
contain some starch, a heat and fat
producing food. AS beans and peas
contain muscle-b building food, they are
used occasionally instead of meat. 1t
is not wise to leave out meat entirely
from meals, as the muscle-forming
part of meat is more easily taken up
by the body than that Of peas and
beans.
Vegetables may be eaten raw or
cooked. When eaten raw they should
be washed thoroughly and allowed to
stand in little sailed vinegar water
i Il tablespoon vinegar, / tablespoon
salt to part of water) for at least
half an hour. If they have wilted,
this operation will freshen them and
will help to kill typhoid germs. IF
there are any little bugs in vege-
tables, such as cabbage or caulihower,
this treatment will cause the bugs to
come out into the water.
No money is made by keeping a
lot of young cockerels and feeding
hiph-pTiced feed to them after they