VOL. LV.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., OCT. 20, 1900.
NO. 42
_lxptvUnct gjejmrtmsttt.
How Do You Handle Chickens in Fall and
Winter?
lst Premium,—It is to be inferred this topic is in the interest of the farm poultry-
raiser, rather than the professional, and
that the practical, rather than tho theoretical side, is to be preseuted. The women folk of the farm are by far the highest poultry raisers of the country and"
under very discouraging circumstances
very often. That she does so well is
much to her credit in ability and industry, and that she does not have Utter
conditions afforded her, is due largely to
the short-sighted behind-the-times views
of her men folk. The past summer has
been a fairly good one for me in the
Chicken business. For the past month
I have been selling off the surplus, getting 7 cents per pound from the travelling h'ickster, which is a fair a'-or.-ige
price. I have sold off all the young
mosters, except a few for table use ami
all my old stock of hens except a few
dozen of the very best ones. All tiie fat.
lazy, scaly-legged ami undesirable went,
while they were in good flesh and the
pii.i, f.ur. The egg season is over except with a few, easily picked out by
their song and appearance, and to go on
1 eeping the others is a poor policy. They
devour the egg-making scraps thnt the
laying hen and the promising pullet
- should get Never keep hens over winter to sell in spring. I have watched
the huckster's wagon for some half-dozen
of the finest young roosters procurable,
and good ones are now so universal one
can in this way get very good breeding
stock at small trouble and eypen-se. Wintering together they will not spend most
of their time fighting in the spring, as
strangers do. Doubtless, most of us
would like to have a better, warmer
house for our chickens than we have
now, but this is one of the^ things that is
very likely to be put off to some mon.
tonvenient season. We can at least
clean up the old one, white wash, have
fresh gravel put in, and try to induce the
men, who are now working the roads
everywhere, to bring home a few barrel-
of road dust. Put this in low, wide boxes
before a sunny window. Food itself is
not more necessary to their well-being,
i f there are window lights out, or big
cracks showing, these must be remedied
tr there will be danger of roup. As winter comes on the chickens take less and
less exercise. The bug crep is over and
t belter is preferable to the open so that
this is the time to threw the feed upon
straw in some sunny corner, where they
will get the exercise they need, ami be tho
i etter for it. Do not over-feed, on the
pica of severe winter weather, and do
not feed too much shelled corn; also be
careful to give good fresh water at least
once a day. Comfortab'e, firm roosts
should bo provided, and a few cleanly
kept nests. The house ought to he well
cleaned out every two weeks and fresh
straw put in, but you'll be apt to have
some trouble getting your men folk to
think so. But insist, even to the point
of giving fhtm no peace, save a piece of
your mind. Trated thus, you will, if
the winter be not a very severe one, get
a fair return of eggs, enough for the family use, ond enough more to pay for the
rood consumed. I have tried to make a
specialty of raising eggs for the winter
market, but find it does not pay when
everything is considered. The constant
work is a big item.     To carry your flock
of two dozen old and four dozen young
through the winter in good condition and
have them healthy and strong for their
work from March onwards, is, I find
more profitable than trying to force them
to winter productiveness.
Montgomery Co. C. E. P.
2d Premium.—There is no time in the
year that the hens require better care
tii an in the fall months. The long continued labor through the spring and summer months have run the vitality of the
egg-producing hen very low. In the
first place, it would be a good idea to
cull the flock and get rid of the diseased
ones The laying hens should be separated from the stunted, undersized pnllets. Sell the culls along with the hens
that have passed their second year. It
would be better to have a smaller number of hens and have them healthy, than
to have a large flock and have them composed of all kinds. The hens and pullets
for layers should be fed bran mash at
least once a day. They should not be
ted whole corn until cold weather. Now
is the time to get the flock in proper
shape to reap a good harvest when egg?
ere the highest, and there should be a
good supply of various foods on the farm
at this time of the year. There are
screenings from the thrasher, small potatoes from the field, which cooked and
mixed with wheat bran, make an excellent feed. Sunflower and millet seed areas good as anything for the molting hen.
The scrapes from the table are relished
by the flock. Cooked cabbage and garden vegetables are excellent food in winter. They also must have animal food,
and bones broken up so fine that they
ctn easily be swallowed. Very little
meat, however, is necessary, for if too
much is fed, the fowls may loose their
feathers. The poultry houses, however
simple, should be both warm in winter
and well lighted. The side containing
the glass should face the south for the
advantage of the sun's warmth. The
windows should also be provided with
iron netting, so the sash may be raised
to admit air in summer, and also in
mild weather in winter. Have the perches
not more than two feet from the floor
in the roosting place, and all on one level.
Let them be large—a 2x4 scantling—well
rounded and set on edge, is not too larg;
for heavy birds. The whole house should
be white washed once a month in summer
and kept scrupulously clean at all times.
One portion of the house should be half
dark, for the laying and setting hens, and
a proper dustb'ath must also be provided
The poultry should have a good supply oi
iresh water, placed in a cool place ar.el
where it will be accessible to them at all
times. It would be a good idea to keer
old pieces of iron or nails in the water
troughs at all times to keep away cholera.
Buttermilk and skimmilk make an exeellent drink, while the cheese made from
clabber is not only wholesome Ant nonet1
relished food. There should always be
gravel kept in some place where the poultry can get at it at any time. Corn at
1 ight in winter time is especially valuable
fjr the increased heat or warmth it gives
them dnring the cold months, while the
other grains are better in summer for
general feeding sometimes mixed, at
other times a feed of one, then the other.
Marshall Co. T.  H.
3el Premium.—It has been our experience that hens require better care during
the fall months than any other season of
(he year. The intense heat of the summer months, together with moulting has
very mnch reduced their vitality, and in
the fall disease is very liable to'take hold
if there are not given good food and attention. In the first place the chicken
house and yards should be kept clean.
The house should be free from drafts and
have a. tight' wooden floor which should
be swept at least once a week. To pre-
\i-nt lice, we keep wood ashes in the
rests nnd scattered over the floor. The
yards should be dug up or plowed early
every fall so as to bury all germs and
give a fresh surface. Provide fresh, clean
water. Where fowls drink filthy water
they are very liable to become diseased
A little sulphur mixed in their food is a
good tonic to give during shedding time
For indigestion, oak bark tea in the
drinking water is the best remedy wj
have ever tried. la the fall the flock
should be. culled. All the dwarf, weakly
l.ens and unpromising pullets shoulel be
put in the fattening coop. If fed corn
meal mush they should be ready to market after two weeks feeding. Tie sn>-
lilus cockerels should be disposed' of earlier in the season. All the old hens
should be fatened and sold in the fall
Small laying breeds like the Leghorns are
profitable until three years old, but large
breeds should be dispensed with when 2
: ears old. To the hens and pullets for
layers we feed whole wheat in morning
and mash made of wheat bran, cut Cleveland cooked scraps of meat, such as accumulate in every farmer's meat house.
At night, we give a Jight feed of corn-
in very cold weather, we heat the corn,
and add an extra ration of corn each
morning, as warm corn is very heating.
But chickens should never be allowed to
run to corn, as they will eat so much as
to cause indigestion. Plenty of jrii
should be supplied. Have a pile of gravel
in the poultry yard, and if intending
feeding whole oats, provide also some
sharp grit like crushed oyster shells, crystal mica, or something similar. At butch
ering time, the waste offal should be
cooked and fed to the hens. It will
many times repay in eggs for the trouble
when prices are high. Milk is excellent
lor chickens. Sweet milk is best, but
fresh buttermilk is very good. Use it in
mixing the morning mash. Managed
this way, a vigorous healthy flock of
chickens will yield a good profit. In
places where natural gas is used for fuel
it might pay to heat the house during
cold weather, but where the fuel is wood
or coal, we doubt if it would be profitable.
Washington Co. W. W.
REMARKS.
We received several excellent articles
on this week's subject which will appear
in later numbers of the Farmer. Lack
of space prevents the publication- of more
than three this week.
Premiums of ?1, 75 cents and 50 cents
are given for the first, second and third
best articles for the Experience Department each week. Manuscript should be
seut direct to the Indiana Farmer Company and should reach us one week before the date of publication.
Topics for discussion in future numbers
of the Farmer are as follows:
No. 242, Oct. 27th—What changes
would you advise iu the fish and game
tows of Indiana?
No. 243, Nov. 3.—How keep the boy on
the farm?
No. 244. Nov. 10.—Give your method
of butchering and putting up pork, and
show how you make the most of everything.
No. 245, Nov. 17.—What is the best
way to rent a farm so as to be satisfactory to both tenant and own-er, and at the
same time keep up the full fertility of
the soil?
No. 240, Nov. 24.—How will you spend
Thanksgiving day? Tell all about the
family reunions and the good cheer on
the national holiday.
(general plexus.
There is a mountain in California *hat spouts
red mud.
Many Chinese use their hollow idols as savings banls.
The output of gold  from  Alaska  placer claims
continues to increase-
Paris   has   60   wholesale   firms   whieh   deal   lu
mushrooms exclusively.
This year's tax assessment in Arkansas shows
an  increase of over $10,000,000.
Tho railways In this countrv support about
4.000,000  people   with   their   families.
Jap:in imports about 300,000 bales of American
cotton aud 000,000 vt Indian cotton a year.
A woman ln Easton, Pa., was recently fined
$50.25 for uttering 70 oath3, or 67 cents for each
oath.
More than 300 lions have boen brought up in
t he Dublin zoological garden and sold for over
?25,000.
At a street fair in Wichita this fall one of the
chief features will be an arch 40 feet high constructed  entirely of  apples.
Quail are destroying the crops of the Colorado
farmers, and have been declared a nuisance by
various town and county boards.
In consequence of the Increasing cost of Holland oysters, American oysters are coming more
and more into vogue in Germany.
The largest body of water In the yvorld having
no outlet in the ocean Is tbe Caspian sea, It being 180,000 square miles  in extent.
The bootblacks of Boston have been forbidden
by the pilice authorities to do any "shining" on
Sundays in the public streets of the city.
A Vermont lawye:* sent to a client a bill containing the following item: "For waking up in
the night to think o*er your eaye, BO cents."
Goldbeaters by hammering can produce gold
haves so thin that 282.000 must be laid upon
each other to produce the thickness pf an inch.
A hotel keeper in Germany, who pays his waiters $6 a mouth declares that be would have to
give them $75 a month were he to give them
what they receive In fees, too.
The largest grape-grow ing region in the world
Is not the champagne district of France, nor in
tbe sunny valley of Southern California for Western New York owns the title by virtue uf 50,00
acres now given over to grape culture.
In the New York Central sen ice 20 y.-ars ago
the aggregate prop>rtion of men discharged for
drunkenness was 20 per cent, but now wlthj
£0,000 men In the employ of the company, less
than 1 per cent Is dropped from the rolls for that
ea use.
In Itally The persons arrested as anarchists,
after assassination of the King numbered nearly 2,200. In addition to these scores of persons
were thrown into prison for speaking in apology
of Bresci's deed. Arrests for this tffense continue to be made daily all over Italy.
A cube of red sandstone, two feet square, suitably inscribed, lias been erected in the old cemetery at Deerfield, Mass. It will mark for the
tirst time in an appropriate way the grave where
• b men. women and children were burled after
the massacre In 1704 by the French and Indians.
Minature Bibles are worn as watch charms in
Russia. They are each cne Inch long, three-
fourths of an Inch wide and three-elght9 of an
inch thick, and contain the first five books of
the old Testament. The text is in Hebrew, and
can be read with the aid of a magnifying glass.
The pine Industry of CaeUlluc, Mich., once so
vastly important in that vicinity, ha3 disappeared entirely, the last pine tree In Wexford county
having just been cut d;>wn at a camp northwest
of th city named. Thi* one tree was left standing for several day3 in order that photographs of
it   might be  taken.
Mexico is one of the most beautiful cities in
tlie world. Its broad, open plaza, adorned by
fine trees and lovely flowers, is the fashionable
resort in the evenings, when the military bands
play and the elite indulge In a prememade
mound the plaza. The floating gardens on the
lake are world renowned.
Kaffir beer is made from Indian corn which Is
work?d into a pulp with wooden stampers, sufficient sugar and water is ndd>J and the climate
dees the rest. Wh-m the beer is ready every hut
will receive its share, and a certain quantity will
be put aside for th«» "beer drink," a sorry but
glgan'ic kind of a feast.
In the face of the clock of the parish church
of St. Matthew, Bethnal Green, London, are two
small holes, which from the pavement do not
appeal' large enough to admit even a tiny bird.
Yet these apertures have been chosen by sparrows as resting places, and the birds ean be frequently seen flying to and from their strange
abode. The operations of the sparrows do not
appear to have- affected the time-keeping accuracy of the clock.
On the brow of the lofty p?ok of the Sierra
Nevada mountains i3 a signal station in which,
day after day. a woman sits with field glass in
hand. She Is watching for f.res that might
brink out tn the snowsbeds that skirt the railroad through the rocky wilds. By day Mrs.
Paul Relcke Is on guard, and at night her bus-
band watches. Should a small flame pass unnoted for an hour the whole train of sheds might
be consumed and the ttack endangered.