VOL. LXII
INDIANAPOLIS, OCTOBER 19, 1907.
NO. 42
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THE   POULTRY   HOUSE.
Have Plenty of Light.
1st Premium.—Do not build too small.
Fowls will not do well if crowded, more
especially in winter, when they are compelled to stay in the house sometimes for
a week or more at a time. Then too
they should have all the sunshine they
can get, as well as plenty of fresh air.
The house should be built the long way
east and west, with the highest side to
the south. This side should be supplied
with windows the entire length of building. This will furnish sunshine and light,
as well as a means of letting in fresh
air when needed. Care should be taken
so as not to have a damp floor. I pre-
for a poultry house with a dirt floor, as
there should be fresh gravel put in at
least twice a year. A slight descent to
the south is best where it can be had. The
house should be either lathed and plastered or lined thoroughly with tarred paper,
or, better still, and not expensive, is felt
roofing. Either of these is easily kept
free from lice, which is one of the important parts in the poultry business. It is
next to impossible to keep a poultry house
ri.l of lice if there is corn fodder set
around it as it is thatched with straw,
as this makes a fine breeding place for
lice.
There is every reason why we should
provide a good warm house for our poultry. It is both humane and profitable.
Poultry is one of the best paying as well
as the least trouble of anything we can
raise, if properly cared for, but if we
allow our poultry to roost in the trees
or in a cold house and freeze their combs
and feet we need not expect any good
of them. They will be an expense in
place of profit, and we will get no eggs
when they bring the highest price.
They should be provided with a good-
sized scratching pen. This can be made
of rails or boards, and covered with fodder or straw. In mild weather they
can be allowed to go in this pen, which
should have straw or shredded fodder
strewn around, with corn or oats or both
scattered therein. This will give them
the exercise that tbey must have if we expect them to pay. When winter is
over this scratching pen should be removed and all the litter either burned or
plowed under. This will help keep the
fowls rid of lice.
The bouse should be thoroughly whitewashed every two or three months, or oftener if needed, to kill the lice and also
keep the fowls in a healthy dondition.
Lime is a splendid disinfectant There
should also be provided a box for grit,
where it can be had at- all times, for in
winter when the ground is covered with
snow they cannot get gravel and then we
must supply this demand.
G. B.
Keep tbe Fowls Dry.
2d Premium.—The site of the poultry
buildings should be well drained naturally. Dryness is a great preventive of disease in poultry, especially in the winter
time. It is even more important than
warmth. A dry hen will stand a great
deal of cold weather without much injury.
It pays to have a stone foundation, reaching down at least one foot into the ground.
Anything but a stone foundation is likely
to take up more or less moisture, which
will    freeze and    thaw, making the floor
hard and cold, or muddy. Neither condition is suitable for scratching and for
dust baths. If the hen house does not
have a stone foundation, it is a very
gcod plan to throw a lot of dirt around
the building on the outside and then fill
in with good, dry dirt on the inside, about
a foot above the surrounding surface.
All cracks between the boards should
be covered. It is very helpful in the
way of warmth to cover the inside walls
with tar paper. Special pains should
be taken to make the roosting place warm.
Combs are usually frozen during the
night.     A cheap plan is an outside shield
be protected by poultry netting, but have
windows for light and sunshine. The
roof should not leak. The floor may be
of earth, concrete or lumber, just so it is
not allowed to get filthy and remain so,
compelling the fowls to eat off of it in
that condition, and breeding disease. Keep
the   floors   clean. In   winter   weather
throw small grain in a litter of leaves,
straw, etc., and let the poultry scratch
for what they get to eat. It is better
for them, as it gives them needful exercise.
Some to their sorrow have nailed pieces
inside the poultry houses every two feet
An Avenue on State Fair Grounds
of hay and litter or corn stalks on the
north side. All leaks in the roof should
be patched up. All the broken window
glasses must be replaced by new ones, and
be sure that the windows fit up well,
leaving no cracks for the cold winds to
come through.
The following experiment, made by the
West Virginia experiment station, will
show very clearly why we should have
a warm poultry house. The experiment
was made with 24 pullets, 12 in a warm
house, and 12 in a house that was poorly
equipped for cold weather. The fowls
were fed alike in each case. The experiment started in November and continued
five months, and the following table shows
the number of eggs laid during each period of 30 days:
12 3 4 5 Total
Warm house.. 8T 130 138 120 154 629
Cold house  ..   .39 106 103 124 114   486
Besides the larger egg yield, the fowls
will be more healthy, and come out in
much better condition in the spring if
kept in a warm, snug house than in a
cold open one. A Reader.
apart, and then made the houses tight
or snug, as they thought, by stuffing straw
in behind the pieces. The straw will
get damp nnd stay that way, and the
poultry will be afflicted with roup, influenza, etc. The straw is also a fine
place for the mites to breed in, and the
poultry will be a sad sight if they are
forced to winter in such a house. Papered walls also furnish a splendid place
for mites, as they get behind the seams,
etc. Best to plaster it smooth on the
inside and whitewash all walls, but it is
very satisfactory to strip the cracks on
the outside and thoroughly whitewash
now and then. Poultry Keeper.
Beware of Mites.
3d Premium.—Build on a well drained
spot, so no water will run in or under
the poultry house and stand there. The
walls should be tight, with no Iar e
cracks for snow, rain, etc., to beat in, or
strong winds to blow in and make the
poultry uncomfortable. The poultry
house like other houses should be ventilated, but not through cracks in the walls.
I prefer the house facing the south, with
the south side mostly glass.        This may
No. 607, October 26.—Outline a plan for
conducting a literary and debating society.
No. 608, Nov. 2.—Give a list of farm
implements that can be owned jointly by
a number of farmers, aud explain how
to run the partnership.
No. 609, Nov. 9.—When and how
should oats be seeded? Give your experience.
A monument to commemorate the man
who invented and manufactured the first
side hill plow will soon be erected in Peru,
Me., according to plans recently formulated. The plow was first designed and
then cast at a little furnace on the top of
a mountain in that town 65 or 75 years
ago, by a man named Warren. The
invention proved a success, and lately one
of the inventor's sons, a wealthy resident
of Philadelphia, visitied his birthplace and
made plans for making a suitable memorial to his father.       ■,
CALENDAR FOR OCTOBER.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
October has plenty of work to do in the
g'udeu for tli'.se who wish to be successful next summer among the flowers.
Peonies should be remove! this month,
and the old roots divide!. AU perennials
that have not been removed for three or
four years, should also be divided and
reset. After the foliage of the dahlia
has been killed, the roots should be carefully taken up and placed in a dry cellar.
All of the annuals that are through blooming should be taken up.
October is an excellent month to sow
many of the hardy annuals; phlox, mignon
ette, candy-tuft, poppy, portulacca, er-
bent, and many others; they will do better than when sown in the spring.
The bulbs for spring blooming should
be set out in October; hyacinth, snowdrop, crocus, tulip, narcissus, jonquil,
iris, and frittillaria. They should be
planted in the open ground; they prefer
a rich, sandy soil. If grouped in beds,
each sort to itself, they will show to the
best advantage. If one wishes to turn
the place where they are planted to a
good account, it may be sown with the
seed of such flowers as pansies; those
will occupy the space after the bulbs are
removed in the spring, or verbenas may
be transplanted into it.
As to protection for the bulbs, the
leaves of the forest are found excellent;
the leaves of the red cedar, if plenty are
at hand, form an excellent covering; it is
best not to apply the covering too early.
■ Out of doors the reign of the roses is
over, but with a little labor that certainly is one of love, many flowers may be
made to bloom within doors, and furnish
a perpetual feast of delight for the sight
during the long hours of winter. We
all know the story of the little prison
flower  and  its  influence!
Shelbyville. Alonzo Rice.
GOOD OLD VARIETIES OF CORN.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
At the Corn Show in Chicago last week
I talked with many old corn growers over
the characteristics of some of the older
varieties of corn. I was surprised to
learn how many were growing "Bloody
Bntcher" and "Calico." These varieties
surely have a great deal of merit. They
grow on a good, strong stalk, they resist
cut-worms damage and droughts far better than some of our newer varieties.
They grow good size ears and deep
grain. Many feeders like these sorts,
claiming that the grain does not get so
hard as Learning or Reid's Yellow Dent,
and they have a rather sweet flavor which
stock like. One feeder tells me his cat-
the will leave yellow or white corn any
time and eat "Bloody Butcher," and he
has been growing it of late years nearly
altogether. The truth is, there is
much excellence in some of these old varieties, and I am glad to see so many
corn growers taking them up again. The
one serious objection that I have to these
varieties is the very deep and sharp indentation. When selecting seed ears it
might be well to guard against this by
taking the 3mooth ears.
Illinois. L.  C.  Brown.
A stock buyer tells us that he can usually buy sows with litters, in the late
fall, for about the value of the sow. That
show carelessness. These pigs ean be
raised, if properly cared for; and surely if
the sows are intended for market, they
can be sold to better advantage, if they
are not bred.