DAIRY AND POULTRY. ;S;. '*• INTERESTING CHAPTERS FOR OUR RURAL READERS.) ■ ' i ) r’ 'v f r ‘ •/ hv How Snrcsmfal Farmer* Operate Till* Department of the IIoine*tca«l —Hint* *a to the Care of Live Block and Poultry. Keeping Up the Dairy. Every farmer needs to keep his dairy Up to the required number, us It la usually necessary each year to dispose of a certain number of cows, according to the size of the herd, from those that are getting to be old or that may fail from some other causo to be protltable to retain, writes E. R. Fowler In Texas Stock Journal. This must either be done by raising heifers on the farm or by purchasing the cows. In a comparatively few instances perhaps the latter method might be preferable, provided tho right kind of cows could be obtained at reasonable prices, but tho majority of farmers must or should depend on raising their own dairy stock. This should bo done more cheaply than tho cows can bo purchased, especially at the present time, and there aro other advantages that should be taken Into considera tion. These aro tho raising of tho heifers In a proper manner and their adaptation to the farm, which could not come from frequent changes of ownership. Tho first step In this business Is to get the kind of heifer calves needed for the dairy. They should bo selected as far as possible with particular refer ence to the kind of work that Is to be required of them, either as milk pro ducers or butter makers. If they can not bo obtained from the herd then It will pay to look around among those having good dairies for Bitch as are wanted. Next provide comfortable quarters for these little animals, where they can be kept warm and dry. Par ticularly Is this necessary In winter and Bpring whon the weather Is shift ing and unfavorable, and a large pro portion of the calves raised are started at this time of year. Now how shall they be fed? ‘ It is now dostrablo to have heifers commence giving milk at two years of ago. To do tills they must bo well cared for from tho first. They must be kept In vigorous health and steadily growing. Their food should be such as will foster the growth of muscle and bone, rather than of fat. Within the past quarter of a century, by a proper method of treatment, heifers are as good at two years old as they used to be at three. Milk Is the natural food for the young calf and this should fee supplied In sufficient quantities, neither too large nor too small. with the Jersey calf It Is particular* ly necessary not to over-feed for the first few woeks, otherwise bad results will follow. After a little, skim milk may be gradually substituted for that fresh from the cow. In cold weather this can be had sweet, and If the Swed ish or cold deep setting system of cream raising is practiced, and can be had sweet during the warmest season of the year, especially If practiced In a portable creamery. To make up for the fat of the mlllc removed in the cream It Is well to make a little gruel of porridge from middlings of oil meal and add to the milk a tablespoonful of the meal for each calf at a feed is suffi cient at first. A very important matter in the feed ing of skim milk Is to have it sufficient ly warmed. Hero is an advantage claimed for farm separators, in that the milk can be fed almost before the animal heat is gone. But I can see no difficulty where the cream Is obtained by cold deep setting, as it can be easily warmed to any desired temperature. We are raising a December calf on milk from cold deep setting with the addition of middlings as described above, and it is doing nicely, there be ing no trouble from the scours. A young farmer in Windsor county, Vermont, is making a business of rais ing veals on skim milk from cold deep setting alone, no grain feed being add ed. To most farmers this would seem impossible, but there is no doubt in the matter. He first heats the milk hot, then feeds three times a day, giving four to five quarts at a time. The calves are not allowed to drink the milk, but take it from Small's calf feeder or some thing similar. In this way the milk has to be taken much more slowly than when drank, and he attributes some of his success to this method of feeding, as he has never had a case of scours. He feeds from four to five weeks old and then sells for four to five dollars a head, having a good market. If the farmer has milk it is well to feed until the calves are several months old. Some do this, keeping them in thef barn during this time, considering it is better than turning them out to grass. They will soon learn to eat hay and then should be supplied with that which is early- cut and of best quality. After getting to be a few months old they will eat grain of some kinds dry, as middlings, bran, ground oats, etc. Thus having the farmer's direct at tention these young animals should be kept constantly growing and thrifty and vigorous in health, and this should be kept up right along summer and winter, with the object always in view of making a first-class cow from the heifer, a work of which the owner may well be proud. But in this work of improving the dairy farmer should not neglect the getting of the best bulls possible for the use of his herd. Often these can be obtained quite as cheaply as young calves, and can be safely shipped by express to most any part of the coun try. In this way the cost need not be very great and then the farmer can grow up the animals as he shall con sider to be best in his particular case. K Pheasants. (Translated for the Farmers' Review }£ £ . from the French of Ad. Benion.) . , > The pheasant is a beautiful bird that has been greatly In repute for a num ber of centuries. The plumage is bright and the flesh extremely deli cate. There are three principal varie ties known: The common pheasant, the silver pheasant and the gilded g| - ■ pheasant. There are seven other va rietles less extensively known: The ;-V ash-colored pheasant, the variegated pheasant, the ringed pheasant, the i .-' Mongolian pheasant, the green pheas *'s" hat, the copper-colored pheasant and the sparkling pheasant I The pheasant loves his liberty and Is ' not yet enough domesticated to live In the poultry yard among .the other fowls. It Is absolutely necessary, there fore, to keep them In a small yard cov ered liy nets or else In an aviary. They are very sensitive to wind, to the frost and to the rnln, and on this account the breeding places of these birds should be exposed to the east, but sheltered on the north and west sides. The quarters must be spadouB, covered with turf, dry and divided In to ns many compartments as there nre varieties of pheasants, and provided with nests which should bo partly con cealed by matted straw, for the pur pose of procuring the tranquility of the . layers. 1 The laying of the pheasants is effect | ed easily enough, but the same la not ' true of tho Incubation. It Is advisable i to confide this task to hens, which ac quit themselves Infinitely better of this task, and which tame to a certain ex tent the little pheasants, always some what wild. The female pheasant lays from twenty to twonty-flve eggs. The time of Incubation Is twenty-three to twenty-seven days. Generally not more than seven pheasants will be raised out of the entire number of eggs laid at one clutch. It Is necessary, at the time of the laying, to redoublo the vigilance In re gard to tho pheasants, to attract them Into places prepared to receive their eggs, removing also tho newly laid eggs ! for fear of their being broken by the 1 fomnlo. The eggs are placed under I small hens sitting In separato apart ments furnished with hay fine and dry. Tho other cares concern the raising of I tho young birds, which Is about the | same as that of chickens. The newly hatched lloclt should bo placed in a special box, whore they may be loft to tho care of the brooding ben that has hatched them. Having | shut up the young ones with their i adopted mother, they should bo fed with ant eggs, millet, hard-boiled eggs minced with pieces of bread and let tuce. Some pheasant raisers affirm that they obtain very good results with a paste made of cooked beef, pieces of bread, hard-boiled eggs and chlckory, all minced very fine and carefully mixed. Other raisers employ boiled rice, chervil, chicory, pieces of bread, hard-boiled eggs, crushed hemp seed and corn meal, and say that they find It very good. When the young ones have reached the ago of fifteen days they can he al lowed the run of the poultry yard and be fed on hemp seed and wheat. At two months and a half of age the tail dovelops, and they reach a critical point la their lives where those not carefully tended die. Those that pass that point safely become soon fully The Chinch Bur. The chinch bug is the subject, of an Interesting pamphlet about to be is sued by the state. The pamphlet is part of the report of Prof. S. A. Forbes, slate entomologist, covering the work of his department for 1893-94. This advance section of the full report treats exclusively of the chinch bug and how to kill him by direct bodily attack and by the ^ovel method of giving him a fatal and contagious disease and allow ing him to die a slow and painful death. There has been another "wave” of ihincli bugs in Illinois the past season, and in the southern part of the state they destroyed much corn. Every few years there is an uprising of the chinch bug, in numbers sufficient to destroy the crops, and be will then disappear for a few seasons. Ills disappearance is duo not so much to the attack of humanity as to a contagious disease— a sort of insect leprosy—which fill but exterminates him. The study of this contagious disease has been part of Prof. Forbes’ work, and he is now able to grow the fungus which will inocu late the hug with the disease. The chinch bug first began business in North Carolina about the time of the revolutionary war. He moved north and reached southern Illinois in 1824. He has been a periodically active resi dent ever since. In size he is one twelfth of an inch long, and slim bod ied in proportion to his length. He ha3 six legs and two pairs of wings. He Is armed very like a mosquito—with a hard, 'jointed, combination drill and suction pump,.which he drives Into a blade of wheat or a stalk of corn and pumps out the juice. Outlook for tin* Next Hog Crop. There are several contingencies in volved in the question of the next hog crop, say3 an exchange. Among them is whether we are to have open mar kets abroad and restored industry and normal consumption at home. One of our agricultural exchanges discusses the matter from a domestic standpoint as follows: "What the year may bring forth is contingent greatly upon the spring season, when the young things appear on the farm. If it is a cold, damp and backward spring, it means a light pig crop. Wo have had but one large crop of pigs, and that followed by a season of great scarcity of foods. High priced foods and diseases have caused heavy marketing from all sources, and unless we have an unprecedentedly largo pig crop this spring, there will be a marked shortage of the stock which is to go into market next fall and winter. Should there be a big corn crop, and short pig crop, there is cer tain to be a great demand for Stockers to move the corn. Hence, In any light LADY AMHERST’S PHEASANTS. developed, and If properly cared for, provided with fresh -water and good grain, are no longer In danger. In their wild state pheasants eat grain of all kinds, juniper ber ries, grains of broom corn, In sects, forms, snails, and ants. Their nourishment in the parks consists of buckwheat, millet, barley, rye and other small grain. He nip seed warms up the female pheasants and predis poses them to laying, but It is not necessary to abuse the use of this grain, and It is advisable often to tem per its effects by the feeding of green stuff, notably chicory, dandelions, cab bage. clover, groundsel, mlnette and so forth. Toward the end of June the hemp seed should be entirely discon tinued. n»rtnim< ,Sii Ushedby the rassentter I;tCr«„ylli<'r“ * Central Railniad. entitled »» „,.»»■ Marker * CJulde excellent letters from ^*?rth5, “ n* v*lu»!f L the Smith and other authentic a t1 .w>*. SonTForaTREE COI’V. addirt Manchester, Iowa, J. *Mb,v * M I VnlikctUVrSn'?**1 HHMt WALTER BAKER S CO. MV.IS CRU| “"■ ■i IAVIS CREAM ’J!"'X.l5»«r*1 ssSo&,r wliiif m.=hl■>«!-. »aai^ ****£■ fir laiiad rr**-.HKIN ^V'fot.Vanufioturtrt.«"