Show lime in egg shells I 1 chopo that readers of the Farr cors review who have poultry especially bens that lay many eggs will kemem ber that the grain cannot furnish the lime necessary for the maki 3 of the shells someone has said that one good thick egg shell contains more lime than a bushel of grain it Is true that the fowls get lime from some of their other foods to a small extent and possibly some of the gravel they eat contains lime but the modern hen must have lime supplied it she Is expected to lay eggs with shells cf fair thickness it 13 surprising how much lime some hens will eat I 1 found an old aban boned cellar awhile ago and from it I 1 have been bringing the old plaster tor the fowls and pounding it up it Is surprising to see the avidity with which they take hold of that kind ot food I 1 believe that pounded lime rock would be good for them as it would provide both the grit and the lime to a considerable extent when I 1 tail to give the hes he s the lime they need I 1 am soon reminded of my fault by finding soft shelled eggs in the nests and even out of doors matilda smith tippe canoe county indiana in farmers review interest in strains just now there seems to be an increasing interest in the strains rather than in the breeds ot poul try there Is great opportunity for the development ot quality n the strains of birds and this Is being recognized ten years ago if a man spent bis time in developing quality in a strain he could rot expect to have his work recognized in any way that would yield him a revenue but now the man that will improve a strain and keep it pure will find his birds in demand at a premium over other birds here ane question of honesty comes in as strains are not so easily dif ferent in appearance are breeds and it would be possible tor the breeder to palm c on customers other than the birds of the strain supposed to be sold to him when to sell ducks when to sell ducks that are being raised tor market Is a question that must be settled by every man who Is trying to make mon ey out of ducks it Is supposed that ducks are ready for market at about ten weeks of age and it Is tain that if they are sold at that time they will yield a greater profit than it kept for some months lorger during the E owing period ducks are making gain rapidly and are doing it at lit tie cost after the eighth ninta week the gain la made less slowly but the cost of feeding continues and even increases every week the birds are fed after that decreases the ty of profits some poultry raisers say sell the clucks as soon aa they are well feathered amateur poultry raisers one of the most inviting lines ot business in the world Is poul try raising there Is no business that promises so great profits as this at least in the world of agriculture but on every hand we see the remains of poultry yards that have been started by people that knew nothing about the business and have made a lamentable failure the point at which failure Is most often made la the not calculating on the amount of labor required to take care of poultry which Is very much greater than of large stock at five pounds each it will take hens to weigh as much as a 1000 pound steer or horse and the care of hens Is tar greater than the care of the one large animal danish poultry enterprise up to within 5 years the danes looked upon poultry about as the amer lean farmer looks upon it as being a small matter to which the farm owner could not look with any good hopes of large profit 1 he eggs were general v small and in the home market which was about the only market they bad commanded about price now paid for them previous to 1871 a few thousand dozen eggs were annually exported but that not draw the at of the producers generally in the year 1871 dozen were ex ported and that started a boom in ty producing of eggs in 1895 began the organization of the operative cooperative co egg producing companies and since that time the industry has continued to de celop mightily in 1902 the last year for which we have reports more than 35 dozen eggs were exported charcoal for poultry place lumps of charcoal in a hot oven until thoroughly dried out then crush it until the s are as small as wheat kernels feed this to the poultry and it will correct any trouble with the digestion which Is liable to attack fowls any time lut more espee lally in spring after the heavy winter feeding of grain with little green food prepare only what Is necessary tor use at one time as after it absorbs dampness or foul odors it Is of no benefit until dried again an experiment with Man golds in england last season an expert ment was made to determine effects of certain manures on man golds A man gold field was divided into five parts one part of which was left aa a check plot the other four plots received each pounds of super phate with and without nitrogenous manures the lot gave 1275 tons of roots per acre super phosphate alone raised this yield to 20 25 tons per acre when pounds of nitrate of soda were added the yield rose to 27 26 tons the addition of another pounds of nitrate of soda produced a yield of 34 tons while on the plot that had the phate and pounds of nitrate of soda the yield was 39 tons it was figured that each additional toa of roots cost only 73 cents a very low price in a year that was adverse to the yield of man golds ti |