Kansas Farmer from Topeka, Kansas • Page 3

18S9. 3 In the Datqj. fta outejj fjord. very small in proportion to the body, short tind fine in its lines, and surmounted by what is known as a pes comb, which may be briefly described as a triple comb, the three small ridges running side by side, with the center one rather higher than the other two, and not more than half an inch in height. The neck, in the cock especially, is very full in the hackle, and has a fine arched appearance, so that the head is forward.

just in advance of the breast. If the head is thrown back the bird has an unshapely appearance, and the real outline of the Brahma, so far as the neck and head are concerned, partakes much of that of a spirited horse. The length of neck depends partly upon the general contour of the fowl, and If the bird is big all over and full in feather, the length of neck does not matter but a long neck on a small bird gives a modi-fled giraffe lock, which is by no means what it ought to be. The back of the Brahma is wido and flat, what there is seen of it, but from the neck hackle, where the feathers join the shoulders, to the root of the tail, the latter covered by what is known as the saddle hackle, the distance is a short one, and has somewhat the appearance of a though the upper part of the latter does not adequately represent the true form. It The Poultry Blaze.

Editor Kansas Farmer Have you purchased any pure breeds yet? If not, be up and doing, for this is a lively world and the person who has not thoroughbred poultry will get left, if the day is not cold. I wandered along slowly with my scrub stock for several years, but I saw it did not pay, so I took another road where there were not so many weeds, though flowers grew in profusion. This road is very pleasant compared with the- other. There were all sorts of stumbling blocks in the scrub-stock-road, everything to discourage one in the poultry business. The fowls even blinked at each other suspiciously as though they knew something was wrong.

You may be sure I was happy when I saw the scrub stock shipped to an Eastern market and fine Single-comb Brown Leghorns take a front seat at Evergreen Fruit Farm. From now on I'll travel the good road and purchase pure-breds every time. It is a pleasure to care for choice poultry. One takes more interest with them than common stock. They are more intelligent, ornamental, and useful, therefore they should be highly appreciated by all poultry raisers.

Don't neglect their home by allowing it to get full of unsightly things. See that their house is made comfortable and that they have shade where they can take a good nooning and er themselves as well as the rest of the stock on the farm or in the village. Did you ever watch a flock of birds in a shady place at noon or other warm times during the day They just have the best time if they have been properly cared for during the season eD joying that shade and cool fresh water near them to make their rest complete. Birds that have a good home never have an uneasy, droopy appearance, as dice or want of knowledge. We quite agree with it when it says that the rolls for market should be of a moderate size and not too large," and that they should be of uniform color, not packing the light and fresh made with thote that have been colored and with old stock." Dairymen as well as shippeis ought to conform to the demands of the market, but that market does not demand and will not demand the exclusion of paper if it is made, as it ought to be, of vegetable material, which leaves no taint or injury, and which gives measurably air-tight requisites, besides imparting to the parcel a neat, One and attractive appearance.

We cannot too strongly emphasize this need of care in packing butter, and we aie surprised that in the volumes that have been written and in the multitudes of addresses and essays that have, been delivered in dairymen's gatherings, this point has been comparatively neglected as a companion-piece to the requirements of modern dairying. Every dairyman in getting his butter to the shipper or consumer should at once incorporate into his creed tbo importance of butter packing, and the shipper, where a dairyman overlooks this essential, should alike post himself on this matter and prod up the dairyman. Tois will result in better prices for both, and commission men will be spared a great deal of vexation and discourteous exclamations. There is also another thing in the line of improved methods in packing, and that is in discarding the flat one pound print because it has a tendency to lose its freshness on account of its greater surface and easier exposure through handling. Two, three or more pounds are better adapted to meet the wants of fie market, and in packing, perhaps the method adopted by a farmer in Missouri might be utilized, which is thus dtsribed by the Rural World: He constructed a plain box with shallow wooden trays, just large enough to tit and fill it, one above the other, and yet leaving room enough between the layers to obviate pressure.

The trays were plain boxes not divided into compartments, and each was large enough to contain a certain number of equally -sized rolls lyiog side by side. A loose cover was made to fit over the box when full. The result of this little calculation and expenditure of a few hours' labor was that the farmer got 2 cents per pound more for butter than any of his neighbors, and not only so, but the demand for his butter became so great that he could not supply it." But in whatever way you pack your butter always use parchment paper, in preference to muslin or any other material, and you need have no fear that such paper will prove injurious to your butter or stick to it with the tenacity or absorption of either muslin or parafnne paper. Take not only our advice in this matter, but give heed to the words of A. L.

Crosby, one of the best dairy authorities in the country, when he declares that the best butter 4 cloth is parchment paper," and pronounces it "practically air, water and grease proof, and does not stick to butter." It is," he says, 44 cheap, strong and very convenient to use for prints or rolls, and looks much better than muslin." 44 When you wrap your butter in parchment paper," he continues, 44 consumers cannot speculate as to whether the butter cloths began life as part of shirts or sleeves. Yes, I know things can be washed clean, but it does not need a vivid imagination to weave an unsavory history out of the warp and woof of some butter cloths." Ezdiange It is a great misfortune for the young and middle-aged to be grray. To overcome this and appear young, use Hall's Hair Renewer, a reliable panacea. Agricultural Salt. Farmers desiring agricultural salt, In any quantities, will find the same at the Topeka Seed House.

8. II. Downs, Manager, Topeka. though no person ever cared for their PAOmG BUTTEE. There is a good deal of advice going the rounds about packing butter.

Sometimes this advice emanates from a dairyman, and then again it comes from some newspaper. Sjme of it is permeated with good sense backed by practical experience, and other suggestions are simply the veriest bosh not warranted by the facts or by practical tests. Especially is this advice wholly misleadmg wherein it seeks to prejudice others against the use of parchment paper. It is good sense to say that a roll of butter should never be done up in an untidy condition, but when it is urged that muslin serves the best purpose, the information is wholly erroneous. Again, it is right to say that care should be taken before putting butter in packages to see that the sides and ends are nicely lined, but to assert that paper should be avoided is absurd and altogether wrong.

White muslin may be serviceable in emergencies, but it should never be used where a much better, more attractive and more economical material can be obtained in the form of parchment paper. It is the dollars and cents that all dairymen are after, and more of these coins of the realm can be obtained where the dairyman's products are placed on the market in the best possible shape and in the best condition. In a shipment to market one of the great troubles experienced is in getting the butter there nicely and well preserved. It is a well recognized fact that where any part of the surface of butter is exposed to the air such exposure tends to diminish the aroma, which is so highly prized in a first-class article. The one aim in packing, therefore, should be to get a package as near air-tight as possible before shipping.

This cannot be accomplished with muslin. The best material so far devised for that purpose is, we unhesitatingly say, parchment paper. When butter is compactly wrapped in such paper, you not only manage to retain a good deal of the original flavor of course, not as delicate as when first made, but still enough to enhance its value but you also add to its keeping qualities a great desideratum during the summer seasonand make it look attractive and inviting to the buyers. Carefulness and pains in this direction are quite as essential in successful dairying as cleanliness and precaution in handling milk and cream in the dairy. Many are apt to overlook this point, but it is nevertheless a great item in the profit and loss account.

Every dairyman has his own way of putting up his butter for market. Some pack in tubs with a layer of brine, salt and muslin on top. Others send their product in pine boxes a very reprehensible practice and some ship in barrels.which is very undesirable. Then there are those who use new tubs, hard wood boxes, half barrels or kegs, all of which middlemen declare highly desirable and marketable. But a large portion are egregiously derelict in not using other material for packing than paper, for whatever receptacles they may use.

We say this despite the fact that only recently a leading market newspaper of Chicago, the Trade Bulk-tin, in speaking of butter receipts by commission merchants, and giving advice to butter producers and shippers, stated that it was a 41 bad practice putting the butter in paper," and urged that this should not be done, as the paper sticks to the butter and damages the appearance." Its erroneous advice concluded Each roll should be separately placed in a piece of new muslin cloth, washed in warm water to take out the starch and thoroughly wet in good brine." It may be that the paper under the Bulletin's observation was not of a good quality or make, but in thus scoring paper without any exceptions, it too plainly inictti its preju wants or knew the year they were ushered into this world. Some one is always ready to ask if poultry pays. Of course it pays if you have good stock and manage them properly. But an old worn-out flock, such as we see on many farms, will not pay, and the sooner the owner finds it out the better it will be for his pocket-book. From the time one enters the poultry business it should be studied, and not in a slip shod manner, either, but in a way to bring the best returns.

Build good poultry houses, take good poultry journals, buy good stock and eggs and be good to them, and they will be very profitable, and your life will be longer and happier thereby. Belle L. SrROUL. Frankfort, Marshall Kas. will be seen that this shape is different from that of many varieties of fowls, which slopes towards the tail and then goes off at another angle like a sickle.

But the Brahma does not do so at all, and a sloping back with a whip tail is altogether out of keeping with the contour of the fowl. The tail is different from that of all other fowls except such as are of the Asiatic type, and may be described as a bunch of shoit feathers with but a slight curve at the end, the whole rising straight, or almost straight, up from the body. The slightest appearance of tendency to sickle or long sweeping feathers is repressed, and the height should be very nearly that of the head, or as nearly so as possible. But the head must not be thrown back, neither must the tail, and the two require to be evenly and properly balanced, with the contour as already mentioned by mc that is the shape. Looking at the body proper of the fowl, it should be broad and deep, with the breast well thrown forward, and the breast bone set well between the thighs.

The ehoulders are prominent, and when the bird stands facing you it should have a big massive appearance. The wings are small and well tucked up, for Brahmas are not flyers. Wings are but a small part of their economy. The thighs are covered with soft Huff, and fairly prof use, below which stand out the hocks, or soft feathers which protrude below the thighs. With these come the leg and foot feathers, which, first-class exhibition birds, are produced as long as possible, in some cases standing out several inches from the middle of the foot.

The more foot feather that can be got the better from an exhibition point of view but for ordinary purposes this is a matter that need not be so much regarded. I am, however, here giving a sketch of the best birds, and state what is required. The legs are yellow in colorand medium in length. They are strong, in order to support the heavy body. Thus much about the cock.

The hen ought to be of the same shape and carriage as the cock, allowing for the natural a i Terences in sex. She should have a rather short neck, and short legs, and with this statement I need say no more, as the characteristics are similar to those in the male bird. The beak in the light vaiiety is yellow, with or without a dark stripe the deaf ears, comb, face, wattlts and eyes red, as in the darks, and shanks of the came color. In the cock the bead is a silver white, the hackles, both neck and saddle, white with a black stripe. The tail and coverts are a glossy green black, while the body has a peculiarly soft pearly whiteness.

The shank feathers are white, but more or less mottled with black. In the hen the head is also silver white, and the hackles white with Notes About Brahmas. The two varieties of Brahma are the Darks and Lights. The former have a dark or black ground color, with lighter shade of ticking thereon, which gives a somewhat gray appearance to them the light variety have a white or very pale cream groundwork, marked here and there with dark stripes, but still the chief color is white. Both have very much the same shape, and only differ in point of color.

Asa rule, adult cocks weigh about twelve pounds, and hens about two pounds less, while it is not difficult to get cockerels at six months up to seven or nine pounds, and pullets six to eight pounds. At times larger birds have been seen, but these are good weights. Unfortunately there has been a tendency of late years to a reduction in size, largely due to the seeking after fine penciling, i. marking or lacing on the hens and pullets, and in some cases birds exhibited were pounds lighter deep black stripe. The tail is black, except the top pair of eatheTS, which should be edged with white, ana the boay pure pearl white all over.

Any yellow than the weights I have here stated. Happily there has been a reaction, and size is now made by most judges snd breeders a sine qua nan, though not to tha extent I chould to to it. tinge in the plumage is regarded 3 a grave defect, spoiling as it Goes ina appearance ot the fowls, though it may only be tba rr.nmnjr toy ins ran. t. ti A thousand laths will cover seventy yards of sarf2.ee, asi eleven pounds of lath nails Mill ttcra cu Cicpici lzv.vi XjI i.

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