LIVE STOCK NEWS BETTER CRATES ARE NEEDED Many Breeding Animals Used in Im proving Herds and Flocks Art Not Properly Handled. Very many of the breeding animals used in Improving herds and flocks are shipped from place to place In .'grates. Good crates are easy to handle, reduce shipping costs, and save heavy losses. Because shipping is often a source of much loss and great annoyance, an attempt has been made by the Wis consin College of Agriculture, the Forest Products laboratory and the Wisconsin Live Stock Breeders' as sociation, to* establish a standard type, of live-stock crate that can be easily and cheaply built. Practical tests have been made and in every case these standard crates withstood the treatment encountered in actual ship ping operations. "Better Shipping Crates for Live Stock," a free circular issued by the College of Agriculture, Madison, not only tells of the trials and tests but also suggests how efficient crates may be made. Crates have been made for three classes of live stock ? cattle, sheep and hogs. The cattle crate will com fortably accommo(fcite mature cows of all breeds/ of dairy cattle. The same proportions may be used in building a larger crate to ?accommo date animals of the beef breeds. Sim ilarly. a smaller crate may be built on , Sheep Properly Crated for Transpor- j tation. * \ the same lines in which to ship anl inals of the smaller dairy breeds. The sheep crate is best made in three sizes, designated as lamb, sheep - sind buck. It is of prime importance that the crate fit the animal. Hogs, like sheep, require different sized crates. A crate that is too small may cause many blemishes ?which will ruin the animal from (he breeder's viewpoint. A table of t lie :sizes of crates, based upon the size of the hog to he shipped, will aid the shipper in avoiding waste and, at the same time, provide the most com fort. i PUREBRED RAMS GAIN FAVOR Thirty-Six Animals in One Kentucky County Where Seven Years Ago ' There Was One. Thirty-six purebred rams in a county where only one was owned seven years . ago, when the agricultural extension agent first began his work there, is re ported to the United States Depart ment of Agriculture as the record in Humphreys county, Teun. Twenty ' farmers in the county bought purebred rams this season. SELECT PIGS FOR BREEDERS -Important to Choose Most Thrifty and Growthy Females ? Deter mines Size of Litter. It Is just as necessary, or even more so, to' select the most thrifty and growthy sow pigs for breeders, as it is to breed them to a choice boar, for the fact that upon the thrift and capacity of the sow will depend to a large extent, not only the size of the litter, but their food during the suckling period. PRODUCTION OF FEEDER PIPS Business Growing Rapidly as Cholera and Other Swine Diseases Are Being Controlled. As cholera and other diseases of ! swine are coming under control, the business of producing feeder pigs is growing. All feeder pigs should be young and should show good breeding. ^ If such pigs are healthy they will make rapid gains when placed in the * feed lot. Qood Mixture for Sows. , A mixture of slacked lime and salt .... should 'be kept before the sows at all times and It Is also well to feed three fourths of a pound of good quality al falfa hay per sow daily, or one^thlrd of a pound of tankage. Feeding Raw Potatoes. * Raw potatoes should not be fed to live stock in too large quantities be cause of the solanlne, whjch, if con sumed too liberally, 1? to produce -^rmful effects. T&to crystal# ine com potto (j 1? lost f? ceoWo* \ \ mEF POtNTS FOR SQUAB RAISERS I C -:>r .%?,* \ Owners of Successful Plants Always Find PJenty to Do in Winter in Caring for Birds. Managers of successful squab-rais ing plants always find plenty to do In winter taking care of their breeding pigeons, seeing tliey are properly muted, culled, housed and fed. If large plump squabs are to be produced next spring the breeding pigeons mus^ be kept in a good thrifty condition or the percentage of hatch will be low. The problem of growing a large strain of squabs depends on the. kind of pi geons you select to keep in the breed ing pens. By culling out the small, weak birds, with undesirable color of skin and other such points and dispos ing of the discarded ones the feed bill will be greatly reduced. The birds should be looked after closely during the mating season. Odd or umuated males must always be moved from the breeding pens. Pi geons are usually mated at the age of | five or six months, and in some cases j they are not mated until they are j eight or nine months old. With the increasing demand for plmnp squabs many of the squab raising plant owners have been labor , . j j J A Blue Checker, Another Coming Type of Homer. ing to set larger pigeons. The Mal tese, the Wing King, the Oorneiya, the Runt, and the Mondaine have been extensively produced in some see- i tious. Many of the old-lime squab- ! raisers cling to the Homer. It is hardy, prolific, a hearty eater, and raises a high percentage of squabs. The pigeon house should be cleaned j once a month or oftener. and then j sprayed with some of the preparations that are used to kill lice. EPSOM SALTS CHEAP REMEDY Useful to Keep on Hand to Tone Up : Poultry Flock That Has Access to Spoiled Feed. Epsom salts is a cheap remedy to j ?keep on hand to help in toning up a poultry llock that has had access to. ; spoiled feed. The occasional use of j the salts is to help in reducing losses from sour crop or indigestion due to overfeeding. A hen that has been crop bound i r benefited by epsom salts. The usual dose is half a teaspoonful j for a mature hen. . The salts can be j dissolved in warm water and poured j down the throat of the bird. Then you j know the hen has received the dose, i I She may not. eat enough of a mash I % I containing the salts. A flock can be | allowed to go hungry about half a day ! followed by a moist mash containing epsom salts for every bird. Disinfectants are cheaper than dis ease. * * * Fowls In confinement, to do well, need a variety of food. ? ? ? Crowding induces di^pase and low ers the vitality of fowls. ? * ? A breeding pen is usually made up of from six to fourteen females and a male. ? ? ? A stewing chicken weighs about three pounds and a rooster four or more pounds. ? ? * Nests should not be too deep or the hens jump down on the eggs and break them. ? * * When a chicken weighs between two and three pounds It Is called a spring chicken. ? ? ? A setting of eggs is usually counted at twelve, although many poultrymen give fifteen eggs. ? * * A broiler Is a bird weighing two pounds or less and which is six to twelve weeks old. / ? ? ? A poularde is a pullet deprived of the power of producing eggs, with the ob;ect of great size. ? * ? There seems to be n value to feed ing milk that cannot be expressed easily In ca?h. It has the vitamlnes which produce growth and vigor. ? * ? * Breeding stock that have milk in their ration seem to produce more hatchable eggs than hens which get all their protein through beef scrip or Ash scrap. - V SERGEANT STARLING SPEAKS I "Now Starling Sfsters and Broth irs and Cousins, listen to what I have to say," said Sergeant Starling. "Gen eral Sparrow told his family the other day to be sure that they didn't let us get ahead of them. They want to be the worst fighters and the worst birds. But, ah, they're going to be second worst for all of that. We will get the better of them. In the long run we always have." Sergeant Starling closed his long yellow bill, gave a funy jerk to his short call and raised his long black and green wings. "We're better looking than they are," he continued. "We have purples and green in our glossy black feathers, and our ladies wear white spots as their own fashion. And we're a good deal larger than they are. We, too, will eat anything, we will stand any climate. Little starlings pop out of the eggs In sixes and sevens every four or five months. That Is splendid, for it moans that so many little star lings are constantly coming Into the world. "Some people say they cannot make up their minds whet/ier we do more harm than good. And when I say 'some people' I mean people Who make a study of birds. "There are people who make a study of birds, who talk about birds and lecture about birds, and who know all we do. They watch us and find us Interesting. "I don't blame thein In the least. I should think people would like to study birds, and how we nest and how \ye act and what we eat and how \ve chirp or sing and what we do In the; winter time. ?'There are so many different kinds of birds and we do such different tilings. "It is as interesting in the Bird fam ily as it is among people. There are | lots of different sorts who do different things In different ways. ?As I've said, these people who know all about birds haven't made up their minds whether we're of more use to them or of more harm, io them ? in the work we do I mean. } I suppose they will decide It for themselves one of these days, f*1 "But in the meantime we've plenty to do In seeing that we run matters in our own way. A great help to us is the fact that there are so many of us. "With all the little starlings coming out of the eggs we train them to be good starling children and there are huge colonies of starlings almost every where now. "Just think I Six little starlings at A time and. too, the mother starlings watch over three brood;# a year? or at the least two. "People have not decided whether they like us or not as I've told you. But no matter, we're a clever lot. We can whistle so that we sound like peo ple and they'll turn around to see who was whistling. How that does make us laugh I And then we gurgle and they wonder what sort of a sound that is. We warble, too. We're smart." Sergeant Starling raised his head high. "So with our cleverness and our fine powers of winning any good scrap If we're given a long enough time ? we will win over the sparrows. And tf we're not given a long enough time, we can always take a long enough time." As the Sergeant was talking along rushed Fire Chief Starling. He had been so named because he had always said that should there be a fire he would /remember that he was the chtef one to be saved. "Starlings," he cried, "the sparrows who built their nest under one of the eaves of a house, had an accident to their nest. T h#/ had all left the nest some time before but It had become very dry and a spark from a bonfire lKlow went up and caught fire and almost made a big flta in the people's house." "Gracious!" said Sergeant Starling, "you bring important news, Fire Chief. We must build a nest under some eaves and then leave It to dry so it may some day help start a fire." "Let us not allow the Sparrows to get ahead of us," the Starlings all shouted. "Let us take from them their right to i)oast of being the worst. Tht second worst for them I" Sky Lying on Ground, one foggy morning little Edgar looked out of the yrlndow and ex claimed, ".Oh, look, mamma, the sky is lying on the ground T % <* -it * -Z*- * Nothing Doing f Copyright, W. N. U.) Hearken to the Frivolous Boss Oh, You Cheater, Felix lil'vE RUN VOUR e>An-<-GO OH IIS ThE Vj/j/h AMD TAKE IT - VOU HAVEN'T HAD ONE ^ fop i HTmKSn bath? & 3 1 T*o Too DARN COLD THIS > MOPNIN^ HURR^ UP NQWJ AND GET IN THERE *?Z unlock: this door. Till you're thru & M 11 ? OK Bay? A 6AWTH t>uRE. DO Make ONE F6E.I Gt??AT t NOW AREN'l" X>0 Clad i- made fou "TAk? it ? jP 'Wtltm' Wr