1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



63 



better stay all summer in Florida and try to 

 make hens lay the year round before I extol 

 this State much further. Well, my fowls 

 have been here several summers, even if I 

 have not; and my neighbor Stanton gave 

 you a report or two in regard to eggs in 

 summer. My neighbor Rood also keeps 50 

 or 75 the year round, and gets some eggs all 

 the time. When I get time to "trap-nest" 

 out my drones I will try to show you a bet- 

 ter egg-yield than 1 am reporting now. 



WHY DOES A SITTING HEN "SHAKE UP" HER EGGS 

 WHEN SHE RETURNS TO HER NEST? 



I should like to tell A. I. R. I was sorry he did not go 

 on and say what that pullet he watched threw those 

 straws for. I think it was to start all the little hearts 

 to beating. Once when I had a cousin here on a visit 

 she saw a young hen come off her nest, so we got the 

 rake and hauled the eggs out from under the porch. 

 She said, "I think they are good," and they did look 

 like it; but I knew they could not be, so I asked her if 

 she ever saw the inside of an egg when the heart just 

 commenced to beat; and as she had not I said, "Your 

 hands are warm, let me pour the contents of one out 

 in them;" but, to my surprise, the chick was formed 

 clear to the feet and wings. We watched the heart 

 beat some 20 minutes, then we put the egg in the cat's 

 dish, and in about half an hour she went back and it 

 still beat. About ten minutes later she went again, 

 and it had stopped; but a litUe shake started it, and it 

 beat several minutes more. Now, had it been in the 

 shell, and warmed, it would have kept on. My own 

 theory is, that an old hen always settles herself on the 

 nest so as to give the eggs that little shake. I have 

 worked with incubators and sitting hens a long time 

 to find out that one little point why the hen gets on her 

 nest just so, especially when she comes in a hurry, 

 and her eggs are cool. I read with interest your 

 chicken talks as well as those for home and health. 



What Cheer, Iowa. R. KING. 



In testing eggs with my new tester I have 

 several times noticed the movement inside 

 was very sluggish, or perhaps none at all, 

 when the eggs had just been cooled. Warm- 

 ing them up seems to restore life; and it 

 may be a little shake, as our brother sug- 



fests, wakens up the suspended animation, 

 once saw a doctor's patient, under the in- 

 fluence of chloroform, stop breathing. The 

 old doctor gave him a little shake, and said, 

 "Come! wake up and go on breathing." 

 The patient, after a little pause, fetched a 

 long breath, and was soon out of danger. 

 Eggs at a certain stage can be kept three or 

 four days — possibly a week, and be, of 

 course, perfectly cold, and still revive and 

 produce good chickens, if given to a hen to 

 warm up, and, perhaps, also give them that 

 " maternal shake " our friend calls our at- 

 tention to. 



GOOD FOR THE WYANDOTTES. 



I have 13 pullets, hatched about April 1, White Wy- 

 andottes. The first one commenced to lay Oct. 1. By 

 the 20th they were all laying. I did not keep a record 

 of how many they laid in October; but in November 

 they laid 289 eggs, or more than 22 each. Up to last 

 night, Dec. 18, they laid 179 eggs, and are still at it. 



Dalton, Pa., Dec. 17. T. H. MILLER. 



BURBANK, FLORIDA, THORNLESS CACTUS, ETC. 



In the Toronto Globe for Nov. 6 there is an 

 advertisement occupying a double page of a 

 great newspaper, with pictures of Burbank's 

 thornless cactus, and it really "takes the 



cake ' ' for extravagant advertising. We give 

 you the opening sentences, which we find 

 right under the immense picture of the 

 spineless cactus. 



WHAT THIS ANNOUNCEMENT MEANS TO YOU. 



It means financial independence for the rest of your 

 natural life. 



It means that you secure a farm in Florida on which 

 you can produce the Burbank and other products and 

 ship them to the markets of the world, realizing the 

 very highest prices. 



It means that earnest men and women of the North, 

 East, and West may free themselves from the shackles 

 of wage-earning— or dispose of their non-productive 

 acres— and in the glorious climate of Florida live a 

 life of ease and comfort. 



It means health— long life — freedom from worry — 

 living under the turquoise skies of Florida engaged in 

 the noblest of all callings, that of the producer who 

 makes it possible for the rest of the world to exist. 



It means that, in the years to come, when this great 

 organization has fulfilled its allotted destiny, you will 

 realize that you have not only made a tremendously 

 profitable investment but that you have been instru- 

 mental in promoting the desires and ambitions of the 

 world's greatest plant genius— Luther Burbank. 



In the section of Florida wherein are located the 

 Burbank-Ocala farms the soil is actually so rich that 

 it could be used, if necessary, to fertilize other sections 

 of the State. 



Of course, we do not know how much 

 Burbank had to do with it; but we do find a 

 letter from him, in another place, as follows: 



LUTHER BURBANK SAYS FLORIDA SOIL IS VERY RICH. 



Santa Rosa, Cal., July 15, 1909. 

 Mr. H. C. Bailey, President 



New South Farm & Home Co , Chicago. 

 Dear Sir:— The samples of soil from Florida, which 

 you have submitted for my inspection, are of very su- 

 perior quality, so far as I can judge from samples. Of 

 course, I do not know how truly the samples represent 

 the general character of this soil; but if it is all like 

 this, I would gladly pay one thousand dollars per acre 

 for soil like it, for my own experiment grounds here. 

 Just the right proportion of black leaf mold and fine 

 sharp sand for the most perfect crops, especially of 

 potatoes, melons, peas, beans, cplery, and other gar- 

 den crops; also for berries or farm crops. My new 

 smooth rapid-growing cactus should do wonderfully 

 well in such soil. 



Yours very truly, LUTHER Burbank. 



You can find all over the State of Florida 

 deserted plantations where somebody " blew 

 in" his money, and afterward felt so dis- 

 gusted with the outcome (or income, rather) 

 that he left every thing to go to waste and 

 ruin. Once more let me say, before you in- 

 vest a copper in Florida real estate, go down 

 and take a look and see what you are buying 

 before you hand over the money. 



THE "OCALA BURBANK TRACT" OF FLORIDA 

 LAND, ETC. 



Below is a sample of the letters 1 am get- 

 ting from almost all over the North: 



I am sending you a post card. I am thinking of in- 

 vesting in ten acres of this "Ocala Burbank Tract." 

 Will you please write a few words on the enclosed 

 card and tell me what you know about this tract of 

 land. If you think this land is as good as where you 

 are I will send the company $10.00 to secure ten acres 

 of it If you think this is good land for celery, lettuce, 

 etc., as it is where you are, I will come down there 

 next month and take a look at it. 



Merino, Colo., Nov. 28. T. J. Landrum. 



My impression is that Burbank has nothing 

 to do with this speculation, and perhaps he 

 has never given these people the right to 

 use his name and his letters as they are us- 

 ing them. This is true, however: He has, at 



