1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



131 



lar, for I did not have a dollar in my pocket." 

 After the coin was in the hands of the 

 rightful owner the emergency brake drop- 



Eed back out of sight, and I wt- nt about my 

 usiness with a light and happy heart. We 

 are told " a good name is rather to be chosen 

 than great riches," and I want to add that a 

 clear conscience is worth more than all the 

 stamps and money the whole wide world 

 contains. Shortly after, my missing check 

 came in a letter from a Philadelphia tirm, 

 saying I had doubtless sent it by mistake. 



POULTRY 



Department 



By a. I. Root. 



OU I GENERALING THE "VARMINTS," ETC. 



I told you in my last that the possom pulled 

 out of our best steel trap twice. Well, after 

 he had in like manner pulled out five times I 

 went to the drugstore and got a dime's worth 

 of strychnine, and two big fat possums were 

 found laid out next morning. Later we 

 found another, and three skunks also. No 

 wonder we had trouble with our chickens. 

 A neighbor, Mr. Raub, and, by the way, an 

 old bee-keeper from York State, said our 

 traps were not set right. He showed Wes- 

 ley, so that we are now getting rats and 

 skunks every few days I nave told you the 

 rats of the L nited States cost our people a 

 hundred million dollars every year. How 

 much do prowling wild animals, such as pos- 

 sums, skunks, weasels, etc., cost poultry- 

 men'^ We have many visitors; and almost 

 every one, no matter what State he comes 

 from, can relate a similar expei ience in try- 

 ing to raise chickens. The most of them 

 give it up, and pronounce chickens "too 

 risky." Shall I give it up? Not much! We 

 have an inch-mesh netting put down into the 

 ground, all around our two acres. When 

 we find a place where they have dug under, 

 or tried to, we set traps there. My neighbor 

 Rood said my war on these pests was a great 

 blessing to this whole neighborhood. 



I do not know that I ever made any thing 

 that gives me more pleasure and satisfaction 

 than the brooder house I have mentioned. 

 I expect to give you a picture of it soon. 

 The netting stapled to the sills goes down 

 into the ground a foot; and just a few nights 

 ago some animal dug down against the net- 

 ting in several places all around the house. 

 How did he know there were two brooders 

 full of ten day-old chicks inside? The brood- 

 er-house secures three very important 

 things: absolute safety from prowlers; a 

 nice warm place out of the wind when it is 

 cold, and a safe dry place to ramble and 

 play and scratch when it rains or when the 

 grass is too wet to go out. 



Not only is there a satisfaction in beating 

 the enemy, but it is some hing like this: 



My neighbor Rood says, with a comical 

 smile on his face, when we have a touch of 



frost, "If it kills all the stuff north of us 

 there will be no glut in the market, and we 

 Manatee Co. people will get bettt-r prices." 



Now, don't think from this that Mr. Rood 

 is not a Christian in his planning. He looks 

 at it this way: There is nothing very wrong 

 in looking forward, and planning by every 

 means in your power, so as to have a good 

 crop at just the time many or most people 

 fail. We should be ashamed of giving way 

 or giving up to preventable troubles like those 

 I have mentioned. 



After I had fenced out and des^oyed the 

 skunks, rats, and possums, I had only six 

 chicks left of the 70 that came out of tt e in- 

 cubators, and one day a hawk came into the 

 doorvard, within a ft w rods of whf re I was 

 standing, and got one of the six; but I yelled 

 to such purpose that he dropped him. The 

 chick limped ab -ut for a day or two, but now 

 is all right. Mr. Rood can e over with his 

 gun, but didn't quite get a shot at the bird. 

 As hawks to^ k a chick or two last winter I 

 have on hand enough three-inch-mesh net- 

 ting to fence overhead 3i chickenjard 40x75 

 feet. As no more hawks have appeared, 

 however, we are awaiting further dtvelop- 

 ments. I have taken off another hatch with 

 my two incubators (Cyphers and my own). 

 Quite a few eggs were tested out in five 

 days, and more later; and finally a large 

 number in both machines died in the shell 

 after being fully developed. My own incu- 

 bator gave about 70 per cent of the fertile 

 eggs, while the Cyphers this time save only 

 about 55. The chicks are now about ten 

 days old, and the two lots are kept separate. 

 Four have died from the Cyphers brood, but 

 none from mine. I fully expected the Cy- 

 phers would be ahead, and I can not account 

 for so poor a hatch, especially as I ran it ex- 

 actly according to directions in a good incu- 

 bating-celiar. 



The Cyphers chicks are in the Clough 

 lampless brooder. My own are in a lamp- 

 less brooder that I received by mail from 

 Boston. It is called the "Lullaby" brood- 

 er; and for use in a brooder-house I should 

 place it ahead of all other brooders, not even 

 excepting my own basket brooder. It seems 

 to embrace, more than and other brooder, 

 the principle I have so vehemently enjoined 

 for both chicks and humans; viz., keeping 

 the body warm while the breathing ^ippara- 

 tus is right out in the pure cool air. Th^ Lul- 

 laby is essentially a round box made of cor- 

 rugated paper and cloth. This box or circle 

 can be let out so as to enlarge it as the chicks 

 grow and need more room. For instance, 

 25, when first out of the incubator, can 

 squeeze inside of a box about the size and 

 shape of a half- peck measure; but when in 

 such close quarters they must have air; and 

 to let them get it "straight and pure " there 

 are two oval "bay windows," 2>^ in. high 

 and 4^ wide. These windows are also used 

 as doors; but at night a ro v of little heads, 

 even in cool weather, is always close up to 

 both w ndows. A cushion is arranged with 

 a rattan spring so it will keep its place just 

 over their backs. In such a circular nest 



