332 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUI/rURE 



May 15 



a tlozen for e}i;gs. As they claimed that this 

 l)iiee was exactly what they sold them for, 

 we were exi)ec'te<l to take our ])ay in goods; 

 but as Ihey sold all kinds of grain and 

 chicken feed this was easily managed while 

 we had only about 75 laying hens. The 

 l)rices of the grain in 100-lb. sacks were as 

 follows: Corn. $1.70; wheat. $2.30; and a mix- 

 ture of broken corn, wheat, and other grains, 

 called "corno," was $2.40 i)er 100 lbs. We 

 found it rather cheai)er to buy the corn and 

 wheat : liul as the corno gave a variety which 

 the poultry seemed to enjoy, we fed it more 

 or less with ot her grain. < )ats cost $1.65, and 

 we used quite a quantity of them for sprout- 

 ing, especially wlien we were not able to get 

 lettuce refuse of Bro. Rood. Sprouted oats 

 were furnished by soaking a pailful of oats 

 over night, and raking them into the ground 

 next morning. We endeavored to put in a 

 sufficient quantity, so there were always 

 more or less sj^routed oats in all the five dif- 

 ferent yards. The two acres of land where 

 we keej) our chickens cost $150 per acre; but 

 we are only one mile from the grocery where 

 we bought our supplies. Further away, one 

 could get land at almost any price, say from 

 five to ten dollars jier acre and up. A good 

 many make a mistake, however, by not 

 counting the cost of getting to the depot and 

 market through the Florida sand. A great 

 deal of the ground around Bradentown is 

 covered with different kinds of wild grass- 

 es, so that it makes a very fair road without 

 very much expense for cleaning oflf the 

 brush, etc. But where there is a heavy 

 traffic, such as occurs in hauling a big crop 

 of celery to market, the sandy soil soon cuts 

 up so it is sometimes (juite a job for a horse 

 to draw even an empty wagon through these 

 sandy i)laces. Notwithstanding the fact of 

 being at a distance from market, I do think 

 that Florida offers wonderful opportunities 

 for the jioultry business, liefore I forget it, 

 however, I must not fail to mention that 

 eggs went down to 30 cts. not long after the 

 holidays, and then for quite a while they 

 were 25; and when I left Florida the last of 

 April the i)rice was down to 20 f»ents; but 

 the )>riee seldom goes lower than that. 



I have before explained quite fully, J 

 think, that very little outlay is required for 

 buildings of any sort. In fact, the grown- 

 up fowls will roost in the trees, and get along 

 very well without a building of any kind. 

 There are two drawbacks, however, where 

 they are up in the trees: You can not catch 

 them when wanted; and owls and other an- 

 imals are liable to molest them. 



In regard to lumber for building poultry- 

 houses, etc., we get i)lenty of cull flooring 

 for only $12.00 per 1000, and our five houses 

 were made almost entirely of this stuff. 

 A very little cheap 2x7 for sills is all that is 

 necessary. The cull flooring and the 2x4 

 will make such a building as I have pic- 

 tured and described on i)age 165. 



In conclusion, let me say again that it is 

 beyond my comprehension why more i)e<)- 

 ple do not go into i)oultry, and succeed, 

 down in sunny Florida. Cockerels that 



were hatched out in December weighed 2 

 lbs. each in iVpril, and sold readily for 25 

 cts. i)er lb. at the same grocery where I sold 

 my eggs. Fifty cents apiece for chickens 

 four months old is what I call pretty good 

 business. So far as I can learn, there is not 

 a person in Florida offering baby chicks for 

 sale. The pastor of the >Iethodist Church 

 came down one day, and, after looking over M 

 my chicken-ranch, he was so much taken " 

 up with it that he at once sent away to At- 

 tica, Ohio, for 100 baby chicks. He said 

 they offered them for $8.00 per hundred, safe 

 delivery guaranteed clear to Bradentown. 

 Just tliink of it! ])eojile in a land of almost 

 l>eri)etual sunshine sending up to stormy 

 and wintry Ohio for chicks, and then pay- 

 ing express charges for a distance of toward 

 two thousand miles! It reminds me of the 

 time Eugene Davis told me he had orders 

 for Crrand Rapids lettuce, grown in midwin- 

 ter in Michigan, to be shipi)ed to Xeio Or- 

 leans, where lettuce can usually be grown 

 in the open air the year round. 



Perhaps I should mention one of the ob- 

 jections to the chicken business in Florida: 

 and this is, the stick-tight fleas and other 

 insect pests. Well, although these stick- 

 tight fleas did bother both us and the chick- 

 ens, a year ago last winter, during the win- 

 ter just past there was hardly a flea visible. 

 Perhajis one reason is that we had plenty 

 of rain all winter, and this is generally death 

 to those insects. Another is that I ke]it the 

 buildings, and especially the roosting-jioles, 

 jiretty well saturated with Tjce's lice-killer, 

 put on about once a month with a spray- 

 jHimp. I examined my chickens carefully, 

 both old and young, almost every day, all 

 winter, and I found scarcely a trace of lice 

 or fleas. Besides the spraying we put strong 

 tobacco dust in all the nests. Our 75 laying 

 hens paid the grocery bills for myself and 

 wife, and paid for all the grain for not only 

 the 75 adult fowls, but the entire feed for 

 over 200 chickens. 



Of course, I have made no estimate in the 

 above of the time spent with the chickens; 

 but I have kept them just for the fun of it, 

 and not to make money. It gave me 

 healthy outdoor exercise, and paid all the 

 expenses for Mrs. Root and myself; and 

 what more can old ])eople like myself want, 

 any way? Of course, we had jilenty of eggs; 

 and (take notice) we had them, even if the>' 

 7vere 40 cents a dozen. That made very lit- 

 tle difference to us. 



BUTTERCUPS UP TO DATK, MAY 6. a 



My three pullets commenced laying about \ 

 April 1st, when they were about six months 

 old; and were it not for the fact that one of 

 them persists in laying a good many eggs 

 without a shell, the record of the three would 

 be rather ahead of any of my records with 

 White I>,eghorns. My brother, who is still 

 in Florida, reports two eggs every day, al- 

 most without excei)tion, and quite often 

 three, not counting the shelless ones. I 

 jiresume this peculiar trouble with the one 

 ])ullel can be remedied. We are going to 

 do our best at it. 



