1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



677 



he in his reply exi)hiined a Httle more fully. 

 The idea seems to be this: With such a cross 

 of two breeds as he mentions, more of the 

 chickens will take after their mothers than 

 after their father; and those that take after 

 their mother in color will also follow the 

 mother in sex. Now, although I have read 

 thirty or forty poultry journals for two or 

 three years past, I have never seen any thing 

 before touching on this point; and I would 

 not have very much confidence in it even 

 now — not enough to submit it in print — were 

 it not for something I am going to tell 

 you. 



About a year ago, as you know, I purchas- 

 ed fifteen Buttercup eggs, and raised to ma- 

 turity seven chicks. Three pullets and two 

 roosters I took down to Florida, and two 

 Buttercup roosters were left here in Medina. 

 As these were considered valuable, and I 

 had no Buttercup pullets, but forty or fifty 

 Leghorn hens, I thought I would raise a lot 

 of half-bloods and possibly get a few pullets 

 from the lot that at least had strong marks 

 of the Buttercups. A neighbor who has sev- 

 eral hundred fowls remarked that he would 

 help me out in my experiments if I would 

 let him have some Buttercup eggs at mar- 

 ket price. He set over a hundred of these 

 eggs from the White Leghorn mothers mat- 

 ed to full-blood Buttercup roosters. Butter- 

 cup males are red, with black wings, and 

 neck feathers. They very much resemble 

 Rhode Island Reds. Well, we both expect- 

 ed to get at least half the chicks with But- 

 tercup markings. The full-blood Buttercup 

 hens look very much like the Golden-span- 

 gled Hamburgs. Well, now for the outcome. 

 Neither he nor I have a pullet that resembles 

 my Buttercup hens in Florida. We have 

 quite a few white ones that have yellow or 

 cream-colored feathers; but the greater part 

 of, say, 100 chicks are white, like their white 

 mothers; and last, and most important of 

 all, they are not only the color of their moth- 

 ers, but I should say that 70 or 80 per cent 

 are pullets. These cross-bred eggs were all 

 set under hens.* Perhaps some of the old 

 poultry readers can explain this. You have 

 the facts before you as nearly as I can give 

 them; but I confess I can- not understand 

 why making a cross of this kind should re- 

 sult in having the greater part of the chicks 

 take after the mothers, not only in color 

 and looks, but also in sex. 



Now, then, have friend B. and myself 

 blundered on a discovery that will enable 

 poultry men to raise a great lot of pullets in 

 proportion to the males where pullets, and 

 not roosters, are what is wanted? 



* Since the above was in type the neighbor men- 

 tioned above has given me a further fact. He says 

 that some time ago he placed a White Wyandotte 

 rooster with some full-blooded Plymouth Rock hens 

 exactly as friend Blair mentions. He says the re- 

 sulting chicks were really black, and made black 

 hens— not a color of the Barred Rocks, remember, 

 but black. I did notice that friend Blair says black 

 chicks, but I supposed he meant dark-colored ones 

 like their mothers. Now, this is indeed strange- 

 black cliicks resulting when neither parent was 

 black, and when the father was pure white. He 

 says. too. these black hens are excellent layers. 



SOILED AND DISCOLORED EGGS, ETC. 



I sent you a letter some time ago setting forth 

 what I found to be the practice of the best poultry- 

 men here in regard to housing their chickens. As 

 a new comer I was anxious to get the best as well 

 as cheapest shelter for my Hocks on my homestead, 

 and I carefully looked into this matter. Mr. A. I. 

 Root wrote me to know what was done about soiled 

 eggs, if roofless houses were used. May I report 

 that the soil does not soil them? This sand does not 

 make mud. Mr. Stevens, wlio is regularl.v in the 

 egg-producing business, washes what few dirty eggs 

 he gets, and lets them dry over night before shi))- 

 plng. The others send theirs to market just as they 

 gather them, and do not have any complaints. In- 

 deed, this market is glad to get almost any thing in 

 the way of an egg. 



Denaud, Fla., Sept. 1. Fr.\nk M. Baldwin. 



Friend B., if you wish to produce "gilt- 

 edged " eggs for supplying fastidious cus- 

 tomers — those who are willing to pay an ex- 

 tra price for strictly fresh eggs, and eggs 

 handsome to look at, they must not be ex- 

 posed to rain, even if the eggs are laid in 

 the sand. If you will remove an egg from 

 a nice clean nest shortly after it is laid, you 

 will find it has a sort of bloom on it like that 

 on a plum; and even picking it up with the 

 fingers, if they are a little sweaty, will in- 

 jure this bloom more or less; and I have for 

 some time made it a point to wash my fin- 

 gers thoroughly with soap and water before 

 I gather the eggs; and, no matter how clean 

 the nests are when i)rovided with clean straw 

 or Florida sand, the least bit of rain despoils 

 this bloom as an indication of freshness. A 

 newly laid egg that has not been handled 

 by dirty fingers is to me almost as handsome 

 as a flower; and there are lots of people who 

 are willing to pay an extra price for fancy 

 eggs or fancy fruit. Now, if you do not like 

 to cater to these fastidious people, let your 

 eggs stay out in the rain, and dump them 

 in all together. By the way, I have never 

 found any method of washing eggs that did 

 not destroy the bloom more or less; and if 

 you are saving up eggs for hatching I am 

 sure it will pay to take pains as I have indi- 

 cated in the above. I appeal to our veteran 

 poultrymen who are getting from five to ten 

 cents above the market price for eggs if I 

 am not right about it; notwithstanding, 

 where your market will not pay any thing 

 extra for fancy eggs the day they are laid, 

 or the next day, of course it will not pay to 

 go to all this fuss. 



SWEET CLOVER CROWDING OUT CANADA 

 THISTLES. 



We clip the following from the Rural 

 New-Yorker of a recent date. Our readers 

 will notice that it is from the same man 

 whose illustration appears on p. 568. 



ANOTHER SWEET-CLOVER STORY. 



During the month of June, 1906, I pvu'cliased 10 

 lbs. of white sweet clover (Melilotus alba) seed and 

 sowed a patch of about an acre, which was infested 

 with Canada thistles; however, it happened a drouth 

 followed the sowing, hence there was a very thin 

 stand. The seed was simply sprinkled over the sod 

 and thistles, and no cultivating previously. The 

 next year it was mown for hay just before it was in 

 bloom, and the few years following it was allowed 

 to stand and reseed itself until now, 1910, it is a thick 

 mass, almost impenetrable, and the average height 

 is five feet six inches to seven feet. And the mar- 



