S(i4 



(;li<:axixgs in bee culture 



Dec. 1") 



the desired result. If we want to clean a 

 bottle inside, we often use sand or sawdust, 

 sometimes both; and while such means are 

 all right for the bottle, one should be care- 

 ful in the use of so simple a thing as bran in 

 this way — that is, one may do harm by the 

 too frequent use of such a remedy. Well, 

 the use of roasted chufas seems to be the 

 best thing in this line I have ever gotten 

 hold of. It is nature's remedy, God's rem- 

 edy.* Some of my friends have been wor- 

 rying because I don't get fat on two meals 

 a day. Well, if I continue to enjoy them as 

 I do now, I exjiect to fat up, something as 

 our pigs used to do when the country was 

 new and we turned them out to feast on the 

 "shack" that they were sure to find in the 

 woods. 



Much has been said in the papers lately 

 about its costing so much to live, and I am 

 having many letters asking if it costs much 

 more to live down here in Florida than it 

 does up noith, etc. Don't you see how 

 beautifully my great discovery comes in 

 right here? Raise chufas in your back yard, 

 and have the richest and most nourishing 

 as well as delicious food God ever gave to 

 man.t Of course you can not live on chu- 

 fas alone; but I bave something to tell you 

 further. My neighbor Raub, the old gentle- 

 man who did so well with the incubator, 

 planted a little patch of upland rice in a 

 part of his garden. Well, after he got back 

 to Florida a few days ago he harvested his 

 rice and he had about three bushels. It al- 

 most took my breath away. When I asked 

 him how much fertilizer he used, if I remem- 

 ber correctly he said he used only what those 

 chickens produced that he hatched in that 

 incubator. Thinking rice ought to be cheap 

 where it grows like that, I asked how low I 

 could buy broken rice for my chickens; and 

 after I got 100 lbs. for $3.00, another neigh- 

 bor, Mr. Abbott, told me he bought on 

 "bargain day" 40 lbs. for $1.00. We have 

 been using this broken rice on our table, 

 and I find it just as good as any rice so far 

 as I can see. It is absolutely clean pure 

 rice, and nothing else. 



Well, dear friends, I have in this Home 

 paper mentioned just a few things that 



* Terry says there should be a movement of the 

 bowels at least once a day, and that twice a day is 

 much better, in order that all refuse and unwhole- 

 some matter may be out of the system as speedily 

 as possible for the most perfect health. As a rule, 

 wild as well as domestic animals are seldom trou- 

 bled by constipation: and the reason is, they take 

 the berries, grains, and fruits whole as nature fur- 

 nishes them. Can we not learn a lesson from them? 



t In a recent issue I had something to say about 

 "emergency foods," Well, the chufas should be 

 roasted over a quick fire or in a very hot oven, so 

 that this tough outer coat will become crisp and 

 easy to chew up fine, something like the peeling of 

 a roasted potato This baking process drives out 

 all moisture to such an extent that we have a very 

 concentrated food — more nourishment in small 

 compass than even with the parched corn, if I am 

 correct. When Gregory, the veteran seedsman of 

 fifty years ago, first advertised and described chu- 

 fas he called them earth almonds; and although 

 they grow In the ground I should call them a veri- 

 table nut, and I hardly need tell you all late tables 

 giving the amount of nourishment in different foods 

 place nuts far above every thing else. 



should cause us to repeat the words of our 

 text, and it is not because I can live here so 

 cheaply and with so much comfort and en- 

 joyment, but because others, who may have 

 but little to spare may do so — elderly people 

 like myself who can keep chickens, grow 

 rice* and chufas, and stay out in the open 

 air, all day long. Even if Thanksgiving 

 day is past and gone when your eye meets 

 this, can you not stop a minute and say 

 with me, "Oh give thanks unto the Lord, 

 for he is good; for his mercy endure th for 

 ever" ? 



Poultry Department 



By A. I. Root 



GETTING A PREPONDERANCE OF PULLETS, ETC. 



You ask in your poultry department, Oct. 15, why. 

 in crossing certain breeds of poultry, you got a pre- 

 ponderance of pullets, I have given the matter 

 much thought, and from my own experience in 

 cross-breeding I would explain it in this way: The 

 strongest blood will prevail; or, to use an old ex- 

 pression, "Blood will tell.'" The S. C. W. Leghorn 

 is a distinct breed. It has been a Leghorn for hun- 

 dreds of years. Its qualities are firmly fixed, giving 

 it power to transmit those qualities. While the 

 Buttercup (I do not know its history) may be made 

 up of the blood of several breeds. Likewise the Ply- 

 mouth Rock-Wyandotte cross. W'hile the Plymouth 

 Rock is not a distinct breed, it is an old-established 

 breed, while the White Wyandotte is of but recent 

 origin. 



You can, and I hope you will, prove this by cross- 

 ing a Leghorn cock with your Buttercup hens, or a 

 Pl.v mouth Rock cock with Wyandotte hens. Be 

 sure your cocks are pure blood, when you should 

 get mostly males. Your discovery may be very val- 

 uable. 



There is so little if any profit in Leghorn cockerels, 

 and they annoy the pullets so much, I often kill 

 them as soon as I can distinguish their sex, which 

 is about two weeks. I knew I could get color, size, 

 shape, and many other qualities by crossing: but I 

 was too thick-headed to see that I might get sex too. 



I hope you will experiment some more, and let us 

 know the results. 1 would advise you not to cross 

 white and brown egg breeds. I do not like cross- 

 breeds: but if they will turn us more money I may 

 grow to like them. 



Somerville, N. .1.. Oct, 22. L. B. Thatcher. 



Thanks for your kind suggestion, frieml 

 T. It fully accords with the crosses I have 

 here in Florida. Very few males and pul- 

 lets are mostly white, with green lei:s. 



* I make below another clipping from Crenshaw's 

 catalog in regard to growing upland rice in P'lorida: 



" Uplnnd Rice. — Very popular in this State, and a 

 number of small areas are grown for home use as an 

 auxiliary crop. Should be cultivated on every farm 

 in our Southern country. Several years" experience 

 has demonstrated the fact that rice can be as suc- 

 cessfully grown on high lands as elsewhere." 



''' Directions for Plantino Upland Jiice.— On lands 

 that hold moisture well, such as waxy or post-oak 

 land, plant anywhere. On dr.v orsnndy land, rice 

 is planted in the low places. Prepare the land and 

 cultivate as for corn, except the rows are only 22 to 

 24 inches apart so that one furrow in each middle, 

 with an 18-inch .sweep, usually suffices for a work- 

 ing, and the hills just far enough so it can be hoed. 

 Plant as early in April as you can. Furrows are 

 opened and the seed covered in any way most con- 

 venient at the time, just so the seeds get a little dirt 

 over them. Drop 15 or 20 seeds in each hill, and 

 leave all that come up. Cultivate for moisture and 

 to keep down grass and weeds until rice begins to 

 head. It usually ripens the last of August or early 

 in September. The color tells when it is ripe." 



