806 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Dec. 15 



successful will apply to these. They are beauties 

 from the time they are hatched. I keep them in 

 sanitary quarters and on free range. 

 Toledo, O., Nov. 2. H. V. Meekek. 



RAISES CHICKS BY FEATHER DUSTERS. 



The Cleveland Plain Dealer has a special 

 department for preposterous stories. One 

 was about a hen laying three eggs a day, 

 and things of that sort that nobody is ex- 

 pected to believe. Well, a few days ago 

 when they undertook to tell one of their 

 whoppers they blundered on to telling the 

 truth and did not know it. Below is the 

 item and the picture that came with it. 



Probably the oddest idea ever made use of in the 

 raising of chickens is a plan operated successfully 

 by Mrs. John Krantz, who resides near Canal Do- 

 ver. 



Wishing to have the mother of a brood of chicks 

 hatch another setting of eggs, the peeps were taken 

 from the mother and placed in a coop in which were 

 suspended a number of feather dusters just reach- 

 ing the floor. 



The young chickens huddled together under the 

 dustei's. and were kept as warm as if they had been 

 taken care of by the mother hen. 



Now, my opinion is that this good woman 

 actually did raise chickens successfully with 

 a feather duster, and I wonder somebody 

 has not caught on to it before. A brooder 

 made of feathers would give the chickens 

 protection for their little bodies, and abun- 

 dance of fresh air at the same time, in a 

 better way than any thing in the way of 

 lampless brooders or any thing of that kind 

 that has ever been brought out. Do you 

 suggest that there are not feathers enough 

 to go around? Well, if all the feathers that 

 are wasted and thrown away were saved, or 

 if they were picked off the mature fowls just 

 about or a little before the moulting time, 

 there would be an abundance of feathers to 

 brood all the chickens that are hatched in 

 the incubator. Can somebody invent a fab- 

 ric that will not cost much, with feathers 

 interwoven, so as to hang down over the 

 chicks? 



SULPHUR FOR INSECT PESTS, ETC. 



Let me give you a simple and inexpensive reme- 

 dy that will cause yovir chicks to be free from the 

 pests all this summer and all time to come if you 

 keep it up. Givecch grown chicken one teaspoon- 

 ful of sulphur three times per week in some dough 

 or bran mush, and the little fellows in proportion 

 to size and age. Thoroughly disinfect your poultry- 

 house and yards, and your chicks won't be bother- 

 ed any more with insects. My wife has been using 

 this remedy for ten years, and never has a mite. If 



you start early in the spring, the houses will need 

 no cleaning in that respect. 

 Waldo, Ark. G. G. KOONES. 



My good friend, we give place to your 

 remedy; but I shall have to confess that I 

 have not very much faith in banishing 

 pests by something that is fed to the chick- 

 ens. I can readily understand that any 

 thing that would give the chickens better 

 health and more vitality would enable them 

 to resist both insects and diseases. Years 

 ago, when the itch was a common thing 

 with the human family, our mothers used 

 to give us sulphur and molasses; and I be- 

 lieve that, at the same time, the body was 

 anointed with some kind of ointment. 

 Now, did the sulphur, taken internally, 

 have any thing to do with the cure? that 

 is, does sulphur taken with the food get 

 into the circulation so as to show its pres- 

 ence on the surface of the body and thus re- 

 pel insects? I wish some competent scien- 

 tific authority, such as our experiment sta- 

 tions or leading poultry journals, would in- 

 form us. We thank you all the same for 

 your suggestion. 



HEADING OFF VARMINTS," BUT LETTING CHICKS 

 GO IN AND OUT AT WILL. 



Referring to Gleanings for Nov. 1, page 710, as to 

 Smith's method for chickens getting into the house 

 by a board to walk up, and be removed after' they 

 have gone in, I will say the board is perfectly use- 

 less, and a waste of time, putting it there and tak- 

 ing away daily. After using It a few times the 

 chickens will fly up themselves. Simply fasten 

 your main door and let theirs alone. I have used 

 them just that way many years. 



Paducah, Ky., Nov. 2. W. M. James. 



CHEERFULNESS IN SPITE OF DISASTER. 



Losing SO many bees last winter (20 hives out of 

 24) struck me pretty hard. Such is the fate In all 

 transactions. The farmer, the mechanic, and mer- 

 chant all meet with some disaster some time or 

 other, and I shall not complain of my loss. I am 

 an optimist. 



Oh happy days ! make no complaint: 

 They're always where you think they ain't. 

 Gnadenhutten, O., Oct. 12. Jacob Heck. 



The above comes from an old soldier who 

 is partly crippled by a gunshot received 48 

 years ago. We commend him for his cheer- 

 fulness under discouragement, and offer a 

 hearty amen to the sentiment of the origi- 

 nal poem. By the way, this same friend 

 sent us a little book giving an account of 

 the shameful massacre of a community of 

 Christian Indians over a hundred years ago. 

 A missionary succeeded, during the early 

 days of the settlement of Ohio, in building 

 up a church and converting the Indians to 

 peaceful avocations. If I am correct, a lot 

 of drunken soldiers came upon those people 

 when they were unarmed, and when' they 

 did not even attempt any resistance, and 

 shamefully put to death a little settlement 

 at Gnadenhiitten, including men, women, 

 and children. The whole thing was an aw- 

 ful disgrace, not only to the new State of 

 Ohio, but to the whole United States. A 

 beautiful monument now stands in the 

 center of the little town to commemorate 

 the awful tragedy. 



