gIjEanings tn bee PTTLTURE 



\v;inl to sit. T paid little attention to it; but 

 when the blind hen laid a yellow egg day 

 after day through December, January, Fel)- 

 ruary, and clear into March, without ever 

 a " cluck," 1 began to " sit up and take 

 notice." This is her third winter, mind you. 

 1 have set seven hens, and have 75 strong 

 and healthy chickens, and every setting had 

 more or less yellow eggs from the blind hen. 

 Some good authority has said there may be 

 a lot of great layers scattered over the land, 

 but the owner doesn't know it. She hap- 

 pened to lay a different egg, and be blind 

 in one eye. I give here a clipping from 

 Farm and Fireside: 



LEARN TO DIAGNOSE HUNGER. 



Lowering the cost of keeping chickens is not giv- 

 en half the attention it should receive. The major- 

 ity of chicken-owners think their birds need grain 

 when they act hungry and restless. The first move 

 is to throw a lot more of expensive grain to allay 

 the restlessness of the hens. In most cases what 

 the birds are asking for is green, succulent, bulky 

 food, fresh water, grit, and animal food or bone. 



The heavier breeds in particular would be much 

 better off in vigor and productiveness in many cases 

 if half of the costly grain were replaced with a good 

 quality of cut or ground clover or alfalfa hay, some 

 roots, cabbage, apples, potatoes, or silage. By such 

 a change of feeding costs can be reduced. — B. F. 

 W. Thorpe. 



Over and over again, where you read of 

 remarkable success with chickens you find it 

 was made by being right with the fowls, and 

 making a careful study of the whole matter. 

 The clipping above hits it exactly. 



DWARF ESSEX RAPE. 



Some time ago, while " down East," I 

 visited a poultrj'keeiDer who had his fowls 

 in a yard full of rape two feet high or 

 more. He wanted to show us a $50 hen ; 

 but she kept hiding in the luxuriant rape, 

 so it was almost impossible to get a sight 

 of her. Now, this is the ideal condition. 

 Have your rape-patch large enough, or 

 your flock of chickens small enough, so they 

 won't eat the rape all off clean in a day or 

 two. I have a small enclosure full of rape 

 now that pleases me; but if I were to let the 

 whole ].35 in it at once I fear there would 

 not be a green leaf by night. What can we 

 grow that will take care of itself like weeds, 

 almost or quite without cultivation or fer- 

 tilization, and that the chickens will eat? 

 There is waste land, more or less, almost 

 everywhere (as well as down here in Flor- 

 ida) doing no good to anybody or anything. 

 Mulberries fill the bill pretty well; but tliey 

 are not " greens." 



I'. S. — Whoever writes that Ijuuk on 

 " Greens for Chickens " should keep in 

 mind Ave don't want a book at a big price 

 witli vei-v little real "greens." 



FETERITA : MORE AUOUT IT AS A .SL'B.5TnUTE 

 FOR WHEAT. 



As I haven't seen any thing in High-pressure 

 Gardening aliout feterita I thought you would like 

 to test it in Florida. I am sending you a sample 

 under separate cover. Plant 12 to 18 inches apart 

 in the row. I think it is a great chicken feed, and 

 it makes heads in Kansas without rain. 



Concordia, Kan. Lewis Eells. 



P. S. — We think feterita good boiled, and eaten 

 with cream. 



The " P. S." is the " big thing " about the 

 above letter. Having some of the grain on 

 hand, we boiled it in a farina-boiler, and 

 Mrs. Root and I as well as the neighbors 

 were " happily surprised " to find it a real- 

 ly delicious, nourishing food, even better 

 than the dishes made from the flour. Now, 

 here is the great point : Grow it in j'our 

 garden; put the heads of ripe grain in a 

 bag (I have just done it), thrash, and cook. 

 Can any " shorter cut " be made " from 

 producer to consumer "f 



ON THE BOOKSHELF 



The Country Home Month by Month. 

 — Edward Irving Farrington. Laird & Lee, 

 Inc., Chicago, $2.00. 



One of those wholesome, readily under- 

 stood manuals of country living is this new 

 work by Mr. Farrington, sometime editor of 

 Suburban Life, and a writer on general ru- 

 ral subjects. Beekeeping justly claims its 

 share of his attention in a series of remind- 

 ers, month by month, of what to do in the 

 apiary^ — in May, prevention of swarming; 

 in October, preparation for winter. " No 

 country home is complete without a colony 

 or two " is a broad statement, but one of 

 which the backlotter and farm beekeeper 

 will realize the truth. 



For the general farmei' who wants sug- 

 gestions for beginning beekeeping along 

 with his monthly liints on fai'ming, garden- 

 ing, and stock raising, this work is designed. 

 " With painful recollections of the many 

 occasions on which tlie author has remem- 

 bered things to be done just too late to do 

 them, this book has been written with an 

 intent to help others in doing the right 

 thing at the right time." Not a treatise on 

 beekeeping, it would not instruct a special- 

 ist in beekeeping in anything he does not 

 know already. The notes on apiculture are 

 orthodox, however, Mr. Farrington being a 

 iiiemliei' uf tiie ciat't hisn.-^elf. 



