44 



GLEANINGS IN BEP: CULTURE. 



Jan 



whatever. It is true I did have some corres- 

 pondence with Walter Hogan, and I sent him 

 $10.00, telling him I could not sign any con- 

 tract. He returned the money, told me of 

 his misfortunes in disposing of his invention, 

 etc., and said he would like to have me test 

 his discovery. I then gave him my promise 

 not to divulge any thing he might submit to 

 me. He has, however, at this date, Dec. 18, 

 never submitted any thing; but one of our 

 subscribers sent me some time ago Hogan's 

 seven-page ($10.00) pamphlet which he pur- 

 chased for one dollar, and that, too, without 

 any promise to keep the secret. I have giv- 

 en you the above particulars lest any one 

 may accuse me of getting the "secrets" by 

 any dishonorable means. I procured the 

 $1.00 " Potter secret of selecting the laying 

 hens " by simply sending $1.00 for the little 

 pamphlet of 32 pages. I did not sign any 

 contract not to "divulge," but they wrote 

 my name in the contract with a tyjjewriter. 

 Had they put my name in with pen and ink 

 it would have been forgery. 



Now, friends, what do you think of this 

 whole business — taking $10.00 for a seven- 

 page printed pamphlet, and $1.00 for a 32- 

 page printed pamphlet, and extorting a 

 "promise not to tell"? According to their 

 printed claims they have taken hundreds if 

 not thoiisands of dollars from poor hard- 

 working poultry men (and women), for these 

 celebrated secrets. Is it honorable, and is it 

 in keeping with the spirit of the times, with 

 the usual mode, let us say, of giving and re- 

 ceiving knowledge? 



THE GREAT SECRETS. 



I say secrets, for both are one and the same 

 thing, and I have no means of knowing who 

 is the real inventor — Hogan or the Potter 

 folks. More than 50 years ago, when a boy, 

 I discovered I could tell by taking my "pet 

 biddies" off the roost, the night before, 

 which hens would lay an egg next day, by 

 placing my fingers between the pelvic bones. 

 The egg is often, if not always, so near per- 

 fect that it can be plainly felt, and these pel- 

 vic bones are at such times more or less 

 widely separated. All Hogan or Potter claims 

 to have discovered is that all great layers 

 have space enough between these pelvic bones 

 to allow three fingers to drop into the space. 



All moderate layers will permit only two 

 fingers; and where there is space for only one 

 finger, the hen or pullet is not laying at all, 

 and sometimes has never laid an egg, and 

 probably never will. In a flock of 70 hens, 

 three or four were found, we are told, that 

 never Md and never would lay an egg. The 

 stupid farmer (and, very likely, poultryman, 

 that thoughthe was up-to-date) bought grain 

 for such hens, and kept them year after year, 

 while he just threw away his money, or his 

 corn and wheat, which amounts to the same 

 thing. One large establishment in New York 

 State, that I visited, tested their hens, by put- 

 ting four in a pen. If they got four eggs a 

 day, of course all four were laying hens. 

 Trap-nests sort out the consumers and pro- 

 ducers, to be sure, and make a sure thing of 



it; but Hogan and Putter claim their secret 

 does in a few hours what would require days 

 and weeks of hard work. No doubt these 

 inventions are valuable; but why in the 

 world have we not, among all our poultry- 

 journals, one with enough enterprise to get 

 hold of this whole business, and discuss it 

 openly, instead of letting these fellows pa- 

 rade and "peddle " their secrets as they have 

 been doing year after year since 1904? There 

 is a lot of other similar work still going on in 

 the poultry business; for instance, asking 

 enough money to buy a good-sized poultry 

 book, for something printed on a slip of pa- 

 per but little larger than a postal, or possi- 

 bly a two or four page leaflet. 



The beautiful catalogs now being sent out 

 by the manufacturers of incubators and 

 brooders contain a vast deal more informa- 

 tion, free of charge, than you get from these 

 chaps that take fifty cents or a dollar for a 

 printed leaflet that costs them only a fraction 

 of a cent. Of course, it is right and proper 

 to get something for your inventions; but 

 when you ask and take a dollar, give in re- 

 turn a decent-sized book that gives a lot of 

 other valuable information. 



CHICKENS WITHOUT A' BROODER; NOT ONLY IN 

 FLORIDA BUT AWAY UP IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



Mr. A. I. Jioot:—! have read your Home paper in 

 Gleanings for March 15, aod I am going to offer 

 you a suggestion from my long experience with poul- 

 try. I have raised hundreds of chickens with no oth- 

 er brooder than a common stone jug filled with hot 

 water. I put the jug in an ordinary shoe-case, which 

 I can buy for 10 cents here; put sand in the bottom of 

 the box, and cover over the box a thickness of burlap, 

 usually a bran-sack ripped open. Such a brooder will 

 mother about 25 to 30 chicks. Sometimes I wrap bur- 

 lap or old flannel around the jug and use the water a 

 little hotter if the night is cold. 



Our incubator holds 360 eggs, and this is the only 

 brooder I ever use. I think it would beat a flatiron, 

 even in Osprey, Pla. Mrs. Susie A. Hyde. 



Canaan, N. H. 



MY STRAIN OF WHITE LEGHORNS H GAME. 



Frier, d Root:— You will notice (in the lot of poultry 

 we are sending you) one old hen clucking. She would 

 slip into the house and lay behind the front door; then 

 she wanted to sit, and begged so hard tbat " Em " 

 says, "Old lady, if you ivill sit, I want you to spread 

 yourself," and gave her 20 eggs, and she hatched 'M 

 chicks, 19 white. They are about like half-grown 

 quails, rather small to wean. I send you 21 young 

 hens and one young rooster besides the six old ones. 



Osprey, Tex,. Nov. 20. I. T. Shumard. 



The above report is from friend Shumard, 

 as he sent my chickens up here to Braiden- 

 town. If they continue to hatch 20 chickens 

 from 20 eggs I shall be very glad. 



A REMEDY FOR " GRIP; " GODS MEDICINES, ETC. 



Mr. A. I. iZooi.'— I have often thought of writing you 

 a personal letter when reading your Home talks, as I 

 enjoy them so much. 



I have all my life worked outdoors, and have slept 

 in one of those log cabins where it was ventilated in 

 spite of us. I have had very small doctor's bills. I 

 believe ten dollars would pay every particle of doctor 

 and drug bills for the past ten years. I generally trap 

 in winter and have often waded the stream when the 

 ground was covered with snow. It's better for grip 

 than hot tea or ginger stew and whisky. 



Rocky Mount, Va. J. B. Overfelt. 



