396 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



the combs from one hive to the other for the 

 purpose of equalizing the strength of the col- 

 ony, supplying stores, or the giving of brood 

 for queen-rearing. On the other hand, it is 

 generally considered that bees in box hives, 

 when they once get the disease, are a much 

 more fruitful source of infection than those 

 in modern hives. In some States the foul- 

 brood laws make it a misdemeanor to allow 

 any bees to exist in box hives, and the in- 

 spectors are therefore given authority to or- 

 der all owners of such hives to transfer the 

 bees out of them into modern hives where he 

 can easily look the combs over and see 

 whether the disease may or may not be pres- 

 ent. — Ed.] 



ItOMLS 



'*^^ iyA.I.R0Or 



And the Lord God foftned man of the dust of the 

 pround. and breathed into his nostrils the breath of 

 life; and man became a living soul.— Gbn. 2:7. 



I have just made another great discovery. 

 To be honest, however, it isn't exactly a "dis- 

 covery, " because it isn't neiv; and it isn't m?/ 

 discovery exactly, either; notwithstanding, it 

 is going to be of wonderful benefit to all 

 mankind. It is about chickens and folks 

 and fresh air — not only fresh pure air, but 

 cool fresh air, or cold fresh air, perhaps 



While we grant that "folks and chickens " 

 often suffer from exposure to cold, or from 

 "getting chilled," as we term it, my discov- 

 ery i.s that the right and proper way to warm 

 up a chilled animal is not to take him (or it) 

 into a warmed-up apartment, where he must 

 from the very nature of things breathe the 

 same air over and over again. When winter 

 (^omes we all get to work to shut out the cold 

 by closing all doors and windows, and even 

 making all the cracks and crevices as nearly 

 air-tight as we can. The high priced and 

 fashionable hotels up north have storm-doors 

 and double-sash windows, so as to save the 

 fuel-bill; and if anybody objects to the ven- 

 tilation he is pronounced a crank. 



The old-fashioned fireplaces, and lately 

 even the stoves, are crowded out to give 

 pi ace to radiators warmed by steam or hot 

 water, or hot-air furnaces. No wonder the 

 doctors are "kept busy." Some of them are 

 keptpre^<2/ busy in hunting up names for the 

 new maladies, like grip, appendicitis, etc. 



Well, for some time I have been wonder- 

 ing why God has recently put it into my 

 heart to have such a wonderful love for 

 studying all about ch'ckens, especially 

 "baby" chickens. My sister, Mrs. Gray, 

 who has from the first been a leader in the 

 W. C. T. U. movement, said last winter she 

 almost lost patience with me because I used 

 my privilege of talking to great masses of 

 people all over the world in talking so much 



about chickens — common every-day chickens 

 that everybody knows all about, or very 

 much about. When I got to the chapter 

 about "Fighting Mothers," however, she 

 owned up I had made a big moral.* 



Well, as soon as I reached this land of per- 

 petual summer once more, the fever for 

 chickens came back, and I have made two 

 hatches with my two small incubators. I 

 have told you about the first and the 70 

 chickens I gave to my one hen, the original 

 "fighting mother." This hen had com- 

 menced to sit in a barrel laid on its side, and 

 this barrel enabled the 70 to mass themselves 

 around her and over her back in a way to 

 economize heat to very good advantage. 

 When night came, Mrs. Root and I were out 

 in front of the barrel with a good light to 

 see how she was going to manage with her 

 remarkable brood, and this is what we saw. 

 Dainty little heads with the cutest bright 

 eyes were sticking out between her feathers 

 all over her body, as it seemed. First they 

 wanted animal heat for their little bodies, 

 and next they wanted good pure cool air for 

 their little lungs. A little later (when a day 

 or two older) they spi'ead themselves out in 

 front of and all around her in a way that 

 was a sight to see; and when a cold night 

 came I discovered that they slowly changed 

 places, very much the same way that a clus- 

 ter of bees does in winter time. The fresh 

 air they must have, as well as warmth. As 

 skunks and other prowlers were about, a 

 wide board was set up in front of the barrel 

 nights; but I soon found this was too close, 

 so I replaced the board with poultry netting, 

 and this did for a while; but in a few days 

 more the 70 were clear up against the net- 

 ting, and the hot and bad-smelling air ad- 

 monished me the barrel must be changed for 

 more airy quarters. A little house 4x4 feet 

 with inch-mesh netting on two sides now 

 keeps out the "varmints" and gives the 

 chicks air when they are nearly five weeks 

 old; but the most of them prefer little perch- 

 es a few inches above the ground. They 

 were weaned when a little over three weeks 

 old, and their fighting mother very soon 

 commenced to lay again. 



These 70 chicks and the mother hen have 

 explained to me, as clearly as words can tell, 

 that, while these little bodies must be kept 

 warm, the little heads need to be kept out in 

 the cool air. Of course, chickens will live 

 (Some of them) if kept in a warm room where 

 they must breathe warm air, and breathe the 

 same air over and over again, and in the 

 same way people may live to a good old age 

 (some of them) where they sleep in rooms 

 with the doors and windows shut, breathing 

 the same air over a7id over again; but nature 



* A few days ago it was my privilege to listen to an 

 open-air talk here in Bradentown by Mrs. Carrie Na- 

 tion, and she had quite a chapter in her address on 

 "Fighting Mothers." Although she had never heard 

 of me or my chicken stories, you would almost think 

 that she had l-orrowed from me or I from her talk. 

 Well, welll This only illustrates once more how 

 "great minds (aheml) run in parallel channels." 

 Perhaps I should add that, even if she did make lots of 

 people mad, especially the cigaret and tobacco users, 

 the great crowd gave her quite a generous collection. 



