vm 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



705 



whole crop last vSeason to Chandler iSc Rudd, of 

 Cleveland, at an averap^e price of \5 cents per 

 quart, and this at a time when ordinary berries 

 were brin2;ing only from 8 to 10. To do this he 

 has carefully trained pickers. The berries are all 

 assorted; but he says the small quantity of cidls 

 cuts a very small figure. He sells those around 

 home for what he can get. Now, that two-acre 

 field was as free from weeds as the small patch in 

 your garden. If I am correct, the ground is well 

 underdrained. Besides this, I judged by the looks 

 of the creek that ran along adjoining the ground 

 that there is a gravelly subsoil there. This piece 

 of ground was originally too wet for strawberries 

 or for any thing else. Friend White had, at con- 

 siderable expense, had the stream straightened 

 and cut down low enough to get ample and per- 

 fect drainage for his strawberry-garden. In years 

 past he grew a great many red raspberries; but 

 now he has concentrated his attention on Gandy 

 strawberries and almost nothing else; in fact, he 

 said that one reason why so many of those nice- 

 looking chaflf hives had no bees in them at present 

 was because he was putting so much of his ener- 

 gy into the strawberries. There you see it again, 

 friends. Where a man settles right down on one 

 thing, and gives it his undivided attention, he is 

 enabled to astonish the neighbors and perhaps 

 the outside world with the possibilities along that 

 line, even if it should be so simple a thing as 

 strawberries, and just one perfect variety, the 

 Gandy. If I am correct, he has no other straw- 

 berry at present on his farm. 



I had planned to get back in time for the open- 

 ing of the conference; but letting the oil get out 

 hindered me nearly an hour; and letting the ma- 

 chine get almost redhot necessitated going to a 

 repair-shop. This took more time; but while I 

 was giving directions for repairs somebody put 

 his hand on my shoulder. It was my good friend 

 Charles McClave, proprietor of the Linwood 

 poultry-yard. Now let me digress a little: 



I have been many times greatly disappointed 

 when visiting poultry establishments. Yes, some 

 of them costing many thousands of dollars were 

 not, to my mind, pleasant to look at. I suppose 

 it is almost impossible to keep poultry-houses 

 tidy and attractive at all times. Chickens of all 

 ages are fearfully heedless and careless of appear- 

 ances. By the way, I am wondering if somebody 

 will not eventually give us a poultry-house that 

 will cost us so little we can afford to burn it up 

 every little while and get a new one; and I think 

 we might at least have hens' nests that we can 

 burn up say once a month or two, and get new 

 ones in their place. Well, perhaps poultry-Ziousfs 

 can not be kept as tidy as Mrs. Root keeps her 

 kitchen, for instance; but I am sure there is no 

 need of having pouhry-}>a>-ds destitute of every 

 thing green, and looking so untidy that you want 

 to get away from them as soon as possible. 



Now, keeping this in mind let me tell you that 

 the Linwood poultry-farm, containing 165 acres, 

 satisfied me in one respect at least. The numer- 

 ous yards were all covered with beautiful green 

 grass. The number of fowls, if I remember cor- 

 rectly, was not too great in any one yard to keep 

 the grass down. Now, this may be rather expen- 

 sive business; but Mr. McClave has, perhaps, 

 some of the highest-scoring birds in the world; 

 and his stock is worth so much money that it 



would be ridiculous to keep it in cramped cjuar- 

 ters. I was so much pleased with the grassy runs 

 that I wrote and asked him about it. Here is 

 what he says: 



The glass in our poultry-yards is blue grass and timothy mixed. 

 Regarding the number of fowls that can be kept on an acre, I 

 will state that, if well seeded before the fowls are penned, 1 

 think we could keep 100. It might be necessary to keep them 

 off early in the spring until the ground settles, as they dig it over 

 pretty thoroughly hunting angleworms, which would destroy the 

 grass. We have always endeavored to keep all our yard'; cover- 

 ed with grass at all times. It is much better for the fowls, ;ind 

 gives the yards a better appearance. Growing vegetation also 

 takes up any decomposed matter which may be scattered over the 

 ground. Chas. McClave. 



New London, Ohio, May i. 



I did not have time to look over all the different 

 breeds of fowls. I believe he endeavors to keep 

 almost every thing that is called for. What in- 

 terested me most just then was the ducks, geese, 

 and turkeys; and I confess I was not aware be- 

 fore that the wild geese and wild ducks of Amer- 

 ica were kept anywhere in a state of domestication. 

 I have all my life been curious in regard to the 

 wild geese that fly over our heads; and when we 

 went to the back part of the farm where he has 

 such a poultry-yard, comprising about forty acres 

 of timber kept mainly for this flock of wild geese, 

 I was delighted you may be sure. If these Amer- 

 ican wild geese are not the handsomest fowls in 

 the world they were to me just then the most in- 

 teresting. The yard is surrounded by a very 

 high wire fence, and the wild geese have the last 

 joint of one wing clipped off while they are young. 

 This prevents them from getting over the fence, 

 but in no way impairs their beauty. These 

 beautiful fowls, like the human family (or at 

 least most of our own race) object to polygamy. 

 Each gander chooses his own particular goose, 

 and, if I am correct, sticks to her through life. 

 I hope so, any way. When we came near them 

 the gander uttered a peculiar note of protest. I 

 did not understand the language, but I took it 

 that he and his good wife were not particularly 

 glad to see us. I think friend McClave says he 

 has kept wild geese for about thirty years. The 

 first one he got was wounded in the wing by a 

 hunter; then by advertising he found a mate for 

 this goose and succeeded in raising some goslings. 

 Then he advertised for wild geese caught alive, 

 and finally got quite a flock. He is buying and 

 selling wild geese all the time. Said I, " Now, 

 friend McClave, I want you to tell me how many 

 eggs these native wild geese and ducks lay, com- 

 pared with our modern improved breeds. Do 

 the wild fowls ever come anywhere near 200 eggs 

 a year.?" 



"Oh! no, no, Mr. Root; nothing like it. Why, 

 if I get two or more settings in a year from a pair 

 of wild geese I do exceedingly well. " 



In the first place, the goose lays only five or 

 six eggs when she wants to sit; and one has to be 

 extremely careful about meddling with the eggs 

 or nest, or the fowls will be frightened away and 

 the hatch be lost. 



"Just a few days ago some schoolchildren got 

 over where I keep my flock of wild geese," Mr. 

 M. continued, "and carried away seven eggs that 

 were about ready to hatch. Those eggs were 

 worth more than a dollar apiece to me, and yet 

 they were of no kind of use to those schoolchil- 

 dren." 



Perhaps I should add that that patch of forty 



