770 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



I could talk chicken all day, for I dearly love to work among 

 them. The only pan of the business that I do not like is having 

 them killed. It does not seem right to kill the pretty gentle 

 creatures, and it always makes me uncomfortable. I should 

 like to know the actual percentage of eggs hatched in incuba- 

 tors at the Bloom establishment very early in the season, and 

 whether their incubators are heated with hot water or air. Un- 

 fortunately, in most of the advertisements for incubators, excep- 

 tional hatches are made the basis for their claims, and naturally 

 the numerous failures are unmenlioned; and it is a satisfaction 

 to have, if possible, authentic reports direct from such a business 

 as you describe. I think there should always be a cover over 

 their heads, which gives them the sense of seclusion they love. 

 In all classes of live stock, over-stimulation in any direction 

 brings a corresponding reaction, and often results in disaster. 

 My cows are out every day in winter. I have healthy lively 

 calves to sell for breeding, at good prices; and if, instead of the 

 interminable discussions in regard to tuberculosis, the farm 

 journals would all preach " fresh air, fresh air, fresh air," and 

 exercise for all domestic animals, there would certainly be less 

 disease, and city people could drink a glass of milk without a 

 shudder. Probably after a while they will be afraid to eat fresh 

 eggs, but so far there is no trouble on that score. This free open- 

 air life has been the salvation of my physical health, and my 

 sister Louise wishes you could have some of the beautiful spring 

 water near here, which has been a powerful factor in my recov- 

 ery. Mrs. Stephen Walker. 

 Williamsville, N. Y., Mav 7. 



SPROUTED OATS; MORE ABOUT IT. 



We clip the following from Commercial Poultry 

 for May: 



Hens will lay as well, and perhaps better, when kept in con- 

 finement than when on free range, if all their requirements are 

 met; but if they are restricted to one or two kinds of grain, with 

 no meat, grit, dust bath, shells, or exercise, and poor water, their 

 product'on will be small. Green food must be supplied them, 

 and this can be grown, as mentioned above, or it can be served 

 in the form of sprouted grains, which are highly esteemed as an 

 egg-producing food. 



More than twenty years ago the value of sprouted grain was 

 recogn zed by a few, and the process of preparing it published in 

 the agricultural and poultry papers; but owing to the work in- 

 volved it never became popular. Some years ago the Reliable 

 Poultry Journal published an account of the method employed in 

 Ireland — how they sprouted oats in boxes for the growing stock. 

 This method was hooted at by some of our leading poultry-keep- 

 ers who are now feeding sprouted grain to hens in confinement, 

 and some even assert that it can be made the principal feed. 

 That it does solve the question of green food, and makes it possi- 

 ble to keep poultry in more limited quarters than ever before, 

 there can be no doubt. 



Some place great stress on the cheapness of this feed, as a 

 bushel of grain, especially oats, when sprouted, will increase in 

 bulk and make four bushels; thus a bushel of oats costing sixty 

 cents will make four bushels of feed, the cost being but fifteen 

 cents per bushel. It is not, however, a cheap feed: it requires 

 considerable labor to prepare. The increase is not as great as 

 where the grain is sown in the ground, neither is there as much 

 space required; but the labor to sprout a single bushel of oats is 

 as great as to sow and harvest the same. 



Grain can be sprouted in almost any place where it will not 

 freeze. The warmer the place the better. In winter a warm 

 cellar or workroom can be used; and in summer, if no better place 

 affords, it can be done out of doors. It is best to have racks for 

 this purpose. A frame of lx3-inch stuff, set edgewise, 4x4 feet, 

 with a partition in the center, is first made. To this frame se- 

 curely nail lath, placing them from Vi to K inch apart. This 

 makes a box 4x4 feet, three inches deep, with a slatted bottom 

 and a partition in the middle. The center partition is only for 

 the purpose of strengthening the lath. The lath should be soaked 

 in water over night so they will not split when nailing. The 

 number of these racks required will, of course, depend on the 

 number of fowls to be fed. 



Place the grain to be sprouted in a tub and cover with water 

 (warm water is best) and allow it to soak for twenty-four hours. 

 Pour off the water and let them drain for half a day, then cover 

 the racks with old bran-sacking, single thickness, and spread the 

 grain upon them to the depth of about two inches. If space is 

 limited, the racks can be piled one upon another; and if out of 

 doors a cover should be made for them that will turn rain. Night 

 and morning the racks are taken down and the grain sprinkled 

 with hot water, the hotter the better, using a hand watering-pot 

 or spray-pump. The racks can then be replaced. It does not 

 matter if the water in the upper racks drains down into those be- 

 neath, as it will all nin of? in time. In from ten days to two 

 weeks, depending on the temperature, they will be ready to feed. 

 When in proper condition for feeding, the sod will be three or 

 four inches thick, and the growth of green food on top of this, 

 four to six inches high. When feeding, give a block about a 

 foot square to fifty hens.. Each rack holds about a bushel and a 

 half of grain before sprouting, and will make sixteen feeds for 



fifty hens. It will answer the purpose of one grain feed and 

 green food. With a block of this fetd in the morning, corn and 

 wheat at night, and a mash meal, grit, shells, and beef scrap in 

 hoppers where the hens can supply any deficiency, a good, simple, 

 and inexpensive ration is served. 



I do not quite agree in regard to the expense of 

 these sprouted oats. Where facilities are at hand, 

 say on a farm, and land is cheap, it is, no doubt, 

 a better way to sow oats every few days in the 

 open ground, and let the chickens dig them out; 

 but sprouting them in crates can be done eve- 

 nings or during bad weather; and it can all be 

 done in the cellar or in any out-building during 

 warm weather. Where hens must be kept in 

 confinement, sprouted grains are, without ques- 

 tion, the thing to keep up a properly " balanced 

 ration." 



After the above was dictated I found the fol- 

 lowing in the Rural Ne^uo -Yorker for May 23: 



SPROUTED OATS FOR CHICKS. 



A recent issue of ihe Rural New-Vorier g^ve Mr. Cosgrove's 

 method of supplying hens with green food in winter. We get an 

 ample supply at a minimum cost from sprouted oats. A furnace 

 in the cellar or other warm place is necessary for the operation in 

 winter; we expect to continue it this summer out of doors. The 

 oats are placed in a water-tight vessel and covered with warm 

 water, and allowed to stand 24 hours, when they are emptied in 

 a box that will allow the water to drain off freely.. Oats are left 

 in this box, and wetted twice a day with warm water until the 

 oats have sprouts a quarter of an inch long, when they are spread 

 in boxes about one inch deep. The sprinkling is continued un- 

 til the oats are as large as you desire. We usually use them when 

 four or five inches high. The hen will eat the roots as well as 

 the tops. With a temperature of 60 degrees, ten days will bring 

 this result; so after the first start this green feed can be provided 

 for each day. Chicks will eat the oats when a week old, and 

 leave all other feeds for them. As the fowls all prefer the oats to 

 green clippings of fresh-cut lawn grass, I shall continue the feed- 

 ing of sprouted oats all summer. Since using this method of get- 

 ting green food I learn that this information is being sold as a 

 secret for $5. As we were using this method before we heard of 

 our friend with the $5 secret, we feel free to offer it to your readers, 

 having obtained the idea from the Chinese in San Francisco in 

 1870. The green color can be given to the oats by one day's ex- 

 posure to the light. They grow as freely in the dark, and the 

 boxes can be stacked over each other if short of room. I believe 

 this to be the cheapest green food that can be given in the win 

 ter. Jesse B. Upson. 



Illinois. 



Some of the friends may think I am giving a 

 large amount of space in a bee journal to this 

 matter of sprouted grains; but after you have 

 once made a test of it you will find it is well 

 worth attention. It just occurs to me that the 

 man alluded to, with his $5.00 secret, has done 

 the world a considerable service after all, even if 

 the thing was not entirely new when he brought 

 it out, for he with his persistent advertising gave 

 it a wide publicity that it might not have had 

 otherwise. 



THE FIRELESS BROODER A SUCCESS IN UTAH. 



I am using the fireless brooder, and like it far 

 better than the ones used with artificial heat. 



H. A. PiNECAR. 



Wellington, Utah, May 12. 



TWO INTERESTING BULLETINS. 



The United States Department of Agriculture 

 has just issued two bulletins which are of interest 

 to many bee-keepers. One (323) is entitled 

 "Clover Farming on the Sandy Jack-pine Lands 

 of the North." The other (No. 325) is "Small 

 Farms in the Corn Belt." We think both bul- 

 letins are free. Apply to the Superintendent of 

 Documents, Washington, D. C. w. k. m. 



