1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



688 



you can have the spout removed and the 

 opening closed up. But you may decide it 

 will be oetter to have a kettle or tank made 

 at the tin shop on purpose. If the tank 

 or kettle is made slightly sloping you can 

 have three or more of these wooden bowls, 

 each bowl forming a shelf to support the 

 eggs. 



If you have a second or third shelf, of 

 course something will be required to close 

 up the openings between the bottom shelf 

 and the top one. You can use for this a cloth- 

 covered tube made as follows: Get a piece 

 of heavy galvanized wire cloth, say of '4^-inch 

 mesh— the kind that is galvanized after the 

 netting is made. Have this piece just long 

 enough to reach clear around the wooden 

 bowls, and wide enough to go between the 

 top and bottom wooden bowls. Now cover 

 it on both sides with cotton flannel. In or- 

 der to protect the rough edges of the wire 

 cloth, sew a folded tape clear around the 

 edges on all sides. Now roll this up so as to 

 make a hollow tube that will just slip over 

 our "wooden-bowl incubator." Of course, 

 the width should be just the distance from 

 the lower bowl to the edge of the top one 

 that forms the cover. Have some little brass 

 hooks sewed on the edges so as to hook up 

 the cover when in place. The two thick- 

 nesses of flannel will confine the heat, but 

 yet allow sufficient ventilation for the eggs. 

 It is on the principle of the cloth curtain for 

 poultry-houses, as you may remember. 



No sponges, wet sand, nor any thing else 

 is needed to insure a moist atmosphere with 

 this arrangement; for the tea-kettle with the 

 cover off will be giving off vapor more or 

 less all the time. If there seems to be too 

 much moisture, narrow the opening of the 

 kettle down to a very small orifice. At the 

 present writing I have not determined 

 whether this open boiler affords too much 

 moisture or not; but if it does, it can be rem- 

 edied with very little trouble. I expect to 

 give you a picture of my home-made incu- 

 bator in our next issue. 



The principal objection that has been made 

 to my invention is the time occupied (three 

 times each day) in swapping the eggs; but if 

 you look into the matter a little you may de- 

 cide (as I have) that this incubator does not 

 take more time or skill than the best incu- 

 bators on the market. I have just written 

 the Cyphers Co. (and they are probably the 

 most extensive manufacturers of incubators 

 in the world 1, and they have given me their 

 latest instructions in regard to operating their 

 incubators. You may remember I have a 

 ('yphers incubator which I expect to use this 

 winter in my Florida home. VVell, below are 

 their instructions in regard to turning and 

 cooling, clear up to the present date: 



The method for operating as used on the Cyi)hers 

 Company's farm may help you. We run the tempera- 

 ture at about 103 degrees up until hatching time, then 

 increase to 104 and 105. Commence turning the eggs 

 on the second day, turning night and morning. Com- 

 mence cooling the eggs on the fourth day by remov- 

 ing the eggs from the machine and allowing them to 

 remain out until they feel cold when placed to the 

 eyelid. Turn and cool each day up until the eighteenth 



day; then close the machine and leave closed until the 

 hatch is completed. Cyphers Incubator Co. 



Buffalo, N. Y., Oct. 16. 



Now please notice in the above that the 

 egg-tray or trays are to be removed from 

 the machine. It it is hot weather it may take 

 fully half an hour for the eggs to cool off as 

 described above. Please consider that you 

 must not go far away from the eggs, and you 

 must keep it on your mind. I do not know 

 how many have told me that they had for- 

 gotten to put the eggs back, and left them 

 till the aiternoon, or pretty nearly all day, 

 and I have done the same thing myself. If 

 you go to work at something else, like 

 myself, you will be pretty sure to forget all 

 about the incubator. Now, with my discov- 

 eries you finish up your incubator and go 

 away and leave it for eight hours, and it 

 takes you only a very few minutes to do all 

 that needs to be done. 



BUTTERCUP CHICKS HATCHED IN THE FALL; CROSSING 

 DIFFERENT BREEDS, ETC. 



Mr. Root:— I note what you say about the Butter- 

 cups. I noticed that advertisement in the Rural my- 

 self, and wondered why it was allowed there. Can- 

 didly, I can not believe it is so. The " 200 hen" is yet 

 too uncommon to take much stock in the 300 one, even 

 if it were only an individual hen; but when such 

 claims are made, not for an individual, but for a whole 

 breed, I simply do not believe it. At the same time, I 

 do not think the test you are making is a fair one to 

 the Buttercups or any other breed. In August the 

 hens are usually not in good condition to produce 

 eggs that will hatch good chicks, nor is the season a 

 good one to try to raise little chicks; so for these rea- 

 sons I am sorry that your test was not made in the 

 spring, when nature would be more willing or able to 

 help you along. My experience with summer chicks, 

 both in New York and California, is that they never 

 equal the chick hatched in the normal breeding sea- 

 son. Speaking for myself, I would not give two cents 

 each for chicks hatched now. 



Getting back to the laying qualities of hens, the Rev. 

 Edgar Warren, of New Hampshire, author of "Two 

 Hundred Eggs per Hen," says that he has developed 

 his phenomenal laying White Wyandottes by an infu- 

 sion of 12)2 per cent of White Leghorn blood, using 

 the Rose Comb White Leghorn. He says this is a most 

 valuable discovery, but he gives it free — no secrets. 

 See also the article about cross-bred poultry in the Ru- 

 ral of last week. My own experience is the same. I 

 used pure-bred Black Minorcas with pure-bred Black 

 Langshans, and had a most handsome fowl as well as 

 a phenomenal layer. I also used a Houdan cockerel 

 with a high-grade Plymouth Rock, and again produced 

 a fine layer, also one of good size. The result in the 

 Houdan cross was quite curious. Every male in the 

 lot showed Plymouth Rock barring, and little if any of 

 the Houdan crest, while every one of the pullets was 

 jet black, with quite a nice crest, and most of them 

 had five toes, from their Houdan father. I am firmly 

 convinced that the first cross of two pure-bred breeds 

 of poultry of similar color will prove better layers, and 

 be much more hardy, than either of the parents. 



I hope you will get something good for your four dol- 

 lars, and shall watch the result, but shall not not be 

 at all disappointed if they fail to mature well or show 

 lack of stamina; and I am quite positive that the 300- 

 egg hen, as a breed, is yet to be created, and that the 

 individual is as rare as 'to use a small boy's expres- 

 sion' a Chinaman with whiskers. 



South Berkeley, Cal., Sept. 23. W. H. Pearson. 



Friend P., I too have objected to that ex- 

 pression, "a300-egg hen." I do not believe 

 there is such a hen on earth, and very much 

 doubt if there ever will be; and I do not 

 think that that advertisement was intended 

 to convey the idea that the Buttercups would 

 lay 300 eggs in a year. It was a kind of ex- 

 travagant expression that is altogether too 

 common among poultry advertisers. From 



