750 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Dec. 1 



POULTRY 

 DEPARTMENT 



By a. I. Root. 



THE "NOVICE "*" SIMPLTCITY " INCUBATOR. 

 SEE PAGE 740. 



Some thirty or forty years ago, when there 

 was no end of patent bee-hives with State 

 and county rights for sale, I announced that 

 no patents were wanted on a bee-hive — that 

 all that was needed was a simple box with- 

 out top or bottom, so several of them could 

 be tiered up one above another according to 

 the size of the colony or according to the 

 yield of honey; and that the whole crop of 

 honey, especially where the extractor is used, 

 could be thus tiered up until the end of the 

 season, getting not only a larger quantity 

 but a very much better quality. This hive I 

 called the "Simplicity," and I said it should 

 not cost, frames and all, more than a dollar 

 per story; and I think I said then that the 

 time would come when the hives the world 

 over would be made after this pattern. I 

 leave it to you to decide how far this has 

 proved true. In view of the wintering prob- 

 lem I did, however, advise the chaff hive 

 (with permanent bottom) for winter. 



Well, friends, here in my old age I am just 

 about announcing the advent of the "Sim- 

 plicity" incubator for the poultry business. 

 I shall have to give it to you to-day, however, 

 in a crude state, for it is not yet worked out; 

 but I believe I have struck on the general 

 principles of what is needed in an incubator. 

 I suppose the old experts will laugh at my 

 folly. Well, the expert bee-keepers of forty 

 years ago, especially those who owned pat- 

 ents on certain hives, tried to laugh down 

 my Simplicity "dollar" bee-hives — simply 

 an open box that you could look right through 

 or slip over your head. I have thought best to 

 submit to you this Simplicity incubator a 

 good deal for the fun of it. It will probably 

 set incubator men to thinking, even if it does 

 not do any thing more. If you will turn back 

 to page 681, Nov. 1, you will see what started 

 this innovation in the way of incubators. 



Fig. 1 gives you a glimpse of the machine 

 just as I have been using it. The pretty lit- 

 tle fixture looking something like a lamp- 

 shade on the pavement beside the incubator 

 is one of the shelves that hold the eggs, and 

 which will be explained further on. 



Fig. 2 shows the incubator with the top 

 find outside cover removed. This outside 

 'overing is made of a piece of galvanized 

 hilf-inch mesh wire cloth, covered on both 

 sides with Canton flannel, with strips of tape 

 doubled and sewed over the edges clear 

 around. Fig. 3 shows the same with the 

 shelves also removed. 



*At the time I suggested and invented the Simplicity 

 bee-hive I signed myself "Novice" because I was at 

 that time a veritable novice in bee culture; and I sup- 

 pose I might truthfully subscribe myself just now a 

 novice in incubators, for it is not very long since I be- 

 i'.an experimenting with them. 



In order to explain the construction I will 

 remark that the hot-water can that takes the 

 place of the tea-kettle in my former descrip- 

 tion is made of a sheet of the best quality of 

 roofing tin, size 20x28. Cut off a strip 7 

 inches wide so as to leave the larger piece 

 13x28. Have the tinner roll this up in the 

 shape of a can or pail. This can will be 13 

 inches high and about 8>^ inches in diameter. 

 Now, this is to have a bottom so it will hold 

 water. But a two-inch tube is soldered into 

 the center of the bottom, running clear up 

 through, as you see in cut No. 3. This is for 

 the lamp-chimney. A damper is put in the 

 top that you can open and close to regulate 

 the heat. On one side of this chimney there 

 is a little cup with a hole in the bottom to 

 hold the thermometer. On the side opposite 

 the thermometer is a can with a screw cap. 

 This is for filling up the apparatus with 

 water. 



Now, in this machine I am using there is a 

 covering to our water-reservoir, permitting 

 this chimney to go up through said cover. 

 This cover is about three inches below the 

 top edge of the can. Now, I have not de- 

 cided whether such a cover is needed or not. 

 With the temperature kept up from 100 to 

 114 or 115 there will be considerable evapo- 

 ration. Should there be too much evapora- 

 tion for the benefit of the egg, this top will 

 need to be closed more or less. My opinion 

 is, however, that it does not matter so very 

 much provided the eggs are not subjected to 

 a dry heat that enlarges the air-bubble in 

 the egg too rapidly. I know only this : The 

 machine does hatch nice strong chickens 

 just as I am using it. 



Now, this tin can, as I have described it, is 

 fastened by screws to a base-board made by 

 crossing the grain of the lumber so as to pre- 

 vent warping. This base-board stands on 

 legs to accommodate the lamp underneath. 

 This lamp is made of the strip of roofing-tin 

 cut off when we first started. The lamp is 

 2 inches high and Sj^ inches in diameter. 

 This will hold three pints of oil; and if you 

 use Pratt's Astral water-white oil, such as I 

 purchase of the Standard Oil Co., one lamp- 

 ful of oil will hatch your eggs; and if you 

 get this grade of oil made specially for the 

 incubator you need not trim the wick nor 

 even turn it up and down during the whole 

 hatch. Just now it is a wonder to me that 

 all incubator manufacturers do not insist on 

 having their incubators run with this grade 

 of oil. Why, I have fussed and bothered 

 with the smoking sooty incubator lamps for 

 four winters, and probably lost many chick- 

 ens just because I did not invest a few cents 

 more in a kind of oil that would not gum up 

 the wick. You can not get it in your com- 

 mon stores and groceries; and I did not suc- 

 ceed in finding any in Tampa, Florida; but I 

 did get a barrel of it from the Standard Oil 

 Co. in Jacksonville, Florida, and this compa- 

 ny, I think, can furnish it at any of its depots. 

 If I have not done any thing else in my ex- 

 periments with incubators I have certainly 

 discovered that it does not pay to be worried 

 and vexed with the cheap oil commonly used; 



