13S 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



lets. Somehow or other, I got into the 

 way of reasoning that the male bird didn't 

 tiy to serve any more than the pullets that 

 were laying. He is very quick to single out 

 a hen that laid an egg and serve her; but 

 does he seixe or undertake to serve the 

 others that don't lay at all — that is, where 

 he has a yard full of pullets'? I have hunt- 

 ed the poultry journals for years in regard 

 to this, but have never been^ble to find a 

 single thing touching the subject. Some of 

 you may remember that I paid one dollar 

 for a secret for getting strong fertility. The 

 seci-et was this : Fix your nests or gate so 

 that, when a hen has laid an egg, she wiU 

 go into the yard where the male bird is 

 confined; and as he, as a matter of course, 

 serves her promptly as soon as she comes 

 into his " harem," you would naturally sup- 

 pose that the eggs would be all fertile. 

 Now, this secret seemed to take the ground 

 that the male bird serves only the laying 

 hens. Well, my first hatch from the incu- 

 bator that holds Mtj eggs was only thirty 

 eggs fertile. Thinking the trouble was be- 

 cause moulting was so near, I tried it again, 

 putting in sixty eggs* for the first five days 

 until testing time. Although the hens were 

 mostly over their moult this time, I got only 

 thirty fertile eggs from sixty. As I can't 

 stand this sort of work I divided my hens 

 into two yards, and have put a brisk young 

 ButtercuiD rooster in the other half, and we 

 expect better fertility accordingly. 



I want to repeat again that I do not 

 believe artificial heat is needed here in our 

 Florida climate for brooders. Fireless brood- 

 ers properly arranged are certainly all that 

 can be needed for twenty-five or more 

 chicks. I have taken two broods this winter 

 right out of our hot incubator, of course 

 keeping them there about twenty-four hours 

 after they were hatched, and put them di- 

 rectly in the fireless brooderf The second 

 day they would be out running in their ht- 

 tle yard, and scratching the bran and sand 

 with which the ground was covered. The 

 next day they were climbing over the sides of 

 the yard and rambling all over the brooder- 

 house. I have repeatedly proved to my sat- 

 isfaction that artificial heat has a debilitat- 

 ing effect upon the j'oung chicks when they 



* Perhaps I should explain again how I get sixty 

 eggs in a fifty-egg incuhator. I do it by standing 

 them on the small end for the first three days. With 

 our bright Florida sunshine I can test them quite 

 easily at three days, and Mi-s. Root now agrees that 

 such eggs, as a rule at least, are just as good as any 

 three-day-old eggs for any purpose whatever; but, 

 of course, we never sell them. Since dictating the 

 above I have made two yards of my 50 hens, with 

 a good male in each, and now I get about 50 fertiles 

 out of the 60 eggs. The mother duck with her twelve 

 ducklings flies over the two-foot fence every day, 

 takes a swim in the canal, then comes back, and it 

 a " model mother." even if sh* it an I. R. duck. 



are able to get along without it. The con- 

 vergent poultrj'-j-ards are proving such a 

 wonderful convenience I wonder how it is 

 that people who keep poultry have been so 

 long without thinking or discovering or get- 

 ting on to this short cut in the management 

 of poultry and poultry-houses. Think of 

 having the poultry-houses scattered over 

 four or five acres where they can just as 

 well be all in one convergent yard! When 

 the little chicks gTow, you can let them out 

 further and further, finally giving them the 

 whole range as far as the fences go. Just 

 now we are building the fences out only as 

 far as the chickens seem to run. As they 

 grow older we build the fences a little 

 further — no cross-fences from one side to 

 the other at all. In this way they can have 

 almost unlimited range, and yet all the 

 feeding and caring for them is done at one 

 central spot. They are all shut up at night 

 in no time at all, compared with the old 

 plan of chasing all around to so many dif- 

 ferent houses. This inner court where we 

 keep our grain and all our utensils is shut 

 up so that it is almost an impossibility for 

 a rat ever to gain access. There are no 

 mice here; but I am sure it would be an 

 easy matter to fence out mice with compar- 

 atively little expense in the far North if 

 this plan is followed. By the aid of a wind- 

 mill we have driiDping water and suitable 

 vessels between every two j^ards, so that the 

 water takes care of itself comparatively. 

 When the watering-dishes need to be wash- 

 ed out it can be done very quickly, as they 

 are all right at hand, and easily pulled out 

 of place. 



INSURANCE COMPANIES AGAINST THE DEINK HABIT. 



Insurance companies in Great Britain, America, 

 Sweden, Norway, and Germany are discriminating 

 against those who drink, even in moderation. The 

 insurance companies in Germany have issued leaf- 

 lets and posters showing the detrimental effects of 

 alcohol on the human body. Many insurance com- 

 panies place total abstainers in a separate dirision, 

 insuring their lives on cheaper rates. It is mani- 

 festly unjust to require that total abstainers shall 

 pay higher insurance rates on account of the lossei 

 caused by the drinkers insured by the same com- 

 pany. The discovery of science, that alcohol is a 

 life-destroyer, is arousing many who heretofore have 

 been uninterested in the temperance problem. — Un- 

 ion Signal. 



Editor American Issue: — Some things you can 

 send through the mail by parcel post are: Eggs, but- 

 ter, meat, medicine, fruit-trees, oils, ink, candy, 

 milk, or queen bees. Some things you can not send : 

 Obscene literature, poison, snakes, explosives, infer- 

 nal machines, pistols, disease germs, or intoxicating 

 liquors of any kind. At last the government has 

 made a wise and proper distinction. They are all of 

 a kind. L. R. H. 



I wonder if L. R. H. isn't a beekeeper. 

 Sounds like it. — A. I. R. 



