324 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Thus the ducks are not only watered, but 

 they have water to wash off and swim in, 

 and at the same time they have an open 

 grateway where they pass at pleasure, but 

 not a chicken can follow. 



Later. — Since the above was dictated, the 

 chickens learned, after all, to wade in pret- 

 ty deep water; but the ducks had also 

 learned the trick of diving, and we have 

 lowered the fence until it almost touches 

 the water; this, wliile quite agreeable to the 

 ducks, proves a " dead open and shut " on 

 the chickens. 



GREASING THE ROOSTS, FLOORS, ETC., TO KEEP 

 OUT VERMIN. 



0. W. Mapes, " the hen man," says in 

 American Poultry 'World that if roost poles 

 are saturated with hot tallow, and the places 

 also where roosts are attached to the build- 

 ing, no lice or mites will ever get on the 

 fowls. Where wood floors are used, say in 

 a brooder house, saturate the floor also with 

 tallow or other cheap gTease. Of course, 

 kerosene will do it ; but it must be soon re- 

 newed, while the hot tallow penetrates the 

 wood and stands for years. Mapes should 

 know about this after his years of experi- 

 ence. Here is what the Farm and Fireside 

 lias to say in regard to the matter: 



BESTING THE MITES AT LAST. 



The fight of generations of poultrymen against 

 external poultry parasites seems about to be won if 

 the claims of " Mapes, the hen man," provg to be 

 borne out. Mr. O. W. Mapes is a poultryman of 

 many years' experience, whose operations have been 

 conducted on a considerable scale and with a good 

 degree of success. His unique ideas for housing and 

 handling poultry have become known to poultrymen 

 in many sections of the country, and for that reason 

 his recent utterances on the complete control of ex- 

 ternal poultry parasites deserve to have full and fair 

 consideration. , 



Mr. Mapes now affirms that the long-continued 

 fussing and fighting to keep poulti'y free from blood- 

 sucking insects is needless. The only treatment nec- 

 essary is to paint the perches once a year with beef 

 or mutton tallow, covering top, bottom, sides, ends, 

 and roost .-upports with the melted tallow, leaving 

 no space, crack, or crevice untreated. This is abso- 

 lutely all that is required to win the fight except to 

 compel every bird to roost on the greased perches. 

 Simple! Easy? Yes. The mite or other brood-suck- 

 er that gets a smear of grease gets a dose that ends 

 his career. 



We have contended against these minute foes that 

 cause an aggregate loss of millions of dollars annu- 

 ally to the poultry industry long enough. Is Mr. 

 Mapes to be the deliverer? 



" EGG SECRETS." 



The Farm Journal people not only have 

 a knack of getting out the most attractive- 

 looking poultry books, but their books are 

 " chock full " of valuable infonnation and 

 the finest pictures the world can produce. 

 These books, at the low price of 25 cts., 

 ought to be a rebuke to the authors of some 



of the cheaply gotten up " chicken books " 

 advertised in the poultry journals. I am 

 pleased to see the book endorses my plan 

 of placing the eggs on the small end for 

 the first three days in the incubator, or 

 until the unfertile can be tested out to make 

 more room. Now, if this egg-farm of 20,000 

 laying hens were conducted solelj' for sup- 

 plying fresh egg's for table use, there could 

 be no ground for suiDposing the beautiful 

 book was in any sense an advertisement of 

 their business. We learn, however, on sev- 

 eral pages, that " day-old chicks " and eggs 

 for hatching is at least now (like the Corn- 

 ing egg-farm) a considerable part of their 

 business. Notwithstanding, I think you want 

 this book. See outside cover page of March 

 loth Gleanings. 



MILLENNIUM COMING. 



When our gi'eat railways begin teaching 

 Christianity (and perhaps to church mem- 

 bers), are we not justified in believing the 

 millennium is " on the way," at least? Read 

 the following, which I clii^ from that excel- 

 lent little Sunday-school paper called For- 

 icard^ from the Presbyterian church: 



THE CLAIM agent's LETTER. 



One of the largest railroads in America has a 

 general claim agent who believes in the Golden Rule. 

 He sent a New Year's letter, last year, to every staff 

 officer in his department, and every claim agent em- 

 ployed by the whole big railroad system. This letter 

 embodied a code of ethics, so to speak, for the guid- 

 ance of his department in its dealings with the pub- 

 lic, and it is worth reading and thinking about. 

 Some of its paragraphs are as follows : 



" Be polite and kind to the poor. Remember that 

 many an honest heart beats beneath the ragged coat, 

 and a kind word during life is worth the best ser- 

 mon ever preached after death. 



" Do not be deceitful. Tell the truth and take 

 your medicine; it is better for your conscience, the 

 company, and your fellow-men. 



" Do not be a colossal knocker. Life is but a flash 

 at best. We should help instead of knock. 



" Be honest. Because a claimant is poor, do not 

 take advantage of him nor of his condition. Fate 

 may lead you his way some day. 



" Be frank in all things. If a claimant asks your 

 advice, give it openly and freely. If your advice is 

 not taken, your duty has still been done. 



" Be courteous. In dealing w^ith the public, do 

 not endeavor to create the impression that you own 

 the road. Remember that the railroad is but the ser- 

 vant of the people. 



" Be ever patient. Patience is a virtue which few 

 men possess. If a claimant vilifies you and says all 

 manner of things against you, treat him with all the 

 politeness and kindness you possess ; and ere the 

 day has passed he will bemoan the fact that he has 

 made an ass of himself." 



Good Christian rules these, as well as good busi- 

 ness counsel. In reading them, it may be interesting 

 to remember that the claim agent of a railroad has 

 not a very easy job. All sorts of claimants, many of 

 them unreasonable, attack him daily. 



Now will some one tell us the name of the 

 " great railroad '"' pending out the above? 



