OCTOBER 15, 1913 



SPECIAL NOTICES 



A. I. Root 



WOMAN SUFFRAGE, ETC. 



Our good friend Minnie J. Ellet writes on the out- 

 side of an envelop as follows: 



" With ballots we can Carry A. Nation." 



POPULAR MECHANICS MAGAZINE. 



A few days ago the publishers of the above were 

 kind enough to send us quite a lot of their magazines 

 by freight, to be distributed among our workmen. I 

 piled them on the sidewalk right near where the 

 hands leave the factory. As they rushed out when 

 the whistle blew you ought to have seen our boys 

 grab them up. It made me think of a lot of bees 

 around some honeycomb. Well, this magazine is only 

 $1.50 a year, and it is just chock full of information 

 and about 370 pictures — pictures of every thing in 

 the line of mechanics and invention that is going on 

 anywhere in this world of ours. If you have not 

 time to read it, it will be a good investment to take 

 it just to look at the pictures, so that you may be 

 able to keep just a little in touch with the busy 

 world we live in. Address Popular Mechanics, 308 

 Washington St., Chicago. 



THE CAMPINE BOOK; PRICE 75 CTS. 



The above is the title of a new book on the breed 

 of poultry called the Campine. The book, as a mat- 

 ter of course, describes the various points of merit 

 of these fowls, and tells all about their good qual- 

 ities, etc., and although the author has an advertise- 

 ment of the Campines in the back part ($5.00 for 

 15 eggs), he charges 75 cents for a pamphlet con- 

 taining only 40 pages. What do you think of that 

 way of doing business? This, of course, is not any 

 reflection on the Campine as a breed of poultry. 

 Many of our catalogs of incubators and other things 

 pertaining to the poultry business contain a vast 

 amount of information in regard to the chicken bus- 

 iness; but as a general thing they are sent free, or 

 on receipt of a stamp to pay postage. The above 

 book contains almost nothing of value in regard to 

 poultry-keeping in general. It is just a history of 

 Campines only. 



THE AMERICAN POULTRY JOURNAL YEAR-BOOK 



The above is the title of a beautiful book of about 

 300 pages, issued by the American Poultry Journal 

 last May. We would have given it a notice sooner; 

 but the book is so attractive, full of nice colored 

 plates, etc., that somebody took it off my desk and 

 carried it away, and I have only just got hold of it. 

 As the title indicates, it is a summing-up of the 

 whole " chicken business " throughout the United 

 States ; and although I can not at present discover 

 who the author is, so far as I can judge it is an 

 unbiased account of what has been so far accom- 

 plished in poultry. A considerable part of the book 

 is taken up with a report of poultry shows, which 

 do not interest me particularly. Aside from that, 

 there are single articles, by prominent men, worth 

 nearly the price of the book. It is carefully indexed, 

 so you can get the general decision in regard to ever 

 so many topics that are now under discussion. Be- 

 sides the beautiful plates in colors, there are many 

 illustrations in black and white. 



One of the articles that interested me greatly is 

 the first one in the book (nine pages) " The Old and 

 the New," by our veteran friend H. H. Stoddard. 



The price of this book, bound in cloth, is $1.00: 

 in paper, 50 cts. Or you can have it clubbed with 

 Gleanings, cloth-bound, for $1.50; paper, $1.25. 

 You can order of us or of the American Poultry 

 Journal, Chicago. 



" alfalfa-seed PRODUCTION." 



The above is the title of a bulletin sent out by 

 the Department of Agriculture, containing 32 pages, 

 and a dozen or more excllent illustrations. Ernest 

 has told you how apple-men are getting on to the 

 fact that they can not grow a big crop of fine apples 

 without bees in the orchard; and I gather from this 

 bulletin that it is equally true we can not get a 

 big crop of alfalfa seed without bees of some kind 

 in the neighborhood: and on the other hand some 

 beekeeper ought to plant a sufficient number of colo- 

 nies of bees close to any farm that undertakes to 

 grow alfalfa seed in any quantity. This bulletin 

 considers the matter under the head of " Influence 

 of Honey-gathering Insects." 



17 



" Nearly all experiments show that if insects are 

 excluded from alfalfa flowers by means of screens 

 very few or no seeds are produced, whereas adjoin- 

 ing plants not screened produce an abundance of 

 seed if other conditions are favorable." 



The bulletin contains a beautiful photograph, not 

 only of the seeds of the alfalfa, but all the different 

 seeds of injurious plants that are likely to be found 

 with alfalfa. Last, but by no means least, i.i the 

 d.)dder plant. If the alfalfa seed you get hold of 

 (ontains a small quantity of sweet clover it will do 

 no harm, but, rather, the contrary, according to our 

 good friend Wing. This bulletin contains a vast 

 amount of information in regard to growing alfalfa. 

 There are other bulletins treating on alfalfa for hay 

 and feed, and these will all be sent free on applica- 

 tion to the Department of Agriculture. 



In a similar bulletin issued in 1909 we find the 

 following : 



alfalfa IN CULTIVATED ROWS FOR SEED PRODUC- 

 TION IN SEMI-ARID REGIONS. 



Honeybees, though not nearlj' so effective as bum- 

 blebees, should not be underrated in this connection. 

 It is a practice in some parts of the country to place 

 beehives along the margins of alfalfa-fields intended 

 for seed. Beekeepers follow with their colonies fields 

 planted for seed, for the purpose of getting the hon 

 ey. This is mutually beneficial, as larger yields of 

 l)oth seed and honey result. 



" THE INDIAN RUNNER DUCK-BOOK." 



Friend Valentine has just furnished us a new 

 revised and enlarged edition of his duck-book — 

 paper, 75 cts.; cloth, $1.05, postpaid. C. S. Valen- 

 tine, liidgewood, N. J. The new book contains 166 

 pages, and much valuable matter pertaining to the 

 Indian Runner; but I would suggest, first, that it 

 needs a new index as well as a table of contents 

 (chapter headings). There are many things about 

 ducks that people want to get at quick without 

 looking the book all through to find it. For instance, 

 food for ducklings; keeping them out of the water 

 until they are old enough; how to tell ducks from 

 drakes ; hatching duck eggs in an incubator, etc. 



Now, just one thing more: There are 17 chapters 

 in this duck-book. Seven out of the whole are de- 

 voted to discussing mainly color. Yes, I know there 

 are long articles in our poultry-journals, and some 

 pretty hot discussions, as to " fawn " and " white," 

 " penciled," or ducks white all over, etc. I presume 

 I am old-fashioned and behind the times, especially 

 in regard to what is "standard;" but it seems to 

 me it is a matter of very small moment whether the 

 duck is black, white, or gray, so long as any flock 

 of ducks can be changed from black to white and 

 from white to black in a very short space of time, as 

 Darwn told us years ago. And, again, there is a 

 lot of discussion, and I should say a lot of quarrel- 

 ing about the color of the eggs ; but so far as I can 

 learn, the color has nothing whatever to do with the 

 quality. If your market pays a higher price for the 

 white eggs, of course it will pay to select a strain 

 that lays eggs that are white. I am well aware that 

 the whole poultry business in their great shows are 

 giving more attention to the color of the feathers 

 than to almost any thing else. The " egg contests " 

 now going on all over the world are, however, a 

 move in another direction ; and it makes me glad 

 every time I see the world coming down to the 

 principle of " handsome is that handsome does." 

 I would put the big price on the ducks that lay 

 lots of eggs, big eggs, and nice sweet eggs, as deli- 

 cious and nice as hens' eggs, or more so. This new 

 book discusses this very matter, but it is scattered 

 all through it. Will not our good friend Valentine 

 make us a carefully prepared index that can be 

 pasted in the books already out ? 



Goods came to hand in due time, and are all right. 

 I am especially pleased with the smoker. It is a 

 little giant. The Hofl'man frames also are Al in 

 material and workmanship. 



Marietta, O., July 22. Reinhard Stbhle. 



A kind word FROM AWAY DOWN IN TEXAS. 



Mr. Boot: — You little know how much I have 

 enjoyed your writings in the past, and I believe they 

 have helped to make me a better man. I love your 

 ideas of absolute right between man and man, or the 

 golden rule; and I hope you may be spared for many 

 years yet to continue in your usefulness. 



Delia, Texas. M. C. Fuller. 



