so Poultry as Insecticides. 



and I am so strongly inclined to award the credit to the feath- 

 ered hunters, that I shall again give them watch and ward over 

 my onions. 



CHICKS AS GARDEN ASSISTANTS. 

 FRED GRUNDY. 



When hoeing or raking in the garden I am constantly turn, 

 ing up numerous worms, grubs, bugs and beetles of various 

 sizes, kinds and colors, and if I stopped to slay each and every 

 one of them I should make very little progress. If I passed 

 them gently by they would continue to gnaw, uproot and de- 

 stroy my favorite vegetables, wax fat and keep my wrath at the 

 boiling-point. How to compass their destruction expeditiously 

 and cheaply was a question* I pondered much. But I have 

 solved it at last, and now not a grub, bug or worm that my hoe 

 or rake uncovers has time to be astonished before, presto! 

 he finds himself among the rocks and broken crockery in the 

 interior of a healthy chick, where he is soon reduced to pulp. 



I never want less than five fair-sized chicks nor more than a 

 dozen small ones with me. If there are not enough they get 

 full too quickly and retire. If there are too many, they get in 

 the way and some of them meet with accidental destruction. 

 It is amusing in the extreme to see half a dozen or so of them 

 dancing about on either side watching the progress of my im- 

 plement, and when a choice morsel is exposed pitching over 

 each other in their eagerness to get it. Occasionally, one be- 

 comes too fresh and' gets knocked over, but they soon learn 

 about how near it is safe to venture. One lot I had in the 

 early spring always followed along behind, but the little mob 

 I have now keep constantly circling around me. All were 

 hatched in an incubator and reared in a brooder, and are sold 

 as soon as they weigh two and one-half or three pounds. 

 Those hatched by hen-power must be taken from the hen as 

 soon as they are hatched and reared in a brooder, or they are 

 no good as grub-gobblers. They are afraid to leave their ma! 

 and you don't want her along to work ruination. 



