Mar. 15, 1912 



long after went down to her death. A 

 neighbor, who had been having similar 

 losses, got up in the night and attempted to 

 stop some thieves who were just making off 

 with a load of his chickens, and the thieves 

 turned a gun on him and ordered him to 

 go back. He aroused his neighbois, and 

 they followed them until they were lost with 

 their booty in the saloon haunts of the 

 great city of Dayton, Ohio, with its hun- 

 dreds of saloons running day and night. 

 How long, O Ijord, shall this devastating 

 curse alllict and discourage our hard-work- 

 ing and law-abiding citizens? 



A BALANCED RATION; LETTUCE FOR DUCKS; 

 MORE "DISCOVERIES," ETC. 



Somebody said Prof. Holden had put corn 

 on the witness stand, and made corn answer 

 his questions. Well, I have been putting 

 ducks and chickens on the witness stand, 

 and I am going to tell you what answers 

 thej'^ have given me. By the way, what a 

 big lot of valuable "discoveries" I am mak- 

 ing lately! Just think of it! yesterday I got 

 79 eggs from only 75 laying hens. Mrs. 

 Root declares, however, that I should ex- 

 l)lain to you all that I gathered the eggs so 

 late the day before that several laid after 

 they were gathered; and this reminds me 

 that our hens have got on such a craze to 

 lay lately that they commence, some of 

 them, at sunrise, and some of them are on 

 the nests laying at sunset. How did I suc- 

 ceed in getting up such a "laying contest " ? 

 That is just the wonderful discovery I am 

 going to explain to you. 



When I was down on the island several 

 years ago I told you about my flock of 

 chickens that were all the time teasing for 

 something and were never satisfied until I 

 discovered they were hungry for animal 

 food; and when I gave them a good "square 

 meal " of fresh fish they all went and sat 

 down in a row on a log, happy, contented, 

 and saiisjied. That was a lesson I have not 

 forgotten, and I try to feed my ducks and 

 chicks so that they will "go off and sit 

 down," quiet and happy. Whenever they 

 fail to do this, especially young growing 

 stock, you may be sure they are lacking 

 something. When my first brood of ducks 

 from the incubator were about a month old 

 they were always teasing uproariously for 

 something. Their first feed was bread and 

 milk, and I supposed they were begging for 

 their milk ration that had been dropped, be- 

 cause milk costs so much down here. The 

 only feed they would eat was a mash of bran 

 and middlings; but they w-anted it all the 

 time, and I soon noticed their droppings 

 looked very much as if the coarse bran was 

 imperfectly digested, and began to wonder 

 if the fine Florida sand I had been depend- 

 ing on for grit, was sufficient. I gave them 

 some of the mica crystal grit that we always 

 keep before the chickens, and there was an 

 improvement. Seeing oyster shells advised 

 by one of the poultry journals, for ducks, I 

 tried them; and every pen of ducks, from 

 the oldest to the youngest, took to them 



183 



greedily. One i)en of four-weeks-old ducks 

 ate such a quantity I feared to let them 

 have all they wanted; but not until our 

 neighbor Rood began shipping lettuce did 

 we discover the "long-felt want." They at 

 once dropped their grain and every thing 

 else for the coveted lettuce, when they fair- 

 ly got a taste of it. Well, my discovery 

 that we have been so long getting at is this: 

 Lettuce is not only fi^ood for ducks, but it 

 takes the place, largely, of the expensive 

 grains, shorts, and raiddhngs. .Just as soon 

 as they had lettuce, all they could consume 

 (and it takes about a wheelbarrowful a day 

 for twenty six-weeks-old ducks) the amount 

 of grain needed dropped off amazingly, and 

 the whole lot of ducks would go off and sit 

 in a row, and stay there for hours— a thing 

 they had hardly done before since the day 

 they were hatched. Of course, I knew, ducks 

 as well as chickens need green food as well 

 as meat and grain; but as each of the three 

 pens had quite a range, with Bermuda grass 

 and other green stuff, it did not occur to me 

 they were suffering for so large a quantity. 

 They kept teasing for their masb, no matter 

 how often I fed them, but they did not seem 

 satisfied; but now they are growing at a rate 

 that surprises everybody who passes along 

 the highway. Have you not heard of babies 

 that kept crying for something they scarce- 

 ly seemed to know w^hat it was themselves? 

 Well, is it not possible that, like the ducks, 

 something was lacking in order to let the lit- 

 tle darlings make flesh and blood and bones, 

 as nature intended? It may not pay to 

 grow lettuce for ducks and chickens alone — 

 that is, when they are full grown; but it cer- 

 tainly will pay, and pay well, to give small 

 ducks and chicks all they can consume; 

 and down here, where lettuce is grown by 

 the acre, there is always more or less unfit 

 to ship; and during this past very wet sea- 

 son there has been an unusual amount that 

 is just the thing for fowls, but too far in ma- 

 turity to think of sending to the Northern 

 markets, so you see this is just the place for 

 the "duck man." The large quantity of 

 nice head lettuce given the laying hens is 

 probably what has caused the "laying con- 

 test."* For a whole week, ending March 1, 

 75 hens have averaged about 60 eggs a day, 

 but the price is down now to 20 cts. a dozen 

 here. 



The Russian government and the zemstvo 

 organizations of that country are paying 

 great attention to the development of bee- 

 keeping. Schools of apiculture are main- 

 tained, and staffs of apicultural instructors 

 are sent to various points as needed. Peas- 

 ants beginning beekeeping are given one or 

 two proper hives free. In some cases hives 

 are sold at low prices on the installment 

 plan. Ajnculture is a favorite occupation 

 of small landowners and the working classes. 

 — Florida Times Union. 



*.Just recently I have also given them a 10-cent 

 box of ground mustard, a teaspoonful daily. In 

 their daily mash. 



