460 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



generate state of very many of our countrvmen. 

 That good, industrious, and useful citizens must 

 and do fall at the hands of lawless and wicked men 

 brings a deep and heartfelt lamentation, not only 

 from each of us, as of one man, but also from every 

 law-abiding and peace-loving citizen our country 

 over. Again, we are as one in our belief that, be- 

 hind this and almost every other form of vice, 

 crime, and misery, stands that monster of evil, the 

 American saloon — the blight of our nation and par- 

 ent of nine-tenths of the poverty, wretchedness, and 

 woe that pervade so many hearts and homes. Of 

 the truth of this I am fully persuaded ; yet from 

 the introduction of the article from the Chicago Ad- 

 vance there is room for the inference that we as 

 Christian believers have been somewhat differently im- 

 pressed by parts of the New Testament teachings. 

 Now listen : The people of this great nation toler- 

 ate laws which license a certain class to dispense 

 to our sons — the young men of our fair land who 

 ought to be the pride of our homes — this poison 

 which debauches, debases, and ruins both the bodies 

 and the souls of these children of fair promise. 

 Now, as this infamous business progresses toward 

 its culmination, where every passion has been in- 

 flamed to its utmost ; when some heart-rending blood- 

 chilling deed has been perpetrated, then it is that 

 this same people again assert themselves with an- 

 other law; and in effect they say, "Now hand over 

 to us this poor unfortunate culprit who fell under 

 this snare of his soul's enemy; we will cap the 

 climax by taking away his life, and dropping him 

 out of time — consigning his poor sin-laden soul, not 

 to the fellowship of the saints but to an inheritance 

 among those of whom it is declared they have no 

 part in the kingdom of heaven." Now, what have 

 we accomplished ? We have not restored to the bo- 

 som of his family the one so brutally murdered. We 

 have conferred no dowrj' on the widow and her 

 children, nor have we in any degree mitigated their 

 sorrows, but we have made an exhibition of a spirit, 

 not of him who, in the agonizing hour, prayed, 

 "Father, forgive them, they know not what they 

 do," and who said, "If they brother trespass against 

 thee, rebuke him" (not kill him) ; "and if he repent. 



forgive him." May you and I, dear friend, stand 

 as with our armor on, contending for the right ; 

 may we, under the divine blessing, be made instru- 

 mental in hastening the coming of that time when 

 "the knowledge of the Lord sliall fill the earth as 

 the waters cover the sea." But let us not assume 

 that prerogative which belongs to God alone. No, 

 brother, we who "can not make one hair white or 

 black" may not take away the life we can not re- 

 store. We will "rebuke" them, not kill them. But 

 detain them in solitude and servitude till that time 

 wlien infinite goodness shall sever the tender thread 

 and consign to such place as unalterable wisdom 

 sliall decree. Then will our hands be clear of the 

 blood of all men ; time will have been given for re- 

 pentance and forgiveness, if such be yet possible. 



Much might be said regarding the evils resulting 

 from executions; but such is not the purpose at this 

 time. Suffice it to say, men whose passions have 

 been so inflamed pay little heed to the punishment 

 that may follow, and perhaps it may be more the 

 certainity of its infliction than its character that 

 deters. 



Barnesville, O. Thomas Devfees. 



I confess the above has given me a new 

 sr.ggestion. On the impulse of the moment 

 I would say no. Do not put to death any 

 more men who commit murder under the 

 influence of drink; but if anybody is to be 

 electrocuted, let it be the man who sold the 

 drink. I have asked the question whether 

 tliere are fewer or more murders where 

 capital punishment has been abolished in 

 the different States of the Union ; but I have 

 not yet seen a conclusive answer. I wish 

 to thank our good brother for his able let- 

 ter that, without question, was insjiired by 

 the spirit of the Master. 



©riaUiiD°\7 



NATURAL-HEN INCUBATORS; HOW TO GET 

 GOOD-SIZED DUCK EGGS^ ETC. 



My Dear Mr. Root: — In Gleanings for June 15 

 I find the poultry department unusually valuable, 

 not because of the quantity of the matter you use, 

 but the quality of it. That ancient but profitable 

 fraud, the "natural-hen" incubator is treated in 

 exactly the right manner. I wrote an article at 

 least twenty years ago describing exactly the same 

 thing, and I got my plans from some one I had 

 seen in my travels, I now forget where. If there 

 is any patent on such arrangement it is on some 

 insignificant detail that adds nothing to the effec- 

 tiveness of it. 



The longer I keep Indian Runner ducks the bet- 

 ter I like them. Have you noticed that they are 

 about the most intelligent of all our fowls 1 Mine 

 are allowed to run at will, during the time they are 

 out of their yard, in the irrigating ditches on the 

 ranch. They frequently go to the further limits of 

 the place ; but at any time in the day if I go out 

 and call them, and they hear me, the ducks answer ; 

 and in a few minutes they come as fast as they can 

 for the house. I invariably give them something to 

 eat when they get home. At night they always 

 come up ; and when I go out to the yards they stand 

 around and "talk" to me and follow at my heels 

 until I give them their regular night feed. They go 

 into their yard and stay there contentedly \intil they 

 arc released tlie next day. They are ravenous eaters 

 when confined ; but when they have the run of the 

 ditches they do not eat overmuch. Mine prefer a 

 mixture of bran and shorts with beef scrap added. 

 I can stop them from laying in a week by cutting 

 down their feed and reducing the size of their eggs 

 by underfeeding. So far as hatching in an incuba- 

 tor is concerned, I will say that I have just had a 

 hatch come off that satisfied me very well. I had S2 

 eggs in the incubator, and every egg but three start- 



ed to hatch. They went along all right Until a week 

 before they were due to hatch, when I filled the 

 lamp, turned the flame up rather high, and forgot 

 it ! I also forgot to close the cellar door which opens 

 to the east, and the inorning sun shone directly in 

 on the inciibator. I went out to see about a field 

 that was being irrigated, got busy with a flood of 

 water, and never once thought of the incubator until 

 noon. Then I found the temperature 110 degrees, 

 and said to myself those ducks were cooked, sure. 

 However, I did not give them up, but let the ma- 

 chine run its course. The ducks began hatching the 

 26th day, and by the end of the 27th I had 36 

 ducklings, 34 of which were all right. One was a 

 cripple, and I killed it; and the other was weak, 

 and died before a day old. The others are in fine 

 condition now. I examined the eggs that did not 

 hatch, and found three infertile and the remainder 

 with ducks dead in the shell, apparently having died 

 about the time I ran the temperature up on them. 

 As a rule my poultry, gets my first attention; but 

 when an irrigating ditch breaks, the results may be 

 serious if the break is not attended to at once. I 

 have very good reasons for believing that a -ood in- 

 cubator, supplied with an abundance of moisture 

 from the beginning, will beat a hen or duck as a 

 duck-hatcher. 



The cause of blood-streaked eggs is usually over- 

 fatness, which weakens the blood-vessels of the 

 ovaries, and they break, exuding a drop or two of 

 blood which follows the yolk down the egg-passage, 

 and becomes incorporated with the white as it is 

 formed. The "bloody piles" described is prolapsus, 

 caused by weakness in the muscles on the egg-pass- 

 age. Hens in which, this condition appears should 

 be killed. 



Peotone, 111., June 22. Miller Puevis. 



We are very glad indeed to get the above 

 indorsement, both on the incubator and the 



