AUGUST 15, 1912 



533 



up with water and given to about 75 hens 

 every day. We also fed to little cliieks the 

 same mixture. During the time it was fed 

 we had the most eggs we ever had from a 

 like number of fowls. At the same time we 

 gave them quite a little green mustard — the 

 Florida kind that makes leaves some two 

 feet long. The hens eat tliis very greedily, 

 and I do not know but the green mustard 

 might take the place of the more expensive 

 ground kind. The Comings use mustard 

 bran bought at the mustard-factories, cost- 

 ing about a fourth as much as the ground 

 mustard for table use. I presume it would 

 be best for each one to make experiments 

 according to circumstances. We have abun- 

 dant evidence from different sources show- 

 ing that the use of mustard, instead of be- 

 ing a detriment to fertility, acts quite the 

 contrary. In fact, some stations have re- 

 ported that they had a higher degree of 

 fertility with hens fed quite liberally with 

 mustard. We should be glad to hear from 

 poultrymen, besides the Comings, who 

 have tested the matter on a considerable 

 scale. 



A HOPPER FOB WET MASH. 



Like yourself I have dropped the bees a little, and 

 changed the hobby to poultry. I keep White Leghorns, 

 White and Buff Orpingtons, and Indian Runner 

 and Buff Orpington ducks. I hatch with a Cypher 

 incubator, and rear in Philo brooders and hovers. 

 Philo hovers are good, but the brooders want to be 

 in an open shed for the assistant's comfort. I -.now 

 fiom experience with six this season. I have been 

 puzzled over an efficient hopper for feeding wet mas/i. 

 I got it at last. Make a tray, say 18x12x2; cut one 

 end out of a 60-lb. honey-tin or kerosene-tin, and 

 then cut back 1 V^ inches; put in your "wet" mash 

 which should not be wet, but crumbly — the riglit 

 condition for fowls; place the tray on it and turn it 

 upside down; and if your fowls are like mine they 

 will empty it clean without waste. 



This hopper question for a "wet" mash cost me 

 some experimenting and brain gymnastics, and the 

 above simple arrangement beats all I've tried. 



Wm. Chas. Brown. 



Mosgiel, Otago, New Zealand. 



Permit me to explain that the tin can is 

 cut off on opposite sides in such a way that, 

 when inverled in the tray, there is a 11/2- 

 ineh opening to permit the wet mash to get 

 out to the chickens or to permit them to 

 reach in and get it. I tldnk the idea is a 

 good one, especially for ducks, which are 

 very much inclined to get their feet into 

 the mash, and to make things "mussy" gen- 

 erally. 



Health Notes 



APPLES ARE RIPE. 



I suppose that, this first day of August, 

 most of you are rejoicing, like myself, in 

 plenty of nice ripe apples; and even where 

 3'ou have not the pleasure of plucking them 

 from your own trees when they are fully 

 ripe, you are probably able to purchase 

 them at the groceries or at the fruit-stands 

 at a reasonable price. At least they ought 

 to be reasonable, as apples are going to be 

 plentiful in many localities. 



The first to ripen here in Ohio are the 

 old-fashioned Early Harvest, and the eom- 

 ]iaratively new Yellow Transparent — at 

 least I have not been able to discover that 

 there is any earlier apple known than the 

 two I have just mentioned; and they are 

 certainly a wonderful and beneficent gift 

 from the great Father above to his hungry 

 children. I do not know how it may be 

 with the rest of you; but for myself there 

 is no other fruit in the whole wide world 

 that will take the place of luscious ripe 

 mellow apjjles. I do not know which I like 

 better — the Early Harvest or the Trans- 

 pai'ent. Sometimes I think one is ahead, 

 and at other times the other. When the 

 Transparent is so ripe that it can be peeled 

 like a plum or a peach, it is then just right 

 for my taste and for my digestion. When 

 the old apples were all gone, about July 1, 

 I began testing other sorts of fruit to see 



if they would take the place of the apples ; 

 but I found nothing to hit the spot. 



Frequently in very warm weather I have 

 a little tendency to what used to be called 

 "summer complaint;" and for several years 

 I had a notion at such times that I would 

 have to abstain from fruit. Three or four 

 years ago, however, I discovered that nice 

 mellow apples, eaten freely in place of 

 my usual supper, about 5 o'clock, were 

 really the best remedy. Please do not im- 

 agine, however, that I mean that sweet or 

 very sweet apples can be taken in this way. 

 Tliey are pretty sure to make trouble. But 

 tart ajiples, like the two kinds I have men- 

 tioned, seem to neutralize and quiet the dis- 

 turbance. The acid in the apples (malic 

 acid, I believe) seems to me to be nature's 

 remedy for a bad taste in my mouth and 

 for a disturbance in my digestive appa- 

 ratus. In ordinary health I eat four or 

 five fair-sized apples, sleep soundly af- 

 terward, and awake in the morning (es- 

 pecially if I sleep outdoors, or somewhere 

 equivalent to outdoors) with my mouth 

 tasting sweet and clean — no bad breath, no 

 unpleasant bitterness. 



Now, of course I can not be sure thai 

 the use of apples will answer in a like 

 manner with everybody else; but I enjoy 

 ray fruit so much, and it is so conducive 

 to excellent health, that I feel free to urge 



