784 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



families of the liquor men. Then there are 200,000 

 non-producers in the jails and penitentiaries of 

 the country, brought there by liquor. Who feeds 

 them ? The overburdened taxpayers. Then there 

 are the men engaged in "maintaining the courts 

 and prisons and patrolling the streets to keep the 

 influences of the liquor traffic within decent 

 bounds which, with the idle rich, often made 

 criminal by red wine, make up 5,000,000 more. 

 Then there is another side to the problem. Last 

 year the population of the United States increased 

 21 per cent, but the production of beef cattle only 

 3 per cent, and this because 106,000,000 bushels 

 of grain that should have been fed to the cattle 

 of the country went toward making liquor. 



If this could have been applied to its proper 



uses the cattle would have increased 21 per cent, 

 and the price of beef been lower. 



I must confess that I did not realize 

 before how the liquor-traffic throws bur- 

 dens on the shoulders of each and all of 

 us because we permit it to go on, as well 

 as on the shoulders of drinking-men and 

 their suffering families. 



Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about 

 with so gi'eat a cloud of witnesses, let us lay 

 aside every weight, and the sin which doth so 

 easily beset us, and let us run with patience the 

 race that is set before us. — Heb. 12:1. 



Poultry Department 



"forecasting the laying hen;" or, SE- 

 LECTING FROM THE FLOCK THE BEST 

 LAYERS. 



On page 675, Oct. 15, I suggested that 

 Lady ShoAvyou did not perform her great 

 stunt according to Mr. Leonard's philoso- 

 phy or system; but it looks just now as if 

 I owed him an apology ; for he says the 

 reason she laid an egg so regularly at about 

 the same hour every morning until she 

 came near a "skip-day" was that, to foUoAv 

 his rule or discovery, she would have to 

 drop her egg in the night; and, like most 

 prudent hens, instead of doing this, and 

 causing breakage and loss, she decided to 

 hold the complete egg in her ovary until 

 daylight permitted her to deposit it in her 

 regular nest in an orderly and orthodox 

 manner. See what he says about it below : 



Mr. A. I. Root: — I wish to make a correction, 

 and a few remarks on Lady Sho\\-^■o^'s record in 

 Glbaning.s for Oct 15. 



Her record for March was 29 eggs in place of 

 20, as you have it. She also laid 29 eggs in August 

 — -in fact, she laid 29 eggs for each month, March, 

 April, June, July, August, and 31 in May. 



In Gleanings you made no mention of the fact 

 that this hen was in the egg contest in Missouri, or 

 that she was but one of many laying nearly as well, 

 and having hut one skip-day, as I claim they musi 

 have ; but in place of quoting her as corrobora- 

 tive of my claim, you use her as an example in 

 proof against it. 



You cite her as a 24-hour hen laying an egg 

 daily, laying occasionally a little later each day 

 until they skip, and do not recognize that her skips 

 come regularly, and can not, therefore, be acci- 

 dental nor even occasional, but must be due to some 

 law. 



Now, I wish to go on record as stating that this 

 hen is a 25.24 hours ovary interval hen, that mean- 

 ing that she requires 25 hours and 24 minutes in 

 which to create an egg. 



She should lay 23 eggs between her skipdays in 

 the months she lays 29 eggs, and she lays at 8 

 A M. all of her eggs except three or four, because 

 they come due the night before they are laid. 



A hen that has an ovary interval of 25 hours 

 must have eggs due one hour later daily ; and 

 counting from 2 P. M. they would be due at 3, 4, 

 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 P. M., and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 



7, 8 A. M., making 18 eggs due too late to be laid, 

 iiiid so held over until morning, and the three 

 reported as laid scattering, totals 21 ; but as there 

 were five to be laid scattering, there are two eggs 

 cairied over to be added to those laid before 8 A. M., 

 so the actuality is 20 eggs laid before 1 A. M., and 

 three eggs laid scattering — total 23, before a skip. 



However, this is not the way I get at it. I find 

 the hours in 31 days to be 744, and divide by her 

 ovary interval, which gives 25) 744 (=29 eggs with 

 a fraction of 19-25, which allows for the 24 minutes 

 of her ovary intervals. 



For ten months' laying thers were 14 hens which 

 laid 200 eggs or more, out of a total of 655 hens. 



There were but two hens that laid better than my 

 No. 1 in 9 months. There were but nine that laid 

 better than my No. 2 in nine months. There were 

 but ten that laid better than No. 2 in ten months. 



My No. 2 has just tinished two years' laying 

 with 381 e-tgs. 



My No. 1 laid, in her hr.st two years' laying, 385 

 egg^. 



Tliese two hens luive tlie same ovary intervals, 

 and lay in the same manner. 



There were ninety-two hens that laid 20 eggs or 

 better in July contest. These hens were in the 36- 

 liour ovary-interval class, or hctter, and skipped 

 but one day. 



These are the only kinds of hens I keep myself, 

 and my claim is to be able to find them quickly. 



There are hens in this contest that have never 

 laid an egg, and others that have laid very few; 

 and there is no pen that has done what it would 

 had they been previously classified according to 

 ovary interval. 



Pen No. 28 (Brown Leghorns) laid in July as 

 follows : 



25, 21, 21, 23, 22; total, 114 eggs. 



Pen No. 20 (White Leghorns), 23, 25, 23, 24, 

 22; 117 eggs. 



Pen No. 13 (White Leghorns), 25, 15, 24, 30, 

 25; 119 eggs. 



Many other pens could have made good record* 

 but for some poor individual. Many pens have one 

 or two good layers, and the rest poor ones which 

 cut down the total. By classifying as I suggest, 

 many good pens could be made and the record 

 beaten greatly. 



Hens of 28-hour-ovary intervals or less lay like 

 Lady Showyou. Below 28 hours their eggs fall a 

 certain number of hours apart, according to their 

 class. 



Whenever the daily loss does not divide into the 

 hours of any period of days evenly, the number of 

 eggs to a cycle will vary to average up. 



I am getting out mimeographed copies for pub- 

 lication, and expect there will be at least ten sheets 

 the size of this — 8 x 12. 



