1S92 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUI/rURE. 



773 



hor. will) was laiiMMitiiiir that shr liad no iioud 

 olacf to Urcp Ikm" I'liirki'iis ill winter, that sin- 

 It>lt so l)ail lot" ln'f oliiclM'ns iho wiiilci' hcfoic. 

 that she hiy awaUi' at iiii,'l»l. ami ciicd to tliinl< 

 of f)/«'ir sutl'rriiiss. as many of them had fro/.cii 

 fppt and hills, and ffostt-d t'omhs; and she toi<l 

 this nt'iirhhor that, if she would ixiM pm'('-l)lood- 

 t>d I'hioUcMs, hiT husl)and would hrl so jn-oiid of 

 th«Mu 111' would huild them a nii'f warm housi". 

 That was what indm-ed farmer Hfow n to build 

 hor a hiMi-housi'. Sho had asked him many 

 times before to build one. but h<' had nevei- 

 thought it worth while to do so tmtil she had 

 gotton a nioo (lock of puie bloods. 



Auothor trouble was eomiug upon us. Very 

 many of us were taking sore throats. Mother 

 Riddie said she was sure it was becatise master 

 had made our porches so high that we could not 

 fly up to them easily. As we wore a heavy 

 breed of chickens we Hew up part way. and 

 threw our heads over, and hung and struggled 

 before we wore willing to let go and drop down, 

 to have to tly up and try it over again. Master 

 had forgotten to put up ladders to hop tip on. 

 What would have boon better still would be to 

 put the roosts so low down that we could (>asily 

 hop up on them without ladders. 



Mistress said she did wonder what the matter 

 was with us. A.s we wheezed and breathed 

 hard, she felt of many of us: but as none had 

 sore necks she believed it w^as the roosts, and 

 she gave master no peace until she got them cut 

 down and made lower. A few of us died, but 

 the most of us got well: Init mother Biddie was 

 a big heavy hen. and it went hard with her. 

 She fairly squealed one night when she breath- 

 ed, and the next morning she lay dead under 

 her pei'ch. 



Mistress felt very bad about mother Biddie's 

 death, for she said she was such a nice hen. 

 She was a good mother to her chickens, as mis- 

 tress could put chicks of almost any age with 

 her. and she wovxld take them. She was not 

 lik<' another hen whose chick got hurt, and 

 which was kejjt in the house a few days in a 

 box. When it w^as returned, and fastened in th(> 

 coop with her at night, she jiicked its sktill bare. 

 But it recovered, though they had to keep it in 

 a box for a while. As it was a nice large chick- 

 en, mistress nailed some pieces of carpet in a 

 box along the top of the box. and let the carpet 

 hang loose. The chick would run around out- 

 doors in daytime, and return to its bi'ooder-box 

 at night. Mistress kept several such brooder- 

 boxes, so when the mother-hen left lior chicks 

 when tiie\ were too small they could be set in 

 their coop, and the chicks would run into them 

 at night and keep warm: and when the hens 

 were inclined to stay witli their chickens too 

 long, mistress would take them away and shut 

 them up a few days, and then they would soon 

 go to laying again, and the chicks would be 

 better off in the brooder than with her. 



Master put a square tube, which he called a 

 ventilator, in the middle of our house. The 

 bottom nearly reached the floor, and the top 

 came out at the roof. One night some little ani- 

 inal came intf) our house and killofl three of us 

 by jumping on our backs, and. grabbing u- by 

 our necks, sinking his teeth into our throats 

 until we were dead. Next day, mast^M-said tlie 

 doors and windows must be clo.sed tight, as 

 something was killing the chickens. The next 

 night si-ven more of us were killed. I escaped: 

 but. oh it was horrible to hear the otlier chick- 

 ens squall and drop down on the floor, and to 

 know they were being killed, and that my turn 

 might come next, as the hen-house was so far 

 from the house no one could hear usl When 

 mistress Clara came out witli our nice warm 

 breakfast, how frightened she was to see so 

 many of us lying around dead! She went to 



the house and told her mother that seven more 

 were deail. Mistiess came out with hei-, and 

 they hunted long for holes, and lixed up very 

 small ones, until she said that not even a mouse 

 could get in. But that night iho. same little 

 animal came gliding down the ventilator as 

 usual. How his eyes did gleam, like stars in 

 the moonlight I That night was the most hor- 

 rible of any in all my life. He actually caught 

 and killed fourteen of my brothers and sisters. 

 In the morning master Brown came in and 

 said, "'Oh I this is too bad. to see so many of 

 iliose nice large cliickens dead — fourteen of 

 them this time." \\i' gathered them up and 

 jiut them into his bushel basket, and it well 

 nigh lilled it full. Mistress nearly cried, she 

 feit so bad — tw(>nty-four killed in three nights. 

 Master said he believed the animal came down 

 the ve;itilator. Ho went immediately and tore 

 it out. so none of us were killed by tlie weasel 

 after that, as that, was where he came in. I 

 knew it all the time: biit you see I am only a 

 chicken, and can speak only •'hen talk," or I 

 would have told master. Master Williams said 

 there were enough of us left for a h(>n-house of 

 that size. There had been so many of us before, 

 that, on warm nights when the doors and win- 

 dows were closed, we could hardly get our 

 breath. I am sure we should have been sick if 

 they had not been so careful to sweep out our 

 house nearly every evening: and after sw-eep- 

 ing they threw coal ashes under the roosts. That 

 caught the dropi)ings. and made ileasy to sweep. 

 We all learned to love little mistress Clara, as 

 she was taking better care of us since her papa 

 gave her that nice poultry-book and subscribed 

 for a poultry-journal. As the weather was oft- 

 en very cold now, we very much enjoyed the 

 nice warm breakfasts she so oft<!n brought us; 

 but she generally gave us full grains of corn at 

 night, as slie said her book said that whole 

 grains remain longer in the crop, and so we 

 should not get so hungry for something to eat 

 during the long winter nights. What we very 

 much liked was the stews she sometimes fixed 

 up for our diiuier, made of meat and vegetables 

 cooked together, and thickened with meal and 

 oat flour, and seasoned with a little salt. Oh 

 my: how wi; did lay eggs! It was enough to 

 make anvbody smile to see such nests full of 

 fresh eggs, in January and February, when the 

 price of eggs was high. We just cackled and 

 cackled ; and a happier lot of chickens you 

 never saw as the warm sunshine poured in 

 through the great windows. Little mistress 

 said we seemed to say. when we cackled.— 



Cut-cut. cut-at: cut-cut, cut-at: 



1 lay three e^gs every day; 

 And .vet I have to go barefoot, 

 (>o barefoot. 

 And the old Rooster. Robinson Crusoe, said. 

 ■■ Sell your eggs and buy some shoes, and then 

 you won't have to go barefoot." 



Mus. L. C. AXTEM-. 



Roseville, 111., July .\ 189:.'. 



Heads of Grain 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS 



ANOTHER PROPOSED HONEY AND APPLIANCE 

 C<)^tI•ANV. 



Our attention has been called by several sub- 

 scribers to the prospectus of a company which it 

 is proposed to form inider the title of " The Api- 

 ary Products and A|)pliances Supply Associa- 

 tion, Limited," with a capital of :i0.000 "pounds in 

 1-pound shares. According to the document 

 before us. "The company is formed for the pur- 



