GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15. 



have had them a few years now, and the biggest we 

 got was as large as a hickorynut. Fred A. Hund. 

 Peters, Mich. 



Why, friend H., your yield of carrots was 

 astonishing. Twelve bushels to the square 

 rod would be at the rate of 1920 per acre. 

 Have you not made a mistake ? Your report 

 on the Craig potatoes is also astonishing, but 

 the astonishment is in the other direction. 

 With us, every year since it was originated it 

 has given us the largest yields and almost the 

 largest potatoes of any thing we grow. In 

 fact, Mrs. Root complains that they are too 

 large to cook. Your ground must be specially 

 good for carrots, and specially bad for Craig 

 potatoes. Will you tell us a little more about 

 the carrots — how the crop was handled ? what 

 kind of seed ? 



Special Notices by A. I. Root. 



THE NEW EoGFARM. 



Some 2.5 or 30 years ago the American Agriculturist 

 gave a series of articles by H. H. Sloddard, entitled 

 " An Eggfarm.'' The very first chapter interested me 

 perhaps as much as or more than any thing else I ever 

 read before in my life. It was not because I was spe- 

 cially interested in poultry, but the ideas of the writer 

 seemed to apply to all animated nature, man included. 

 I read each chapter as it appeared, and counted the 

 days until Sl\\oW\&x Agricultu)ist would probably come, 

 t corresponded with the author, and even started an 

 egg-larm; but other business that must have my atten- 

 tion prevented me from working it out, as I have 

 wanted to do all my life. When I visited H. A. March, 

 of Puget Sound, I was delighttd to find there a success- 

 ful egg-farm in practical operation on the plan laid 

 down t)y Mr. Stoddard. During the years that have 

 passed we have sold hundreds and may be thousands 

 of Stoddard's Egg-farm; and 1 have always felt happy 

 to see boys and girls, and men and women, become 

 enthusiastic from the same book that pleased me so 

 much. 



I have wondered many times that Mr. Stoddard had 

 not put an appendix to'this book, telling us how this 

 creation of his own had " panned out " during the in- 

 tervening j'ears. Well, just now we have a large new 

 book, entitled " The New Egg-farm." It has over 300 

 pages and 1.50 illustrations, embodying all that is most 

 valuable from the author's fir.st book, to which are 

 added the results of a lifetime of work, invention, im- 

 provement, and observation. As I Icok at its pages my 

 old enthusiasm comes up again, and I almost feel sad 

 to think that I can not drop almost every thing else 

 and " play with the chickens;" but you kiiow I prom- 

 ised Mrs. Ruot that I would not start out in any more 

 new enterprises to add to my already too many cares. 

 But now for the egg-farm. 



Stoddard's great theme is exercise for fowls, and, in 

 fact, exercise for everybody who is sick. He says if 

 you want hens to lay, don't warm them up with steam- 

 pipes or hot water; do not even put them in a green- 

 house, for the sun will make them too hot by day, and 

 leave them too cold by night. In.stead of outward arti- 

 ficial applications to make them warm, give them open 

 sunshine, and teach them to scratch. You know a hen 

 is always happy when she is digging up your (or your 

 neighbor's) flower-beds; and, by the way, she is alwaj\s 

 healthy, and lays eggs too. Well, now, just develop 

 this ciaze. In winter give them leaves, chaff, straw, 

 and .scatter the grain all through the trash, and 

 let them dig and scrape to their hearts' content. If 

 you have not much land, give them a long, narrow 

 runway; then throw out inducements to them to run 

 and ".scratch" from one end of this runway to the 

 other. But this is not all. Friend Stoddard is not con- 

 tent with teaching them to use the tnu.scles of their 

 legs. They must te taught to use their wings as well; 

 and this exercising commences with the chicks just as 

 soon as they are old enough to make their little legs 

 go. As soon as they can make a hop over a board 

 they are taught to do it: and as they grow older the 

 little fence is made higher till they will go over it " on 

 the fly," usirrg both wings and legs ; and this exercise is 

 given the laying hens outdoors in the open air, as far 

 as the weather will permit, all winter long. This run- 



ning and scratching and flying will cure all ills that 

 chicken flesh is heir to; and if they cut and xwn enotigh 

 all day long, they will not need any " balanced ration." 

 Give them whatever you have handy, only so you keep- 

 them busily employed. 



Now, what interests me so greatly is that friend 

 Stoddard's logic applies so patly to humanity as well 

 as to chickens. To arouse their enthitsiasm, get them 

 to work (in the open air if possible); keep them busy 

 at something they like, and they will be happy and 

 well. Why, I verily believe that one great reason why 

 people get well with patent medicines and mental sci- 

 ence, etc., is that the excitement about it gets the blood 

 to stirring in their sluggish veins, and then, lo and 

 behold ! thej' are well. Of cour.se, one man can not 

 spend all his time in keeping .50 or 100 hens and chick- 

 ens running and .scratching; but with the cheap home- 

 made machinery described in this new book, one man 

 can keep 1000 or several thousand laying hens busy 

 and happy. 



I have wanted to visit Mr. Stoddard, and see his egg- 

 farm in working order, all my life; and I feel just novr 

 as if it would be the next trip I make anywhere as soon 

 as the weather is suitable. 



The book can be mailed from our office for $1.00; or 

 we will club it with Gleanings for 81-50. If you are 

 a subscriber to Gleanings we will mail it to you for 

 75 cents. 



FORAGE CROPS OTHER THAN GRASS. 



The above is the title of another new book by the O. 

 Judd Co., by Prof. Thoma's Shaw, formerly of the 

 Ontario Agricultural College. Prof. Shaw has made 

 himself a reputation that should stand for ages, in his 

 excellent articles on weeds and how to eradicate them. 

 I have been astonished and delighted to find that we 

 have at least one man at the present day who is an en- 

 thusia.st on the matter of weeds, and has learned so 

 much about them that he can tell friends from foes. 

 Well, in this new book just oirt. amorrg other forage 

 crops he discusses sweet clover; and I take pleasure in 

 copying what he says, hoping it may end the discus- 

 sion as to whether this plant is a friend or a foe: 



Sweet clover (Afelilolus alba) is so named, doubtless, 

 from the fragrattce of the odor which characterizes it. 

 It is also frequently called Bokhara clover. The two 

 .species. Melilolus alba and yellow sweet clover (Meli- 

 lotus officinalis), are closely "allied, but the blossom of 

 the former is light-colored, while that of the latter is 

 yellow. 



Swett clover is a strong, vigorous-growing biennial. 

 It is branched and upright in its habit of growth. It is 

 one of the most hardy plants of the clover family. 

 When once firnrly rooted it has great pfcwer to with- 

 stand drouth anci heat, and it can also endure low 

 temperatures. Being a ravenous feeder it is able to 

 maintain it.self in soils too poor to sustain other species 

 of the clover family. The writer has succeeded in 

 growing sweet clover on a vacant lot in St. Paul, Irom 

 which .several feet of the surface soil had been re- 

 moved, insom'ich that only sand and gravel remained. 

 Moreover, it is a legume, and one which has much 

 power to renovate soils. A plant, therefore, which is 

 possessed of such powers should not be looked upon as 

 worthless. That it is so is the popular idea. It has 

 even been looked upon as a weed, and some countries 

 and states have included sweet cloverin the list of pro- 

 scribed noxious weeds. 



But sweet clover lias been grown to some extent to 

 provide hay for live stock in the cured form, and also 

 to provide pasture. And it has been grown to furnish 

 food for bees when it is in bloom. It has been grown 

 for all these uses in the South, more panicularly in the 

 States of the lower Mississippi basin. For providing 

 hay it is not very suitable, for the reasons, first, that it 

 is woody and coarse in character; second, that it is dif- 

 ficult to cure; and. third, that it is not much relished 

 by live stock. They do not care to eat it when they can 

 get a sufficiency of f ther food, as corn, sorghum, or 

 other clovers. As a food for bees it is excellent; and if 

 a part of the plot or field is cut before coming into 

 bloom, the season of bloom will be much prolonged. 

 It is also sown along the sloping embankments and 

 the .sides of railway cuttings. The object sought is to 

 prevent these froni washing, and it has proved highly 

 serviceable for the purpose. 



Sweet clover has not beeti much grovwi for pasture, 

 but for such a use it may yet prove to be of value. 

 When sheep have access to a variety of grasses tliey 

 will probably pass sweet clover by. even when it is 

 young and tender. But if confined to such a pasture 

 when it first begins to grow, they would soon begin to 

 crop it down. To force animals thus to eat food under 

 constraint is not good for them ; but thus it is that in 



