1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



153 



days to sell goods with the above under- 

 standing or agreemeat, and there is certain- 

 ly an element of good in it. It has been 

 suggested that the average country mer- 

 chant can not stand such competition; but 

 my opinion is that many, at least, of our 

 country merchants will soon be obliged to 

 step up a little higher. It is the Christian- 

 like way of doing business. As a rule I 

 have never been very favorably impressed 

 with medicines and "tonics" for chickens; 

 but recently our enterprising "chicken doc- 

 tor," Dr. Conkey, of Cleveland, O., sent out 

 one of his circulars about his "tonic" to 

 make chickens lay, with the agreement, 

 "money back," etc., with such extravagant 

 claims that I ordered a 25-cent trial pack- 

 age of his agents in Tampa. Let me ex- 

 plain that our laying hens had not been do- 

 ing very satisfactory work at any time 

 since we came down here last November. 

 Mrs. Root declared that many of them were 

 too old, and advised selling ihem off; but it 

 is, as a rule, bad policy to sell hens in the 

 spring time, even if they are old. Well, 

 they did start to lay better within two or 

 three days after getting the tonic; but be- 

 fore rushing to conclusions we had better 

 consider that it is just now spring time 

 down here, and we have just been having an 

 unusually warm and pleasant J-anuary. 

 Besides, neighbor Rood has ju-«t commenced 

 culling out his broken-headed cabbages and 

 lettuce that will never make a head, and 

 this thing alone should account largely for 

 the increased egg yield; but there is one 

 thing more about this egg tonic, and this is 

 the very thing that has induced me to 

 write it up. When I opened the package it 

 set me to coughing and sneezing at such a 

 rate I had to carry my wheat shoris and 

 medicine out into the open air, and then I 

 was obliged to turn my head to avoid the 

 strong fumes of cayenne pepper and some 

 other stuff I failed to recognize. Of course, 

 I have known for years that poultry are 

 fond of pepper, mustard, and other pungent 

 herbs; but it was one of my "happy sur- 

 prises " to see my whole dozen yards of over 

 300 chickens get into a panic just as soon as 

 they had fairly sampled the new concoc- 

 tion. Let me stop right here to say Mrs. 

 Root has been advising me to get rid of the 

 Leghorns just because they persist in think- 

 ing they are going to be killed every time a 

 stranger or any thing unusual comes into 

 the yards. Why, a few" days ago, when I 

 had more eggs than I could carry in all my 

 pockets, I took off my fur caji to hold the 

 contents of a big nest. Just as soon as I 

 came in sight bareheaded, the whole tribe 

 (hens and roosters) including a hen and 

 chickens, ran and yelled "bloody murder," 

 and when a customer wanted a dozen White 

 Leghorn hens I was obliged to go out in the 

 night with a lantern to get them. Well, 

 with a pailful of middlings or shorts with a 

 few" tablespoonfuls of this tonic well stirred 

 in. and wet up with water, I think I could 

 pick up every wild chicken on the ranch, 

 they are so crazy for it. May be it contains 



something fowls don't get down here in 

 Florida; at any rate, it is worth all it cost 

 to me to get my chickens tame, to say noth- 

 ing about bringing in the eggs. 



Now,. lest I give friend Conkey a bigger 

 testimonial than he deserves, let me remark 

 that I recall that my brother last summer 

 used to make a sort of "stew" of every 

 thing the chickens liked, such as cheap fish 

 boiled up and mixed with bran or shorts; 

 and, as nearly as I can remember, he used 

 the same old pail and long-handled spoon 

 that I used. But how- about the chickens I 

 have hatched and reared since he left and 

 went up to his Michigan home? Again, 

 why did not Dr. Conkey, in his "flaming 

 poster," say that chickens would be crazy 

 for it after they once got a taste? After giv- 

 ing Dr. Ccnkey all this free advertising for 

 his tonic, I want to say to him (and all the 

 other venders of me iicines for chickens) , is 

 it not time to stop charging half a dollar for 

 a little box of salve that could be afforded 

 for a dime and perhaps for a nickel?* 



The great mass of poultry-keepers are 

 poor people and do not have dollars to in- 

 vest in things that may be needful. Are 

 not small profits and lar^ie sales the better 

 way to build up a big business? 



FEEDING SULPHUR TO CHICKENS AS A PREVENTIVE 

 OF VERMIN. 



This in answer to query, page 806, Dec. loth issue, 

 " Does sulphur taken internally with the food get 

 into the circulation so as to show its presence on 

 the surface of the body?" 1 know as a matter of 

 fact, and by my own experience and that of others, 

 tliat if you use, say, half a teaspoonful or over of 

 sulphur daily for a few days, say a week, then take 

 your woolen undershirt and shake or brush the in- 

 side of it over a hot stove you will receive a decided- 

 ly affirmative reply to the query: and if with the 

 human, why not with the hen, she retaining it un- 

 der her feathers, where the heat of her body would 

 generate sulphuric-acid gas — death to insects, etc. 



FEATHERS FOR BROODING CHICKS. 



I have been using a "* hover" in a fireless brood- 

 er for about five years. It is made of mosquito- 

 netting, hanging loosely, filled with loose feathers, 

 with a thin cover tucked over feathers tacked to 

 frame of hover. It gives plenty of ventilation, and 

 is good for the chicks. 



Ehvood, Ind. D. Xeilson. 



SOREHEAD; POND'S EXTRACT A REMEDY. 



I have just read your letter in Gleanings for 

 Sept. 1. Try dipping your chickens" heads in Pond's 

 extract two or three times. It will, I think, cure 

 sorehead every time. 



redbugs; wet salt a remedy. 



As to redbugs, I have found that rubbing thor- 

 oughly with wet salt will knock them. I hope you 

 will find these things satisfactory. 



When you spoke of the cornfields of Southwestern 

 Ohio you made me homesick. 



Greenville, Texas, Sept. 7. T. P. Flaig. 



SULPHUR FOR VERMIN; STILL MORE ABOUT IT. 



Bro. A. 1. Root:— In regard to sulphur ridding 

 poultry of insects, I will say it might be all true. 

 Years ago 1 used to handle Texas range horses, 

 and many of them would be so full of ticks that it 



* After paying 50 cts. for a box of salve for " stick- 

 tight fleas " I afterward got a nice little bottle of 

 carbolated vaseline (at the drugstore) for 5 ct.s., and 

 the latter was even better, for it did not take the 

 feathers off the chicks. I am glad to add that this 

 winter we have so far no fleas at all, nor any thing 

 else on the chicks, little or big. 



