Gleanings in Bee Culture 



mals can not well be called victims of the 

 imagination. Careful statistics have been 

 collected regarding the disease throughout 

 the I'^nited States. While it is true there 

 are some cases where people imagined they 

 were victims of rabies, it is pretty certain 

 that such cases are not very common. In 

 methods for prevention and eradication, 

 they lay particular stress on the necessity 

 of getting rid of dogs that have no owners, 

 or dogs that are of no use to anybody. Let 

 me quote again: 



Tlie only measures necessary to obtain the de- 

 sired result are (1) a tax or license for all dogs, with 

 a fee of 82 for males and So for females, and the de- 

 struction of homeless or vagrant dogs; (2) restraint 

 of all dogs which appear in public places, either by 

 the use of a leash or an efficient muzzle. 



There is no doubt that neglect has allowed the 

 accumulation of ownerless dogs In this country to 



an extent that renders our large cities frequently 

 liable to incursions of rabid animals. Just to men- 

 tion muzzling, however, is sufficient to bring ti- 

 rades of abuse upon tlie head of the sanitarian, and 

 dog sentimentalists are immediately up in arms, 

 using time, influence, and money to prevent such 

 an ordinance. In spite of the obloquy with which 

 It is received by a certain mistaken class of the 

 community, the results of muzzling amply justify 

 its recommendation, and its rigid enforcement 

 without any additional requirement will extermi- 

 nate rabies in a district in a shorter time than any 

 other known method. 



I want to add to the above, that, besides 

 preventing rabies, getting rid of dogs that 

 are of no value to anybody would be a boon 

 in other ways to a great part of the people 

 everywhere, especially in towns and cities. 



The above bulletin will be sent free to 

 anybody on application to the Department 

 of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 



P®qdD{1d°^ ®®^SlD°ftm®DQlt 



CAN A MAN WITH A LARGE FAMILY" KEEP CHICK- 

 ENS, ETC.? 



I understand the one great desire of our Pennsyl- 

 vania friend, p. 639, Oct. 15. is for just enough mon- 

 ey to start him in the poultry business. Given the 

 full amount he desired, without experience, he 

 would last just as long as his money held out. Six 

 years ago I started on a rented place, with poultry 

 as a side line. Away from home from 6 a.m. to 6 

 P.M., working at my trade as engineer, with no 

 help whatever except about fifteen minutes a day 

 by Mrs. T., who emptied the pails of feed to tlie 

 hens, to-day 1 own land, and have built a house 

 and buildings for lOOO head of stock. 1 never had 

 over 825.00 in the business that the birds did not 

 earn, and probably would have done as well with 

 only So.OO; so you see it does not take much capital 

 to get into the poultry business: but it takes work, 

 thought, experience, and good judgment to stay in. 



Living within thirty miles of New York, right 

 near the Corning poultry-farm, I see the land agents 

 work the poultry-farm game for all it is worth. I 

 venture to say that not one in a hundred who. 

 without experience, buys these farms and jumps 

 into poultry makes a success of it. If \\'. S. C. will 

 start with a few hens and give them the thought 

 and care necessary to success the money will come 

 about as fast as he can use it intelligently: and 

 with those ten children as helpers he should, in a 

 few years, be making a barrel of money. 



.Somerville, N. .1., Oct. 24. L. B. Thatcheu. 



CHICKENS, HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO KEEP THEM? 



Perhaps the following may be some help. They 

 are recent figures from a place in Jersey; but be It 

 clearly understood that they were .made by a man 

 with many years' experience in poultry, who gave 

 the utmost labor and attention to his fowls. 



There were 300 fowls, partly light and partly heavy 

 breeds. Every thing had to be purchased, as the 

 ground produced practically nothing for poultry 

 use. nuring tlie six summer months each fowl was 

 kept in food for 31 cents for the six months: and 

 during the six winter months each fowl was kept in 

 food for 45 cents for the six nionth.s. This gives a 

 total of 76 cents per fowl per year. There was no 

 hopper feeding; the birds were fed three times 

 every day, the feed being carefully handled. In 

 winter some birds had a free run. 



With regard to potatoes for chickens, they do all 

 right for a change, or to surii)lement the regular 

 ration, but do not count for much as a regular diet. 

 They are best for winter use, and, if fed in quantity, 

 should be used along with wheat or oats, not with 

 corn. Frederich Martin. 



pullets: GETTING MORE OF THEM. ETC. 



In crossing Barred Plymouth Kock liens with 

 Brown Leghorn males the early chicks were raoi-e 

 cockerels than pullets. It has always been my ex- 

 perience, that, among the earliest broods, I have so 

 few iniUets. It seems to me, though, that the late- 

 hatched pullets commence laying younger than 



the early ones. In fall-hatched broods there seem 

 to be raoi'e pullets than males. My objection to 

 raising them In the fall is, they do not seem to 

 grow so large as the early ones; but perhaps they 

 would If they could be entirely removed from the 

 larger chickens and given as good care. 



My chufas are coming up, planted ten days ago. 

 I soaked the seed about 21 hours. 



Doniphan, Mo., June 11. L. D. S. Beauchamp. 



DUCKS mating in SHALLOW WATER. 



Water for ducks, page 578, Sept. 15, seems to me 

 to be most Interesting and valuable. This Is a 

 great discovery. Thousands of years ducks have 

 been raised without knowing this secret. In 1877 

 and '78 I worked for a poultryman who kept, be- 

 sides many varieties of chickens, three kinds of 

 ducks, but I never saw them mate on land, and 

 only in shallow water. 



Two years ago we bought Indian Runner duck 

 eggs for hatching. We put some of them under 

 hens, and some into the Incubator, but not half of 

 them came to life. The woman of whom we bovight 

 the eggs lived on a dry little farm with hardly 

 enough water to drink for man and beast. The 

 mating of the ducks In water Is not the whole secret 

 of success. The eggs of ducks, at least, must be put 

 near wet ground for hatching. Nature made it so. 

 The wild duck is doing her hatching in the swamp; 

 hence the great number of ducklings in the nests 

 of the wild duck. 



El Monte, Cal., Sept. 30. A. Ringele. 



INDIAN RUNNER DUCKS, ETC. 



1 notice something you say about ducks needing 

 water, that their eggs may be fertile. I haven't 

 had much experience myself, but I know a party 

 who had two ducks and a drake to start with this 

 spring, and he has a pen of 53 nice Indian Runners 

 now on hand. He furnished them just a slosh place 

 for watering. 



I notice my Indian Runner ducks do their mat- 

 ing around their slosh place. lam of the opinion 

 that, if mating takes place with two normal fowls, 

 the result Is the same anywhere or place. 



We had two settings of Indian Runner eggs this 

 spring. I sent one setting to my farm, and kept 

 one setting in town. Those at the farm did well. 

 Those in town we kept tao well, and only one sur- 

 vied. We raised it a pet. It was the largest and 

 strongest, and had big clumsy yellow feet and bill. 

 We were sure it was a drake, and named it Mike; 

 but it turned out a duck. But we still called her 

 Mike. I brought Mike a fine drake for a partner, 

 and named him Fawney. 



Mike and Fawney are fine specimen of birds. 

 They are naturally wild, but we can pick them up 

 almost any time. I wanted them tame to use for 

 decoys; but our legislature passed a law prohibit- 

 ing live decoys. They notice birds in the air quick- 

 ly. They see hawks further than any other fowl I 

 know of. 



Galena, Kan., Oct. 20. J. P. Brumfield. 



