36 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



this kind of pump, where the plunger takes 

 the place of valves also, a very thin soft 

 yielding leather is needed, and in a little 

 time the pump was sending out a stream of 

 air for certain, and with force enough to 

 make every rubber tire on each of the four 

 wheels " stand up " so only a veiy small 

 sjDot, comparatively, touched the cement 

 floor; and when turning corners, especially 

 on hard-surfaced roads, but a touch on the 

 steering lever is all that is needed. 



There is a great lesson for poor frail 

 humanity in our last text. Great rulers and 

 gi'eat generals must, as a rule, first learn 

 self-control before they can expect to be 

 chosen for important offices. One who 



allows himself to push ahead when he is 

 vexed and impatient,* as I did, is a poor 

 specimen of Christian, to say nothing more. 

 1 kept thinking I would have it all right in 

 a few minutes, until I was too tired and 

 nervous to do any thing well; and my old 

 arch enemy saw his chance. While I think 

 of it I thank God that it was only an inani- 

 mate object that I was vexed with, and not 

 any fellow-traveler in this world of sin. I 

 also thank God that, when I realized my 

 " armor " had dropped off, and seemed to be 

 lost, I made haste to apply to " the Lamb 

 of God that taketh away the sin of the 

 world." 



Poultry Department 



"the high cost of living — FOR chickens/' 



AND SOME OTHER MATTERS. 



The above has been on my mind a good 

 deal for some time past, and Mrs. Root and 

 1 have had some " jangles " about it because, 

 as she insists, I tell all the pleasant things 

 about chickens and say but little about the 

 cost (especially down here) of wheat, corn, 

 and oats. I am paying now for each 100- 

 Ib. sack $2.15, $1.95, and $1.90. I could 

 buy a little cheaper in quantities, say in the 

 city of Tampa, but I could not readily turn 

 my eggs every day as I do at the grocer's 

 toward my grain, which is delivered as I 

 need it right to my granary in the center of 

 the " convergent poulti-y-yards." But be- 

 fore we get down to " figures " let us read 

 the letter below from a good brother who 

 seems to be " worried " in regard to the 

 matter : 



Mr. A. I. Root: — I have been reading your Poul- 

 try Department in Gleanings for some time; but 

 fliere is one important thing that I should like to 

 know. What is the average cost of feeding a hen 

 for a year? I have heard that $1.25 or $1.50 will 

 do it, but Green's Fruit Grower says that a healthy 

 hen will eat $3.65 worth of grain in a year. If that 

 is true I will get rid of my chickens, for there is no 

 profit in them at those figures. I rely on your tell- 

 ing us in Gleanings?. 



Cokeville, Pa., Nov. 21. John Major 



If Green's F7-uit Grower said as above, 

 without any qualification, I should say they 

 were careless, to say the least. It is possi- 

 ble that a large hen, laying 200 or more 

 eggs a year, shut uj) (say on the Philo 

 plan), and having little but grain, and the 

 grain bought in small lots at the grocer's (at 

 a big price), may eat a cent's Avorth a day; 

 but I am sure not on the average. Look 

 up the reports of our egg contests in the 

 different States, and see what they have 

 published in regard to cost of feed. 



Our own chickens have a range of about 

 five acres (if they care to go so far), and 

 my feed bill with Buttercups and Leghorns 

 for grain (wheat, corn, and oats) is only 

 about 1/4 of a cent a day, and this result 

 was obtained where the grain was in galvan- 

 ized tubs when they all helped themselves 

 all day long. With my flock of 80 hens and 

 ducks, half a dozen eggs (40 cts. per dozen 

 at the grocery), 20 cts., paid for grain for 

 the whole flock. Now, before a lot of you 

 rise up in protest, listen. We buy oats every 

 day; get lettuce and cabbage not fit to ship; 

 provide Bermuda grass " pasture," and last, 

 but not least, give them nearly all the 

 ground bones and meat they care for, and 

 the " chicken bones " are given me at the 

 combined grocery and meat market in con- 

 sideration of giving them our trade. A 

 half-dozen eggs pays for all cash outlay. 

 ]f you get three dozen eggs a day, which is 

 certainly a very moderate estimate, you have 

 a dollar clear every day for properly caring 

 for your fowls. 



Just one thing more. If the droppings 

 from the roost are cleaned up every day 

 they are, down here in Florida (where stable 

 manure is $3.00 a load), worth quite a little. 



Somebody may ask if it is not pretty 

 extravagant to provide five acres of " run " 

 for 80 ducks and chickens. Yes, it is; but 

 the five acres cost me only $150 per acre, 

 and just now the assessor appraised them 

 at $400. Then comes the question, " Why 

 not raise grain or something else for chick- 

 ens on this idle land so as to avoid these 



* Giving way to nervous impatience, especially 

 wlien assisted by drink, is probably the cause of a 

 lot of the murders, followed by suicide, that are now 

 chronicled in almost every issue of our daily papers. 

 When Satan gets his victim well started he crowds 

 him ahead with relentless haste, making the most 

 of his opportunity. 



