38 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



as I bad ducks and chickens when I arrived 

 here in November. When I left in April 

 I had a credit of about $38.00 at the gro- 

 cery. It took all this and almost as much 

 more to feed roosters and all. Sorehead or 

 some similar trouble took off a dozen or two, 

 and " varmints " a few more. Laying hens 

 could be left with neighbors cheaper, it is 

 true ; but a lot of " youngsters " are " no 

 good " for eggs, and often a " heap " of 

 trouble. It would have been as cheap or 

 cheaper t- have " sold out " in the spring, 

 and bought more in November; but who 

 wants to sell young- pullets just beginning- 

 to lay? Another thing, I wanted my es-^>t;- 

 cial cross of Buttercups and Legliorns. If 

 I stayed here the year rotaid, like neighbor 

 Abbott, it would be much cheaper; but even 

 he (who has several hundred laying hens) 

 begins to think bees rather more profitable. 

 They don't need corn, and seldom need su- 

 gar. While I think of it, neighbor Ault 

 (the man among the big dasheens) in some 

 of his apiaries here near Bradentown se- 

 cured last season about 200 lbs. per colony. 

 But this was an apiary of only about 25 

 colonies. 



Just a word more about the chickens. I 

 think our Experiment Stations find the large 

 breeds need more grain than the Leghorns; 

 but, if I remember, in one egg test the 

 Rhode Islands Reds came very near taking 

 the prize, and neighbor Ault. says he had a 

 flock of reds that, while they had access to 

 a field of alfalfa, gave a big egg yield and 

 had almost no grain at all. This reminds 

 me that three laying hens, Rhode Island 

 Reds, were kept all summer just for their 

 eggs ; and while eggs were 50 cts. a dozen 

 in November I several times liad an egg 

 from each red hen. Let us go back to that 

 letter from friend Major before closing. 



Friend M., let us suppose you have no 

 lettuce, cabbage, nor even a field of alfalfa, 

 and that it does cost a " whole cent " to 

 feed your hen one day. If she lays an egg 

 that is worth four cents in the market, or 

 more, can't you stand it? 



DO THE HIGH-SCORING CHICKENS AT FANCY 

 PRICES GIVE US THE BIG-LAYING STOCK? 



An effort has been made to show that our 

 great layers in the " egg-laying contests " 

 are the outcome of the high-scoring stan- 

 dard fowls; but here is something that does 

 not exactly agree if I understand it correct- 

 ly. The clipping is from the Pacific Poul- 

 try man. 



Another claim to the world's chompionship for egg 

 production has .iust been put forward. Professor 

 Drvden, of the Oregon Agricultural College, gives a 

 record of 291 eggs in a period of one year by a hen 

 of mixed blood, owned by the college, which he claims 

 is the best performance in the world to date. 



I need hardly add that we have probably 

 no better authoxity than Prof. Dryden. The 

 above hen was probably a first cross, and, 

 verv likely, from standard breeds. See p. 

 624, Sept. 1. 



GRASSHOPPERS AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR MEAT 

 SCRAPS FOR POULTRY. 



In the Ladies' Home Journal for Novem- 

 ber is a letter from a widow who did won- 

 derful things with poultry by feeding them 

 grasshop)iers that she trapjDed, and then 

 killed with formaldehyde. The account 

 does not tell where she lives, but it says she 

 trapped "eighty odd bushels" in two weeks, 

 and she says it answers the place of ground 

 bones or meat scraps wonderfully well. 1 

 confess that several times when I read of 

 the grasshopper scourge in the Southwest 

 I wondered if they could not be killed and 

 dried so as to be preserved for winter ra- 

 tions for poultry. Can any of our readers 

 tell us wliether the above is fact or fiction? 



MUSTARD FOR CHICKENS AND MUSTARD FOR 

 TABLE use; WHERE ARE THE MUSTARD- 

 FIELDS ? 

 I see in one of A. I. Root's articles he mentions 

 receiving a barrel of ground mustard for his chick- 

 ens. Now, I should like to know if mustard is grown 

 an:'where in the United States in a commercial way; 

 and if so, could there not be a way to get in com- 

 munication with the growers, and order from them? 

 Town Line, N. Y., Oct. 15. J. H. Calkins. 



Perhaps The French Co., of Rochester, 

 N. Y., who advertise mustard for poultry, 

 can tell us where the seed is grown, that 

 beekeepers may locate near the mustard- 

 fields, to the advantage of the grower as 

 well as that of the beekeeper. 



BANEFUL DRUGS; A WORLD-WIDE WAR 

 AGAINST THEM. 



Another evidence that God's kingdom is 

 coming on earth is that the nations of the 

 world are uniting in a war against opium 

 and other baneful drug-s. See the follow- 

 ing, which we clip from the Cleveland Plain 

 Dealer: 



Dr. Wright reported that up to date thirty-five 

 governments have signed the opium convention, in- 

 cluding the thirteen nations that joined in the first 

 conference in Shanghai after the movement had been 

 initiated by the United States. Some of these coun- 

 tries, notably Great Britain and Germany, are with- 

 holding their ratifications until the last moment, tak- 

 ing the ground that to be really effective the conven- 

 tion must have the unanimous support of all nations. 

 So far twenty-six governments have agreed to de- 

 posit their ratifications, and they probably will be 

 received at The Hague before December 31 next. 



All of the signatory powers are to meet at a third 

 conference at The Hague after December 31, next, 

 to agree upon the date when the prohibition of the 

 use of opium and other baneful drugs shall go into 

 effect throughout the world. 



