MAY 15, 1914 



397 



and all other up-to-date dances, and almiit every 

 thing else under the sun but tobacco. On this theme 

 he is deliKlitfulIy silent. Many of his officials, in- 

 cluding- deacons and Sunday-school teachers, smoke 

 and chew, and he knows on which side his bread is 

 buttered. 



Allow mc to introduce you to a lad about eighteen. 

 A year ago he was a church and Sunday-school goer. 

 To-day he is in the high school, and smokes cigar- 

 ettes. Does he still come to Sunday-school? Of 

 course not. For convenience I will call him Tom. 

 Meet him, if you will, Mr. Root, and say, " Tom, my 

 dear lad, cut out those cigarettes. Don't you know 

 they will ruin your mind, body, and perhaps your 

 sou! ? " 



If I were Tom I'd say, " Mr. Root, go to Mr. 

 Blank, the church deacon, and Mr. Dash, the Sun- 

 day-school teacher. Get them to give up smoking, 

 then come to me. I'm following their example. 



" Yes, but you say they smoke cigars. So will I 

 when I can afford to. It costs 10 cts. and up for 

 a cigar. I can get a dozen cigarettes at that price." 



From my observation this condition obtains in all 

 churches. In face of these facts, is not the church 

 (no, not the church, heaven forbid, but so-called 

 members) responsible for our boys going to the devil 

 by way of the cigarette route? My wife (one of the 

 very best on earth) is an ardent worker among the 

 little folks in Sunday-school. I tell her if we had a 

 boy I'd hesitate sending him to Sunday-school for 

 fear lest, some day, be would come home and say, 

 "Father, my teacher smokes; and when I can earn 

 money I shall do the same." See the point? Paul 

 says, " If meat make my brother to otifend I will not 

 eat it (not much danger nowdays of meat making 

 our brother to offend — the price is too high) ; but 

 the good Lord knows tobacco is making our boys 

 " offend " beyond all conception ; and to my mind 

 there is no factor helping to spread this blasting 

 plague more than the example of church folks. 



In lalkins this way to some people they say we 

 ought not to look at church members ; we should look 

 at .Jesus. What silly rotl If church members are 

 not to be looked at and imitated, then in the name 

 of the Master what on earth are they for? What does 

 the average boy or girl know about Jesus, any way? 

 Ask them why we observe Christmas or Easter. They 

 know it has something to do with Santa Glaus or a 

 new Easter bonnet. Beyond this they are ignorant, 

 and why not? They learn nothing of him in the 

 public schools, nor in their homes, and they don't go 

 to cluirch or Sunday-school. No, they can't see 

 Jesus; but they do see church members, his pro- 

 fessed representatives; and if their example is not 

 fit to follow, then in all common sense whom can 

 they follow? My feeling is, "when the roll is called 

 up yonder," 95 per cent of our church members 

 " won't be there " unless they get a " move on " and 

 change tremendously their fashion of living. If this 

 is not so. I need to be shown, and I'm not from 

 " Missouri " either. 



Yours for Christ and the boys, 



Dixon, Cal., Dec. 18. John T. Bowen. 



My good brother, I fear you put it too 

 strongly. Our Medina, 0., pastor and our 

 Sunday-school teachers do not use tobacco, 

 and I think I can safely say the same here 

 in riorida. Our Sunday-school superin- 

 tendent frequently talks to the boys very 

 plainly and emphatically about avoiding 

 tobacco. Billy Sunday, Avhose converts are 

 continually going up into the thousands, 

 hits heavier than I do, yet his " audiences ' 

 don't seem to grow small. Don't we all need 

 a little more " Pollyanna '"? 



POULTRY DEPAETR' 



^T^fl 



ST.\KTING THE EGGS UNDEE HENS. 



Mr. A. I. Root: — I am much interested in your 

 writings, especially on poultry. I am in the poultry 

 business in a small way, and I want to tell you 

 about my splendid hatches with a fifty-egg Cycle in- 

 cubator. 



Several years ago you suggested starting the eggs 

 under hens, testing out the infertile ones, and at the 

 end of a week putting the fertile eggs in the incuba- 

 tor and setting the liens over again. The first time I 

 tried your plan I put 56 eggs under hens, and on 

 the fifth day tested out five infertiles, and at the end 

 of one week put the 51 fertile eggs in the incubator 

 and set the hens over again. Out of the 51 eggs in 

 the incubator I got 50 chicks. The second time I 

 put 52 fertile eggs in the incubator and got 52 

 chick.s — fine, strong, and vigorous. Every egg hatch- 

 ed. I couldn't have done better. I call this way of 

 hatching chicks the Root plan. 



I have one good vigorous yearling cock (S. C. W. 

 •Leghorn) mated with 25 splendid two and three year 

 old hens, and the fertility has been very good in- 

 deed; but I find that hens will start every germ, 

 which an incubator will not do ; so if one has enough 

 hens to start the eggs for a small incubator it is 

 quite a saving in eggs. I am using Buff Orpingtons 

 for sitters. I made a tester after your plan, out of 

 a ■' Mother's Oats " box. I like it very much indeed, 

 but think I have improved it somewhat by having 

 my wife sew some soft cloth around the open end 

 that fits up to the forehead and nose. Being soft, it 

 shuts out every particle of light, fitting closely to the 

 law. 



We use the sun for testing when possible, and 

 can do it more thoroughly and quicker than with a 

 lamp. I have 104 fertile eggs in two Cycle incuba- 

 tors, and really I shall be disappointed if I don't 

 get more than 100 chicks. I have hatched several 

 hundred this spring, and have had only one cripple. 

 I have advertised a little, and found that there is a 

 good demand for baby chicks. Several of my six- 

 day-old White Leghorn incubator chicks followed a 

 neighbor a quarter of a mile from the house, came 

 back with him, and seemed as fresh as ever when 

 they got home. I have never had such vigorous 

 chicks before. 



DWARF ESSEX RAPE FOE CHICKENS. 



I do not remember ever hearing you say any thing 

 about rape for chickens. In my estimation there is 

 no green quite so good for jjoultry as dwarf Essex 

 rape. You can sow the seed here about the middle 

 of August, and in six weeks you can begin to cut 

 or turn the chickens on it. It can be mowed or cut 

 (if not too low) three or four times during the year, 

 and will grow right up again. 



I have a small patch that I sowed the middle of 

 August. When it was large enough I turned the 

 poultry on it and they stripped the leaves right down 

 to. the ribs. Then I cut the old ribs off and let it 

 grow out again. It is now fine and large, and ready 

 for the knife or the flock. It certainly is a wonder- 

 ful plant for poultry. 



At first I tied the leaves in bunches and threw 

 them in the pens ; but, of course, that way they 

 could not eat the ribs, which was a great waste. I 



