.Tr\K 1, 1914 



has quite a range of glass-covered gi'een- 

 houses. Then he has acres of garden that 

 can be covered in severe weather by cotton 

 sheeting; and once in a while he has stovt's 

 inside to warm up the temperature. Now, 

 one of his houses that greatly interested me 

 was a glass house for making rooted cut- 

 tings. It is kept at a high temperature, and 

 tlie air in it is always moist, and kept so by 

 sprinkling not only the plants but the floors 

 and walks. In this "forcing-house" he makes 

 " rooted cuttings " of almost every thing 

 for which there is a sufficient demand. For 

 instance, he will take a mulberry-tree and 

 cut the branches all up into little cuttings, 

 perhaps two or three inches long. They are 

 then sst in moist sand until they take root. 

 Then you may see not only hundreds, but 

 thousands of little plants and little trees all 

 the while being propagated in this forcing- 

 house. T felt a good deal pleased to find 

 out that the foreman of this house came 

 from our Ohio Experiment Station. 



Well, when these cutting's of valuable 

 plants begin to send out their little white 

 roots they are put into small pots with such 

 a rich compost or potting-soil as I have 



44] 



described, ai:d kei)t growing until the roo*s 

 fill the little pots, and in this sliape they are 

 sent out to customers. The plants (soil and 

 all) are slipped out of the pot, securely 

 I'acked in damp moss surrounded with pai"- 

 afhne paper to liold the moisture, and then 

 they will keep in good order for long ship- 

 ments. During the winter 1 purchased thirty 

 or forty potted plants of Florida fruit and 

 flowers, put them out in my garden, and it 

 was a great pleasure to me to see almost 

 every plant keep right on growing almost 

 as if it had not been transplanted. When 

 these new fruits come into bearing I pro- 

 pose to tell you all about them. I have 

 before mentioned friend Reasoner's volumi- 

 nous catalog; and, if you are interested in 

 Florida and in what can be grown there, it 

 will repay you to get this catalog and study 

 it. It gives one full information in regard 

 to plants that are hardy enougli to stand 

 out without any protection; and it also 

 suggests the best and cheapest way to pro- 

 tect tender stuff that might not stand the 

 frosts that are liable to come almost any 

 winter. 



POULTEY BEPAETMENT 



HO".V TO GET HID OF MITES ON POULTRY. 



We use bamboo 1 % or 2 inches in diameter, and 

 about 5 feet long. We take a hot iron and burn a 

 hole through the joints nearly the size of tlie bam- 

 boo ; then at each joint take a saw and cut in a 

 small notch Vs inch wide, V4 inch deep in a straight 

 line, so all will be under the perch when set up. 

 Drill holes in the end of the perch to drop a spike in 

 to keep it from turning. Do not use any spray or 

 oil on them, but keep them clean so the mites will go 

 in them; for when the chickens go to roost these lice 

 Jo their feeding, and then hunt a nesting-place. Tf 

 they are allowed to they will leave the chicken at 

 night,- and go into the holes under the bamboo, uikI 

 fill the percli from end to end. Then all one has to 

 do, a couple of times a week, is to lift up the perch, 

 liold it up over a can of hot water or oil, hit it on 

 the side, and see what happens. The results will 

 scare you, for the pests will drop out in one long 

 string. I have seen them come out in one mass not 

 less than 3 feet long, and finally, after a few clean- 

 ings, one can get only about half a teaspoonful. The 

 way we had our chicken-house fixed was to have the 

 roasts separate from the building so that, when the 

 chicken was on the roost, it could not touch the 

 building. Use crude oil on the perch-holder legs 

 about a foot otif the floor to keep what lice are on the 

 holder from going down on the floor and getting into 

 the building; and if any spraying is to be done, take 

 down the roosts and spray the house to make it heal- 

 thy. The bamboo keeps the fowls' feet warm. 



San .Jose, Cal., Jan. 16. W. A. Baestow. 



My friend, your suggestion is, I think, a 

 good one. Down in our Florida home I 

 have often noticed these bamboo poles, 

 sometimes about as large as your arm, or 



perhajDS larger, which we find lying around 

 loose. I was wondering if those partitions 

 at the joints could not be easily bored out so 

 as to mako a very strong, light, serviceable 

 tubing. Your suggestion of a hot iron, I 

 think, would work it out to a dot. This 

 would be a cheap way, where bamboo is 

 jdentiful, to make "trap" ]ierches. While 

 in ("alifornia years ago I saw water carried 

 a considerable distance down the mountains 

 by means of bamboo tubing. The only trou- 

 ble was that the cayotes learned to gnaw 

 holes through the tubing so as to " get a 

 drink " when thirsty. We have gotten the 

 upper hand of the mites in Florida with 

 very little trouble by spraying with kero- 

 sene witli a little cresol added. 



CUTTING OFF THE SPURS FROM OLD FOWLS. 



In the issue of Oct. 15, you speak of good mother 

 hens, some being very old. We have several such 

 mother hens five and some six years old, which we 

 should like to keep, but they have long spurs on their 

 legs which make them almost unfit to- hover young 

 chicks ; and sometimes the eggs are broken by the 

 spurs while the hens are sitting on eggs. Can these 

 long spurs be cut or sawed off without injury or 

 pain to the hens ? 



Ross, Cal., Dec. 27. Philip Schapee. 



My good friend, we have repeatedly cut 

 the spurs off from our old roosters with a 



