JANUARY 15, 1916 



83 



dirty-fared laly was very much in evidence. Hav- 

 in;^ a little candy in his pocket, he picked up the 

 little fellow and quieted him, and soon was on the 

 best of terms with him. The mother started out to 

 get some wood. 



■• Oh! let me go," he said; and he brought in two 

 good armfuls. When milking-time came she took 

 two pails out to milk. 



" Here " said he, " let n'e have one. I am a good 

 milker." 



And so he \\ns on the alert to help all he couM. 

 I\Ionda}' came, and there was corn to hoe, and work 

 ir> the garden along witji the chores, and with out- 

 door work and helping the overworked woman, he 

 made himself useful all the while. 



U hen the next Monday moinir.g tame he asked 

 the man, '"How much do I owe you?" and the man 

 pulled out a $'2.50 goldpiece and said, " I owe you 

 so umch, and would like to hire you for a year. — 

 independent Farmrr. 



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POULTRY DEPARTMENT 



MY CHRISTMAS PRESENT. 



Of all the Christmas presents I have 

 received in over 70 years I do not recall any 

 that gave me more real pleasure than the 

 one I am going to tell you about. It came 

 so entirely unsuspected, it was really one 

 of my " happy surprises." No one of my 

 many friends sent it, for, in fact, not a soul 

 on earth knew anything about it or had a 

 finger in the work of getting it up until it 

 was presented to my astonished gaze when 

 I was all alone out in the Florida woods. 

 I did not even know that long days and 

 weeks were at work getting it up for my 

 especial joy and delight until the finished 

 and complete creation was handed over to 

 me — shall I not say direct from the hand of 

 the kind and loving heavenly Father? 



I have already mentioned a Rhode Island 

 Red hen, blind in one eye, that laid right 

 along a year ago thru November, December, 

 and January, when the Leghorns and But- 

 tercups were moulting and when eggs were 

 50 cts. or more. Well, I set quite a few of 

 her eggs, and therefore found a dozen or 

 more young pullets, pictures of their moth- 

 er, when I reached here in November. Sure 

 enough, like the mother they have been 

 almost all laying clear up to Christmas, and, 

 like the mother also, not one wanted to sit 

 until December 14 (altho I was very anx- 

 ious for some chicks to study and care for 

 as soon as possible) and another on the 23d. 



One morning I caught a glimpse of a 

 soft fluffy red hen (or yellow, rather), 

 rusliing about for corn and water, with her 

 feathers ruffled up and clucking; but sup- 

 posing it was the sitting hen of the 14th 

 1 thought little about it until I found said 

 sitting hen on her nest Avith no indication 

 of having been off that morning. Once, 

 later, I got a glimpse of her; but she was 

 off in the woods before I could keep her in 

 sight. I said to Wesley, " We must hunt 

 that hen, for she might have more eggs than 

 she could cover." 



We both spent quite a little time, but 

 had to give it up, and I concluded she was 



only " making believe " she was " broody," 

 as pullets sometimes do. 



Well, on Monday morning, Dec. 27, I 

 went out in the woods alone, thinking I 

 might catch her coming off to feed, and I 

 did catch her; but imagine my astonish- 

 ment when I saw around her a perfect 

 '' swarm " of fluffy downy yellow chicks. 

 The morning sunshine came thru the ever- 

 green-trees and shrubbery, and there she 

 stood, a proud and stately mother witli 

 her inquisitive brood scattered around her. 

 I tried to count them, but they rushed 

 about in the sunshine at such a rate that I 

 was really unable to decide whether there 

 were 16 or 17; and, 'to tell the truth, as I 

 write we haven't decided even yet. I made 

 17 several times; but Mrs. Root declares 

 that her accurate " auditing " shows only 

 16. Wesley and I finally located the nest 

 and found three infertile eggs, so she must 

 have laid 20 eggs (or 19?) before deciding 

 to sit. From the activity and looks of the 

 chicks she must have hatched them on 

 Christmas day, and neither she nor the 

 cliicks had had anything to eat except what 

 she scratched up in the woods for the lot, 

 until the third day. They are now on a 

 " bread-and-milk " diet, located right near 

 our bedroom window, and we are going to 

 try hard to keep the " happy family " 

 entire. 



By the way, there are quite a few "chick- 

 en men" (and women), as I happen to 

 know, who read Gleanings. Well, may we 

 not thank God that there is a place in the 

 United States where (when we are getting 

 old) we can go and see a hen steal her nesi, 

 sit on twenty eggs, and hatch 17 (or even 

 16) at Christmas time? 



POULTRY-KEEPING IN FLORIDA. 



The letter below explains itself: 



Mr. Root: — We (our party) take the liberty of 

 enclosing some questions touching the poultry busi- 

 ness in Florida. Some of us e.xpect to go down 

 soon. We know that you are well conversant with 

 the situation and that ygu ^r^ ^ Christ^isfo, and 



