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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



grain and si'een stuff and milk, and a dish of dry 

 bran was kept before them all the time to pick at in 

 their leisure moments. 



Ill a recent copy of the Rural New-Yorker T 

 notice they i-ecommend feeding' moist mashes to 

 h:isten maturity in pullets. It has always been a 

 hobby of mine that young chickens thrived best on 

 dry feed entirely; but judging by these Orpington 

 pullets I rather think there is a little something in 

 the mash theory ; for when they were small, and till 

 they wei-e perhaps three months old, I was very busy 

 with my farm work, and my wife took charge of 

 feeding them. Contrary to my advice (you know 

 women will do as they please sometimes), she liter- 

 ally stuffed those chickens with ma-sh "because they 

 loved it so." She said I needn't worry about its 

 hurting them any, and it seems it did not. Not a 

 chick was sick, and the onlv loss was three captured 

 by a hawk. They surely did grow fast. The cocker- 

 els weighed nearly three pounds in less than three 

 months, and a pullet laid in less than five. It looks 

 as if the joke was on me. Nevertheless, I still main- 

 tain that such treatment would not do for Leghorns, 

 and may be it was only mixing the mash with sour 

 milk that preserved the Orpingtons from acute indi- 

 gestion. 



I see you are raising corn and velvet beans on 

 your Florida land this year instead of feterita, etc. 

 Well, so am I. Last summer ray Egyptian wheat, 

 chicken corn, and feterita grew to perfection, making 

 a magnificent crop of heads, and I thought I was 

 going to have an'abundance of feed for my poultry; 

 but my experience was similar to yours — the birds 

 did the harvesting. As soon as it started to ripen, 

 the blackbirds came in flocks and droves and stayed 

 till it was gone. I managed to get a few heads bv 

 cutting them before they were ripe; but of course 

 that was not much good, so the whole thing was 

 practically a failure, and I made up my mind quite 

 emphatically that this year I would raise something 

 they could not get. I have fifteen acres of velvet 

 beans and eight acres of corn. The beans crushed 

 make a good chicken feed. If there is a mill handy 

 to you in Bradentown you might try some of them 

 next winter. Mine are mostly the Chinese variety. 

 They grow in such big clusters that they are easy to 

 gather; and when I have picked what I need I 

 shall turn my hogs and cattle in to finish the job. 

 I planted velvet beans in mv cornfield in the row 

 with my corn, and now they have climbed to the tops 

 of the tallest stalks and have yards of vines waving 

 around up there looking for new worlds to conquer. 



We are having plenty of rain here this summer, 

 and things are growing finely. I am going to have 

 a fine corn crop, and my cassava, chufas, Japanese 

 sugar cane, etc., are all looking well. 



I must tell you a cassava story that amused me 

 very much." One day last spring I had a long root 

 of it lying on the back porch, which I was showing 

 to a friend from the North. 



"My," he said; "I wouldn't want to plant any 

 of that stuff. Think of having to dig down into the 

 ground six or seven feet to get out a crop ! How in 

 the world do you ever manage it ?" 



He was quite relieved when I explained to him 

 that cassava roots have the obliging habit of growing 

 horizontally a few inches under the ground instead of 

 vertically. 



Your great-granddaughter surely takes a good pic- 

 ture. She is a mighty bright-looking baby for only 

 eighteen days old, and you can't be too proud of her. 



Dade City, Fla., July 24. C. H. Tidd. 



There are several points in the above 

 letter that interest me greatly, especially the 

 matter of getting pullets to laying when 

 only five or six months old. I have repeat- 

 edly hatched chickens almost every winter 



month; but so far as I could discover none 

 of them began to lay until they were pretty 

 ■well toward a year old. 



In regard to the feterita, we had a great 

 crop; but the birds had gathered every seed 

 before I got there except a few heads that 

 were gathered and stored away until I got 

 around. And a blight of some sort killed 

 most of the second growth, so we had quite 

 a job of turning the great mass of stalks, 

 some green, and some dead and dry, under 

 the ground. Indeed, it was a benefit to ap- 

 ply this humus, but nothing like the velvet 

 bean or some other legume. 



lllllllllll!llllillllllllinilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilll|ll||||||||||||l|||||||!|INI||l||i|l||||||||||||||||i^^ 

 A. I. ROOT, JR., AND SOME OTHER THINGS. 



The readers of Gleanings may not all 

 be aware that there is another A. I. Root 

 " coming on." This younger A. I. Root is 

 now eleven years old, and he goes around 

 with his father, E. R. Root, wlien the father 

 lectures on bees. The son assists also in 

 the handling of bees before the audience. 

 With the above explanation the following 

 letter to Alan I. Root will be understood : 



To Master A. I. Root, Jr.: — The boys and girls 

 of Empire School have become exceedingly interested 

 in bees. At least two boys have been promised the 

 chance to raise bees this summer at their country 

 homes, and they hope to handle them as did the 

 little Medina boy they saw exhibiting bees. 



Three different times the teachers have had tiny 

 soda biscuit and honey for the noon lunch ; and a 

 certain home in Lakewood is to include honey on the 

 bill of fare. 



Miss Dawson and myself, who are the science 

 teachers, hope by another year to install glass hives, 

 such as your father spoke of, in Empire S'cl^ool. Miss 

 Dawson was very sorry not to meet your father 

 personally. Her grandfather was in the bee busi- 

 ness years ago, and her father was one of the earli- 

 est subscribers to the " Bee Man." Miss Dawson's 

 sister is trying to make Cleveland a " flyless " city. 

 Doubtless you have heard something about her ef- 

 forts, and really she has almost accomplished her 

 purpose. Isn't that wonderful? 



You chose a very fine gentleman to be named 

 after. Much of the best there is in Medina is di- 

 rectly due to your grandfather. That you will know 

 by and by. 



With best wishes for your happiness and success, 

 Mary 0. Phillips. 

 Empire Junior High School, Cleveland, O., May 20. 



It was my pleasure a few days ago to 

 meet the good lady who has been the mov- 

 ing spirit in banishing flies from the great 

 city of Cleveland ; and, if I mistake not, 

 she has not only (thru the press) extended 

 her crusade to the surrounding homes but 

 to surrounding farms in the country. 



We have been having the hottest July 

 and August I think I ever witnessed, and 

 hence the weather has been unniSually fa- 

 vorable for the propagalion of flies: but 

 there are fewer flies in and around our 



