112 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUllE. 



Jan. 15 



have "select tested breeding queen-bees," 

 and, I suppose, of coui'se, poultry advertisers 

 have select tested male birds, and it is a 

 pretty important matter too. Of course, I 

 have a poultry-yax'd of my own, a small one, 

 and in it I have five beautiful White Leghorn 

 pullets and a rooster. One of the pullets has 

 just commenced to lay, and I put her first 

 egg in the incubator. The third day I found 

 it fertile, so I feel sure my young rooster is 

 "O. K." 



In my "printed directions " I found this 

 sentence: "The hens turn (or, rather, stir) 

 their eggs from 12 to 15 times in 24 hours, 

 and the nearer we approach the ' hen meth- 

 od ' the better results we can expect." 



This was so astounding I placed the sitting 

 hen in her box tight up against the boartl 

 partition in our cottage, so she was close to 

 the head of my bed. She was as still as a 

 mouse all the evening, and when I went to 

 sleep about 10 p.m ; but toward midnight I 

 woke up in affright. Was it really bm-glars? 

 Then 1 remembered, ' ' Turn and stir /" ' Well, 

 I should think so! For about 15 minutes she 

 hustled those eggs ax'ound and whacked them 

 against the sides and ends of the box in a 

 way that made me think she would break 

 every one of them. I have heard talk about 

 a sitting hen not getting exercise. This one 

 had exercise, and her chicks had exercise 

 too, even bejore they were hatched. After I 

 had been asleep again for about an hour she 

 had the whole program over again, and so 

 on until morning. My afternoon nap was a 

 little longer next day. Perhaps 1 should ex- 

 plain Mrs. Root is not here this winter. She 

 might have objected to my "nature studies." 

 I have had many instructions in my day, but 

 never before, sofar as I can remember, have 

 I " sat at the feet " of a " sitting hen. ' ' I am 

 speaking reverently. 



Wonderful books by great authors have 

 been written about incubation; but this feath- 

 ered friend (and companion) of mine is in 

 some respects ahead of them all. She is un- 

 der " Qod's guiding hand." That wonderful 

 thing we call instinct is almost if not quite 

 unerring. 



Just about Christmas time we had a week 

 of the coldest weather known on this island. 

 My poultry-yard is in a depression screened 

 by bushes from the cold wind. The cold air 

 settled in this depression, and I found thin 

 ice on the pan of drinking-water one night.* 

 Well, during this weather "biddy" stuck 

 close to her eggs; but when we had a warm 

 day again she took all of a half-hour noon- 

 ing. She climbed up on the work-bench, 

 flapped her wings, quarreled with the other 

 pullets, and even with the lordly rooster, and 

 gave her eggs a good cooling. I put out the 

 lamp of the incubator and let it cool, just as 

 she did with her eggs. 



This locality commends itself to me for 

 poultry for several reasons. No buildings or 

 structures are needed. The soil is so porous 

 and clean there is never any mud or stand- 

 ing water; and where it is scratched over so 



* Nowhere else on the island was any ice seen. 



much, not even the soles of your shoes are 

 soiled when going about among your fowls. 

 The offal from the fish that is almost always 

 on hand gives a great abundance of animal 

 food without cost. Fish can almost always 

 be picked up along the beach that fowls will 

 work at if chopped a little with a hatchet. 

 Green food I furnish in my yard by burying 

 rather more corn and wheat than they scratch 

 out before it sprouts, and they enjoy digging 

 up the sprouted grain fully as much as if 

 they had gotten into your garden. 



A year ago Mr. Shumard had about 200 

 laying hens; but eggs were low, and he had 

 no way of sifting out and disposing of the 

 "drones," so he sold off all but about thirt,y. 

 These thirty now almost get their living with- 

 out feed, so he isdoing very well indeed with 

 eggs at 35 cts. Of course, to make a busi- 

 ness one would need a large number of such 

 colonies, "egg-farm" fashion; and if fences 

 should be needed they would be required 

 only at intervals, from the Bay to the Gulf 

 (twenty rods or less in some narrow places), 

 making them close together or further apart, 

 according to the size of the yards required. 

 I have never yet found any insect enemies 

 on the island, and I am strongly of the opin- 

 ion that these pests could not well live when 

 the fowls roost in the trees, and there are no 

 houses and " chicken-coops " to hai'bor them. 

 There are at present no coons or other "var- 

 mint" anywhere near us. Roosters crow, 

 hens sing and cackle, more and louder than 

 in any other region I ever visited. I have 

 got some trap nests. I expect to give you 

 shortly some accurate records of what laying 

 hens will do here. 



"AND HAVE DOMINION OVER THE FISH OF 

 THE SEA." 



When I commenced this Home paper I had 

 intended to mention only "the fowl of the 

 air" this time; but the events of this New 

 Year's morning have reminded me of the 

 fishes as well as the fowls. For almost two 

 weeks our friends on the island have scanned 

 the waters of the Bay for signs of fish in vain: 

 and this morning when I said, " Well, Jesse. 

 I suppose there are no signs of fish yet? " to 

 my surprise there came a different answer. 



"Yes, Mr. Root, there is fish this morning: 

 and just as soon as we can get our breakfast 

 we will be out after them." 



Our morning Bible-reading was rather 

 brief, and even God's blessing on the new 

 day (and new year) was rather more hurried 

 than usual. Breakfast over, all hands were 

 at work hustling the nets into the boats. One 

 of the best new nets was out by the Gulf: 

 and while I was I'oasting some fish for my 

 "biddies" in a little fire outdoors I saw Mr. 

 S., Mr. and Mrs. McAuley, Clara, Flossie, and 

 Florence, all rushing after the missing net. 

 These nets cost a lot of money, and must be 

 handled with care. When the nets were 

 piled in order on the two boats, Jesse and 

 Mr. McAuley started after a "school" that. 

 to their trained eyes, was not more than half 

 a mile away. Mr. S., Flossie, and I followed 

 in a little row boat. Flossie is only thirteen, 

 but I doubt if either of us grown men could 



