188 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



P'eb. 1 



doubtless God never did. Just one more in- 

 cident before dropping the sitting hen. One 

 evening, when it began to get a little chilly, I 

 gave her nine more chicks from the incuba- 

 tor (she had 18 already). As the poor moth- 

 erless bits of animated life began to troop to- 

 ward her she seemed a little inclined to refuse 

 so much responsibility, and, looking down at 

 the little downy heads already peeping out 

 from under her wings, she tipped her head 

 on one side and began a low-toned murmur. 

 J, however, lifted up awing and began push- 

 ing them under. At this she began reaching 

 for bits of hay, which she threw over her 

 back as on that other occasion. I caught on 

 and said, "Oh, yes! you mean you want 

 more bed-quilts, do you?" To be strictly 

 iruthjul, she did not say "yes; " but when I 

 gave her quite a bunch of soft grass she pro- 

 ceeded to fix the new babies in very good 

 shape; and when we together got them well 

 bundled up she gave her customary "c-r-r-r" 

 of approval.* 



Do you know, dear reader, that success 

 would give us little or no happiness were 

 there no disappointment and unforeseen ob- 

 stacles mixed with it? The directions with 

 the incubator said, "Test out the unfertile 

 eggs on the 7th day." As this came on Sun- 

 day I came pretty near deciding my eggs 

 were all liad, or that I had spoiled all by my 

 bungling. I have told you how the children 

 helped me out. Well, when the 21st day 

 with the incubator had come and gone, and 

 no sign of life, I was a good deal cast down. 

 I went over all my booKs and found one of 

 them said when the temperature was run 

 low, or a good deal of " cooling" was done, 

 it might take another day. Just before sun- 

 set I took another look at the eggs I had 

 turned and cooled for 31 days past. Was it 

 possible that these inanimate objects were 

 soon to spring to life? Was there really 

 some hidden power within that was to burst 

 those shells and let life and beauty come 

 forth? I remembered our recent Sunday- 

 school lessons. Some great writer suggests 

 our Lord came forth from the tomb even he- 

 fore the stone was rolled away. He of his 

 own will power "burst the bands of death." 

 While I was watching I heard a little tap- 

 ping. Disappointment gave place to joy. 

 The joy was all the greater because I had 

 been cast down. I soon found the egg that 

 was being chipped, but the chipping stopped. 

 After an hour or two, and no more evidence, 

 I told Mr. Shumard's people I guessed my 

 eggs were all spoiled after all, for the chicks 

 that had started to come out had evidently 

 ' ' died in the shell ' ' through weakness. None 

 of them could give me much hope except 

 Flossie. She declared they always "stopped 

 to rest," and that they sometimes "rested" 

 a long while. Before bedtime my hopes 

 came up again, and I was rewarded by see- 

 ing, for the first time in my life, a chicken 



♦When the eggs were about half way along I one 

 day dropped a screwdriver in the incubator. Two 

 eggs were broken so some ol the white ran out. I 

 mended them with courtplaster, and one of them 

 batched a nice chicken. 



come out of the shell. Dear me! It was 

 nothing like what I expected. Instead of 

 being handsome he was about the homeliest 

 object I ever looked on. As soon as it was 

 fairly loose he began in a sort of infirm way 

 to try to clamber over the eggs. After ex- 

 hausting himself, apparently, in the vain at- 

 tempt, he would lie down flat, close his eyes, 

 and " rest. " I at fii'st supposed he lay down 

 to die; but, "no, sir, 'e." After a brief pant- 

 ing for breath he was up and at it again. No 

 matter how many times he toppled over or 

 found himself head down between the eggs 

 and heels up in the air, after a rest he took 

 up the battle again. I thought first I would 

 sit up and watch until his plumage was dried 

 off; hut it took too long. Before daylight I 

 was up again, and with a strong lamp was 

 at my post before the glass of the incubator. 

 I thanked God again when I saw there was a 

 troop of them clambering over the eggs, tum- 

 bling full length on the thermometer, so that 

 for about half the time I could not read the 

 temperature. Then, again, they tumbled the 

 thermometer down between the eggs almost 

 as fast as I could put it back.* I suppose, 

 of course, some better arrangement is made 

 with higher-priced machines. As soon as the 

 chicks are dried off we can remove them 

 from the eggs; but what I should like to know 

 is whether chicks hatched under a hen go 

 through the climbing and resting. Stoddard, 

 in his book the "Egg Farm," puts great em- 

 phasis on exercise, and almost claims suffi- 

 cient exercise will banish all ills poultry is 

 heir to. These in my incubator get enough 

 at a very early age, sure. Dear friends, I 

 have watched for the first visible indications 

 of life by holding the egg in a sunbeam that 

 comes through a crack in my shop, and have 

 watched the growth daily until the eighth 

 day, when I could see it no longer. I have 

 watched again, as I have told you, when the 

 chick leaves the shell. I have seen these 

 same chicks, before they were two days old. 

 spring clear up on the mother-hen's back. 1 

 have seen them at the same age scratch and 

 wallow in the dirt as their mother does. As 

 I look on in wonder at this marvelous de- 

 velopment of muscular strength, and also 

 mental activity, something impels me to stand 

 with uncovered head and listen in mute rev- 

 erence to the words, "Be still, and know that 

 I am God." 



This winter here is very unusual. We 

 have had no rain to speak of for almost 100 

 days — sunshine always, every day. Some of 

 the chicks, when taken from the incubator, 

 or, rather, from the brooder under it, seemed 

 rather feeble; but this Florida sunshine soon 

 cured them. They will lie down flat in the 

 sun, and close their eyes, and sleep, and then 

 get up and exercise. Their medicine is ex- 

 acitly along the line of Terry's teachings. 

 Exercise, sleep, sunshine, and its accompani- 

 ment, outdoor air and proper food {raw wheat 

 mostly), and why shouldn't they grow? 



* Next morning there were bright eyes and downy 

 heads sticking out from between her feathers, almost 

 all over her, and it was not only interesting but com- 

 ical in the extreme. 



