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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15 



to President Roosevelt, and Mr. Hunter re- 

 ceived quite a nice letter from the President 

 in return for it. Below I submit some ex- 

 tracts from letters that give you some infor- 

 mation, told in Mr. Hunter's own words: 



Our " Ideal '" white corn (bred in line for fifty years) 

 seems to show for itself. In 30 minutes after I had 

 entered Agricultural Hall at St. Louis I had sold seed 

 to Supt. Stilson, and the basket you see in the in- 

 closed picture was ordered sent to President Roose- 

 velt, resulting in my getting splendid letters from 

 both the President and expert Hartley, of the "plant- 

 industry " division. A few sheaves of fodder set up 

 against the fence (by the experiment plots) in the In- 

 diana State fairground two years ago brought visit- 

 ors to our house from many different States. The call 

 of A. C. Campbell and Mr. Keifer, of Brazil, Ind. (near 

 the Illinois line) resulted in a visit from the editor of 

 the Indiana Farmer (Mr. Kingsbury), an account of 

 which may be seen in an enclosed clipping of his own 

 paper. Our white corn was first in production at 

 Purdue, Ind., last year— 98 bushels and 56 lbs. per 

 acre. Mr. Kingsbury came here two years ago and 

 husked a small piece at the rate of 248 bushels per 

 acre; also at the same rate husked by A. C. Campbell, 

 of Brazil, Ind.; also two rods of one row husked by 



are corn-growers, the poultry, like every 

 thing else, is a side issue. I think there were 

 something over 200 grown-up fowls; and as 

 soon as it is light enough they scatter about 

 in every direction. 



In our walk over the fields I said, " Why, 

 friend Hunter, your chickens reach out a 

 quarter of a mile in every direction." 



"Yes," he replied, "I think you will find 

 them fully half a mile." 



Then he pointed them out to me off over 

 the hills, so far away I could hardly be sure 

 they were chickens had I not seen them mov- 

 ing about after the men at work. You see 

 his rich soil furnishes not only angleworms 

 but bugs and other insects that might do pos- 

 itive harm were it not for the chickens that 

 so persistently follow the plow and the cul- 

 tivators. What attracted me particularly 

 was the fact that they managed the chickens 

 a good deal as I do mine in Florida. Instead 



THE HALF-BUSHEL BASKET OF CORN THAT WAS SENT THE PRESIDENT. 



Prof. C. G. Williams, of our stattion, gave 41 lbs. 

 sound corn last fall. This is my 50th year in its cul- 

 tivation. C. S. HUNTBK. 

 Seven Mile, Ohio. 



POULTRY, AND THE PART IT PLAYS IN THE 

 CORN BUSINESS. 



At the time of my visit the skies cleared 

 up, and in the morning I was out bright and 

 early to look over the farm. One of the first 

 things that attracted my attention was the 

 large number of fine-looking healthy chick- 

 ens, mostly Barred Plymouth Rocks. Be- 

 sides the grown-up fowls, there were some- 

 thing over 100 chickens only a few days old, 

 all raised by sitting hens. Now, the Hunter 

 folks are great on poultry; but because they 



of being cooped up or fenced up, they scatter 

 about at their own free will. When I sug- 

 gested that they might make nests where it 

 would be a good deal of trouble to find them, 

 he replied, "That does not do any harm. If 

 we do not find them at all, they come off with 

 a good-sized troop of chickens; and the first 

 announcement we have is their marching up 

 to the house, demanding to be fed and cared 

 for." 



But so far as the feed is concerned. I think 

 nothing ever suffers around the Hunter home- 

 stead from a lack of food; but in the way of 

 shelter the hens mostly take care of them- 

 selves. I saw them trooping around when 

 some of our scientific poultry-keepers would 



