854 



GLEANIIfGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



THE INDIAN RUNNER DUCKS. 



You may ask what these have to do with 

 high-pressure gardening; but if you could 

 see my little ^ock go for every bug, worm, 

 and insect, as they are doing this morning, 

 you would understand. I am told that ducks 

 are the only fowls that will devour potato- 

 bugs; but I have not yet had a chance to 

 test it. Since what I have said of them in 

 another column they have grown a little 

 larger. When they were about three days 

 old I had a cui'iosity to know what they 

 would do with water. I accordingly boi'- 

 rowed Mrs. Root's largest wash-bowl (fortu- 

 itately she was absent), filled it to the brim 

 with warm water, and sat down to note pro- 

 ceedings. One duckling lifted up his head, 

 got a view of the water, splashed his head in 

 a few times, then with a most comical and 

 dexti'ous movement he quickly slipped one 

 of his dainty webbed feet on the edge of the 

 bowl, and was in the water like a flash. 

 The rest soon followed, and what a I'ejoicing 

 they did have! After splashing and flopping 

 their wings and making the water fly, one 

 of them, following the promptings of that 

 amazing and wonderful instinct, dove down 

 under the water, and swam about the bowl 

 with a speed almost incredible. Who taught 

 him that he could get along faster under wa- 

 ter than he could on the surface? The oth- 

 ers soon followed suit, and then to my great 

 surprise they executed a sort of Indian war- 

 dance. They splashed the water nearly out 

 of the bowl, and then shot out of it and cir- 

 cled about the ^'oom as if in a panic, hiding 

 in dift'erent places as if some enemy were 

 pursuing them. This I have since had rea- 

 son to believe is. a sort of play, just as two 

 chickens will pretend to fight each other 

 when they are the best friends in the world. 

 Just now when my ducklings are not quite a 

 week old they are my daily delight and en- 

 joyment. Not only are the little fellows 

 very handsome, but there seems to be a sort 

 of comic grace in their awkward movements. 

 Their inquisitive black eyes, as they stand 

 upright almost like a human being, make 

 one think of animated interrogation-points. 

 1 found much to study and rejoice over with 

 my chickens in Florida; but the ducklings 

 are a surprise and an unexpected re.velation 

 to me. These Indian runners have a fash- 

 ion of standing up straight and flopping 

 their wings so as to make one think they 

 might almost be a link between quadrupeds 

 and mankind. If you have a love for such 

 things, do not fail, dear reader, to try at 

 least one setting of Indian Runner duck 

 eggs. Mine cost only $1 00 for eleven eggs, 

 ana they have been worth ever so many dol- 



lars to me already. I see they are advertis- 

 ed all over our land now, and our periodi- 

 cals are having a good deal to say in regard 

 to them. See the following extract from 

 Country Life in America for June: 



To me these sprightly active birds are most inter- 

 esting of all the duck family. Their two-fold name 

 denotes at once their origrin and their habits. They 

 are natives of the West Indies. They are alert and 

 active, ever on the po, and their movements are more 

 of a run than a walk, partaking little of the awkward 

 waddle of ordinary ducks. The carriage is very 

 erect. Its specialty is egg production. Given the 

 chance, it makes eggs cheaply too: with a good range 

 on pasture land, along brooks, ponds, bogs, etc., it 

 secures a large part of its living during the open sea- 

 son. It has a strong homing instinct, and nightfall 

 generally brings it back to its quarters. 



• F. H. Valentine. 



Later, June ^.— The best duckling in the 

 flock, that weighed \\ ounces the day it was 

 hatched, May 30, weighed, just one week 

 later, 4 ounces. How is that for rapid 

 growth? They have been outdoors, rain and 

 shine, almost every day since they were 

 hatched, and they have had all the bread 

 and milk they would eat, every time they 

 were hungry enough to go back to their 

 feeding-place for it. 



THE GREEN FLY AND OTHER INSECT PESTS 

 ON HOUSE-PLANTS IN THE GREEN- 

 HOUSE, ETC. 



I do not like poisons around for killing 

 rats and mice or insects, or for curing dis- 

 eases or any thing else, if I can help it. In 

 our potato-book Mr. T. B. Terry has told you 

 it is ever so much better for the potato to get 

 rid of the bugs by hand-picking early in the 

 spring than to use Paris green— that is, when 

 you can do so. Poisons are dangerous; and 

 when they do cure or kill, at the same time 

 they almost always damage something some- 

 where, more or less. This spring so far I 

 have kept the green fly, mealy bugs, red spi- 

 der, and every thing else, off the plants in 

 my greenhouse without fumigation. 



Let me say first, that I suppose most of you 

 know already that ants do not injure plants 

 directly — that is, the ants we have here in the 

 Northern States. But they do a tremendous 

 amount of harm by carrying the eggs and 

 larvte of insects, and distributing them all 

 over the plants in order that they may gath- 

 er the honey-dew from these same insects 

 much in the same way we milk our cows. 

 On this account we want to get rid of the 

 ants at the same time we kill the aphides. 

 All your plants that are in pots are very eas- 

 ily managed. Get a good-sized pail of hot wa- 

 ter. Do not heat it above 120 or it will kill 

 the plants; and unless it is up to 110 it is not 

 apt to kill the vermin promptly. Just dip 

 your plant, blossoms and all, in the hot wa- 

 ter, and keep it in about ten seconds. Every 

 living thing will be dead if you carefully fol- 

 low directions, and few if any plants will be 

 injured in a temperature not exceeding 120. 

 Be sure your thermometer permits a run up 

 to 120 or more or you will burst the tube. 

 You had better have a good-sized pail of hot 

 water, because it cools off so fast. A tea-ket- 

 tle of hot water close by, however, will ena- 

 ble you to keep the temperature about right. 



