1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1097 



ly reward tbe effort. For ten years I worked away in 

 the poultry business, depending on scientific feeding 

 and good housing for winter en^'i, as you lili:ply have 

 done, only to be disappointed. I was groping in the 

 dark. Then a thought came to me— it was nature's 

 secret: I knew it at once. 1 began immediatf ly to ex- 

 periment. I applied the most severe tests. The re- 

 sults were always the most satisfactory. At any time 

 of the year, and under unfavorable circumstances, 

 hens that were not laying would at once respond to 

 my treatment, and soon begin to lay plent'fuUy, 

 reaching in a short time a 7J-per-cent yield, and main- 

 taining that average as long as fed the prescription. 

 Now I am enthusiastic. I have a right to be. My se- 

 cret is worth more to the egg-farmer than all else he 

 has ever learned. I now wonder that I did not make 

 this discovery sooner; and when you learn my secret 

 you will wonder that you never thought of it. You 

 will agree at once that it will bring you success, be- 

 cause you will work in harmony with nature. 



It is not difficult to get. The ingredients can be 

 bought in any drugstore. It will not weaken your 

 stock; it makes them bright and vigorous. Remark- 

 able results have been obtained from the use of the 

 formula. Neighbors will wonder by what method you 

 secure such numbers of eggs. 



Fill out this form and enclose it with one dollar, and 

 these secrets will be mailed to you; and after having 

 received them I am confident you will freely concede 

 it was the most profitable outlay ever made. 



Bradford, Pa Charles Stewart. 



The conditions were, of course, that I 

 should send along with the dollar ray signa- 

 ture to a promise not to divulge, etc. 1 did 

 not make the promise, however, but I got 

 the secret all the same. In fact, I do not 

 know that I have ever failed. When these 

 chaps get hold of cash it is too hard work 

 for them to let go of it and send it back. 

 Well, here is the substance of what I got 

 for my dollar: 



Formula "A." 



gtir into the water for the daily mash one drop for 

 each four or five hens of tincture of cantharides. 

 Formula "B." 



Stir into the water for the daily mash one teaspoon- 

 ful for each 80 or 40 hens of common black gunpowder. 



Feed formula "A" each day for one week and then 

 alternate with formula "B;" i. e., feed " A " one day, 

 " B " the next, and so on. 



It is not necessary to feed these condiments every 

 day after the first three weeks Once every three or 

 four days will be often enough then, but feed formula 

 " A " every fourth day all winter. In mild weather 

 once a week is often enough. Each time " A " is fed, 

 the following day feed " B." 



Wonderful to tell! Tincture of Spanish 

 flies and gunpowder! I wonder if a little 

 dynamite or nitro-glycerine in homeopathic 

 doses would not work better still. Well, I 

 shall have to confess that I have not even 

 tried the above, even if I did invest a dollar. 

 I object, not only to dosing chickens with 

 drugs and chemicals, but I object to drugging 

 humanity in the same way. One of our best 

 physicians said recently that giving medicine 

 was a bad way to cure folks, any way you 

 can fix it. Granted that medicine does some- 

 times give relief or effect a cure, he said 

 that, in the majority of cases, the drug may 

 make a disturbance somewhere else, so that 

 in the end it is a question whether the medi- 

 cine was a real benefit or not. Now, if any 

 of you poultry people want to try canthar- 

 ides and gunpowder, all right— go ahead. 

 You have the great secret without its costing 

 a dollar each all around. 



While the above was in my hand a letter 

 was handed lue inclosing an advertisement 

 headed "A chance to make money." It is 



the "California cold process" of keeping 

 grapes, peaches, apples, etc., fresh. The 

 way you "make money" is by going around 

 among your neighbors and getting a dollar 

 of each by showing them the trick. If you 

 send any money, however, you will find you 

 have been tricked yourself. To do th'^ 

 "trick" you have to go to the drugstore and 

 get some "compound extract of salix." A 

 footnote says, however, that some druggists 

 do not keep it (you will find 7io druggist 

 keeps it), but they will send you enough for 

 a dollar to put up a great lot of fruit. Now, 

 this does keep fx'uit after a fashion; but after 

 having sampled some of it 1 do not call it 

 good; and, besides, they use a preservative 

 that has been pronounced unwholesome, 

 and which has been ruled out by the govern- 

 ment. The rascals who advertise this should 

 be sent to the penitentiary; and something 

 ought to be done with the papers and periodi- 

 cals that accept such advertising. I have re- 

 peatedly warned our readers against invest- 

 ing in the same thing. See Gleanings for 

 Sept. 15, 1906. 



YELLOW SWEET CLOVER, ETC. 



What is the best time to sow it? Are there two 

 kinds of the yellow? I got enough of G. W. York to 

 sow an acre, and sowed it in with oats It came up 

 well, and grew four to six inches high, then bloomed. 

 None of it reached 12 inches high, and I believe every 

 bit of it died, root and stalk. What is the trouble 

 with it? I sowed three acres of the white sweet clo- 

 ver at the same time and in the same way, and it is all 

 right. I never heard the white variety blooms the 

 first year. 



I am much interested in honey-plants. I have sown 

 buckwheat for many years among the corn, just be- 

 fore plowing it the last time over, solely for the bloom 

 or honey, and I am satisfied it has paid me well one 

 year with another, even if it does fail some years. 



I tried a bushel of that new hulless buckwheat last 

 year. It grew finely and bloomed heavily, but scarce- 

 ly a bee touched it. I shall try it once more. It is a 

 big producer, but it is hard to save the seed, as it falls 

 off so easily. M. W. Harrington. 



Williamsburg, Iowa. 



So far as I know, there is only one kind of 

 yellow sweet clover; but it is much more in- 

 clined to blossom the first year than the white. 

 It blossoms earlier, and does not grow so tall; 

 but I think yours that grew only four to six 

 inches must have been on unsuitable soil or 

 the weather was not favorable. I have never 

 known it to blossom so early. There is a 

 constant unsupplied demand for ;(/c^^ow sweet 

 clover. As soon as anybody has any seed for 

 sale I wish he would let us know. Your idea 

 of sowing buckwheat among the corn at the 

 last cultivation is something I do not remem- 

 ber to have heard of before. But we get very 

 good crops of (U'imson clover sown in the 

 same way, and I can not learn that there is 

 any objection to sowing crimson clover with 



