JUNE 30 
poor lack, and have lost from one-half to 
three-fourths of the whole number hatched 
out in a season. This year I revolutionized 
my system. Early in the season I caught, up 
the broody hens and found I had IB, which I 
set at once. When the chicks came out they 
were taken from the lions and put in small 
boxes, eight or ton chicks in a box. All sorts 
of small boxes were used—paper boxes from 
dry goods stores, cigar boxes, etc. The boxes 
with the chicks in them were kept near the 
kitchen stove, and the chicks given nothing 
to eat. for 24 hours. They were then fed four 
times a day on hard-boiled eggs nibbed up 
with corn meal until thoroughly mixed to¬ 
gether. The third day the chicks were trans¬ 
ferred to larger boxes, cracker boxes, etc , got¬ 
ten from the grocery store, until each box 
had as many chicks as it would hold without 
Crowding, in these boxes I put the ordinary 
water glasses used in singing-bird cages, Hat, 
on their backs, as one might say, tilled with 
sweet skimmed milk, and out of these the 
young chicks learned to drink at once. 
I constructed ru ns on a large plat of grass 
and woods near the roar of the house in full 
view of all the back windows, the runs being 
the width of tho boxes, with one end open 
which was closed by the box containing tho 
chicks being carried out and turned on its side 
with tho open part facing the run and close up 
to it. The runs were made of common boards 
one foot wide set on edge and held in place by 
stakes driven into the ground on both sides of 
the hoard, four stakes to a board, and an end 
piece fixed in the same way at the end opposite 
the box. The top was covered by a frame 
made of common cribbing lumber four inches 
wide sawed in two, with a wire screen cloth 
tacked on to it, which made it look like a wire 
screen door. This was simply laid on top of 
upper e.lge of boards, and could be lifted off 
with ease. When the box with the chicks was 
placed at. the upper end of the run turned on its 
side, the chicks all ran out into the run where 
they were fully protected and hod the full 
benefit, of the warm sunshine through the 
wire cloth. After sundown tho clucks would 
collect in their box, and when all were in, the 
lx>x was turned up on its bottom and carried 
iu-doors for the night. The feed and milk 
troughs were put in the runs where the chicks 
could help themselves. The chicks are kept in 
these runs until they got as large as quail 
when each clutch is allowed full liberty, and 
at night they go into a large coop built spe¬ 
cially for growing chickens, To teach them 
to go Into this latter coop, they are put iuto it 
by hand and kept in it about t wo days and 
nights constantly; then lot out and they re¬ 
turn to it ever afterwards of t heir own accord. 
Our hens have hatched out 869 chicks so far 
aud they are still at it, one hen having hatch¬ 
ed as manyas three broods; but. after she had 
done that much work 1 turned her out. My 
liens are set in any suitable Im>x —soap box, 
etc- in u dark cellar where they are perfectly 
quiet, with corn and water for feed constantly 
on hand. Out of the HOD chicks already 
hatched I have lost exactly six, all by accident. 
The rest are flourishing and growing rapidly'. 
When tho chicks are between two or three 
weeks old l stop the hard-boiled egg in t heir 
feed. Of course, it. takes a good many e„gs 
to raise a large number of young chicks; but 
when oue has plenty of eggs coming each day, 
one can afford to use them, and the expendi¬ 
ture pays in strong, hearty chicks which grow 
rapidly. 
I am also raising Pekin ducks, following the 
same system. My neighbor on an adjoining 
farm had the same experience as mine in pre¬ 
vious years—worry, loss and disappointment 
each season. She made me a call about the 
time my first, chicks were out, and saw my 
••system.” She adopted it also and has now 
some MOO hearty chicks on hand. She has one 
of Halstead's incubators—a small size for fit) 
eggs—it is not a success; the original old-style 
**lion incubator” hi 1 a Us it hollow, 1 have nev¬ 
er used the incubator, and don’t want one, 
for if the same system is followed with chicks 
hatched by a hen as one is forced to follow 
with those hatched by an incubator, success is 
more certain. 
No one need expect to raise chickens with, 
out trouble and cure. From the time they 
come out of the shell uutil they are large 
enough to forage for themselves, they need 
care and attention, anil especially to guard 
them against being wot or draggled. l>ry 
quarters and warmth are absolutely necessary 
for young chicks and they must not be crowded 
too many in one space. Every season for at 
least 15 years 1 have tried chicken raising on 
the old system of letting the lien mu with her 
chicks until this year 1 adopted the new system 
of taking tho chicks from the hen us soon as 
hatch xi and raising them “by hand,” as it 
might bo called. 1 have tho Light Brahma 
breed and have h i 1 plenty of young roosters 
eight mouths old killed for table use, as large 
as common turkeys. H. S. 
An Earnest Appeal for Information. 
The perusal of A. B. C. Salmon’s article in 
tho Run At. New-Yokker of Juno 3, caused 
my gray hairs to rise with astonishment. 
Dear, dear, what does he do with his chicks? 
I expected every moment to read that he 
plucked from the limb ami drop into the b ig. 
The second device, Fig. 348, for gathering 
fruit was constructed by Mark Lounsberry, in 
1861. The invention, as distinguished from 
the fruit gatherers heretofore made, consists 
in a slide liar actuated by a cord and con- 
hatched them from something beside eggs. I 
most earnestly hope he will rise to explain his 
mysterious method for the benelit of unfortu¬ 
nate poultry-raisers like “ Good ” aud myself, 
and, oh ! if he knows anything about, rearing 
turkeys with or without, mothers or fathers or 
any other relat ives near or distant, he would 
Goodwin Fruit Gatherer.—Fio. 346. 
nected by links to two knives of a semicircular 
shape, so that the knives, when brought to¬ 
gether by pulling upon the cord, through the 
action of the slide, separate the apples, pears 
or other fruit by cutting then - stems, and the 
fruit falls into a hag depending from a ring on 
the end of handle carrying the fruit gatherer. 
confer a lasting favor upon one individual at 
least, by making bis mode of procedure public. 
Mary Martin Coles. 
FRUIT GATHERERS. 
Five Designs for Fruit Pickers Which 
May be Made and Used by Any One. 
f. b. brock. 
The Goodwin Fruit Gatherer, illustrated in 
Figs. 346 aud 347, has a metallic frame so 
formed as to serve the purpose of a run for 
Referring to the illustration, Fig 348, b is a 
socket and bar at the end of the pole, n, and c 
is a ling on tho bar carrying the bag, d, that 
receives the fruit; c e are semicircular knives 
set and moving on the ceuter pins, 1, and pro¬ 
vided with projecting aims, 3, 2, which take 
the links. /, that connect with the slide-bar, ry, 
sustained in guide, 3. Over the roller, i. and 
connected with the slide-bar, tj, is a cord, /t, 
which, when pulled, will force the slide-bar 
up, aud the links. /, will throw up the knives, 
e, e, until their edges come in contact for the 
separation of the stem of any fruit for which 
the gatherer may lie used. 
A spring, 4, may be employed to commence 
the opening of the knives after they have been 
closed. When not in use the knives lie close 
to the ring, c, out of the way. 
Lounsberry Fruit 
an attached bag which receives the fruit, and 
also as a means for detaching the fruit from 
the limbs. The frame has a rim, a, of ellip¬ 
tical form, and a socket, B, to receive the end 
of the pole, C. Within the frame, at the top 
of the fruit-receiving bag, D, is an annular 
Gatherer.—Fio. 848. 
This fruit gatherer is cheap and durable, be¬ 
ing sufficiently strong to cut off the stem of 
any fruit that the device may be adapted to 
receive. The entire force expended in cutting 
off the stems of fruit is applied to the appara¬ 
tus itself, without giving motion to the tree or 
rim, b, at the two opposite points of which, 
aud iu liue with the greater dlumetcr of tho 
rim, there is a circular opeuiug, d. having a 
contracted passage, e, into the central opening. 
The implement is manipulated by the oper¬ 
ator elevating the frame by the pole to the 
limb, which, with many other fruit gatherers* 
l s found in practice to bo u great detriment, in 
consequence of the shaking off of other fruit. 
The Byrn N Clark fruit gatherer is shown 
by Fig. 340. It consists of a peculiar con- 
( struction, an arrangement of cutting device 
fruit to be picked, as seen in Fig. 847. The 
frame is so moved that the stem l>y means of 
which the fruit is attached to the limb, will be 
within either of the opeuitigs, d. The oper¬ 
ator thou suddenly jerks the stuff either to¬ 
wards or from him, according to whichever 
opening the stem is in, and the fruit will l>e 
which separates the fruit aiul delivers the 
same iuto a basket from which a canvas bag 
conveys the fruit to the party using the gath¬ 
erer. In tho cut. Fig. 840, n is u rod to which 
a basket, b , is attached, with an open bottom, 
to which the bag or pipe, c, of canvas or other 
material, is attached. At the upper end of 
this pole Is a fork, d, made double, so that the 
knife is contained iu, and moves across the 
slot formed between the parts of this fork. 
This knife is sickli-shaped, and is jointed to 
the rod at 1, and provided with a contractile 
rubber spring,A, which keeps the knife in the 
position represented, except, when the knife 
is drawn across the fork by the cord, /. The 
opening in the fork is sufficient for the fruit 
to lx> passed freely therethrough. On drawing 
tho cord the knife passes across, severing the 
stem against the edge, 3, of the fork. This gath¬ 
erer is adapted to apples, pears, grapes, quinces 
and the like. As the stem is severed by the 
knife, <?, the fruit drops through the basket, 
b, and is convoyed to the party using the 
implement, through the bag pipe, c. The ac¬ 
tion of this device, when once placed over the 
fruit, is certain aud instantaneous, and tie 
contrivance would scorn to be simple, cheap 
and reliable. 
Tho “Little Fruit Gatherer” has a series 
of Augers or teeth similar to those of a 
rake disposed in the arc of a circle, as seen 
i u Fig. 356. A kuife is used aud also a conduc¬ 
tor, or spout wherein the fruit fails on being 
pulled, and in which it may be allowed to 
lodge until the spout becomes full. A. A. rep¬ 
resent a series of teeth arranged in the circu¬ 
lar form shown upon the head-piece, B. D. is 
a knife fixed to the tiugers A. and employed 
in connection therewith to detach the fruit 
from the tree. The conductor, E. has its mouth 
held open by means of a metal strip G. which 
may be braced by the angular knife F. F 
which is designed to give a draw cut to th« 
stem of the fruit, thus facilitating its detach¬ 
ment. The person gathering the fruit is en¬ 
abled by means of the extensible rod to raise 
the fingers, A. to any point where the fruit 
may haug, and having placed them in a posi¬ 
tion to surround or circumscribe the fruit, he 
rakes it into the spout, or pocket E., making 
use of the knives D. and F. whenever it may 
ba found to facilitate the operation. The 
pocket E. Ls attached near its lower end to a 
sliding holder, L down to which the fruit 
nmy tie allowed to descend in the pocket, when 
the rod is in its most extended condition; but 
when the rod is shortened in length a cord, e, 
is used to tie the pocket at a suitable point 
above the holder I, and thus intercept the 
fruit in its decent, so that it may be taken 
out of the upper opening instead of the lower 
one. 
Perhaps the simplest, and, I should judge 
the best, construction for a fruit gatherer, is 
that invented by Beujamiu C. Phelps in 1865. 
Fig. 351, page 408, gives a clear idea of the 
invention. This fruit-gatherer was devised 
with tho object in view of preserving both the 
fruit and branches of the tree from injury to 
w hich they are liable, as is the case iu some 
modes of plucking fruit. A. is a handle of 
any desirable length, to which a metal ring 
B. is made fast at tho top, at right augles 
thereto. The sack E. is made of netting se¬ 
cured at its upper end to the ring and at the 
bottom, in the manner shown. C. C. are 
clipper blades, oue of which, C. is formed on 
the end of the shank D. The blade, C. has a 
right-angled arm, or lever, H, and is pivoted 
upou a screw or rivet in the shank. The 
spring F, holds the moving blade open ready 
for use. In operation you have only to ele¬ 
vate the device by thehandle so as to bring tho 
ring B. directly under tho fruit, aud the open 
clipper blades astride of the stem of the fruit, 
when the fruit may be severed by pulling 
the cord G. and it drops iuto the sack with¬ 
out disturbing either the fruit or the branch 
of the tree. 
MISSOURI PIPPIN AND NICKAJACK 
APPLES. 
l notice in tho Rural of May 12, page 399, 
that in an answer to an inquiry the Missouri 
Pippin is considered to be the same as th© 
Niekajack, and in the Rural of May 19, on 
page 12, a cut and description of the Nicka- 
jaek apple are given under the name of the 
Missouri Pippin. 
These names represent distiuct varieties of 
apples, and oue is not a synonym of the other, 
although Downing’s last edition, page 286, 
makes them identical. 
If you examine Downing’s first appendix, 
1872, page 28, you will find a correct descrip¬ 
tion of the M issouri Pippin, and find it to be 
different from the Niekajack. 
In his t hree different appendices ho has cor¬ 
rected many of the errors found iu bis large 
work, but there are a number of others to bo 
corrected, anil I had hoped the publishers 
would have induced Mr. Charles Downing to 
revise the great work of his brother A. J. 
Downing, before this time. 
I send the Rural a correct cut aud descrip¬ 
tion of tho Missouri Pippiu, tho description 
being from my own notes of fruit grown on 
my place. This will be found correct iu out¬ 
line aud description. The Missouri Pippin is 
not as large an apple as the Niekajack, neither 
