TO BREED UP A DISEASE.
Efforts of the Government to Start a Plague Among Destructive Varmints.
GUY ELLIOTT MITCHELL
Did you ever see a rat or mouse or
wild rabbit sick from what might
be termed natural causes? Any
one who can contribute such an animal
to the Department of Agriculture may
unwittingly confer a benefit of mil
lions of dollars annually on tills
country. What the Department wants
Is a fatal and contagious malady,
which it is working hard to get now,
but up to date the work Is merely
promising, there having been no satis
factory result to record. So If any one
has a hutch of rabbits swept oft by
a sudden and mysterious disease, or
If he notices any swift and sudden
mortality among the rats and mice
in his locality, that may be the very
thing the Department is looking for,
be bought by the pound and spread
on bread. The contagious quality
has not developed yet in any of the
foreign cultures tried.
THE RABBIT I’EST.
The biological survey has been able
to do a good deal in a practical way
with the rabbit pest. Some time ago
the forest service set up a howl of in
dignation. It had planted some hun
dred thousand young trees, nursery
stock, in one of the California forest
reserves, and the rabbits ate them
up in about a week. Then it seeded
several hundred acres with white pine
to restore the land after a fire, and
the rabbits cheerfully set to work, dug
up all the seeds aud ate them. But
PRAIRIE DOGS.
One of the Pests of the West.
'slents should be forth-
to Secretary Wilson,
to get it.
Jery one knows that the
<>in is a serious one In
of the West, and tlie rab-
tiifneW.108 8t Uraes threatened to
„ u ’ Australia. and even Call-
> vitals ’¿together the small unlnials
ve sliowi. a,moun‘ of damage, but
•e, and It
“ot realize what its
Yet in one cou..-
o must lo‘all>
'aiulng y< tate of Washlngton last
...
.v <■<>
i„ mice destroyed at least
mnn ’on dollars worth of prop-
ire ansa? Iu t,ie 8ame tlme wo,ve*
■He
alone mulcted the ztock-
l,
.’.l.OOO.OtX» worth of cattle,
,,,,1,1,.- “damage from Held mice, and
„..’.ttle "varmints” throughout
l>e ln‘e^ Stotes, especially In the
n ¿..»nd South, amounted to mnny
“ns.
, TASK OF THE SCIENTISTS.
To cope with these pests Is one of
le most Interesting tasks of the
'
,
£gg Farms of California.
By T. F. McGREW.
and 'other necessities Is not so
high as in the colder parts of
the country, as much of it is
usually produced near at hand. AU
of these things combine to make the
regions of Southern California most
attractive to poultry growers, who may
be seeking a softer climate to lessen
the aggravation which the rigors of
winter heap upon some member of
the family. Many have gone there
seeking a place merely to benefit their
health, and have been much improved
by so doing; but they have also been
able to make a living for themselves
and their families through the com
bination above described.
ALL CANNOT SUCCEED.
All do not succeed. This can not be
In any following of life. Those who
do succeed usually have more or less
experience in the business before they
embark upon it. The failures come
to the inexperienced, and those who
are unable to contend with the diffi
culties always confronting one in the
upbuilding of a new home In any lo
cality.
What are known in the San Fran
cisco market as “range” eggs, the Nt v
York market designates as "fresh-laid”
eggs. Ranch eggs of California are
tlie fresh-laid eggs that are brought
direct to the market and sold as such.
During November and December last
this quality of eggs sold in the mar
kets of San Francisco as high as fifty-
one cents a dozen, and as low as thirty
cents, influenced, no doubt, by tlie s ip-
ply and demand, governing this pro
duct in every locality.
Eggs sold in Chicago during tlie
year of 1905 as low as fifteen cents.
In San Francisco the lowest price
quoted for the year was fourteen
the --------
lesser expense
of
------ -----
.
cents. When
caring for them is considered, the ad
vantages or profit from poultry grow
ing should be fully equal to, if not bet
ter than would be the same pursuit in
Illinois.
Many years ago I assisted a friend
in the loading of a car of poultry for
California. This car was shipped from
Central Ohio, and the fowls contained
therein were very well selected from
flocks of desirable varieties. The
owner of this car crossed the conti
nent in care of bis birds and settled in
Central California.
Reports from
there a few years later told a direful
story of the impossibility of success
in poultry-growing In California.
It is unnecessary to relate the many
troubles experienced, except to say
that the amateur in poultry at that
time imagined that the birds would
live and prosper in the California cli
mate without proper shelter within
houses during the cold, damp weather.
A close study of these conditions
has entirely eliminated all these mis
takes, and to-day there is no place
In tlie United States where there is an
enthusiasm equal to that found
throughout California with reference
to this Industry.
The construction of proper houses,
the selecting of proper breeds and the
proper cariDg for them has built up an
enormous egg business through that
section of tlie country.
In the neighborhood of Petaluma,
more Leghorn fowls are probably kept
for producing the white-shelled egg.->
for the California city markets than BUSINESS METHODS IN FARMING
can lie found within the same number
of miles in any other place in the Successful Kansas Farmer Who Has
world. One enthusiastic visitor to that Kept Trace of Receipts and Ex
locality lias made the statement that
penditures for Twenty Years.
every acre In the fifty thousand acres the Kansas City Journal of the suc
visited contained a hundred Leghorns. cess of A. L. Hollinger, a well-to-do
Tlie climate of Southern California, Kansas farmer who opened a set of
tlie beauties of the scenery, the pleas books
he began farming twenty
ure of fruit cultivation and the profit years when
and who has kept his ac
able growing of poultry have attracted counts ago
as accurately as a bank does
many hundreds to that section to em Its. The
other day he struck a trial
bark In these pursuits under pleasant balance
and found himself $50,000 to
conditions.
good. He has now retired from
A Mr. Brownlow who purchased a the
the farm and will make a tour of
few acres of ground in that locality America.
ten years ago has built up for himself,
The compilation of his long record
with the assistance of his wife and
with 1886 shows the total
children, a most profitable combination beginning
figures given as follows: He has
of poultry, fruit, bees and squabs, all raised
acres of wheat, a yearly
of which thrive continually under the average 5,265
of over 263 acres, and on
softer climates of that locality, ena that area has raised 98,791 bushels, or
bling these people to produce broilers an average per acre for twenty years
every month with a minimum amount of
18% bushels. During all the two
of care and attention, the fruit and decades
never had an entire failureof
bees being a remarkable source of wheat, he
although an average of 1%
profit during the greater part of the bushels an
acre in 1895 came very near
year.
to it
PROTECTION AGAINST DAMP
His corn record Is equally interest
IMPORTANT.
ing. He has raised 2,846 acres of
The buildings used for poultry in corn, a yearly average of 142 acres.
these localities need not be so expen The total number of bushels was 72,-
sive in construction as is necessary In 672, or an average per acre for twenty
that portion of the country visited years of 25% bushels. The corn
the biologists were loaded for rabbit,
to speak, and they furnished the
forest people with a harmless wash
to soak their pine nuts in before plant
ing, and with a cheap dip for the
nursery stock which a self-respecting
rabbit will no more nibble than will
an ordinary human being smell auto
mobile odor for a perfume.
In tills tlie biologists confessedly
took a leaf out of the book of the
Flute and other desert-dwelling In
dians. The Flutes have been caching
food supplies of pine and pinion nuts
in tlie desert for hundreds of years
and they found thnt the rabbits, the
ground squirrels and prairie dogs
would clean out their cache. But
they found by experience that there
was a little desert weed that the
ground animals disliked excessively
and that anything dipped In a tea
steeped from the bark of the weed was
rabbit-proof for a long time thereafter.
So tlie rabbits were checkmated on
that play and tlie forest officers have
no more trouble from that quarter.
FL AG I E OF THE WOLVES.
But It Is the very presence of the
forest reserves that lias bred the
present plague of timber wolves in
tlie West. No hunting is allowed in
the reserves and they form nurseries
for game of all sorts. But it seems
that they breed wolves quite as fast
as they breed anything else, of which
fact the cattle raisers have been made
painfully aware.
In the days of the buffalo on the
plains, thousands of wolves lived on
the herds. When the buffalo were
killed off the wolves disappeared also,
till there was not one where there used
to be a thousand. Then the cattle
men began to stock the ranges, and
the wolves found conditions much the
same as In the buffalo days. They
promptly multiplied and Increased till
they are now doing an immense
amount of damage, aided largely by
their asylum In the forest reserves.
THE SCOURGE OF THE CATTLE COUNTRY.
The biological survey has sent out
Mr. Vernon Bailey, one of Its best feeding the fowls; and the facility
men, to study tlie wolf problem, and with zero weather during the winter
he has been skeelng aud snowshoeing months. Protei’tlon from rain, damp
through Wyoming and Montana while and vermin is the most necessary ad
the snow was on the ground anil the junct to a properly constructed lioultry
wolves were particularly easy to track bouse when the [sjultry can not run
and study. He has not done any nt large and range over the land.
shooting, but Is trying the effects of There is no month in the year in which
IMiisons and traps. But the wolves are they can not tlnd more or less animal
about as cunning as foxes, and after and vegetable life for food upon the
you have trapped and poisoned a few range. This 12 months of food supply
in a given district the rest grow wary | reduces the espouse very materially in
bo
AN OUT OF DOOR BROODER AND FLOCK OF YOUNG WHITE LEGHORNS.
and the poisons and traps are rele
gated to seat 23. The wolves get so
crafty that they will not swallow a
piece of meat without mouthing It,
and if they get the bitter taste of
strychnine or arsenic they drop It and
look for something else to eat
Whether or not the survey will be able
to kill them off with some contagious
disease is a question, but thev are
rapidly becoming as great a pest and
far more dangerous than the smaller
"varmints."
with which sqnab breeders can fly
their birds at large. continually ndda
vigor anti strength to the breeding
stock, which naturally assists In the
quick growth and site obtained In the
squabs.
The quotation of eggs, dressed
poultry and squabs In the California
market, while not the equal of the
New York and Boston markets, will
grade well In value with the average
markets of our larger Inland cities.
The expense of living as to food
averaged for the twenty years 25%
bushels per acre. In all these figures
the number of acres sown Is given aad
the number of bushels harvested.
“During the twenty years,” said Mr.
Hollinger, “I have aimed to carry
enough cattle to use up the rough
ness and the corn raised on the farm,
usually from 100 to 460 head. Of late
years I have paid more attention to
cattle and alfalfa, and have found
that it was a far more reliable com
bination than purely grain farming In
which I was chiefly engaged in the
earlier time of my experience. There
is no question but that any Intelligent
farmer can make a competency, and
support bis family in abundant com
fort in central Kansas. I have done
no more than any of my neighbors did
or might have done. Kich yerr the
same income approximately can be se
cured if the work is carefully planned
and such cropsare raised as areadapteil
to Kansas soil and Kansas climate.”
As an example of Mr. Hollinger’s
stock raising it may be mentioned that
lie came to Kansas City recently with
$9,500 worth of stock which he sold
off his farm. He has lived on the
same place for thirty-three years and
is not leaving Kansas because he is
entirely satisfled with his wealth but
because be wants to give his family
a broader education and to secure
recreation for himself. “I think I
have enough to keep me from want,”
he said, “and I am entitled to get some
thing more out of life than I have
heretofore done.”
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K. Lawrence Company, 274 Wabash .
I IL_______________________ __________
GREAT BEAR COUNTRY.
Representative Bede of Minnesota
Tells the President About Big
Game Hunting in Duluth.
How It happened that the war cor
respondents at Washington found out
about J. Adam Bede’s conference on
bears with President Roosevelt does
not appear. However, a full report of
the Minnesota Congressman’s tales
has been made, and was made public
in the New York Evening Post. It
makes an alluring document. Mr. Bede,
who is the acknowledged wit of the
House, sought the President with the
friendliest intention. "You like to
shoot bears," said "Jadam,” diplo
matically. Mr. Roosevelt admitted it.
“But you don’t have to go into the
wild West for your sport,” went on the
Minnesota statesman. “Think of this
fact: thirteen bears were shot in the
streets of Duluth last year—in Du
luth, the pride of the Northwest, that
beautiful city on the great unsalted
sea.” The statement had a perceptible
effect on the President, and Mr. Bede
was encouraged to go on. “It’s the
only place in the whole world, Mr.
President, where you can go bear
hunting by trolley car, under the elec
tric light, and on asphalt pavements.
We have all the conveniences so dear
to the heart of the true sportsman,
and without leaving your hunting
ground you can walk across the street
to the mall box and drop in a postal
card to your friends, telling them all
about the game you have bagged."
With the Congressman was a Duluth
constituent, a lady with first-hand
knowledge of bear hunting in that
city. She added her corroborative
statement: “Oh, yes, Mr. President, a
short time ago a friend of mine heard
a noise outside his window, and on
looking out saw that it was a bear try
ing to climb a telegraph pole. He shot
that fellow without leaving his bed
room.” Then, to the joy of the Presi
dent, Mr. Bede took up the tale: “Why,
bears are common things with us up
in Minnesota, Mr. President. Last year
five bears held up one of our trolley
cars. They were two old ones and
three cubs. This occured right In the
streets of Duluth. The big fellow got
in front of the car and put his paws
on the dashboard, driving the motor
man off. while mamma and the cubs
went around after the conductor. After
they had had enough of this sport th ey
raised the siege and trotted off toward
the outskirts of the city. Oh, no, we
don’t let the bears trouble us much.
When they get too bothersome we turn
them over to the police, who drive
them out of town; -but it’s a great bear
country up there, and I’m sure you
would like to see a bit of it.” Now, If
it is announced that President Roose
velt means to take a vacation up In
the Minnesota woods, the correspond
ents may go straight to Duluth, where,
as Mr. Bede is a true prophet, the
great bear slayer may be found sitting
in the door of an up-to-date hotel, a
rifle across his knees, waiting for the
promised sport.
JO ACRE TRACTS CHOICE8T fruit and farm land
(on the Gulf Coast Highlands tn Alabama) for 860
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Co.. 184 La Salle St., Chicago, 11L
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