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How the Little Brown Hen is Helped by
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CARD V. AND HER MAJESTY, A PAIR OF E. B. DAY'S IMPORTED ST. BERNARDS.
KAR8 ago a famous rooster la
said to have remarked: "Aw,
what's the use? An egg yes
terday, a feather duster and a
chicken sandwich tomorrow."
But since those days the lot
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of the rooster and his family lias lmiro. i d.
His life story Is more now than simply a
trip from some hidden hen's nest to the
griddle. I.Ike he lot of man, the chicken
with good ancestry, a firm determination
to become something in the world and win
place among the millions, many become a
pampered pet, a show bird worth Jl.OfO and
never pee the griddle nor the chopping
block. Now and then a chicken with poor
ancestry may "grapple with his evil star"
and be recognized by poultry breeders. ,
Tills was demonstrtited in Omaha the last
week when some lr,0) men and women vis.
Itrtd the third annual show of the Trl-Clty
Poultry association, held n the Auditorium.
Thousands of well dressed men and women
admired the blnls arraaged In their rates
about the big bulM'rg. w 1 .-h Is sa'd by
pou'.trymen to be the most Ideal rdnce fnr
a poultry show In the west Reportable
looking citizens wore sawdust and feathers
on their rlothes all week, and looked at
though they had come out ivond best In
a roiigh-and-tumhle performance, all In
honor of the poultry sh w. The crow-ns-you-please
contest opened bright and early
Monday morning and before the week was
half over Secretary O. D. Talhert said:
"Bringing the show up from South
Omaha, where It has hern held for the last
two years, will result in the Tri-City show
being the most successful In the west. Our
gate receipts the first three days were just
five times as great as the receipts for the
entire week In South Omaha. Omaha Is
the place for the shn-v-the Auditorium Is
the location, anj If the eh.iw next yr
does not surpass the state show we will bo
badly disappointed. Gate receipts mean
better premiums, and our premiums now
are larger by 60 per cent than those of
fered by any other aociution In the
west."
Scores of exhibitors confirmed the state
ment of Mr, Talhert In reference to the
surceaa (f the show, the fair treatment
glvsn them by the management and the
outlook for a much larger show next year.
Almost 1,00 of the barnyard delegates
were on exhibition. They were largely
from the farms of Nebraska, Iowa and
Missouri. Few eastern birds were shown,
and the home product ranked with the fast
ones from the east when the judges had
completed their work. Around each coop,
or parlor suite, as the showcases were
called, the artists who had brought the
barnyard oratorio to Its presnt state of
perfection, mingled with the visitors and
explained, as best they could In the tech
bloat language of the poultry "raisers."
Symmetry, well arched back, ear lobes,
wattle, hackles, peaclllngs and side-springs
vera sunt of the term heard which at
trMm4 the attention of those who were
. Mrae4 yrtUi awaut aal fitjeef AtfWB
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E. E. SMITH IN CHARGE OF THE
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the long aisles at the annual disturbance.
Hundreds of country visitors enjoyed the
company of the chicken "4o0," and many
went home determined to produce more and
better chickens and get some ribbons at
the Omaha poultry show In not more than
two more years.
Some of the chickens boasted of being
hatched hy their "mothers," and come into
the world to peep from beneath a feathered
breast upon the Interior of a modern poultry
house, but most of the fine birds attested
the success of artificial Incubation, and
boasted of pipping the shell In a steam
heated St. Louis flat, falling through the
floor only to light on a piece of warm
sheepskin with two Inches of wool. Then
they looked out on the domestic scenery
of a neat gltchen or saw the large supply
Of canned fruit in a cemented cellar. In
stead of peeping at' haymow rafters, and
they heard the voices of children long be
fore they ever heard a calf calling for
help.
"Trusty," a Barred Plymouth Rock
r ester belonging to F. F. Devore vt Valley.
Neb, was one of the prize birds whose
foster mother was an old-fashioned In
cubator and whose nurse was a sheepskin
and Standard Oil lamp. Trusty has grown
a little round shouldered from carrying o'f
ribbons, but his three sons were healthy
looking fellows, all of whom had varnished
pine boxes for stepmothers This rooster
was one of those which will never see a
griddle. He has had ribbons around h'm
and hung over his cage until the owner
declared the rooster had become really
tired of the (Star Spangled Banner, liu
h;:s knwn nothing hut silks and satins
all his life.
"Trusty's a prude," remarked a game
rooster belonging to II. D. Foster, assistant
auditor of the Burlington Railroad com
pany. "I've got enough liobors," continued
Hiawatha, "to decoiste this Ailit 'rltini,
but I'm sick of prises. I heard the Judire
say that I was such a good bird that he
cut me down three pnlnts Just to keep me
from rotiinj out perfect, and he admitted
he did not know what he cut me .'own for.
I have heard them s ly I was. the Itest
bet aved shew bird In the bunch, but I am
living a lie. I'd Iiho all iny riiibont to
get out In the back yard wlili old Trusty.
Whrn I got through the Judge or owner
would have to tie a gauze rO'bon on
Trusty's head "
And to It went all week, the i oir.pett'.ion
between the different hrcej and the
friendly r'vulry bet a t en l.irds of the ia
breed, the Indian ga'nes inntlum that the
only way to JjiUe bids of their kind was
tu turn them '.o.--j hi the back yard with
any kind of a chicken made either in a
nest or an Incubator, while the fluffy
Brahamaa and Cochins looked as though
the proof of their quality would be lu the
baking.
"Aftwr all, the Incubator haa made the
poultry business," said Jonn Ay, a Wash
ington county breeder of Barred Plymouth
Kjocka. "I belle, the. pevlef a.fcva aa
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OCNERAX. VIEW OF WTB
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8TNOI.T! COMB PT7FF ORPTNQTON
SHOWN BY W. C. HAMILTON OF
PLATTSMOUTH, NEB.
chickens would hava been extinct had not
an Inventor brought out the Incubator and
made the business profitable. The only
kind of poultry we would hava had today
would be crows and mudhens. But the
Incubator saved the clay. It started the
farmers to producing chickens for hlir
profits and gradually they have drifted
and been driven by competitors to produc
lng blooded stork. I believe I can safely
say that half the farmers In Washington
county are producing pure bred chickens.
If their entire flock Is not of pure blood
they are buying; nothing but thordurhbrcd
cockerels and gradually working toward
perfect purity of strain."
Rxhlhltors at the poultry show said that
any farmer or poultryman who proposed
to go into the business for profit and pro
duce chickens for the market from a mixed
lot of "mongrel'' stock would go Into bank
ruptcy within two years.
"This has been the experience of many,"
aid a poultryman. "I know half a dozen
who have started chicken ranches and
Progressive
Development of Last Year.
EVBIjOPMENTS in the science
Dl of electricity have become so
I common that the world no
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happens. Inventions and ap
plications of the current to
manifold uses, which would be classed as
sensational a score of years ago, now at
tract but momentary attention, so accus
tomed are we to the seemingly limitless
possibilities of the science.
The last year records many notable
strides in electrical development. At the
head of the list Is the completion of Mar
coni's transatlantic wireless telegraph sys
tem and its use for commercial purposes.
Marconi's experimental work In transat
lantic communication dates from the not
able day In Deeemtier, H1, when he re
ceived In Newfoundland the letter S. the
appointed signal, from Cornwall, Eng
land. Encouraged by this success, Mar
coni commenced the erection of a powerful
station at (Hare Hay, Nova Scotia, where
fuur huge braced towers were built at the
corners of a square, and an elaborate system
of aerial wires strung from them and led
down to the senrilng and nrelving station
below them In the center of the SMUaru.
A ye.ir later actual wireless telegraphy
was established between this station and
England. Disratches were sent by the gov
ernor genet al of Canada to Kinff Edward,
t'ie king of Italy, and the London 'limes.
Prcsldftit Roosevelt d!j atchl a im ssae
to King Edward. But tile time was not
iiie for regular transmission. During the
r.rst four years the Inventor has heen de
voting liiinsulf with unrehntirg efforts to
the rfi'ct in? of his apparatus. The power
of the plants on both sides of the Atlantic
has been vastly Iricre-.sed, with the result
that In October of 1!"T the system was de
clared open for the E.-rding of press d a
patches. Over iei i words were sent und
received the first day.
Lighting; Fires ou Cold Mnrnlear.
Eir -nce the principles ot "right living
and rlsrht thinking" percoUied lnio the
brain of man thu one obstacle to the at
tainment of the ld-nl has bicn the priilem
of lighting th- liiomins fire In re
gions where Oil Pyrias disports him
self, people puss-sed of suff!elint nieini
to dlsrensc with stoves and line their
homes will; radiators warranted to ra
diate comfort In the early morning hours
have solved the problem to the'r satisfac
tion. Hut the m ilions still attached to
si v.t s and 1-w-down furnaces hav their
d'es ns of fu jre blls rud.dy shatter d
when gTini neefss ty calls them from osy
beds to the living room or kitohen. the
cMit'rur air p'aying tag with their pyjjinss
and shins betimes. For these, hope's glow
ing rainbow promises better things.
The electric stove, a sure thing winner,
is leaping to the fore, mocking the Coal
trust and searing Its grip. It lacks only
an automatic means of starting to work
to make it the gem ot winter homes. And
the clockwork attachment Is about to be
supplied by Prf. liaru.on W. Mors of
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SUNDAY BEE: JANUARY 5, 1P03.
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INCUBATOR 6I3CTION AT THE! TRI-CITT POUiTRT BHOW.
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bought stock from the butcher shops and
back yards. They Incorporated In their
flock birds of every color and size, Aslutlcs
and Mediterraneans, whose remote an
cestor came from Italy, China, Russia,
Japan and South Africa. The result has
always been the same. The poor chickens
In the flock degenerated the other chlckns
and ruined the new generation. The chicks
were weak from birth and died llko blue
bottle flies when the heavy frosts came."
Breeders assert that there are tramp
chickens, Just as thero are tramp men and
dogs. They do not have regular habits
of laying eggs, and have a mania for
travel. They make weokly tours of all
the nrlphhorirr fields end scratch all the
seeds from neighboring gardens, while the
violent exercise takes off all the fat which
the stolen food produces. When tramp
chickens are reudy for market they are
like crows all skin and feathers. After a
sad and expensive experience with the
mohtrrel chickens, the poultry farmer
usually buys a few settings of ej;ss from a
Events in the Field
the chemical laboratory of Johns Hopkins
university.
The professor has invented an electric
stove with a clockwork mechanism by
which the heat may be turned on at any
hou,r without personal attention. The de
vice also operates to turn the heat off at
any time required. It Is the professor's
aim to do away with the necessity for
early rising, bo far as furnace tending Is
concerned. He believes that by Installing
ona of his electric stoves In place of a
furnace the head of the household may lie
abed as late as his business permits, se
cure In the knowledge the house Is being
kept at the proper temperature without
any effort on his part.
Prof. Morse's stove looks like a pair of
porcelain tubes. He has not taken any
body save his model maker into his confi
dence In respect of the Inside of those
tubes. To outward seeming they are sim
plicity itself. Nor Is there anything com
plicated about the clock, so far ;is exterior
appearance goes. It is the professor s Idea
that on a warm evening, for Instance, the
householder, having read In his morning
paper that theie will be a fall of tempera
ture after mloniglit, shall set the time
clock at 12 o'clock. When midnight ar
rives the clockwork turns on the heat and
by the time the rattle of sleet against the
pane half wakes the houschold'-r that
worthy will x: in position to smile at the
Icy weather and turn over for his second
sleep.
trees aa l.lerti'le Cables.
Itefoie a meeting .if the Institution ot
Electrical Engineers, held In London. Mr.
Alexander Russell read a paper on "The
Dielectric Strength of Insulating Material
and the (Jrodins of Cahhs." The author
pointed out that in power transmission,
w hether by direct or alu n ullr.g current,
the e Ir.g of copp. r eif.-i ti d by usluu very
blah pressures lias direct. d the attention
Of manufacturers to t ties construction of
cahl-s to withstand these pr s.r. s success
fully a knowledge of the electric stresses
to which the various Insulating materials
round the core will be subjected under
working conditions is essent al. nd in ad
ditl m an accurate knowledge of ti e dl
e ectr c o j-tfn lent', d -'t lr c st eiigths, an I
res.siafices of the insul m: g v. lappings
Tin author discusses in the papr, first th
litws of disruptive di"hi;re, next the
method of measuring the dielectric
strengths, end rtslstanc-s of the Insulating
wrappings. The author discusses in tho
rater, first the method of meLsurlng the
dielectric strengths cf gases. liii'ds. and
fcolid. aid fliially the electric str.ss.-s on
the insulating materials of a slush- core
cable with special rcf un-e to th.- "grad
ing" of cables. With ittard to disruptive
discharge the author arrives at the con
clusion that when part of the dielectric
UP.dtr stress breaks down a disruptive dis
charge ensues only when the tftect of this
partial breakdown Is to Increase the elac
trlc stress on the remaining portion. Thu
dielectric strength of air under given con
ditions can be found accurately by Anduig
the Self-Regulating:
3
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MOHT BRAHMA COCKERFli SHOWN
i,y 3 B- KEELINE OF COUNCIt.
BLUFFS.
breeder of thoroughbred chickens. He
secures a dozen good pullets and buys a
cockerel from another reliable dealer, giv
ing him a start In the pure bred poultry
business at an expenditure of less than
one-fourth the out-lay for the flock of
tramps which tore up the neighborhood
and turned up poor at market time.
Those who produce pure bred chickens
declare they get a larger per cent of strong
birds, with good habits and which will
put on flesh on CO per cent of the food
required for a mixed lot of chickens.
Then there Is a little gambling In the
poultry business. Out of every hundred or
more chickens the poultry farmers get a
"show bird." Sometimes the bird will be
worth V0 and again It may bring 160. A
very ordinary looking White Wyandotte
hen at the Omaha show was worth 5no.
Old Trusty, the rooster belonging to F. T.
Ievore of Valley, Neb., sold to a St.
Joseph firm with his three sons for P60.
"I wanted a Barred Plymouth Rock hen
of Electricity
the disruptive voltages between spherloal
electrodes at distances greater than 0.6 ot
a centlmertere apart, and under normal
conditions it Is about S.800 volts per mill
metre. The diclectrlo strengths of other
gases can be found In a similar way experi
mentally. In the case of oils the dielectric
strength can be ascertained by noticing the
disruptive voltages between spherical elec
trodes Immersed In them, provided the dis
tance apart Is greater than 4.03 of a ce .it I
metre, but In finding the dielectric strength
of solids it Is advisable when possible to
Imbed the spherloal eleotrodea in the ma
terial under test. In the case of aeolotropic
solids the calculation of the electric stresses
is very difficult. Most Insulating materials
are composed of organic natter and are
not quite Isotropic, and the effect of apply
ing an excessive pressure to a cable for a
considerable time Is often to eerbonix part
of the dielectric and to weaken it perman
ently. Many engineers connected with
manufacturing companies are of the opin
ion that the testlnr pressures sometimes
specified by consulting engineers are too
high and applied for too long a time. The
author states the formula for the construc
tion of high-pressure concentric cables hav
ing an Is., tropic dielectric for a maximum
working pressure. H Is also pointed out
11 ut the effect of Mie temperature gradient
In the dielectric of a concentric main is
often to make the electric stress between
the two conductors more uniform, and that
the dlelectrlo streneih of many InsulatlnR
materials In the solid form diminishes as
the temperature rises. The effects of al
ternating and direct pressures in produc
ing stresf.es are sometimes qu'te different
High pressure cables for alternating or
direct current circuits should be graded so
a? to make the maximum electric stress on
the dielectric aa sma'1 aa possible, and
stranded conductors should be encased In
thin lad tubes. In apnencjices to the paper
the anther discusses fornv.iVee for the grad
ing of siccie core cables and the thermal
conductance of the dielectric.
F.leetrlrlty la Kltrhrna.
Housewives can make electricity serve
them In many ways without Installing an
expensive equipment, says The Delineator
for January.
The electric range, that must have special
wiring, Is costly. But other devices are
within easier reach. They are operated
simply by attaching the connection to the
electric light socket, from which the ordi
nary bulb Is temporarily removed for the
purose. Among these conveniences is the
el-ctric flat Iron maintained at the proper
temperature while moving over the Iron
tnebnard In action; the electric dlningroom
?. i i f leakrttle rhsfirig dish and coffee per
colator which will merrily cook on tho
breakfast tabic the second course while yeu
are eating the first; and the olcctrla heat
ing pad of eiderdown that takes the place
of the hot wattr bottle. Any of these work
at a cost of about I cents an hour. Beyond
tbeiu there is so much that may be docc by
electricity that It souoU like a Story of
Uael Indian matfic.
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JUPOINO TOE EXHIBITS-O. D. M'CIXfSirT OF AV.DCA, 'A., NOTING TUB
yvlNT FOR HIS CLERK. i
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'T.J Aft
TRt'STY, THE BARRED PLYMOTTH FOflf HOT D BY F. V DBVORK OF VAL
LEY, NEB., FOR ITS. THREE OF TRUSTY'S SON8 WENT ALONG FOR 10.
with a pure yellow beak," said Mr. Devore.
"A perfect Barred Rock should have such
a ts.sk. I raised over two hundred hens
before I got one which was perfect, but
I have one now which money would
scarcely buy. Yes. she's worth a hundred
to anyone, but Is worth more than that to
me."
And so It goes. In days gone by the
chicken which brought flO was a neighbor
hood wonder, but out over the prairies of
Nebraska there are hundreds of poultry
men raising stock which will bring them
rrlcts almost beyond belief, some HO or
fin and others will produce a bird or two
during the year which will bring J&O to 10rt.
"There Is a fascination about breeding
for perfection," said an exhibitor. "Beauty
la a fine art now in everything;, especially
when experience proves It to be combined
so well with utility. Years ago the farmer
cared only for the useful, but he Is inde
pendent now and has turned his eyes to
the beautiful and seeks It alike on the
intfrlir nf Ms home. In his stables where
his horses show the same lines which make
them beautiful as the cattle In his sheds.
Instead of unsightly mongrel chickens, he
has the beat and gets more for them when
ho sells."
Just tweny-three years ago artificial In
cubation proved successful and practical.
Before the mechanical device for hatching
eggs the cspabillties of poultry husbandry
were limited. Had the demand for poultry
products Increased as It has in the last
twenty-three years, and the hena been
compelled to hatch all the eggs and run
with nil the chickens, it Is likely that
"springs" would be quoted at V) cents per
pound Instead of 8 cents during the poultry
s' ow in Omaha. But Incubation hy means
of a machine has only been perfected
within the last fifteen years. The first In
cubators were useless In the hands of 73
per cent of those who bought thero, and
even until 1k: the machines were retired
by many farmers.
In te sn:ill pine and glass boxes shown
hatching chicks at the poultry show were
seen the simplified results of years of labor
by such enilne.-.t scientists us Huxley, Ag
assis. Foster, Balfour, Bischoff, Dollinger
and Karl Ernst von Baer, who studied eggs
and gave the first workers with the in
cubator their knowledge of embryology.
Then came the army of Inventors, some of
them not so successful as others. Master
ing at lcat a pa t ot the knowledge of
the physiological life of the chick given
by the scientists, they experimented with
first electricity for heat, and then went
back to the coal oil lamp. They learned
that the temperature under a hen at Its
highest Is never over 106 degrees. If the
temperature run up a single degree thre
Is a corresponding mortality. 8hould it go
higher, It was found that chicks might be
hatched, but would invariably die.
Dncugli oggs were spoiled in experiment
ing with Incubators to run tht hoteia of
Omaha for almost a whole season, and
poultry men believe roost of the tad luck
TM 4u U ft fteeir te reach tee great a
Incubator
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perfection In solf-regulatlng machines.
Statistics presented ut a MassachusetU
convention of poultry fanciers In ISSi re
corded an experiment of James Rankin,
who made a fortune by producing ducks
by artificial Incubation. Mr. Rankin tested
sixty-seven duck eggs and placed them In
one of the early Incubators. 8lxty-flve
hatched, and he followed up the experi
ment by placing 168 eggs in the machine
and took out 161 ducks. During the spring
of W- he produced over 3,000 ducks, and
Massachusetts awoke to the fact that
codfish and beans were far less profitable
than ducks.
Those green ducks of one James Rankin
are still talked about by poultry men.
Before he had hatched the last duckling
the first ones he hatched In the sprln
were being marketed along about June 10
for S3 per pair and sold for 12 per pair
until July IB. The literature market went
down In Boston when the papers printed
tho "story" of the famous green backs
and the Incubator business becuifle an
established fact.
Before the duys of the incubator tho
hoi of the poultry farmer was to pro
duce eggs. The profit from tho business
was almost wholly dependent on the egg
production. The pullets were kept for this
purpose and the roosters slaughtered for
the market. In this connection It ts Inter
esting to note the reports of the Middlesex
South society, which held a meeting In
Boston In and one Mansfield gave a
report of his experiment. He had started
In the poultry business on an extensive
scale with 100 hens and during the first
season consumed ninety-three bushels of
corn and produced 117 eggs each (no chicks
being rul.sed) and these gave Mansfield a
profit of 138 per head for hia hens.
But a growing demand for chicken as a
meat kept the farmeis In constant un
easiness in fear that the hens would not
go to setting early enough in the spring:.
The desire to have a htn which would set
at any season was one of the first reason
advanced for artificial Incubation. The
"fried chicken'' market offered opportunity
for handsome profits if the springs could
be placed on the market early enfc.gh,
and when the machine suoceeded the
poultry farmers swamped the market with
fried chicken eurly In May and springs
were well along In age by June I.
That Omaha ts destined to be the poultry
show town of the west was the prediction
of the exhibitors at the Omaha show. It
is the market for the commercial chicken
aiid the show pi ice for the fancy and per
fect LI; Us of three or four (Teat states,
which produce more poultry than any other
states In tie union. During the coming
year th energy of the Omaha, Bout a
Omaha and Council Bluffs poultry men
will be put Into nact year's show and
hundreds of members will plan to bring
birds to Omaha next year. It is predicted
that th best shew will present to visitor
not less than 6j0 of the barnyard aristocracy.