Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 December 1893 — Alcohol in Chicken Raising. [ARTICLE]

Alcohol in Chicken Raising.

“ Yes, sir, 1 can raise chickens three days quicker by planting the eggs than can be done in the regular way,” said an man who officiates as gardener for a prominent iron manufacturer on Fifth avenue, East End. It seems strange but chickens are about tho only things that man is able to grow. The usual things produced in a garden languish and fail under his direction, but ohiokens thrive. “ You see, I brought this idea over with me from the old country. I place the eggs in a box with a little fertilizer, then plant the box about four or five inches below the surface.” “ Well, some oue told me you indulged in an incantation over the box,” said the reporter. “ Not at all; I just put a little vinegar over it, nothing else,” was the gardener’s reply. " You don’t understand me. I mean that you use somo charm or other.” “Oh, qo! The only rule you must follow is not to open the box except between the going down and the coming up of the sun,” was the way the gardener answered. “Then there is some mystery about it, after all?” was asked. “No, you must keep the box dry,” replied the old chicken farmer. The reporter gave up further questioning as futile, and permitted the gardener to tell his story without interruption. “Well, you see, I let the box remain under the ground for a period equal to that requin d for a hen to hatch out eggs, less three days, then open the box in the evening. Then I find I have my chickens all hatched out. lam met here with a difficulty. If I try to put the young chickens with a hen to raise she will peck at them until she kills them. It is too much trouble to oure for them myself, so I have to play a trick. I taka a chiokeu that is not laying well and make her drunk. Ido this by giving her whiskey, and soon she begins to stagger around until at last in a drunken stupor she lies down. I take her, aud, fixing her carefully in a box I have already prepared, place the chicks under hor. By morniug the effects of the alcohol have worn off and the hen is going around the yard clucking to her young brood in the proudest manner. She imagines that she has been sittinn upon the eggs and this is the result of her patience. I have tried this a number of times and the experiment has never failed.’’—[Pittsburg Dispatch.