Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 November 1893 — A GREAT SCHEME. [ARTICLE]

A GREAT SCHEME.

A Drunken Hen Adopt* n Brood Hatched in the Ground. Pittsburgh Dsspatch. “Yes, sir. I can raise chickens three days quicker by planting the eggs than can be done in the regular way," said an old man who officiates as gardener for prominent iron manufacturer on Fifth avnuc, East End. It seems stange, but chickens are about the only thing that man is able to grow. The usual things produced in a garden langu sh and fail under his but chickens thi ive. “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 one 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 Hardener’s reply. “You don’t understand me. I mean that you use some charm or other.” “Oh no! 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 wav the gardener answered. “Then there is some mystery about it, after ah?” 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 tie ground for a period equal to that required for a hen to hatch out eggs, less three days, then open them in the evening. Then I find I have my chickens all hatched out. I am met here with a difficulty. If 1 try to put the young chickens with a hen to raise she will peck at them untill she kills them. It is too much trouble to care for them myself, so I have tp play a trick. I take a chicken that is not laying well and make her drunk. Ido this by giving her whisky, and s.ion she begins to stagger around until at last, in a drunken stupor, she lies down. I take her, and, fixing carefully in a box I have already prepared, place the chicks under her. By morning 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 sitting upon the eggs and this is the result of her pat ence. I have tried this a number of times and the experiment has n«v»r frv'-H.”