Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-31
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dav. II had a new one handed me recently
IN connection with the nitro-cuitures 'ha'
the department is getting out now as .
,,atter OF fact these cultures are gooo
thing for certain classes of crops unoer Ger
tain conditions but they are not ike soiho
= ,ra ratent medicines which are alleged
20 he good for everything from sciauc" ~
corns But there was ore OF the eApeii
s,,.a,s 70 ,vhnrn the culture had been sent
st.. ,snorted the most remarkable conoi-
~ ~ affairs He said he had prepared
tho c,,Itura according 10 directions inteno-
ing to use It on some of his crops. But he
left II alone In the yard for few minutes
and came back to find some Plymouth NoeA
chickens drinking 1t with great relish. Ever
since then. he assured the department ne
rad noticed a remarkable increase IN tne
gIza oP The chickens that had drunk the cut-
ture and they were laying eggs OF pheno'u
email size and in phenomenai quah.itI.es
Some OF the eggs had been set ana hatcheu
out, and the Plymouth ROCKS proriiseo -
be as big as Shanghai ROSTERS. 49,,
Now this is a development or the nitIo
culture idea that the department haa not
calculated on. We were asked 10 ioiiow
tho matter up and see II there was III, nv y
something doing in the chicken line Win
bacteria as with crops of beans and clover.
There Is a story from out California way
that quite ranks up with the chicken cui.
ture yarn. OF course, II mas oeen hio NV.
for a long time that chickens could be rat
tened rapidly for market by the stunning
process-that is, by using machine sltiiiiar
TO the one operated on the StrasDure GOOSE
and making them eat more than they "an.-
ed or was good for them But IL mas re
NAMED for Berkeley University, outside Oh
San Francisco. to do away with the ma
chine and get the chicken-fattening ioea on
a really sound financial basis by cuttlhB out
all the hand labor connected with IT. Inc
ts al n he the property OF Ouc
Prof Jaffa and II is ingenious In It's SIM
plicity. He keeps his chickens cooped ny
where they cannot exercise and thus run
the fat off them. Then he Keeps teeu Al
ways before Them so that they Will eat all
through the day from sheer ennui But lhe
place where he gets In his line Work Is az
night He has a brilliant arc light con-
ueCted with clockwork switch. ana ABOUT
an hour after the chickens have gone 70
roost the light Is automatically switched on.
and the chickens. thinking 1t is sunrise,
get down and pick up a meal as matter
OF course. Then, when the light Is turned
OF they climb back to roost. In an hour
the light is switched on again and the m
suspecting chick thinking that it Is time
for breakfast gets YEARLY down ana does
another eating stunt. In half an hour the
light goes out but it is switched on in an
other hour and the misguided fowl Is fooled
into taking another meal that 1t does not
need This goes on all night. and these
simple broilers are cozened into taking
want In the course OF night.
1t Is claimed that by this method two
pound chick can be reared In half the time
that It takes to grow the ordinary ration
ally fed fowl. OF course IL the idea Is car
red a little further and the professor raises
his chickens in a dark room he ought to De
able TO inject a meal into them every hour
and a half of the twenty-four. OF course,
the chicken thinks he Is living mighty fast
at this rate, with sunrises coming an hour
and a half apart. and 1t is said that some
Of the experimeutees who have been SUB
jected to this process have grown pretna-
tuTely gray and been reduced to the verge
of senile decay at the early age of six
months. But whether this statement Is en-
tirely accurate must be left to settlement
between the professors friends and enc
mics.
ut is funny how little thing will some
times unhinge the best scientific calcula-
tons" said a Washington ocslst. who was
talking over remarkable experiences the
other day. Il had a case some time ago
In which I was the last of a badly puzzled
chain Of oculists. 1t was before the days
OF set-in nose pieces on eyeglasses. and the
old fiat nose grip alike on both sides was
still IN use. The lady In question came to
me and told tale of woe about her eyes.
I examined them and they were bad, all
right, and I gave her a prescription for a
pan " HtdSStS. oIic XVI tLCHl anu tslltu
TO show them to me on her way back to
the opticians They fitted all right and
l was very well pleased with the Job. But
the lady said before leaving:
Now, | don't want to discourage you,
doctor. But these glasses are not going 20
last me more than twenty-four hours l
have been 10 all Of the best oculists in the
country-in Boston. New York, Chicago and
Denver And she named over lot Of men,
all OF whom l knew personally or by repu-
tation. as among the best men in the coun-
try. Then she continued:
did not tell you this before because
! wanted you 10 make the examination in
a thoroughly unprejudiced frame of mind.
But the fact is that l have had a great
many glasses and they have all been just
Ike these you have given me - perfect
~ satisfactory when they were first fitted
on, and by the next day OF no earthly use
At all
Saying this, she opened her reticule. and
declare she had fifteen or twenty pairs
OF glasses in II from all over the country.
There said she with a faint smile,
those are my trophies OF the chase. But
none OF them suited me the day after they
were lifted, and l am convinced 1t is going
70 be the same way with this pair
This was Il conundrum for me, and she
went OF with the temporarily satisfactory
pair Of glasses. Next day she was back
again and told me II was just as she ex-
pected-she could not see thing with
them She took them or while she was
talking TO me. and then l saw IN fash
handed. and naturally picked them up by
The side OF the frame with the ring on It
and put them on backward.
My dear madam said I. II that is the
way you have been wearing them, / don [
wonder they did not fit Then put them
on right side TO. and they were all right
again After that for curiosity I meas
ured the lenses OF the fifteen or twenty
pairs OF other glasses that she had accumu-
lated, and l found there was not a tenth
OF a degree OF difference in any pair that
had been made for her.
Fanny thing, the idea OF a persons be-
Ing ieft-handed affecting the vision.
wasn't TT But. then. little things make
lots OF trouble sometimes"
During the past fiscal year" said Secre
tary Shaw OF the Treasury Department
1--WE spent 81 - per capita on the navy
But we have something TO show for It. Tn,
other day our bluejackets set up a targe
n feet long and II feet wide. A mile dis