Farm and Garden.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 391, 5 November 1903, Page 2

Farm and Garden.

ORIGINAL ARTICLES.

FOWLS-GOOD AND BAD. |HRKHE tell tale trap nest shows that JKrltj some hens are the morest apology (ML* for the name so far as eggs are concerned, while others ought to be proud of themselves for the quantity and quality of their work on the nest. A prime good hen, like many good cows, is often paying the board of numerous shiftless relations that do scarcely a good month's work in the year. A smart barred Plymouth Bock laid two hundred and thirty-seven deep brown eggs that weighed one pound eleven ounoes and a half per dozen j after Bhe had laid over two hundred the eiz 3 of the eggs did not dwindle as with seme hens after heavy laying. The record was for just a year. Tne flack numbered over a hundred, and the other Plymouth Book hen was one of the poorest of the number, having'never laid more than thirty-four eggs in a year. The difference in the two is apparent at a glance. The best layer, although well developed in every way. seems active, alert and springy, a combiaation of poise and energy which indicates vitality, sex development and foraging power. The poor layer in contrast looks dumpish and beefy, too heavy behind and but little sex development. Her type is seen in most large., flocks, and she is rarely a decent layer. It must not be supposed, however, that the poor layers can alwayß be selected.by anything in'their geseral appearance. Some which good judges have pronounced of the egg type and probably good layers were shown by the trap nest as among the poorest. There is apparently no sure j way to select the best hens except by-counting the eggs. That is what some of the experiment stations and enterprising breedeis "are doing. Then after the trap nest has done its work they raise both males and females from eggs laid by the best hens, and thus improve the stock in the same way that cattle, horses and sheep have been impro /ed. The average breeder is doing the reverse of this method as far as concerns the practical qualities of his flock. He selt cis the largest and finest lookisg . egrgs at the height of the laying season. Trap nests show that wfeen a poor hen lays eggs she does it mostly in spring, and laying but a few eggs a year, she is likely to lay larger and better laoking ones than those hena that have been at work all through the winter. Hence a majority of chicks hatched from euoh eggs win naturally be from poor layers, the result being aided by the fact that after long continued laying eggs average less fertile than from fresh layers. The poultry keeper who cannot attempt the trap nest plan of selection, cin to soma extent by attention to the general style of the fowl*, also by watching and tagging those hens which lay early and steadily.

Bagin promptly alter weaning chickens, continue through hot weather and the moulting season and notice those which lay eggs of fair siza and colour, and then one may pick out many of the beat. Another simple and more exact method of keeping record is to put the hens to ba tested each by herself with a flock laying eggs of a different colour.

RAISING HOGS FOE PROFIT. Of the various breeds of hogs the Poland, China and Duroc-Jerseys have proved the most satisfactory with many people, because they make quicker growth and can be Bold at an early "age; particularly a bunch of Dnroc-Jerseys that were fed mainly on cooked corn gave the most satisfactory result, a larger boiler being used for cooking the food. Hogs greatly relish artichokes, and thej are supposed by some people to assist in maintaining a vigoroas healthy condition - A mash of what i 3 named hogs' wash—refuse matters from the kitchen and cooked corn—is very satisfactory. If the ' corn is ground and. then cooked it improves the fattening quality, but if it is ted ground and uncooked the result is not equal to the hole grain 'well cooked. The hogs seem to assimilate the cooked whole grain qaite as completely as any food that could be given them. When cocking the corn can be salted enough to keep the hogs healthy, and the result will be all that can be desired. This ration can be changed by putting onehalf as much wheat as corn in the cooker, and the result will still be satisfactory 5 but a hog will not fatten so rapidly on an exclusive wheat diet. It seems qaite apparent and generally acknowledged that the very best ration for the hog is ground gram, in a proportion of one bushel of wheat to two of corn, and cooked and fed as a warm mash. That, with a libera] addition of artichokes, w.ill bring the best result attainable on the farm. In this way almost every particle of the food is assimilated.

-The best rule in fattening hogs is to put them on the market at the earliest stage practicable. The pig should be almost through growing before being put upon full feed. F«>r rapid growth a pig must have plenty to eat and have plenty of exercise, 'ihe best pasture for the growing pig is a clover field, with access to an artichoke plantation, where he can find plenty cf encouragement to root for tubers. It may seem strange, but the hog that roots for artichokes does little or no rooting in the pasture. If he has no chance to root elsewhere, he will testr up the graes and clover, unless he is prevented by ringing his nose or some other method. But a pig thus treated, his growth is apprecia&Jy retarded,, and he will never be quite eo large and vigorous as he would be if his development were natural. Under favorable conditions a pig at four months old should be sufficiently matured to put on full feed, and in three months longer he should be made to weigh at least two hundred pounds. If hogs are permitted to run on indifferent paeturie and compelled to depend on what they can pick up, at leaßt two months more must be added, but that method increases the cost of the hog for his living for the extra two months, and : with a large number of hogs the' riskahd cost .of two months' extia time is very considerable. So if hogs are to be fed by themselves, they should ba well cared for during the period of growth* ;and the ease and rapidity with which they taKe on flesh when on full feed is surprising. .The Duroc Jersey will mature and fatten at as early an age as any breed of hop, but the Poland-China does almost as well, and would .probably make a four hundred pound hog in a somewhat shorter time. Across between''the Berkshire and PolandChina matures quite'aß early as any breed; any good breed of hogs will pay handsomely if given proper treatment,