Farm and Garden.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 444, 20 October 1904, Page 2

Farm and Garden.

ORIGINAL ARTICLES. TUBERCULOSIS IN FOWLS. THIS disease exists in fowls to a greatet extent than most poultrykeepers are aware. It is seldom suspected, because poultry-keepers are accustomed to large losses, and the ; loss of a few fowls occasionally excites no surprise or comment. Most poultry-keepers have had experience with fowls which waste away without appreciable- cause and finally die. The cause of many of those deaths is tuberculosis or consumption, a post mortem examination would show tuberculosis lesions most frequently in the liver and spleen. The liver may be more or less enlarged, altered in colour, and sprinkled with gray or slightly yellowish tubercles. The spleen may merely show a few small tubercles, or it may be distended to several times its normal size. Tubercles on the intestines are quite common, but the heart, kidneys, lungs and skin are rarely affected. This disease is quite prevalent in some parts, and occasionally a large percentage of the I fowls die each year. In one instance a loss of two hundred and fifty out of four hundred fowls was reported in one year by the owner. Investigatioris tend to show that! tuberculosis is'one-, of thejmost important; diseases of fowJs. Medical treatment is ineffective, and the most that can be done is to prevent it occurring. Land &hd buildings should be disinfected. Buildings should be-cleaned by means of some of the \

coal tar preparations that are used against mites and lice; also the sulphur and lime solution, as is used for spraying, is very useful and beneficial, combined with a few weeks of sunshine, and exposure to it greatly assists to disinfeot the ground ; and the spreading of the disease among flocks of diseased fowls can be lessened by weeding out those that are poor and have pale combs, indicating a low condition of health.

RAISING GEESE. If there is abundant pasturage little feed is required during the summer months, as geese depend almost wholly upon'grass. In winter provide an inclosure or protection, and feed some grain, shredded silage, or hay twice a day. If too much grajn is given, laying will be induced too early and the eggs will not be fertile. A profitable cross for market purposes is obtained by mating an Embden gander with a Toulouse female. The Green Goose —as styled by English people—is marketable at about four months, although they are often placed upon the market at two months, if large and woll fatted. Young goslings should be given warm quarters, not allowed to get chilled, and much the same treatment given as to ducklings until they are strong enough to follow the mother. While plenty of drinking water must be provided, and a bath occasionally is beneficial, yet it is not essential that ponds of water be provided, nor that geese should dabble in water at all times. If the geese have access to running water or a pond, it will be necessary to pen the goslings and their mothers for a few weeks until the down on the goslings is well out. Corn meal, slightly salted, should be fed goslings, and they have a liking for scraps from the table. To fatten geese they should be placed out of sight or hearing of their mates, or they will not fatten easily. Give plenty of grass arid water daily, in addition to grain or scalded meal". Cooked turnips are relished by them. A pound of feathers is about the average amount obtained from six geese when picked for their feathers :. when they are killed three geese generally furnish one pound of feathers. The Toulouse variety lays from twenty to twenty-five at a clutch. The first clutch should be set under hens; the goose being allowed to sit on the last. If well managed each goose ought to raise twenty goslings in the season, and when ready for market each should weigh ten pounds.

GROWING STRAWBERRIES FOR JfIARKET. The proper method, to grow strawberries is, in the first place,- to make ready the soil for the setting of the plants, which should be completed early in the spring of the year ; the soil should be rendered fine and mellow ; rows are marked off both ways, where plants are set by hand, but where the transplanter is used that is not necessary. Some people prefer the transplanter to hand setting, out the majority set with spade. While it takes a little longer to set by spade, each plant is set exactly the same distance apart, and cultivators can be given both ways for awhile, which saves a good deal of hoeing. Plants are set eighteen inches to two feet apart in the row according to variety, and the rows are three and a half feet apart. The slow-growing varieties are set closer together in the rows, but those that are strong and vigorous are set further apart in the row. Some growers set two rows of pistillates and one of staminate, while others prefer three of pistillate and one of staminate; as soon as the setting is completed, cultivation should begin and be kept up at intervals throughout the season, narrowing up the cultivator as the runners increase, the object being to throw runners one way and make a matted row; resetting is done,and runners thrown in vacant places to insure full rows. The beds are given their winter protection, which may be marsh hay, straw, or any coarse litter, spread on just thickly enough to cover the leaves ; and then in the spring, as soon as the leaves begin to push up into the covering, that is removed to the space between the rows to keep .the fruit from becoming dirty and to act as a mulch. No. cultivation is given the second; year. When grown on a large scale different methods are adopted in harvesting— : generally the pickers are mostly women and girls, boys are too talkative; and get lame in the back too quick. Pickers must agree to stay through the picking season. Each picker is numbered, and holds that number throughout the season; the crate they pick in bears the same number. One reason for that system is this : Whenever number 27 has her crate full she calls her number. A tender gets her crate, gives her a check for it, and takes it to one of the tables that stand in the field. At each table is a girl whose business it is to put the fruit in crates, and to see that all berries are properly picked and boxes filled. If, in doing that, she finds number 27 berries are too green or mashed, that is reported, and the right one is known. Strawberries of many varieties are now being grown on a large scale in Victoria, also in the Cumberland district of N.S.W.