Agricultural.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 68, 28 October 1875, Page 7

Agricultural.

POULTRY H.ATSDTG.

x \y io following rules for raising. rk^ -£iy.ar*B from the 'Poul try World,' and are. .commended to our readers as being ppplicable here as in the' Atlantic States:—

I If you begin by purchasing eggs for hatching, order them from some ref liable- .breeder near to your own s locality* and thus save the. perils incidental to their transportation from a long distance. Always set your hens I in the evening rather than by daylight. - They -will be more sure to stick to the f nest 'afterwards.- And for two or three i days at first be careful that they are kept undisturbed. If you can make your nests upon the ground, do so. , If not, place a fresh cut sod at the bottom f- of your box,^ and sprinkle sulphur or coarse snuff into it to keep off vermin. Scatter powdered sulphur through the hen's under-feathers, also during the !■ period of setting. She must be- kept .free from lice. ' This mode of treament is a good one for her comfort, as as that of the chickens. Remove your * hen daily, let. her roll in the dust-box near by j feed and water regularly ; see that she goes back before the eggs chill (in cold weather), and cover up A sitting-box with coarse bagging if, I *s^,e seems half inclined to give, up her . work, : On the twenty-first day, When,: the chickens are coming out, leave her to herself until all- are released ; then wait twenty-four hours yet for the little ones to get upon their feet ; then clear the nest out nicely. • Apply a little sulphur upon the down and under- each wing of the chicks as soon as they emerge from the nest. Keep mother and brood thus free from vermin. Give them" food when a day 'old, : and keep them dry and warm in a fresh, clean coop. Commence feeding with soaked bread -crumbs, rice, and hard-boild eggs. Follow this up for a week; then •cooked soft food and brokeri wheat j then cracked corn, chopped meat or scraps, and always plenty of green feed until the grass starts. Give the young ones sunshine, all you can command. If cold when hatched look out for the harsh winds. Give them dry shelter till the weather becomes warm, and above all save them from rain and storms. At one to three months' old they ! should have ample range over the lawns «nd pastures. ... If .you have no grass plots, let yqur runs be of a dry. gravelly bottom, and give them cabbage J -ayes, turnip tops, &c, and" cooked \*- jat daily, with their dry gain food. Always supply young and old fowls with plenty of fresh, clean water. T-'&A this occasionally drop a little r pepper tea, which is , a. prime •*• ? jnic, as well as a preventative of gapes in chickens. To "cure roup " look out that it don't get started in your flocks. It is helped by colds, dampness, exposure through; weather, and neglect. Prevent its presence by constant care, good -shelter, and dry clean henhouses. This is thp surest method^ Wash your roosts occasionally with -spirits of turpentine or kerosene. This prevents tbe accumulation of lice in the poultry-housß, and the fumes of the pungent oil permeate the feathers of your fowls at night, and drives the vermin from their bodies. At from five to six months old separate .the, young cocks from, the pullets, and rear each sex by themselves. When you wjtsh .to mate them for breeding (in December or January) is time; enough to allow them to run together. '*"'...'' N Permit all your hens, so inclined, to sit arid hatch one br.pbd .in tbe year. .It is better for the fowls, and you will thus get. just, as., jriany. eggs from them in twelve months as if you bother your brains " to break them up." If you -Commence mth" fowls (instead of eggs'), --buy. of reliable' m&iy, wiho know what you want and who will deal i* £orably with you, .Pay such a man iis .price ; get good Stock, J pf whatever variety it may_be, and take care of it after you -get it. - . : Keep buttons kind at first, of whatever kind you,* may fancy....... /Wfhen you can breed thrit kind .weil^ try, something else if you get tired of this. But dpn'fi .ventrirp uj-foh too mnch in tiie variety line at the cominericement, or you willifeiljn all. .. Don't, .attempt to xaise fiye hpndfed birds Within limits fitting the: needs of five dpzeri; or less; Crowding fowls into close quarters..will bread fhp-risauds of lice, but precious few chickens, remeiriber.- -*•...,.

Selpct tbe- best of your progeny for breeders. „ Sell ypiir patronri.what you have io .sell honestly, .-.. If you ; dispose of eggs, send off fresh ones and pack them carefully. Do a& you woulo] be done by every time, and avoid the temptation,to.,play the role of "huckster"

on any occasion. .. . ...,,. "^ Thus may yon prosper, reader. ; If you will try the. rearing, of poultry, . with the above brief directions in view,you will succeed;. ;arid^B„ very pleasant occupation you. wili,;fip!d it^-ifdcp jour word * for ik i; -**? Thßret. . is.* riothfing •mystefibus %-bout* i*&*-*brit -it requir-egtj Q^*^^eritlon,; 5 applfcafipnX.j^'a4ex®y ,t &ss*- *as^j&ele^^sa iejitbm* of Symcli i»«mbodied brie-fly .ia thp, above . I'ecoMmerida'tions, whidh^-^^. the -fruit " of our personal expenen&e of many yeara.

; — Every ."farmer^knowft that horses are, ; suscen^ibl|[|to 7 f kin;dness^ apd so ;to unkindness. - I have;. seen ihorses ; that were working steadily, made reck-. lf&iiMm* sweaty in ajsho^ time by a ; sharp word or a jerk on the bit Let your horses do their- work as you do y6tu"s,;'|is .easily as possible, and be*. as willing* to" overlook their mistakes as you -would your own. A,t the dinner in cbnriectibh with the United East Lothian Agricultural Society's annual."; show, : Lord Eluhp made an interesting speech on. the pro : gress of agriculture. Contrasting the state of things which existed .in . 1810, when-Hilr Brown of Markle wrote ; that whether plants derived their food from air, water; or. frohi earth .was one of those matters which no fellow, as Lord Dundreary - wpuld : say*, \ could understand, and if he .could cvi bono ?. His Jiprdship referred to a visit which he had recently made to the farm -of the greatest experimental- farmers in Great Britain, viz., Mr La.wes, Rothamstead, where.) .miracles had been done in scientific farming. . He remarked that Mr Lawes engaged Dr Gilbert, a disliriguiisbed: cberiiist arid Fellow of the •Roy aT Society ; that he had under him seven , scientific men, > who acted as clerks, who worked. at the experiments with.. laborers, under them j . and that everything was chronicled and bottled r iri the. raPst careful manner. The enterprise 1 on the part of an individual "exhibited ah admirable contrast to the conduct of the Highland Society, which .had; recently turned off its chemist, who had .been receiving £150 a year, a sum for which they could not get a clerk, let alorie an agricultural chemist. LordElchb exhibited some specimens of grasses from Mr Lawes' farm. Some curious particulars ofthe condensed milk industry in the United States are given by Professor Arnold in the •*■ New York Tribune.' Its extent is not exactly known, as the census reports of the country have omitted to enumerate tbe condensed milk factories and their produce. Of these factories there are a dozen or more in the ' United States, the largest of which is probably that of Elgin, Illinois, which uses up 8000 gallons of milk daily all the year round, and absorbs the yield of about 3000 cows, j The condensation of. this quantity pays j very well, but operations on a small scale do not answer, as the expense of running and the cost of machinery are much greater in proportion for small factories than for large ones. The cost of the establishment at Elgin, including the building and the apparatus for condensing and cooling, and the machinery for making the tin cans to hold the manufactured product, is estimated. at 30,000 dols. The milk for con-i densing must be of the best quality. Indeed, as the Professor observes, " the condition and quality of milk which are often accepted at butter and cheese factories and sold in cities and villages would not answer at all for condensing." The 'Border Post' reports that on September 13 Mr James Lawson's teams, laden with tobacco -leaf from his farm, Ten-mile Creek, reached Albu^-v and deposited 97 bales of leaf in the bonded stores of Messrs T. H. M ate and Co. It is well cured, and bears a fine aroma, clearly showing that the district is well adapted for the culture of this industry. The tariff of Victoria prevents Mr Lawson availing himself of any offers from the Melbourne manufacturers, but we understand that in any case the Sydney market is better^ as he has been offered ls per lb delivered at the wharf there. This would run up to. L 679, a very tidy sum for one farmer during the season. Turning to the Victorian side ofthe Murray, to give some idea of the increased attention given to the cultivation of the weed in the, Kiewa and Mitta Mitta j district, it may be stated that since the Ist inst. 44,8001 b of leaf has been forwarded to . Melbourne by the NorthEastern Railway froni Wodoriga. Mr W. A* Torrance, of, Wodpngai has in store and to arrive 400 bales, which he will consign to Melbourne during the mprith.* :The '.Post? states,' with reference to the border duties,"that New South Wales would accept LIOO,OOO, but that Victoria will not give more than L 75,000.

The Hon. J. P. Bell recently impoited a nevy. instrument in shearing sheep. The ' Courier ' gives the result of a trial made of it, : in presence of the Chief Inspectpr of .Sheep and others, upon some large Lincoln sheep, the property of Mr -Bell, in the quarantine shed, South J3risbane._ The instrument is e in, appearance like the horse-clipper j jbnt, unlike that instrument, is has only pn,e movable blaide, acting on ten. or eight stationary, blades, and the action is not that of a, scissors, but like the common sheepshears. The fixed blades are so arranged* that they have an elastic action ori the movable : blade, arid eacji blade is pQirited^somethinga^tpr^the manner, pf a common razor-guard, so that it wohld be almostimpossible for eveir the greatest notice r tp,cut,jbhe. skins of the, sheeps : The sheep shorn with the instrumeritl^were better and more, closely shorn than.it itiej tfad-been operated upon ob y*- the greatest expert in-- any .of the. Jarge .fiawjia^slipd?* JISLd.-^hfis too in face of tfce f^^Jbgt Mo man who was using. gjxf. r(p^nsß| the quarantine-keeper, we7^efft ""'assured, had never shorn a phdM^iir his lifetime until last year, when" he sheared forty sheep in quarantine,