Farm and Garden

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 211, 29 November 1909, Page 3

Farm and Garden

POULTRY AILMENTS. The ailments to which poultry are liable are very numerous, so also are the enemies that help to thin their ranks, particularly when the birds are in the chicken stage. Of all the foes to the youngsters there are none that are responsible for more deaths tban the insects with which they are so often infested. Not only do hundreds of chickens die, owing to their life blood being sucked out'by parasites, but many others are rendered so weak that they readily contract disease. As the chief cause of insect pests is dirty surroundings, the cure can easily be made.

FEEDING POULTRY. It is impossible to suggest a certain quantity of food for any number of fowls.for the reason that no two breeds are alike in their desires, nor are any two fowls of any one breed alike. Give the bens all they will eat up clean. You can easily learn how to regulate the quantity by watching the hens. As each hen eats her fill she will walk off. When the last ben leaves you will then know just how much they can eat, if you give them all they wish. But it is on that point that so many are liable to make mistakes, as it is not wise to allow hens to eat all they desire, unless in the winter and about the time they are going to roost. If the bens can eat as much as they wish they will not be interested in searching for more food, and will consequently become sluggish and fat. Hens should be made to exercise. They will thrive better and lay better when tbey are compelled to work and find their food than when overfed. More harm is done by overfeeding than by not allowing enough.

MALE BIRDS AND EGG PRODUCTION. A series of experiments undertaken at the New York experimental station, made it conclusively appear that where hens were kept without a male, eggs were produced at about 35 per cent, less cost than exactly similar pens where cocks and cockerels were kept. In some pens, too, the production of eggs was nearly a third larger in pens where no males were kept, than in others of precisely the same kind, managed in the same way, except that the presence of the male was permitted.

PRESERVING EGGS. For the preservation of eggs in "water glass" a cellar or room should be used where the temperature is even and does not go over 60 degrees F. Any clean, watertight receptacle will do, though stone jars are commonly used or barrels when larger numbers of eggs are preserved. The receptacle should be scalded thoroughly two or three times to make sure that it is perfectly clean. The preserving fluid itself should be made from water that has been boiled and allowed to cool, and to every nine quarts of this water add one quart of "waterglass," stirring thoroughly to ensure a proper mixing of the two. When the eggs are to be preserved in several receptacles, the water and "waterglass" should be mixed in each receptacle separately, for if it is mixed in one receptacle and poured into several there is the liability of getting different percentages of "waterglass" in each receptacle, and the result is that some eggs are likely to spoil. Into this fluid place the eggs, examining each egg to see that it is clean and is not cracked. A good method is to tap two eggs together gently before putting them into the "waterglass." If they are not cracked tbey will give a true ring, while if one of them is cracked the sound will be entirely different and the cracked egg can be discarded. Almost everyone has noticed the difference in the sound of the cracked and the uncracked egg. If several receptacles are used 'in which to preserve the eggs it is a good plan to mark the receptacle bearing the April eggs, the those containing the May and June eggs. These receptacles should be kept where the sun's rays do not fall directly on tbem, and they should be covered by laying loose boards over them. From time to time water should be added where there is a loss by evaporation, keeping all the eggs wholly submerged, but the preservative should not be stirred.

GREASE-BANDING APPLE TREES. An English agricultural correspondent writes:—The time is close at hand for grease-banding apple trees to catch winter moths and other practically wingless females as tbey creep up the trunks to desposit their eggs, and there is great competition among sellers of spray stuffs and other fruitgrowers' requisites in offers of paper bands and grease. For my own part, I have always held that as spraying to destroy the larvae of other than tbe wingless moths cannot be safely dispensed with, it is best to trust to spraying alone, thus saving the great expense of grease-banding, which has to be dono at least twice in the season, or at least the gTease has to be renewed. There is no doubt, however, that grease banding greatly reduces the number of caterpillars, and it is to have a trial her*' on a small scale this autumn. An acquaintance who has recently visited Nova Sent:;: t- - ,!- that the applr; growers m.t <r. the trunks of their in s s a equal parts of raster «il i *>w :r resin, without any paper i a::s. 11.:.-. he aays, has been found <•> :•••<• and harmless to the tr.<s. f; wr, - ;/i not be safe to apply to bark any common greas< u;:uenta of which are not .wn v. u.<user, and many trees ham i • if not killed outright by that : ratBut my acquaintance <:< Mar. s tj-.rr tor oil and re-in car. m- '.a--: v.; the trees without any ;.aj -r. v.-;::: ; rfect safety, as pro - .'* '■ y < ; ■ '■"■< ma m Nova Scotia. ' r ' <— *i;t r<- i.~" ?» considerable 'a'.';n;: m •::pc:.-e and labour in e::?:ng wnh tne paper bands.