Farm and Garden

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 235, 19 February 1910, Page 3

Farm and Garden

POULTRY BREVITIES. It is very important that the sitting hen should be properly provided with a nest and also carefully tended while the process of incubation is being carried forward. Fowls will not relish a feed of soft food, however good it is, if it is fed to them in dirty troughs. It is essential that the drinking vessels be kept perfectly clean. Sebastopol geese are very quaintlooking creatures. The long twisted or curled feathers on the back, wings, tail, and neck have earned them the name of the Ribbon geese.

RATIONS FOR LAYING HENS. What is a good ration for a hen? According to an American authority, the question answers itself, if you give it a thought. We will ask ourselves this question. What is an egg composed of? Seventy-four per cent of the egg is water. Now, how necessary it is that a hen should have water every hour of that da^y —nice, clean water! It is impossible for a hen to lay many eggs without water. Now, when tte housewife opens an egg in a saucer and examines it, the egg is not so nice as she would like to see it; the white of the egg is watery, the yolk is pale, and she thinks the hen is sick, but that is not so. When the white of the egg is watery it shows that we are not feeding a well-balanced ration. The lack of protein in feeding causes it. Fourteen and a half per cent of the egg is protein. That is the white of the egg. Now, we must find a ration rich in protein. That we can do by feeding plenty of clover and wheat bran and wheat middlings. What is the result? The white of the egg is thick and attractive. Ten and a half per cent, of the egg is fat; that is the yellow. If the yellow is pale we can colour it by feeding. - buckwheat the yellow of the egg will be pale. Feed yellow maise and wheat, two glutens, and in that way a beautiful hue is given to the yolk. How often do we pick up an egg in the winter with the shell so brittle that it won't stand shipping! Sometimes you will find an egg with nothing but tissue—no shell at all. What is the matter with that hen? The shell is composed of lime, and laying an egg every other day it is a mighty drain on the hen's system to produce the shell; she must have lime enough to cover the egg with a shell. CJoyer is rich in protein and it is rich in lime; but, in addition to this> we slake a little lime and put it into the shellbox, and the hens will go there if they require it; and you will be surprised, if you try it, at the differ- | ence in the results. What is the result of this kind of ; food? We will break an egg in a saucer and see. The white of the egg jg t *hick, heavy; it is attractive, nutritions > the y ellow of the e Sg is the golden' & ve that was desired, and the shell is & xm and strong, and will stand shipment. There is the perfect

UURING BOTS. An American farmer advocates chopping up half a gallon of b.' 1 ? 311 potatoes, salting them well, and feeding them to the affected animal. horses will not eat them readily, but tnev can be induced to do so reilef *'JM follow in less than hour. Anoth' 6l ' remedy that is said to give good results is:—Take two quarts of new milk and one quart of molasses; mix thoroughly, and pour down the throat. Fifteen minutes alter give two quarts of very warm qage tea. Half an hour later give three pints of olive oil, or in place of this, a double handful of salt in three pints of warm water. This should complete the cure. The remedy is said to act as follows: —The first dose causes the bots to let go their hold, the second one puckers them up, and the third carries them away.