FARM AND GARDEN.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 325, 4 January 1911, Page 3

FARM AND GARDEN.

CALIFORNIAN THISTLE;

There ave so.llo s-. moles of" the. (Jaliforuiiin thistie in the Maori II ill district (says the "Otago Daily Times") and same of these were fou.nl :\ few days ago to be affected by a blight, which caused the pest above ground to wilt. Those who take an interest in eradicating the pest were hopeful that it might be possible to infect other thistles in country districts with the disease, and thus assist landowners in keeping the thistle in check. A specimen of the thistle with the hli-ght on it was submitted to the locai officers of the Stock Department, but Mr Miller, the. District agent, does not support the sangui-e views of those who first noticed the blight. He considers the specimen submitted is affected by a rust fungus, doubtless of the puccinia genus. Cases of the attack on the Californian thistle by this fungus have been from time to time reported from a great number of localities in New Zealand. It has not, however, been found to be of any value as a permanent check to the spread of the weed. There seems to be no doubt that the only satisfactory method of eradicating the thistle is to keep it cut close to the ground, never allowing it to develop leaves. The root system should not be broken the plough. If this plan is adopted the thistle will practically be killed in a season, but the work must be systematically done—cutting being necessary about every ten days. It must never be neglected as if the plants are allowed to grow their roots will obtain a new lease of life, and much of the former work will be undone.

ENSILAGE—AN IMPORTANT ADVANTAGE.

A strong point about silage feeding which is not generally known is that cows fed on it at calving time are not so liable to contract milk fever as where they are being fed on hay. The silage is very laxative, and therefore the general health is better and the cow is able to come through her critical period in a fit condition. More than this, silage fed at this stage means that the cow comes to her new season capabls of giving a strong milk (low from the jump. Under present conditions it is generally two or three months before the cow arrives at full profit. Even therefore if silage in some cases costs a little more than other forms of feed, a supply of it at such a period is so valuable that it more than counter-balances the first outlay.

THE PARASITES OF POULTRY. A careful observer of nature cannot fail to note the fact that everything animate and inanimate possesses a parasite. The posts and rails of a country field, or the living trees in a wood, support masses of lichens, while the granite rocks of our mountains are covered with them. It is not, then, surprising that the beast of the field and the fish of the sea are alike infested with parasites peculiar to each class. However, it is with the species that in?est poultry that the breeders of fowls are more particularly concerned.

Most parasitic insects iove warmth, and seek it as well as their nourishment nestling among the hair, fur, or wool of the quadruped, or amid the down and feathers of the fowl. Breeders of cage birds are no doubt familiar with the annoyance they cause to birds; but they are not so visibly evident in the case of poultry. However, let anyone take a live fowl in his hands, and hunt among its feathers, and he will see mryiads of brown and ash coloured lice clinging to tho plumage near the skin, or executing a general stampede, scuttling away with side-long gait. Although to the casual obdcrvtr these parasites seem alike in shape, the microscope reveals sufficient distinction in "their forms and appendages to furnish the systematist with authority for subdividing them into several different species. They feed on the short, tender down, bi]t do not like the skin, as do blood-suck-ing parasites. In this matter they doubtless set up that irritability which induces fowls to rub and scratch themselves in dry dust to rid themselves of the annoyance.

If a just estimate of the number and character of these crer,turas he desired, it is sufficient to put a re-cently-killed fowl on a sheet of white paper, when as the body cools they will leave it, and cover the paper in great numbers, when they may he collected and examined with a lowpower microscope, and separated into their different species. The student must not imagine that every variety of form is a fresh species, for the voung of these lice undergo various semi-transformations, and it is only after a final moult that they present the adult form and colour. To keep fowls as free as possible from these parasies it is advisable to allow them plenty of dusting places. Saucepans and holes in some sunny sp.ots, or heaps of road sweepings are appreciated highly by the birds, and when runs are provided with such there will not be much fear of trouble ■with lice, yome authorities advocate dusting the fowls with insect powder to rid their plumage of the parasites, but powder only adds to the irritation, and if the fowls can dust there will not he any need for that treatment. ■—"Farm and Home."