BREVITIES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 429, 10 January 1912, Page 3

BREVITIES.

Overfeeding has its evil effects. It leaves the blood full of material which furnishes a good seat for disease. If the perches are fixed so that they can be moved, the ends should be examined, and well rubbed with kerosene. The straw in the nest boxes should be changed, and the old straw burnt. The texture and appearance of the comb is influenced by the condition of the digestive organs, and unless these are kept in good working order the birds lose their bright look, and their combs thicken. While some breeders believe insending the heifers out early it has been proved that the best results come from the mating of the more matured of the herd. The rule that the third calf is the best supports this statement.

As a rule the fowls will eat less in warm than in cold weather. A change of diet occasionally is advantageous. Soft food need not be given more than twice a week. The grain can be varied by giving wheat, or oats, or peas. A orchard of 30 acr3s, situated within six miles of Hobart, with tiees eight years old, was recently sold for £5500, or £lB5 per acre. This price states a Tasmanian writer, is nothing out of the way ; in fact, one can hardly buy an orchard there for less. The door of the fowlhouse ought to be left open night and day, so as to assure plenty of air. If foxe3 are known to be in the neighbourhood a temporary wire door, made of coarse wirework on a lath framework, will prevent the entrance of any would-be intrudes.

In Great Britain there i 3, according to official figures, a pig shortage of half a milium compared with the returns for the preceding year, which means that the morning rasher of the British workman will soon also be listed with the other things "made in Germany." The future of agriculture, so far as concerns the nourishing material for the soil, is a happy one, and the prospects of the men who devote their time and energy to the production of cropa would appear to be emerging from a period of depression to a brighter era. All broody hens not required for sitting should be removed from the nest directly they attempt to remain there for the night. They must be put in a coop in a light situation—not in the dark, as is often done —and be given some wheat or oats, with plenty of fresh drinking water.

Plenty of green lood should be given. Cut grass, lettuce, cabbage leaves, and chick-weeds are easily procurable. But as during warm weather greenstuff of all description quickly withers and dies all nut eaten by the next morning must be removed, and not allowed to lie about and rot. When fowls look bare and naked about the throat insect vermin arc almost sure to be present in great numbers. If this happens the birds will be relieved of the insects by using some kerosene and water —one-third kerosene to two-thirds water—mixed by boiling with some soft soap, and dabbed on the fowls with a piece of