FARMERS AND POULTRY-KEEP-ING.
A writer in the Live Stock Journal gives the following encouraging account of his experience in poultry, on a farm of moderate size — "Three years ago my stook of poultry consisted of about thirty barnyard fowls, which were most of them very old, aud had been accustomed to a precarious existence, living as they could without any attention, and roosting anywhere, the only hen-house iabout the" 1 place being about four feet square, into which they never by any chance went. They were well off for food during harvest, and for some time after each threshing day, but for the , rest of the year they took their chance. I took a fancy to improve and increase my stock of poultiy, built some good wooden houses conveniently apart, for keeping breeding stock separate. I then bought some pure breeds of poultry, some of which I bred from pure and others I crossed two pure breeds together ; from this stock I hatched and reared in 1877, about 120 chickens, using my old hens for hatching and rearing, and when they were done withforthat purpose all that had not died from old age, 1 sold for — well, not much. I have been continually adding to my conveniences for poultry keeping, and have now a stook of four hundred head, fowls, ducks, and geese together, which number, if I have luck, 1 shall about double next year. Houses, coops, and appliances generally have cost me close on to £'60. 1 use an incubator, rearin^-mother &c , as well as hens, for hatching and rearing. My hens are set in nests made from an illustration and description given in Wrights " Illustrated Book of Poultry,'' the neats being on the ground in an enclosure from which the hens cannot escape, sothatlhavethem pretty well under control. I let them off to feed every morning three at a time, taking care to liberate the same three hens together each time of feeding, so that being accustomed to each other, they gn quietly back to their o tvn nests, and do not fight. I get all my hatching over in from nine to ten weeks in the early spring — as I think it answers better to go in wholesale for a s^ort time, than to have chicks coming ou all through the summer — with a hydroincubator and mother. I have had fair average success, and intend, in future, to hatch and rear all, or nearly so, artificially as on a large scale I think the artificial plan has the advantage of the natural one in many ways. As to the profit or loss of poultry, I have mentioned an outlay of about £60, with about thirty old hens, not worth as many shillings, to start with. Up to the present time my poultry have paid for all their meat, both that bought for them and the offal corn off the farm (taken at 6s per boll) by the eggs and chickens I have sold (exclusive of eggs and chickens used at home) leaving me with a stock of 400 head as against 40 ; but there is still the most important item to mention so far as farmers are concerned — the manure. I have this year fully tested its value both for com and root crops. I have dressed a ten-acre field of oats in four two-and-a-half acre lots alternately with artificial top dressing at £9 per ton, and poultry manure in equal quantities, and if there was any difference, it was in favor of the poultry manure. The result was about the same with swedes and turnips, 8 cwt. of poultry manure proving much better than G cwt. of artificial manure, costing per ton £7 10s. This year my artificial manure bill amounts to less than one-third of what it was in 1876, and my thirty acres of swedes and turnips are better than I have had them for years. You may judge from this whether my £60 outlay for houses, &c, is mispentor not.
Most of our readers are, no doubt, acquainted with. Judge's Bay, Parnell, and the former residence of £ir v\ illiam and Lady Martin, who are at present resident in England. The dwell ng adjoins Judge's Bay Cemetry. For months the present occupants have been regularly disturbed by strange noises between the shingles and the ceiling, and these in no way could be accounted for People are not so ready now-a-daya as they were formerly to come to the conclusion that any noises which they cannot account for are caused by a ghost, but the lonely s\tua< ion and the proximity of a cemetry in the present instance caused an awesome feeling in the neighbourhood, and it was said that there was at least one •• haunted house" in the vicinity of Auckland. The old-fashioned belief in ghosts has now degenerated into convictions of the truih of "spiritual manifestations", which are not a whit more rational, but it seemed that in this case we were to have genuine romance of the old school. A council of the resideuts was held, and it was resolved to have watchers to f aoe the ghost if it was aghost / andtoendeavourto"lay it." Last week, after the usual time for retiring to rest for the night had arrived, the noise was heard, and after some little while the cause of the noises came in view, and,lo! it was found to be an opossum. r iow long the animal has been about there, and how it get thoro, are mysteriea ; but we are asbiircd that previous tenants were driven away from residing in the house owiu^to the htrango and frequent noises which I came from the t<ip poitum of the lioase. — Un-'dd,
Physiokinq Thesi.— A country dootor, being out for a day's shooting*, took his errand-boy to carry the game-bag. Entering- a field of turnips, the dog pointed ; and the boy, overjoyed at the prospect of hie master's sucoess, exclaimed, "Lor' master, there's a covey ; if you get near 'em won't you physio 'em !" '• Physio them, you young rascal ! What do you meanP 5 ' said the doctor. " "Why, bill 'em, to be sure," replied the lad. An American Bitting on a very hard seat in a railway carriage, said, "Wai, they tell me these here cushions air stuffed with feathers. They may have put the feathers in 'em, but darn me if I don't think they've left the fowls in too !" The men who always say a kind, word for their neighbours and turn a deaf ear to scandal are not only very blessed, but also very scarce, T*he new Pure Cash System now being initiaedt by G. and C. will certainly prove a benefit to the public. It has been a great success in Sydney and Melbourne, and when strictly carried out the customer who buys at an establishment where the goods arc marked low to ensure a rapid sale must be a great gainer. G. and C. sell their drapery, millinary, and clothing at such prices for cash as gives the buyer the advantages of a shareholder in a co-operative society, without the risk of being called upon to bear a portion of the loss should the year's business prove unsatisfactory. Garlick and Cranwell will aim to retain the confidence which the public have hitherto shown them, and arc dctirmincd to gi\ c the pure cash system a fair trial ; whether they gain or lose the first year. Country buyers on remitting cash with order will be supplied with goods at co-operative prices ; i'ust the same as though thej made a personal sccction. Furnishing goods, such as carpets, floor cloths, bedsteads, bedding, and general house iumiture, the largest portion of whk h is tusned out at our own factory, will be marked at the lowest remunerative prices, and a discount of five per cent, will be allowed to those who pay at the time of purchase: G. &C. having realised ' the entire \alue of their stock during their late cash sale, the present stock is nkw and chkaply hough r. An inspection is invited. — Garlick and Cranwki.l, City Hall Furnishing Arcade, Queenstreet, Auckland.
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Waikato Times, Volume XIV, Issue 1207, 23 March 1880, Page 3
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1,355FARMERS AND POULTRY-KEEPING. Waikato Times, Volume XIV, Issue 1207, 23 March 1880, Page 3
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