WHAT I KNOW OF POULTRY. (By "Amateur" in the New York Weekly Tribune.)

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1431, 3 September 1881, Page 4

WHAT I KNOW OF POULTRY. (By "Am ateur" in t he New Yo rk Weekly Tri bune.)

Fok food in wint-Qi) I give ;i qiwrt of mixed guun eivch morninsr to every twcho fowls. I do-!ie Ms great a v.uiety „;t yi.uiH U-. po-siblu. We I,lm always ■ret wheat, o r its, coin, barley^ and^u-u i|ly .<lt noon 1 irivo wjirm '-lops from thp house, which cbtisiat of bruad, meat, vegetables, svveot <iud sour milk, and not'uuftpquenfcly of scraps, of pastry, I used to buy and chop fiesh meat for tlie poultry, but have I (liM-ontiuued it with uo apparent harm But I have fouud that the warm slops are absolutely necessary to abundant eg-tfs, especially in cold weather. Iv feeding, I always manage to keep all the food so that it will always be clean. Thia is easily .seemed by placing the feedingtroughs behind pickets, so that the fowls can only g-ei their heads to the food. It is also recommended to place old plaster, ground oypter shells, &c, withm reach of the chickens, that they may secure sufficient lime for the eggshells. I have iound this unnecessary, us theie "eemv no hu-k of lime in the shell, even though I supply fice lime. It is possible that the water which I give them, which is supersaturated with this -alt. supplies the need. I always aim to give my fowls plenty of puic water. In cold weather I warm then 1 drink, I also give them !>weet and «our milk when I have it to spare. If we may .judge from their lelish of these liquids we must conclude that they are valuable. I like aU-o to give them occasionally warm sweet milk mixed with wheat bran. Like their mure solid foood, all these latter should bo so arranged that the not over-scrupulous fowls would always have clean liquids to drink. I alvvavs provid 1 * a rhistbox, containing either ro,vl du-t 01 coal ashes foi my poultry, whenever they luxe not a hee inn Tlrn should be three or four feet si[uaiv. It might be aigucd that fowK lice trom veimin need m> such dust baths But to |u<-k r e from the eagerness with which they appiopnate sucli auoommortations, we ni'ist conclude that they are valuable. 1 would piovidc them, ovon though pcrsuiided tluy had nootlioi use than to aifoid pleasuic to the JucUons . comfort and good feeling aie v.ilnabh 1 factois in securing gieat results, among our doincstic animals no le&s than anvng their exalted possessors. Ventilation should a) ways be so ample tint the house will smell sweet To sueuio this result veijniiei frequent ulu.ming under tlie roosts-, and in dimmer it is necessary to whitewa-h the whole inside of tho house often. I find it desnable to open the piojected window on the we-t m-le of my house quite frequently, even during the cold day* of wmtci Ift 's very important to keep fowls free fiom hoc, several (.pncien of whiclriniist these bird*. It is well to keep i bi'ttle (it ki'>o-cn • oil and anothei (>t -ulnhui 111 tlie pciulti v-house. The oil should be n-ed often to wash the ioo--t-role-, and a mixture of the sulphur and the oil, equal paits, nibbed among the feather-* ot tlie birds, especially under the wings md aloiiif the neck, sides, and breast, will surely secure against these poulti y vermin. Thi-< should be done quite frequently in Mimmer, in which ease it will not be uerossary in winter It can b' done easily and quickly just at I diiik, when all the fowls are resting quietly on their roosts. I am avvaie that the foregoing hints loin much moie tow.ucl simplicity than do the rules laid down in mo 4 of tlie books and periodicals ; but ycais of cxpcuence have ptdved their excellence.

Tin: Kul of Boctivo, Ml 1 ,, is helping to foi m an association to induce the 1 .dies of the .aristocracy to set the fashion of wearing mateuals made of Biiti-h manufacture luid British wool. \V vste Not Want Not. — It is said that the feitihty ot the laud in China has ben m untamed unimpaired foi up\v,ud3 ot 1000 ye.us by carefully husbanding eveiy scrap and pajticle of Hi.iu.urc. Cvtl'le and Cor\ Raising. — Eveiy hdal of Cattle, sold off the farm removes fiom 80 to 100 lbs. of phosphite ot lime and other moigamc constituents. When com is sold oil the loss is much irrcator, and this loss is ti rated as a v/nste product, which finds its Wciy into our streams and om nvors, aud is eventually lost m tlie ocean — ,!/>• Biiikmat,h>\ Luf/uo. The following new mode of propogati»g the jriape uno is given by J. Miller, Clumber, m the Gnuhn — ''The vine-> are giown on the raiter.s of a vinery : the rods aie 1 ad in turves on shelve-" or board-, hanging underneath the vine sterna in any convenient position, a great rain upon the old system of propagating from eyes In two months from the time when the vines are laid in the t'lif the shoots will be equil to two-year-old vines. We have now homo very fine vines, laid on 10th Fobru.uy and cut off on 20th April, a\ ith iod' the rods the thickness of one's fmirei, and in giand condition as to the quantity of roots. No vines could be in bitter coTidition for summer planting. The system of piopugating does not interfore with the growing crop." Wvsrß ok iiousr, urn — Tho number of hows in the United Kiugdom has been estimated at rather more than 2,230,000, and then avci age value can scarcely be .set doM nat less than C3O. Their collectno \, iluo. therofoie, falls little shoifc of 11)8,1)00,000. That the nation lncuis a loss if tins snm is spent quicker than it needs to be is a self-evident proposition ; that it ih bu spent ig certain, if hoi>os on an avei age become useless at a time when they ought still to bo in full vigour. On this point few will be disposed to challenge the veidict of Mi W. J)ou«rl;is, lato veterinary surgpon m tlie Tenth Hussais, who tells us that a horse should live fiom iV> to JO yeai.s, and live actively and useiullv duimir three-fourths of this penod. ' All authorities,'' he says, "now admit that animals nhould lne five times as lonsr as it takes them to reach maturity. A dog, which is at its. full gjonth when between 2 and 3 years old, is veiy uged .it 12 yens When thr^o facts nre kept in mind, tojri'thci with tho other facts ih it t'lree-fouith-j ot thes3 horsps die or aio d»strov<'d und«-r 12 years old, that hoi^cs <uv tei mod aged af, G" [he should h^^(' said 8] and th.it few; 9!' thorn but aie laid up from -work a rlo/cn tjine 1 * a year, . . . the vicious,' uess of a system which entails such ini^eiy and destiuction of life cannot bje' too stiongly commented upon.'' If we t.iko the ago of 3 years as that at which horses begin to work, and 12 as that at which they are worn out, it follows that the period of their efficiency is shorter by at least fourteen years than it should be. Tn other words, "the nation has to 'buy three hoises when it ought to buy only one, and thus upward of £200,000,000 are spent every twenty-one years in tK£ purchase of horses, when * £68, 000J 000 ought to Buffics. The loss therefore, to the nation is at lea«t £135,000,000 in tw enty-one years. , Ax elect'-ic railway is a feature of the Milan Exhibition. The length of the railway is about 650 yarde, and the ear r riages rnn at the rate of eleven miles an hour. The motive power is supplied by a large dynamo -electric >mftch,ine, which is driven at the rate of 1200 revolutions a minute. The current p.aßse? through a pair of copper wires ' under "the "railway, and by an ingenious mechanism ( is ,tn#dfl to act directly on the wheels, of^he oarjj riage and the train thus appears to; move,, of its own aocord ,witho,ut any engine or any efficient cause of motion.