234 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



XOVKMBKII t<, 1902.. 



POULTRY. 



In the is.sui'S of the Ai/riciilfii ral Xt'>r.-< of 

 August 16 and 80, and Hcptember ^■i, Mv. Barclay 

 dealt at length with the various liroeds of Fowl.s. In 

 the present number he otfens jiractical suggestions for 

 improving common fowl.s: — 



HOW TO IMPItOVE COMMON FOWLS. 



It is bt'tier for I)Ogiimers, — in wliicli c-iiteycirv I iiu-huk' 

 those wlio have hitherto been content to let their fowls run 

 and breed as they pleased, flinging them a handfnl of corn 

 once a day, and taking what eggs and chickens tliey chanced 

 to get, — not to be too anil)itions all of a sudden and begin 

 by importing [lens of pure-hred fowls, without e.\[)erience and 

 ■witliout ai>titude for handling fowls. This would l)roliably 

 end in dire failure. It i> often risky, and surely cxjiensive, 

 to do .so at first. 



Where there are e.xperienced breeders, as there arc in 

 some of tlie i.slands, (at lea.st there are .several in Jamaica) 

 'nhohave licen accustomeil to imj>ort, acclimati/c and breed 

 American or liritish fowls, it is always liest to buy eggs for 

 liatchini; or the young puredired birils from them, with whicli 

 there is no risk. 



CROSSINC. 



But the best, least expensive, and a \ciy sure plan is 

 simply to take the liest layers of your connuou fowls, never 

 minding about the size, for size is more easily got than 

 laying ipialities, then purchase a pure-bred cock of the 

 laying breeds suitable to your district, as 1 have e.\|>lained. 

 Or, if \ou intend keeping a large i\unilicr of fowls, you 

 (iiuld ;dso buy a cock of the large hrccds and run two 

 roosters, so that some of your chickens would be from a 

 laying, non-sitting breed, and .some from a large table breed. 

 JSut I do not reconuuend this : it is too liaiiha/ard. 

 It is in all cases better to put four or si.\ or u|i to 

 ten of your best hen.s, according to the luunbcr you keep, 

 in a pen by them.selves with the male bird you intend to use. 

 Ndu thus make as stire as possilde that the eggs you are 

 eggs and from the selected hens you wish 



.setting are fresl 

 to breed from. 



get 



Say you 

 a lirown, 



cltossINO ton L.VYERS. 

 want to rear good laying 

 i.ilack, or white 



hutf. 



Lc 



Ileus 

 diorn 

 •larker varieties to he preferred) and run him 

 .selected hens ; in a fortnight you may set the 

 the chickens when their feathers appear will mostly be the 

 colour of the cock. If well tciuled the pullets will laj' in 

 live or si.\ nionth.s, and, hcing half-bred Leghorns will 

 Wiiiil 1m lay thirty to forty eggs before they get hrooily, fi>r 

 tlic\ uill likely want to .set having half-setting blood in them. 

 Jlost common hens are rabid .setters and do not generally lay 

 more than a dozen eggs before they can go to .set. Vour 

 young half-bred Leghorn cockerels, you will likely he able 

 to sell .imong the iieoplc arouml for l)reeding stock at more 

 than laMr valiu'. for while it is an axiom only tn u.se pnic- 

 iircd males, still lialf-breds are an inipro\ement i>n the 

 conunon, scraggy rooster. 



-WOII) INBRKKDIXC. 



Next sea.son, if you are pleased with the results, 

 exchange your rooster for another Leghorn, or sell the old 

 one and purcha.se a fresh one, as inbreeding is one of the- 

 things you nuist avoid if you wish to have healthy and 

 hardy fowls. It may be that your district is hot and dry 

 and then you may prefer a black Minorca cock. The chickens- 

 will all then come black or nearly .so. 



(IJO.SSISC FOR SIZE. 



J!ut, pcrhap.s, after the first year you think your fowls 

 too small for your jmrposes and you would like to have more 

 body on them '. You would tlien get a I'lymouth Hock, 

 Orpington, Wyandotte or Indian Game cock, according to- 

 your district. Or, if you are troubled by hawks or other 

 birds or beasts of prey, or, if your fowls are not so active as 

 you would like, u.se an Old English Game cock for one 

 sea.son. Your chickens from these would be of good size, 

 very good layers and have lost any resendilance to the 

 common fowls of all sizes and colours and shapes you started 

 with. In colour ami shape they woidd be nearly uniform, 

 nnich like the last roosters used. The third year you would 

 go back to one of the laying breeds and yoiu' chickens would 

 come of good size and be good layers, iiroljably on the same 

 food as your common hens Lad, but with some more care 

 exercised in breeding. You would then have fowls one to 

 two pounds on an average heavier and laying double the 

 number of eggs, than when you let the conunon fowls run 

 an<l breed as they liked. Or, if you were thoroughly well 

 jileascd with any particular breed you would stick to it. The 

 first generation of chickens from the pure-bred cock would be 

 half-Vireds ; the pullets of these, run with a imrchased male 

 of the .same breed would produce three-cjuarter-breds, most 

 of them ditticult to tell from the ]iure-bred. Using a pure- 

 brcil male again, the next generatinn would be inne-tenths 

 pui'c and uiiifdrui in every way as the jiure-breds —in fact, 

 practically imic-brcds. 



PASTURE TREES. 



hi his Annual Report on the Kov.il hJotanic 

 Clardcns, Trinidad, 1(101-02, Mv. Hart wiitos:— 



l-'or over 40 years the trees have been under the care of 

 the 1 )epartnu'Mt, but a definite appointment has now been 

 made. C'onsidcral>le labour was expended on the trees during 

 the past year, in pruning and cleaning and removing dead 

 Wdiiil. As the lands aic for the nmst part, grazing grounils for 

 cattle, jilauting can only be done uuiler good protection, and 

 this is au expensive item in the upkee|). As soon however 

 as one set of trees have grown out of reach of damage liy 

 aidmals, the protectors are at once used for a new .set, and 

 during the coming year several blaidv places will be filled up 

 by young trees. Some of ;hc trees jilantcd during the 

 Suiierintcnilent's term of oHicc, lia\r now stems over a foot 

 in diameter. Over fifty trees have been established during 

 recent ycais, while not more than three or four have had to 

 be rcuioM'd. 



Lectures to Teachers at Barbados. 



The lirst of the series of l.cclujcs to the Tcarln-rs of the 

 I'ilcmcntaiy Schools of Parbados at the St. Philip's t'entrc, on 

 the Manner and .Method of Teaching the Princi|>les of 

 Agriculture by means of Object Les.sons, was delivered at the 

 St. Phili|i's Church Schoolroom on Saturday, Novendier 1st, 

 by Dr. Longficld Smith. Sixteen teachers attended. The 

 lecture like those delivered at the other Centres of the island 

 wa> illustrated by numerous simple experiments which cmdd 

 be easily iierfornied by any teacher. At the close of the 

 lecture cvclost\lc notes were distril>utcd. 



