H 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[AuGi 2, 1886. 



" My PorLTKY AND How I Manage Them by 

 an Indian Henwife," * is a lirst-rate book of practical 

 hints on the rearing of poultry, and being written for 

 Indians is of more value to us in Ceylon, than Enghsh 

 manuals on the subject. This little pamphlet of 

 40 pages contains eight chapters, of which subjects 

 are : I. Houses, Sheds, t&c. ; II. Breeds to Keep ; 

 III. Crosses; IV. Management, Food, Cost; V. Sitting 

 Hens, Nests ; VI Hatching and Rearing of Chickens 



VII. Slight Ailments and some Diseases of Fowls ; 



VIII. General Piemarks and Hints. — Reading the 

 book ^over carefully and weighing the directions, 

 we note so many points of importance not 

 generally known or understood that we feel inclined 

 to quote largely, or better still to advise tha reader 

 to invest in a copy. In the chapter on manage- 

 ment, the writer insists on the importance of re- 

 gularity and cleanUness. We will now give a sample 

 of the hints : — 



According to season and weather the birds 

 ought to be let out of their houses as early 

 as possible, either into their yards or their 

 shed ; they enjoy the cool fresh morning air and 

 almost invariably run off to drink water ; therefore 

 their trough, or tin-plate, or earthenware vessel which 

 holds the water, having been emptied and cleaned 

 the night before, must be tilled at once with clean 

 fresh water ; do not let the fowls wait too long for 

 their morning feed, which ought, if possible, to con- 

 sist of soft food. The house or box ought then to 

 be cleaned and scraped, perches occasionally wiped 

 over with a rag damped with kerosine oil, grass 

 in nests shaken up or renewed, stray feathers picked 

 up either in yard or house, as the birds might be 

 tempted to swallow them. If the fowls have a grass- 

 run, so much the better ; if not, grass or vegetables 

 cut up must be freely given once a day ; and, per- 

 haps, a scanty feed of corn of some sort in the 

 middle of the day ; at that time also the water 

 ought to be renewed, except in short cold winter days, 

 when it might not be necessary. fShortly before the 

 birds go to roost ia tlie evening a good feed of sound 

 grain ought to be given, for a long night is before 

 these always hungry creatures. All Axy grain is 

 best given to fowls by being thrown far and wide 

 over the ground. 



Great care should be taken not to make the food 

 too moist, only enough milk or water must be added 

 to make it crumble : season with a little salt, and 

 when cold or very damp with a little cayemie pepper. 

 Potatoes or the p«el only boiled soft, cabbage, 

 turnips or any other vegetable cut up and boiled 

 and mixed with bran, barley-meal or ground Indian- 

 corn is excellent food ; onions, chives, garlic, raw 

 and cut up fiue, then added to the above mess is 

 most wholesome. 



Where only a few fowls are kept, sufi&cient scraps 

 of meat will be had from the table to supply their 

 want for animal food ; when at liberty, they "forage 

 for themselves, but in continement it must be given, 

 or they will fall off in condition and laying, and by- 

 and-bye they begin the vice of feather-eating. 



In summer a piece of sulphur should be put into 

 the drinking-water ; during the rains or cold weather 

 a few drops of a solution of sulphate of iron every other 

 day in the drinking-water is bracing and useful. 

 Speaking of the quantity of food required by each 

 fowl, they say : 



Four ounces, or two chittacks, of grain per diem 

 for each grown-up bird is about a fair average of 

 what will keep a fowl in good condition and laying 

 order, provided animal food and green food is added 

 on to it. 



In answer to the all-important question : " can 

 you make it pay to keep fowls " ? The author gives 

 the following calculation : — 



Supposing a hen of your own rearing stands you 

 at six months old El-4 ; she begins to lay at that 

 time, and being a fair average layer, lays lu a 

 year's time lOJ eggs, value R.") ; you kill her and value 



* Published by C. J. A. Pritchard, 10, Lai Bazar 

 Street, Calcutta, 1886. 



her at the lowest at As. 8 as a table-fowl ; mean- 

 w'nle she has cost you a year's feeding at 1 anna 

 per week=R3-l-i-Rl-4 as by above = R4-S against 

 R.5-8; you have enjoyed your eggs and the fowl on 

 your table and you made the profit of III in 18 

 months on an outlay of lvl-8, not taking house and 

 attendance into consideration ; nor, on the other hand 

 the pleasure you derived from the bird. 

 But we must leave the poultry-keeper to study the 

 book itself it he would fully understand the busi- 

 ness of managing his birds. 



TuE Ceylon Tea Houses at the E.xuiBrriON 

 are thus noticed in the London letter of the 

 Indian P/ante/s' Gazette: — 



I was very pleased to see at the Exhibition that the 

 exLibits of Indian teas stand solely upon their own in- 

 dividual merits, and that the name of the agents ap- 

 pointed by the Indian Tea Districts Association to re- 

 present the Association and take charge of the Indian 

 tea exhibits nowhere appears in connection with the 

 display of the simples. This is in itself noteworthy, 

 and fair-play requires that it should be known that no 

 advantage whatever has been taken for advertizing 

 purposes of the opportunity afforded. Whether this is 

 due to the right feeiing of the firm or to stipulations 

 made by the Association iu the contract, I know not, the 

 fact remains, and that, so far as the industry is con- 

 cerned, is the ctiief poiut. I did not enter the tea-room 

 where Indian tea is sold in the cup, and I must there- 

 fore withhold any remarks upon tliat section. I did, 

 however, avail myself of two of the Ceylon tea-houses, 

 and this from the accident of their positions being 

 favourable for sight-seeing, an accident which I am 

 thereby induced to think will count for much in the 

 patronage bestowed by the public, which will, from this 

 happy circumstance, flow more read-ly towards Ceylon 

 than towards India. This accident of situation, coupled 

 with the exceMent quality of the tea sold in the Ceylon 

 tea-houses, is a decided advantage not to be estimated 

 too lightly iu the race for favour at the Exhibition. 

 Ceylon has certainly luck as well as enterprise on her 

 side. Thus, the chief attraction, so far as exhibits are 

 concerned is decidedly the "Durbar Hall and its native 

 artisans in the court-)'ard thereof." " Old London " is 

 perhaps the next most popular detail. These two are 

 vis-d-i-is and at their very doors Cejdon has an attrac- 

 tive tea-bungalow, with tile-pictures of tea gardens set 

 in the tile wall. Here the tea is excellent and served 

 by Sinhalese "boj-s" in their naHve costume. An old 

 ruddy PalstafEan John Bull hailing from northern 

 latitudes, sitting at a neighbouring table, felt sorely 

 taken in, when, having been supplied with his tea-pot 

 and regulation three biscuits, light as snow-flakes, he 

 found that " bread and butter," " buns," &e., were not 

 to be had on any terms, biscuits being the only edible 

 provided at these tea-houses. At these biscu.ts he 

 looked askance: his massive lists had no grip sufficiently 

 delicate to raise such trifles without pulverizing them 

 ere raising them from the plate, and he knew it, and 

 refrained from the attempt, looking at them from time 

 to time between the sips and cooling puffs blown from 

 bis porcine cheeks, as though he should like to take 

 "them things what they give him for his 'tea' and 

 naught else " home to his family hearth and frame 

 them as mementoes of " the ceremony at which he 

 saw the Queen and all the Royal family, and them 

 things too is all them there Londoners' appetites is fit 

 for at tea-time!" Doubtless, like the rest of us, he 

 sometimes judges by solitary experiences. He had been 

 there a quarter of an hour when I left but he had not 

 in that time m:ide up his miud as to iiow he could get 

 them into bis hat without crushing thom into dust, but 

 he did want to take them away badly, even the ele» 

 phants on Scindiah's gate-way saw that. Again, out- 

 side in the grounds, on ttie most frequented walk and 

 offering the best view of the illuminated fountains, 

 Ceylon has a to\^ of tea-houses as last year. The Indian 

 tea-house, though vis-d-vh on the opposite side of the 

 grounds and offering perhaps almost as good a view, is 

 not stumbled upon in the ordinary course of a visitor's 

 walk and ha^ to be almost searched for to be found. 

 More Indian tea-houses are required, and perhaps may 

 be in preparatiou, though not yet opened. 



