730 Agricultural Gazette of X.S.W. [Oct. 2, 1920. 



exhausted animals should, above all others, receive small feeds at cr>m- 

 paratively short intervals. They should also be worked with care, as it is in 

 animals in that condition that colic is especially apt to be associated with 

 watering. On the other hand, the danger of giving water to a warm horse 

 has been much overestimated. 



In many cases where improper feeding may not lead to attacks of colic it 

 will induce a more or less serious indigestion — ar, times acute, and at others 

 chronic — which is shown in a failure on the part of the animal properly to 

 digest his food, and a consequent unthriftiness. In such cases the first step 

 should be to investigate the methods and materials used in feeding and to 

 correct any errors noted. This should always be done before resort is made 

 to medicine, which will in many cases be then found unnecessary. 



Azoiuria. — The ill results of maintaining a resting horse on the same high 

 ration on which he has recently been working are seen in those cases of 

 azoturia which occur frequently in cities and which seem to be due to the 

 overloading of the resting system with a rich diet, and the sudden 

 disturbance of metabolism involved in the change from work to leisure. 

 An appropriate reduction of the diet and the provision of a laxative food 

 such as a bran mash on the day before a holiday, will to a fair extent 

 prevent such cases. 



Forage Poisoning. — Mortality from this cause is nearly always associated 

 with a supply of mouldy or dirty food, and can be largely prevented by 

 assuring that such material is not used. 



Laminitis. — Overgorging with wheat is often followed by this disease, 

 but it is not likely to occur if the wheat is properly fed and the horses are 

 not put on to it too suddenly. 



Lymphangitis. — A complaint frequently seen in horses kept on full feed 

 during rest days immediately following days of hard work. Under such 

 circumstances the richness of the diet should be lowered before the rest. 



(2'o he continued.) 



Purchasing Queen Bees. 



It has been noted that in some cases a[)iarists who have a poor breed of bees, 

 and who are preparing to impro\'e the standard by Italianising, in the first 

 instance purcha.se a high-priced, selected tested queen from a queen-raising 

 apiary. I would advise in such cases that a number of untested queens be 

 purchased in the first instance ; then, when the strain has been improved 

 surticiently to give a good chance for pure mating, the apiarist could, if 

 desired, purchase a selected tested queen. 



A selected tested queen is usually a good age when pui-chased, and the 

 best use must be made of her as a breeder as soon as possihle. A good 

 practice, if it is desired to procure a tested queen at once, is to purchase such 

 a queen along with a number of untested ones, and breed from the tested 

 queen until the general standard has been improved. — W. A. Goodacre, 

 Senior Apiary Inspector. 



