242 State Board of Aguicultuke, &c. 



year round. Raw turnips, cat into thick slices and tlirown 

 on tlie floor, are the best of anything in the winter. Keep 

 plenty of sand, gravel, oyster shells or cracked bones by the 

 hens ; and do not forget to give thetn plenty of fresh water. 

 I use the " Dougks Mixture " nearly every day. It is made 

 as follows : To one-half of a pound of sulphate of iron, dis- 

 solved in one gallon of water, add one ounce of sulphuric 

 acid. Use a spoonful of this mixture to each pint of water 

 that the dough is wet up with. I generally use a little cay- 

 enne pepper in cold weather. Last winter I tested a small 

 package of " Imperial Egg Food," put up by L. H. Sher- 

 wood & Co., of Hartford, Connecticut, and it had a won- 

 derful effect. It will keep the hens in good condition, and 

 greatly increase the production of eggs ; I shall use it again 

 this winter. 



The house nmst be kept clean, and should be whitewashed 

 once a year. Wash the roosts with fish brine once a month 

 to kill lice. A cheap and sure remedy is this : take a tin 

 tube and a pair of old fashioned bellows ; load the tube 

 with tobacco ; put in a small piece of red hot iron and the 

 nozzle of the bellows, and blow the smoke into the feathers 

 when the hens are on tlie roost. It is sure death to the lice, 

 and does not injure the hens. 



The manure must be saved ; clear hen manure is fully 

 equal, pound for pound, for most crops, to any phosphate I 

 have ever used. 



Most breeds of hens, if kept laying all winter, are ready 

 to set when wanted. They should never be set in the same 

 room with laying hens, as they are apt to get into a domes- 

 tic row over the eggs, and most of them will be broken. It 



