380 Agricultural Journal of Victoria. 



Kerosene Emulsion as a Fungicide. 



It will be of interest to many to know that Professor Byron D, 



Halsted, of the New Jersey Experiment Station, U.S.A., has achieved 



considerable success in treating- the powdery mildew or oidium of the 



verbena, phlox and rose, with a dilnte kerosene emulsion made as- 



follows : — 



Kerosene . . . . . . 2 pints 



Hard Soap . . . . . . 1 ounce 



Water . . . . . . 8 gallons 



Dissolve the soap in a gallon of boiling water in a small spray pump,, 

 then add the kerosene and pump the mixture back upon itself for ten 

 minutes to secure a perfect emulsion. Dilute with the required 

 quantity of water before using. As kerosene ■emulsion is particularly 

 valuable for checking aphis on roses, the trouble of giving two- 

 differing treatments for the aphis and mildew is saved. 



Violet Mixture. 



Mr. Geo. Massee, of the Royal Gardens, Kew, England, recommends 

 this mixture, prepared according to the formula given below, for 

 treating fungus diseases attacking young seedlings. For similar 

 diseases of our common garden flowers and vegetables, it has 

 frequently been recommended, but, so far as we are aware, has not yet 

 been tried here. 



Sulphate of Copper (bluestone) 

 Carbonate of Copper 

 Permanganate of Potash 

 Soft Soap 

 Rain Water 



2 lbs. 



3 lbs. 

 i ozs. 

 *lb. 



18 gals. 



A Mammoth Poultry Farm. 



An illustrated article, in a recent lumiber of the " Scientific 

 American," describes scientific poultry raising as practised on the 

 largest poultry farm in the States, at Sydney, Ohio. On this farm 

 3,000 Leghorns supply on an average 200 dozen infertile eggs for 

 culinary purposes per day, and 900 Plymouth Rocks produce 450 eggs 

 daily, which the hatchery — a building 480 feet long — converts into- 

 800 healthy chicks. The chicks when a day old pass to the nursery 

 and spend a month in this building, which is capable of holding 6,000 

 at a time. They then pass to a second building where they remain 

 till three months old. The chickens are not allowed to mix, but are 

 divided up into small colonies, so that if anything goes wrong the 

 mischief is prevented from spreading. The hens are provided with 

 automatic nests, so constructed, that the e^g is removed as soon as it 

 is laid ; the new-laid eggs are thus collected at once, and are washed,, 

 dated, and placed in refrigerators for transport, so that they reach 

 their destination absolutely fresh. Electric light is employed in the 

 testing of eggs, and the progressive poultryman, assisted by the 

 researches of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, feeds his fcwls^ 

 on the most approved principles. — Nature. 



