The Health of the Hen. 107 



hen should be kept out of all draughts and kept in a warm, sunny place. 

 In clearing a house of mites, the litter and straw should be taken from 

 the floor and nests and burned. The manure must be taken out. As the 

 mites spend the day on the under side of the roosts they must be taken 

 out and painted with kerosene and smeared with grease. There will still 

 be millions of the insects left in cracks and holes. They can only be 

 killed by thorough scrubbing and spraying with some biting liquid again 

 and again until both insects and their eggs are destroyed. The two best 

 sprays are named below. In houses where ^ 



these mites are found all the fixtures should be ^ i >■ i S i x i / 

 loose so they can be taken out for cleaning. I I I | I 11 I 



Tl 



A form of nest used in Mississippi is shown in 

 Fig. 47. This is well suited to a hot country. / 2 ~^ 



In this the pieces C. C. are the only ones 

 fastened to the building. The whole thing can 

 be easily removed for cleaning. The Mississ- 

 ippi Station recommends cleaning the house ^, ^ 

 ^^ , , , . , . i- Fig. 47. SANITARY NEST 

 every two weeks, and then usmg a dust of 



three parts slacked lime and one part sulphur. This is thrown in the air 

 up to the roof of the house until the whole place is filled with the dust. 



KEROSENE EMULSION.— This emulsion is better than pure kero- 

 sene, because it will dissolve in water and may be sprayed or washed over 

 the walls. Take one-half pound of hard soap and shave it into a gallon 

 of soft water; put it on the fire and bring it to a boil. By this time the 

 soap will be dissolved. Then remove the soap solution from the fire and 

 stir into it at once, while hot, two gallons of kerosene. This makes a 

 thick, creamy emulsion, which is made ready for use by diluting with 

 10 volumes of soft water, and stirring well. Make up as much of the 

 stock emulsion as it is thought will be needed. This can be kept in a 

 suitable vessel and a portion taken out and diluted as needed. If the 

 bucket or holder attached to the spray pump holds five gallons, one-half 

 gallon of the stock emulsion should be taken and put into the bucket or 

 holder and four and one-half gallons of soft water added, and the whole 

 well stirred. It is then ready to be sprayed on the places occupied by 

 the mites. 



LIME AND SULPHUR WASH.— This is the wash recommended to 

 fruit growers for spraying to kill the San Jose scale. Some fruit growers 

 drive the spray pump right up to the henhouse door and thoroughly spray 

 the inside. The wash is made in the proportion of 40 pounds of lime, 

 20 pounds of sulphur and five pounds of caustic soda in 60 gallons of 

 water. Smaller amounts can be used in the same proportions. Slake the 

 lime by pouring water over it. Mix the sulphur into a thin paste and, 

 while the lime is slaking, poyr it tn, .sti^ rapidly, add water and keep 



