lU DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



such that they can be whitewashed thoroughly every June, and the whole 

 hen-house should undergo the same operation. Poultry that are lousy 

 shoiiUl have wood-ashes to wallow in, and a few handfuls of flour of sul])hiir 

 stirred in among them makes them much more cfiicieiit. Good ashes will 

 eft'ect a cure, however. The fowls should have also dry earth or a dusty 

 road, for it will be found that they will usually alternate from one to the 

 other. The best means for supplying lime to hens is to crack up fresh 

 oyster-shells with a hammer or a sledge. Nests never should bo made or 

 allowed in the room where fowls roost. Keep it clean of all trash, straw, 

 or nest-boxes. Have thcni in another apartment. 



A poultry raiser asks us to tell him how to get rid of the great nui- 

 sance of lice upon poultry. He says he feeds well, and gives the liens the 

 range of a grass lot, and has used turpentine sprinkled in the nests, and 

 applied blue vitriol mixed with grease to their bodies, and anointed them 

 with lamp oil, and yet they are infested. The breed is that called Black 

 Spanish, but that, we think, has nothing to do with the ditHcuIty, which is 

 so great that he is ready, if there is no remedy, to sacrifice his hens and buy 

 his eggs and chickens. In a case like this, we should endeavor to purify 

 the roost of everything that could give shelter to an insect, and perhaps 

 abandon the old roost altogether, and take care that the hens had a wallow- 

 ing-box, M'ell supplied with dry wood-ashes, renewed by a little addition 

 every day or two, and feed sulphur occasionally in the food, and have a 

 constant supply of lime for the hens, and keep them fat ; and if all these 

 would not preserve them free of lice, we would abandon the business. 



We have received several letters upon the important subject noticed under 

 this head, giving " infallible" remedies to rid poultry of lice. The following 

 looks as if it might be a " dead shot :" 



" I have had the care of a poultry-yard for a number of j'cars. During 

 that time a continual M^ar of extermination Avas waged, and many expedients 

 were resorted to, but never did anything, in a single instance, prove a safe- 

 guard until tobacco was tried. This weed, in my case, has never failed in 

 answering all practical purposes ; and this fact goes far to show that it was 

 intended to act out higher and nobler ones than are commonly assigned to it. 

 The fine-cut is the best kind, and in using it spread it thickly over the sur- 

 face of the nests, scatter it upon the floor, and suspend large leaves about the 

 diflerent parts of the house. This, used in connection with your directions, 

 will put the enemy to flight, and with it will disappear all the annoyances 

 your subscriber complains of." 



Another letter says : " Sprinkle Scotch snuff plentifully on the fowls, so 

 it will reach the skin, and I'll warrant that the vermin will be more scarce 

 than even money in these ' tight times.' As you say, ' the roost must be 

 kept clean ;' also lime must be sprinkled on it to destroy the effect of the 

 ammonia arising from their manure." 



Another says : " All the remedies named are not equal to onions, chopped 

 fine and mixed with their food every day for a week. This will exterminate 



