NEW ZEALAND GARDENING. 213 



On the twenty-first day, when the chickens are coming 

 out, leave her to herself until all are released. Then wait 

 twenty-four hours for the little ones to get on their feet. 

 Then clear the nest out nicely. 



Apply a little sulphur upon the down and under each 

 wing of the chicks as soon as they emerge from the nest. 

 Keep mother and brood thus free from vermin. Give them 

 food when a day old, and keep them dry and warm. 



Commence feeding with soaked bread, crumbs, rice, and 

 hard-boiled eggs. Follow this up for a week, then cooked 

 soft food and broken wheat ; then chopped meat, or scraps, 

 and plenty of green food. 



Give the young ones sunshine all you can command. 

 If cold when hatched, look out for the harsh winds. Give 

 dry shelter till weather is warm, and save them from rain 

 and storms. 



The growing fowls should have ample range over the 

 pastures. Fowls will not thrive so well, no matter what 

 attention they may receive, if kept constantly confined in 

 their runs. If you have no grass-plots, let your runs be of a 

 dry gravelly bottom, and give them cabbage leaves, turnip 

 tops, &c., and cooked meat daily with their dry grain food. 



Always supply young and old fowls with plenty of fresh 

 clean water. Into this drop a little cayenne pepper tea, a 

 prime tonic, as well as a preventive of gapes in chickens. 



To " cure roup," look out that it doesn't get started in 

 your flocks. It is helped by colds, dampness, exposure to 

 rough weather, and neglect. Prevent its presence by con- 

 stant care, good shelter, and dry, clean hen-houses. 



Wash your roosts occasionally with spirits of turpentine 

 or kerosene. This prevents the accumulation of lice in the 

 poultry-houses, and the fumes of this pungent oil permeate 

 the feathers of your fowls at night, and drive the vermin 

 from their bodies. 



Permit all your hens so inclined to sit and hatch one 

 brood in the year. It is better for the fowls, and you will 

 thus get just as many eggs from them in twelve months as if 

 you bothered your brains " to break them up." 



