766 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [May i, 1895. 
As fowls, when suffering from this complaint, cinnot 
see to drink, it is advisable to give them bread 
soaked in water or they may die from the thirst 
brought on by the fever. Among lesser complaints 
there are, of course, rheumatism and pip. 
"With regard to hatching I may remark that on 
no account should the fowl-yard be entrusted to the 
tender mercies of a native. Natives have no idea 
of allowing a fowl to hatch, for instance, and they 
resort to all sorts of cruel practices such as plung 
ing hens into cold water, driving quills through the 
upper part of their beaks and other worse barbarities 
to prevent them. It may be as well to mention 
that the ordinary fowl todown with its small sliding 
door does not prevent the stealing of eggs. Though 
he mistress keeps the key servants manage to iceure 
the eggs by either se ding in a small boy thmiigh 
tbe opening or inserting a long stick with half a 
coconut shell at the end to scoop oat th« [ 
To prevent depredations of the sort, a box with 
three sides should be fastened to the inside of the 
door, v.hich will still allow the fowls to ent'r and 
yet prev nt U e insertion of sticks or small boys. 
It a great mistake to keep ducks, fowls, turkeys 
and pigeons all together. The turkeys are apt to 
crush the fowls by accidentally jumping on them 
when they get off their perches iia the morning, and 
a general state of nncleanliness is the usual reenlt 
of herding different kinds of poultry together. Ducks 
are difficult to rear on the hills, but otherwise are 
easy enough to keep, giving much less trouble than 
fowls. Turkeys are also difficult to rear, but once 
past a certain age they do well The wet and cold 
of a prolonged mon-oon are again- 1 all poultry 
on the hills. 
Pigeons, that is to say, the ordinary blue-rocks, 
are very hardy and do well everywhere, their colour 
protecting them against the keen-eyed hawks who 
work havoc among their white brothers. Pigeons 
are very large < aters and cost a Rood deal to keep. 
Considering the smallness of the bird, it seems hurdly 
worth while to breed pigeons to any large extent. 
However, they make a pleasant change of food. At 
Ootacamund pigeons are sold at 6 to 8 annas each ; 
on tbe plains they are cheaper. Cholum, green 
gram; and cumbu are generally given to pigeons in 
India. It should be remembered that pigeons unlike 
fowls, take wafer baths, and they should always be 
provided with them. The worst enemy of the pigeon 
is the rat, which commits terrible havoc in a cote. 
A rat will eat simply the brain of the young pig ons, 
and you may go in the morning and find as many 
as half-a-dozen young birds lying dead, having been 
kill* d overnight. The inside walls of a pigeon cote 
should be faced with cement, and rat-holes care- 
fully filled up with broken glass. It is extremely 
difficult to catch pigeon eatiug rats, for they get so 
dainty and cunning that the allurements of ordinary 
trap baits are thrown away on them. Guinea-fowls 
are not bred in India to any great extent, either 
on the plains or on the. hills; their wild habits of 
laying their eggs in jungles and of roosting in trees 
at night resulting in their falling an easy prey to 
jackals and jungle-cats. Though I have kept guinea- 
fowlsf I have not had very much experience with 
them. They are certainly delicious eating. Turkeys, 
I may remark in passing, have the same bad habit 
as guinea-fowls of laying in the jangle. 
If systematically carried out, with due care and 
attention, a poultry-yard should not give ranch 
trouble and will be found in the end cheaper than 
the buying of bazaar chickens. The poultry -keeper 
must make up his mind, however, to a loss of about 
5 per cent to be credited to jackals, rats, barjdicoots, 
mongoose, hawks, etc., against the attacks of which 
it is/ practically impossible to guard absolutely. 
Hawks may to i some extent be kept off by fastening 
strings aeros9 the chicken run. as a hawk requires 
a iertain amount of room for its swoop, its wings 
get 1 entingled in the strings and its aim is spoilt, 
Undergrowth near the fowl-yard should be cleared 
away so as to minimise the chances of lurking 
jackals. It is surprising that so few people in India 
are enterprising enough to use an incubator for 
hatching |eggs. If carried out on a large scale 
I feel sure that it would pay well to hatch eggs id 
this way. The chickens when hatched might be 
handed over to the care of foster-mothers. A» in- 
cubator o* course requires considerable looking after, 
and it is almost needless to leim-rk that und»-r no 
circumstances s> onld it be entrusted to the care of 
a Dative servant. It is advisable to damp I ghtly 
from time to time eggs placed in an incubator in 
order to rrevent tbem getting too dry, which iuter- 
feres with the chicken's proper developui* ui. A 
book which v ill be found of great use by all those 
who keep a poultry. yard is M Pouhiy-kerping in 
India." by Isa Tweed, which has just been published 
by Messrs. Thacker. Spink, and Co., of Calcutta. 
The authoress calls her work a simple and practical 
book on the care and treatment of poultry, their 
various breeds and the means of rendering theui 
profitable. For many years f-he kept poultry tor 
domestic purposes and w is very ii 'HUM wflll in bree 'ing 
and rearing them. During this time she kept a 
rough journal, and noted down her expeiiencea and 
all the information on the subject of poultry-keeping 
she gathered from various sources. This rough 
journal form the basis of the manual, is re- 
rrurkubly comprehensive and complete in all d-tails, 
| and will be f i'nd of use by amateurs who propose 
I keeping poultry. It contains illustrations of tbe 
I different breeds and diagrams, showing how to erect 
a "'odel fo\vl-hou«e shed, fattening coops, etc. — 
Madras Nml. 
VARIOUS PLANTING NOTES. 
Commercial Fibres : Their Origin and Dis- 
tribution. — A series of Cantor lectures on Commer- 
cial Fibres will be delivered before the Society of 
Arts. John Street, Adelphi, W. C, by Dr. D. MoRRit,, 
m. a., c. m. o.. on Monday next, at 8 r. m. 
The subsequent lectures will be on March 2.1, and 
April L — (jardtners Chronicle, 
Dr. Morris, c. m. g.— The number of the Pnitmiri 
and India, for March 2, contains a portrait of 
Dr. Morris, the Assistant Director of the Itoyal 
Gardens. Kew, accompanied by a sympathetic account 
of his labours for the pormution of the welfare of tbe 
Colonies, especially from the point of view of 
agriculture and horticulture. — Ibid. 
Tea Culture zm the Caucasus — A communication 
from St. Petersburg states that the Adminstration 
of Imperial Appanages having decided to make 
experiments in Tea planting in the province of 
Batoum, in the Caucasus, where the climatic conditions 
are similar to those of the districts of China a> d 
Japan where Tea is grown, will despatch a committee 
of agriculturists this month to northern I' dia. Ceylon, 
( hina, and Japan, in order to study the industry, 
and to bring back Tea plants and Chinese plant- rs 
in order to make the attempt. The Administration 
has also resolved to send M. Krasnoff, Professor 
of Geography at the University of Charkoff. to South 
America and Mexico, in order to mak j inquiries as 
to certain other tropical plant*, the cultivation of 
which would, it is believed, be also practicable in tl^e 
Caucasus. — Ibid. . 
Aetificial Manures. — We are gradually accumu- 
lating more exact Knowledge as to the properties 
of manures, and their varied action at different 
stages of the plant's growth. Most of tbe artificial 
manures advertised are good in their way and under 
certain circumstances, but they are of;en preposter- 
ously dear. Experience is the best guide for the 
farmer and gardener in these matters. Before incur- 
ring serious outlay, experiments should be made in 
the garden or in the farm on a small scale. A 
few square yards Eet apart as a" research station," 
or trial-ground, would tell the farmer and gardener 
more that he needs to know in his particular condi- 
tions than any clemieai analysis, which must of 
necessity be general only. In every case the trials 
should be comparative. There should be one or-two 
plots treated without manure at all, others dressd 
in the ordinary way, and others treated with the 
manure whose qualities it is desired to test. — Ibid: • 
